You And I

Chapter 6: The Club Proposal

I heard my alarm ringing, and I groaned, pulling the blanket over my head. I barely got any sleep last night. My mind had been buzzing with thoughts of Mei, playing over every little detail like a movie on repeat. Her smile, her laugh-it all seemed stuck in my head, and no amount of tossing or turning helped me get past it.

I needed a distraction, so I rolled out of bed and decided to do some light exercise. It was something to keep me moving, to focus on my body instead of my thoughts. Push-ups, squats, stretches-anything that could keep my mind off Mei. But even as I moved through the exercises, my brain kept drifting back to her. I couldn't help but picture her smile, the way her eyes lit up when she talked.

Frustrated, I dropped to the floor and lay there for a minute, catching my breath. "This is hopeless," I muttered to myself. No matter what I did, she was always there, lingering in the back of my mind.

That's when I heard my phone vibrate. I grabbed it off the floor, hoping for a distraction, and saw a message from the school. I opened it and read through the announcement: Club elections tomorrow. All clubs must have at least three members to be approved.

Great. Just one more thing to worry about.

As I was scrolling through the details, another notification popped up-this time from Ryan.

Ryan: "Dude, let's form our own club."

I stared at the message for a second, confused. Why would we need our own club?

Me: "Why would we do that?"

It didn't take long for him to respond.

Ryan: "You know, a place to hang out if we have free time. Just us."

I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Ryan to come up with something like this.

Me: "What kind of club?"

Ryan's response came almost immediately.

Ryan: "Tabletop games. We can have tournaments or just play for fun. It'd be awesome."

I chuckled. That sounded like the kind of thing Ryan would come up with, but still, it didn't seem like something I could get into.

Me: "That's dumb."

But just as I was about to set my phone aside, another message popped up that made me freeze.

Ryan: "Mei's going to join."

I stared at the screen, feeling my heart skip a beat. I could practically see Ryan's smug smile through the message. He knew exactly what he was doing. Mei was my weakness, and he knew it.

After a long pause, I finally replied.

Me: "Fine. I'm in."

Ryan's response was immediate: "Knew it. See you tomorrow, president."

I sighed, tossing my phone onto the bed and lying back down. So much for trying to distract myself. Now all I could think about was what the club would be like, spending time with Mei there, and the idea of having something that brought us closer together.

Would we sit next to each other? Would she ask me for help with the games? Or maybe I could show her how to play something new? My thoughts spiraled again, and I found myself smiling at the possibilities.

The rest of the day was a blur of idle thoughts, filled with anticipation for what tomorrow would bring. The club idea suddenly didn't seem so bad anymore.

But as the day went on and the evening approached, I found myself staring at my phone again, wondering what Mei was thinking. Was she excited about the club too? Did she even know I'd be joining?

I shook my head, trying to clear the endless cycle of questions. One thing was for sure: tomorrow was going to be interesting.