Those Damn Dimples (BL)

Chapter 14: Man's Honor

The two best friends' arms were still locked on each other's torsos, their shoulders forgetting any sort of boundary. It was still lunchtime, and Oliver couldn't eat with a nondominant hand. He pulled away his arm and held the spoon that leaned against the lip of his bowl.

"Sorry, I can't eat with my left hand." Oliver spoke.

A few minutes later. The three boys finally return to the table. Tyrone had finally snapped out of his tantrum. They were laughing while walking to the two they left behind.

"Have you patched things up with Tyrone, honey?" Caden joked, imitating the voice of a parent talking to a child. The others giggled at Jake.

"Yeah. Apparently, now I have to treat Tyrone here to a box of pizza." Jake replied, steaming from the nose.

"Yeah you do." Tyrone said in a sinister tone. "And it's just perfect too. My birthday's on the 11th and I'm inviting the four of you!"

Their eyes widened with glee, their mouths smiling ever so widely. "That's cool!" Caden replied. "What are you planning for next week, then?"

"Well, I was hoping we'd have a sleepover at my house. Ben&Ben's playing live at an event in VistaMall that night too, and I was hoping you would come watch them with me."

The boys loved Ben&Ben. Although the band name only mentions two, there are actually 11 members in the ensemble. The names only stood for the main vocalists, who also happened to be twins. They recently just debuted, but their music was instantly becoming the talk of many towns.

"We'd love to go!" The four boys said in unison.

Lunchtime carried on as usual, with the four boys talking about the plans for next Friday. Caden and Oliver had already finished eating, so they watched the three gobble on their meals while racing against the long arm of a clock before it reached the number 12. The cafeteria was almost clear of students, the seconds-arm of the clock was almost completing its rotation. The five boys stood up from their seats and ran back to the classroom. "You just had to chew so slowly, didn't you!" Theo told Jake. "Fu*k we're late." Tyrone said. Just as they opened the door, the school bell rang. They made it just time for Health class.

The class was led by Mr. Perez. He has a feathery note to his tone when he speaks, like a mascot playing along a child's roleplay. He came in holding his laptop just after the boys had squeezed their five bodies into the finite space of a door frame.

"You boys stretched your time too confidently." Mr. Perez told them. "I'm still flagging you as late for my class. Next time, come up earlier."

The boys sighed. This was the first time they were late to a class. A tardy attendance record would wound their grades. That is, if it were a major subject. Health was only 1 of the 4 parts of MAPEH, and a little scratch on one of its members would just be covered by the other three.

The class proceeded after checking the attendance of everyone. Mr. Perez's lecture didn't sound too interesting to the class. Why? Because it sounded like the sermons any parent would tell their children to stop them from pulling snacks off of the grocery store shelves.

He was teaching them the dangers of junk food, how no nutrition could be absorbed from that certain group. He talked about the sodium content of each, and how these could compromise your health when consumed regularly. It was almost self-explanatory.

He then proceeded to talk about monosodium glutamate, or MSG. Many people have their reservations about the aforementioned spice. It is said to make your brain smaller or make your memories cloudier. When consumed, it "tickles" the pleasure points of the brain, making you want more of it, almost like a drug. Maybe that's why the moment you open a bag of chips is also the moment you've trashed it. You take a chip, then take another, and then another. Who knew white granules you'd buy for 5 pesos at stores could have such an effect on a person.