Wednesday, January 21 2026

Eye Contact

—

Micah sat in his usual spot at the library, head buried into his computer. He was “tutoring”. Again. When the list came out for the week he made sure to snag the days that were notoriously known for being slow because he didn’t think he could handle the awkward silence of a dozen unmotivated faces.

Somehow, a crowd of people made the quiet a lot more suffocating.

On the contrary, tutoring one person meant he’d have to hold unnecessary eye contact.

Both options were just as bad. But luckily, he was told to expect nobody today.

Micah’s eyes scanned the Google Spreadsheets that AJ was actively working on for the Alex Rivera case. So far, he’d already input the data Eli gathered about Chase on scene. If anything, his messages were probably blowing up with status updates from the other two in their group chat.

He sighed. Even if Micah wanted to check it, he couldn’t. Phones weren’t allowed out while tutoring.

Ugh, why am I even here…

This a bad time? A voice called out. Too close to be talking to anyone else.

Hello, Jesus.

Micah’s eyes widened, shutting his laptop a little too quickly. Gosh, I’m so sorry. No, it’s never a bad time.

Nate quirked an eyebrow, studying him.

Sorry, I’ve just been busy. Here, take a seat.

The taller one dropped his bag next to the chair Micah had motioned to before sitting down just as he had done last time.

Micah dropped his head, barely meeting the other’s gaze. So, how can I help you?

You doing something for the Broadcasting Club?

Wha—what, how did you?—

He nodded his head towards the computer, dark strands falling to frame his face. Didn’t look like you were doing much work otherwise.

Micah hadn’t noticed before. Or maybe he did, but just didn’t choose to acknowledge it. Nate had really pretty eyes. He stared at them before turning away.

Well you’re a lot more talkative today, Micah said clearing his throat. Can’t exactly do work when there isn’t anybody here to help though, am I right?

Nate shrugged. Guess that’s why I’m here?

Micah offered him a lopsided grin. Guess so.

Micah reached down towards his bag to retrieve a pencil while Nate fiddled with the hem of his sleeve.

Hey, I was just thinking… Nate hesitated before continuing. What I said about your club last time? I meant it. I’m interested.

Micah paused.

But, what about your hockey?

Just consider me as an unofficial member. I’ve been looking for something to do outside of it, anyway. I’ll drop by when I’m free.

Micah’s eyes widened, a small spark igniting within dark irises

Well, unless you don’t want me to, Nate quickly added. Micah thought he saw that athletic confidence falter for just a moment.

A smile tugged at the corner of Micah’s lips.

No—no that’d be fine. We were looking for more people anyway.

Cool, cool.

Yeah, cool.

They both stared at one another for a few seconds until they realized they had both been looking for too long. They turned away at the same time, suddenly finding the 20 something-year-old books on the shelves, or the motivational posters on the walls a lot more interesting than each other.

Micah never liked eye contact.

But… he supposed it wasn’t that bad. He could get used to this.

Monday, January 19 2026. Around afternoon.

—

The HHS Broadcasting Club was truly on its last legs. Meetings in the unoccupied classroom passed, and soon the hours started to feel like years. Without having had any luck with their current Alex Rivera story, the club was inactive, and desperately trying to gather people to stay afloat. It would have been easy, except for the fact that there were only three members, each holding their own like the pillars of an unbalanced tripod.

Their beloved club was bound to collapse without further action. AJ and Eli sat slumped on the plastic chairs in silence, letting the clock tick fill the space in the otherwise quiet room. It was almost the end of the meeting, and the head of their club, Micah, had still not arrived. With that, they were left to their own devices, but what much did they have to do anyway?

This is honestly so annoying. How are we supposed to know who this mystery girl is? These people had to have been hallucinating at this point to reach these wacky ahh conclusions.

On the table were scattered papers and opened binder clips that served little to no purpose with their lack of progress in research. AJ sighed before following after Eli and scanning the sparse notes. A few of which were just a list of names, and quickly scribbled concepts dominated by question marks and hashes.

You’re right, dude. I just think it’s odd how everyone has such different answers. These parties are crazy, and people move on fast. The next thing you know, what we’ve been trying to track could just disappear within the next few days due to decreasing interest.

Do we just give up? It’d be better to follow another story we can actually get something out of. The club obviously needs it, and there are a ton of other ways we could be spending our time.

Eli turned to face the empty club room before massaging the bridge of his nose.

Plus, Micah isn’t even here and we’re 5 minutes till closing.

I guess… A part of me thinks some of this is still weird though. I talked to Rae yesterday, or at least I tried talking to her.

Oh yeah! I saw that you had her name crossed out on the list. I don’t think it could’ve been her, though. She’s known Alex for far too long for something like that to happen between them.

Yeah I figured, and it wasn’t her. But it was worth a shot because when I spoke with her on behalf of the HHS Broadcasting Club, she was acting weird about the whole situation. Like she was hiding something and deliberately tried to avoid answering my questions?

Eli crossed his arms.

You don’t think she’s actually the one who kissed Alex?

Nah, she’s not the type of person to do that but the interaction felt super off. If anything, she’s definitely sus.

AJ sighed before finally deciding to clean up the mess that somehow manifested itself.

Not to mention, I think she spiked the drinks again.

Eli snorted before stacking their chairs up to finish.

Yeahhh I don’t think that’s information we should be sharing on the Broadcast. But when are they not spiked?

As the two began to walk out of the classroom, the door suddenly sprung open. It was Micah. He looked like he had ran a marathon in the time that he was gone, from the amount he had been wheezing to catch his breath.

A little late to your own party, don’t you think?

Micah, still hunched over with an arm to stabilize himself, attempted to wave Eli off with sheets of paper in his free hand—a newfound determination that was almost inspiring.

Woah, Micah, are those posters for our club?

AJ’s eyes widened before his smile dropped completely.

Wait. Are these the photos we took at JCPenney’s?…

AJ took one of the sheets before covering his mouth upon closer look. Poorly done photoshop over a clean slate background, with fonts that had to have been picked from a dice roll. That God-awful pose? It spoke for itself. And worst of all, the real cherry on top was the photo that Micah chose.

Out of all the photos they had taken at JCPenney’s, Micah just had to choose the one that specifically had their feet out. Dogs bare, and barking.

Talk about garnering attention.

Eli took a breath before bursting out into a fit of laughter.

Micah, bro. This is? I don’t even know what to say. Thank you? I’m so sorry about your poor editing skills?

C’mon on Eli, it’s not that bad! Plus, that’s not the point. I made posters because we actually have an interesting lead for the Alex Rivera story now! The club still has a chance.

Micah whipped out his notepad and began to recite the previous events.

I just interviewed this girl, Evelyn who monitors the big frat parties. She’s a trust-worthy gal, and doesn’t take any risks. Most importantly, she told me how she was really confident that she knew who kissed Alex at that party.

The party monitor? I guess that’s different, but honestly, what sets her apart? We’ve got a ton of people coming in here and telling us different things.

Just hear me out. Remember how the drinks keep getting spiked at the parties?

AJ’s eyes lit up, and suddenly, it clicked for Eli, too.

Evelyn doesn’t drink or take anything at them!

That matches up with what I got last night, too. Seemed to me that everyone was pretty wasted after a few sips of Sprite. Turns out, they were spiked with vodka.

Which makes sense why everyone’s testimonies hadn’t been matching up.

No one was sober… but Evelyn.

Dude….

Dudee

Dude!

The three quickly rushed back into the classroom, and took down three chairs again to start writing as quickly as possible. They finally had a lead after endless tail-chasing.

So who did Evelyn end up seeing? Who was the girl?

Micah’s pen stopped mid-sentence before looking up at the both of them.

That’s the thing, Evelyn didn’t see a girl. Alex was kissing a boy. Chase Jones.

The three looked at one another before retreating back into their seats. Suddenly, the years they felt had passed by had started to feel like hours, then minutes, then seconds again until it was 5:30 and the custodians yelled at them to leave.

They walked out of the room, winded from speculation, but had successfully formulated a new course of action.

“What. On. God’s. Green. Earth. Is. That.” - From Chase, (more of a declaration than a question). Is it wrong to take a leisurely walk with your homies? Holding hands? Arm around the shoulder?

- typical nerdy boy who gives freshman vibes even tho he isn't one

- extrovert

- likes to watch volleyball, but sucks at playing it

- likes to ☝️🤓

- major screenager

- always watching National Geographic

- like to spy on people

The manga, Hashimashi circa early 2000's. First chapter, alien spaceship crashes on earth and kills a teenage boy. As an apology, the aliens resurrect him. However, due to some unimportant plot point, they can only resurrect him as a female, so he becomes she.