All I Need is a Yes (Luna East Arts Academy)

I. Chad is Ditched

Chad couldn’t contain his joy. The result of his application to the university arrived, and the letter said he passed. He went to school the next day, bouncing off his feet—not because he was nervous, but because he was practically full of happiness to stay calm.

“Have you seen her?” he asked the ever-effervescent Toby Rubios, his seatmate and spy.

“Who?” Toby replied with confused brows.

“Megan. Who else? Have you seen her?”

“Oh.” Toby suddenly lost interest. “Think I saw her earlier. But no, maybe that was another. I’m not really sure. They all have long hairs. Girls.”

“Yeah, girls,” he said with fake enthusiasm. The truth is, he didn’t understand a bit about them.

“Anyway, if it’s really Megan I saw earlier, she’s probably with her posse now.” Toby shrugged. “Those bitches that couldn’t even afford to spare us a glance,” he continued with scorn.

“Megan is different. She’s not like them.” He felt like he needed to defend her. He always did.

“What?” Toby cried out. “Seriously? I know you’re childhood friends, but dude, can’t you see it? You can barely pass your exams. How do you expect Megan to like you back?”

But he wasn’t listening to his friend anymore, because from where he was sitting, he caught Megan passing outside his classroom. She looked more beautiful than usual. She had long hair, with waves he couldn’t help imagine getting his fingers lost. She had no dimples or marking on her face, but she always wore a smile that makes boys stop and forget where they were. She also had eyes that were so gorgeous any guy could drown himself in it.

“—Coz I’m not going to be there for you anymore,” Toby finished with a satisfied look on his face.

He didn’t catch what his friend was saying, because for a brief moment he was sure that he caught Megan looking his way. Their eyes didn’t meet, but he knew that she looked.

When she was gone, he looked back at his friend who was waiting for him to say something. He didn’t know what Toby was talking about so he just decided to agree with whatever he was saying. “Sure,” he said.

“Sure? Okay. So that’s it? Four years of friendship will go to waste because you’re insane? Fine! From now on, I’m not talking to you, again.”

He looked confused. “What?”

Toby just shook his head, turning away from him.

“Hey.” He poked his seatmate with the point of his pen. “What’s your problem?”

“I’m not talking to you,” Toby blurted out.

“Okay.” He withdrew the pen. “Sorry.”

At lunchtime, he was about to sit right next to Megan when he remembered that he had to straighten things out with Toby. As much as he didn’t want to, he changed his direction and went to sit with his friend. But Toby wouldn’t look at him.

“Come on, dude. Why aren’t you talking to me?” he asked.

Toby just continued eating his hamburger as if he wasn’t even there. Toby was a nerd, doing things that boys in his year level didn’t normally do. He watched Star Wars on repeat every weekend even though he already memorized all the lines that sometimes he sounded like Yoda. But he didn’t care. He collected Star Wars action figures, books, DVDs, and all its paraphernalia like it was the most normal thing to do.

“Dude,” he pleaded. He was Toby’s only friend. They had been seatmates for almost like forever. So he couldn’t understand why Toby was suddenly being a snob to him.