Chapter 2: Logic Two
"Hide's POV"
It's different.
Every morning smells different, sounds different, feels different, looks different and tastes different. But I've gotten used to it.
I did not think I would be living with my very own best friend one day- together. In the same apartment. Sharing the same room, same bed. Always together. More than we used to.
At first, I did not think much about it, I remember back in Norville when I always woke up on time, breakfast always ready on the table, mom and dad only have their cup of coffee as they always left for work in a hurry. They'd usually be gone for almost the whole day and they would usually leave paper notes on the table for me.
I was an only son and I always ate my meals alone and the house is usually always empty so I have to lock the house down and bring the keys with me when I go to school. There were occasional times where my parents stayed home all day, but all they ever did was work. I've gotten used to it ever since I was younger until I finally graduated middle school and was going to high school, that's when they decided to enroll me in Lakewood Academy and work abroad in the states of Lezfhargen. My parents actually work together and I don't blame them for being too business minded, they always told me they just want the best for me and I understood that.
Today it's barely what it's like back then, waking up to see your best friend right beside you, having someone who always talks to you, I'm literally spending my everyday life with someone I'm really close to. I mean I always have. Like we always meet each other and stick together like we always have. But it's completely different now, we're both living under the same roof spending our daily morning and evening routines together.
"Wake up," I attempt to wake the blonde boy in his sheets but he won't budge.
"Arum, get up," I grabbed both of his two legs with my hands and slowly pulled him out of bed while his arms cling on to a pillow he is hugging. His body falls down to the floor.
Do you know that day when your very own best friend gives you a really hard time? That day when he refuses to do his own homework? That day when you have to constantly remind him to study for midterm exams instead of playing video games? That day when he could not get over the crush who rejected and shut him away completely even when they were KickChat buddies who used to chat all day? That day when he's too lazy that you have to pull him out of bed? That kind of day? Yeah. All sorts of situations.
It could be worse. I only told you the surface. It's not even close to that one time he ditched me at the movies; which he planned a week before that day, by the way, just to go to a video game convention he just heard about. I don't know how he still managed to make up with me after that.
"Arum Colton Heartfritz," I demanded.
"Five more minutes.." Arum muttered. He snuggled onto his pillow.
"Arum, you aren't making this easier for me," I shake his body back and forth, but he still remains unconscious.
"Steak.." He giggled and drooled. He still must be dreaming. I guess it's come to this. I have no other choice.
"I'm going to burn your video games alive," I whispered in his ear.
"NO!" Arum gasped in horror. He realized he had woken up.
"Oh."
"I see you're up, I've prepared breakfast, hurry and go take a shower."
"Yes mom," He stood up and yawned.
"No," I immediately denied.
"Just foolin' ya," Arum grins. "Good morning Hide."
"Good morning Arum," I smile in return. Yeah, typical morning.
I wonder how my parents are abroad, I haven't heard from them in a while. I'm sure Arum feels the same way, especially after his family went through some issues in the past.
After our normal morning routines, we quickly left our abode and went to school, we walked and Arum brought his bike as usual. The sun was shining and the weather was good.
"Hey Hide," Arum spoke.
"Yeah?"
"Do you ever believe in bad luck?"
"You know I don't believe in such things. What made you say that?"
"Look," Arum gestured and pointed towards a black cat in a corner. The cat had sharp green eyes that looked towards us, almost the same as Arum's.
Arum lowered his head and kneeled to lure the cat towards him. The cat immediately responded and went to him, Arum picks up the cat high in the air as he stood up.
"Aww... Well, aren't you cute. Don't you agree Hide?" Arum grins as he faced the cat towards me.
"Yeah, I guess it is," I nodded. I try to pet it but the cat almost tried to scratch me. I guess I don't have the animal charm as Arum does.
"They look so innocent, I don't understand why they call them a sign of bad luck," Arum turns to the cat. "Well don't you look too happy for a cat? Off you go, mister!" Arum puts the cat down and it went off on its own. Arum puts his arm around my shoulder and we continued to head towards school, we were there before we knew it.
Apparently, it was still too early, classes don't start 'til twenty minutes. We still had lots of time to spare so we decided to just walk around because staying in the classroom until class starts is not really what we have in mind.
It's much nicer to be outside, the air is fresh and the scenery isn't quite bad when you take a closer look what's around you, the grass is really green, there are lots of trees, some sculptures of our school founders, the pattern and layout of the buildings, the intricate semi-gothic and modern designs on the ground.
It feels like I'm in a wizard school like those in the old films or some sort. Hide and the sorcerer's stone. Don't worry because I'm joking. Arum and I watched too much Harry Potter together, I'm not going to assume there's a Lord Voldemort behind the scenes, I'm probably a cursed child or something but I'm not exactly protag-material. I'm not even trying. It's because Arum keeps sharing me the memes he sees on the internet that I can't unthink of the fact that we have a nose and Voldemort doesn't and I remember how Arum couldn't stop laughing about it for weeks. The only magic wand I'll be using is my zero sense of humor.
"Hide! Arum!" We heard someone called behind us while we were walking, we turned around at the same time to see a red-haired guy we knew in a checkered polo shirt, he carried a violin case with him.
"Schneider," I greeted, he was a good old friend of ours. Schneider and I used to study violin and took private lessons together when we were younger under the same teacher. My parents wanted me to get involved in some sort of hobby such as music.
"It's been a while!" Schneider gives us both a brofist.
"Wow, looking good Schneider, it's been ages!" Arum complimented
"Shucks, you give me too much credit man. You look good too yourself" Schneider chuckles. "You too Hide," He adds.
"I was going to the music and art department to practice in the music rooms, then I saw you both. I haven't heard you play in a while Hide, don't tell me you stopped."
"Not exactly, although it's been a long time since I held an instrument," I replied. As much as I remember I never thought I would be passionate when it comes to music, it was fun because Schneider was there. I'm kind of proud of myself for having a talent for something. So I may as well be 'musical Hide' who has a knack for the violin as opposed to 'plain ordinary Hide'.
"Remember the first actual song we learned together as a duet?" Schneider asks.
"Twinkle twinkle little star?"
"We were terrible,"
"Utterly horrible," I added, we both laughed. Just like old times, like that one time, we decided to just make painful scratchy sounds all day instead of practicing only to get caught and scolded by our mentor.
"Hey Hide, play a song for me."
"I don't have my violin with me."
"No, use mine," He opens his case and pulls out his violin and placed a shoulder rest on it, it's the thing you use to elevate the violin under your neck. He also tightened the bow afterward and started to play a melody. The sounds filled the air with the tune he played. 'Spring'. It was a very joyful tune.
"Vivaldi's Four Seasons, classic Schneider," I smile. He's probably just playing it nice, but just wait 'til you actually hear him rock out.
"Now you try Hide."
"If you say so, although I am a little rusty," Schneider hands over his violin that I gladly accepted. Streben, still the same old brand he has, the same as the one I have. Not as grand as the Stradivarius or anything like that. That shit costs money. No joke.
"Oh boy," Arum says. They both yearned in anticipation. I properly positioned and held the violin in between my neck and shoulders and locked it into place and I brush my fingers on to the fingerboard, I also held the bow onto my other hand and made sure I was properly holding it right, fingers tilted and wrapped around tightly, pinky finger on the edge of the frog. This stuff is really tricky the first time, learning the violin is not a walk in the park. But you eventually get used to it after a period of time, unless your neck and arms get sore when you do it wrong, it varies from person to person.
I place the bow just a little close to the bridge and aligned my fingers onto the fingerboard and played my own tune. I played what I felt like playing, and the sounds start to reverberate, multiple strings played at once almost like a chord.
"Bach, that is so him, " Schneider muttered and smiled. Chaconne, From Partita No. 2 in D minor. It's one of my favorite pieces, our mentor taught us well. After playing for a short while a few people around us started to clap their hands before they walked away.
"You're way too deep," Schneider remarked sarcastically.
"Bravo Hide, very Magnifique I must say," Arum crosses his legs and plays with a nonexistent long mustache in the air as if he was one of those stereotypical exaggerated versions of a french Beourgoisie. I just laughed a bit in response.
"Thanks, Schneider," I returned his violin and he immediately returned it back in its case.
"Why didn't you join the music club?" Schneider asks.
"Clubs are not my thing," I replied.
"Too bad," He suddenly gets something out of the pocket of his case and hands me some sort of flyer.
"If you're interested why don't we join together!" Schneider said enthusiastically. I take a look at the poster he gave me.
"It's a school duo music competition for next month, only pairs can enter, I could not think of a better partner than you Hide."
"Ah I see, I'll think about it I guess."
"C'mon Hide, you should consider it, try something new, you love music," Arum nudges.
"I'll see you some other time guys, let me know when you made a decision. I really have to go," Schneider gave us a fist bump once more then left. I have to admit, I really did love music, I don't play as much as I used to back then, and joining in a competition can be quite too much for me.
"Let's go to class," I said. Arum nods and we immediately head back to class at the tick of the clock. We took our seats next to each other as usual. The desks were evenly distanced from each other.
"Bet you guys did your homework," Our classmate Marui told raising an eyebrow. He was apparently one of the top students in our class. Class nerd, yet very sociable, like to keep a high profile.
"Sure did," Arum replied.
"I'm screwed, I forgot to do mine. Hey, Marui give me yours." Garren one of our jocks said. Always the attention seeker loves to flirt with the girls.
"I figured you'd say that," Marui tosses a copy to Garren.
"What the fuck dude, you can't just give him your homework." Allen, one of our other classmates protested. There's not much to say about him, just a guy who's lonely for having so many ex-girlfriends. Has a secret addiction to ponies.
"I accidentally made another copy, I thought I lost the original one. You better owe me one," Marui smirks.
"How about you come to my house this weekend? My parents are on a business trip so I'm throwing a party," Garren told proudly. "You guys are invited," he added.
"Sweet," Marui impressed.
"Don't forget about me, I love parties," Jesskah our class queen butts into the conversation. Kickstagram model, wears makeup every day, social media queen, loves to take selfies. Heck, she knows how to kick it.
"Of course sexy," Garren winked.
"Oh fuck off, you're so gross," Jesskah laughs.
"Hell yeah, that's awesome dude, I'm definitely going," Allen says.
"Arum, Hide, you're also going. I won't take no for an answer." Garren insisted. His arms crossed trying to look seemingly cool.
"Totally! We're definitely going, aren't we Hide?" Arum told back.
"Uhh-"
"Great!" Before I could even reply he cuts my sentence off. I just sighed in dismay, Arum will owe me for this. Parties don't abode me well. I wasn't really the social type. I'd probably just stay invisible to everyone and stay out of trouble.
On the other hand, having a reputation in school is kind of a thing so I have to suck it up. Once I declare no, I never really change my mind, I literally mean what I say all the time. It's more reasonable to just be honest, trust me when I say that people like making things- A lot. More. Complicated.
Arum probably wouldn't decline the invite himself. He would always drag me into all sorts of things just to blend in. He was quite popular himself, having a reputation as the captain of the soccer club and being liked by all people. He was a natural when it comes to being social.
The bell eventually rings and our teacher barges into the classroom. Professor Robert Williams, a friend to all students, is an actual sadist, gives no second chances to those who fail in class. Looks can be deceiving.
"Good morning class, please take your seats, Kayden, what did I tell you about bringing men's magazines to school? Please keep that away or I'm confiscating it," Our teacher threatened. Kayden always liked looking at female models.
"I didn't bring anything!" Kayden panickly hid it and pretended. Some of my other classmates giggled and laughed in response.
"Students, I actually have an announcement to make. Today we have a sudden transfer student from Daiji."
Almost everyone started to gossip and chatter in the background but I didn't really care. Why is it sudden though?
"Come in," The professor gestured. The student entered and I got a little tensed when I saw who it was. It wasn't just any transfer student, from the features alone I recognized. It was him.
"Why don't you introduce yourself?" The professor told.
"The name's Raihen, Kaminaga Raihen. Hey, I guess? I got bored of my previous school so I decided to transfer, let's all get along together!" He caught a glimpse of me and recognized me immediately as we made eye contact. He gave me a smile, but it was kind of unsettling.
'Why is he here?' I thought.
"You can take that empty seat over there," The professor points to the seat behind me. Raihen nodded in return and sat behind me as told.
"Hey," He tapped my shoulder as he spoke. I turned around to face him.
"I had a feeling I'd see you here."
"What do you want? I'm not buying it." I told. I can't really assume if the incident I had with Michelle yesterday has something to do with him. I could be completely wrong.
"Wait hold on, I just want to be friends," Raihen raises hands implying he is innocent. I wasn't convinced so I just ignored him.
"I just got my uniform yesterday, thanks for helping me with directions, I tend to easily get lost."
"How did you know my name?" I asked. He tries to come up with an answer but I don't think he is taking it seriously.
"Can I ask you first something?" Raihen playfully asked. He had an obnoxious grin on his face and I became quite skeptical.
"What?" I replied. He pauses for a short while but gave his answer right away.
"Why are you so handsome?".
The question left me dumbfounded. Until I can't help but suddenly notice an obvious big bulge in his pants.
I think I just met a pervert.
Weekly Power Status
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