Always an Umbrella

In class, Mai and Shirley were sitting next to each other in their assigned class seats. Shirley had pushed her desk close to Mai's since the transfer student had not yet received all of her school textbooks. Mai didn't mind sharing, especially since she was so far ahead of the class that she really didn't have to follow the rest of the class.

Today, Mr Hilston was teaching the class about quadratic equations. The teacher had written down a formula to help, but he hadn't shown any of the class how to use the formula to work out the equation yet.

Straight away Mai saw that it was a curveball. Mr Hilston seemed to have purposely put in the wrong formula, yet he asked the class if anyone knew how to solve the equation. Although her teacher kept looking in her direction and Mai knew how to do it, she didn't lift her arm.

She could understand that he might be eager to teach everyone a lesson that they should spend their time self-studying, in case they were to learn something wrong. However, while such a thing was not wrong per se, Mr Hilston seemingly failed to account how her classmates would react if she helped him.

In the end, since nobody volunteered, Mr Hilston decided to elect some students from the class.

"Vicky, do you have any idea how to solve this?" He asked, tapping the board.

Vicky didn't stand up, and she didn't look afraid either, instead she shrugged her shoulders.

"Mr Hilston, do you really think it's right to trick your students? Perhaps if you had written down the right formula, I could have given you an answer, but in real life, unless maths is going to trick us, I don't think you should attempt to do that in class!" She replied, quite arrogant. "Maybe you should ask your little pet sitting at the front."

Hearing this, Mai wanted to curl up, that was exactly the reason she had tried to limit her answers in class, unless the teachers picked her on their own.

"Oh, so you noticed." Mr Hilton pointed out with a smile, not the least bit ashamed. "Then do you mind telling me what the correct formula to use is?"

However, Vicky didn't know the answer. Knowing that the formula was wrong was already quite advanced for Mai's class, and it might have been another reason why Vicky had taken a dislike to Mai. Despite her strong focus on her looks, Vicky was actually quite bright, yet after she and Mai had been put in the same class, she could only play second fiddle to the honor's student.

Surprisingly, Shirley raised her hand and Mr. Hilston was more than happy about her enthusiasm.

"The correct standard equation is ax^2 + bx + c = 0" She answered with a smile.

"Looks like your old school didn't lie about you being smart. I'm happy to have another smart one on our hands." The teacher said and even started to clap.

When Shirley sat down, she quickly lent over to Mai and whispered: "Actually, I didn't know since we haven't covered that yet. I just saw you scribbling down the answer, so I hope you don't mind that I wanted to show that girl up."

Mai was a bit baffled at this. Thinking about it, even though she didn't know Shirley well yet, she really was a nice person. If that dream future was real, then the two of them had become really good friends to the point she had been invited to Chris' funeral and watching Shirley protect her from Vicky she could imagine why.

Once school was over, Mai was getting ready to leave when she suddenly spotted Chris about to leave as well. He was waiting just under the school with a book over his head as if he was deciding on what to do.

Soon she realised that it was raining slightly. It wasn't too bad but it was the type of rain that would build up and guarantee that by the time you got home you would be soaking wet. She should know, since that was exactly what had happened during her birthday the day before yesterday.

'Maybe this is my chance. I do have one umbrella and the two of us can start talking.' Mai thought, but then she remembered that Chris actually lived in the opposite direction to her, and she had already promised to meet Simon at the convenience store to talk about how he should woo her desk neighbour.

While Mai was deciding what to do, Shirley came up from behind.

"What are you aiming for? Oh, isn't that the guy you have the hots for? It seems he doesn't have an umbrella with him. You should totally go to him and offer to share yours!" Shirley suggested excitedly.

"Can you read my mind? I mean, it's not like I don't want to, but…" Mai was fiddling around, but she soon realized that the answer to her dilemas was right in front of her.

"Hey, you said you live on the west side of Simple Village, right? The only reason I haven't gone over to Chris yet is because I was going to meet up with Simon so that we could make plans for the get together on the weekend."

"Would you mind meeting him for me? I'm sure he will understand, I just don't want to leave him hanging. Maybe the two of you could walk together?"

It didn't take long for Shirley to answer. She smiled and gave her a little push. "Go for it!"

It was nerve wracking, Mai's heart was beating rapidly as she got closer and her hands were so sweaty it felt like she had already been in the rain.

'Come on, no need to be such a nervous wreck! If you approach him like this he will just remember you as that kind of person. You have to calm down somehow. This is just you being a nice person, offering him an umbrella!'

Then the thought of the future came to mind, the photos she had seen of the two of them together. Somehow the possibility that it might be fate for them to end up together helped Mai calm down enough that she was able to approach him.

"Hey, it looks like you forgot to bring an umbrella? They said it's going to rain all day. If you don't mind, how about I accompany you home for today?" Mai offered without stuttering or messing up her words.

-------

'She really is quite brave.' Shirley thought looking at the two of them until they walked off together. She would have liked to see how it would play out, but she had agreed to meet Simon in Mai's stead, so she hurried to meet the cutie.

****

Please Vote for this story to help it be seen and in return will provide more daily chapters.