'You're moving?'
It was difficult to ignore the ominous silence following those two words as they rang out throughout the room. There were two reasons for this. For one, you couldn't ignore anything that came from Paulo's mouth as best you tried. It didn't matter how noisy the cafeteria was with everyone celebrating the final day of the school year; you heard. It was simple as that. Painfully obnoxious and obnoxiously loud; Paulo was the same as he ever was up to the end of his junior year.
But everyone's attention wasn't directed towards him. The complete attention of the room centred directly on one certain grey feline who wore a blue scarf around his neck. He was better known as Michael. Everyone around him simply referred to him to his shortened name; "Mike".
He was the second reason. Anything involving him was sort of a big deal.
'Yeah. . .' Mike said, feeling awkward, slightly embarrassed at the attention he was suddenly getting. Even the stares from his own friends, who looked on with some sadness in their eyes, 'Sandy was scouted by a University in France. They told her they'd accept her preference when she graduated next year, and. . . I've decided to go with her! I'll be moving to Richter and doing my final year at her school as well.' He smiled, 'It wasn't an easy decision to make!'
He struggled to keep his own emotions in check; he had lived in Roseville for all his life, he spent nearly every school day with the people around him. They all entered Roseville High together, but he would be absent when they would graduate from it. It was such an awful thought. They really meant the most to him. But there was Sandy, and she meant the world.
Paulo felt a mixture of emotions at the words himself, he didn't quite know what to say, or feel for that matter; a little sad, unsure, lost? When Lucy shifted schools the year before, he was heart-broken over it. This felt much worse. Mike had been there for him in times of need. He wanted to say something, something that would rile Mike and lift the life of the table…but he couldn't. Not this time. Something in him just refused to make light of the situation. There was a pain that was just too much to bear. When it came to Paulo's turn to say goodbye, he couldn't hold himself back and pulled Mike into an embrace. Their friends would need to separate the two, particularly when they noticed Mike starting to struggle for air.
'We'll need to do something before you go.' Paulo told him as he wiped a tear away.
Though they wouldn't get the chance; Mike disappeared the following week unexpectedly, only a few weeks before the school year ended. Rumour had it Sandy was already waiting for him as he got home that afternoon. They left that evening. Paulo hadn't heard from him since. How long had Mike held out from telling them? Paulo wondered as he stared up to his ceiling from his bed teary-eyed one night during the summer break.
Somewhere deep down inside of him, he wished he never let go of his closest friend.