𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐤|| 𝗧𝘆𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗚𝗮𝗹𝗽𝗶𝗻'𝘀 𝗧𝘄𝗶𝗻 𝘅 𝗬/𝗻 𝗟/𝗻

𝟙𝟜.

"Hey- woah... What's wrong?"

Entering the Weathervane, I couldn't control the tears welling up in my eyes. Don't cry, y/n. It's not worth it. Tears don't fix anything, so just don't... "Hi, yeah, I accidently poked my eye." I quickly lie, rubbing my tears, pretending as if I got dirt in there or something.

"You sure?" The brunette raises his brow skeptically. Dang it, my voice must've given it away. "Mhm. Positive." I nod. "I'll uh, just have the usual. My mom's probably at a meeting or something. She was supposed to pick me up." I sigh, waiting for my coffee.

"Well, I mean, considering you just came out of therapy 30 minutes early, I'd cut her some slack." He shrugs, making my drink. "Oh, you saw that?" I ask, surprised. "Well duh. The building's right in front." He shrugs. "Hey, are you sure you're okay?" He asks as I kept balling my fists.

"You know what, bring me some of your cookies too. I'll be waiting for my food... right there." I mumble, quickly walking away, realizing that I needed some space, rushing to the nearest booth. Trying to calm myself down, I was wondering why it bothered me so much.

Every time I think I'm over it, something makes me realize that I might never get over it. And it hurts, alright? But so does the thought of wanting to forget it all. Sure, forgetting would make my life a lot easier... But at the same time, it'll also make me feel very disrespectful, in a way.

Gosh, get yourself together, y/n!

"Hey..." A voice snaps me out of my internal conflicts, and no, it wasn't Tyler with my food, unfortunately. "Hi." I greet the boy I've been secretly admiring for the past 4 months now. "Is this seat taken?" He asks, a little shy but also determined.

"No, go ahead." I mumble, and he sits in the seat before mine, facing me. "So... That was intense, huh?" He starts. "What was?" I ask rather defensively. "Last night." He shrugs. "You sure you saw that too, right?" He asks. "Or were you just trying to back us up?" He then adds.

"I mean, though that sounds like something I would do, I don't know you guys enough to support you blindly." I answer bluntly. "I don't remember much after I blacked out, obviously... But the other things are still pretty fresh." I add. "Especially that grotesque beast." I scoff.

"Not gonna lie, when I first saw it, it awfully resembled those braindead zombies from that one game I used to play." Atlas admits. "Plants vs. Zombies?" I say, thinking the same thing. "Yes! That one." He nods. "Except make it dumber and uglier." I add, grossed out by the memory of all that blood on my face. Rowan's blood.

"Yeah, you go to Nevermore, right? What do you know about the kid from last night?" I question. "Rowan." I elaborate. "Well, not much..." He mumbles. "I don't really talk to anyone there. Or anywhere for that matter." He trails off a little. 

"But he is/was my lab partner, Xavier's roommate." He replies. "Is?" I raise my brow at him. "Wait, didn't you hear?" He leans in a little. "Hear what?" I ask, invested now. "The deputy found his body today. Alive." He says, making me look at him with shock. 

"Wh-what? How is that possible?!" I choke on my saliva. "That's what Addams and I were trying to figure out." He scoffs. "So that's why Kinbott was so skeptical the entire time!" I figure. "Hmm, nah. She has always been wary of us outcasts." He rolls his eyes.

"On that note, however... I know it's none of my business, but I'm sorry for your loss." He sighs, making me inch back now, crossing my arms uncomfortably. "I-I had no idea..." He mumbles. "Well, duh- We've exchanged like what, 2 conversations?" I roll my eyes.

The boy just looks down, a little uncomfortable. 

"So, how'd they find the boy?" I ask, changing the topic, feeling a little bad for snapping at him like that. "Well, obviously we were being interrogated by Weems, and later my fa-- the sheriff himself..." He starts. "And then when Addams finally requested for some time alone, the principal was oddly reluctant to let that happen." He adds.

"But when the man offered to take us down to the station instead for a formal statement, she finally granted us 5 minutes alone." He says. "Sure, it wasn't very productive..." He mumbles. "Although we did find out that the sheriff too believes that there's a monster out there, responsible for all of this." He shrugs.

"Of course, before we could find out more, Rowan suddenly showed up outta nowhere along with the deputy. And there's that." He finishes, drinking some of my coffee. "Too much sugar." He cringes a little, putting it down almost instantly. "Seems fine to me-" I scoff, taking a sip.

"I'll just go get mine real quick. Don't run away again." He says, quickly leaving. 

Okay yeah, maybe Tyler did go a little overboard on the sugar today. Must be that new organic gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free sugar the mayor was boasting so proudly about the other day. It's horrible and I think whoever made this should burn in hell.

"So what's happening to Rowan now? You think we can talk to him?" I ask once the boy returns with his drink, which was black as night and some freshly baked cookies. "These are for you, but of course you're gonna share." He says, placing the plate down, popping one into his mouth.

Bursting out laughing at his reaction, I could instantly tell how hot the cookies must've been. To cool it down, he immediately chugged down some of his coffee, which obviously made things worse, as that too was piping hot!

"Never mention that again-" The boy groans after finally swallowing it whole, and washing it down with a cool glass of water. "I admire your determination." I remark, somewhat amazed how he didn't spit it all out. Which is a good thing, because that would've been embarrassing.

"Back to Rowan... I'm not sure if he can talk to us even if he wants to." The boy then sighs.

 "What, why not?" I ask. "Well, obviously I wouldn't be doing any of the talking if we did go see him." He starts. "But I don't think that'd be possibly anyway, because I did see him pack his stuff before coming over here for therapy." He shrugs. "What does that mean?" I ask nervously.

"I think he might be getting expelled. Or it might just not be him at all."