Two plus two is still equal to Two

"Dude you gotta make it happen", Weston said to Jayde.

Jayde gazed into Weston's eyes and said "Fuck OFF!".

"You gotta ring those bells man."

"Can you let me have my coffee and bagel in peace?" Weston snatched the half-eaten bagel from Jayde's hand and stuffed all of it in his mouth. Weston tried to devour the bagel but it was too big to be consumed in one go. "Nouh lison to meh," Weston tried to speak but only gibberish came out. He raised his index finger to make a 'wait let me finish this' sign.

"I hope you choke on it," Jayde said as he sipped the last bit of coffee and stood up to go back to his office.

"ECCHHHRRRRRRRKK"

Jayde turned back and saw Weston choking on the bagel.

"You IDIOT!"Jayde shouted and ran towards Weston. Weston threw up all over the floor as Jayde gave him a few abdominal thrusts. Everyone in the cafeteria came close to help but Jayde assured that everything was fine and everyone could go back and carry on with their businesses. Weston held his head sitting on the floor and calmed his breath.

"That was fun cough cough, thankyou Jaydey you saved my life. I give you the golden opportunity to date Miss Carrols in return". Jayde was in disbelief, so he took a big sigh and dashed towards his office.

"Wait cough cough, maybe not, sigh cough cough."

"Nice weekend huh? Dex" Mrs. Vinson called out to Dexter.

"Bro, wake up!" Matt elbowed Dexter who was half asleep.

"What," Dexter said out loud.

"As I was saying, Mr. Dexter Williamson, good weekend right? Enjoyed yourself? Stayed up late, is that it?"

"No ma'am. Sorry, I was just a little lightheaded," Dexter exclaimed.

"Oh is that so. Why don't you go to the infirmary then."

"No ma'am, I am alright now."

"Are you? No, you don't seem alright to me, go and take a stroll outside for a bit. You will feel muchhhhhh better," said Mrs. Vinson. Dexter took his bag and went outside with a frowny face.

"Anyone else had a great weekend? Huh."

Matt was looking for Dexter everywhere but wasn't able to find him. He found Brooklyn instead.

"Hey Brook, have you seen Dex anywhere?" Matt asked Brooklyn and the whole group started looking at him like he was some kind of extraterrestrial. Brooklyn was hanging out with her friends in the hall outside the basketball court. Brooklyn and her friends had a reputation for being the cool kids at school.

"Umm noooo, where did he run off to today," Brooklyn said with a tint of sarcasm.

"Well he was sleeping in Mrs. Vinson's class and she...".

"Isn't that like the first class? How can someone sleep in the first class" one of Brooklyn's friends added.

"Anyway, he got a bit of heat from Mrs. Vinson so he went outside the class…".

"Went outside or thrown outside…hahaha," Everyone started laughing except for Brooklyn.

"...and I can't find him" Matt completed his sentence.

"Told you not to play those stupid games of yours all night. What else do you expect?" Brooklyn added.

"You play that game more than both of us combined," Matt said in an 'excuse me wtf' tone.

"You play video games, oh please tell me he is joking," Aliza said to Brooklyn.

"He is bullshitting," Brooklyn assured Aliza. "He must have gone to the building south of the swimming area," Brooklyn told Matt.

"Why would he go there?" Matt asked.

"Go check there," Brooklyn said in an 'end of the discussion' tone. Matt left in disagreement. He did not think that Dex would go there because he had nothing to do with that area but, to his surprise, Dex was there sitting on the steps of the building with a cola in his hand and a sandwich in his mouth.

"What are you doing here?" Matt asked Dexter as he leaped over the ground.

"Was… eating in peace," Dexter answered.

"I was looking for you all around and here you are, stuffing your mouth with coke and PBJs, Gimme that," Matt snatched the coke from Dexter and gulped it in one go.

"You motherchucker," Dexter exclaimed.

These three had come a long way. They had been friends from the days when Dex's transferred to the school and acted like a delinquent for the first few months and then did a complete 360° becoming an introverted geek. Dexter knew Brooklyn way before as she lived only 4 blocks away from his house and they had been aware of each other's existence since childhood because of get-togethers and other meet-up stuff.

Matt became Brooklyn's friend as they both played violin in the school choir. Brooklyn left the school choir because she started having minor panic attacks while performing in front of big crowds and Matt left a few months after her because he couldn't have much fun without Brooklyn by his side.

Dexter joined the school late and Brooklyn adopted him as he was a puppy who would get picked on by others after his miraculous geeky transformation. Brooklyn being the true alpha couldn't let people pick on each other under her reign of terror. Only she gets to pick on others.

And as time went by, the three of them started hanging out more often and became good friends Brooklyn had a reputation to hold so she didn't hang out with Matt and Dexter during school as they were the lowest in the school hierarchy.

This was not the first time Dexter was thrown out of the class. He had started playing way too many games at night, sleeping only hours before going to school. Dexter had always had night privileges because of having a separate room on the first floor but now he had started to take advantage of them. This newfound passion for playing games all night was taking a toll on Dexter's school life as he spent most of the school hours dozing off and being grumpy.

"Dude I left you off at 1 am but you were online till 5 am, what were you doing?" Matt asked Dexter as they started moving towards their main building.

"Nothing much," Dexter answered as he ate the last bite of his sandwich.

"Don't tell me you found someone else you are playing games with," Matt said jokingly but someone didn't get the joke.

"No dude I play games only with you, I was just you know roaming around in the game and stuff. Come on, as I would play with someone else other than you," Dexter said like he was defending himself but he was not on the trial to begin with.

"Wait! you did find someone," Matt said as he grabbed Dexter's bag.

"Never. It's nothing like that, I don't play with anyone," Dexter sounded too guilty to Matt's ears so he made a run.

Dexter was bewildered as to why Matt started running but then realized that he was going to the computer lab to log in to the game and see who Dexter was playing with.

"Wait for me," Dexter shouted.

Weston was stomping his way to Jayde's office as he was almost done for the day.

In his mind, he was a mad man on a mission. He was feeling the sheer burden of responsibility through his spine. This man had a story to write and a history to make and every step he took towards Jayde's office fortified the absolute resolve he had, to get the results.

He had rehearsed his lines and had thought of a counterargument for every argument Jayde could come up with. All the possibilities, all the permutations, all the combinations were now in Weston's fist, he was ready to fight God or become Him.

He opened the door of Jayde's office with all his might and entered the room with an armor of pure shining gold. He stood there looking like an absolute unit. Power was surging through his veins. His hand went to his left pocket, took out the phone with quickness, and flipped it with elegance. He started dialing numbers on the keypad like crazy and put the phone closer to his ear. The caller tune sounded like a melody of war to his ear and the other person picked up.

"Hey, why are you not in the office?" Weston asked.

"I went home early today," Jayde answered.

"You mother..licious…. I will meet you tomorrow and until then you are..".

"Sure, bye." Jayde disconnected the call even before Weston could complete his sentence.

Weston stood there in an empty office with a disconnected call, you could hear that golden armor of his shatter into a million pieces. Weston moved out of the office with shattered hopes and dreams. The war to be fought, the massacre to be witnessed was nowhere to be seen. The day was neither saved nor beaten, the chapter was closed even before the quill could be dipped into the ink, there was sadness all around, a mist so dense that a man would suffocate.

In that mist, Weston saw light rays that pierced through it. Rays so bright that they could bounce from the darkest of the surface. Weston's feet ran towards the source of the rays, his feet accelerated indefinitely, his hands reached out to grab the source. As he grabbed the source, his hand felt smooth edges followed by a scream.

"What the hell are you trying to do! YOU! Weston!" Caroline shouted as Weston came running towards her and grabbed her face with his hand.

"Oh sorry, I was trying to grab the source of light," Weston said as if everything was normal.

"What the hell, is this one of your Christmas Carol jokes because it sure was not funny," Caroline was furious.

"No, it was not. But you do wear more makeup than a Christmas ornament", Weston said as he looked at his hand which now had a kiss mark, some blush, and some white powder on it.

"AAARRAHHHG, I can't believe you!" Caroline exclaimed and started walking towards the bathroom as Weston ruined her makeup.

In Weston's head, he was still on a mission and if he could not reach the main quest he had to win a side quest that would let him skip the main quest altogether.

"If Jayde doesn't make the first move, I have to make Carol make the first move, 2 plus 2 is still equal to 2."

"No they are not, do you mind moving a bit," said a random employee who just wanted to go home but Weston was blocking the way. "You won't understand," Weston whispered to the guy. "I don't want to understand, do you mind? "

"Yes"

"What?"

"NO" Weston answered.

"HUH?"