As the car pulled up to the front gates, I shrunk into my seat slightly. Amber burst out of the car, desperate to get away from the torment that was Damien and I. The crisp fall wind blew in as the door opened, causing me to shrivel up more from the cold. I liked fall. It was my favorite season, but even I wasn’t immune to the chilly weather conditions. Weather like this really made me wonder how Amber doesn’t freeze. Giving her some time to separate from me, I finally exited the car. The cold air rushed to my face, causing my nose and cheeks to turn slightly pink. Instantly, a bright orange leaf planted itself square in the middle of my face, sticking parts of itself under my big black glasses. A small gasp escaped my mouth as I clambered to quickly remove it. I mean, not like anyone would notice me with the leaf anyway, but regardless I was super embarrassed. I heard chuckling in the vicinity, but I knew that it was just Damien. The slightly older guy had a very distinct laugh. I gave him an annoyed glance then walked away to my doom.

Our school wasn’t bad looking, or even a bad place to be. I think we actually had it quite nice. The high stone walls and massive archways gave knowledge of the church school it used to be, and the skylights in the main hallway highlighted the places to stand when talking with friends or teachers. It was almost tradition at this point in the school’s history to stand under the skylights rich with stained glass. Nobody knows who started it. The classrooms were big, with giant chalkboards and sprawling desks, wheely chairs and reading nooks. Our cafeteria was large and had a Starbucks AND a Subway. I guess we get what our parents paid for. I walked past all that though to a small-ish room towards the back of the school: the Planetarium. I loved it there. Sometimes I would duck out of class if I was feeling stress or anxiety, come turn on the show I’ve seen thousands of times and just sit there. The dazzling stars would dance and spiral around our domed roof, darting around to calming music. The room wasn’t used much, forgotten by many, but I still remembered it existed. I walked in and the astrologist in charge smiled. “Back again so soon?” she said, handing me the sign-in sheet. 

“Yeah, it’s going to be a long day,” I said, signing my first period away with a few curves of the pen. “Thought I would get my stars fix in early”.

“Avoiding PE again?”

“Absolutely”

The older lady chuckled, the lines on her face wrinkling with her smile. “For a figure skater, you really hate exercise, huh?”

I paused for a moment. It wasn’t that I hated exercise. After all, I was constantly out running and training. Something about PE got to me, though. It was the one class people noticed me in, and not for any good reasons. Since my sister and I were identical, our bodies were very similar in formation and… voluptuousness? I don’t think that’s a word, but that describes it well enough. The boys would stare and it would get really awkward. When skating, I was too distracted to care, but in PE, I was very aware. They would make snide comments and whistle, comparing me to my sister. It was gross. “No, just people” I finally responded, sitting down in one of the reclining chairs, eyes toward the projected sky.

She rolled her eyes and flipped a switch with a label I hadn’t seen before. “Well you’re just in time. I just crafted a new show since you’ve seen the last one so much”.

I launched up and my eyes lit up like fireworks. “Really!? So cool!”Reclining back into my chair, I happily listened to the music, my pale daffodil eyes scanning the constellations. After all, stars and space fascinated me. I wanted to dance up there one day, skate on the moon or mars. I would live in space if I could, just me, myself, and I. At least there I couldn’t be judged.

Before I knew it, the echoing church bell rang through the empty hallways, bouncing off the stone that entrapped us. The astrologist, whose name was Mrs. Mercury fittingly enough, gestured towards the door, a smug look upon her face. I groaned and sat up, the mesmerizing projection above me shutting off at the same moment. Grabbing my bag, I flopped it over my shoulder and headed towards the door. “Thank you for letting me stay again” I said, looking back at her as I grabbed the cold metal door handle.

She looked at me with large round glasses, waving her ebony hand back and forth as to dismiss my thanks. “No worries. You should go to PE at some point though Bea. I don’t think your mother would be very happy to see you fail a course. Don’t want to ruin that 4.0 you've got there Ms. Valedictorian”.

I shook my head, opening the door. “Oh it’s fine. My mom doesn’t care about anything I do anyway”. With a stunned expression on her face, I walked out of the room and began my excursion across campus to class, thankful to have skipped PE.

The rest of the morning was pretty uneventful. That was until lunch came around. Nobody ever talks to me at school. It’s like an unspoken rule that someone, probably Amber, made up and they all follow. However, someone decided to break that rule. Sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, I sat eating an egg salad sandwich from the main line of food. It wasn’t too bad, just basic food. The soft sandwich combined with the crunchy bag of chips I also had created a nice harmony that I was a big fan of. I silently ate until I heard a familiar voice call my name. I instantly shrunk down, petrified. Oh no no no don’t talk to me please I internally cried, reaching for the windbreaker that rested in my bag so I could hide in it. I didn’t get to it quick enough, however, as Kahoni appeared seemingly out of thin air. I yelped slightly at the sudden apparition, causing people to stare at the two of us. Confused mumbles circulated around the room, all seemingly curious as to why super mega popular hot tennis player Kahoni was talking to Amber’s “socially awkward nutcase” of a twin (someone actually referred to me as that to my sister. She thought it was hilarious. I did not). “Kahoni,” I whisper yelled as he sat down uninvited across from me, “what are you doing?”

The tall, dark-skinned boy flashed a smile more blinding than a sun from orbit, stating “you looked lonely, so I thought I could eat lunch with you”. I stared at him in shock as he pulled out his lunch from his neon orange messenger bag. He extracted a sleeve of crackers, a butter and honey sandwich (don’t ask), as well as some strawberry mochi in a special container so they wouldn’t get smooshed.

“Are you nuts?”

“No. I’m hungry…”

“It’s just… you know nobody talks to me at school. Are you trying to ruin your social life?”

More people were staring at us by that point, intrigued and baffled looks on their faces. I slumped further in my seat. It was miraculous how I hadn’t flooded out of it like a puddle by that point. “No,” he bluntly said, taking a bite of his sandwich. “You’re my friend, so why not? Friends eat lunch together”.

My eyes kept widening. “F-friends?” I stammered. I hadn’t heard anyone use that term for me since Adeline Weaver dumped our friendship in 5th grade because my sister was quote-unquote “totes cooler and more stylish”. “We aren’t friends. I don’t have friends”.

He didn’t appear hurt by my semi-harsh words, but some part of me could tell it hurt more than he let on. “Of course we are. I think you’re my friend.” He extended a singular strawberry mochi to me and I looked at it blankly, unsure of what to do with it. With a smile, his freckled outstretched arm bounced slightly to emphasize the motion. “Go on, take it”.

People stared more intently now. Kohani was one of the most popular boys in school. Any girl would kill to get food from him. I could feel the eyes of 1000 teen girls ranging from 15-18 glaring down at me like I was about to do something forbidden. If I took this strawberry mochi, I would be on the radar of all the people I had been trying to avoid the last four years. One crucial movement, and I was suddenly #1 on the Rainvilla High School “People to Stalk in the Hallways” list, a place I never wanted to be. Especially, if it meant knocking off my sister- wait. If I take this mochi I thought, staring at the bean paste dessert, I could finally do some damage to Amber. I could finally take revenge for the last 18 years of our life. A new sinister smile slid onto my slightly blushed cheeks. I took the soft dessert.

People gasped at the motion. I had done it. He smiled, simply saying “you see? Friends share food with each other. This makes us friends”. Awkwardly, I nodded and bit into the decadent dessert. It was sweet, a texture that I had never felt before filled my mouth. My blush grew stronger as I looked at him, eyes glistening with happiness. “You like it?” he asked, eating the rest of his sandwich. I nodded vigorously, ignoring the 2000 stares I was gaining from every direction. “Great!” He seemed to me to be enjoying my company, which I was unaware was even possible. I looked at him as he nonchalantly chewed on the sandwich, thick from the hardening honey, a gentle smile on his dark lips. His deep ginger eyes were mostly closed while his deep skin was tinted slightly pink from happiness. I don’t know why, but seeing him this way, despite the glances, made me feel… strange. Happy, I guess, would be the closest word in the human language to describe it. I felt happy all the time while looking at stars or skating, but this was the first time in a really really long time that I had genuinely felt happy being around someone. That was the strange bit.

As lunch continued on, I tried to bail as quickly as I could. I had a class in the library after lunch so I had hoped to get in there early and help shelve some books. That way, I could get away from all of the daggered stares I had been feeling the entire period. Sadly, that didn’t end up happening. As I got up to leave, Kahoni stood up as well. I looked at him in bewilderment, confused as to why he took that exact moment to get up. Was this what friends did? I anxiously tried to move to the trash can, but he just followed behind me. I tried to pick up my speed but he just kept following. By the time we made it halfway across campus, him still carrying his lunch bag, I flipped around, annoyed. “What is your deal?” I finally snapped, startling the taller boy a bit. My words echoed against the cold siding of the walls. “Why do you keep following me?”

He looked genuinely shocked. “Huh? We… we’re friends, so I thought we’d hang out… “ he stammered, blushing slightly. I was taken aback by his genuine and weirdly soft comment. I was so used to guys catcalling me that I had just started avoiding them entirely. I didn’t realize they could be so nice. “I can leave if you want”. He turned around, his shoulder-length curly hair which he had pulled back into a ponytail swaying behind him. 

“Ah! No wait! Ugh I’m not good at this stuff”. I reached my hand out to him unconsciously, as if to keep him from leaving. Surprising both of us, I ended up latching lightly onto his varsity jacket, with me pinching the gold and indigo parts of it equally. My face exploded with blush, turning my tawny skin more of a deep cinnamon. Full hex code #622A0F. “Look” I began, unhooking from his jacket, balling my hands into fists before pocketing them in my back jean pockets. They barely fit. Curse women's jeans. “I’m not very good… at this friend thing…” I admitted. He looked at me with a gentle expression, a caring look in his eyes that I had never seen from a guy. “I- I’m sorry for snapping. I guess I just don’t know how to interact with anyone but my sister”. I averted my gaze from him, staring down the empty corridor. I noticed only then that we were standing under a skylight like friends do.

“Bea…” he said, barely audible.

“I’m going to need your help ok? To.. to be a better friend”. At the acknowledgment of us being friends, he smiled, flashing his usual smile once more.

“Ok” was all he said. I looked back at him, noticing how he looked almost… angelic? Standing under the skylight, body highlighted ever so as the light shone down on him. He held out his hand and waved it slightly, insinuating a handshake, as if to accept a contract or a job, though I didn’t think he meant it as such. I think he meant it as a beginning. A beginning of something more. I took his hand right as the bell rang for classes to start. He nodded, blushing slightly, then waved goodbye before heading off to class. I did as well, feeling something in my chest I had never felt before, although this time, I think it was hope. Hope that my senior year could be different. Hope… hope that I wouldn’t be alone anymore.