"After yesterday's assignment, I've decided to give you guys a break. You can all breathe a collective sigh of relief," Mrs. Chung said. She paused a bit to survey the room's response.

The entire room was silent. Of course, we had reason to be. That wasn't a phrase one ever really heard from her, so there had to be some strings attached.

"Today, we're going to be watching Citizen Kane, a classic American film from the 40's," she said while writing the name of the movie on the board. At this point, there were some murmurs and slight bits of conversation.

"And of course, you'll all have to complete a report on the film," she continued. The whole class groaned.

"I knew it was too good to be true," a guy in the row behind us whispered.

Mrs. Chung walked towards her desk and turned on the computer. She then pulled out a stack of booklets. As she handed these booklets to the class, the computer booted up, with the familiar Windows XP logo displayed prominently on a projector at the front of the class.

"Released in 1941, this movie is considered by many, including myself, to be one of the greatest films in the history of American cinema. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards but ended up winning only one - the award for Best Writing. If I were to give you any advice regarding this assignment, just remember to pay attention to the plot and the themes that this movie is trying to portray."

And just like that, we began watching the movie. If I were being honest here, I don't think my fifteen-year-old self would have liked this film. Watching it a year ago, I found the movie to be extremely good. Watching it back then, I thought that the movie was fairly old - too old for me to truly enjoy it.

The class still went by quickly, possibly due to the fact that we were watching movies in Mrs. Chung's class, which was an extremely rare occurrence by any standard. When the bell rang, people began to get out of their seats, but Mrs. Chung cleared her throat. The resulting sound reverberated throughout the classroom, making its way into my ears.

"Before you all leave, ensure that you hand in your assignments from yesterday. Due to the fact that we did not get enough time to finish the movie today, we'll be continuing this on Monday. Class dismissed."

As everyone got up from their seats and began handing in their papers, I pulled mine out of my red backpack. Sighing, I walked towards the exit and placed my paper on Mrs. Chung's desk on my way out.

Mike and I saw Jason under the ever-familiar tree near the school's front entrance.

Looking back at it, it was always interesting how every group had their hangout during high school - that one place within the school that no one dared touch. The jocks had their spot near the bleachers, the artsy kids hung out around the mural, and my group had the tree outside of the school.

"Where's Allison?" Mike asked, scratching his head.

"And Zoey," I added.

"They already left, uh, I think they're watching some romance flicks, but I'm not 100 percent sure," Jason said, while flicking a stray yellow leaf that had found a cozy home on top of his jacket.

"Anyone down for pizza?" Mike said as he placed his right hand on top of his stomach.

"Sure, I'm down," Jason replied.

"Alright, let's go," Mike said, slinging his backpack over both of his shoulders.

And just like that, we all walked towards the nearest pizza place. Mike and I walked beside each other, with Jason directly behind us.

"Oh, I don't think you've ever been there," Mike said, turning towards me.

"Nope," I replied.

"This place is the fucking bomb, I'm telling you. They have the best pizza in Boston," he said. "They say the owner's great-great-great-great- grandfather invented pizza."

Your Uncle Mike had this tendency to hype up situations, usually causing the end result to be somewhat disappointing. "Uh, that's some serious hype, this place better live up to it," I replied.

Mike placed his hand on my shoulder and looked straight ahead. "Don't worry bro, just trust. It will."

"Come to think of it, you're such a hype man," I replied.

He paused and looked at me. His brown eyes widened. "What?"

"You'd be one of those hype men, those guys that stand in the background that repeat the main rappers name over and over again. They try to hype up the crowd, but all they do is get in the way of the rapper's song."

"Nah, if I were a rapper, I'd be the main guy. I'd be Boston's version of Eminem," he replied.

I burst out laughing in response. Tears were welling up in my eyes, as I started to breathe uncontrollably, wheezing in and out.

In response, Mike began to rap. "I'm the real Slim Shady, yes I'm the real Slim Shady."

"Uh huh, M-Dog," I yelled, in between fits of laughing.

"All you other Slim Shadys are just imitating."

"Mike Bookes!" I yelled while trying to make my voice sound as harsh and deep as possible.

"Yo, guys, turn left," Jason yelled. We both looked back at him, and we could see that he was pointing towards a small plaza. The plaza seemed to be filled with ethnic stores, with the centerpiece of the plaza being a large Asian supermarket.

When we crossed the street and went inside the plaza, there was enough room for Jason to stand next to us. He ran up and walked beside Mike. "Alright, here's the place," Mike said.

Going inside the pizza shop, I immediately felt the smell of garlic wafting throughout the damp room. The room's bright red walls were littered with various cracks, making the place feel old and run-down. The ambient sound of other students talking were mixed in with the sounds of people stepping on the creaky hardwood floor.

After we all ordered pizza, we sat down on one of the tables near the window of the shop. Taking a bite into my pizza, I immediately realized that Mike had a point. The gooey, sticky cheese melted into the crunchy texture of the crust beneath it. It felt like there was a whirlwind of flavour spinning around in my mouth, as fresh slices of pepperoni and bacon came into the mix.

"Told you," Mike said.

The three of us continued to talk about random things, as we chewed on the best pizza the city had to offer. Minutes began to fly by, as the sounds of students roaming about and talking slowly faded, replaced by adults who had begun to come home from their workplaces.

"Well, I'll be right back," Mike said while pushing his chair outward. He walked towards the bathroom, leaving Jason and me at the table.

This is going to sound awfully specific here, but do you ever have that one friend who you're only friends with because you're both friends with someone else?

That essentially summed up the relationship between Jason and I. We didn't really have all that much in common, and we were only linked by Mike. Without him, I doubt we'd even be more than acquaintances.

An awkward silence filled the air, as I shifted in my seat. Suddenly, each second felt like an hour, with time slowing down to an agonizing pace. Why couldn't I think about something we could talk about?

Back then, we didn't have smartphones we could use to fill awkward silences like these. So, there were two main options when situations like these occurred. The first option was to talk. I decided to take that approach since I was tired of sitting around awkwardly.

"So, nice weather today," I said.

"Yeah," Jason replied curtly. He turned his head toward the window.

The second option was to simply sit in silence. Which is what we did, until Mike came back. After that whole ordeal, the day quickly came to a close. Mike and Jason walked home, leaving me walking back my to my house alone.