School

"Ah, sh*t. The more I think about it, the more I don't want to leave." Helia wined and jumped on her bed.

"You have to." Her best sat next to her calmly.

The girl buried her head in the pillow and replied, "I know. You don't have to remind me."

Seeing her like that, Vesper chuckled. He was going to miss it but not for long. "Most of your stuff's already there, right?"

"Yep." The girl lay on her back and stared at her ceiling. "In ten days... In ten days, Ves. I'll be out of here and going to live on the other side. Ah, dumb b*tch." She cursed for no reason.

"Don't sound so negative. Who knows maybe you'll like it there?"

The girl sat up and looked at him while raising her brow. "Since last year, I looked up tons of things. That country is said to be racist, bro. They said that black people and white people are treated slightly different in a bad way. And those bullying things in high school. I sure am hopeless."

"Have hopes! Anything happens, you call me. I'm always available."

"Aww, thanks. I think I'm going to be calling you daily." She laughed it off and lay back on her bed. "Thanks for learning the language with me."

"No problem. I was also curious." Ever since they found out about moving to another country, Vesper helped Helia learn the language together so that it will be easier for her. The one who was leaving was Helia, yet Vesper was better at it.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were also moving? You thought I was so full of myself that I had no time for you?" The girl rolled again and lay on her stomach once again. She supported her diamond-shaped face with her hands as she put her elbows on the bed. Her legs were wiggling in that position as she looked at him.

"I just wasn't sure. It's a scholarship, afterall. It's not like I have control over it." Vesper picked up his bag from the floor and looked for candies. When he found it, he handed one to Helia.

"Thanks. Even though you are not sure if you got it, why can't you tell me where you are going? I don't keep secrets from you. Or you think that because I'm not going to be around, it's okay to leave me out of it then?"

"Stop accusing me, Helia. I have told you numerous times you guess." The boy threw the candy wrappers in the dustbin near the door. It entered.

"You know I suck at guessing."

The boy glanced at her and said, "That's not my problem."

Helia placed her hand over her heart and looked at him in disbelief. "Cold-hearted. I am deeply hurt and rejected."

"Yeah, right." He knew his friend was just joking so he let her be.

"Mean." The girl muttered and went back to lying on the bed.

"Kids! Lunch is ready!!" Mare shouted from downstairs. Neo was out on the last business trip before heading out of the country. When his boss heard that his family was going to move, the boss decided to give him a new position in the branch there. Hence, he needn't worry about getting a new job.

"Coming!" Helia shouted back and lazily rolled off the bed. "Let's go."

"Alright."

-----

"Vesper, are you really sure that you can live there alone?" Aura asked her son at the dining table as they ate supper.

"Mum, it's not like I'm going to be alone, alone. I'm going to live in a dorm. You don't need to worry about security or anything. I'll be fine." He stuffed the cubed meat into his mouth. From the shape of the vegetables on his plate, he knew his father cooked them.

"I want to believe that, hon. But I've never been there, neither your father." Cillian nodded from the side.

The son drank a cup of water and replied, "The school said that it is completely safe. I can read, write and speak the language, so I won't get in danger."

"You are so sure that you want to stay with her, huh?" The father smirked and finished his spaghetti.

"Yes." The boy didn't even blush when he said that.

'That's sweet.' The mother thought in her mind and continued eating. She couldn't help but think about the kids' future. They were like siblings, but more than that. They acted as if they'd die if they were separated. But they didn't love each other romantically. No secrets between them, and they shared everything. Weird but a loving relationship.

"Neo called earlier and told me they have safely arrived country j."

Aura smiled as she kept the fork down, "That's great! But weren't they supposed to arrive around ten or something? Was there flight delayed?"

"Let me call Helia and ask her." Vesper swallowed down the rest of the dish on his plate but was stopped by his father.

"It's like three am there. Call her tomorrow." The son didn't look too happy about that but nonetheless agreed and went to his room.

The first thing Vesper did after activating his computer was to go through his email, again. He had been waiting for the mail of his scholarship for over two months. They said that he was accepted, but they hadn't told him to come yet.

"Why isn't it here?" He refreshed the inbox again and again, but the message didn't come. Was his scholarship cancelled, or did sh*t happen? Guess he needed to wait again.

"Aish." He then lay on his bed. He missed talking to Helia already. She was one of the few people he could let inside his heart.

Vesper was lying on the bed, but he remembered that he hadn't showered, so he went to bathe. While he showered, the laptop that was left open made a little noise like a bell, and there came a notification of a new email.

When the boy came out of the shower, the computer had gone to sleep. He didn't think of checking out his inbox again, so he left the laptop untouched. He dressed into his pyjamas, brushed his teeth and lay on the bed to read a book. The book was written in a new language he learnt and he wanted to get better at it.

"Goodnight, Vesper."

"Goodnight." Aura and Cillian wished him from the hallway.

"Good night." He wished them back. He read the book until the clock hit eleven and finally got into bed for rest. He didn't realise that he was very tired and slept immediately wrapped in warmth. Just minutes later, his phone showed a call, but he wasn't aware since he put it on silent mode.

-----

'I guess I was too late. He's probably asleep.' The girl stopped the call and leaned on the door flame of her new room. She was going to sleep in futons and in a traditional washitsu. Maybe to not give her stress, they gave her the room connected to the garden. She could hardly hear the sound of cars and man-made things from there. Instead, she heard the wind and insects singing.

"Helia, go to sleep. We'll arrange everything in the morning." Mare came in through the open door that connected to the hallway.

"I'm nervous. I dont think I'll get any sleep tonight." The room was dark, but the moon was bright. They didn't need light to see eachother.

"Okay, then. Your dad and I are sleeping. You know where the toilet is. Good night."

" 'Night." Helia looked back outside. For the next two weeks, she had to prepare for the new lifestyle. Getting adjusted to the time, normalising the lifestyle and stuff. "I can't believe I have to wear uniforms to high school."

The day after tomorrow was the day to measure sizes for her uniforms. She had looked up what kind of school uniforms she was going to wear and found out that girls are supposed to wear skirts. 'Excuse me, but what the eff?!'

Maybe when she was a child, she liked wearing skirts because it was easy in the toilet but not anymore. The free space in the thighs when wearing a skirt was an uncomfortable feeling. She felt insecure.

And so she wanted to wear a pair of leggings or tights, but that wasn't even allowed because if their legs were warm, they won't be able to concentrate. Like what kind of bullsh*t were they spitting. The people who made this rule just wanted to see the girl's legs. Perverts.

"I already wanna go back." The girl wined in a whisper and lay flat on the tatami like a dead fly. "Why am I even here?" That was a rhetorical question. She knew she had grandparents living here and wanted to spend time with her.

She had no problem with that. She understood their feelings, but they didn't consider her feelings. Who in the world would be happy if they were moved to another country and started a new life out of nowhere just because they were told to? Definitely not her.

Helia swung her arms and legs on the tatami. The tatami was very cozy against her skin. Also, the smell of it was something new but not bad.

After she thought for some time, she decided just to play games on the phone that was at thirty per cent. She'll play with them until the phone ran out of battery.

-----

The next time Vesper checked the email was a week after Helia left. He was already giving up on the hope of getting a scholarship. The local high school had already started, and he felt left out that he was the only kid in the area apart from Helia to not go to that school.

Vesper was studying on his own when he felt like he needed to check his email, so when he did, he almost jumped out of his chair. There it was, the mail from the school he applied to.

The boy excitedly opened the mail, but as he read, his smile vanished and was replaced with a confused anger. Apparently, some idiots began a fire in the dorm for stupid TikTok when the curtain caught the fire unintentionally and spread the fire to the entire dorm. The school needed to repair the dorms, and it will take them about six months. So the school offered him an online course until the dorm was repaired.

Vesper couldn't do anything but agree to that. What can he do? He was planning to live in the dorms. Even if he went there now, he would just be homeless.

After he informed his parents about the current school condition, he came back to his room to read the email again. It wasn't the school's fault, so he knew it wasn't right to be angry at them. He was just so frustrated.

"I guess I won't be meeting Helia anytime soon..."