For a week, I’d find them conveniently occupied whenever I tried to join them at lunch. A sudden increase in library visits, a newfound fascination with… the chess club? Something was wrong.

The breaking point was on Thursday. I saw them walking home from school, headphones in, completely lost in their own world. I, being the ever-so-subtle individual that I am, decided to surprise them.

I jumped out from behind a particularly bushy hedge, yelling their name with all the gusto I could muster. "Boo!"

They didn't flinch. Didn't even blink. They simply side-stepped me like I was an inconveniently placed lamppost and kept walking. That was it. I was gone, erased from existence.

And now here it is, a week later on valentine's day. I'm pretty sure I've set a new personal record for sulking. I haven't left my room, I haven't showered, and I've only eaten approximately three bags of chips. I miss the silence they give me. This silence… it's scary. I couldn't take it anymore. I miss them. I miss them.

So, taking a deep breath and running a comb through my bedraggled hair (okay, maybe I did shower), I marched over to their house.

I stood on their doorstep, a nervous wreck. I almost turned and ran, but the thought of another week of lonely chip-eating propelled me forward. I rang the doorbell.

"I know you're in there!"

I hollered from the other side of the door,

"I brought pizza! And a new comic book! The one with the purple- I mean, the one we were talking about! Okay, fine, it's the one I was talking about, but you were listening!... Probably."

It's quiet for longer than I like.

"Look," I said, dropping my voice. "Please talk to me. I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry."