Gen Three- Chapter Twenty Two

Gilly and I were woken up to Merlot bursting into our room excitedly revealing grandpa had made french toast for breakfast. Our brother could be picky with his food, but if there was one thing he couldn't deny it was anything drenched in syrup. I know I certainly got a good smile out of watching him bounce around as if Christmas had come early when grandpa handed him his plate also smothered in powdered sugar. Merlot's appetite never ended, but it'd been getting worse now that he was on the fringes of puberty. He finished one plate and got another by the time I ate my first four slices.

     "Who's house did you say will you be at today, Dia?" dad asked after gulping down another large mouthful of his own second serving.

     "Arbor Thicket's, the new guy in our grade. From what I heard, he lives down by Mama Rose's and Papa Jac's house."

     "How late do you think you'll be out?"

     "I can't say for certain, but definitely not all that late. We just have to decide the first three books we'll be using for the beginning of the project. We might go to the library, but Arbor and I will most likely just decide what we want and get the books separately."

     "Alright. Call me if you want a ride home."

     "Of course."

I gave dad the biggest smile I could muster. His expression easily projected his continuing worry caused by the dead cat incident the previous afternoon. Dad was scheduled to be at the bookstore until late again, so him being willing to shirk work for a little if I needed it was quite endearing. However, I had no concerns about not being able to handle myself. I naturally still felt bad for the cat, but I wasn't going to start bursting into tears about it at this point.

Even Gilly had majorly gotten over the whole thing. There was a bit more pouting on her part when she met up with Confetti at school, but the day otherwise progressed as normal. Classes came. Classes went. I didn't get a chance to talk to Arbor during our first period together. He scrambled in and out of our second one too. That boy just had a distinct knack for arriving right before the bell rung and bolting out the second we were released. I half expected him to rush home when the last bell signaled our freedom, yet I'd barely begun to switch out my textbooks at my locker when Arbor showed up. There wasn't much said as we cut across the courtyard for a shortcut. I couldn't leave it like that.

     "Hey, Arbor?"

     "Hmm?"

     "You know, there's something I have to say before we leave for your house."

     "Is it about me not liking Timber?"

     "Uh..." I hesitated, not expecting him to be so perceptive, "Yeah, it is."

     "You're pissed at me that I was rude to him."

     "I am. He's been one of my closest friends for almost eight years now. I think it's fair for me to be angry."

     "It is. Doesn't make any difference to me though. I still don't like him, and I still don't trust him."

What bothered me as much as Arbor having that nonsense reaction to my friend was his nonchalant attitude about the matter. My project partner clearly understood my emotions, but his lack of concern one way or the other really dug under my skin with a thousand pinpricks.

     "Well, why?" I huffed, "You have to at least have a good reason, right? Seriously, you can't just decide someone's bad without getting to know him or her first."
     "I don't see why not. The majority of people in our grade did that same exact thing to me the second I walked in the door. I don't see you getting on their cases about that," Arbor shrugged, "But, whatever. I don't have a good reason for you. I simply took one look at his face and got the feeling I need to be wary around him."
     "You're wrong." I denied firmly.
     "Believe what you will, but my mind's not changing. I won't say a bad word about him in your presence though if it gets your panties that much in a bunch."
     "I hate that expression." I frowned heavily, folding my arms.
     "I'll just shut up then. C'mon."

Arbor lazily motioned me onwards, and I only just barely followed. Maybe it was possible to convince Mr. Sunrise to let me do the project on my own, but I dismally realized that was far too much work for even me to do alone.

However, Arbor did keep his word by retaining his silence. It allowed me the chance to take deep breaths, calm my emotions, and give him some leniency. As I did know, moving to a new place wasn't easy. My companion had the extra problem of too many of our classmates indeed judging and being harsh before they'd so much as said a word to the guy. Even Arbor with his supposed detached personality had to be affected with the negative attention. It would do us both some good for me to cut him some slack. There's no way the past few days had been pleasant for him.

     "Oh, you guys have moved into the old Abelia house. I was wondering when the place would finally sell." I finally spoke again when we reached our destination.
     "You live nearby?" Arbor wondered with hardly any interest.
     "My great-grandparents live right over there. My cousin and her wife live in the other direction with their children and my cousin's mom in that house that used to belong to Uncle Eden and grandma." I pointed out the places.
     "Fascinating."

Arbor didn't actually find it fascinating.

     "So, is there anyone in your family who's purple? Or did you guys just pick whichever house suited your needs?" I asked next.
     "My mom's mostly purple. My dad's brown and gray." Arbor replied, walking towards the front door.
     "You've got lots of colors in your family like we do too then."

Arbor simply shrugged once more.

What an afternoon this was going to be. I managed to force a bit more conversation by first asking if Arbor's parents were home when we walked into the empty house. He said they weren't. I didn't care one way or the other if we were there alone or not, although a small part of me did wish for them to be around so my project partner would be more amiable. Then again, maybe they weren't any better than their son in demeanor. A few seconds more of conversation occurred when I wondered if Arbor had any siblings. He blankly revealed his parents had had another son, but his brother had died the same day he was born due to a terrible heart condition. I had no idea what to say after making the air so awkward, so the two of us simply got down to business. The first part of the project involved picking three books. They couldn't be in the same genre, cover the same topic, at least one had to be non-fiction, and two had to be books we had available at our houses. We, naturally, had to read them, and then we had to make comparisons and contrasts, analyze their themes and writing styles, create our own short story involving aspects from each, and make a fifteen minute presentation to give in class.

     "Hmm. You do have 'The Scald's Concubine.' I've already read that. It would be easier to choose ones we're familiar with. Are there any you've read too?" I asked as I made a mark next to 'The Scald's Concubine' on my list as I'd done for the other books that caught my interest.
     "Most of them. I don't care what we read though. You can just pick. That should make it easy."
     "It would be easier actually if you did care somewhat," I spoke, frowning again, "It's not simpler for me to pick them all by myself. The whole project will go smoother if you're invested in what we're working on, but that can't happen if you don't give any input."
     "Except I seriously don't care," Arbor replied, lazily straightening the bent corners he found in the books instead of looking at them in a meaningful manner, "My investment won't make a difference as they're all the same to me."
     "There has to be something you like or dislike more about one of these. Even if it's just liking the main character's name or whatever."
     "Nope. There's nothing."
     "Fine. I'll just pick," I sighed heavily in exasperation, "I suppose I won't be here much longer then. There wasn't much point in coming over."
     "Nope. That much was obvious," Arbor agreed without hesitation, "You were the one who wanted to come over though."

I bit my lower lip hard. It was the only way to keep myself from turning things into an even larger argument. My notebook was shoved into my bag as my list no longer had a point. I'd been trying to keep track of ones that interested me and ones I believed would interest Timber, but I guess there was no need to put in such effort. My eyes searched over the choices before me. I really just needed to pick and leave. While I wasn't going to declare a friendly relationship with Arbor a lost cause, clearly nothing good would come out of this day. A weekend with no interaction with him would hopefully refresh my patience.

If only things had worked out like that though. Arbor stood up to get something. When he sat back down, my eyes went wide due to what he placed on the table.

     "What, did you want one too?" Arbor motioned to the can of beer upon seeing my expression, "I only brought one since I didn't think you'd be the kind to drink. I'm good with sharing though."
     "No, I most certainly do not want one." I denied stiffly.

Arbor simply blinked in acknowledgement. He turned his attention away from me and to the cigarettes, and he hurriedly drew his hand back as if I slapped him when I thrust mine out on top of his to close the box.

     "These are the good kind. You're not having any of them." he spoke in annoyance.
     "I don't want your beer. I don't want your cigarettes. All I want is to know what on earth you'e thinking. You can't have this kind of stuff! What would your parents think?"
     "Well, my parents are the ones who buy it all for me, so I would go with the assumption that they're fine with it."
     "They're fine with you poisoning your body? They're fine living with the nasty second-hand smoke?"
     "I'll put the cigarettes away if it bothers you that much, okay?" Arbor rolled his eyes, pocketing the box.

However, he wasted no time in opening the beer and chugging was looked to be half the can in several huge gulps. I focused as best I could on the six books I'd whittled my options down to, yet my body remained stiff and I felt my expression grow even more rigid and taut as Arbor downed most of the rest of the alcohol.

     "What?" he asked angrily.
     "How on earth can you drink that stuff? Surely you know how bad it is for you?"
     "Despite what everyone thinks, I'm not stupid. Of course I know beer is bad for the body."
     "I don't think you're stupid," I countered, "It's just that I can't wrap my head around why people know that it damages them but they still do it anyway."
     "Because I need it. The alcohol helps me feel better. The cigarettes too. Both make it easier to deal with judging types like you." Arbor snapped.

My lungs took another deep breath. I could tell by how tight my muscles were that my expression wasn't a nice one. My tone, despite my statement that I didn't think Arbor stupid, certainly came off as if I knew everything and he knew nothing. My attitude was all wrong as well. I had to get a grip on myself. If I wanted to be a doctor, there was no way I could react like this to such a situation. People obviously didn't only need medical assistance when an accident occurred. All too often help was needed because of bad choices and poor lifestyle decisions. If my goal was to do what I could to put people on the path towards avoiding such things, I would have to learn the way I was going about it now was an awful way to to change someone's state of mind.

     "I'm sorry," I spoke as calmly as I could, although my voice remained tight, "I didn't mean to judge, and I'm sorry that I did. It's just...my grandma died relatively young. Well before her time in any case. All the experimentation they'd done to create her literally broke down and destroyed her body. Losing her was devastating for everyone in our family. I can still remember the pain of her passing all too well. I know how awful it is to have someone pass before they should, which is why it upsets me to see others do things that risk their own lives being lost early. I think about not only what they suffer through, but what their loved ones suffer through. That's why my goal is to be a doctor one day. I want to stop others from having to experience heartbreak."

I thought I was getting somewhere. Arbor's expression seemed to be softening back to his default of indifferent detachment, but something went wrong somewhere. I spoke my last few sentences, and the remaining anger on his face flared to barely contained fury and a glare that scorched.

     "You want to be a doctor?" he questioned with such disgust you'd think I threatened to kill a puppy or something.
     "Yeah? What's wrong with that?" I questioned back defensively.
     "You really had better leave this house quickly then, or we're going to have a problem."
     "Is...is that supposed to be a threat?"

Jumping to my feet, I returned that dominating glare. Arbor kept going on about being judged, but he wasn't proving anyone wrong acting like this.

     "Like I would ever be low enough to hurt you. You, though...doctors are despicable. I can't stand them, so now I can't stand you." he growled in a low voice.
     "What? Got pricked an extra time or two when they were trying to give you a shot? Grow up."
     "Shut up, bitch. You have no idea what you're talking about. You really are just as bad as they are."
     "Who's judging who now?! I'm suddenly the worst because someone who had the same profession I want did something to you? You seriously have the most twisted logic I've ever seen!"
     "Get. Out." Arbor growled even more darkly.

I didn't waste a second in complying. All my things were already in my bag, so I jammed that over my shoulder before stomping towards the door.

     "You're such an ass!" I shouted as I rushed out.

Honestly, I had half a mind to dash back to school to find Mr. Sunrise. It'd barely been half an hour since we got out for the day. He was in charge of the literature club, so he was probably still around. I would beg if needed to do the project on my own. I was the number one student in our grade. I was the student council president. Arbor was nothing. Surely my teacher would believe me that he was impossible to work with. Such an idea fizzled out though as soon as I slammed the door shut. I hadn't heard the car now sitting in the driveway pull up. I hadn't heard or seen the two people get out. The man and woman standing there were clearly Arbor's parents, and there's no doubt they hadn't heard my shout and possibly the loud, angry voices of Arbor and I fighting from inside.

     "U-Um, you're Dianthus, right?" Arbor's mother tried to appease me with a forced smile and gentle though worried voice.
     "Excuse me." I replied sharply, not glancing at them again as I hurried on by.
     "I can give you a ride home, if you'd like." Arbor's father tried.

I ignored him. I was not in the mood for a car ride where I'd have to listen to pointless apologies or excuses on his son's behalf.

My focus switched to returning home. If I went to the school, I'd have to pass by Arbor's house somewhat again on the trip back, and there was no way I was doing that. I huffed and stomped to my safe abode, and that exuded enough energy for me to walk inside moderately calmly. Two others being there also forced me to rein in my anger.

     "Hi, Aunt Glade. Hi, Mint." I greeted my aunt and youngest cousin.
     "Hi, Dia." Aunt Glade smiled.
     "Hi." Mint echoed, although his focus remained heavily on cuddling Mirage.
     "Hello to you too, Dia," mom joked, but her teasing grin faded as she studied me, "You're home a lot earlier than you said. Everything okay?"
     "Not really. I tried to give Arbor the benefit of the doubt, but he's just a total-"

I paused ever so briefly. Mint was staring at me, and I reminded myself to watch my words around him.

     "Jerk." I finished, feeling unsatisfied.
     "Mint, why don't you let Mirage be for a bit and go see what Merl is getting up to? I'm sure he'd love to play." Aunt Glade prompted him off.
     "Okay." Mint pouted slightly before wandering upstairs.
     "Come sit," Aunt Glade then patted the open space next to her, "Tell us all about it, and use whatever colorful language you'd like."
     "Thanks." I chuckled.

I launched into the tale. I did try to be honest too. Not all of my words and actions had been that of an angel's, but I didn't think it was unreasonable to mark Arbor as the one who'd been more problematic. The guy had seriously called me a bitch because he thought I was a horrible person as I wanted to be a doctor. Dad walked through the door for his afternoon break right as I described that moment. Needless to say, he went into protective daddy mode after I revealed that and that Arbor had low-key threatened me. Dad said he would back me up if Mr. Sunrise gave me problems with not letting me join another group or do the project on my own when I talked to him on Monday.

While I contemplated asking mom if she would drive me to the school so I could talk to my teacher right then, I did choose to leave the matter until Monday. I didn't want to interrupt her visiting time with Aunt Glade, and even in a car I didn't want to go by Arbor's place. It was definitely going to be tough going to see my family in that area now. My mind had to be stuffed with dull homework to get the bad taste out. Even then things didn't go my way. There I worked in the study room to brush up on my anatomy when I heard a voice. Four voices, actually. One was dad's. The others belonged to Arbor mother, Arbor's father, and, very faintly, Arbor himself.

Reluctantly, oh so reluctantly, I slowly crept downstairs. No one had called for me yet, but they would at some point. Ripping the band-aid off myself had to be better than waiting for the ball to drop. The option of refusing to come and speak with my classmate was there, but acting that way would be no better than a child throwing a tantrum.

     "I'm not going to be one of those parents and refuse to admit there wasn't something wrong Dia did in the situation as well, but she's been extremely level-headed from the time she was born. It's not like her to go off over simple matters, so I believe what she told us to be the truth." dad spoke confidently to Arbor's parents.
     "We're of the same mind," Arbor's mom answered as the same smile from before reappeared on her lips, "We, and Arbor too, are all in agreement much of the blame is with him. We know he can be difficult and even abrasive with his personality. However, if there's one thing he is that's honest. Arbor admitted to us what he said and did. He's calmed down, and he'd like to try to make amends with your daughter."
     "Uh-huh." dad said in disbelief.

It wasn't hard to be skeptical. Arbor stood there glancing away looking like he didn't want to say anything at all. There was no way his parents weren't the ones pushing the matter on.

    "I'll at least listen to what he has to say." I said, walking around from behind the wall at the bottom of the stairs.

Dad must have heard me coming down for he didn't react to my appearance. The others jolted slightly in surprise, but otherwise recovered smoothly. To Arbor's credit, he stood tall and faced me then without hesitation. Perhaps it was dad's intimidating aura he hadn't liked. It really was such a shame he couldn't be a cop. After all these years of parenting, he had the look nailed down. In any case, dad took a step back, and Arbor's parents followed.

     "I am sorry once again for being preachy," I dove in and said before Arbor could so much as open his mouth, and I managed to come off genuine even if my tone remained tart, "I also apologize for goading you on matters that I have no idea about. If it wasn't a serious matter, you wouldn't have reacted so strongly."
    "The strong reaction I had was directed in the wrong direction. You were right in that my logic was twisted."

Arbor began his apology, but both our eyes were darting back and forth between our parents. To top it off, mom and Aunt Glade peeked their heads from the stairs leading to the basement to listen in. Arbor's deep breath to continue faded as nothing more than a thick exhale as he faltered under all the eyes.

     "Okay, can you guys just go away? Let us sort this out without you breathing down ours backs, huh?" I prompted the adults, mostly glancing at my family members.
     "Alright, alright. I need to get back to work anyway." dad caved despite sending a terse stare Arbor's way.
     "We're behind you. We'll move our car." Arbor's father used the legitimate reason to also momentarily take him and his wife out of the situation.

Mom and Aunt Glade simply slunk back downstairs.

That helped the mood be somewhat better. Both mine and Arbor's shoulders didn't stretch so tightly, and I was free to think about how I wanted to handle this without having to worry about also needing to please my parents. Forgive and move on, that was what they expected. We could be upset, but we also had to learn to just work with the other's differences.

Well, I was still upset for sure. It was too soon after the incident for me to let things slide fully. The only other time anyone had called me a bitch was back all those years ago when Ember stormed out of the house. The words stung, and Arbor had already wasted the second chance I tried to give him.

     "I'm sorry for not helping you out with the project more. I didn't mean to make you feel as if you had to handle all the work, and I shouldn't have belittled your efforts to do this project right. Doing it well is clearly something important to you. I smoke and I drink. I'm not going to stop, but if you dislike it that much I won't do it when you're around. I did understand what you meant when you were talking about not wanting to lose someone before their time. And once more I was way out of line judging you and treating you terribly for something you have no connection to. That was all on me."

With that apology though, even with Arbor going back yet again to his neutral manner of speaking I did believe him. Enough emotion hid beneath the mask or whatever he wore that my next choice was decided for me without me actually have a choice.

     "Apology accepted. I can't say I won't be a little bitter about it for a bit more, but let's just both try to be more mature, okay? We both did wrong, we both apologized, and we both should deal with it. I certainly don't want to do the project by myself, and I'm sure you don't either. We might not be able to be friends, but I'm sure we can find a way to handle being partners until the work is done."
     "Agreed," Arbor nodded slowly, "Did you still want input on which books we should read?"
     "Definitely."

And so Arbor told his parents he would be home later, and the truce begun as he and I poured over books properly this time.

Trying my best to let my negative feelings wash away, I put forth an invitation when the three books were selected.

     "Do you want to stay for a movie? Some of mine and Gilly's friends are coming over soon to watch The Demon's Identity in our theater room."
     "Theater room?"
     "My grandpa is a child at heart who is also disgustingly rich," I chuckled, "We completely rebuilt the house after that hurricane ruined our old one, so he decided then to add a home theater. I can show you it if you'd like."

For the first time, Arbor appeared normally involved in something. I showed him the room downstairs in the basement, and my offer was accepted. He didn't interact much with my siblings or friends when they came down too, and he made sure to sit in the back row of chairs by himself. Still, having that ninety minutes of just chilling out watching an old scary movie and eating snacks mellowed out whatever tense atmosphere lingered.

But, seriously, the day just didn't want to end on a good note. Everyone hung out lazily while finishing off the snacks when the movie ended. A tug on my arm from Apple had me following her out of the room where we stood alone in the hallway.

     "What's up?"
     "I got a text from Velvet. She was out and about with her friends, and, well...I dunno. Since this maybe started all those years back with you and Timber I thought I should spread the information to you first."
     "Okay?"
     "There's been another murdered cat found." Apple revealed.

Reluctantly, she showed me a somewhat blurry picture from a farther away distance of a cat hanging from its one foot by rope from branch of a tree.

     "Apparently, the neck was slashed open pretty deeply as well. Another group found it, and Velvet and her friends came upon them not long after they called the police. The cops have the area blocked off now."
     "Where did they come across it?"
     "At that Serenity Trail walking park."
     "That area is a lot more populated. Whoever did this must want them to be found then." I realized, my gut twisting painfully.
     "That's so messed up." Apple frowned heavily.

The nearby door opened, and Pyre and Ray stepped out into the hallway. Apple and I quickly changed the topic. Neither of us spoke of it again until everyone had left except for Confetti. The four of us goofed off in mine and Gilly's room until the couple brought up the idea of having the wedding for our cats once more. I recommended they really did go for it, and when they obviously questioned my insistence Apple and I divulged what had been discovered.

     "I can't stand this. I'm afraid to even let Mirage out of the house now." Gilly spoke dismally.
     "She'll be alright," Confetti comforted, placing a hand on her arm, "Mirage is such a lazy indoor cat to begin with. Blaze is with her all the time too when everyone else is out. The two that have been hurt so far were strays as well, right?"
     "Autumn, November, and their mom were included." Apple nodded.
     "I'm not so sure if it's the same person," I pondered, "That one was done far away from where anyone would find it. We hadn't been able to visit them recently before they were killed. It was obvious someone came to care for them from time to time, but that culprit didn't seem to be trying to accomplish anything bigger than the one crime. These two recent murders have been much more public and intending to catch notice though. The first killing was done by someone sick. These others have been done by someone sick with an agenda."
     "Makes sense. It can't be said for certain though until they find the person, which will hopefully be soon." Confetti replied.
     "It better be." Gilly agreed.

And yet, the weekend passed and two more cats were killed. We heard about those two because the frequency of the same kind of killings made the news. People were starting to freak out, and notices of how to keep an eye on one's pet began spreading all around on television and on social media. Gilly walked to school that Monday morning casting a hesitant eye at every corner and nook we passed fearful of what we might stumble upon. Timber took to walking ahead to make sure everything was clear. People talked at school of the homecoming proceedings starting to get underway, but many more talked about the cat situation.

     "It's totally him."
     "That's what I've been thinking. It makes perfect sense. When they do catch the culprit and it turns out to be him, I won't be surprised."

My conversation with Auburn ceased when I overheard that kind of talking coupled with laughter. I turned to my classmates curiously.

     "What are you talking about?" I asked, "The cat killings, I presume? You think you know who the person is?"
     "Yup," Vert nodded, "It's what a lot of people here at school are thinking."
     "Who? I haven't heard of this before."
     "We're talking about Arbor." Rosa revealed.
     "Really?" I chastised immediately, my stare hardening, "Would you guys stop spreading nonsense rumors about the new guy? He hasn't had a moment of peace since he walked through the doors."
     "The connections are strong though. These killings start as soon as he gets here, and I heard he has a really violent, hidden temper. He was kicked out of his last school because he killed the pet rabbit in one of the science classrooms." Orchid explained.
     "You call that a convincing argument? One hint of coincidental timing, and one rumor proven to be wrong? Seriously, grow up. All of you," I rebuked with a snap, "You probably think you're being funny, but you're acting like a bunch of assholes instead. Arbor was with me working on our project during two of the times the killings would have taken place. He has nothing to do with the cats, and I'm not going to put up with this incessant bullying."
     "Alright, alright, Dia. We'll stop," Vert assuaged, both irritated by my reprimand and guilty because they knew I was right, "Sorry."

I only wish that moment was the lone incident I'd had to deal with about such a matter. Too many of my classmates, unfortunately, were choosing to act like assholes. I heard the same stupid rumors about Arbor going around, and the one that he was the murderer of cats picked up steam by the end of the day. My position as the student council president allowed me to reprimand and squash most gossiping without a great deal of push-back. However, with every turn I took there was more immaturity to fix. By the time classes ended, my shoulders slumped with exhaustion. My feet shuffled me into the courtyard to cut across to my locker as always, but there was more nonsense going on. It was even worse in that case as Tonka and Zircon directly addressed the person they were making fun of, even though they pretended to hide their snide comments behind whispers.

     "I wonder which way he's going to do it today. He seems to have a fondness for ropes and nails. I think he'll find a tomcat this time around and do it in such a way that poor will wish it hadn't been born with a dick." Tonka chuckled horribly.
     "Speaking of that, you think he gets off on all of this. I would bet on it." Zircon snickered.
     "Shut the hell up, you pieces of shit!" Arbor, who'd tried to ignore them, whipped around with a deadly glower.
     "Excuse me. Don't interrupt our private conversation. That's very rude." Zircon scoffed.

Arbor strode a dangerous step forward, who knows what he had in mind to do, but he ceased moving when he spotted me stomping up behind the two idiots. Tonka and Zircon didn't notice my presence until I grabbed an ear on each and pulled them a step apart while also pulling them a step backwards.

     "Ow! What the fuck, Dia!?" Tonka glared at me, rubbing the sore spot.
     "What the fuck, Tonka?" I mockingly repeated, "What in the world do you think you're doing acting like that?"
     "It's none of your business." Zircon grumbled, also rubbing his ear.
     "It is very much my business. I'm the student council president that you two helped me campaign for last year because you liked the propositions I put in to help reduce bullying. With the grief you two got once you started dating and how I supported you then, I'm failing to see why you're turning into the same assholes you hated so much. Do you not hear the shitty words you're saying? I bet you haven't even spoken a damn proper word to Arbor. You're just pushing along the same kind of hurtful bullshit that had me finding you hiding behind the risers crying."

I finished up by staring unblinking at Tonka as we thought back to that memory. His angry expression fell into embarrassment, guilt, reluctance. Zircon shifted nervously as well. There weren't many people out in the courtyard, but there were enough for my public bashing to have weight without it being overboard.

     "You're right. I'm sorry, Dia," Tonka mumbled an apology a moment later, "Sorry, Arbor."
     "Yeah, sorry." Zircon added.
     "Whatever." Arbor scoffed.

Tonka and Zircon didn't stick around much longer. They nodded awkwardly my way, grabbed their bags from the nearby picnic tabled, and scattered. Our other classmates who didn't also take their chance to leave firmly ignored Arbor and I as I walked closer his way.

     "You've got quite a tongue on you. I didn't think you'd be the kind to swear." he spoke more softly than normal.
     "Well, we're still getting to know each other, so I'm sure I'll surprise you a few more times." I smiled proudly.

For a moment, it seemed as if Arbor would chuckle. However, all I saw was the briefest hint of a barely formed smile. I found myself highly disappointed for some reason. I guess it was simply because I hadn't seen Arbor smile yet, much less laugh. It wasn't hard to understand why he wasn't connecting with anyone due to his sour appearance and personality that was difficult to adjust to. Even after meeting a second time to work on our project, I was barely getting a grasp on him. I really hadn't even had such trouble like that before.

     "Thank you for bullying the bullies, Dianthus. I do actually appreciate it. It's usually just me sticking up for me." Arbor did go ahead and thank me though with a softness that made me glad I was making progress.
     "You're welcome. I'm glad to pull some ears anytime. You can call me Dia again too, if you want."

I gave him what I meant to be a comforting pat on the shoulder. My hand rested against his arm for a second, and Arbor didn't appear to register it until he did hurriedly grasp my hand briefly only to gently but quickly pull it off.

     "Sorry." I apologized, wondering about the somewhat strange reaction while also being unable to not notice how Arbor's hand was a lot softer than I ever would have imagined for him.
     "N-No, it's...fine. I.." Arbor fidgeted with a light embarrassment and shyness I also didn't think I'd see on him, "Anyway, thanks. I'll see you."

Without waiting for a response, he turned to skitter off. I smiled again.

     "See you later." I called.