Alex groaned at the forceful waking from the phone alarm that interrupted his sleep.

Trying to go back to sleep, he clenched the blanket over his chest tightly as he shifted to turn his back at the vibrating phone. But all his attempts were in vain. Finally giving up, he gathered any energy left inside of him to sit up. Stretching his hand, he picked up his phone and turned off the alarm. “Mm…. Good morning to me……” he said in between his yawns as he stretched his arms out wide.

After changing out of his pajama’s, he picked up his backpack. But his eyes momentarily stopped on the red textbook on his study table. A smile of disdain rose on his lips as he read the title. The day before, he had come back home with the textbook hoping he would at least remember a tiny section on what he read from it when he woke up in the morning. But he couldn’t even make it past one page as the contents made his head to throb. And now, he couldn’t even remember the title of the book unless he read it. He could only wonder the type with which he was born. Sighing, he picked up the textbook and packed in his backpack before leaving for school.

Going to school early before most students arrived has been his forced addiction. All for one reason. He hoped that maybe one day, his suffering of waking up early and heading to school so he could read his books would be of some help. He hoped that maybe one day, his parents would finally be happy with his report card. But reminiscing on the countless times he had been doing this and there was still no progress till this day, he could only curse fate. Sometimes he even wished to perform surgery on himself and steal the 30th kid in class’s brain. Though being the 30th wouldn’t be a good performance, it would still be better than his current predicament.

He stared at the textbook that lay on his desk, blankly. To him, it was like the words and symbols written in it were just a bunch of art colors hanging in a gallery for decoration.

He so desperately wished that he could at least muster one equation for more than 5 days.

"Hey bro..... good morning." greeted the fat blond boy called Calvin as he took his seat behind Alex’s chair.

"Good morning Calvin," Alex replied while rubbing his throbbing temples that hurt from staring at the black colored art in his textbook.

“Trying to read huh………….” Calvin said as he picked out his textbook. His statement making Alex frown even harder.

If only he could even try, all he could do was sit and look at the words. Without even understanding one single thing. And when Calvin started humming an opera song, he couldn’t help but turn his head to look at the boy. At least he was having an easier time. His melodious voice that he admired so much helped to ease his headache like a lullaby. Though he enjoyed it, his face turned gloomy at the thought that Calvin had something special to him. Though Calvin wasn’t among the best students in class, he was at least good at music. Music was his thing. He always emerged best in the music exam. And his voice was something he envied a lot from his best friend. It was a God given talent he could only ever dream of getting. Even though Calvin was to drop out of school, he still had his music talent he could use to become super rich. But look at him, he had nothing he could say he was proud of. He could already depict his future as messy hippy with a dirty beard sitting on a worn-out couch in his parents’ house, drinking a can of bear and buffing. With school or no school, he couldn’t get anywhere in this world no matter what. Sometimes he wished he could crawl back into his mother’s womb and turn back time, so he was never born into this miserable world.

The school bell rang, pulling him out of his daze with a jerk. And Madam Morgan entered class; "Good morning class." she greeted as she picked walked to the desk and picked up a sheet of paper. Clearing her throat, she started; "Let's take daily attendance."

"Abigail Freeman."

"Present," said a blond-haired girl with blue eyes, raising her hand.

Madam Morgan checked her name on the form immediately.

"Alex Anderson." she lowered her glasses with the tip of her finger and looked at the boy slumped into his seat in an extremely weird posture, "Oh your present," she said sarcastically.

*

After packing up his books into his locker, Alex opted to shut the small locker door. When suddenly, a reflection of a blond girl flickered at the corner of his eyes. He opened door and adjusted it so the tiny rectangular mirror could show the girls reflection. And he was sure that later that day, he would look back at his foolishness and face palm himself for stalking a girl.

He pretended to be organizing his locker as he kept stealing glances at her through the mirror. His hear racing so fast that he could hear it thump against his chest. The reason for this reaction, Julie Freeman. The girl he has crushed on for as long as he could remember. But the attitude she always showed him made it extremely hard for him to confess his feelings. So, he could only stare at her from a far. She was one of the reasons why he had to install the mirror in his closet, so he could look at her as she attended to her locker without her noticing.

He even tried introducing himself to her once, but she kept on ignoring him like he didn't exist. Who would want to talk the dumbest kid in school anyway? Well, except Calvin.

He admired the way her long lashes blinked. The he blue eyes dazzled light that hit her from the other side. The way she tucked her hair behind her ear so innocently.

But his view was short lived as someone blocked it. Calvin!

He immediately looked up at him in a fit of fury. How dare he interrupt his daydreaming.

But before he could start his complaints, Calvin spoke up with a mischievous smile.

"Ah, bro. I noticed the way you looked at Julie through that mirror of yours. You should better stop that or one day she will notice that you’ve been stalking here.” He advised, his playfulness unfazed, “She keeps treating you like trash why can't you just fall for her sister instead. They’re twins anyway.”

Alex’s face turned grim, “ssshhh shhhh.” He shooshed afraid that the Julie had heard them. Calvin was simply too annoying. He said all that nonsense in his normal volume. And Julie’s locker was only four meters away. He almost thought he even raised his voice on purpose to annoy him.

Calvin scoffed, amused as he shook off Alex’s arm from his shoulder. “Relax, she’s gone you dimwit.”

Alex let out a breath of relief he didn’t know he was holding. Shutting his locker, he rested his hand on his backpack’s strap and moved ahead, annoyed at his friend constantly rubbing salt on his wounds.

“Hey……wait for me……….” Calvin laughed at his friend’s annoyed mood as he caught up to him. “Ha……you should see your face right now………….” He laughed again.

“Stop it………” Alex puffed as he pinched the skin between his brows in frustration.

“You know you have girl problems right………they are both pretty. Why are you going for the one rejecting you?” Calvin giggled rhetorically.

Alex’s gaze lingered a head blankly as his thoughts wandered off. “I don’t know………I just, I just like her.”

“Well, that’s reality, how long are you going to keep stalking her? I advise you don’t crush on anyone ever again or else you’re in for some hard heart break.” Calvin bit his bottom lip and scratched the side of his face, “Besides, let’s be honest here…...who would want to like you.” He blurted but immediately, he regretted his choice of words when he saw the cold gaze of daggers Alex threw at him. “Sorry for that, I didn’t mean it that way.”

“You don’t need to…. you’re right. Who would want to be in a relationship with the dumbest student in class? That’s reality.” Though Alex wanted to wrap his hands around Calvin’s neck, he came to terms with it. If there was one thing, he liked most about Calvin, it would be that he always told the truth. No matter how hurtful it would be. If it helped him reflect on his emotions, it would be fine. And yet again, he made reality hit him hard. Who was he kidding? Who would the hell want the dumbest kid crush on them? It would be utterly embarrassing for them.

"Yep. That's reality." sighed Alex.

*

After reaching home, Alex dropped off his bag and headed straight to Uncle Ralph’s place to help ease his sour mood that day.

Along the way, he halted when he had cries and pleas. Intrigued by curiosity, he went to check it out. Though he had an inner battle with himself not to. There was no telling what would possibly happen in this secluded place in the city. But he couldn’t just let it go. Curiosity was his greatest weakness! “Well, like they say, curiosity killed the cat.”

He bit down on his lower lip as he advanced to the source of the cry. Pocking half of his head behind the wall to look at the alley, there it was. The source. A man kneeling and begging for someone he couldn’t see from the wall’s obstruction. He wore a white lab coat that was stained with a few blue spots. Alex’s mind wandered a bit as a blurry image of a yelling scientist in a similar lab coat popped in his mind. But he shook off the thought as his head hurt, the more he tried to recall it.

"Please boss don't do this to me, please. Let me go. I'll complete the project. I will." cried the man, pulling him out of his daze with a jerk.

“Boss?” he asked himself. And yet again, curiosity took over his body, making him poke out his head even more to look at the person the scientist referred to as boss.

And there stood a man with gray hair, around his fifty’s looking down at the pleading scientist. He’s physic was well maintained that someone would think he was only thirty. And his facial features were so amazing that Alex could figure he was a lady magnet in his youth.

He wore a blue, black checked suit that hugged his glorious muscles. He blew out smoke of the sides of his lips with the big brown cigarette held between his teeth.

And two big burly men stood on either by his sides, and Alex could roughly guess they were his bodyguards.

One of them had a gun pointed at a man kneeling on the ground and pleading for the man with grey hair.

"I don't tolerate mistakes, Mike. Sadly, you exhausted all your chances….my hands are tied here." he dragged in smoke from his cigarette then blew out a ring of smoke, "It is a shame that we will be losing an important person like you."

And without further warning, the bodyguard pulled out a black metallic silencer from his pocket and screwed it over his pistol before shooting the scientist dead.

His petrified expression remained frozen on his face as he fell to the ground, lifeless.

Alex’s mouth gaped open as he stared into the Mike’s dilated lifeless eyes. He could feel his heart skip a bit at the terror that spread along his body. Rendering him completely immobile.

" Let's go." said the man with grey hair.

And immediately they all entered a grey van with tinted windows and sped off.