-Poisonous-
(continued)
Still puzzled, Jaiden went through his first and second classes. He looked back up to the clouds to catch another glimpse of what he saw before but there was nothing. A buzzing uneasiness started in Jaiden’s chest. It was his fifteen-minute break before his next class when he waited by the library.
He looked up to see his friend waving from a few yards away. Jaiden perked up and walked towards their direction.
“Hey, Jaid!” Rune greeted, still waving.
“Rune,” Jaiden nodded. The two of them were now walking together toward the abandoned bench next to the art classroom. Rune had both hands on the straps of their backpack as they continued, “Ah, I love this weather! I wanna live somewhere that's like this all the time.”
They sat on the bench in sync.
“Yeah… the stupid California weather forecast calls for a few days in the 80’s next week.”
“Really? That high? Ugh- can't it just make up its mind? I mean is it Fall or not?” Rune vented about the weather and its obnoxious patterns throughout the entire year. Except, at the beginning of that year, when the rain seemed to go on for a whole month nonstop. Jaiden pulled out two apples from his lunch bag and put one in Rune’s hand.
“Ah, thanks,” Rune was about to take a bite but they cut themself off.
“Oh wait! I almost forgot!” Rune suddenly exclaimed, making Jaiden bite his own tongue.
“Ow- I bit my tongue-”
“Lookie what I got!” Rune stood up and put their hand in the pocket of their deniem overalls. They pulled out a small wrapped up cloth. Jaiden had his hand covering his mouth as he watched Rune sit back on the bench and unwrap whatever was in it.
Inside, Rune revealed three plump, blood-red berries.
Jaiden slowly moved his hand away from his mouth and took another bite from his apple. “What's that?” He asked.
“They’re berries.”
“What kind of berries?” Jaiden replied, a bit annoyed.
“I don't know, actually!”
“Well, where’d you get them?”
Rune thought for a second then picked up one of the berries between their thumb and index finger. They continued, “You know that lady that grows those giant oranges all year ‘round? And one time I gave her three porcelain beetles for a bag of kiwis?- I think her name's… Ms. Crowfer?- I got ‘em from her!” Rune put the red berry up to their eye. They looked childishly excited over the fruits.
There was a white stirring in the sky.
“Why’d you buy them if you don't even know what they are?”
“I didn’t buy them.”
“What did you trade for them?”
“I didn’t trade for them either. This morning, while I was walking to school, I passed her and she just gave them to me,” Rune gestured to the cloth the berry had been wrapped in.
“For free? That’s weird… I mean you know how she is about money or some random trade-”
“Like the porcelain beetles.”
“Yeah, just like the porcelain beetles. So… I don't think you should eat those...”
Rune was just about to drop the berry in their mouth but they lowered their hand to protest, “Ah, why not? Her fruits are great.” Rune was not wrong; they had been frequent customers of the ‘fruit lady’ for years. She always sat at a little wooden stand in front of, presumably, her house. She always was in full stock of whatever anyone was looking for, and she always had an uneven price or a peculiar trade.
“I’m sure they’re fine, Jaid,” Rune reassured him. Jaiden took the cloth, with the other two berries, away from Rune.
“How ‘bout we get them looked at by someone who knows berries. Better yet I’ll look it up on my phone,” Jaiden said in defiance. Rune examined the berry while their friend started to take out his phone. He stopped before turning it on. He saw something in the reflection of the screen.
It was the clouds and the white dancing, once again, hiding in it.
Leaving Rune with their own curiosity, they sighed and looked down at the tempting fruit. While Jaiden had been distracted, Rune glared at him and started once again.
“Yoop!” Rune whispered as he tossed the berry in their mouth. Jaiden looked back to them, amusingly angry.
“Rune! You didn’t,” he said, throwing one of the berries at their forehead. he watched as it bounced to the ground.
“Dude! It's fine. It’s really good! Go ahead, have that one,” Rune was bright as they spoke. A sense of calm seemed to sweep over them.
Jaiden looked at the blood-red berry in his hand and Rune gestured for him to eat it once again.
“If you say so…” He swayed the berry to his mouth, although, Rune put his hand up in a huff and robbed Jaiden of the berry, shoving it into their own mouth.
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