Colors

three

I slumped into my seat at the back corner of the classroom beside Vikrant, putting my backpack on the computer table behind me.

"Wake me up when school starts," I mumbled while tying my hair back and grabbing a hoodie from the table behind me that I recognized as Vikrant's.

He was the same height as Adonis, but not as scrawny as him or Akash, and his hoodie fit pretty big on me. He didn't get cold often, leaving me with something warmer to wear in the colder months.

I smiled at him and tugged it on, inhaling the smell and feeling much warmer. Vikrant chuckled as I set up two chairs beside my own to lay my legs on.

I looked to see if the teacher was in the room, but he never was; no one was ever in here before 7:55 other than Vikrant and me. Why our buses came to school so early, I didn't know.

Usually, we would hang out with our friends somewhere before school started, but today was just one of those mornings where I wanted to sit by myself and avoid human interaction.

"You're late today- it's 7:20, so you still have over half an hour," Vikrant told me as I put the hood over my head and laid down, using the edge of his thigh as a headrest. I shot him a thumbs up and closed my eyes.

How did people fall asleep instantly?

Vikrant played with my hair absentmindedly while he worked on something, and that was enough to make me drift off into a peaceful state of rest.

Vikrant was such a good friend. He was calm, collected, and pretty chill for the most part. He was the most put-together, predictable, and practical guy in the group, rarely ever acting random and crazy. He never really asked questions; if we needed something, he would help us. He was reliable and easygoing.

I got to know him freshman year during science, and man, was that an adventure all on its own. He actually had the guts to come talk to me on the third day of school and sit next to me without even asking.

And this was in freshman year, when the whole cooties thing still existed. Honestly, I didn't think it was gone completely.

He was definitely the smartest one academically, albeit lacking common sense and people skills on some occasions. Vikrant was the studious one of the bunch, and academics were very important to him. However, he could still have a great time.

He had short hair and a soft jawline. He smelled the best and least strong out of all the guys (though they all smelled pretty great), so that's why I usually chose sleep against him.

Guys smelled so good, no joke. Girls got this nasty perfume that smelled like flowers and spring and shit while guys got the musky smell of leaves or something. I mean, flowery stuff wasn't bad; I just preferred the other scent.

Also, he was the only guy I trusted to not draw something on my face in my sleep. I swear, the second one of the other guys got a marker, they would turn straight to my face.

"You smell good," I reminded Vikrant, shuffling a bit. "What cologne do you use?"

He laughed quietly. "Why, you wanna use it?"

Can I?

"No," I said slowly. "Just because."

"It's called Man or something..." Vikrant said, sounding unsure.

Man? What the hell?

"It's so not called that."

"Okay, whatever. I don't know; just sleep, okay?" he muttered, twirling a strand of my hair and then brushing his rough hand on my forehead gently.