the prince and the peasant | skephalo | DISCONTINUED

the disease

~Darryl's POV~

I smile, glad to have a friend like Zak. I look up at the stars, realizing how late it was. "I think I should go. Vincent is going to find out eventually,"

Zak nods, not wanting to me to go but knowing I have to. "I'll come with you if you want," Zak offers. It makes me smile, but I knew it would be better to go alone. Especially after everything Zak said and the tension there would be between Vince and Zak, I knew it would be better not to.

"I think it's best if I go on my own. Thanks, though. I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" I say to him before helping myself up. I hear no response so I just assume he's nodding.

I turn to see him one last time and wave. I started to make my way home, by myself, out in the night. Fortunately, I make it home safely. I go to check my room. No one was there. I check my bathroom. No one was there either. My whole house was empty.

Vincent had left.

———

After the weekends had passed, school came to take it's place. My parents thought that Vincent and I got into a fight because of his early take off, so they urged me to apologize the next time I saw him. Even though I already did, I would do it again to see if Zak was right about the manipulating part.

Once I arrived to school, I noticed Vincent, pulling out notebooks and textbooks from his locker to place them in his locker. I clear my throat before walking up to the French boy. I start to strut up to Vincent, but I get blocked by a bunch of kids, talking to me.

"You're that one boy, right?" One asks me, "The one that's friends with the prince? Do you think we can hang out some time?"

"What?" I blurt trying to continue making my way to Vincent without interruptions.

"Yeah!" One says. "I saw you talking to him at the party! I was there when the prince came to our school. He came to talk to you! I just wanted to let you know that my family is poor, we could really use a loan,"

I knew what they were doing so I tried my best to tell them off without being rude. "Um, I really sorry. I'm a bit busy right now,"

I look up, behind all of the kids piled up to talk to me and see Vincent. His eyes lay on mine from afar. He's frowning, putting out his last notebook. Once he does, he closes his locker and starts to walk away, breaking the eye contact.

I turn to look back at all of the kids, look back down at the high school's floor, and let out a long sigh. I knew I shouldn't feel sorry. Vincent was the one that kissed me, but I still felt like I was the one that did something wrong.

I study my shoes and everyone else's shoes. They continue to talk to me and refuse to go away. I didn't want to come off as rude so I let them stay, even if it annoyed me.

Once they had finished up with all of their questions, I politely excused myself and searched for Vincent. I knew a few kids were probably following me, but once I made my way outside to the courtyard, I knew no one was stalking me anymore. I see Vincent resting on one of the benches. He was awake, sitting in a slouched down position. I smile slightly and sit next to him.

He sighs as I take my seat. "Please go away, Darryl. I know you left to see Zak. You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to," he says gloomily.

I start facing him. "That's why I'm here! To apologize. I was just very confused at the moment and I wasn't sure what to do next. I wasn't thinking when I left. Zak wasn't even there when I visited the graveyard. The cookies weren't even there either," I lie.

"Really?" He says, his voice sounding a bit cheery than earlier.

I nod my head. What Zak warned me about was right, Vincent was subtly blaming me for the things he did. I played along with it, as if I didn't know he was doing it. "Of course! I'm sorry if I came off as rude yesterday. As I repeated multiple times yesterday, I was just confused. I think we should be able to go back to being normal friends without anything weird between us. So, are we good?"

Unsure, he forces a smile and nods. "Sure. Just one question. If I were to do it again, would you be mad?"

I feel myself get hot, Vincent laughs at the response. I cover my mouth, muffling my words. "Um. I don't know how to answer that,"

He continues to giggle. "I'm not going to do it again. I'm just curious,"

I put my attention to nearby plant, studying ever detail of the leaves. "I don't know. I'd probably just confused again,"

My response earned another laugh.

———

Shortly after school had ended, I excitedly made my way to the graveyard. I rested on Zak and I's usual place. I see the prince start to walk up to the same place I was at and take a seat next to me.

"Hello!" Zak beams.

"Hi!"

I notice Zak, he's holding a paper bag in his left hand. "What's that?" I ask him pointing to the bag.

He giggles and pulls it in front of me. (😏) I smile and open up the bag and pull out what's inside. It was a chocolate muffin, one of my favorite flavors. I gasp and start to dig in.

"Thank you Zak!"

"No problem! And look, I got you this too!" He pulls out a cornflower that was carefully placed in his pocket. He giggles and tucks it behind my ear. "Pretty!"

I laugh, feeling blood rise up to my cheeks. It was a weird feeling, one I had never felt before. My heart flutters at Zak's touch. My stomach feels weird, filled with a tingly sensation. One may call it butterflies, something I had never felt before. It was like nothing I had experienced before. Why was I acting like this? Is it because Zak actually listens to me and remembers the things I like? These days it's hard to find people who listen.

I hide my face in my hands to prevent looking strange. "You ok?"

"Mhm, my stomach is just acting weird," I inform Zak.

He starts to get worried. "Are you sick? Do you want to go home? I can help you there. Are you ok?" He freaks.

My heart starts to beat faster at his worries. "No, I don't think I'm sick, I'm just feeling a bit weird,"

I glance over at his face. His expression seemed concerned, I was starting to worry that I was upsetting him. "Your face is red, you sure you're fine?"

I nod and try biting on the muffin to drown the feelings out. He grunts as I choose not to speak. He holds my chin, turning to my face to face his. We lock eye contact. My ears flood with the sound of my heartbeat. My breathing gets heavy, it was some sort of disease.

He placed his left hand onto to my forehead, checking my temperature. I stare at Zak as he stares back, giving me a serious yet caring stare. "Darryl, you're hot. You should probably go home and rest. If you want, I can go home with you or take you to the palace and take care of you there,"

"I promise I'm not sick. If I was sick, I would leave so you wouldn't get sick either but I'm not so I'm staying!"

He removes both hands off of my face to laugh. "Whatever you say,"

I continue to eat the muffin, trying to cool myself. There was an awkward tension that I set out to break. "You want a bite?" I ask Zak.

He raises an eyebrow. "You're sick. Why would I want to share a muffin with you?"

"I'm not sick!" I yell.

Zak gives me a charming giggle. Something about Zak was just so.. perfect.

It was like he gave me some sort of disease.

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Thank you for reading part 14 :)

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Happy chapter 14! :D

Sorry for the very late update :((

Words: 1438