Friends?

Sorry, I’m An Anti-Romantic

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By Authoress Kamara

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Chapter 4: Friends ?

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“We will be having a group project today." The teacher says as soon as class began.

The students all groaned.

“Lighten up, it'll be the last assignment before the trip so you have a whole week to complete it. I suggest you use the weekend to do the majority of it. Anyway, I'm handing out the rubric so please read it thoroughly." She said.

The papers got passed down from front to back each row. Once it came to Aiden, he quickly skimmed over it.

"The project is a one hundred point formal? Oh come on!" One of the guys in the back complained.

"Yes, so that's why you should pick your partners carefully, don't just go for your friends. Make sure you all work nicely together and remember that you can only have up to four people, three is the bare minimum." The teacher replied. "Now without wasting any more time, please form your groups and begin thinking of a topic." 

Here it comes. 

Aiden Morales could feel the stares of his classmates as they eyed him from their seats.

He had recently become a big target in his class after the scores for one of the tests got posted on the wall.

The test was super hard by regular standards but Aiden landed himself at the Number 1 spot with a perfect score (of course).

Before he knew it, all of the students shot up from their seats and rushed over to him like wild animals.

"Want to be partners?" 

"Join my group!'

"I got the 15th top score, that's like-- only a few away from yours." 

Their pleads went on and on.

Aiden stayed still and turned his head away, not replying to anyone's requests.

If he didn't answer, he wouldn't have to join a group, right? He was going to be as stubborn as ever. 

The teacher seemed to be distressed at the situation breaking out, even she didn't know what to do. Everyone kept crowding around the star student, trying to get him in their group. 

"Mister Morales, please can you choose a group." The teacher pleaded, trying to end the chaos.

Aiden let out a sigh. He couldn't disregard his teacher's request, he always listened to higher authorities, being the perfect student he was.

In the end, he knew he'd be put into a group by force if he didn't choose so he decided he'd just get it over with while he still had the chance.

He looked up and tried to spot any decent classmates.

Maybe he could join the 'nerds' of the class.

They were hardworking though they were kind of stingy and strict. 

Another choice was the laid back kids, if he teamed with them, he could control the project.

But that also meant doing all the work which he was not in the mood for. 

Is there really anyone I can work with? 

Aiden felt as if he was incompatible with everyone.

Just as he was about to give up and just head over to the 'nerd' group, a shout ripped through the noisy atmosphere.

"Aiden!! Want to be in my group?".

He didn't even have to guess who it was.

The voice was pretty much recognizable.

Miles Parker waved from the other side of the room, hollering him to come over. He felt a twinge of reluctance as he saw the older boy but quickly shook it away.

Miles wasn't a horribly idiotic guy and neither was he amazingly brilliant but he seemed to be a better pick out of the bunch-- not saying that Aiden wants to work with him or anything. 

Aiden stood up from his chair and walked past the crowd of classmates.

"Fine. I'll join." He said. 

The classroom erupted in displeased groans as the top student became taken. 

"Okay everyone, group the rest of yourselves up and stop stalling, you have work to do." The teacher said as she tried to move everyone along. 

Aiden was now in a group with Miles and another classmate who seemed to be the older boy's friend.

"Hi, I'm August Hemsworth." The boy said, his smile was friendly. 

Aiden identified him as a fellow intellect.

He was quite aware that August scored quite high in other classes, even tying with him for some subjects.

Seeing this, he figured that this might not be a bad group after all.

"I'm Aiden Morales." He replied. The two boys shook hands.

"I have an idea for our topic”. Miles exclaimed enthusiastically. “We should do it on, 'Should toilet paper be over or under?' I think that it should be over!". He stated strongly.

Aiden couldn't tell if he was kidding or not but he sure hoped that he was.

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After a long conversation about what they would do their debate on, they finally had a 'good' list. 

- Toilet paper : under or over?

- Should you pour milk in before or after cereal?

- If you turn up the A/C does it mean it's getting colder or hotter?

- Can hotdogs be considered sandwiches?

- Are muffins and cupcakes just small cakes?

- If you remember something you forgot, did you really forget it?

They read it over and Aiden tried his hardest not to show how displeased he was.

Though he did have opinions on each topic, he wasn't sure if these were very strong arguments that were worthy of a formal presentation.

"What about we just do it on if military service should be obligatory?". Aiden asked.

It was an idea he thought could work since military service was not required in their country meaning that the topic was relevant.

The teacher would definitely like it.

"Oh, nice thinking." August said as he wrote the new idea down. "I think this might be the best idea we had yet. No offense to you, Miles."

"None taken. I guess Aiden’s idea might be a little better than the ones I've come up with." He muttered. "Let's just go with it, I trust 'Mr. Golden Boy' and his brains." Miles concluded and pulled out a computer to begin the research portion.

Aiden scoffed at the nickname but started working anyway.

Now that their topic was decided, they spent the rest of the period researching.

At some points, there were distractions-- a.k.a Miles Parker-- but other than that, it was a smooth working experience. 

Aiden and August even found dozens of sources for the topic and even started the presentation slides.

They didn't even realize that it was the end of the class until the bell rang abruptly and signaled for them to switch. 

Aiden didn't hesitate to leave, he was just hoping to get this long Friday over with.

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The end of the day had finally come.

It had been a pretty stressful week for Aiden but he was glad that it was over now.

He packed up his stuff and walked out of the school while simultaneously reading a book.

But as he was walking, a foot poked out in front of him and caused him to trip. He bumped into something, latching onto it to regain balance.

"Woah there Golden boy, slow down." A deep voice said directly into his ear.

He jumped back, immediately loosening his grasp on Miles’s arm as he saw two familiar faces standing in front of him. 

He stared at them confusedly but before he could ask anything, August stepped up.

"We decided that we should work on the project over the weekend. But the problem was....Miles and I couldn't do it at our houses so we thought that maybe we could work at yours instead?". The boy explained. "So can we come over to your house right now?" 

Aiden clenched his teeth lightly. He really didn't want to spend any more time than he had to with these guys and he really wasn't a fan of their idea to work at his house, but since this was education related.

“Fine." He muttered in response.

He figured that if he let them come and work on the project, they would finish faster which also meant that He could also get rid of them sooner. "Follow me."

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Aiden had never invited anyone over to his house before so this was a first. They walked behind him as he lead the way, chatting while he ignored them.

Once they neared his street, he took out his keys and opened the door for them.

As they were walking down the hall, his mother popped her head out from the living room as she had sensed the noise. 

"Aiden, don't forget to take off your-- are these your friends?" His mother asked, her face in shock.

He could already tell by her expression what she was thinking.

Miles and August politely introduced themselves.

His mother was overly delighted at the moment. "I never would've thought that my son would ever bring anyone here, he's so antisocial that I figured he was incapable of making friends!" She exclaimed. 

"Mom!" Aiden cut in, embarrassed by her words. "These are my classmates. They're here to work on a project so we'll be in my room."

He told her before heading upstairs with them, the two of the were both giggling as they followed.

Once they entered, he pulled out his computer to begin working while Miles went around his room, invading his belongings.

He opened drawers and pulled out his comic books.

"You like Marvel?". He asked, flipping through the pages. 

Aiden held himself back from slapping the comics out of the boy's hands.

"Yes. Now let's continue with our project-". Aiden stopped mid sentence as he saw the older boy opening another drawer.

He lunged and slammed it shut. "Stop looking through my stuff!" He exclaimed, raising his voice which was actually pretty rare for his usual calm and collected persona.

Miles only giggled. "Your toys are cute."

He was referring to the figurines of different fictional characters.

Aiden’s cheeks flushed from both embarrassment and fury. They weren't toys, rather they were collectibles but he didn't want to push further on the subject.

“Let's focus on the presentation Miles, stop being rude." August said, cutting in. "I linked all of our accounts to the presentation so all of us should be able to see it." 

They all logged on to their computers and began assembling their slides. 

Aiden and August would present the slides while Miles.....

"What do I do then?" He asked, seeing that the other two had claimed all the slides.

"You can be the slide changer for our presentation." Aiden replied.

"Hey! That's a worthless job! I don't want to just click a button every few minutes!". He whined. "I want to be in charge of presenting part of the presentation too, you guys can't do all of it or I'll get a bad grade." 

"Well I guess you can have a few of mine." August offered kindly. 

Miles then looked over at Aiden expectantly, waiting for him to offer up something as well. The younger boy glanced up and furrowed his brows.

"What?". Aiden asked, not catching the signal at all.

"Give me some of your slides, you have like half of them!" The older boy exclaimed. 

He glanced back at his computer screen then at Miles.

"Fine. I'll share some with you." He muttered back, implying that he would not give it up entirely. 

August giggled at the younger boy's reply.

“Looks like he doesn't trust you”. He laughed.

Miles pouted and turned around, crossing his arms. “Is that how you're going to treat me? I've been so nice to you and this is how you treat me? I'm smarter than I look, you know." He muttered as he worked by himself in the corner.

Either way, Aiden did share some of the slides with him as promised, allowing him to speak certain parts.

"Don't mess this up." He directed, very serious about his grades.

They continued to work quietly, the room filling with sounds of clicking as they typed away on their keyboards.

The project was progressing at a good pace as everyone's eyes were glued to the screen.

After an hour went by, there was a knock on the door and Aiden’s mother stepped in with a platter of cookies and some juice boxes.

"You all seem to be working hard." She commented, setting the plate down.

“Please excuse my son if he's being rude to you all in any way, I know that he can be like that sometimes." She added, aware of her own son's behavior.

“No worries, we're all use to his attitude Mrs. Morales. Thanks for the food”. Miles replied, earning a glare from the younger boy.

His mother laughed, already taking a liking to Aiden’s classmate. 

"I'm glad you're all getting along. How's the project going?" She asked, peering down at their computer screens.

"We're gathering some information. We're not too far into the assignment yet”. August replied. 

"Ah, I see. That looks really time consuming." She muttered as she glanced at their work. "How about you two stay over and tonight and finish over the weekend? I wouldn't mind holding a sleepover here for you two." She suggested. 

Aiden’s eyes snapped up to meet his mother's, giving her a warning look.

The last thing he wanted now was to prolong his time with his classmates-- time that he could be using to spend his weekend alone and by himself.

"I don't think that's necessary, Mom. We can finish it today." He assured, trying to get out of the situation.

His mother looked displeased with his statement.

"Well looking at progress we've made, it'd take another day at the very least to finish this. That is, if you want a good grade." August intercepted, hitting Aiden’s weak spot. 

Grades.

But even so, he wasn't up for a sleepover with his classmates.

He'd much rather just have them all work on it separately at their own homes.

Alone and far away from each other, the way it should be.

Aiden was strict on being independent so he wanted to avoid as much contact with his group mates as possible.

"Let's do it." Miles beamed, shattering his hopes. "I'll text my mom and ask her." He said and pulled out his phone.

Aiden’s shoulders slumped as he remained defeat.

He could never win against his mother, could he?

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To Aiden’s displease, August and Miles ended up sleeping over. His group mates decided that it'd be more convenient this way since they were all together now.

He wasn't sure about how much more of this he could take, he felt like his internal social interaction meter was almost at full capacity.

Miles stretched his arms and yawned loudly as he let himself fall backwards.

"I'm tired, let's go to sleep." He says as he laid on the ground, limbs sprawled in various directions. 

August nodded and closed his laptop, tucking it away into his backpack.

It was currently half past ten and they had already washed up and ate dinner after Aiden lent them some extra clothes to change into.

The three of them were all stuck sharing his room as the house had no other free space for his classmates to sleep in, though in reality, they had plenty of rooms to spare, his mother just insisted that they weren't clean enough for guests.

He knew it was just a facade and an excuse his mother made up to trap him in a room with his so called ‘friends’. '

Aiden laid down on his bed and pulled the covers up, not bothering to even look up or speak to Miles and August.

"Hey, you're suppose to offer up your bed to your guest." Miles said, pulling the covers off of the younger boy. He groaned and sat up. 

"And why's that?" He asked groggily. 

Miles and August were on the ground in futons.

"It's proper etiquette Aiden, haven't you heard of manners?" He asked expectantly.

Aiden rolled his eyes. "Well isn't complaining like this poor manners as well?" He mumbled but not loud enough for the older boy to hear.

Instead, he got off his bed as asked. "Fine then, I'll offer my bed to August." He decided, allowing his other classmate to take it.

"Wow thanks." August said in surprise. "I'll make sure to make good use of it." He added before getting cozy in the sheets. 

Miles pouted and crossed his arms, sad that his confrontation didn't go as planned. 

Aiden on the other hand couldn't care less. He turned off the lights and got down on the floor, slipping himself inside the futon farthest away from everyone.

After a few moments, there was a slight rustling sound as Miles finally got into his futon.

Aiden felt a little weird sleeping in the same room as two other guys that he didn't know very well.

But even so, he couldn't help but think about the whole concept of 'sleepovers'.

He had seen them in shows and he knew that probably everyone has been to at least one sleepover in their childhood.

But he had never been invited to a single one. This was an odd first for him. He quickly dismissed the thought, shaking his head as he tried to focus on falling asleep.

The room stayed silent for a few minutes, but soon enough, a soft snore could be heard from August. 

Aiden figured that the boy just have fallen asleep more easily due to the fact that he was in a bed. He tried to sleep, listening to the clock in his room tick every passing second. He turned over to his side, a bit restless in his stuffy futon.

Then suddenly, he felt something slip under his blanket from behind. He glanced down to see Miles’s foot in his premises.

Annoyed by the contact, he pushed the older boy's foot back, trying to make him stay in his own space. He then scooted to the opposite edge to get the furthest away from Miles as possible and closed his eyes.

The room went quiet and soon enough, Aiden fell asleep.

Hopefully, tomorrow would go by quickly.

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TBC

Written by Authoress Kamara