The good thing about getting through the rest of the day was knowing I had no other classes with Ken, and I didn’t even see him after he left the lunchroom. Part of me hopes his sudden transfer wasn’t actually accepted and they sent him back home. 

The last bell has already rung, and everyone was flooding the hallways. The sport teams headed to the locker rooms. I passed the small theatre classroom and saw some of the club members sitting around on the tables and stage. Others were headed outside the side exits to head to the busses. 

My usual walk around the school to leave out the main entrance seemed as if something was added. And that being eyes. I felt the eyes of everyone staring at me as I walked through the halls. I didn’t try to make contact with anyone until I looked and found Katie at her locker. 

“Katie, what’s going on around here?” I asked her. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I feel like everyone is looking at me.” 

“Really? What gives you that idea?”

“Just look around.” I told her. She wasn’t really discrete about it as she looked up and down the hallways. 

“I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. You sure you aren’t just being a bit paranoid today because-” 

“Misa!” A distressed voice cut her off. We both turned around already knowing who that voice belonged to. John. If there was anyone in this school that was good at making his appearance known, it was John. 

“Misa! Is it true? Say it’s not true!” He asked skidding to a stop in front of me. 

“What are you talking about, John?” 

“Are you really marring some new kid?” You could hear the hurt in his tone.

“What? How do you know about that?” 

“What do you mean how do I know? Everyone knows! That’s all anyone can talk about. How could you not tell me? You were supposed to take my hand in marriage!” His eyes were focused on me as he spoke nonsense. 

“I’ve already told you a million times John, we’re just friends.”

“And I know you’re just saying that. You know we were meant to be together!” It’s like he didn’t even hear what I said. 

“So, it’s really around the whole school already?” 

“Yeah, I found out from my good friend, Mr. Powell.” He said.

 Mr. Powell, if I remember correctly, is one of the janitors. If its gone that far already, it’ll be even harder to change Sano’s mind with everyone reminding him about it. That’s probably why he congratulated me in the hallway. He may really think this is real. I need to do something and do something quick to stop this before it gets even more out of hand.

“You know, I think you got it wrong,” I told him. 

“What? You mean you will be my girlfriend?”

“No not that. What I meant was I’m not with anyone. Ken is known to be a jokester and just likes messing with people. So, you should go tell everyone that it’s not true.”

John may be a little thick headed, but he is the gossip king around here. If anyone could start, change, or end a rumor, it was him. 

“So, what you’re telling me is, you’re not getting married and I still have a chance?” He asked. 

“Uh, yeah, something like that.” I couldn’t really say no again and hurt my chances at such a crucial moment. 

“Alright, you can count on me!” He said giving me an ‘ok’ sign and a wink. John was only an inch or two taller than me. He still had growing acne on his forehead that he tries to hide with his hair. Plain T-Shirts and jeans are his usual dress. Although he seemed plain, his nice eyes and dimply smile keeps him from ranking bottom of the charts.

For some reason, he has this weird liking toward me. I don’t know when his fascination towards me started. I always thought of him like a brother and nothing more. But since he is willing to do anything for me, having him around comes in handy sometimes.

“Misa, are you sure that this is a good idea to do? This is John we’re talking about.” Katie asked after he left. 

“Don’t worry Katie. You know he’s good at what he does. If this works, then maybe I’ll be able to talk to Sano easier.” 

“And what about that Ken guy?” 

“He’ll be fine. We’re not together, and I’m not interested, so it’s not like I’m doing anything wrong. He’ll easily be able to find someone else.” 

“But, Misa...” She tried to continue. I’ve already made up my mind and she saw that. I want this to end before anything starts.

After all the confusion is over, things can finally be like it was just 24 hours ago. No weird boys coming from out of the blue with talk of a fiancés. Sure, that would mean going back to dreaming about Sano, but at least I wouldn’t have to be worried about going home and having to watch for some guy seeing me doing whatever it is I want to do at home. 

Katie and I parted ways so I took a nice quiet walk home. Or at least what I thought could have been a nice quiet walk home. 

“There you are!” This confirmed my theory of Ken getting kick out being false as I heard him following me. 

“What are you doing here?” I asked a bit bothered.

“That’s not a very happy greeting. Something like, ‘I’ve been waiting all day to see you’ or, ‘I was just thinking about you’ or maybe, ‘I was hoping to we could go home together’ would have been better.” He said while acting out his lines.

“And why would I say any of that?”

“Because now that I’m around, those are phrases you should want to use.”

“Now that you’re around, there are some phrases I want to use, but those aren’t it.”

“Aww, what’s wrong Mimi? You don’t sound too thrilled about me being here.”

“Gee how’d you find that out?” I said and turned to him. “No offense, but I was perfectly fine before you came around.” I didn’t want to be mean about it, but I couldn’t find a better way to express how perfectly fine I was before some random guy came into my life. 

“Anyone would need a bit of time to adjust to someone new. How else do you make friends without talking to a stranger first?”

He just looked at me and smiled. That was probably the first normal thing he’s said to me. 

“For us, that stranger phase will be a little different given the circumstances of how we came together. Sure, living together isn’t exactly conventional. But should you really dismiss it when you haven’t even given it a chance yet?” 

If it had been under normal circumstances like meeting at school, or a store somewhere, things would be different. But this guy isn’t here just to find another friend. His purpose is for seeking a wife. I don’t know if it’s a rich person thing, but regular sixteen-year olds aren’t looking for such a thing.

“There’s nothing you can say that’ll make me change my mind.” I told him and continued walking.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure I can change that unchangeable mind.” He smiled with brimming confidence. He’s so sure of himself. Of course a guy like him has high confidence. How else could he have made it far enough to transfer into a new school and into someone else’s home?

He continued to walk with me. To walk home alone with a guy I hardly know was strange. I didn’t say anything else and kept it a long awkward walk with this three-foot distance between us.

I occasionally looked his way and saw he was looking around as if to make note of where he’s going. We were going down a neighborhood, so wasn’t much to see other than houses and cars. 

He isn’t as flashy as he was yesterday. He was wearing a grey top and some nice blue jeans and dark grey canvas shoes. He walks with his head held high, and without a care in the world. The more I look at him, the more he doesn’t seem like the ‘arranged married’ type.

Maybe my mom just wants another kid around. She had always wanted another one, but it just never happened. Whatever the case may be, I just need to know what’s going to happen next. 

“Well aren’t you two looking cute already.” My mom greeted us when we came home. I ignored her comment and headed for my room. 

“It was a bit of a long day today.” I heard Ken tell her before I could close my door. But that was an understatement. And he’s the reason for it. 

If he intends on staying here, I’ll definitely have to change my regular routine. Starting with how I sleep. I cannot let what happened this morning happen again. 

“Misa?” I heard three knocks then my name coming from outside my room. It sounded like Ken. Reflexively, I checked to make sure I hadn’t stripped into something more comfortable yet and luckily, I was still fully clothed. I stood behind my door and cracked it in case he tried to storm in.

“No need to be alarmed. I actually came to apologize for this morning for coming into your room without your consent. In my defense, your mom said it was okay since you sleep like the dead.” I couldn’t deny I was I heavy sleeper. Katie once pushed me out of bed to wake me up and I was still out.

“I suppose since you know you were at fault I’ll forgive you this time.” I told him. It was actually kind of nice of him to apologize. I didn’t think he would.

“This time? So what you’re saying is, next time it’ll be more acceptable? I hadn’t planned to do it again but if you want me to, I would be happy to oblige.” He gave me his grin I’ve seen far too much already.

“You’re such a perv!” I closed the door in his face. I heard his footsteps going back down the hallway and into his room. My parents’ room was downstairs. I had the whole upstairs to myself so I had nothing to worry about. Now Ken is here, sharing the same space as me with no one to stop him from whatever he’s planning. I looked at my clock and saw it was after 4pm. It had officially been 24 hours since he showed up before me. If I want to get out of this arrangement, I’ll have to do it as quickly as possible.

Day two of mystery man Ken started much like Day 1 ended. I ate dinner in my room and barely said a word to him the rest of the night. I made sure to sleep decently. But I didn’t actually get to sleep well. And because of that, I woke to my alarm going off still twenty minutes later. No one bothered to wake me up this time so I was rushing again. I didn’t check on the status of Ken and his whereabouts either. I just wanted to make it to school without getting another tardy slip. 

I wasn’t as late as yesterday, so when I made it, I was able to take my time. The halls seemed more covered in social groups than normal at this hour. Once again, it felt as if they were all staring at me.

“Misa!” Katie shouted coming towards me. 

“What’s wrong? What’s going on around here?” 

“Do you know what people are saying now, thanks to that ingenuous plan of yours? Everyone is thinking that you and John are together now.” 

“What!?”

“Misa! My beloved, you’re here!” I turned and heard John singing as he came down the hall. 

“John! I told you to stop the rumors about Ken and me, not start one about you and I!”

“But I had to! No one was going to believe me if I didn’t.” 

“And you figured you could stop it like this?” 

“Yep! And it worked out great! Now everyone believes that we’re the ones together. Let’s try making it as believable as possible!” He wrapped his arm around my shoulder. My plan completely backfired on me.

“This is all on you.” Katie shook her head.

It couldn’t get worse than this. At this point, transferring out of school would be a better option. Maybe this is the universe trying to tell me my simple plans are not the answers to this type of problem. Ken is the son of a millionaire. My strategies will take more planning to get someone like him out of here. With this in mind, I’ll have to let him slide for a while until I can figure out a better way to handle this.

He has won this round, but I far from out.