Ruz's POV
In Liam's room, the Chaos Gang was bored.
This was a dangerous state for us to be in.
Boredom, for normal people, meant scrolling through phones, taking naps, or finding something productive to do.
For us, it meant trouble.
It meant chaos waiting to happen. It meant someone was about to do something stupid and everyone else was about to enable it.
Josh was lying on the floor, spread out like a starfish who had given up on life. His eyes were closed, his mouth was slightly open, and he looked like he was contemplating the meaning of existence.
Nika was throwing chips at his face.
One chip. Two chips. Three chips.
Each one landed somewhere different, forehead, nose, cheek. He had either reached a state of enlightenment or simply stopped caring about his personal dignity. With Josh, it was hard to tell.
Marco was trying to balance a spoon on his nose. His eyes were crossed. His face was scrunched in concentration. The spoon wobbled dangerously, threatening to fall.
Diego was sitting across from him, watching intensely.
"Fifty pesos says it falls in the next ten seconds," Diego said.
"You're on," Marco replied, not moving.
1..
2..
3..
4..
5..
6…
The spoon fell.
"HA," Diego said.
"That was nine seconds," Marco argued.
"It was eight."
"It was six."
"Pay up."
"No."
Mira was sitting on the bed, her legs curled under her, her phone in her hand. But she wasn't scrolling. She was watching everyone, a small smile on her face.
Aira was beside her, also on her phone, but her eyes kept moving, watching, observing, cataloging. She missed nothing.
I sat on the floor. Beside me, Eren remained in his usual position leaning against the bed, meditating in the middle of chaos like a psychopath who had made peace with disorder.
Across from us, Rifat and Zayn were sprawled against the sofa like two fallen soldiers. Zayn leaned back with his head tipped toward the ceiling, looking as though his soul had already left his body. Rifat sat beside him in equally miserable condition.
Liam, being Liam, he had covered both of their faces with handkerchiefs. With his arms crossed and a mournful expression on his face, he looked like he was presiding over a funeral.
I snapped a few pictures just to tease them later.
"We should play a game," Aira said suddenly.
Everyone looked up.
Except Rifat and Zayn, who remained exactly as they were, slumped against the sofa.
And Eren, who continued meditating as though none of us existed.
"A game?" Nika asked, pausing mid chip throw.
"Something fun. Something that doesn't involve violence or food theft."
"That's a very narrow category," Josh said from the floor.
"Truth or dare," Nika suggested, her eyes lighting up.
"No dares," Mira said immediately, "Last time we played truth or dare, Josh ended up in the pool with his clothes on."
"That was a dare," Josh said defensively.
"That was a mistake." Zayn spoke in a flat voice. Without bothering to move,
"That was art," he argued.
"That was hypothermia," Rifat muttered from beside him, still in the same position.
"What about truth or truth?" Eren said.
Everyone looked at him. Even Rifat and Zayn.
Eren didn't open his eyes or break his meditation.
"Only the truth. No dares. Just embarrassing stories. No one gets wet. No one gets arrested. No one ends up in the hospital."
"That's worse," Liam said while sitting beside me.
"That's better," I said.
We all sat in a circle on the floor.
The floor was covered in pillows and blankets. Mira had dimmed the lights. The room felt softer now. Warmer. Like a cocoon.
"Who starts?" Aira asked.
"I'll start," Josh said.
His face turned serious.
Dramatically serious.
The kind of expression he wore whenever he was about to tell a story that was either completely true or completely made up. With Josh, you could never tell which.
"Once," he began, "back in seventh grade, I was presenting a report in front of the class. I was nervous. Like... sweating through my uniform."
"Dramatic," Marco said.
Josh ignored him.
"So I started presenting. Everything was going fine. Then..." He paused for dramatic effect.
"I threw up."
Nika's eyes widened.
"ON THE TEACHER?"
"On the teacher."
The room exploded with laughter.
Josh nodded solemnly, like a war veteran recounting a traumatic battle.
"Front row. First desk. She was wearing a white blouse."
"Oh, that poor teacher," Mira said, wincing.
"Poor teacher?" Josh gasped, placing a hand over his chest. "Poor me. I had to go back to that class the next day."
"You could've transferred schools," Diego suggested.
"I considered changing my identity," Josh admitted.
"I would've," Marco said.
"You survived?" Liam asked.
"Barely."
"What did the teacher do?" Aira asked.
Josh sighed dramatically.
"She handed me a tissue... and asked if I was finished."
The room burst into another round of laughter.
"That's somehow worse," Rifat muttered.
"It built character," Josh said proudly.
"It built trauma," I corrected.
Nika immediately raised her hand like she was answering a question in class.
"Me."
Everyone turned toward her.
She cleared her throat dramatically.
"One time, I tried to impress a boy by doing a backflip off a swing."
Marco blinked.
"A swing?"
"Yep."
"Like... a playground swing?"
"Yessss."
"Those aren't exactly designed for backflips."
"I wasn't exactly designed for logic."
"Fair enough," Marco admitted.
Aira leaned forward.
"Did you land it?"
"I landed..."
Nika paused dramatically.
"...in the hospital."
The room erupted.
Liam was already laughing before she continued.
"What broke?" Josh asked between laughs.
"My pride."
She held up her left wrist.
"And my wrist."
"Both at the same time."
Rifat nodded thoughtfully.
"One healed faster than the other."
"My wrist healed in six weeks."
"And your pride?"
She stared into the distance.
"...Still in recovery."
That only made everyone laugh harder.
"What happened to the boy?" Diego asked.
"Oh, he saw the whole thing."
"...Did he at least come visit you?"
"He sent me a 'Get Well Soon' card."
"Aww."
"It was addressed to the wrong name."
The room exploded again.
Marco clutched his chest.
"That's... somehow more painful than the broken wrist."
"I know."
"Did he ever realize?"
"No."
"Did you ever tell him?"
"No."
"Why?"
Nika sighed dramatically.
"Because I had already attempted aerial courtship once. I wasn't risking a verbal one."
Even Eren cracked a smile without opening his eyes.
"Understandable," he murmured.
Marco cleared his throat dramatically.
"One time, in middle school, I was in class. The teacher asked a question. I raised my hand. She called on me. And I called her 'Mom.'"
The room exploded.
"IN FRONT OF EVERYONE?" Nika shouted.
"She said, 'I'm not your mother, Mr. Bautista. But I am disappointed in you.'"
"That's worse than throwing up on a teacher," Josh said.
"That's worse than breaking your wrist," Nika agreed.
"That's emotional damage," Liam said.
Marco nodded. "I transferred schools. By the trauma."
Diego waved his hand lazily.
"One time, I walked into a glass door."
"That's not embarrassing," Josh said. "That happens to everyone."
"I blamed the door. I said, 'This door shouldn't be so clean. It's a safety hazard.'"
"What did the door say?"
"Nothing. It's a door."
"Then why are you telling this story?"
"Because I'm still angry at the door."
Everyone stared at him.
"That's not embarrassing," Nika said. "That's unhinged."
Eren breaks his meditation and looks at me.
"One time," he said in his usual monotone, "I got lost at a mall. I was eight."
"Okay," Josh said.
"I ended up in a storage closet. For three hours."
"How do you get lost in a storage closet?"
"I walked in. The door closed behind me. I couldn't open it."
"Couldn't or didn't try?"
"The handle was broken."
"Did you scream for help?"
"I meditated."
"I didn't know it was meditation. I just sat there and thought about snacks."
"That's not embarrassing," Josh said. "That's concerning."
"It was embarrassing for me," Eren continued in his usual monotone. "An employee found me three hours later. I was still sitting there... thinking about snacks."
He paused.
"When my parents finally found me, my mother sighed and said, 'That's my son.'"
"And my father looked at me for a long second before saying, 'That's also my son.'"
Liam frowned.
"...That's all they said?"
Eren nodded.
"That was enough."
The room burst into laughter.
Mira didn't clear her throat. She didn't lean forward dramatically. She just spoke, the way she did everything calm, controlled, slightly terrifying.
"One time, I hacked into the school's grading system."
"You WHAT?" Aira asked.
"I hacked into the school's grading system."
"Why?"
"I wanted to change my grade from an A to an A+."
"An A wasn't good enough?"
"An A is acceptable. An A+ is exceptional. I changed it. And left a note in the system that said 'Your security is bad, please fix it.'"
"What did the teacher do?"
"They didn't find out it was me."
"That's a crime."
"That's initiative with technical skills."
Aira tucked her hair behind her ear, looking slightly embarrassed before she even started.
"One time, in our school play," she said, "I was on stage. It was the big finale. Everyone was watching."
"Go on," Nika said.
"I tripped on my own feet. And took the curtain down with me."
"THE WHOLE CURTAIN?"
She nodded.
"How?"
"I grabbed it on the way down. Instinct. Self preservation with Bad decision making. The audience laughed but they cheered also. They thought it was part of the show."
"Did you ever do another play?"
"I did not."
"Good choice."
"Survival choice."
"One time," Rifat said, "I tried to cook for my family."
Everyone leaned in.
"I was fifteen. I watched a cooking show. I thought I knew what I was doing."
"What did you make?"
"I tried to make pasta and set off the smoke alarm and the neighbor's dog. The smoke went through the window. The dog started barking. The neighbors came out, and my grandmother, She laughed for twenty minutes."
"Did you ever cook again?"
"No."
Liam pointed at himself.
"My turn."
Everyone looked over.
"One time, I accidentally sent a screenshot of my mom's messages..."
"So?" Josh asked.
"...To my mom."
The room went quiet.
"You WHAT?" Nika asked.
"I meant to send it to Adrian."
"What was in the screenshot?" Marco asked.
Liam slowly covered his face.
"My conversation with Adrian... where we were complaining about how Mom kept asking if we'd eaten."
The room erupted.
"You sent your mom proof that you were complaining about her?" Diego wheezed.
"Yes."
"What did she say?" Aira asked.
Liam sighed dramatically.
"She replied with another message."
"And?"
"'Since you have time to complain, you have time to wash the dishes.'"
Adrian burst into laughter.
"Did you?"
"I had no choice."
Rifat nodded approvingly.
"Justice."
"The worst part," Liam continued, "was that she sent a thumbs-up emoji."
Marco winced.
"The thumbs-up is scarier than getting yelled at.".
"It really is," Liam admitted.
I shook my head.
"Idiot."
"I know."
Adrian's jaw was tight. He looked like he would rather be anywhere else.
"You don't have to share," I said.
"I know."
"You look like you're in pain."
"I'm in memories."
He took a breath.
"One time, in elementary school, I tried to impress a girl. So I climbed a tree."
He paused dramatically.
"I got stuck up there for half an hour."
"What happened?" Josh asked.
"A teacher had to rescue me."
"Did the girl ever talk to you again?"
"She transferred schools."
"Because of you?"
"Because of the tree. The tree was traumatic for everyone involved."
Everyone stared at him.
"That's not embarrassing," Josh said while laughing . "That's a tragedy."
"That's a love story," Marco said.
"That's a disaster," Nika said.
"One time," Zayn began, "I got stuck in the school washroom. The lock was broken, and there was a warning sign on the door... but I didn't notice it."
"Because you were too lazy to read the sign," I said.
"I was a kid back then."
"No. You were lazy."
"I was eight!"
"You were a lazy eight-year-old."
"Will you two stop arguing?" Rifat sighed. "How did you get out?"
Zayn hesitated.
"...Ruz."
Every head turned toward me.
I blinked.
"I was scared," Zayn continued. "The teachers couldn't get the door open. So Ruz climbed the back wall of the school, crawled through the washroom window, and somehow unlocked the door from the inside."
Silence.
Everyone stared at me.
"...You did what?" Liam asked.
I shrugged.
"It seemed faster."
"FASTER?" Josh nearly shouted.
"You climbed a school wall?"
"You went through a bathroom window?"
"You committed a felony before puberty," Diego muttered.
"I don't think that's a felony," Marco said.
"I think it depends on how dramatic the judge is."
Nika was staring at me in complete disbelief.
"Ruz..."
"What?"
"You rescued someone like an action movie protagonist."
"I climbed a wall."
"You illegally entered school property."
"I was already a student there."
"That doesn't make it legal!"
"Somehow this is the least surprising thing I've heard today." Eren said calmly.
"I told you she is weird," Liam said.
Zayn nodded. "She got me out in less than two minutes. Then we both got detention."
I looked offended.
"Which was completely unfair."
"You broke into a locked washroom through a window," Rifat said.
"I solved the problem."
"You became the problem."
The room burst into laughter.
Everyone looked at me.
"Your turn," Nika said, tossing another chip at Josh's face. He caught it in his mouth this time. No one clapped. No one was impressed.
"I don't have embarrassing stories," I said.
"Everyone has embarrassing stories," Mira replied,
"I suppress mine."
"That's unhealthy."
"That's survival."
Josh suddenly sat up from the floor, as though he'd just remembered something important.
"What about your friendship?"
The room fell silent.
"Friendship?" Rifat repeated, leaning forward. "Yeah." He pointed at me and Zayn. "You promised you'd tell us after the exams."
My shoulders stiffened.
Zayn sighed across me.
"...Fine."
He looked at me.
"You tell it."
"No."
"You were there."
"So were you."
"You remember it better."
"I remember it differently."
Everyone groaned.
"JUST TELL US!" they all shouted at once.
I sighed.
"...We were eight."
The room instantly grew quieter.
"On my first day at school," I began, "I accidentally sat in Zayn's seat."
"I had been sitting there since kindergarten," Zayn added.
"He walked over, looked me dead in the eyes, and said, 'Move.' But I was polite."
"You weren't," he said flatly.
"I was eight."
"You certainly didn't act like it."
Everyone stared at us in disbelief. None of them had ever seen us bicker like this.
"I simply told him, 'No,'" I continued.
"And I refused to move too," Zayn said.
"So I refused harder."
"For an entire week," he continued. "We fought over the same chair every single morning."
Josh frowned.
"There were other chairs... right?"
"There were," I admitted. "But that chair became personal."
"So," Zayn continued, "our teacher got tired of us arguing and made us share the same desk."
Josh blinked.
"That sounds like a terrible idea."
"It was."
"The very first day," I said, "he threw my school bag out of the classroom."
"You stole my eraser."
"You took my notebook."
"You hid my lunch."
"You poured glue all over my ruler."
"You drew a mustache on my family picture."
"I was improving the artwork."
The room stared at us like they were watching a live tennis match, their heads turning back and forth with every accusation.
"You two were tiny psychopaths," Rifat said.
"Call him."
"Call her."
We spoke in perfect unison.
Nika blinked several times.
"I can't believe these are our Ruz and Zayn. The two quietest people in the group."
"We fought for months," I continued. "Until the day he got stuck in the school washroom."
All the chaos gang immediately burst into laughter, already knowing the story.
"She saved me," Zayn admitted.
"You never thanked me."
"Why would I?" Zayn shot back. "You climbed through the window, unlocked the door, and before I could even process what was happening, you grabbed my ear and dragged me out like I was a criminal!"
"Because it was your fault!"
"I was scared!"
"And the door wasn't even that hard to open!"
"I didn't know that!"
The room erupted with laughter.
Even Eren's shoulders shook slightly.
"After that," I said, "we just... stopped fighting."
"No," Zayn corrected. "I stopped fighting. You were still bossing me around."
"You needed supervision."
"I was older than you."
"By five months."
"Still older."
"Congratulations."
Liam snorted.
"So you've basically been arguing for your entire lives."
"Pretty much," we answered together.
"We walked home together."
"Shared lunch."
"Did homework."
"Got detention together."
"More than once."
"Mostly because of him."
"Fifty-fifty."
"Eighty-twenty." I corrected him.
"I object."
"Overruled."
Marco stared between us, completely bewildered.
"So…You became best friends… because you spent months fighting over a chair?"
Zayn nodded.
"Pretty much."
A long silence settled over the room.
Then Adrian spoke.
"...That is the dumbest friendship origin story I've ever heard."
"It's also the cutest," Mira said, smiling.
Rifat shook his head.
"I still can't believe your friendship started because neither of you was willing to sit in another chair."
I looked at Zayn.
He looked back at me.
"…After that, we started tolerating each other," Zayn said.
"I tolerated you," I corrected.
"Yeah," Liam said. "We all know."
A few snorts rippled through the room.
"…Then she transferred," Zayn added.
"And you met again in Monterrazas," Adrian said.
"No," Zayn shook his head. "We met again after a few years. I transferred to another school."
He leaned back slightly, eyes drifting as if replaying it.
"On the first day, I thought I was alone. I felt… a bit uncomfortable at first."
The room quieted a little.
"Then she came and sat beside me out of nowhere."
A few surprised looks spread across the group.
"I was shocked when I saw her," he continued, "but also… happy. Except she wasn't the same anymore. She'd gotten colder. Reckless. More stubborn. And a dumb stude…"
"So were you," I cut in. "You were reckless too. Stubborn. Calm. Smart. Hands…."
I stopped mid-sentence.
My mouth snapped shut.
Pressed my lips together, eyes twitching slightly.
…Did I just…Shit.
Zayn's mouth curved. "Yep. You did."
The entire room exploded into laughter.
Liam leaned back, grinning. "Yeah, yeah, we got your embarrassing moment."
"Shut up," I snapped immediately.
The laughter only got louder.
"…Yess," Zayn said slowly, a smirk forming. "You agreed."
The room exploded.
Rifat was practically doubled over. "OH MY…"
Nika was wiping tears from her eyes. "No way, no way…"
"Shut up," I snapped, heat rising to my face.
But it only made them laugh harder.