Proof That You are Human

After that grueling fiasco the night before, Kongbop faced full day's schedule of classes, which included two more assignments and a pop quiz he is fairly certain he failed. His only consolation was that if he did fail, so did everyone else that tried to cheat off him so they were all equally dire straits, and maybe the professor would give them an additional credit assignment, even if it meant a little more work.

In addition, he had not been able to do much more than text Arthit in the seconds he had to spare all day, much less see him in the past couple of days because of his schedule, so he was an emotional wreck. He was still not on speaking terms with that someone either. Even though holding grudges was not really his style, he felt this time it was well deserved.

Finally, Kongpob had to show for the new school term's Star and Moon dress rehearsal to coach the Moon hopefuls - in the pouring rain. Like the gentleman he was raised to be, he had given his umbrella to a female classmate whom he had found drenched to the skin as she had been caught in the sudden downpour. She was going to the dorms; he was headed to the auditorium in the opposite direction, but was closer to his destination. He took off at a run across the quad trying to get to the building as fast as possible so he didn't suffer the same fate as he dodged between raindrops. He had used a towel to dry off upon reaching the auditorium, but had to endure in wet clothing for over an hour while he met the potentials and went through the rehearsal giving advice.

He had left the auditorium to the rumbling threat of thunder, but fortunately, he was able to make it back to the dorms. He had tried to contact Arthit to come by for at least a few minutes, but he was with the rest of the seniors finalizing a group project that would be counted for their midterm. After weeks of exhaustive work and the past three days of hell, Kongpob resigned himself to another day of not seeing the man he loved and decided to call it a night early. He didn't even realize his early had been shortly after 6 p.m. as he crawled under the covers and passed out cold.

Now he was waking to this misery. Getting to his feet, Kong made his way to the bathroom for a hot shower in hopes that it would help alleviate his symptoms and give him some much needed energy as he felt like he hadn't slept all night. While most mornings he would start with a run, he felt enough under the weather that he decided it wasn't a good idea. He probably would pass out before he made it ten feet from the dorm door. This was punctuated with an unwarranted sneezing fit. It would be all he could do to get ready for another tedious day of classes, one of which he was dreading.

Kongpob glanced at the clock on the wall as he pocketed his unchecked phone with the 24 missed messages and 4 missed calls on the log. He sighed as he collected a light jacket and a spare umbrella before heading down to the food court to meet with Tew and May, who he had arranged to meet before their early class in hopes to review at least a few minutes considering the dismal pop quiz the day before. Winding through zombie schoolmates, he spotted them sitting at a table on the far side.

"Good morning." The customary greeting scratched at his throat like a stove pipe cleaner.

"Good—grief! You look as though you are going to fall down! Please, take a seat!" Tew got up to help Kongpob. "What happened? Did you get into a fight with your boyfriend? Or did you complete that ridiculous dare and are now suffering the consequences?"

"No...." Kongpob looked in confusion at Tew. He had tried to look presentable when he left his dorm room and thought he had managed, but he neglected to remember what a short walk for someone feeling like he did would inevitably do. Not to mention, he just had another sneezing fit before entering the food court, and had to hold himself up on the wall or he would have fallen down from the lack of energy.

"I am ok, just tired." He tried to give them a smile, but neither one of them bought it. "Really. It's just been a rough few days."

"You look awful. Why don't you skip class today and go get some sleep?"