Unexpected Quarrel

[30th December]

I was on edge the whole night; I hardly received any sleep. I didn't even entertain Dylan's judgemental stare from opposite the dinner table. "I will spill my glass of milk on you if you don't stop jabbing your cereal," Dylan finally warned. "A delightful refreshment, if you ask me," I blurted out, bringing the bowl to my lips and swigging down the soggy cereal in one go. Dylan gawked at me in repugnance. "You're a fucking menace."

"Language, Dylan!" my aunt emerged out of the kitchen with our lunch boxes. Dylan grumbled something under his breath before champing on his bowl of breakfast. Me, a menace? He's eating cereal, dry!!

After Dylan was finished, he popped a lollipop into his mouth. His mother glanced at him with disapproval. "Too much sugar is not healthy, Dylan. You don't want diabetes, do you now?" she then faced me. "Ethel, I'll need to talk to you before you leave." that spontaneously made my body tense as I turned to her. "W-why?" "Don't ask questions," Dylan intervened as he made his way to the door, not before pausing beside me. "Don't take too long, I'd like to be punctual for the whole semester," he said coolly before departing.

What's with him? One day he's like the spawn of Satan and the next a decent human being. He's so bipolar, for Christ's sake!

My aunt replaced Dylan on the table. Before I could say anything, she pulled out a familiar-looking folder from her back. My eyes widened. "What was this doing in your room last night?" she asked. "You don't have to be apprehensive; I just want to know why. It's your birth certificate, after all." she smiled at me. "I...I guess I got curious," she hummed. "I suppose you remember why we had to change your name...right?" I nodded, though I was uncertain. I recollected Johnny's statement last night. Was it that?

"Now go, don't be late now." I nodded again in silence and rushed to the door. Opening the car door, I saw Dylan side-eyeing me from his seat. "Took you long enough," he grunted, rolling the lollipop in his mouth. I didn't answer as I pulled the seatbelt over my body. The car started driving off and we sat in reserve.

Well, not really.

I could hear Dylan gnawing and masticating on the rock-hard candy from my seat. It was kind of bothersome. Especially now that I don't get offered the cola lollipop like usual. My Johnny privileges were gone.

"Why do you always bring around lollipops?" I groaned softly, moving to lay back in my seat. He turned to me, unamused. "Why do you keep asking about things you already know?" I furrowed my brows at him. He rolled his eyes before staring right ahead.

"I used to smoke. Lollipops help with the addiction."

"Huh? But you're seventeen."

"Your point?" he immediately questioned, brow raised in anticipation. "...never mind. Do they know?" I pointed towards our house, indicating his parents. "They did. That's why I had to stop."

"Is grape your favorite?" he glanced at me, feeling baffled on why I was asking so many questions. "Yeah, it is." he shifted uncomfortably. "Cola is my favorite." I tried my luck. Dylan scoffed softly. "Not that I asked." He leaned his head on the window, eyes closed. I frowned.

The driver dropped us off at school. Students were already bustling around the building by the time we arrived. There were about twenty minutes left until class.

I was straightening my uniform and going my way to the gate when a lollipop was shoved in my view, making me halt. I almost stumbled in my step. I glanced at Dylan to see him staring at me with a blank look. "Oh, thank you!" I grinned and accepted the candy. He said nothing and continued his walk. I was giddy until I caught a glimpse of the expiration date on the milky white stick.

That fucker, this shit expired seven days ago!

"Hey!!" he glanced at me over his shoulder with a smug grin. I scoffed, unwrapping the candy anyway. Whatever, it's probably still edible. I heard hard candies can last up to a year when stored at room temperature! Dylan's pocket is fairly at room temperature, right? I popped it into my mouth before jogging up to him.

"Why'd you have a week-old candy in your pocket?" I asked.

"Why're you such a busy body?" he retorted. I rolled my eyes and stayed silent beside him. Dylan was 30% bite and 70% bark. How dangerous can he possibly be?

"I've always wanted to give it to Johnny last week but he was always surrounded by Nick and the other guys," he muttered. "Oh," I was surprised to hear that. Come to think of it, I hadn't received any candy for the past week as Johnny.

Coming into class, I was delightfully surprised to see Johnny cowered in his seat behind mine, glaring at students who glanced his way. "Johnny!" I chirped. He turned to me with slightly wide eyes before he gave me a look of distress. "Man, fuck off." he snapped, resting his head on the table. "Are you fully healed?" Dylan asked, taking his seat next to Johnny.

"Hm. I was barely injured anyway." his words were muffled between his arms. Dylan nonchalantly tossed a cola lollipop in Johnny's direction and it landed on his table with a thud. Johnny glanced up, a small smile forming on his lips when he saw the candy. "Thanks," he muttered before unwrapping it. He made eye contact with me as he stuck the lollipop into his mouth. His brows furrowed as he turned to Dylan.

"You gave him one too?" he asked. "It's expired. I needed a bin to throw it in." my eyes twitched at his statement. "You fucker." he rolled his eyes at me. 'I didn't ask you to eat it." before I could reply, the twins walked into class, prim and proper as ever but they looked worn out.

"Hey!" I waved at them. Dylan wasn't fond of that but he didn't say anything.

Nick was in his own thoughts while Silas weakly waved at me before taking his seat. But before he could even place his butt on the chair, he slipped and fell under the table. He hurriedly got onto his feet, his wide eyes staring at the resting figure on the desk behind me. "Johnny!?!?!" Silas stumbled on his way to Johnny who slackly glanced up at the call of his name. "Yo,"

I glanced at Nick. Did he not tell Silas? Didn't they have a sleepover!? What on Earth happened?

"Oh my god, you're h-here!!" Silas went in for a tight hug. It took Johnny by surprise as he tried to pry the older off. They were in a pretty uncomfortable position too.

"Did Nick not tell you??" we all turned to Nick who was sullen and mindlessly flipping through the pages of his notebook. Not to mention, he was also donning an oversized sweater over his uniform which was very unusual of him.

"What?" Dylan scoffed, turning to face me. "Did Nick take on your habit of wearing a jacket now?" no one laughed. Not that he expected us to. "What happened to Nick, Silas?" I asked in a hushed manner. "Well..." Silas glanced at Nick who was biting on his nails and rocking his legs. Even Johnny became concerned and lifted his head to peer at Nick. I frowned.

"I can't say. It's personal." was all Silas told us. It was understandable. "But the good thing is, you're finally back!" Silas turned to Johnny. "I was gone for a day."

"Ethel, Johnny," Nick suddenly appeared by our tables, startling us. "Come with me, please." Johnny and I exchanged glances before getting up to follow him out. I felt Dylan's suspicious eyes on me on our way.

"I'll just be here..." Silas muttered, taking my seat and fiddling with my stationery.

"The court officials have gotten back to me," Nick stated when he shut the door of an unoccupied classroom. Our eyes widened. "So, what did they say?" he sighed, before shaking his head. "They were confident they saw Johnny's face at the scene that day. They insisted on having him as a witness tomorrow." Nick rubbed his temples, his sleeves riding down and revealing a couple of purple bruises on his wrist. "What's that-?"

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Nick suddenly screamed, yanking his arm away from me. He looked so panic-stricken. It was my first time seeing him so hostile. "I-I'm sorry," I retreated my hands and awkwardly backed away.

Nick took a step back, realizing what he had done. "I-" he cleared his throat, putting on a poker face. "My apologies. As I was saying," I exchanged glances with Johnny, who was also approaching Nick alongside me but backed away when I was yelled at.

"We should meet up somewhere after school. The two of us can tell Johnny everything we know and saw at the park before tomorrow." I nodded. "Sounds good to me," Nick sighed in relief. "My first time meeting Rikki after weeks and this is the way we have to do it." Johnny leaned on a desk dejectedly.

"Right, how did Silas not know about Johnny being awake? I thought he slept over at your house last night?" I asked. The two of them exchanged glances. "Something came up at home, we had to awaken his family in the end. They were so thrilled to see Johnny alive and well that their irritation washed away in an instant." Johnny groaned exasperatingly. "Come on! I was only gone for a day!" he flung his arms around, flustered at how everyone acted like he was missing for months. He told us he was swarmed with questions once he entered the school premises today.

"I guess you can say they were Johnny-sick." it was a hilarious joke! Well, to me, anyway. None of them laughed as they gave me looks. "Sorry," I cleared my throat.

-

As usual, Nick and I made our way to the garden outside while the others went first to reserve the table. The reason the both of us always had to stay back was due to our assigned chores to tidy the classroom together this week. It took up like ten minutes of our break. But it was only for a week.

Walking to the table, I was amused to notice that Dylan did not even bat an eye at me as he ate his food in silence next to Johnny. He was pretty content, not to mention. Johnny, on the other hand, looked like he was in a daze as his school lunch was left untouched on the table. No one dared to bring up Jay, afraid to touch a nerve or make someone upset. But someone just had to ask about Jay's recent operation last night.

"How's Jay doing?" it was a harmless question; Ethan was just worried since he wasn't there to accompany Jay. But at the mention of his name, Johnny was brought out of his thoughts as he stared down at the table gloomily. "No changes," Nick muttered, pulling on his sweater sleeves which caught Dylan's attention.

"Why are you wearing a sweater today?" Nick stiffened at his question. "I just felt... cold." "Could've worn the school blazer but you do you," Nick didn't appreciate Dylan's statement. "Don't you think you're being a little too ignorant of the situation going on right now?" Dylan was about to take a bite out of his mini cake but he brutally threw it back into his container at Nick's question, startling all of us. "The fuck do you mean by that?" he poked his tongue on his cheek, glaring at Nick.

Dylan is aloof, we all know that. But this was his friends we are talking about. One is hospitalized and in a vegetative state, and one is on trial tomorrow. He was happy-go-lucky the entire time.

I wanted to add something but I bit back, afraid of what he'd do to me.

"The entire time, you never asked about Jay or the younger, never visited the hospital-" "I said I'd visit on Friday," Dylan gritted his teeth, his fists tightening. "Come on, let's not argue, please," Ethan begged frantically, glancing over the two of them.

"...okay."

"Whatever."