Chapter 2
The next day at school, Edamura kept an eye on Laurent, Cynthia, and Abby in the cafeteria. He sat at the empty table next to the vending machine in the back of the cafeteria. Laurent, Cynthia, and Abby sat at the table closest to the exit of the cafeteria.
As he ate his lunch, Edamura noticed just how rowdy the group really was. They talked awfully loud, so loud that Edamura could hear them from halfway across the cafeteria in a room full of other loud kids talking. They were currently laughing obnoxiously loud at something on Cynthia’s phone. Upon squinting a bit, Edamura could make out male genitalia. Edamura blushed and distracted himself with his phone. Since they were laughing at it, Edamura assumed it must belong to one of Cynthia’s exes.
After finishing his lunch, Edamura decided to leave early and go to the library and study a bit more. As he walked past Laurent’s table, he prayed he wouldn’t be noticed. Of course, he was.
“Edamame! Come sit with us!” Cynthia smiled at him.
“No thanks.” He replied before trying to walk away. Laurent grabbed his wrist to prevent him from leaving.
“Why not? Don’t think I didn’t notice you staring at us all lunch. If you wanted to sit with us you could’ve just asked!” Laurent had that stupid smirk on his face again.
“I’m going to the library to study.”
“Geez! You’re always studying! Have some fun, learn to let loose a little!” Cynthia rolled her eyes.
“Come on, there’s an open seat next to Abby!” Laurent gestured to the space beside Abby. Said girl glared at him. He didn’t know what he had done to offend her.
“Abby doesn’t look like she wants me to sit next to her. I have to study anyways, I have a test next period.” Edamura told him.
“You’re the smartest kid in school, you’ve probably been studying for this for weeks now.” Cynthia looked at him unimpressed.
“I have, but it’s always good to refresh my memory right before to ensure I get every question right.” Edamura huffed before walking away without another word.
“How are we gonna remove the stick from that boy’s ass?” Cynthia asked.
“I have the perfect plan.” Laurent smirked. “But, it’s probably illegal so it’ll have to be our last resort. For now, let’s just spend all our time annoying him until he caves in.”
Annoy they did. Edamura noticed the rest of the week, he was constantly around at least one of them. He found out he had a class with Abby that he hadn’t realized before. Laurent and Cynthia also managed to transfer into one of his elective classes each. How they did that in the middle of the school year, Edamura had no idea.
The three of them continued to annoy him throughout Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Laurent always stared at him in class as he tried to concentrate. Cynthia always started random conversations with him in the middle of class while he was trying to pay attention and answer questions. Abby always asked him for an extra pencil every single class, but he could tell she would rather be anywhere else than talking to him at that moment.
At lunch on Friday, Edamura sat at his usual table by himself. He was surprised when he felt two people sit in the seat across from him. He looked up and saw Katie and Hannah.
“Uh, hey?” He smiled in confusion. They never sat with him.
“Edamura. I just thought I’d let you know there are a lot of rumors going around about you right now.” Katie frowned.
“What? New ones?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, ever since you started hanging out with those dangerous people.” Hannah added.
“Dangerous people?”
“You know, Laurent, Cynthia, and Abby. They’re always skipping class and getting into trouble and have awful grades?” Katie explained as if he was dumb.
“It’s not like I ask them to hang out with me. They’re just sorta everywhere I go now.” He frowned.
“Well unless you distance yourself, we don’t wanna be associated with you anymore.” Hannah told him.
“Wait what? Why? How bad are the new rumors?” Edamura furrowed his eyebrows.
“At first we didn’t care since we knew for a fact the rumors were fake since we’re involved, but now people are saying that you’re dating Laurent and doing dangerous activities with him and his friends.” Katie sighed.
“What? I’m not dating Laurent!” He shouted. A few people looked over at them. He didn’t notice Laurent, Abby, and Cynthia looking at him in curiosity.
“Well, even if you aren’t gay we can’t be associated with someone who seems gay. You have been hanging out with him a lot lately. He’s the only out gay student in school, too.” Hannah explained.
“He is? That’s not important. You guys won’t hang out with me anymore because you think I’m gay?”
“No, because you hang out with Laurent who is gay, and his gay could spread to you and then to us!” Katie panicked.
“Being gay isn’t a disease! You know what? If that’s how you think then I don’t wanna be associated with people like you either.” Edamura got up from the table and stormed towards the cafeteria doors.
“Edamame! Sit with us?” Laurent offered before he could leave.
“No.” He pushed the door open and went straight to the library.
Luckily, Edamura didn’t have any classes with Laurent, Cynthia, or Abby for the rest of the day. He did however run into Laurent on his way to his last class of the day.
“Edamame! Wanna hang out with us after school?” Laurent asked.
“No thanks.”
“Oh, come on! It’ll be fun!” Laurent assured him.
“I don’t want to.”
“Honestly? I don’t think you really have a choice. Unless you’d rather be friendless for the rest of your high school career. Don’t you wanna know what it’s like to have friends?” Before Edamura could interject, he continued. “I mean real friends. Not those girls in the cafeteria who implied being gay is a disease. Thanks for sticking up for me, by the way. You acted like a true friend back there.” He smiled. It was weird seeing him smile genuinely instead of smirking.
“Look, I’m sorry. If I’ve survived school this long without friends, I can deal with one more year after this one ends.” Edamura told him before walking off to his last class.
As he watched Edamura walk away, Laurent ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. He took his phone out of his pocket and quickly sent a message to the group chat.
“Plan B.”