Chapter 69 - 68 - Hanging Out(Part 4)

This is less than ideal...I mean, I get it, if I was in his position, I'd be curious too, but not the point where I'd do this! Tch, fucking extrovert. 

"H-huh?" She responded, looking uneasy. 

"Come on, spill the beans! You don't mind, do ya, Kilzachs?" Inquired Mitchell with a look of curiosity. 

If I say that I do mind, it might become an even bigger deal...might as well just rip off the band-aid... 

"Hmph, whatever."

"I'll take that as an 'I don't mind'. Well, come on, answer the question...uh...sorry, what was your name again?" Asked Mitchell, his expression blanking as he tried to recall her name. 

"It's, um, Bytra. And, well...," She replied uncertainly, her gaze shifting to me as she fidgeted. 

"What the hell are you looking at me for?" I inquired coldly. 

"N-no, nothing..."

"Brr, that was cold, man," Remarked Andre, fake-shivering. 

"Come on, come on, let's hear it!" Urged Mitchell, starting to get impatient...which was unintentionally putting more pressure on her. 

She let out a sharp exhale, before draining her beer mug and lighting up a joint, taking a deep puff, and then passing it as she stifled a cough. 

"Well...it was, um, about five and a half to six years ago...," She began hesitantly, though the inebriation was keeping her going. 

Looks like she's going for it...I sat through her recollection of our brief 'friendship'. And wow, she was going into it in detail...like really, she was leaving nothing out at all. So, of course, it took a while before she was done. And I was feeling a lot more irritated that I thought I would...I'd blocked out a lot of those memories, but her retelling them in such detail was making them resurface. 

"Yo...that's fucked up," Spoke up Andre, following a brief silence after she finished. 

"Are you serious!? You messed with someone's emotions so heartlessly just to get in with the so-called 'popular kids'? You're disgusting," Growled Suri, an absolute death glare in her eyes. 

Bytra's expression was unreadable, she was staring at the table silently.

"Wow, no wonder Kilzachs is so openly hostile towards you and Tairo, especially the latter," Remarked Mitchell with a wide-eyed look on his face, "That was a lot to process...we've still got four joints left, I think I could use one right now."

I stood up as he lit it and took a puff, heading for the door. 

"Where are you going?" Called out Zoya. 

I could feel the others staring at me too...sheesh, chill out, I'm not storming off or whatever... 

"Bathroom."

"Oh...," She replied awkwardly...yeah, she'd definitely assumed that I was storming off, and most of the others probably had too. 

But no, I'll stick around till this is over...this last part aside, I was actually kinda enjoying myself, and believe me, no one's as surprised about that as I am. I left the room and shut the door behind me, my knees wobbling slightly...my senses felt a bit dull, and I had the urge to go back and let myself sink into a beanbag again...also, I want to eat more sweets, like really craving them to the point where my mouth was watering like crazy... 

But first, I really do have to go to the bathroom, so let's take care of that first. Fortunately, it was pretty close to the room that I'd come out of, so I don't have to go searching for it. I dragged my feet over to the bathroom and entered, quickly taking care of my business, washing my hands and exiting with a sigh. 

"Hey."

Wha-...!? Woah, that startled me, my senses are definitely a lot duller than usual. 

"Oh, it's just you, Suri...what's up?" I replied, letting out a slow exhale. 

"Just, um...I was wondering if you're okay?" She asked with a look of concern. 

"Hm? Yeah, this is nothing, I'm fine."

"I can't believe you went through all that...I was always curious about your bad blood with those two, but I was afraid to ask, since it isn't really any of my business. After you left, things got kinda awkward in there...I might have torn into that bitch a little bit," She remarked sheepishly. 

"Oh? What did you do, exactly?" I inquired curiously. 

"Well, I asked her if she regrets what she did and when she said yes, I called her a shallow weakwilled bitch. And then called her a bitch a few more times." 

"Nice, wish I'd been there to see it."

"I recorded it with my I-Watch, I don't think anyone noticed...I'll send it to you later. Hey, are you sure you're okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm good, I got over what happened a long time ago. Though I'd be lying if I said that the memory doesn't still piss me off," I sighed, frowning without meaning to. 

"I see...hey, um...if you're not busy after this, do you wanna maybe come over to my place? My mom's away on a business trip to the West Quadrant, so, you know...," She muttered, the tips of her ears turning red as she gave me a slow, suggestive blink. 

"That...sounds nice," I replied with a gulp, before she beamed and stood up on her tiptoes, kissing me softly. 

"Then it's a plan...hey, by the way...that redhead earlier, is she really just your weapon, uh...person, or...?" She inquired, narrowing her eyes at me. 

"Y-yeah, she makes and does maintainence on my weapons, she lives in the same building you do, pretty sure I mentioned that at some point...I think."

"Huh...now that you mention it, it does sound kinda familiar. So, is taking care of your weapon needs all she does?" 

"Uh...no comment," I replied, averting my gaze sheepishly. 

"Hmmmm....," She stared at me closely with a frown, before grinning and kissing my cheek, "I'm just messing with you, but you just looked so nervous that I couldn't help it! Relax, I'm not going to pry into every detail of your life. Anyway, you should head back to the room with the others, 'kay?" 

She just keeps getting nicer and nicer to me...and I have to admit, that I definitely don't dislike that fact. I took a deep breathe and exhaled slowly, before heading back to the room, opening the door and entering it, before closing it as I got inside. 

"Ayy, you're back! You missed a couple of great rounds of T or D!" Greeted Mitchell, as he took a deep puff and handed me the joint, "Wanna try this group competition dare we're doing?" 

"Group what?" I responded with a raised eyebrow. 

"It's pretty simple, you inhale as much as possible in a single drag of the joint. You keep pulling until you either reach your limit or cough," Explained Andre, as I sat back down, "You game?" 

"Sure, why not?" I replied with a shrug. 

I then put the joint up to my lips and began inhaling, the end of it burning steadily along the length of the joint, Katie quickly held the ashtray under it to keep the ash from falling onto my clothes. Nice, I appreciate that. I think I've got pretty good lungs, whenever I take a bath, I sometimes dunk my head underwater and hold my breath, just to see how long I can do so. 

And at best, I push the three minute mark, even reached it a couple of times, but going beyond that is, well, beyond me. Hm, my throat kinda burns, but other than that, this is pretty easy...so long as I inhale slowly and steadily, this won't make me cough. 

"H-hey, man, it's been over a minute already, you can stop now! None of the rest of us made it past even forty seconds!" Exclaimed Mitchell, as I continued to inhale. 

I then stopped and passed the joint, slowly exhaling the smoke, a whole lot of it at that. I felt like my mouth was overflowing with saliva for some reason. Oh, wow, I think I'm really high now...my head feels really light, my body felt like it was spinning somehow, it was hard to explain...I sunk into a beanbag and sighed, closing my eyes as my vision began spiraling.

"You good, bro?" Inquired Andre, tapping my shoulder, as I heard the door open and close...must be Suri. 

"Yeah, I'm fine, everything's just kinda spinny," I replied, my eyes still closed. 

"Well, now that everyone's here again, let's get back to the game!" Suggested Lin, slurring her words slightly. 

"I second that!" Agreed Mitchell with a grin, "And it's only dares from now on!" 

"No way," Protested Suri immediately. 

"I don't like the sound of that either," Added Seila in agreement. 

"Me too," Chimed in Katie. 

"But-!" Mitchell began to argue in dismay, when Lin swiftly interjected. 

"Then how about this...," She suggested, making her I-Watch holoscreen visible to us and opening a writing pad app, "You guys each text me one dare, I'll compile them all in this app and label them with numbers, and each person has to choose a number, and will then have to do the corresponding dare. One of you can pick for me, since I'll be the only one who knows all the dares and how they're numbered."

"That's not a bad suggestion, I don't mind going for it," Responded Zoya, after she finished explaining. 

"Yeah, I guess that works," Added Mitchell. 

"I'm game too," Agreed Andre. 

"Everyone else?" Inquired Lin, looking around at each of us hopefully. 

"Fine, whatever," Shrugged Suri, though she seemed reluctant, probably didn't want to go against the majority and seem like a party pooper...which is how I felt. 

"Sure, go for it," I replied, going with the majority too. 

"I'm okay with it too," Said Seila timidly, as Katie hesitated for a moment, before nodding. 

"And you?" Lin asked Bytra. 

"Huh? Oh, um...I have no objections."

She's still here, huh? Why? She's barely spoken or been spoken to at all, while everyone else had been regularly chatting with at least one other person, even Seila and Katie, who were usually pretty quiet. This isn't really that surprising, to be honest, she pretty much exclusively hung out with Tairo and Makoto, and good ol'Asshole wasn't the most sociable with the rest of the class. 

He'd tried multiple times to turn some of my other classmates against me and join him in calling me a Dud and belittling me, but no one really showed any interest and ignored him, so he stopped talking to them for the most part. Basically, he's currently more of an outcast right now than I am...which is likely a big reason in why she decided to tag along today. 

Excluding Asshole, Makoto and Bytra, most of the rest of the class were fairly friendly with each other, so even though I wasn't close with any of them, except maybe Suri, this outing hasn't felt all that uncomfortable at all...but looking at her right now, having barely spoken to any of these people at all over the past six months, she looks like a fish out of water. 

I'm not extroverted or all that sociable, that's no secret, but I've made an effort to, at the very least, greet and return greetings from classmates, just to maintain an amicable acquaintanceship if nothing else...and that was paying off, I may not be particularly tight-knit or whatever, but I'd interacted with them enough to not be considered a stranger. 

Bytra on the other hand, was a lot more of a stranger. And I was enjoying watching her squirm, it'll be a nice end to the night if she gets an embarrassing dare...hm, speaking of which, what should I write? Oh, how about... 

_____________________________________________

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.

Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:

https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP