18 : Wednesday

Step Eighteen: Compliment him! It's obvious, but some people manage to mess it up. Don't stutter or get nervous! Just walk past him and say you like his shirt, or his new haircut, or the picture he posted online. Make him feel good about himself!

~~~~~~~

chat: { we are froggies ribbit ribbit }

members active: 5/6

Zoe

and that's why garlic is a social construct made by the government to convince us that babies aren't wizards and boomers aren't broccoli

Amanda

wait i'm lost

Zoe what

Russell

actually her explanation made a lot of sense

chat: { felix has connected }

members active: 6/6

Amanda

what

no it didn't

Felix

uh

Russell

OH he's here thank goodness

Jason

now that felix is here i can ask all of you my question.

Blake

oooOoOOooOoOooh he used punctuation

this is important guys

Jason

stfu let me tYpe

Zoe

calm down boOmer

Russell

Zoe hun

no

stop

Zoe

yOu CAn't mAkE Me StOp BiTCh

Amanda

what

Jason

ok so what if we all sign up for the talent show together? we can like try to do a group dance or song or comedy skit or something idk what but since we all get along really well i think it could be really fun and we'd be good at it, maybe we could even win something

Blake

no

Jason

i- wow that's harsh Blake

Blake

you didn't let me fiNiSh

no, because i already signed felix up for something so he can't perform with us

Felix

YOU DID WHAT

Blake

idk i was reading something online about this dude named felix who wanted to sing "how could this happen to me" to his school

so i signed you up

felix

BLAKE TURNER I WILL MURDER YOU

Amanda

uh oh i just remembered i need to go feed my flower and water my dog bye

Zoe

i-i'll go help her with that

Russell

yeah okay bye

Jason

bye

felix

EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. YOU MESS UP AND I MANAGE TO FORGIVE YOU, BUT I CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH, BLAKE. IS THIS WHY YOU WERE SO NICE TO ME YESTERDAY? BECAUSE YOU SIGNED ME UP? BLAKE THIS HAS TO STOP; YOU HAVE TO GROW A BRAIN SO THAT I CAN STOP AVENGING MYSELF FOR YOUR STUPID DEEDS.

Blake

punctuation AND grammar

felix i-

felix

THIS ENDS.

NOW.

SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR ROBLOX ACCOUNT.

Blake

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

FELIXXXXXXX

felix

GOODBYE, @SQUIRRELGAYMER

ITS THE END FOR YOU NOW

Blake

THIS IS TOO HARSH

I DIDNT EVEN GET A CHANcE TO SAY BYE TO @BUNNYGAYMER

felix

TAKE THAT

AND ALSO

I

WILL

NOT

PERFORM

IN

THE

TALENT

SHOW

PERIOD.

Blake

but you'd be so good-

felix

no.

Blake

i'm coming over we need to talk about this face to face

felix

there is nothing to talk about.

Blake

too bad you gave me a spare key

felix

no.

Blake

heh

prepare your speech felix cuz nothing can disprove your singing talent

i even have that one video

felix

I WAS TWELVE

I WAS LITERALLY TWELVE YEARS OLD

BLAKE THAT WAS YEARS AGO WHY ARE YOU STILL TALKING ABOUT THAT

Blake

IT WAS SO ICONIC

I WAS SO IMPRESSED

chat: { felix has disconnected }

members active: 5/6

Russell

JCKSKKFKE DID HE DIE

BLAKE DID YOU ACTUALLY MURDER HIM

Blake

i hope he has a copy of his will somewhere

wait

let me look for it

wait

wait

okay

found it!!

Jason, prepare to be rich in socks

Jason

??

Blake

;)

~~~~~~~

When my vision clears, I'm in an unfamiliar room. It's dark, but I'm grateful for that. My head is pounding; light would only make it hurt more. I'm on a bed. What? When did I get onto a bed? It smells nice, sort of like a smokey, vanilla scent. Wait, no, that sounds gross. This smell is good. Familiar. I know this smell.

When and how did I get into Jason's bed? This is making less and less sense. Did I black out? What's the last thing I can remember?

I wrack my brain. We got the day off because teachers are doing conferences. I was talking with the FROG members to pass time. Something to do with Blake. Talent show. Talent show! He signed me up and I got mad at him on the chat. I deleted his Roblox account. Good, good; I'm remembering. Okay. What next? He came to my room and grabbed something. This is where my memory starts getting fuzzy. I don't know what he grabbed, but I remember being on the floor as stars danced over my vision.

He must've hit me with something, and I blacked out.

And now I'm in Jason's bed.

What happened in between?

Softly, someone knocks on the door. I groan; the sound is sharp and sends a wave of pain through my head. Jason pokes his head in. "You awake?" he asks, walking in. He closes the door behind him and sits on the edge of the bed. By now, my eyes have adjusted to the dark, so I can see the outline of his body.

"My head hurts," I groan. My voice is deeper than I've ever let another person hear, and it's like I have a whole frog pond in my throat.

Ribbit.

He slowly turns the lights on, but keeps them dim. I can't make out his facial features. "Wait a second. This is weird; my vision's blurry," I say to an odd tune.

"Oh no," Jason exclaims. He holds up some fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Two? Three?" I don't know. It takes everything in me not to throw up on his bed.

"Blake hit you with a vase." Jason waits to see my reaction, and when I (probably concerningly) don't look surprised, he continues. "He immediately called Russell and me in a panic once his brain decided to function normally again, and we brought you here, to my room with Russell. He usually stays with his parents anyway, so I get the whole room to myself. But... you're on my bed right now."

I pretend not to know, letting my eyes grow wide. That hurts, though, so I shut them. "Your bed smells nice." Darn it, Felix. You just had to give your mouth permission to say stuff without letting your brain think about it beforehand.

"So," Jason says, awkwardly changing the subject, "are you actually going to perform at the talent show?"

I look at him, opening my eyes. It hurts, like, a lot.

Sigh.

My head can't take this. I shut my eyes again, hoping for some respite, but my head continues to throb. "Maybe. I don't know. Do you have any painkillers?"

"Oh! Yeah, I'll bring you some. Your head must hurt so much, dearie me. How could I forget?" He jumps up, ignoring the fact that he said, 'dearie me,' and runs from the room.

While he's gone, I force my eyes open once more and search for a clock. My watch isn't on my wrist, but I assume it must be in my own room, since I only wear it when I plan on leaving the room. And I certainly didn't plan for whatever the heck is going on right now.

There! On the far wall. It's too blurry for me to see, though. I decide to try to move closer. I stand up in one quick motion, forgetting the pain in my head. My vision swims and black spots make my eyesight flicker, but I press onward.

Genius, I know.

It's 11:57 pm right now, according to the clock. Either that or it's 11:57 am. I doubt it, though, since no light is coming in through Jason's open window. I don't think I could be out for that long.

I'm too hyperactive to be unconscious for more than six hours at a time; it's why I'm always tired. Well, not always. Just during some classes. But shh, don't tell anyone. Especially my Foreign Language teacher. That is a secret.

Jason returns, carrying some pills on a napkin and a glass of water. He sees me swaying in front of his clock and immediately puts the stuff down on his bedside table.

"Hey! Felix! Why are you out of bed?" he begins in a scolding voice. Jason gently grabs my shoulders and guides me back to the bed. At this point, my head hurts too much to remember to make me blush at the contact. "Take the pills and go to sleep, dumbass," he kindly continues.

"M'not dumb," I mumble. "Ow." My throat hurts. I gulp down the pills and the water, sighing gratefully as my headache begins to ebb.

Jason fusses over me, going as far as to tie my hair back with a headband so that my hair doesn't make me overheat. Like, it's early February. I doubt I'm going to get hot, but okay. I don't complain, mostly because the tiredness kicks in.

But Felix, you may ask (who are you, by the way? my imagination?), didn't you just wake up?

Yes. Yes, I did. But I'm still tired. I'm always tired, even after I drink coffee. Coffee! I was going to have some, but then Blake knocked me out. I haven't had anything caffeinated to drink since last night, more than twenty-four hours ago. Things are falling into place. My high-school-level detective skills are finally helping me out.

"Felix?" Jason asks. I blink.

"What?"

"Did you hear my question?"

I smile guiltily and remember to blush this time. Darn it. "No..."

"Wow," Jason laughs. "I asked if you needed anything else. Otherwise I'll let you sleep."

I shake my head, and he stands up. "Wait, Jason..." Jason turns around, and my brain screams at me for what I'm about to insinuate. "Where are you going to sleep?"

"I can go on the couch," he says. "When I stayed at your dorm, I was on your bed and you were on the couch. Now it's my turn. Plus, that was exactly a week ago, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So it's fine. I mean, unless you want to sleep together. But I don't want to sleep with you. Wait, no! I didn't mean that. Well, I don't mean that I don't want to sleep with you. I don't mean that I want to, either! I wouldn't be opposed to being unconscious in the same bed as you. No, wait. Not like that, I mean. Ah, screw this. I'm just going to go now." Jason quickly turns around, leaving me shell-shocked.

What did I just experience?

"Jason?" I call out one last time before he goes. He turns back to me and, as cliché as it is, I'm glad it's dark so he can't see how red my face is. "Thank you. You're a really nice person," I say, attempting to complete step eighteen.

"Nah, anyone would've done this," he humbly denies.

By now, my head has stopped hurting and my vision has cleared. I notice something. "Wait, is that my turtleneck?" It is. I don't need Jason's confirmation. It's the one he took from me a week ago, promising to give it back. He never did.

Jason rubs the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah. I'll, uh, go wash it... so you can wear it tomorrow. And your clothes from today."

I notice that I'm wearing pajamas that aren't mine.

Wait. Just a moment.

Hold up.

I'm too young for this—

"Did you change my clothes?" I nearly shriek. Jason winces and nods. I stop myself before cursing, and calmly say, "That's, uh, that's cool. NBD. No big deal. I'm fine, ahaha. No need to worry."

"Not your underwear," Jason blurts out. "I didn't change your underwear. But really? John Cena boxers?"

My face somehow turns even redder; thank goodness he can't see. I cringe. "Good night, Jason," I say.

Jason nods wordlessly before heading out of the room. And, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that I hear him smack his own forehead as soon as the door shuts.