HERE COME THE REGRETS

T H R E E

Parking his bike on the bike lane, 14-year old Zeren was getting jittery on his way to school. He forgot to put on his coat and tied his neck tie haphazardly as he was running; lips saying a prayer hoping that he wasn't late for the school assembly.

Running through the corridors, he heard the Student prefects calling the attention of the students to straighten their lines for the assembly, in which he ran as hard and fast as he could just to make it in time. He didn't even bother bowing to his teachers who were standing near the staircase leading to the massive quadrangle where a huge pile of what seemed like a thousand students gathering in the assembly. Reaching the line near the far end of the area, he felt a hand grab his arm, halting him from running.

"You idiot, how the hell did you still manage to get in late? It's already 9!" his classmate and close friend, Fan Chengcheng, mumbled as he placed Zeren in line just ahead of him.

"I studied until 3AM this morning," Zeren panted, holding on to the shoulder of their other close friend, Li Quanzhe.

"Why do you always cram? The test was announced last week and we only have until Tuesday last week to study for the exam week, plus the weekend!" Quanzhe looked calm as he nagged, watching the prefects gather at the platform and proceeded with the ceremony.

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"Have you asked your parents about the International Camp?" Quanzhe asked Chengcheng and Zeren as he sat leaning on Zeren's desk, playing his pen with his hand.

"Mama said I need to get better grades if I want to go," Chengcheng replied. "I told Papa too and he said the same thing as Mama did." He looked at Zeren who was resting his head over his algebra workbook and started mumbling.

"I envy you," this response caused both his friends a little panic.

"Quit playing, Zeren," Quanzhe warned.

"I told them about the camp last night and they started to ask a lot of questions, like I was going through airport security," this gained a good amount of laugh from his friends but shushed them. "Mama was like how was I going to survive in Korea when I don't even eat their food? How was I supposed to live there when I don't even speak Korean? And worse, who was going to take care of me if I'll live far from them? It was ridiculous but I just let her be, I know she is just anxious.

"And what did Uncle Jun say?" Chengcheng asked fervently.

"He only said if Mama agrees, then it's a yes for him too. Ugh, pushover."

"OI!" The three of them looked at the direction of the door and found their favorite seniors in school, waving at them to come at them and met them.

"What happened to him?" Huang Xinchun, the curly sandy haired boy, pointed at Zeren who was leaning on the door hinge. "What happened to those dark eye bags, boy?"

"Like always – cramming for the exams," Quanzhe shook his head.

"You really don't take much academic advices, do you, Zeren?" the tallest in the bunch, Bi Wenjun, sighed.

"I just took the extra mile of reading my notes in one go," and that earned him a big laugh from his friends.

"As much as I want to believe you, I don't think I still can," the eldest among them interjected. Zhu Zhengting, a 10th grader and probably the most popular student in school by far, who wore round rimmed glasses and undeniably good looks. All of them just laughed at a yawning Zeren as they began to discuss things – particularly the exams. The bell rang, signifying the end of the 1st break, and soon, the exams begin.