Me and Kenny cleaned ourselves up in the bathroom and returned to class with a mop and bucket to clean our mess.
Unsurprising, they already have a nickname for us. The Vomit Boys. It has a nice ring to it I guess?
I tried upholding a clean image, but that's what I get for being a good friend. I should probably stop that then if it doesn't benefit me right? But acts of kindness, they're quite fulfilling if we disregard my vile thoughts during the act.
Here it goes again, a barrage of I'm a horrible person floods the back-end of my mind. Then an opposing sub-thought explains to myself why otherwise. I'll let them sort themselves out.
"I told you to bring him to the clinic, Markov." Sir George sermons at me, then tapped me by the back.
"But why did you vomit as well? Did his tuna sandwich rub off on your stomach too?" A pathetic attempt at a joke, if only delivered correctly would have made me genuinely chuckle.
I laugh nonetheless, and just agree.
"Yeah, maybe so."
"Have you apologized to Andre? Was that his name?"
"Andres, Sir. Yes, I did but I don't think he accepted it."
"He doesn't have to in this case, it's something you couldn't control after all."
I don't know if he's just saying that because on the surface it was really nobody's fault, and I've already apologized, but still that statement Sir George just made doesn't seem right at all, but no matter.
"You're shirt, it's... Well you can go change by the Gymnasium, there's a tray of extra shirts there."
He taps me again by the back and leaves for lunch, leaving me and Kenny alone in the room.
"Kaneki, everyone's at the cafeteria now. Let's change clothes and go there too, if you're still up to eat."
I know he's not, but we still have to show up for pride reasons. But damn, this school has a gymnasium that offers extra shirts, how extravagant and thoughtful.
"You change first, I'll catch up. I have to clean my shoes too."
He got some all over his shoes, and I did too with Andres, that's probably why he didn't forgive me.
How grand the gymnasium is, the roof is covered and the floor is thoroughly waxed. I asked the guard about the extra shirts and that Sir George sent me, and he let me in. He didn't tell me where to find the shirts though, but at this point I've walked too far in the gymnasium to go back and ask. I'll just find another staff as I go.
I see a person sitting by the bench, browsing through their phone. I approached them swiftly, and as I got closer I saw that it was a woman around our age. Probably a volleyball player with the way she was dressed, and had a towel around her shoulders. I asked where the extra shirts were and she pointed me to an open compartment within the building. I was too pre-occupied with the vomit on my shirt to get a good look, but I knew she was quite the stunner. Her voice sounded soothing too.
I took two white shirts from the basket that had around 10-15 shirts neatly folded, and smelled nice. I don't know how to describe that after laundry smell that clothes have, it just smells nice. I exited the opposite way, so I didn't have a chance to see that pretty lady.
"Thank you!" loudly, but not shouting, I expressed my gratitude to her, while waving my hand goodbye. As I turned my head, I saw her make a little wave too.
Kenny and I change our clothes and head to the cafeteria. Our classmates are scattered, some have a seat with people from other classrooms, while some tables occupy only our classmates. I see Gretchen, Tarik, and Lyie all in one table. It seems that I've correctly guessed who the three stooges for me will be, as they seemingly already have some sort of personal connections to each other. Tarik invites us over to their table.
"You guys alright?"
Kenny and I nod as we sit.
Lyie offered us her biscuits. I take some, while Kenny hesitates.
"What a way to start your school life, eh?" Tarik leaned forward to tell me, but Gretchen still heard and backslapped his ass.
"Oh, sorry!" Tarik apologized.
"It's alright. Kenny here just needs some rest, and I probably had an accident as well because I haven't been drinking my water."
"That's not good then, dehydration is the enemy of a healthy body" said Gretchen passionately, as she hands me a bottle of electrolyte-infused drink.
"Thank you so much!"
I chatted for a while with the three as Kenny drank sip by sip from the bottle that Gretchen gave.
"I wonder when those three will come to class" I heard Tarik ask Lyie.
Intrigued, I asked them all about it. Gretchen explained to me everything before our lunchbreak ended. Roze is part of the volleyball team, practicing for a national competition that's going to be held next week. Kei, Lyie's boyfriend is part of the student council and said they're excused for the first week of classes to do, as Gretchen describes it "silly goofy council work". Josh on the other hand is still in the hospital, it seems he broke his hip 3 days prior to the first day of class.
"That's all I know so far." said Gretchen
"Are the six of you all friends?"
"I guess? We only know Kei because of Lyie, Josh was transferred to our class from the neighboring classroom because of space reasons mid-semester, so we only got to know him for half a year, but we're on good terms, Roze on the other hand would be every one of us three's dearest friend."
Lyie jumped on the conversation and added, "Yeah! Roze is unbelievably nice, smells really good, and very pretty. And I can't stress enough how good she smells."
At this point I already placed the pieces together, the girl I met in the gymnasium is probably Roze. I confirmed this when Lyie said she smells good.
"She seems cool, all this praise for her name makes me want to meet her."
With that, our lunch break is over and it's time for Physicals.