Fourth Chapter: Special Kind of Friends

Eleanor woke up to her friend shouting, again. Apparently, shouting is now her friend's way of waking her up. She groaned and stretched her arms wide. Looking over at her window, she saw the sun was just about to rise.

'It's still so early. What's she up to now?' Eleanor thought to herself as she continued to ponder on every possibility possible.

"Okay, good. You're awake, now tell me!" Fiona excitedly said as she plopped down the couch.

"Tell what? There's nothing to tell," Eleanor told her friend diverting her gaze away, avoiding that seemingly glint on her friend's eye.

"Puh-lease! Do not ignore me Calynn! What happened yesterday? Did you guys kiss?" Her friend squealed.

With that, Eleanor became a flustered tomato. "No, Fiona! How did you come up with that kind of absurd idea? I swear, sometimes I feel like you're a cupid."

Fiona laughed and stood up. She whispered something to Eleanor that made her even more flustered than a person could ever do. If that's even possible. Eleanor could smack her friend jokingly and started chasing one another inside the house.

The two of them later ran out of breath and laughed hysterically. A couple of minutes passed, Fiona, spoke up,

"So, did you guys- "

Eleanor cut her off by throwing a pillow at her face, "No, Fiona!"

=== TIME SKIP ===

Both friends arrived at the school earlier than they thought they'd be. Fiona pushed the idea of finding Caelan since he's also an early bird. Eleanor agreed. For some reason, she really wanted to see Caelan. The reasons? No idea. Fiona has no trouble with this idea. Her friend just wants to see them end up together.

After a couple of rounds of roaming the school, they finally found Caelan. He's at the library, on one of the aisles, finding a particular book.

"Caelan! There you are! What are you doing here?" Fiona whisper-shouted.

"Oh, I'm finding this book my friend recommended me. The Red String of Fate? He said and I quote, 'you won't regret it, dude.'," Caelan said.

He saw Eleanor just behind Fiona, checking the books on the very same aisle. Fiona saw this and smirked. Then she said,

"So, have you found the book yet? And yeah, if you do mind me asking, who's this friend?"

Caelan looked at her then said skeptically, "Uhm, his name is Kenji. Er, Kenji Luther Harland. You know him?"

'Holy- 'Fiona cursed halfway.

'It can't be- '

Caelan could only look more skeptical than ever. He continued finding the book when Eleanor spoke up.

"Do you mean this book? It's kind of old- "

"Yeah, that book. Where'd you find it?" He asked, looking straight towards her emerald-like eyes.

Eleanor gave him the book and they all found a table together. Eleanor grabbed a book along the way. Fiona didn't. For her, she might end up falling asleep if she ever does read a single page of it.

Eleanor looked away once the eye contact was made and she coughed awkwardly. Fiona's currently enjoying this interaction. They all sat down and tried to be as quiet as they can be. Which is difficult because Fiona kept making hilarious faces.

"Fi, cut that out- "Eleanor managed to say as she tries to stifle her laugh as much as she could.

"What? I'm not doing anything to you. Right, Caelan?" She looked at Caelan and did another one of her funny faces.

"Y-Yeah. Pfft- Fiona did nothing, Elle." He said while grinning at Eleanor.

Not another second later, Caelan burst out laughing. They were all kicked out of the library. Eleanor crossed her arms in disbelief at what just happened to the three of them. She sighed as she looked over the two who are still laughing hysterically.

"How are you guys still laughing? It's honestly not that funny anymore…" Eleanor said, looking at them with a weird face.

Fiona then straightened up and suddenly became serious. Both Eleanor and Caelan looked at her with confused expressions. Even before Fiona gets to open her mouth to say why the two already knew and said it at the same time.

"WE'RE LATE!"

=== TIME SKIP ===

They ended up being late. The only thing that ended up being a good thing was that the three took the same class. So, it isn't all that embarrassing. Eleanor ended up being confused as hell because of the subject's Mathematics.

She always questioned why letters should be with numbers. Fiona would agree with her all the time. As for Caelan, well he's considered a 'math nerd.' So, whenever he'd look at Eleanor and see her eyebrows scrunch together, Caelan would teach her an easier way so that she could catch up, which Eleanor was grateful for.

That class ended an hour ago and are now heading back home. It's currently 3:54 PM, and they're all bored. As they all decided that they should go to the park, Fiona forgot something and had to go back. In the end, it's just Eleanor and Caelan.

Eleanor thought the silence between them was comforting yet not at the same time. Thankfully, Caelan spoke up and asked something that caught her off guard.

"Do you know something about the Red String of Fate?"

Eleanor looked at him, but he's looking somewhere else. She shook her head and said,

"No. W-Well, yes. Actually- "She stuttered upon her words. Mentally cursing the universe for this.

Caelan laughed at this and looked at her, gazes meeting once more. Eleanor was the first one to look away to hide her flustered state.

"It's okay if you don't want to tell me, you know? I'm not forcing you." He said to her with a genuine smile plastered on his face.

This caused to Eleanor become redder than a bright red tomato. She tried to compose herself and spoke properly,

"Yes, I do know. You see, I have this ability- "

Caelan looked like a confused little child, "Ability?"

"Yeah, ability. I get to see who's destined with who. To be frank, I get to see the Red String of Fate." She said as she sat down on a bench, admiring the simplistic view of the park.

As Eleanor took a moment to look at the park, Caelan sat down and thought about what Eleanor just said to him. He looked over at the park. There are children playing at the playground. Some are playing tag; others are either climbing up the ladder towards the slides or at one of the swings.

"So, does that mean you get to see who's my soulmate?" Caelan asked hopefully.

Eleanor looked at him and said, "Yeah I could- "

"Can you tell me who's mine? I-If it's okay with you…" Caelan cut her off. Now it's his turn to be flustered.

He looked away and scratched the back of his head. Eleanor found this amusing. She'd usually find this curiosity out of him, but not to such extent. She smiled and said,

"Yeah, sure. I don't mind… Just, don't tell others I have that kind of ability, promise?" Eleanor raised her pinky finger indicating a sign of promise.

Caelan looked at her and grinned. He held up his finger and made the promise.

"I promise! Now, tell me!" He said excitedly.

Eleanor tried to calm her nerves down. It's been a while since she did this. The ability to see the Red String of Fate is complex. Once you activate it, it'll be a really overwhelming experience. That's only the first 10 seconds, the rest is easy. Afterward, you focus on that specific person and locate their connection string. That's it. Deactivate it as early as you can or you'll get a migraine later on.

She did all of this while Caelan waited patiently. Anxious to you-have-no-idea how.

It took her a minute to realize who Caelan's string was connected to. She had a good guess about it. But she didn't expect that he already met his soulmate. Eleanor couldn't wrap around the thought. She deactivated it and looked at him.

Eleanor's expression seems to worry Caelan.

'Is there something wrong? Does she know who?' He curiously thought to himself.

"It's…Someone close to you." Eleanor said. She couldn't meet his eyes.

"Who? You'd tell me who they are." Caelan was frustrated. He expected more.

"I-I… Look, I can't really describe the person. All I know is that she's a friend of yours…" She spoke. Doing her best to look anywhere but Caelan.

He sighed and decided not to push further. Who knows what might happen if he did? Terror might reign down. All he knows is that this person is close to him. Plus, there are only 2 girls he'd met so far. Fiona and Eleanor. It can't be Fiona; she's seriously been making excuses this past few days to meet with this mysterious person.

Then, there's Eleanor. He looked at her. She's obviously trying to look anywhere but him. Why is she hiding it from him? Is she jealous? No. It can't be. They aren't even together. They're just friends.

Yeah. Friends.

'What am I to her? What is she to me? Agh! Why am I even thinking about this? We're just friends… Right?' He frustratingly thought to himself.

Caelan looked up at the sky and later on realized it's cloudy. He guessed that any minute now, rain's going to occur. They both decided to head home. After a mini-argument, which Caelan won, he gets to walk Eleanor home.

They arrived in front of Eleanor and Fiona's house.

"I guess, we'll talk again later? Over chat?" He half-grinned at her, to whom Eleanor smiled back at as a reply.

"Yeah, I guess. Talk to you later?" She told.

"Yep!" He chuckled and turned around, about to walk home. That very thought still lingered in his head.

As Eleanor was about to close the door, Caelan ran back. He stopped the door by his foot and asked,

"I'm sorry. Er, just one last question… What are we?" He asked.

Eleanor didn't expect this. She was trying to avoid his questions but, it seems like she could never escape from them.

"We're friends. We hang out and stuff. That's what friends do, right?" She replied.

For some reason, Caelan expected a different answer. "Just… Friends? Seems pretty boring. How about… Special friends?"

"Special friends?" Eleanor questioned. 'What does that mean?'

"Yeah! We're like friends, but not like any other friends! Sounds cool, right?" Caelan indirectly persuaded her.

"Sure, I guess. So, special kind of friends, then?" She asked to make sure.

"Mm. Special kind of friends. Er, that's all. Sorry again for that inconvenient question. I just want to make something certain. Anyhow, talk to you later!" He said as he walked off in a specific direction.

Eleanor waved goodbye and closed the door. That was weird. What does he mean by making something certain? Her thoughts are once again going a mile a minute. She rubbed her temple in frustration and tried to clear her head.

She went put her bag down to its respective place and changed her clothes onto some more comfortable ones. Eleanor laid down on her bed and hugged the pillow closest to her. With her annoying thoughts still bugging her, she slowly closed her eyelids. Still, that one thought was distinctive from any other else.

'What are we?'