Best friends

"Hey," Steph said in a small voice, barely above a whisper, as she stood in front of my locker.

I blinked, surprised to see her there, awkwardly shifting on her feet like she was trying to shrink into the floor. She was clearly nervous.

"Hey," I replied, voice neutral but clipped. I didn't want to sound cold, but I wasn't about to pretend everything was fine either. I focused on spinning the lock, pretending I couldn't feel the weird tension clinging to the air like a fog.

The silence that followed was heavy. She didn't say anything at first, and neither did I. It was weird—too weird.