𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙧 [𝙡𝙞𝙡𝙣𝙖𝙨21]

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑 ; 𝐩𝐭. 𝟐

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𝐨𝐦𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭
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WAVING LAZILY AT THE BUS driver, a suddenly exhausted montero stepped off the bus and began his short trek to haven bridge. his eyes constantly flicker between his phone screen and up ahead because he was preoccupied by the groupchat with his newfound friends.

he snickered to himself when jordan sent a funny meme as a response to a point bryson made about the spreading coronavirus. the epidemic in itself wasn't funny at all, but the way the boys were going about it made the situation light. 

after about six more minutes of walking, montero had arrived at the building and opened the gate, making his way to the side entrance. 

he had pocketed his phone because his hand was starting to get clammy from holding it for the past thirty minutes. upon opening the door, it was strangely calm, only light voices of conversations could be heard. he saw some of the kids sitting at the table doing their homework, as they arrived shortly before he did. 

his stomach rumbled loudly as he grabbed a napkin and went into the pantry to get some chocolate chip cookies.

a door in the corner of the hall opened to reveal ms. shanice, patting her head fiercely. her eyes lit up a bit and gave the dark skin boy a warm smile. 

"hey baby," she greeted, embracing him in a hug. montero grinned and hugged her back. "hi ms. shanice."

"how was school?" she asked walking over to the cabinet for glass. taking out a pitcher of iced tea, she poured it halfway to the top and put some ice in it.

"it was okay, just long and slow. glad i'm back." he answered, taking a seat at the kitchen island. he bit his lip debating on whether or not he should tell her about his new 'friends' and their attempts to become so. when he felt comfortable, montero shared quite a few things with ms. shanice, but friends were never one of them.

"also..." he trailed off, grabbing the woman's attention. "i think i made three new friends." he twirled his thumbs and looked down at the marble counter.

he heard an excited squeal, making him flinch out of his chair. ms. shanice came around the table to engulf him in another hug. "w-was that you?" he chuckled, still kind of startled. he never heard a grown woman make that type of noise. 

"nah, it was the queen of england. of course it was me!" she said sarcastically. "this is so excitin'! now tell me all about them. what are their names? how did you meet? what do th--"

"okay okay, calm down." he let out a soft laugh. "it's two boys and one girl. the girl's name is summer and the boys' names are jordan and bryson." images of them flashed in montero's mind as he described them to her. "they came up to me a few days ago when i was eating lunch outside. since i was by myself i guess that felt bad for me and came to sit with me. they gave me their numbers and rode sat next to me on the bus on--"

montero was cut short when the doorbell rang out. they both looked towards the corridor and ms. shanice got up from her seat next to the boy and walked towards the front entrance. 

turning back around in his seat, montero quickly finished his chocolatey treat and threw the napkin away. he frowned a little that the doorbell interrupted his story. it just made him not want to say anything anymore, feeling it would be unimportant since the moment had passed. the dark skin boy licked his lips and picked up his backpack, and a bottle of water and took a long sip. he was about to go isolate himself in his room until he wanted some more food.