weiryo

[weiryo]

Not A Chance 1.4 “Like a home, but not exactly.”

MATTHEW

“Like a home, but not exactly.”

“Lobsters pee through their faces.” I heard a familiar yet changed voice beside me. I looked up and saw a much taller version of my friend Oliver. The freshman boy smiled at me, clearly proud of his random fact. Oliver has always been a good kid. I feared what would happen to him once his first official year of high school ended, and hoped we could keep him out of the horrors that are the social prison of Upper Lake Academy.

“Where did you learn that?” I asked as I started walking, and he followed me.

Oliver shrugged, “Read it on Reddit.” He answered.

“Oli, stay off of there, that's the kind of shit that gives you mental illness.”

“Fair.” He muttered as he fidgeted with his sleeves, awkwardly trying to make himself look presentable. I couldn't help but smile at his behavior. The school would smell much better if only every freshman were as nice and hygienic as Oliver.

It did not take long for our stalker, Hira, to find us. She came up to us with an enthusiastic look. It was nauseating to see people seeming so ready for a new school year. She immediately ran to hug me tightly .“Matthew! Oli! Hey, how come you two didn't text me?” she asked curiously, smiling at her adopted brother, Oliver, and me.

“Didn't seem all that important,” I said jokingly with a smile. “Besides, you found us now. I'm sure you enjoyed having to search for us, looking around at everyone moving in?”

Hira nodded “Of course, there's nothing better than people watching, I saw so many new kids. I got to see Rain and this majestic new junior guy. Like when I say majestic, I mean majestic.” She said with a little too much passion.

Oliver snickered at her. “Mom said you can't stare at people anymore.” He teased, and Hira shot him a joking glare.

“Anyways” she continued “I finally got to switch to a new dorm building, I swear Crabapple is so gross and run down,” Hira complained while she walked alongside us. 

“Crabapple sounds like a disease, I like my building name better, Ponderosa Pine is just the most glorious name,” Oli mumbled while he not so discreetly opened Hira’s backpack and took out a juice pouch from her snack bag that their parents always packed for the two.

Hira shot him a glare which he visibly looked frightened of, but she didn’t take it from him “I know right, it’s so gross, at least Oli’s dorm building gets some fancy shit name.” She continued her tangent about how much she hated the dorms.

I finally got to escape her angry ranting about dorms once I found my dorm, River Birch, building 4, which strangely enough was the closest to the main building of the school. I waved goodbye and walked in, leaving Oliver with a desperate look that said Don’t leave me, please with the juice pouch straw still in his mouth as Hira kept dragging him along physically and in conversation. I rolled my eyes and made my way into the building for another year even walking through the halls, and looking at certain doors made me shudder deep deep deep inside my soul. Yet… It still felt like a home away from home, once you got to your dorm with your roommate whom you may or may not have quite a few exchanges that include quite a bit of oversharing, it’s pretty comforting. 

Now I’ve never really had bad roommate experiences at this boarding school, and I've been very lucky so far. All my issues have been with boys or girls who I’d rather die than share a room with, for different reasons. But when I walked into my dorm room, and saw it turned into a makeshift budget version of the Acropolium of Carthage I was slightly taken aback, now don’t get me wrong, love the Christians, Jesus was a pretty cool dude… But seeing a cross with a bloody Jesus figurine-looking thing felt like too much. I glanced over to the guy who was supposed to be my roommate this year. He was pretty cute, even though he looked like he was being drowned in sweat in his Sunday best button-up shirt. I stepped in and blinked a few times “Um so… You’re into the whole Gothic Cathedral style, that’s cool…” I very much attempted to make some humor out of this, he just glanced over at me with a judgemental look.

“I’m a Protestant. Not a Catholic.” He firmly corrected, as if being mistaken for Catholic was a very horrible insult to him.

“Right…” I mumbled in response, setting my duffle bag on my bed, “I’m Matthew Van Jaarsveld.

“Do your parents let you dye your hair like that?” He suddenly asked. No introduction, no nice to meet you, no nothing… I am just questioning my home life, as many good friendships start.

“Yeah… My parents are cool with it.” I answered, and his judgemental look only increased. Felt like a very familiar look. “Well, It’s my turn to ask you a question. What is your name?”

“Finnegan McCarthy.” He answered plainly as I held back my strong urge to burst out into laughter.

I nodded slightly, turning away so he couldn't see how much I wanted to laugh at his name. “Oh, cool. Well, I’m uh, gonna go for a walk.”

Of course, Finnigan looked at me strangely as I rushed out, but as I was out of sight, I began to snicker, until I looked up. A familiar boy with long black wavy hair and blue eyes that felt like a childhood home, staring directly at me, just a few feet away from me. Holy shit… Why was he here?

[weiryo]

Not A Chance 1.3 “Breathtaking moments”

SANTIAGO

“Breathtaking moments”

I suffered quietly, the van being more of a form of torture than anything else, loud sweaty teenagers nearby were not a good idea. Once the shuttle was in the park, the floodgates opened. We all rushed out of the van quickly, even if the drive to the school was a breathtaking view, it was also hard to breathe due to how packed it was inside the vehicle. I wished I was able to arrive a day earlier like I was supposed to, but my father insisted I didn't need to since I was a smart kid, which just meant he fucked up the dates and refused to admit that he messed up. I helped Hitori and Andrew get their bags out and Andrew patted me on the arm.

“You found us a real gentleman, Tori, just what our little group needed,” Andrew said playfully as he accepted his bag.

Hitori laughed quietly, shouldering her backpack “Yeah, cause you don't fill that role.”

Andrew gasped, feigning offense at her words “You wound me.” He said with a smirk as they began walking to the main building. I followed them since they knew better than I did.

I was surprised to see as many people as I did when I entered the main building, but at the same time I don't know what else I would've expected. There were just so many different people, it kind of felt… Suffocating. More suffocating than being in the shuttle a few minutes ago, it was a heavy feeling in my chest that I hadn't felt in a long time. I knew they weren't, but I felt like my eyes were all pointed at me. When Hitori poked me I let out a breath I had no idea I was holding, she smiled at me, but you could sense the underlying worry in her tone as she spoke “You alright, San?” She asked. I gave a brief nod and forged my way through the crowd, even when I shook the idea of eyes being on me, I still felt watched.

I won't bore you with the registration process, it was just long lines after long lines, all to get a few pieces of paper in a folder and a cheap plastic ID. My face visibly cringed at the ID photo we had to get pre-taken, my father had insisted on my hair being gelled back, and I would've argued against it if I wasn't already aware of the consequences for talking back. I just pushed it past me and put it back in the folder. Hitori started walking again, knowing we (me especially) had no choice but to follow her. 

Hitori looked over to Andrew “I wonder where Noemíe is.” She commented.

Andrew nodded at her remark “She'll be here, probably late though. She never wastes the chance to be fashionably late, which means we'll see her at dinner.”

“I'm sure she's got a lot of gossip to tell us about, I never hear about anything.”

I glanced over “Noemíe is the model girl you've told me about, right?” I made sure to ask, hoping I didn't get any names wrong. Hitori nodded in response.

“She's nice… if you know her well enough. She's a bit blunt, is all.” Hitori assured me.

Hitori and Andrew were forced to leave me eventually since they were returners, and I was new. They were free to go wherever, and I had to go to orientation, which was extremely boring. They gave us a tour of the campus, which was huge. After the tour they made us all sit in a gymnasium where the principal, who was an old greasy man, gave us a welcome speech, yada yada, ruled, yada yada. All that bare minimum shit, after that they told us to go find our dorms and wait for dinner, which is exactly what I did. I found my dorm hall, it was an old-looking building, almost like a little apartment complex. I took a deep breath and walked into the dorms.

[weiryo]

Not A Chance 1.2 “You can’t handle all of my baggage”

MATTHEW

“You can’t handle all of my baggage”

The smell of glorified mediocrity hit me as I stepped out of the car, I stared up at the familiar building. This was my third year here, I hated it but my parents insisted it was good for me. It didn't take long before I noticed my brother appearing behind me with my bags. “Oh, you're so grown up now. Your junior year, you're going to make such great memories, my baby brother.” He dropped the bags to the ground and hugged me intensely as he spoke. 

I groaned in annoyance “Milo, mom told you to drive me here, not be her.” I pushed out of his grasp.

“Hey, she would want me to embarrass you on your first day, Matty.” Milo smiled as he handed me my bags. “You're so lucky we're not all here to drop you off.”

“Don't call me Matty.” Was my only response. Soon enough I realized it sounded a bit mean, and I was trying to work on that… Milo always took my attitude in stride though, nodding as he smiled, he always understood my strange moods. “I definitely would not have wanted all 3 of you to show up, it'd be the worst,” I said jokingly. I gathered all my bearings, preparing myself internally for the new school year. So much had happened over the summer that I had a feeling that this school year would be boring. Some part of me yearned for a calm year, which would be a first, but what's the fun in that?

Milo handed me another backpack “Are you sure you need all this? It's like you brought the whole house with you.” He zipped open the bag for a second “Did you pack the batteries for your hearing aids?”

I took the bag from his hand “Yes I've packed them, and yes I'm sure. You've never even been to boarding school, you have no idea what you're going to need.” I said. 

Turning around and looking at the school, I already saw familiar faces. Nothing had changed. The school had all this funding, and they still had never changed it much. The fresh air was nice, though. You could just sense the nature around you. It was one of the only good things about Upper Lake Academy. I hugged my brother once more, of my own free will this time. I said my goodbyes and started walking to the entrance.

For some odd reason, they put the most grumpy teachers at the front to greet the first batch of kids. It was 9 AM, but a certain teacher looked like he had just woken up. “Mr Prescott.” I was pleased. You could almost see the look of regret on his face as the literature teacher spotted me “Van Jaarsveld, good morning, your parents didn't find you a new school?” He asked, I would've taken offense if it weren't for how many inconveniences I'd caused to the man.

I scoffed “Nope, and I heard Andrews coming back too.”

The man looked as if he wanted to run “God help me.” He mumbled as he handed me a pamphlet with a map, which I didn't need but was obligated to give to every student.

I walked in through the main entrance, there were already quite a few recognizable faces there, and some not so much. Some 6th graders were being led around in groups, along with new students who showed up yesterday, and any other students were just left to their own devices. I found myself lingering around the trophy case, the school always tried to make itself seem attractive, that they had very talented students, but most of the talent didn't come from the school. My eyes narrowed as I read the names for the first time, my eyes focusing on a picture of a soccer team from years ago, the names of the people in the image written on a plaque, Hernandez… That brought back memories, memories I didn't like.

[weiryo]

Not A Chance 1.1 "Boys in eyeliner"

SANTIAGO

“Boys in eyeliner”

“You made me look stupid,” I mumbled, lifting the tiny mirror the one-armed girl next to me handed me up to my eyes. I could definitely hear Hitori’s laughter as I looked at the makeup she put on my eyes, she really did go all out on the eyeliner. Hitori started putting everything in her backpack, we were so bored from waiting we were beginning to get desperate for things to do. I never really imagined my first time meeting Hitori in person would be this boring. We had been waiting for the boarding school shuttle for about 3 hours inside the airport, and I guess it was not that long but it felt like forever. 

Hitori kept giggling every time she turned to look at me. 

I sighed. “Can I wash this off?” I asked. Hitori just grinned at me and reached for her bag, her prosthetic arm gripping the straps. I honestly wondered how it worked, but it felt rude to ask. 

“I'll get the wipes, but you have to believe me that you look absolutely stunning.” She teased me. I couldn't help but scoff at her comment, my dad would be pissed if he saw makeup anywhere near me, God forbid it's on my face. In a fucked up way it sort of comforted me that I knew he was far enough away that he couldn't tell what I was doing anymore. He had finally gotten so pissed off with me that he sent me off to boarding school, and what a coincidence that it was the same boarding school as my online best friend, Hitori. I'm happy she was here, she had gone to this school for years so she could tell me anything.

Hitori started wiping down my face, cleaning it of all the makeup. We were fortunate she did it at that moment because in just a few seconds the chaperone showed up with his grasp locked tightly around a boy's arm “Mr Vien, you cannot be wandering around everywhere. You stay with the group or I'll have no choice but to call your guardian… And wipe that horrible makeup off from under your eyes, you're a young man, not a lady.” he scolded the boy and practically tossed him next to me. I jumped when the boy sat down with a huff. The chaperone checked his phone with a grim look “The shuttle will be here in 10 minutes.” He announced in a booming voice. Everyone around us started rushing to put away everything they had taken from their bags. 

I watched as Hitori looked up from her bags and immediately smiled when she saw the boy sitting next to me “Andrew! You're back for another year?” She asked excitedly.

Andrew nodded and smiled back. He rubbed the eyeliner under his eyes with his finger, making it look even messier. “They can't get rid of me if they tried, and they've tried, " he told her, his eyes drifting to the direction I was in. “Who are you?”

I looked at him, he had the look of the average troublemaker, and he had a weird wolf cut like a child attempted it. “I'm Santiago Hernánez.”

Without warning he grabbed my hand and shook it. “Welcome to hell, I'm Andrew.” He said with a now cheery tone. I couldn't help but smile, his smile was strangely infectious.

A few minutes later the shuttle finally arrived and I picked up my things and got into the tight van, when I was pushed in by other students I winced in pain because I accidentally hit the bruise on my right bicep. When I rubbed my arm, a strange feeling hit me, like something would happen, like my whole life would be turned over more than it already has been. I settled into my seat next to Hitori and Andrew, it was time for me to go where every 16-year-old wants to go… a boarding school in Idaho.

[weiryo]

Not A Chance (Teaser)

Complete opposites and now complete strangers in the same school, two boys who were once best friends from different walks of life meet again after years of cutting each other out of their lives. Tensions run high and the two only want to make it through the year, but there seems to be no chance for Santiago and Matthew to get along after all they've been through. When grudges are still held and communication is the key still hidden under the potted plant, avoiding each other becomes a new task they must fulfill to have any chance of surviving their sophomore year at the Upper Lake Academy boarding school.