Someday, I'll Find My Way Home

Karl finds comfort.

Honestly, I didn't see the point of Valentine's day for a single person like me. I didn't love it or hate it. Just another normal day.

Except for the fact that our professors agreed to make our Feb Fair week a little inconvenient--long quizzes, exercises, and three exams on February 11, 12, and 14! Really kills the festive and joyous vibe of our whole batch. As for me, I didn't have the time to grieve about that and jumped in to study, full time!

Our stressful week began on Monday, where the five of us crashed on Axel's place to study. We started on the most urgent--Tuesday's Calculus exercise. I was on point on coaching them and used Axel's whiteboard to easily teaching them the concepts and told them how to use the formulas in different scenarios. The four of them listened carefully, which delighted the tutor inside me whenever my students were focused on learning.

His room was an absolute mess on that day. Papers were on the floor. His bed sheet and pillow cases were left untucked. When we first got there, his clothes were all over the place. His pants were left folded in his office chair. All of us held our foreheads and helped him to clean while Marvin was cooking eight packs of Pancit Canton in his rice cooker (he really insisted to bring that one).

Then, we started reviewing for our first major examination for that week about Data Structures. All four of them had a hard time about this topic. This was my favorite subject. I ate pointers for breakfast. All of them had laptops, so I had to use Axel's desktop computer as my basis, then I gave them instructions on how to apply them without memorizing the code.

As soon as the clock hit eight o'clock, Candace ordered a bucket of chicken and fries from KFC, while Marvin cooked rice (he really insisted to cook the whole kilo that Axel bought). Axel and Paula were on the bed (the corner of my eyes saw that they were... cuddling?) and Candace and I were talking about Marvin.

After eating, we were all feeling sleepy, but we persevered and finished the coverage for the exam tomorrow. After two hours, we were drained--like our souls had been sucked out by Data Structures.

We called it a day since we had a major class at 8AM. We packed our bags, but Axel wasn't done yet.

"Wait!" Axel shouted, when the four of us were about to leave. "Karl, let's review more."

I slumped my shoulders. "I'm really tired. How about tomorrow?"

"Please?"

"Paula, swat this guy," I ordered. "He's being pushy."

She glared at him and crossed her arms. "Axel, stop it."

"I'm not a dog," he said.

"Let Karl go. He's tired. We're tired. Let's take a break from studying and rest for tonight."

"You can do your project here," Axel said.

I groaned. "Fine."

Axel raised his fist and did a little jump. "Yes!"

"You look like a young boy," Candace commented.

"You guys go ahead," I told them. "I have to pacify this one. See you tomorrow at class!"

Paula gave me a wink, and I shot him with a weird face. She laughed, and then the rest of them stormed off.

"Alright, so what are your plans for Valentine's Day?" he began. He pulled me in his apartment and closed the door immediately.

"None. I'd prefer to rest."

"Great. Can you help me to my plan with Paula then?"

I glared at him. "Did you just hear what I said?"