Plain and Simple

A/N: Just a couple of things:

Mufti Day-Common term here in Australia which basically means students can wear casual clothes to school for a day. Yeah, every school in Australia, even public schools, have to wear uniforms.

Spelling-Seeing as I'm from Australia, I spell a few things differently (e.g. realising, mum, colour, etc.) Just a heads up :)

Chapter One-Confusion

“Hey, wake up!”

Michael Li immediately reacted to the warning his friend next to him hissed. Snorting as his head shot up he quickly rubbed his eyes and re-adjusted his glasses as his surroundings soon became more familiar. Finding himself in his Maths classroom he first noticed the reactions of some of his classmates to his sudden awakening. The few around, including his friend Adam Frocht who had been the one to wake him up, were grinning at the situation; the couple others nearby gave a small smile before turning their attention back to the teacher whilst the rest didn’t even move or show any signs of noticing what had happened.

Shiftily looking to the front of the room he thankfully realised that his teacher Mr. Ward had not even noticed that he had fallen asleep. It was with that thought that Mike truly did wish he could pull up the hood on his sweater and hope that he could catch a few more minutes of sleep, but that would just be too suspicious, even if it was Mufti-Day. Quietly yawning Mike merely settle for resting his head on his hands as he blankly stared at the teacher and idly listened to his last-minute ramblings.

In was the last day of school, and like usual for all teenagers there was a tumultuous mixture of every single feeling possibly. Some were excited for the upcoming holidays, a good three weeks of freedom; others happy because they were going overseas whilst the rest were annoyed because they’d have to study for exams in the next term after the brief break they had. Mike usually fell into the first category, as he frequently spent the first week or so relaxing and then crammed in all the revision he could until exams started up. It was the most efficient way, and he knew his would be better if he studied a bit more, but old habits die hard

Taking a quick peak at his watch the he nearly leapt with joy when he saw there were only a couple of minutes left until the end of class. Once Maths was over with he’d just have a quick meeting with his tutor group and then he’d be free. Then the bell rang and Mike had to hold back from practically bolting from his seat, across the hall and into his tutor room. Unfortunately he wasn’t the only one holding himself back, with Adam grabbing onto his hoodie as he packed his books away. Looking back, the Chinese youth could only glare at his best friend for stopping him from leaving as quickly as possible.

By the time that they had both left their classroom, as Adam always took his time organising and placing his books into his bag, most of the students were merely hanging around just outside their tutor rooms, waiting for the moment in which they could escape from the prison known as high school.

“We still on for the movie?” Adam asked as he followed Mike into their respective room.

“Yeah, I’ll check with Jack just in case, but better safe than sorry,” Mike replied as he shrugged his book-laden backpack onto his usual seat and sent a quick text to his other friend.

“Remind me again, whose coming?”

“A few people,” yawned Mike once again as he leaned back in his chair and planted his feet on the table. “It’ll be you, me, Jack, Mark and the girls.”

“I’ve never actually met all of the girls.”

Grinning, Mike raised his eyebrows in a suggestive manner and let his friend fill the gaps. He was promptly met with a swift, but soft, punch to the shoulder. “Aw c’mon, I didn’t say anything.”

“Trust me, after eight years you don’t need to.”

The two friends continued to laugh and discuss their holiday plans, with Mike momentarily checking his phone again to see that the rest were still on the for movie, until their teacher came in. Soon, once the usual notices were out of the way and bell rung the classroom was empty in the space of approximately five seconds.

Trudging along with his heavy backpack Mike continued to yawn as he and Adam made their way to the school library. Looking at him curiously Adam couldn’t resist asking anymore as he turned to his companion.

“Okay, what’s up with all the yawning?” he questioned. “And don’t try and hide it, you may always have bags under your eyes but they’ve gotten worse. So spill it, what’s keeping you up?”

Mike sighed and rolled his eyes at his friend’s brief interrogation. “Nothing man, I just need to think up something for my big end-of-year art project and I’ve got nothing.”

“It can’t be that hard,” Adam commented as he re-adjusted the strap on his own backpack. Ever since he knew Mike from fifth grade up until then he considered his mate to be the best artist he actually knew. Even when they’d come up with silly characters as kids, Mike would always draw them out in his old sketchbook.

“Please, dude, you have no idea,” Mike quipped back as he smoothed back the natural fringe his shaggy, straight black hair sported. He always had trouble thinking up a suitable idea for an artwork. It wasn’t that he didn’t have any; it was just that the school’s art department was schizophrenic to say the least. Sometimes they’d love a ground-breaking piece that bent all the rules, whilst other times they simply rejected anything that deviated from the norm. It aggravated the young artist to no end.

“I mean, c’mon, every single idea I’ve posed to my teacher always gets the same reaction: ‘It sounds good, but I just don’t think anyone will get it.’ I swear to God, I mean, I’m not even allowed to draw in a manga style because it isn’t ‘realistic’ enough,” he ranted on. Although he could see that his art teacher had the best of intentions, occasionally he just wanted to snap all of his pencils at once and jam them into his own eyes just to numb his mind of the infuriating fickleness the art teachers showed.

Not being able to comfort his friend, as he had no idea how the art department worked and could see no way to console Mike, they settle on saying nothing until they reached the library foyer. Ever since they had all come to Sydney Boys Grammar School, the group of friends had always used two areas as their own personal hangout: the library foyer and the three benches parked next to a large tree at the bottom of the school. The library was a fair choice as it had everything they needed: air-conditioning, computers, books, comics and some of the most comfortable chairs.

As the automatic sliding doors allowed the two classmates entrance they immediately spotted their buddies and quickly moved to grab some seats. There wasn’t any real need to rush, seeing as most had already left, but it was a habit of theirs’ as the foyer was pretty busy in the morning. However as soon as the two high school seniors had settled themselves down, Jack just as quickly got up.

“What they Hell are you doing? We just got here,” Mike snarled, as he was not one to be disturbed from a good rest, especially after making the trek from the bottom of the school to the very top where the library was situated.

“Not my problem, we’ve got a movie to see,” Jack Armstrong said back as he scratched at his hair. Usually the slightly younger boy would have done nothing with his hair, but for today he seemed to have dyed his light brown hair with a red tinge as well as using a bit of gel so that it was a tad spikier than usual. “Or are you so tired you can’t even bitch as much as you usually do.”

“Don’t give him that challenge,” Adam joked as his scratched at his own curly, dark brown hair. “I’ve seen him complain about twelve different things in one breath. He’s a master of bitching.”

Casually giving his good pal the finger without looking he could do nothing but get up and shoulder his backpack. “Fine, if you’re in such a rush, let’s go.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve given up already,” chuckled Adam as he got up as well.

“Yeah, it can’t end there. I even had a good comeback,” Jack said.

“Guys, cut him some slack,” Mark Wallace commented as he joined the others in leaving the library and the school grounds altogether. “He is the one paying after all.”

“Thank you! At least someone cares about me,” Mike finally said in mock despair as he faked a heaving sob. The rest of the gang continued to joke around as they walked through the city, making their way to the nearest cinema. It was a constant ritual of theirs’ to always see a movie on the last day of each term, and this year it was particularly important. Once their finals were over Mike and Adam would both be leaving school for good, whilst Jack and Mark who were a year below them would have to stay back. Mike, though, had promised them all that he’d treat them to an overseas trip once they were all done with their studies, as he didn’t want to lose any of his best friends.

Finally they reached the cinema and quickly made their way in, knowing they’d kept the girls waiting. That was also a little thing they had continued to do over the years. Since Jack knew all the girls before high school, he was infinitely lucky for them to have all gone to a nearby all girls high school. Ever since he’d introduced them to Mike, Mark and Adam they’d all become close friends. It was also a little clichéd how they were constantly late compared to how the girls kept making it on time no matter what.

“Late again,” Lana O’Reilly smirked. When all she got were a few playful glares she responded with a simple flick of her long brown hair. “C’mon, we’ve been waiting for ten minutes. So, who’s paying?”

Raising his hand as if he had been called out on a roster Mike went to one of the ticket dispensers and without a single word he effortlessly punched in the code he received for booking ahead online and started handing out each ticket. He had also made it so that Adam sat on the end with him next to his best friend, as he tactfully knew that Adam could be a bit irritating with his eating habits in the theatre.

“So we’re still seeing Harry Potter, right?” Jessica Mitchell asked Mike as she handed the cashier her money while she scooped up her popcorn and drink. Like the rest of the group they were all Harry Potter fans and were all hoping and praying that the latest film would live up to the book.

Mike straightened up a bit when he heard Jess’ voice as he bought his own snacks. A faint blush on his cheeks he stuttered out a brief reply. “Y-yeah, t-that’s what w-we’re seeing.”

Watching this go on Mike’s friends could only collectively roll their eyes at the situation. Despite the bravado and false confidence Mike put on, he truly wasn’t too good with girls, even girls he knew, and he constantly screwed up a lot of the time. Even his friends found it odd and a bit sad how his scathingly self-deprecating remarks actually reflected his opinion of himself, which in turn did nothing for his self-confidence. It was usually this main flaw of being too modest that led to Mike having never been on a date before; a fact that his friends tried to help confront as they knew he was better in person than on paper.

With their snacks bought and their tickets ready the group chatted as they sat in their respective seats, waiting for the movie to start. The various conversations ranged from what they were each doing in the holidays and what exams they had to prepare for most in the coming school terms. The chatter was then broken when Mike’s phone rang.

“Sorry, forgot to turn it off,” he quickly muttered as he fumbled to grab the damn thing from his pocket. However his ring tone caught the attention of one of the girls as she leaned forward a bit to hear it better. By the time he had actually pulled out his phone the caller had hung up and, sighing in frustration he simple turned it off and stuffed it back in his sweater pocket.

“Hey, was that Cheap Trick’s ‘Surrender’ as your ring tone?” Jessica asked just after Mike had switched off his phone. Seeing Mike pause a bit she decided to talk a bit more and hopefully get him to speak up. Although the girls had known the boys, excluding Jack, for almost a year they still didn’t know everything about each other. “I swear that was ‘Surrender’. I didn’t peg you for a ‘70s fan, Mike.”

Absentmindedly fiddling with his sweater and needlessly re-adjusting his glasses Mike gave a nervous laugh. “Well, you know. They’re pretty good. Plus they’re not as olds and, to be frank, lame as I’d expected.”

“Of course they’re not,” Adam sarcastically butted in. “And you know what? I think that most devout Catholics also hate the Pope. Plus I heard Paris Hilton isn’t as much of a slut as she’s made out to be.”

“Hardy-freaking-har Ad,” Mike sniped back, some of his confidence resurfacing a bit. “They’re a good band; you should give them a try. I mean, they’ve got great melodies, they’re lyrics are for the most part pretty good and the guitar riffs are just awesome.”

“He’s right Adam, they’re a good band,” Jess chimed in with a grin. “So tell me Mike, what other bands do you like?”

The friendly banter continued on like this for a while. It didn’t go unnoticed to most of the group as they saw how Mike and Jess had plenty in common, mainly in music and movies. This especially went for Mark and Niki. Mark, ever since realising Mike was a genuinely nice guy, had tried many times to set him up with the girls he knew but continued to see his good friend politely refuse as he was interested in something else. Niki Cooper, the single blonde in the group of girls, on the other hand was just a good friend looking out for Jess. She, like the rest, knew that Mike fell easily for girls, and that he had as much in common with Jess as he did with Lana, whom he had a small crush on when they first met. She just didn’t want to see Mike lead her on, even by accident, and then suddenly fall for another girl. However the reason those two noticed what was going on the most was that they were the ones caught in between the two.

They noticed it all, not just their words. In their position they saw all the small, nervous but charming smiles Mike threw at Jess and the tiny giggles she gave when they shared an in-joke that they only got because they were the only ones to have seen the same anime or movie as one another. They could also see how they slowly leaned more and more over their friends’ laps and closer to one another as they continued to talk at a feverish pace. Sharing a knowing glance both Mark and Niki grinned.

Then the film began, and the two had to end their conversation prematurely. Leaning back into his seat, not realising he had been inching closer and closer to the cute brunette two seats across from him, Mike couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted for a movie to finish early so he could pick up his conversation again with Jess. However despite that and the fact that he now saw Jess in an even brighter light than he ever had, he was still blissfully unaware of how much he was beginning to like her. He did though notice how his stomach seemed to do a back flip every time she looked over and gave a small smile as well as how his mind was cluttered with thoughts on what else Jess liked.

By the time the movie ended the entire group slowly got up and stretched, almost exhausted after the three hour long film. Cracking his knuckles, back and neck Mike jumped a bit when he suddenly turned and almost bumped right into Jess. Without realising he had also put his hand on her shoulder as she had almost fallen over. Seeing how he was a decent 5’11” tall and she was just 5’5”, he couldn’t really use the excuse that he was just trying to steady himself. Quickly releasing his gentle grasp he silently let her go past him and out into the aisle, all the while blushing like mad as Adam and Mark behind him tried to cover their snickering.

“Well, that was a bit of a disappointment,” Lana said when they found themselves outside and back in the fresh air. “What’d you guys think?”

“Could’ve been better,” Adam answered as he shrugged on his leather jacket and backpack. “It’s a shame they didn’t get the same writer as the other ones.”

“Definitely, I still say the third one was the best,” Jack commented, chucking his half-eaten popcorn and empty drink cup into a nearby bin.

The rest pretty much agreed, although Mike and Jess remained relatively quiet. As they said their goodbyes and made their way off in different directions, Mike stood there for a while longer as he watched Jess walk off with Lana and Niki. Something wasn’t quite right. He didn’t know why he suddenly clammed up when he touched her shoulder. Of course he would’ve blushed if it was anyone else, but then he would’ve recovered with a smart-ass joke he kept handy, but this time he didn’t say or do anything. And why had he been thinking about her during the entire film. He had already known her for nearly an entire year and they hung out occasionally within the group, today shouldn’t be any more special, though he had learnt some interesting stuff about her. It was by that point Mike nearly hit himself as he could just picture the physical embodiment of the word ‘obvious’ slap him in the face.

He was falling for Jess. Or, at least, he thought he was. Was he?