"You will not join!" The man bellowed at a terrified Lay.
"But-"
"No buts. You will not join. I will not have my nephew be one of those mutts!" Lay's uncle declared loudly.
"Uncle, please, my friend-"
"I don't care what your mutt friends are doing. That is their life. You will not go to any preparatory high school or whatever you call it. You will join the firm and revive your father's company."
"Ple-"
"I don't want to hear another word come out of your mouth." The man's voice lowered in warning. Lay hung his head in defeat. No matter how hard he tried, his uncle would not allow him to become a xaiyon or attend a preparatory high academy.
Lay went to his room and shut the door. Tears entered the boy's eyes as he lay down on his bed. He wanted to join Wen in entering the world of the xaiyon. Even though he probably would not make it onto a varsity team, Lay wanted to be there for Wen as his friend began his journey. Lay wanted to become a xaiyon with Wen.
Wen's text tone sounded on the device surrounding Lay's wrist after Lay had lain in silence for a moment. The boy wiped his face before lifting his arm and reading Wen's message.
Hey, you going to the
xaiyon meeting Friday?
The dark-blue-haired boy let out a long breath before sending his response.
There's no use. My uncle
won't let me get scouted.
What?? But it's your life.
He thinks xaiyons are
mutts and doesn't want
me to be one.
Did he forget that you
will present no matter what?
What about your aunt?
Did she say anything?
My aunt never says
anything that will go
against my uncle.
Ahhh. Right...
What are you going to do?
I don't know.
I gotta think about it.
OK. Lmk if you need
anything.
Will do. See you tomorrow.
See ya.
Don't stress about it
too much ;)
Lay lowered his arm so it rested across his forehead and let out a breath. He would have a lot of thinking to do that night. This decision would change his life forever. The blue-haired boy closed his eyes and began pondering his verdict. Would he go against his uncle and accept a scouting notice? Or would he adhere to his uncle's wishes and revive his father's company?
+++++++
Tuesday 4845.9.17
"What happened?" Lay looked at Wen with wide eyes as the brown-haired boy took his seat the next morning. There were no bruises on the boy's face, but the hand clutching his abdomen told Lay all he needed to know.
"My father came to visit." Wen winced as he sat in the chair and positioned himself to face the front of the classroom.
"How are your sisters? Are they okay?"
Wen nodded in response. "They're all alright. Mom, too. I'm going to have them move when I get scouted."
"That's good." The entrance of the teacher accompanied Lay's comment, and the room became quiet as class began.
The morning passed with no extreme occurrences, much to Wen's surprise. He had been expecting an appearance of the basketball jock, but the captain had yet to show his face. Wen could not complain, however, as he enjoyed the peace. The last thing he wanted was a run-in with Kean the morning after undergoing a fight with his drunken father.
Wen set his tray next to Lay's on a table in the back corner of the lunch room. A few girls approached the brown-haired boy only to be rejected with silence. The two boys ate in silence, as they usually did, unintentionally garnering whispers and bashful glances from admirers.
"So..." Lay began, his eyes still glued to the tray in front of him as he poked at the mound of rice.
Hearing Lay's single word, Wen lifted his gaze to his friend and swallowed before setting down his utensils and giving Lay his attention.
Lay shifted his gaze from side to side before continuing, "You're going to do it?"
Wen nodded in confirmation. "Ae," he answered confidently. "I have to get my family someplace where my father can't find them. To do that, I need money, and a lot of it. Joining a varsity team is the best way I can do that."
Lay bobbed his head in understanding. "Then," he began as he set down his utensils and came to look Wen in the eye. "Then, I'll do my best to help...as a fellow xaiyon."
Lay's promise brought a smile to Wen's face. It warmed his heart to hear that his friend was supportive of his goal. But, his smile faded when he recalled Lay's conflict with his uncle.
"Will you be alright?" Wen asked his friend, his face growing serious. Lay had never gone against the wishes of his uncle, so deciding to be scouted could cause a rift in their relationship.
"I'll be fine," Lay answered in response. "Besides, once I get scouted, I'll be in a PHA far away from my uncle. And since he's not a xaiyon, he can't enter the PHA anyway."
"Yeah, but we won't go to a PHA until next term is over. So, it will be nearly a year."
Lay scrunched his nose and looked out the window to the cafeteria as he pondered what to do before proposing, "I can just stay with you, then. Until we go to PHA, that is."
"That's actually not a bad idea," Wen sounded in agreement. "But my apartment complex is pretty sketchy..."
"I'll be fine," Lay assured his friend. "I may have been raised with a silver spoon, but I've been living in District 20 for the past five years. I am in Batch V, too, you know. I'm tougher than you think."
"Uh huh," Wen sounded with a raise of his brow. He was not convinced.
Lay was born to a wealthy family, but they had declared bankruptcy when he was eleven. The death of Lay's father followed the family's downfall in the corporate world, and Lay moved to live with his aunt and uncle in District 20, the district that was adjacent to Wen's home district. Although Lay had been living in a less fortunate area, District 20 was not nearly as rough as District 21, and Lay had maintained his princely behavior through his five years of poverty.
"Besides, I'll have you to look after me," Lay added. "And I'm a good cook! I can provide my services in exchange for lodging."
"Very well," Wen agreed when Lay began laying down more reasons why he qualified to be Wen's family's caretaker. "I guess we'll have to see how long you last." Wen was somewhat sarcastic with his response as he was still against housing Lay in the most dangerous part of town. But since Lay wanted to be a xaiyon, Wen wanted to do his best for his friend.
The bell that signaled the ending of the lunch period rang throughout the cafeteria, and students immediately began filtering out of the wide room after disposing of their trays. The remaining three academic periods went by smoothly for Wen. There were no run-ins with Kean, and Wen was excited to end the day quickly so that he could go to work and earn money for the next week's groceries.
Once the three academic periods had concluded for the day, the last period to tackle was physical education. This period was sure to be Kean-free as the captain would be in the gym specifically for the basketball court practicing with his team of jocks. However, the sight that met Wen when he and Lay entered the gym designated for regular physical education classes made Wen scrunch his brows in confusion.
Everything seemed normal except for the fact that Kean was standing in the center of the gym with the P.E. instructor and four of his teammates.
"What is Kean doing here?" Lay inquired curiously as he and Wen joined the rest of their classmates in creating a circle around their P.E. instructor.
"Beats me," Wen responded under his breath as he watched Kean talk with the instructor.
Batches N through Z were clumped together for their physical education period, so there was a good amount of students filing into the gym. Batches A through M were in the first gym, and N through Z were in the second gym, while all the double letter batches, Batch AA through Batch ZZ, were clumped into the third and fourth gyms.
The lower you were on the alphabetical batch, the less fortunate your economic status. Grades and performance did play a role in batch assignments, however, so some students who were struggling economically were still able to make it into the single-letter batches. Like Wen. Economically speaking, Wen should have been in the double letters, but his grades put him in a single-letter batch.
Had Lay's family maintained their prowess in the corporate world, he would have been placed into Batch D at the lowest, but Lay was very glad to have been placed in the same batch as Wen, so he had no complaints.
"Listen up, class!" Their instructor began. "We have a very special guest today! Yekean, captain of the basketball team has graciously agreed to give us a special lesson this class period. We will be going over the basics of basketball, and our team's very own captain is going to be walking us through the motions."
The majority of the students that had gathered in the gym exploded into applause at the instructor's announcement. The females seemed overjoyed by the notion that they would get special lessons from Kean, and many busted out into fangirling and saying how Kean was the best and the campus' most handsome student.
Wen clenched his jaw when Kean turned to face him and gave him a slight smirk before turning to the instructor and bowing. "Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I will do my best to provide an educational and fun lesson today." Kean shot the instructor a polite smile before turning to address the students. "Who's ready to play some ball?!"
The gym erupted into cheers and hollers at Kean's opening question that pumped up the energy. Motioning to his four teammates, Kean instructed them to disperse the basketballs throughout the students before he turned and began walking to one student in particular.
Wen stood with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched Kean saunter over to him. The captain tucked the basketball he was holding underneath his left arm as he reached Wen and used his right hand to give a clap to Wen's arm.
"Listen up, everyone!" Kean began, drawing the attention of the student body. "For this lesson, two teams will play each other. One team will be composed of myself and my four teammates, and we will be using the other team to teach everyone how to play. And Wen over here has volunteered to lead the second team!"
Applause broke out at Kean's announcement, but Wen released a low growl as he locked eyes with the basketball captain. "Don't think you can use this to push me around, Li."
"Oof, we're on a last-name basis now?" Kean voiced sarcastically, placing his hand over his heart to mimic being hurt by Wen's words. However, Kean's face switched to a teasing, evil expression the next second. The smirk returned to Kean's lips as he said, "Very well, Kaihan. We'll see just how good you are at being pushed around."