marionette | DreamNotFound

- 2 -

(not) meeting friends

George didn't even notice someone was trying to talk to him. He was deep in thoughts, waiting for his friends to arrive. The stairs were cold as well, he sat on his jacket. The school will heat him up eventually. He didn't know how much time has passed already, he still didn't see any of his friends. They're probably late. Most of them drove to school together, that's why.

As Clay arrived, there were barely any students at school. He noticed a guy sitting by himself and he decided to ask him where he had to go. He didn't remember anymore, he didn't really pay attention where he went last time. The principal talked to his mum while he spaced out, now he didn't remember anything. He probably should've payed attention back then. Clay started talking to the guy but he didn't seem to care. He looked straight forward, didn't notice anyone besides him, just completely ignored the new student. George didn't care while Clay was getting mad. What a great start. Still, Clay couldn't help but notice how dead that guy looked, he was pale, his face didn't have any color left, his hair wasn't shiny and his cheeks are sunken. Clay shook his head and looked around for someone to ask for directions.

"Hey, do you possibly need help?" someone asked and tapped his shoulder. Clay flinched and said that he in fact did need help. "Okay, lemme guess, you need your schedule?" the guy asked. Clay nodded and started walking behind the person. "Oh, my name's Nick, by the way," he introduced himself. "Clay," he said. "A man of many words, I see," Nick said and Clay chuckled. "Yeah, that I am," Clay answered.

George finally saw one of his friends, but he didn't seem to have noticed him. George's heart broke a bit, thinking he wasn't important enough for his friend to see him but instead talking to a random guy in the hallway. He saw them leave and George followed them with his glimpse. Was he replaceable that easily? He felt water in his eyes and used the sleeve of his school uniform to brush them away.

"Here you go, Clay," the woman behind the counter said. "Thanks, Miss," Clay said and walked out of his office. He noticed Nick talking to another guy and decided to join their conversation. "Hey, I'm Clay," he introduced himself as he went up to Nick and a tall guy with blonde hair. "I'm Tommy," he said. "He's also an idiot," Nick said. "Will you shut up already?" Tommy asked annoyed and rolled his eyes. "Alright, Nick and an idiot, I think I can recall that," Clay joked. "I like your eyeliner," Nick said after he looked at Clay for a bit. "Yeah, looks pog," Tommy said and Nick rolled his eyes. "Anyways, what's your first class?" Nick asked.

George saw Tommy walking by, even him didn't notice George sitting all alone. Okay, his relationship with Tommy wasn't the best but they still had the same best friends. They never really clicked but they were definitely friends. George's day got worse and worse and school hasn't even stared yet. He still had to come up with an excuse to skip lunch. Maybe they wouldn't notice him so they didn't notice he wasn't eating. George didn't notice the tears falling off his cheeks, it took him a while to notice the wet spot on his hand that rested on his lap. He shook his head and brushed away the tears.

Nick points into a direction and says "okay, so you go this way and turn left at the end of the hallway. On the left side, there are our lockers. I think Toby and Will have PE too, you'll like them" Clay nods and listened to their conversation for a bit before leaving. He went to the lockers and tried to get in but quickly noticed that they were still, well, locked. He sat down and waiting for people to arrive. It didn't take long for someone to arrive. "Hi, you're new here, right?" the person asked. Clay nods. "I'm the coach, is there any sport that you're interested in? You look as if you're athletic. Do you want to join any club?" Clay shook his head. "I'm actually the opposite, I'm quite bad at sports," he smiled. "Huh, well, you still need to do the things I tell you to," the coach said. "Yeah, sure, that's why you're the coach," Clay said. "Okay, well, I'm looking forward to seeing you in class in about ten minutes!" the coach said and left almost immediately after. Clay nods and sits down again, waiting for new people to arrive.

George couldn't really hold in his tears any longer and decided to go to the bathroom to give himself some kind of speech. He ran to the toilets and went into a stall, sat down and the closed toilet and reset his head on his hands, sniffing and crying, trying to breath normally again. He didn't know why his friends not noticing him at an spot you really have to look at bothered him so much. Was ist because of the new guy his best friends was talking to? Is everyone just looking at him? His other friends should've arrived by now, are they looking for him? Or didn't they remember he was there? George cried for what felt like hours until he heard the bathroom door open. He waited a bit before leaving his stall and noticed a guy washing his hands. "Hey, you don't look okay, have you been crying?" he asked. George chuckled and joked "Nah, just smoking weed, you know the drill". The guy looked weird at him and left before George had realized he shouldn't have said that. His friends would've understood that he was joking but he didn't know if that guy new. George looked at the mirror for the first time that day and noticed his red, puffy eyes and the dead look on himself. He didn't like it, but he liked the way he looked skinnier.

Clay heard someone walking down the hallway and he thought he heard the name "Toby". That must be Tommy and Nick's friends. Clay stood up and waited for them to arrive. "Hey! Are you Clay?" one of them said. He looked at the for the first time and noticed the height difference. One of them was even taller than himself and the other one was basically half his size. "I am indeed, yeah," Clay said. "I'm Toby and the tall one is Will," Toby introduced them. "So you met Nick first?", Will asked. Clay nodded. Technically he met the guy on the stairs first but he didn't seem to notice him, so that doesn't count, right? "Well, if you met Tommy first, you definitely would've left school immediately," Will joked. "Hey! That's my best friend!" Toby said and hit Will. He wasn't intimidating though.