This will be a series of shorts that are not specifically in chronological order. So Snippet 1 can take place after Snippet 17 or 35 can take place before 30 and so on. There is a flow on the story though, and you can figure things out on your own.

2: Rains, Adjacency , Exchanges, Cards, and Bus Rides

 

#1

                It was 4 PM and they were dismissed of class. It was late in the afternoon and the sky was crying. She looks down from their two-storey building and sees multicolored tops of umbrellas. She looks up and she pouts. He appears beside her and watches the show below.

                “Aren’t you going home yet?” He says as he puts his hand out to catch the rain.

                “I’ll wait and hope this ends after a few minutes. Then I’ll go home.” She replies.

                “Don’t you have an umbrella?” He asks.

                “I have.”

                “Then why aren’t you leaving?”

                “Because I hate getting my shoes wet.”

                He looks down to her feet.

                “They’d still get wet even if the rain stops though.”

                “Not if I’m careful.”

                “This sky might not calm down for a while, I guess.”

                “I’ll just wait.”

                “It’ll get really dark-“

                “Why don’t you just go first? Don’t you have an umbrella?”

                “I have! Then you’ll be left here alone.”

She looks behind and notices the room was bare.

                “Fine.” She says. She opens up her bag and grabs her umbrella. She goes down the stairs and he hops down with her. She pops it up and looks at him for a moment.

                “Bye.” She says and plunges down with the drops. She leaves him there. He catches up behind her as she was nearing the school gates. Then he was suddenly at her side and fitting himself under her roof.

                “Bummer. It’s small.” He says.

                “Wow! That’s a really gentlemanly move.I thought you had yours?!” She shrieks.

                He ignores her question and he grins. “Let me hold it for you, then.”

 

 

#2

On their second year, she was seated next to him. She had straight hair and a rather curvy attitude. He rolls his eyes at his side and he sees her without moving his head. He catches her looking at him, and his iris retreats back forward. He doesn’t talk and she doesn’t make a sound. He doesn’t ask her what she was called, and she doesn’t tell him her name. They were strangers, and they weren’t doing anything to change that.

 

 

#3

                He gets close to her at times. She had interest plastered on her face. He drums the chairs with his hands, amidst the noise they have in background. She tells him to stop after a while because he was out of tune. He just laughs.

                “Wanna do something that doesn’t have any sense and purpose at all?” His mouth rises on the corners. Her brows scrunch for a moment, but she doesn’t say a word. He moves one hand on the collar of his neck. He lifts up the cord over his head and it frees from it. His identity hangs on the far end of the loop and he puts it on her desk.

                “Come on then, give me yours.” He says. She rolls her eyes, but she takes off her ID. She watches as he puts it on him. His friends call from behind. He flashes her a thumbs up before leaving. She looks at his picture on her desk. It made no sense and the swap had no purpose at all.

 

 

#4

                They were playing cards. Her numbers were awful. She was losing. He comes up behind her and his eyes scan her cards. She notices this, though she doesn’t mind. She also notices how he went behind the other players, secretly looking up theirs. She thinks he must be really bored. It was her turn to throw something in. He comes back near her. He whispers something in her ear, but the others don’t notice. He keeps this routine until the game ends.

                She didn’t lose, at least for that round.

 

 

#5

                They were having a field trip that day and the teacher was pointing on seats where each student should sit on. When she enters the bus, he smiles when the finger points to the empty spot beside him. Her mouth twitches and she sits down next to him.

                The drive was long and he was talking. His stories were ridiculous and she was laughing. She checks her bag and finds she forgot to bring her earphones. She looks at him.

                “What?” He says.

                “I forgot my earphones.” She says.

                “Wanna share mine?” He invites.

                “Your music choice is awful.” She judges. She takes the other piece on her ear, still.

                He looks at her minutes later. It was her turn to say “what?”.

                “If I hurl, what would you do?”

                “Please don’t.” She says. “I’ll sit back or anywhere just not near here if you suddenly do that.”

                “What if I really will?”

                She grabs something from her bag. She hands her something. “You throw up in there and do it quietly.”

                He laughs. “I’m just kidding.” He chuckles. “But could we exchange seats?”

                They exchange seats and the wind flaps on her hair. She opens her bag and she brings out her food. “Remember that time I saw you at the grocery store and you made me pick which tastes better?”

                “Yeah.” He replies.

                “The one on the right was actually better.”

                “Curse you.”

                “Do you have anything… not so salty?” She asks.

                He rummages his bag.

                “This is not so salty.” He pulls it out. Her eyes open.

                “They still sell that? I haven’t tasted that for years! Can we swap? You can have this.”

                “No.” 

She frowns. “Come on.” She insists.

                “You have anything chewy in there?” He asks.

                “Yeah. A couple of candies.”

                “Those candies and that food in your hand.” He says.

                She rolls her eyes. “Deal.” They exchange food.

And when she opens up the chips, “You know we can just share the food.” She says.

                “I know.” He replies. “The exchange was kind of ridiculous.” He pauses. “But we can’t share the drinks, obviously.” He looks at her curiously. “You have apple juice?”

                She looks through her bag.

 

3: Social Networks, Reports, Diners, Handwritings, and Friends

#6

He was lying on his bed on his home. He was browsing the internet on his phone and his picture comes up in social network.

                “Don’t let this guy borrow your phone. Risk: Unwanted Self-Photos” was the caption she put atop. He lets out a laugh as he sees it.

                His fingers land on the pad and he comments.

                “She actually put this as her wallpaper.” It appears.

                “Accusing and lying to the general public is bad.” She comments in response to his.

                He almost falls on his bed from laughing.

 

 

#7

                They were in the same group. It was English and they were asked to answer a series of questions the teacher left for them. She was figuring them out and she sees him playing with his phone. She scolds him and he mocks her before keeping his phone in his pocket. He leans in to see the questions better, but he doesn’t want to get too close. He lies back on his seat instead.

                A member from the other group tells him to write the names of his groupmates down. He was to indicate the leader. He looks at how focused she is and he writes her name next to the title. He puts the paper on the teacher’s desk. When he gets back to his seat, she asks him to answer the last and final question. He watches her as she stands and go about the room.

                When the teacher gets back, she tells the leader of each group to report their answers. He smiles slightly because she has no idea she was the leader. He hands the sheet back to her after writing his answer. They were Group 1 and the teacher calls his name to stand in front.

                “What?” He can’t help but say out loud. The teacher’s face wasn’t lying and he swats the paper from her hands.  She smiles deviously at him and he narrows his eyes at her.

 

 

#8

                They were in the mall and she was holding paper bags in her hands. She was hungry and so her eyes land on the diner farther ahead. She tries to get closer but he sees him by the glass. She was quick to turn around and decides to eat somewhere else.

                Her cousins appear at her back because she was walking too fast.

                “Where are you going?” Her cousin asks. “I thought you want to eat.”

                “Somewhere else.” She replies.

                Then she sees his sister walking towards them. She knows the sister because she had been kind to help them at research. Her cousin was the first to say hi because they were classmates, anyway. She smiles at her.

                She lets them talk for a while and she waits for them to finish. She sees him still through the glass and he had something red stuck on his cheek. His mother points it out and he wipes it with a tissue. His eyes landed on her after he did so. She laughs a little. He looks away instantly, though.

 

 

#9

                All the eyes were in front and all hands were holding a pen. He feels the dread of having told to copy notes from the board. He writes fast and he notices she has somehow noticed his pace. She leans her head on his paper.

                “Your handwriting is ugly.” She says, and she goes back to her own. He is forced to stop and purse his lips. He looks at her but she’s looking up front. He goes back to writing. He hates how careful he does the words then.  

                “Shut up.” He says, a little too late. He continues to talk after a few gaps of seconds.

                “You’re ugly.” He says, trying not to break into a fit. She kicks his legs a little too hard; his pen etches a diagonal line through the words.

 

 

#10

                She was in her house and her sister is pestering her with the same question.

                “So where were you?” Her sister says.  

She doesn’t respond.

              “Huh. You said you were hiding? You said “secret” when I called you where you were. Who was with you, anyway?”

                “My friend.” She says.

                “My friend.” She says.

4: Scores, Quick Pictures, Stares, Homeworks, and Lists

#11

                “45.”

                “40.”

                “58.”

                “52.”

                “47.”

                “53! Ha! I’m higher in Science.” He shrieks, and he does an awkward dance. She is slightly amused.

 

 

#12

He was looking for something from his bag. The sun was too hot and everyone was moving. His hair was still uncool and he was short, like the first time they met. He bets he’s as tall as her, who was walking past him. Then a classmate comes around and his hands were still wriggling inside the bag. He looks at her and he sees she was smiling, then he notices the camera aimed at the two of them. The camera goes down and he was not prepared for even a second. The picture comes out with her smiling, and him looking at the lens with unset eyes. That was a ridiculous picture of him, he sees it later on.

 

 

#13

`             He stares at her long and hard. She stares back.               

“Stop it or I’ll pop your zit.” She says.

 

 

#14

                She runs. She hates again the fact that their room was located on the second floor. She doesn’t like the stairs. She also hates why she was late on that Monday morning. She reaches her room and it was already locked. Her classmates were out for flag ceremony and she had just arrived.

                “A little tardy today, aren’t we?” He says. He was still wearing his backpack. He still smelled of shampoo. He had just arrived as well. His room was also locked and they both looked at each other, discussing in their heads whether they should still attend the ceremony or just wait.

                “Would you-“ She says.

                “Nah. My bag’s too heavy.” He says. “I’ll just wait here.”

                She thinks. She’s never missed a ceremony before. She doesn’t like breaking a streak.

                “We can wait together.” He says. She was silent. Then she sits down on the floor. He sits down next to her. He takes out his notebook. She wonders why. He looks at her curiously.

                “Did you have a homework in Math?” He asks.

                “Yeah. Why?” She replies.

                He clasps two hands together as if in prayer. His lips curve at the corners. “Can I?” He says.

                She rolls her eyes, but she opens up her bag. She searches for it. Nothing.

                “Aaaaggghhh.” She screams in frustration. “How much time left before the first period?”

                “15 minutes?” He bets.

                She grabs a paper and starts answering the problems. She’s good in math, at least. She hopes she can finish it in 15 minutes.

                “A little forgetful today, are we?” He says. She turns her back on him and hides her answer away.

                “Hey!” He complains. “I forgot my lunch too, you know.” He says.

 

 

#15

                The list comes up and she learns who’ll be her new classmates. She traces her fingers on the paper and finds her name.

                “We’re not in the same class now, then.” He says.

                “And why does that disappoint you?” She asks as she notices his tone.

                “No. The question is: why DOESN’T that disappoint you?” He says and slams his fist on his palm. “BAM!” 

5: Hiding, Weekends, Erasers, Texts, and Hospitals

#16

                 They were playing hide and seek. The teachers were out and they were given a three-hour period with no academic interruption. Though they didn’t limit the area for just their room alone, it was still hard to find a good hiding spot.

                She goes out in the back, where they were planting new flowers a week ago. She sees him there.

                “Hey. Find another hiding spot.” He says.

                “This place is so big. What is wrong with you?” She replies.

                “No, really. I’d get caught if you’re here because you easily get caught.”

                “What the hell? You’re annoying.”

                “You’re more annoying.”

                She rolls her eyes. She turns to her side and tries to leave.

                “No.” She hears him say. She was forced to glare at him. “If you leave now, you’ll get caught once you turn the corner.”

                “I remembered a good hiding spot over there.” She says.

                “No, really. If I get caught, it’ll be your fault.”

                “I don’t care if you get caught as long as I don’-“

                She doesn’t get to finish because he covers her mouth with his hand as they hear someone say “Ready or not, here I come.”

                He looks at her carefully and she looks back at him warily. They stay like that for minutes. His hand was covering her mouth until they heard running footsteps and indication of some other classmate being caught. She pulls out his hand and complains.

                “Your hand smells fishy.” She says.

                “Because that’s my breakfast.” He replies. “And I think you’ve gotten spit on my hand.” He tries to wipe it on her uniform, but she was dodging.

                “Ha!” They both look at the same time at their captor. Then they glared at each other.

“That’s for being noisy.” The captor said.

 

#17

                “Hey.” She sees him first in another weekend.

                “I thought you don’t like seeing me outside of school?” He asks.

                “This is different because a friend is with me today.” She says. He sees the friend behind her.

                “How is that any different?” He asks.

                She’s about to answer but she gets a call from her phone.

                “It’s a secret.” She says to the caller.

A pause.

“I’m hiding.” She says then hangs up.

                “Who’s that?”

                “My sister.”

 

#18

                She is one of the few left. The others had gone home. They were cleaning the room. She was wiping the board and she lacks in height. She doesn’t try to jump. She decides to leave it be. He comes inside the room and sees her on her toes. She hears him laugh and he grabs the eraser from her hands. He raises his hand easy and the top is cleared of white marks.

                A voice calls their attention. “You’re cleaning their board, not ours?”

                He grins at his friend and he leaves. She continues to wipe the board, though it was clean already. Her friend makes a sound from her back. She is forced to turn around and sees her with dust on her face and a rag on her hand. Her smile is evident.

                “Shut up.” She says before wiping the board for the third time.

 

#19

She is sick and has been absent for two days. She lies on her bed and she keeps a tissue ready by her side. She sneezes then stares blankly into space. The thought of getting admitted to the hospital comes. She hopes most of the time that she won’t. She gets a text message.

“You miss me, right?”

“That’s inappropriate. I think you’re the one who’s actually sick here.”

“Very funny. You should come back to school already because you miss me and so I can see you.”

“There seems to be something wrong with that sentence. And you’re texting at school. I’ll tell the teacher when I get back.”

                He tries to make a reply but the teacher was asking them to bring out their calculators.

 

#20

                She was sitting on the bed. There was a tube attached on her hand. The room was cold and suddenly the door bust open. He comes in but suddenly retreats back out when he sees her relatives inside. He comes back seconds later along with his companions.

                They were filling up the room with their noise. She wondered if the patients next door could hear them. It was 4 in the afternoon and they agreed to visit her at 3.

                “He was still in bath, that’s why.” One of the guys say.

                He ignores them. She ignores them.

                They continue to talk. Her relatives were listening to their words. After a while the room was bare except for her and her cousins and her sister.

                “Hey, do they tease you a lot with the boy in black?” Her cousin asks with a smile on his face.

                “You think?” She rolls her eyes and stuffs food in her mouth.

 

6: Lunchtimes, Ignoring, Practices, Disturbances , Diners (Again)

#21

It was lunchtime and he brings out a lunchbox for the first time.

                “Woah! Now that’s new!” She says after seeing it.

                “Shut up.” He says as he opens up his food.

                “I should stay in my seat this time.” She calls out to her friends in the back, who were already forming a circle. “This is such a rare moment to be passed.” She points at him.

                He ignores her and eats a spoonful. She stays beside him throughout the meal as she ate silently.

                “You’re boring and you eat too fast.” She comments as soon as he finishes his food.

                “No, you’re just slow.” He replies and waits for her to finish eating.

 

#22

                “How do you handle them?” She asks.

                They have discussions like this sometimes, and he finds it unnecessary but rather interesting, too.

                “Ignore ignore ignore.” He replies. “It’s not that hard when you know it isn’t true right?”

                “Yes. You’re right.” She replies and she smiles.

                He resorts back to reading.

 

#23

                He places one hand on her waist. She rests hers on his shoulders. Their free hands were attached. They are moving awkwardly.

                “Curse this PE.” He complains.

                “Curse how awful you are at this.” She says.

                “You two, there! Do it right or start over again!” They both sigh with annoyance as they look into each other. He keeps up with her pace.

 

#24

                “Do you think I’m annoying?” He asks.

                “I think most people here are annoying.” She replies.

                He ruffles her hair. It comes out as a mess.

                “Yes. You’re really annoying.”

 

#25

                He was eating with his family outside. The walls were glass and he sees her holding paper bags of clothes. He looks away before their eyes can meet. He hates it because the walls of that diner weren’t very appealing, and they were sitting directly near the glass, so he doesn’t have very much to look at. He was averting her gaze though.

                “Hey!” His sister snaps his head at her direction. “That’s your classmate over there-“

                “Yeah yeah I know and shut up.” He says. He eats a spoonful.

              “That’s my classmate over there, too.” She says because the cousin was her classmate. “Aren’t you going to say hi?”

                “No.” He says and sips on his coke. His eyes land on her and quickly escapes from it also. He looks at his sister.

                “If you’re gonna say hi to her cousin don’t you ever say stuff about me over here, alright?” He adds.

                “Yes. Calm down, lil bro. Why are you sweating?” His sister taunts.

                “I’m not sweating.” He replies fast.

7: Glances, Notebooks, Little Too's, Attires, and Dogs

#26

                He had friends and they were crazy. They were a bunch of kids just like him, and they were making a noise. The room was full of its constant costumers: chitchat. The two seats in front were empty. He was at the back; she was outside. She talks to her friends and her eyes don’t land on his. His does on hers.

 

#27

At noon he goes home. He leaves his classmates behind because he doesn’t bring lunch. He sits up and takes his bag with him. He doesn’t say goodbye to her. He goes through the door. When he comes back, she sleeps on her desk. His seat beside is occupied by her notebook. He picks it up and puts it over her head. The sensation wakes her up. Her head rises and she drops the notebook on the floor.

He doesn’t look at it and pretends he didn’t see the thing sprawled near his feet, but he was stifling a laugh. She eyes him and scoffs at him and picks up the object. He sits down and rests his chin on his hands. He hears a noise from his side. He ignores it, but he looks at her, anyway.

She was back to sleeping and she was a few inches farther from him. His lips does a little twitch, and he sticks his tongue out to her.

 

#28

                He was a little too early at that moment because they were assigned to clean their backyard garden. The flowers had bloomed well enough, at least, and the place was a little too quiet. She was sweeping the ground and he was holding the dust pan. He’d collect the leaves and he’d throw it in the sack.

                They were a little too early and it was a little too quiet. He starts to speak.

                “Your head was kind of heavy.”

                Her brows scrunch up for a moment, then they separate as her eyes grow wide. “I’m sorry, I was just too sleepy that time.”

                “Why’d you say sorry?” He replies, not looking at her, but rather on the leaves on the ground.

                She doesn’t answer because he was a little too serious and it was a little too unusual. So she swept again on the ground and it was once again a little too quiet.

 

#29

She wears a dress. He wears a tux. She doesn’t like how everyone else was excited for prom. He sneaks up behind her and says something.

“You look good in a dress.” He compliments.

“You too.” She replies.

“You mean in a tux?” He says.

“What do you think?” She replies slyly.

He grins.

 

#30

                She comes at his house along with a few others for research. She notices the dog walking past her legs. She wasn’t a fan of dogs, but this one is actually kind when she touches it. And it was calling for her attention anyway.

                “Your dog is cute. What happened to you?” She looks at him.

                He’s about to start a reply but then the dog barks at her. He laughs instead.

                “He actually thinks he gets that cuteness from me so he hates it when I get insulted.” He says cunningly.

                “So you’re saying you share your genes with a dog?”

                He raises a finger before answering. “That’s not what I meant.”

                The dog barked again at her.

                “Okay.” She holds her hands up. “I think he’s pretty much like you.” She snickers.

                “Coming from you, is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

                She laughs and doesn’t answer. The dog sits next to her as she typed on his laptop.

 

8: Recitations, Car Rides, Thoughts, Yearbook Pictures, and Victories

#31

                They were having an oral recitation. He was nervous as hell. He notices the teacher look at their direction. He forces a smile. He hears the teacher call out her name, and he watches her stand from beside him. He doesn’t look at her. The teacher tells a question. She answers it and gets it right.

                He’s told to answer next. He purses his lips as the teacher starts her question. It was one of those he had no idea of.  He thinks for a while, although he was sure he would not come to say anything correct. He hears her talk a faint word. He catches it, and it was familiar, despite the low voice. He was reading the terms after all, though he skipped their long definitions. Way to go for studying!

He speaks. The teacher lets him sit down.

                He looks at her. She doesn’t, so his head turns away.

                “Say thank you, you dork.” She says, though she was still not looking at him.

                He lets out a silent laugh before saying his “Thanks.”

 

#32

                They had to go somewhere because of research. Somewhere kind of far. She sits in his car. His father drives, and his mom is in the front seat. They were at the back and for some unknown reason, she was in the middle. A classmate was on her left; he was on her right. They were silent on the ride because they were tired. She was tired and her head was bobbing up and down in a cycle of sleep and wake. The girl on her right was already asleep and was resting her head on the window. She tries to stay awake but she can’t. She tries to sleep peacefully but there wasn’t someplace to steady her head.

He was still awake and he was resting his chin on his hands while looking through the glass. He gets bored and a little tired and leans back on his seat. Her head then drops on his shoulders. He tries to shake so she’ll wake up, but she won’t. He blushes and her head stays leaning on his shoulders until they got home.

She wakes up when the car stops. She notices her position and suddenly jerked to her side. He looks at her and he doesn’t say anything. He then opens up the door and he goes out. She follows. Her classmate wakes up as well.

                None of them talked about it for the next days, until one morning when they were both a little too early.

 

#33

                He ignores it: The way they associate her with him. The tone in their voice is that of how you tease people. How’d they get the idea anyway? They never get along too well. They rarely speak to each other.   She ignores him most of the time; he ignores her most of the time. They continue their false beliefs. She doesn’t like him, and he doesn’t like her, maybe, he thinks. He doesn’t say it out loud.

 

#34

                They were getting ready for the yearbook. It’s Picture Taking Day and the girls were combing their hair. The guys were doing nothing except talk about how the girls were putting too much effort on it.

                They were lining up. She notices the photographer was bored and was a bit fast. He flashes his camera. Snap. That’s it. You have a very short span before the next flash goes on. Snap. Done.

They put on the common toga as they sit. She smiles. Snap. And she’s done. She takes off the toga and hands it to the next. She hands it to him.

                She watches as he sits on the chair and smiles. She can’t help but laugh. He notices this but he ignores it while he’s in front of the camera. When his turn’s finished, he looks at her.

                “What?” She asks.

                “What?” He imitates her.

                “Is that actually face powder?”

                “Shut up.”  He says a little too defensively. He gets red for a moment. “We were just playing, and my face was sweaty and the camera had a flash and I’ve seen photos of people with sweaty faces and it’s like they reflect the amount of light and it just looks awful.”

                She covers his face with her palms, giggling.

 

#35

                The presentation was finally over. All the awkward practices had finally paid off.

                “Did we actually just win?” He says as they were walking back to their classroom.

                “I guess. And your hands were clammy. Why were they clammy?” She asks.

                “Because I was nervous, duh.”

                “You were so stiff.”

                “I was uncomfortable with the attire. And you stepped on my foot.”

                “The judges didn’t notice. And I was wearing heels!”

                “Yes and I was afraid you’d be taller than me. But you still stepped on my foot.”

                “Nobody noticed!”

                “You stepped on me like… thrice. The third one actually kinda hurt.”

                “So that’s why you suddenly jerked for a moment.”

                “You think?”

                “Sorry. But at least we won!” She flashes him a smile.    

9: Cows, Campaigns, Graduations Pictures, Phones, and Flowers

#36

                She twirls her hair and he twirls his pen.

                “Do cows ever lie down?” He asks out of nowhere.

                She looks at him weirdly before answering.

                “Of course they do.”

                “Do they?”

                “Yes. When they sleep. Or when they’re tired.”

                “Really? I thought they sleep standing up?”

                She laughs harder than she usually does.

 

#37

                She was running for a position. They were campaigning on each room and they were in front of his class now. He was sitting in the back and he was waiting for her turn to introduce herself. Before she speaks her name and her position, he yells a somewhat form of support which mostly contained the words “whooo” and “go” and a somewhat a modified pronunciation of her name.

The entire class looks at him before she starts her introduction.

 

#38

                It was their Graduation Ceremony. His hair was cut short now and it had a little style. He was now also taller than her. He awkwardly comes towards her.

                “Hey.” He says.

                “Hey.” She says.

                “Hey.” He says again.

                She looks at him and he looks at her back as if he’s forgotten how to speak.

                “Hey can we have a picture?” She says, a little too unlikely.

                “Yeah sure?” He agrees a little too fast.

                He calls up his sister, who eyes both of them teasingly.

                “Stop it and just snap.” He speaks to his sister.

                Both of them were actually smiling for that one.

 

#39

                “Let me borrow your phone for a while.” He says.

                “Why?” She inquires.

                “I need to text someone.”

                She doesn’t comment and gives him her phone. He takes a while but she ignores him. He hands it back to her after a few minutes.

                “Thanks.” Then he leaves.

                “Let me borrow your phone for a while.” Her friend says an hour later.

                “You need to text someone, too?” She says in advance. Her friend nods and she is handed the mobile device.

                “What happened to this?” Her friend says.

                She sees a picture of him obviously taken an hour ago as her wallpaper. She instantly grabs it and restores it to normal. “Darn him.”

                Her friend laughs.

 

#40

                She shows no mercy for the soil. Her sharp blade goes through it and the top is dismantled. She pulls out the ugly plant and is left with an even uglier hole. She works on her blade again, and she tries not to get her hands dirty. She grabs the new one to be planted from her side. She checks if the hole is good enough, then plops down the roots. She covers the hole up until the plant stands on its own. She frowns.

                “Unattractive flowers, don’t you think?” He says. She looks beside her and finds his uniform with blotches of brown.

                “Unattractive, yes.” She replies. “And your uniform too.”

                He looks down on his clothing. “Well, as long as I AM attractive-“

                “Ha!” She says before he can finish. She grabs a little dirt and aims it at his direction. He’s quick to stand up and shield with his palms. She laughs.

10: Returns, After-Visits, Visitors, First Days, and Studying

#41

                “That was fun.” He says. He hands back her ID card and she gives him his.

                “We’re lucky the guards don’t check the pictures.” She replies. “Good thing my classmates didn’t check on it, either.” She adds.

                “My friends have seen your picture hanging on my neck.” He says, rather too enthusiastically.

                “What the hell. And what did you tell them?”

                “I told them you asked me to swap IDs.”

                She hits him with the cord.

 

#42

                He sits at home on his laptop, like he usually does. Tomorrow is his birthday and tomorrow they have a retreat. His mom comes through the door and asks him something.

                “How was the visit in the hospital?”

                “She looks fine.” He says, eyes on his screen. “I don’t think she’ll be discharged tomorrow though.”

                Her mom doesn’t answer. He eyes her and sees her doing something in the kitchen. A few seconds later she hands him a plastic bag containing food. He purses his lips because though he doesn’t ask, he has an idea of what it was about. His house is near the hospital, and he can walk just fine.

                “You and your friends didn’t bring her something when you visited earlier, didn’t you?”

                “We did!”

                “Well, it’s your birthday tomorrow.”

                He doesn’t answer. He continues to play a game. It gets a little dark outside. He looks at the plastic bag. He goes out and doesn’t change his clothes. When he reaches the hospital, he stood outside the doors, quite unsure if he could really go back to seeing her without company. He sees her cousin. The cousin is a classmate of his sister. That cousin recognizes him too.

                “Hey.” The cousin says first.

                “Hey.” He replies. “Ah, this is for her.” He hands the food.

                “I think you should give it to her.”

                “I don’t really think so.” He replies.

                “I really do think so.” The cousin replies.

“I’m… kind of in a hurry.” He says, and smirks to himself after realizing it was a stupid comeback. If he was in a hurry, he wouldn’t have tried to walk from his house at all.

The cousin thankfully doesn’t push. Though there was a hint of something on his face: the thing he sees on most of his classmates. The cousin accepts the food and goes back inside.

                “Thanks.” The cousin says. “I’ll tell her you can’t come alone because you’re shy.”

                “Oh, please don’t.” He replies.

                The cousin laughs. “Just kidding.”

                He waits for a moment before leaving. He walks back to his home. When he arrives, he finds a text message.

                “Thanks.” She says. His hands lock on the keypad for a moment. He purses his lips and puts the phones down instead. He gets his things ready for the retreat.

 

#43

                There were visitors in his house. No, they were just waiting for his sister. They were invited to a debut, and her sister was still not ready. He was in his room.

                “Heeeeey.” His sister peaks in his room. “You’re classmate’s here, why don’t you come out?” She says teasingly.

                He doesn’t respond to her. A few minutes later, he gets hungry. He decides to come out. He sees her there in a simple white dress. Why was she there, anyway?

Well, the debutante’s little sister was her friend. So it isn’t much of a surprise.

But he was still surprised, anyway. Well, kind of. He doesn’t show it, though.

                “Why are you here?” He says, monotone on his voice.

                She doesn’t say anything but she looks at him cautiously. He looks away a little too fast and heads to the kitchen. When he goes back to his room, he doesn’t look at her direction. A few minutes later, her sister was ready. His father starts up the car so they will be taken to the party.

He becomes their assistant. They were in formal outfits and he was wearing shorts. He opens up the car door and they get inside. She was last to enter. They both don’t say anything as they get close. Before he closes the door, he looks at her for some time.

                Plain white dresses suit her, he thinks. But he doesn’t say it.

 

#44

                “How was your first day?” He asks as they sit by the stairs one late afternoon.

                “Neutral.” She replies.

                “I have a classmate I think you’ll like.” He says teasingly.

                “You don’t know my type.”

                “No. He’s pretty much like me. So I know you’ll like him… A lot”

                He is nudged by the shoulder, but he can feel her laugh.

               

#45

She watches him one afternoon. He was goofing off with his friends in the hallways, and she was sitting on the floor along with hers. They were studying. She was holding the periodic table of elements in her hand, and she was familiarizing it. A few seconds later, her friends had gone inside because they claim it was too noisy. It’s too hot inside, she comments.

`               He sits down quite far from her and doesn’t notice him until he speaks. “You look lonely.”

                “I’m not lonely.” She replies, and she looks at him for the first time.

                He doesn’t reply and his eyes focus on his own periodic table of elements.

11: After Meetings, Meetings, Texts (Again), Games, and Rains (Again)

#46

                “That was a rather tense meeting we had back there.” He says. They were sitting on the stairs and it was late afternoon. He remembers they were also talking one time like this, on the same location, on the very first day of the first year. “Why’d you trip, though?”

                “I don’t know. My shoe got stuck or something.” She replies.

                “How’d you handle all that teasing?” He asks.

                “Well. He says ignore ignore ignore.” She replies. “Though sometimes it is hard and I get pissed off, too. Well, good thing he spoke back today. I don’t think that’ll change anything though.”

                “Hmmm.” He says. “If we were classmates I would’ve seen so for myself.”  He grins.

 

#47

                They were having a meeting for the two sections. They were planning on the design for their t-shirt and it was a little too complicated. He was near the door and she was near the board. She was writing something while everybody else was arguing for the color. Her chalk snaps in two and she picks it up on the ground.

                The classes continue to decide about the color. She writes “white”, “blue”, “gray”, on the board. The others started voting and they were raising their hands. For some unknown reason she trips on something on the floor. She falls back but he catches her awkwardly on his seat.

                The moment was a little too tense and everybody started teasing her more with him. They were calling them names and both of them were ignoring it, like they always do. He finally speaks, though, this time.

                “Stop it, you guys. It’s not really like that….” He looks at her from his chair. “Right?”

                She nods her head slightly.

                The others didn’t quite believe him and some of them we’re still continuing to tease them.

Her head goes to the door and she sees him standing there. Their eyes meet and her brows arch.

                “Hey, hey, let’s continue this meeting already.” He says and everyone looks at him.

                “Jealous?” He hears somebody say.

“Haha. Very funny.” He replies with a smile because he doesn’t really get affected that much.

 

#48

                The room was still cold, though the number of people had dwindled down to a mere two. Her mom was sleeping on the couch, and she was watching the television. The reception was awful, so she turned her attention on her phone. She founds his text message.

                “Sorry I haven’t had the chance to come.” He says.

                “That’s quite alright. Didn’t really ask you too, anyway.” She replies with a tongue-out emoji at the end.

                “Could you come tomorrow, though? At the retreat?”

                “I hope so. Ugh I hate being admitted. I hope I’ll be discharged tomorrow morning, at least.”

                “You better be.”

 

#49

                “You don’t like me, do you?” He asks her one time. Both of their fingers are on the screen and they were playing against each other on Guitar Hero, or something like that.

                “I don’t actually don’t like you.” She says. “We are just not that close. Well, I think it’s because they are teaming me up with you, so that makes it hard for us to talk openly without being observed, don’t you think?”

                “That actually feels good to hear.” He says. He smiled for the first time that day.

                “Ha!” She says. “I won!”

                “Might have let my guard down for a bit there.” He smirks. “Rematch.”

 

#50

                It was 4 PM and they were dismissed of class. It was late in the afternoon and the sky was crying. He looks around him and his classmates were all too busy bringing out their umbrellas from their bags. He didn’t bring his own and hates himself for it. The people leave in pairs or in groups. He caught sight of her outside, staring at the expanse of dark clouds above. He wonders if she doesn’t have an umbrella too.

                He sees him approach her. He had no idea why he suddenly hides below the window.

                “Aren’t you going home yet?” He hears him say.

                “I’ll wait and hope this ends after a few minutes. Then I’ll go home.” She replies.

                “Don’t you have an umbrella?” He says.

                “I have.”

                “Then why aren’t you leaving?”

                “Because I hate getting my shoes wet.”

                “They’d still get wet even if the rain stops though.”

                “Not if I’m careful.”

                “This sky might not calm down for a while, I guess.”

                “I’ll just wait.”

                “It’ll get really dark-“

                “Why don’t you just go first? Don’t you have an umbrella?”

                “I have! Then you’ll be left here alone.”

There was a pause. Perhaps she was looking behind her. Most probably she was doing that, and he had no intentions of standing up or whatever. He wonders why he was somehow nervous of being found.

                “Fine.” She says.

He waits for the moment he thinks it’s safe to finally stand. He goes out the empty hallway and looks up. He goes to where she was standing a few minutes before. He holds out his hand to catch the rain. He sees her below, and he sees the image of him chase her and fit awkwardly under her umbrella.

                He purses his lips and hates himself for quite a lot of reasons.