Chapter 3: Tomorrow

The cafeteria buzzed with liveliness at the arrival of the famished students. The air filled with loud buzzing as the number of students increased in comparison to the previous days, signifying the time of the week, Friday. Every Friday the cafeteria made a limited amount of cakes, which was a student favorite. Due to this, once the class ended, large amounts of students would rush in to get their hands on a slice.

Arystia and Aiden pushed through the crowd cluttered at the entrance, not fazed by the desire of the cake, but more so annoyed by the desire of it of other people. They walked by the other sections of the cafeteria, buying their food and drinks. They strolled to their seats with their food on their hands, and instead of the back view of the boy with short black hair and a light jacket, they saw the back view of a boy with short blond hair and a heavy coat. He was playing on his phone, and in front of him was a slice of chocolate cake, the very thing many students were now jamming the entrance for.

Arystia looked at Aiden hesitantly, hesitant whether they should sit there. Aiden nodded in confirmation and they went over to sit in front of the guy. Arystia felt very nervous, she wanted to sit elsewhere. The guy looked up when they approached, and called them over to sit with him. The duo both agreed that he looked familiar, but couldn’t recall from where.

“Thought you guys would never come.” He stated as they sat down uncertainly. He introduced himself and told him that he was Ian, the guy who always called Ethan away. He then showed them that Ethan was in line, explaining to them that Ethan had told him to watch over his slice as he went to buy two more.

“Why would he buy three slices?” Aiden asked, Arystia nodded.

“Dunno, ask him when he gets back.” Ian shrugged his shoulders.

The thee talked for a while before Ethan finally came back with his lunch and two slices of cake beside it. He placed it in front of Ian, telling him to leave, and playfully strangled Ian when he saw a bite mark on his slice. He exiled him from the table, from which Ian acted terrified and bid farewell to the three.

“Someone certainly likes to eat cakes.” Arystia commented.

“Nah, I actually wanted to buy a slice for you guys,” Ethan explained, pushing the two plates forward to Aiden and Arystia. Arystia thanked him and quickly dug in, while Aiden stared at it for a moment, feeling as if the good intention was intended towards Arystia instead of both of them. Ethan explained that the cake was to celebrate his second Friday in this new school, and that he wanted to share the love with his two best friends in this school, to which Arystia and Aiden both laughed at how stupid that sounded.

They talked briefly about Ethan’s school, to which Aiden noted that Arystia had opened up to Ethan much more. She was almost as relaxed around Ethan as she was with him, to which he felt a sense of jealousy and insecurity. He was afraid that Ethan would replace him, as those two were visibly growing closer while he felt that he and Ethan weren’t that close. Deep down, there was something more to his fear that he couldn’t quite fathom.

 

They returned to the main building after lunch, parting ways with Ethan at the stairways as they went in different directions. They had talked all lunch period and almost all recess period hadn’t Aiden realized that there were only ten minutes left until class started.

They walked to the classroom after packing their things, checking to see that there were still five minutes left. Upon opening the classroom, the four girls looked up in surprise, as if having been exposed. They quit talking about whatever they had been talking about before and quickly changed the subject. The atmosphere quickly became quite awkward.

Arystia fidgeted in her seat, worrying that they had been talking about her. She was sure they were, even though she didn’t hear a word of what they had said, but she guessed so through their faces. She remembered yesterday when Maria had confronted her about Ethan asking for her phone number. She had told Maria that Ethan asked for her and Aiden’s phone number, to which Laura asked if they were friends with Ethan. Aiden had replied that they were, and Maria asked Arystia to share the number with them, to which she wanted to refuse due to her hatred of the four girls, but had agreed due to her greater fear of them.

Aiden noticed the uncomfortable expression on Arystia’s face and asked if she was alright, to which she quickly put up a smile and pretended she was. Aiden wanted to say something more, but was broken off by the entrance of the teacher.

 

Later in the evening, Arystia talked on the phone with Aiden while she did her homework. She carefully brought up the subject of the four girls and what they might’ve been talking about before they entered the classroom, telling him that she worried they had been discussing about her. He quickly retorted that they weren’t as he had heard a section of their conversation while outside the classroom, he was interrupted by Arystia exclamation just as he was about to tell her what they had been talking about.

“Hey” The text read; it was from Ethan.

“What is it?” Aiden asked.

“I just got a text from Ethan.” She said.

“What did he say?”

“He just said hey, I’ll ask him what he wants.”

She put her pencil down and started texting Ethan. She forwardly asked him if he needed anything, and he replied saying that the new Star Battles movie was up, and asked if she and Aiden wanted to watch it with him.

“He just invited us to watch the new Star Battles movie with him tomorrow, you wanna come?” She asked, hoping he’d agree as she felt a little nervous at the thought of her and Ethan watching it alone.

“………” there was a pause on Aiden’s end.

“Hello?” She asked, she thought she lost connection

“Sure.” He agreed.

“Great, I’ll tell him.” She said.

Aiden stared at his phone as Arystia went silent, a sudden discomfort started building up in his chest. He knew that Ethan was interested in Arystia, but seeing the two become so close left a sensation of abandonment. If Ethan wanted to watch the movie with the two, why didn’t he ask him as well, instead of only Arystia? He placed the phone on his desk and looked at the worksheets in front of him. The odd feeling in the last few days was clearer now; it was some sort of jealousy and fear. He was afraid of a newcomer replacing him in his friendship with Arystia that took him years to build; he was jealous of Arystia receiving more attention from Ethan, even though all three of them were friends; he was jealous of Ethan for the attention he was receiving from Arystia, and he was afraid that Arystia would end up with the new student.

       Arystia looked at the text messages between her and Ethan, a smile making its way to her lips. She looked forward to finally spending some time with her friends and finally get her thoughts off the four girls for even a day. She knew very well that she was probably just being paranoid, but she couldn’t help herself. Aiden’s presence never felt enough to comfort her, and she sometimes even tried distancing herself from him so to satisfy her shallow desire of hanging out with the popular kids, much to her guilt towards him. Guiltily, she felt very proud to be a good friend to a popular kid like Ethan, even though she genuinely liked him as a friend, she couldn’t help but also like him for the feeding her vanity. She closed her eyes as guilt started seeping in, and started hoping for tomorrow to come.

       At the other end, a young lad lay on a bed in a dark room, the only light source being his phone screen. He repeatedly read the text messages shown on his phone screen, smiling widely in excitement for the arrival of the next day. He placed the phone on his chest and looked up at the ceiling. He’d get to spend time with his friends, one of them being his first crush from ten years ago. If I can’t revive the past, why not just create a new future? He thought, raising his hand and gently touching his right cheek.

 

       The afternoon sun shimmered as the it heated the streets of early March. Aiden waited outside the mall entrance, as he had been the first to arrive. He played on his phone while taking small, bored steps around the plaza. He welcomed Arystia when he saw her exiting from a car. She was dressed very beautifully, wearing clothes she seldomly did at school and having done her hair. He couldn’t help but gawk at her beauty, while silently feeling bits of jealousy.

       “You’re late.”

       “Sorry, there was a little traffic,” She looked around, “He’s not here yet?”

       “Nope, why? You wanted to make a grand entrance and impress him?”

       “Oh, hell nah! Shut up.” She slapped him.

       “Ow! I’m so jealous though, you always look like you just rolled out of bed when you hang out with me! And then here you are all dolled up, I swear you have a crush on him or something.” He teased.

       “Oh, shush! You know who I like.” She retorted.

       “Who? That little boy you kissed when you were six?” He asked. She nodded.

“Seriously though, I don’t even think that counts as a crush. Seems more like a psychological dependence to me.”

       “Well, at least saves me from liking idiots like you.” She teased.

       “Ouch! You hurt my heart!” He exaggeratedly acted.

They both quarreled for a while until Ethan finally arrived. They both scolded him for the tardiness, to which he bought a cup of milk tea for them both as an apology. The trio walked around the mall, chatting while waiting for the movie to start. They went to the game arcade on the third floor and bought some coins. Ten dollars for 90 coins, they each split it equally so that it was 30 coins per person. They roamed in the arcade together, challenging each other to the dance machine, to the basketball hoops, and then blew the remaining coins on catching dolls from the claw machine when the movie was close to starting. Ethan caught a small wolf plushie and gave it to Arystia, who gratefully thanked him.

They sprinted to the theatre in the last three minutes and thankfully arrived on time. They checked their tickets and marched inside, the movie starting just as they sat down.

 

       Night fell upon the busy city. The three younglings strolled on the road, having just left the mall. They walked for a short distance until they were faced with a cross road. Aiden parted ways with Ethan and Arystia, as he lived in the opposite direction from them, and the two were left to walk silently along the night road. Awkward silence bestowed upon the two, making the air slightly uncomfortable. Arystia wane to say something, but wasn’t able to open her mouth due to her nervousness. Ethan glanced down and noticed it.

       “So, um, do you live nearby?” Ethan broke the silence.

       “Oh, yeah, right around the corner over there.” She pointed with her finger.

       “Oh cool! I live just 300 hundred meters from there!” He exclaimed. “Surprising to see that we’re neighbors.”

       “I know right?” She said, looking at the direction of her house. A question suddenly came to her mind

       “By the way, how’s life in the states? It’s very different from back where you came from isn’t it?” She asked.

“Sure is! Not gonna lie, I kind of miss the giant sky scrapers everywhere.” He said, looking around, “And I also kind of miss the food, like hotpot and street barbeque. The style of eating is so different here, I guess I need some time to get used to it.” He said.

“Haha, well if you want to eat anything good you can just ask me or Aiden. We’ve both been living in this area for almost ten years now.” She said. Ethan looked at her for a long moment, as if something was on his mind

“Um, anyway, do you happen to be Sichuanese? Or from Chongqing perhaps?” She asked, looking away from his eye out of discomfort.

“Yup, I’m Sichuanese. How did you know?” He asked in the Sichuanese dialect, a dialect she only ever spoke with her Chinese side of the family.

“Well, you said you missed hot pot and street barbeque, and most people from those two provinces are fanatics of such type of spicy food, so I figured as much.” She replied in the same dialect.

“Oooo, seems we come from the same place!” He exclaimed, “Chengdu, right?”

“Yup, what are the chances!” She said, looking at him excitedly. His eyes didn’t share her surprise or excitement, but instead they expressed an emotion that looked like disappointment. That’ weird, she thought, but then again, he is a little weird some times.

The two continued to chat in their dialect as they walked, approaching their apartments. They carefreely talked about all sorts of things, both feeling glad to have found a common trait from each other that no other person had, that being a shared dialect and origin.

In the distance a girl walked alone while on her phone. She looked up at the sound of a strange language, and searched for its origin. She gaped as she saw who it was from: the couple that everyone in her class shipped, Ethan and Arystia. She creeped in closer, making sure to maintain a safe distance still. She held up her phone and silently snapped a picture.

“Well, this sure is interesting”