Monstercat University I

Chapter 010

[Dilumi's POV]

"May I have another slice of pizza, s'il vous plaît?" I ask Tristam, a small smirk on my face.
"Of course! I'll get it," Tristam says, getting up hurriedly and running to the kitchen. He returns within a few seconds, handing it to me.
"Merci," I say.
"Bienvenue," Tristam responds, grinning and blushing a little. Dang, he has such a beautiful smile. When I see it, it's virtually impossible for me to keep the corners of my own mouth from twisting upwards.
"Thank you for getting pepperoni, by the way," I tell Tristam as he sits beside me again. "It's my favorite."
"Oh, I know," Tristam says. "And you're very welcome."
"Hey..." I say slowly after a few seconds, "what about that EP of yours?"
"What about it?"
"Is it releasing soon? I mean, I really want it to-"
"Nuh uh," he interrupts, starting to smirk. "Every time you ask for it..."
"...it's delayed another week," I finish, sighing. I've been looking forward to his EP and I really want it to release. I'd better quit asking for it. But it's driving me crazy.
"I'll be right back," Tristam mutters, getting up and heading for the bathroom. As soon as he shuts the door, Noisestorm jumps up. He looks excitedly around at Aero, Braken, and I and motions for us all to huddle around.
"Guys, guys, guys!" he whispers rapidly.
"What are you up to now?" Aero returns. Even though he's just whispering, you can hear the reluctance in his voice.
"So as soon as Tristam comes out, we use as many of his song titles in our conversation as we can! And keep a straight face!" Noisestorm whispers, grinning deviously. Oh, this is perfect. As I sit back down, I am already smiling just thinking about how funny it will be. Nevertheless...I must keep a straight face. I breath in and out, concentrating on relaxing my muscles and kicking the giggles out of my head. Tristam comes out in a few seconds.
"So, you guys wanna play a game or something?"
"Sure! I love games!" I say, smiling.
"Let's pull up some chairs," Braken says, clapping his hands together and putting a slight emphasis on the last word.
"Uh, Braken, we don't really have enough chairs," Tristam says.
"Oh. Right." Braken rolls his eyes. "Let's just go in there," he says, pointing to the kitchen.
"So what kind of games do you like?" Tristam asks me as we all stand around the tall table in the middle of the room.
"Well, I think card games are cool. But it doesn't really matter."
"Go Fish?" Aero Chord pipes up.
"Nah, too simple," I respond. Right after that I feel like I'm going to burst into laughter. I'm thankful Tristam isn't looking at me, or he'd probably see it.
"Cards Against Humanity?" Noisestorm suggests with a smirk.
"No!" Braken laughs, with his eyebrows raised and a grin plastered on his face.
"What's wrong with your frame of mind, dude?" Aero Chord says to Noisestorm. Man, that was good.
"I remember the last time we played that..." Braken says, smirking at Aero Chord.
"Once again, I honestly don't know why I let you pull me into that," Aero says, looking at Noisestorm. "Truth is, I should've pushed you away..." Tristam looks sideways at Aero Chord, and I hear a snicker from Braken.
"Alright, who's the wise guy?" asks Tristam.
"It was my idea," Noisestorm confesses, putting his hands up and grinning.
"I'm gonna kill you," Tristam growls.
"Yo, we need to shine this sink," Braken says, looking down into it. "The drain is like, really-"
"Alright, that's enough," Tristam says. Noisestorm and I both chuckle.
"Didn't take as long as I thought for you to figure us out," Aero Chord says.
"I don't know, man, I mean, you let it show pretty clearly with that last one..." Tristam says, smiling. We all burst into laughter.
"Well, I guess that's the truth," Aero Chord admits.
"AERO-"
"Alright, alright! I'll stop now!"
"Hey," Noisestorm says, "why don't we get a group selfie to post on Snapchat?"
"Perfect! Great idea!" Tristam says, whipping out his phone. "Dilumi, you okay with that?"
"Yeah! Sure!"
"Braken? You?"
"Yeah...I guess..."
"We'll just send it to the other students though," Tristam says. "And it's only for ten seconds. I'll be right back." He goes into the other room and comes back with his selfie stick, attaching it to his phone. We all get in place on one side of the table, Braken, Aero Chord, and I in the back and Tristam and Noisestorm in the front. When Tristam holds the selfie stick up, I see that he is wearing a pair of triangular shades exactly like the ones he has on the album covers.
"Tristam, those sunglasses are yours?!" I exclaim. Somehow I had no idea he actually had a real-life pair of those.
"Yep," he says with a wide smile.
"I love them! They're so cool! You should wear them more often."
"Thanks," Tristam laughs. He takes the picture, then brings the stick back down and takes his sunglasses off, setting them on the table. "Hmm, what should I say?"
"Pizza party!" Noisestorm says. "Wait, lemme see it!" Tristam turns the phone towards us. I giggle. It's perfect. Aero Chord has on a very serious face, but that just makes it look cooler. Noisestorm is sticking his tongue out, Braken has on a regular smile, I'm making a peace sign, and Tristam has his head tilted slightly to the side with a half-smirk on his face, the added sunglasses making it look even more awesome.
"Cool," says Braken.
"Wait, is this going to Monstercat?" asks Aero Chord.
"Nope," says Tristam. "Just the other students."
"Oh, wait..." I say out loud. Crap! What am I thinking?! If I do this, all the other girls are going to see it. Tristam looks at me. "I don't know if I want to be in it, actually..."
"That's ok. If you don't want to we'll retake it," Tristam says, putting the phone back on the stick.
"Are you sure?" Aero Chord asks.
"Yeah." I step out and watch Tristam take the picture with just the four of them. I hate for them to retake it after how great the other one turned out. But that could have been really bad.