Intertwined Destinies

Head in the Clouds

"Urg, I'm dying," Enrico whined as he laid his head on the pile of papers lying in front of him.

"That's why we told you to stop fooling around," Kayla commented unfazed by his friend while continuing to write equations and typing on her calculator.

"But there are so many things to do. We also have exams coming in a week," Enrico continued to lament with his head still resting on the table. "I can't do it! What's the point of knowing calculus or whatever we are learning..."

"I don't know, so you can have a future and not end up on the streets?" Kayla retorted as her hands never stopped working.

"Don't give up. It's almost the end," Malak tried to cheer his friend up.

"Maybe college isn't for me. I should start my own company or something..."

"You'll still need your high school diploma and that includes you succeeding your calculus class."

"I'll just hire somebody to do it for me," Enrico pouted as he started to fusion with the table as if he wanted to disappear.

"With what money?" Kayla continued to answer negatively to her friend, not really realizing how bad he was taking it. She was too absorbed in her work to notice.

"Kayla, please stop," Malak whispered to his friend as Enrico looked more and more depressed.

Finally, looking up from her papers, Kayla finally put down her pen. Seeing how she destroyed his friend's hope she felt bad about it. "Hey, I'm sorry," she started in a softer tone as if talking to a cat. "It's a harsh world outside. I can't just let my friend being homeless and buried into debts..."

"Kayla," Malak whispered before putting a finger on his lips to signal her to stop talking. "So, what are you guys up to after school? Want to hang out?"

With one look from her friend, she immediately understood. "I'm free too! Where do you want to go, Enrico?"

"I don't care... Wherever you want. No... I should be studying. I will study until I drop dead," their once depressed friend became full of energy. "Yeah! A class is starting let's not be late!" he quickly gathered his books and papers before walking away while talking to himself.

"What just happened?" both of the remaining friends stared at each other in bewilderment.

For the rest of the day, Enrico was a model example of a perfect student. He was paying attention in class without being distracted by everything, he took complete notes and even studied in between classes. Both his friends couldn't recognize him. Usually, he would be the first one to fool around. Even Malak couldn't match him since he kept looking at his phone each time he received a notification while dozing off because of the very warm classroom and a full stomach.

When school ended, Kayla and Enrico galloped home to study while Malak headed to work. For the first time in forever, the young adult wasn't in the mood to work. Since the day he met Kian at the restaurant, he couldn't stop thinking about the man. By meeting him only once, Kian left a deep impression on Malak and since then he had been wanting to meet him again. However, he didn't want to be the one to make the first step.

While working, he tried his best to do his job efficiently, but sometimes when there were no customers, Malak's mind wandered. Therefore, he often got reprimanded by the manager for that. He tried to regain his concentration while brewing coffee for the clients. Even when he was done doing the drinks for them, he continued to make some more before getting scolded again. It was an unusual sight for the other workers since Malak usually never made a mistake.

He stayed in this state for most of the week and because of that his friends and twin sister thought that he was in love or at least had a crush. Therefore, during lunch, all three of them were whispering among themselves to discover who this girl was. However, they were all clueless since this situation was so unusual for them. Even his sister, Lesley, was not aware of her brother's crush. She had doubts about it. Of course, Malak being so out of it, he noticed nothing at all as he kept sighing and eyeing at his phone while munching on his sandwich.