Always a Life Crisis

SEPTEMBER 16.

You know, life begins and goes is sometimes really unexpected. One moment you may be at the local Walmart, one day you might find yourself getting chased by a wild rabid dog. It’s the life in Michigan, yet still a popular choice for many to live. Whether you had a tough time in pre-school, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school or definitely highschool, the difficulty of them are much different from the financial struggles and whatever other struggles you’ll have when you reach adulthood. College life for sure isn’t easy. You get a dorm, well if you can afford one, but you should at least have enough for that. Everything else is what makes it hard. The specific Major, studying, and whatever. Stressed everyone out eventually and for sure isn’t ideal, but that’s life. College life. Especially at Riverbend University. Where rebellious guys and girls sometimes come. At least most people there are decent. There’s just a select few that aren’t.

But that’s also what makes Riverbend University so ideal. So diverse and successful that it’s almost a complete five stars and it’s been that way since 2018. Whether the kids learning was successful or they were just genuinely raised well… who knows? It’s successful. That’s all it needs. The college dorms aren’t anything all that special. An average sized room with a bunk bed on one side made for two people (obviously) and a bathroom. And whatever other junk they bring to their dorm. Shockingly the dorms are not as chaotic as you’d think. You’ll still get the occasional ‘Ghyker is getting chased by a pitbull!’ or the ‘Elowen’s smoking crack in public in the alleyway again!’, but that’s usual compared to some other stuff that goes down at other colleges. We all know.

RIVERBEND UNIVERSITY, 6:17 A.M.

It’s very early. The sky is a moody blue color and mostly clear, the occasional rustle of the trees from the wind, the loud bird chirps because of distance communication, the sound of a car driving by every few minutes and maybe a car honk. It’s like an average morning. Nothing special, nothing cool. Everyone (should) be asleep. After all, Riverbend starts at 8:35 A.M. and it’s not even 6:20 A.M. yet. Maybe a few bugs are waking up to do their daily jobs but that should be about all.

SECOND FLOOR, ROOM 202.

The quiet and peaceful area with Jesten’s fan going. Jesten, on the top bunk, has short brown fluffier hair that swifts forward with a fade at the sides, 5’8 in height, brown eye color with an average build. His friend on the lower bunk, Eamon, has medium length dyed-white hair with the ends fading into a purple-blue color. His hair is long down the sides and back but shorter at the front to prevent it from covering his eyes and silver ear piercings, 6’0, pointier nose with sharp vampire-like canines and a black eye color. Jesten fell asleep at around 11:47 P.M. watching a gameplay video of the new ‘Ducks8Bit’ game. He fell asleep at the climax of it. After all, the video was two hours long. Since then it’s just been playing random videos when that one ended. And right now it’s on a Lo-Fi beat for 5 hours. It has now reached 6:19 and that’s… bad. Why you may ask? In just one minute, Jesten’s phone alarm like every day will go off at this grueling hour. Eamon doesn’t know why he sets it so early. He told him to change it a million times by now but Jesten won’t listen. Suddenly the Lo-Fi video paused and a notification from the clock app appeared, dropping down from the top. And then just a second later… DING— There goes the familiar melody. It always starts with four dings with an interval and then an actual Christmas instrumental.

Jesten stirred awake quickly at the very familiar, making him grunt. The covers fell from his shoulder as he lifted his left arm and extended it to where the sound was coming from. The melody also earned a grunt from Eamon below. He was sleeping comfortably. Pillow drooling, T-shirt halfway on, his long hair messy and one leg and arm dangling off of his bed. All that was disturbed because of the alarm. Finally Jesten managed to grab his phone and powered it off which automatically stopped the alarm and then went back to resting. Eamon tried to brush it off and fall back asleep—he couldn’t. Great… his sleep is ruined. He slowly opened his eyes with his teeth clenched and looked around the dim room. He propped himself up with one elbow and lifted the corner of his pillow slowly to reveal his phone on the charger. He rubbed his eye before powering on his phone. 6:21. Tuesday. The fact it’s Tuesday doesn’t make him feel any better. In fact, it’s the worst day for him. He sighed under his breath and then powered his phone back off and swinged his legs over the bed. He paused for a brief second…

Bang…Bang.. BANG! He hit Jesten’s upper bunk three times, each time with noticeably more force. Eamon wasn’t having it. If he couldn’t sleep because of Jesten then nor could Jesten sleep. Sounds fair. “Wake up you shithead! Get up.” Eamon sternly commanded. He quickly stood up and looked around briefly until his gaze landed on the tall vertical mirror against the wall. He sauntered over to it just to fix his hair. Well… until Jesten came into view, still sleeping. Eamon’s eyes widened. He’s still sleeping…? Bullshit. Less than twenty seconds later, a rubber dog bone around the size of the average adult hand came spiraling toward Jesten and it hit him right where Eamon aimed. The head.

Jesten jolted awake, grunting and then quickly putting his hand over the throbbing spot. He quickly sat up at the same time and looked behind him down near the floor as Eamon looked up at him with a smug look. “What was that for? That hurt, dude!” Jesten complained. He began rubbing the spot slowly and clenched his teeth with one eye closed.

Eamon fixed his T-shirt and his long black flare pajama pants. They still slightly sagged even though he fixed them. He chuckled and opened his drawer to gather some clothes, his gaze landing up on Jesten after he gathered. “Should’ve woken up. I don’t know what else to tell you.” And just like that… Eamon went into the bathroom and closed the door back, leaving Jesten to deal with his soreness alone. He deserved it.

RIVERBEND UNIVERSITY, 7:00 A.M.

This is the time where people’s phone alarms start going off so they can get ready, unusual to Jesten, of course. At least it got a little bit warmer and noticeably brighter in the sky. Eamon walked down the hallway in his all-white baggy fit with a jacket. It's starting to get cooler now that it’s September. He stopped at the exit and moved over to the side to lean against the wall with his EarPods plugged in. He was probably listening to rap or rock. Maybe both at the same time. His eyes slightly widened when he heard the front door open. He didn’t turn to face whoever just walked out because he could tell from the voices. Elowen sauntered out with her two friends Ava and Luna. He hated them as much as they hated him. Last year he broke up with Ava after a two year relationship because she said he was ‘Uncaring’ and ‘Rude’, but whatever. He avoided them and avoided speaking to them whenever he could when he saw them. They must’ve not noticed him because he wasn’t pestered. Thankfully. Two minutes passed by of Eamon chilling and waiting for Jesten. He’d seen a few people walk out by now. “Hey! Do you—” Eamon gasped and flinched from the sudden voice, making him back up in a flash and turn to where the voice came from. He quickly calmed down and placed a hand on his chest when he realized it was Yara. A slimmer woman with dark brown medium length hair that barely went past her shoulders and slightly chubbier cheeks and bigger eyes with a honey skin tone. About 5’3. She seemed as scared as he was, but also quickly calmed down. “Sorry!” She awkwardly smiled. “Didn’t mean to scare you Eamon.”

He sighed and briefly looked around. Out of everyone Yara was the one to nearly scare him to death somehow. “Where did you come from?! I for sure did not see you come out of the main—”

“I came out of the alternate exit.”

Eamon paused his music and took one EarPod out. Alternate exit? He’s never seen anybody naturally use that exit. It was very infrequent. He leaned against the wall again. “For what? Who uses that exit?”

Yara’s awkward smile faded when he asked. She didn’t wanna get him started on this again if she told him why, but she also knew he wouldn’t let it go until she did. He’s just that stubborn. “It’s because of Elowen and her friends. Stuff happened yesterday. Not sure if you heard about it but I sure hope not. Anyway—” she quickly attempted to change the topic, it was too late.

Elowen? His expression hardened and he looked straight at her, pushing himself off of the wall and paused his music once again. ‘What would Elowen and her stupid friends want with Yara?’ He wondered in his mind. He glanced around to make sure this wasn’t some set up. He’d never expect Yara to pull some set up, especially with Elowen, but he just had to make sure. “And what would Elowen want with you?” His tone was stern. More stern than Yara expected. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt and nervously stuttered, struggling to find the right words to prevent making Eamon too upset.

But then the front door swung open again. It was Jesten with his long sleeve sowed red shirt that gave the ugly Christmas sweater vibe and black jeans. His expression hardened and looked more curious when he saw Eamon I talking with Yara. Not that he finds anything wrong with it, it’s just uncommon. He sauntered over and placed a hand on Eamon’s shoulder once side-by-side. “Hey… uhm, what’s going on here?” He noticed the serious look on Eamon’s face. He sure hoped nothing bad happened between him and Yara already. Eamon ignored him since Yara was nervously whispering something to him. By the minute he looked even more rage fueled. He might have overdosed on it.

Finally, Yara nodded when Eamon whispered something back and she quickly left. He sighed and stood up straight, cracking his back. “Nothing happened. Let’s just go.” Eamon ordered, already dragging Jesten along with him before he could even process it.

Jesten didn’t resist, he was just… confused. What could make Eamon this upset before Riverbend even started? Eamon is usually moody, yeah, but still. This is odd. “Something DID happen, Eamon. It’s as clear as day. Now what happened?”

Eamon deeply contemplated on whether he should tell Jesten or not. Jesten is his dorm roomie and friend, so he’d feel kind of guilty if he gatekept it, also knowing Jesten would likely help. He ran both hands through his hair and paused. “It’s just about Elowen and her worth-for-nothing friends.” Eamon pulled Jesten along again. “They’re all gossiping about Yara because she asked out Diego yesterday. Except… Diego was hanging around Elowen and Ava when she asked and before he could even say anything they trashed on her. Pathetic.” Eamon’s rage evidently rose again. He clenched his teeth

Jesten rolled his eyes. Of course they’d do that. He didn’t wanna trash talk too much right now though. The day hasn’t even begun. “That’s lame. But it’s typical of them, isn’t it?”

Eamon shook his head. “Regardless if it’s typical or not, it's annoying.”

Jesten felt the tension rising even more. “Let’s just… let’s just stop at Quality Dairy really quick. The one that’s close by. It’ll cool you off and then maybe we can come up with something later. But please, it’s too early for this.” Jesten abruptly pulled Eamon along. Eamon sighed, knowing Jesten was right. He just didn’t want to admit it, his gut says so.

“You’re right.” Eamon responded.

RIVERBEND UNIVERSITY, 7:11 A.M.

Inside the Quality Dairy, Diego Alvarez and Hayate Ito were looking at the new selection of donuts that came in yesterday. Hayate wouldn’t stop pestering Diego about the donuts, so there they are, looking at the selection. Diego had a high top fade haircut, very dark brown hair color, skin color just above a mixed skin tone, black eye color, 5’10 with freckles. Hayate has a hazelnut skin tone with very thick, black fluffy hair that kind of swifts forward a little. Faded freckles, long legs, and average muscularity. 6’3 in height.

The fluorescent lights casted a cool glow, the few customers in the Quality Dairy were mostly making coffees. Most of them weren’t even the college students at Riverbend. Hayate’s eyes lit up when he saw them. The new blueberry donuts. It looked… perfect to him. No hard dry bits, just perfect thick blueberry. There was one last one. He HAD to get it. Meanwhile Diego casually picked out a strawberry and glazed donut and put it into the little donut bag. He stood up, seeing Hayate practically praise this donut. He cringed a bit. “Hayate just get the fucking donut. We don’t have that much time. We have like… barely a full hour left!” Diego said, his voice slightly embarrassed and irritated. He looked around to make sure nobody was looking at Hayate’s display.

Hayate finally opened the glass case and took out the blueberry donut, eyeing it closely and intently for many, many seconds. Diego facepalmed but he didn’t say anything. “You don’t know perfection. The only valid one you got was a glazed one.” He bagged the donut and stood up, waving over to the tired cashier that probably wanted to quit his job at this very moment. This job was the only thing at the verge of saving his debts, yet barely. He grabbed Diego’s donut bag and strutted over to the cashier with that classic, sarcastic smug grin. “Just these. Hit us up with a fair price.” He rested one arm on the counter.

Diego looked at the glass exit door and then sauntered over to Hayate. “I’m gonna wait out there. Don’t take too long, or I’m not coming back here with you.” He whispered. Before Hayate could respond, Diego had already left. Lame. Outside, the breeze was soft and a few cars drove by. Not many, but a few. Two men were leaning against a car in the parking lot. They were having a conversation about… whatever. Diego looked down and noticed his left shoe had become untied. Perfect…(not really that’s sarcasm)

In the distance…

Jesten paused, gripping Eamon’s shoulder harder to hold him back. He blinked twice and widened his eyes to make sure he was seeing who he thought he was seeing. Diego? He cussed many times in his head. How can this get even more unfortunate? Diego is here at the worst possible moment. He knew he couldn’t turn back now. They got so close and turning back now would definitely raise suspicions. “What the fuck are you looking at?” Eamon got a closer look himself. The unmistakable Diego. His mouth went agape, eyes widening. Jesten knew this would be long but he stayed quiet.

By the time Diego finished tying his shoe and stood back up, Eamon was standing right in front of him. Diego gasped loudly and stepped back. He didn’t hear or even see Eamon there. He stayed against the glass, closing his eyes and taking heavy breaths. “Eamon! Don’t do that shit man!” His voice was sharp, stern, yet still fearful. He glanced at Jesten beside Eamon. Classic duo. He looked at both of them, confused.

Eamon’s expression was cold and dry. He wasn’t necessarily mad at Diego for what happened. After all it was Elowen who started it, but he wasn’t happy that Diego didn’t defend Yara. “You kind of indirectly did. About the Yara situation—”

Eamon was quickly cut off. “That?” He scoffed, “She told you about that too…? I almost feel guilty about it, Eamon.”

“You should.” Eamon responded in a cold, dry tone. His sternness left little to be sorted out or protested against. Jesten gave Eamon a side eye at the too-stern response, but he still stayed quiet and let it play out for now. As much as he didn’t want this right now it was kind of interesting. “You could’ve at least defended her. Not cool, dude. You know how Elowen is. Why were you even hanging around her?” Eamon asked.

Before Diego could give back an answer, a ding came from the exit door, Hayate carrying the donuts proudly with his signature shit eating grin. They didn’t expect to see Hayate here. “Diego~! Come on buddy!” Hayate suddenly paused. Jesten and Eamon? “Oh—and hey to you guys. Been awhile.”

Diego followed Hayate doing his over-exaggerated strut. He looked back at Eamon, looking a bit more pissed than before. He turned away from them to avoid any further confrontation. Jesten looked at the time and then the Quality Dairy right in front of them. “Come on, let’s just go. Hurry.” Eamon sighed, heading inside with Jesten.

RIVERBEND UNIVERSITY, 7:31 A.M.

As Camryn flipped her hair out from her hoodie, she sat down and leaned against the brick wall next to Nova, who was taping together a rough draft of her newspaper. Aki popped his head around the corner and awkwardly walked over to Camryn, who side-eyed him with a loud sigh. “Are you going to actually do something or are you just gonna stand there staring at us like a creep?” She said with sarcasm. Aki adjusted his collar nervously before sitting down next to Camryn, keeping his distance a couple feet away. Aki fidgetted with his sleeve, watching intently as Nova struggled to organize the different sections. Camryn took the paper from her hands and moved the template around. Nova stared at it for a moment before smiling and thanking her for the help. Aki turned his head back and looked around the corner, hoping Hayate would be with them soon. “You know,” Camryn said, flipping her hair again, “You're allowed to do things even if Hayate isn't here.” Aki embarrassingly scratched the back of his head before looking down and continuing to adjust his sleeve. “I know… look, I gotta get going, I’ll see you guys later.” Camryn jokingly scoffed and waved goodbye to him as he got up. “Where do ya think he's going?” Camryn asked Nova “No idea,” she looked up at Cam for a second, “most likely looking for Hayate. Poor guy can't do anything without him around.”

RIVERBEND UNIVERSITY, 7:35 A.M.

Hayate and Diego were out chilling by the alleyway just eating the donuts that Hayate begged to get from yesterday. Diego kept anxiously looking around and rubbing a hand through his hair each time he thought about the Yara and Elowen’s dispute the other day. He did genuinely feel guilty for not helping her out and just awkwardly watching—he just didn’t know what to do at that moment. He’d hate to admit he’s kind of a coward, even though he is. Diego, ever since 2 years ago, was friends with Yara. So betraying her felt… horrible to him. He even got so desperate that yesterday he ranted to Hayate out of everybody about it. Hayate just kept telling him to ‘chill it out’ and ‘She doesn’t care’ even though she obviously does. As soon as Hayate bought the donut, it was finished. Diego didn’t even finish half of his strawberry. Hayate rubbed his hands on his overly-fancy black tuxedo pants and then without looking pulled Diego by the arm, expecting him to be ready and follow, but he resisted. Hayate’s shit eating grin went away as he looked over at Diego, confused. “Come on. We seriously don’t have any time now. The moment you tell me to hurry up I take forever, but the second I hurry up is the moment you take forever.” Hayate said, with rare seriousness in his tone. He wasn’t about to get called out on being late again like the past four times. It got repetitive.

“Hayate, not everybody is on your time, you know. I’m not a lap dog who’ll just follow you any time. Some of us have real issues.” Diego said, his tone also serious but also dreamy like he was in a daydream.

Hayate scoffed and waved his hand vigorously in front of Diego’s face. “Earth to Diego here! It’s literally almost 7:40, you dimwit. Class starts at about 8:00.” Even then, Diego didn’t budge. He kept staring up at the sky that kept getting a tiny bit brighter minute-by-minute. Hayate muttered something under his breath in Japanese before looking down at Diego again. “And lap dog? Real clever. Just come on” Diego leaned closer, cupping Diego’s face in his hands and forcing Diego to look straight at him. “You are my least boring friend, Diego. You’re funny, you know? Not as much as me—but still… reasonably funny.”

Diego pushed away. He looked slightly annoyed by Hayate’s uncommon antics. “Reasonably funny for you to toss everyone around. Newsflash—this is why everyone doesn’t like you. Only select people!” Diego nearly shouted.

Hayate backed up, placed a hand on his chest and mocked a hurt expression. He’d never seen Diego this reluctant, but still. He couldn’t pass this up. He never could. “This is about that girl, isn’t it? Ahh! It is! That—”

Diego shoved Hayate with real force in the chest. He gritted his teeth. He expected Hayate’s stupid games and mind tricks but each time he talked about Yara he always felt a bit of rage… or when he talked about her badly or if it was some sort of inconvenience. He wasn’t taking it today. Hayate spamming him at 2am last night already pissed him off enough. He never backs off. “THAT is gonna get you a fight. I insist you back off from talking about her. Y-you wouldn’t know anything about it because nobody likes you, Hayate! Not even your own friends.” Diego sternly said.

“Oh come on!” Hayate threw his arms in the air, looking dissatisfied. “You’re letting her get to you. You couldn’t even defend her—so stop pretending you like her so much. If you did, you would’ve at least asked her out yourself personally yesterday or would have done it today. Didn’t even plan—”

“Fuck you.” Diego said in a low tone. He didn’t have an argument against Hayate, or… he did, he just didn’t have the energy to start a protest against it. Even if he did he didn’t want it to escalate, or even worse get kicked out of his college. On top of that there wasn’t much time at all.

Hayate pulled Diego out of the alleyway by the arm firmly, his teeth clenched. “Gonna make us late. Just come on.” Diego didn’t resist this time. It’s always Hayate’s games that will get him karma one day.

RIVERBEND UNIVERSITY.

TO BE CONTINUED.