2

The orchestra of scraping chairs brought Rina out of her reverie as her classmates all made a bee-line for the door. The school bell had sounded, and she had made it through the rest of the day without any more blunders. Or so Rina thought, however when she went to pack her bag she stared down at the empty pages of her notebook as the teacher made an announcement.

"There will be a quiz tomorrow, by the way." the teacher called out to the retreating class. Rina froze. Even though Rina wasn't as serious about her studies as people thought she was didn't mean she could just fail a test. 'I'll have to ask someone if I can copy their notes. Agh.. This day.. just can it get worse?'

Rina looked to her left to see that Kojo hadn't cleared off his desk yet, as he was busy talking to the person on his left.

"Excuse me, Kojo?" Kojo and his speaking partner went quiet as they both turned to look at Rina. They both had an incredulous look on their face.

"Rina?" Kojo asked her, as if he was unsure it was she who spoke.

"Yes! I'm sorry to bother you, but could I please take a look at your notes. I'm not sure what happened but I had a terrible headache and I completely spaced out during class. Would you mind?"

"Not at all!" he said handing over his notebook to her.

"Rina, you don't want to copy his notes. You can barely read his handwriting." the person next to Kojo scoffed.

"I actually think this handwriting has quite a charm. Thank you Kojo, it will only take me a couple of minutes."

"No problem take as long as you like." Kojo scratched the back of his neck as he began talking in a hushed tone to his friend. After months of sitting next to Rina, this is the first time she has reached out to talk to him herself. Rina quickly and neatly jotted down everything from the last period.

"Thank you Kojo!" She flashed him a smile as he took his book back from her outstretched hand.

"Don't mention it." Kojo slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Oh shoot, art club." Kojo's friend jumped over a desk and ran out the door.

"Wow, I guess they are really serious in art club ha." Kojo mused as he and Rina both made their way into the hall. 'Are we walking together?' Rina noticed Kojo had fallen in step with her as they headed towards the school's exist. 'Maybe it would be ok having a friend. Kojo is normal enough, hardworking and really smart. At least if that other guy from the roof tries to defame me I might have someone to back me up.'

They talked about the upcoming sports day until Rina was literally a street away from her house. That's when she realized they would finally part ways.

"Kojo, do you walk to school everyday?" Kojo took a second to respond, still surprised at hearing Rina address him directly.

"Yeah, I do." Kojo seemed confused by the question.

"Ah, so do I. I had no idea I lived so closed to a classmate. Would you mind walking with me tomorrow? It was nice not being alone today.

"Yeah, s-sure. Do you want to meet here?"

"Mmhmm. How's 7:30?"

"Perfect see you then." Kojo finally smiled at Rina and she thought it felt genuine and warm. 'I'm sort of excited. I think I made a friend! This isn't the way I wanted to live.. but if my cover is blown I will go down swinging.'

*****

After a hearty breakfast and morning stretches, Rina made it to the meeting spot with time to spare. She had already thought of things to talk about with Kojo, and thought of key things that needed to happen in order to strengthen their friendship. First it was walking home, then it was studying together and after that... karaoke? Ok, she didn't have it all figured out but she would get it when it came to her. She felt a firm warm hand on her shoulder and she turned around to greet the owner.

"Morning Kojo!" She said emitting sunshine and positive energy from her core.

"Kojo?" Rina's face froze when she realized she was face to face with her newest arch nemesis, the boy from the room.

"Oh, Morning! Sorry, I thought you were someone else." Rina forced a smile onto her face and went for a dazzling flip of her luscious hair.

"Clearly. What are you waiting for? Start walking." He nudged her with his bag.

"I would, but I'm waiting for my classmate I promised to meet."

"A confession?" he laughed.

"No, we're just friends."

"Rina you don't have any friends." he smirked and started walking away. Without thinking Rina took off her shoe and threw it at the back of his head.

"What the- " He turned around to see her shoe on the ground and erupts in laughter. "Are you serious?"

"What do you mean? Oh no, my shoe fell off." she walked over to him not smiling, and delicately slipped her foot back in. She didn't break eye contact.

"Hey," he pushed Rina against the fence as she continued to stare at him, hard.

"You must have mistaken me with someone else. I have many friends, many more than I can keep track of. Really, everyone in the school likes me."

"Everyone huh? Rina, if you don't like being popular just tell them. Do something crazy ruin your reputation."

"Me? Oh ho, I wouldn't say I'm popular."

"You know Rina, you still owe me for not spilling your secret. I will kindly remind you that." Rina smiled a sly smile.

"I don't know what -

"Kazi?" Kojo appeared next to them suddenly, seeing Kazi cornering Rina to the fence.

"Kazi?" Rina looked at the boy in front of her quizzically.

"Kojo! I was just speaking with this upperclassman. Do you happen to know him?" Rina slipped away from Kazi and ran up to greet Kojo with the brightest smile she could muster. Kojo did seem a little dazed, so she thought her trademark smile worked.

"Kazi didn't you have a club thing you had to leave for? He's my brother."

"Your brother?" Rina fought to hide her shock at her misfortune.

"Yeah, you're right - see ya Kojo. Rina, I'll see you later too." he waved them goodbye and went on ahead.

"Did you know my brother Rina?" Kojo asked as they started to make their way.

"Not until yesterday. And to think he was Kojo's elder brother I had no idea." she responded honestly.

"Were you ok this morning? I couldn't really tell but the situation didn't seem great. And I know Kazi.."

"Aha, well he doesn't remind me much of Kojo at all, but he was fine. Kojo seems much warmer to me."

"Ah, warm?" Rina wasn't sure but she thought she saw Kojo blush slightly.

"Yeah, warm." she smiled at him a reassuring smile, and before they knew it they were taking their seats listening to the cacophony of whispers from classmates who noticed the two coming in together.