Hours later, the sun slowly begins to start descending over the campus, as the classes end and the students are released from another day of brain-breaking lectures. It was still a bit too early to have lunch however, and so instead, most students lounged around to pass the time.
One of the best places to do such activity was the dorm buildings, and there was no such exception for the fiftieth floor of Dorm Building A, as the floor wasn't exclusively composed of bedrooms, but also given an extravagant array of other rooms such as kitchens and lounges.
In one of the lounges, which sits closer to the edge of the building as evident by the large glass walls behind it to show the great blue supersun, Rohan seems to have reunited with the group, as they all converse while sitting or standing around sofas.
Rohan and Shuraj were sitting across from one another, both on their Connects, seeming to be working together, while Ara and Vrey talk next to each other on another sofa, and Ari and Sriya stand and speak. The group seemed to once more be in their own randomized pairings, as Rohan was helping Shuraj through the homework they were given, and Vrey was discussing upcoming shows with Ara.
Rohan peeks at Shuraj's screen, and he reads the lines of code written for a few moments, however his eyes stop short and widen. He then calls out, "You used the wrong variable there, you used...applejacks...instead of...what was your list name again? Why are you even using those names? They don't make any sense."
Shuraj smiles, and he shakes his head as if understanding something Rohan didn't, arguing "It gives more life to the project. It's…'flavor.' And you're right sorry, the list name is bumblebeegowee, I already told you this."
Rohan sighs in defeat, saying "You're lucky sound names aren't on the rubric, or you'd be done for."
Shuraj beams, and he responds, "Dr. Fred probably loves my names, that's probably why he kept that out of the rubric."
Rohan rolls his eyes, and he nods his head, sarcastically agreeing "Sure sure, he must be dying everyday to see what you came up with for your program, it's probably the main reason he keeps his job."
Shuraj snaps his fingers before pointing at Rohan, and he answers energetically, "Exactly!"
Rohan sighs, but before he could say anything else, he's interrupted by Sriya, who turns to Rohan and informs "Tryouts start in a week by the way, it doesn't seem like the school is wasting any time waiting for us to be ready."
Rohan turns to Sriya, and he nods his head, saying "I see, well I'll probably be chucked down into the lower team anyways, I'm not a pro player and I'd be too busy to worry about that anyways."
Sriya frowns at Rohan's response, and he argues, "You'll get into the top division my guy, no problem. We've been training harder than most people, and even though we might've not been scouted, we'll still show them all. Come on, have some faith, we'll be alright! We're going to be the first line, just watch!"
Rohan lifts his head up at Sriya, and he gives a soft smile, seeing that Sriya seemed optimistic about the tryouts and his future in the sport, and Rohan felt bad inside for shooting it down. He instead adopts a more optimistic attitude as well, and nods his head.
He answers, "Well then, guess all I can do is try my best. You'll easily get into the top division, that's no question."
Sriya follows with, "And you're coming with me, that's also no question."
Rohan chuckles, and he shakes his head, saying "I only played the little leagues back in grade school, but I'll see what I can do. I wasn't any top player though so don't expect too much out of me."
Sriya responds, "I judge by what I see, and I see a top division player. Sure you could bulk a bit more, but it's no question that you're super agile, that's going to pay big time. Being able to attack is no more important than being able to receive, and while being able to take hits is nice, avoiding them entirely is even better."
Rohan smiles, hearing just how complex of an understanding Sriya had in the sport, as he seemed to find qualities that even Rohan was blind to that could serve well. It was no mistake that Sriya knew what he wanted to do.
He nods his head, and says, "True, I'll remember that. We'll keep practicing, and hope that it gets us far enough."
Sriya smiles, and he says, "Of course we will. I can't wait to get my hands on their equipment too, I heard SAT has some of the most high quality gear of any college team, they get theirs custom made by legit top brands like Razer...wait I'm guessing you don't know what that is."
Rohan shakes his head, but he says "Well, I'm sure that's good anyways, and it sounds cool. Usually I've had to wear the cheapest stuff my parents could find, sometimes I'd just stop flying mid game and other times the puck would slip out of my hold, so I can't wait to get an upgrade. Besides, I was a sucker for those old suits, so I'll probably love whatever they have for us."
Sriya smiles, and he exclaims, "That's the spirit! This is going to be so roje!"
Rohan blinks twice in confusion, and he asks, "Wait, what does that mean?"
Sriya's eyebrow raises and he slightly tilts his head before answering "Roje? Oh, it's just like…'cool'...or something, I don't know, it's just a thing."
Rohan nods his head slowly, clearly still confused, and he says, "Right...got it. I'm guessing it's some slang. I should probably keep up with that stuff more, I just don't have the time."
Sriya smirks, and he sarcastically states, "You don't need to study it like you're gonna have finals on it or something. Anyways, I think later we were supposed to go to that one place with the real food, someone knows the place right?"
Ara nods his head, and he answers Sriya's question with: "That would be me. I got the place in my mind, I was thinking we should get going soon actually. The lines are probably going to be a bit long, and we don't want to be there too late."
Shuraj perks his head up, his face lit up with excitement after hearing the plans of getting food from anywhere else besides the main hall.
He turns to Rohan and asks, "Can we finish this later then?"
Rohan nods his head with a soft sigh, recognizing that it was futile to try to keep working, as the group was now on the verge of moving. He answers, "Sure, let's go," and turns off his Connect, closing out each of his screens before standing up.
Shuraj does the same, hastily closing his Connect and standing up, excited to get moving. He turns to Ara and nods his head before saying "Let's start going then, lead the way!"
Ara nods his head, and he begins to walk towards the elevator door opposite from the lounge. Shuraj follows next to him, and Rohan walks next to Vrey, who stretches his arms, seeming tired but eager to eat good again.
Rohan looks down at Vrey, and he asks, "Have you guys actually seen this building, or just heard about it?"
Vrey looks up at Rohan, and he smiles innocently before answering, "Don't worry, we checked the map, it's there alright. Honestly we should've gone sooner, we just had to make sure we had enough credits first you know."
Rohan nods his head and continues walking. However, he adopts a frown, as it comes to him that he still didn't have any excess money to waste on food, as while perhaps the rest of the group were able to get transfers by their parents, he hadn't mustered the courage to ask his parents for any.
He then sighs and says, "Oh...I should've probably done that too...sorry. I don't have any money, I forgot that we have to spend from our personal accounts for that."
Vrey frowns from the realization, but only seconds later he lights up with a smile, and offers "Don't worry, I'll pay for yours then."
Rohan's eyes widen, and he insists, "Wait no, it's fine, don't worry. I couldn't accept that."
Ara, who had already called for the elevator, enters the opening doors and into the pad. Shuraj follows beside him, and so does the rest of the group.
Shuraj activates the podium, and he presses on the holographic button of the lobby floor, triggering the elevator door to close, and for the pad to begin descending.
As the pad descends, Vrey responds to Rohan, assuring "Relax, relax, it's okay, my parents gave me more than enough money to share with some friends. They probably gave me extra for the point of sharing if anything. Come on, I'll still buy you something even if you say no."
Rohan sighs in defeat to Vrey's young energy, admitting "Fine, at least give me the choice so I can find something cheap."
The pad continues to descend down until it reaches the base floor, allowing the group to make their way out of the building and take the route to the food court that had been hyped up so much.
Ara is the first to get off the pad, and as he does, he projects a Connect screen in front of himself, and begins navigating through the SAT app to find the directions to the building.
Shuraj follows after, excited, as he makes sure to close the gap as much as possible with Ara, wanting to get to the building as soon as possible to finally eat real food again.
Rohan is the last to get off of the elevator pad, as he follows only a step behind Vrey. He watches as the rest of the group follow Ara in front of them, towards the exit of the lobby, where they would then go to get their first bite of premium foods after having been starved of it for countless weeks.
He smiles softly, feeling slightly guilty for agreeing to have his food paid for by a friend, but he was already devising a plan to pay him back, trying to think of tasks that might need a helping hand for completion.
As Shuraj walks next to Ara, he asks excitedly, "Wait, I don't know if you'd know this, but do you know if they might have NicRobbers there?"
Ara smiles, and he nods his head, responding, "I already checked, and they do, we'll be eating good tonight!"
Shuraj closes his hand into a fist, and throws it in the air in a public display of victory before exclaiming, "Yes!"
Rohan's eyes widens as well, as he is familiar with the brand name, as it is one of the few brands of fast food chains that he actually finds enjoyment out of.
Usually, he was extremely against such cheap food types, as he was a man that prioritized healthy foods such as greens, and normally he'd rather make his own food and eat it rather than taking such sugar foods. However, he was no longer given the luxury of making his own food, as while there was a kitchen, he lacked the ingredients to make anything in it. If he had to settle for fast food, it was a pleasant delight to hear that he could choose NicRobbers, as there were healthy alternatives presented, and the food was made with more care to add necessary components rather than most chains that simply slapped all the delicious flavoring onto a flat model and sold it.
He smiles as well, and exclaims, "Well, if I have to eat something, then I guess I'll get something from there as well!"
Shuraj turns his head to face Rohan with a grin, and he asks in surprise, "You too? Aye, I knew you were smart but I guess you still find ways to surpass my expectations!"
Rohan gleams, and he nods his head, finding humor in Shuraj's statement, and responding with one to emulate: "I guess the real test comes down to our orders however, doesn't it?"
The door opens up for Ara, and he walks out, followed by Shuraj, Sriya, and Ari. Vrey walks out behind them, leaving Rohan as the last to leave the dorm building.
Rohan smiles as he approaches the exit of the building, as he felt relaxed among his friends, and couldn't wait to go to this food court with them.
However, before Rohan could reach the other side of the exit, his Connect alerts him with the quick one-note ping that he'd get if he received a message, and thus he stops himself.
Vrey stops as well, and he turns to face Rohan, confused and waiting for the last member of the group to follow outside.
Rohan's eyes however widen, as he feels his heart drop, for he has yet to check the message, but he almost exactly knew what it'd be. He looks out the exit to see that the sun is already setting, and it could very well be 6:00.
To confirm, Rohan holds his hand out, activating his Connect to project a hologram out in front of him, specifically opening up the message he received.
As he thought, it was the first message of the recipient, the recipient being 'Erica Castus.' Rohan's eyes lower to read the message, causing the rest of the group to stop, and turn to face Rohan, as they all notice that he has stopped.
Rohan silently reads the message he received, which reads: "Heyy, I hope this isn't a bad time, but I was hoping if you could come now to help me for class like we talked about earlier. My roommate is out with her friends and I've been trying this but I keep getting confused. Anyways, my room is 'A49F12,' I'll probably be here for the rest of the day so you can come anytime really."
Rohan simply stares at the screen, as a concerned Shuraj asks, "Uh...Roh...you good?"
As Rohan silently stares, he receives another message from her, reading: "It's all good if you're busy by the way, sorry for taking your time. Just tell me if you can come or not, either works. Sorry again."
Shuraj and Ara stare at Rohan, worried, as he seemed to have dropped his energetic demeanor, and instead stood silently and alone, his eyes fixed on the screen.
Ara adds, also speaking with worry, "We uh...I still have the directions...we going right?"
Rohan lowers his head, and he lets out a sigh between his teeth. He then quietly and shamefully responds to his friends, "You guys keep going...I just remembered...I have work…."
Sriya's eyes widen, as the atmosphere falls silent, the group all staring at Rohan, not expecting a sudden split. Everything seemed to be going perfectly, and now for an unknown reason, Rohan had to disconnect from the others.
Vrey asks, "...But why-? I said I can pay for you, and if you have homework, you can do it with us there, right? There's no reason why you need to stay behind, we can work there, right?! Come on, it'll be fun, sure we'll do this again but still-."
Rohan shakes his head, and he, still quietly, responds "Sorry, I need to help someone, it's not my own work. I promised and then forgot, I can't abandon it. Sorry, I should've told you all."
Shuraj frowns, and he lets out his own sigh before saying, "I mean...can't you just tell them you're busy? It isn't your job that you're helping them, right? Unless you're getting paid, or something, which okay then collect those creds. But like...if not...then can't you decline, and come with us?"
Rohan reluctantly answers, "I can't just shut them down, they need help, I'm sorry. Maybe next time though. There'll always be a next time, if I'm not mistaken."
Shuraj nods his head, and he says in a depressed tone, "Yeah, I guess there is. But...you sure you have to go…?"
Rohan nods, and he says, "I do...have fun you guys."
Shuraj lowers his head, and he responds, "You too…."
Ara nods his head, and he turns around before continuing to walk away from the dorm building. Shuraj sighs, and he turns to Ara before following, not wanting to get lost behind, but feeling reluctant after having to ditch Rohan. Ari follows along, and Sriya pats Vrey's shoulder before the both of them follow the trail, all leaving Rohan behind, who was still in the lobby.
Rohan stands isolated in the bounds of the lobby, his Connect screen still active in front of his hand, his head low as for the first time he finds himself reluctant to choose work over play, as it would normally be an incredibly simple decision for him, one that'd require no excess thinking. However this time, even though this was for someone else, part of him still wanted to waste his time eating fast food with his friends. But it wouldn't be right.