1 The Back Gate

Kenneth woke up to the sound of the alarm he set up yesterday night on his phone. It was a lovely tone. He specifically used a soft wake up sound to not immediately ruin his everyday morning.

He reached out for it, beside his bed, on top of the bedroom table and without looking at the screen, he turned the alarm off. He does this so many times now that it's already possible for him to snooze his alarm without looking at his phone.

From his slightly opened bedroom door, he could already smell the aroma of the breakfast his mom must have prepared for him. With that, he sat up and stretched his body then proceeded to the kitchen and helped himself with the toasts, eggs and sausages laid out on the table which he presumed are meant for him.

"You're awake."

His mother noticed and gave her son a gentle and warm grin before continuing the lunch box she was preparing for his son. It was beautifully decorated. A very cute design but Kenneth doesn't have the slightest feeling of embarrassment from such lunch box even though he's a male. He often get teased about it but it doesn't actually bother him that much.

"Good morning, Mom"

"Good morning sweetheart" Her mom replied while still prepping his lunch facing against Kenneth but he could tell that her mother was still smiling from behind.

These kind of normal and peaceful days are what makes him so thankful that he was alive. He may not be that smart, good looking or rich but he was always so thankful that he has a caring mother and a busy but doting father.

It makes him not think so heavily about the problems life has ever given to him. In fact he thinks that life must have been favoring him so much because he hasn't encountered such a stressing problem at all, so far.

"Your father will be coming home late today I'm afraid, so we'd both have to eat by ourselves at night"

"It's okay, Mom. If I'm already asleep when he's in, tell him to eat before bed."

Kenneth isn't so bad either. He is a very understandable son for both of his parents that's why they felt so lucky to have such an easy-going yet understandble son.

When Kenneth finally finished eating while chatting with his Mom like how he spend most of his mornings, he prepared himself and went out, giving his mother the warmest good-bye he could ever give.

While on his way to school, he took a route that most of the students in his neighborhood don't know existed. He only took this route because most of the troublemakers of his school takes the easier route to school. Kenneth doesn't feel like taking the other route, he purposely avoids interesting people. The other route, however, was a faster walk than the one he is taking.

It may be easier for them but it most definitely isn't for Kenneth. He doesn't want to involve himself with a rowdy bunch. As much as possible, he wanted a low profile to not attract so much attention.

While appreciating the quietness of the streets and the stillness of the houses, he turned to the corner which leads him to the back gate of the school.

When he suddenly noticed a guy scratching his head while looking at the gates, he abruptly stopped and Kenneth couldn't help but wonder what a guy, having the same uniform as he is, could be doing at the back gate of the school.

This gate wasn't used anymore, it has been permanently locked after an incident from the past. The Principal was informed that most of the students running late were using this gate and most of the students who are cutting used this too.

The sudden appearance of the guy in front of Kenneth puzzled him so he stared at the guy for a few seconds while trying to decipher what he was doing there. Like Kenneth thought, this route wasn't usually taken by students of his school.

Unless he was planning to climb the gate to get to the other side?

Kenneth thought it was a useless idea considering that the back gate, even though it's a back gate, is still very tall and is designed with pointed ends at the top so students won't start climbing back gates in case they're late.

"Hey, you shouldn't use that one" Kenneth suddenly blurted out when the guy facing the gate and scratching the back of his head suddenly took a step forward as if attempting an impossible act of climbing the gate.

Before he could even stop his mouth, Kenneth realized he just revealed that he has been staring at this guy for a while now. He was about to smack his own head but resisted the urge to do so.

The guy stopped when he heard a voice and slowly faced Kenneth. He stared at the boy and blinked slowly without uttering a single word. He was inspecting Kenneth and concluded that they go to the same school, judging by the uniform.

Kenneth felt awkward when the guy didn't speak so while he was aware that the guy in front of him was inspecting him, he smiled warmly and came closer to grab the guy's wrist.

The guy was so shocked but he had a hard time showing it in his face because he was immediately grabbed by a stranger he felt comfortable with, which is strange. He knew he wasn't hood with people at first.

It was odd that he even let the stranger take a grab of his wrist because he was aware of how socially awkward he is that a simple stare would make him flinch.

"I know a hole somewhere here, it's a big one so we can fit in easily. I don't know why the school hasn't patched it up yet but keep it a secret okay? I always use this" Kenneth said as he continued to lead the guy.

The guy he was grabbing, feeling utterly helpless just went with the flow because he also needed help in getting in. To which he replied, "Okay."