School resumes

My summer break ended uneventfully.

To start, I was mostly going to supplementary classes, and during the one week of real break I had, Mina was away on a family trip.

I and Juno were on speaking terms again, and he didn't probe what was wrong with me before the break. I guess that's a good thing about having an old friend that understands you well.

In the evenings after I come home from school, I went jogging. You could say I was an athletic girl up to some point in middle school maybe, but I have gradually become lazier and lazier over a long time and by the time I started high school I wasn't doing any sports activities at all.

So it took me a great effort and discipline to get myself to start exercising again. Only after starting the daily jogging routine, I've come to realize just how unfit I have become.

I also started taking guitar lessons. I felt like I wanted to do something musical after seeing both Mina and Juno being so immersed in it. I would never reach even a tenth of their level but I thought I would give it a go. So I had guitar lessons three times a week, Monday, Thursday evenings, and Saturday mornings.

In the spare time I had between the supplementary classes, daily jogging, and guitar lessons and practice, I allowed myself some time to rest without doing anything. Doing nothing felt bad when I wasn't doing anything, but doing nothing in between doing other things felt good.

Both of my parents and even Kris were surprised at how I was changing, but everybody knew it was for the better and it lifted the general mood at our home too.

All this time I have not met up with Mina, not even once, but we kept in touch via messengers. I often imagined that maybe she will text me again out of blue and ask me to come down, paying me a surprise visit, but that never happened.

It didn't bother me though. I felt like since we patched the things between us with the big bear, our bond was strong enough to withstand these tests of times and a long period of not seeing each other. Besides, I wanted to surprise her with my changed look and attitude when school starts again. Sometimes I even thought that I may make some effort to make other friends too, so as not to be so mentally clingy to Mina. If all goes well we could hang out together, my new group of friends and Mina. Whoever becomes my friend, would work out better than hanging out with Tasha and Mara in any case.

"Nana! Wake up!!!"

My mom shook me hard to wake me up on the first day of the new semester.

"Mom..? What time is it?"

"It's ten past eight! I thought you left home already but saw your shoes by the door so figured you were still sleeping!"

"Oh no, I'm gonna be late!"

I jumped out of the bed and put on the school uniform at lightning speed.

As I was running out of the house I had a quick look at myself in the mirror, and I thought "Not bad" and told myself "Good luck today".

I ran as fast as I could to the school. The morning air felt fresh and at no point I felt like I was running out of breath. Regular exercises for the past weeks have made me fit.

I arrived at the classroom at 8:28, two minutes before the bell rings.

Now knowing that I had a short time to cool down I took a deep breath before entering the classroom. I've mentally prepared for this over the summer, visualizing it in my head every night.

"Good morning!"

I entered through the back door of the classroom and greeted the first girl I saw there. She was chatting with her friends but looked startled when I greeted her.

"Good morning"

Then she looked at her friends as if to say 'so what now?'

I said nothing and walked to my seat, greeting everyone along the way with a cheerful good morning. I could sense that people around me were whispering to each other, probably saying 'What's up with her?', but I didn't care. I knew things went wrong before and I became an outcast, but I had a renewed confidence.

Just before the bell rang, Mina walked over to me and gave me a warm and welcoming smile, saying "Good to see you again"

"Me too. How have you been?"

"Great. I missed you though"

"Me too"

And then the bell rang, and as our homeroom teacher was walking into the classroom Nina rushed back to her seat and waved her hand to me saying bye. My eyes traced her all the way. Her seat was just in front of Tasha, probably one of the reasons why they became such good friends. I somehow expected Tasha to look my way with a bitchy attitude, but she did not.

:vrrrr:

It was lucky that I had the phone on silence mode so I wasn't gonna get scolded on the first day of the new semester. I quickly checked the message with my phone held just below the desk and saw that it was Mina. She's a model student and doesn't use her phone during class, so I thought it was odd but when I read her message it made me smile.

"Let's meet at the rooftop at lunchtime"

I turned my head to look at Mina and nodded to her as our eyes met.

I was glad that the first person she wanted to have lunch with me after the break was me.