Skaters 101 (but without the skating)

Heartfelt Messages

A Note to note:

(FYI, which means to say, For You Information, for those who don't speak Furbish; 

Vincent uses this text when conversing with Yanhan in his head.

Yanhan uses this text when conversing with Vincent in his head.

Hope you don't get confused.)

(Also, ~ means change of third person POV or time skips because Authors are lazy)

"Why would you think Vincent would just give me a random scribble as a response?" Yuzuru asked Javier as they hung out together after school. Shoma was still mad at him, hence decided to have some alone time with Evgenia.

"Maybe he was torn between saying yes and saying no, so he decided to just scribble something unintelligible, hoping that you would make the decision for him." Javier tipped his head back and chugged down a quart of protein shake.

"Why is Vincent so quiet anyway? Not many people even know that he is in our class!"

That was true. Apart from the teachers, and Yanhan, no one ever acknowledged the fact that Vincent was in the room.

"Don't ask me. Ask Google." Javier tossed Yuzuru his phone.

Yuzuru typed up a few keywords into the search bar. Javier watched Yuzuru out of the corner of his eye while drinking his protein shake. Yuzuru's face seemed to slowly evolve into a look of horror.

"I need to make a phone call."

~

Yanhan was trying to sleep when he heard the familiar buzz of his phone.

"Hello?" He yawned into the phone.

"Hey Yanhan, Yuzuru here."

Yanhan was awake immediately. "What do you want?"

"I need to ask you a few questions concerning Vincent."

"Fire away."

"Does Vincent ever joke to you about death or dying?"

"No." Yanhan was confused.

"Does Vincent ever seem done with life?"

"No." Yanhan's eyebrows knitted themselves together.

"Does Vincent ever have suicidal thoughts?"

"Not that I know of." Yanhan didn't understand Yuzuru. Why was he asking such weird questions all of a sudden?

There was a pause. "Ok, thanks, bye."

"Wait-"

It was too late. Yuzuru had already hung up.

~

"Ok guys, Plan B! We need to save Vincent from depression!" Yuzuru announced to Javier and Nam the next day at lunch. Shoma wasn't feeling up to hanging out with Yuzuru yet so he was again with Evgenia.

"Wait, what?" Nam screwed up his eyebrows, replaying what Yuzuru had said in his head so that he could hear it again. "Are you sure-"

"No doubt!" Yuzuru shook his head vehemently. "Anyway, we need to help him. Any ideas?"

"You could write him a card again, seeing how it worked the last time..."Javier thought.

"Or you could write him multiple cards..." Nam and Javier took out the pink pen and the pad of heart-shaped paper respectively.

~

I need to go get a drink. See you later in class. Vincent trudged towards the water cooler (drinking fountain, for ya'll other people who speak Njerep).

The first thing Yanhan saw when he entered the class was a trio of students huddled together, whispering excitedly. As soon as they had spotted him, there was a mad scramble and they all scurried back to their desks, heads nonchalantly tilted to the side. Yanhan even heard one of them whistling a tune.

Immediately, Yanhan felt a stone in his gut. Usually, this group of friends never came back to class until the bell had rang (or even later). This was very unusual. His eyes scanned the class for anything out of the ordinary. His eyes focussed on Vincent's pencil box. That's right, he thought. I haven't returned him his black marker.

Yanhan took the marker out of his pocket and flipped open Vincent's pencil box.

A familiar pink pad of paper stared back up at him, with the words neatly written:

Dear Vincent,

Don't worry. Everything is gonna be ok.

Yanhan's mind was spinning.

It all came together as soon as he recalled the conversation he had with Yuzuru last night.

If Vincent saw this, he might think that Yuzuru was crazy, hence will try to avoid him. This would lead to tension on both parties, causing Vincent to seem unapproachable, jeopardizing all chances of Vincent making friends, Yanhan speculated. He must not allow that to happen.

Yanhan was aware of the stares pinned to his back. He knew he didn't have much time to figure this out before Vincent came back. While he was racking his brains, thinking of how to solve this problem, the classroom door slid open.

All eyes were on Vincent, who had stepped through the open door.

Yanhan took the chance to place the black marker into Vincent's pencil case, and slip the pink note into his pocket. He casually made his way back to his desk, while watching the trio and Vincent out of the corner of his eye.

As Vincent neared his desk, Yanhan could sense that the trio was getting more and more jumpy. Javier drummed his fingers on the table impatiently. Nam was tapping his foot. Yuzuru was stroking Pooh fiercely.

When Vincent flipped open his pencil box, Yanhan could just hear the trio holding their breaths.

Hey, you found my favorite black marker!

Yup. That I did.

Vincent allowed himself to smile a little,(he really liked that black marker), unaware of the people watching him.

~

The people watching Vincent were unaware of someone watching them.

Yanhan could see Javier pump a fist under his desk. Yuzuru had a wide smile on his face, as he turned around to give Nam an air high five.

His worst suspicions were proved true. And he knew this wasn't the end of it.

~ Later on ~

"Guys did you see that?" Yuzuru exclaimed. "Vincent looked so touched!"

"Our plan worked!" Javier cheered and he chugged down a whole bottle of protein shake in celebration.

"Are we doing it again tomorrow?" Nam asked.

"Of course! It feels so good to make someone's day." Yuzuru said dreamily.