The very next day I went to school like normal. I looked normal, on the outside at least. But inside me is a pain of both heartbreak and losing myself. 

I have planned to meet up with my friend Shin this afternoon, I bet she’ll laugh at me after hearing the story. 

Shin’s a kind girl, I’ve known her since elementary. Why is that? It’s because we used to be neighbors up until middle school and our parents even knew each other. Whenever there’s a family occasion or holiday, our families would gather and spend them together. But things never go smoothly as we all wanted it to. We all face circumstances that we have to deal with as we move forward.

I moved out of the house after my parents divorced during my first year in highschool, so I settled in an apartment of my own. My mom would send me financial aid so that I could pay for the apartment and for my education. Shin and I haven’t seen each other for nearly 3 years, that was until she attended the same university as mine last year, so she visits my apartment from time to time. She’s annoying sometimes but I appreciate her checking up on me.

Going back to the present, my day didn’t go exactly as planned, I felt gazes from people all day as I walked through the corridors of the university. So I decided to not attend two of my last subjects for the day.  I went to the roof and lied down on my back as the sun tortured me with its blazing hot sun rays. Despite the heat, I found myself falling asleep.

I woke up drenched in sweat, it wasn’t surprising. I looked at my phone and saw that I’m almost late. I'm supposed to meet her by 4 PM and it’s now 3:45 PM. I won’t  have time to change my clothes so I guess this will do. I wouldn’t be able to stand her wrath if I kept her waiting. I wouldn’t want her nagging at me all day.

I rode my black motorcycle parked by the entrance of the university. I left it here yesterday. I forgot that I even brought it to school yesterday. I grabbed my helmet sitting by the motorcycle handle and went on my way. 

Driving in this condition where my head is all over the place is quite dangerous, I even had some close calls not noticing the stop lights. Still, riding my motorcycle really eases my loneliness, it felt like this machine would accompany me wherever I go. It’s the reason I fell in love with big bikes in the first place. Plus they look really cool.

I found myself 10 minutes late, I parked at the cafe’s parking space as I saw shin staring at me from the inside pouting. I guess I’ll buy her favorite caramel macchiato to make up for me being late. 

“You’re late,not that I’m surprised. And why are you drenched in sweat?” said Shin while pouting and pointing at the seat in front of her telling me to sit immediately.

“Yeah I’m sorry, long story short, I fell asleep on the university’s roof. I’ll buy your favorite drink so please don’t nag me”

She stared at me for about two minutes, not saying anything like wanting me to tell her everything that has happened, it’s like she knew already. 

“So? Mind telling me how Hina, the school goddess rejected you?” 

Of course she knew already, news travels fast around here so it’s not surprising. So I told her what happened, leaving out the part of me meeting Yukino right after the devastating rejection.

“I can’t believe you did that. You didn’t even tell me that you liked her! At least tell me first, c’mon I’m your best friend.” 

“Yeah I’ll keep that in mind for future references.” 

“So what now?” Asked Shin

“What do you mean? I’ll keep living my normal and uneventful days of course!”

She looked at me while wearing a disgusted look on her face.

“Let me cheer you up then”

“What nonsense will you suggest now?”

Shin always does this kind of stuff, she would try cheering me up. I appreciate it but all she does is think of dumb and stupid ideas. That evil smile on her face doesn’t look like she’ll be up to anything good.

An hour had passed as we caught up with things and drank down our coffee. The sun is almost setting so she suggested that we go on with her idea to cheer me up.  But before that,  she told me that we should meet her friend first. I had a spare helmet so I let her ride behind the motorcycle and we went on our way as she gave me the location of the meetup place. 

“Hey, drive a bit slower will you. Why are you in so much rush? Are you that excited about my idea?” 

“This is how I always drive so just bare with it”

“You can’t even ride a bicycle way back then, now your acting so arrogant” 

I don’t want to remember those days so I drove even faster so that she would stop teasing me.

“Okay okay I’m sorry, just go slower will you? You don’t want me vomiting all over you right?”

“Fine, just this once” I already stink a bit because of the sweat earlier, I don’t want myself to smell like vomit when we meet this friend of hers.

So after all that driving we were late again. But except this time, it wasn’t my fault. My navigation guide named  Shin just kept messing up on the location that we ended up taking too many wrong turns on our journey of finding this place. 

We arrived at a park about 15 minutes away from the university that’s too busy for a weekday. The place was surrounded by trees and stalls selling foods and beverages. There are couples all around sitting on benches as they show us how happy they are, so I just showed them how bitter I am with my disgusted face while staring at them as we walk further to find her friend. 

“Did you find her already? Just tell me already who we’re meeting.”

“Can’t you just wait? I’m trying to find her already! I hope she hasn’t left yet.” 

So we kept searching for a couple of minutes and while we were walking, I saw a girl that looked kind of familiar buying an ice cream from one of the stalls. So I told Shin to come with me so I could take a closer look and confirm what I saw.

As we came closer to the girl, I already confirmed her identity, there’s just no mistaking it. So my plan was to avoid this girl and not let her see me with Shin. But it was too late, Shin started running ahead of me and yelled…

“Yukino! I’m so sorry we were late.  We kinda got lost along the way.” 

What?  How do they even know each other? They hugged and greeted each other like close friends. Yukino glanced at me since I was behind Shin and started smiling like someone was trying to tease me. 

“So Yukino, I want to introduce you to a friend of mine. He looks kinda weird but trust me he’s actually kinda nice. This is Aoi” 

There’s no saving this situation, Shin will 100 percent find out that Yukino and I know each other so there’s no use in denying it. I’ll tell Shin that we just happened to attend the same school during our high school years. Nothing more nothing less. My best bet for saving my reputation at this point is to try to keep my mouth shut about what Yukino did for me last night. I definitely have to. I’m thankful for what she did but it’s just too embarrassing. 

Yukino reached out for a handshake acting like we didn’t know each other, while giving me a sarcastic smile.

“How are you even friends with Shin?” I asked, as Shin looked surprised that we already knew each other.

“How?” Asked Shin.

“Yukino and I happen to attend the same school during our high school years” 

All right! I executed that well, now do your part Yukino. Please, don’t tell her that we were together last night. 

“And I comforted him Yesterday while he was sad, so of course we know each other. Isn’t that right Aoi?” Yukino added.

“W-w-what? You…..” I stuttered as I was trying to hide my embarrassed blushing face. 

Why would she say that! It’s embarrassing! There goes my plan to keep what happened last night a secret!

“Let’s go find a seat” Yukino suggested while smiling like a kid who achieved a perfect score in an exam.