Chapter 3

HENRY

The next morning, when it was time for me to get discharged, I woke up to my phone buzzing nonstop with notifications. Feeling a bit stronger, I reached for it and saw they were all from my roommates. I’d told the nurse not to let anyone visit me after everything that happened yesterday, completely forgetting my friends were already on their way.

I blinked as a headache washed over me. They definitely weren’t going to let this slide.

“Hey bubby, we’re at the entrance but we can’t get in.”

“Can you at least tell the medical workers to let us in? We’re your friends, you can say something.”

At first, their messages were calm, probably because they knew I was in the hospital. But after a while, they went back to their usual selves and started dropping insults. Typical.

“Dude, you better come down here and clear us in.”

“The clinic just told us you don’t want visitors.”

“Your brain must’ve gotten damaged during treatment. So now you don’t want to acknowledge us?”

Reading their messages sent a shiver down my spine. One thing was certain, they weren’t going to spare me.

While scrolling through the phone, the door opened, and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest.

I only relaxed when I saw it was just my nurse.

For a second, I thought it was Arda and the others. Honestly, I would’ve preferred fainting rather than seeing them right now.

I let the nurse do what she came for before asking, “I can get discharged today, right?”

She nodded. “Yes. I’ll bring the papers you need to sign.”

I nodded back and followed her to the doctor’s office. After getting my prescription and signing the final documents, I finally left the hospital.

I left the hospital around 8 a.m. and got back to my dorm by 10. As soon as I walked inside, I noticed the lights were off. I reached for the switch, but something felt off, so I paused and tried to step back out.

Too late.

A whole bucket of water came crashing down on me. I froze, staring at my soaked clothes.

Laughter exploded around the room as the lights suddenly came on.

My roommates stood there grinning.

“Why would you do this?” I snapped, raising my voice.

Honestly, I almost passed out from the shock, both from the weird feeling earlier and from the cold water splashing over me.

David’s loud laughter wasn’t helping.

“Hehe, serves you right. Be grateful we didn’t pour trash on you,” he teased, sticking out his tongue.

I almost marched over to smack his ridiculous head, but the others jumped in too.

“You stood us up yesterday. You better have a solid excuse,” Stellan said, lifting his hand like he was ready to fight.

“You guys…” I scratched my hair, desperately trying to think of something.

Two minutes passed. Nothing.

Then Arda stepped forward, eyeing me from head to toe. “I see you’re healthy now. Good, means you can take our punches.”

“Wait, wait!” I waved my hands quickly, knowing exactly where this was going. “I got so pissed at someone in the hospital that I forgot you guys were coming. I even told the nurse not to let anyone in.”

I spoke fast, too fast, leaving myself breathless by the end. The four of them stared at me.

“Are you serious?” Jay asked quietly. He rarely talks, but when he does, it’s always so direct.

I was about to nod when another question hit me:

“Who pissed you off?”

Damn. This was exactly what I wanted to avoid. It wasn’t hard to tell them what happened, but the name behind it? That was the problem.

I took a deep breath, and a low grunt slipped out.

“What’s wrong?” they all rushed toward me instantly.

My face twisted as I let out a louder grunt, looking like I was in pain.

Everyone panicked.

“Henry, what’s wrong?”

“Did you get discharged properly or sneak out?”

“Henry!”

I coughed lightly and forced a small smile. “I’m okay. Just a little pain.”

I watched their worry fade a bit. Thank God, they believed me. If I didn’t pretend, they would’ve grilled me nonstop, and I wasn’t ready for that conversation.

As expected, they dropped the questioning and focused on making sure I was fine.

The rest of the day passed quickly.

The morning after 

Sunlight hit my face, making me frown.

“Wake up, sleepyheads!”

I heard a voice somewhere in the background, but I didn’t move. I wanted to sleep all day if I could.

But he didn’t stop.

“Wake up guys, or I’ll use the loudest alarm to get you up!”

Nobody needed further warning, we all jumped up instantly.

“David, you’re so dumb,” Arda grumbled, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

“He really is,” Stellan added.

I couldn’t help laughing when David’s face twisted in offense.

“I’m not dumb! You should be grateful I woke you up,” he snapped, pointing at us. “Seems you all forgot what today is.”

“What?” Arda asked, sounding bored.

The rest of us didn’t look interested either. David wakes us up all the time, half of what he says usually turns out to be nonsense.

“The morning assembly!”

Those words hit us like thunder. My eyes widened instantly.

How could we forget the principal’s warning on Friday? He said everyone must be on time today, and here we were, still half-asleep.

We all turned to David with matching glares. “You! Why didn’t you wake us earlier?”

If Principal Shawn caught us late, we were done for. And yes, David would be punished too, but still, this was his fault in our eyes.

“Anyway, go wash up. I’m waiting outside,” he said, completely ignoring our complaint.

We didn’t argue. Instead, we rushed to shower one by one.

After getting dressed into our uniforms, we headed straight to the assembly.

From afar, we saw the crowd already gathered. As we walked closer, people began noticing us.

“Hey, Arda!”

“Ooh, I get to see your handsome faces this morning!”

“Come stand with me!”

David, Stellan, Jay, Arda, and I all smirked, our shoulders lifted as we walked with that effortless confidence.

Oh, did I forget to mention?

We’re popular at school.

Very popular.