It has already been a week since classes started, and everyone was way past introductions. Regular classes have started. Teachers are already giving away homeworks for the students. Caden still hasn't formed any friendships here besides with Claire, but she herself has other friends that she always runs to.
7 a.m. on a Monday morning, Mr. Flores came in to announce that a new seating arrangement will be employed. It wasn't really complicated, since there were only 12 boys in the class, they will all be occupying the last row. But there were only 8 chairs per row, so 4 of them will be seated on the second to the last. Everyone was fine with this arrangement.
"Okay, since these 4 seats will be separated from the other boys, I will be giving these seats to those who want to sit in it." Mr. Flores said.
Jake instantly raised his hand, wanting to take one of the seats. He was accompanied in this by Theo and Oliver. It seems like these three are the closest among the boys. But there were only three of them, and there were 4 seats.
"Who's going to be the 4th person?" Mr. Flores asked.
"We'll take Caden, sir!" Theo answered.
"Are you okay with this, Caden?" the teacher looked at Caden.
He doesn't really have a choice. Caden isn't that close with anyone, so he'd just take whatever's given to him. He nodded his head. It wouldn't be bad, anyway. Those boys seem interested in being friends with him.
The rest of the boys were then assigned seats behind them. After the boys, the girls were then arranged. After everything was settled, Mr. Flores said his farewell and left.
Caden was positioned at the end of the row. Beside him was Theo, followed by Oliver, and then Jake. These 4 were the only boys in the row, so they were always immersed in talks among themselves. They were very nice, almost too nice. It seemed like Jake was the class clown, since Oliver and Theo would always say jokes that deprecate the gentle giant.
"Jake, what's curlier. Your head hair or your pubic hair?" Theo jokingly asked.
"What the fu*k?" Jake said while hitting the valedictorian.
The four of them laughed at this. It seems like these boys would be Caden's circle. Their laughs were so contagious, and it was the first time that others actually approached Caden to be friends with him. It seems Caden would finally be able to be himself in school.
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The school bell rang. It was lunch time. The three boys beside Caden stood up and went for the door. They wanted to bring Caden with them, but he insisted that he had his own food and wanted to eat in the classroom. The boys then left to eat at the school cafeteria.
Caden, in fact, did not have any food with him. He was just too shy to join. He waited 5 minutes before he went out himself. Lunch time was only 40 minutes long, perhaps 5 less wouldn't be too much of a burden on his eating time.
Caden went to the cafeteria. There were a lot of stalls to choose from. Ultimately, he chose the stall that sold fried noodles. They were cheap and definitely looked appetizing. He saw Jake and Theo queued at the rice bowl store. Where was Oliver? Wasn't he with them. An arm hooked on Caden's neck.
"There you are! What are you doing here? I thought you had your own food?" the boy asked.
It was Oliver. He didn't want to buy a rice bowl for lunch. He was looking for other stalls to buy lunch from.
"I didn't get full, so I thought to buy myself a bowl of noodles." Caden answered. He couldn't look at Oliver because of the guilt of lying.
"What a coincidence! I was going to buy fried noodles too. Let's go together. Then we'll meet with the other two so we could all go upstairs together." said Oliver.
The little math wizard then queued behind Caden. They were having small talk while at it. This was the first somewhat long conversation they had. They talked about Caden's first impressions of everyone, the weather, how the subjects were, and everything alike.
It didn't look like it, but Oliver knew Caden was lying about being full. How could one eat lunch for only 5 minutes? Caden was oblivious to this, though. Maybe Oliver's acting prowess from being in school plays was being applied.
A few minutes later, the four boys reconvened and went up to the classroom. Jake and Theo saw that Caden and Oliver had the same food.
Jake looked at Oliver and asked, "I thought you hated fried noodles?"
"It looked extra delicious today. Plus, it's none of your business what I eat!" answered Oliver.
"True. It's also none of my business that your mom peels your oranges, right?" Jake teased
"Shut up and eat!" Oliver said.
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It turned out that just a few minutes after Caden had left. Oliver returned to the classroom because he forgot to bring his wallet. He saw Caden wasn't in the room, he didn't know where he was, but he couldn't possibly be in the restroom since around 10 minutes before the bell rang, he excused himself to pee.
Oliver looked around and saw Caden lined up at his least favorite stall. He gulped, as if he was jumping off a plane to skydive, not knowing whether his parachute was working or not. It wasn't the fried noodles themselves that he hated. It was that they add beansprouts to it, and Oliver hates picking them out.
Oliver approached the tall kid in the glasses and wrapped his left arm around his shoulders.
YOU ARE READING
Those Damn Dimples (BL)
RomanceA lot of Caden's later years were spent with the absence of his father, a man whom he had always wanted to feel by his side. He longed for his father, to feel safe in his arms when he's in peril. The man was always abroad, working. Caden had conside...
