A few days have passed, and it was now Friday. The students have been coping well with their studies and adjusting to their timetables and schedules. Other than the first day, no other major incidents have happened. Yet. People kept to themselves and kept to their classmates. No one wanted confrontation from anyone. It was tense and awkward whenever the students were gathered in a closed space with other classes. Nobody wanted to make that leap to make friends with another class; it felt like treachery if they did. How could they trust each other? Everybody was waiting for a challenge and to earn some points. Whenever they loaded up the app to see their points and looked at the leaderboard, the only name that popped up was Malakai Junior on 100 points, while everyone below him was on zero. This annoyed many students, but there was nothing they could do.
As for Malakai, he was chilling. He didn't get into any arguments; nobody approached him. He was living like a high school student, having fun, laughing and making jokes. He hadn't made any new friends yet; he only had his original group and Dellilah. He hadn't interacted much with his neighbours, Tanisha and Maria, because they hadn't crossed paths. And Malakai wasn't the type to knock on their door and be outgoing with them. Anyway, he ignored the looks he received; he shrugged them off and pretended like they were not there. Everything was smooth sailing for him and his friends, but waves were approaching.
"Lu, what you gonna do later?" Malakai asked, unscrewing his drink bottle cap.
"I don't know. Revise probably", Lucas replied, taking a seat.
"We said we were going to meet in the cafeteria, right?" Ray asked, looking around.
"Yeah. The three of them are gonna come in a bit", Malakai replied, taking his first sip of his drink.
"Sometimes you need to slow down when you talk. Your UK slang and accent is hard to understand sometimes", Lucas said, taking his sandwich out of the packaging.
"I can't help it. If you understand, you understand. If you don't, then it's not my problem", Malakai replied.
"But it is your problem. We're your friends. We need to understand you", Lucas said before taking a bite from his sandwich.
Malakai smiled, putting his bottle down, "We've been friends for like 3-4 years. You should understand most of the shit I say by now".
"I understand, but when you talk quickly, it gets kinda confusing. Sometimes I don't even think you're speaking English", Ray said.
Malakai picked up his drink to finish the little bit he had left, "Hehe, My bad. I'll try to talk slower".
Ray checked his phone to see if he got any texts from his friends. He looked up and saw four people approaching them. "That guy is coming towards us", Ray informed his two friends.
Lucas and Malakai both looked to where Ray was looking. They saw Dillon walking with his hands in his pockets, with three other boys following behind.
"Damn, he's already got some minions", Lucas said disappointingly, looking at the guys following him.
"Sad life to live, being one of his dogs", Malakai replied quietly so Dillon didn't hear.
Dillon reached Malakai, standing over him just like when they first met. Malakai stayed in his seat.
"Yo", Malakai opened the conversation.
"Wassup. I see you're not with all your friends. Where are they?" Dillon asked.
"You do realise we don't need to babysit each other. We're not kids", Malakai said, looking up at Dillon.
"Why are you sitting down? Do you want me to drag you up again?" Dillon said, towering over him.
"If you touch him, you'll see what happens", Lucas intervened.
Malakai slightly turned his head to Lucas, "It's fine, he won't do anything". he said, smiling. Malakai stood up. Malakai is five feet and six inches tall, while Dillon is about six feet tall, so Malakai is still looking up at Dillon. "What'd you want?" he asked, lifting his head.
Dillon raised his hands, "Nothing, I'm just here to say hello with my new friends", he said, pointing at the people behind him.
Malakai didn't know if he was serious or planning something. "Okay? Is that it?" Malakai questioned looking at Dillons friends.
"Yeah, I just wanted to see how you'd react when you saw me again".
Malakai scoffed and looked at his friends to see if they were seeing the same thing he was. "What? You thought I would be scared of you?"
Dillon smirked. "I wanted to see if you regret what you did at the assembly", he said.
"I regret nothing. What did I do? Take the piss out of you a bit? C'mon bro, your ego can't be that fragile", Malakai smiled.
"I see. So no apology".
Lucas was getting annoyed and stood up from his seat. "If you came to us because you outnumber us and you're trying to intimidate us, you're not. I don't know what you're trying to do, but we don't care. Piss off", Lucas bursted out.
"Lu, Calm down", Ray said, trying to de-escalate the situation.
"Woah woah. We didn't want to pick a fight. We just came here to say hello", Dillon smiled, trying to act like Malakai and say something he would say.
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Malakai looked at Dillon. "Dillon, I think we got off on the wrong foot. How about we move past what happened and start brand new?" Malakai said in a way that was serious but at the same time sounded like a joke by his tone of voice. Malakai offered his hand out for a handshake. The other people around the cafeteria were watching this face-to-face, and most of them were not surprised that Malakai was one of the faces they recognised.
Dillon looked at his hand and smacked it away. "Naah. I'm happy with how we started and want to keep it that way".
Malakai pulled a face and raised his eyebrows, "Whatever you say. Just remember I wanted to start fresh", he said, shrugging his shoulders.
Dillon started walking away, "Just watch out, don't get too comfortable", he said. Dillon walked away with his friends following behind. His friends didn't say a word the whole time.
Malakai watched until Dillon was out of sight, then turned towards Lucas and Ray. "Weirdos, man. You're telling me he came here to show us he has an army".
"What army?" Lucas joked, sitting back down.
"Ray, if he ever does anything to you, just tell me". Malakai said.
"And me", Lucas added, pulling out his phone.
"I don't think he will do anything to me. You should worry about yourself, Mally", Ray replied, showing concern.
Malakai took a seat, "He'll play dirty, he won't go for me directly".
Ray looked behind Malakai to see someone else standing behind him. "There's someone else behind you", Ray told Malakai.
"Huh?" Malakai stood up and turned around. "Who are you?"
Lucas looked up from his phone, "Ryan?"
Malakai looked at Lucas, "You know him?".
"Yeah, I met him on Monday in a convenience store with Ben",
Ryan stood a few feet in front of Malakai with two girls standing behind him. "Hi, it's nice to see you again, Lucas, and it's nice to meet you, Malakai", Ryan offered his hand.
Malakai shook his hand cautiously. "Yeah, likewise", he replied, not meaning what he said. Malakai looked beyond Ryan and saw the two girls. A lot of assumptions came into his head. This situation felt too weird to him. "Are those your friends or your fans?" Malakai jokingly asked.
"Who do you think you're talking to?" One of them snapped.
"Melody, it's fine, he's only joking", Ryan said, smiling at Melody. "They're my friends", he said to Malakai.
Malakai looked Ryan up and down, "A tall, good-looking guy with two girls following him, not even walking beside him. Yeeaaaah I'm not buying it, I can't lie", Malakai analysed, holding his chin.
"What's your problem? Ryan was trying to be nice, and you're being rude", Melody raised her voice. Melody was a short girl with dark skin, long, curly black hair and glasses.
Malakai looked at her with uninterested eyes. "My bad, I'm not used to this kinda interaction", Malakai looked back at Ryan. "Aryt (Alright), what do you want?".
"I just wanted to meet you. I always found you interesting and haven't had the time to meet you until now", Ryan replied politely.
Malakai was bored; he expected more. He felt a weird vibe about Ryan. He was being too nice, which instantly set alarm bells off in Malakai's head. He turned to Lucas and asked, "Am I a celebrity or something? Why does everyone want to meet me?"
"You know why you idiot. Think before you do shit next time".
Malakai sighed, "You're right, you're right. Well, I'm here innit. Got anything else you wanna say?" he said to Ryan.
"I wanted to see how you were in person. I thought you would be different. Maybe I caught you at the wrong time", Ryan replied, trying to justify Malakai's attitude.
Malakai smiled, "You know exactly what you're doing, the timing and the people you chose to come with", he said in a voice that could only be heard by Ryan and Lucas. Melody and the other girl were standing behind Ryan, and Ray was sitting on the other side of the circular table, so they couldn't catch what Malakai said.
Ryan laughed a little. "Maybe next time, when the situation is different, we can have a more docile conversation".
"Who said it wasn't docile?" Malakai asked.
Ryan smiled at him and didn't say another word. He started walking away and raised his arm to wave goodbye.
"Shit, I forgot to ask what class he's in", Malakai said.
"He's in 1-B", Lucas replied.
"Long day", Malakai said in a tired voice.
"Mally, you should be nice to people", Ray told Malakai.
Malakai took a seat for the third time. "I'm nice to people when they are a nice person. He is not nice", Malakai replied.
"You don't know that", Ray said.
Malakai smiled gently, "Just watch out for him". He checked his phone to see the time. "Where are these guys? Lunch is over in five minutes."
Lucas, who was still standing up, said, "They probably got stuck in a queue. Should we start heading to class?".
"It's still early", Malakai complained.
"Come on Mally. Let's go", Ray said, picking his bag up and getting ready.
Malakai looked hopelessly at both of them standing up,
"Aryt".