Puffy Red Eyes

Classes had just finished, and students were leaving their classrooms. It was raining, so students tried to camp inside until the rain let out. The corridors were packed with students walking up and down, while some blocked it by just standing on one side. Dillon and two of his friends, Ash and Jason, were among the few people doing that.
Ash was a dark-skinned boy who was around five foot nine and had brown muddy coloured eyes. He had dreads that were half blonde and half black, creating a pattern.
Jason was a taller, bigger-built mixed-race guy. He had soft, brown, curly hair. You could tell he worked out and took care of his muscles. He could probably take Dillon in a fight if he wanted to, but he chose to be a 'friend' of his instead.
"Dillon, what's the plan?" Ash asked, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pocket.
"Nothing. Just be normal", Dillon replied calmly.
"Nothing", Ash said with a disgusted look on his face.
"We need points, man".
"It's the start of the year. I can't control when challenges are set, you dumbass", he said, turning his head to the right to look out the window.
"We'll do what we want later when more challenges come", he continued.
"You don't have a plan, that's why you're saying this", Jason said, looking at Dillon.
"It's an exam. What do you want me to do? I already did all I could do; aren't you grateful?" Dillon replied annoyedly, looking at the raindrops running down the window.
"I'll be grateful if we get a lot of points", Jason said in a lower tone, unlocking his phone.
"That's not up to me then, is it?" Dillon said, turning his head back to his friends.
"Listen, we need to be patient; all we can do now is little things. Over time, that will help up", Dillon explained.
"Like what?" Ash questioned.
"Bully people and show them what we can do", Dillon replied, like it was a solid plan.
"You've already done that to our class. You tried it on Malakai, but that didn't work", Jason slipped in.
"Tsk. Malakai will get what's coming to him. Let him have all the fun he wants right now; when it gets serious, the pressure will break him. Then, when he's broken, we kill him".
"Kill him?" Ash questioned, looking at Dillon concerned. He didn't like Malakai because his friends didn't like him, but he didn't want to kill him.
Dillon looked at him to see if he took what he said literally,
"Not literally, you fucking idiot", he answered him anyways.
Jason put his phone away in his pocket,
"So you're playing the long game".
"It's the only thing we can do for now. But trust me, when the opportunity comes, we'll take it". Dillon pulled out his phone and unlocked it; he remembered the message he had gotten.
"Oh yeah, Jason, come with me on Friday", Dillon told him.
"Where?"
"I'll text you".
"What about me?" Ash asked, feeling left out.
Dillon looked at him for a few seconds without saying anything.
"You stay in your room and revise. You need it".
The rain became lighter, and it looked like some students were already outside.
"Let's go, it's too cramp here", Dillon said, walking away with the two of them following.

4:51 PM.
The heavy rain had stopped, and it was only spitting now. The sky was still grey and gloomy. This demotivated some of the students and encouraged them to return to their dorms and sleep, which meant that the library would have fewer visitors today. A couple merrily walked into the library with their bags of books, ready to study.
"I can't believe it actually worked", Olivia excitedly said.
"I'm glad Dillon did that", she added in a lower tone.
"Shhhh", Daniel said with a finger on his lips.
He wrapped his arm around Olivia's shoulder, brought her closer, and whispered in her ear.
"babe, you need to be quiet. You can't let other people hear you say that".
"I didn't say anything", she whispered back.
"Still, you need to be careful. We could get in trouble," Daniel replied, slyly looking around to see if they were getting looks.
"Okay, sorry", Olivia said in an upset voice.
"You don't need to apologise. I'm just warning you", Daniel replied, bringing her Olivia to him. He looked up to find an empty place to sit.
"Let's go over there. There's empty seats", he pointed.
The two disconnected from the side hug and continued to walk side by side.
"Is there anything you want to study?" Daniel asked to show he was not mad at her.
Olivia looked at him, and her face slowly lit up,
"Physics. I can't deal with physics. It's so hard-
Ow!" She accidentally kicked a chair because she wasn't looking where she was going.
She looked at what she kicked and saw a chair with a dark-skinned boy with a small afro sitting on it with his head on the desk.

"Oh, sorry. Are you okay?" She asked, looking at the boy.
The boy didn't respond.
"Hello?" Daniel said in a louder tone to get his attention.
Olivia leaned over a bit, shook the boy gently, and asked again,
"Are you okay?"
The boy lifted his head slightly and sniffed. He looked to his right and saw a girl peering over to look at him.
Olivia saw a boy with puffy red eyes looking up at her.
"Oh my god, are you okay?" Olivia said in a worried voice, quickly sitting in the seat next to him. She gave a concerned look to Daniel. Daniel didn't know why she was panicked as he had never seen the boy's eyes; he was clueless but still took a seat to the boy's left. After looking at Olivia, he immediately hid his face again and left his face dumped on the table using his arms as cushions. He wanted to be alone, but at the same time, why would he go out of his room if he wanted to be alone? Olivia placed her hand on his shoulder,
"Hey, if you want us to go, just tell us. But if you need help and want someone to talk to, we are here", Olivia comforted.
"Yeah, we'll listen", Daniel said, even though he still didn't know what was going on.
The boy lifted his head and rubbed his eyes. Daniel instantly saw the puffy red eyes and understood why Olivia did what she did.
"I'm sorry, I just got a lot going on right now". The boy said, bringing himself together.
"That's fine. We all have our own problems. It's good to let it out sometimes". Olivia replied, doing her best to support him.
"My name is Olivia, by the way, and he's Daniel, my boyfriend", Olivia quietly said, trying not to draw attention from the other people around them.
"I'm Eric", he sniffed.
Daniel got a clean tissue from his coat pocket and handed it to Eric.
"Thanks", he said, taking the tissue. He wiped his eyes and blew his nose. He then took a deep breath to calm down. Inhaled slowly, exhaled slowly.
"My girlfriend broke up with me", he helplessly let out.
Olivia and Daniel quickly glanced at each other; they didn't want to say something prematurely.
"We were together for two years, and she randomly broke up with me. I don't know why. I don't know why", Eric continued in a monotone voice, lacking life.
"Did it happen yesterday?" Daniel timidly asked, scared to hurt him.
"No. It was on Saturday. We were cuddling in my bed, and she said I think we should break up". He said with his lip quivering.
Olivia pulled her chair in,
"Did you ask why? Did you do something to upset her?" Olivia questioned.
"No, I didn't do anything. When I asked her why, she said maybe we need to go different ways." Eric clenched his fists; his hands were shaking, stopping himself from punching the table.
"I don't understand. I did everything. I thought she was happy. I was happy. Maybe because I was happy, I didn't notice she wasn't happy. What more could I have done? I spent so much time with her", Eric quickly said, putting his hands on his head.
"It's okay, dude. There's nothing wrong with you. You did nothing wrong", Daniel said, putting his arm over his shoulder and bringing him closer to him. He saw Eric was self-destructing, so he intervened before losing it.
Eric took another deep breath. A tear slowly crept out of his eye and shot down his face.
"I haven't slept properly since then. Every night, I've been thinking about her. She made me happy; she was my best friend. It's like I don't feel anything, but then it hurts everywhere. I can't concentrate. Nothing can distract me from her. I hate myself".
Daniel embraced him before he could say anything negative about himself.
"Dude, calm down. Everything's going to be fine. Right now, it may seem hard. I can't relate to what you're going through, but I'm sure you'll overcome it. Listen, if you need anything, you got us now. We'll listen and help in any way", Daniel established that they were his friends now.
Olivia was on the verge of tears from hearing the pain in Eric's voice. Eric broke down again, whimpers crept out and tears leaked out; he rested his head back on the table, covering his face. Daniel and Olivia could not do anything but put their hands on his back and say words like 'It's okay' and 'We're here for you'. Olivia fanned her eyes to stop herself from crying and then said,
"How about we get to know each other better? We are friends now".
Eric didn't want to cry anymore, but his eyes didn't listen. Eric didn't want to think about her anymore, but his mind didn't listen. Eric didn't want to feel anymore, but his heart didn't listen. He lifted his head but covered his eyes. He nodded his head to answer Olivia and quietly said,
"Give me a second".
Daniel handed him another tissue to wipe his face. Eric once again took a deep breath to calm himself, looked at them with his puffy red eyes, forced a weak smile and asked,
"What do you want to know?".