A Rhapsody for the Playboy

Lance Anderson  It was just a normal Wednesday night. Just like any other. At least that’s what I thought and felt. At least that’s how my life had downgraded the moment I dropped out of college. I may have peaked in high school and quite frankly, life has not been spoiling me with the great things there is to offer. Every day and every night was just a normal day to me and if this whole shit was a movie, I’d be nothing but a background character that’s just there for the sake of details. A few hours before I got to my singing gig, one of my band mates, Richard called to inform me about his plans to ask his girlfriend to marry him. I was happy for him and even though they only dated for about seven months, I just couldn’t disagree about his plans. Richard’s parents have been putting great pressure on him to marry someone and start his own family. They were aggressively rushing him as if it&rsq

Jayler Mendoza  Walking back inside the club, I was already expecting the neon lights to blast my eyes off and they did just as much as the booming music pierced right through my eardrums. The neon lights coming from the ceiling and who knows where else, were dancing crazily and at intervals they were going in sync with the beat of the music. I had to tardily usher myself towards the very back end of the room passing an entire sea of drunk people grooving to the remix of Roses by The Chainsmokers. "What took you so long man?!!” Kenneth raged the moment I showed up to our table. He was sounding a bit more impatient but that’s so expected of him. He’s always been that one friend who just can’t live a day without fuming over something petty. “And where the hell’s our cigarette?" He followed up making his already loud voice even louder, the sharp fragrance of impatience lingered a

Lance  The smell of freshly steeped jasmine tea invaded my nostrils as I stood firmly in front of the cash register, handing the tray to the old wrinkled lady who just ordered. I tried my best to smile as radiant as possible even though underneath the cloak of happiness, I was feeling the entire opposite. I woke up this day feeling rather sad and I don’t even know the reason why. My day job as a barista required having to put on a constant bright smile to encourage customers and bring such happiness to their day. I guess that’s too much for me for today. I used to take pleasure on smiling at random strangers when I first worked here a few years ago but over time, it became tiring and almost monotonous. It’s obviously fake and even with my co-workers doing the same exact thing as me, I knew they also feel like shit sometimes. Putting on a smile is one thing but having to put

Lance Dianna’s performance was just as sickening as what we’ve all been expecting from her. We don’t get to see a lot of his performance but every time we do, he’s giving it his all. He performed a total of five songs and probably earned a lot of cash than the next drag queen’s following the line-up. We saw a lot of people really cheering and screaming to her lip-sync performance and they kept on throwing cash at him.I met Daniel, Timothy and Bradey during my freshmen year in college and honestly they were the first group of friends that I’ve met. We just instantly clicked and that was the point where I regret not making a lot of friends back in high school. I was so focused on being the golden boy and being the perfect student that I greatly missed the real thrill that high school life has to offer. I remember those early college days when Daniel was still very much hidden in the

JaylerFor the rest of the period, I couldn't focus on anything that Mrs. Wanson was saying. Everything that’s coming out of her mouth sounded gibberish like she just came somewhere from planet Mars and decided to do teaching. My mind was helplessly conquered by the thought of being expelled. I know the letter doesn’t literally say that this was my last day at school but the thought of me being potentially expelled out of this school was killing me from the inside out.I have seen this scenario playing out in my head and honestly, I was pretty much certain that it won’t happen at all. But I didn’t realize it was actually going to happen even having the smallest chances of actually happening. I don’t really have to know the reason for the letter of expulsion coming in because I’m a hundred percent that it was all because of the photos that were posted online. That’s got to be it. I can’t think of anything else other than that.I’m very much aware that a lot of people saw the photos and