"Hi," I say. I turn to her immediately; Cara.
"Hey," She says.
"Wassup," I continue, starting to smile.
"Nothing much- but I noticed you're not looking all that happy right now. Are you okay?" She says. I quickly imagine myself blushing cartoonishly saying something corny like "You- noticed?" I shrug it off.
"Um- kinda," I say.
"Alright! You can text me if you're feeling a bit down." She smiles at me and walks away.
"Okay!" I say back to her. We both look at each other from across the room. My mood lightens, almost magically. The bad thoughts run away from me. I contemplate telling her. Telling her now is so- fake. You're already over it; telling her now is just throwing it on her for no reason. I think. After a while of thinking, I muster up the courage to walk to the back of the room and try to squeak out something from my mouth.
"Can I actually talk to you about something?" I ask.
"Sure," She says. I take a pause. Maybe twenty or thirty seconds.
"Take your time," She consoles.
"So, basically I'm dating this girl but I like this -other girl and today at math we got new seats and I talked to some girl and I think I might like her? I don't really know." I say all in a single breath, hoping no one would hear. I kind of try to hold back tears but I let them fall.
"Oh, really?" I feel her glare looking down on me.
"Just follow your heart. If you really don't want to be with someone, break up with them. I'm sure they wouldn't be offended." She says.
"Thanks." I exhale sharply and relaxed.
"Don't stress out, Aline." She says.
"I won't." I say and smirk childishly. We both start to laugh.
"You've been acting so depressed lately. Please chill out." She says, continuing to laugh.
"Alright. Thanks! This class is about to end now so I have to get ready with all my stuff."
"Me too- and just remember. Text me whenever something like this happens." She says, starting to gather her stuff. I nod adamantly and walk back to my seat doing the same.
My mood becomes amazing afterwards; like all the skies cleared after the storm. I grinned as the bell rang and I raced out the door. Nothing could ruin today. If I lost everything in the world, this smile would still never leave my face. I grabbed my bag and sprinted out the door, laughing at my sheer happiness. Not even Liem's excessive bullying could ruin today. I joked with myself. The sad talk oddly took me by storm; a storm of laughter and joy unlike any other. Soon enough I pinpointed the cause. My shoulders rolled back a bit and that bit was enough to send me into this coma of relief.
I tossed myself into the bus, still with an ever growing grin. If just spreading it to one other person feels this good, I should definitely tell Akako! The relief will be worth more than diamonds! I thought, grinning uncontrollably. The back of my head finds a way to strike back by asking me Are you using Akako just to feel happy? I brush it off much easier than I normally would.
"Why are you so happy?" Liem said, not cracking a smile.
"Nothin' of note," I respond as I slunk into the seat next to him. The bus ride was quiet, but I could thrive off that joy so long that I could have been stuck in that bus for a month before my thoughts grew a hint of negativity.
That day was sensational just like the Friday before it. It seemed as if my life could be looking up like a rise in a roller coaster. That day, I bolted home and immediately checked my messages to see if Cara texted. To my great luck, she had replied to something I sent yesterday. I smirk heavier and type a tiny response basically apologizing for what happened. A few seconds later, she responds saying "its fine." I responded immediately.
its fine
alright
you can talk to me about that stuff idc
o ok thx
np
We continue to chat as my room starts to turn around. Turns into a haven private to me and whoever else I would like to add, this time being Cara. I grin eagerly as I wait for her response every time.
When she sadly has to leave, I say bye and close my computer. I lay on my bed like how people do in movies; with their arms formed into a rhombus shape behind their head. I continue to grin. The sun feels aligned over my skin, blasting out from the window. My body feels the closest it's ever been to drifting out of itself.
After the heavenly day, another started. I bounced to the bus stop and went to school, trying to not say anything weird as to give Liem something to laugh at me about. As I go to school, I walk around trying to find Sam. Sam was one of the people I used to sit with in math. As I continue to search for his obnoxious yellow jacket, I spot him with some of his other friends. I swiftly walk over to him and tap him on the head. He doesn't feel it.
"Dude!" I yell. He continues to exchange jokes with his friends.
"Sam!" I scream out, stepping into the circle of his friends.
"Bro I didn't even see you! What's up, my boy!" He says.
"Nothing much. Just started grinding that game you told me to play." I say.
"Really?! What level?" He asks.
"Thirty-four." I say, excited.
"Only? On my first day, I was level sixty-something." He responds.
I sigh.
"Dude, you literally have no life. You keep grinding all day. I have work to do." I whine.
"Says you! All you do is sing all day and get no listens!" He remarks.
"Ugh." I say.
"At least-" I continue but I stop suddenly. He goes back to talking with his friends.
"Sam!" I try to snap him back to me.
"What?!" He yells.
"I got golden armor in the game- a-and the emerald armor I think." I pause to look at him.
"I also got the Crimson Axe from the boss battle, too- I think." I say.
"That's trash!" He yells.
"I started yesterday!" I say.
"Bro, I started a month ago and I'm level nine-hundred!" He shouts as he runs away from me. I sigh. It's not out of the ordinary that he'll do that. Usually it's all in good fun, though. I reluctantly chase him around the front of the school building. As I run around for a while and get tired, I sloppily try to continue running. However, to my surprise, he stops right before me. Also right before me was a yellow stand that says caution. I couldn't read the rest because I skid over the wet tile, slammed into Sam's shoes and fell sideways into the hard concrete pavement. I look up to check the commotion I had caused. Surprisingly, it wasn't much. Sam almost plummeted into a teacher in front of him. That's probably the teacher who stopped him. I consider it.
"Dude!" He screeches.
"Sorry!" I say, jumping up from the ground and trying to get a better view of the situation. Sam looked perfectly fine if not a little pissed, but that was the worst.
"Why'd you hit me?" He asks me.
"Sorry dude," I say, feeling like an elementary-schooler giving their report card to their parents. He looks at me with this annoying face. His eyebrows twisted downwards, almost pressing against eyes. His mouth is a slit in his face looking all confused.
"Dude!" He says. He storms off into the building because, unbenounced to me, the bell already rang a minute ago. I see him change expressions immediately to his regular mischievous face as he goes back to blabbering to his friends.
After the painstaking school day goes half by, lunch comes. Today, I don't go to my normal table with Liem. At least, not for long. I walk to the table to say that I'm sitting with Sam today. He understands and I strut over to his table. Not many people are there. Just a few people arguing and then Sam sitting there, eating a sandwich.
"Sup," I ask.
"Nothin'" He responds. He doesn't seem to be stoked to be near me. He doesn't seem mad though. Man, what'd I do?
"Wanna play that game after school?" I ask. His eyes perk up towards me. He shrugs eagerly. It's pretty obvious he wants to.
"Oh yeah! How much did you get on the test?" He asks.
"The social studies one?" I ask.
"Yeah," He says.
"Ninety-six." I say.
"You're a failure!" He replies jokingly.
"How much did you get?" I ask.
"One-hundred." He responds.
"Really? So many people did terribly on the test! I'm talking -like eighties- seventies." I say.
"Then they're all failures!" He continues to joke, laughing friendlily. I laugh alongside him. Sam has always been great at social studies. One-hundreds across the board and I've never seen or heard of him ever studying. He's always been kinda proud of it too.
"So, dude, when do I have to reach level one-thousand?- on the game?" I ask.
"Tomorrow." He says.
"What!?" I yell.
"I'm just joking," He says, gesturing to me to relax.
"Probably in a month or so." He continues.
"Ugh- fine." There's silence for a while. I eagerly try and think of what to talk about.
"Dude, I'm bored. C'mon! Talk about something with me!" He says impatiently.
"I don't know, dude! Nothing's happening." I say.
"Oh wait! There was that math test a few days ago! What'd you get on that?" I ask.
"Oh-I uhhh- I didn't get it back." He says, pausing to think.
"-But, it was online, man. It was checked immediately." I respond, confused.
"Oh! I guess I hit the wrong button." He responds. Man, he probably got a great grade! I got an eighty-eight. He probably got an one-hundred like always- and that social studies test, too.