"Howin wake up, quick, the school is on fire!"
My peaceful slumber was abruptly ended by a loud shout in my ear. The dreams I was having disappeared, right when I was about to get to the good part.
In anger, I swiftly raised my head and glared daggers at the person beside me. "David, what the fuck is wrong with you?!"
He recoiled in his seat, pointing at me so the teacher would know who said that in case she was looking. Luckily, everyone else in the class was talking at the same time. Relief washed over me when I realized I wouldn't get cussed out again.
"Not my fault you stayed up all night playing no hoes, no life," said David, after trying to sell me out.
"It's called league, monkey."
David's expression changed to one of cringe. "Asian people shouldn't say that. Aren't you afraid of getting canceled or something?" He said jokingly.
"Nah, black people were slaves, we were indentured workers: same difference." I reasoned. David didn't agree with me, but he would one day. They all would.
The class was really noisy. Sometimes I, myself, wonder how I fall asleep when the class is usually this noisy. See, Ms. Smith wasn't the type to demand discipline unless she was teaching something. We had already finished the syllabus, so we were spending the last few days at school doing revisions, mostly. We had already finished revisions for the day.
"Why did you even wake me up, David?" I asked, "We're not even doing anything!" I wiped my face using my hands, trying to erase the drowsiness."
"Alright. Next time, I'll leave without waking you up so you can get trapped inside the school again."
"Trapped inside your mom's-"
"David and Howin, I'm up here watching your dynamic, and you two argue like a married couple. Are you guys sure that you're not best friends?" Ms. Smith interrupted.
"No!" we both shouted. David ended there, but I continued. "Miss, it's him who keeps touching me."
You know when you're in a loud place, full of people you don't speak to, and you and your friend are having a normal conversation, then the moment that you're saying something even remotely weird, the entire place goes quiet? That's what happened.
I regretted my words as soon as they left my mouth. The entire classroom had eyes on me and David.
The entire class burst into laughter at our expense. 'Of course, you'd hear that part,' I thought. The laughter was more playful than condescending, but still.
"Miss, this is why I don't talk to him in public," David complained.
"I'm just playing with you guys." She said with a big grin. "I didn't mean to expose your relationship."
My classmates' laughter, which was already dying, was revived and my face turned red in response. I wanted to look around to see if Alexia was laughing, but I didn't have to: her laughter was one of the loudest. My chances were gone with this girl too, now. Wait... I could still salvage it. My chances weren't over as long as David said nothing else.
"It's his fault miss. I can't focus on anything when he keeps sleep-talking beside me about what he and his big brother do."
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Did I even have any chance with her now?
"David, why don't you just kill your-" I began before a cheerful voice sounded from outside the classroom.
"Hey, Ms. Smith!" The voice said. From my position, I couldn't see who it was, but I could certainly identify this voice. This one made David look like an angel in comparison. I threw my hands up in the air, exasperatedly. On the off chance that I had an inch, a centimeter, a sliver of a chance... He would take it away from me.
Lith walked into the classroom, straight to the teacher's table. I dreaded whatever vile thing he would say next, but instead of making a joke at my expense, he sparked up a casual conversation with Ms. Smith while the rest of us listened intently. 'Maybe the smile that I saw on his face wasn't the usual "I came to cause trouble" smile, I thought.
I was wrong.
After the short, inaudible conversation. Ms. Smith handed lith a marker. He gratefully accepted, then went up to the whiteboard and wrote something: "Foes to Friends to Feelings." The class looked on expectantly.
A dangerous sparkle appeared in his eyes as he cleared his throat.
"David and Howin's relationship - Chapter 1..." He began. '
'That's it, I have to change schools.' I thought.
Lith Jeden stood there, at the front of the class, spewing utter bullshit for a good ten minutes. He gave an entire story about the topic. The guy didn't stutter once throughout the entirety of his speech and the way he spoke exuded confidence. If I wasn't the Howin in question, I would have probably believed him.
Every time David and I attempted to interrupt, Ms. Smith would tell us to quiet down or face detention. The world is truly unfair. Rage and sorrow were running through my veins. These guys loved to make me look bad.
At the end of his speech, the sound of clapping rang out from our classmates. A few of them pretended to wipe a tear from their eye. Some knew him well enough to know that he was just joking, but some genuinely believed him. Who, you ask?
Alexia was crying actual tears because of the "emotion" of the story.
The bell rang soon after. We were all dismissed.
----------------------
"Why are you guys so depressed looking?" Asked the person who made us depressed.
"Damn bro," David said sarcastically. "Depressed looking? Nah, I'm chilling right now. It's just my entire reputation."
" I swear that I'm going to get you back one day," I vowed.
Lith laughed and was still laughing at his joke as if it was the funniest thing that he had ever experienced. He probably didn't even hear me.
"I hate you guys so much..." I muttered.
"What do you hate me for? I am just as much of a victim as you are."
"Yeah, but my chances with Alexia were ruined because of you."
"Alexia? Do you already like a new one?" Asked Lith.
"I wouldn't say that I like her... I just think that she's pretty"
"Same shit." They replied in unison, scoffing at me. David continued, "Everybody knows you don't have any standards, Howin. A man doesn't build up 19 rejections by choosing carefully."
Lith smiled. The nineteen rejections thing was something that he made up years ago, and everyone just ran with it for some reason. It was clear that they didn't understand love as I did, so it would be a waste of time to explain it to them. 'Now...who should I love next?' I thought to myself while waiting for them to change the topic.
We walked in silence for a long time until we were almost halfway to the bus terminal. David was the first to say something. "Are you going to be there tonight?" He asked Lith.
There was a period of silence between them. It extended a bit too long. I wasn't sure if David would ask again, but I wanted him to. I was also hoping that Lith would be there.
"Lith, you gonna be there?" He prompted again.
Lith didn't want to answer, meaning that he didn't want to come to the meetup.
Lith clicked his tongue, "I don't want to come, but it would be weird if I didn't, wouldn't it?" He sighed lightly. "Yeah, I'll be there. You can get off my back now."
The reason I didn't ask Lith myself was that I didn't know how to handle this type of thing. For serious real-life things, I preferred to let Lith and David handle it. They made good decisions.
After they were finished, I expressed my thoughts. "Man..... I can't wait to get a girlfriend so I can change for her."
"We get it, bro. You don't have a girlfriend. You don't have to remind us every two seconds, Howin." David said. Lith muttered, "That's the most single brain cell thing I've ever heard."
"What?! How is that dumb?"
"If you wanted to change then you wouldn't wait on some special occasion to do it." Lectured David. I began to regret what I said. David went on a rant about why what I said didn't make sense. Maybe if it was Lith who was saying it, then I would listen, but David never had a real girlfriend either, so did his opinion matter? During this entire rant, Lith was completely zoned out. He was used to David's lectures.
"Hmm, David, how come you're giving me girl advice?" I asked, "Didn't God tell your one-day girlfriend to break up with you?"
Lith was drawn back into the conversation. He chuckled. "He does have a point, David."
David wasn't going to take that from Lith. "You keep forgetting that you're single now, too. Didn't you tell "the love of your life" that you don't care if she dies or something like that?"
Lith's entertained expression changed to one of cringe, the type you get from a bad memory. "You do have a point, David."
Anyway, I didn't agree with what those two said. How can anyone change if they don't have a reason to? A man needs a reason to change. The only reason that I can't change now is that I don't have any reason to. Sometimes a man just needs a reason to change himself for the better, you know?