The Tree in the Forest

Chapter Thirty

The end of the school year is coming up and you are not ready. You don't want to leave highschool as much as you thought you did. Being an actual adult seems far more stressful.

You had a conversation with Karkat about this once. It was over the phone while he was out doing something.

"You excited to leave school?" He asked.

"Sort of, but sort of not," You answered.

"Yeah, I get it. I'm actually pretty happy about it. It just means I'm that much closer to actually doing something with my life." He said.

Yeah, Karkat was bound for success. He was smart, and that wasn't just you overly sweetening it. He had amazing grades and had technical stuff in the bag. He was going to college for a degree in medicine and you firmly believed that he could achieve it if he put his mind to it.

The only thing that you're even remotely looking forward to is prom. You're not missing your chance to dance with Karkat at a real dance. Yeah, that time when he danced with you when you were eleven was awesome, but this would probably be even better. You are definitely not missing it after you and him missed both homecoming dances in favor of staying home and watching movies.

Rose and Kanaya were going on and on about how excited they were for it. They loved shit like that.

Everything has been going pretty okay. The only thing dampening your mood is stress, and you can handle that.

As far as you can tell, the only thing that's been bugging Karkat is fatigue. That's one of the symptoms that just refuses to go away. You have to admit, though, that him sleeping through a few plans is better than him puking his stomach out in a hospital.

Karkat says that he hates that it's still evident at all in him. He didn't like to talk about it or even think about it. You don't blame him, either.

                                           ~<>~

  You were in a room with all of your friends. Of course, you were at Vriska's house since she had the biggest one.

  This was the first time all of your friends got together in one big room for a while. With you all applying for college, studying for finals, and trying to make plans for adulthood, none of you really had time to hang out.

  "So, this is nice," John said. He was a lot happier than he was letting on, but he's always had a hard time properly expressing himself. Sometimes, he shows a lot of emotion, other times he doesn't.

  "Yeah." You mumbled. You all watched a movie after that. It was chosen by John, so it was obviously a shitty movie.

  You fell asleep at some point. Probably sometime early in the morning, despite how you normally fell asleep late. You woke up first, surrounded by the sleeping bodies of your friends.

  You studied each of them, wanting to take in as much of their friendship as you could before you had to leave them for college.

  John was still a loud and childlike sleeper, but he looked older with Vriska against his side. You don't know how he did, he just did.

  Vriska wasn't exactly quiet, but was definitely quieter than John. She slept on her side, too, while John slept on his back.

  Terezi was closest to you and Karkat. She was a really cool girl regardless of how she looked. You hated when people tried to evaluate her based on her appearance. People always avoid her and you can't help but feel like it's because of her burn scars. Vriska gets the same treatment and, in spite of how much of a bitch she can be, she doesn't deserve it, either.

  Kanaya was dark-haired and tan-skinned. She always wore lipstick and you think she was the one who inspired Rose to do the same. Rose didn't wear lipstick until she moved here.

  Rose looked similar to you. The only differences were hairstyle, eye color, and gender. She had chin-length blonde hair and blue eyes that sometimes looked purple depending on how much light hit them. Se was smart, too, and had her mind set on being an author. You're pretty sure she could do it easily.

  Karkat was just as beautiful and handsome as always. You loved the way his hair looked and felt. You loved the clearness of his grayish eyes and the the way his skin felt. He was smart and funny. He could be a bit of a douche, but he couldn't hold grudges against his friends or family. You liked how he smiled even when he was tiredly grinning at you in a hospital bed years ago.

You settled into a comfortable position and waited for everyone else to wake up. You listened to each of them as they breathed and watched their bodies rise with each breath.

You don't ever want to give up the friendships you have with them. If you all drift apart, you'll put you all back together again, no matter how long it takes.

~<>~

You left at about noon. You took Karkat back to his house and offered to take Terezi. She declined your offer, saying that she was going to stay at Vriska's for a few more nights.

Terezi was going to law school, which is hilarious considering how unlawful she acted sometimes. She wanted to be a cop when you were younger, but now she wanted to be a lawyer.

You don't know what Vriska was going to school for or if she was going at all. You wouldn't be surprised if she waited a few years before going.

When you got home, Bro was sitting with Jake on the couch. You quietly stepped by them, muttering out a small 'hey' before retreating to your room. Roxy asked you where Rose was and you told her that Rose was going to stay at Kanaya's.

Today was a good day.

~~~

Help me. I have writer's block rn and all I can write is shit.

It's mostly because I know that I have to wrap this up soon, but I don't want to. Hypocritically, I do want to wrap it up so I can work on some other things.

Why do I have such a hard time making decisions?

Okay, but on a serious note, should I write the prom scene or not? I'm not sure if I should simply for the sake of brevity. Maybe I could just write out the aftermath? (Chances are that they're gonna do the secs again so...if you wanna read that, just tell me)

But put whichever one you want in the comment section while I write the next few chapters.

See ya then

~Ghostie