Chapter 3

Dan opened his eyes. Drowsy with sleep, he unlocked his phone to silence it and yawned, then remembered at once everything that occurred to him. He had slept over at Phil's for the night, and learned that he had lived with someone else before...

Dan pushed away the thought and got dressed. It didn't help to think about it. He headed downstairs and spotted his pale-skinned friend stirring a cup of hot, steaming coffee.

"Morning," Dan announced his arrival. Phil glanced at Dan and sunk into his chair. "Morning," Phil replied, sipping his cup of coffee. "Do you want some?"

"Sure." Dan sat down on one of the two chairs surrounding the coffee table. Phil passed him a mug and Dan made himself his coffee. "Did you sleep well?" Phil asked. Dan looked up at Phil's face and stared. His jet black hair was not kept and his eyes were puffy and red.

Dan's face went numb, a mixture of concern and guilt clouding it. He was clearly crying about last night, but he didn't want to confirm this. His mind flooded with worry, but he had an idea.

"You should get ready," Dan said as he sipped his coffee. He felt the steam tickle his lips as he waited for Phil to say something.

Phil closed hid eyes, too tired to function. "Why should I?" he mumbled lazily. Dan grinned.

"Because if you do, I'll buy you a doughnut." The following seconds after Dan had said these words contained Phil rising from his chair with superhuman strength and dashing to his room.

"You have thirty seconds!" Dan called, smiling as he disappeared.

The two friends headed to their classes once they arrived at school. Phil's eyes were no longer red and Dan sighed with relief as Phil bit happily into the doughnut that Dan got him.

"You were a mess!" Dan wheezed from laughing too much.

"That's because you started counting down really fast, and I only got one shoe on!" Phil countered, trying to look innocent. Dan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever," he grinned as the two strolled down the hallway together.

"Hey Dan," Phil pointed towards a sign on the wall. Dan, having accidentally walked ahead, stepped back and looked over Phil's shoulder. The sign read: "Video Editing Club Meeting will be at Room 35 on Wednesday the 18th! Make sure to sign up!" Dan noticed the look on Phil's face, which was lit up with happiness.

"Dan, Dan!" Phil grabbed Dan's shirt, tugging it. "Let's do it together!" Dan stared back, appalled. "But Phil, you know I'm not good at that kind of stuff-" Dan tried to say, but Phil already wrote their names down on the list posted next to the sign. "You need to try new things, Daniel!" Phil heard no reply. "You can't stay antisocial forever," Phil added.

Dan paused. Just thinking about it, maybe it wasn't that bad.

Phil had taken two application papers. "So the meeting's just gonna be next week. You are free by that time, right?" Phil saw a look of worry flash Dan's face. Phil glanced at Dan, ashamed. "I kinda pushed you there...you don't have to join if you don't want to, I can remove our names if you want-"

"Of course I'll join," he replied. "It's okay." With this, Phil broke into a smile. "Really?" Dan thought for a second. "Phil, stop worrying and just give me the damn paper." Phil laughed and hugged Dan. "Thank you so much!"

The friends said their goodbyes and entered their classes. Dan took his usual seat in the back and felt himself get lonelier by the second without Phil's presence. Considering this, he silently copied down his homework that was written on the board. Just then, Dan realized what he was writing. Create a project with a partner about lizards and what environment they live in. At the word 'partner' Dan froze, then leaned on the back of his chair in disbelief.

Mrs. Valerie, his science teacher, walked to the board and the whole class said, "Good morning, Ms. Valerie." Ms. Valerie, although in her late 60s, was due to retire soon and, according to experiences Dan had, was a very mean woman who never smiled and graded really hard on her students. Dan thought on how "lucky" he was to have such a teacher who was so difficult and sighed.

"Mr. Howell?" Mrs. Valerie's cold voice rang throughout the room. Dan sat straight up and tried his best to look like he was listening.

"Repeat what I just said."

Dan started to sweat. "I-I'm sorry, I wasn't really-"

"Paying attention, I expect. Well, Mr. Howell, you can use any other help from another student who was actually listening." Dan looked around desperately to see no one at his rescue. Dan held his gaze to the floor.

"Ms. Scott." Mrs. Valerie slammed her whiteboard eraser on her desk, scaring the lights out of Teresa. She was busy doing her makeup but now she sat attentively, failing to hide her makeup. "Yes?" she asked feebly.

Mrs. Valerie stared hard down at Teresa.

"Excuse me, but this is not a makeup class. The only 'makeup' we do here is make up assignments that have been received zero credit. Unless if that is what you want on this project, I do hope I'll never see you do that again." Teresa was still as a statue and trembled as she slid her makeup into her bag.

"Does anyone else know?" She was greeted with silence. Then, she whipped around.

"Well." Mrs. Valerie walked to the front of the class. "Mr. Howell won't be getting any detention since not even the class doesn't seem to be listening!" Dan swore her shrill voice shook the ground beneath him. Mrs. Valerie fixed her glasses and pointed at the board.

"As you may have noticed your project is not individual work, but a partner completion. We have observed lizards and how they interact with the environment for a while and it's about time you showed me how much you paid attention. I want to see all your work done by Friday with all the requirements it needs. You can be creative with your project; as long as our five senses can be used to view your project, it is good. Highest score is 100, and there are possible extra credit points if it's original and creative. Any questions?"

A hand shot up. "Can we choose partners that aren't in this class?" a boy with curly, dark brown hair asked.

"No."

Dan felt the word physically and mentally damage him. Phil had science first as well, but a different teacher. Dan's hopes had been so positive that when he heard Mrs. Valerie's words they came plummeting down. Dan grasped the side of his chair tightly.

"You will have today and tomorrow to choose your partner," Mrs. Valerie continued. "And if anyone breaks the rules...I shall know."

The bell rang, and Dan hastily gathered his things, deep in thought. He felt his classmates shuffle out the room until it was silent.

"Well?" Mrs. Valerie said. Dan snapped back into reality. "Oh...sorry," Dan muttered as he left the room. He had just stepped out when someone rushed to his side.

"Hey, Dan." Dan looked and recognized the curly, dark brown haired boy from his class. Dan's mouth was left open, not knowing what to say.

"It's Junior," he said, and shook hands with Dan. Dan hesitated. He had heard that Junior, although very fun to talk to with a great personality and all, had a thing with collecting things associated with 'luck'.

"Mrs. Valerie really is a pain, isn't she?" Junior said. There was a pause as he waited for Dan to agree. "Yeah," he finally replied. "I don't know why she hates us so much."

Junior scoffed. "That's because she doesn't care about anything except for her pay. Everybody notices that she's a bit nicer after payday." Junior rubbed his thumb against his forefinger and middle finger to imitate money and Dan smiled. "It was a good thing I had my lucky socks on today," Junior said happily. "If I didn't, then Mrs. Valerie would have probably yelled at me like she yelled at Teresa." he started whistling and Dan fell silent.

"I remember last week when she lost it and yelled at me for running through the halls," Junior said. "It was probably because I had one of my lucky socks that day."

Dan paused. "Don't all teachers yell at students that run in the hallway?"

Junior shrugged. "I mean, when you're late to class, you've gotta do something about it." Dan nodded, putting his hands inside his pockets.

"What happened that day was that I couldn't find my other sock and I needed to hurry, or else I would've been late. I thought I'd lost the other half but-you won't believe this-it was on the side of my bed the whole time! I remember my face when I found it, I was so disappointed at myself but really happy..."

The sound of Junior's ecstatic voice droned on and on and Dan found himself not paying attention to him at all. It was only when Junior had called his name that Dan focused back into the conversation.

"Dan? Oh buddy, I lost you there! I was so busy talking about my lost-but-now-found sock and almost forgot why I talked to you in the first place." Dan stared at him in confusion. "What do you mean?" Junior grinned and fished in his right pocket, pulling out a tie-dye colored eraser.

"It's my lucky eraser!" Junior smiled. "I figured you'd need it so that Mrs. Valerie doesn't yell at you like she always does."

Dan smiled unconvincingly. "Thanks, Junior."

"All you need to do is hold it in your dominant hand all throughout class so that things will go well for you!" Junior wagged his forefinger at Dan. "Make sure it's your dominant hand and that you keep the eraser on your dominant side. Or else it might not work!" Junior slapped Dan on the back, making Dan lightheaded.

"Catch you later!" Junior said as he ran ahead of Dan, whizzing past a teacher that screamed at him to not run in the hallway.

Dan rubbed his eyes. He had felt himself falling asleep in class but, to Dan's luck, the bell rang for lunchtime. In an instant Dan rushed to grab his things. All the sounds Dan could hear were his footsteps and his rapid breathing. In the brink of time Dan spotted a figure that moved in front of him, but it was too late.

"OW!" two voices yelped. Dan landed on the floor and the person he walked into fell opposite him.

"D...Dan?"

Dan's vision cleared, and he looked up. In front of him was a girl he had accidentally bumped into, but it wasn't a stranger. It was Teresa.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Teresa dramatically exclaimed, reaching out unexpectedly and dusting off Dan's jacket. "I really didn't mean to, I'm so sorry-"

"Oh no, it was me," Dan said, gently smiling. Teresa's eyes glowed. "You know, Dan, I've been wondering." She leaned against the wall. "For the science project, you and I know that we've been friends since we were kids and all, so it's totally right if you and I could-

"Dan!"

Dan turned around, grateful for the interruption. And to his relief, Phil was walking towards him, his backpack slung over his shoulder and a wide smile on his face. Teresa had her mouth wide open in disbelief and glared at Phil. Dan turned back to her. "Uh, Teresa, is it alright if we can talk about this later?" Teresa's glare disappeared and she batted her eyelashes. "Of course." She walked off and went around the corner.

"What was that all about?" Phil asked over Dan's shoulder.

Dan shook his head. "Let's just go."

The two started walking. Dan slowly felt relief crawling up his spine, overjoyed that Phil had saved him once more. "I could tell she wants to be my partner," Dan said as he kept his gaze at the ground. "She was about to ask me when you walked in."

"Oops, sorry." Phil grinned, a flash of guilt crossing his face.

"Don't be," Dan assured him. "It's totally fine...she usually forgives me in a few seconds." Phil frowned. "It was that girl from yesterday, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. Her name's Teresa. Teresa Scott."

"Oh...I've heard that name before. I heard she wasn't a very nice person." Phil opened a bag of chips and popped one into his mouth, then handed the bag over to Dan.

"What-Teresa? She's pretty nice to me." Dan ate a few chips and munched on them silently. "It's probably because we've known each other since we were kids." Phil stared at Dan, annoyed by this.

"No, it's because she loves you, Dan. I see her when you're not looking, she's got these 'love eyes' or something." Dan shrugged.

"Whatever. But for the science project I really wanted to do it with you." With this, Phil nudged Dan with his elbow, a little bit too hard. "Aw, thanks!"

Dan grinned whilst rubbing his ribcage, and the rest of the day felt like a breeze to him. When he had finally focused into reality he was finishing up his last sentence for his essay. The final bell of the day rang and Dan was caught in a flurry of his classmates as they piled over each other to hand in their work.

"Place your assignments on my desk!" his language arts teacher exclaimed as he erased the lesson that was written on the board.

Phil texted Dan in a rush, apologizing that they couldn't walk together and Dan, alone, walked back to his dormitory. He kicked off his shoes and grabbed a bowl of cereal to munch on, then headed to his room.

Dan casually entered, throwing his jacket on some hangers behind his door and fixing one of his posters that had peeled at the corners. His room was a bit messier than Phil's but the two were close in comparison. Awards coated with dust hung against Dan's wall and a small desk was placed next to a bed with black bedsheets. The walls that surrounded him were gray, and the desk faced a window that overlooked the block that Dan usually walked along to school.

Exhausted, Dan placed his schoolbag next to his bed and sat on the desk chair, putting all his supplies out and bit into his cereal, reflecting on today.

If a miracle needs to happen, it should happen now, Dan thought miserably as he began his homework.

He had thought of calling Phil and conversing with him, but Dan felt that it wasn't the right time. But he longed for Phil's presence-a phone call or text would be perfectly fine right now-

DIING!

Dan's phone rang. Dan stared at his phone in disbelief. It had seemed that Phil was thinking the same.

"Hello?" Dan answered the call.

No one answered.

"Uh, Phil?" he asked. "Are you there-"

"BOO."

Dan blinked. "Why, hello."

He heard Phil giggle. "Did I scare you?"

"Did you scare me?" Dan repeated. "No, not at all."

"You weren't scared? At all?" Dan laughed at the sound of Phil in disbelief.

"Just so you know, I don't get that scared easily," he told him.

Phil laughed. "We'll see about that."

"So," Dan started while writing something down, "what'd you call me for?" There was a pause. "Nothing in particular," Phil said. "Just wanted to chat. I'm already done with homework and I have nothing to do. It's because I'm gonna..." Phil broke off, and Dan waited for Phil to continue. But there was no sound.

"You're going to...?" Dan raised his eyebrow.

"Oh, never mind I said that," Phil said. "I just don't have anymore things to do and it's so boring here. It's much more fun when you're with me." Dan smiled, his heart warmed.

"Thanks, bud." Dan said in a joking tone. Dan heard Phil sigh, and silence took over the both of them.

Dan continued to write his homework and rested his elbow on the table, thinking.

CRASH!

Dan jumped up, nearly falling off his chair, and seized his phone. "Phil?" he said. No answer.

"Phil!" Dan exclaimed, frantic. "Are you alright?" There came a soft groan, which escalated into a soft chuckle.

"That was the stupidest thing I've ever done!" Dan gazed at his phone screen, confused. "Come again?" He heard Phil's laugh become louder. "Phil!" Dan said, his eyes wide, "what happened?"

"I stretched and hit my glass of water," Phil said, gasping for air. Dan frowned. "Okay...but are you good?" Dan asked. "You're not hurt?"

Phil scoffed. "You sound like my mother! And yeah, I'm great." Dan heard rustling. "It's kind of all over the floor now," Phil laughed slightly to sound as if everything was okay, and Dan sighed.

"You are the clumsiest person that ever existed in the universe," Dan shook his head.

"But hey, at least I actually scared you!" Phil teased Dan. "You said that it was difficult to frighten you but that was pretty easy to me."

"Shut up," Dan muttered, and Phil cackled.

It was now time to sleep and the friends said goodnight to each other. Both were getting really tired, and Dan's mind felt fuzzy.

"Goodnight Dan," Phil yawned loudly.

"Goodnight Phil." Dan rubbed his eyes to help keep him awake for a few seconds, but it didn't help much.

"Youf me gerf hen," Phil mumbled.

"What?" Dan said.

The call was ended accidentally by Phil, and Dan shrugged. He didn't know what Phil said but he got into bed and shut his eyes.

Phil was still holding the phone, thinking that it was still going on.

"I said that you're my best friend," Phil mumbled sleepily and dropped his head on his pillow, sleeping at once.