Human

ONE

"I don't understand the fascination, really." I said as I narrowed my eyes at Alysia. She was ogling the magazine she had just bought. The glossy cover of the magazine was of the newest teenage heartthrob, Dion Cote, aka Blaze.

I guessed his record company didn't want him to have a good boy name. Teenage girls, for example, my dear Alysia is blinded by bad guys. She thought they were dope. Blaze was a bad boy name. It sounded of the cracking of fire.

I rolled my blue eyes. Her cheeks were flushed as she admired his shirtless shot. Blaze was flexing his arm muscles in the shot. He was giving the cocky and notorious grin.

I lifted my Converse up on the transparent glass table and continued with my sips of coffee, holding onto the cup with my left hand.

My dorm had six people living in it. There were me, Alysia, Ava and three other boys. Ava wasn't close to us as she was part of a sorority. Me and Alysia weren't. We just stuck to ourselves. We didn't need participation in a large body of people to fit in.

Alysia had been my bestie since sophomore year and my dorm mate ever since then. "Well, are you done admiring?" I mirrored the way she ogled and caught her line of vision.

"Hey you didn't need to do that." She pouted her pink lips at me with her eyebrows frowned.

"He's just human. You guys look up to him like he isn't one. Like god-like and worship him."

"Mhm I guess to a certain extent..." She seemed deep in thought and shrugged.

Yeah, and he's definitely human to me.

I gave a laugh. "Oh. By the way, I heard Blaze is having a concert?"

"Yes! Do you want to go? Tickets sell tomorrow." She smiled her hundred-dollar smile.

"Where is it selling?"

"The student union is selling it. And I think it's at a special price. Meridian High knows students love him." She formed a heart with her two hands in front of her heart, staring at the ceiling.

I smiled at her cuteness. Alysia Grey was so likeable despite irritating me with her infatuation with guys a lot of times.

"If you want to. I don't mind going with you."

"Yes yes! I do want to go! Of course! Why wouldn't I?" Alysia undeniably had the monetary resources. She came from a pretty rich background compared to the rest of the average student body, including me.

"I'm gonna help you pay, Zabelle." She looked to me, determined.

"Oh no. Don't help me to pay. I'll try and get it from my mom." I said as I took out my iPhone. "I can call her, you know."

Alysia placed my hand in hers. "Lol this always happens. You always say this and end up not coming at all." She sighed. "Don't be like that. Just accept my offer. It's a best friends' thing. Promise?"  She stuck out her pinky and nodded her head eagerly.

Alysia was petite with green eyes, like me. She had a five-foot-six frame and had black curly hair that flowed down her back. Her black hair really brought out the green in her eyes. Her flawless features and stunning figure were simply hard to resist by guys.

"Okay. Just this time." I said with a little tone of uncertainty, hesitantly sticking out my pinky.

"Ugh just... Just have fun with me! Don't be like that... You and your pride..." She was turning stormy and I placed my coffee back on the glass table.

"Aly okay. Okay. I'm agreeing to your offer. Wholeheartedly." I emphasised the last syllable and she finally smiled. I gave her a hug which she returned.

"I'm gonna get the VIP seats and we can hang out at the exclusive after party. It's gonna be so fun!"

I felt dizzy with excitement despite not being a fan of Blaze. I imagined the after parties I had read about on tabloids.

"Where's the after party at?" I asked.

"I don't know. I guess a bus will be chartered to take us there?" She saw how I was already grinning like an idiot. "You see, I told you you'll like it." She stuck her tongue out.

"Yeah yeah, Aly you win." I stuck my tongue out in return.

She was checking on more information regarding the after party until the doorbell rang.

I sauntered over, my dirty blonde ponytail swinging side to side. Jayden returned from the stadium. He pitches for Meridian Baseball. We went to his games sometimes. His jersey was soaked in sweat and he was holding onto his baseball, as always.

I took the keys and opened the door. He trudged in, tired. "Are you fine? You seem shagged."

"Yeah I'm fine. Thanks." He was absolutely not 'fine'. I darted a glance at Alysia and she too felt the same. She mouthed "They probably lost."

"Maybe." I mouthed back.

I walked back to the black plush sofa and sat down. I scanned my surroundings.

Meridian High was new so was our dorm. It had a light wooden floor and white ceilings. Coupled with windows without grills. That was because Ashton took them off. He thought that grills blocked views. But we didn't have a magnificent view from our dorm per se. It was a five minutes walk from campus and our dormitory's balcony at the third storey overlooked only the campus.

Ashton was another one of the three guys in our dorm. He was one of our best friends. That's probably due to the fact that he was gay. He was comfortable around girls as he wouldn't have raging hormones when in close contact with us or within a foot or two radius from girls. He wouldn't be all awkward. You know the feeling.

There was an interpretation of CITY BY THE LAKE, a painting originally by Leonid Afremov hanging on top of the sofa. Ava painted it as a final assignment for junior year and was fairly pleased with it. Yet all of us loved it and we put it up.

There was a black and white, zebra-like patterned carpet below the glass table. This was bought by me and Aly before this senior year. We wanted our dorm to have a more thorough sense of comfort by putting somewhere soft, which felt of home.

On the other end of the small room, we had a mesabi black polished granite tabletop with a Nespresso machine sitting on it. Capsules were strewn over the tabletop. Nobody really bothered cleaning them up as all of us were mostly tired.

There was another white stool at the opposite end. There was random. We just wanted something to fill in the space.

Just then, Alysia tapped me on my right shoulder. "You ought to speak to him." Her lips were pursed, serious.

"Why me?" I laughed and laid back against the sofa, crossing my arms.

"You both are close and y'all are acting weird lately..."

"Mhm... Really? Wth." I rolled my eyes. "He's just busy with baseball. We're friends." I meant it.

"Ugh Zabelle just do it." She coaxed me with her elbow.

I sighed. "Okay okay. I'll talk to him."