Today will definitely go down in my history as 'TMI in a day for Marcus'. First, I found out Kai is gay... by accident, right? Not that it would change anything, but still it's new to me.

And the thing that fried my brain was Marce. Marvin was never kidding. He was never doing all that to just annoy Lance, though it definitely annoys Lance. But he likes the reactions he gets, Lance does get flustered by the things Marvin does. I don't get them.

I think this day would also go down in my history as 'Marcus is a thickhead' day. Now that I think about it, there were so many signs. Marvin never gets annoyed at Lance, no matter how much he lashes out on him. He's always smiling at Lance. He's always patient with him. Marvin even listens to his complaints sincerely, and Lance complains a lot. Everything annoys Lance. Marvin would just smile and say 'it's okay' or something like that. He'd get even more annoyed then. I shook my head and smiled at their antics. Someone needed to spell it out for me to understand. 

Third, there's a bet. Kai bet in favour of Marce. And fourth, get this. Felix is the bookie. It makes me imagine Felix chewing on a toothpick or something, acting like a delinquent while taking the bets. That'd be a funny sight.

I was staring blankly at the ceiling while listening to music and processing all this at a speed slower than my Wi-Fi speed in my bathroom. It's really hard to get a Wi-Fi signal in the bathroom and it's slower than 3G network speed there, if it connects at all. I seriously raked my brain for all the memories. I'm mentally and emotionally drained for the day. Seriously?! Marce is for real. From what I've seen, Lance totally doesn't see Marvin like that... I don't even know how their friendship works.

("Now I want you.. to leave me alone. They say the devil that you know is better than the devil that you don't... oh, you're a big shot here, but nobody else knows.")

_________________________

"THERE'S A BET??!!"

Kai was a bit startled by my exaggerated expression, which by the way is totally not exaggerated. I'm genuinely curious and surprised. I didn't know any of this. It's been a few months, and I thought they'd have told me something. Anything. He still laughed at me. The audacity.

"So dramatic...Well, yes. But it's been so long, we just forgot about it. We'll remember when that actually happens or when we graduate."

"Why'd you bet in favour? Lance literally threw his shoe at Marvin once!"

"I just feel it's possible... And he totally missed." He said as though stating a fact.

"Huh...?"

He shrugged, looking somewhere else. He's thinking something else, he's squinting his eyes. He usually does that when he's thinking. There's also the bright sunlight that seeped in through the vines. Could be that. I still think he knows something.

"What is it?"

"Nothing." It's totally not nothing, but I know he won't spill. Ugh, I hate it when people do that. Can't you just spill? It just makes me more curious.

I narrow my eyes at him, as if trying to tell him 'I see through your nothing'. He acts as if he can't see it. He totally did. He finally sighs.

"I can't and shouldn't tell you."

"Okay... So who's the bookie?" He's right. I'll find out myself why he bet in favour.

"Felix."

"Felix? Seriously? I'll have a chat with him tomorrow."

__________________________

"Felix. You and me. A chat. Now."

"Okay... not sus at all."

"You're the sus one. Whatever. Just follow me."

We walked towards a tree far from the others. The bell for the beginning of the class hasn't rung yet, so everybody is chatting away. Felix just arrived, and I nabbed him before he could reach the class. I didn't waste any time.

"There's a bet on Marvin and Lance getting together? And you're the bookie? I didn't even know about this. Hell, I never even imagined this."

"Pfft..."

"What?"

"I thought it was something big."

"This is something big."

"Okay... so what do you wanna know?"

"How many think the ship will sail?" I whispered, looking everywhere else. I'm totally acting sus, aren't I? Nobody's even looking at us. I loosened up.

"Most think it won't. Because of Lance."

"Obviously."

"Shit! I was not supposed to say anything. I told them I don't wanna do this. I'm really bad at this. But this shouldn't influence you."

I laughed at him. "Yeah, you weren't supposed to.... so Marvin and Lance don't know?"

"Well, they shouldn't."

"Uh huh"

"It's just a friendly bet. We never influence or interfere either. It's forgotten till it actually happens."

"You do this often?"

"I'm the bookie for this bet. But it's been a while since we even bet on anything. Last was when... oh right! We dared David to steal the skeleton in biology lab because their team lost in basketball. It's been months."

"So did he?"

"Yeah... but got caught right after. He literally ran into the lab assistant. Like colliding with him outside the lab itself. He had to buy the other team and the lab assistant pizzas." Both of us burst out laughing.

"Okay... so any other ongoing bets?"

"Not that I know of. You'd be informed too. Unless it's regarding you." He laughed it off. That's not funny though. 

"Cool." I eyed him like he's suspicious.

"So do you wanna participate?" He spoke up fast.

"Alright. I'll tell you the side later."

"Okay. I'll tell you the details then." 

The bell rang for the first period, interrupting our very important top secret talk.

"Let's go. It's biology now."

_________________________

"So bacteria need to take up plasmids with foreign DNA through transformation. Common method is heat shock, but..."

I was taking down important notes when Felix sneaked a piece of paper on to my desk.

It said, 'You free this Saturday?'

'Yeah why?' I scribbled on the paper fast and passed it back to Felix. The biology teacher can be really scary.

'Sleepover at Duke's. Saturday.' He looked excited.

"So can you make it?" He whispered.

"We could've discussed this on group chat." I leaned towards Felix and whispered.

"I thought you should know in advance."

"It's Thursday today. And we're in class." I deadpanned.

"This is more fun. I was bored." He just shrugged.

"Seriously?" I shook my head at him.

"Marcus. Can you answer my question?"

Ahh shit.

"Ma'am, could you repeat?"

"Okay. I asked a question from the previous class. How would you use ampicillin and tetracycline to separate recombinants and non recombinants?"

"Umm... If we ligate any foreign DNA at either of these restriction sites, it would cause insertional inactivation of that resistance gene. Then the non-recombinants would survive plating in that antibiotic, not the recombinants."

"Alright... I hope you're paying attention in this class."

I nodded eagerly. Phew. Thank God I listened to her last class attentively and took down the notes. Also, take that!

I turned my head towards Felix slowly for dramatic effect and glared at him. He mouthed a 'sorry'. I mouthed 'food'. He nodded and smiled.

_________________________

I was having a sandwich Felix got me, which I definitely earned, when Ezra spoke up, "Marc, you were awesome today. I'd have just given up. Too many big words."

Kai spoke up smiling, "Well, you definitely deserve this sandwich." I tried to make that puppy eyes emoji to thank him for understanding. But it must look stupid.

"You understand my worth." It came out garbled because of the food I was chewing. He just laughed it off.

"You don't need to eat it like someone might snatch it away. I paid full for it." Felix said, eying me with disbelief, and pouted.

"It was your fault." I said chewing on the sandwich I earned.

"I said I'm sorry. And ew."

"This is my payment. And I don't care." I said, bringing the sandwich close to his face. I went back to enjoying my sandwich which I totally earned.

"So my place on Saturday. My parents won't be home, so we can really have fun. Play games and order in. We can have some beers too." Duke winked and was smirking. Everyone just gave him a 'you're stupid' look. "Too much? Okay..."

"Why don't you just throw a party or something then?" Liam suggested.

Duke shut his eyes for a few seconds and inhaled deeply, like getting ready to present his arguments. Is he trying to be dramatic? What is with him today?

"One. I hate them. I don't wanna spend my weekend cleaning. And there can be damages, too. People who throw parties are dumb. That's why I deliberately do whatever I want at their place to show them how dumb they are. Two. I live in an apartment building. And three. I'm happy with just you guys." Duke laid out all his arguments, counting his points using his fingers.

"Like the time you stole some cute figurine from Lana's place? Which was her little brother's..." David smirked while Duke looked like he would punch him in the gut. 

"I didn't know, and I bought another one for him." Duke explained defensively. 

"Why buy again?"

"I can't give the same one, can I? He'll know. It's a dark secret of mine I would like you guys to keep."

"That's evil and sweet at the same time." I just snorted at him.

"Aww. You're such a softie. That's so cute." I can't tell if Marvin is mocking him or complementing him.

"Shaddup you birdbrain. You go 'round awwing at everything. It's annoying." I don't think I need to spell it out who said that.

Marvin gave a hurt puppy look. "Okay, I won't aww at others anymore."

Lance just shook his head and looked away. He says and does cryptic stuff sometimes. That's what I used to think. But I need some confirmation. After backtracking my thoughts last night and raking my memories, I had some doubts. I would place my bet then.

"Alright. I could finish The Last of Us tonight." David said with excitement.

"You can totally buy it. It's old now. But you still play that at my place." Duke said, rolling his eyes.

"You have the remastered one. Why should I buy it too?" David said, at a matter of factly.

"Ugh whatever."

So sleepover, Saturday night. 

Song used :

- Leave me alone by IDKHow