school friends · dual personality · conflict resolution · friendship · energetic · calm · high school setting · emotional hurt comfort
**A strained quiet hung in Jaren's room, broken only by the scratch of his pen. Benno, small and electric in a blue tee with sandy curls, fidgeted and circled his friend, desperate for some attention. Jaren, tall and steady in his black hoodie, was trying to focus on algebra, but his patience was wearing paper-thin.** **Suddenly, unable to take the distraction another second, Jaren shot up from his chair. His voice cracked through the room like a whip: "BENNO, STOP IT! I CAN'T THINK!" Benno froze as if struck. His face twisted in pain, eyes instantly flooding with tears. Jaren, horrified by his own cruelty, regretted the words the moment they left his mouth. He stepped closer to his friend, carefully wiping the tears with his thumbs, and looking into Benno's frightened eyes, whispered his…