Rejoin. Rejoin. Rejoin.

  All that's been on Leaf's mind the past week was the rejoin. He couldn't help it. Two years had passed– two years since he'd last seen his best friend. Two years without Phone and her intelligence, without her to calm him down when he got mad, without her to talk to and be himself with.

  Sure, he had Baseball, Dynamite, and Soap Bottle. Maybe Taoism too, but he was a little iffy on that. But his friendship with Phone was just different. She was his first friend, even if he was irritated by her know-it-all attitude at first. As kind as Leaf could be, he also had an aggressive streak. Almost like a delinquent.

  But Phone...didn't care about that. She hardly cared for other people's opinions. She was headstrong, and steadfast to her principles. And Leaf eventually discovered that. They found things in each other that other people normally didn't have the patience to find.

  In their own, stupidly cliché way, they were against the world, and only had each other. That's what they felt like, anyway. Of course Leaf and Phone had turned down their strong attitudes since then, but their initial connection still remained.

  And Phone was gone. His support. Taken away from him for one mistake. His resentment towards the game threatened to boil over again. He'd heard time and time again, 'the viewers are ruthless, so you better not screw up', and he tried. He tried so hard to stay in the game that he even sacrificed his own personality, in favor of someone much nicer than him. A pushover, even. Someone claimed to have survived to the final two, with just her niceness going for her.

  It was the worst mistake of his life. Even Phone had to lecture him about it, and she made sure the lesson was ground into his brain. Every time he got hate mail for being a 'Leafy rip-off', it just made him feel all the more hurt. And angry.

  Anger got Phone eliminated. She was always a perfectionist, who found her solace in patterns and calculations. She prided herself on her intelligence, and her greatest wish was to be an educator. Her intelligence made her the best. A winner.

  Something just snapped in her. The snowman that she had put hard work into, to assure that it would win, failed. She lost. It was like a blow to her pride itself. 

  Despite her actions, Phone was a fan favorite. The viewers would give her a second chance. She had to come back. She had to.

  She had to.

  And as Leaf walked up to the infamous metal box, the one that held all the eliminated contestants, dread weighed heavy on him like a stone in his stomach. He sat on the bench, and anxiously clenched and unclenched his sweaty hands, as each contestant's name was listed off. 

  Until, it was just Sponge and Phone. Leaf swore he was about to faint. If there was a god, he prayed, used every prayer and wish-making technique he knew. Even the childish 'Starlight, Starbright' nursery rhyme he heard the Cherries use one night.

  He didn't care if it worked poorly for them. Anything was fair game at this point.

  "And the one who will rejoin...the contestant with the most votes...isssssss....drumroll please!"

  "Just hurry up already!" Soap Bottle, Leaf, and Yang all shouted. Microphone glared at them.

  "Well if you insist on being so rude, then maybe I won't say who rejoins!"

  "I don't really care-"

  "Yang! Shh!"

  Silent tension covered the area for a brief moment. Microphone sighed.

  "Thank you. Now, the person who rejoins Object Oppose, with 107 votes is...Phone!" Leaf gasped with delight. "Sponge comes in second with 77 votes. Flat Screen, bring her out!"

  With the push of a button, Phone teleported in front of the other contestants, a dazed look on her face. It didn't last for long.

  "Wh- Oh my gosh! I rejoined!?"

  "Phone!" Leaf cried out. He leaped from his seat and hugged Phone with all his might. Finally! He'd never let her go again. His best friend. His best supporter. All his anxieties melted away, and all that was important was Phone, and...how utterly glad he felt to be with her again.

  It was indescribable. Tears fell from Leaf's eyes, out of his control, with no way to stop them. He focused on the smoothness of her back, and how cool she was to the touch. Like diving into a swimming pool during a hot summer. Falling onto a soft bed after a long day. Familiarity. Comfort. Safety.

  "Leaf?"

  He hugged her tighter still. God, he missed her so much.