ADRIAN'S POV;
School was like any other day for me not untill lunch time, when Bryan dragged me to join their table.
Lunch had never felt this long.
Lisa was also at the table as she kept staring at me, while the others tried bringing me into their conversation, but the soon stoped may be, because they understood that I didn't want to talk.
Apart from that, the cafeteria buzzed with its usual chaos, the shouting, laughter, trays clattering. The sun was high, casting sharp rectangles of light across the floor. I was picking at my sandwich, half-listening to Bryan complain about his math teacher, when the world in the cafeteria soon turned quiet.
Bryan's voice cut off mid-sentence. His eyes went wide, locked on something behind me. Then his chair screeched back, nearly tipping.
"Fredrick?!" he shouted, like he couldn't believe his own eyes. "Fredrick!"
I froze.
The name hit me like a stone. Fredrick.
I twisted around, and there he was, walking across the courtyard like a ghost made real. Except he wasn't the same kid I remembered. He was taller now, broader, his jaw sharper, his shoulders stronger. His stride had this calm confidence, the kind that drew stares without him trying.
And then he smiled.
That smile. It was exactly as I remembered, crooked, mischievous, like he was always two steps ahead of everyone. It used to be ours, back when he and I were inseparable. Back when the three of us, Avery, Fredrick, me, were a trio nobody could break.
But it had been years. Fredrick had left without warning, dragged away by family problems he never fully explained. Emails trickled in at first, then silence. Time built a wall, and eventually I stopped waiting for his name to light up my inbox.
Now here he was, tearing that wall down with one grin.
"Friedrick," Bryan breathed, he and Fredrick knew each other through Avery and they became friends too.
Before I knew it, they were hugging tightly, desperate, laughing like kids again.
For a moment, I just sat there, frozen. Watching my once best friend Fredrick, wrap his arms around Bryan, a scene I had witness many times growing up with them and it never bother me but now, somehow, it pricked me really hard.
Soon, Avery was also hugging him expressing her surprise and all, but as they laughed, something sharp twisted in my chest. Because Bryan looked… different. Alive in a way he hadn't when it was just the two of us.
Somehow, I felt, I'd only been a placeholder until Fredrick came back (not that we started talking not long ago).
The three finally pulled apart from a group hug they did, still grinning like idiots, and Bryan dragged Fredrick towards our table. "Sit, sit, you have no idea how much you've missed!"
Fredrick dropped into the seat beside Bryan without hesitation. Of course he did. My spot. While Avery sat beside me and elbowed me with a smile, gesturing I say something.
"So," I said, clearing my throat, trying to sound casual, "back from the dead?"
Fredrick chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Something like that. Family dragged me overseas, you know the story. But I'm back for good this time."
"For good?" Bryan voice was breathless, like he couldn't believe his luck.
"Yeah." Fredrick shot him a grin. "Not running off again."
And just like that, Fredrick whole face lit up.
I forced a smile, tearing my sandwich in half. The air felt heavier, charged with something I couldn't name.
Bryan started talking a mile a minute, filling Fredrick in on teachers, students, the disasters we'd survived while he was gone. I chimed in once or twice, but mostly I watched. Watched how quickly Bryan leaned into him, how easily Fredrick laughed at things that weren't even that funny. Watched how I became background noise at table. At this moment I deeply regretted sitting here, I could have just sat on my normal sit
It stung. More than I wanted to admit.
At one point, Bryan nudged Fredrick, grinning. "You should've seen Avery last semester. Remember the talent show, Avery? Tell him."
She blinked, clearly caught off guard. "What?"
"The rap thing," Bryan said, laughing.
Fredrick's eyebrows shot up. "Rap? You? Please tell me this is real."
Her face turned red as she blushed nervously. "It wasn't that bad." she said trying to avoid Fredrick eyes.
Bryan wheezed, clutching his stomach. "It was worse."
They collapsed into laughter, feeding off each other's energy, while I sat there, the feeling like I was the punchline of a joke I hadn't signed up for.
I forced a smile too, but inside something coiled tighter.
*********************
After Lunch
The bell rang, scattering the cafeteria. We headed for history, a combined subject for all final year, but Bryan and Fredrick walked shoulder to shoulder, so close their arms nearly brushed. Normally, I would have longed be in the class, but somehow I trailed behind, my bag heavy on my shoulder.
In class, Fredrick took the seat behind Bryan with Avery beside him. Without asking, without hesitating. And Bryan kept glancing back at him, grinning whenever their eyes met.
I sat on the last sit on other side, my pen tapping against the desk. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Mr. Pearson, the history teacher droned on about wars no one cared about. But the real battle was inside me, every time I saw Bryan laugh in response to something Fredrick whispered.
Bryan was turning back to Fredrick, scribbling a note and passing it backward. Fredrick read it, smirked, and scribbled something in return. The sight of their exchange, burned my chest. Before now, Bryan was all over me, acting like we been friends for a long time but now he was all about Fredrick
Now I was just… there.
*****************
Later
By the end of the day, Avery dragged me along as the four of us stood by the lockers. Ethan was telling a story about the city he'd lived in overseas, his voice animated, his hands moving as he painted the picture. Avery and Bryan was hung on every word, their laughter filling the space.
I leaned against my locker, arms crossed, pretending not to care. Pretending the words didn't sting when Fredrick said, "You have to come over this weekend, Bryan. We've got so much to catch up on."
We.
Not we, the four of us. We, him and Fredrick.
Bryan grinned, nodding. "Wouldn't miss it."
My throat tightened. I wanted to speak, to remind them I was standing right there. But the words stuck, heavy and bitter.
Instead, Avery said, "Yeah. Should be fun."
Fredrick concord and the three went on talking and laughing.
And in that moment, it hit me l
ike a punch, Fredrick wasn't just back. He was back to stay.
And I wasn't sure there was room for me anymore.