"Sorry." Xay roughly pushed himself away. He stood and walked to the door, Ren stopped him.

"Xay, you don't need to be sorry. You-"

Xay pulling away from Ren again. The opened the door and the bell rung. He ran to the cafeteria, grabbed his bag, and went to class. He arrived just as the bell rang. He sat down, only to be reminded that he had this class with Etho.

The boy spent the class staring at him. As did some others, reminding him that he had forgotten to clean his face. Xay ignored them as best he could. One more class and he could leave.

But Ren would probably try and corner him. He'd have to get out... He could just skip. He was clearly still sick, he could go to the nurse and leave early. Then go where? Ren would probably get a key from X so he couldn't go home. It was too cold to go home.

He felt like slapping himself when he remembered. He could go back to where he and X used to go when they were kids. Before their parents were too busy working to stay in the house. Before X's friends hated Xay. The clubhouse.

It was out in the woods behind their house. Their parents ran electricity out to it so they could sleep there. It was technically included in the bill every month, but since no one was ever out there it didn't effect anything.

With his plan made Xay focused back on the teacher. As usual he knew the whole chapter they were on. Maybe he could read ahead more and graduate 2 years early. Though, the school would probably be angry with him. Maybe X would be mad.

The sound of the bell made him jump. He stood up and walked to the door, bag in hand. Another dizzy spell hit him and he leaned against a wall. He remembered his agreement with Ren to eat. He respected him enough to stick with that.

Xay made his way to the front office. He walked in, going to the the two office workers.

"What could we do for you, hun?" One asked, though she seemed to know.

He took a deep breath, covering his mouth,"I'm ill, is the nurse busy?"

She shook her head,"Well, I can see that you're sick. How about you go on home? I'll call your teacher and tell them."

He nodded. Then walked out of the front office. Luckily, he was a good student. He walked home quickly.

Once there he grabbed some snacks out of the cupboard, locked the front door (and back one behind him), and walked into the woods. It was a short walk, but an unfamiliar one. It had been years since he had been out here.

Then he saw it. It was just a small shack, but somehow it was still intact. He walked in, memories flooded his mind. The walls were covered in drawing, paper was thrown across the floor. Moth eaten blankets were on cots in the corners. Two identical plushies of different colors sat on a shelf. Xay pulled them down.

One was red the other green. Their favorite colors. Xay held the red bear to his chest. He and Xisuma had used their holiday money to buy a soft toy for each other. Little did they know they had chosen the same toy in different colors.

With a deep breath Xay began cleaning up the room. He hung up the drawings that were on the floor. Threw away the blank pages. He threw the blankets into a corner, he'd throw them out later. Then he picked up the toys in the floor.

Old action figures! Some plushies and even some board games. The put the toys on a shelf and the games against a wall. He then decided to try out the lights.

He flipped the switch by the door. A single naked bulb lit the room. He could see plugs in the walls. Maybe he could bring his mini fridge in here, maybe he could splurge on a microwave. Maybe a kettle?

Xay picked up the old blankets and walked back to the house. He threw them into a bag, then into the dumpster. Running upstairs he grabbed his chargers, some blankets, and his laptop. He could set up his hotspot and watch Netflix out there. With a last sigh he ran downstairs and wrote a note for X if he stopped by.

"Staying with a friend. See you next week.
-Xay"

If he needed more food he had his wallet. He didn't have to come out of the woods this way, so he could just go out somewhere else. With that he ran out of the house, again locking the door behind him.

Inside of the shack he found the space heater and plugged it in. It surprisingly still worked. So, he locked the door and set up for the night.