LASAGNE ON MY FACE

The bell rings and everyone seems to release a sigh of relief. With an intermingled sound of chatter, they all flock out of the classroom. Beside me, my friend jumps out of her seat and I watch her in amusement, unfazed by the fact that she is excited about recess. I follow her lead after packing my bag. When I realise that she left without taking hers again, my head shakes from side to side at her forgetfulness and I call her back.

She turns around and stares at me impatiently. I hold her bag up at her. After blinking her eyes shut tightly in realisation, she hunches over and drags her feet over towards me. Then she reaches out to take it from me, but before she does her hand all of a sudden pauses midway.

"You know what?" she muses thoughtfully and when I don't answer her, she says, "You can hold that for me."

"No," I immediately disagree.

She's already walking out of the classroom.

I purse my lips in irritation and as I follow after her, my eyes roll upwards. Once caught up with her, I say, "I'm not your boyfriend, you know? You can't just make me carry your shit for you."

She looks over at her bag which I'm disdainfully hugging against my chest and dismissively waves her hand. "Nah, you got it."

Glaringly, I stare at her.

"Mrs Gonzalez is absent so I have a free period after this. You should have taken Economics, Seong Jin. We could've spent this free gossiping. I have to tell you about my date."

"Ah, yes. Because I want to sit through forty-five minutes of blabber."

"Oh, shut up. Anyway, can you pick up the pace? The line actually gets quite long after a few minutes."

With a snide sneer, I tell her that I might be able to pick up the pace if I wasn't carrying a certain someone's belongings.

I don't usually get the cafeteria food because I prefer homemade food where I know Franklin washed his hands before he prepared the comestibles. This morning though, he took it upon himself to leave earlier without even preparing anything for me.

Now I am stuck eating from the cafeteria. Taylor insisted on it; even said she had been counting this day down on her calendar. That would make it four and a half calendars at most. I just think that's going a bit overboard, but I can't put anything past my childhood best friend.

I think Taylor and I either met in preschool or reception school. She is gorgeous, mischief always sparkling in her date brown eyes. Her boyfriend who is also living front opposite our house, always says her best, physical quality is those. I personally think it might be her tits but to each their own.

She is always up to no good and I have an inkling it might be because the headmistress is firstly her mother and secondly, always putting too much pressure on her. It tempts her to be rebellious.

Before Edward started dating Taylor, he and I used to always hang out on my front porch, me on the hammock swinging side to side and him staring out into the night sky. I remember we used to talk about anything and everything and it felt like I had finally found someone I could genuinely be open with about myself. Most of the time he and I would stay up all night studying for our exams and assisting each other even if I didn't really need the help; it was just an excuse to spend time with him.

Now, I hardly ever see him unless it's at school.

Once we have both paid for our lunch, we head over to a random table that is normally not occupied by a group of people to enjoy our food. I'm surprised that Damien isn't here yet. When we're at English before recess, he always zooms to the cafeteria, leaving me behind.

Taylor begins her jubilant recount of the fun she and Edward had on their date the previous night in between bites. He took her through the typical date. Dinner and then a nice movie. When I ask her about the movie, she admits that she wasn't actually paying attention; she just remembers it being a pretty good watch. I'm not surprised she wasn't. She has the attention span of a child.

"I'd watch it again though," she adds quickly. "Wanna go and see a movie with me?"

I gasp sarcastically before pretending to tear up at her request and I can already see the frown forming around the edges of her eyes. "Taylor, are you asking me out on a date?"

"See?" she muses in a banal tone, scowling at me disapprovingly. "This is why we don't get to do nice things. You're such a weirdo."

I chuckle in amusement and in response to her previous question, I tell her that I can't go out to watch a movie with her.

I need to always be at home at a specific time every day because it is my final year in high school and my mum has enforced a strict schedule for me to study and whatnot. It gets a bit tedious at times, not being able to hang out with my friends during our last year together, but I also don't mind it, because if it increases the guarantee of me getting accepted into one of the prestigious universities that I've applied to, then I'll do it.

"Anyway, what did you do last night?" she asks, out of courtesy.

"Eh, not much. I just did my homework, read a few books, watched a Netflix series."

"Did you at least switch it up and watch something other than another romantic series?" she muses, knowingly.

My lips purse at the bored look on her face. "I don't know what you're on about. Bridgerton fucking slaps."

She shakes her head almost disappointingly. "You're so predictable, Seong Jin."

After saying this, she goes back to neatly nibbling on a bite of her lasagne. Looking over at her under my lashes, I frown petulantly. Fortunately, she does not see the offended look that occupies my expression.

What is that supposed to mean? I am not predictable.

Am I?

To prove that I'm not predictable, I quickly blurt out, "I ran Dominic over in my car this morning."

Then all of a sudden, I have lasagne on my face.

In my chair, I stiffen in disbelief, slowly blinking as my mouth falls open. Did she just spit lasagne on my fucking face?

My eyes enlarged into the size of saucers, I glance up at her with a glare playing around the edge of my eye. She immediately starts apologising profusely and hurriedly grabs some serviettes from her tray. When she holds them out to me, I rip them out of her grasp irritably and begin to wipe my face, doing nothing to hide my irritable expression.

A stray student who's walking past us glances at me through the corner of her eye before chuckling to herself. I narrow my eyes at her retreating back whilst rubbing the serviette around my face.

"I'm sorry. It's just… you caught me off guard."

"How?" I slam the scrunched up serviette on the table before sarcastically adding, "I thought I was predictable."

"Well, clearly not since you just remorselessly ran a guy over. Are you alright?" she asks in concern, leaning over to wipe something I must have missed from my eyebrow.

I tell her I'm okay with a reassuring smile.

Once she's back in her chair, she curiously questions me, "So, is he alive?"

Perturbed, I respond adamantly, "Of course, he's alive. I don't think I'd be sitting here in front of you right now if he died, you know? With the power his parents have, I'd probably be locked up in juvie."

"Not unless you hid the body afterwards," she mutters under her breath.

"What?"

"Wanna know how to do it?" The look of excitement on her face makes me want to put some distance between us.

"Uh, no. No, I don't think so." I'm stunned into silence as I rapidly blink up at her in concern. "You see? This is why I only watch romantic series. I don't want to turn out like you by watching anything else."

"Watching grotesque movies isn't what creates psychopaths, Seong Jin. Have I taught you nothing, my little halfling? Also, there's no one like me, mate."

"Yeah, and thank God for that. You're a Jeffrey Dahmer in the making," I mutter jokingly and playfully she leans over to flick me on the forehead.

"By the way," she starts once seated again, "is he in the hospital?"

"Dominic? No, it was just a little nudge. Nothing serious. His knee got hurt, but he promised me that he was alright."

A smirk of pride begins to curl onto her lips. "Good shit, Seong Jin."

I frown in puzzlement. "What?"

"I didn't know you had it in you."

"Had it in me to… do what? Not be predictable?"

"No," she replies but then she pauses and ponders her reply. "Well, yes but I didn't think you had it in you to run over the guy who rejected you in the ninth grade for revenge. That's kind of my style if you ask me."

My eyes pop open, horrified at her assumption. Does she think I ran him over on purpose? Why am I not as surprised as I should be?

"So, who's next?" she muses while rubbing her palms in excitement. "I vote for Michael."

"You know, Taylor, sometimes I really worry about you."

"Sometimes I really worry about me too. I guess that's what makes us such good friends. We both care about my wellbeing."

Unable to control it, my eyes roll slightly as I shake my head.

"Anyway, back to the story. So, after you unsuccessfully ran him over, what did he do? Did he just shake it off and walk away?"

I nod, releasing a noise of agreement.

"Dude, I would've thought he'd murder you with a toy lightsabre or something along those lines."

"Why would he be carrying a toy lightsabre to school?" I ask her exasperatingly, watching her like she's the most illogical person. It's just like her to come up with something like that. "And how do you murder someone with that?"

"It's a whole intricate process. I don't wanna go into detail about it, just in case I end up on a watch list or something," she answers with a shrug.

I'd be surprised if she wasn't on a watch list already.

"Also, you never know what the quiet ones are into," she says to me, while she points her forked food at me with a look silently telling me not to judge her for the words leaving her mouth. "Maybe he uses the lightsabre to fuck himself in the arse during recess."

"Taylor," I whisper-shout scoldingly.

Glancing around the cafeteria over my shoulder, I make sure that no one else heard her saying that since she was being pretty loud. Luckily everyone is minding their own business. Well, except for the same girl from before who halts for a second time by our table, her grasp on her tray tightening. She stares over at Taylor and then after lifting up her shoulders indifferently, she carries on walking down the aisle.

Now I am left sitting here, trying to get the image of Dominic shoving a green lightsabre up his arse out of my mind.

"No, just… no."

"What?" Taylor stares at me innocently, as if she didn't just say what she just said.

I don't know what's wrong with her. I get that dark humour is her niche, but sometimes she just takes it too far.

"It's a possibility. I mean, he has never set foot in the cafeteria… like ever. I've never seen him here."

"He wasn't carrying a lightsabre with him," I reply in dispute. "I don't even think that the guy is remotely into Star Wars. He looks more like the documentary type."

"All I'm saying is," she stops for some sort of dramatic pause, "give the guy some neatly styled hair and a basic, black cap, and he could pass as that stalker from that Netflix show."

I roll my eyes and groan in exasperation. This again. "First of all, Dominic is interracial. He looks nothing like Joe."

"Okay, he might not look like him, but don't you notice that there are slight similarities between them?"

"Like what?"

"Like… they're both the quiet type."

I await her next reason, but she doesn't seem to have anything more to add to prove her thesis. "I'm letting you finish."

"What do you mean you're letting me finish? That's all. They're both quiet."

Staring her deep in the eyes, I begin to doubt her frame of mind too. Perhaps her niche isn't dark humour. Maybe she's just lost her mind.

"Okay, first of all, I can see why you flunked English because you don't understand a thing about proving your thesis. Second of all, Dominic is nothing like Joe. The guy creeps into people's rooms and steals used tampons. You can't compare Dominic to… to that."

"You don't know what Lachowski does during his past time. Maybe he does creep into people's rooms at night to steal used tampons. I can just see him dressed in all black," a thoughtful look covers her expression.

I lean back to watch her in amusement, folding my arms over my chest.

"Mind you, he's only wearing some spunky spandex and has taped crosses over his nipples with that black cap which somehow turns you invisible."

I splutter a chuckle past my lips, pressing my palm against my mouth to reduce the amplitude of the noise. She's lucky I didn't have any food in my mouth otherwise the same fate that befell me would've befallen her.

She watches me earnestly and doesn't laugh with me which just makes her comment even funnier, so I burst out into a loud guffaw, which sends racks through my body. Luckily, the ruckus in the cafeteria drowns out the noise. Taylor merely waits for me to finish laughing with a stern, flat expression.

"Yeah, you laugh now. Maybe you'll take me seriously when he sneaks into your room to steal your used tampons."

A smile still kissing my lips, I murmur a noise of sarcastic agreement.

"I mean, have you even stopped to ask yourself what he was doing in your neighbourhood?"

"Yes, and he said that he was visiting some friends of his."

"He has friends?" she whisper-shouts, eyes widening in shock.

I almost smile at how similarly we both reacted to that information.

When she asks me who these supposed friends are, I just shrug instead of correcting the statement by telling her that it was actually his parent's friends and not his.

"Maybe he was visiting some guy who fucks him with a toy lightsabre."

"Okay, this conversation should have just ended at I ran Dominic over this morning, but somehow you've lengthened it to toy lightsabres, Joe and used tampons."

"Hey, can't help that I get carried away sometimes," she says, raising her hands up in nonchalant surrender.

"Carried away is an understatement. You've somehow come up with the idea that Dominic is a closeted gay who visits some guy from my neighbourhood to get effed in the arse with a toy lightsabre, dressed in spandex. Have you taken your Adderall today?"

"I haven't. All I'm saying is, Seong Jin, people out there… are weird and he might be one of those people, so you need to be cautious of that fact. I mean, why do you think he hasn't had a girlfriend before? Why did he reject you in the ninth grade? He probably is a closeted gay."

"Right, he rejected me, because he's probably gay," I say sarcastically.

"No, he rejected you because he doesn't like you." She shrugs exaggeratedly as if she didn't just say what she just said.

"That was a really low blow. You're actually a cunt for that comment." Puncturing a hole into my drink, I suck the cold drink up into my mouth whilst narrowing my gaze at her venomously.

"I don't think calling my girlfriend a cunt will keep you in my good books, Seong Jin."

I freeze in my seat and for a split second I forget to respire, breath freezing into a ball of nerves in my throat, but then I almost choke on my drink so I gulp and immediately will my lungs to function properly because this shitty body isn't immortal and needs to respire. A tiny cough leaves me and when Edward worriedly pats me on my back, I glance up at him and wave him off.

"Hey, baby," Edward says and leans in to kiss Taylor on the cheek who begins to beam at the sight of her boyfriend and, apparently, soulmate.

Taking a seat beside her, he sends me the usual friendly wink and I stretch a stiff smile his way.

"So, what's the happs?"

Taylor opens her mouth to tell him, but I only glare at her, trying to stop her, but she ignores this and goes ahead by stating gravely, "Dominic is gay and uses lightsabres to pleasure himself," causing me to roll my eyes.

"What?" he asks, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. He shakes his head and leans his head on her shoulder, getting comfortable. "You know what, I shouldn't have asked. The two of you have the weirdest conversations."

"He's not gay."

"You just don't want your crush to actually be for Cheetos. You're hoping he rejected you only because he's into Doritos."

"What?" Edward looks even more confused. "Who the hell is Dominic?"

"Seong Jin's crush."

"Ex-crush, Taylor; I don't like Dominic anymore. He's just too closed off for my liking. Also, may I add, he is actually really rude. Like before, when he was ignoring me and whatnot, I just thought he was shy, but he was probably ignoring me because of how rude he is. It's embedded in his genes. Lowkey he's also kinda racist."

"How so?" Edward asks, hilarity glowing in his gaze, and I immediately know that I'm not being taken seriously by him.

"He made this comment about me needing to open my eyes while driving."

"No, I think he meant to open your eyes while driving so you don't run people over, Seong Jin. You just misinterpreted it as a racist comment," Taylor states, chuckling in amusement.

"Or, he's totally racist," I insert, a playful grin inching onto my lips and subconsciously I begin to pack my food into my bag, taking another sip of my cold drink. Once I've stood up from my chair, I add, "But it was a really long time ago. I wouldn't still like him after three years."

"Right, of course," she murmurs disbelievingly. "Too closed off and a really long time ago. I believe you one hundred percent, Seong Jin."

"Wait, where are you going?" Edward muses, furrowing his eyebrows in perplex.

"Oh, um… I'm gonna head over to the library for the Othello book. We're doing literature today in English so I'm gonna need it," I lie, slinging my bag over my back.

I actually got the book weeks before our English teacher told us to because strangely, I like being way ahead of everyone. It's just a thing I do.

I may also unknowingly knowingly do this thing where I find a bunch of excuses to avoid seeing Taylor and Edward together a lot. Don't get me wrong, I mean I'm happy for my friend. She's in a healthy, growing relationship with a good guy and I have no qualms about that. I'm just not at a point in my life where I can properly stomach the sight of them being so in love with each other.

"I thought you got the book already. I distinctly remember you getting it weeks before Mrs Presario even told us about it. And then I teased you about being a geek, remember?" Edward points out much to my surprise.

My mouth opens and shuts as I try to conjure a response to him calling me out on my bullshit. Shit. I forgot about that. He did tease me about being a geek for getting the book weeks before everyone else. How could I forget about that?

I tug on the neck strap of my camera, resisting the urge to swing back and forth uncomfortably. When Edward inquisitively tilts his head to the side, I settle for a stiff nod instead and a smile as grim.

A long, pregnant silence envelopes the three of us as my gaze wavers around from Taylor and Edward who are both furrowing their eyebrows in bemusement.

After blinking up at me weirdly, he murmurs, "Uh… okay."

Without saying anything else, I spin on my heels and awkwardly rush out of the cafeteria with my chin buried deep within my chest.

Jesus…