Promise?

Chapter 4

Lyric and Claire returned to school, and for most of the walk, she talked from her friends to her brother about what she liked to do in her spare time, the hobbies she had picked up and more. When Claire spotted her friend, Lyric was already gone when she turned to say goodbye to him.

Lyric knew he wouldn’t get attached to her or her friends. People left. It's what they did. So he would save himself the pain by not getting attached. Now, his mind knew this. It would be a different story if he could hold out on it.

The majority of the student body was in form. A few were loitering around in the halls; they all ignored Lyric as he walked past to the roof. He was the only one who had the key. He had managed to get it from the janitor when he was in quiet mode. He knew the janitor had pitied him, but it got him access to the one place no students would be, so he was okay with it.

He made his way up, holding the warm cup in his hands. He jogged to the shed and went inside, pulling on the light switch as the bulb flicked and came to life. He was relieved to see the blanket he had used previously was still in a crumpled mess.

Lyric put his drink down as he remembered he had an inhaler somewhere. He scrambled around and found the small blue inhaler. He shook it, but it turned out to be empty.

He sighed, picking up his drink. He was about to leave the shed when he heard the door open. He held his breath and closed his eyes tightly as he turned the light off. All he had to do was regulate his breathing. This was fine. He could do it.

“Where’d you go when I helped you find the boy with the three modes?” that sounded a lot like Zeke.

Lyric panicked slightly. Why were they on the roof?

He wanted to know if it was only Claire and Lyric, or was the rest of the group there too?

“I don’t like Lyric,” someone else said. “He has a big mouth on him and what kind of name is Lyric?”

“Says you, Kaito,” Max said. Lyric recognised Max’s quiet voice. He was surprised he had somehow heard it.

“I’m Asian. Kaito is a perfectly acceptable name,” he spat back.

“Claire, why was his neck bruised?” Zeke asked, ignoring the arguing boys.

“Billy strangled him.”

They stayed on the roof all through form and break. Once Lyric was entirely sure they had gone, he stepped out.

He had finished his drink a while back, and he missed having something for his hands to do.

Lyric walked towards the ledge and slowly climbed up.

Everyone was in class. He was sure no one would miss him. Hell, no one would even realise he was missing.

Lyric believed himself to be unimportant. He thought he just existed in everyone’s lives. A side character that no one liked. Hell, he was not even liked because that meant they had some sort of feelings towards him. He was just there.

He missed school frequently. So, to everyone else, it would simply be another day he wasn’t in.

Would it be today? Lyric thought it might be. He was sure.

He looked down, and it was so high.

All he had to do was jump, and poof, he’d be gone.

He hoped once he was gone, the feeling of being a ghost would end up being here and not being here simultaneously. All he had to do was take a single step.

“What the hell are you doing?” A voice said from behind him.

Lyric turned around, eyes wide. He frowned when he saw black hair and stunning green eyes. His right ear had been pierced multiple times, and he only saw it because of the sunlight hitting all the piercings.

“Get down!” the boy snapped as he cautiously stepped forward.

Almost as if what Lyric did next was crucial.

Lyric thought it wasn’t.

He would jump; he’d be dead.

He would get down; he would be alive.

“Lyric,” he said, dragging Lyric from his thoughts. “Get down.”

He was still taking those small steps towards him.

Lyric turned around and eyed the football field.

He leaned forward. He didn’t panic, not in the way you would expect. He was relieved. He would have fallen, too, but he felt the grip on his wrist. The boy pulled him away from the ledge, and Lyric glared at him. The sun shone down on him, and Lyric was startled. His green eyes shone beautifully, almost like a forest had been trapped inside his iris.

Lyric scowled, pulling his arm away from him.

“Why would you do that?” he hissed. “I was going! I was almost gone! I would have been free!”

Lyric wanted to know why he wasn’t in class. The boy was supposed to be in his class.

“What the hell were you thinking?” the boy hissed.

Lyric shrugged. He had wanted to be free, and this was the way to do it.

Lyric looked at him. This boy was pretty. He was so pretty it almost took the breath out of Lyric. He had never made eye contact with him before because he had always intimidated Lyric, but Lyric hated himself for never having the courage to do so.

“Don’t go quiet in me. Claire said you're in asshole mode.”

Lyric still had his eyes glued on the male, the pretty male.

The boy scowled. “Are you even listening?” Lyric blinked a couple of times. “Bloody hell, Claire said you were weird. She didn’t say you were suicidal. I need to talk to her about her friend choice.”

Lyric wanted to speak up, saying that Claire and him weren’t friends. They were simply friends in her mind, and she was more like an annoyance in his mind, but he couldn’t bring himself to get the words out.

“You need food,” he said. “I dragged yo down and you weighed next to nothing,” he muttered. He turned on his heel and left.

He wasn’t supposed to be here. Lyric wanted to know if the boy knew he was staying in the shed. Did Clair tell him about his mother? Would he tell everyone what he saw?

Lyric was panicking when the boy stormed back up to the roof.

“Stop standing around like a lemon and follow me,” he hissed. Lyric blinked a few times, finding the boy very rude, he walked ahead, and Lyric followed behind him quietly.

The boy was angry. Lyric wanted to know why he was angry.

The boy stopped outside a classroom and turned to look at Lyric. “Wait here.”

He opened the door, and as it shut, he heard the yelling. Lyric waited. Five minutes later, he came out with an angry-looking Claire. Lyric noticed the boy’s bruised, swollen knuckles.

“Lyric!” Claire mused as Lyric stared at her. “Oh,” she said to no one in particular. “He’s changed modes again. Wait, why is he with you?” The last question was directed at the pretty boy.

“Claire,” he said, frowning. “I seriously question your choice of friends. He-” Lyric interrupted his statement by stomping on the boy’s foot. He hissed as he shoved Lyric back, glaring.

“He what, Roland?” Claire asked, a frown visible as she stared between both boys.

“I thought he was your friend,” Roland asked. Lyric paled slightly. Where was he going with this?

“He is.”

"Don't you feed your friends until they throw up?"

"I do."

"Then go do that. I have to go beat the s**t out of Anthony."

"Row, you said you'd leave Anthony alone,” Claire whined, glaring at Roland.

"You're right, I did say that." He nodded to himself, turned on his heel and left.

"Right, Mr, come with me." Claire grabbed Lyric’s arm, and he snatched it away, glaring at her. "I'm just going to assume you don't like being touched when you're in quiet mode." Lyric didn't say anything, and she walked ahead, and he followed her.

Lyric was scowling at the ground as he spiralled.

Roland hadn't told Claire.

Why?

Would he use this against him? Probably. Most definitely.

Would he try again soon? Probably.

~*~