Survival Of The Fittest

Charlie watched in dismay as Omar left and Tristan went back to his DS. He gladly would have taken the hard-boiled attitude he had coming into the cafetorium over the mixture of embarrassment and shame that he was feeling right then. He hated arguments. He hated the idea of them, he hated watching them, but most of all, he hated being IN them. They never accomplished anything but making all those involved feel even worse than they were feeling already. As far as Charlie was concerned, the events of that afternoon were a textbook example. Thanks to that little verbal showdown, Charlie felt rotten, Josie was pissed, Sierra was sad, Omar was angry, Tristan was bummed, and Harold-

Charlie's train of thought derailed as Harold stood up, packing away his things. "Goodbye Charlie." Jerking back to reality, Charlie looked over at Harold. "Huh?"

"I don't expect you to talk to me again, and I'll be happy to not be your friend any longer. It seems like it'd be easier than expecting you to put up with my big mouth." And with that, Harold was out the door and gone.

Charlie stared in disbelief. Just when he thought that things couldn't get any worse, Harold had to go and pull a stunt like that. "I don't expect you to talk to me again?" "I'll be happy to not be your friend any longer?" What the hell? So now not only was Josie pissed, Sierra sad, Omar angry and Tristan bummed, but now Harold wanted to ditch him?

"Jesus christ," Charlie mumbled to himself as he rose from his seat, grabbing his back and slinging it over his shoulder. Without bothering to push his seat in, he took off out the cafetorium door. "Harold, wait!" he called out as he ran.

No way in hell am I losing ANOTHER friend over something so stupid.

((Charlie Beckwith continued elsewhere))

After a while of playing, Tristan finally decided to do something else for a change. After a quick save and turn off, he looked around. The other two had already gone. Oh, well. He got up, put his DS back in his coat, and walked out out.

((Tristan Matthews continued elsewhere))