“I wanna go home,” I said drowsily, resting my chin on the table.

“Then go home,” Tristan said as he read a book.

I turned my face to him, filled with annoyance.

We were at the same table so I knew he saw me, but he didn’t lift his eyes from the book.

“You know I can’t do that. Some people care about their grades, y'know?” I retorted.

“Too bad.”

I scowled and turned my attention to Nishimoya who was sitting at the other side of the table.

It was a Monday morning, so like usual, we were sitting in a cafeteria.

This time, Nishimoya didn’t get hit by a car, so she got there way ahead of us.

But she wasn't as talkative as usual.

‘She’s still acting weird…’

Her expression was one of deep thought.

Obviously, I was bothered by this so I decided to bother her.

“Nishimoyaaaaaaaaa.”

“What is it?” She asked.

“Gimme money.”

“No.”

“Pretty please.”

“No.”

“Pleassseeee.”

“No.”

Our conversation continued in this fashion for a bit before we finally had to go to class.

My first period class on Mondays was mathematics so I quickly made my way there.

The class was like how it always was.

Boring.

Y'know how I said math is only annoying when you don’t understand it?

This was one of those times.

But, I wanted to be the best.

So I continued to take notes and tried to wrap my head around this nightmare of a class.

Fortunately, I don’t share any classes with Aurora on Mondays which meant she couldn’t see my weakness for now.

I had a similar experience in my next period class which was science.

Here’s the thing: I had a decent understanding of science by no means did I enjoy it.

Despite this, I still had a better time than I did in math due to Nishimoya being in my class.

“Alright now guys! You can turn and talk with a partner!” Mr Bostav exclaimed enthusiastically.

I turned my head towards Nishimoya, who was sitting at the table next to me.

“Weird science fact, go!” I ordered.

“Dust in your house is usually made up of dead skin cells so you’re technically inhaling people’s skin daily,” Nishimoya replied with a smile.

I gagged.

“Gross! When do you even figure out these things?!” I asked.

She shrugged.

“My parents forced me to learn random stuff so now I know a bunch of things I’ll never need.”

“All that knowledge and you still managed to end up lost every day for the first week of school. You are quite the unique specimen.”

Nishimoya’s smile twitched.

“It’s not my fault our schools are so confusing! Anyway…let’s actually get back to focusing on the class,” She replied.

Nishimoya’s smile faded and her gaze seemed to become more solemn.

Her focus went entirely to her work, as if consumed by it.

‘Crap, she looks sad again.’

“Alright, you’re right.”

Then, we actually got back on task for the rest of the class.

Being able to joke with her like that was fun even if she wasn’t exactly acting like usual.

Anyway, my next period was art which was a huge relief.

You have no idea how much I love art.

Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not like this super artist or anything.

It’s just so much easier to get a good grade compared to other classes.

That’s why I was overflowing with excitement to spend the class period learning about an artist I’d never hear about again.

In all seriousness though, I found learning about art very interesting and it felt like no time before it was the next class period.

Speaking of the next class period, I had physical education as my next period class.

Not only that, Tristan was in my class too so it was definitely one of the highlights of my day.

When I actually got to the gym, it turned out that for the next month or two we’d be learning how to play hockey.

I was really pleased with this since it meant I could move around more.

Although I would’ve preferred to play a sport with more running.

Nevertheless, I had a fun time messing around with Tristan as we practiced passing to each other.

After that, I had lunch so I sat with Tristan and Nishimoya.

“Aurora’s not sitting with us today, again?” I asked as I took a bite out of the sandwich I brought.

“Nope she’s with her other friends,” Tristan replied, still reading that damn book.

‘Why’s she coming over here?’

“Hey you three, mind if I sit with you?” Soriel asked as she approached our table.

“Of course, come sit!” Nishimoya responded.

Soriel sat down and began to talk with Nishimoya.

‘They get along pretty well. I didn’t realize they’d hit it off so fast.’

I didn’t notice it during our amusement park hangout, but Nishimoya and Soriel got along really nicely.

Seeing them get along so well made me a bit hesitant to cut in the conversation so I only spoke every once in a while.

But still, it was cool to see that everyone was getting along.

Once lunch finished, I had English as my next period.

I wasn’t very excited for English but I sucked it up and lazily made my way to my seat.

When I sat down, I heard someone whisper in my ear.

“Oh woah, I didn’t realize we were in the same class.”

I flinched and almost let out a rather odd sound. 

As I recovered from my shock, I turned around to see who spoke to me.

‘Soriel?!’

To my shock, Soriel was sitting in the seat behind me.

“You almost shocked my soul out of my body. Couldn’t you have said hello in a more polite manner?!” I said, slightly raising my voice.

Soriel giggled and smiled.

“My bad,” She replied.

I turned back around to pay attention to the class, but the lesson was really boring.

I guess Soriel must’ve figured I was getting bored so she began whispering to me as I pretended to pay attention to class.

“What was your favorite food you ate at the amusement park?” She asked.

“The corn dogs, what about you?” I replied.

“Mine was a candy apple,” Soriel answered.

Our conversation continued in this manner for a little before Soriel asked a question that made me pause.

“Hey, I didn’t wanna mention this while we were with the others but are you scared of amusement park rides?”

I froze.

‘How does she know that? Did I say something that helped her figure it out? Did I look weird?’

I really didn’t want to tell her.

So, I lied.

“Nah…” I answered.

“Oh okay,”

For a few moments, we both went silent. And in that silence, I felt a slight guilt well up in my heart.

“Sorry, I lied. Yeah, I’m a bit scared of them. How did you know?” I confessed, a bit quieter than before.

“I don’t worry about it, I understand. I just had a feeling you did. I’m not sure why or how but I could tell.”

‘She figured that out from just a gut feeling? Did God give her cheats or something?’

“Oh yeah, you love roller coasters and stuff right? I guess you probably think I’m a coward,” I blurted out.

In the corner of my eye, I saw a worried expression flash on her face.

“No, no not at all! We all have things that scare us. Like for me, I’m scared of chickens,” She quickly replied.

“You’re scared of chickens?” I asked, trying to confirm I heard her right.

“Yeah it’s a bit embarrassing but you can’t blame me. Their eyes. Their dark soulless eyes that make you feel like you're exposed. They scare me,” Soriel said as she shivered.

After that, I continued to learn more about Soriel’s irrational fear of chickens.

Honestly, it was fun as hell.

Unfortunately, that time couldn’t last forever and class ended after a while.

So I went to my last two periods which were social studies and Spanish.

But they were so boring in comparison to being with Soriel I couldn’t even remember what happened while I was in them.

Eventually, school ended and I was released from my shackles of boredom and finally able to go home.

Except…I wasn’t.

You see, I am actually a part of a sports team for our school.

The sports team being…track and field.

So instead of going home to my lovely bed I went to the boy’s locker room to get changed before practice.

Once I finished getting dressed, I went to the nearby park that we used to practice.

“Hey coach,” I said as I approached a tall man.

The tall man had black hair with teal highlights and was wearing a white t-shirt and sweatpants.

He was my coach.

“Hey, Elliot. You can sit down while we wait for the others. Or stand. I don’t really care,” Coach replied.

Like he suggested, I sat down on the grass of the field.

It was an empty plain of just grass and a few paths made of stone that circled around.

Naturally there were a few trees and other things a bit farther away but in this area, there was nothing to sit on.

So I just sat in silence and waited.

And I didn’t have to wait long.

After 2 or 3 minutes, a group of boys came over to coach and I.

They all threw their backpacks on the ground near mine and sat down in front of our coach.

“All right, now that everyone is here, let’s get started,” Coach said.

From there we began our warm up.

We did a few stretches, mobility drills, laps of jogging, and that was it.

Next, we split into groups. Each group specialized in a different form of track and field so we all practiced differently.

For me, since I specialized in sprinting, my group practiced running.

Specifically, we did short sprints, resistance bands sprints where we tied ourselves with a partner with a resistance band, and raced each other on the stone paths.

We did this for about 30 minutes so we were all exhausted afterwards.

That’s why we took a water break.

“Yo El, you tired already?” A voice said as it approached me.

I looked up towards the individual and my eyebrow twitched.

“Shut it Austin,” I replied as I gulped down my water.

Y'know how I said everyone was exhausted after practice?

I lied.

Austin, my partner for the resistance band sprints and the fastest runner on the team, was the only one immune to getting tired.

With short blonde hair, pale skin, dashing blue eyes, and a lean but muscular build, Austin stood out no matter where he went.

And it pissed me off.

‘He should be more appreciative of his genetics, people like me would die to have his talent. Why is life so unfair? Why couldn’t I be born like him?’

“Cmon, lighten up. It’s okay that you're a tad slow, don’t worry about it. Everyone is slow compared to me,” Austin said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, yeah, we all know that the reason you're so fast is because you're slow in the head,” I countered.

“You piece of…”

“Everyone! Get back to practicing, you all need to be prepared for spring!” Our Coach yelled.

I smirked at Austin and his smile twitched.

Then we went back to practicing.

For the next 30 minutes we did some strength training and final stretches.

Once all that was done, practice ended.

“That’s it for today, all of you can go home now,” Our coach said as we finished our last stretch.

I said bye to Austin and grabbed my backpack.

Next, I pulled out my phone and saw a notification that surprised me.

— Soriel: I know this is sudden but do you wanna come to my piano recital tomorrow?