Friends (2)

Morning came and Julian groggily opened his eyes as he groaned. He immediately sat up and ran to the bathroom. He took a quick shower then donned his uniform and backpack. He raced down the stairs and he met Nerida placing plates and bowls of rice on the table.

"Oh! Good morning, Julian. Isn't it too early for you to make haste?"

"I am not at home, so I can't just wake up at the time like before! I'm going to be late!"

"Okay, sandwich or rice?"

"Sandwich, please."

Nerida immediately gave him a pack of sandwiches in a lunchbox.

"I am actually relieved that I made sandwiches. Be careful out there, okay?"

"Thanks!" Then he ran outside.

He took the usual route he took yesterday and went to the ticket booth of the train station. He fell in line and when the train arrived, he sat down and realized that he was indeed too early since there were only a few people in the train. Then, he took out his lunchbox and ate his breakfast.

This was an opportunity since he still hadn't done his homework yesterday. He might swing into the library before class. Once he arrived in the deserted school, it was kind of lonely, but it felt refreshing to be this early for a change. The library was usually open at four a.m since the librarian was always early to check whether all the books were in place. When he opened the library door, he greeted Missus Ashia with a smile then settled his bag on a desk before looking for an arithmetic and biology book.

"Why are you so early today?" Ashia asked as she took a few books out of the shelves and onto the trolley.

"Well… I forgot to do my homework."

"Then you should hurry along. You only have two hours before classes start."

"Thank you, Missus Ashia."

"My pleasure," she said, then went to get her work done.

Julian sat down and opened his bag to get his notebooks and immediately went to work. When he finally finished his homework, he took a look around and saw a few students loitering in the library. However, in his periphery, he noticed a girl that was looking at him with a book to cover her face. He turned to look at her and she hid from him.

Tilting his head, he muttered, "Weird."

Then, the bell rang. It signified that there were only five minutes left before the classes start.

***

It was finally lunch break. Julian stretched his body with a groan then put his head on his table. He was too tired to even think.

"Hey, early bird," Aaron called with a sneer. "You left us in a hurry, eh? Did you meet with a girl?"

"No… I only did my homework…. Spare me, I can't think properly right now."

"Must be hard to solve those problems all by yourself."

"Mhm…."

"Then, the lectures were too much to handle?"

"Not exactly… they are bearable."

"What?! I thought you were in leagues with me! How dare you betray me?!"

"Shut up…. Let me sleep…."

"You can't sleep on me, dude!" Aaron said as he shook the half-conscious Julian.

"Yeah… ye… zzzzzz."

"...."

"Aaron is an idiot… zzzzzz."

"You…!" Aaron fumed as he shook Julian more violently.

"Urk… I think I'm having motion sickness…," Julian mumbled with his eyes still closed.

"Hey, Nerida is here," Aaron suddenly muttered.

Julian immediately opened his eyes and looked at the two doors of the classroom. He didn't see anything that resembled Nerida at all. Ah… besides, she couldn't leave the vicinity of the cabin unless it was necessary. He glared at Aaron and the latter just gave him a beaming smile.

"So, did you meet with a girl?"

"Why are you asking me that?" Julian said in exasperation.

"You left us in a hurry, duh. What else is there?"

"... I just did my homework in the library."

"And met with a girl?"

"As I said, I didn't meet with anyone! Especially a girl! I only did my homework!"

"... heeeeh. Okay then," with that, Aaron retreated with a grin then left the room leisurely.

Julian smacked his forehead then took out a lunchbox. It was half-filled with sandwiches with fillings that were heavy on the stomach. He grumbled as he took a big bite off the meat sandwich. He could strongly taste the raw onion and the sauce that Nerida probably made. When he was munching and watching the sky from the window, someone took his side but he didn't pay it any attention. However, when the classroom went rowdy, he looked back and saw his classmates looking at him. He tilted his head then turned to look at his side. He stepped back in surprise when he saw that it was a girl. Moreover… She was that girl that was looking at him and hid behind a book.

"Uh… hello?"

"Yes… hello. Uhm… Julian, right?" The girl asked for a confirmation as she swept back her light brown hair.

".... yes. Who are you?"

"I am... Aela Berkley."

"... hello, Miss Berkley. Why are you here?"

"You… you left this at the library," she said as she handed over a mechanical pencil that had a name tag stuck on it.

"Woah! I thought I lost it. Thank you, Miss Berkley."

"Uhm… Aela is fine...," she said as her cheeks turned a soft shade of pink. She… was quite charming, he had to admit. Plus, her timid nature made it more endearing.

"I- I can't do that! We just met!"

"You're very kind," she said with a shy smile.

".... thank you…."

"Are you... going to… ah... come to the library more often now?"

"I don't really know. But if I ever forgot to do my homework again, or came to school early, then I might. Why?"

"Well… it's nothing…. Never mind me…. Thank you," Aela said with a bow then quickly left the classroom.

"A weird girl, alright," Julian mumbled as he took a last bite on his sandwich. When the bell rang twice, Julian made a beeline towards his seat and put his lunchbox in his bag before the teacher came in.

***

Julian came back to the cabin with the rest of his friends and Nerida welcomed them warmly. They ate beef stew with root vegetables partnered with white rice and miso soup. They also had baked chocolate cookies as desserts. Nerida said that she only brought it fresh from the city. The city was only a mountain away, and there was a public transportation.

"I'm going to check on Liam," Julian said as he finished washing the dishes and pots.

"Oh, Liam is asleep right now. He just drank his medicine. Also, I heard from Aaron that you forgot to do your homework yesterday, so you had to go to the library this morning."

"Yeah… it was my blunder…."

"Don't worry, I can take care of Liam when you're doing your homework. Oh, and I also made someone buy a laptop for your use. It's already in your room upstairs."

"What?! Wait, no!"

"Yes? What do you mean? My friend paid it all. She also got someone to install Wi-Fi here, so you don't have to worry. It'll make your homework easier too."

"... I mean, wait! What? Why? I am the one who is intruding here, and you bought me a laptop and even installed Wi-Fi here?"

"Well… I am also going to stay here for a long time, so I also need the Wi-Fi for my work."

"... you have work? Aren't you like… fourteen?"

"..."

When Julian didn't get an answer from Nerida, he sighed then nodded.

"I understand. If you are ready to tell me, you can tell me anytime. I will just check up on Liam."

"Okay," Nerida said as she dried off the wet dishes and put them in the cabinets.

Julian smiled then went over to Liam's room. He saw the man lying down with bandages and casts. It seemed like Nerida took great care of Liam. He was quite proud. Now, he was determined to do his homework and take care of Liam at night. His classes start at eight and ends at two in the afternoon, he alloted a lot of time for Liam's care since Nerida was already so busy studying, taking care of the cabin, taking care of them, and also, from what he just heard, working. He couldn't help but think that she was amazing. Working at the age of fourteen? That was the first time he had heard of it. He also wanted to work, but nobody would really accept a fifteen-year-old.

"Hnngh…."

Julian snapped out of his thoughts when Liam groaned in pain. He hurriedly put his hand on Liam's forehead to check for his temperature. When he could feel how warm he was, warmer than usual that was, he went to the kitchen and took ice cubes from the freezer into a vinyl bag. He wrapped it with a towel and then went back to Liam's room. He gently settled the bag on the patient's forehead and kept the room temperature high.

"Julian? What happened? Does Liam have a fever again?" Nerida asked from the doorway.

"Yeah… it's only a slight fever, but I can't ignore it, so I took measures."

"I'll go get the cold medicine."

"Okay, thank you," Julian said and smiled.

When Nerida came back with the medicine and a glass of warm water, she sat down beside Julian.

"So, how was your day?"

"It went pretty well… though… when I thought I lost my mechanical pencil, a girl gave it back to me."

"That's interesting. What did she say?"

"Well….. she asked me if I will come to the library often, and I said that I might."

Nerida grinned at him and Julian's eye twitched.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Weeell, I don't know~"

"What?! Tell me!"

"Shush! Liam is sleeping," Nerida scolded quietly.

"!!!"