*PENCE*
"Let's go, Hayner!" Olette impatiently said.
"Why are you forcing me, huh?" Hayner yelled back.
"What are you two fighting about this time?" I asked, not really caring. I just knew that I would end up resolving their problem, as always.
"I am taking Hayner to go talk to Roxas," Olette said. I notice she held his wrist and was trying to drag him away.
"Why?" I asked.
"Yeah, Olette! Why do I have to do this?" Hayner quickly said.
"You haven't stopped complaining about Roxas's new girlfriend. Before, you were going off about how he was abandoning us for Kairi and popularity. When they broke up, you were all happy. Now that he's dating Xion, you're really mad again, and I'm sick of it!" Olette explained angrily.
Hayner, knowing that was true, looked at me. So did Olette. They were waiting for me to pick a side. I stared at both of them, building up suspense.
"Olette's right, Hayner," I said.
"WHAT?" Hayner yelled.
"You make problems, Hayner, you fix 'em," I replied, shrugging.
Olette laughed once she realized she had won. She walked away, dragging Hayner by the wrist, still laughing.
"So, how did it go today?" I asked Olette at lunch. I noticed Roxas had decided to sit with us, but Xion was nowhere to be seen.
"Hayner got all quiet, and started stammering," Olette said, before bursting into laughter. Roxas laughed with her, and Hayner blushed.
"What happened? What did I miss?" I asked again.
"What exactly did he say, Roxas?" Olette asked, giving Hayner a smug look.
"Something like, 'Sorry, I was mad at you. Now, I'm not,'" Roxas smirked at Hayner. Roxas, Olette and I started laughing loudly.
Hayner, somehow, turned even redder.
"Did you even explain why you were mad, Hayner?" I half-asked, half-laughed.
"Nope. I did, though," Olette chimed in.
"What would Hayner do without you, Olette?" I asked.
"He would be in jail," Olette smiled.
"No, I wouldn't! I'd be just fine without you, Olette!" Hayner snapped.
"Oh, really? I think we all disagree on that," Roxas said, smiling.
"Yeah, right! You guys just have no faith in me, do you?" Hayner asked. He was almost yelling.
"No, not really," I said blankly.
"Nope," Olette said.
"Not at all," Roxas agreed.
Hayner looked sort of hurt. Maybe we were a little too harsh. But, hey, we were being honest.
"Hey, don't be upset, Hayner! We're gonna stick by you anyways. That's what friends are for, right?" I asked, trying to cheer him up. Roxas and Olette smiled their agreement.
"Like when you got hit with that baseball? Pence and I took you to the hospital, even though you were screaming," Olette offered.
"Well, isn't that the right thing to do, whether you like a person or not?" Hayner asked, obviously still upset.
"Well, yeah. But I'm just saying," Olette began, but trailed off, unable to complete her thought.
"Either way, you're our friend, Hayner. That's what's important here, right?" Roxas asked, all smiles.
Hayner nodded and smiled, and I stared at him. He was pretending to be happy, pushing down the fact that he was upset.
"What's wrong, Hayner?" I cornered him by his locker afterschool.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Pence," Hayner replied, shoving a study guide in his backpack.
"At lunch, after we all apologized for being rude. You were pretending to be happy," I explained.
"What about it?" Hayner asked, staring at the floor.
"Why are you really mad at Roxas?"
"You figured out I was lying?" Hayner asked sheepishly.
"Of course. We are best friends, after all. The first time, since it was Kairi, it was expected. But Xion's really different, and she's really sweet. So what's your problem?" I asked.
Hayner went back to putting things in his backpack, some of which I noticed he had no need for.
Time passed slowly as we stood in silence.
"Roxas goes out with every girl I get a crush on," Hayner finally admitted.
"What? You like Xion?" I asked in surprise.
"Shh!" Hayner shushed me, looking around. "No one needs to know. Especially now that she's going out with him."
"Kairi, too?" I asked, whispering now.
"Yeah. Which is why I didn't want to talk to him after he dumped her for Xion," Hayner explained, slamming his locker shut.
"Are you ever gonna tell him?" I asked. Hayner began walking away. I followed.
"Of course not! How could I?" Hayner was angry now.
"Are you ever going to tell her?" I asked this time. Hayner stopped abruptly.
"I just might," Hayner said slowly.
"Who knows? Maybe she likes you better than him!"
"I doubt it. She supports him and talks to him every single day." Hayner began to walk again.
"Well, she is going out with him." Isn't that obvious, Hayner? What's wrong with you?
"What?" Hayner asked, whispering for some reason.
"She's going out with him," I repeated.
"Olette's going out with Roxas?" Hayner turned around to face me, and dang, was he ticked.
"You like Olette?" I whispered. "I thought you like Xion."
"Well, yeah, I like Xion a little bit, but I've like Olette since we first met," Hayner admitted.
"That was years ago," I said, in a sort of shock.
"No, duh, Captain Obvious."
"How could I have not noticed?" I asked, dumbstruck.
"Maybe because you like her, too, and she quickly replaced me in your life," Hayner accused me before sprinting away, down the halls, to nowhere in particular.
Hayner's right. He really has been neglected by us all, hasn't he? Roxas stole his crushes. Olette ignored his affection. I replaced him in my life. How has he kept up such an unaffected demeanor?
Should I ask him? Or would that hurt him even more? Gosh, I don't know what to do!
Then a thought occurred to me.
What if Hayner's thought about committing suicide? It would have been our fault. Oh, my gosh, I wouldn't be able to live with that!
I thought about calling Hayner, but that just might make it worse. So I called Olette instead.
"What's up, Pence?" Olette answered the phone.
"Oh, hi, Olette; can I ask you something?" I was rushing my words anxiously, so I tried to force myself to calm down.
"Sure," Olette answered, sounding curious.
"Um…Do you li – what do you think about Hayner?" I need to think before I say something. I could really screw this up.
"Well, he's our friend, and he's funny. But, he's not very reliable, usually. He's pretty angry a lot, I guess," Olette answered slowly.
"Yeah, he's our friend, but have you ever thought of him as more than that?" I asked. Crap.
"What?" Olette asked, sounding shocked. "No, not really… What's wrong, Pence?"
"Okay, I'll just get to the point. I think Hayner might be thinking about suicide."
"What? Why?" Olette asked, obviously upset.
"I…I don't really know how to explain it. But, I can say that it would be our fault," I explained.
"What? I mean, sure, we can be mean to him, but…I thought he knew we care about him!" Olette's voice pitch was spiraling upward.
"Calm down, Olette. It's just a hunch, I have almost no evidence. Just keep this between the two of us, okay?" I asked, regretting calling her.
"O-of course," Olette replied. She sounded like she was about to cry.
"Okay, good. Don't tell Roxas."
"Right. What are you going to do, anyways?" She still sounded upset.
"Don't worry. Just leave it up to me, Olette," I replied.
I just have to figure out how deep Hayner's subtle pain is first.