136 You Still Need to Relax Somehow (1/2)
The month of November soon passed with nothing particularly exciting happening at all. The school has placed its main focus on the preparation of the students for their finals such that many of the clubs temporarily suspended their meetings aside from the occasional meets for the sports club such as Zaksus's basketball team as they prepared for the upcoming league tournament.
Waking up in the morning for school has become increasingly difficult for me each and everyday. This is largely due to the fact that the low temperature makes sleeping in one's warm and comfortable bed extremely appealing, making it so that I'm constantly extremely drowsy in the morning. In addition, when I do wake up, I would be reluctant to leave the warmth of my bed, resulting in me burying my head underneath the covers and pressing snooze over and over again. This bad habit of mine would've resulted in many tardies for me if not for Loriana who would wake me up by knocking on my door. I'm actually quite impressed at how she's able to force herself out of her bed early enough for her to prepare for work as well as stay behind and work overtime to complete the research that she's working on at the Nocsinis Imperial University, but I guess that is what adults have to do.
The advent of December brought with it the true winter as temperatures dropped to a chilling degree such that leaving one's house without wearing a winter coat resulted with great shivering. Many of the students of my high school had started wearing layers underneath their blazers, with the most common being wool vests or a hoodie that they wore over their dress shirts. As for me, I simply wore a navy blue woolen button up coat over my blazer along with a dark grey muffler scarf.
The winter weather must be particularly difficult for girls to endure since they cannot escape wearing skirts so unlike us guys, their legs are constantly exposed to the winter breeze. This resulted in the girls at my school and any of the other high schools in Vilheim to don knee high socks. However, from their often energetic nature, it would appear that they're quite used to dealing with the cold, but aside from wearing longer socks, the exact method I do not know. I guess girls just have their ways...
Anyways, school continued as usual, but different from November, the lectures had entered review mode. Every single class of the day were reviews for the content that we had learned in the semester, making every day extremely boring. Well... it wasn't like learning new things were particularly exciting anyways. I guess it might be because I understand the concept being taught almost immediately while it will usually take some time for normal students to learn.
I could still recall the majority of the content that was taught over the course of the semester so I wasn't particularly worried about the final exams as my goal was to simply pass, unlike the many other students in my class and the school in general. Everyone focused in class, paying great attention to what the teacher was saying as well as writing on the large smart board at the front of the classroom using a stylus on the screen. While they're doing so, I would simply gaze out the window and look at the blue sky outside which occasionally would also be grey if it was cloudy that particular day.
After school, life would continue being the same as before. Even though club activities were technically suspended for the time, our group would still gather in our club room on some days either to study or just to relax. On other days, we would leave school and go get some food or have fun in the city to release some stress from studying. The latter we usually accomplished by heading to arcades.
”Yo, air hockey!” Noah exclaimed as we walked around the noisy arcade where numerous other young adults and teens stayed to entertain themselves. ”Let's play!” He said as he grabbed the two blue strikers on one side of the table.
”I'm down,” Zaksus smiled and walked over to the other end.
”Y'all wanna do duos?” Noah asked with a large smile on his face as he looked over at the rest of us.
”I guess,” Loyd chuckled in response. Then, he looked over at the three girls, Luna, Muria, and Irina, that were with us. ”How about you three?”
”Sure,” Irina smiled. She seemed to be in a state of great excitement since she probably never been to an arcade due to her status and gender. Since she's famous and often have plenty of jobs lined up, its obvious why she couldn't just simply go wherever she wanted. Since she's a girl, it's also quite awkward for her to visit an arcade alone where the predominant majority are boys. Therefore, I guess this was the first time she truly visited an arcade.
”At least this area is quieter than the other places,” Muria sighed as she crossed her arms before her chests.
”I think it'll be fun,” Luna added with a smile on her face.
”Let's start with boys versus boys duos,” Noah excited suggested. ”Zaksus and I against Loyd and Alevian.”
”Let's get it!” Zaksus shouted in an excited voice as he walked over to stand beside Noah and picked up a striker that Noah had placed on the smooth air hockey table. ”Y'all aint got shit on me!”
”Let's whoop their asses,” Noah smiled in a mocking manner as he looked over at us. ”Get your weak pussy asses over here. Daddy's bout to go ham!”
To be honest, seeing that face of his really got me kinda riled up, which is oddly rare. Usually, I wouldn't care much, but for some reason I do care right now. I felt myself being somewhat angered by his taunts which led to my eyelids twitching somewhat, but that doesn't matter. I wanted to teach Noah a lesson.
”Alevian,” Loyd said with an oddly calm voice. Then, he looked over his shoulder at me, and that was when I saw the look of suppressed anger on his face that was restrained behind that smile of his. ”Just like old times?”
”Let's do this,” I nodded.