Why I'd Rather Be Wrong

Fragments Of The Past: 1

"Hi, D'Angelo, I guess you're my research partner?"

A random guy right in front of me said, right after our professor told us the names of our research partners but I wasn't truly paying attention. So, I didn't even hear the name of my partner but I guess this man right in front of me is the one. He seems pretty older than me, I assume he's a repeater, and definitely a slack-off, I'm certain about that. He's tall, probably a few inches taller than me. He has brown hair like most of the slack-offs, like really. He's pretty tan, which is...cool? It's the first time I've seen him here, he's probably a transferee or he was expelled from his previous school, I don't know. I just don't feel so good about him. Call me judgemental or anything but sorry, that's just the vibe he immediately gave off to me.

I just covered my lips with my clasped hands that are pressing against the desk, ignoring him. He suddenly sat beside me and put his bag on the desk, which is against the classroom rules but I'm just gonna let our professor be the one to tell him. I freaking hate why we have desks that have to be shared by two persons, I don't like having someone a few inches away from me, that's why I don't have friends either.

"Are you deaf or something?" he mocked, sarcastically, or more like taunted.

I gave him a terrifying glare "I don't need no partner, I can ace this by myself."

"Oh, so you heard me, that's a relief," he replied and then put his hands on the back of his head. "I'm sorry to break it to you but we are partners, okay? You can't just do it on your own without even acknowledging my cooperation."

I didn't bother to reply anymore and just sat there quietly while the others are already talking about how are they gonna do the said research.

He reached and offered his hand right in front of me, which made me look at him. "Name's Lawrence Stephenson, but people just call me Rence. Please don't ignore me, I feel like you're the only one I could have a close friendship with in this classroom full of strangers," he said, and I just stared at his hand that's still in front of me, mid-air, waiting.

He seemed very sincere and I also feel his situation, as we're totally the same, even though I have been studying in this school for years now and he's just a new student here, yet we don't have much difference, only my experience around these premises. This is totally the first time that someone had the urge to ask to be friends with me, this guy's completely different, I think we could also make good friends, but I ain't actually good at socializing nor keeping up with friends. I'm just gonna give this a shot, I feel like this man wouldn't last long keeping up with me anyway. At the end of the day, he'll find better friends on this campus.

I also reached my hand and clasped it into his. I was shocked about how warm his hand is or is it just the fact that my hand is so cold right now? I don't know. We shook hands and I just gave him a half-smile without even saying a word.

"Mr. Stephenson, please put that bag off the desk, it's against the rules of this classroom. And by the way, I completely forgot to give you your chance to introduce yourself to us, may you come here to the front, please, and briefly introduce yourself?" our professor said and signaled all of the students that are standing to take their seats.

I heard him exhale deeply as if what's he's about to do is completely against his will but he has to. He went to the front, right before the whiteboard. He looked at our professor and she just signaled at him to proceed. He looked down for a second, preparing himself. "Good morning, everyone, my name's Lawrence Stephenson, a transferee, I assume I'm 2 years older than most of you all since I'm already 19 but here I am, still in senior year. I'm a repeater but I swear I'm gonna pass this year. I may look like a badass that can bully the hell out of you but I am certainly not. And...I also hope I could be friends with my research partner," he said, and all of them just looked at me and then covered their mouths, as if it's merely impossible for him to be friends with me, as far as these students know me.

"Mr. D'Angelo is SUCH a nice guy, I do hope you become friends with him, good luck with that," our professor said sarcastically as if she's trying to imply something about me. "Thank you for that, we do hope you pass this year, time is gold, my dear. Without further ado, you may now go back to your proper seat and we will start our discussion," she said and he already went back here and sat beside me.

I clearly don't know how to react, I'm actually pissed about him pointing me out in class but I guess he's just being friendly, but excessively way too much.

"Hey, D'Angelo!"

I glanced behind and there's that guy again, he's already approaching me, what the heck does he want?

He approached me from behind and wrapped his arm around my neck as if we were best friends or we've known each other for years. "Hi, when and where are we gonna start that research, huh?" he asked while he walked along with me.

"We can't do it at my place, we have some business goin' on, we'll be such a bother there," I said and I'm completely uncomfortable about him being so clingy and friendly towards me. I grabbed his arm and put it off my shoulder and neck "Don't do that, please."

"Oh, okay, sorry. Also, we can just do it at my place then, my roommate's currently out of the country," he said. "By the way, you got anything on the list for later?"

"I have plenty of books to read, I also have to study in advance about our topic, so if you're gonna ask me if we could hang out for nothin', I can't," I explained and he just kept walking along with me with his hands grasped onto the straps of his backpack.

"That's okay, I understand, just tell me if we're already gonna start doing our research," he said. "Anyways, I'm gonna go meet my friends, see ya around," he said and tapped my shoulder with the palm of his hand.

He walked off and I didn't even say a word. He vanished from my sight as he turned to a corner that's leading to the opposite way of our house.

I'm just reading the romance novel I have left behind for a while now since I've been really focused on my studies these days, I guess I just wanted some time to rewind. I heard a knock from the other side of my bedroom door "Jaze?" Mom then opened the door and went inside. "Your uncle Corey was on the phone earlier, he's asking for the fanny pack you borrowed. Haven't you returned it to him yet?"

"Oh, does he need it already?" I asked.

"I guess so, go, return it now, it's still pretty early," mom suggested and already left the room.

I folded a dog-ear at the current page I'm reading so that I could come back to it later on. I stood up and wore a jacket then grabbed my uncle's fanny pack on the top of my closet. I went out of my room and they're just sitting on the couch while watching television. I gotta mark this day, because, after a while, Janine decided to go out of her lair and have some company with mom and dad. I wore my beanie and already headed out. I have just decided to walk my way to my uncle's house, I'm so sick of driving at the moment.

I'm almost halfway there, I'm already around the park and three guys are walking just a few meters away from behind me. I hear their chatter but I wasn't able to encode and understand what they're saying since it's so indistinct. The street's also kinda dark and we're the only ones walking down the pavement. I just walked faster because I'm already feeling uncomfortable about them like they're gonna do something bad to me at any moment by now. I discreetly looked at them through my peripheral vision while I simply looked to my right, and I see that they're literally following me as they also walked faster too. Suddenly, they managed to catch up on me just by walking faster than me. One guy suddenly grabbed me by my jacket and pinned me down on the trunk of a car on the side. It's so unfortunate of me, the car's alarm didn't go off. He grabbed me by the neck and looked down at me. They're a stranger to me and I guess it's the same for them too, like totally. The other guys made sure I won't be able to break free by holding my arms and my feet too. What have I gotten myself into...

"Hmm, what do we got here?" the guy that's holding my neck taunted. He looks a little bit older than me and his face is so creepy, I'm not even gonna lie.

"What the f-f**k do you want?" struggling, I asked mockingly.

"Nothin', we just wanna...have some fun, y'know," he said and put his index finger on my chest and started to slide it down into my belly. "Seems like doing it to a guy doesn't have that much difference at all, right?"

"HEY!" someone yelled from the house right in front of us and the light on the front porch where the car is located suddenly lit up. "What the hell are you bastards doing at my car?!"

They immediately let go of me and ran away. I knelt to the ground as I've been forced to be still for a minute and I couldn't feel my legs. After a few seconds, someone just walked towards me and crouched right in front of me. I couldn't really see who this is but I'm certain that it's a man. My eyes are still catching up as I have been suffocated by that bastard too.

He touched and lifted my chin "D'Angelo?" he asked, and in that exact moment, my vision cleared up, and it's this Lawrence guy again. "What are you doing here? What did they do to you?"

"They uh - they're tryna molest me or something but, I'm all good now, thanks, man," I replied. "So, you live here?" I asked.

He helped me stand up "Yeah. Anyway, are you going somewhere? Want me to drive ya?" he asked then flipped the hair on his forehead aside. "There's actually plenty of bastards out there."

"Seems like it," I replied sarcastically while I'm still panting. "Nah, I just actually decided to walk my way to where I'm actually going. I'm so sick of cars at the moment," I said. "I'm gonna go ahead, thank you again, I'll see ya around."

He just smiled and waved goodbye at me while he watched me walk away.