Singing Forever

Chapter Three

Author's note:
I've stopped posting new chapter for this story. The second as well as the latest chapter was posted around two months ago. Actually I've already got a draft for chapter three written and saved on my phone since two months ago, but seeing the number of readers I got for this story just made me feel down. Then I found some motivations to continue writing it, starting from my friend's post on Instagram to my favourite band's songs. So here I am, typing the third chapter for this story. And hopefully, no matter how many readers I will get for this story, I will keep writing it until the end. Wish me luck. xx

***

Still on my way to campus. Some steps in front of me, I saw someone with stick-like thing coming out of his backpack. From the way he walked, I could guess that it was Glen. That stick-like thing was not a stick, it was a badminton racket. If I were not a badminton lover myself, I would call him a freak for bringing his racket all the way to campus without any racket bag.

I fasten my steps to reach him. Well, not only did I know his name, he was actually my friend. He was an exchange student studying at my university. I was chosen to be his buddy, meaning I was to introduce him to the life in this city, Surabaya. Other than that, I was also to accompany him in several things, and every time he needed company or help.

Anyways, I finally reached him. I greeted him good morning, and he smiled as always. "Are you going to play after class?" I asked him, referring to his racket.

"Sure," he answered with his strong British accent. "Yesterday Danny said that he had already booked one court. Do you want to join?"

"I'll just sit watching you playing." I didn't bring my racket after all. Furthermore, I had not played since one year before. So, to be back playing was not on my plan at that time because I was sure I wouldn't be good.

We parted as we were reaching the language centre where Glen was studying.

"I'll text you later when I'm going to the court," Glen said.

"Okay. See ya later," I said as I continued walking to my campus. Actually I was not sure whether I would come or not. I would think about it again later.

I finally arrived in my campus, the faculty of humanities. My major was English Literature, one of the most underestimated majors in my country. Why was it underestimated? It was because there were still many people who didn't know what the graduates would do in the working world. Once they knew, they would be amazed. I was sure of it for money was almost always everything.

Aside from being rarely acknowledged for being a cool major, I was happy studying English literature. I found so many new things. Interestingly, I also became able to reveal kind of 'secret' messages in media such as books, films, and advertisements. Most people only watched films, I analysed them. Making 'laypeople' amazed with my analysis on a certain film really satisfied me since I was that type of person not many people would listen to.

Today's class was on advanced literary theories. I chose to sit on a chair on the second row, whilst most students preferred to sit on the third, fourth, or fifth row. But, worry not, in this class I got some close friends who usually also preferred to sit on the front rows.

Some minutes later the lecturer for the day came. We called her Miss Gina. She greeted us and we greeted her back. After preparing the slide show, she started the lecture. The theory under discussion today was psychoanalysis. When the first time I read about the theory, I felt a kind of uneasy feeling because I could relate so much to some of the problems mentioned. I thought I could understand the theory well enough because I felt it.

"In short, there are six core issues. They are fear of intimacy, fear of abandonment, fear of betrayal, low self-esteem, insecure sense of self, and oedipal fixation. As mentioned by Tyson in her book, some of those core issues seem related to each other," said Miss Gina. She stopped her explanation and smiled. "So, any question?"

Okay, I presumed, that was all for today. No one seemed to have any question to ask regarding the theory.

"Okay, if there is no question, let's finish this meeting here, and I'll see you next week." Miss Gina smiled and bid us goodbye. She then prepared to leave the class.

I also prepared to leave the class. I put my stuffs back inside my bag. After saying goodbye to my close friends sitting next to me, I left the class and headed to the library, in other words: my second home.

I put my earphones on and started listening to Shane Filan's About You. God... How I really loved the song. "Don't ever feel worthless, just know that you're perfect..." I whispered the lyrics to myself. Those lyrics are so deadly for me. As I was heading to the library, I couldn't help but keep listening to Shane's voice. His voice always succeeded in melting me.

I finally arrived in the library. I took a locker key and put my bag in a locker. When I was stuffing some books into a library bag, someone surprised me from behind. I turned around to see who that was and my smile suddenly showed up. It was Danny. Danny's smile was bigger than mine, and it was always bigger than anyone else's. That was what made me like him.

"Hey, what's the craic?" greeted Danny. He was Irish.

"Eh, hey, Dan. How're you doing?" I asked.

"Good," he answered. "Wanna go together?"

I actually had planned to go alone. But with this fun guy, I would not refuse his request. "Sure," I said with smile.

"Okay, wait," said Danny, then he went on a locker. After he finished, he came to me waiting for him near the entrance. "Okay, let's go."

"Where do you wanna go?" Danny asked me. If I were not used to listening to interviews of my favourite Irish singers, I probably wouldn't understand what he said.

"What about the second floor?" I offered.

"Okay," Danny agreed.

We finally got on the second floor. I usually went to a room where new books were collected. But for this time, I told Danny that I didn't want to go there. I just wanted to stay and sit on a sofa located near the big windows. Danny said "yes".

Next, we sat on a sofa and we exchanged some talks. So, I haven't told you about him. Danny was also my buddy. He was from Ireland and he had strong Irish accent. I actually liked his accent, but since I couldn't really understand Irish accent, I had asked him to speak slower than he usually did, otherwise I would ask him to put subtitle. I loved it how he always laughed at this subtitle joke.

"So, you're going to play badminton with Glen this afternoon?" I asked.

"Yes, you wanna come?" he asked.

I was thinking about it for a while, and I said, "Yes, why not?" Danny smiled after hearing my answer. "But I will not play with you guys."

"Why?" Danny looked rather surprised.

"Nothing, you know... I don't bring my racket and.. look at what I wear today."

Danny laughed a bit. "Okay, sure."

"But you know, I always love to hang out with you guys," I said.

"That's sweet," said Danny whilst making himself sound cute, but he failed.

"If you were a girl, I would have hugged you by now," I said, then we laughed.

We spent our time at the library for around 2 hours. I only had one class in the morning and I was free afterwards. Danny too only had one class in the morning. He told me that he only wanted to spend his time before going to the sport centre because Glen had two classes in the morning and he had to wait for him.

Danny's phone rang, and he checked it. After finishing with his phone, he said to me, "Glen texted me. He just finished his class. I told him I am with you now, and he said he will meet us in the sport centre in ten minutes."

"We'd better go now then," said I.

"Yes," Danny said, and we headed to the first floor then to the locker room.