The Heartbreak Project

The Heartbreak Project (1)

Stephan

               Stephan stood in front of the wooden door to Colin’s room, contemplating whether or not he should acknowledge the bold ‘KNOCK BEFORE YOU ENTER’ sign scrawled in red paint that had more or less chipped off almost completely over the years. He decided against it once he heard one of the guys – probably Derek – manically laughing from inside the room. Stephan gently pushed the door open only to confirm his suspicions that it was, indeed, Derek who was laughing.

                           “Steph! Where the hell have you been, man? We just came up with the sickest idea.” Derek gasped in between his laughter.

He observed that the entire gang – Colin, Derek, Bradyn and Darren – were sprawled around his chaotic room. Several of his clothes were spread out scrappily on the wooden floor, along with a sea of coke cans and packets strewn on his bed. His desk, in contrast, was piled neatly with notebooks and loose sheets of paper, and the three guys were smart enough to stray away from that area. Stephan restrained a grin. Typical Col, he thought in mild amusement. However fun and crazy Colin could be, he took his studies awfully seriously and somehow, over the years, they’d come to accept that as a part of him.

Darren was slumped across the bed with his phone in his hand, Derek was lying on the floor across Colin, and Bradyn had taken up the chair on the other end of room.

The only person sitting decently was Bradyn. He was always kind of strange, but it was most probably because he wasn’t used to being around different people – especially people like them – seeing as he was the newest addition to their group. 

“Good timing,” Colin remarked lazily from the floor and Stephan shot him a playful glare.

“Sit down, Steph. We’ll tell you everything.” Derek offered with a grin, his icy blue eyes shining in evident excitement as gestured to the empty desk chair a few meters away from Bradyn. He threw a pillow in my direction in the process, and Stephan grabbed the pillow, throwing it back, and landing on the chair with impatience.

“What is it?” He questioned, feigning annoyance even though he was internally brimming with curiosity. It was extremely rare for his best-friends to get over-excited for mere schemes. They were usually pranks – which, may he add, never worked out 50% of the times.

“Darren, would you like to do the honors?” Colin asked, failing miserably at a British accent.

“It would be my pleasure,” Darren replied, sitting up on the bed and mocking Colin’s lame attempt. “So, you know that little group of girls, right? The one that keeps following us around – Acacia, Valerie and all?”

“Yes,” Stephan responded indifferently, “What about them?”

“We’re going to break their hearts!” Derek exclaimed excitedly, ignoring the irritated look that Darren shot his way as he took over.

“And that is fun because?” He asked disconcertedly, emphasizing the word ‘because’.

“Oh shut up, Derek,” Bradyn interrupted with an eye-roll, speaking for the first time in the short span of time Stephan been here. “We’re not just going to break their hearts. I mean we are. But, it’s going to be fun, you know? More like dares. To see how long each of us lasts.”

“I don’t get it.” Stephan stated blankly.

“Let me do the explaining. You guys are hopeless,” Colin shook his head exasperatedly, raking a hand through his messy, auburn-brown hair. Darren looked at him almost apologetically. “Okay, so basically what we’re going to do is lure these girls into our charm,” He wiggled his eyebrows at the word ‘charm’ which earned small chuckles from all of them. “We’re going to sweet-talk them. Act nice, you know? Be relatable. Make them believe that we’re worth having as boyfriends. Then we’ll make them think we like them. Then take it back. Make them fall in love. Maybe even ask them out. It’ll be hilarious – especially when we end up breaking their hearts.”

The guys start cheering; discussing schemes and plans while Stephan just sat there uncomfortably. He had a younger sister, and if somebody screwed with her like that, he was pretty sure that wouldn’t be able to endure it. And those girls were kind of like his sisters too – they’d known them almost their entire lives. These guys may be his best-friends, but they were kind of stepping across a line.

Colin seemed to notice the absence of his excitement and the chatter died down. The other guys followed, silencing completely.

“What’s up, Steph?” Colin asked, a miniscule hint of concern shining in his light, hazel-green eyes.

“I don’t know. Isn’t that kind of jerk-ish?” Stephan confessed, shrugging his shoulders.

“Maybe it is. But who cares? It’s going to be fun. C’mon Steph, loosen up a bit.” Colin replied and the chatter resumed. This time, he joined in too – half-heartedly joining in the plans and schemes.

Stephan had a bad feeling about this.

                     After the excitement had died down a bit, Colin got up and grabbed a scrap piece of paper from his desk. He attempted to straighten down the creased sheet but gave up after a few tries. He grabbed a pen from nearby, and started to scribble down something.

      “This isn’t the time to draw, Col.” Darren remarked, rolling his eyes in evident annoyance.

He muttered a string of incoherent words from which the only thing I could register was a ‘shut up’.

After what felt like an eternity, Colin lifted up the piece of paper and admired his creation with a satisfied smirk. He then turned the sheet around and Stephan was greeted with what he supposed was a bad attempt at making stick figures. He bit his lip to stifle a laugh at his drawing skills.

“What’s that?” He questioned, his confusion taking over his amusement.

Colin flared his nostrils in annoyance, and pointed to the sheet. “This is a diagram, smartass.”

They all stared at him blankly.

He let out an exasperated groan and explained, “This,” he pointed to what I supposed was five guys, “Is us,”

“This,” he now pointed to what Stephan assumed could’ve only been five girls, “Is them.”

“Pick one.” He grinned nonchalantly.

“Pick one?” Derek asked. Colin nodded back.

They all gazed at the sheet. As Stephan got a closer look, he saw their names and the names of the girls scrawled above the people.

“Acacia, I guess?” Darren shrugged casually. Stephan mentally shook my head at his blatant greed for popularity. He was on the more popular side of the group – and so was Acacia. Colin took the pen and drew a line joining the drawings of Darren and Acacia.

“Bradyn?” he asked.

“Um, I don’t know.” Bradyn replied indecisively. Colin rolled his eyes and let out a sigh, visibly getting more and more annoyed by the minute.

“You guys are useless.” He muttered, before snatching the piece of paper and pulling some lines on it. He was about to hand it back to them, but he seemed to change his mind. He glanced at the piece of paper and read out. “Bradyn, you get Willow,”

Stephan looked at Bradyn. It looked like he was contemplating his choice before he shrugged his shoulders as a sign of agreement.

“Darren, Acacia. Derek, Nova – ”

“Wait, wait, wait. Nova? As in November? No way, man!” Derek protested, interrupting Colin.

“I don’t care. Stephan, Corey. And I get Valerie.” Colin finished, a satisfied smirk plastered on his face.

“I don’t want to do it, Col. And Corey? Seriously?” Stephan protested.

“Then exchange with Der.” Colin decided casually.

They both simultaneously shrieked, “NO.”

“Alright, we’ll see later,” Colin responded in annoyance. His expression slowly morphed into one of mischief, “But for now, first stop – Valerie Beaumont.”