Chapter 2

"Of all the clubs, why do I have to help the Readers’ club?"

Hera’s slight tantrum made her best friend laugh at her reaction. Both of them know how outgoing Hera is, and reading books is not in her nature. According to her, that hobby is so bland and quiet. 

While her favorite hobby is singing or jamming, thus her club is the Music club. She's also the reason Cyril joined that club, because she wanted him to, but also because she knows that he loves to sing.

"Are you two sophomores?"

Hearing the question, both students turned around and looked at the guy who turned out to be their homeroom teacher, Mr. McDonald.

"Yes sir, we are," Cyril said for both him and Hera.

"What are you still doing here?" Mr. McDonald pointed towards the campus grounds. "There are more students coming, hurry and help in your booths."

The command made the two students walk out of the campus lobby. They separated ways when they arrived at the main pathway since the Reader's club is in the further back of the campus. While the Board Games club is somewhere in the frontal area.

Just a while ago, Cyril was truly happy because he knows how torture the Reader's club would be for Hera. However, as he got closer and closer to his own booth, he realized he was going to get something worse.

First, because he is not with his best friend. Second, because he is also unfamiliar with the booth that he's going to assist. And last, because it is beside the Music club.

And the first thing that he heard from them when he got to his assigned booth was. "Hey, down low’s has arrived."

Then they were laughing at him. All of them, to be exact. But it was normal for Cyril, he knew that from that day he confessed to the Music club members onwards, they will be on his ass forever. Mocking him and bullying him for solely being who he is.

"What brought you here?" the girl from the front desk of the BG club asked.

"Mr. McDonald assigned here me."

"Okay, you can help give some flyers to the freshmen who will approach our booth," the girl said before pointing at one side of the booth. "You can ask him about the task and he will help you. His name is Ken."

"Thank you."

Cyril immediately walked towards the student whom the front desk girl told her to approach.

He is tall, skinny, and looks just like the typical high school nerd. Maybe because he really is a nerd, a board game nerd.

"Hello," Cyril greeted in a friendly manner.

It immediately caught the other guy's attention and made him turn to where Cyril is. Then he fixed his clothes and made himself presentable before he handed a flyer to the younger.

"Welcome to Board Games Club. This is the club where you will get to learn and enjoy all the board games America could offer, starting from scrabble to..."

As soon as the guy started speaking, Cyril only panicked inside. He doesn't know what to do or what to say. The feeling just occurred to him, just like when a parent asked their kid to order some pizza over the phone. It was that kind of scary feeling.

"Hey," Ken snapped his fingers in front of Cyril. And hopefully was able to bring him out of his trance. "I'm asking, what's your name?"

"Uh-Uhm. I'm Cyril Queens," Cyril introduced himself. "I'm a sophomore and the girl in the front told me to approach you."

At the mention of the head of the club, Ken looked towards her location. Then he turned around to get something from the table behind him. Afterward, he gave a pile of at least 20 pieces of flyers to Cyril.

"My name is Ken Heinz. I'm a junior student here, and this is my club. Had been for 2 years now, and I'm really proud to belong here since I met the most amazing people in this club." Ken introduced himself.

Hearing those words made Cyril feel like this club is really a family. Like they wouldn't leave you behind or make you feel worthless like his own club. It isn't really the club as a whole, but just those people that turned their backs on him, those friends who became his enemies.

"What's the deal with the Music club, by the way?" Ken suddenly asked, which startled Cyril a little.

However, before he answered the question, the younger guy looked toward his club members and saw that some boys were trying to mock him from afar. It made him roll his eyes at them.

"They are just stupid, don't mind them much."

Ken, seeing the previous gesture of Cyril, also looked at the direction of the Music club. Just like the latter, he saw what the boy members were doing. He isn't fond of it since he himself has experienced some bullying before just for being a nerd, and he can already sense that this situation is something similar.

"Did you kiss a loser?" Ken asked as he turned his head to where Cyril is.

But the question was a little confusing for him, which made Cyril furrow his eyebrows at Ken, "What do you mean?"

"They are bullying you, you must have done something unacceptable by the society," Ken explained. Then his eyebrow raised as a gesture that he's repeating his previous question.

"Well, I-," Cyril said but hesitated for a second. Deep inside, he is quite scared to open up again. He doesn’t want the same thing to happen since it already did a lot of damage to him as a person. However for some other reasons, he also wanted to be brave enough to fight for himself because eventually, he has to do it, so why not start today.

As he let out a deep sigh, he continued. "I came out on the last day of my freshman year and my whole club started hating me and mocking me throughout the summer vacation. Well, not really the whole because my best friend stayed."

"Came out? You mean like you're a gay?" Ken asked in a clarifying way because he doesn't want to jump to conclusions.

To which Cyril shook his head. "Actually, I’m bisexual."