Stan and Theo walked into the corridor with their heads up, even though the students were looking at their injuries. Stan had a splint on his broken wrist, while Theo had a cast on his fractured elbow.
"I wish I had my right elbow fractured so I cannot write and have a reason not to attend school," Theo said.
"You can take notes for yourself and you can use your left hand to take the quizzes," Stan replied.
"My penmanship is unsightly with my left hand, dummy."
"At least it is readable. That's the only thing that matters."
"No. My penmanship has to remain attractive like me."
As they went to their seats, some girls gathered around them.
"Oh my Gosh, Stan. Is your injury alright?"
"It breaks our hearts to see you in pain."
"Tell us what we can do to ease your suffering."
Stan smiled. "Thank you. I would appreciate it if you let the two of us talk alone."
"Oh, is that so?"
"Right! You should blame Luke for his injury," Theo interrupted.
The girls were downhearted. "We cannot do that because we care for Luke, the same way we care for you."
"What? Don't treat him like we're equal because we aren't. He cannot hurt other students just because he's the president!"
"Calm down, moron. Be careful what you say," Stan said.
"Thank you for your concern, ladies. We acknowledge it. Forget what he said. Theo was still upset about his injury. It will affect his performance. No one is to be blamed."
"No one is to be blamed," Theo mimicked his voice in a playful tone.
The girls left them and continued chitchatting about fashion trends and Korean idols.
"I know what profession suits you, Stan."
"What?"
"A priest 'cause you act like a saint. I should've paralyzed that Luke if Cade wasn't on the way. Did you see how he defended him? What an idiot."
Stan changed the topic. "By the way, I want to congratulate you on passing the prelim exam. You did great."
Theo smirked. "Of course I did! What do you take me for?"
"Shall we watch a movie? A horror one."
"We are going to watch a horror movie as a celebration?"
"With some cereal milk soft, smoked salmon bagel, pork buns, and pastrami on rye."
"Are those even appropriate snacks for a movie night?"
"Are there rules on what to eat while watching horror movies?"
"I think it's 99% mukbang and 1% movie night."
Stan's eyes wandered to the garden where he saw a girl with red hair. She was memorizing a poem with all her heart. He rested his chin on his hand and stared at her.
"Wait a minute. You're just distracting me so I'll forget what you promised me. Give me Hailey's number," Theo said.
"I don't have it."
"Why? But you told me you have it."
"Why would you believe me? You know I don't ask for a girl's number unless she's important to me. And if a girl would give me her number, I would still decline it. For school work, they can chat with me on Facebook. Phone numbers are too personal for me and they must be given to someone we value. "
"Phone numbers and Messenger are the same. Don't make it sound so special."
"Phone numbers are special. You can't have it quickly, unlike social media accounts where you can stalk a person, send a friend request, and things like that. What I mean is it's faster to communicate with people on social media. Well, you don't have to get my point."
"I trusted you, man. Did you betray me like Cade did?"
"You didn't trust me. You were only desperate, so you believed me so quickly."
Theo slapped the table. "Fine. I'll get her number." He glanced at Stan who was still looking outside.
"Why are smiling? Is there something interesting out there?"
Stan diverted at him and blocked his view. "Nope. You better get going before the bell rings."
Theo stopped by the washroom to spray some perfume and fix his hair. Then, he strolled to the Senior's building. Their building was more classy and professional-looking. They had five tracks which were Academic, Arts and Design, Sports, Technical, and Vocational. Hailey belonged to Arts and Design track.
Theo tiptoed to the first floor and hid behind the wall. He heard the girls laughing and peeked through. It was when his heart beat like it was going to pop out of his chest. A beautiful woman caught his attention and made his heart go wild for the first time. She wasn't Hailey, but her physical features were like hers. Little did he know she was Zara Evans, Hailey's cousin, and Stan's former date.
***
Cade was having a snack with the Generals at the canteen. He couldn't stop wondering how the three of them got high scores in all subjects. Luke got perfect scores on all the subjects, Lewis got 1 point wrong in every subject, and Liam got 2 points wrong. Were they even human? Why were their scores sequenced like it's been planned out? Or maybe Cade couldn't accept the fact that he was not on top of the class anymore.
They took the Physical Education subject after Liam's birthday party when they drank all night. But the next morning, the three of them didn't seem to have a hangover. Luke's notes about Computer Science that Cade borrowed were of no use because the questions were different. Cade got a low score while relying on those notes, while Luke got the highest score. Cade couldn't understand how it happened.
"Why are you staring at me?" Luke asked. Cade was unaware of his actions while spacing out.
"Oh! I was thinking about something."
"About what?"
"I was wondering how you got the highest score in Computer Science and I got the lowest when we studied the same notes."
Luke dropped his fork and intertwined his fingers.
"That was because I am smart and you are intelligent."
"Aren't they the same?"
"You are mistaken. People see it the same way, but they have subtle differences. That's what we are, Cade. You may think we're the same, but we're not," Luke said. "Intelligence is measurable. That's why we have various IQ tests. While smartness is immeasurable. It is always evolving. Intelligence refers to your ability to learn. It refers to your intellect alone. While smartness has a wide range of meanings. An intelligent person has the ease and speed with which he answers a problem. A smart person has the ability to look back on their education to solve a problem. They also have different characteristics, but I will not discuss them any further. To make it simple, I can answer new questions without my notes, while you rely so much on such materials."
Luke pointed to his temple. "I rely on my memories. You see, memorizing answers to problems is not the key. It's about using those old data in your head to solve new problems."
For the first time, Cade felt so dumb. Luke was keen on details and specificity more than he was, and it annoyed him.
"Thank you for that trivia, Luke. I'm excited to learn more from you," Cade replied.
When they were going back to their classroom, Cade could hear the students gossiping about him. They had judgmental eyes that could separate his soul from his body.
"What is he doing with the Generals? Is he their pet?"
"Why is he sticking with them like a leech?"
"He wants to be on top, too."
"Are you kidding me? He's just average."
"I think they pity him for being an outcast. That's why they adopted him. Indeed, a dog is a man's best friend." The students laughed.
Cade clenched his fists and turned around. "How dare you talk about me like that? Don't you know who I am? I am a billionaire and I am on a higher level! I deserve to be with them. You're just a bunch of low-class, stupid people who know nothing about actual intelligence." Cade inhaled and shook his head. He could've said those words, but it was all in his head.
When the clock struck 5 pm, the boys were in the supermarket to buy some stocks. Liam was checking out some different brands of condoms in the pharmacy, while Lewis was eyeing some cola. Luke was the one holding the cart and carefully grabbing what was on his long list of ingredients.
Cade was hugging some enormous packs of junk food while thinking about what happened earlier.
They dare to compare me to a dog. If I were a pet, I'll be the one they can't afford. If I were a leech, I'd rather die than suck their contaminated blood.
Cade stood close to Luke.
"Wow. You're buying raw ingredients. Can you cook?" Cade asked.
"If you ask me, yes. I can. But the others can't."
"Why don't you just buy some instant noodles or anything that you can easily reheat?"
"Instant noodles are high in preservatives and are a source of empty calories devoid of any nutritional value. Obesity can result from excessive eating of them. They are extensively processed and designed to have a longer shelf life. They're low in nutrients, heavy in fat, calories, and sodium, and full of artificial colours, preservatives, additives, and flavorings," Luke explained like a radio announcer.
"Oh... alright."
Luke looked at him. "You're buying all of that? No wonder you're so skinny."
"Hmm. Is that an insult?"
"It's a fact. High levels of bad cholesterol in the blood, which might be an indication of heart disease, are significantly connected to saturated fat consumption. Junk foods are also often lacking in fiber, which has long-term negative repercussions for gut health."
If Luke was a girl, he could've rolled his eyes. He pushed the cart to the cashier, leaving Cade staring at his chips. If he wouldn't follow Luke's words, he'd find a reason to think he's not worthy of being his friend.
Cade returned the chips one after another. As he turned around, he saw Stan and Theo pushing a cart in his direction with their right hand. And in a split second, they looked at each other. Unmoving. Unable to utter words.