Chapter 2: A Hazard To Your Health

[ 6 days before... ]

"I'm gonna die! For real!!"

A mournful wail reverberated in the whole room. It would have been a very tragic sight to behold. A pale student with limp ginger hair slumped against the wall. A whole plethora of notes and books lay scattered all over with matching crinkled papers filled with endless colorful scribbles.

The girl, who was almost seeing her soul bid farewell from the mortal realm lay listless, dark circles seemed to have a life of its own beneath her eyes. A tragic sight to behold indeed - except for some very minute details of scrunched up tissues by her side, a bucket-full of popcorn in between her legs, and a snoring girl beside her who was happy to stay in dreamland for the time being.

"Zee!!" Rina wailed. This was unacceptable! Like a mini whirlwind, Rina set aside her popcorn, immediately grabbed her unsuspecting victim by the shoulders, and started shaking the poor girl awake with a vengeance.

"Wha-" Rattled and disoriented, not to mention shaken literally to the land of the living, Zee swatted the offending hand away and started stretching like a lazy cat fresh from slumber. "What's the big deal?"

"Wu wu wu, you don't love me anymore!" Rina wailed like an abandoned lover.

Zee could feel the chill running through her spine. Being rudely woken up, only to find your crazy friend lose another screw in her head, made her want to bolt away warily. Sometimes, a friend can be a hazard to your health. Hesitantly, as if trying to tame a mad beast, she reached out her hand and awkwardly patted Rina's head, "So, what seems to be the problem, my dearest girl?"

"Hmph!" Rina crossed her arms turned away from her traitor of a friend, only to turn back and declared, "Hand over your notes! All of them! How am I supposed to survive those godforsaken tests without your godly notes!? I only have four days! FOUR DAYS!"

Zee scratched her head in confusion. "I gave all of them to you yesterday, didn't I?"

This caused another bout of mournful wail. "Wu! My best friend has forsaken me! This world is so cruel!"

"Eh... I don't understand?" Zee muttered under her breath. Rina seemed to have lost her more than a few loose screws in her head.

Suddenly, as if possessed by some kind of avenging spirit, her so-called friend rounded up the scattered notes in a neat stack. One by one, she flatly laid them all as if they were some holy relic. Zee was still confused. What the heck was going on right now. Rina pointed out the names of each of her notebooks from Language, Humanities, Biochemistry, to History. "Where. Are. Your. Math. Notes."

"Eh!? But I passed them last semester. Why do you need them anyway?"

Unimpressed, Rina crossed her arms and impatiently tapped her fingers. A minute passed. No words were exchanged. Unable to take it, Rina uncrossed her arms in a huff and pointed straight at her. Zee almost crossed her eyes while staring at that offending finger. "I happen to have the same subject with the same crack professor. So, hand it over."

Zee gulped nervously. With a tiny voice, she coughed out, "Someoneborroweditthestartofthesemester."

"Excuse me!?" Another unholy shriek to behold. Zee could feel the headache, and future muscle cramps from the leg work, forming gleefully at her misfortune.

"And who is that bastard?" Rina growled with ill-concealed menace. Don't mess with people with remedial classes. Zee scratched a little note at the back of her mind. They've gone crazy. Suddenly the creature in front of her gasped, her face now painted with some sort of realization, "Rumor has it that some bastard from Engineering got hold of some godly notes in Math for Remedial."

"Engineering? I thought the guy was from our Department?" Zee yawned lazily. This manic behavior from Rina was getting overdramatic already. How she wished she could go back to sleep. Sweet comfortable sleep.

"Well, he must have sold your notes to another bastard! Hmph! I heard he failed his exams because his precious dog bit him!" Rina exclaimed!

A black shadow flew towards the bathroom without any notice. In the blink of an eye, the Rina in front of her disappeared. A few clanks and an abrupt sound of water spraying was heard, "What's his name again? Dmitri... Dmitri something. Ah yes, Dmitri Vaseline, or something."

Zee shrugged. Well, better get back to sleep. Unlike her friend, she had no more classes to attend to for the next two days until the school break. Her lips curled up in satisfaction as she thought of the good long rest ahead of her. Afterward, she'll be heading down to their town for some break and spend quality time with her family of five. She jolted awake with a sudden shriek.

"ZEE!! DON'T YOU DARE SLEEP! YOU ARE COMING WITH ME!" With an exhausted sigh, Zee could only flop back miserably. Well, there goes a good long rest. Maybe, catching the last train to go home would be a very good idea.