High School Memoir

I plan on using these for my (hopefully) 1st novel as flashback scenes when suitable. Let me know what the vibe feels like, etc. ^^
(CW: Mentions of sickness and violence)
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Plip. Plip.
The ceiling leaked like it always did after the rain. The PVC pipes unable to contain the water's flow. Next to the canteen was a flight of stairs descended to the netball court. Although it was adjacent to the field, it was higher than the soil and much smaller.

A brunette watched his classmates as they ran across the field, kicking a hexagonal patterned ball. He stretched his legs with a sigh, the cement netball court he sat on heated and chilled at the sun's whims. He memorized those patterns better than the rules of the field, much to his irritation.

Although, a commotion on the field caught his attention, boys of opposite teams shouted at each other. The referee, also a student, tried to mediate the situation.

No string of words could be made out of the noise, so he lost interest just as quickly. It wasn't uncommon on the field. The teacher always watched from afar, only interfering if things got out of hand. 'You're old enough to handle yourselves,' he would say.

The boy had an internal debate about the validity of this opinion, so he didn't realise the situation resolving. Apparently, they were fed up with this boy playing unfairly, thus the referee sent him off the field. The boy retaliated at first, then relented when even players from his own team gave the cold shoulder.

This boy who had spiky black hair, glared at the ground when he dropped himself on the edge of the netball court. He suddenly ruffled his hair and growled in frustration, causing the brunette to snap out of his essay-worthy debate.

'Oh, it's Felix. He probably tripped someone over to get the ball again,' he looked over at the boy as he thought this. He was notorious for being a bad sport on-field.

"Quit looking at me," Felix said suddenly.
"It's bad enough those twigs couldn't handle a tackle. There's 30 minutes left and there's not a darned thing to do!"

Not wanting to argue, the brunette looked away. But not without making a face. He also scooted away a bit.

Disbelief creased his face. "Are you for real?! You're never on field and you act like I wronged you!" he said indignantly.

A pause.
"...I have been on the field," the brunette said, finally.

"And? How is that even related?!"

He held his temple, "You didn't ask but it— Ah forget it," he cut himself off.
'This isn't worth the headache,' the brunette thought as he shut his eyes.

With the conversation promptly ended, Felix propped his hands and leaned back. He stared directly at the sun.
"Whoever made rules for soccer, sucks," he complained. "Can't even be creative with it."

"Play rugby, then."

He dropped the support and laid down completely. "Alaa.. You're no fun."

A breeze went by. Once and again, his classmates shouted in victory as they scored goals. Sometimes it was Felix's classmates who cheered.

Out of the blue, a boy shouted. "Iqbal, the ball!" The brunette, Iqbal, turned and reflexively ducked as the ball soared over his head. It landed squarely on Felix's stomach.

"Oof! Aduhh.." he groaned and rolled on his side. Some girls giggled and some looked in concern. The boys laughed. Iqbal couldn't suppress a chuckle.

"Whoops, sorry!" the boy said. The bell rang at that point and students started crowding the canteen.

Iqbal crouched next to the fallen boy.
"On second thought, stick to soccer. Just use your right leg to tackle from the left. Maybe you won't trip people up, then."

Without a response, Iqbal stood up and walked to the canteen. He felt hungry.

"Like that'll work!" the boy said as he sat up. Iqbal simply waved his hand without looking back.
***
The next year arrived. For 16-year-olds, the classes have been reshuffled by courses like science stream, accounting, multimedia and literature. The science stream seemed to be the class Felix and Iqbal were in. 4 Alpha.

The brunette was helping to put up class materials like infographics on the board when Felix passed by and did a double take.

"Eh? You're the one from the field!" He started his chatter. "I tried it out and it worked! Who knew."

"Tried out what? Wait, actually I'm not interested," his voice strained as he stood on the tips of his toes. The stapler gun only an inch away from its target.

"Pfft! I didn't realize you were so short. Here, let me," he said as reached for the stapler.

"No need!" he moved away.

"It's really no problem!" he insisted.

"Argh! I'm getting a chair," he huffed and pointedly ignored Felix.

"Why the heck—!"

"Will you two hurry up?!" a girl wearing a hijab said loudly.

"Iqbal, leave that to Felix. I need your help here," she continued.

"Yes, Afrina," he sighed. He thrusted the stapler gun at Felix.

He took it. Then, recognition flashed on his face. "Wait, 'Iqbal'? You're Iqbal?? 'Straight As every year, Iqbal'?"

Said person covered his mouth as he yawned. "Yeah. What about it?" He headed towards Afrina, who began reciting her list of tasks. The desk had many items cluttered on it.

"Woah.. Then why were you absent last week?"

"Mm," he grunted noncommittally.

"Huh? That doesn't—"
"Felix!"

"Alright, alright. Chill!"

The class buzzed, each preoccupied with the tasks at hand.

'He looks pale,' Felix thought as the rhythmic sound of staplers served as white noise. Then again, the absent person, Iqbal, he learnt, had recently been discharged from the hospital. Or so he heard.

'I guess it's true,' he thought.
***
Tick tock. Tick tock.
'This question is hard. My brain is fried. I give up,' Felix thought as he face planted onto his addmath sheet.

'The teacher went out 10 minutes ago to attend a meeting and my deskmate is kinda.. antisocial,' he thought as the clacking of calculators filled his ears.

The seating arrangement was 2-3-2 columns and the boys sat in front as instructed by the teacher. Felix was right in front of the teacher's desk, near the nako windows on the far right. On his right was Danish and on his left, after a gap, was Iqbal.

Felix peered at Iqbal's homework. He tilted his chair further until it was in perfect balance.

"What."
"Ahem. Whoa—!" He slipped off the chair as it tilted too far.

Crash! It resounded throughout the room, which caused heads to turn in search of its source.

"Ow..." he groaned and massaged his shoulder.
"Ouch. You okay?" Iqbal asked.

"No..." he said as he picked himself up.

"But! I will if you help me with this question," he squinted his eyes as he smiled. Miraculously, he had repositioned his chair to Iqbal's desk in a flash.

Iqbal blinked. "Sure," he replied simply.
30 minutes passed by, and Felix found out that Iqbal was a good tutor.

"I think you should just be my tutor," he said out loud.
"With your laziness? Spare me the pain," he shook his head disapprovingly.

Then, he coughed. Long and hard, to the point he gripped his chest. The dark tone underneath his eyes became ever prominent.

"Hey.."
Before he was able to voice his concern, the bell rang. Iqbal spared no time to dash out, leaving his belongings behind.

Felix felt his position vividly. The awkward balance of being close enough to interact but too far to be involved. Such was the brunt of the matter. Iqbal was a mild natured person, Felix agreed. However, he often felt distant, a gap. There always was whenever it concerned people.

In the end, he cleared his own items and quietly left.
***
'I feel like skipping class. It's always studying and studying non-stop,' Felix thought.

'I'll just grab my stuff and leave.'
He entered the class and heard chatter.

"Did you hear? Iqbal's on leave again..."
"No way. This is worse than the years before, right?"
"Should we visit him?"

Felix thought it was none of his business. Why should someone else's wellbeing matter to him? Being nosy was no help, and asking about their health wouldn't change the fact that they're sick.

"We can't visit. His parents said he's got influenza. Doesn't want us to catch it," Afrina spoke up.

"That's two weeks down the drain!"
"He should be fine though, he's smart."
"I guess..."

Felix walked out unnoticed.
***
It was Saturday. Felix went out for some fresh air, many hours until lunch time.

He took a stroll around the neighbourhood to stretch his limbs. Two streets before the botanical garden, he heard a yelp, followed by a "Quick, let's get out of here!!".

Three boys ran past him, out an alley. Ah, Felix recognised those kids, the neighbourhood troublemakers.

'What could they possibly be running from?' Felix thought as he peered into the alley.

A short figure stood as if receiving a call. Upon closer inspection, it was no other than Iqbal, with a grim expression on his face.

"Hi, Iqbal," Felix greeted as he approached, "What happened there?"

"Oh, hey," Iqbal glanced at him before pointing will his phone. "Apparently, they still struggle with differentiating right from wrong at twelve years old."

Felix followed the phone and saw it. An injured ginger cat, unmistakably beaten.

"They did that...?" he crouched to get a closer look.

"Yeah, and it's not even the first time. They just... like harassing the animals here," Iqbal said as if disgusted.

"Gets scared shitless when I call their parents, though. Something about being grounded from gaming," he scoffed.

"Didn't know they were like that," Felix commented. The cat retreated when he came closer, "Poor thing."

"Are you gonna take her in?" Iqbal asked.

"She's a real good hunter, but my mom doesn't like cats. How about you?"

"...I can't be near cats. For now."

Felix raised an eyebrow at that but didn't inquire further.

"Guess we have to take her to the vet..." Felix trailed off when he felt his empty pockets. He doesn't have any money at home either. Well, the cat needed treatment still.

"Brats can't even leave a cat alone," he muttered as he looked around for something to carry the cat in.

He looked behind and saw a red bike with a basket on it. "That yours?"

"Yeah." Iqbal took out a filled plastic bag labeled 'Aira Pharmacy' and unattached the basket.

Felix then put the cat in it. They agreed to walk with the cat to the vet, since she wanted to jump out when it was attached to the bike. It was a lazy weekend. Not many cars passed by.

"I don't have any money," Felix said suddenly. They were rounding the bend to the vet.

"Those kids should pay for this fee. They don't realise everything costs money. Can't water fall from the sky and uh, splash them whenever they hurt animals or something?!" he groaned.

The cat meowed in the basket he held. Iqbal seemed unbothered.

"It's alright. I have some spare change."
"Do you think change is enough..?"

Iqbal pulled out a few pieces of RM50 notes. Totalling RM350, Felix counted.

"It should be enough. I heard the vet only took cash. Establishment's pretty old and outdated."

'RM350 is spare change...?' Felix only stared as he thought this.

He parked his bike. 'Sharanya's Vet' was written in green swirly text with dog ears on top of the signboard.

"Though, the idea is entertaining."
"What."
"Water splashing from the sky," Iqbal said.

They pushed the glass door open.

"Maybe it's doable," Felix said.
The cat perked its ginger ears.

"Pfft, Really? Unnoticed?"
"I'm serious, it might work..."
"You can't really be considering it."
"I've got it!"

Iqbal's eyes widened, "You're crazy."

"Hah, yes I am!" Felix smirked. Despite the obvious retaliation, a grin pulled at Iqbal's lips.

"What do we need?"
***
A few weeks later, it was said no ill soul shall approach The Stray, for punishment fell directly from the sky.