Maybe, Probably, Certainly (Project S: Spike/Waterboyy)

Chapter 6: Out With A Bang

Kluay sat in the classes, bored to tears, contemplating his life. Technically he should be paying attention to the lecture, but it's not like he'd be ever scolded if he was caught, since he was, well, him. He had all the perks of being popular, on top of being quite a good student and having a bright future... So what the hell was Achi's problem? Kluay tried his trademark charm, hanging out together, and even playing hard to get by not contacting him at all, which helped him accomplish exactly nothing. Keep a distance, Puen said to him a few days ago. Yeah, that's a great strategy if you want to go nowhere in your life, thought Kluay pityingly about Puen's poor attempts at paying it cool whenever Than was mentioned. The boy was obviously a very touchy subject for the captain of the volleyball team, so it'd be so much fun to observe them more, or even better, play with them a bit. And if he could make Achi a part of this, it would be perfect.

"As you know, due to our University hosting a very prestigious annual Science Conference in three weeks, all the activities during that weekend, and classes on the following week will cancelled," Prof. Chatree's voice broke him out of his thoughts and Kluay perked up and even sat straighter. "Which is not to say, that you are all free to drop your schedules, relax and spend your days aimlessly. We still expect you to represent our school with dignity and..."

Kluay wasn't listening anymore because lecturer's comments gave him a brilliant idea, if he said so himself. That event was still many days away, but before that Achi had a recital (keeping in touch with Puen wasn't entirely pointless), the volleyball team had an important match, and he had a swimming competition. Didn't they all deserve some good old fashioned relaxing to relieve the stress?

He opened the Line app on his smartphone, and wrote a few words in his favorite group chat. Not a minute has passed and he heard a lot of cellphones receiving messages. Then came the not so subtle whispers and thrilled looks were directed in his direction. When the class ended and everybody filed outside, he found a part of the school population, the lucky chosen ones, buzzing with excitement. That's right, it's time for one of my infamous parties, he thought smugly. Last time he threw one, people were talking about it for weeks. He made a quick call to his PA and left him in charge of taking care of all preparations. Those tiny details out of the way, he had to do some heavy lifting. First target: Than, Achi's trusty friend and a roommate.

***

The morning after Sunday Than felt like he was ran over by a bus. A bus that was occupied by a herd of angry and stomping buffaloes, which is to say, it was not a particularly pleasant feeling. Achi tried waking him up around 8 a.m., but the only thing Than was up to, was drinking water, swallowing a few pills to ease his rampaging headache and going back to sleep. He skipped the first three classes, but made himself get up by noon to attend the Statistics course, because he'd be damned if he let his recent efforts to make a better impression on Prof. Panichkul go to waste. He even managed to take some notes and look present enough, not to draw any suspicion from the teacher.

Going to practice was another matter though. He knew that Puen would see that something was wrong with him straightaway and would demand some answers. He was hoping he could resolve his issues with Statistics relatively quickly, so he wouldn't have to come clean with his friend, but he was sensing Puen's growing suspicion. However, if the sophomore knew the truth, he'd probably be more troubled and Than wanted to avoid that at all cost. He just needed a few more weeks and then he'd be ok, they would be ok, and everything would be go back to how things were, wouldn't it?

When he was pondering if he wanted to eat something in a cafeteria, or go straight home and sleep some more, a few of his drinking companions from the previous night bumped into him. They immediately started ribbing Than about his inexperience in drinking, and in that exact moment Kluay emerged from around the corner.