26th July

Ayo, what's good?

So I know it's a Tuesday and everyone's really psyched up about going to school, but hear me out… Yeah, I ain't got much to say.

Woke up with half my body already hanging off the side of the bed. I tried to move and immediately dropped onto the ground.

"Ouch," I said, my voice muffled by the pillow that fell on top of me.

I tossed the pillow over the bed hoping it didn't hit anything I didn't want it to hit. Luckily for me, it landed in the middle of my bed, so all's well that ends well. Yet, I noticed something odd about myself.

Hey, ever wonder what a silent musical will be like?

I mean, it's that type of musical where there's literally only background music and nothing else. Not really silent, but none of the actors talk. It's like Tom and Jerry, except there are humans on stage.

After my whole routine or whatever, I left my room to witness a sight.

Yes, truly one of the sights of all time.

Fable was up early. Shocking, I know.

"What's up?" I asked right after I stepped out of my room. "Nothing like waking up early in the morning, huh?"

He was seated at the dining table with a mug of coffee in hand. He dragged his hand across his face and let out a tired groan. He pointed at me, looking a mix of tired and pissed off. "Okay, but why are you awake this early then?"

I put a finger to my lips. "Secret~"

He rolled his eyes before taking another sip from the mug of coffee.

"So what got you waking up so early?" I asked him.

"Mom told me to wake up early so she could drive the both of us to school together," He grumbled. "Since when did you take the car?"

"She's worried about me getting lost, stabbed and kidnapped on my way to school," I explained with a grin. "Maybe one of the above or all three, we'll never know."

He continued scrolling through his phone.

"Why don't you just take the bus at a later time then?" I asked him. "I mean, if you're gonna be so grumpy about waking up early, you could have still slept longer."

There was some hesitation.

I closed in on him, asking, "Wait, don't tell me you never thought of this."

"Of course, I've thought of that," He rolled his eyes. "I'm not an idiot."

"I beg to differ."

I laughed and sat across from him, resting my elbow on the table and my chin on my palm. I raised an eyebrow in his direction, asking him, "So what's been going on, hm? You can tell your older sis anything!"

"None of your business…" He mumbled, looking away.

I leaned closer to him, putting a hand to my ear. "Huh? Can't hear you."

"Nothing's going on," He told me, pushing my head away. "God, both you and Mom love sticking your heads into my business."

He looked at his phone, but instead of actually concentrating on it, he seemed to be swiping through it in a rush. I wonder why that's the case.

"What can I say?" I leaned back with a wide smile. "Great minds think alike."

I tapped the table while looking at Fable swipe through his phone. My Mom sure was taking a long time to get ready, huh? Wonder what I could do to dig out more information from Fable. I refuse to believe he decided to wake up early just because I was waking up early. That's unbelievable.

"How's Yin been doing?" I asked for fun.

He very visibly flinched.

"Didn't you meet her on Sunday?" Fable asked, looking up.

Why so nervous?

"I mean, I did," I confirmed. "But you never know what might have changed in one and a half days."

"I… I told her about Lindy…" Fable sighed, avoiding eye contact with me. "She was asking me about some of the rumours she heard."

"Who's Lindy?"

What? I genuinely don't know!

"My ex… the one that… y'know," He replied, his voice getting softer and softer.

Ohhhhhhh!

"Oh, I remember that one," I agreed.

"Well, Yin was kinda shocked at first," Fable elaborated. "She said she needed some time to think things through. Asked me to go to school early to talk things out."

"That's very mature of her," I commented.

He took the last swing from his coffee cup.

"Don't you dare tell Mom about this!" He warned.

"I won't, I won't," I assured him. "Maybe."

Perfect timing! My Mom's here and ready to bring the both of us to school. She looked dressed for work even though she didn't need to be. She took one glance at the clock before panicking slightly, "Did I take too long to get ready?"

"The clock's ten minutes fast," I told her.

"Is it?" She pulled her phone out to check.

"Nope."

She faked throwing the phone at me, which I also pretended to block. We got ready and went down to get ourselves acquainted with the car. Wait, 'acquainted' doesn't seem like the proper phrase to use in this situation.

I wonder if it's gonna rain today?

Psst, hey! We're at school now.

Fable got off the car and instantly walked in the direction he wanted to. I stayed a little bit behind to wave my Mom off. Before she left, she pointed at me, threatening, "If you even think about getting hurt, I will kill you."

"Looking forward to it," I gave her the double thumbs up.

She scoffed before driving away.

I would love to stalk Fable, but it seems as if he isn't in the mood for the casual stalking of one's relatives. Instead, I made my way over to the cafeteria. Judging by the path Fable took, he could be anywhere from the gym to the hall.

However, when I approached the cafeteria, I noticed Fable walking towards it from a different direction than I was. He had yet to notice me since he was busy looking at his phone. He could be texting his girlfriend… or his girlfriend could be texting him.

Should I jump him?

Nah, it's fine.

Meanwhile, I got a whole other person to attend to. Namely, Otto.

"You could never guess this," I said while walking to him, startling him slightly. "I got club activities today!"

"I also have club activities?" He replied, slightly confused.

"What club you in?" I asked, sitting down beside him.

"Volleyball," He replied.

I pretended to think about it before bringing up the topic, "Wait, isn't there someone in the girl's team named Yin?"

"Yin?" Otto took some time to think about it. "I guess?"

I gave him a look. He put his arms up. "What? I don't really talk to the girls that much, okay? One of my friends does that."

"It's been three years, man," I jokingly poked his side.

He moved away from me, covering his sides. "I only know the captain, vice-captain, treasurer and Quartermaster, I don't really know the rest of them."

I shook my head in disappointment.

"If you describe her to me, I could probably tell you," He tried to make it up to me.

Oh, okay.

I pointed off to the side where Fable had just met up with Yin. I told Otto, "The girl over there."

He processed her for some time before facing me, asking, "Um… I'm curious. Why did you suddenly ask if I knew her?"

"Reasons."

Otto scratched his head before replying, "Well… I remember she approached one of my friends recently. When I asked him about it, he told me she was only asking him what kind of gifts would be suitable for gamers."

"She doesn't know that guy sucks ass at giving gifts," Otto then joked.

But my attention wasn't exactly on what he was saying. Fable was just standing there while Yin was talking rather quickly. She was jittery and urgent while Fable was completely motionless.

"Do you know the guy she's talking to?" Otto asked.

"We're related, I guess," I muttered.

"Oh."

There was a pause before Otto said slightly louder and with more realisation. "Oh!"

I pointed at them, smiling as I told Otto, "It looks like tea, but it would be kind of rude to stare, huh?"

"I guess so," He scratched the back of his head.

I saw Fable nod very slowly. Yin bowed deeply. I forced myself to look away, also pulling Otto's shoulder as I did so. He asked me, "Is something on your mind? You seem pretty distracted today."

"Really?" I smiled at him. "You don't say."

I did the motion of throwing something over my shoulder, telling Otto, "Well, that's his problem to handle. Not mine!"

After placing my bag on the ground about as softly as the average mother dropping their child, I reached into it and pulled out a piece of paper. I looked back at Otto, making sure he could only see the back of the paper. He had a smile on his face as he asked, "You're seriously doing this?"

"Indeed I am," I confirmed.

He sat back and waited for me to ask the questions.

"First up," I said, pretending to look at the paper. "What's your biggest turn-on?"

"What?"

"What's your biggest turn-on?" I repeated my question.

He was smiling sheepishly. "Must I… answer that question?"

I nodded, making sure my smile was still on my face. "And I expect you to have a structured answer with at least three points."

He put a hand up.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Can we do the thing where you ask me three questions and I answer one of them?" Otto proposed. "I can't just answer some of these, you know?"

"Okay, but why?"

There was a slight pause and his face was red. He leaned closer to me and whispered, "It's embarrassing."

I shrugged. "Fine, I'll give you three."

I pretended to look at my piece of paper again before giving the next two questions.

"What is your weirdest fetish? Third one is… If both me and your mom are drowning and are unable to swim, who do you save?"

"F- screw you," He grumbled.

"What? You told me to give you three questions," I defended myself. "Those are the three."

His arms were folded as he looked off to the side. Meanwhile, I was busy slowly inching closer to him. When he finally turned to face me, I was right up in his face. He leaned away in shock.

I laughed and readjusted myself.

"Got your answer?" I asked like a gameshow host.

"I'll say that I like glasses…" He muttered, blushing relatively hard.

I poked him in the sides. "Hey, which question are you answering?"

"The fetish one…"

I poked him more, making him nudge away from me in defence. I closed the gap with one push, knocking my shoulder against him. "Guess I should wear my glasses more, huh? But still, you didn't really answer my question though. I asked for your weirdest one, not some basic shit."

"Mine's basic?" He asked, looking genuinely surprised.

"Forget it," I waved off the question.

I pretended to read the piece of paper again. "Aight, so what do you do in your free time?"

"I study," He answered. "Read. I sometimes go to cafes by myself to enjoy the atmosphere. Otherwise, I'm out doing some sports with my friends."

"Cool."

He then faced me. "What do you do in your free time? Wait, actually… What's your weirdest fetish?"

I pointed at him before wagging my finger at him. "You dare use my own spell against me?"

"It's only fair," He argued.

He proves a good point. Damn, guess I got to answer.

I tapped my chin as I thought about it. I gestured him closer. When Otto got close enough, I pulled him so my mouth was basically right over his ear. I whispered a couple of things. When I separated from him, his ears were red and he was giving me a look.

I laughed and waved it aside. "That was a joke, a joke."

"I don't know, I guess I don't really have a fetish at this point in time," I answered. "But if I have to answer, I guess… hm… Nah, ain't got one."

You have no idea how uninterested I am in that sort of thing.

I jabbed a thumb at the stalled before asking Otto, "Yo, you wanna get breakfast?"

"You go ahead, I've already eaten," He denied my offer.

"What did you eat?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a couple of people noticing us already. Makes sense that some people would want to arrive at school early. They might just coincidentally be fans of Otto.

"Cereal," He replied. "Basic, I know."

"Makes sense," I nodded.

"I mean, I don't really have time to make breakfast myself and cereal is really easy to make," He elaborated.

"Your parents don't make you breakfast?"

He made a face. "No."

He shrugged, looking ahead instead of looking at me. "They're too busy anyways."

Forget him. I stood up and stood in front of him just to look over the entire cafeteria. Hm… I wonder what other people are thinking. Mr Popular sitting and chatting with some random girl. Wait, I'm sure they'll recognise me by my hair.

"Screw breakfast then," I chuckled.

He looked up at me.

"I have club activities today, which means that I'll be baking something," I pointed a thumb at myself proudly. "I'll bring you something if you wait for me after club activities."

He had a wide smile on his face. "Really?"

"Just meet me by the front gate," I told him.

Afterwards, we went on and made our way to my class. Unsurprisingly, the people who were there at the time and not trying their best to impersonate a zombie were whispering things about us.

"They're talking about us~" I sang while walking.

"I guess?" Otto shrugged.

"What do you think they're talking about?"

There was a pause. His face reddened slightly and he covered the lower half of his face with a hand. "I don't know."

I bumped into him for fun.

When we reached my classroom, I waved him off and stepped in, greeting everyone, "Good morning!"

There were about three people in the class.

I turned exaggeratedly to look at the digital clock in the classroom.

"It is… half an hour until homeroom starts," I commented. "What the heck is everyone?"

Looking closely, there is Glasses Girl there as usual and there's the class representative who I just recently realised was the class representative. Next to him was his girlfriend, who was staring daggers at me.

"Most people are like that," He replied.

While walking to my seat, Glasses Girl grabbed my arm. I faced her with the usual smile on my face. "Wazzup?"

She quickly gestured for me to get closer, so I leaned closer to her.

"Are the rumours of you true?" She whispered.

"Which one?" I countered.

"The one about how you're dating the most popular guy in the school," She specified. "Everybody- well, not everybody, but a bunch of people have been talking about it."

For the life of me, I'm trying to remember her name.

"What if I confirm it?" I asked, leaning even closer.

She leaned away from me. I continued, "What will you do with that information, hm?"

"I-I'm just curious!" She put a hand between our faces.

I walked over to my seat, my line of sight casually going toward the couple who were just chatting with each other. I flashed them the peace sign before proceeding back to my seat. I don't think they're paying much attention to me.

Hm…

Hmmmmmmm…

"Whatcha talkin' about?"

I had already scooted over to their area while squatting on the ground. The guy just gave me a shocked look while his girlfriend glared at me. I grinned back at the girl and flashed her the peace sign once again.

"Uh… nothing much," The guy cleared his throat.

"None of your fucking business," The girlfriend demanded.

I tried reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder, but she immediately smacked my hand away. I shrugged instead, telling her, "Well, there really isn't anyone else to talk to in this classroom."

The guy pointed over to Glasses Girl. "Quiara is right there."

"You make a fair point," I nodded before waddling over to where Glasses Girl was at.

Someone happened to walk into the classroom yawning. After noticing me imitating a duck on the ground, he was probably properly awoken. He rubbed his eyes before asking me, "Uh… are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I replied. "Why would there be a problem?"

His eyes slowly switched between me and my seat. His gaze then shifted to Glasses Girl, who was busy trying to un-exist herself.

"Move along," I insisted when I reached Glasses Girl's desk.

He did indeed, move along.

I could hear him high-fiving someone, followed by the class rep greeting, "Ivan, still haven't stopped being a clown, I see."

"Fuck you."

I tapped Glasses Girl, who had been covering her face with a book.

"So what's been going on in your little slice of life, hm?" I asked. "Anything spicy? Maybe some tea you want to spill?"

"N-Not really?" She replied as more of a question.

I blew a raspberry before pulling a chair over to sit beside her. I held her hand, telling her, "There's nothing to be ashamed of."

Her face was pretty red.

"W-W-What could you possibly mean?" She stammered.

"People already know, it's alright to say," I assured her.

Her eyes were darting around rather quickly before she pulled her hand back rather aggressively. She shouted a little too loudly, "F-Fine! I just think that recently… I've been more into girls!"

I shit you not, the entire class of five people was dead silent.

She covered her mouth and turned back to see the absolute looks of shock from the other people in the class. I scratched my head, still smiling, though a little bit more awkward than before.

"I thought you were just gonna say something about having a decently boring life," I admitted. "But uh…"

I gave her a double thumbs up. "You're brave for doing that too."

She had her head on her desk and had a book over her head as she let out a long and painful groan.

"Hearing that makes me feel the embarrassment too, you know," I joked, poking her arm.

"Leave me alone…" She groaned.

I patted her back. "It's alright, it's alright."

I lowered my voice. "But hey, girl talk. When did you start thinking like that? Were you always orientated that way or was it recent?"

She turned to face me. She whispered so softly that I had to lean in even closer in order to hear her.

"I didn't really have any interest in guys so I thought I hadn't met the right one," She explained softly. "But then recently I've started feeling some sort of way towards a girl from my club… then when I heard the story between you and Candace, my first thought was 'Wow, that's hot'."

She hid away in embarrassment once again.

I patted her back.

"Meh."

She turned to face me. "Huh?"

"I mean, it's information, innit?" I shrugged. "Glad to know that we know each other better now."

I whispered, "But hey, I wanna meet with that crush of yours one day. For fun."

She shook her head, showing some trace of a smile.

"Since you're dating the most popular guy in school, I guess I'm safe," She attempted to joke with me.

"Right?"

We proceeded to laugh a bit more before we did a little huddle between the both of us.

"Okay, I gotta lay it out for you straight," I told her before cracking at my own joke. "Get it? Straight?"

"Yeah," She did not seem impressed.

"Right, you gotta promise me you won't tell anyone, okay?" I stuck out a pinky.

She hooked our pinkies together. "Pinkie promise."

What are we? Elementary school girls?

"I'm actually more on the aro/ace side of things," I admitted.

I put a finger to my lips while Quiara was struggling with confusion. I shushed her before saying, "It's a secret between us, okay?"

"B-" She was about to say but stopped herself.

In comes the one the only Candace.

Dear Candace~

"Good morning," I greeted the moment she walked in.

Quiara leaned away from whatever direction Candace was in. If she was trying to divert attention away from herself, she was failing in a spectacular fashion. I'm all for that, so go ahead.

She walked by me.

"Have you heard the rumours?" I asked loudly, making sure everyone in the class could hear, including but not limited to the two friends accompanying her.

I laughed to myself. "I mean, the imagination some people have!"

I stood up and placed the chair I was sitting on back in its original position before heading back to my seat.

"They say I'm dating the most popular guy in school," I continued talking loudly. "Can you believe it? Little old me? Ugly me? Bullied-by-you me? Bland, uninteresting and stupid me? How's that possible?"

I let out a laugh before settling down.

I had gotten the attention of everyone in the class. Candace was looking forward, allowing me to only see the back of her head.

"Where would they even get such an idea from?"

One of her friends approached me. I was fully ready for her to be violent, but instead, she whispered to me, "Hey, can you cut this out? This isn't cool."

Not cool?

Hypocritical much?

"I'm addressing the rumours right now," I stated. "Aren't you curious?"

She seemed hesitant. I could see her fist being balled up, but instead of outright attacking me, she glanced back in Candace's direction. Candace was still staring ahead of her, basically unresponsive.

"Just think about it, why would some handsome, rich and cool guy like Mr Popular fall for some random girl from a random class with green hair?" I continued. "It just doesn't make sense why this rumour would spread in the first place, huh?"

Her friend reached out and grabbed my wrist, saying urgently, "Can you shut up?"

No.

"CHARLOTTE!" Candace yelled so loudly even I felt it.

The girl named Charlotte let go of my hand, giving me one last dirty look. Before she could leave, I asked her, "Your name's Charlotte?"

She turned around.

"Why?" I asked, but never got the answer.

Feeling like a great day today. I leaned back in my seat and extended my legs straight. I let my arms hang freely by my side as I looked forward. Candace was determined to not look in my general direction.

The class rep and his girlfriend were just about to leave the classroom.

Let's come up with a poem, okay? Everyone with me now~

Roses are red,

Violet are blue,

"I'm dating Mr Popular, how do you do?"

Silence.

Did they not like my poem?

There was a loud crash. I watched as Candace got up from her seat, her desk already some distance away from her. Everyone was still, everyone was holding their breaths, waiting for what would come next. Candace glanced at me oh so briefly before storming out of the classroom.

One of her friends, the one not named Charlotte ran after her.

The one named Charlotte went straight up to me, slamming my desk and yelling, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?"

I shrugged. "What? I'm telling the truth."

"You're such a b-"

She started the slapping motion, but stopped herself short. I could very visibly see the frustration on her face. She clenched her fist and slammed it down on my desk instead. I tilted my head and asked, "So… not gonna hit me?"

She ran off after Candace.

Huh, wonder where she's going.

The classroom was really quiet.

The class rep, backed by his girlfriend, approached me. I looked between him and his girlfriend before asking, "What's up? Wild day, innit?"

He took a deep breath.

He put his hands forward as he was talking. "Look, we aren't really friends of Candace and I don't really know what's going on, but judging by the reaction, I think you've gone too far this time."

A couple of people entered the classroom looking slightly confused by the odd silence that hung in the air.

"Did I?" I asked, tapping my chin.

"Candace has promised to turn over a new leaf, right?" He continued droning on and on. "Haven't the two of you been getting along more recently?"

"I don't think there was a need to anger her that much, whatever you said," He continued.

Droning on and on and on and on and on and on…

"We understand the bad history between you two, but-"

"Shut the fuck up."

He blinked a few times. Was I too soft to hear? Did I drop my smile?

I covered my mouth and apologised, "Ah, sorry! I was getting some PTSD from getting bullied, as you do."

His girlfriend did not look happy.

I could very visibly see him gripping her hand. I pointed at them and asked out of curiosity, "By the way, I think you guys are a really cute couple, how did you end up dating one another?"

"None of your fucking business," His girlfriend scowled.

More people were starting to stream in.

He shook his head and simply started walking away. I continued performing my idle animation of just shaking my leg up and down. What? It's actually pretty fun to do once you get used to it.

Glasses Girl was sneaking looks at me.

Rather, the entire class has been sneaking looks at me.

Am I popular or what?

When Mr Dohl walked in, he glanced around the class and asked, "Where's Candace, Charlotte and Karen?"

Wouldn't we all like to know?

I guess a couple of students were looking in my direction, 'cause he straight up looks at me and asked, "---, did you play a part in this?"

"I guess?" I replied.

"Can I speak to you outside of class now?" He requested, looking rather done with me.

On my way out, not many people were talking at all.

I saluted Mr Dohl when I was outside of the class, saying, "Student — ---- here reporting for duty!"

"Your family name is Sullivan," Mr Dohl stated. "And also, what did you do this time?"

I shrugged. "I actually don't really know. I mean, I was just kinda talking to her about the rumours that have been floating around about how I was dating the most popular guy in school."

"And?"

"Right, so I confirmed that yes, I am dating the most popular guy in school," I continued elaborating. "She went nuts afterwards."

"Are you telling the truth?"

"Why, yes," I blatantly told the truth. "I'm dating Otto."

"Not that," He sighed. "About the situation as to why three students are absent from homeroom."

"Ohhhhh," I knocked myself on the head. "Yeah, still tellin' the truth."

He walked back into class and homeroom proceeded as usual. I guess things just work out this way, huh? I wonder what I should do during the break…

During the break, a bunch of girls hounded me.

"Is it true?"

"You're dating 'the' Otto?"

"You have got to be lying!"

"No way!"

Ever so silent in the background. "Not to an ugly bitch like you…"

My hearing's pretty good, you know? But hey, guess how many people are looking at me right now?

I stood up and faced all of them. I put my hand on my hips because I thought it was a confident and dominant pose.

"About what I said earlier today," I announced.

They all stared at me.

"It's true!" I cheered, but no one cheered with me.

I folded my arms before putting a hand up. "Aight, bye."

And I'm off, none of the girls bothering to chase after me. While I was bolting through the hallway, a couple of people turned their heads to look at me rush by. However, I was faced with a wall with no way around or between.

Why the heck do groups of girls always stand in the wall formation?

I wasn't able to stop myself, so I knocked into one of them.

I had my hands extended out to stop myself from smacking my face onto the floor. The girl I had pinned had relatively short hair and a pretty cute face. She seemed weather shocked at the situation. I was on all fours and she was lying down beneath me.

"How's your day been?" I asked her before getting off of her.

"---?" Someone called me.

I turned around to see Yin not too far away. She rushed to me and started apologising to the girls I had run into. Some of them seemed pissed, but the girl I had knocked into was pretty chill with the whole situation.

Yin walked with me through the hallways.

Quietly. Awkwardly.

The hallway had some activity from students trying to rush to the cafeteria before the break ended. However, we seem to be walking in the completely opposite direction to the crowd. Where are we even walking to?

"Why were you running around during the break?" Yin asked me.

"Meh, exercise?" I joked.

She did not crack a smile.

I don't even know where we were walking. I was just kinda following Yin.

"I heard a couple of rumours about you," Yin randomly brought up. "People say they saw you together with the most popular guy in the school. Wonder how that came about."

"We're dating," I stated bluntly.

"Hm?"

"We're dating," I repeated. "I know it's a hard pill to swallow."

She took a moment to register before nodding along. "Makes sense. You're quite pretty after all."

"You flatter me."

…

"What did you and Fable talk about this morning?" I asked out of the blue.

She flinched.

"I guess you're siblings, so you would know about that…" She muttered.

"I'm finding out either way," I told her. "It just depends on whether I hear it from you or Fable. No difference to me."

She was silent for a bit.

She stopped in her tracks.

I stopped as well.

She laughed nervously before telling me, "How did we end up here? I was just following you so I have no idea where we are right now!"

That's cute.

"Why are you changing the topic?"

Yin had a few nervous movements which were pretty funny since she was taller and lankier than me, making her look like she was trying to perform some sort of martial arts. Yin calmed herself down before asking hesitantly, "So… you know Fable's ex… right?"

"I knew her," I confirmed. "Couldn't say I knew her very well."

"You know what… happened, right?"

I nodded.

"It's just really… unexpected, you know?" Yin explained to me, looking off to the side. "I didn't think something like that would happen. It makes me a bit afraid. When I asked Fable why she ended up doing what she did, he simply shook his head and didn't answer."

She turned and looked at me so quickly i hadn't even registered eye contact before she grabbed my ahoulds with both arms.

"Do you know what happened?" Yin asked me. "Why did she have to pass away?"

"She registered an abortion herself because it's illegal to do so," I stated.

"But there has to be another reason right?" Yin insisted. "I mean, there are other ways to get an abortion, right?"

…

"A couple of days before she passed away, I went to visit her," I told her, Yin's eyes widening. "I talked to her about what she could do."

"You said you didn't really know her though."

I shrugged and laughed to myself. "Well, I don't really need to know the girlfriend of my brother, do I?"

Yin abruptly let go of my shoulders.

"Fable was trying to find alternatives," I told her. "There was probably pressure from her parents as well. After she passed away, Fable was so distraught that he never even spoke to a girl outside of family since."

Yin stared at the ground.

"You could probably imagine the shock my family had when he told us he had a girlfriend," I laughed.

Yin nodded.

She the slowly shook her head. "This morning… I told Fable we should put this relationship on hold for a while. I need time to gather my thoughts before we can start dating again."

My Mom is going to be so down.

"Is that so?"

"Please, help me apologise to Fable," Yin begged. "We didn't really end it on a good note this morning. Could you also help me apologise to your family? I'm really sorry that I decided to be like this!"

"It's fine," I assured.

I chuckled before saying to her, "My Mom might be a bit down, but as long as you're coming back, I think everyone can cope, even Fable."

She forced a smile. "Thank you."

She looked around her before asking, "Um… you have somewhere to be, right?"

"I guess."

She put a hand to wave me off but closed in for a hug instead. I hesitantly hugged the tall girl in front of me. She let go and walked off, waving me off right as she did so. When she disappeared from sight, I just kind of stood there.

Huh.

My phone buzzed.

Otto: Can't make it to the roof today

Otto: Too many people following me

Me: Let's just meet after school then.

I stood by the window and stared out of it. There were dark clouds hanging high above. Soon enough, a single drop fell from the sky. That single drop turned into two, then into ten, and then started becoming a drizzle. That drizzle slowly became heavier over time.

I like the sound of rain.

It's calming.

Classes went by rather normally. I just never saw Candace again after that short exchange we had earlier that day.

Truly tragic.

I headed down for my club activities where I was busy just making the coffee brownies we were supposed to bake. The guy, the only guy in the club, beside me tapped my shoulder to comment, "You seem rather out of it."

"How so?" I asked, still concentrating.

"Well, you don't seem to be talking as much," He noted.

"Can't you see I'm trying to induce the flavours of a coffee milkshake into this brownie?" I asked, gesturing to my work.

"Don't you mean 'infuse'?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't stutter."

It was mostly quiet afterwards.

Have I been talking to too many people? I feel oddly tired after such a long day. I mean, what's up with these people coming up and talking to me?

On my way out, I noticed a simple fact.

It's still raining.

In the sheltered part of the school entrance, a bunch of people were gathered there due to the rain. I looked around and identified the largest group of girls out of the crowd. As expected, they were grouped up around Otto, probably hounding him for information.

He noticed me and started making his way through the crowd.

I stood there.

He had an umbrella in one hand and he reached out to grab my hand with the other, much to the dismay of literally all the girls. He told me, "Let's get going before the rain gets worse."

"Sure."

We stepped into the rain under one umbrella. We were bumping shoulders when I brought up, "You know I have an umbrella of my own, right?"

"Uh… just thought we should try sharing an umbrella," He shrugged.

"Make ourselves established, hm?"

"Something like that," He confirmed.

"I bet all the girls are so jealous right now," I joked around. "How many of them would kill to be in my position."

We were walking from the sheltered area across the parade square and towards the gate. Standing by the gate under an umbrella of her own was a girl with dyed blonde hair. She slowly turned and faced us.

Dear Candace~

"How do you do?" I asked her.

She stared at us without even saying a word. Her eyes started to tear up before she threw her umbrella aside and dashed through the rain. We sort of just watched her run away. To break the silence, I pointed at the umbrella, asking, "So… you think anybody's gonna take that?"

Otto smirked, shaking his head. "Maybe."

He accompanied me to the bus stop. He explained that he was going to be picked up by car near the school gate, so he was heading back there after I got on my bus. He did exactly as he said.

When I got on the bus, he waved at me from outside, so I waved back.

The bus on the wheels goes round and round, round and round~

At the apartment, I was just ready to collapse and hug the ground, but first I needed to get home.

I was standing near a guy wearing dark clothing.

"I think I've seen you before," He stated.

I turn to face him. Sir, I am much too drained to even hold a conversation, what makes you think I can remember you? "Have we met?"

"I guess?" He sighed. "Once, in the elevator. I remember the green hair."

"Oh."

"I was wearing my military uniform at the time, I believe," He elaborated.

"I think I recall something like that," I told him just to make him stop talking.

He was silent for a bit.

He let out a long sigh. And out of the kindness of my heart, I resisted the urge to fall asleep standing up to ask, "Why the long face?"

"My uh… my…" He started to choke up. "My adoptive mom… I knew she was old, but I didn't think it would come so soon… It's like… I… I feel like such a piece of shit for not treating her better when she was alive…"

"My condolences."

I stepped into the elevator but he did not.

"I'm just waiting for the movers to come down," He explained, the pain still much too obvious on his face.

You gotta do a better job at hiding that.

Home sweet home.

It really do be home though.

I'm gassed. Fable doesn't seem to be in a chatting mood considering he holed up in his room and was looking like a zombie during dinner. Our parents didn't really seem to notice much though. My Mom just made a comment about how he needed makeup.

Well, that's a problem for another day called not today!

I'm out! See y'all tomorrow!