Don't Get Me Wrong (Middle of Revamping)

Chapter 5: Well, Didn't See That Comin'

We walk home from Vinnie's house, deviating from the typical path so that we can drop Kat off at her house. Unlike us, her house is in the next neighborhood. But luckily, it's a short walk from where we are.

"How's Rice? Is it hard?" Kat asks him as I walk there awkwardly. I'm the only junior here, so I don't really know what to say.

"Yeah, I guess. When you go to a school where everyone is either a valedictorian, national merit scholar, or CEO, it's kinda difficult. Not to mention, some people there can be kinda shallow."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of really nice people at school. But when I mean shallow, I mean that some people there ignore you unless you're a super tryhard. If you even give off the tiniest vibe that you're stupid, they ignore you. That to me is really shallow," he clarifies as Kat makes a face of realization.

"Ohhh, yeah. I know what you're talking about. Some people at our school are like that too," Kat chuckles as he starts laughing.

"Seriously, I don't understand why people are like that. Do they really think that someone's grades determine whether or not they have a personality? It's so stupid," he starts ranting as Neil begins to laugh too.

"Please don't tell me you're like that, Neil. It's the end of the world if you're one of those people," he denies as Neil shakes his head. "Of course not, people like that annoy me all the time."

"Neil, you're literally friends with those people," Deepa snaps as Neil turns and glares at her. I hear his whispering even though he tries to make it kinda quiet. "Really? You had to say it in front of him?"

Manoj sharply turns his head as if this is the most shocking thing he's ever heard.

"Seriously, you never tell me anything. You're still friends with them?"

"I'm not friends with them, I just hang out with them," he defends as Manoj raises his eyebrow.

"See, I don't know. That sounds like... being friends with them. Look, I know I can't control who you're friends with, but they're not good, dude."

"You're just salty because one of them trashed your room," Deepa cackles as she remembers that event.

One time, around June, Neil invited some of his other friends to his house for his birthday. I don't know how or why they found it, but they came into Manoj's room and completely wrecked it.

Manoj didn't know about it at the time because he went out with Tripti, but when he came back to his house, let me tell you.

He. Was. PISSED.

"Of course I'm still salty that they trashed my room. You don't do that to someone's brother! That hurts," he pretends to get offended as Neil facepalms.

"Look, they're annoying. I know that. But I just hang out with them because... I don't know," he trails off as he tries to explain what means. But, yeah.

He can't.

"I hate the way they treat you guys, but no matter how much I tell them to stop, they don't budge. It's like they don't even listen to me," he rolls his eyes as he finishes his explanation.

"I hate to say this, Neil, but all your accolades and accomplishments will go to shit if you keep hanging out with nasty people like that. Did you forget that one time when your buddy sent Deepa those texts? The ones that kept saying DTF and talking about giving-" But before Manoj can finish that final part, Neil widens his eyes and glares at him.

"OKAY! Okay, I get it. You don't need to remind me about that. Again," Neil sighs in frustration as Manoj just lightly shakes his head.

Look, Manoj and Neil love each other, but sometimes similar personalities tend to clash a lot. And especially when you have similar personalities and a high schooler who's made a lot of interesting choices, they butt heads. Manoj just looks out for him and wants him to be the best he can be, but sometimes Neil can get kinda annoyed with his constant lecturing.