By Zephyria “You’ve been acting strange lately.”
After finishing all their after-school training, Ashley and the ice hockey team gathered at Green Bell with their respective girlfriends.
After the boyfriend, who was no different from a beast after exercising, showed off his voracious appetite and devoured a bunch of food, Ariel opened her mouth when he had regained some reason. Ashley looked down at her, puzzled by her girlfriend’s words, who was frowning.
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
The other guys who were gathered also stared at them with interest. Ariel continued.
“You’re hanging out with some weird loser, you wouldn’t even look at those kinds of guys before.”
“Who?”
“Are you talking about Koi?”
One of the guys who had been watching said to Ashley, who was frowning. Only then did Ashley nod as if he understood. Ariel crossed her arms below her chest and pouted.
“You never even acknowledged those guys, right? Why are you suddenly doing that? Did he catch you doing something?”
“Me?”
Ashley laughed out loud. The starting members of the ice hockey team who were gathered together also burst into laughter. Ariel’s cheeks flushed, but she turned her head as if nothing was wrong.
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“Yeah, we were wondering too.”
Bill, one of the guys in the group, chimed in.
“You let that guy join you every lunchtime. Why are you doing that? It can’t be that he caught you doing something.”
Bill, who had deliberately added the afterthought, grinned at Ariel. Ariel frowned, but Ashley, who had swallowed the hamburger he had taken a big bite of, opened his mouth.
“It’s nothing. I just, I feel sorry for him.”
“Sorry for him?”
Ariel asked, sounding dumbfounded. Then, instead of Ashley, another guy nodded, saying, “Ah.”
“Yeah, he seemed to be getting bullied pretty badly by some nasty guys.”
Another guy agreed with those words.
“That’s right, when I first saw him, he was probably getting beaten up, right?”
“He wasn’t getting beaten up. He was about to get beaten up, though.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“Is it different? It’s completely different?”
Ashley, who had left the conversation to drift into pointless jokes for a while, opened his mouth.
“Anyway, so you guys just be nice to him. He’s a pitiful guy.”
Everyone looked at each other and nodded, saying, “Okay.”
“We just have to acknowledge his greetings, right?”
Ashley tilted his head to one side at Bill’s words and picked up a french fry and brought it to his mouth. Ariel, who had been sitting with an unpleasant expression until then, said.
“Don’t hang out with those kinds of guys. It makes you look stupid too.”
She took the cola to her mouth and added primly.
“We’re different from those guys.”
Ashley casually stared at the ice in her cola cup before opening his mouth.
“Different, of course.”
Because he’s the only one who doesn’t put ice in his soda.
He thought to himself, then chuckled and dismissed the thought.
“Oh, now that I think about it, that guy is in the same class as us.”
Bill said as if he had just remembered, and another guy nodded.
“I have a few with him too. Ash and him almost overlap, right? He seems to be taking all the AP classes.”
The guy who whistled briefly was met with a snort from his girlfriend.
“If you have nothing to do, you should at least study. He doesn’t have any friends, does he?”
“Who would hang out with a loser like that?”
Ariel scolded, and everyone laughed. Ashley also laughed, ignoring the small pang of guilt in his heart.
Why does his smiling face have to come to mind now.He deliberately put the ice in the cup into his mouth and crunched it loudly, then emptied his head and began chatting with the other guys.
*
“Hi, Koi.”
“Hi, Bill.”
One of the starters on the ice hockey team, whom he ran into in front of the lockers, greeted him first. Koi returned the greeting with pleasure, and he grinned and headed for his locker.
After that day, the guys who hung out with Ashley often acknowledged Koi. It was just a simple greeting, but it was a huge change for Koi. Until now, no one at school had ever greeted him first, so no one but him knew how much joy a single greeting could bring.
That wasn’t the only change. The way the kids treated Koi also changed. Instead of treating him like he didn’t exist or gossiping behind his back, they simply greeted him or even went a step further and had light conversations.
The first time a classmate in the same class casually talked about a TV show he had watched the day before, Koi was so surprised he almost fainted. He soon left when Koi didn’t respond properly, but it was a giant leap forward. That day, Koi spent the whole day searching for the show his classmate had mentioned on his cell phone, checking the contents, and indulging in watching free clips on YouTube.
The best thing was that Nelson and his gang’s bullying had disappeared. How peaceful and happy it was to spend a day without being ridiculed or beaten, or even fearing it. Koi was enjoying that daily life for the first time and spending every day more than satisfied. It was all thanks to Ashley Miller.
How could someone like that exist?
Koi thought, feeling his heart race again. He’s handsome, has a great body, is tall, good at sports, smart, and even has a great personality! Could there be another human being as perfect as him in the world?
If a religion called Ashley Miller were to be created, Koi would be the first to become a believer. That’s how much Ashley had come to occupy a large place in his heart. It may not have been a big deal to Ashley, but he had changed Koi’s life, which had been full of despair, into such a happy and fulfilling one. He could never thank Ashley enough for the rest of his life. He thought that if he could ever be of help to him, he would do anything. Not that Ashley Miller would ever need someone like Corner Niles.
As time passed, the semester ended and they went on vacation.
*
♪♪♪♬♬♩♪…….
Ashley woke up to the sound of the bell ringing early in the morning.
“Ugh…”
He groaned in agony, buried his face in the pillow, and reached out his long arm to find his cell phone on the side table. The bell kept ringing.
- Ash?
Ashley didn’t react for a moment to the shrill voice that came through as soon as he answered the phone.
“…Ariel?”
When he called out in a still-sleepy voice, Ariel replied from the other end.
- Ash, what are you doing? Are you still sleeping?
“…What time is it?”
He forced his still-heavy eyelids open and checked the time on his cell phone, and he almost cursed.
“So, what’s up?”
Ariel paused at the rough tone and said,
- I just don’t think I can see you today. My father wants us all to have dinner together.
Ashley, who had been frowning, soon realized.
“…It’s the Fourth of July.”
Ariel added, “Yeah,” to the murmur that came out like a sigh.
- I’m sorry, are your parents coming or anything?
Most people knew that Ashley’s parents were on the East Coast and that he was living here alone. Ashley replied without any particular emotion.
“It’s okay, families should spend Independence Day together. Got it.”
- I’ll call you, Ash.
Ariel left a kiss on the phone and hung up. Ashley stared at the disconnected phone for a moment, then threw it on the bed and turned over with a sigh.
“That’s right. You should spend the holidays with your family.”
He repeated what he had said and closed his mouth. The surroundings were endlessly quiet.