teaser oNE

the announcement

Lunch bell rang and Joshua sighed as he slowly got up his seat, glancing at the class window only to take a glimpse of his crush in class. She was asleep on her table again with her pen in her hand. She had fallen asleep while writing her notes. She must be a gamer like him as well. The night before was the night game championships and every gamer ought to see it. It ended early in the morning and neither Joshua had gotten any good night sleep.

He steadily approached her and called out her name, waking her up from her deep sleep. "Classes are over, it's lunch," he said. Mentally, Joshua panicked. He didn't want to sound so cold or mean. He didn't know exactly what to say, it made him sound mean instead. "I mean..." he tried to explain but his ideal girl cut him off nicely saying she understood what he meant. She showed her gratitude by smiling at him before heading out the class to have lunch with the rest of the students.

Joshua was left alone in the room. He remained in his seat for the rest of the lunch period, thinking deeply of everything. His train of thoughts would turn negative when the smallest unhappy thought enters his mind. He would start overthinking and eventually need help to feel happy again.

He laid his head on his table gently and sighed all his problems out. It was the last day of school and he wanted to start fresh. Joshua just coudln't wait to see his cousin again. He was only less bored in school when in school. Outside school, however, he is very much of an extrovert. Joshua dislikes most of the people in school —that already excludes his cousin and crush— which is why he doesn't talk to many people in school. He is well-known in his school campus but was also known to be cold and unapproachable. It was very untrue and Joshua knew about those rumors. Deep inside, he wished that he could somehow clean his name, that he could somehow bring himself to talk nicely to others despite not knowing what to say, that he could just express his feelings without worrying if it's wrong. Joshua wanted to bring his inner self out. But he wasn't very sure how to do that nor how to start doing it. He was lost and he needed help finding and showing his true self.

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As he walked out of the school grounds, Joshua felt freedom and happiness engulf his whole soul. After a year of hell and suffering, he could finally take a rest and enjoy life. The wind was blowing softly. Joshua took a moment to breathe in the fresh air. It was the first day of vacation and he was yet aware of how he would spend it.

"Hey," a male tapped his shoulder lightly, catching Joshua's full attention. He turned his head to the side to see his cousin, Caleb, smiling back at him. "Let's head home," he said as he put his arm around Joshua's shoulder. The cousins walked home with smiles pastes on their faces. They were both excited for vacation. "There's a new game being announced and I don't want to miss the trailer," he continued. Caleb stopped his footsteps and pat his cousin's shoulder. "They said they'd only show it once and that's tonight at 8pm. We have to get home now." Joshua wasn't aware of the newly launched game. He was preoccupied with school work for the past few days and only became free when school had ended.  

The walk home was rather noisy with the cousins talking about what to have for dinner. It was a supposedly normal day only with most of the people around them were anticipating the newly launched game. Even the ones who weren't a fan of gaming were excited to play the game. No one even had the slightest thought, wondering why everyone was anticipating that one game. Was it that popular already?

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Joshua and Caleb arrived home eating a bag of chips. They've already eaten half the chips inside. it was their second bag as well. As if being controlled by a puppet master, the two made their way up to Joshua's room to check out the game's trailed on Joshua's laptop. It was only quarter before eight, so the two slacked off on his bed while the website was counting down to 8pm.The two's feast in bed was only interrupted by the sounds from his laptop. Caleb fell off from bed trying to get to the laptop while Joshua jumped on his swivel chair and glued his eyes to the screen right away. It must be weird to know that almost everyone else in the world was doing the same thing. The game trailer was starting.

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