CHAPTER 2: A DAY IN MY LIFE

“Hi.” I greeted the ever so lovely Marsha, with her long wavy auburn hair and her soft hazel eyes, who was sitting on the bleachers. “When are you going back home?” I asked once I settled beside her.

“Next week,” She said. Her voice was soft and calming. One of my favorite sounds in the world. “But only for a few days. I have to help with the competition.” She glanced at me and I nodded at that. 

“Sweet,” I said, feeling happy to be able to spend more time with her.

“Don’t forget tomorrow morning to come to the basketball hall with me to talk about the calendar,” She also reminded me.

“Meet you there at nine,” I said to her, “I remember, Sha.” I snorted at her jokingly.

“That’s only because I’ve told you like a gazillion times.” She sighed, but wasn’t really disappointed because she could never. Not in me.

Hehehehe

“Not my fault that I’m a busy guy.” I flashed her a grin.

“It in fact is.” Marsha said matter-of-factly. Yeah, well…

“I won’t be late Sha. I’ll be here by six tomorrow anyway.” I reassured her.

“Doing what?” Marsha asked. The creases in between her brows just made her looked even cuter.

“Band practice for the competition.” I told her, my finger tapping her forehead.

“That early?” she asked with a frown deeper than before, clearly displeased.

“Well, I also want to borrow the Dojo for a bit.” I stretched my body. “Haven’t practiced in so long I can feel my muscles turning into big, slimy disgusting fat. Ken agreed to spar with me. But he’s only available that early, or very late at night.” I shrugged.

Marsha, being a worrywart that she was, started frowning even deeper. It’s only a matter of seconds before she started to…

“You already have so many things to do, you’ll exhaust yourself.”

… Scolded me, I finished my thought.

She said it so sternly it made me flinch on my seat. I hated it when she scolded me. She was scarier than any mother I’ve encountered. Even my own. Though thankfully, Marsha never hit me, unlike my mother whose hobby seemed to include slapping me in the face or smacking my head.

Never hurt, though. But, still…

“I’ll be fine, Sha.” I gave her my most charming smile (according to me) but she kept frowning. Her soft jaw clenched. She started to open her mouth but I leapt as soon as I saw Chuck hopping towards us, already showered and changed into a navy blue t-shirt and dark jeans. “That’s Chuck. Let’s go!” I said and ran towards my other best friend, leaving my other best friend to shake her head tiredly.

I felt kinda bad treating her like that. But she worries too much when there’s nothing to worry about at all.

I turned around and smiled apologetically to her as she approached me and Chuck. She sighed but waved her hand anyway, telling me that she’ll let the subject go and just go and have our dinner.

We ended up having dinner with a bunch of other guys from the football team. I knew all of them because most of them had given me a job before, and others because Chuck introduced us when he joined the team and then made vice captain.

We ate at a small barbeque place in front of the girls’ dorm complex because we have to take Marsha home afterwards and also because it was cheap but the food was amazing, and for the other boys, because it was so close to the entrance of the girls’ dorm, they’d be able to check some of them out while having their meal (well, okay, that’s also one of my reasons to eat here heh heh heh). I chuckled to myself while watching girls pass by one after another.

But aside from me and Chuck, the other boys were more taken by Marsha. Though they’ve also known her for a while now, they were still very much mesmerized by her beauty.

Understandable, though, Marsha was, by far, the prettiest girl on campus.

I’m not saying it because she’s my best friend, I’m saying it because it’s a fact.

I grinned at my best friend as she listened to the boys trying to get her attention by throwing jokes at one another. It was very fun, if not kind of pathetic. Marsha was in a serious relationship going on six years. I chuckled to myself and turned to Chuck.

Chuck, meanwhile, was busy replacing my cauliflower with his squid. I groaned and smacked his lovely buzz-cut head.

“I told you I don’t hate cauliflower,” I said to him but he kept doing it. So I kicked his shin. He held on to my shoulder as he groaned loudly and bent down, massaging his shin.

Did I kick him too hard?

“Sorry,” I apologized to him, feeling bad. He flicked my forehead after he straightened his back again.

“Yo! You’re trained in martial arts! Don’t kick!” he grumbled. I knew he was not really mad at me. I chuckled and petted his buzz-cut head and he started eating his food instead of messing with mine.

We finished dinner soon afterwards and dropped Marsha off at her door. It was almost nine.

“If we want to make it to the art supply store, we have to hurry.” I told Chuck who immediately threw his hand over my shoulders and dragged me with him as he ran to the intersection to get a cab. I started pouting at him once we were in the cab, panting.

“I know you’re like, a few inches taller than me, but stop resting your hand on my shoulder! Or my head! It makes me feel smaller than I already am.” I scolded him and he just chuckled and messed with my hair.

The nerve of this guy!

I ‘tsk’-ed and elbowed his side, resulting in him coughing and groaning while clutching the side of his body. I smiled with lots of satisfaction.

“What did you do that for?” he groaned.

“Serves you right,” I stuck my tongue at him and he immediately put me in a headlock.

We spent the rest of the trip wrestling in the backseat of the cab (please forgive us, dear kind driver, who said nothing during our immature wrestling competition and just snorted. And forgive us for keeping kicking the back of your seat and making the whole ride uncomfortable. Please blame Chuck. He was the jerk). I mentally apologized to the driver after we got off and walked to the store and entered.

Chuck was trailing behind me without a word and let me do my shopping. He knew this was one of the places I liked the most so he left me to my own world while he just followed me in a reachable distance.

I didn’t take too long in the store (mostly because the store was already about to close). After I was finished with my shopping, we then headed to grab some dessert. I wanted to eat some cream puffs and Chuck took me to my favorite store (that fortunately was still open even though it was already past ten). He bought some for me. Not that I didn’t have any money. It’s just that my family was not as well off as Chuck or Marsha’s (they were filthy rich, by the way). Also I only had my grandparents and three younger siblings, so I had to be extra mindful of what I spent. But thank heaven that I had Chuck and Marsha who, God knows why, liked to pamper me so much and doted on me like I was their love child. And with me being shameless, I let them.

I’m cheap, remember? He heh heh.

We chatted and ate the warm and moist puffs as we headed home. Chuck, as usual, was walking me back to my dorm room. I lived in the F building, 12th floor, while Chuck lived in the A building, the one by the gate. He always insisted on sending me home whenever we happened to walk home together. He even insisted on dropping me off at my door. Over-protective much?

We arrived at my door and he kissed my cheek, as usual, while I rolled my eyes, as usual, before closing the door behind me. I took a quick shower afterwards and headed straight to bed. I had so much stuff to do tomorrow and I’ve been running around so much today, so as usual, I was gone once my head hit the pillow.