Distant Signals: The Love Between Us

Chapter Seven

When Deer offered to meet with him at a coffee shop on campus at 10 o'clock, Arthit immediately agreed despite misgivings about the ungodly hour proposed. No sane person should get up before noon on a day they didn't have to work or go to school, but he got up anyway and arrived ten minutes early, just in case, and ordered himself an iced coffee.

He lightly bounced his leg and gnawed on his bottom lip as he waited. After he grabbed Kongpob's collar during the second freshmen gathering, Deer had threatened to oust him as head hazer—which the teachers did after that girl collapsed—and he dreaded admitting to his senior that he had lost control of the hazing. Their juniors didn't respect them; in fact, they often avoided them like they carried an infectious disease.

"Maybe I should've been kicked out from the beginning," whispered Arthit. Absentmindedly, he stirred the ice in his coffee with the straw. He'd always thought Knot would've made a better head hazer and had questioned Tum and Deer's decision to give him the position from day one. He jabbed at the ice cubes with his straw.

Lost in his thoughts, Arthit didn't notice Deer until he heard the scraping of a chair against the floor. Deer, who now sat across from him, raised an eyebrow at him with an amused smile. "You look like a cat who's been stuck in the rain for hours. Is it that bad?"

Arthit sat up straighter in his seat and shook his head. "No. I'm just a bit tired, that's all."

"If you say so." He gestured to the waitress, who came and took his order. Then, he turned his attention back to Arthit. "So what did you want help with, N'Arthit?"

Even though Deer knew everything that had happened, Arthit started from the beginning. At some point the waitress came back with Deer's coffee, interrupting them briefly, but Arthit didn't miss a beat. He told his senior their original plans and how their tempers got the better of them on multiple occasions, causing their juniors to see them as tyrants who abused their authority.

"You did do that a bit," Deer pointed out, laughing.

After a few seconds of indignant sputtering, Arthit muttered that they hadn't abused their authority nearly as bad as Deer had his year. He hadn't meant for Deer to hear him, but he had, and his senior burst out laughing.

"You're not wrong," Deer said. "But I had an advantage over you. The first-years last year were all quite amicable, and I didn't have anyone like Kongpob or Wad stirring the pot."

Arthit grumbled and slouched in his seat, making a face as he fidgeted with his cup.

"Okay," Deer continued, "so they don't respect you and think you're abusing the system. Why? Try looking at it from their point of view. What's gotten them riled up the most?"

To give himself time to think, Arthit slowly took a drink of his iced coffee and held the straw lightly between his lips before taking another. What had riled up the juniors? Kongpob had stood up to them when he felt the punishments were too harsh, whereas Wad didn't respect them because they hadn't given him a reason to do so. They simply barked orders and punished them when they didn't meet their "arbitrary" expectations. They hadn't shown them that they could take as much as they gave.

"I have an idea," Arthit said, putting his drink on the table. "But it'll only work if you and the other fourth-year hazers help."

"Oh?"

"If you talk the talk, you should walk the walk. You know?"

Deer chuckled and leaned back in his chair. "I think I see where this is going. I like it. Show 'em you're not above the system."

"Exactly. What if the fourth-year hazers came and interrupted the freshmen gathering? Maybe you heard that we weren't doing a good job and you came to check on us."