A Little Ray of Sunshine

Ch.4-Win

If asked to describe Win in one word, Team would say perfection and that's also one of the reasons Team believes that he doesn't stand a chance even if Win liked boys. Except for the handsome looks, Win is the exact opposite of Prem. He never tries to impress anyone and still has everyone crushing on him. Win always looks like he doesn't care for the world. He is good at studies, is the leader of the march past team, and also a guitarist in the school's music band. He is the only student who is allowed to grow and dye his hair and wear earrings in the entire school because though just 17 years old, Win is already a part of one of the country's popular rock bands. In short, he is the pride of the school. He joined the school two years back, and soon, Prem's position in the list of hottest boys dropped to the second place.

The first time Team saw Win was a year back. It was Mr. Theeravit's class. Mr. Theeravit was their English teacher. He would always speak in English in the class, as he believed that his students would learn the language faster that way. But people like Team, who barely understood the language, always struggled in his class. It was one such day and he was teaching English grammar. The moment Team felt like he would lose the last brain cells left in his head, he chose to ignore Mr. Theeravit and instead, concentrate on the drum beats being heard from the football ground next to their building. Team glanced through the window on his left and saw the march past team practising. The school sports day was just a week away.

As the group marched towards the building, Team noticed the tall figure in front, who held the blue-coloured school flag in his hands. That must be him, Team thought, as he remembered Prem mention about the new popular boy in school who snatched his place, one year back. Win was wearing the school band uniform of full sleeved blue shirt that reached his thighs, with a belt over it that clinged to his slim waist, perfectly fitting white trousers, accompanied by black boots and a blue cap. Team could feel his cheeks turn hot the more he watched the handsome boy, who marched with steady steps, screaming out orders in between. The band stopped in front of the building where Team's class was, may be for a break. What happened next was a sight to behold. Team forgot to breathe when he saw Win raise his head towards the sky and poured water on his face, shaking his head. He let out a loud gasp the moment he felt those brown eyes meet his, and those perfect eyebrows being furrowed, as if to get a clearer glance. Team pressed his right palm against his left chest as hard as he could, when he felt that his heart would pop out any second.

Team was brought out of his trance when he felt something lightly hit his head and then a huge thud was heard. He was startled at the sound and turned to look at Mr. Theeravit glaring at him, sending shivers down his spine. Team's heart beat fast once again, this time out of fear. "Pond!" Mr. Theeravit screamed. Pond? So he wasn't staring at me? Team turned back to see his classmate Pond, who sat right behind, stand up. He looked sleepy and had a red mark on his forehead, all thanks to Mr. Theeravit, whose duster didn't miss the target. Even though Pond was the one who got an earful from Mr. Theeravit, Team never dared to do anything else during his class after that day.

After four days, Team saw him again.

The school canteen was crowded as usual and Team was starving. He woke up late in the morning and as a result, he could have only half of the usual amount of breakfast, thanks to his father. Team found his way out of the huge crowd as soon as he got hold of the chicken sandwich he ordered. He looked around and found an unoccupied seat in the corner where nobody could see him. Team sat down on the chair and messaged Pharm and Manow to hurry up. Both his friends were part of the school choir and were practising for the sports day. They soon joined him and finally Team felt at ease. He took a huge bite from his sandwich and moaned loudly relishing the sauces that enticed his taste buds to which Pharm smacked him in embarrassment and Manow guffawed. The next moment, Team choked on his food when he heard Prem's voice. "Woah! I never thought my nong is capable of making such noises, that too in public," Prem teased, as he hit Team's shoulder playfully, and settled next to the younger. Team glared at Prem for teasing him to which the elder boy laughed out loud. "You look like a beast now, look at the lettuce sticking out of your mouth," he said, further embarassing Team. The younger chewed his food in anger, still glaring at his P', who was busy flirting with Manow. "Leave my friend alone," Team hit Prem on the arm as soon as he finished chewing. Prem pouted and showed his arm to Manow, who rubbed his booboo, pouting. Team sighed at the sight and threw his arms in the air in defeat, while Pharm laughed.

"Pharm," a gentle voice was heard from the opposite direction. Team turned his head to see Dean, Prem's classmate, the President of the swimming club and the third hottest boy of the school, with his arm around a blushing Pharm's shoulder, intensely gazing at the younger's eyes. "Give my single heart some peace, will you?" Team screamed in despair, as he grabbed his sandwich and took another big bite, while earning a glare from Dean. Team regretted his actions the next moment he saw the familiar fair and tall figure, who stood next to Dean with both his hands in his trouser pockets and his left eyebrow raised in amusement. Team sat straight and chewed the sandwich as slowly as he could as his eyes followed the source of his rapid heartbeats, who pulled a chair and sat next to Dean. "Oh! by the way, this is Win, our classmate. You people might know him, right? He was alone today, so we asked him to accompany us, you don't mind right?" Dean said, pointing his left thumb at the blonde-haired boy who sat next to him. "Who doesn't know P' Win? He's this school's superstar! It's our honour that you joined us. By the way, I am Manow," the chubby girl, who sat next to Pharm, exclaimed in a rather dramatic tone, while turning to Win. Team looked back at Win, who just nodded his head, while his gaze shifting from Manow to Team, and to the food in front of him. "Hi P'Win, I'm Pharm," Pharm introduced himself to which Win nodded again. "He's my boyfriend," Dean made his claim, looking at Win, as he held Pharm by his waist and pulled the younger boy closer to him. "P'Deaaan," Pharm responded to his boyfriend's act, his smile reaching his ears and face turning red. He hit Dean playfully on his chest, pouting, and then, Dean grabbed the younger's hand and kissed his knuckle, to which Prem and Manow went "Awww!" Really?  Team facepalmed and shook his head annoyingly. Dean has always been strict when it comes to his club members and other juniors. But when it comes to his noo, the President always turns into a mushy puddle.

Pharm gestured Team with his eyebrows raised and pointing at Win. Team nodded at him and turned to Win, who was looking around, while taking a bite from his food. "Hi, P'Win, I am Team," he said in the softest voice possible, to which Win looked at him, his intense gaze piercing through the junior's soul. Team gulped as a shade of red crept into his cheeks, under that gaze. "What's wrong with your voice?" Prem's question broke Team from the trance. The boy gritted his teeth and kicked his P' on the shin, under the table. Prem chuckled in response. There's no way he didn't know what Team was up to; Prem knew his nong like the palm of his hand. Team felt embarrassed. His racing heartbeat was already driving him crazy and thanks to Prem, his effort to create any kind of good image in front of Win was destroyed. Team so wished to beat Prem up then and there.

The week after that, Team was down with fever and could not attend school. He even missed the school sports day. It was another chance to see Win. Team tried his best to go for the event. But his parents had threatened to get him admitted at the hospital if Team didn't listen. He had no other choice, but to give in. Even Prem was nowhere to be seen or at least Team could ask him to show him the photos of the event. A week later, Team was back in school. From the morning, he was eager to ask Prem about the event, but the elder missed school saying he was tired of attending all the activities through the week.

As Team reached the classroom, he could feel a gloomy atmosphere. It was as if grim reaper was lurking in some corner of the classroom, looking for a target. He looked around to see many upset faces, mumbling to each other, many of them shaking their heads. "What's wrong?" Team asked Manow, who looked the most upset of all the girls in the classroom, as he placed his bag on his chair. "P'Win's mother passed away yesterday. He couldn't attend the sports event as she was seriously ill. He had been practising for so many months, poor thing," she said. Team didn't know what to feel. He didn't know Win up close to look upset or cry like the others, on hearing the news. But he felt something pinch his heart.
Losing one's mother was hard. Team had seen Pharm struggle with the lose of his mother, when they were in the eighth grade. Team and Manow did everything they could, but it took about a year for the boy to come back to his normal life. May be having Dean in his life helped, because the tragedy happened around the time they just started dating. Team wished that Win had enough streangth to come out of it as soon as possible. He sighed and settled next to Pharm, who was busy with his assignments.