Origins- PART VI
Kento lead Rowen all the way down to a secluded corner of the basement of the school. "Sit," he commanded.
"What are we doing down here?"
Kento folded his arms. "We need to talk."
"We're missing lunch."
"I don't care."
"You?" Rowen said slightly teasingly.
A brief smile touched Kento's lips. "This is more important." He sat down next to Rowen. "Rowen, what happened back there?"
Rowen turned away and remained silent. "Rowen, I can't help you if you don't talk to me," Kento said.
Rowen's face darkened. "Ah what the hell does it matter anyway," he said, getting up to leave.
Kento put a hand on his shoulder and gently pulled him back. "Rowen, it does matter. This can't keep going on. It's tearing you apart, it's hard on Cye, and it's killing me. Talk to me Ro."
There was a long pause. "He said..." Rowen took a deep breath. "He said I wasn't a good friend."
Kento frowned. "What would he know about it?"
"Nothing. That's what I told him." Rowen sniffed.
Kento rubbed Rowen's back. "Hey, you can't let that stuff like that get to you." He smiled. "'member that time in fourth grade when we were reading that little kiddie book and I kept mixing the words up 'cause of my stupid dyslexia? You came over every day after school for a whole week to help me out and then at the end of the week I aced the test."
Rowen smiled at the floor. "Yeah..."
"You are a good friend Ro. I guess just not enough people choose to get to know you."
Kento took a long pause. "That wasn't it," he said softly.
Rowen sighed and plunked himself back down on the floor. "No. He also said that if I was pissed off about my life being fucked up then it was my own damn fault."
Kento grimaced. Damn it Cye, what the hell's the matter with you! "It isn't your fault," he said firmly.
"Yeah..."
"I'm serious Rowen, look at me." Rowen looked. "He shouldn't have said that. He doesn't know. But because he doesn't know, you can't take that sort of stuff to heart. Ya just gotta let it slide off and go on about your business."
"But it's so hard.. "
"I know. But you've survived your life this far. You can do it... Hey Ro?"
"Yeah?"
"There's still some time left in the period. What say we go get some food?"
Rowen smiled. "Yeah."
The two left the basement. "And then since we missed so much of the period," Kento continued, getting excited, "we can go to my house after school an' my mom'll fix us up a big plate of whatever we want an' we can have seconds, thirds, fourths..."
* * * * * * * * * *
Kento sat in the library during his eighth period studyhall, knowing full well that Cye would come in looking for him. Sure enough...
Cye sat down next to Kento. "Hey Kento," he said.
"We need to talk."
Cye shifted uncomfortably. "Um, yeah, about that. I'm really sorry and..." Cye launched into a long-winded apology.
I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, Kento thought. But I refuse to make a judgment until I've heard the whole story. "Cye," he said, cutting off the apology, "What happened?"
Cye leaned forward. "He yelled at me to stay the fuck out of his life, essentially telling me not to be friends with you; he called me a prick; he shoved me into the lockers twice, a concrete wall once; he chased me around the entire school, tackled me three times, punched me in the stomach, let's see, what else..."
"Uh, no, that's enough," Kento said. Well, great, now what? I guess I've got most of what happened, but that still doesn't help me. Damn it, why can't these two just get along like normal people? "This has got to stop," he muttered.
"What?"
"I said, 'this has to stop. One of you guys has gotta be the mature one and take the high road on this. I personally don't care which one of you it is so long as it gets done. So what's it gonna be, are you gonna be the leader or the follower?"
In this case I'd just as soon be the follower, Cye thought. Course I can't tell him that. "I suppose I could try to be the leader," Cye said slowly. "But it's just so hard!" he whined.
"Yeah, well, you're not the only one who thinks so," Kento said. "As a matter of fact, you've probably got it the easiest of all of us."
Cye fidgeted with his pen. "Yeah," he sighed, remembering everything he'd heard from various sources - including Kento - about Rowen. "I guess. But what about him? If I have to try then so does he."
"Never you mind about Rowen. I already talked to him."
"Oh."
"Speaking of which," Kento said, a slight edge coming to his voice, "you and I need to have a little talk about what was said..."
Oh boy, Cye thought. I'm in for it now...