Huy and Kaily made it to class just in time, the bell ringing just as they entered the room. They took their seats at a table in the middle of the room, where Alex, Annabelle, and Andrew were seated at. Kaily quickly sat down next to Annabelle, and Huy took the only remaining seat, between Kaily and Andrew.
Oh joy, Huy thought, sitting next to this jerk again. Just avoid talking to him and maybe you’ll get out just fine.
Huy glared at Andrew, who returned the look with an even colder stare. Huy turned away, hoping not to bring attention to himself or Andrew. He sighed. Today was not the day he had been hoping for. It was nowhere near as close as the perfect day he had imagined for himself when he woke up this morning.
Huy glanced at the board, which reminded him of the project that they had to turn in. Luckily they had finished it this morning before school so they didn’t have to rush right now to piece it all together. Huy pulled out the papers and handed them to Mr. Davis as he walked by, collecting everyone’s work.
They group sat there in silence for the rest of the period, working on the assignments the teacher had instructed them to do. Huy finished his work early and decided to just sit there, not doing anything. He stared at the table as time continued to pass by in a blur. He wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed when he decided to finally look up from the table. He looked at Kaily as she continued to write things upon her paper. He then changed his view to Annabelle who was reading a book. He then glanced at Alex who was copying off of Annabelle’s paper. And finally he looked over at Andrew, who sat there, doing nothing, even though he had long finished.
Apparently Andrew noticed Huy looking at him, for he looked up at Huy with empty eyes. A blank expression was plastered across Andrew’s face. Not a single hint of an emotion could be found anywhere upon him.
“Do you need something?” Andrew asked in a voice that was as cold and empty as that of a machine.
Huy stared at Andrew in disbelief. He didn’t think his friend could be so cruel and heartless, as though he had never felt emotions before in his life. He tried to play it off as though he was just hearing things wrong. He looked at Andrew again, but his face was still just as blank as before.
Huy looked at Kaily, who was suddenly aware of his and Andrew’s slight conflict. He glanced at her with a knowing look. He was guessing that she could hear the lack of emotion in his voice.
“Is everything okay?” She whispered.
“Not sure,” Huy answered quietly. Kaily nodded in response and got back to her work.
Huy sat in silence, resting his head on his arm. Huy stared at the clock, watching as it counted away the seconds. Since he was half asleep the remainder of the class time passed by relatively quickly, in a blur of colors, sounds, and unspoken thoughts. By the time the bell to go rang, Huy was still not fully awake. In his trance like state, he stood up, gathering his things, and left, without much of a thought to what he was doing.
“Huy, wake up already,” Kaily said. He heard her speak but he didn’t exactly hear what she had said. Kaily slapped Huy’s shoulder, brining him back to reality. “What, were you asleep this whole time?”
“Huh, oh, maybe,” Huy responded. “Not quite sure. I thought I was awake, but apparently I wasn’t. You were saying earlier?”
“Oh nothing, I was just basically yelling at you to wake up,” Kaily said as they walked down the hallways. She walked quickly, so Huy followed her from behind.
“Sorry, I was just you know, dead, asleep, any other word you know to describe it?” Huy stated, still kind of spaced out. “I guess I’m just kind of tired. Probably because of my 6:00 AM wake up call this morning.”
“What time did you get to sleep last night?” Kaily questioned; curiosity and worry colored her voice.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t get to bed too late, just around 11:30 PM,” Huy stated. “It’s just I’ve been kind of stressed out recently, and waking up at six in the morning is not something that I plan on doing ever again, unless absolutely and completely necessary.”
Kaily laughed at Huy. “You need to sleep more, silly, that’s why you’re so tired right now. You should be going to sleep at ten, you know that by now. Every single time that you go to bed after eleven you end up waking up late and spending the entire day half dozed out.”
“I’m fine,” Huy replied as they walked into their Spanish classroom. “I haven’t passed out yet, have I?” Huy joked.
Kaily looked at him, rolling her eyes. “Not yet you haven’t, but you never know what might happen in another hour or two.”
Huy took one of the remaining seats, making sure it was as far from the front as possible. He wasn’t exactly in the mood for actually paying attention in class; especially not Spanish class.
Spanish was Huy’s fourth language, so he already knew that there was no way he could ever master it. Yet alone get even close to mastering it. His first language was, of course, English, while his second was Vietnamese, and his third was Cantonese. Spanish of course, came fourth, making it impossibly difficult to learn because he began to mix up all the translations in his head. It was bad enough that he already knew three languages, but of course, high school had to be evil and make him learn another.
“Are you going to go to sleep now?” Kaily asked, looking at Huy who was already half asleep at his desk.
“There is a high possibility of that, especially since Ms. Gonzalez doesn’t care if you pay attention in class or not,” Huy stated, already beginning to doze off. “And I am pretty tired right now.”
“I told you that you need to sleep earlier. I go to sleep at ten o’clock every single day, no buts about it. And you should be doing that too, maybe then you wouldn’t be sleeping in every single class and slacking off at basketball practice,” Kaily stated, taking her out her Spanish book and notebook
“Maybe,” Huy replied, yawning. “I guess I’ll try that tonight. See if it helps out tomorrow.” He pulled his book out from his bag and placing it on the desk.
Huy rested his head against the desk and quickly fell into unconsciousness. This time he didn’t dream, just floated below in a sea of darkness, not hearing, seeing, or thinking of a single thing at all. His mind was peaceful and blank, not a single sound, sight, or bad thought to ruin the moment.
Time seemed irrelevant then. He couldn’t tell whether it had been a few seconds since he had drifted off to this simple dream land or a few hours. All he knew was that it felt so peaceful that he wished he wouldn’t have to wake up. He just lay there, focusing on the nothingness of his mind, but he eventually opened his eyes.
He glanced at the clock which told him that class would end in two more minutes. Apparently he had slept through the entire hour without even noticing. He shoved his things back into his bag and sat there, not paying much attention to anything at all still. He’d probably have to study though to catch up in all his classes because of how often he fell asleep nowadays.
“Kaily,” Huy said quietly. She looked at him. “Did I seriously sleep through the entire period?”
She nodded in response as she packed away her belongings and got ready to leave. He sat up and stretched a bit, noticing that his arm was sore from lying on it. Kaily threw a piece of paper onto his desk. It was folded into a heart shape and on the outside Huy’s name was written neatly upon it.
He quickly opened the note up to see what it was. Written inside was a poem.
“Don’t leave me behind
I’ll fall apart if you do
Don’t leave me alone
Because I love you
I can’t live without you
You mean too much to me
Without you there
Myself I cannot be
Don’t leave me in the dark
I’ll crumble to the ground
Don’t leave me in the light
Where everything can be found
Don’t leave me
I need you.”
Huy finished reading it just as the bell rang. He refolded the paper, and stuck it into his binder, closing his backpack as he walked out the door. Huy grabbed Kaily’s hand and whispered in her ear, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she whispered back, gently kissing him on the cheek. She smiled sweetly as they walked along the hallway. He smiled back at her.
They both walked out to lunch to join their friends.
