Read Not another highschool story :: "Best friend"

Daniel sat in front of the family computer, staring at the screen with a blank expression. The newest episode of "The Bar Full of Nothing" had been released about two hours ago, but the fact that Charlie hadn't begged him to watch it made him frown. They had been friends since elementary school, but Daniel had never seen Charlie act so weird. Instead of talking about the show, Charlie seemed lost in thought, staring out the window in every class and not talking to Daniel about the new season at all.

The show was Charlie's absolute favorite, and every time a new season came out, he couldn't stop talking about it the next day at school. Gushing about everything from the props to the cinematography. Daniel found that pretty funny, maybe even cute if he thought about it. Before he had ever seen the show, Charlie's ramblings about it made him seem like the biggest nerd.

Yeah, a lot of it is super subtle, like I didn't really get it at first until I watched some videos on it. The first season is kind of slow and stuff but after someone explained it to me it just made sense y'know? Now I really love it!

The way Sellia acts and how much we get of her story and background in just one episode is so impressive! And most of it isn't even told you it's implied and hinted at and she's only there for like forty minutes but she's my favorite character!

The music is so good, it's so melancholy and dark it makes the show so much better. The composers who worked on it also made music for Camilla and The Loneliest Boy but now they're so much better!

Charlie never really talked much, only about things like BfoN or 'The Fourth Wall' releasing a new song. That was his favorite band. It wasn't really Daniel's thing, but he did listen to it at home since Charlie wouldn't shut up about it.

But today? Today, he just stared out the window.

If he was being honest, Daniel found it kind of eerie. The first thought he had had was that Charlie was getting sick again. He had a habit of that. Every year, when fall started, Charlie would get sick. It wasn't ever super serious; some years he had to stay home, and other times he was just really loopy in school. Daniel would alway accuse him of being drunk, it wasn't funny after the first time but Charlie laughed every time.

The weirdest part was definitely Geography. Last week Ms. Grayson assigned a group project on Types of rocks. Of course, Daniel was with Charlie, but every group had to be three students. So, Mattia joined theirs. They would hang out with him sometimes but they weren't really close. Last week, all three of them had all done some work.

Most of it was Charlie, but Daniel helped as well obviously.

Today though, it seemed like Charlie didn't even remember that they were supposed to work as a group. He had completely ignored both of them. Mattia even joked that Charlie went deaf. So they had to do all the work by themselves, Mattia was whining about having Charlie do it the whole time. Safe to say, they didn't get much work done.

Daniel wasn't sure if Charlie barely eating anything for lunch was because he was sick or something else going on. But it annoyed him regardless.

He knew Charlie said he wasn't feeling well, but Daniel didn't buy it. Something was up with him.

And he was going to find out.

Instead of staring at the computer, Daniel would just call Charlie's mom and ask if he was sick. No problem. No problem at all...

When he dialed the Collins' number, he started feeling nervous though, he wasn't sure why. He shook it off and completely ignored it.

It felt like the ringing had gone on forever when Mrs. Collin finally picked up. "Hello there! Who is it?" She sounded more tired than usual. It made him stop for a second, "Ah...it's Daniel, can I talk to Charlie?" he had always hated phone calls—They made him feel awkward for some reason.

"Oh, Charlie? He isn't home yet. Don't you boys have school for another hour? You're already home?"

What?

"Uhm...Ah yeah, I forgot, Charlie has French right now. I always forget that, I'm sorry Mrs. Collins." His hands felt sweaty. "Oh you! Don't worry about it. I'll tell him to call you back when he gets home alright sweetie?" Daniel gulped; he didn't get it. "Yeah thanks, See you around Mrs. Collins." "Oh, kiddo stop calling me that, you make me feel old." The woman chuckled.

After saying their goodbyes, Daniel didn't quite know what to do.

Charlie wasn't home yet?

Another hour?

What was Charlie hiding and why would he not have told him. Now Daniel felt annoyed. His best friend had some sort of secret he did every Wednesday and he hadn't said anything? It's not like he was running late, his mom didn't even know that school was already out. Had he given his mom a fake schedule? But why?

He walked away from the phone and dropped down on the chair.

What a weird thing to find out now of all times. Daniel was always there for him, and Charlie didn't even tell him that he had some sort of secret place or something. What a good friend that guy is.

Daniel was way better. Without even being asked he kept Charlie's secret. His mom didn't know that Charlie didn't have French on Wednesdays and it was all due to Daniel. Now Charlie owed him. He was already thinking of something that Charlie could do to make it up to him. He could have at least told him that he did some secret thing on Wednesdays.

Still pouting, Daniel decided to watch the new episode of BfoN. He would never admit it, but Charlie had good taste.