"Look I saw this upcoming movie and I was thinking if you could watch it with me by tomorrow."
"I'm so sorry Camelia I'm not sure if I can come," I replied while I started picking my books from my bag.
"Why not? Are you that busy?" she then went ahead and asked while picking up one of the violin manuals.
" HEYYY give it back that's not even mine."
"Oh? Then who owns this?" she teased, holding it out of reach. "I won't give it back unless you agree to watch the movie with me."
She kept teasing me with that playful smirk. She was a bit taller than I am, so I struggled to reach it.
"Like I said, I can't. I have violin practice tomorrow, and Saturday's my competition," I explained, hoping she'd understand.
"Jeez. You said you'd always be by my side, no matter what. You promised, remember? You're the only friend I can ask."
"I do... and I meant it. I swear I'll make it up to you. It's just that our schedules aren’t lining up right now. So please, can I have that manual back?"
She finally gave up and handed me the manual. She looked sad knowing I wasn't able to attend with her. I feel terrible but what’s important to me right now is that I have to make a good performance and get the prize hoping I might win.
"You’ll be there, right?" I asked, hoping she’d still come.
"Hmmm, I'm not coming."
"You serious right, don't tell me you're busy too."
"I have to work you know, you're lucky that you are financially stable, unlike me."
"I get it, but please take care. I don’t even know what your job is but I could tell it's not even a great hustle. I paused and took the courage and ask her. "What is your job anyway?"
All I know about Camelia is that she handles everything on her own. There, rumours spread around her that she’s going after one man and another. They call her names and even men tried to take advantage of her. It's disgusting which is why I'm always protecting her. Im glad im one of the students council and I could save her from those fuck up men who just wants to get laid and report them immediately to the guidance.
" If I were to tell you, I don't think you don’t wanna be my friend anymore"
I was shocked but at the same time I already knew what it could've been and I don't judge her for it. I just wish she had other ways to earn money.
"Never mind you don’t have to tell me. I said. But have you thought of working fast food place?"
"If I were to work one, the pay wouldn’t even be enough to cover my tuition. Also, you understand better than anyone that my father is an alcoholic man. Not even my relatives doesn't want to be involved with him."
Hearing that made my chest ache. If only I could help her.
"You know... You could stay with me. We’ll figure something out. I’ll try to help you, even financially."
" I truly want to." She said with a low voice
"Really! Then I'll ask my uncle..."
"But I can't"
"Why not?"
"I appreciate that you're trying to help me. But I can’t leave my dad. He’s still my father, you know. He wasn’t always like this... he just changed, that’s all."
"It doesn't matter what he was back then, he hurts you pretty badly. You don't have what it takes to endure that much pain" I argue trying to make her see and understand her situation. "The moment I found out you were being abused, I should’ve called child services."
"What the hell do you know?" she snapped. "It’s not that easy to leave. Not for me."
"So you're just going to keep living with a monster?"
"Don’t call him that. He might be horrible, but he’s not a monster!"
"He is. Why can’t you see that?"
Slap.
Her hands flew towards my face. It hurts I could still feel the sensation on my cheek.
"You wanna live with violence fine, it's not up to me for you to make a decision anyway."
I turned away and walked out of the classroom, heading toward the gym stadium.
That was the last conversation I had with her.
-------
Today is another day. It's been a week since I saw that message disappear from my phone.
It was the last message she sent me before she died. At this point, I’m living through so much confusion that nothing surprises me anymore. I saw her fall from a building. I saw a stranger about to be hit by a car. And now, even my last message from her has vanished into thin air. Honestly, it's getting ridiculous. I'm starting to believe I'm losing my mind.
I headed toward the main building of my school and made my way to the classroom. I was early this time. I hadn’t been able to sleep at all the night before, so I figured I might as well come in before everyone else. I opened the window and let the breeze pass through the room, hoping it would help clear my head.
Then someone showed up behind me.
"Hey there. You're quite early, aren't you?" he greeted with a cheerful tone.
I don’t even know how he could be that energetic this early in the morning.
"Good morning to you too. Seems like you're the early bird today," I replied, trying to sound polite. I didn’t want to talk to him, but ignoring him outright would’ve felt rude.
"Same goes for you. And you look like you haven’t slept well," he said before laughing softly.
I sighed. "Yeah... I haven’t been sleeping well at all."
He then went on, suggesting remedies like drinking tea and taking deep breaths before bed. It was nice of him to give me some advice but my insomnia wasn’t something a few cups of tea could fix. Still, we chatted for a while. He mentioned that he was usually the first person to enter the classroom and was surprised I beat him to it.
Not that I thought it was a competition but whatever. He seemed to enjoy talking, and I just let him.
"Dude, looks like Roze and the new kid are hitting it off," someone said from outside the door.
"They seem to get along, don’t they?" another voice replied.
Soon enough, rumours started flying between the two of us, like we were too casual to be just friends. But from my perspective, Richard was nothing more than a talkative person who seemed to be bugging me every single time. He, on the other hand, already saw me as one of his pals. Everyone had their assumptions about what we were to each other. None of them were right.
One day, while I was walking down the hallway, Richard popped out of nowhere.
"Hey, wanna have lunch with me? I’ve got fried chicken if you want."
He was smiling as usual and to be honest, I’d had enough.
"Look, you keep pestering me and I swear I won’t involve myself with anyone again. I only spoke to you in the first place because I didn’t want to be rude, but now you're seriously getting on my nerves."
He frowned, pretending to be hurt. "But you're so lonely."
"I don’t mind being alone. What I do mind is how annoying you are," I snapped, slapping my locker door shut harder than I intended. I turned to walk away, but of course, he started following me again.
"I'm not going to leave you alone, you know."
"Whyyyyy?" I groaned, frustrated.
He kept talking, blabbering about what he did during the day, completely ignoring my silence. The silent treatment wasn’t working. If anything, it just made him talk more.
"I’ve decided," he said, "I’m not going to let you feel lonely anymore."
"Like I said, I don’t need—"
"You’re my best pal, Roze!" he shouted before I could even finish.
"And I’ll make sure to be with you forever!"
He said it out loud. Too loud.
People turned. Everyone stared at us like he just confessed our love or something. Mortified, I grabbed his hand and dragged him down the hallway. We ran until we were far enough away, until I found a quiet spot behind the school building.
Out of breath, I turned to him. "Are you nuts! What is wrong with you? Why do you have to act like a child? And what was that back there? Did you have to shout it like that?"
He looked at me calmly. "I just wanted to have lunch with you. That’s all."
I sighed and sat on the ground, leaning back against the wall. He then sat beside me.
"Whenever I push you away, you always come back," I muttered.
"Guess you’ll have to accept me eventually."
"Why me?" I asked. "You get along with everyone. Even with your annoying behaviour, people seem to like you. If you’re just pitying me because I’m always alone, don’t be. I push people away on purpose. I don’t want to make friends."
"I don’t think that’s true," he said quietly. "I think you do like my company. Deep down."
I looked at him with a blank stare, making it very clear that wasn’t the case. He paused, surprised that I even reacted, but then he grinned.
"So... have you decided?"
I gave in. "I give up. No matter what I do, you always show up."
"Yehayyyyyy!" he shouted, throwing his arms up in celebration.
"I guess I’ve got a new friend now," I said with a slight groan.
"You sure do," His stomach started to grumble.
"Looks like you're hungry."
"It’s you're fault."
"Excuse me" With a distinct look on my face.
We ended up laughing and deciding to eat lunch together at the cafeteria. The food wasn’t exactly great, but I didn’t mind. I was having a good time with him. It had been so long since I’d talked to someone like this as It wasn’t so bad having company. It reminded me of the days Camelia and I used to hang out together. For some reason, Richard’s presence felt oddly familiar almost as if I’d known him before.
Meanwhile, in the music club just down the hall, a student was gracefully playing the violin. The sound echoed through the room with pure elegance. Her focus was unwavering, until someone barged in, making a bit too much noise as he came in to grab something.
"Can you not interrupt? I'm trying to rehearse here, you know," she snapped, continuing to play despite the distraction.
"My bad. I just came to pick up my guitar," he said, while getting his guitar.
"Also, can you give me back that manual I lent you? I need it for reference."
"Uh... I kind of lent it to someone else," he admitted awkwardly.
"Who?"
"Roze."
She stopped playing immediately. Her expression shifted into something close to fury.
"Are you serious right now? Why the hell would you give my manual to her, you dumbass?"
"She needed it for a performance—"
"Which is why I lost in the first place!" she yelled, like a demonic beast.
"I’ll get it back, I swear," he said, backing off a little.
"You better. It wasn’t even hers to begin with. She should’ve returned it the moment she was done using it."
"Come on, her friend just died. She’s probably going through a rough time. Maybe she just forgot to give it back."
"That might be true. She’s changed... but that doesn’t mean she gets to keep something that doesn’t belong to her."
"Alright, alright. I’ll go ask her for it now, okay?"
"You better," she responded, crossing her arms.
To be continued
Author note
(If you wanna see the before chapter I'd suggest to read my novel. The title is Two Worlds: Part 1. Enjoy:)
