Part 28 - Hang out

Pugsley

I knock on the closed door a few times, awaiting an answer as I shifted my weight between both feet. We'd agreed 10am at his dorm room, and to bring all the stuff we were going to need to make this thing happen.

"Are you sure that this is really a good idea? You guys could get in serious trouble of the teachers find out."

Y/n says from beside me. She wanted to come with me since she wasn't doing anything else today except studying, and I told her she could do so while hanging out if she wanted, and she agreed to the idea surprisingly quickly.

I shrug with a smile.

"I run that risk every day living with you, and so far we've been fine, a couple hours of this should be a piece of cake."

She sighs.

"Alright then. But if you guys get caught, I'm not covering for your butts, you got it? I can't be an accomplice to in-school trading."

Before I was able to come up with a witty remark, the door swings open, and my money making partner stands on the other side.

His attention is first directed at me,

"Dude,"

He then addresses Y/n.

"And dudette."

He steps out into the hall, spotting the giant chest I'd dragged with me, with the help of my ever so considerate lady friend, who was currently making her way into Eugene's dorm as he and I conversed.

"Is that the stuff?"

I nod.

"Yup, everything I've snuck in to school over the past week, plus all of the shit I stole from camp when I raided the kitchen. And then,"

I reach into my backpack, pulling out a stack of papers.

"The piece de resistance, I broke into Tudor-Pole's classroom, and voila, all of the answers to the upcoming math quiz that nobody wants to do."

Eugene's braced teeth flashed a grin as he took the papers from me.

"Oh dude, this is awesome, we're gonna make so much cash from all this stuff."

I return the smile as I move to stand on one side of the chest.

"I know, it's gonna be epic. Help me with this?"

He gives me a quizzical look as he points back into his dorm.

"Why can't she do it?"

I couldn't tell if he was kidding or not, I mean who does he think helped me move it here in the first place? Besides, if I had another choice, I wouldn't have asked her to help me, it wasn't the polite thing to do to ask a lady to do heavy lifting. Especially since her feet were still a little sore from yesterday.

I hear a singular clap from inside the room as Y/n pipes up in a a very condescending tone towards Eugene.

"Okay, listen, Eugene my man, I love ya, but that's your problem now, yeah? I am not lifting that thing again."

A small huff of laughter escapes me at her statement, and when I look back at Eugene, he just rolled his eyes. Though there was no real malice behind his expression.

"Yeah yeah okay. There's a spare desk in the corner, you can sit at that while you're here."

Her gaze turns to where he was referring to, and she smiles.

"Thank youuu."

She goes to set up her stuff, as Eugene and I each pick up a side of the chest, starting to carry it inside the room.

"Sorry I didn't tell you I'd be bringing her along, she'll probably just hang out and study until we're done. You don't mind, right?"

He scoffs.

"You kidding? Nah, I don't care if she's here. It'll be fun, I mean she's my friend too, I like having her around. I trust her not to rat us out."

I nod at his words, and I agreed. I trusted her too. And hey, it was like the three of us were finally hanging out like a real friend group, which is all I really wanted, it really can't get much better than this.

When we finally set the heavy chest down on the floor in one of the corners of the room, he let's out an accomplished huff.

"Yeah, I mean as long as she keeps her trap shut, we'll have a great time."

He said it more directed at her, with a mischievous smile on his face, which was soon replaced with a surprised yelp when an eraser came flying at the back of his head.

Y/n was sat at said desk, and didn't even bother to look when she threw it at him, and yet somehow it hit perfectly. She was focused on the paper on the surface of the desk, and she just held her hand out expectantly.

"Oops, I need that, give it back would you?"

The two of them acted so much like siblings towards each other, and it was nice to see that they actually got along pretty well when Eugene wasn't being kind of an ass, and when Y/n decides to not be violent towards him. Well, mostly.

I suppose they went through a bit together last year before I met them, so they've got a shared past that I would only assume is what made them so close.

Eugene looked up at me, and the two of us shared a short bit of laughter at the ridiculous chain of events as I reach down for the eraser on the floor, picking it up and tossing it back to her, and she caught it swiftly before returning to her work.

"Thanks Pugs."

I guess that game of ring toss came in handy after all.

Oh shit.

I forgot, I still haven't given her that keychain I won as a souvenir for her. I think it's still laying somewhere hidden in my desk amongst all the other bits and pieces I've collected.

I did still have time to go back to our dorm and get it, but I wasn't sure that now was the right time to present it to her. She was trying hard to study, even tough I had offered to give her one of the copies of the answers sheets, and I think with Eugene here, there's a good chance he'll make it into something weird. 

So maybe later.

I turn back to the chest on the floor, leaning down and undoing the latch that held the top in place, and once I lift it up, the haul of awesomeness before us becomes displayed in it's full glory.

Eugene's jaw dropped as he stared down at everything I'd gathered for today, and he raised his hand in a fist towards me as he kept his gaze on the box of stuff.

Holy shit, were we about to fist bump for the first time?

I carefully reciprocate the gesture, trying not to mess up in case it scared him off, but it seemed to go well, and when I looked back at over to Y/n to see if she saw what just happened, she already had her gaze on me, and she was giving me a smile, one that said,

'you did it'

She held up a discreet thumbs up, before turning in her chair and going back to what she was doing, starting to hum a tune that once again I didn't recognize, tapping the end of her pen on the pages of her notebook.

"So, you ready to get started?"

Eugene's head turns to me, and I give him a short nod.

"Let's do it."

««« ♪ ♪ »»»

Okay.

So I might have underestimated how quickly word spreads in this school.

The line of students that were here to buy stuff that couldn't be found anywhere on campus was quite literally out the door.

Eugene even had to get a freaking clipboard to keep track of all the stuff we've sold so far.

Safe to say that this idea was a raging success, just like we had planned.

And, we were roughly...

I glance at the piece of paper attached to said clipboard in Eugene's hands.

Holy shit.

150 bucks?!

It had been maybe what, an hour? Hour and a half? That is way more than I thought we'd make all day, and we still had a ton of supply left to get rid off. We were on a roll.

And even with the bustling sound of all the kids talking to each other, I was still able to hear the soft hum that was coming from the corner of the room, along with the occasional scratch of a pencil against paper.

Y/n had kept to herself this whole time, apart from the couple of laughs that she gave us when she heard the lies we made up to make more sales, but she didn't say anything.

The current guy standing in front of me was interested in what we had to offer, and I had to make it sound like a good deal.

"I'm running a special on the answers for Tudor-Pole's math quiz."

He gives me a unsure look.

"How much?"

"Guaranteed A, or your money back."

Eugene adds on to my pitch, and with that, the guy hands me his money, and in return, I pass the sheet of answers over and he walks away.

Eugene and I made a pretty good team.

When the next customer moved up to stand in front of me, he didn't say anything at first, there was just a lasting silence between him and the both of us that I wasn't sure what to do with. But when I looked up at his face, his eyes were pointed off to the side, like he was staring at something behind us.

I turned my head to see where he was looking, and when I realized what it was, I felt my jaw clench.

Y/n was directly in his line of sight, softly tapping her pen against the desk as she continued to hum to herself, and the look in this guys eyes while he was staring at her was pissing me off. It was that same look that cadet had when he'd winked at her back at camp. Like lust.

And his head gestured towards her as his attention finally came back to me, and he had a smirk on his face as he spoke in a creepy tone.

"So uh, how much for a date with that cutie in the corner?"

I knew it. I'd really thought I'd seen the last of guys that wanted to get into Y/n's pants when I beat up the cadet, but I guess no matter where we are, there's always gotta be somebody acting like an asshole.

I heard a grossed out sounding scoff come from the girl behind us, and honestly same, this dude could not leave fast enough. But the guy wouldn't let up with the weird looks, and Eugene started up saying something in a polite tone.

"I'm sorry, but-"

I didn't feel like being nice to this dude, so I cut Eugene off, death glaring the douche in front of me.

"She's not for sale."

He raised both his arms up in mock surrender when he saw the look in my eyes, and he scoffs.

"Chill out man it was just a joke. Well, mostly."

I nod my head towards the door.

"I suggest you leave."

His expression drops, like he couldn't believe I'd taken what he'd said for real, but even if it was a 'joke', I wasn't going to let him get away with objectifying Y/n like that.

He tried glancing to Eugene for help, but the curly haired boy just shrugged in agreement, and the guy looked back to me.

"Seriously?"

"I said get lost."

He clicked his tongue, shoving his money back into his pocket when he realized I wasn't going to let up on this, and he rolls his eyes.

"Whatever.."

He turned on his heels, marching out of the roof in a huff, and I was glad to get him out of here so I didn't have to look at him anymore. I look back behind me at Y/n, who had her gaze on me, with a tiny almost unnoticeable smile on her lips, and she focused back down on her work after she and I made eye contact for a few seconds.

I don't know exactly why, but sticking up for her just felt so right, like it was second nature to me. I didn't even have to think about it, there was no second guessing my mind when it came to guys flirting with her like she was some piece of meat. She deserved better than that, and I would never let it slide while I'm around.

Just as I was about to talk to the next person in line, a familiar figure strides across the floorboards, and then soon she marched up to the chest of merchandise, shutting it with a loud thud.

What the hell was my sister doing here? Now's not really a great time for her to torment me.

And why was that red head girl Agnes with her? Wasn't she like stalking Wednesday or something.

She turns her death gaze over to me.

"Store's closed."

When nobody makes a move to leave, she directs her chilling tone to them.

"Everybody out."

A loud chorus of disappointed groans fills the room as every single person that was waiting in line starts to leave.

Come on man, we still had more money to make.

I hear a voice speak up from the desk for the first time in a while.

"Thank youuu."

I shoot Y/n a confused look, and she shrugs.

"It was getting too loud in here. I couldn't focus."

Oh, well if I'd known that I would've found her a more quiet place to sit, or I dunno, covered her ears or something. But she didn't say anything.

I didn't have time to ask her why, before Wednesday glared at me.

"Your zombie. When's the last time you saw him?"

Well shit.

I shift uncomfortably as I maintain eye contact with her, as to not show her any sign of weakness that she could grab onto and use against me.

But apparently my silence was enough to do so.

She takes a small step towards me.

"You know my waterboard is in my closet."

Ya, I know. I saw you pack it before we left home.

A small whisper from Agnes joins her threat.

"Right next to her skeletons.."

Both Wednesday and I give her an uninterested look before I rolled my eyes, caving to her question.

"I saw him at Pilgrim World, okay?"

At that, Y/n turns around in her chair, and I could see her looking at me out of the corner of my eye.

I glance over to her, and she looked...a little hurt.

Okay, I know I technically didn't tell her about seeing Slurp, but I also didn't lie to her either, I just withheld information.

I look between her and my sister.

"But Slurp's gone now, for good."

"His name is Isaac Night."

Oh. Right, his actual name. I mean, I had figured he probably had one of those, I'd just gotten so used to calling him Slurp that calling him anything else felt weird.

"Isaac Night..?"

A small snort leaves Y/n's mouth, and when I look to see what she was laughing about, she had a weird look on her face like she wasn't sure about something.

"Why is that funny..."

She was muttering to herself, and I just smiled at her before looking back to my sister, who didn't seem to understand fully what I said.

"And how do you know he's gone?"

Uhhhhh......

If she wasn't able to tell how uncomfortable I was before, it may as well be blown up on a billboard now.

I swallow the lump in my throat and try not to sound too nervous, but I failed. Miserably.

"I might have let him go."

Her glare turned subtly more irritated.

"Don't- tell dad...I kinda lied to him."

"What a bold move for somebody who has no poker face."

Okay, harsh.

Extremely true, but still harsh.

"You think he knows?"

She ignores my question before turning to Agnes.

"Dig up everything you can find on Isaac Night."

Agnes gives her a small grin before she whisks herself away and out of the room, and Wednesday starts to do the same, but I wanted to at least try to explain myself.

"He's just trying to live his life now that he's got a second chance."

The signature look of disgust crosses her face.

"Your heart is as soft as your skull."

While Y/n didn't say anything directly in the conversation, I swear I heard a small 'mhm'.

"Can your pea brain remember anything else?"

I sigh at Wednesday's question and I reach into my pocket.

I pull out the small piece of paper I had spotted on the ground last night when Slurp ran off.

It was small, and the only things on it were a picture of a lady, with the words 'Patient 1938' underneath it.

I wasn't sure what it meant, or if it had anything to do with what Wednesday was talking about, but it looked important when I found it, so I took it with me just in case.

I watch as Wednesday takes it from me, inspecting it as if she knew what it was. Maybe she did. Maybe I had finally been useful to my sister for once.

Wouldn't that be something.

"He's looking for his sister."

Wait.

What?

Group hang out officially over I guess...aw man.

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You guys, this is actually insane.

I started that tiktok account for this fic literally a week ago, and I have already gotten so much love from you guys, and it's incredible. 

I've had people commenting and sending me dm's saying how much they love the story, and it makes me so happy that I get to make something for you guys that brings you so much joy, because it brings me just as much joy to see all of the amazing encouragement and support, and I literally cried today because I realized just how lucky I am to be able to be the person who creates this for all of you.

And I genuinely don't know what I would do if I didn't have you guys, so thank you.

Author out <3