On the second last day of the first semester, Zen found himself in high spirits. The exams were over, and for once, the air at campus was light. He was goofing around with Kain, Jasmine, Nathaniel, Shane, and Bobby. Tim wasn't around that day—he had stayed home after predicting there might be a flood. Everyone questioned it as it was sunny at the moment. That was just Tim.
During Biology, instead of reviewing notes or discussing the final lecture, the group broke into laughter and jokes. Their carefree attitude spiraled into a full-on shadow boxing match. Desks were shifted to the side of the classroom, and the battle began.
Round after round, Zen and Kain emerged as the top contenders. They were nimble, energetic, and made the best dodging sounds to hype the fight. By the time the final round came, a circle of classmates surrounded them like a coliseum crowd, cheering and placing imaginary bets. With down to up to right combo, Zen took the final win.
"Champion again," Zen grinned, raising his hand like a trophy.
Ten minutes later, their short break ended, and the group parted ways for different lessons—Accounting, Agriculture, and Physics. Zen headed off to Physics feeling light and content.
But that feeling didn't last long.
At the beginning of the lecture, he was fine, even taking notes and occasionally smiling at the memory of his earlier victory. However, once the second period kicked in, something shifted. His jaw tensed sharply. A pain throbbed from under his ear to his teeth. It wasn't just discomfort—it was a full-on toothache.
He couldn't speak. Every small movement of his mouth shot a sting up his face.
Zen tapped on Jude's desk and scribbled something on a paper, sliding it over.
Zen (writing): "What do you do when your jaw is painful?"
Jude read the note and furrowed her brow in concern.
Jude: "Try this. Twist your neck down. Now turn your head slowly to the right… and then to the left. Now lift it back up."
Zen followed her instructions carefully. Nothing. The pain didn't budge. He just sat back down and continued to write on scraps of paper, looking more and more like a lost child with each failed attempt to speak.
Still, his day wasn't entirely doomed. Later on, he managed to beat Kain again in another round of shadow boxing and even won against Bobby in an anime guessing game, which involved mimicking characters and quoting opening lines.
The gang was preparing for another game when Zen took a breather, sitting at a table near the window. Jasmine walked over, quietly rummaging through her bag nearby. Something about the light at that angle made the scene feel important, though neither of them knew it at the time.
Zen glanced at her, pulled out his notebook, and wrote a single line before nudging it toward her.
Zen (writing): "Wanna go to prom together?"
Jasmine read it. Her expression softened. She looked at him with a small smile and answered gently.
Jasmine: "I'll think about it."
Zen nodded. It wasn't a yes, but it wasn't a no either. He wasn't sure whether to be hopeful or nervous. Maybe both.
Trying to shake it off, he turned his thoughts to whether they were allowed to use Shane's deck of playing cards. He debated internally for a bit, swinging between "it's probably fine" and "we might get caught." In the end, he decided to just ask.
Zen set out to find Aiden and Sam. He checked their block, then the labs, but found no trace of them. Determined, he ventured out to the football field. There they were—standing at a distance, waving their arms around in what Zen assumed were greetings.
He took the shortest path straight toward them.
Big mistake.
His foot suddenly plunged into soft, squishy earth. It wasn't just a puddle—it was mud, thick and clinging. It swallowed his shoe and soaked up his pant leg. In the distance, Aiden and Sam burst into laughter as they jogged over.
Aiden: "Bro! We were trying to tell you not to go that way!"
Zen: "Bro I couldn't hear y'all, and y'all were doing weird gestures!"
Sam chuckled: "I also went the wrong way, but I'm not as muddy as you."
Zen sighed, trying to wriggle free without falling. "Well, we have to go wipe this off before someone sees."
They returned to the block and found an old tap outside one of the buildings. There, they started scrubbing. Zen had mud up to his knees. As they cleaned up, Elina—a junior—walked over with a watering can.
Elina: "Mind if I fill this while you're at it?"
Zen: "Sure. What made it even funnier was how deep the mud was. It took forever to pull my foot out."
Aiden: "Didn't I warn you about that area, Elina?"
Elina laughed. "Yeah, you did."
Aiden turned to Sam: "See? You should've listened. Or you end up stepping in something else next time."
Zen chuckled. "Anyway, I came to ask—are we allowed to play cards? Since we weren't doing anything much."
Aiden: "Only on the last two days."
Zen nodded, then blinked in surprise. "Wait… my toothache is gone."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "For real?"
Zen grinned, the first full smile of the afternoon. "Yeah. I think all the talking made it go away. Also no one can know of this."
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Epilogue
Zen had experienced it all that day—victory, pain, embarrassment, and a strange form of recovery. He took being "in the mud" both literally and figuratively. From shadow boxing glory to a quiet proposal and an unexpected mud trap, the day was full of contrast.