Treading the dark wet stairs with his hands deep into his pockets, Samuel shrugged his shoulders a bit to shift his bag closer to him. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgEESmfMmQh
The condominium - apartment complex where he had lived since he was eleven was company-owned, meaning coworkers lived side by side with each other.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ot24oXftm
Not to mention, the buildings were segregated to the status of the employee on the company.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4k9PHZmvOy
It's out of Samuel's concerns though, with keeping up appearances and making sure your sibling's misbehavior never gets into the ears of some high heads gossiping wife. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu3MT4wd8FO
That would be embarrassing. His mother was a far relative of one of the higher-ups of the company, who acted as a big sister, and supported him financially in school, and when the company was just starting to grow.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXlmQsZ4NfU
Now being one of the shareholders, his bachelor uncle took his gratitude into providing their small family a decent space to live. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfgaZcreLzC
It was rare for somebody to land a space in the condominium outside work but somehow his uncle managed it, smoothly. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7DuKyCaQS
The buildings were of modern design, the landscape below nearly as wide as a stadium with traditional arrangements of greenery.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJX0VawPbeR
There were spaces for children to play under the shade of thick trees, benches along the pavements, low mounds where few people take picnics, and a visible parking lot underground.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgKJXCgnn8
It was like a complex anthill, as Samuel thought of it. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfgxKsDNf7S
Though the downside of the complex was that it was located downhill from one of the main roads where he boards the bus to go to school.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJfx64m9Ni
It was a fifteen-minute walk up. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbQ10q7aF3
And the modern vibe of the complex slowly scribbles out from the older houses around it, the older stairs that snake up to the road above and the older looking trees that soon engulfs you from the eyes on the complex's higher floors. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRviERYd3v
The day started off with a gloomy sky and Samuel went out wearing his thick hoodie. He likes to think of the walk as a small exercise every weekday but the moment he took his last step into the road his heart was beating hard on his chest and his lungs a bit out of breath. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZscEcmBTFS
He hates it when he starts to sweat on his uniform before even reaching school. From there he takes a seat on the worn-down bus stop and waits. Across from the road was a long moss-covered stone wall. It was the one where bricks or blocks weren't even sold in the market and people improvised with using rocks.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSpqEIhQCna
River rocks. He used to put small river rocks in the aquarium he had as a kid. They were easy surfaces for the algae to grow into. Moreover, moss.
His thoughts were cut off when he heard the engine of the bus coming nearer. The yellow vehicle emerged from the corner on his left, slowing down a few meters away from the stop before completely coming into a halt. Samuel gave a friendly smile to the driver who he has acquainted with over the years. They never had a proper introduction in the first place and Samuel grew up to call him Jim- as written on his hanged I.D, while Jim grew to call him Red. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCD1JFJxXW4
The old man, about in his late 40's, commented offhandedly about how Red suited him, when he was fourteen.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtB02XqAXrC
Since then, every summer, Samuel colored his hair red. The bus started to move again and Samuel slowly closes his eyes, dozing off for the remainder of the bus ride.
Morning assembly.
Inside the covered court, rows and rows of students stood next to each other facing the stage.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpcfHNVpqin
A single line of teachers and representative students stood in front of the microphone on stage to lead the usual program and announce reminders and events.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH3LeNWxpHj
Among the crowd of half-awake students, Samuel's head poked out due to his height.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZl6InxD7Qz
Standing behind the line of his class, he finds it refreshing to not be crammed in between warm bodies. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDI237PPKqr
Classes in their country start at 8:00, while the time to be striking late was 7:30- exactly when the assembly starts. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQMKOu8GKy
As soon as the sun rises the temperature within the lines becomes hot and humid. Something Samuel avoids.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZWh2ObdwO
And sometimes when the class representatives were of lower grade (from nursery to seniors each grade take turns every week) the morning assembly drags on far longer than usual.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJfvNupfSN
When this happens, like today, Samuel excuses himself for the toilet and waits there until the assembly ends. Swiftly, he inserts himself back into the line before any teacher notices him missing for too long and then returns to their classroom along with his classmates.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBuoKl9xRq
Samuel was average when it came to popularity333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTviyS9rrq8
He has a fair share of friends and gets along fine with everybody else. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8QcA2EeRAH
This fact is only true with his grade, as girls from the lower grades take great fascination with him.
During recess, Samuel sat by his seat at the back corner and his friends flocked around him, bickering over some movie characters. He was flipping through one of his textbooks out of boredom. The paragraphs outlined with highlighted words and phrases. Samuel was suddenly caressed by the feeling of temporary restlessness.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIfybDKJY5
If he could just shake it off just like a dog shakes water off from its fur.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8qMLON7MHv
He combs his hair with his long slender fingers in frustration and was surprised by the sound of a high shriek and a series of muffled giggles. Looking to his right, Samuel saw three girls quickly averting their gazes as he looked at them. One of them though seemed to be entranced for a second as their eyes locked into each other before turning away in a blush. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI5aMmBHsGA
Samuel brushed off what just happened with a silent scoff and a quick twitch of a brow. His friends, though seemed more interested in pestering him about his admirers.
"Hey, isn't that Shailene?" one of his friends asked.
"Who?" Samuel asks, annoyed.
"You know! that girl you were club mates with, in 10th grade. The one who paid for your fee."
"OH. Oh.....Oh shit! Hasn't she gotten really pretty?" he said snidely.
"That's puberty for you," Dickson said, his eyes narrowing into slits while his lips twist into a malicious smirk as he looked at Samuel.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmuXZyxP5v
"You sure you're not interested in someone right now, Sam?"
He pretended to think about it before replying a definite no.
"Man, I wish Jam would look like that at me too," Henry said as he laid his side against Samuel's table. Samuel can't help but chuckle.
"If it would lift up your spirits, you can visit later." At this Henry gave a punch in the air as he jumped in glee.
"Nice man!" Henry wrapped an arm around his shoulders and squeezed them hard. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9UXsV8SMWb
"Dick, I can sense valentine's smiling at me now. Hey, Dick!" Samuel chuckled again as Henry went after Dickson. He stood up from his seat and followed the two out of their classroom in a skip. True enough, his height really is above average as he towered from the others in the hall. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1cjMbCRyC
Hands in his pockets, his long legs in a stride, it didn't take long before the three of them met around the basketball court where other guys were playing during their break time. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14BW1FZkSc
Dickson immediately took off his polo shirt, tying its sleeves on his hips, with only his tank top on and blended in. Dickson went wild for the sport even though he rejected recruitment from the school's team. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1P098nCz49
Samuel didn't really like the sport. And his interest or excitement to play solely depends on his mood. To shake off the restlessness he felt earlier, he took off his polo shirt as well and received a pass from Dickson with Henry shrieking from a distance. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR271z4XZNQ
This happened too quickly that the impact of the ball in his hands took his breath away. In a swift single movement, with the sudden pass, he jumped and arced his arms to catapult the ball in a perfect three score throw. There were groans before the ball landed on the ring, sensing it's impeccable ending, then loud howls as the ball went inside in a soft whooping sound.
And their little game continued on, before stopping when someone came running first with worried looks on their faces from the other side of the court.
"Crap," Henry said and the three of them ran like the others.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡibLe2BTWZY
Those who played on the court dispersed like dominos when one of the heads of the P.E. department came to scold them away.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCPVZDP8pjg
Laughing out loud, Samuel ran, Naruto-style to lower his head and Dickson followed.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmNwnyppjIq
As they got further they could hear sharp whistles from the ground zero, the head likely caught some kids to reprimand them later.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU6nuVEvLjP
Taking the stairs from the other side of the building the boys took two steps at a time to reach up to their year's floor. As they did, they buttoned their shirts clumsily. Their pace slowed when they only arrived inside their rooms. Immediately taking out their towels and wiping themselves off the sweat. Pulling their shirts into pristine condition and before tucking them into their pants.Something that occasionally happens every now and then, the small ruckus they made along with other boys running back to their rooms made some heads turn, though they quickly went on with their business.
Later that afternoon, the three of them went out of the school together, having planned to go by the arcade at the mall nearby Samuel's. Along the bus ride Dickson was busy folding test papers into paper airplanes. Henry and Samuel sat together in silence behind him. At one moment Dickson opened the window beside him and threw one paper airplane outside. All of them looked at it as it flew gracefully into the air, it's well folded edges giving it enough strength and balance to stay on air for minutes before fading away into their view as the bus moved on.
"I'll take a vocational school after we graduate." Dickson blurted out. Henry stood up and leaned against Dickson's backrest.
"I thought you were going to go to the same college as us." Henry sensed Dickson's serious tone that didn't make him feel good. Samuel only looked at the tip of Dickson's head. "Hey, Dick." Henry nudged his arm in worry. Something is going on with him. He felt that Dickson was getting distant in the past few weeks, mentally. He would still play along with him and his immature games, this sudden side of him... it didn't seem natural.
"That's just the graduation blues, Henry. Who knows-"
"I get it." Henry responded coldly. Both of them froze and looked at him. The bus announced their stop in a few minutes. Henry transferred from his seat next to Dickson's and clutched his hands. In his best imitation of a girl's voice, "You are bored of me now, aren't you? You are breaking up with me now, aren't you?!" He loudly said causing some of the passengers to stare at them. "Is there another WOMAN? Don't you dare- Argh! Argh!" Henry continued on with his drama using his girly voice while Dickson tried to cover his mouth. "Don't! Not here! Argh!"
"Ew!" Dickson pushed Henry hands away from him. Even Samuel was taking a fistful of his hair and wrangling it a bit. "Shhhh Idiot!"
The ruckus again became a short launching of playful punches on each other, with Samuel wrangling his scalp, until Dickson landed an accidental strong one on Henry's jaw. Henry groaned profanities as the pain electrified down to his brain. "Piece of shit." he gasped while touching his chin.
Dickson apologized at him but still with a playful smile on his face. Samuel kicked Henry's chair once Henry calmed down.
The Arcade wasn't as packed as usual. The sounds didn't mind having lesser crowd in that day though as the sounds from various areas inside were having a competition on each other on who would get the attention of random passerby's. The three of them went to the internet cafe located further in the arcade. The halls were like a maze along there with the colorful and bright lights gone and replaced with a dimmer design. Little cramped shops quite different from the other, some closed reserved for evening customers, claimed their space in a mysterious silence. The door to the cafe was tinted black yet dim lights was still imminent behind the glass, like a breath against it on a cold winter morning. Without hesitation, Samuel pulled the door and peeked inside, checking if the place was packed. Entering the shop, followed by Henry and Dickson, Samuel passed nearby the counter where a college guy was monitoring the set of PCs on his own screen.
Samuel knocked on the table to get his attention. When he looked up, his eyes throbbed from the sudden movement. He sighed deeply and massaged the surrounding areas of his eyes. Without opening them he managed to say,
"Uhuhm?"
"We'll take PC's 12, 13, and 15 please." Dickson said. The college guy was now pushing his palms over his eyes.333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡin8rop12bz
"All right, I'll turn it on." Dickson stayed at the counter for a while checking the young man out. He sighed again before opening his eyes slowly, stopped as he only squinted on the screen and did his job. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, one of the machines was repaired last week so you can only throw old coins on it." Dickson didn't say anything at this and just walked away. He was bothered by the way that man's eyes were blood red but his worries were cut short when Henry and Samuel were already logging in on their accounts on the game.
Managing to win 8 times in a ranked mode, Henry did hoarded a large amount of money and items on his bag. He was ecstatic and satisfied even when their two hour shift inside the cafe was finished. Dickson finally got the skin he wanted for months while Samuel was laughing too hard at their encounters with funny Russian players. The three of them then went home under a gloomy sky and an already brightening city streets. The arcade that they had just entered before was now packed with groups of students and working class men.
"Maaaan, that shitty brat really has some garlic up his ass." Dickson started.
Samuel looked at him with a grossed out face. "You still fucking do that kind of stuff?"
Henry was flipping through on his phone, texting his mother he was on his way home. "What stuff?"
"Plugging your ass with garlic. It coaxes the worms to come out of your intestines."
"Cool."
"Yeah, cool, until you're the one to pull it out of your brothers ass."
Henry imagined similar scenarios in his head as a medical student then gave Dickson's arm a hard slap.
"What the fuuu- was that for?"
"For being so gloomy earlier." Henry said calmly, not looking at Dickson's direction. The pedestrian light across from him in a distance turned red causing the crowd to stop. Dickson froze at the mention of it but didn't say anything. Sounds of engines soared in the air as vehicles moved forward in their clutches.Samuel stood by a few meters from them giving Dickson a look. Leaning on one foot. He looked at their serious faces and couldn't find a hole to inch down a brush off joke. He sighed, stood up straighter and walked ahead of them after saying, "Let's go somewhere quieter."
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