1 A Long-time Friend

I sat on my bunk-bed with my phone waiting for my Dad to message me again. I already texted him to wait at the basketball court near the school grounds. It was late February 2020, and my school had ordered every student to go back home to prevent the spread of the disease that had been terrorizing the world. A virus that comes from an animal which infects its victim without it realizing that he or she has been infected by it. It is not a highly dangerous disease and its mortality rate are low, but it is highly infectious. So that's why we were sent home to prevent it from spreading faster and wider.

It wasn't only my school that has ordered its students to go home, all around the world are doing the same. We are to stay put in our homes and to quarantine ourselves.

I thought it was funny and cool at first. It was my first time experiencing something like a pandemic. And the best part about it is that we get to stay home! Ah… an introvert's dream. I'm sick of living with these "friends", I was kind of jealous for my dorm teacher who lives with us. He gets his own room, even though it isn't much, he has his own privacy. There's nowhere in here I'm getting the kind of privacy I want. But there's no place better to get some privacy than my own room.

And so, I finally got the message that my Dad has arrived and is waiting for me outside. I grabbed my heavy duffel bag and my school backpack, fist bumped some of my "friends" and actual friends, and walked down to meet my Dad.

An hour later we were finally out of the city where my boarding school was. And drive the highway to my city which was around one hundred and ten kilometres away. A two-hour drive if there's no traffic. But in this country, there's no such thing as no traffic.

So the drive took us four to five hours (it was that bad) with few stops at the rest areas. And the city was a metropolis so we were obviously going to hit traffic. I wonder if some of them are also people going home from their boarding schools after a long time away. Maybe not all of them, maybe only me.

The sky was already getting dark, and finally we arrived in front of my house. I walked out of the car and opened the garage door for my Dad. Then I carried my baggage inside and ran to my room. I jumped to my comfy bed, although the sheets weren't in the pillows yet, I didn't mind and quickly went asleep.

It was good to be back home.

***

I woke up at seven and went downstairs to the dining table, my Mom was cooking up the breakfast. I went to her and see what she was cooking.

A Japanese Curry, one of my favorite Japanese cuisine. I know every time I come home, my Mom would make something like this. And as always, I helped her cook.

And after a few long minutes, the food was ready and we all had curry for breakfast. It might not be an ideal breakfast for some of you, but breakfasts like this is normal for people in this country. We can't live without our rice.

Maybe not true, but having rice makes every meal ten times better.

We ate our breakfast while watching the news about the virus. It had already spread all around the world. It was terrifying but we are glad we are safely held up in our home.

The food was too delicious, I finished earlier than my Dad, who happens to be the fastest when eating. Then I went for seconds.

"Is it good?" My Mom asked,

"Obviously, I was the one who helped you cooked," I said.

I went back to my room, and I opened my laptop and started it up. Once it opened I punched in the key to open it and it showed the desktop. And some software starts up automatically. But I opened my browser and started browsing the web, and looking at videos all day long.

Then it had been three days since I came back from home. The things I did here is much more relaxed than it was back in the boarding school. I helped my Mom cooking, clean up the house a bit, take out the trash and stuff. And then spend the rest of the day holed up in my room browsing the web or playing my games.

But of course school wasn't over yet, and they had announced that we partake in online tests since the half-semester tests are coming up. It wasn't a lot and I did them all as quick as I can, I just wanted to play some FPS.

And then a week later which felt like a second, the test was over and I get to enjoy two days without any school nuisance. And I woke up early just so I can have a longer daylight time to play some games. But I had taken notice that I'm beginning to not enjoy games as much as I did back then. I am not sure why, maybe it wasn't the same as a long time ago with all my friends back before I went to the boarding school.

It would be me, my childhood best friend, Randy, and our other friends and we'd be together playing games, just hanging out, having a laugh, experiencing the struggles together, and all that good stuff.

But now those days are long gone, people grew up. They had probably grown up out of those games, and the next generation might pick it up or just drop it. Sheesh, I'm like an old man just saying those words. But it's true, most of my friends are in college now. Only Randy and I had just finished second year of our High School. Another year and it will be the last time we are in the care of our teachers and parents. I still couldn't believe that I had been in school for twelve years. But that's nothing compared to how long my Dad had been working in a company for about half of his life, and half of his life was also spent in school.

I had to think about stuff like college and what study I'm going to take, I've already thought about it since first year, but it was never clear as it was a difficult decision for my future. At first I was thinking, "Yeah, Japan, study in economics, easy," but then this pandemic arrived and I had to give myself another thought in this problem.

Whatever, I still have around a year, and if it's not enough, I don't mind spending another year just to plan out where to go and/or what to do.

This thought thinking process in my head made me want to browse universities, so I hopped into Google and looked for them. Until I get a sudden call from my laptop. It was from Randy.

It was a long time since I talked to Randy, I would usually have small chats with him but that was two months ago. And it felt like years spending those two months in a boarding school. So I picked it up.

"Hey, it's been a long time!" Randy said.

I talked with him, asking how he was doing and stuff. Wondering if his school is also doing this quarantine stuff. Randy had been with me since elementary. We used to live in the same town until we had to move to a different city because of our own family reasons. But being apart actually got us closer, my middle school times passes away quickly thanks to him and couple of other friends from town. It was such a great time that we both cherish together. And hopefully one day we can all get together again and enjoy a day together.

We only had small talks, and usually I quickly got bored with such talks. So I decide to shift the topic a little.

"So, you still like that girl you mentioned months ago?" I asked.

He sneered, "Nah, I'm not looking for a relationship to be honest," he said.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Well, in my school we get to pick different classes and we don't have the same classes together. So we were kinda distancing each other,"

"Wait, you get to pick classes? Damn, the only classes I can choose from are math and science or social studies, --"

Randy wasn't really the type of guy who's looking for a relationship. It was interesting to hear that he had a crush on a girl, but I kind of knew it that he's not going to cling to her too long. Maybe he has another preference? I'm not going to hold onto the latter.

I told him about a girl I met at my school festival where we bring other boarding schools to join us in the competitions. I was a crew member and I met this cute girl who speaks in low tone and she was clinging onto her friends. And when she came forth to me to talk about how we mistook her name for someone else and we had to fix it, she kept looking down on the floor and fidgeting her hands because of how shy she was.

If I wasn't a complete loser, I would've asked for her phone number right away, but I didn't. And at the end of the festival day when awards are given. I didn't get to see her and that would've been my last chance.

"What a pity, man," Randy commented. "Well, maybe next year?"

Maybe next year… I thought, thinking about the possibility of seeing her for the next time. Probably, zero chance.