Liam woke up with a complex mix of emotions. Just as he had expected, Joseph would wake him and Anthony early just to jog. He checked the time on his watch and found it to be 4:30 AM. He hadn't even slept for five hours. He and some of his friends had stayed up late, and of course, he knew he'd be woken early, but even still, he'd decided not to go to sleep early.
"You and Anthony should put on some clothes and prepare to jog!" Joseph said, causing Anthony to be confused.
Unlike Liam, Anthony didn't have any idea something like this would happen. After all, there was no point waking up early for that when the academic session was over, meaning there was no need for them to manage time since they had all day to themselves.
"But there's no need to do it this early. Like, there's no classes anymore!" Anthony voiced his complaint as he looked around to see everyone still sleeping—even those who usually woke up early to bathe and do their own things were still asleep.
"Well, I think training in the morning is actually better. Since later, you might have your own hostel work to do, or even go somewhere, or just have a thing or two you want to do. And if I then asked you to pause what you wanted to do just to jog, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't commit to it!" Joseph said before asking them not to complain and just jog.
While they were preparing, a few Class 4 students also woke up and decided to join in. Daniel, Lucas, and Israel decided to accompany them as they jogged, while Joseph also followed to supervise them.
After about an hour and a half of jogging, they were finally asked to stop before heading back to Ashford Hostel. They immediately took their baths and got back to sleep. Meanwhile, most of the students were already starting to wake up to prepare for morning dining.
7:00 AM
Tap.
Liam was forcefully pulled out of bed by the gentle tap, causing him to stretch lazily.
"Are you not going to dining? They've already rung the bell," his bunkmate David said, causing Liam to turn to his left while still lying down.
His habit of skipping morning dining from the original timeline during his Class 5 days still had a great hold on him.
"No, I'm not going. I don't have the strength in me to go to dining," Liam said, closing his eyes, causing David to be stunned.
'What the fuck is wrong with Liam? He's been acting nonchalantly for a while now, especially when it comes to food! Well, he probably has something to eat later,' David thought to himself before suggesting if he should help him and sneak his food outside of the dining hall.
'Oh, that's right. I forgot that I currently have a permanent table, so me skipping dining doesn't mean my food is gone!' Liam thought to himself as he remembered that only Class 4 and below had permanent dining throughout a semester—or half a semester, rather—lasting until midterm break, where the tables were reshuffled.
Class 5, on the other hand, didn't have permanent tables. Anytime they went to dining, they picked food according to their arrival time, meaning if they didn't come to dining, their food couldn't be accessed—unlike Class 4 and below.
"Sure thing, bro!" Liam said before going back to sleep.
However, before he could even shut his eyes, he was interrupted by another person—a Class 1 junior who, for some reason, gave him mixed feelings.
'Orion,' Liam thought to himself, looking at the boy who had called his name.
During his Class 5 years, you could say Orion was somehow one of his school sons… or rather, "school son" was a strong word. He was like one of the few juniors he actually got along with pretty well. But still, something more than that. You could say he was in the middle of being a school son, a close junior, and somehow a love interest? It was a mixture of things that he himself didn't know how to express.
However, Liam quickly brushed the thought aside. After all, he did come to despise Orion—or rather, he later didn't care about Orion at all.
'Perhaps this time, I'll show you the meaning of the privilege you had,' Liam thought coldly.
"What's the problem?" he asked in a low voice, his eyes closed, perhaps replaying certain memories.
"Senior Joseph said I should give you this!" Orion said, handing a loaf of bread to Liam, who was surprised. Well, not actually surprised, but taken aback.
Yes, he was in Class 4, after all. Joseph giving him things was normal. After all, he was almost like a slave to Joseph—washing his clothes, doing most of his prefect work, running errands for him, and other stuff.
The reason why he was also grateful for regressing at this particular time was that his tenure was coming to an end. After that, he would soon become a free man. Or rather, the Senior Liam—that was when his life would officially start.