It was a breezy morning as I stood on the sidewalk. My bag is full of books and pens to prepare for the lessons facing me. Walking to school is always such a relaxing moment for me. There are always birds chirping, dogs barking, and people complaining. It's a very calming feeling to start the day.
The path to school is a straight one. Just turn left from my house, another left, then straight for the rest of the journey. I would always pass the same suburban homes along the way. Sometimes, I'd stop by the minimarket for food a third of the way in. The school canteen's bad food just doesn't do it for me sometimes.
But today, I think I'll pass on the market. I need to buy groceries anyway; better do it after school.
The closer I got to the school, the more people in uniforms I saw. Most of the students here go to school on foot, since this part of town is quite harsh on its green campaign. I'd pass by kindergarteners, grade schoolers, middle schoolers, high schoolers, teachers, janitors, and pretty much every unidentified school staff member there is.
After a half-hour walk, I've finally reached the school gate. My class is on the second floor, so there's still quite a bit of walking to do. But before I go to my class, I do a quick visit on my friends who are one grade below me.
"Well, well, well, look who's come to visit." It was my friend Rain. He always makes my entrances feel grand in this class.
"Sup," I replied.
Class 8-B, the class I left behind. In our school, once you're in a class, you stay with those same classmates until you graduate. I was the odd one out, skipping a grade just last year. Though my upperclassman status is left unacknowledged by the people here. Not that I want them to.
There were a few people in class. Most of the girls are already here, unlike the boys. As per usual, most of the people here are going to reach school at almost tardy hours. It is normal for the bell to ring before our class reaches a 50% attendance, well, their class.
Surprisingly, even as I stood there in their class, they barely judged me. I don't know what it is, but the people here are some of the kindest people I know. They think of me as one of their own, which I really appreciate.
I walked over to the teacher's table and took a seat. As soon as I did that, Rain came over and asked me, "So, how's trigonometry, eh? That triangle shit you would nerd about back when you were here."
I giggled away at his attempt to taunt me. "Pfft! That's nothing compared to calculus."
We would go back and forth about our differences in intellect. I felt borderline narcissistic as I struck back at him with taunting remarks about their inferior lessons.
"So, what are you up to up there?" he asks.
"Surprisingly not much. Most of the guys are talking about Stars of Gerhana."
"Yeah… I guess that's expected." He rolled his eyes at my answer.
The students in this class have not had their chance at the game yet. They've likely heard that the upperclassmen use their study hours to talk about the game. They're probably wishing to play the game too. They're barely even old enough to play the game.
"Actually… Wanna know something surprising?" I said.
He nodded, though skeptical.
"Yesterday I got my own headset!"
The room immediately went silent. The pen Rain had been spinning suddenly fell out of his hand, his fingers frozen in place. Everyone stopped everything they were doing and immediately gave me stares from across the room. Everyone's mouth slowly went agape.
"Are… are you serious?"
"…Yes…?"
Gasps filled the classroom. Everyone quickly crowded over to my spot; even the girls were as surprised. Immediately, people started asking me quick-fire questions regarding my previous statement.
"Yoo, How did you get it?!"
"Have you killed any bosses yet?"
"What skills have you gotten?"
"Dude, please tell the devs I also want in!"
"Are the NPCs really human-like?"
The air was filled with speech bubbles, waiting for me to pop each and every one in sequence. I could barely breathe in between all the words being spoken. It was definitely something they never expected me to say.
I had almost forgotten that everyone in this class is a gamer. Every boy and every girl who resides here has a gaming PC in their homes. They must've been waiting for the game invite ever since the game started trending online. I should've thought about that before I exposed myself.
"Um… Ah… Uh… Oh look! The bell's about to ring." I quickly got out of my chair away from the crowd. "Nice talking to y'all. Gotta go now!"
I ran out of the class as fast as I could. Behind me, I could hear, "Hey! Come back! Answer our questions first!" Luckily, my feet can reach peak speeds upwards of 10,000 mph. It wasn't hard to outrun their cries.
----
I reached my class, 9-B, after a good 5 minutes of running.
As per usual, the class is filled with chatter about the game. They're all talking about killing bosses and quests that they've done.
Come to think of it, everyone's talking about doing some sort of quest in the game. Are they all questing in the game?
As I walked to my seat, I wondered if they are all adventurers in the game. Ms. Elith and Mr. Moustache said that they were rare. Well, it is not unlikely that everyone in class plays the game normally. They're still kids after all. Why would we play bartender in a game where monsters exist?
"Where were you, slowpoke?" It was Star catching me off guard. She was pointing a finger right at me. "You're so late that I thought you weren't gonna come for the day."
"I'm not late."
DingDing*Ding*
"See?"
Star looked at me with the face of dissatisfaction.
I unpacked my bags and brought out notebooks and pens to prepare for class.
Even after the bell rang, my classmates haven't taken their seats yet. Not like they'll be punished by the teachers or anything. The teachers here are as obsessed with the game as we are. If anything, they add to their discussions instead of stopping them.
I wait in vain for the class to start. As expected, the economics teacher, Mr. Hansen, starts advertising his potion-selling and mob loot business to the crowd. He's selling his health-enhancing potion for just 3
It's boring to be sitting back here watching everyone talk about the game. I'm not experienced enough to understand everything they're saying, but I technically have the privilege to discuss the game with them. I'm not that great at talking to people, though, so why bother?
Star, on the other hand, seems quite interested in their discussion. It's nice that her crisis from yesterday has been averted. That said, she doesn't seem to have the courage to walk over and join their conversation.
There's no reason for me to not take this time to study economics. Even if the teacher isn't teaching, I still think it's a good use of my time. I took out the textbook and scoured through the chapters. Then, I took the time to read and understand every paragraph, taking notes while summarizing my findings.
Although, while I was doing that, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Star kept glancing at me for split seconds. I thought she was paying attention to the guys at the front desk; why is she glancing at me?
Was it because of yesterday? Maybe she's trying to tell me that she didn't mean to ghost me. Well, what else could it be?
I glanced back at her and said, "You wanna say something?"
"Ah, um, well…"
"Spit it out. I'm on the Discount Rates chapter right now; it's getting quite interesting."
"Um, about yesterday…"
"Carry on."
"So… I'm sorry for not texting you. I was just having a lot of fun yesterday."
She made it sound like she went to hang out with friends or something. Although she didn't tell me about it when we were walking home. I understand, though. It's a valid reason. "At least you had fun with your friends, right?" I said.
"Ah. No… It's not because of that."
"Hmm? Well then, what is it?"
She seemed quite hesitant to answer me. She glanced back and forth as if deciding whether to answer my question. "I got a package," she finally answered.
"A package?"
"Yeah… I didn't know where it came from. But it was clearly mine based on the letter inside."
A letter? That sounds kind of like my package. Come to think of it, I also didn't know where it came from. And when she said she had fun… No way.
I dropped my pen and closed my books. "You got the game?"
Star's eyes immediately lit up as she gasped. "You got it too!?"