The Tech Wiz

Chapter One

"I'm tired," Ji-Hun groaned as Wyatt pat his head apologetically. I watched them for a while before I continued eating whatever mystery the cafeteria had provided as lunch today. Aiyana was reading a book on her phone, as usual, her eyes leaving her screen briefly as she muttered a small 'sorry' to Ji-Hun.

"You'll get better," Wyatt muttered, pulling Ji-Hun's lunch today so it was in front of him. "You just have to eat. We still have four classes until the end of school."

"Will you feed me?" Ji-Hun suddenly asked, raising his head. Aiyana dropped her phone and started laughing. She tried to control herself by covering her mouth with her palms as Wyatt stared at Ji-Hun with a horrified look.

"Of course not," he stuttered, looking away from his boyfriend. Aiyana soon regained her composure but she was still wearing a painful smirk as the two bickered in hushed tones. I just sat in my seat and experienced the second-hand embarrassment.

In the end, Wyatt did end up feeding Ji-Hun. Ji-Hun seemed happy about it, but Wyatt looked like he was about to faint from how red his face was. I tried to ignore them as I played the color switch game on my phone, leaving my food unattended to.

"What do you guys have after this period?" Aiyana asked, putting her phone on the table. She then started to pick at her food with the plastic fork provided.

"Ji-Hun and I have IT after lunch," I muttered, taking a sip of water from my cup. Ji-Hun nodded in agreement before Wyatt made mention of having a biology class right after.

I checked my watch, realizing that the break would be over in the next fifteen minutes or so. We spent the rest of the time talking, leaving the cafeteria just before the time was up so that we wouldn't get caught up in the stream of students that always appeared in the hallways after the bell went.

Aiyana and Wyatt left, leaving Ji-Hun and me behind at our lockers. I changed my books then waited for Ji-Hun to do the same. He finished, getting his laptop as well.

"Let's go," he said, walking ahead of me. I followed him and it was at that moment the bell rang for the next class. We were walking up the stairs to the IT lab when students started to flood the hallways.

We soon got to the Lab's two-way door. Ji-Hun turned the knob before pushing the door open and walking in. I followed behind him, heading into the lab as well.

"Hey, Felix!"

"Hey."

I stopped in the middle of my tracks, turning my gaze towards the direction Ji-Hun had walked towards. Felix was behind his computer and he and Ji-Hun were now talking.

I stood on the spot awkwardly, playing with the strap of the black laptop bag before heading to a corner table at the far end of the room.

They talked for a while until more people started to file into the room and Felix had to leave for his next period. I watched him get up, packing up his MacBook before he headed for the lab's exit. He greeted our teacher, Mr. Gray who was just coming in before he left.

As our teacher set up, Ji-Hun came to take the seat beside me. He smirked, removing his laptop from his bag as someone helped our teacher set up the class' projector.

"You talk to Felix?" I asked when my curiosity got the best of me. Ji-Hun shrugged as he turned his laptop on. I shouldn't be surprised, Ji-Hun was overly friendly and he never really thought twice before initiating a conversation.

"We talk from time to time. He's the senior president now and you know I have to attend school council meetings now since they asked me to be part of the council," Ji-Hun said as he typed in his laptop's password.

I nodded at his words, taking out my laptop as our teacher loaded a video on codding on the projector's screen. We were doing small things I'd already practiced on my own like building websites from scratch and video editing.

"How's the council?" I asked, still trying to hear a bit about Felix.

"It's fine. The seniors are cool, but they're a little exclusive, and most times ignore the class presidents from other years," Ji-Hun said as he starts loading the code board he was working with. "I'm a little sorry for Aiyana since she's the class president for our year and all."

I nodded, deciding to turn my volume down to zero before loading the virtual fantasy game on the web. I've done everything Mr. Gray was presently trying to teach us so I won't be missing anything.

"What do you do in the council again?" I asked, looking away from my screen to find Ji-Hun working on the website he was coding.

"I handle school events and promotions with a handful of other people," he said as he continued typing. "It's cool. Felix helps because he's good at graphic design and does it as a part-time job."

"I see," I muttered, turning back to my game.

So, he likes graphics, huh? I thought to myself as I clicked item to item to fill the power bar of my virtual world character.

The class went by quickly, and it was soon time for the next period. Ji-Hun abandoned me in the hallway to look for Wyatt, leaving me to stand by my locker as I awkwardly waited for him to get back.

Why couldn't he just wait to see Wyatt when we had a period together?

"Excuse me."

I jumped at the sound of the familiar voice, coming out of my thoughts as I looked up to find Felix standing in front of me. He had a smile on his face, and his dark bangs framed his dark wide eyes in an adorable way. I felt my cheeks warm up under his gaze when he suddenly smiled at me. Looked away, trying to look anywhere but his face.

What's he doing here? I thought as I felt the back of my neck with my hand. I stared down at my grey sneakers, waiting for him to say something or walk away.

"You're Ji-Hun's friend, right?" he asked after the silence dragged on for a while. I nodded, forcing myself to look up and make eye contact with him. I watched as his grin widened before he extended the brown folder he'd been carrying to me.

"Can you give this to him? He knows what it is, just tell him it's from Felix," he said, slipping the folder into my hands. I looked down at it for a while, and when I looked up again Felix was already walking away from me. I sighed, holding on to the folder like he'd asked me to before handing it over to Ji-Hun when he came back.

"Oh, thanks. It's from Felix, right?" he had said when he'd spotted the folder in my hands.

"Yeah," I'd muttered, handing the brown folder to him. I'd waited for him to change his books before he headed to the study room together. Wyatt had a biology extension class so he wasn't with us.

"Ben, since you're good with computers you can help out with the outdated student body website," Ji-Hun said as he reached the door to our study hall.

"I'm not good with designs. I'm more of a build the foundation guy," I answered honestly as I brought down the door's handle before pushing it open.

"Felix is good at design. I was helping out with the foundation code, but it's a little too complex for me to handle. Maybe you can tag along to the next meeting?" Ji-Hun asked as he headed into the study room. The coordinator was watching a video on her phone with her earpiece on as usual. I rolled my eyes, signing the attendance sheet after Ji-Hun before we started looking for a table. I wondered why the school bothered to hire her, she barely did anything.

"You didn't answer me back then. Would you like to come for a meeting?" Ji-Hun asked again as we settled down on one of the tables at the center of the room.

"I don't want to be a bother—"

"Don't worry, I'll explain things. I'm sure Felix would like to have some extra help," he said in assurance. I stared at him for a while before muttering a small 'fine'. The smile he'd been wearing widened before he dropped the topic and went about his school work.

I did the same but I couldn't help thinking about what my agreement meant. Having to go to the council meeting meant that I actually had to make an effort to talk to Felix and not just stare at him like a petrified cat. I felt my chest flutter in a funny way. It was a mixture of both paranoia and excitement.

I was actually going to hold a full conversation or something close to that with Felix, wasn't I?