Ring!
With the 3:30 bell finally ringing, the day was officially over, and so was the week, and also the semester.
Usually, the classroom would be empty within 15 minutes. But today no one seemed to be in a hurry to leave, not even Flint, who was busy finishing his summer assignments which were just handed out an hour prior.
Faces of relief and joy filled the classroom. These teenagers who have spent most of the year together have come to be used to, even rely on the existence of each other. And now that they weren't going to see each other daily, it just seemed reasonable to spend some extra time to make plans for reunions and gatherings with those they have developed friendships with over the summer. The usual groups gathered together to talk about their summer activities and travel plans. While Charlie had many friends whom he would occasionally hang out with, there was only one person he wanted to spend most of the summer with. The annual ritual of spending summer vacation together had bonded these brothers for over a decade. Ever since their fateful encounter in the playground, the two had found themselves hitting the arcade, spending the day in the mountains, fooling around in the backyard and just enjoying the company of someone who indulges their childish behaviour. For Charlie, time would always seem to stop and the Summer felt like it would go on forever. It wasn't until the arcade closed that he realised they were no longer children anymore. There were barely any familiar faces left in the kids' playground and a lot more new and younger faces who seemed annoyed by their presence. Charlie once believed that he would spend every Summer in his life acting like children with Slinx. Yet as the years passed, he started to fear that the end of this yearly tradition was nigh.
Charlie swiftly erased that thought in his head. He briefly ended his current conversation and headed towards his pal's desk, only to find out he was already gone.
In shock, Charlie quickly asked Debra, the girl who sat behind Slinx. 'Debra, did you see Slinx leave?'
'Not really,' Debra replied, 'but I wouldn't be surprised. You of all people should know that.'
At a loss for words, Charlie thanked Debra and rushed out of the classroom. Debra was wrong, Slinx of all people would never just walk away without even telling him. He scanned the hallway which was packed with jolly students bickering non-stop. He got a few stares from some of them when he started glaring at every student who passed by. When the initial wave of students left, Charlie went on to scan every classroom on that level. It was in the Classroom of 4A where he found his dear friend sitting down with someone else, they seemed to be discussing something.
Charlie went into the classroom, and as soon as he entered he recognised the other person, it was Arven.
The classroom was still crowded, so he couldn't hear what they were saying. Although he was the one who introduced the two in the first place, he found it odd that the two sparked any sort of connection. Charlie politely waited for a few minutes for the conversation to end naturally, but the two just kept on talking. Naturally, Charlie approached them to see if he could join in.
'So we entered this theme park… which was in the sewers! Can you believe it!?' Slinx exclaimed.
'Ahh yes, Atlas Fair. My Gramps would always bring me there when he was babysitting me.'
Slinx and Arven were both looking extremely pleasant. Their voices were getting louder and their pitches a bit higher than usual.
'Yeah! And so when we went in… Oh Charlie! Shoot! I totally forgot to find you, I'm so sorry!' said Slinx.
'Ah, no biggie! I was talking to some friends anyway. Arven! It's been a while, how are you?'
'Good, good.' Arven chuckled, 'Haven't seen you since the swimming gala, sorry for not showing up for swimming practice lately.'
'Oh no no, I'm sure you have your reasons for that. Besides, you're probably the best swimmer in our school, you would've been captain if you came more often.'
'Yeah… I'll try to next year.' Arven paused before hesitantly finishing the sentence, 'That reminds me, are you free tonight Slinx? We thought it would be great if you could join us to discuss on the matter.' Arven turned back to Charlie, 'I'm sorry Charlie, but would you mind giving us a moment?'
Surprised, Charlie turned to Slinx, Slinx gave him a sincere look.
'Of course. I'll text you later Slinx. Leave your schedule open!' Charlie fist-bumped Slinx and waved goodbye to Arven. 'I'll see you next year in practice, Arven!'
It felt unnatural to leave alone on the last day of school, and yet for the first time in ten years here he was walking back on the last day of school without Slinx. Charlie told himself it was not that big of a deal, but he just couldn't shake off the uneasiness of the situation. Was he afraid that his best friend would abandon him? Of course not! Slinx and Charlie had been friends for twelve years, what was good-for-nothing Arven going to do to such a strong bond?
'Arven…' Charlie was tired of hearing his name at this point, 'the swimming prodigy who doesn't need to practice.' Charlie kicked the pebble in front of him again, the pebble rolled forward until it hit a lamppost. Charlie stopped to look back and realised he had been kicking the pebble for well over 15 minutes. And all this time he was sulking just because of this small tiny thing.
'This is no way to start the summer.' Charlie thought. He took a deep breath and walked peacefully for the rest of the journey home.
It would be a week later until Charlie saw Slinx again.
'You're late Slinx.' Charlie said. He looked a bit cross.
'No? You said 9 in the morning. It's only 8:50.' Slinx gave out a yawn. 'I should be the one complaining. Who in the right mind wakes up at 8 during summer vacation?'
'Someone who started the summer late for a whole week, that's who! Where have you been for the last week? Now come, I found this new board games store.'
Everything was pleasant during their visit to the board games store. A new batch of expansions had just been released and the owner was more than eager to showcase it to his customers. Seeing as they were the only two customers, the owner invited them to sit down for a game, and they spent a couple of hours having a jolly time.
The next stop on their itinerary was the arcade. Charlie had been waiting for months to take revenge. He had perfected a new technique which he believed would allow him to reclaim his rightful place as number one on the leaderboard. He took out his stash of pennies and inserted five of them into the machine.
'Ready to witness your demise Slinx?' Charlie taunted.
No response. Charlie tilted his head away from the screen, Slinx was seemingly daydreaming. There was a worried look on Slinx's face.
'Slinx?'
'Oh, yeah. Go on.' Slinx replied.
Charlie grunted, It was like this back in the board games store too. It was as if Slinx's body was present but his soul was wandering elsewhere. It was a bit annoying, what was so important that stopped Slinx from enjoying the moment with his best pal?
The day went on as planned, Charlie and Slinx endeavoured in their favourite whacky activities as they had for all past summers. But with Slinx's head up in the clouds, the charm of the adventure was gone. Charlie thought he could endure it just this once, it was already nighttime and the two were sitting on a hill gazing at the starry dark sky.
'Quite a day, huh?' Charlie said. 'Shame that you don't seem to be in the mood. Let me guess, relationship problems?'
'No… I mean… sort of I guess… It's no big deal though so don't worry about it.'
'Come on, spill the beans. Who better to trust than your childhood friend who has been by your side for twelve years?'
'Well… It's not that I don't trust you.' Slinx said reluctantly, 'but it's pretty confidential…'
Ouch.
Charlie knew it wasn't personal, but for whatever reason it was the last straw.
'So confidential that you trust Arven with it more than me?' Charlie asked.
'I… Charlie, that's not what I mean…'
'Is that why you've been acting so distant today? Is this how you treat your friends that wait for you? Replace them with better versions like software?' Charlie stood up as his voice was getting louder and louder.
'No! Charlie! You need to chill out!' There was panic in Slinx's voice, it was the first time he saw Charlie getting emotional ever since the sandcastle incident.
'Are you abandoning me for Arven!?' Charlie heard himself scream those words of insecurity.
Then there was a dead silence. The two stood there on the dark hill as the gentle wind blew and the insects buzzed and rattled.
The two walked back to the city without saying a word. It wasn't until they reached Charlie's apartment that Charlie said the first word.
'Sorry.'
'It's okay.' Slinx said.
'It's just that we've been through a lot together,' Charlie added, 'and It scares me to think that someday we'll drift into different paths and never talk again.'
'We'll always be friends Charlie, I promise.'
'Yeah.' Charlie smiled. Slinx smiled back.
'Alright, I'll see you soon. Goodnight pal.'
'Goodnight.'
Charlie watched as his friend continued to walk into the distance. His jealousy almost lost him a precious friendship, he was lucky that his friend was the sympathetic Slinx.
Days passed as Charlie tried to forget what had happened that night. It was Saturday morning, Charlie was walking towards the supermarket to pick up some groceries.
And as soon as he reached the supermarket, he bumped into a familiar face.
'Oh hey there! I didn't know you live here.' Arven said
'Me neither,' Charlie forced a smile, but couldn't help to cringe. 'Small world, isn't it?'
'Yeah, it's actually pretty funny since Slinx and I were just talking about you.'
Huh?
Slinx and Arven talking about him, what could they have been saying?
'Really? Haha' Charlie laughed 'Hopefully he wasn't sharing something embarrassing about me to you.'
'Oh no no, Slinx speaks highly of you. He's always saying how lucky he is to have a friend like you.' Arven said. He took a few seconds to open the fridge for some frozen dumplings before continuing.
'I hope everything is going well for you too, I have no intention of ruining the solid friendship between you two.'
At first, Charlie didn't respond. Confused, Arven turned around to see if Charlie was still there. For a moment, Arven saw a dark, cold reaction on Charlie's face.
'Oh really? Then explain why…' Charlie was still staring at the ground, Arven took a step back.
'Ha! Got you!' Charlie shouted with a big smile on his face. 'Of course I know you aren't trying to do that. I wouldn't even have thought of that if you didn't mention it!' Charlie continued to laugh.
Surprised and a bit shocked, Arven hesitantly laughed along. 'Heh, nice one. Really got me for a second there Charlie.' Arven quickly scooped up a pack of instant noodles from the rack. 'Anyways, I've got everything I need. Nice talking to you Charlie, I'll see you around!'
'Of course! See you.' Charlie said.
Arven left the store, Charlie stood at the entrance as he glared at the leaving Arven.
He never liked Arven, and now Charlie knew why. He followed Arven closely.
'You think you can just steal my best friend so easily?' Charlie muttered.
'I'll stop you. Whatever you're up to.'