When Argyle came knocking on the door to your house, he was surprisingly sober. The whites of his eyes were clear, his smile slightly less lopsided than usual, and his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans. Then again, you asked him to come to this little study date clean, so, he's clean.

Some might call him whipped, but he would say that he just cares a bit too much about what you think. You understand him better than a lot of people do, including his parents and himself. If you asked him to jump off a bridge, he'd do it without question as long as it made you smile.

That's childhood friendship for you.

He's still himself, though. He might be sober yet he's mostly thinking about smoking after this session, about trying to get you to smoke with him to forget all the stress that exams bring.

It's not that he didn't care much about high school, or his grades, he just believes that there is more to life than silly bullshit that society tries to push onto the common person as if they weren't worth much without a flimsy piece of paper.

Everything else is worth more than a degree. Sure, a degree can get you a job, but memories stick to you beyond life and death.

When you smack him in the chest, he smiles sheepishly. "I was listenin', dude." He wasn't.