Vasil quietly sat on the nearest chair he could find. A few hours ago, he'd been super excited about starting high school and everything that came with it, but now, he couldn't shake off this weird feeling.
He knew that someday, Stefan's and his paths would separate, but he didn't think it would happen this soon. And it definitely didn't mean the end of their friendship.
So he couldn't understand why Stefan was acting this way.
It'd been a while since Stefan started distancing himself, Vasil had noticed that much, but the reason was still unknown to him. Was Stefan getting bored of him? Maybe Vasil annoyed him too much.
Maybe he was looking for an excuse to get rid of him, and now he'd finally found one.
These wild theories were spinning in Vasil's head until a certain brown-skinned boy with curls on his forehead showed up and sat next to him.
"Hey!"
Vasil looked at him in surprise. He knew this guy. Not only had he played the violin perfectly well backstage on the exam day, but he had also sat beside Stefan and talked to him while Vasil gave his embarrassing speech. When Vasil mentioned him to Stefan before, Stefan acted like he didn't know him, but from the stage, they'd looked oddly close.
"Hi!" Vasil said. "I remember you from the performance day. You were amazing! I'm Vasil."
"Khalid. Nice to meet ya!" the boy said with a grin.
He continued, "And that's nice to hear from the grand winner himself!"
Vasil laughed awkwardly. "I really wasn't that good."
Khalid frowned. "Hey! Stop acting humble! If you're not good, that means I lost to an average violinist. You're insulting me with that kind of crap!"
Vasil immediately replied, "Sorry!"
"That's better! You should be more arrogant!"
"Um… okay!"
Receiving life advice from a random new classmate was something Vasil never thought he'd experience, but here he was.
"Your name means eternal," he said, trying to thank Khalid with a random fact.
Khalid raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I know."
"Oh."
Now Vasil had nothing to say.
"So, how do you know that smug?" Khalid suddenly asked.
Vasil was caught off guard. "You know Stefan?"
Khalid paused. "....Wow, it didn't even take a second for you to figure out who I'm talking about. Is he the only smug you know?"
Vasil couldn't find the right answer.
Khalid sighed. "You're weird."
Vasil replied casually, "Yeah, I hear that a lot. So… you knew him?"
"Yeah. We've been childhood friends."
"Oh, so you must be really close."
To Vasil's surprise, Khalid shrugged. "Not at all. We hate each other."
"Why?"
"You'll understand soon," Khalid said cryptically.
Vasil decided not to continue that conversation. it didn't seem like something the boy next to him wanted to share with a total stranger.
So he changed the topic. "Our first class is musical theory."
Khalid grumbled. "I know. It sucks."
"Isn't it just reading music sheets?" Vasil asked.
Khalid paused. "No… that's solfège. Have you ever studied music at all?"
Vasil admitted honestly, "No, never."
Khalid looked at him like he was an alien. "And how many years have you played the violin?"
"About two and a half."
Khalid said nothing. Vasil asked, "How about you?"
"My whole life."
"Wow, that's so cool!"
Another voice joined in. "Do you mind if I join the conversation?"
Vasil and Khalid turned to see a boy with light brown hair and golden eyes.
"Hi! I'm Andrew, but you can call me Andy!"
"Hi Andy, I'm Vasil!"
"I know you," Andy said. "Nice speech, by the way."
Vasil's smile faded. "Please never mention that again."
Andy looked at Khalid. "And you're Khalid Ferdows! I've seen you a couple of times before!"
"Yeah, I remember you, Andy. You play the guitar, right?"
"Yes! And drums too!"
Vasil jumped in. "Wait... your full name means eternal heaven?"
Khalid shot him a death stare. "Say that one more time and I'll hit you with a violin."
Vasil smirked. "That's a cruel thing to do with your violin."
"I didn't say my violin."
Vasil said nothing but quietly moved his violin case to the other side of his desk, just to be safe.
Andy's eyes moved between the two of them. "So you two know each other already?"
"We just met," Vasil answered.
Andy laughed. "I have a feeling we'll become good friends!"
Khalid smirked. "I like your enthusiasm."
Vasil's eyes caught a girl shyly approaching them. She had wavy green hair and wore a loose cardigan, too warm for the weather. Vasil smiled at her, and she smiled back awkwardly.
"Hi, I'm Nova!" she said.
Andy turned and noticed her. "Oh, hi! You're the flute girl, right?"
Nova looked surprised. "You noticed me?"
"You might not know this, but you have a pretty unique hair color!"
Vasil added, "And name! Did you know that your name means a bright new star?"
The girl blushed.
Khalid stared at Vasil. "What's with your weird obsession with names?"
Vasil shrugged. "I just like them."
Andy jumped in. "Then what about my name?"
Vasil answered without hesitation. "It means strong and manly."
Andy grinned. "Cool!"
Khalid leaned on one hand. "Are you trying to prove that you're the weirdest one here?"
Vasil was about to say something, but Andy interrupted. "We've got twins in our class who like to curse in Russian! He won't stand a chance against them."
"How do you know they're cursing?" Nova asked.
Andy said, "Their facial expressions say it all!"
"But you can't be sure," Nova insisted.
Vasil said, "Well, I'm half Russian. Next time they say something, call me and I'll translate it for you."
"I'm not sure I want to know," Andy said, "but thanks!"
Khalid added, "So, we have three Russians in our class."
Andy replied, "No, those two are Italian, Raphael and Rosalia."
Khalid nodded. "Yeah, they'd win." Then he looked at Vasil. "You got anything to say about their names, or not?"
Vasil paused. "I thought you weren't interested."
"So you do have something to say!"
"Raphael means healed by God, and Rosalia… well, I think we all know what that means."
"…I wish I hadn't asked," Khalid muttered.
A woman with pixie-cut gray hair entered the classroom, and everyone quickly took their seats. Andy sat behind Khalid, and Nova sat behind Vasil. Nova was about 150 centimeters tall, and Vasil was quite tall himself, so he turned and whispered with concern, "Do you want to switch places?"
Nova shook her head. "I want to sit where I can't be seen."
"…Okay."
Vasil turned toward the teacher, who was writing her name on the whiteboard.