Imagine

15. Gay

I hadn't realized how long I'd been reading for, until my ears perked up at the very rowdy noise that seemed to be getting closer by the second. When I started to recognize some of the voices to be my classmates', I decided it was time to take a break. I sat up straight, stretched a bit and watched as people walked in sweaty groups. I noticed my two silent companions were fast asleep and I felt sorry for them knowing how fast and harsh the noise would return them to reality especially if they had just fallen asleep.

'Ugh! This would be a very good time for an actual locker room to magically appear', I scrunched up my nose at the sweaty bodies walking in.

As I kept watching my sweaty classmates with a bit of disgust at their sweaty and untidy appearance and a bit of amusement at the joy in their voices as they talked about the practice and whatever silly mistakes they made, I noticed my silent and only male friend smiling at me and giving me a wink when I acknowledged his gaze.

Malik was the same height as me, athletic, not very physically built, average in academics, not much of a talker but not too quiet either with a light skin tone and a very obvious right cheek dimple. He was one of the few people that I could actually stand their presence because there isn't a lot of talking that goes on between us except for the few times when he's deliberately trying to annoy me. And if you're thinking it, no, i don't have any kinda crush on him, I just simply enjoy spending time with him.

He had his own circle of friends among the guys. Me and my friends are the only girls in the class he actually paid attention to so I tried to tolerate his friends once in a while. He was like the gay BFF in all those cliche movies though there's absolutely no way he was gay and even if he was, there's no way he would acknowledge it anytime soon, not in this community we lived in.

I smiled and waved at him, scrunching up my face as I gestured to his dirt covered body, he just grinned and shrugged and that was the end of that conversation. I gave the boys a final once over, stared at my friend for a split second and wondered, 'what if he was gay and I'm the super cool and close friend that he chose to share it with?'. I grinned at the thought and allowed myself to dwell on it until my friends came in.

I imagined us being much closer than we were in reality, him being more opinionated and expressive and I being the ever attentive listener I will always be. We met on the way to school since he didn't live in the hostel and after exchanging pleasantries, he was telling me all about his weekend, what he did and where he went which was nowhere by the way.

"How was your weekend?" He asked when he was completely done and I glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't look at me like that. Just because you stay in the hostel doesn't mean it'll always be boring. Something interesting could have happened", he looked at me expectantly and for a short moment, all I did was return blank stares until something clicked in my head and he noticed since he prompted,

"That's my girl. So...?"

"Well there's a new student"

"And...?" He looked at me incredulously when I didn't make any move to continue speaking.

"And... I don't know who he is and I don't care", I shrugged as we neared the school entrance.

"Are you serious? You weren't even the least bit curious as to what class he was joining? What if he's my soulmate?" He asked in mock desperation and we burst into laughter.

"Boy, you know you're not getting your soulmate anytime soon. He is good looking though so you should notice him", I replied with laughter laced in my voice.

"Can't wait..."

We saw him immediately we stepped on school grounds,- tall, brooding forehead, full lips, small eyes, long legs and an overall attractive persona. He looked a bit lost though. I bumped Malik's shoulder but didn't get a reaction so I looked at him to see that he was taking in the view before us but I doubt he saw what I saw- an opportunity. I bumped him a little harder,

"Girl, what!" He hissed at me in his breath, I chuckled.

"Are you blind or something?"

"Huh?"

"He looks lost idiot. I mean, I honestly don't know why or how anybody should be lost in this small and boring premises but he does, so you should offer to help instead of staring him to death".

"What?" He answered looking stupid. I looked around to make sure no one was watching then I smacked him hard upside the head with my closest hand. He groaned and asked again,

"What now? Seriously, what did I do?" I smacked my palm to my forehead.

"He needs help. Go. Talk. To. Him" I said slowly and quietly as we neared the new guy and then he parted his lips in understanding.

"Oh, right".

"God, you are so slow sometimes. You're lucky you have me around"

"Oh, shut it. You need me as much as I need you" He was about to walk toward the new guy when I saw a flicker of doubt in his eyes, I sighed, "I didn't ask you to make a move on him or go make out with him. Just talk to him, you can be his first friend around here. No big deal". He nodded still uncertain.

When we were close enough, I roughly shoved him in the guy's direction and winked as they bumped into each other. I grinned at my attempt to play Cupid and walked into class feeling smug. I just didn't see myself walking into class, I saw Raina instead. I blinked a few times to sharpen my focus.

She looked like she could fall asleep in any position and as long as nobody disturbed her, she'd be fine. I watched her drag herself in my direction and slumped down beside me.

"I'm so tired" she groaned pathetically. I tried not to laugh at her predicament as I gently patted her on the back.

"You got four more days of that feeling, stay strong baby girl" I tried to be nice and sympathetic but she heard the insincerity in my voice, looked at me and swatted my arm away.

"You are so annoying" she grumbled, I shrugged.

Saira walked in looking sweaty and not the slightest bit exhausted. I crossed my arm behind my head and relaxed in my seat.

"Well, there's the difference between fun and work. Fun keeps the adrenalin pumping, work makes you look like you wanna die". Saira laughed with me as Raina picked up her bag,

"Let's just pray and go. I need to crash somewhere".

We followed behind her, making sure to put enough space between us for her grumpiness. Grumpy me is default me, grumpy Raina is not very nice.

'1 down, 4 to go'.