BUGBOY | DORBYN [DISCONT.]

08

gym class was almost over, thank the lord.

not that it was corbyn's least favourite class, but, it kinda was. he hated anything that had to do with physical education unless it was the body's anatomy, which wasn't exactly physical.

the only thing that really got him through that class was the trio that always accepted him whenever he was left out of any other group.

corbyn was most familiar with zach herron, they used to sit together on the bus sometimes and zach usually offered him a ride home, now that he had a car. he knew jonah frantzich from the art class they took last year but he, like zach and jack, took chemistry instead.

jack avery was a familiar at the insectarium, he often brought in his younger sister, isla, to see the different projects they did. she liked when they nursed butterflies the most, but she still remained very active in participating for the other things they did.

they all had math and english together, being in the same grade had some perks. the only thing was that corbyn didn't knit himself into the group, they were school friends, and everybody was okay with that.

the volleyball smacked off jonah's forearms, heading in zach's direction as he quickly dove for it to jump over at jack. they were only doing a small volley circle since the class was basically over, and after corbyn managed to hit the ball zach leaned over to him.

"no secrets, dummy." jack tried to catch the ball, and jonah beat him to it, all four of them putting their heads together. corbyn almost wanted to laugh, but the emotion faded when zach spoke.

"reid and samuels, twelve o'clock."

they were obnoxious, per usual, giving a fist bump to the teacher. mr. henderson was probably one of the only teachers that didn't absolutely hate them.

"class! put the equipment back, go get changed."

zach and corbyn took lead for their change rooms while jack and jonah ran off to put back their ball. with corbyn's luck, they'd probably slipped in without any notice.

"maybe they don't know what my stuff looks like?" corbyn's hands fiddled with themselves, zach pushing open the door with a sigh.

"i appreciate the optimism, corbyn, but i think we both know what's true here."

corbyn nodded solemnly, brushing past zach and hurrying into the change rooms.

his clothes were there, his backpack was still hung up, everything seemed completely fine.

that is, until he leaned down to grab his clothes and found a small puddle sinking into the fabric.

water dripped onto his hand.

corbyn worked hard for his grades, it was the only thing he could do other than observing bugs. don't get him wrong, he loved them, of course, but it could easily get boring over some periods of time.

so he was devastated to find his backpack drenched.

he pushed his clothes to the side, unzipping the bag with feverish speed. his notes, his textbook, they'd poured water into his backpack and left it to ruin the ink.

he pulled the binder from his backpack, lips pursed as zach leaned in to remove his textbook too.

it would be fine, he could dry out the textbook over a heater at home. but his notes were a different story.

the white papers were almost falling apart, ink and graphite seeping and swirling and when corbyn tried to move a single page the corner ripped off in his palm.

his teeth dug into the flesh of his lips, swallowing thickly as his heart dropped. they had a test tomorrow.

of course, of all things, they had to ruin biology for him.

this was a month's work, completely gone down the drain.

zach, upon hearing the door open, closed up corbyn's books and put them back in his bag. "we'll figure it out at lunch, okay? go get changed."

his hand landed on corbyn's shoulder when passing the balled up clothes over, pretending as though he didn't see the tears welling in corbyn's waterline and spinning him to face the bathroom stall.

daniel saw him, for once. actually, olivia saw him first.

"bug—!"

his hand clapped over her face, the rest coming out muffled. it didn't stop the rest of their group's eyes to land on corbyn, though.

he was accompanied by zach, jack, and jonah. daniel always saw them sit at a signature picnic table. while they did interact during the main classes, a lot of their classes were mixed and matched. daniel didn't know if they were friends or not.

corbyn's head fell to his hands when he sat at the picnic bench, fingers tugging the hood over his head with how different the atmosphere was in comparison to his usual place.

"who's in your bio class? do you think you can get the notes off the teacher in time?"

"isn't daniel in bio?" zach's question drowned out jack's, where jack lifted his head and spotted daniel immediately.

"he's right over there, we can ask for his notes if you'd like."

before daniel could protest, jack, being the loudmouth he was, called out for daniel in quite a loud voice.

"jack!" corbyn tugged him down in a hushed tone, lips pursed as he glanced over to daniel. of course, he was on the way.

"what? you need the notes, corbyn. i don't care if i have to ask, but it'd make sense if you did considering you're the only one who needs it."

jonah, being the most silent of that lunch, rubbed a comforting hand on corbyn's stiff back.

"avery, right?" holy fuck, his shadow's on the table, his shadow is right in front of me. he's standing right next to me.

assumably, jack pointed to corbyn.

"what's up, besson?"

daniel squat down next to the table, staring intently at corbyn. corbyn's arms dropped a little, straightening himself out and turning to face daniel better.

his lips were chapped, and the area around his nose and eyes had slight evidence of being irritated. the whole tell was how watery his tone was when his mouth finally opened.

"i— uhm..." he cleared his throat. corbyn wanted to be home, tucked away under his bedsheets. his head dropped to his hands, fiddling with his fingers. "are you busy this evening?"

as much as daniel wanted to make some joke, he knew it may cause corbyn to call off their interaction, so he shook his head, voicing it in case corbyn couldn't see it from his peripheral. "no, not really. how come?"

"can we go to the insectarium after school? we don't have to watch the butterflies but... i— i need some help studying."

corbyn besson, the smartest person daniel knew, asking him for help? he wouldn't decline, no, of course not. it was just weird to hear.

"of course, i'll meet you at your locker, is that cool?"

to be completely honest, corbyn didn't usually go to his locker in the evenings unless he absolutely had to. "can we meet here? if it's a burden then i—"

"no, no. it's fine by me, don't worry." daniel watched corbyn's shoulders drop a little, tense posture decreasing as he took in a quiet, deep breath.

"cool." corbyn exhaled, nodding with a forced smile directed at daniel. daniel smiled back with a much more genuine look.

"cool."

EXTRA NOTES
-last chap was short you really
think i'd leave you there ? smh ofc not

-i may in the future tho it depends on my ✨schedule✨

-anyways yeah sorry in advance but hopefully
updates can get more frequent around
christmas (i'm so excited for break i stg)