Since the cafeteria was packed with students, I decided to head to the convenience store instead. I had bought a few things there before, mostly ingredients for cooking.
It seemed a few students had the same idea as me because upon arriving at the store, I saw two girls exiting. Each carrying a bun and a soda pop. I held the door for them as they exited and then stepped in myself.
"Come on, man, it will be a pain running back to the school building and then coming back here. Can't you let me off just this once! I promise I'll pay you back later!"
It seemed someone else was in the store as I could hear commotion coming from the cash register the moment I stepped in. Feeling curious, I decided to take a look, and it was exactly who I thought it was.
It turns out the person arguing with the cashier was none other than Jeffrey. He was holding a pack of cup noodles in his hands along with a few chips.
"Is everything alright?" I asked, interrupting the two arguing.
The cashier was about to speak, but then Oliver cut him off, speaking as loud as ever.
"This guy is being unreasonable! I left my watch back at school, so I told him I would pay him when I'm coming back from school, but he won't budge," Oliver said, glaring at the cashier.
"If you don't have the means to pay for the items, then I can't allow you to leave with them. That is how our store operates. Instead of arguing, it would serve you better to go and get your watch," the cashier replied matter-of-factly.
The two continued to glare at each other with me standing off to the side.
In short, this was a trivial matter that I couldn't particularly say I cared for, but still… This might be a chance to get closer to Oliver.
"Hey, if you forgot your watch at school, then I can pay for the items for you," I said.
Suddenly, they both stopped glaring at each other and simultaneously stared at me.
"Really, man, you would do that?" Oliver asked, looking at me in disbelief.
"Sure, you can always pay me back later," I said.
"Yeah, no problem." He quickly responded with a nod.
With both Oliver and the cashier staring at me, I scanned my watch at the machine and paid for the items. They cost a total of 5 zencoins. Oliver thanked me and placed his goods in a shopping bag while I walked along the aisle looking at items that interested me.
In the end, I decided to get a pack of cup noodles. When I went back to the cashier, Oliver was still there; he was waiting for me, it seemed. I quickly paid for the noodles, which cost 1 zencoin, then went over to him.
"So, you decided to buy cup noodles too, huh?" he said as he noticed the noodle in my hand.
"Yeah, I wanted to try out the new flavor."
"Same. Hey, do you mind?" he asked as he handed me his pack of noodles.
I took it from him, then went over to the hot water dispenser, filled them both, and then returned with them. After exiting the store, we settled to eat on a bench on the path back to school.
"I'm Jeffrey, by the way."
"I'm Damien, we're actually in the same class."
"Wait, we are?" Oliver looked genuinely surprised. "I'm sorry I didn't notice you."
How could you when you spend all your time in class gawking at the girls like a starved lion.
"We are really lucky, aren't we?" he said before taking a sip of his noodle.
"Lucky? How so?" I asked.
"You know, to have a girl like Kiki in our class," he retorted as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh, I guess. She is pretty."
"Pff!"
Oliver choked on his noodles until a few began coming out of his nostrils.
"She's more than just pretty," he hissed after regaining himself. "She's gorgeous. An absolute angel. The moment I saw her, I decided that I wanted her to be my girlfriend."
"Go for it, you may have a shot," I said as I listened to him absentmindedly as I ate my noodles.
"Really?! You really think so, man?" Oliver shouted, spittle flying out of his mouth. Forcing me to move to the further end of the bench.
The two of us continued talking for the remainder of the lunch period as we ate our noodles. The conversation flowed easily between the two of us. There was little to no awkward pausing. Despite his strange obsession with getting a girlfriend and his obvious pervertedness when talking about Kiki, he wasn't a bad person.
Soon, lunch was over, and we both threw our empty cups inside the bin next to the bench.
"Hey, we should exchange numbers," Oliver suggested, pulling out his phone as we got ready to head back to the school building.
"Sure," I responded, taking out my phone.
The two of us exchanged numbers, and just as we did, we heard a loud voice call out to us.
"Hey, how much money do the two of you have?"
Immediately, the both of us turned our heads in the direction of the voice. Standing in front of us was a male student with a muscular build and fiery red hair scowling at us. He stood with both hands inside his pockets. Just looking at him, you could get a feel for how angry he was.
Oliver looked the student up and down before blinking twice.
"Huh?"
Hearing Oliver's response and seeing the stupid look on his face, the student's face twisted in anger. He grabbed Oliver by the collar and lifted him up in the air.
That's just like you, Roku, always so quick to anger. Only you would be foolish enough as to try and extort students outside in the open during school hours, no less.
"Hey! What's your problem?" Oliver squirmed and thrashed around, but when he met Roku's cold eyes, he suddenly went docile like a dog being put in its place.
"I need 500 zencoins. The two of you aren't leaving until I get it," Roku said, glaring at the two of us.
"Look, man, I don't have any. I left my watch…"
Immediately as those words left Oliver's mouth, Roku's fist impacted with his stomach, forcing him to puke out the noodles he just ate. Oliver clutched his stomach and fell to his knees.
Roku scowled at Jeffrey slumped over on the ground and then turned his attention to me.