The morning sun stroked the leaves on the trees, and a light breeze made them sway lazily, creating incredibly beautiful patterns on the school grounds. The white walls of the school building seemed to glow. There was a chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves. The air smelled fresh, as it had rained the night before, and faintly of honey.

Hope sat in the shadow of Albizia* on the bench in front of the building, resting his arms on its back and smiling as he watched the dance of light and shadow.

It was only 8:10 on the clock now, classes started at 9:00. Being alone here on the school grounds, the place of his strength did not bother the boy at all. He came to school an hour early every day to be alone with himself, with his thoughts and feelings. It felt like he was recharging his soul with the light while sitting here.

*(From the author: Albizia is a tall tree of the legume family, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, Asia and Africa. It is striking for its giant size and unique silky, honey-scented inflorescences).

That is how Hope was charging until 8.45, when the schoolyard became lively, absolutely everyone greeted him, but he did not look anyone in the eyes, just nodded in response, continuing to look at the shadows.

"No way, the great and unique Hope get a monument in his lifetime! Wouldn't sit under a tree like a statue, the birds don't slumber!" - The cheerful voice and tinkling laughter of a petite girl with a short shoulder-length haircut and big Coke-colored eyes brought the boy out of his daze.

Hope slowly turned his head towards the source of the laughter and smiled sweetly. It was Jean, his mate who, for as long as he could remember, had always been there for him since junior high school.

"There goes another one of my geysers of pure energy" - the thought ran through his mind before he said hello, put his arm around his friend's shoulder and they headed towards the school porch.

As they climbed the wide stairs to the doors of the building, the boy stopped and turned around. His gaze travelled once more over the schoolyard, mostly flowering trees that created a small park around the school, where students could do their homework and relax during lunch break, enjoying the shade. His eyes rose to the sun, he squinted slightly:

"Just one more minute...I need a little more to recharge..."

Jean stood by his side and did not rush her friend, she was used to him being like this since they were sixteen. Hope had lost the only person close to him at the time, his mother, and his life and outlook had changed drastically after that. Although Hope told his friend almost nothing about his life outside of school, smilingly explaining that he was a man and could handle everything without a girl's help, she could sense that he was having a hard time. Jean asked him many times how he was feeling and how he was coping, as she was the only one who noticed her friend's sad eyes, even when he was smiling, but Hope was silent, and she had only one thing to do - to support him as much as she could and not ask questions.

The sunlight flooded the classroom, which was noisy with classmates exchanging greetings and talking excitedly about their weekend.

Hope looked into the classroom first and smiled happily - "There it is, my house!"

"Yeah, except it's a bit cramped, and some of the sticky neighbors sometimes want to be poisoned out like cockroaches" - Jean laughed.

Then Hope frowned a little. The air was saturated with the scent of jasmine, because many of the girls had brought jewellery made from those flowers. Saturday was a national holiday, Mother's Day and Queen Sirikit's Day, and many were celebrating with their families. Everyone talked excitedly about how they spent the day.

*(From the author: Mother's Day and Queen Sirikit's Day are celebrated in Thailand on August 12. On this day, concerts are held, streets are decorated with flowers and women are given jewellery depicting jasmine, the queen's flower).

This day...or rather morning, Hope spent with his mom...laying flowers, lighting incense and making offerings to the monks.

"Hello, P'Hope!" - said the girl sitting closest to the entrance, which brought him out of his reverie, and immediately everyone looked at the entrants.

The whole female half smiled, saying hello and straightening their backs. The boys were also happy to see the head of their class.

The people's reactions was justified, because Hope was not only the head of the class, but also the president of the school and the captain of the school basketball team. He had the best grades in the whole school and add to that his tall stature, his hairstyle like a Korean idol with wheat-coloured fringes falling on his forehead, his beautiful big eyes the color of the ocean in a storm, his prominent cheekbones and his slim, muscular body.

He did not boast of his merits, but that was just the way he used to live... that's how his mom taught him: if you took on a task, you should try and bring it to its logical conclusion. And Hope always responded to requests for help, this modesty brought him in the eyes of others to the level of God.

Everyone was in love with him: boys and girls alike, he was their idol, the star of the school, the man they looked up to.

The whole school was aware that Hope had no date, so at first, there were queues of girls in love with him, and sometimes there were boys, but they were ashamed to catch Hope in the locker room after class or during lunch in the park. After the second year of high school, attempts to get close to the unattainable star were rare and insecure, as Hope refused everyone and said that he was not interested in love relationships.

*(From the author: In Thailand, complete secondary education is also divided into two parts: Matthayom 1-3 (compulsory part of secondary education) and Matthayom 4-6 (from 14 to 18 years of age, optional but necessary for those who intend to go to university).

Star was not cold tho, she warmed everyone with her warmth, support and bright smile.

Seeing the happy faces of his classmates, Hope mirrored the smile.

"Headman, hi, how was your weekend? You don't look so good... you look pale... don't tell me you've been up for two days without sleep studying for your English test! Or maybe someone made you tired in bed?" - Pruit, a tall guy with black hair and a small silver earring in his ear leaned back on his desk, looming over Hope like a kite with a playful crooked smile waiting for an answer.

"Pruit, mate, as soon as I have someone, you'll be the first to know," Hope replied, "Just had a headache...and yes! I was studying for a test. What about you? Your English isn't exactly perfect, is it?!".

"What about me? Why am I not first on your personal list?!!!" - Jeanie frowned and pouted her lips, and Hope winked at her discreetly smiling, letting her know that she was off the list and would be the first to know.

Pruit jumped up almost at the same time as Jean spoke and started dancing, waving his arms around, "What an honor! If you're the sun of the school, then I'm your shadow!" and stopping abruptly: "And I don't need English, I'll take over my father's business and live happily ever after without the knowledge we're fed daily".

"Fool! The sun has no shadow! It creates the shadows that everything on this planet casts. So, Hope shine the light on me! And you... (pointing a small finger at Pruit) will continue to be my shadow, I'll cast you!" - said the girl and showed her fist... everyone immediately laughed.

"My home... It's cozy and warm here".

Two maths lessons passed and everyone crowded around the headman's desk. He was explaining the material he had just learnt with examples from the homework. It was a tradition of the last two months... as the new teacher spoke and wrote very fast, crammed with a huge amount of information, and not always, what's to say - almost never cared to convey the new topic to the children properly, explaining it with practical problems.

As part of his studies, Hope helped not only his own class members, but also five other headmen of other classes with assistants twice a week for two hours to help students who were falling behind. And of course, all the girls wanted to get to the president of the school, so they signed up in advance to be on the list of those who needed help. And those who got this chance, then long talked about how wonderful he smells sweetly of mint, and how he shines like the sun, when he corrects his hair or twirls a pencil with his fingers, when he waits for an answer from you and looks with his beautiful grey-blue eyes straight into your soul.

At 13:00 there was a big break and students could have lunch in the school canteen or home-cooked food and rest. At this break, the universal idol always ate food cooked at home and many kids gathered around him, chatting non-stop and laughing loudly. Hope felt as cozy in this merry jamboree as he did on the bench in the morning.

"Did your grandfather make you rice with pork and vegetables again?" - Pruit interjected unapologetically between the boys, peering into Hope's lunchbox, "He only makes you two kinds of food in my memory, THIS and chicken curry rice. Here's a spring roll, my mom made me too many of those vegetable mounds, I won't eat more than one...bah...how will she not realize I'm a beast and I need meat!"»

"It's okay! My... grandpa tries hard, and so does your mom... I'm not picky. Thanks!" - Smiling and treating himself to one roll, Hope replied.

"Eat your vegetables, My Shadow! Maybe you'll start thinking! Your brain definitely needs something to shake up those lazy idle twists and turns...I'm not sure what...maybe nothing will help!" - Jeanie interjected, smiling full-mouth and poking at Pruit's head, then looking at the boys, said: "Wrap it up! It's time to get to class, it is coming up".

Class ended at 3:00 pm. Hope looked out the window with a smile.

"There's still two hours to recharge..."

Fluffy clouds were running very fast across the sky, and the sun was peeking out and hiding behind them.

"If only time, the Sun and the Earth would stop...then...there would be...no darkness."

"I'm off to music class! I'll see you tomorrow!" - shouted Jean, quickly stuffing everything into her bag, slung it on her shoulder and ran towards the exit of the classroom, but stopped abruptly and turned her head, "Oh, I forgot to tell you! I have a new piano teacher! He's sooooo cute! He's 22! And everything is just the way I like it...you know...see you tomorrow, Honey!"

Hope smiled and waved to his friend.

"Headman, fifteen minutes left before the training! Shall we run?" - Shouted one of the classmates.

"Yeah, yeah, just let me get my uniform," Hope hurriedly stood up and walked to his locker, "White, my eyes are happy..." - Taking his backpack, he smiled at his locker and hurried down the hall.

To feel the leather ball with the pads of his fingers, to hit the basket from anywhere on the court, to see the eyes of his teammates burning during a game - all of this was a special kind of personal happiness for the captain.

Hope had been playing since junior high school and he was great at it. At the beginning of high school, he became the permanent captain of the school basketball team. The team respected him, the elderly coach realized the Captain's high potential and even delegated to him the responsibility of selecting the scheme of the game, providing the result in the game with this or that opponent.

After the training, the coach called out to Hope: "In two weeks, the game with the team of school XY... *cough*... *cough*... prepare a scheme... *cough*... and I will adjust the training to it."

"I'll do it, coach! I'll bring it back the day after tomorrow!" - The boy replied seriously and added: "Are you all right? Are you sick?"

"It's okay...*cough*...it's a senile thing," they exchanged smiles and after saying goodbye, Hope ran towards the locker room.

On his way out of the hall, he froze, turned around and looked again at the already empty lot:

"100% recharge today. Good..."

The captain took a shower, and while he was getting dressed, he talked to the team, answered any questions the teammates had, gave some advice, and after thanking everyone for a great game, went to the exit of the building.

Once down the stairs, he headed towards the parking lot. Most of the students had already gone home, so there were not many cars. Hope saw an old white Mercedes from the seventies and headed to its direction. Next to the car stood a short man in his sixties, his age was revealed only by wrinkles on his face and gray hair, but his athletic build, beautiful green eyes, and cheerful smile attracted the eyes of others.

"You're on time! We're not late. We can stop for a snack if you want!" - Letting out cigarette smoke, the man said.

"Grandpa, I'm not hungry yet, I'll eat...on the spot," Hope replied, getting into the passenger seat next to the driver.

He immediately opened the window and as they drove out he looked at the school, the trees, the shadows, the clouds and took deep breaths in and out:

"It's been a good day. Thank you!"