"Ayo boys wassup," I heard the familiar deep voice slur. I looked up to my right and saw a tired-looking Chase walk up to the seat beside mine. He slumped down into his chair as his backpack hit the floor.
"Sup bruh", "Morning", "You look dead" were our greetings to him, as we stared back with half-open eyes. It was exam month and everyone was working their asses off, us a bit more than the others, as we hardly paid any attention in class throughout the year. Bunking classes to go to the rooftop or just roam around in the school building was mostly what we'd done. It wasn't all of us, though. Sa Rang, Penny, and at times even Ali would stay back in class to take down notes. The rest of us would just copy them down a day or two before the submission date.
We were used to staying up late at night but it was to chat, play games, or binge-watch series. Staying up for studying, on the other hand, took a lot of effort and caffeine. But since it was our last year of high school, we had to prepare well for the final exams as they'd determine our admission into junior college.
As the month went by and only the last exam was left, there was a text notification from the group chat. Justin was already making plans for meeting up after the last exam to go watch a movie. It felt like that optimism, that carefree attitude of his was much needed for everyone to calm down their nerves before the exam. It sure did take our minds off of it for a while.
On the day of the last exam, we met at the school gate as planned and went over to Justin's place to get changed and freshen up before heading to the cinema. The movie wasn't all that great, but making fun of the characters and mimicking them made the outing memorable.
Another month went by and we hung out a lot, had a few sleepovers too, but then it was time to choose our stream for the next academic year. We had different interests and we weren't sure if we'd get admissions to the same college or not.
Alex, James, Ali, and I were going for the science stream.
Sa Rang, Justin, and Chase were going for the commerce stream.
Penny was going for the humanities stream.
We applied to many common colleges, but we weren't hell-bent on going to the same one, as every college has its own specializations.
A few months later, when the hassle of admissions was over, we got in touch again and found out that other than Penny, we were all in the same college. Penny's was close by too, so we'd visit her from time to time.
When the first year of junior college started, James and I were in the same class, and so were Sa Rang and Chase. Alex, Justin, and Ali were all in different classes. As we got busy with our studies and made more friends, we got less time to talk to each other. The group chat became a dead chat, and even if we met in the corridors during break time, we'd hardly ever talk for more than a few minutes.
It was during this year, that I found Jaslin Oberoi, a skinny, average height girl with long hair that passed her waist. At first, I was a bit formal with her, given that the only time I actually knew her before this was when we went to an amusement park through the school as a one-day trip, and through the school football team in 9th grade. As the eventless year went by, we'd stuck together like glue and got reprimanded by teachers very often for not paying attention in class.
Then came a time, where I felt lonely without her crazy self talking in Spongebob font and her neverending meme references. It felt like I had found my clone, only girly and less socially awkward than me.
She knew about everything- EVERYTHING that ever happened in my life, even in the past, and was always a supportive person. At times she'd be like a mom to me, and at times like a sister. Guiding me, having fun with me, making me study, feeding me.
For a moment, I had forgotten all about them.
And I felt guilty.
I felt sad.
And as I thought more about it, I realized we were all drifting apart and I felt broken.