"Hey guys, this is Jule," Rom said as soon as we got to their usual table. Seven heads turned to me with seven pairs of eyes studying me. I stuck my hands into the pockets of my jeans to avoid squirming under their gaze.

"Jule, huh?" Tristan, the rumored jerk guy, said while tapping his chin with his finger. Then his face dawned with recognition. I could almost see light bulbs in his eyes. "I know you! We're in Trigonometry together!"

Oh God. Anything but Trigonometry.

"You mean the one who got scolded by Mr. Wilcox earlier for being late?" a guy with dark hair and glasses said. From the way he's wearing the Campus's jersey to lunch, I can tell that he's an athlete or something. "Damn girl, you got spunk. I hope Ms. Martinez went easy on you."

I gestured to Rom if I could sit down. The two girls scooted over and I took a place beside a girl that had black tips showing from her blond-dyed hair. "Oh, about that," I said, trying to eat through the shame bubbling in my throat. "I didn't even go."

The boys howled. From a couple of tables ahead, I saw Nicola and Porter staring at me with a confused look on their faces. Then, they realized what I've done and their expressions were replaced with a betrayed look. I smiled subtly and spread out my hands in an act of surrender. Perhaps they could flay me alive later, if they could catch me.

"Hey, I like you already," a guy with curly, red hair said, slapping his seatmate's shoulder. The boy with a ton of thick textbooks stacked on his part of the table simply shrugged and shoved a forkful of soggy pasta into his mouth.

"Euge, chill," the girl between a guy scribbling in a notebook and the girl beside me, said. "She doesn't even know our names."

Rom slapped his forehead. "Oh, how could I forget," he said, chuckling nervously. "Jule, these are my friends. The one in Trigonometry with you is Tristan. He manages an animal shelter not far from here."

Aww. He takes care of animals. He couldn't be a jerk! "I'd love to visit sometime," I said, prepping my chin on my palm.

Tristan puffed his chest and nodded. "Yeah, that would be awesome," he replied. "Candy loves seeing new people."

I knitted my eyebrows. "Candy?"

"A Labradoodle," Tristan said. "She's the star of the shelter, if you ask me."

"Ah," I blurted out. Tristan shrugged and took a bite out of his meatball.

"This is Will," Rom continued, gesturing to the guy in a jersey. "He's a runner in the Campus's track and field team."

I took in a boy with spiky, dark hair and a fairly stocky build. Even when he's sitting, he towered over the people at the table. Dark-rimmed glasses sat on his nose. He barely gave a nod when Rom introduced him to me, his eyes trained on his food like a soldier.

"Is it hard playing sports with glasses?" I asked out of curiosity.

Will shrugged. "One's gotta make the best out of what one has," he said. "Besides, it's track and field so there's not much player-to-player contact. My glasses are safe."

"I see. That's nice," I replied drily.

"Eugene here is our resident web designer," the girl with blond-dyed hair said. I could already tell that she does like being the center of attention. "He gets commissions from everywhere and his projects never seem to stop."

"I'm in demand, I would like to say," Eugene said, picking his phone up to check something.

"Ah, one point for Eugene!" the textbook guy exclaimed, startling me. He didn't look like the type to randomly scream at gatherings like this. "Quick, Alan, take note of that!"

The guy with the notebook, Alan, nodded quietly, flipped to a page full of tally marks, and scratched a straight line.

"Come on, Austen! That's not fair!" Eugene complained. Several students from other tables turned to find out what the commotion was about. How come I never noticed this when I was at Nicola and Porter's table?

Austen shrugged, tapping a stirring rod against the table's edge. What...why did he have a stirring rod with him?

Austen caught my gaze. "Oh this?" he said, brandishing it. "It's my comfort item. I can't learn Chemistry without it, you know?"

He patted the textbooks by his table and they were, indeed, about chemistry.

"Y-yeah," I said uncertainly, glancing at Rom. "That's nice. What's wrong with checking phones around here?"

The blond girl leaned forward. "Whoever checks their phone the most when we're together gets to treat us all for dinner. We tally points at the end of the week," she said. "I'm Aubrey, by the way."

"Aubrey, got it," I said, nodding. "And how long have you been doing this?"

A girl with braided brown hair popped a bubble. "Since we started middle school," she replied. "I've been with these morons for a long time, really."

"Janice!" Rom said, a fake hurt look etched in his face. "How could you say that we're morons?"

"Because you all are," the girl said, pushing her empty plate of soggy pasta. "Hey Eugene, make sure to treat us to a place where they serve big sizes. I'm never satisfied with this soggy pasta."

Ooh. Someone called it. Ha! I like Janice.

But I couldn't help but feel sad about their plans. Because everyday, Eugene would pick up his phone, Austen would call him out, and Alan would record a score. They would never know who checked their phone the most. They wouldn't even get to realize their plan since they'll always be eating soggy pasta in this cafeteria for all the days to come.

"Hey, you alright?" Rom asked, breaking me out of my reverie.

I shook my head. "Yeah. I am," I said. "Janice, what do you do?"

Janice popped another bubble. "Oh, I manage Mom's make-up salon during the weekends. I learned pretty cool stuff from that stint," she replied. "And you're friends with Nicola, right? Tell her I love her inventive explorations. I like her style."

I gaped at her. For a girl who knows how to put on make-up, her face was bare, not even a trace of lipstick present. Weird.

"So Rom," Will interjected. "Have you known Jule long?"

I whirled to Rom who thought of his answer. Would he explain everything to them?

"No, not long," Rom said. "I met her in the corridors a few days ago."

"Ah, a typical start," Austen said, rolling the stirring rod atop his palm. "Tell me, which one of you spoke first?"

"Why do you have to know that?" I asked.

Austen shrugged. "Alan needed some inspiration for his new novel," he explained. "I'm just helping him.

Oh.

"Hey Jule," Aubrey piped up, slamming her hand on the table space between us. I flinched.

"Yeah?"

"Have you heard Rom's songs?" she said, her eyes containing some sort of sparkle in them.

I knitted my eyebrows. Nobody told me about that. "Songs?"

Aubrey nodded. "Yeah! Rom writes his own songs and he has an awesome voice."

I whirled to Rom to find him red all over. "Really?" I said, my voice pointed. Oh, Rom's not going to hear the end of this from me. "I would like to hear them some time."

"Oh, I tell you, he's pretty good," Janice chimed in.

"Stop it, guys," Rom said, his voice shaky and nervous. "It's nothing, really. They're just songs. It's not like anyone else would like to listen to them."

"Hey, we love them, bro. No questions asked," Will said while chewing from one side of his mouth. "We gotta support each other for the things we love doing."

"Yeah, thanks for that, Will," Rom said, his ears still red even though his face has subsided into a pale pink. "Really, it's nothing."

Tristan shrugged. "Whatever you say," he said, waving his hands dismissively. "So Jule, are you hanging with us later after the last period? We kinda still have to wait for Will to finish practice but we're hanging out at Euge's place later tonight."

I looked between his friends' eager faces and Rom's red ears. I sighed. "You guys go on ahead. Rom and I have something to discuss."

The collective aww that escaped from their lips was adorable, if I was to be asked.

Lunch finished and his friends stood up and bid their farewells. Apparently, they aren't classmates in every subject. Call me a snoop, but I kinda want to know how they all met. They're all interesting people even inside the loop.

"So, last period?" I asked Rom who stood beside me, watching the students trickle out of the classroom.

Rom nodded, this time hesitantly. "Last period."

"Where are we going?" Rom asked.

"You'll see," I said.

The sun had long set, the reset creeping closer. We're almost to the empty field just past Pastor Frank's chapel. When I saw Rom's face during lunch when his friends were talking about his songs, I just thought of doing this. As much as I needed it, I think he needs it too.

Rom fell into step with me, looking back at the Primary School just a few distance from us. We still had to drop Mindy home before continuing here, giving me a peek of what Rom's house looked like. And it's...normal. Nothing magical happened in the house and there's certainly nothing special about it.

I stopped at a spot in the field, the puddle of mud where Mrs. Higgins's dog wallowed visible from my place. I beckoned Rom to come.

"What are we doing?" Rom asked when he came by me.

I smiled as I pointed to the sky. "Look up."

He did just as the clouds cleared and revealed the stars shining against the inky night sky. It takes a ton of tries to get the timing and the place right, but I figured it out. This spot right here gives one a perfect view of the night sky without cables, roofs, and buildings blocking the view.

I looked up as well, marveling at the fact that I was now looking at the topic of this day's discussion in one of my classes. The stars sparkled like diamonds, dotting the blue-black sky in infinite patterns and swirls. Colors swarmed, blended yet stayed separate as the moon shone among them.

This. This was something that kept me going during the times I wanted to give up.

"This is beautiful," Rom breathed, still taking in the sky. "But what does any of these mean?"

"What do you see?" I asked, taking one step closer to Rom.

Rom was still looking up, his mouth partially hanging open. "Uh, stars?"

I smiled slightly. "What do they remind you of?" I prodded.

"How vast the world is," Rom answered, his voice carrying a hint of breathlessness. "And how small we are compared to it."

He wasn't wrong, though. I chuckled as I looked up again and focused on the one star that shone brighter than the rest. "Do you know what the stars remind me of?"

"Yeah?"

"It reminds me to dream," I said, my voice softening.

"What's that got to do with the stars?" Rom asked, incredulous.

"They look so tiny here but in reality they are miles bigger than our world," I said, quoting Mrs. Jones. It's probably one of her lines that made such an impact on me. "That's the same thing with our dreams. We may think that it's insignificant but really, it's bright, it's wonderful, and it touches people's lives."

"Are you somehow referring to my songs?" Rom asked.

"You got it," I said, winking. "You don't have to be ashamed of them."

"They're just hobbies," Rom said, shrugging. "They won't do me any good after they're written. Besides, anything new I try to make gets reset. It's a pointless dream."

"Why not let me hear them?" I wondered aloud. "That way I won't ever forget it. Your songs will live forever in my heart. Perhaps, you can teach me to play an instrument as well so I can play it as many times as I want."

Rom chuckled. "You're nosy, Jule," he said.

The way he said my name sent chills down my spine. I masked it with a laugh. "Come on, it's the least I could do as a friend," I said. "You don't have to be sorry for something you create from the heart. Let it shine. I'm sure the stars will be watching, if they aren't already."

Rom scratched his neck. "Well...that wasn't such a bad idea," he said. "Tomorrow, perhaps?"

I whirled to him. "You'll do it?"

"Sure, why not?" Rom said, crossing his arms and sighing. "It's not like somebody will listen to us here. I'll be sure to tell Mindy to not wait for me."

"That's...thank you," I stuttered. "You sure?"

"I promise," Rom said, his voice having a hint of finality. "You'll hear my songs tomorrow and you'll tell me they're crap."

"Psh, no," I said, waving my hands. "I'm sure they'll be great. Is that what you wanted to do? To sing and write songs?"

Rom nodded. "Yeah," he said. "It's a far-fetched dream too."

"Remember, the stars are watching," I said, pointing up. "They will always remind you to dream."

Rom nodded. The first batch of lights started going out. Damn, the reset.

"Jule?" Rom said, looking up. The absence of the light around us suddenly made the stars shine brighter.

I followed Rom's gaze. "Yeah?"

"What is your dream?" Rom asked.

I felt my lips curve into a smile. "I want to see tomorrow."

More lights died around us, plunging our world in darkness. I reached out to Rom and our hands twined together. I don't want this day to end. I don't want to let go.

"Remember your promise," I said. "'l'll see you tomorrow."

Rom tightened his grip on my hand, the heat from it was enough to set fire to my soul. "Tomorrow."

The last of the lights vanished. I woke up in my bed, staring up at the bland white ceiling.