I arrived at school just in time for the event. I thought that was not going to happen, because the traffic was abnormally horrid this morning. Sure, that gave me a lot of time to listen to some of my favourite songs, like the very popular We Found Love, especially since it was more than fit for the morning atmosphere, and even more so for a special moment like this. Hot Girls, a Romanian EDM classic, was another good one. Whatever the case, I got to the bus station near the school with only minutes to spare, enough to buy two rose bouquets, given that I hadn’t taken my wallet out of my bag.

Strangely enough, not everyone was in the school yard yet. Yes, Mrs. Foster was here. Likewise, Mr. Spencer and Mrs. Rogers were here too, but other than them, I was the first chap to arrive. What a great time to get compliments, anyway…

“Wow, I really like your suit, mister. Did you buy it just for this one occasion?”, said Mr. Spencer in a way so cheeky that I can’t even begin comprehending it. “And those flowers? Mmm, beautiful, are they for the teachers?”

“Uhm, thank you, sir…”, I said, awkwardly, “and, yes, the bouquets are for the teachers…I was told two of the three were female.”

I don’t mind getting compliments from anyone, much less from a teacher, but it felt like the most awkward moment for them. But that was merely the beginning of it before my classmates involved in the project arrived, and that meant tens of compliments in addition. Superb. Well, that’s still not everyone. To be fair, Alice and Ava were in a special bus to get the Irish from the airport to our school, so their absence is to be understood.

For that while, I thought that Luke was going to be completely absent. Not the case anymore, because here is Luke walking as if he was a superstar, with a full suit, pair of gloves and pair of sunglasses, but the style was the cherry on top. I guess that explains why he was not at school yesterday.

“Damn!”, said everyone, apart from me and the teachers.

I knew that Luke had good fashion tastes and liked dressing up in outfits considered decent by all standards, at least whenever he could, but, man, that was a revelation, because this was my first time seeing him in an actual suit.

“Aye, lad, I like your outfit! It looks very good on you!”, I told Luke.

“Thank you.”, said Luke, pure and simple.

It seems that something else had changed besides his way of dressing up, though. What happened to those days when we greeted each other and never stopped talking to each other? He’s now silent or barely talks at all. It can’t be another ego of his, right? That’s what I thought. Perhaps I am wrong and he just wanted to act serious this one time. It’s not bad per se, especially since it’s one of our school’s most important events after the pandemic.

“Why are they so late?”, asked Nancy, another classmate of mine.

“Who knows?” I answered. “After all, they do have the cross the Irish Sea in one way or another. If they first go to Belfast, they have to get something to get to the coast thereafter, and then something else to London. It’s much more straightforward to just go to their airport and buy tickets to London.”

I looked at my watch and checked the time again. It was 9:58am. By now, I missed almost one hour of waiting, while everyone else was talking about…whatever girls usually talk about, save for Phillip and Kevin, who were talking about instruments. Luke seemed to have isolated himself and distanced away from me, which I still find weird.

Just seconds short of 10:00am, the huge cab with the Irish, Ava, and Alice inside arrived just outside the schoolyard. At exactly 10:00am, everyone got out of the cab, greeted each other, and I gave the two female teachers my bouquets. Perhaps all of that effort from this morning was worth it. This was also the very moment our principal got outside the schoolyard, wishing us the best for the cultural project. Finally, we got some group photos together before we got inside the school and gave our lovely guests the tour, the honour being given to yours truly.

The basic part of the tour didn’t last very long, because everyone was desperate for a bathroom. Waiting for everyone to be done was more entertaining than the tour itself, in fact, though I did try to turn down the boredom factor as much as possible. A for effort, as they say.

From 10:15am, there were two classes, when we spent some time together. The first one was a history class, and the other was a geography class, pure and simple. Elements from both countries had to be involved anyway. There was a little bit of communication between both sides during that 15-minute recess between 10:45am and 11:00am. That’s how I got to know all of the boys, especially my two dedicated guests, Logan and Ayden. Logan definitely seemed like he was the oldest one in the entire group, whereas Ayden was more or less one of those hooligans from the looks. It’s way too early to judge, however, so I can’t say more.

The bell rang at 11:45am, and it was our lunch break. We all got to the cafeteria with the ordered lunch for this very occasion, and we have a pretty long table too. It took us this long to finally begin introductions, and the part where almost everyone got truly pissed.

To be frank, talking about yourself these days isn’t exactly such a comfortable subject anymore, not even if all you talk about is your hobby, your name, or if you just say that you’re delighted to be part of the project. The last two had to be done anyway. Of course, the teachers took the initiative. They did say we shouldn’t have an introduction that was too long, as it would bore everyone else. That makes sense until you put that into practice, when I was the only one who said anything more than their name and “I’m delighted to be part of this project and I hope that our collaboration will stay strong”, and that was just on our side. Luke did add a thing of his own, which was fair in my opinion, but that was it. The Irish side, save for the teachers’ parts, was, in the most literal way possible, bleak. Man, I get the emotional closure, but…come on…

Our lunch break ended after 12:30pm, and we went back to class. The food wasn’t bad at all. Not the first meal I’d ask for if I was suddenly reborn, but it wouldn’t be far from it. That was the third and final time we had something close to normal school together. The class interaction ended at 1:15pm, and that was when we had to temporarily separate, as the Irish had one final class. This time, it was just them, and it was longer than the other three classes.

We retreated to another classroom, one that was not far from theirs, and we were given enough time to talk about absolutely everything that had to be discussed, because we had to end the day on a high note: a show. That was planned. What wasn’t planned, however, was every classmate of mine not part of the project leaving school. Mrs. Foster definitely got angry because of that, and demanded that everyone who left return or they’d face serious consequences. That would naturally mean having your discipline grade reduced or being given some bad marks…or worse.

There was one issue that had not been talked about just yet: what to do in the evening. Yes, spending time with our guests in the evening was also planned, but we did not plan where exactly to go. The girls proposed a visit to a mall, a big shopping centre while also having a few restaurants and cafeterias designated. I had to talk to my parents about this and, naturally, they were fine with it. It was all dependent on what the guests wanted, not what we wanted, and if they wanted to stay at home, we’d all stay at home and it was not to be disputed. The conversation went something like this:

“Hey, gals, what are you talking about?”, I asked.

“Plans for tonight. We want to go to Westfield, since the mall is pretty good,” said Alice.

“Are your guests willing to go, though?”, Ivy asked.

“I mean…why not?”, I answered. “I don’t think it’ll be much of a problem. I’m fine with it, my parents are fine with it, and the boys don’t seem to show displeasure when going out.”

“Fair,” said Ava, “that’s all that matters anyway.”

“Yeah…it does,” I said, “but at what time?”

“8:00pm…8:30pm…those should be fine. Can you make it?”, Ivy said.

“Of course. Thank you.”, I answered.

I did remind myself that, at that mall, a King of Fighters tournament was getting hosted right on the 21st. It was of course, much later, at about 10:30pm. Someone recently announced that they’d get a replacement, as they can’t arrive for medical reasons, and I was selected as the replacement. Luke also had to replace someone for emergency’s sake, so it was perfect. Not to mention that I got a few spectator tickets that I could just give to anyone interested in seeing a video game tournament.

On a somewhat strange note, Luke disappeared again, or that’s what I thought at first. He did come back after a while. Who knows, maybe he just went to the bathroom and didn’t ask our headteacher for this. Being part of the project, he had no excuse or way of leaving the school. He was also part of the show, so this only further disallowed him from defecting.

The final class ended at around 2:45pm, and we were informed by Mr. Spencer immediately to get our stuff packing for the show. We did that, although we had to double check to make sure we hadn’t forgotten anything. Since our school didn’t have its own amphitheatre, we had to go to one that was opened just for us right around the corner. Of course, everyone had to be outside the schoolyard before we left for the amphitheatre.

This got me a few more minutes to talk with Logan, who proved to be more sociable than Ayden, but, again, it’s too early to judge.

The show started only 30 minutes later. Out of respect for the Irish, the first moment was actually the introduction to the project, and the Irish went first. I’m convinced they tried to improvise or remember what they had to say for each of their national figures, but some just couldn’t handle it and used their phone for their script. This left me with a question mark, but, hey, at least my mate Logan had a very good saxophone performance.

After about 30 more minutes, their turn ended, and ours began. Of course, our moments were definitely more appreciated, with quite a few artistic moments of singing and even theatre, but with contemporary sketches, some even written by us, instead of actual important pieces like Romeo and Juliet.

It started with the school band bringing their instruments, and I was the lead, pulling off a fantastic re-enaction of Don’t Stop Me Now, one of the best songs to exist, as well as Mr. Blue Sky, where Luke had to accompany me, and for something a bit closer to our times, Me And My Broken Heart.

It left everyone impressed, myself included, but I definitely felt the need of drinking some water afterwards, so I went behind the curtain to drink water. Thankfully, the next and final song was Make It Shine, and a girl had to sing instead. However, there was barely any water left: just a small bottle that was drunk almost immediately. It was only enough to get me through the sketches, but definitely not enough for the rest of the day. Yikes!

The songs were followed by a dramatic recital of Golden Eyes, by another girl who wasn’t in our class, Daphne Shaw. That wasn’t too exciting, but it was important as we had to change our outfits for the act.

The last part of the show before the ending was a sketch written by me and Luke, with the assistance of Mr. Spencer. The sketch revolved around speed and the awful management of police officers. We thought it would fit the theme for both countries, and it served as a parody of a problem happening all over Europe: exceeding the speed limit. For the sake of creativity, I’ll reveal the sketch and how it went.

It starts off with the police officer, portrayed by Luke, raising his hand, signalling the driver, portrayed by me, to stop. Of course, we didn’t use an actual car, so we improvised with a golf cart, which was good enough for a skit like this one. We also had to change our accents slightly…and it was uncanny.

“Inspector Harper from the police station, you have the right to show me your permit,” the officer exclaimed.

“Excuse me, sir, but what have I done?”, the driver asked.

“I have no obligation to disclose this,” the officer responded.

“What do you mean by that? I want to know; I have the right to know!”

“Are you resisting?”

“No, I’m not, far from it!”

“Want me to put you under arrest for 30 days for disobeying the law?”

“Officer, just tell me what I’ve done wrong.”

“You were driving above the speed limit.”

“No, I wasn’t. It only showed me 40 kilometres an hour.”

The officer chuckles in a very cheeky way, and slightly puts down his sunglasses to signal that it’s a serious business.

“Bloke, are you blind?”, the officer asked.

“I’m not, sir. Why are you asking me this?”

“It said 400 kilometres an hour!”

Everyone began laughing.

“400?! Officer, that’s absurd!”

‘Hey, don’t insult the radar or the law, cause the law didn’t insult you, please!”

“Sir, how can I go at 400 kilometres an hour, if I, not once in my life, managed to get past 100?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, that’s what you all you say…”

“And, dare I say it, I don’t even like speed all that much. I’m from Nottingham.”

A moment of silence.

“No one is perfect, what can I say?”, said the officer.

Everyone laughed, again.

“Sir, I still refuse to believe I went 400 kilometres an hour. At that speed, I’d be roasted pork in an instant, for the rest of my days!”

“Who are you to say that?”

“A man who knows the laws of physics!”

“Well, if you know the laws of physics, how aren’t you aware of the laws on speed limits?”

“I’m more than aware of that, officer. That kind of speed would break physics as a whole, especially if I had to hold that brake and stop right there, dead!”

“Whatever, I’m still giving you a fine.”

“That’s just service abuse!”

Another officer, portrayed by Nicholas, someone from another class, intervenes quickly.

“Stop right there!”, said the second officer.

“This is bollocks…”, said the driver.

“Show me your permit!”

“I’ve already shown my permit to your colleague! Why would I show it to you, again?”

“But that’s not my colleague!”

"What, are you accusing me of being a faker?”, said the first officer.

“What do you have to lose, anyway?”, said the second officer.

“You know what? How about you two show me your badges?”, said the driver.

Both officers presented their badges. They turned out to be fake.

"I’m telling you to the real police. Farewell,” said the driver before driving away at the same speed he was going before he was stopped by the first officer, who was just as fake as the other one.

“Great. Because of you, we lost another chance of getting more money!”, said the first officer.

“Not my fault you did a poor job,” said the second officer.

“Hey, shut up, no one asked for your opinion,” the first officer responded with a grain of rage.

“Does one even have to ask for an opinion?” asked the second officer.

It turned out that the driver was actually just another police officer. This time, however, he was a legitimate one. He appeared, driving a police car, with the siren activated.

“Oh, no! We’re doomed!”, the first officer exclaimed!

“Freeze! You two are under arrest for power abuse and bribery, you have the right to remain silent, and anything you say will be used against His Majesty!”, said the driver before arresting both officers.

“Hey, that’s unfair! He started it all!”, said the second officer.

“Did not!” said the first officer.

The two officers continued to fight until, eventually, the driver tased them and got them both into the car, on their way to jail. The skit ends right there, and it was met with a round of applause, ending the show.

Several more group photographs were taken. The first ones were of just the Irish, the next ones were of the ones involved in the show, and the last few ones were of everyone.

We all left the amphitheatre and talked for a bit, mostly about the performance of everyone involved, before we all went home to eat, drink some tea, and then go to the mall. While I was waiting for a cab alongside Logan and Ayden and as we got away from the rest of the crew, things got weird with Luke and the twins. They introduced themselves to be the Donovan brothers, Leonard and Patrick, and they don’t look like they’re the best examples that Luke could have gotten exposed to. They were very loud and just not fun. That may partially explain him getting distanced, but even so, that can’t be a valid excuse for what’s going on. Gee…

“Hey, what’s going on right there?”, I asked.

“The Donovans acting the maggot as usual,” said Ayden.

“As usual? That’s not good at all!”, I exclaimed.

“Sure look, what can ye do?”, said Logan.

“I fear they’ll influence Luke negatively,” I said, worryingly.

“Ah, don’t worry, they’re just a little gas,” said Logan.

Just seconds later, he realized that the language barrier got a little bit too thick for my understanding, and he apologized.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot you’re not too familiar with our slang words. Does it mind you?”

“Not really, as long as I can understand the idea of what you were trying to say,” I answered.

“Alright, then,” he said.

The cab arrived. The whereabouts of Luke and the Donovan brothers stayed unknown for me, so the most I could do is trust the boys, in the way that they were not actually harming Luke and they were just playing around. Either way, an accidental break of our friendship is really the last thing I want at this time.

What happened in the cab was uneventful, as I only gave the boys the tickets and explained the basic stuff of the tournament and how I’ll be participating. They understood and no questions were asked.

At home, we ate fish and chips. Both Ayden and Logan were genuinely delighted, although Ayden did have to put some lemon juice on fish to enhance the taste a bit. Pretty creative of him.

“So, are you 100% sure you want to go out?”, I asked.

“Yeah, of course. It’s also your time to shine, it wouldn’t be fair to stay at home and miss it!”, said Logan.

“Exactly,” Ayden agreed.

“Are you talking about that tournament?”, Mom asked.

“Yes…it’s at that mall where everyone is going. It’s at 10:00pm, so I thought I’d give everyone a spectator ticket until 30 minutes before it starts,” I answered.

“Hmm…alright, then. Don’t get sick, sweetheart!”

“I hope. Thank you.”

We left the house after dinner and got into another cab. This time, the destination was the mall. In spite of the traffic, we got there about half an hour before it turned 8:00pm. This gave us enough time for some shopping and exploration. At 7:55pm, I sent a message on the Instagram group in case anyone arrived. The conversation was bleak.

“Where are you lads at?”, I asked.

“At the mall,” Christine answered.

“Right, but where exactly?”

“There’s that bar outside. That’s where we are.”

“Thanks.”

It was about to turn 8:00pm. The boys were looking at perfume, so it was the right time to tell them that we had to go to the cafeteria to meet the guys and gals, while giving them the extra minutes so they can admire the perfumes. However, they first had to go to the bathroom, and the mall was pretty big, so we had to rush.

Alas, it took us a few more minutes to find out where the cafeteria was. That was a mistake on my part, since I should have gone outside more often, but we did get there eventually, and we saw Christine with one of her best friends and her guest, Emily, who was acting significantly shier than everyone else, even compared to me, an already somewhat timid person.

“Good evening, ladies,” I saluted.

“Why, hello there. Those are your boys, I assume,” said Christine.

“Yes, indeed.”

“Does anyone mind if I sit at that head of the table?”, I asked.

“Not at all, just take a seat anywhere you want,” Christine answered.

While I took my seat where I wanted, the boys only left their nightlife stuff and went back outside to smoke. I almost forgot that I live in the age where underage smokers exist. That won’t do well to their brains, but I can’t stop them either, unless they’re at home.

“Where did they go?”, Emily asked.

“Outside, they’ll probably come back soon,” I answered.

Several minutes passed and, of course, several more of the group arrived at the bar. This was a good time for me to give invitations to everyone, so I did just that. Of course, it was not without questions.

“Hm, what is this?”, Christine asked.

“These are spectator tickets for a video game tournament that takes place later tonight, at 10:00pm. I was not supposed to be there except as a spectator, but things changed very recently,” I answered.

“How?”

“Two people announced they can’t come, as something urgent intervened, so I took the spot of one of them and, of course, Luke took the other spot, so there’s a good chance we’ll fight each other.”

“Oh, yeah, because it’s the King of Fighters…”

“Exactly. I thought it’d be the perfect activity for the night, especially considering we now have a bunch of guests to serve. That, of course, depends on how you’ll be, that is if you’re still around by then.”

“You don’t have to worry. We’ll surely come.”

“I’m more worried about our guests than ourselves.”

After that, I chuckled slightly. Of course, while we were talking, more of us arrived. Unfortunately, despite the table being one of the longest and largest in the bar, there was no longer enough space, so we had to compress ourselves, get more chairs or just…stand up. Something that I did for a tad bit before someone was generous enough to lend me another chair.

As for orders? Well, plenty of us got either the typical pop or, hilariously enough, beer, even if everyone is a minor. I ordered a cocktail containing zero alcohol: a summer-themed drink with green liquid and some cherries on top. It was incredibly sweet. Perhaps, a bit too sweet. My stomach didn’t bode well. Ruby, another one of the guests, tasted it and thought it was fine. Well, it doesn’t seem like I have the worst tastes in the world, after all.

The gathering lasted at least another hour, and almost everyone was present. Indeed, I said almost. Three were still absent, those being Ava from our side, who, as I mentioned, had two boys to host, those being Robert and Mark. Well, that’s disappointing. I guess it was them refusing to go and she didn’t insist all that much? Not that she was supposed to, anyway. The one who showed up last was, unsurprisingly, Luke and the twins, dressing up in an outfit which may as well be above the entire spectrum of elegancy because the suit was differently fancy.

That aside, at around 9:05pm, both him and I were notified by the tournament to show up at least 30 minutes before the tournament actually started. The notification went something like this:

“Attention, all participants: we strongly recommend showing up as early as possible, preferably at least thirty minutes before the tournament begins! This is in order to prevent the human traffic going on within this last half-hour! We thank you for understanding, and we wish you the best of luck!”

I was in shock.

“Oh, lord…”

“What happened?”, Ivy asked.

“We have to be at the tournament location as early as possible…it starts at 10:00pm, and we have to show up at least 30 minutes early…”, I said.

“Aren’t we supposed to wait for everyone to come, though?”, Nancy asked.

“Well, it looks like everyone is here,” Amira answered.

“Not really. Ava and the boys are missing, and they will not come,” said Ivy.

“Did the boys refuse?”, Christine asked.

“I guess that’s the reason,” Ivy answered, “but everyone else is here, so it doesn’t matter that much.”

“True. Let’s go!”, I exclaimed.

Everyone paid for their drinks, sometimes even for the guests in case they didn’t have a lot of money left. We tried to pay as fast as possible, but it still took a good few minutes. The time was ticking.

Nonetheless, we were ready to go and we went straight to the electronics store, where the tournament took place. There were two entrances: one for the participants and one for the spectators. We had to split, which confused some of my classmates.

“Wait, where are you two going?”, Amira asked, referring to me and Luke.

“There is a separate entrance for participants. We’ll be on the big scene, so stay tuned! See ya!”, I answered.

“Oh, ok, see you!”, said everyone else.

It was the time. Each participant had the right to pick a song for their entrance, and it didn’t matter if it was copyrighted or unpopular, unless it was unique, with the exception of agreements that were supposedly announced in advanced. so, everyone involved got one. The agreement between me and Luke was that we’d both use the same theme to signify our friendship, and the agreement was even shown to the tournament manager. We went with Never Be Alone. That is the theme I sticked to, simply because it sounded nice and it meant being together, though it was more in the sense of love than in the sense of friendship.

The clock turned 10:00pm. Of course, the bell rang, and the tournament was about to begin, starting with the host’s appearance. People, of course, were cheering for him. It was a pretty short appearance, mostly to introduce the tournament and naming all of the participants, including the two disappointing disappearances and, evidently, us, the two replacements.

Thankfully, this was a rather small local tournament, and 16 people were involved. Of course, it was going to last much longer than expected, because the ladder is not completely linear. Losers’ Finals, for example, had to be considered, since participants had different outcomes.

To start the tournament off on an apparently sudden note, the first match was between me and Luke. I made my entrance. Unsurprisingly, not a lot of people were cheering for me, since they barely knew me at all, though I can’t say I didn’t have experience of playing the King of Fighters to have a good reason for being unpopular. Some of the cheering also came from the theme.

Luke, however, made his entrance too, and it seemed like he broke the agreement by picking a different theme at the last second. Probably to add salt to injury, he went with one of my favourite themes, My Passion. Effectively, he broke the agreement, although that isn’t necessarily banned as long as the final theme is different from anyone else’s. We got close, face-to-face, and I showed good sportsmanship with a handshake for good luck. Luke responded in a pretty weak way, as if he already got bored of the tournament, or me…or both.

Nonetheless, we picked our fighters. Luke is pretty good at fighting games in general, but that was mostly Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, which are much more popular these days. When it comes to the King of Fighters, it showed that he didn’t have as much practice. Being a fighting game aficionado, I had more experience. Unsurprisingly, I beat him, though it wasn’t a blowout and he did pull a good fight. He got angry, but didn’t really show it.

The next several matches were relatively uninteresting outside of other players’ fame. Some did end with some special moves or combos, but it didn’t really feel as exciting as my first match with Luke was. Yes, you read it correctly, first match.

Luke won every other match he was involved after that. Sadly, I did lose once, which got me to the Losers’ Semi-Finals, where I won. which gave both of us a second chance to fight each other in the Losers’ Finals. Unlike the other rounds, the three Finals had different entrance requirements, and this time it was the host who decided the themes. They were all dramatic and heavy metal, which brought up a ton of cheering from, practically, everyone, especially our large group. Not everyone was happy, however. Someone in particular got pissed that he had to fight me again.

During one of the matches, my stomach ache got even worse, and right after that match and, of course, showing off some good sportsmanship again, I had to go to the bathroom quick and, well, I puked. The tournament host had to pause the tournament for a bit just for the sake of checking my health, which was nice of him. Some of the boys went to the bathroom as well for the same reason. As if it wasn’t enough that he became angry after his loss, Luke did not bother checking if I was fine.

“Hey, Pete, are you okay?”, the host asked.

“I’m a bit unwell, but I’m mostly fine,” I answered, with a slight faint.

“Did you eat something bad right before the tournament?”

“I had a zero-alcohol cocktail. I believe that was it, because it was too sweet.”

“Oh. Well, I’m not sure if I should let you continue playing.”

“Just get me some water, please…”

“Don’t fret, mate, I have a bottle right here,” said Ayden, giving me the bottle.

“Thank you so much,” said myself before taking a few gulps.

After drinking water, I began feeling well again. Thankfully, the next several matches did not have me involved in any way. Even if the matches themselves were short and they didn’t add up all that much, it was enough time for some healing, which was needed. The stomach ache was still there, although it was nowhere near strong enough anymore.

The rest of the tournament before the Losers’ Finals was uneventful. It was my time to shine again. It was, perhaps, the most anticipated part of the tournament, given how everyone in the audience cheered. It was incredibly divided between people who were cheering for Luke and those who were cheering for me.

Furthermore, the match was intensely close. So close, in fact, that the host was about to announce a draw and a repeat of the entire round. Luke pulled off a move, and it barely missed because of a guard that I’ve never thought I’d ever execute, and what followed was a deadly combo, which ultimately eliminated Luke from the tournament, giving him third place. Hey, it wasn’t as impressive as EVO Moment 37 that had taken place nearly two decades prior, and even then, that was a completely different game. Some of the spectators, including some from our group, even went as far as recording the moment.

However, the tournament couldn’t end just yet due to the existence of the true final round: the Grand Finals. Only the top two make it up to that place. It was between me and an edgelord from some Ace Attorney game. He looked and felt way too intimidating for everyone else, though I had shown no fear, only confidence. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like the other guy really went a bit too lenient on himself. I thought that it was just a tactic of losing the first round and being incredibly badass the second time, but that wasn’t the case at all, and he was easily defeated. The best part of his performance was pulling off a special move that missed due to range.

Naturally, I won the tournament, even with a stomach ache, and I was given a trophy, a full grand and even two tickets to Chantilly for another large tournament. That, of course, was for 2023, and a lot could still happen before the middle of the year.

The event ended with a full mix of the top 5 entrants’ songs, which was the adequate time to leave. Back outside the mall, everyone was cheering for my grand victory…except for one person. To be fair, the twins weren’t cheering for me, either, and it was like a “well, nice job” kind of thing, with no excitement to it. Luke, however, really took it seriously. So, what did he do? He punched me in the abdomen. That was really ugly of him and it hurt like crazy. I had to go to the nearest trashcan and vomit again because of that.

Unfortunately, that punch also gave me a psychological shock, seeing an image of something that I wouldn’t see normally, but it was there this time around. Meanwhile, the conversation that was happening back there didn’t go well at all.

“Whoa, lad, what was that for?!”, Patrick asked.

“What he did was not fair and square!”, Luke exclaimed.

“No, it was, and just because you lost and got angry, it doesn’t mean that you’re given the right to punch him in the stomach!”, said Grace, yet another one of the guests, in a very unsettling tone.

“And you really didn’t have to do him like that, mate…thanks to your nasty little punch, he puked again,” said Ayden.

“Nasty little punch?! Who are you to say that?”, said Luke, now being completely furious.

“You’re throwing a wobbly for something you’ve just done, and it’s a wrongdoing,” said Christine, “and he deserved the reward anyway. He worked hard for it. You didn’t do bad either, but it shows that you don’t know how losing works.”

“Whatever, bird,” said Luke.

“Well, now what, prat? Go apologize to him!”, Logan exclaimed.

“Absolutely not!”, Luke shouted.

After that, he told Patrick and Leonard to go with him back home. Man, I knew that Luke was aggressive, even back during that incident, when our friendship began cracking, but I didn’t think that he was going to be that sore of a loser.

“Peter, are you alright?” Christine and Nancy asked.

“No…I’m not…”, I answered, with more evident faints of pain.

“Gee, you should really get home right after this,” Christine suggested.

“Agreed,” said Nancy.

“Fine…someone call a cab for me, please…”, I said, faintly.

“Do you need some more water?”, Ayden asked.

“I don’t think water will do it, unless you have painkillers,” I refused.

“Let me see…oh, wait, I don’t have painkillers, sorry.”

“It’s whatever. I’m sorry that this happened.”

“There’s no need to be sorry. It wasn’t your fault at all. He’s just a sore loser,” said Nancy.

“I’m surprised you’re still friends with him,” Ivy intervened.

“Well, you’ve noticed that he’s been ignorant to me. He’s been like that after we both went to the cafeteria this Wednesday,” I said.

“Who knows, maybe something got in the middle of his affairs and he has to deal with that too,” said Ivy.

“It doesn’t make sense, though. I didn’t expect something like this to happen after over three years of friendship. I know that he can get aggressive at times, but I thought that the physical injury deal was only in my imagination, not a real issue.”

“Three years? That’s quite a bit of time, lad!”, said Logan.

“It sure is…alright, where’s the cab?”

“The cab is almost here. You may go if you so wish,” Kevin answered.

“Thank you…see you guys tomorrow,” after which I went to the place where the cab is supposed to be, alongside Logan and Ayden.

“Take care!”, said everyone else.

The cab arrived not long after midnight. In fact, the tournament itself ended right at midnight. I was surprised that everyone stayed until then. Regardless, shortly after the cab began leaving the mall area, heading towards home, discussions began.

“Hey, mate, how’s your stomach now?”, Logan asked.

“Not much better…I still can’t believe he actually did this to me,” I answered.

“Well, he is your best friend, he should have known better than to treat you like this. I get that playing video games and losing, like what happened to him, can cause anger, but that doesn’t mean you should just hit your opponent in the abdomen.”

“Yeah, exactly, that’s just a really bad sign of sportsmanship,” Ayden agreed.

“On that note, though, is it true that he has been aggressive before?”, Logan asked.

“Affirmative,” I answered.

“How so?”

Well, it was the time for me to explain the Connor incident just as I remember it, and the time when it would no longer remain a secret, but rather a story of its own.

“Almost three and a half years ago, we were walking in the park together, after school. Everything went as normal, even as far as buying a few things for ourselves. We wanted this to be our first actual experience together as friends.”

I then threw a sigh, getting to the less friendly part of the story.

“Go on,” said Ayden.

“Right. On our way back to the park entrance, as we were heading to the bus station so we could get back home, a student, probably 23 at that time, was carrying a shopping bag. Luke accidentally pushed the law student. Both fell, but while Luke barely suffered physically, he still had the nerve to shout towards him for his own mistake.”

“Wow, that’s just cheap,” said Logan.

“As we Brits say, it was pants.”

“And what happened after that?”, Ayden asked.

“The man tried to apologize even if he was really the victim in this case, but he was interrupted by Luke. He insulted him and then just left the scene, expecting me to come with him. Instead, what I did was getting the man back up and checking up on him to see if he was fine.”

“Did he get seriously hurt?”, Logan asked.

“One of his arms did get hurt, and I think it was the one that hit the ground, not the one that he used to get up. It wasn’t too much of a deal, but I was still concerned.”

“Oh. Anything else?”

“Not really. He did introduce himself, but I haven’t seen him since that day. I wouldn’t mind seeing him again. I don’t think he was a bad lad to begin with.”

“I see. What about Luke?”

“He just went to the bus station. I went after him, assuming that he would be at the bus station, ready to take the bus back home. Alas, it was too late and I didn’t find him anywhere. Either way, it was the first time seeing him being aggressive, and I, like an idiot, did absolutely nothing.”

“There wasn’t a lot you could do anyway. What you did was the best for everyone, anyway.”

“I guess you’re right. Well, we do have to hide it for the day so that our teachers wouldn’t notice, and only then we’ll talk more about it with Luke himself in the afternoon.”

“Got it,” both agreed.

After the discussion, nothing else happened until we got back home. I paid for the short trip and all three of us got out of the cab, and that was it. The midnight incident did have to be kept away from the teachers, at least for a good while, as I’m not willing to cause him more harm than good from the school. I did not say that the issue could not addressed to my mother, who wasn’t all too happy to see me like this.

“Oh, gee, what happened to you?”, Mom asked.

“I’ll tell you soon.” I said, “boys, if you want, you can rest, watch a movie, sleep or just do anything in that room.”.

“Alright. Good night,” said both.

So, the boys proceeded to go to their room, leaving me and my mother in my own room, where I talked about what has just happened.

“I got punched in the stomach…”, I answered.

“Oh my…did you get into a fight?!”

“Not really. I didn’t fight back. It had something to do with the fighting tournament from earlier and Luke became a sore loser and punched me right in the abdomen, as if it wasn’t enough that I already vomited once.”

“He should have known better. I’ll talk to his parents later.”

“Alright. Don’t say this to the teachers, though. We all figured that we’d rather settle this in the afternoon, for the time that they’re still here, because it was done in public.”

“I see. Well, if that’s what you thought it’s the best solution, I can’t stop you. I do have to take care of that stomach ache, though.”

“Some water and painkillers or a towel would be great…”

“Ok, here’s the towel. Is there anything else I can do to help you?”

“No. Thank you, anyway. I’ll just go to sleep.”

“Alright, sweetheart. Sweet dreams.”

This would be the end of the night for all of us, and nothing would happen, let alone a strange phenomenon, until the morning. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. It began raining, and it wasn’t just any ordinary rain, but it was a thunderstorm too. My stomach was actually still in pain, not to mention that I had another nightmare. This time, it wasn’t the same torture nightmare that I had twice, it was a nightmare which also involved Luke doing something ludicrous.

The sky was weirdly red, as if I was not on Earth, but rather on a planet that felt like Hell. Luke appeared after a few seconds, in an outfit akin to Death or the Grim Reaper, holding a chainsaw. Whoa, what? A chainsaw? Shouldn’t he be holding a scythe? No, not at all, he wouldn’t go for that generic route. However, the chainsaw wasn’t going to be used on me until the very end.

“What are you doing?”, I asked.

“I’m doing what I’m the best at,” Luke answered, before laughing like an evil villain who has schizophrenia or is a maniac, an uncanny balance of both.

He released the throttle of the chainsaw, ready to murder a bunch of people. All of those that he was proceeding to kill were my classmates, the teachers, the Irish counterparts, the student from over three years ago, and my parents, one by one, as I was witnessing the gruesome details and his ever-lasting hysterical laugh. It was like an eternal punishment, and no one would believe that it was all just from him being a sore loser in a fighting game tournament.

The chainsaw stopped, but only for a bit.

“Well, the delicious last course is left for last. Come to me, weakling.”

He then released the throttle again. In the shock of a fantasy, I couldn’t run. I couldn’t even walk. In fact, I was barely able to crawl. He was going after me very slowly. I was able to run right before he got the chance to catch me, but that wouldn’t last for long. I got stuck in a dead end, and I had to suffer the murder of one who believes I am a traitor.

“You can’t hide from my wrath!”, exclaimed Luke before laughing like a maniac again before getting closer and closer.

The last part of the nightmare was a scream of death and a bunch of blood splatter. That wouldn’t last for very long.

I woke up frightened, right after a thunder strike. It was, thankfully, a nightmare that didn’t feel as close to reality. I mean, come on, Luke in a grim reaper outfit? That sounds absurd! In spite of that, though, my legs were shivering in fear, and my hands had several tremors. This lasted for several minutes before my body got stable again, and it took me a few more just to fall asleep again. I had no idea what happened during these few minutes whatsoever.

I may have said that the twins were a bad influence to Luke. Who knows, that may be true, it may not be true, but it may also be due to the ever-lasting aggression of Luke. Had something bad happened to him back when he was much younger, or did something more recent occur that made him change his behaviour drastically? Surely there has to be a motive.

One more thing happened during the night: a call, a call that I couldn’t notice because my phone was on silent mode, so it was missed.

Nothing else happened, so we may as well go forward to the early morning of October 22^nd, which is just the next day.

It wouldn’t be until I woke up early, at 7:07am, when I noticed the call. There were actually two, both coming from Luke. This made me scratch my head a bit. What was he doing at that time and what did he want from me? Perhaps the better question is this: why did he call me in the middle of the night? Why not earlier or even…later? All needed answers.

The thunderstorm and the rain were largely gone, much like my stomach ache, but the weather was still incredibly cloudy with diminished brightness. Raincoats and umbrellas may be necessary this time around.

The boys woke up about half an hour later and we had some time to eat breakfast. It was more diverse to suit the needs of all three, alongside a cup of coffee should they choose to consume it, and they did. They didn’t ask for sugar or milk, they were fine with what they had, which is always a good thing.

It was only now when I got a message from Ivy, with the following question:

“Want to meet at the cafeteria in the city centre at 9:00am?”

I wasn’t certain how I’d answer, so I asked the boys if they also wanted to see each other at the cafeteria at that specific time, and they weren’t against it. This was in the place of having everyone meeting each other at 10:00am at a fancy hotel that was near the respective cafeteria, giving ourselves an extra hour of free communication.

Strangely, while we were eating breakfast, Ayden began coughing. He shrugged it off as hoarseness, though I didn’t want him to keep it that way for very long.

After breakfast, the only one that had to get changed was me, in some semi-casual, semi-fancy outfit, with just your typical orange plaid shirt, light blue jeans and…not much else. Since this was also their last moment in the house, they had to grab their bags. It was a heartbreaking moment for my parents, seeing as they were genuinely nice people, but alas, it was their time to go.

The day didn’t start off as bad as I expected, though right after we got into another cab and told the driver to get us to the city centre, I did get a few questions in regards to what happened last night.

“Is your stomach ache gone?”, Logan asked.

“For the most part,” I answered.

“That’s good,” said Ayden while coughing.

“Are you sure you’re fine? You seem to be coughing a lot,” I said.

“No, it’s okay. It’s just hoarseness.”

“Maybe I should get something for you just in case.”

The cab left us near the city centre. Thankfully, there was a pharmacy nearby, so we went there and bought some paracetamol and a bottle of water. I gave Ayden the entire box for good measure.

“Whenever it is needed, take one pill with some water,” I said.

“Thanks.”

What followed was a pretty hilarious situation of not being able to find the cafeteria for the next few minutes, but we did get inside just in time to see the girls talking about…whatever they wanted. So, like on Friday night, we were the first males.

“Where’ve you been?”, Ivy asked.

“To the pharmacy, to buy some painkillers and a bottle of water for Ayden,” I answered.

“You know what the most interesting thing about this is?”, Grace asked.

“Hm, what is it?” Logan responded, though it was just another question.

“I’ve noticed a lot of people around here omitting the T’s when they say ‘a bottle of water’, like…’a bo’ohw’o’wo’er’.”

“Yeah, me too, oh my god!”, said Kate, another guest, and it’s surprising how I get to talk about her only now. But, hey, this was her moment.

“That’s the imitation that Americans do when they try mocking us. There are a few times when you’ll hear people using glottal stops instead of T’s,” and there goes my contradiction.

“It’s not something unusual anyway. We have a lot of accents in Ireland as well,” said Logan.

“I remember going to Ireland that one time, over four years ago. Even if it was just Dublin alone, there were many accents, some stronger than others. There were a few people talking in an accent that was so much out of the realm of intelligibility that I couldn’t understand anything at all,” I said, while people were laughing, “and I was like ‘Just…how?’.”

“Oh, yeah, that is a common issue back home,” Ruby agreed.

“Hey, Anna, aren’t you going to say anything?”, Grace asked. “After all, you did move from Australia to Ireland.”

It turns out that I’m still not done with the introductions. Anna is another one of our guests, and as it goes, her parents lived in Ireland and moved to Australia, and she stayed there as well for a good while before moving to Ireland, hence why her accent isn’t as close to the Irish as we’d normally expect.

“I mean…most of the population lives near the coast, we barely have diversity,” Anna answered.

“The population of Australia isn’t that big to begin with…” I spoke. “It is bigger than Ireland’s, for sure, but it’s nothing compared to, say, the United States.”

“I can imagine that,” Anna agreed.

The gathering didn’t last as long and not as many people even got to the cafeteria to begin with. It was getting close to 10:00am, and we all had to be right outside the fancy hotel with our guests’ bags, so we had to pay our orders.

The waiting game starts again. Oh boy, my favourite.

However, this wasn’t an optional thing this time, and everyone had to gather outside, even the teachers and whoever did not get out last night…you know who I’m talking about. Like yesterday, it took quite a bit of time and Mr. you-know-who was the last one to arrive, alongside his twins. The twins remained somewhat friendly, whereas our main guy didn’t even say a simple hi. It’s either him being incredibly brutal or just not knowing how to move on.

“How does it happen that he is always coming last?”, Amira asked.

“Oh, so I’m not the only one who finds it annoying, eh?”, said Phillip.

 “Of course, you’re not the only one, Mr. Howard,” Amira impertinently responded.

“Wow, you’re still as mean as ever, Ms. Gray,” Phillip talked back.

 “It looks like no one taught you how to respect a lady. Take Peter as an example. He is always charming, respectful, generous, why can’t you be the same?”

“That is his choice.”

“Did someone yell for me?”, I intervened.

“No, not really, it’s just him not being like you when it comes to respecting ladies,” said Amira.

“Well, that’s an issue that he has to solve.”

Nonetheless, with a few minutes off-track, we made sure that each and every one of us was present at the scene. We began by helping our guests leave their bags in the hotel lobby. That didn’t take a whole lot, it just surprised me that I was the only boy who did all of the work. But moving on from that, we headed towards the British Museum, with many artifacts from around the world and from various periods. As it would be nice to do, we did some group photographs. A few of them had the teachers as well, some others only had one of us, and they were hilarious.

Tickets were paid, and the only condition we had to take into account was staying in a group. Yeah, right. That was only for a tad bit before we all divided into many parts. The teachers were their own part, I was behind Robert who had his own part, five or six had their own part and everyone else also had their own part. It was perfect, sarcastically speaking. In reality, it sucked, because we really had to be in a group, and even one of the guards pointed it out, but if even the teachers were away from us, nothing could have actually been done.

That was at least one hour and a half wasted, but we already wasted quite some time going to the Museum at all, so there was no room left for any other activity besides going back to the hotel to eat some fancy prepaid food. Was it something eventful? Not really. It lasted another hour because, first of all, food is to be admired at a fancy hotel’s restaurant, and second of all, slow eaters still exist, and it’s another common issue between the two sides, so it’s not surprising no matter how you look at it.

The final moments spent with the teachers were right outside the hotel again, this time with the baggage taken back. Save for the grouping chaos at the Museum, they were some of the most relaxing moments. I didn’t feel socially isolated, I had a couple of laughs, the food was good, the walking was great, there wasn’t a whole lot to complain about. Normally, this would have been the moment to break the groups apart and everybody would have been on the way home. That, of course, wasn’t the case. Instead, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon much in the same way as we spent the night.

“Alright, kids, the flight is at 5:10pm. You have plenty of time to spend some time in the city with your partners if you want,” said one of the Irish teachers.

The teachers went on their own path and spent their afternoon the way they wanted. That was really nobody else’s business. After all, they deserve some more time together just as we do. However, after that, we hadn’t seen our teachers again for the rest of the day.

Although spending the afternoon had to happen anyway, at least so the time passed much more quickly, we did have to deal with some affairs regarding a certain someone, who had a lot to explain for what he did on Friday night. He was being just as distant even throughout the day, but it was not the most important issue, and we left it for last.

Most of us left the hotel campus and went to a different bar at the same mall, myself and my two guests included, since there was really no remaining option and, well, these last few hours were crucial to knowing each other well. Even the twins followed, though with some disappointment coming from Mr. you-know-who just as it was about to happen.

“Hey, where are you lads going?!”, Luke asked.

“We’re following them, mate,” said Patrick.

“Why? We’re supposed to be together!”

“Well, we are together. You should come.”

“I’m not coming!”

“Alright, explain why not,” said Leonard, demanding an explanation from Luke.

“I’m not willing to see that bastard again after what happened last night!”, Luke exclaimed.

“That’s not the best solution to the problem. You’re also being really immature.”

“I don’t care!”

While they were talking, someone else thought it was a good idea to call one of the twins. The call was from Mark, who joined us this time after being absent last night. Naturally, Leonard answered.

“What’s up? Where are you?”, Mark asked.

“We’re still at the hotel, mate” Leonard responded.

“And aren’t you coming?”

“We wish!”

“Wait, what happened?”

“Someone’s being a pox right now.”

“…it’s him, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s who you thought it was. We’re not giving up, though.”

“Well, I heard there was something serious going between him and Pete over here. That’s what everybody said, at least.”

“We’re aware of the situation. Everyone who was there that night witnessed the moment. It was minus craic; you should have seen it too.”

“I regret refusing to go. I thought you guys were going to some nightclub and getting drunk, or, as they vulgarly say here, getting emotional and tired.”

“No, not at all. Peter was nice enough to give us some spectator tickets for a fighting game tournament, and it was entertaining. Some of us even recorded some of those moments.”

“Ah, interesting. Alright, are you guys coming?”

“Ye bet. See ya!”

The call ended after just a minute, a minute that was given to Luke so he could rethink his decision of not coming.

“Any second thoughts, bud?”, Patrick asked.

Luke said absolutely nothing in frustration. Eventually, he gave in.

“Fine…we’ll go…”

“Well, look at that, it wasn’t that hard!”

“Cut it, let’s just go.”

At last, Luke and the twins left the hotel campus for that cafeteria. By now, everyone else was there as well, teachers aside. Not that it mattered. In fact, it really was the perfect moment to discuss everything. The three arrived about 20 minutes later.

“There you are!”, one of the Irish girls exclaimed, hugging Leonard.

“Whoa! Yeah, I’m sorry it took so long,” said Leonard.

“Aww, how adorable!”, I said.

“Thanks!”, both responded.

“I guess you can grab some chairs. There’s a bit of room left.”

And now, with everyone sitting down, it was time to solve the matter from last night.

“So, as you all know, everyone witnessed something that should have not happened, unless, of course, you’re one of the three,” I started, “and I’m glad that Mark and Robert are here. Ava is still absent.”

“She had to go after we ate lunch,” said Robert.

“Oh, so that’s why she’s not here?”, one of the twins asked.

“Pretty much,” Mark responded, “oh, Peter, carry on.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Before I continued, I took a sip of my lemonade that I ordered while the twins were not around. This was not to add effect to the flashback, at least not intentionally, even if feelings differ from reality at times. After that sip, the flashback began.

“You two have already been told by almost everyone else here that there was a tournament last night. Of course, it could have been one where I wouldn’t have participated, and it wouldn’t have been the case for Luke either, had it not been for the two resignations that happened due to an emergency. We all gathered at a bar in the evening, and I thought it was a good place to give everyone spectator tickets, which everyone got.”

“Hm, what was the tournament about?”, Robert asked.

“A King of Fighters tournament, probably to celebrate the recent release of the 15^th game. I know, amazing.”

“Interesting…”

“With that said, I did notice that Luke became incredibly distant. My classmates here know when the last time I talked to him was and under which circumstances, but for the sake of disclosing everything, it was this Wednesday at a cafeteria near the school.”

I took another sip. Everyone still paid attention to the story, which was good.

“Going back to what happened last night, the first round of the tournament was between me and Luke, and I won. Even if I won, I thought he put up a good fight. Apparently, he didn’t think so, and he got pissed off. He did win all of the other matches before the Losers’ Finals, and I was happy with that. I also lost a match at some point, and won all of the others before then as well.”

“Hm, it doesn’t sound that bad so far,” Mark said, “but carry on.”

I took yet another sip.

“During that time, my stomach ache caused by that incredibly sweet cocktail got worse and I had to rush to the bathroom to vomit. Thinking that he is my best friend, I was hoping he’d jump into the rescue, but instead it was the host and these two handsome people helping me,” I said, pointing towards Ayden and Logan, “and I still cannot thank you two enough for that.”

“It’s fine, we did it because we were concerned. Anyone else should have done the same,” said Logan.

“Well, I’m sorry for having all of my concentration towards the tournament instead of letting you win with that vomit! You should have been disqualified!”, Luke exclaimed.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal despite all odds, my friend,” I said.

“Ah, whatever…that was really unfair,” Luke said.

“And that’s where I want to get to. I got back to the tournament. During Losers’ Finals, out of all chances possible, it was a rematch between me and Luke, and everyone was cheering for both of us, since it was truly the most anticipated moment of the tournament instead of the much more expected Grand Finals. Both of us put up a very good fight. Dare I say that it was so close the host was close to announcing a draw and restarting the round, but I won…three to two, and it was abnormally close.”

“I still think that was unfair!”, Luke interrupted me in anger.

“Shut your mouth,” said Amira in response, “let him go on, it’s not your turn to speak!”

“Whatever…”

I took one more sip of the lemonade.

“As for the Grand Finals, I expected a real challenge and I won without too much of a surprise. I won my money, my trophy and my two tickets. I thought of using these tickets to go with Luke to Chantilly that is, well, overseas. These are still reserved for 2023, anyway,” I said.

“Oh, neat,” said Robert.

“Indeed, except Luke here got so salty that he punched me in the stomach. It hurt and I had to rush to the nearest trashcan just so I wouldn’t vomit on the floor. Yes, I vomited again.”

“You deserved that punch!”, Luke exclaimed once more.

“No, he didn’t!”, said everyone else at once.

“So, what? It’s too late, it already happened, what do you want me to do about it? I’m not going to apologize to him for cheating!”

“Is that all you got to say, bruv?”, I asked. “After all the physical pain I had to go through for the next few hours, plus a bloody nightmare, you still don’t feel bad at all?”

"Why should I feel bad?”

The discussion turned into a real argument, and despite all that was said, Luke did not care and didn’t elaborate whatsoever, so I had to approach him differently, in a way that he didn’t tolerate.

“Luke, I don’t get you at all. We’ve been friends for at least three and a half years, and we even signed up for the same school and same class, so we could improve our friendship even more. That’s not to say I hadn’t seen your aggression at all throughout these years. You still remember the incident with that student, don’t you?”

“I…I do,” Luke stuttered.

“Good of you, Luke, at least you remember that. Do you feel any remorse?”

“Uhm…no…”

“I doubt it. You just refuse to show it. If I were you, I would definitely regret it.”

“But, you see, you aren’t in my place, as much as I want you to be during that tournament.”

“It seems that greed got ahold of you again, Luke. You pushed a man accidentally and put the blame on him. Three years later, you intentionally hurt your own friend and put the blame on him too, and yet you have no remorse. You’ve changed in a matter of days. You were still friendly just three evenings ago.”

“So, what? People change all of the time, that’s the nature of it!”

“Not all of a sudden, Luke, and certainly with a reason. You had none. If you can’t be arsed to explain, we may end our friendship here. Say goodbye to any chance of seeing that PlayStation, seeing that Switch, seeing a new tournament for the year to come, or even going in the park or anywhere with me or anyone else.”

“Wait, what?!”

Wow, even I was impressed that it took so long to get him shocked and finally aware of reality. Not that he was under some sort of influence, but even then, his attitude was definitely not normal. By now, everyone started to intervene again.

“I’m not your punching bag, Luke, and you’re so close to turning me into one. That punch in the abdomen was one step away from it,” I said.

“And, perhaps, you should say ‘thanks’ that no one here called the police,” said Christine, “and, in fact, Peter came up with the idea of discussing this right here and right now. You could have just ended up being sent to the police had one of us called the cops, and anyone could have done that.”

“So…what is your excuse, after all that has just been said?”

Luke went full-on aggressive and raised his right hand towards me. Just as he was about to slap me, I got a grip of the hand and put it back into place, pushing him back slightly. This wasn’t intentional, of course, and it was more of an act of self-defence than anything else. As soon as that happened, he became dead silent, saying nothing. He didn’t move a body part whatsoever, not even a smidge of his finger or his toe. And so, after over three years of friendship, he began sobbing, admitting defeat for once. One would make fun of him for that, especially since we’re still in that age when boys and men are embarrassed for showing their emotional damage. I certainly did not.

“Bloke, are you really going to cry for what you’ve done?”, Amira asked.

“I wouldn’t react to him like that. I understand that, at times, one just can’t keep it up forever,” I responded.

“I’m sorry, mate…I wanted to be better than you…”, said Luke with a crying voice.

“Hey, not everyone is perfect. I may be good at fighting games, but I still have my flaws. You may have wanted to be the best of the best, but the way to show that was not the right one. You really have to manage your anger, especially in a case like this.”

“…wait, Pete, you’ll forgive me?”

“Well, I do have my reasons not to forgive you, and if these guys and gals were in my place, they wouldn’t forgive you. Am I right?”

Quite a few nodded in agreement. I wouldn’t be far from it either if we only knew each other for a couple of months, weeks or even days. But this is about a friendship that had lasted for at least three years, so second chances may still be given.

“But at least you’ve finally apologized. Whether it was done in the right manner or not is a different story, but it’s a step. I did want to get close to you even with the guests around us, because you are my friend, and out of all that I had, even before and after meeting you, you are the only one who remained. The only thing I want from you is to move on.”

“…thanks…”, said Luke, before giving me a hug.

“Aww…”, said everyone, seeing how adorable the hug was.

That was the end of the argument, and the discussion as a whole. Just like everyone else, I was glad that the dispute ended on a high note. That was also one of the best hugs I got from anyone, and it happened to be from Luke of all people. Unfortunately, there was not enough time left to talk about other things, not even how he was being distant earlier today. So, for our third and final time, we had to pay for our drinks. Some paid for themselves, others paid for those who didn’t pay for themselves, and, finally, the bags had to be taken back.

It was time that we all gathered into a single place, established by the teachers, and wished ourselves farewell, in the hopes that we’d see each other again with fresh hopes and expectations. There were a lot of hugs and handshakes, and then cabs for everyone to get back to the airport. This made me shed a tear, for all the good reasons, and I was not the only one.

“Man…I miss them already…”, I said.

Alas, we had to break our group as well. Some of us had to go back home, and I was one of them. I called a cab, I arrived home, and I spent the rest of the afternoon and the evening listening to more electronic dance music, especially the Romanian kind. You know I like it a lot.

If it wasn’t for Luke’s saltiness and his sudden change in attitude that he fixed in the nick of time, these two days would have been some of the best in my entire life. However, even as things went the way they did, I can’t say that I’m disappointed.

Over the next few days, communication with them was still done through an Instagram DM group and, eventually, Discord, wherever possible. It was fun, although our discussions didn’t go for very long, probably because everyone had their own lives, not to mention that it was the start of our first break, the autumn break. The rest of the month had nothing out of the ordinary happening, except celebrating All Hallows’ Eve, also known as Halloween, and then, as we transitioned into November, All Hallows’ Day.

I was expecting getting some more nightmares, even after everything that happened related to Luke. Fortunately, not anymore…at least for now.