Kayden's Pov

I make my way to Calculus, head slumped, taking my seat next to Rajah.

"What's the matter with you?" She asks.

I shake my head as if nothing was wrong with me.

"You're more quieter than usual, there is something wrong, I can tell."

I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Really it's this bad, that you're not even wanting to talk?"

"I don't want to talk about it and that's final."

"Attitude much?"

"Whatever, I'm not in the mood to talk, so please just leave me be."

After a moment of silence, Douglas and a few more other students walked into the classroom.

"Look who's being quiet today," he points at me and Rajah.

The class starts whispering and chattering.
"Douglas, I'm not in the mood for your bullshit." "Why don't you just bother someone else?"

"Ooooh, look like they got into a lover's quarrel,right Rajah?"

"Shut up, you fool," she says.

"Make me bitch," he says.

"Okay," I say hopping out of my seat. "Leave me and Raj alone, I already said I'm not in the mood."

He comes closer, grabbing my shirt. "Let me go."

"No."

"You got 3 seconds to let me go."

3
2
1

He still held his grip on my shirt.

"What are you gonna do?" he says.

"Hit me?" he ask. "I didn't think of you as the fighting type, unless you're Kody? " Or did Mr. Academics turned into a fighter now?" He smirks.

It takes every ounce out of me to not punch him, he loses his grip on my shirt and pushes me back into my seat. I get back up quick, Rajah takes my hand "Kayden, don't fight, this isn't you."

"Yeah, listen to your girlfriend, she knows what's best for you," he says turning back to his friends.

I send him a dirty look before letting out a long sigh and sitting back down. Rajah pulls me in for a hug. Hot tears start to fall out of my eyes. I didn't wanna be at school anymore, I should've stayed home. Rajah wipes the tears from my face and pulls me in for a tighter hug, my fist slowly uncurls as I hug her back.

"Thank you," I say releasing her from the hug.
She gives me a smile, I give her a small smile back. She then takes my hand in hers squeezing it tight, "Everything's gonna be alright, don't worry," she says.

As soon as she said those words, I felt a little bit better, hopeful even.

Mrs. Shawl soon enters the classroom and the chatters in the class come to a halt.

I try to pay attention to her as she's teaching  but my mind just goes back to Max, I couldn't stand my best friend mad at me. I had to do something. What should I do? He was only in my 6th and 7th period classes of the day. I guess I'll try to talk to him at lunch.
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Max's Pov

I could barely focus in all my morning classes as I'm heading on my way to lunch. I couldn't stop thinking about him. As I'm about to open the door for the cafeteria I hear someone call my name, "Hey Max, wait up" they called.

I pause and turn around to see Richard Wong, one of my classmates who was from China. He had perfect skin, dark black hair and a strong facial structure. He was one of the most openly gay guys at school and a fun guy to hang out with sometimes. I wait for him to catch up, "Hey," he says approaching me.

"Hi," I say back.

A moment of silence washes over us until he speaks up, "what's up with you lately?" "You're so quiet, cheer up bud."

I force a smile, "Nothing is really up, I'm just feeling sick that's all."

"Really?" he says opening the door to the cafeteria. I hesitate before going in, I didn't want to see Kayden.

He holds the door open, "Meîlì de rén xīan zôu ," he says winking and opening the door for me. I walk in and he follows. We make our way to the line.

"What did you just say?"I ask.

"Why are you so curious?" he says with a smirk.

"Because," I say.

"Because what?" he asks. "And you're even more adorable when you're curious. "

"Whatever," I say.

A memory comes to mind of Kayden, He use to tease me with saying phrases in Spanish, making me curious of what he was saying, him and siblings were all fluent in Spanish as well as English. After a few minutes of teasing, he'd finally give in telling me what he said. A small smile comes across my face with this memory, then it fades away quickly into a sadden expression.

Richard seemed to notice, "Fine I'll tell you what it means, since you're teary."

"Ok," I say.

"I just said Beautiful People come first in Chinese."

I blush, "And you winked at me, what was that about?"

"Well, you know, to get your reaction." And it wasn't a bad one either.

"Oh," I said.

"Um, would you like to sit with me and my friends today?" he asks.

"Sure, why not?" I say.

We both fix our trays, they were serving Pizza or salads. I grab a salad, making my way over to Richard's table. I take a glance over at my normal table just to see Maura and Kayden sitting there, Kayden and I make eye contact and I quickly turn around, feeling queasy and not hungry at all.

I take a seat in between Richard and Kennedy. "Hey," she says beaming. "Usually you sit with the popular clique, why not today?"

"Well, I just decided to hang out with Richard today," I say giving him a small smile.

"And where are the rest of the clan?" She asks.

"Don't know," I say.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" Richard asks. "And you look like you just seen a ghost."

"I'm not really hungry," I say.

Richard puts his hand on my shoulder, "Max if there is something wrong, you can tell me, you know?"

"Thanks, but I'm fine."

"You look fine," he says winking. "But I can tell by the way that you act you're not. Plus your hair is a mess, you have dark circles under your eyes, and also is that cum or toothpaste on your face," he jokingly asks.

"It's toothpaste," I say.

"I know," he says. "I don't think you'd be the type to suck dick before coming to school anyways."

I didn't reply to that. I was getting slightly annoyed by what he was saying.

"Can you please chill out?" I say.

"Yeah, my bad for cracking those stupid jokes."

"Way to blow your shot,Richard," he mutters to himself although I overhear it.

"It's okay," I say. "I'm just in a bad mood over some bs that happened.

"Aw okay, I understand," he says. "Oh and would you like to hang out later? I'd like to get to know you a little more better."

"Sure," I say.  "I don't have nothing else to do."

Plus I could use something to do, to get Kayden off of mind.