Gary hadn’t known Xin for long. In fact, he had only been able to talk to her occasionally. Whenever he did, though, everything always seemed to feel so natural to him. Although his heart was beating at a rapid pace when he would approach her, she had never been afraid even with his awkward actions and stupid face. Despite all his flaws that others had said to him, she had even agreed to go on a date with him.
‘My wonderful future days at Westbridge are over?’
“Hey, what should we do, bro? He hasn’t moved since this morning?” Innu asked, as he waved his hand in front of Gary’s eyes, who still hadn’t snapped out of it.
“It’s heartbreak. I don’t think there’s anything we can do.” Tom shrugged helplessly. “Gary always had a fragile heart. I remember when he confessed to Lily when we were in grade three, and Betty in grade five. Whenever he got rejected, he would be like this for a while. Last year, he even confessed to Yon Lee, but she said she wasn't into nice guys… wait a minute, Gary is that why you came back with green hair?!”
“You’re not alone, Gary, I understand your pain!” Innu put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Even if they say that ‘you're too much of a nice guy’, ‘you're not my type’, ‘I see you more as a brother’ or ‘I'm not looking for someone right now’, no matter which words they use, they were never going to go out with you. Those are all just excuses and lies!”
Judging by Innu's reaction, Tom guessed that the transfer student had also experienced his fair share of rejections.
“It's different this time.” Gary finally spoke up, yet his eyes continued to be lifeless. “This time I wasn’t rejected. Xin actually even agreed to a date… however, before we had a chance to go on one… she’s moved away.”
After all those years of rejection from countless girls, this hurt even more than that. He felt like fate was telling him that he was destined to end up alone.
It was currently lunch break, yet the green haired teenager lacked any appetite for once. Instead, he stared down at his phone, and hovered over Xin’s number. She had left him with it, so they could organise something, but he hadn’t received a text… the high schooler thought they might just talk about it in person.
‘Why am I still hesitating? It’s not like I have anything to lose, anyway. If she agrees, then I might at least have the chance to see her off.”
Tom noticed the change in Gary’s face as his best friend held the phone firmly in his hand.
[Mr Grey told us that you’re transferring. It's a real shame, I was actually looking forward to that date and getting to know you more. I guess your father didn’t want you in Westbridge after what happened. I don’t know if you’re even still in Slough, but if you are, do you think we could meet up?]
He had typed the message in one go, not really thinking too much about it. The high schooler didn't want to worry over making it perfect, or trying to write it again, otherwise he felt like he was just going to chicken out, yet his thumb soon hovered over the send button, hesitating to press it.
‘I…’
In the middle of his thoughts, Gary could feel heat creeping in on either side of his cheeks, and slowly a black nose and a white nose came into view.
“Just hit send, bro!” Innu encouraged him, snatching the phone out of his hand. “And let me adjust this a bit for you.” The teenager quickly added something before he hit the send button.
Immediately, Gary snatched it out of Innu’s hand. He didn't hold back with his speed, and his friend was quite surprised.
“Ahh! What the F*? Why would you add that?!” Gary shouted as he read Innu's little adjustment.
[From your Romeo, Gary.]
“She's going to think I'm so cringy!” Gary complained, yet while holding the phone in his hand, almost crushing it, all three heard a ding.
Looking down at the phone, the other two peeked over and all three of them read the message together.
[Sorry Gary, I’m still coming to terms with transferring myself. Thanks to Tiffany, I wasn't really able to get close to anyone at Westbridge, so apart from you, there wasn’t really anyone to tell that I would move. Honestly, it's pretty sad to admit, but you’re probably the only person I will miss. I'm still in Slough at the moment. Depending on how my new school life will be, I might come back some weekends, but I’ll probably be in another city most of the time.
[Anyway, a promise is a promise. While I would have loved to have a classical first date with you, I’m afraid that’s not really possible, but do you want to come over to my house for a meal today? It's the only way I think you’ll be able to see me. I would like to see you again, so I can explain everything to you in person. Oh, and it will be a meal with my parents, so if you want to make a good impression now would be the time.
From your potential Juliet:P]
“Whoa, that text actually worked, and you’re skipping right to meeting her parents? I don't know, man, aren't you crapping your pants right now?” Innu asked teasingly, turning to look at Gary’s face, but instead of worry, he was all smiles.
“Hey Gary, just to make things clear, you do remember that her father is Slough’s mayor, right?” Tom reminded his best friend. “You're going to have to put on a suit or something, and I know you ain't got one. I would have let you borrow mine… but I’m afraid that won’t fit you anymore. … also, you might change something else about your appearance.”
His sudden happiness started to disappear when he saw Tom point at his green hair, which thanks to the system might stay this way until the end of his days. There was nothing he could do about that, but getting a suit should be easy enough. Unfortunately, he didn’t know anything about them, but there was one person who he felt like would know where to get a suit from, and a good one at that.
Getting back on his phone, he sent two texts out, one accepting the ‘date’ as he asked Xin what time he should be over, and another asking his go-to person to get him a nice suit. The rest of the day couldn't move fast enough for Gary, and the good news was Rugby practice was cancelled until Mr Root was better and out of the hospital.
This meant he had even more time to prepare himself before the date. While walking out the school with Tom and Innu they could hear a bunch of the other students talking about something.
“Hey, did you see that car that's waiting outside the school gate?!”
“Yeah, I saw it from the window. Other than Xin’s bodyguards, I’ve never seen such a nice car in front of this school. Do you think there’s a celebrity waiting to pick someone up?”
“Dunno, but I’m pretty sure that was a Bersedez Menz, and those easily cost over a 100K!”
“What, that’s easily more than what our house is worth!.”
The three of them could clearly hear the excitement of the students, and it was spreading around quickly.
“Huh, who the hell would be stupid enough to buy such an expensive car? If it was me, I would save that money.” Gary scoffed as he heard it.
“I wonder who is here, though? Xin is no longer in the school, so they must be here to see someone, right?” Innu commented.
As the three of them continued to walk out of the school gate, they could see that students were crowded around the car. So much that the others couldn't even see it. Which was why the other three thought to continue on walking. That was until someone called out their name.
“Hey, Gary, where are you going?!” A familiar voice shouted. Turning around, Gary could tell it was coming from the direction of the crowd.
“Hey guys, would you mind moving out of the way?” A charismatic voice asked the students, and they quickly complied since there was a scary looking man in a suit standing right next to the teenager.
“Kai!” Gary shouted out of surprise, having recognised the voice. Judging by how close they were to the car, and the fact that he had claimed he wouldn’t be at school today, it was clearly his. He knew Kai was a rich kid, but to be this rich?!
“What the?! If you had such a nice car from the beginning, why didn’t you tell us about it?!” Innu complained. As he got closer, he noticed that the car wasn’t completely black. The chrome details on the windows, as well as the grill at the front, had a golden colour to it. Gary also saw this, which was giving him a weird feeling.
At that moment, Kai chucked over the keys, and his underclassman caught them mid-air.
“What are you on about? The car isn’t mine, it's Gary’s.”
All the students' heads turned to look towards the green haired teenager, even Tom. How could a normal school kid, like Gary, ever afford something like this?!