Tally

Chapter 12: True Colors

"Dad, how much longer are we going to reach!?" I asked frantically.

"Almost there, boy, just wait for one or two minutes," My dad says as he puts the medal to the pedal. "You should have gone before being last minute."

I was placed in a very unexpected situation. Currently, I am going to school with my dad in the car, and I just have the most significant crisis. Ever since it became a habit to wake up early, I have been waking up earlier more and more. This didn't really bother my parents, as it has been a habit to wake up and prepare in the morning. Going to school early allows my dad to go to work faster than for him to wait longer for his son so he can go straight to work. This new procedure would have been perfect, but one major flaw wasn't considered: my body condition. And right now, my body needs to defecate or take a dump in my terms.

"Okay, we're here, have a good time," my dad says as he drops me off at the school gate.

I waited no longer. Straightaway, I went down and bolted myself to the nearest toilet I could find. The time at the entrance is currently 6:13, which means I have more than an hour for me to put my priorities at stake. Scouring through each hallway and corridor, I found one at the end of the hallway. I barged my way in, took one of the stalls, locked the door, and saved myself from shame.

Pulling my pants down and sitting on the toilet bowl, I rested as I drained a lot of stamina from defecating and running around the school to find the restroom. Luckily there was almost no one there, so I didn't make much of a fool of myself unless they checked the security camera to see a crazy kid going psycho.

I sat comfortably inside the stall until I was ready to go out. Before that, I remembered to clean myself, and misfortune was bestowed on me again. There was no toilet paper.

I checked around the stall to see if there was anything I could use to wipe myself with that I could dispose of, but there wasn't.

I put my hand under the stalls next to me to see if there was any toilet paper that I could snatch, but unfortunately, it was empty.

Think. Think! Where can I find toilet paper? I could go outside and find it inside the school's storage room, but that's floors above where I am. I could go to the girl's toilet to see if there are any, but that would make me look like a pervert and get me suspended.

Right! The tissue dispenser! I'm pretty sure there are still some left for me to take. But there was an issue with this. It is practically a double-edged sword as since it is located at the exit of the bathroom, if I am lucky, I could immediately rush to get it and go back, but if I am unlucky, everyone would see me walking with my pants down. I have to consider that there are people at any time walking in as minutes have passed by. Who knew that I would be contemplating to choose whether I should risk getting the tissue or not. After a lot of thought was put into it, I decided to just "Yolo" it as the longer I stay, the more likely the toilet is getting more crowded. I will rush out of this door in a count of three, take one or two tissues, and bolt straight back into my stall. That was until I heard a sound.

Creak

Thank god I didn't go out.

As the door opened, I heard footsteps coming in. Just by listening to those footsteps, there were at least two people in the toilet with me right now.

"Man, that was tough," one of the two people said. But hearing the voice, I know who it is, Ronald. So that means the other person is Roman which could not have been a more perfect timing. As I was about to ask one of them to get the tissue, but that was before their conversation just got a bit more interesting.

"So when are we getting our payment?" Roman asked Roland.

Payment? What payment? Are you guys doing something sketchy behind the scenes?

"I'm pretty sure he said it would be at the end of the first semester."

"He?" Who is "he?" As I was stalking their conversation, a million questions came to my mind. What exactly are they doing? Is what you're doing illegal? As your friend, should I be helping you? The concern is building in me.

"Thank god. That means we could ditch Nolan, right?"

What. What are you just saying? I must be tripping. This is just a dream, right. Hey Mr. Imaginary, you can show up! I don't understand anything. End of semester, ditching me, payment, what does this all mean.

"I mean, of course. So why do we have to hang out with him any longer?"

Roland too? Just what is going on! I feel like I am going crazy. Slowly but surely, my heart was suffocating, and my eyes were getting blurry. But, no, please, aren't you guys my friends?

"Bro, I kid you not. He looks like he would slit my throat in half."

"Yeah, that dude got the face of a psychopath."

Is that what you guys see in me? Is that what everyone sees me as. No, that can't be true. We hung out with each other a lot. It doesn't make sense.

"Little rascals are just a pain to deal with."

"Not to mention dudes a coward."

"I don't understand how people can stand next to him."

"Yeah, I would kill myself if I was him."

Please don't let this be real. I beg you, God, Buddha, please tell me it is a lie. Did everything we did was fake? Was all the laughing, joy, and frustration all fake? I can't breathe. It hurts. My chest hurts, my heart hurts, my head hurts. Why?

"But hey, thanks to him, we are now stacked."

"Yeah, the freest a thousand dollars of my life."

"Anyways, class is about to start."

"Yeah, we got to go find him as well."

"At least we only have to do it for one more month."

As the two were walking away laughing, I simply stayed there. My emotions there were too many for me to comprehend. Anger, frustration, failures, emptiness, despair, loneliness, etc. All I could do was cry, cry and cry again and again. It hurts. It hurts too much. I have to accept the truth. I don't have friends in the first place.