It was actually Shu who first braved to bring up the issue of going to school again. It's not that school was a horrible place, or anything that happened to us happened at school, but it was a place with… many eyes. And when you spend a long time away from many eyes, seeing too many eyes all of a sudden can freak you out.
First, it was Shu who suggested we should start going to school at some point, and that we should think about it. Sayna had no reaction as expected, and I wasn't quite ready to do it either.
Shu gave it a few more days and then announced that he will be going to school from the coming Monday. His situation was tough to accommodate for me and Sayna who would have just accepted dropping out of school for good, but after all, Shu was a brilliant student that skipped the two years of middle school to enter high school directly, and he was missing important part of his second year now. So when Shu said he will go to school whether we go with him or not, I knew that our time idling at home was coming to an end and there was no other way around it. Basically, Shu had to go to school. I couldn't leave him to go to school by himself. And I can't leave Sayna by herself at home. So the only solution was for us to all go to school together, thanks to Shu, for better or worse.
It took us a long time to go to school on Monday morning because Sayna kept on stopping and freezing up mid-way. Shu was very understanding about it but after like the twentieth time, he was showing his annoyance and muttering that he will just go ahead by himself and walked off. I took a few quick strides and held him back by his sleeve, and Sayna followed from behind and held me back by my sleeve. Shu looked back at me and I looked back at Sayna.
After that, Shu and I both let out a sigh and we all walked to school slowly together. Shu holding my right sleeve and Sayna holding my left sleeve.
Shu waved goodbye to us and ran ahead when we went to the school premise, but Sayna was struggling more now. But I noticed that as hesitant as she was, she never turned back. She froze on the spot and hesitated for a long time whether to take a step forward, but she never turned back to walk away.
Eventually, we reached the school and it was the third period. Because the class wasn't finished yet, we stayed just outside the classroom. I peeked through the window to check, and that was a mistake.
"BOH!!!!"
Some kid spotted me from the classroom through the window and shouted.
Ah, shit.
"Where? Really?"
Then a few kids stood up and came closer to the door.
"Hey everyone, go back to your seat -"
The teacher was trying to calm the kids down, but some boys were already running out of the classroom and shouted back to the room
"It's really Boh! Boh is back!"
With that, it felt like the whole crowd rushed out as if I were a rock star. But as heartwarming as this was, I didn't fail to notice that Sayna next to me was getting frightened and trying to hide behind my back.
"Hey hey, good to see you guys. Thank you, thank you. But let's calm down ok?"
My classmates still listened to me, and for a split second, I thought I might break into tears, remembering what my classmates were like in the previous year and what they are like this year. Worse things happened in life this year, but the people around me have gotten better.
Around lunchtime, everyone crowded by my desk, and Sayna stood up and left to go somewhere. I thought about following her, but then again, we can't do that forever and she also may want to have some peace away from this mob of excited students.
"Are you okay, Boh?"
"Were you seriously hurt?"
"You really are a badass!"
Er… what do they know…?
"What did the teacher tell you guys?"
Everyone was saying something but it all got mixed up and became a big mumbo jumbo of a verbal mess.
Then Hana stepped forward.
"Hey, Boh. I was the acting class rep while you were away. I'll tell you the version of the story we were told"
"Okay, please do"
"Er… Basically our teacher told us that some bad guys took Sayna and Shu, and you went over to rescue them"
"Man, she didn't have to tell so much-", I was a bit annoyed and worried about how many details were given to the students, maybe not by the teacher, but by the way of rumors, which tend to be worse than the truth, but this time around it couldn't be.
"Well don't blame her. It was a big deal in school because we had police cars rush into the school yard and cause a big fuss. The teacher had to say something at least"
"I see"
"So you just whacked them, Boh? What happened to you? You got hurt?", some boy couldn't hold back from asking.
"Well.. There was a fight. I had a crack in my jaw but it's healed now"
"Wow. What happened to the other guy"
"Hah… you don't wanna know", I just tried to laugh it off.
"Oh man, you are like a real hero, Boh!"
:Let's show the hero boy…:
I felt goosebumps run all over my body.
"Fuck…"
"Eh…? Are you okay Boh?"
"… yeah-.. Yeah, I'm fine... Thank you, guys, but please give me a break, alright? Sorry-"
"It's okay, you take it easy man"
I stood up feeling a bit dizzy. I walked up to the rooftop to clear my head.