“I just.. I hope you didn’t get hurt” I finally added, looking back up at him, rubbing my neck and digesting how it could apply to more than what had just happened in the hallway.

Ansel finally broke eye contact with me, moving his glance down towards his feet and his face going back to what was starting to feel like it’s default state of confusion. 

“So, are you- are we good?”

I decided a simple yes or no question should be able to get some sort of a response out of this guy. It did bother me how I seemed to struggle to get my sentence out. 

I know I’m kind of embarrassed but really?

Ansel looked back up at me and a strand of his wavy dark brown hair that had been tucked behind his ear fell onto his face as he nodded. He started immediately fixing his hair with urgency while turning back around. 

Urgency? 

I brushed it off as I had no idea what he was actually thinking, so all I could make were assumptions.

He made his way across the green patch, and I was still trailing behind him. Soon enough, I had made my way to my stop. At the grove I swung my backpack down from my shoulder onto the chest-level rock I favored, before pulling myself up on it.

When I looked back towards Ansel, he had started to make his way up the hill leading to the residential area and was already quite a bit beyond the school’s property line. That didn’t really surprise me, though. 

As this was a spot I frequented, I had seen him make his way up the hill many times and had come to the conclusion he sometimes goes home during recess or lunch.

It’s really none of my business. Not like I would snitch on him anyways.