Dean sat at the front of my desk and drummed his fingers on the wooden tabletop. There was no rhythm to it, only an entropy of sounds to break the monotony and boredom of our daily lives.

Around us, groups of students talked in hushed voices. Some were sitting on their desks like us. Others bathed in sunlight from the open classroom windows. The sum of it made a quiet background noise, which I tuned out of.

I liked those moments. Pointless and relaxed.

“Shit man, look at her rack,” said Dean.

He used one hand to point at the girls next to the windows. His other one propped up his chin. I could see him grin in my peripheral vision as he waited for me to respond.

I paid him no mind, turning a page from the book I was reading.

“Boobies,” he said, again.

“Yep,” I said.

“You're wondering why I'm bringing this up right now."

I glanced up from my book to meet his puke green eyes.

There wasn't a lot to be said about Dean Carnegy. He was of normal stature, still taller than me, with messy brown hair that seemed to have gotten the minimum amount of attention since he'd woken up. He had bags under his eyes that he claimed were just genetics, and not from the late night home parties he sometimes invited me to. That didn't seem to bother him as he looked at me expectantly, as if waiting for a profound comeback that I didn't really have.

“What were we talking about again?”

“Come on,” he said, "Are you really, absolutely, one-hundred percent sure you don't wanna know?"

“About the boobies?" I said.

Dean nodded.

“Nah,” I said, turning my attention to the group of girls Dean gazed at.

Annie sat on the window sill, the edges of her blonde hair turned white from the sunlight. She sported a loose shirt that was a little too big for her and shorts that showed her tanned legs. Three other girls formed a half-circle around her. They chirped with those animated voices they loved to talk with, and I'd already learned to filter it off as white noise.

There was something different about them now. A sort of mood I couldn't put my finger on. I watched as Annie said something to one of the girls. The others giggled. There were questions being asked. Then a quick back-and-forth. Then they fell silent. I found myself paying attention to what they were saying.

"And you said no, right?" said the other girl, Maggy. She leaned forward and grasped the edge of her chair, which had tilted forward, looking at Annie with wide eyes, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I dunno. It seemed like fun," said Annie. She gave the girl a sheepish smile. "Besides, I think it's time the two of them break out of their shells already. I've already talked them into it. They're coming along."

"You're nuts," said a tall girl by the name of Carry. She had a smirk on her face as she added, "I haven't talked much with the boys, I find them pretty weird actually. But Samuel's cool, I guess. I don't think anything's gonna happen, but keep us up to date, yeah?"

"Sure," said Annie. She shrugged and turned her head away, when our eyes met.

She didn’t move or avert her gaze. Neither did I. A second passed like that, and I felt my heart bang against my chest.

Then she smiled, giving me a wink. She broke eye contact and returned to talking with her buddies.

"Alright, Dean," I said, "Let's imagine for a moment that we do get a girlfriend. And sure, we get our boobies and everything's nice and cool for a while," I fiddled with my book, using my thumb to leaf through the pages, "Then what? We're still the same lame excuse of a human being as before. Nothing's changed, and our life problems won’t go away. So why should we focus on something so superficial?”

"Because we're just high-schoolers?" Dean said, arching an eyebrow, "And we love boobies?"

"Sure, we're in high-school and living the life right now," I opened the book on a random page, "And most of us don't know what we're doing at the moment, not to mention what we're going to do after college. But is it really such a big deal to think past the short term? To have a basic plan in life that goes beyond who to bang or what to eat today?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Dean. He gave me a blank look, which meant he'd probably stopped listening already.

"Will you really be happy?" I sighed, "Even if you get what you want?"

"Why not? I don't think having a girlfriend makes you miserable," Dean said. He picked up a pen and twirled it between his fingers, "It's just two people having fun, you know. And they share that fun together, and it becomes even more fun. I think you're overanalyzing it."

"I might be," I said. I watched as he fumbled with his hands, dropping the pen under the desk. "It's you who brought the topic of boobies up."

"Yeah, and I'm actually regretting it," Dean said. He looked under the table, muttering something under his breath, "Can we change the subject now? This was supposed to be fun and dorky, and you've made it into a strange philosophical debate."

"Sure," I said.

We talked for a while after that, mostly on topics like current TV shows, Internet fads and other mundane topics our adolescent minds could bring up. At times, someone would come to talk with Dean, and I would go back to reading with the combined difficulty of two people laughing my head off. Then they would get bored, the guy would move on to another group, and Dean would pick up where we left off. After a while of that, the conversation died down, and we couldn’t think of anything more to bicker about.

I yawned, casting my eyes on the clock hanging above the teacher’s desk. Soon it would be time for class.

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Dean seemed to follow my gaze, though he stopped at a figure, sitting near the corner of the room.

"What about Mary?” he said.

I gave him a questioning look.

“Margaret,” he said, again, “You gonna talk to her?”

“Why should I?”

"Cause you’re both loners,” he said.

I shot him a look, and he paused.

“I mean,” he said, looking around the classroom, “You don’t talk so much. Except with me, of course. And I haven't seen you go out with people. So in a way, I think both of you are similar."

“I’ve seen her talk to other girls,” I pointed out.

“I didn’t say she’s your level of stuck up.”

I punched him in the arm, then moved my leg away as he tried to kick me in the shin. He did, anyway, and it devolved into a contest of who could step on the other’s shoe first. After a few failed tries, I gave up.

“I’m not that dull of a person,” I said. I didn't like how defensive that sounded.

Dean raised me an eyebrow. He put his hands behind his head, leaning back on the chair so it stood on two legs.

“And now you're taking me the wrong way," he said. He rocked his chair back, using one leg under the table to stabilize, "I'm not saying you're boring. Everyone's got their thing, you know. It's just… What were your hobbies again?"

Perhaps I had been goofing around too much, because I couldn’t give an immediate answer. Actually, I'd had my fair share of interests, like cooking, coding, or even figurine collecting. But none of them had kept me hooked so far. Often, I just reverted to watching TV or playing computer games. Other than that…

"Reading?" I tried.

"That’s just... something you do all the time. I meant something more interesting. A hobby," he said.

“Well, it’s interesting to me.”

Dean sighed. He lowered his chair back down so it stood on four legs again. Then he leaned forward and looked me in the eyes.

“Okay, listen to me dude. Like, really listen. What I’m trying to say is, that sooner or later, you’ll have to man up and talk to her. And don’t take this the wrong way, man, but I've seen you glancing at her, thinking that no one’s looking-”

I looked around, making sure no one could hear this idiot.

“-and that’s okay. The fact that you’re scared of rejection, of hurting your feelings, is okay too. What I’m trying to say, or rather, what I’ve been bitching about, is that you have to at least show her you exist. Make small talk. Ask her about herself. Say something, at least.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you today?” I said, crossing my arms.

“And that’s why you’re so stiff sometimes,” Dean said. He pointed at my arms, “You have to relax, man. Take a deep breath.”

“I was relaxed, until you brought this up.”

“Okay,” he said, “Okay, I’m gonna stop if you say hi to her.”

I knew this side of Dean pretty well by now. His stubbornness had more than once made me think of him as hard-headed, and right now I felt too tired to start another long-winded argument. In a sense, he was the metaphorical rock in the middle of a river. A minor inconvenience, but unbudging from the flow of water. The best course of action was to give ground, and take the path of least resistance.

“Fine,” I said after a while, “I’ll do it.”

The way his eyes widened told me he didn’t believe me at all. I cleared my throat.

“It might not be today, or tomorrow,” I told him.

He seemed to take that in for a second.

“You promise?” he said.

“Yeah,” I lied.

“Well, you’ll have to keep your word, cause I’ve already arranged-”

The bell rang, signaling the start of our final lesson for the day, and consequently ending our pointless conversation. Dean looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end he simply waved me off and took his seat at the far back of the classroom.

Everyone sat down and our last lesson began.

✦✦✦

"And that'll be it for today. Ah, homework's on page fourteen if anyone's wondering," the teacher said. He gave his goodbyes and made his way to the door.

I watched as most of my classmates left the room in a hurry. Today was Friday, so it wasn’t strange that the classroom had been emptied in seconds. I didn’t want to be the last one to make their exit, so I decided to follow suit.

At least, I tried to.

"Hey, Lewis!" Dean gave me a small wave, “Come with us to the mall today? We'll do some walking around.”

"Nah thanks," I said. I didn't pay him any mind and proceeded to clean my desk.

"Hey, uh, Lewis," this time another guy chimed in. Samuel. The guy looked jacked even with his jumper on, and had bushy eyebrows that towered over his eyes. He glanced furtively at the two girls behind him. "Wanna join us? The more, the merrier, right?"

I looked behind him and cringed.

Mary stared at the floor, silent, looking like she wanted to be anywhere else at the moment. A pair of blue irises shifted under tousled hair, no doubt calculating the nearest path to the door. She was a small girl, made even smaller by poor posture and her oversized backpack. She had Annie’s hand in a tight grip, her other one pocketed under a loose sweater.

No, no, no, fuck you Dean, you sick fuck.

Like pieces of a puzzle, past conversations that didn’t make any sense at first, added up, revealing a full picture of my friend’s shit eating grin. I wanted to seriously punch that face now. I groaned inwardly instead.

“You’re not coming along?” said Annie. The freckles on her face were lined up in surprise. She looked at Mary, who kept quiet, then at Dean. He raised his shoulders.

“Yeah, man, what the hell?” he said.

I ignored him.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't agree to any of this," I told Annie. She furrowed her brows, which didn’t seem to make the situation any better.

I then looked at her second companion, a girl with short dark hair and glasses.

Not you too...

Claire was the third girl of this group, and a childhood friend of mine. The kind of which you might say hi at the beginning of the year, then proceed to mutually ignore each other for the remainder of the year. As our eyes met, I tried to gauge her reaction. She looked just as confused as I was.

I knew what Dean and Samuel wanted. I knew their reasoning, too. What I didn’t understand was why they’d bothered so much to invite me with them. And pair me with Mary, of all else. It wasn’t that I disliked her or anything. I found her more interesting than most other girls in our class. But I just didn’t have it in me to become the third wheel of this group. Or the fifth one, for that matter.

Everyone else had already left the classroom by now. We were the only ones left. As no one said another word, the atmosphere started to get awkward. I figured it was now that I should take my leave. I flung my backpack on my shoulder, trying to look as nonchalant as possible, and made a few steps towards the exit.

That’s when it happened.

Below Claire, something on the floor caught my attention. There was a faint glow, white in color, just bright enough for me to notice.

What the hell?

Before I could fully comprehend what was going on, a circle of light swiftly expanded from the floor. Strange symbols shone above the air as a complex array of geometric figures formed under our feet. The others' eyes widened as they noticed this phenomenon. Though it was already too late.

Not letting any of us react or make a noise, the circle flashed… And everything turned black.