I awake to Xavier staring at me with a slight smile, but I also notice another presence with him. I soon look to his side to see a blushing Azazel leaning against Xavier. I tense in his lap and I lock eyes with Azazel, trying to hide the panic I am feeling. ‘Why is he here? Why is he leaning on Xavier? How long have we been here? What is really going on?!’ I cannot stop the thoughts that are racing in my head right now and I try not to show my panic to either of them.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay sweetheart. He isn’t going to hurt you. You are fine. You are safe. No one has any ill intentions towards you here. I promise you are okay”, I hear Xavier say in my ear. This calms me down and my body starts to relax for just a moment.

Soon the tensing muscles were back in my body because Azazel started speaking. He looked away, the blush in his cheeks finally starting to fade, “I am truly sorry Zayn. I meant you no harm. All these years I have tortured you with words…. I-I never realized it could take a toll on someone until t-today.” I could hear his voice starting to shake as he tried to get the words out. 

So I did something I never thought I would have done. I climbed off of Xavier’s lap and into Azazel’s. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tight. He sat there shocked, not moving a muscle, as if I was going to run away the second he moved.

“It’s okay. You have realized your mistake and though it still hurts a little, I do forgive you. Why don’t we try to be friends and get along from now on? I like to make new friends and get to know people!” I pulled away, shooting him my biggest and brightest smile. He looked at me stunned before I noticed tears gathering in his eyes.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?!” I panic and grab his face, wiping the tears that have slowly started falling.

“I-it’s nothing. I-I-I’m okay. I just d-don’t deserve your f-forgiveness. I have been a-awful to you. But y-you and Xavier are s-so nice. I do not deserve it. B-but I am so grateful f-for it. If you want the truth I h-have no f-friends”, he starts stuttering out, trying not to cry, but the tears just kept falling.

We feel Xavier wrap his big arms around us, enclosing both of us in a bear hug. I can hear him whispering in Azazel’s ear, “It’s okay. You have us. It will be alright. Please don’t cry.” 

Azazel wipes his eyes, while trying to hide his face at the same time. I take his hands away from his face so that he cannot hide. Instead he puts his head in the crook of my neck while leaning back more into Xavier. I start to play with his hair because my arms are still around his neck. This seems to calm him down some, enough to lean back fully into Xavier with his eyes closed.

“Thank you. Thank you both for this. Honestly. You have no idea how much this means to me. I am truly grateful for you two saying all you have said today. I will try to learn to be a friend. I will try to learn to open up to both of you.”Azazel says softly, his eyes still closed. 

“No one should ever be alone. No one should ever feel as if they don’t belong. No one should ever feel they don’t have any friends. We may have started off on the wrong foot, but I promise you, Azazel, we will be here for you for anything you need”, I say to him, sitting up in his lap, removing my arms from his neck.

He opens his eyes and looks at me. Then he looks behind him at Xavier, who is leaning his head on Azazel’s, a soft smile on his face.

Xavier leaned back a little, making Azazel fall back slightly from how heavily he was leaning on him. Xavier chuckles while still keeping the smallest smile on his face. “You are forgiven. Just don’t go back to your old ways. Remember what I said about a personality can be changed. And we want to help you change yours for the better, as friends. That way when you meet your mate, you can give them your all and love them right. You cannot keep being scared of these feelings you have. You also cannot lash out every time you have them. This is why we are happy to be your friends and help you. Because we believe in you and we know you have a good heart under all that tough guy exterior.” 

We sit there for a while longer, all just smiling at each other and talking nonsense. I pull out my phone to look at the time. It is 11:55! I jump off of Azazel’s lap and look at them both with wide eyes.

“How have we been sitting here for hours and haven’t heard any of the bells?!” I freak out looking frantically from one to the other.

“Calm down Zayn. Why do you think people come back here to hide? It’s because you can’t hear the bells because the system here is busted. They keep trying to fix it and the fuse just keeps busting”, Xavier says to me while shrugging. .

I calm down and look at them for a few minutes more before saying, “Well come on! Let’s go get some lunch! I’m starving!” 

“I’m going to stay here, you two go on ahead”, Azazel says to us, situating himself to lay in the grass behind the bleachers.

“Oooohhhhh NO. You are coming with us, and we are not taking no for an answer!” Xavier says as he grabs under Azazel’s arms to pull him up off the grass.

Azazel gave us a grumpy face, then gave up and rolled his eyes, “Okay, whatever. Let’s get going.”

            I smile and skip ahead of them both, thinking about what we were having for lunch. ‘I hope it’s something yummy!” I thought to myself. I turn to see the boys lagging behind me, further than I thought. I guess I was moving a little too fast.

“Come on slow pokes! By the time we get there lunch will be over and we will have to wait till after school to eat!” I shout back at them with a huge smile on my face.