Chapter 2
“Wake up.”
Miles grimaced as he felt a pillow gently slam into his face. He tried to turn around and burrow under his blankets but Ganke anticipated his plans and immediately pulled the covers off him.
“I hate you,” Miles grumbled as he sat up. He rubbed at the dark circles that had no doubt formed under his eyes after he had stayed up late to study.
“Good morning to you too, sunshine,” Ganke blew an air kiss in his direction. “Get changed. We’re getting breakfast in the cafeteria.”
“You woke me up for dining hall food?” Miles pulled a face. “If I wanted dry bagels and runny eggs I would go to a Bodega so I can at least get decent coffee with it.”
“Gwen will be there,” Ganke said, smiling smugly when Miles instantly sat up.
“How do you know?” Miles asked, narrowing his eyes.
“I have my ways,” Ganke waved his hand dismissively. “Do you want to go or not?”
“Swear you’re for real.”
“Do you want me to swear on my mom?” Ganke asked.
Miles shook his head. “No, I love your parents. Swear on your PS5.”
“No way,” Ganke immediately said. “I’ll swear on my Jordans.”
“Your Jordans? Those are mine,” Miles rolled his eyes but threw himself off the bed.
Due to being childhood friends since they were in diapers, Ganke was the only person apart from his parents that knew Miles’ whole identity, but Miles still turned around as he changed out of his pajamas into his school uniform despite knowing Ganke wouldn’t look.
Once he had finished changing and packed his bag for class, he walked with Ganke to the main dining hall on the last floor of their building.
The place was almost empty when they arrived since most students skipped breakfast or went to one of the many nearby cafes instead. It made it easy to spot Gwen who was sitting alone at the back of the dining hall, her head bobbing up and down as she listened to music through her pastel pink headphones.
“I can’t do it,” Miles said suddenly. He held his stomach and shook his head. “Go on without me.”
“Stop being so dramatic,” Ganke grabbed his sleeve and tugged. “This is your chance to talk to her.”
“And say what?”
“You can tell her anything,” Ganke paused for a moment. “Maybe not one of the billion random facts you know though. Like the sunflower thing you told me the other day.”
“You mean how sunflower buds face the sun during the day and face east at night to wait for the sun to rise at dawn? I thought you found it interesting.”
“Sure I did,” Ganke said gently. “But how about you tell her literally anything else?”
“Like I’m sorry for chopping off your hair last year but it looks really pretty now?” Miles said sarcastically.
“Perfect, let’s go,” Ganke pulled Miles forwards, barreling straight towards Gwen’s table before he could bolt away. Gwen looked up when she saw them, her lips parting slightly.
“Hey,” Miles tried to sound casual but he couldn’t stop his voice from squeaking.
“Hi?” Gwen raised a pierced eyebrow.
“So, do you come here often?” Miles said, trying to recall the way his uncle Aaron had taught him to flirt. He had gotten a whole lesson on how to pick up cute girls but now he couldn’t remember a single thing.
“To the cafeteria?”
“No! I mean yes? Maybe?” Miles glanced at Ganke for support but found that the other boy had already turned away and was now shaking his head in second-hand embarrassment and pretending to stare at his phone.
Miles was standing back and hoping the floor beneath him would open up to swallow him whole when he was interrupted.
“Gwendy?”
Hobie appeared from the inner hall with Pavitr beside him. Hobie put a cup of tea on the table as he took the seat next to Gwen. He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, making her blush while Pavitr quietly sat by Hobie’s other side. Miles deflated like a leftover party balloon as he watched them.
“Please tell me you’re coming to my party this weekend?” Hobie asked as he draped a faux leather-covered arm over Gwen’s shoulder. Any other student would get detention for a month for breaking the dress code so blatantly by refusing to wear the school issued blazer, but even the strictest teachers adored Hobie too much to write him up for an infraction.
“I don’t know,” Gwen fiddled with her hair.
“You have to come. It’ll be so boring without you,” Hobie flashed Gwen a disorienting smile.
Gwen glanced up and made eye contact with Miles then quirked her brows up. “I’ll go only if Miles goes.”
“Me?” Miles stammered. “I don’t think-”
“I’ll see you at my party Saturday, Morales,” Hobie cut him off coolly. He took a sharpie out of his pocket and scribbled on Miles’ hand. “There’s going to be drinks provided but feel free to bring your own. Text me on Friday and I’ll send you the address.”
Hobie didn’t wait for a response. He drank his tea so fast Miles couldn’t believe his throat wasn’t burned, then left with Pavitr trailing after him like a shadow. Pavitr paused before he left the cafeteria and stared back for a moment, his dark eyes unreadable, and then he was gone.
Miles was still stunned as Gwen murmured a quick goodbye to him before walking away. He looked at the number scribbled on his hand then at Ganke who looked just as surprised.
“You’re not going right? Your parents would kill you,” Ganke pointed out.
“But Gwen will be there, and Hobie with her,” Miles trailed off as he realized the situation he was in. “I have to go.”
“Rio and Jeff would never let you.”
“They don’t have to find out.”
“Dude, what are you talking about?” Ganke shook his head. “Aren’t you going home for the weekend? Unless you plan to sneak out of your window.”
“Listen, all I have to do is tell them I’m staying over at your place,” Miles rambled. “Then after I get to your house, I’ll tell your parents something came up and I’m going home. Then I can go to Hobie’s.”
“That’s a terrible plan,” Ganke stared at him like he was insane.
“Trust me dude,” Miles put his hands on Ganke’s shoulders. “I just need your help to pull it off. Please.”
“Don’t try to use your puppy dog eyes on me,” Ganke scolded but Miles could tell he was immediately caving in. He then sighed and shook his head. “Fine but you’ll owe me forever.”
“Thank you,” Miles threw his arms around Ganke and hugged him.
“Yeah, yeah,” Ganke pushed him off gently. “I’m heading to the gym. What class do you have now?”
Miles pulled out his phone and groaned. “Biology with Tio Miguel. He’ll kill me if I’m late. Or even worse, he’ll tell my mom.”
Miles gave Ganke a fist bump before he sprinted to class. Miguel was standing by the front of the classroom writing on the chalkboard and turned around to stare once he heard Miles.
“Hey Tio,” Miles smiled nervously, taking his seat in front of the class. He sat by the window in the middle in all his other classes but Miguel had commanded him to sit in front on the first day of school and he was too scared to disobey.
“Miles,” Miguel’s voice was cold. “I’ll see you after class. We need to talk.”
Miles sighed as he put his head down on his desk. Miguel wasn’t his actual uncle by blood the way uncle Aaron was, but his mother had bumped into the biology teacher during Miles’ first week of school and they had become instant friends. Miguel had offered to look after Miles in school which consisted mostly of watching him like a hawk to make sure he never stepped out of line, and yelling at him whenever his grades threatened to drop. There were times when Miguel was almost friendly, like when he had invited Miles over to have dinner with him, his girlfriend and their newborn baby, but he was mostly just an oddly terrifying uncle.
“Yes Tio,” Miles said. He breathed a sigh of relief when Miguel waved him off.
Miguel went to sit at his desk and the other students started filing in a second later. The class started uneventfully only for the bell signifying the end to come faster than Miles expected. He hoped to sneak out of class with the crowd of students but a stern glare from Miguel made him freeze at the door.
“I’m sure you’ve seen the class rankings by now,” Miguel’s words weren’t a question but Miles still nodded. “I was expecting you to come first.””
“So was I,” Miles said glumly.
“Then what happened?”
“I don’t know. Pavitr is just smarter than me I guess.”
“No one is smarter than you,” Miguel’s voice softened ever so slightly. He sighed as he put his hands into the pockets of his slacks and looked out of the window. “Email me your full schedule by tonight. I’ll see when I have time to tutor you.”
“Thanks Tio,” Miles almost reached forward to hug Miguel but then he stopped himself in time.
“Make sure to let your parents know I’ll be visiting,” Miguel shook his head but he was smiling ever so slightly as Miles ran away.
Instead of going back to their room to play games or binge Netflix with Ganke before dinner as usual, Miles headed to the academy library for a quiet place to study.
He sleepily rubbed at his eyes and yawned as he read his European history textbook and tried to summon interest in the life of Otto Von Bismarck.
He had almost finished the assigned reading chapter when he rested his head against the table and started nodding off, only to wake up to a grating, familiar voice.
“What are you reading?”
It was Pavitr. He was in an oversized cardigan and black jeans, his curly hair pinned back with a headband to show off his forehead, which was as infuriatingly flawless as the rest of him.
“Homework,” Miles said quietly.
“AP euro?” Pavitr asked. He grinned when Miles nodded then reached over to grab the textbook and flipped through it. “You’re already studying for the exam? You must really want a five.”
“Do you mind? You’re distracting me,” Miles said. He felt a twinge of guilt when the words came out harsher than he had expected but Pavitr didn’t react at all.
“Sorry,” Pavitr didn’t sound particularly apologetic. In fact, he had a confident smile on his face. “Do you want to study together?”
“I was about to go back to my room.”
“Maybe some other time then?” Pavitr said.
“Maybe,” Miles fibbed.
For a moment, it looked like Pavitr was going to say something but then he just nodded and handed Miles’ textbook back to him.
Miles was hoping it would be the end of their conversation but then Pavitr slid to the seat across from him. “So you and Gwen are coming to Hobie’s party this weekend?”
“I guess,” Miles sighed.
“It’d be cool if you did,” Pavitr said. Miles accidentally glanced into Pavitr’s large brown eyes fringed by his dark long lashes and immediately looked away when Pavitr caught his gaze. It wasn’t normal for someone to be so pretty that it irked him but that was the way he felt about Pavitr, just like he thought Hobie was too cool to exist.
Miles was standing up to leave when his stomach growled. He folded his arms into himself, embarrassed as Pavitr looked at him.
“You’re hungry?” Pavitr asked.
“I’m going to dinner now.”
“You do know dinner is already over?”
Miles lifted his phone to check the time and almost groaned audibly when he realized Pavitr was right. He had somehow napped all through dinner and missed five calls from Ganke. Miles decided to stay quiet, grateful that his dark skin wouldn’t betray his flushed cheeks.
Pavitr dug into his pocket and came out with a Hershey bar which he placed on the table. “Here. Hobie gave me some snacks he snuck out of the cafeteria when the lady wasn’t looking.”
“Don’t you want it?” Miles asked suspiciously.
“You’ll be doing me a favor honestly. No offense but I don’t like American chocolate. It tastes like vomit,” Pavitr joked.
“No it doesn’t,” Miles found himself smiling as he defended the integrity of hersheys. His hand reached for the candy bar almost by itself and he quickly unpeeled it and took a bite before he glanced at Pavitr. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” Pavitr winked at him, making Miles roll his eyes.
Miles didn’t say anything else but he gave a nod of acknowledgement before he left for his room.
There was still half a chocolate bar left when he arrived. He made himself some microwave ramen in the lounge then ate the remaining candy bar after it. The sweet taste lingered in his mouth the rest of the evening.