【COZEN】Bloody Painter x Reader

❥Chapter 16

After what happened in that period with Helen, you two parted ways, you still kept thinking about it, you still felt that you were at fault for not helping him.

So you made up your mind to talk to him after school, you wanted to apologize for not helping him and at least try to do something to make it up to him.

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Last period finally ended, and Helen was the first one to get out of class, you were surprised but quickly ran after him. "Helen, wait!" You called out his name but he didn't hesitate to even stop a little and kept on running.

You slowed down, your steps getting slower as you only looked at Helen get away from you.

Was he mad at you for not helping? Was that the reason why he ignored you for the whole afternoon?

"Hey, (Y/n)!" A voice calls out to you, you turn only to see Maggie running towards you.

"Maggie?" You ask out loud, confused as to why she suddenly looked for you, she was usually with her friends after school.

She finally slows down, a look of guilt in her face, "(Y/n)... I'm very sorry." She says as she tucks her short hair behind her ear, she struggled to those words out of her mouth and didn't dare to look at you, "I know I'm not involved in any of this... but I want to apologize for the way my friends have been acting." She says.

You were completely frozen in the spot, it took you a few seconds to process this until your body proceeded to turn to Maggie completely, "Maggie." You paused for a bit, "you're in no place to be apologizing for them, they're the ones who should come and apologize in person, especially to Helen."

Maggie bit her lip, a frown laying on her face, "I know they won't apologize, but at least accept mine."

You furrowed your eyebrows, "I will accept it if it comes from both Judy and Ban." That's all you said before you turned and walked away.

There was no way you would accept an empty apology. Helen went through so much in a few weeks, and Ban of course wouldn't apologize neither would Judy, it was already made up in her mind that Helen stole her watch.

Days passed and you noticed how distant Helen became, especially with you, the seat next to you was empty as he decided to move to the other side of the classroom.

It hurt you, it really did.

Aiden noticed too, he would give you notes asking you if you were okay. He also told you that Tom became very distant with Aiden too, it was surprising to hear since those two were very close.

Lunch break started and you met up with Aiden under the tree, you sat next to him as you two shared food.

"I don't understand what's going on." Aiden said as he munched on his food, you take a look at him, small light patches laying on his face from the sun, he looked so tired and sad as he was talking, "Helen stops talking to you... Tom stops talking to me, don't you think it's a coincidence?" He asks.

You nod slowly, you still didn't understand, maybe you did something wrong that made Helen be like that?

"I feel like Helen is mad at me for not helping him that day..." you say as you take a look at your food, your thoughts making you lose appetite, making the food look less appealing. "I feel horrible for not helping on time."

Aiden puts a hand on your shoulder in a way to comfort you, he gives you a small smile as his eyes squinted, those soft brown eyes showing some sort of comfort, just the way Helen did before when he looked at you.

Aiden knew what it felt like to not help on time, he has experienced it a bunch of times, that's why he comforted you so much, he empathized with that.

You put your head on his shoulder, feeling drained for thinking so much. Your hand slowly made its way to the necklace around your neck, reminding yourself that your friend would do better.

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You slowly walked back to class, though as you turned around the corner you make a complete stop as you look a familiar figure in the distance.

Helen.

He looked like he was talking to someone, you slowly hide behind the wall as you looked at him, he finally seemed to back away as the person he was talking to appeared. Helen was smiling, he was laughing.

A part of you somewhere felt hurt, it felt like the times you tried to make him laugh was for nothing, the person he just met made him smile just like that, you try to look closely on who it was and then that familiar blond haired boy finally appeared.

Tom.

He was adjusting his glasses as he was talking to Helen, he was also smiling making silly gestures with his hands as he talked to him. You wanted to walk away but you just couldn't, just watching Helen acting that way with him felt different, he didn't act that way with you at all.

He acted polite, soft and very well mannered even if he made a few jokes here and there, maybe he was just being nice with you? Maybe he didn't want to be friends with you at all?

You felt a few tears threatening to come out, you looked down on the carpet for a moment then you look where the two boys were, only for them to be gone in a blink of an eye, your eyes just met a white wall where they were. You get out of your hiding spot then follow where they were.

You slowly peeked down the hallway where they were walking, you could hear Tom's voice echoing as he walked down with Helen.

Once you saw them, Tom was teasing Helen like he was a friend from years ago, it's as if Tom knew Helen better than you. He puts his arm around Helen's shoulders as they were messing around.

Aiden was right, this was a coincidence.