“I don’t think any of us can compare with Annie,” Dario says.
“How come you never feel self-conscious?”
“Are you kidding?” he snorts. “I am the youngest sibling. Ialwaysfeel self-conscious. I am the weakest of all of us. I am barely alpha material.”
“That’s not true!” I protest.
“It is,” he says. “But it’s okay. I made peace with that fact long ago. I don’t want to lead a pack anyway.”
“You have a lot of strengths,” I point out. “Having muscles is just one small part.”
He looks at me thoughtfully. “How about you use the same thinking on yourself?” he says. “Being school-smart is also just one small part, and has nothing to do with being intelligent or not.”
“I call a truce.”
“We weren’t even fighting!”
“I just don’t want to talk about it,” I admit. “But to get back on topic, I don’t feel the party much.”
“Okay,” he says. “But just for the record. Youhavegood friends.”
“Who?” I push.
“Well, there is Charlie,” he says. Charlie is a year younger, and we befriended her during high school. She is probably what we would consider our best friend. Dario then mentions some other guys and girls from the same circle around Charlie, but technically, they are all joint friends. Dario has a few friends in his own circle, while I don’t have anyone.
I am a friend of many, which means I am a friend of none.
It’s not the only thing about me I feel wary about.
“My gift sucks,” I say into the silence.
“I think it’s a great gift,” Dario argues. “Much better than mine.”
“I think yours is cooler,” I say.
“Actually, it would be the coolest if our gifts were a joint one,” Dario says. “Together it would be amazing.”
“Yeah, kinda weird how split it feels,” I admit.
The waitress brings our food, and we fall into silence while shoveling in our food. Eventually, Dario looks up. “Why don’twe hang out?” he offers. “We haven’t done that in a while. Every time we hung out, we had to study.”
I perk up. “Yes. How about we let our wolves out and go for a run!”
“Sounds great. My wolf is getting restless anyway.”
“Mine, too.”
Indeed, my wolf instantly perks up at the promise of going for a run. Kiran is always in it for some action. Just like me, he isn’t too big on learning and studying, but loves to train and to just be outside. We both love the adrenaline rush.
Dario and I make it home after our afternoon lecture. We don’t have the same one, but they run approximately at the same time. I tried to take notes and to be as attentive as possible, but my mind couldn’t seem to stay focused for more than a couple of minutes.
To make matters worse, the more pressure I put on myself, the worse my spelling gets, too. I tend to mix up letters, but also words. It sucks.
“Done?” Dario asks me when I exit the lecture hall.
“Yeah, the professor took longer to explain something to us.” I pause. “Can we not talk about Uni, please?”
“Sure,” Dario agrees. He barely argues with me, and sometimes that makes me feel bad, like I am taking advantage of his kindness.
