Lemon Zest short story

>"Hehe, like the view?"
>Lemon Zest said to the Neon Lights, who was sitting on the floor beside his locker.
>It was just lucky timing. He turned around just when Lemon Zest, who likes to wear short skirts, walked past him.
>He didn't know what to say, but he hated that smug face of her.
>As if she owned something from him and she knew it.
>He had to say something back, something that would make this small humiliation disappear.
>Out of desperation, a small thought came into his mind.
>How did he come with this name? He will never know.
>But it was way more effective than he planned it to be.
>"Oh shut up, Lemon Tard!"
>The girl froze in her place for a couple of seconds.
>Her heart skipped a bit.
>Her pupils contracted and she lost herself in her thoughts.
>"Uh... Lemon?"
>Suddenly tears appeared in her eyes.
>Her legs began to tremble and she hugged herself with all her strength as if she wanted to stop something to come out of her stomach.
>Her sobbing was listenable all across the hallways.
>"F-Fuck you! You asshole!"
>She finally said before running away.
>The students that witnessed what happened, looked at Neon Lights with disapproving looks.
>"I didn't do anything! She started it! Oh, fuck..."
>He said before standing up and running behind Zest.
>"What the hell was that all about? God damn it, I better apologize before I get expelled or bullied or something for making a girl cry."
>He finally found her sitting behind the stadium stands, crying and hugging her knees.

>When she saw him, she stood up, crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at him.
>"Look," He said "I'm sorry, Lemon. I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't know that calling you that was so bad."
>She glared at him. The smallest hint of hate was perceptible in her eyes.
>"Come on, we're friends, Lemon. You know I would never hurt you on purpose."
>She looked at the ground, still not answering to Neon Lights.
>"Lemon. You're worrying me, this isn't like you."
>Finally, something that could be considered words came from her mouth.
>"D-don't... d-don't call me L-Lemon T-Tard ever again..."
>It was difficult for her to speak, with the tears inside her throat stopping the flow of her words.
>"Deal! Just please, stop crying, Lemon!"
>But she wasn't done.
>"Never! Never c-call me like that e-ever again!"
>She burst into tears yet once more.
>Neon Lights walked to her and hugged her.
>"I promise, Lemon. Now please, stop crying."
>"Never, a-alright? N-never..."
>She slowly calmed down, while Neon Lights caressed her hair, trying to calm her down.
>He didn't know what to do.
>What was he supposed to say? How can he calm down a girl crying her eyes out?
>Neon Lights felt horrible, his friend was crying like this because of him.
>He didn't think Tard was such a strong insult, but apparently he was wrong.
>Oh, so wrong.
>Little by little, the girl calmed down but it took a while.
>The boy checked his watch just to see what time is it.
>"Great", he thought "we missed class".
>After hugging her for what felt like hours, she finally said.
>"I'm sorry, Neon, I overreacted."
>"Oh, you think?" He said, half joking, half serious.
>"I never told you about this before but, I guess I have no option now." She finally said.

>They both sat on the grass, trying to hide from any teacher that would walk past them.
>Lemon Zest cleared her throat, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
>"Are you ready?" Neon said.
>She nodded.
>"Back in elementary school, I used to be a little fat so I had a lot of trouble making friends because they would make fun of me."
>Neon noted a small hint of sadness inside her eyes.
>"But it didn't get bad, until one time, the teacher called me Lemon Tart by accident. Everyone laughed at me, saying that I loved to eat tarts all day, so that's why I was so fat."
>Tears began to swell in her eyes, but she cleaned them up with her sleeve.
>"Eventually, they started calling me Lemon Tard. They sang horrible songs about me every single day. So that's why I started to wear my headphones, to shut them up."
>Lemon caressed her headphones as if they were an old friend.
>"But that only made things worse. Soon they started to steal my stuff, push me into the ground and throw stuff at me."
>Once again, she hugged her stomach.
>"I... I even tried to throw up to make myself skinnier, but I was scared of doing that."
>Neon Light, not knowing what to do, pulled her into his chest and hugged her, while she calmed herself down.
>"When I finally graduated, I begged my mother to transfer me to another school, where I could escape all of that."
>She laid her head on his chest.
>"That's why I started to wear shorter skirts. When I noticed that I lost weight and I become pretty, I wanted to feel it. It was nice to see all the boys look at me. It boosted my confidence, you know?"
>"But when you called me Lemon Tard, all that confidence vanished. I was once again that poor, bullied girl in the middle of a circle of asshole kids."

>"I don't know what to say. I'm, sorry to hear that." Neon said.
>"It's, it is alright. I'm fine now."
>"But don't worry about that again, alright? You're not that girl anymore. Look at yourself! You're confident, you're cute, you're the coolest girl I know and you look great in those skirts!"
>Lemon smiled with that devilish grin that Neon hated.
>"Hehe, I always knew you liked my legs."
>"Oh, shut up... And yes, I like them a lot."
>She smiled and carefully put his hand on her leg.
>"I don't mind, you know? You are also pretty cool."
>She then took his shades off.
>"And I like your eyes. They are cute."
>"Oh, Lemon, don't do this to me. You know that you're a very important friend to me. If anything happens between us and it doesn't work-"
>But she put a finger on his lips.
>"You're also very important to me. And after trusting you with my past, I think the risk is worth."
>"There you go again, always walking on the edge. I love that of you."
>She smiled once more.
>"More than my legs?"
>"I'll shut you up now."
>"Hehe, please~"
>He slowly pushed her towards him.
>Their faces were so close, that they could feel each other's breath on their faces.
>And just as they were about to kiss.
>"What are you two kids doing out here?! In the middle of the class?!"
>The coach.
>"Oh, you're in so much trouble now, love birds."

>The good thing, is that the coach is not a snitch.
>The bad thing, is that he likes to punish kids in the worst possible way.
>30 laps around the soccer field after classes.
>"This will teach you to skip classes! Now move it!"
>The poor kids, about to throw up from the effort, looked at each other while jogging.
>"Well", Neon said "At least... no one will call you... a Tart again after all this... exercise..."
>"Shut... up..."
>"You kids better keep quiet, or I will make you run 10 more laps!"

The End.