𝘉𝘈𝘚𝘐𝘊 𝘐𝘕𝘚𝘛𝘐𝘕𝘊𝘛

4.23| THAT WAY

Edited: December 3, 2023

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That Way by Tate McRae

Elaine sauntered through the the empty hallway, to the lunchroom after convincing the principal to not call her dad. Not hungry, she skipped going through the lunch line and found her way to the table she usually sat at.

The group was surrounded around Ashlyn, who leaned over the table, showing her shadow. "What'd I miss?" Elaine said, throwing her bag on the bench and sat next to it.

"Holy shit." Aiden gaped, looking at the banged up girl. "What happened?" His eyes focused on her bloodied nose and busted lip.

"Are you okay?" Taylor asked concerned.

Tyler turned to the girl, eyebrow raised. "Barron?" She nodded, he shrugged at the response.

Aiden's eyes narrowed a bit, "Barron did this?"

"Ignore what happened to me. Can we continue the conversation you were having before?" Elaine pushed past, changing the topic.

Ashlyn nodded, "You see how my shadow is different than my actual appearance?" Elaine nodded, peering over to see the shadow.

The redhead's hair was shorter in the shadow, like how she chopped it off in the Phantom Realm. 'Interesting'

"Ha...Another mystery..." Taylor laid her face in the lunchroom table, tired of all the unnecessary stress.

"This might have something to do with why injuries from the Phantom Dimension don't transfer over to our dimension." Logan theorized.

"And that's just a guess?" Elaine muttered in sarcasm. Aiden chuckled at her quiet comment, walking around the table and sitting next to her. Which she paid no mind to.

Ignoring the two, Ashlyn went on. "Speaking of pain, how are you holding up?" She asked the timid male.

"Oh, um.." He held his stomach lightly, "..Kinda feels like a rash, or if I were doing pushups or something. But nowhere near as painful as it was last night." He concluded.

The redhead nodded, turning her attention to the cousins. "So what happened to you two earlier?"

"Ah- right. That." The blond sweat-dropped, a nervous smile on his face. He leaned over the table to the brunette, "Ya sure you want me to tell them?" He asked softly.

Ben pulled his phone out, typing something in then the words were read aloud by a autogenerated voice. "It's best to have these types of things out in the open if we're going to be a team."

"These types of things?" Taylor thought aloud.

"But I'm putting my earbuds in until Aiden's done." He plugged in his headphones and laid his head down. Everyone sat around the table, intrigued.

Aiden shrugged, "Ight well, that's that then. He is right though, it's probably best to let you guys know before you accidentally set him off." His words reaching the attention of Tyler and Elaine.

"Set him off?" Ashlyn asked.

"Yup."

"Been there." Elaine muttered.

"Let me set a little understanding, between us." The blond said, his eyes darkening as he started to speak again. "...This conversation doesn't go outside of this group....understood?"

"...Okay." Taylor, Ashlyn, and Logan answered nervously.

"Alright." Elaine nodded, unfazed by the act.

"Don't tell me what to- OW!" Tyler went for the snarky comment but was pinched by his twin, stopping him. "Fine." He held the pinched area.

Aiden continued, "I don't think any of you have realized this yet, but Ben has some serious anger issues. Like- extreme haha." He half joked, lightening up the mood. "Much worse than the half-wit over there." He directed at the angry brunette.

"And..." He rested his head on his fist, "The reason also has to do with why he doesn't speak."

---

"Oh, there they are." Aiden said, sitting on the side of the porch. Ashlyn was on the steps, Ben leaned against the house, and Elaine sat on her skateboard in the grass.

The twins walked up the driveway, Tyler pushing their bike. Logan rolled up the driveway on his scooter, pushing it the rest of the way up. They propped them up against the house.

"Tsk, tsk. You guys should really wear helmets." Aiden clicked his tongue in a playful manner.

"Oh, like you would?" Elaine blunted, walking into the house after Ashlyn.

"So...what'd you kids want to talk about?" Mike asked after Aiden let out a content burp from eating like a pig.