"Wait up," Leira stopped and went straight to the board. Her hand reached straight to one of the photos.
"Who's that, Leira? Do you know that girl?" Dennise asked.
But, Leira shook her head and pressed her forehead with her fingers.
"Are you okay?" Ella asked. Something was odd in the way Leira acted, and that made her worried.
Leira looked back again in the photo of the girl she just pointed to, and more creases came out from her forehead together with the veins that started bulging out.
Her eyes squinted more as her eyebrows met in confusion. She doesn't know why but the girl really looked familiar to her. She turned around and tilted her head with her tongue out while trying to point somewhere in the air. She was tried to make out her best with her memory to remember the girl in the photo.
Something in her head kept telling her that she had seen that girl somewhere, and she knew what happened to her. However, everything was so vague, and she couldn't even pinpoint what way, how, and why she was thinking like that because part of her said that she didn't know that girl.
"Leira, what are you thinking? Are you going to tell us something, or you're just fooling around? Because if that's the case, I am too tired, and my entire body is throbbing to play a game like that." Dennise rolled her eyes while she slouched with exhaustion.
"Sorry, I just thought that I had seen that girl. Yet, I don't know how or when. Everything just seemed too vague. Anyway, let's just go." Leira turned around as she gave up on trying to remind herself again about the girl.
However, Ella was quite suspicious about how Leira reacted. She possibly believed Leira. And she thought that maybe she really knew the girl, but she just forgot. So before she followed them, she stayed for a moment, trying to check and remember the girl that Leira pointed to.
"Haylana Aziz '' Ella muttered as she glanced at the wall before she ambled to the car, following the rest of the girls.
*****
While on the bus, Ella can't help but stay in deep thought while staring at the faded sidewalk. There's so much to see at the side of the road in the scorching hot morning as the bus sweeps past it.
Diverging with its gradual transformation from the dusty road and tall building in the progressive city to the colder breeze and natural scent of the pine trees, a sidewalk from the shade of the city of white, black, and gray, to the vibrant colors of the valleys of vegetation and trees. The transition, of the view that she was excited to see every time she traveled to and fro her hometown.
Yet, that day all she saw was a dark space and crumpled thoughts in her mind and the image of the girl on the wall of a missing person.
"Ella, Ella"
She even forgot that beside her was her boyfriend Dane, who had been trying to catch her attention. However, she never heard even a single word that he said long enough that he started to shake her body just to wake up from being in a trance state of mind.
She felt Dane's hands on her shoulder, making her startled. She took a deep breath putting herself back to the present, and tried to give her attention to Dane.
"Hey, what's on your mind? You look too worried." Dane brushed her thumb to Ella's cheek, trying to comfort her. He may not have any idea what she was thinking, but she always knew that he was just there to support her.
"Ella shook her head, even though she wanted to let out what's bothering her. Yet, she's not sure if sharing it with Dane was a good idea. Especially what made her mind busy was being worried about something that happened to the University. If Dane can sense danger or simply anything that can cause him to worry, he might make me stop studying. Since I know him, even though I know how supportive he was, he was also the most protective boyfriend people could ever imagine.
In fact, he was even forced to go with her to visit her mom in the province, even if it would mean for him to be absent from work. Knowing that he had been aiming for a promotion and that vacation can actually make a mess in his record.
But, Dane was far from being convinced just by the way he looked at her. He glanced away from Ella, looking upset.
Ella knew it, and she could feel what Dane felt at the moment. She knew what he was thinking. However, she won't try to talk it over to him. She doesn't want to explain to Dane because if ever she will start to open the topic, she might not stop herself from telling Dane the truth, and for sure, after that, it would be hard for her to defend herself in going back to the University and continue her study.
Dane had been her boyfriend since high school. They studied grade school and high school together and even applied to the factory together right after high school.
Yet Dane was only contented with his life in the factory, and Ella was not and never will. Ella wanted to finish University. She didn't want to stay and will be working in the factory until her hair turns white.
It took her a long time to convince Dane that they needed to continue their study until Dane finally gave up on Ella's standpoint. However, he only agreed to let Ella study but not the two of them. Since then, he has been very supportive of Ella, and she doesn't want to change that just because of her worries about the grapevines that are spreading in the University.
That made her decide to keep everything from Dane, except her joining the sorority. Since he knew that Ella would only be in an all-girls club, he felt safer with those thoughts than being in other general clubs at all.