Project: Socialize

"So," Loyd greeted us as we entered the club room. "How was it?"

He was sitting at his usual spot, doing his homework on his notebook. Seated in the chair opposite to him was Zaksus, who had his earbuds in his ears and was listening to music. However, as he saw us enter, he removed the earbuds out of respect.

"It's annoying." I sighed and allowed my body to collapse onto my seat. I was extremely fatigued from that meeting. It was way too rigid, containing no intriguing parts, and just stale in general. It was mostly the vice president speaking, with the school council president remaining silent and just sitting there, allowing her presence to do her work.

"It sure seemed to be a lot of work," Irina commented as she sat down as well. "And we got the finance job."

"Plenty of people will approach us to talk about funds," Muria sighed and shook her head.

Don't you complain. It was your sister who forced this onto us.

I took out my phone, resuming the novel that I was reading, allowing myself to be engulfed by the story and forget about reality. I actually quite liked this book. It's about a guy who got trapped in a game world after logging in on the last day the servers was open. It doesn't explain why he's trapped in the world, but I guess all novels that use this concept of being transported to a different world never truly explain anything. All they hook their readers with are just some random overpowered main character and a bunch of girls. At least this book there's not like a large harem of girls flocking towards the main character.

"Hey um..." Zaksus then started speaking. "C-can we talk about something? It's kinda awkward when you're all silent."

"Right." Loyd smiled and closed his notebook, setting his mechanical pencil down on top of it. "We should get to know each other more. We're in the same club after all."

"So let me formally introduce myself," Zaksus started. "I'm Zaksus, the starting point guard on the basketball team. My hobbies are basketball and hanging out with friends."

There it is, the student athlete.

I sighed and placed my phone down on the table, listening to them as they started "introducing" themselves.

"I'm Irina," Irina then said with a smile on her face.

She always had a smile on her face when facing people, no matter if she's sad or not. That smile seemed to be part of her uniform, as if it was sewn onto her skin. However, oddly enough, when she's facing me though, that smile never seemed to feel as if it was forced. Well, other than the first time I met her, that is.

"Thank you," Loyd nodded. "I'm Loyd. I enjoy spending time with friends as well as playing video games, the usual stuff."

Yeah, so usual. But this is the toned down version, I bet.

"I'm Muria," Muria sighed and followed along with their foolish act. "I don't particularly have a hobby, but if it's something I'm interested in, then it's probably movies."

Yeah, movies with a bunch of cute characters in it. She actually has a surprisingly normal side.

Then, their gazes turned towards me. Mixed within it was a look of anticipation, almost as if they wanted me to play along with their act. However, I really wasn't in the mood to be wasting energy like that. I'm tired as is already. But... I have a feeling if I refuse, they might nag me to do so, which will take more energy on my end. Therefore, the smart thing to do is to go along with it.

"Alevian," I said in a voice that lacked enthusiasm. "Hobbies: video games and surfing the internet."

I hastily finished my introduction, making sure to not devote more time than needed for this segment. My day was already boring enough, so please don't make me endure this torture any more.

"Zaksus," Loyd suddenly said. "Is the basketball team going to do anything for the Festival?"

"We are gonna do something," Zaksus responded. "But we don't know what exactly just yet. All we know is that we need to fund raise."

"Doesn't the school give you guys money?" Irina added.

"They do," Zaksus sighed, "but we can't use it ourselves, if you know what I mean. With the money we make through the Festival, us team members can use it for ourselves."

"So your own pocket money," Loyd nodded.

"Right," Zaksus smiled. "So for this club, all we're gonna do is help out the Festival Committee?"

"Partly," Loyd nodded. "But our job will also include helping out others if they need it."

That sounded like a waste of time, but since that might be Mura's orders, I decided to not press the matter. Rather, I sat there in silence, reading this novel on my phone. Muria appeared to be minding her own business as well by the window. Similar to me, she was on her phone. However, judging off that smile on her face, she's probably not reading but rather staring at pictures. If I had to guess, the pictures might be of cute animals or something. She seemed to be quite happy in that world of hers.

"Muria," Irina went over to her. "Come join us in the conversation."

That world of hers was soon invaded. Invaded by this enemy we called social obligations. I sighed as I mourned the loss of a comrade in the ranks of loneliness. However, it wasn't much of a loss since Muria could fit in almost perfectly in that new world of hers. She seemed to always know what to say in certain situations if she wanted to and be perfectly normal.

"Alevian," Irina then called my name. "You too."

"I-I'm kinda busy..." I looked away so as to avoid eye contact. However, that doesn't work when the person you're trying to avoid eye contact with stares at you. It... it gets on your nerves, really.

I was then forced into the conversation although I barely spoke at all. What I did the most was sit there, listen in, and yawned. What they talked about was the simple stuff, things such as the latest shows and movies and stuff. Really, it's kinda boring. However, by the end of it all, everybody seemed to be more comfortable with each other. Irina even invited Muria to go and see a movie together. So I guess the conversation worked maybe for them but not for me. The distance between myself and them felt the same to me, but I don't know what they think. They might associate me with the conversation and have the misconception that I was engaged in it as well, subconsciously allocating me in the same category as those who they believe they're now closer to.

***

That night, I was able to make dinner on time. One is because I was home earlier, and two is because Loriana came home later today. She seemed to be quite busy with the project assigned to her, so I didn't say much about it.

The two of us sat on opposite sides of the dining table, eating the meal that I had prepared. It was a simple yet satiating dinner, consisting of a steak, some mashed potatoes, and a salad. I said it was simple.

"The School Festival is coming up," I mentioned to the blonde woman before me. "And I'm forced to be the representative for my class and have to attend a Committee for the Festival."

"That's good to hear," my guardian smiled. "It's nice to see you behaving like a normal kid."

"Normal kids wouldn't be doing this job," I commented. "I just wanna come home."

"You want to be with me that much?" She smiled as she saw that slight redness of my face. "Your birthday's coming up," she then said after a light chuckle. "You want anything?"

"No," I responded, looking down at my plate of food.

"Sorry I won't be able to celebrate with you this year," she sighed. "It's a Friday, and I can't skip the day. This project it's... it's important."

"I understand."

It's fine, really. Like I'm used to it. Ever since my family fell apart, I've readied myself to give up the luxury of celebrating birthdays. That's something only people with family and friends can enjoy. People like me should be rotting by themselves on that day. Even though I have Loriana, and she does try and make time for my birthday, but if it's on a weekday, she'll be unable to be there for me in the day. Therefore, for most of my birthdays that I celebrated under her care, it was done alone. In fact, it's never celebrated at all if no one's there. What's the point if it's only myself? If I buy a cake, who am I gonna share it with? Me, myself, and I? Stop kidding me. It's always been myself, even when Loriana did celebrate with me that one year, it's still myself in reality.

I gripped onto my steak knife and fork even tighter.