A Guy Like You

Chapter 3

ARTHIT

Memories of the bike ride the night before are gone when Arthit wakes up in the morning, and when his mom asks if his walk home was alright, Arthit doesn't think twice before he answers with an easy, "Yes," grateful that she doesn't actually try to discuss what happened the night before with him.

Showing up at school, he looks worse than usual, bags upon bags under his eyes, his head continually angled towards his chest. When Prae greets him that morning with a quiet, "P'Arthit," he nearly knocks her over. She steadies him with a careful hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she asks when he straightens.

Arthit nods. "Just... really tired."

"When did you get home? It was before eleven, right?"

Before eleven? What is she thinking? There's no way he'd have been able to finish those papers before eleven. Either way, he nods. "Yeah. I think I just slept wrong." When Kongpob walks by, then, locking eyes with Arthit briefly before continuing on his way, Arthit shakes his head. "I mean... yeah."

Why am I lying about that?

He doesn't know.

Either way, the first bell rings, so he bids Prae a polite goodbye, her doing the same, before heading to class.

The day ends much too early, and Arthit finds himself walking to the student council room with heavy feet and dread in his stomach. Just that one interaction with Kongpob that morning had messed up Arthit's whole day, leaving him with a worry that he's forgotten something important, but he just can't remember what.

Walking into the student council room, he finds most everyone already there, and they all turn and stare. Arthit stops short, stumbling some. A few titters go through the room, and Arthit feels his cheeks heat, hoping the pink doesn't show on his skin. He rushes to the only empty seat in the room, a chair in the back... of course. At least now he's out of the way. As soon as he's sitting, everyone turns their attention back to Prae, who bangs a toy gavel on the front table. "We've got most everyone here. We're just waiting for—"

The door flies open, Kongpob coming in with stacks of papers in his arms, going almost higher than his head. Arthit is quick to recognize what they are.

"Sorry," Kongpob is saying when the irritation that Kongpob is holding his work mostly leaves his system, "I wanted to double-check these before the meeting. I'm not sure the background check was done properly."

"You know I'm good," Arthit snaps before he can stop himself. The room's attention becomes divided between the two as Arthit stands, Kongpob setting down the papers to look at him. "They were perfect, weren't they?"

"Don't think so highly of yourself," Kongpob scolds, walking over to him. Arthit hates the fact that Kongpob is taller than him, even if it's only by an inch or so. "Doing so could mar your stunning personality." His voice is low and cutting.

Arthit bites his lip, tries his best to hold his tongue, though he wants nothing more than to smack that smug smile off of Kongpob's face. Their gazes remain locked for another minute, neither speaking nor moving, before Prae begins to pound her gavel against the table once again, frantically slapping her palm against the wood, too.

"Okay!" she chirps. "That's enough! Really, that's enough. Thank you, both of you, for getting your work done."

She pounds her gavel a couple more times before Arthit is turning away, going back to his chair, Kongpob staring after him before making a silent decision and heading back to the front of the room. He and Prae exchange a couple of whispered words before Prae is clearing her throat and calling Tew, the Second Year Representative, up to the room.