1 She Lives Rent-free Inside My Head

I wondered like a lost child for how long I was standing there? The voice of the principal boomed inside the basketball court where we gathered for the opening ceremony. My nose was itching, just as was my feet. I wanted this to be over so that I could launch myself into meeting my new classmates. By the way, the new school year began. And with it a new beginning: I was in the first year of my high school life, more specifically my middle-high school days. If I was to recall all I did way back in elementary, it was probably play and play. There were few opportunities in grade school that could make you work and play, and I missed it. Besides, I could ace a high score in my exams without even trying. 'I guess I'm entitled to some boasting, Am I not?'

I looked around. The sea of students that surrounded me gave off an alien feeling of intensity and I took all the energy in without any discrimination at all. I became restless, so to speak. I love meeting new people. Would I meet my new best friend here? Or would my youth commence to bloom just like in those romantic movies mama loved to watch? I didn't know. The uncertainty was what makes things exciting for me. 'Aaaaaahhh.'

The ceremony finally ended--finally!--prompting us to go to our assigned classrooms. I heard that it was on the second floor. What system did they use to determine our classrooms, by the way? I'd gotten used to a system in which the storey upon which our room was located was based on our grade level. Guess this is truly the start of a new chapter of my life since I was introduced to a brand new concept. 'Here we go!'

We walked along the footpath that seamlessly connected the basketball court to the adjacent building. That footpath was lined with cherry blossom trees, And with my country being subtropical, the blooming cherry trees signalled the arrival of spring. I stopped and stepped out of the river of students flowing from one building to another; some invisible force was prompting me to do so. I welcomed it, by the way. The petals were falling dramatically; it seemed to be painting the scenery with its colour. I extended my hand and caught one petal. I looked at it. It was a shame that all this beauty would be but for a fleeting moment, I thought. I let it drop and watched it get reunited with the other petals scattered on the ground.

I was pulled back to reality when a voice called my name out. Smiling, I looked in its direction and answered "coming!"

There I happily joined a classmate. She was my seatmate way back and it made me happy to see her again. Guess I wouldn't be starting from scratch making new friends, huh. The light streaming through the window of our classroom gave out a rather soft glow. If I were to touch it, would I feel its gentleness?

A thought passed through my mind: have you ever wondered how big everything was when you were still a kid? I had. And it fascinated me to no end. What a curious kid I was. Really. I got into trouble most of the time because of my curiosity, and I know I was bound to get into another now that I was in junior high. 'Mum would be mad at me again.'

My assigned seat was located in front of the class. 'What a bummer?' How could I sneak in my candy then? Or could I? After all, it was junior high. Everything must have changed here.

Since my seat was located by the window, I guess I would also have to struggle over not succumbing to daydreams, my natural enemy. The wind felt inviting against my cheeks and the ray of light… my initial thought was right; it was gentle, almost inviting. "Oh, angels of slumber, have mercy upon my soul!' I hoped I wouldn't be sent to the faculty office for sleeping in class. After All, it was junior high. Everything must have changed here.

My endeavour of assessing my new territory came to an end when a classmate called my name. I answered with another 'coming'--probably my second this morning--and ran towards her. I ran as if I had wings. The air pushed against my face and made my hair flow like a lock in the river, much like the painting called Ophelia. My hair was long enough to be tied however I wanted but hell no, I felt free letting it down.

When I had passed the last row of tables at the back, I saw this quiet bespectacled girl who's playing with her cellphone. She had collarbone-length hair that seemed to have a chestnut glow against the mild ray of light hitting her hair. She was really pretty, I kid you not. She probably didn't mind the heat of the sun. Like it was without warmth when it hit her skin. Well, not that I had time to think about her.

I gave the friend that had called me a high five before going with her.

We talked about things that we could do after class. I could go home late. Mom allowed me to be with friends. I thought she had finally seen me as an adult that's why she's allowing me to play. I was simple-minded; what would you expect? After all, it was junior high. Everything must have changed here.

After talking for a while, our homeroom teacher finally entered the class. And she did so with a rather imposing presence. She was a pretty lady with tortoise-shell eyeglasses. Her haircut was similar to mom although it's less fluffy.

"Please go back to your seats," she said, her voice stern. She slaps her table using the record notebook that she had so loud that it caused me to panic and ran to my table. That slap to the table was an assertion of dominance. Scary!

"Good morning," she started to which we answered back with a 'good morning, ma'am.' We were already seated. Now, all I had to do was fight my way out of daydreaming. It would be a difficult battle. I fought off the urge to do a hand salute.

She said something about introducing ourselves in front of everyone. That made sense because it was the first day of school. I wouldn't have any problem with that because I love talking in front of a lot of people. I even considered putting up a show for everyone but decided against it. "Behave yourself, okay," mum had sternly warned me. 'Warned? Am I a bad girl?'

So when the teacher called my name, I sprang up to action. I didn't know it took a lot of effort to not dance in front of everyone. 'Mum, I'm being a nice girl. I promise, I truly am.' I breathed a copious amount of air before exclaiming "Nice to meet you, everyone." I stated my name. "I hope we can all be friends!" In retrospect, I was just realising how embarrassing that was. My classmates exuded shy new student energy and here I was being overly familiar with all of them. But what would you expect? I just graduated from grade school so I never knew better yet.

But they were smiling amiably when I had finished introducing myself. Whoa!

We all did the introduction as we were expected to do. Most of them were bashful; some tried to match my energy. A few of them were familiar with me because they had become my classmates before. 'Too bad for them they wouldn't be escaping my presence any time soon.' The blood on my face seemed to reactivate upon knowing that some people I knew were there. 'Oh the glory of friendship,' I thought.

I looked back at my teacher and I couldn't really help but admire her beauty. 'I want to become like her when I grow up,' was what I thought but in a way that minus the strictness because--by design--I wouldn't be able to pull that off. 'Because I'm a good girl.

But I asked myself the question: 'What would I grow up to be?' The favourable answer was: I want to be like Mum.

The next student was called. And as a sign of courtesy, I turned to look at the one who would speak next. When the teacher said her name, I wasn't able to catch it, which I felt was a shame. I imagined a batter not being able to hit the ball when it was pitched in. I wanted to remember their names; I really wanted to. I felt some kind of camaraderie with my new classmates by just doing that simple act. But with little capacity my brain has for remembering stuff, I would just silently fail them. 'It's just sad.'

She called the next one. By the way, she decided to tackle the issue of who would go first based on alphabetical manners. I think 'naturally' is the right word to use in this context.

The teacher called the next student whose surname started with an "S". And I waited a bit. I waited a bit longer than necessary, that is. Where was she? 'Seriously.' After a short while, a girl hesitantly stood up. An 'oh' sound escaped my mouth.

Her clavicle-length hair and evenly clipped bangs left something to be desired. She was so bashful that it made her look innocent. She could very well be my little sister because she exuded that energy. Well, I know it's not enough to qualify a person to become your little sister but I couldn't help it. But one thing is for sure: she's really beautiful. Did she know it? Was she even aware of that? Or the long almost unkempt hair was a conscious effort to hide her face?

She was my type of person!

She was rather tall, I tell you that. I wasn't exactly sure if it's because of her being skinny but despite that, her cheeks seemed to make up for it. From pink, her face became fully red. Could she get any redder than that? Oh, and yeah, there were a lot of my classmates that were as shy (or more bashful than she was) but she left an impression on me. I could still vividly remember her face as she turned into a talking tomato.

'Talking? She could barely speak.'

Our teacher was silent but her stance demanded my poor classmate to hurry up so she did, but not without stuttering in her first few words.

"G-g-good morning." Though half of her face was covered by her hair, I could still see the shaking in her eyes. Poor girl. "My… is … A--" She could be seen inhaling deeply until she finally said her name.

"--thea Stainth--" Or half of her name I could make out.

She immediately sat down as though her butt was wrapped in lead. The fascinating creature, I must say. What was her name again? Thea? Alt--what? I didn't think about it too much because I knew that I would memorise everyone's names not before long. After all, we still have a year to be together. The whole class I mean.

I found rejuvenation in that thought.

*

If there was one thing that I found out about middle school that is quite fascinatingly different from grade school was the talk of romance. At that time I didn't fully understand everything about it. But don't get me wrong; I had my fair share of crushes. It's just when I look at them and gush out, it was because they looked cool. Of course, I felt infatuated for the same reason everyone else my age had. If a guy was cool, I would look back. If he did not really stand out, I wouldn't bat an eye. But I don't hate the plain-looking people--I really don't.

There was this really pretty girl in class that I had a girl crush on. I approached her this one time and asked if we could go home together. And she said yes. (Yey!) She was a member of the basketball club and had a height that could be compared with the boys.

"I'm Sylvia. But most of my friends call me Sylvee," she said. I remarked about how cute that nickname was; it sounded like a plant-type Pokemon.

She gave off a "cool, collected girl" aura, that kind of girl that pestered most shoujo anime and manga. And her bob-cut style that swayed in the wind that entered the classroom made her cooler than she was. If I recall correctly, she had her hair cut like that so that it wouldn't bother her while she's playing.

She's not much of a talker but she would engage in conversation if she's ever been involved in one. And her voice sounded cool; no! Not cool, as in the 'I wore shades' cool, but cool as in 'the water of the spring' cool. It was soothing to the ears.

We entered the classroom when she answered my question about where she lived. "The West Ward," she said.

I stopped short. "Wait! You also live there." I beamed. "How cool is thaaaat?" I exclaimed. Then, I said that I also lived there. "So, would it be cool if we go home together?"

"I see no problem with that." The way she tilted her head and the way her voice sounded made my cheeks warm. 'She's so cute!' Looking back, I thought that she should have been careful with how she managed herself, for I could see that she's going to grow up to be a very pretty girl.

She excused herself to tend to her things. I heard that clubs were officially recruiting members so I thought that she would naturally be eyeing a spot on the school's basketball team. I saw her take her seat and answered a form she had pulled out from under her desk. When I turned around to return to my desk, I spied a creature with fluffy hair buried deep in her smartphone. She was quietly seated on her chair. What was her name again? I couldn't remember for the life of me; all I knew was it started with an A or a T. I laughed at how little that information I have to go on.

I got curious and merrily skipped my way towards her. My footsteps were surprisingly light.

"Hello!" I happily greeted her. 'Oh, my cheeks would have been torn to two!'

She suddenly jolted as though she was electrified by something. And did I hear a silent 'AH!'? I could not be sure. She looked at me in the most bizarre way possible. Wait! Was she scared of me? That kinda saddened me. Honestly! But I was already there so I pushed through.

Oh, may I inform you that it was the third day of school? She had not left her chair. Not even once. A typical introvert if I may say so myself.

And introverts are my favourite creatures.

This fluffy and bespectacled introvert was my next target. You never know what could happen with these kinds of people. They usually keep to themselves but they always made the best of friends. Well, at least that's my opinion.

Let's try our luck with this one.

"I'm Sofia." Both of my hands were on my back as I leaned close to her. And I wasn't sure why.

Her mouth hung loosely and she looked like she was making an 'uwauwauwa' sound but nothing was coming from her mouth. Afterward, she just shoved her smartphone between her legs and lowered her head as though she was a criminal caught red-handed. I couldn't even see her face because of her hair. The fact that she's a bit skinny did not help at all. It looked like her face was 70% hair and 30% flesh and bones.

I curiously looked at her for some time while wondering what to do with her. I just wanted to be friends with this fluffy creature. I didn't mean any harm.

The light of the morning sun reflected in the window glasses shown on her hair. I fought the urge to cup her face and lift her to me because you don't do that with someone you barely know. I couldn't risk my chance of getting to know her so I just bent down a little. My hands-on my knees to support my upper body.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked.

"..."

If there was a challenge with adopting an introvert, that would be how to break in through their hard shells. I tried it a couple of times in the past with an 80% success rate. So, I could boast how good I was at it.

She looked like she would stand her ground, though and she did not even want to look at my face. At everyone's face for that matter. She reminded me of a hostile kitten. If I put cat ears on her head, could I beat Elon Musk into producing the first catgirl in existence?

"I just want to make friends. What's your name?"

I could see through the spaces between the locks of her hair that her jaws were hesitantly moving. I leaned to take a closer look without thinking twice. It seemed to me that she was saying something and under her breath just to add up to the difficulty of understanding her.

"Please l… one… le…"

I couldn't possibly catch a voice as soft as that, could I? It's like the lyrics to a song that has insanely loud music. All I could do was pull off the lyrics sheet to make sense of all the words. Unfortunately, none of those things could be found near her. I wish people like her would come with an instructional manual so it'd be a lot easier on my part.

She then suddenly jerked forward and almost shouted "PLEASE LEA' ME ALONE!" She staggered and almost stuttered. I was shaken nonetheless and I fell on my butt!

"Aw aw aw aw…" I looked back at her to see that she was standing up. That kinda reminded me of Attack on Titan when the big thing suddenly popped out of nowhere and looked at us mortals on the other side of the wall. I wonder, would she kick me, too? That probably would hurt as well and I didn't want that. 'Please, don't hurt me.'

There I could see her face. Her lips were so pursed I thought it might hurt. I thought that she was about to cry because her face was so close to doing that. Her face turned apple red, too. That also kinda reminded me of our first day of school. I didn't even know someone could blush like that. I could only see people like her in the cartoons I used to watch as a little kid.

Oh, my gosh! She was crying!

A wave of guilt swept over me like I just opened the fridge in the middle of a hot day. I tried getting up quickly to apologise but she was quicker than I was. And when I said quicker, I meant that she just ran off the classroom faster than I was able to get up. Just like that. Poor little me was left there with one hand hanging in the air.

What did I do wrong?

I was left with an afterimage of a girl with shiny glasses as though she was still there.

Sylvee walked towards me. She had a piece of paper in one hand as she was smiling rather apologetically... The other one, she reached out to me clearly offering to help me stand up.

"Whoosh!" I exclaimed. Then I thanked her as I looked at the door through which the girl ran.

"That's Althea." Said the girl beside me.

I inquisitively looked at her while she looked in the same direction that girl had run to. So, she knew who my quarry was. That generated a lot of questions for me but when I was about to ask some of them, she spoke again.

She looked at me. "She always does that." I learned that they were classmates way back in grade school. Apparently, this Althea girl had a habit of keeping to herself. Even Sylvee here tried reaching out to her to no avail. Was it really hard to deal with that girl?

What a problem child. I vividly remembered one of my grade school teachers talking about a kid with almost the same attitude. She's a girl, too if I recall correctly. 'Why did that part stick to me the most?' They conveniently labelled her the problematic kid simply because she would not talk. I had genuinely wondered back then why they had labelled her so; but now that I was confronted with one, I think I already have an answer to that. I think.

"But don't let it get to you. By the way, wanna go with me to the faculty office?" Her lack of explanation as to why that girl had acted that way did not escape me. Why?

"Can you not do it yourself?" I teased.

"I'm… a bit shy." She smiled apologetically. To be honest, that's kind of a stretch for someone as cool as her.

And before stepping out of the room, I looked at Althea's table another time. What was up with her? I only wanted to be friends. Life is full of surprises. But like what Sylv had said, I shouldn't let this get me.

I shouldn't, right? I really should not. But I kept thinking about it so much that I didn't even realise that the teacher was asking me if I would want to join any clubs. If it wasn't for Sylv nudging me, I wouldn't have woken back to reality.

"Are you alright, Sophia?" asked our adviser. It's worth noting that despite her almost strict aura in class, she was quite milder outside. That relaxed. But instead of answering her question, I opted to just smile at her.

Besides, I'd already told Sylvee that I didn't mind the incident earlier. I wouldn't want her to think that I was breaking a promise--if it was a promise, to begin with. I felt it was so. Our adviser just said 'well, whatever.'

"By the way, how about you, Sofia? Not thinking about joining any clubs?" Our adviser asked me next.

Again, I felt like smiling at her. But this time, it was more of an apologetic one than my usual sunflower-ish smile--yeah, someone had told me that I reminded them of a sunflower. I said that I didn't feel like joining one as of now but that could change, of course. I was not closing all doors of possibilities because I was led to believe that I am not fully in control of my life.

You see, I grew up in a rather lax environment. My mother was lax. My father was lax. Even Snorlax was lax. (Please forget the pun that I just did. I didn't mean to... But come to think of it, was his name taken from that word?)

My teacher readily accepted my reason.

After that, we were sent back to our classroom to wait for the next period.

And guess what? The bespectacled creature was not there yet. Was she still crying? Should I already feel bad about myself? But I didn't do anything wrong! I kept looking at her table debating whether to go to her and apologise or not.

When the next teacher had entered the class, she told us that Althea was in the clinic. She further matter-of-factly stated that it was because she almost fainted near the infirmary and, having seen the school nurse, she was made to stay there for the rest of the period.

'That's what you get for shouting at me,' I thought almost sinisterly. But there was a part of me that whispered 'poor girl'.

I leaned on my right arm and lazily looked out the window. The sky was so blue that it looked like an ocean and if I was not careful enough, its waves might rock me to sleep like it would a boat. 'Do boats sleep though? I mean, they also have names…' Not that sleeping was a bad thing. Should I make a dash for it?

And before I realised it, our third-period teacher had already started her lesson. Unfortunately, it was maths.

I hated maths.

After that period that seems to drag on, I spent my lunch with some of my new friends and a few old ones. All I did was exchange stories with them about the misadventures that we had had in grade school. 'Great times.'

I did most of the instigating; when someone opened up a topic, it was my job to prod at it, to make them start talking because I was not really given to driving the conversation to where I wanted it. I felt like there were some parts of me that wanted to stay reserved so I picked that habit up.

The taste of the ham sandwich stayed in my mouth as I looked at Althea's chair. What she had done lingered in my mind as if it was bubblegum on the sole of my shoes. I hated being shouted at; Mum and Dad did not even have it in them to shout at me; so, why would a random girl do that?

I thought of getting back to her. 'How about making her cry another time?'

Making her cry? There was a pervading churning in my stomach despite the fact that I already had munched on a sandwich. The image of her crying did not suit me, to say the least. I felt my sinuses getting all cold because of it. You see, I might not be the most conscientious person there is but hurting someone did not sit with me either.

I was forcibly thrown back to reality when a classmate of mine called my name.

"W-what?" I asked, obviously startled.

"I said, did you also join the basketball team like Sylvia?"

"Oh, I didn't. That's too much of a hassle." The image of my manga and light novels silently sitting on my shelf came to mind. I could not betray them for the world. A girl should have her priorities spelled out, at least to myself. I laughed inside. But of course, there was no way I could tell them that's the reason why I wouldn't join the team. And besides, my height was average at best. Better place someone like Sylvia in the frontline.

"A hassle, eh." If I recall correctly, her name was Jenna. She gave me a suspicious stare and pointed her spoon at me. "You have a boyfriend, don't you?"

They all looked at me, even Sylvia who was standing by her table, taking care of something, also inquisitively looked at me.

"What?"

"I'd love to know, too." It was now Sylvee who spoke. Oh' Sylvia, you...

"I have no boyfriend!" I almost shouted. Why was I feeling defensive? Damn!

Jenna laughed heartily at me. 'Seriously!' They all followed suit; even the relatively calm and collected Sylv was covering her mouth and shaking her shoulder to the rhythm of everyone's laughter.

My cheeks grew warm when the realisation had befallen me. I shouted to the whole room about it! I lost my cool just there and then! Oh my-- I lowered my head and tried covering my face with my hair; good thing I had grown it the length of my sternum. What a great day to have long hair. I mumbled 'I hate you to everyone there, making them laugh more. Seriously, what's wrong with them?

The afternoon came and we decided to split into two groups. Sylvee did not have practice schedules yet, but some of my newfound friends also submitted their applications to the advisers of the club they had been eyeing all the while. And that led to our present arrangement. So, we both decided to eat somewhere in town.

"How about some crepes?" she asked me while she was standing by my table.

"Sure." I was just thankful that I wouldn't be doing all the deciding today. Sylvee looked like the responsible type. A bit cliche but her aura and tone of voice match with what I made her out to be.

I caught a glimpse of the sky and saw that we would still be having a great remainder of the day. I love sunny days like this and I was glad Sylvee had agreed to spend it with me. Her being close to me felt like it gave me some kind of leverage.

If there was something I get from being overly familiar was I could be an ally with the best people and get their favours eventually. And yeah, I really did use the words overly familiar. I found my way through life through that means and I wouldn't let it go.

Once I was done packing my things for the day, we headed out to get some crepes.

I was excitedly telling Sylvee something about a pet shop downtown. She responded with something similar to 'I was not yet allowed to go that far.' Seriously? She was already in middle school and her parents still treat her like a child? What a pity!

"Yeah, it really is a pity," she was smiling apologetically.

There were times in grade school that I had thought kids that spoke like Sylv were far more mature and did better in life, but now that I was actually friends with one, I realised that they weren't all that far from me.

I also foresaw us being best friends if this kept up and I saw no reason why it wouldn't be the case. I felt like I was targeting her and bringing her with me as a spoil of war or something. I felt something welling inside me. Warmth. I don't exactly know how to put it. That was a problem I have with emotions: if it was from other people, it would be easy for me to identify them, even to relate to them; but with my own, I needed some navigating to figure it out myself.

The hallway was jam-packed with students. And we found ourselves laboriously easing our way through them. We're really early to leave, that's for sure. Oh, two puppies so eager to leave the chains they called school. But I see Sylvee as a cat, though.

However, we both abruptly stopped when we reached the infirmary. It's not the sight of the door that made us halt. Yeah, I know! I was the one who stopped on my track; Sylv just did the same. I bet there were question marks atop her head right now. Imagining it made her a bit funny. (I honestly love thinking things that made Sylv a bit out of character).

I remembered what we were told earlier: that that girl was here. Curiosity made me look at the door rather intensely. I vividly remembered her teary face earlier and the irritation that I had felt came back.

The door slid open and I heard the school nurse speak. Bony white fingers slithered through the gap.

I think the school nurse is asking that person about being okay and medications. I wasn't even sure if that query was directed to the owner of that hand. Then, the door fully opened and from it came out that girl. Half of her face was covered with her hair. Seriously, what's up with that?

Our eyes met. And she twitched upon seeing me. Or us? I didn't really know. But she's more familiar with Sylvee so it must have been...

Should I try making friends with her again? Maybe I should. So, I tried despite the fact that I was still irritated.

"Hey!" I called out trying to sound as friendly as possible because who knows?

I heard Sylvee did the same. I looked at her. There was a small part of me that asked her for guidance because she knew this girl the longest. I was practically a stranger to her.

When I looked back at her, I saw her squirming as though she was about to collapse or something. She looked like she was debating whether to pursue this or run away.

"Hey, err… I'm just trying to make friends."

"..."

But before I could follow it up, she seemed to have stuck with her resolve and ran away from us. We were left there dumbfounded. She basically ran away from me twice. That's twice already! I could feel my face burning.

I looked at Sylvee for an explanation.

She just smiled and said, "guess you lost, too."

Screw that! Whatever that means.

*

I learned earlier on that no matter how cloistered an introvert is, if you show them interest, you'd win them over. I had a lot of introverted friends and they make great best friends. I love the attention that they gave me.

But this Althea person was proving to be quite a challenge. Not only was she painfully introverted but she's also anti-social. What gives?

I stayed in bed for a while longer because I just happened to wake up earlier than usual. With my arm over my forehead, I looked at my ceiling. The light of dawn was sifting through my window. I twisted and turned trying to make sense of why that girl had acted like that towards me. If Mum probably saw me, she'd think I was possessed or something. Not that it was anything new to her. Or worse…

She'd think I had a boyfriend!

I tried grabbing my phone while burying my face on my pillow. 6:09 AM. Mum would be up and about by this time.

I checked my Twitter to see what's up.

"Oh, Sylvia had a hot older brother. Must be nice." It didn't come as a surprise to me thinking Sylv is a pretty girl unlike me who probably looked like a baked potato who wore lip tint.

And you know who else was pretty?

That Althea girl. Yeah, I was already thinking about her this early. So?

But why would she go that far in fear of people?

I felt so irritated thinking about her and that scratched my throat incessantly, making me want to scream. So, using my pillow, I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"WHAT GIIIIIIIVES!!!"

After writhing in frustration, I forced myself to relax and returned to my phone. "Does she have a Twitter account?" I started typing in A, then I froze. What the heck am I doing? I mean, I felt frustrated and such but to be checking on her like this is completely out of my character.

Well, let's face it: she was not a bad girl. She did nothing but just be scared witless and ran as though her life depended on it. Which in its own way was both unnatural and irritating. And today being another school day meant that I would have to deal with her again.

I stopped short. Deal with her?

I realized that it was I who was thinking about this all along. Was I that deeply offended by it? Probably. Why was I being a kid dealing with it? Was it because I was one?

I let my phone slide off my hand as I planted my face onto the pillow for one more time.

"I don't like this anymore."

It was sunny outside. The first week of school was going well. I said my goodbyes to Mum once I stepped out of the house. Hope she didn't forget my lunchbox this time.

And I hopped my first few steps until I slowed to a normal walk. Mornings like this are best spent just taking things easy. Besides, schoolwork hadn't piled up yet so I could take it easy for now. Not that I knew how Homeworks went in middle school. I'd just assume that it was the same as in grade school for my own convenience.

I breathed in the early morning wind as I stared at the cherry blossoms lining up the road I always took going to school. Then a thought slipped my mind: Sylvee had told me that she lived nearby, right? It would be fun if we could arrange to go to school together. Going home would be kinda different. And difficult. So with that in mind, I fished out my smartphone from my skirt pocket and scanned the phonebook. Good thing I had exchanged contact info with her. I hit the call button and waited for her to pick up.

"Wait! What if she hasn't prepared for school yet. I'm basically bothering her." I almost hit myself. But not long after that she picked up and greeted me with a sweet hello.

"Hey." I could feel my face warming up. "You up and about? I was actually thinking about going to school with you."

" Oh, yeah. We live in the same ward anyway."

"Are you okay with that?"

"I've no problem with it."

And after that short conversation, I hung up and continued on my way to the rendezvous point we had agreed on. Friendship is a beautiful thing, especially for us kids whose only concerns were homework and the new anime showing in a particular season. I wonder: do things change when you're in high school?. I imagined it was just like middle school but with older students. I could almost find myself breaking into a run but controlled myself because I was already a middle school student. I should move with more elegance befitting the students my age.

Whatever that meant.

Maybe I should also start wearing makeup. The image of my lip gloss stuck between my pocket mirror and pencil case came to mind. Mum had given it to me saying I should start taking care of myself. 'You're not a little kid anymore,' I remembered her saying. Well at times I think Mum still saw me as a little kid.

The pastel colour of the cherry blossom lining the road filled me with happiness.

The road I was traversing led to another smaller footpath that would eventually lead to a sloping pavement. It will lead me to the main road I usually take going to school. And before you turn there, there was a blindside caused by the angle made by the path I was taking and the new one perpendicular to it. When I turned there, what I saw was my least expected person to see in the morning.

She was just standing there while she held her bookbag in front of her.And you know what's weird: it was how picturesque she looked just by standing there. She looked like the main character of a shojo manga. Or better yet, a painting that was brought to life by some kind of divine power.

I was talking about that Althea girl.

Her skin looked pale against the morning light. The collarbone-length hair did something to make her face smaller than it seemed. And the round wire-rimmed glasses gave her the 'I'm actually a smart person' aura. Not that I would know if she was smart. All I knew was that she topped the English and Science quizzes two days ago.

I realised that I was spellbound by her. And by that time, she already took notice of me. I wasn't really that surprised myself but I had these feelings that my face showed more than what I truly realised. Besides, many people had told me that my face was too expressive to the point that at times it gave me away.

On the other hand, her face showed emotion similar to surprise and fear. I could not honestly tell which one outweighed the other but I sensed both out of them.

"G-good morning, Thea,"

'Damn! Did I just cut her name short? Is she gonna think that I was being too overly familiar?' Well, I had that habit, yes, but with people, I was already comfortable with. Needless to say, she didn't fall into the category meriting a nickname.

Was she gonna run away again? If so, that would be overkill! Like heck! I just greeted her since we happened to cross paths.

"N-nice weather we're having," I continued without expecting any exchange from her.

She took a step back. 'There it is.' I was expecting her to make a dash for it and leave me alone. But no, she just lowered her head as though someone had scolded her. And again, her hair covered most of her face. Honestly, I had felt a little irritated just thinking that she'd do that again but it just vanished.

I was going to ask if we could go to school together--you know, half-hoping it might work to my advantage--when I heard someone call her name. The voice sounded a bit smokey but it was vivid and clear.

She turned to whoever had called her. And I didn't even notice that there was a stair there. Maybe I was too preoccupied with this girl.

I also turned to look at what appeared to be an adult. Yeah! It was definitely an adult.

And she was tall! I thought she was taller than Mum. And in a way, she was more elegant. 'Sorry, mum.'

"Are you really sure about this?" she asked the girl. Then, after some time she noticed me. "Oh, hello." She wasn't smiling but she didn't look hostile to me. She just looked like someone who's interested in something. "Are you Thea's classmate?" I didn't know how she was able to come up with such a guess. Maybe because we were wearing the same uniform, but she was finally smiling and it made her thrice as welcoming as before.

I was dumbfounded but when I returned to planet earth, I answered her with a "Y-yes!" while stuttering. Since when did I become a stutterer? 'This is so embarrassing!' I felt my face lit up a little. 'Don't explode, dumbass!'

She looked like a good-natured woman. Charming actually. And looking at her, I realised that the two of them looked very much alike.

"My Thea is a bit shy but she's an extremely good girl so please continue being friends with her."

'A bit shy?' I thought. The incident yesterday came back to me. I was gonna say something back but decided against it.

"Mum?!" It was my classmate who exclaimed. 'Yeah! I kind of understand.'

She then proceeded to push her mother away.

"Thea? What are you doing!"

She was practically pushing her mum away from me just like that? If I did that to Mum I'd be in a lot of trouble. And when I say a lot, I don't even want to know myself. I couldn't help but laugh because of how absurd it looked. But then it hit me: she practically managed to run away from me again the second time! What's up with that! I was probably left dumbfounded there for a moment or two--alone because they just left me like that (not that I was with them or anything, though) before I decided to make a move on myself. 'What the hell was that?'

I just realised that maybe, just maybe, her Mum was still taking her to school. I laughed at the thought. What gives? If that were to happen to me, I'd push Mum away from me and assert my decision of setting out to the world! We have to grow up one way or another.

"Yeah, right," I whispered, remembering that I still slept with the lights on.

***

Have you ever seen a hippopotamus decisively submerged in the waters that only its head poked out? I could see myself doing the same at lunch. With my arms crossed and laid on my table, I buried my chin on it while glaring in Althea's direction. Well, I said glaring but it wasn't so because I was angry or anything. I just unconsciously did that.

There she was eating lunch all by herself. Oftentimes she ate lunch over her cellphone but this particular time, she was immensely focused on eating. It looked like she was savouring the grub while I fought the urge to just approach her and ask for a taste test.

That time Sylv joined us. She sat between me and Jenna who already opened their lunch boxes. I was just waiting for a classmate who bought bread and juice for us. Mum had said she had not been able to deal with the groceries that's why I didn't have my lunch with me. It's not that I mind, though. Lunch is lunch. 'Now, what could her lunch be?' My thoughts wander back to that girl.

I heard Sylvia laugh at me. It was a peal of good-natured laughter without any malice in it. I looked at her without even moving my head and let my glare ask her why.

"You really took a liking to her, huh."

I straightened my back and jokingly glared at her. "Not really." And I immediately wiped the glare out of my face and proceeded to face her full-on. "Say, you already have practice later, right?" I asked as a way of changing the topic she had pursued.

"Yeah." She fished out the egg roll from her box and gave it to me. I love egg rolls. I happily bit into it and savoured the flavour inside my mouth. Oh, joy!

"And that, my friends, is how you domesticate a wild Sofia." Jenna had a kick at imitating a National Geographic channel narrator at which we all laughed.

I went to think about how Sylv would already have club practice after school. Guess it's back to going home alone again. I thought of asking the others if they'd be free after school because I really didn't want to go home early.

Jenna said something about club activities being postponed for the day. And like a hungry predator, I went for the neck.

"Hey, how about hanging out after class?"

She immediately agreed with me. I was thinking about going somewhere around town since there were a lot of new shops opening for business. Just an ice cream or doughnut wouldn't hurt. I guess.

My lunch arrived. Finally! After thanking my classmate who had bought this for me, I immediately sank my teeth into the sweet bread. While munching on it, and listening to my classmates exchanged anecdotes about this one guy who had been rejected by an upperclassman, I looked back to look at the girl from the corner of her eyes.

None of my other classmates tried to approach her. That was one ugly thing about fragile juvenile friendship: if the other is deemed not to their liking, the person under investigation would be ostracised even without further examination. I didn't like that. That's what mum had instilled in me. Never side with the short-sighted one; the victims have a story to tell. I cringed at the word victim.

Not that I was given to moral speculations. No. All I knew was Mum was right. Who was I to question her? Besides, you should never bite the hands that give you pocket money, right?

"But that's really sad, y'know. Bet the guy mustered up an enormous amount of courage to confess," I reacted to what my other classmate had said.

"Agree," said my favourite classmate.

We were done eating in no time. I wrapped up by cleaning up my table and returning it to its original place. Now I'd just take care of the trash and we're all done. But when I spun to the direction of the trash bin, I once again saw that Althea girl. She was done eating lunch as well.

All that she did was look at her smartphone.

Was she texting people? But from what I had learned from Sylvia, she didn't have friends way back in grade school.

How about friends outside of school? That's the most reasonable explanation that I could think of.

I walked towards the side of the room where the trash bin was placed. I was careful enough not to stir suspicion in her. But why? I wasn't a criminal or anything. I hated thinking about it so I just reasoned out that she was an inherently good girl and I didn't want to scare a good girl. Because mama raised a good girl.

'A good girl that runs away from people.' I kept the thought to myself while trying to hold a snicker.

Down fell the plastic bag into the bin. I slowly turned around to look at the fluffy hair and she looked like she was not moving at all. But her hair was mildly dancing in the breeze. If I touch it, would it feel like cotton? I combed my own hair using my fingers for comparison. Mine was soft, yeah.

I walked back to my seat. Slowly. And carefully. You could never be too careful with people like her. But my eyes gravitated to the screen of her phone. Of course, I felt a little ashamed spying on a classmate, I'd admit that. And even though I expected to find her deep into scrolling through Twitter or anything that might pass as escapism, what I had found stopped me on my track. She was not doing what I was expecting someone like her to do.

She was doing one of my most favourite things to do in the world.

"Whoa! That's GoBe!" I exploded. And to the surprise of us both, I planted both of my hands on her table just for emphasis and by Jove! Was that one form of emphasis!.

She was taken aback. She pulled the phone to her chest as if she's protecting it. That reminded me of my auntie's cat who pulled her kitten back to her when I attempted to pet it. Did I really look that dangerous?

But I found no holding back in that. I continued because--hot damn!--I saw another fellow GoBe fan and that in itself should never be ignored. "You're a GoBe player, too? That's so cool. What level are you on?" I couldn't contain my excitement. But there was still a part of me that was civilised enough not to cause a scene. Yeah, I was a die-hard fan. Sorry, not sorry.

She became the red Althea again. And from the looks of it, she was about to hyperventilate. Really, a poor thing. But I just realised that she could not run away at this point because I practically blocked her path. Her eyeballs shook in its socket while she was looking at me. Well, at least she was looking at me.

Guess, this is my chance. I practically cornered her on her own chair. "H-hey! I love that game so much. Who's your main, by the way?"

Did I mention that her lips had been making the 'uwauwauwa' motion before? By now, her lips relaxed but the redness of her face didn't alleviate. She lowered her head. If I didn't know any better, I could have thought that she was turning to herself and shutting herself in.

Her phone had been pulled against her chest but I noticed that she was lowering her hand. I thought of that as letting me see her screen.

Something in me started to bloom like fireworks from within my chest. It was explosive but it was also warm.

I smiled.

Without thinking too much about it, I pulled a neighboring chair to her table and watched how she played. She didn't say much during our interaction. She didn't even smile. All she had was a sleepy expression of a baby.

I didn't even know what I was feeling surreal for. All I could remember was Althea showing me a killer move of the Eve unit 1. And it stuck with me for a while.

*

The initial irritation I had felt for Althea started to vanish like a dewdrop in the morning. Well, you could say that it was all gone at this point and I'd like to believe that we are on better terms now. She was still as quiet as a wall and did not move from her fort that is her chair and certainly did quite take a liking to her solitude. But she was considerably milder now. She wouldn't make the 'uwauwauwa' sound she used to make but she has yet to learn how to greet me. Not that I mind, though. But if the need arises and I should talk to her, I know the trick to do that.

"Been on good terms with Althea, I see," said Sylv while we were on the way to our room. She looked like she had a rose petal on her cheeks and her voice sounded as soothing as before.

"Nah. I won't say that. She's still the cloistered little one." I said that but it was obvious that she's taller than I was. If I have to surmise correctly, Althea might be as tall as Sylvia. And the physique also matched. But since Sylv was more athletic, I guess that leaves Althea the marshmallow one. 'Whatever that means,' I thought.

"She's not really that bad of a girl. Just a little troublemaker." She giggled a little. "Ironic how someone as quiet as she is is labelled as one. I also heard some upperclassmen talking about her."

"Not that I really cared about what they think."

She laughed. "One upperclassman in the boy's basketball team has a crush on her." Now that's a stretch, I thought.

"Poor guy. I imagine he'd be shut down on the spot." And the talk of romance did not really sit well with me. Yeah, I know I said that it's rampant talk in high school but even though I had graduated grade school, I still saw myself as a kid who would rather die playing GoBe and Water Emblem than participate in their shenanigans. Plus, I have a mission to accomplish: and that's befriending the quietest girl in class.

When you enter our classroom, the first row of tables that you'd see included Althea's. She was already there. Now, the thing about these people was they hated it when you called them aloud.

Sylv and I parted ways at some point. Normally, I would take the third aisle to my table but at that moment, I took the fourth one which Althea's table was aligned with. When I was within earshot, I greeted her with the warmest 'good morning' ever. I was honestly expecting something, you know, and you could never take that away from me. I could still remember how she had responded to me yesterday. She did not run away or anything. Neither did she speak to me but her overall aura was milder compared with my first few encounters with her.

She raised her head ever so slightly. Honestly, if you were not paying attention, you would never have noticed that she'd done so. But she did so. She responded with a soft nod, so soft that, like the way she had looked at me, you would never have noticed if you were not observant enough.

Something warm welled up in me. I couldn't contain my smile as I made my way to my table. I felt silly. Why would a simple act of easing my way through her make me smile so stupidly? 'I don't know.'

But if you look at the situation itself, I haven't gone far enough with my mission. Yes, I might have made her relax around me but that didn't guarantee anything if I would be honest.

I remembered what had happened yesterday. We had spent the remaining time of lunch break talking about GoBe. Yeah, I said 'talking' but it was just me saying a lot of stuff about it. 'Saying? More like gushing about it.' She mainly listened. Well, yeah. She nodded when I prodded her with questions. And my queries were all answerable with yes or no. I had figured I had to do it because, you know!

I didn't even know what her voice sounded like.

I had also tried inviting her to walk with me home but when I had looked around I had seen no Althea at that time. Neither an afterimage.

I settled on my seat like a mashed potato adapting the shape of its container. I found myself getting exhausted first thing in the morning. 'What's the big idea, though?'

Jenna called me out from her chair. Naturally, I just turned to look. She asked me about an assignment in maths. I guess she wanted to copy mine. 'Tough luck, buddy. I'm as good at math as the bricks in the bike parking shed.' So, if I give her my assignment… "Wait! You should have answered your own!"

I saw Sylvee laugh at my response. How about her? Did she finish her homework? I wanted to ask that but thought better of it. What I did was just scan my surroundings, because, why not? Some of my classmates greeted me with a good morning which I responded to likewise. 'I wanna have orange juice. Damn!'

Then, I looked at Althea's general direction. I realised that she turned her head away from me as though she were avoiding me. I figured out that she had been looking at me up until the time I laid my eyes on her. Wait, was she really looking? Or was it just my imagination? I decided to spend some more time looking at her, you know, just to catch her looking at me. I didn't want to feel like I was seeing things.

And she did! But when she seemed to realise that I was looking at her, she once again avoided my eyes. And did I spy a redness on her cheeks?

'What a weird girl, I thought.

Time flew by rather fast. Before I realised it, it was already lunch break. Again, I didn't have lunch with me. Mum needed to be away from town today so to compensate, she had given me extra lunch money to deal with it. I wasn't satisfied with it; I needed my balanced sustenance! But unlike the other day, no one would buy lunch for me. So, I guess I'd just buy it myself, huh!

I excused myself from the rest of the gang. Sylvia offered to wait for me so we could finish at the time but since I was a good friend I told her to go on ahead. It would not be the end of the world for me if they'd start eating before me, right?

Before stepping out of the classroom, I instinctively looked at Althea. She was not there. Just when I thought that she had lead for butts, I was proven wrong. Not that I was actually looking for her but I wondered where she had gone. 'The infirmary, I supposed.' I could already picture her half-passed out on the infirmary bed.

The line of students in the school canteen was rather long. Guess I was not the only person who had an idea of visiting it. That is why I prefer packed lunch over anything else. When I fell in line with the rest of them, I recognised some students so I called out to them to have someone to talk to. For some reason, the girls I had called relinquished their place in the line and decided to join me. Well, at least I could make the tedious amount of time waiting for my turn less bearable by talking with some old friends.

And just like what they used to say: time flies when you're having fun. Before I knew it, my turn to buy lunch had come.

Holding my bread and orange juice box that I had bought from a nearby vending machine, I was invited by the group to eat lunch with them. I politely refused, of course. And with a 'see you next time' I left them to their devices to head back to our classroom.

But as I was taking my steps into an equally busy hallway, I mentally conjured a mental image of Althea's empty table. I stopped short on my track. "If I were a wild Althea, where would I hide?" Comparing her to a wild cat seemed like an apt description of her and it's becoming a habit of mine.

I thought of one answer that I could wager on. And I would bet my lunch that she was hiding in that place. I made a move on farther away from the classroom and to the place I had in mind. I was getting a bit excited. Not really the biggest fan of cats but this particular cat had been bugging my mind for some time.

I made my way through the rivers of students trying to relish the relatively short lunch break that we had. It reminded me of Sylv and the gang; guess I just have to explain to them why I was gone. Or, rather explain, come up with another reason as to why I didn't come back.

I reached the stairs leading to the rooftop. If I guessed correctly, factoring in the heat outside and the lack of anything that would shelter anyone on the rooftop, she would be there. I ascended the stairs as quietly as possible, which was not entirely necessary because the noises of the third-year students were enough to cover my movement. Slowly, I took a peek into the wall that marked the landing upstairs. Positive! I saw a knee whose color was as pale as a radish. Then the helm of the skirt. Based on the length of the legs, I came to a conclusion that my conjecture was right. She was here. I readied myself. Without thinking too much into it, I decided that I would surprise her. Which, in retrospect, was actually a stupid move from me.

I sprang out of hiding and went "BAAH!" like a kid surprising a baby.

Clearly taken by surprise by my sneak attack, she let out an audible gasp. I was foolish enough not to think that she might choose to run away from me, considering the fact that we weren't even on speaking terms yet. And what I had seen made me think that I just added fuel to the fire.

Sometimes, my stupidity astonishes even myself.

*

There she was, sitting on the floor. Her countenance was something that I would never ever forget as long as we talk about Althea. She was crying. Her shoulder was heaving uncontrollably and her hands were positioned as though she were a cat about to wash her face. Later on, I noticed the lunch box beside her and a small plastic canister of sorts beside it; it's content I had no idea.

A cold sensation formed from the bottom of my stomach; it slowly made its way to my chest. I felt like the colour of my face was being drained. Cold sweat started shooting from my skin. Why did I feel liable for this? I just saw her wailing! I had nothing to do with it.

'Oh! She might run away!'

Before I knew it, I extracted my handkerchief from my blouse pocket and offered it to her. She didn't take it but to my surprise, she didn't even try getting up to make a run for it. She just stayed there. Almost motionless.

And then she cried harder than before.

'Now, I feel responsible.' I steeled my resolve to help her. Guess there's no harm in seeing this through. I sat beside her and held her hand away from her face so that I could wipe off the tears. You see I had been a peacemaker of sorts way back in grade school so taking care of others is second nature to me.

"There, there…" I consoled her while cleaning her face. Some occasional snot escaped her nose. 'Way to stay composed, eh. Kid?'

As to why she was crying, I had no idea. I didn't even bother looking at the canister beside her. I just remembered its colour and that's it; some kind of amber, if I recall correctly.

I considered it as a miracle that she had finally calmed down. I didn't ask what the matter was because given how she was, I would not get the right answer. Heck! It would be a miracle to get an answer from her. Like at all. Her face was so red from the excessive crying. By now, she was red Althea. I finger-combed her hair out of her face so that she had more room to breathe. Some locks returned to their place, some didn't; It's quite bothersome to fix it so I let it be.

That's when I remembered my bread lying around somewhere. I was hungry and my tending to this baby didn't help alleviate it either. By the way, when I said baby, I was not trying to insult her or whatever. It's just she's really cute right now that the word baby aptly fitted her description. 'Guess, I'm a mother now.'

She looked gloomy which was understandable. I reached for her lunch box and placed it on her lap. "I'll eat with you. And when you're already okay, we'll return to class," I said; it's not a request but a solid plan. 'I hope so.'

We ate in silence. Her lunch was actually filled to the brim. Guess her Mum was scared that her daughter was not getting the right amount of nutrients to go on. Which would make you wonder because Althea's skinny. Where did the extra calories go? 'Come to think of it, her Mum looked skinny, too.' It probably ran in the family.

I was done first. I noticed that she did not have anything to drink soI picked up the orange juice box, punched the straw to it, and contemplated for a second whether I'd give her this or let her drink it while I was holding the box itself. 'Well, whatever… ' I took the straw near her mouth in an attempt to offer her a sip. She looked at me, clearly hesitating.

"I still have a bottle of water in my bag. Just bought one of these for a change." I lied.

She took one sip. I assumed that her being modest and conscientious prevented her from drinking more. That wouldn't do. I held the juice box in its position. "Hey! Drink all of it. You probably lost too much water crying."

Again she was hesitant but with my prodding, she finally gave up. She slowly sipped it's content. She seemed to understand what I wanted to do so even though it took longer than usual, she drank all of it. It was also to show her that I genuinely care about her. I crushed the juice box in my hand.

"You okay now?"

She nodded.

"It's time for the next period soon so let's go back. ." I stood up first and offered her my hand. This time she did not hesitate anymore: she took it and off we went! But she did not raise her face yet. I just smiled. If there was one thing that I didn't want to do, it's to make her feel as though I was forcing myself on her.

I took the initiative of going back to our room. But before I had made my first step, I heard something. It was a voice. Was it her? Maybe. Unsure of what it was, I looked back at her. She was now looking at me intently. That made me realise that it was indeed her who had spoken earlier so I waited for something more. People like her have a complex in speaking and once you ignored them, they wouldn't venture to talk about something again for a significant length of time. I learned that from one of my friends in grade school. That was the reason why I tried listening to people and this situation was not totally different from the rest of them.

"T-thank you," she said. "I… You saved me."

That was the first time I heard her speak in a normal voice volume. Truth be told, I had this impression that she speaks in a rather high and squeaky tone but her voice was different from what I had imagined. It was lower than I expected. It was not really that low but it was clear and calm. And it was pleasant to the ears. If she was an anime character, Akari Kito would be a perfect voice actress to play her role. I also heard her speak on the first day of the class but I wasn't able to pay attention to her tone because I had been too caught up with the way she had acted.

I couldn't help but smile. "You know what, you should speak more often. You have a really good voice." To be honest, her tone is better than Sylvee's. And that's saying a lot.

She became flustered again.

We returned shortly after that.

If after a number of years had gone by and you ask me the first thing that would come to mind if someone mentioned Althea, that would be the image of her crying at the top landing leading to the rooftop. But at the same time, the sound of her clear low voice would resound in my mind, reminding me that even before we became best friends, I always considered her the most beautiful person in the world.

*****

I didn't know what had happened but Althea became significantly milder compared to before. Well, she hadn't had it in her to talk with most of our classmates yet. She's still the quiet type who would opt to sit in her place without bothering to make friends with people but when it comes to me, she became a bit tolerant. I'd say tolerant because I didn't want to sound boastful.

There was one time when I had asked to eat with us but she declined without even offering an explanation. 'Understandable. Have a great day.' Not that I didn't know what went on with her mind but I must always bear in mind that it was asking her too much. However, doing little things like that to help her wouldn't hurt unless she otherwise stated it.

I was planning to pull her out of her shell rather gently because if I forced her to, she'd probably hide from me, again.

I thought that her being quite mild with me was a bit of a miracle because I had just happened to find her in her most vulnerable position, offered help, and that's that. But it felt good, though.

I kept a balance between everything. Sometimes, I peacefully ate lunch with her, sometimes, with the other girls. But even after dealing with the other girls, I would go back to check on her. She didn't look bored or anything. She just did her usual stuff like she was the only person in the world. Business as usual.

I also noticed that she wouldn't talk to me when there were people around (I said talk but it was only me really that did the talking). She'd just answer me with a nod or a shake. Most of the time, we'd just go back to the third-floor landing and she'd show me some cool moves in GoBe. And I'd be one happy girl!

And did I mention that she ranked higher than me in that game? Talk about cool! I managed to rank 87th place in the national ranking but she already reached 54th place. Not only that, she could also score higher in the exams. She could compete with the rest of my classmates but her anxiety was what's holding her back. Too bad, I know. 'Should I train her?'

I was thinking of making that my next goal: making her competitive, at least. But come to think of it, I had not accomplished my first mission yet. So, it's not really right to get ahead of myself, right? I was getting all restless the first few months in. Sigh.

And before I knew it, I was thinking about her more often than I was supposed to. Guess there's no helping it. She's really fascinating. She was so quiet, but I was really drawn to her. I didn't have a little sister. Is that how having a little sis feels like?

Maybe I could make her one. Sylvia didn't fit the bill because of her cool-girl aura and she's tall. But I think she's still pretty. 'Wait! Thea is tall, too!'

Well, whatever.

I was lying on my bed, looking at my phone, savouring the remaining time I had.

Yesterday, I finally made Althea give me her contact info. Not only that, I also got her Twitter account. But when I decided to check her account, it's almost empty aside from the occasional photo of cherry blossoms and some retweets of her favourite anime.

"Oh, she's also an Adashima fan. And she also likes MadoMagi. This girl's got taste."

I still had school, though. I didn't want Mum to come and forcefully get me. It'd be a bother. And I couldn't be bothered by it. No, sir. I rose up and looked around my room. Yeah, I probably needed an upgrade or whatever. For one, I didn't have my own TV here. Not that I found it quite bizarre but I needed the distraction whenever I was alone. The loneliness could be unbearable oftentimes. Sure I could call some of my friends but I was not yet in 'calling over the phone' terms with Sylvia. Too bad! The last time was only out of necessity if you call the 'walking with a friend to school' scenario a necessity. But I felt that she wouldn't mind; my girl's a saint. And when I think about calling Althea… should I really be thinking about that?

Sylvia is really pretty. Jenna has her inherent cuteness, too. But Althea? She's honestly the prettiest amongst the bunch. I smiled at the thought of making a harem of girls for myself. I even laughed. 'You're a bad girl, Sofie.'

After donning my school uniform, I went downstairs to see Mom finishing up cooking. The hearty grub was on the table, and the sliding door leading to our small garden sifted in the golden morning rays of light. It's gonna be a great day!

"What are you smiling at? Crushing on a boy at school?" She didn't mean it as a joke but as a threat.

"W-wait, what? No! No!" I even waved my hand to emphasize my answer. "Where did you get that idea"

"Just so you know little Missy, you are not allowed to have one, okay?"

I pouted in protest. Not that I was against Mom's wish because we're on the same page, but remarking that the first thing in the morning was kinda annoying in itself.

I left home half hoping I could run into Althea. But scanning the shaded part of that street where she usually would stand, I found no one. That's okay, I thought. I could still see her in school.

Or so I thought.

Alas! She was not at school.

Our homeroom teacher announced that she would be absent for the day because she came down with an illness. Poor girl. At one point I contemplated visiting her but I didn't even know where she lived. All I knew was every time I imagined what Althea looks like, I always pictured her standing underneath those cherry blossom trees, waiting for her Mum.

I still laughed at the thought of her going with her mum to school. Then, shame settled in: why would I think of something that bad about my friend?

I stopped at the word friend. I wanted to be close to her, but how close?

I looked at Sylvia who's finishing up her lunch. Mine was already devoured. The lid was already back on the lunch box. I rested my chin on my hand.

Once Sylvee noticed that I was peering intently at her, she cocked her head in my direction as if to ask me what was wrong. I straightened my back and said, "Nah, I was just thinking: why are you so cool?" Can you give Althea some of that?

She naturally laughed. Good thing she's good at handling compliments. But it's either that or she'd already gotten used to my antics. 'Hope it's not the last one.'

"Say, Althea's absent today, right? The teacher said she went down with a sickness." Jenna was looking at me, which amused me. 'Why would she be doing that?'

"Yeah, the girls noticed that you're being buddies with Althea." Said Sylv as though she had heard the question in my head.

I contemplated this. From my experience--which was not much considering my age--kids say that because they hated the other kid involved. So, naturally, I had to defend her: "she's honestly a nice girl. She's just really quiet. But once you get to know her, she's honestly fun to be with" And I was not kidding. She really was. Despite being so quiet, she was responsive.

Sylv's eyes widened like a saucer. I didn't know she was capable of doing that. And that made her really cute. But why was she so surprised? "You made friends with her?"

Oh, that!

I straightened my back and scratched my head. "Yeah. It's kinda hard but here we are."

She held onto that astonished look for a moment. 'Was it really that weird?' I wanted to ask her. And as if she'd read my mind, she responded: "I knew a lot of people who tried to make friends with her were just flat-out rejected. And you just did it. Seriously, that's amazing."

"Wait! Is she really that cloistered?" asked Jenna.

One could also get the same idea based on how she had reacted. I looked at her intently as she seemed to gather her answer in thin air. Not that I was anticipating something big since she'd told me a lot of things about Althea but it didn't hurt to expect something new from her.

You can say that I already forgave Althea for treating me like a wild animal before. Who wouldn't? She's just hecking adorable.

"She didn't even want to talk to people. She's even bullied because of it. Poor girl," answered Sylv. The concern on her face was genuine; even I could feel it.

So I asked her this: "what did you do?"

"I tried snitching to the teachers. They did something about it, yes, but after that, it became worse. She was a bully magnet. It just stopped because words reached her brother's ears."

The last parts of her statement didn't escape me. So she has a big brother. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't even know what it feels like to be protected by a big bro because… I'm an only child, silly. Not that it mattered to me.

I prodded on. "Wait, did you try to make friends with her?" I couldn't remember asking the question before because I sucked at remembering stuff so I didn't bother.

She smiled bashfully. "Yeah. But she rejected me on the spot."

"And here we have a rare case of a pretty girl being rejected," teased Jenna.

Sylvee just laughed it off.

I looked at Althea's chair and wondered to myself 'what would happen if I visited her later?' Not that I know where she lived. I had a general idea where but the exact location would prove to be hard to find. Maybe the teachers know where since I remembered them asking us for a sketch of a map of our houses before. So, I decided I'd probably check if that was possible. 'What does she look like with house clothes on?'

***

So, I did just that: I went to the faculty office to ask if they had any information about Stainthorpe's residence. And you what? Our adviser had it! 'Lucky!'

I stood before our adviser while Sylvee was waiting outside the faculty office. I had told her that it's okay if she would choose to go on ahead without me. That I could handle this myself because I was already a big girl. But because she was a truly conscientious gir, she told me she'd wait for me 'since our houses are on the same ward, so why not?'

"So, you're friends with Althea, huh?" Miss asked me.

I laughed awkwardly while scratching the tip of my nose. "Y-yeah."

"She's somewhat a problematic child. But I hope you'd help her come out of her shell. She's really smart for someone like her."

I didn't really get the connection between Althea's intelligence and her character but since she's the adult here, I might just as well take it for what it was.

I took a picture of the map she'd submitted to the teacher. The map looked so well done, I'd tell you that. And based on the way she drew it, I suspected that she's an aspiring artist or something. The map looked like its accuracy couldn't be questioned. When I showed Sylvee the map, she also remarked how clean it was drawn; compared to mine, it looked like I just tried connecting crooked lines. As expected of someone whose talent is annoying people!

I tried inviting her to go with me but she refused to say "Nah, I might scare her." From an outside perspective, that might sound like a joke but she just spoke about possibilities. So I reconsidered it.

Before we even had a chance to walk away, the faculty room door opened once again. It was our teacher. She was holding an envelope. "Since you're both going to Althea's house, I'd ask you to give this to her."

I was about to clear up that Sylvee was not going with me but I just thought better of it. I carefully slipped the envelope between the books in my bag and headed on our merry way. The spring wind was picking up and I had this feeling that it was directing us to my destination. With it, my mood was also picking up. I could feel something good would come out of this endeavour.

At one point I parted ways with Sylvee. The wind was the same as when we had left school. I felt like the wind was as sentient as humans are. What did our teacher call it? Was it apostrophe or personification? I think it was personification. Althea would know; she's the smart one. For the life of me, I couldn't even remember our lesson on figures of speech.

I stood before the great staircase that led to their house. 'So, that's why I usually saw her here.' The climb up there was pleasant. The trees framing the sky were azure. No signs of rain. But why was I looking for rain when it's a good day. And it's spring; the chance of rain was as slim as Althea.

I was led to another street perpendicular to the stairs I'd just taken. Then, I fished out my phone from my blazer pocket and fumbled through the menu; I was looking for the photo of the map I had taken earlier to see exactly where I was. Surprisingly, I was closer to the house than I realised.

"So, it's around here." I continued walking.

When I turned to another lane indicated on the map, I almost bumped into someone!

That took me by surprise!

"S-sor--" What surprised me the most was who the person I had almost bumped on. I had just seen her once but since she's so pretty, she made a lasting impression on me.

"Are you alright?" She had that silky voice that's almost similar to Althea, but more mature and smoky in quality. 'Does she smoke?' I asked silently.

"Ah, n-no! I'm alright."

"Good. Be careful, okay?" She was about to turn and skedaddle her way out of there but since I was the type to meddle in someone's affair when I was nose-deep into it, I tried to stop her.

"H-hey, madam."

She looked at me again rather inquisitively. Well, I understood. It's not really common for kids my age to just stop an adult on their tracks.

"I may be wrong but... are you Althea's mum?"

Her expression softened. Actually, it was so soft as a marshmallow--if that even made sense to you--that it made me question why. But I would not even begin to ask her that. I have to prioritise my questions.

"Oh, are you one of her classmates?" She was now smiling from ear to ear. She turned to me as though to indicate that she's now giving me her full attention.

I softly but firmly nodded my answer. She looked so tall that it reminded me of how small and childish I could have been in her eyes. I wanted to grow up like her, too. She looked so dignified that it somehow freaked me out. Why, though? I had no idea. Is that the inherent power of adults?

She fished out her smartphone from her handbag and dialed a button. I presumed she's gonna call someone. And I was right. She placed the phone on her ears. The sunlight steadily streaming upon her from the spaces between the leaves emphasised the dignified aura that she possessed. That kinda reminded me of a teacher in the elementary school with whom I held hands. I was also a scaredy-cat on some occasions, you see. But I won't tell you about it.

"Hello, dear. Yes. . . One of Althea's classmates is headed there. . . Yes, be a dear and do it for your sister... " She smiled. "I'm counting on you." She ended the call after lowering her hand. And to me, she said, "would you like me to take you at least halfway to our house?"

"Ah, there's no need to. I-I have a map. The one Althea drew when our teacher asked for it." I even showed her my phone to indicate that it was there. And I felt like a little kid doing that.

She said that there was some business that she must attend to that was why she could not guide me all the way back. But I told her it's okay and I could manage. I might not be one of the smartest people around but at least I'm good with maps and can understand directions. So she left me there.

I found the address. The house was identical to the neighboring ones as expected but it looked decent and the neighborhood looked peaceful. No one was around. It's probably because some students were still out there enjoying life. Youth is short; enjoy it while you can. Not that I knew that first hand because come on! I was just a young kid who's turning 14 this year.

Enough of that!

I hesitantly stood at the little gate that looked like it was newly painted. The walls were also spotlessly clean. I would know because Mum would always tell me to go brush some parts of the outer wall from time to time. It's a pain, to be honest.

I pushed the doorbell button once. With a house as quiet as it was, I thought that even if I whispered, someone would hear me. And I was not making this up!

Shortly after, someone opened the door. 'Wow, they're not wasting time here.'

Truth be told, I was expecting someone as cheery as Althea's Mum to open the door. But the one who greeted me was a man. I know I was talking about temperament here and not gender, so I'd talk about just that. He was not smiling, but he didn't even look like he's pissed or anything. Or hostile for that manner. He just stood there. Menacingly! 'GUH!'

"Ah, h-hello. I'm Sophia. I came here to visit Althea." I felt something cold in my throat. It was a miracle that I was able to speak despite nearly choking on my words. He's scary.

He just nodded at me. 'That's it? Can he even speak?' He, then, opened the door wider as if to tell me to get inside. I nodded my assent and went inside following him.

Well, now that I thought about it, he resembled the woman from earlier. Not only that, he also looked like Althea. I hadn't imagined her to be a guy but I think I already have an inkling as to what she'd look like in a parallel world.

He was so tall. He's probably 1.8 something meters. That would make sense because Althea was tall as well. This association and connecting the dots were becoming too convenient for me.

I assumed that he's a college student.

I noticed that the interior of the house was cooler than it was outside. There was a faint scent of citrus in the air. Most houses had this stuffy scent in them that reminded you of home but that wasn't the case here. He was headed to a staircase; and when he noticed that I stopped on my track, he looked back at me. With a 'come follow me, I did as he told me. The first storey of the house was well lit while it was darker upstairs. And the silence was unnerving. No, it wasn't from the fact that the stillness gave off a foreboding aura; not at all. Truth be told, the ambiance here was pleasant, almost welcoming. I just don't like it when it's so quiet. 'Hnnng…'

We stood before a beige-coloured door. It was her room because the signposted on the door said so. Written in a card that had a sunflower design was the name, Thea.

This guy, which I presumed to be Althea's big brother, knocked three times. Then, he said, "Thea, you have a visitor."

I was mildly surprised to hear his voice. It had a tenor quality to it. But it was cool and pleasant to the ears. If he became my teacher or something, I'd probably listen to him all the time--and never learned a thing. And did I mention that he was handsome? Well, that would be natural, right? He's Althea's brother. 'How does that even make sense? And why am I conveniently connecting everything? Like it was the most natural thing to do?'

No one answered. So, he just took matters into his own hands and opened that door without any hesitation. 'Hey, you could not just do that!' But he just did it, so there's that.

But there we were: to the point of no return. What was unveiled before me was a dark room, darker than the hallway of the second floor. I couldn't make out where Althea was. Her big brother entered the room without another word and pulled the curtain. And in an instant, the whole room lit up like it was one of those dungeons in the game I stayed up for last night!

It was a minimalist type of room but everything a girl would need was there. And there was a big mirror standing by the door. I wanted one of those but Mum wouldn't buy me one. Bummer, yes. (Since dad was overseas, she became the absolute power in our house.)

"Thea, wake up."

I took some steps inside and finally saw where the bed was situated. 'This room's probably bigger than mine.' And it also had that faint citrus smell that had greeted me earlier. A citrus-smelling abode, eh.

Someone stirred on the bed. When I looked I saw someone with fluffy hair rise up from the sea of blankets and looked blankly at us. It was Althea.

Impulsively, I greeted her. "Hello, Althea."

She didn't wear glasses. I don't know why but in that situation, she was cuter without them.

"You have a visitor," the guy repeated.

"What?" her voice was still groggy, and rather cloudy. When she looked at me, the last remaining vestige of sleep she had crumbled away. (It was kinda weird to think that she didn't even react when I spoke up. Was that how tired she was?) She grew red. In a defiant manner, she looked at the man. "B-big brother…" So, I was right.

He just shot her a glance enough to make her shut up. Then he walked to the door. "We still have the shortcakes Reika gave me. I'll take it here."

He left us both alone.

There was a bean bag chair beside the study table. "Can I use this?"

She was not looking at me but she at least nodded. I pulled the bean bag close to her bed and I let myself sink into it. That was fun. The only time I could use one of these was when I was at grandma's house. I always loved using one of those things that grandma decided to buy me one. Yes, I have a bean bag reserved for me in her house. Sweet, right?

"Nice room you have here." I decided to start the conversation because otherwise, you know... "To be honest, I pictured your room to be full of anime merchandise. Guess, you're not into that."

"I have Blu-Rays," she said curtly. Her head held low. 'Wait, is she blushing?' I couldn't honestly tell because her outline was obscured by the bright window. The spring afternoon sky looked inviting outside. I fought the urge to pull her out of bed.

"Oh, you do? So that's how you are. I have some merch at home but I couldn't organise it properly. I wanna ask Mum for a glass cabinet but knowing her…" Then I remembered something. I reached into my bag and extracted the envelope that I eventually handed to Althea. "Printouts from our teacher."

She extended her thin arms towards the paper envelope and because of that, I could see the pale bluish veins around her hand. She was wearing pajamas so I couldn't see the rest of her arms. It's not like I wanted to see or anything, though. She mumbled a quiet thank you as she placed the envelope beside her.

A thought came into my mind.

She wouldn't do a thing, that's for sure. If I wanted to close the gap between us--and that's what I really wanted to do--I thought of a better way to do that. Neither a conversation nor a prodding would do me any good; Althea was a tough nut to crack not because she chose it but because that's the way she was. Factoring in the way she dealt with her brother earlier, she's as quiet here (in her elements, mind you) as she was in school.

So, I had to take matters into my own hands. And the first thing that came to my mind was probably the highlight of my day. I opened my mouth hoping it could reach her.

"Thea-chan."

It was dumb! I know! Please, don't give that look. But it sounded so cute at that time. I felt a blush painted on my cheeks. Why, though? I was the kind of person who loved giving nicknames to other people. I mean, there's Sylvee…

Her silhouette was highlighted by the light passing through her window. She looked like a doll with an inherent glow about her. I was mesmerised by that.

To be honest, I was waiting for a reaction from her. I didn't want to be on the receiving end of this embarrassment. Biters get bitten, eh. For some reason, I started seeing some dust floating around. I think one of our teachers explained that it's responsible for scattering the ray of light from the sun. Figures. At that moment, I thought that the only source of light in that spotlessly clean room was the pale girl sitting up in bed. Her hair was more of a mess that time but it was really cute. And without the glasses, I could totally see the full blush on her face as well.

And she spoke. She did not respond to me or to anyone else. It felt more like she was coming to terms with something. But what? I might be perceptive to some stuff but with the other things, I was as dumb as a harem MC.

This was what she said:

"Thea...chan, huh."

And did I just spy a smile?

***

For someone who was talkative like me and someone who's as quiet as a sleeping cat like her, you'd naturally think that any form of conversation would grow stale, right? But no. I spent some time longer than I anticipated and went gung ho over telling Althea some anecdotes. She smiled once in a while which made the whole trip worthwhile.

I said my goodbyes to Althea's brother who saw me at the door. But before saying his goodbye, he handed me what seemed like a lunchbox wrapped in some kind of ribbon that served as its handle.

"I made extra. Thea is not a binge eater," was another way of saying she wouldn't eat it all so it's okay if I had some.

I took it and said, "Thank you."

"Those are mochis," he said.

I looked at him once more. Yes, he looked scary at first but that probably was because of how awkward I had felt earlier. When you are in unfamiliar territory, anything that looked like it was the opposite of hospitality was perceived as hostility, right? But he was more identical to his little sister than I realised. The almond-shaped eyes, the fair skin, the height, the natural crisp and drawl of the voice... 'They're siblings, duh!'

But the way he stared was colder than how his little sister looked at me.

'Oh, my gosh. I think I'm in love.'

Seriously, though.

But before my blush gave me away. I staggered to the gate and said my goodbye without looking back.

The last thing I remembered on my way home was how stupid I had felt running like that and the faint smile on Althea's face.