It was dinner time. It had been hours of continuous questions.
"So my final question is, what does the question mark silhouette in the projection mean?"
Alarms blared from the Penguin.
*Low Battery. Charge immediately*
"Anyway, as I was asking-"
"Hey, you sick bastard. Can't you see that my battery is dying. Get me a charger. Quick, before I die out."
"I already warned you that I don't have a B-Type. The fact wouldn't change, just because you asked for it desperately."
*Low Battery. Charge immediately*
"Do something quick, man. I am dying out here, please. Please."
I brought out a B-Type charger from a different room.
Penguin stared at me like I had committed some kind of war crime against it.
"Why are you looking at me like that? You should have kept your tone in check and not have poked my eye."
"Just because I pecked your eye, you tried to kill me?"
The Penguin was baffled by my pettiness. It is what it is. What goes around comes around duh. I left to eat dinner.
Just as we all sat down to eat,
*Ding* *Ding* *Ding*
Three notifications came on my phone and my parents stared at me.
I quickly replied good night to them and put down my phone.
My father began, "Son, I understand that you are in your popular phase. But don't do something that will make Father's job difficult."
"It's not even those girls, dad. You can calm down."
*Ding*
It was Celeste with a thank you message. I laughed wryly at it.
"Nora, I really think our son is going to drop a bomb on us sooner or later. He has the same exhaustion on his face, that I had when we were dating. AAHh-"
My mother was pinching his arm. Soon, we all started laughing. I assured them everything was under control and not a problem.
Going back to my bed, the Penguin was charging and sleeping. Lying down in my bed, I went through the chats of the three. There wasn't much conversation, given it's only been a day. All three had wished me goodnight at the same time. It was a funny coincidence.
_______________________________
Next day, I reached the school only to find the corridors to be in uproar. The noise was getting louder as I got closer to my classroom. Outside of my classroom, I saw a crowd forming. I say crowd, but it was actually four to five people only, that too, from my class and nearby classes. And the uproar I mentioned was quite normal for our school before homeroom, after all. At least, everything was realistic.
Then, just as I opened and entered the classroom, the highly chattering room went pin-drop silent. All heads turned to stare at me.
I understood the reason for it as soon as I saw the person sitting in my desk. It was Iris. As I got closer to my desk, so did the stares following me. I was about to laugh because of two things at that time. One was how fucked up my life was going to become really quickly. The second was how the 'nerds' who sat near me were either sitting and sweating or standing outside among the crowd. It was mad funny considering that these guys would encourage me to fight back the bullying a little.
"I came to ask you to wait for me after school. I had something to talk to you about."
I didn't even have to turn to see their faces to know how surprised the others around us were.
"Alright."
Nodding and smiling, she left just like that. I simply took my seat and the bell rang. Homeroom had begun.
The thing was it wasn't weird for juniors or seniors to go to one another's classroom. The problem was the person in question was Iris Caldwell. The Caldwell family was one of the richest in the country and my family's status couldn't compare. I could feel the periodic stares of my classmates.
Shit was about to go down during the break for sure.
The break bell rang. Everyone turned to find me. I had already begun to run by then. Soon, they started chasing me. Two different groups actually. One was the bullies and the other was the 'nerds', my friends. Astonishingly, the nerds were faster than the bullies. I could see a fire in their eyes to catch me. After running for half the break, I got away from them and sat down to eat at the rooftop doorway. The rooftop was locked and not accessible for students. I was a rulebook following ideal student, you can't expect me to break rules. If they find me here, I will comply at that time.
After a while, I heard footsteps of a person coming up. I was prepared to jump off and run away. It was then that I saw it was Celeste.
"Well, hi. It is quite a coincidence to see you here.", I said awkwardly trying to be normal, right after nearly performing circus gymnastics trying to escape.
She looked at me puzzled, tilting her head.
Man, was it not the cutest thing I had seen today. You know how little animals tilt their head trying to understand something. It was like that.
Both of us sat down to eat.
She began, "So, why are you here?"
"Haahaha, I was in a hurry, running, chasing- actually I am hiding here. So, I would appreciate if we spoke at a low tone."
She was again perplexed. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she asked curiously,
"Who are you hiding from?"
I whispered back, "Just a few idiots wanting to catch me. No worries. Also, why are you eating in such a place?"
"I always eat here." I was taken aback a bit, then I realized her circumstances.
"Is it because the others try to be overly friendly with you?"
"Not exactly wrong. It is just the awkward thing where they always think before saying something to me. I don't want anyone to be uncomfortable because of me."
"Wow. Senior, you are a really great person, but I don't think you have to torture yourself to sit alone in this place."
"Senior?" She pouted a bit. It seemed she didn't like me calling her older than me.
So, I doubled down, "I am younger than you by a year, 'Senior'."