‘That was an extraordinary performance. How did she even get that good?’

For a while, I just sat there dumbfounded as Soriel left the stage.

I couldn’t really form any more cohesive thoughts and I was just processing what was just played.

Slowly, all the lights began to turn back on.

The shining from the lights shocked me awake and I had to blink multiple times to adjust to it.

‘Soriel’s playing was really amazing. Maybe I should ask her to teach me sometime.’ 

Obviously, that was a joke.

I couldn’t even hope to be as talented as that. Not in a million years.

Anyway, I decided to get up from my seat and go look for Soriel.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately now that I think about it, I didn’t have to search for long.

“This sucks! You always outdo me every recital!” I heard a voice yell out.

Exiting the auditorium, I noticed two girls walking towards my direction.

“I do not! Every time you pick a song that shocks everyone! Did you see their faces while you were performing?” another girl responded.

‘Huh?’

The two girls noticed my presence and I finally figured out who they were.

One was a petite girl with black hair that was put up into two buns. She wore a dark blue dress that contrasted with her pale skin.

‘She’s the girl that performed first.’

There was no denying it. The girl in the blue dress was the exact same one who performed first in the recital.

Turning my attention to the other girl, I realized that I already knew her.

It was Soriel.

“Oh hey Elliot!” Soriel said, a smile growing onto her face.

“Hey Soriel,” I responded.

The girl I didn’t know raised her eyebrow.

“Is this the person you told me was coming earlier?” The girl asked.

“Yup!” Soriel replied.

Then, Soriel walked to my side and pointed to me.

“Ash, this is Elliot.”

Next, she walked over to the girl and pointed to her.

“Elliot, this is Ash.”

I tilted my head slightly in response to her overly dramatic introduction, but didn’t address it.

I just walked over to Ash and extended my hand.

“Nice to meet you, Ash,” I said, making sure to say her name so I don’t forget it.

“Um, nice to meet you too,” She said, extending her hand out and shaking mine.

‘She’s kind of weird with greetings. Maybe she doesn’t like formalities?’

Even though her behavior was a bit odd, she still seemed very happy to meet me.

When we both retracted our hands, Ash made an awkward smile.

“Anyway, so how do you know each other? Me and Soriel have been childhood friends for a while so I’m surprised she hasn’t mentioned you sooner,” Ash questioned.

“Oh Soriel and I recently got to know each other from my friend. But we all go to the same school so it was easy for us to talk more,” I answered.

At my response, Ash’s expression seemed to freeze.

Her eyes widened slightly, body became a little more tense, and her previous joyfulness seemed to have faded.

Actually, she actually seemed kind of resentful.

Like she was…hurt?

“Oh…you’re from that kind of place,” Ash mumbled under her breath.

Then, she inched closer to Soriel and began to whisper in her ear.

However, she was terrible at keeping her voice down.

“You brought one of those bratty rich kids to the recital?” Ash asked.

“Huh?” Soriel replied.

‘What? Did she say brat?’ 

I felt my breathing speed up a bit.

“What the hell? Who’re you calling a brat?” I retorted without thinking.

Ash seemed to be surprised that I heard her for a moment, but she regained her confidence.

“Can you blame me for trying to check something?! People like you tend to be over confident jerks,” Ash spat.

My eyebrows creased.

“Real big talk from a half wit who

makes crappy assumptions for no damn reason,” I responded.

“Guys! What are you even fighting about? Ash, what are you acting like this for?” Soriel interrupted as she walked in between us.

Ash stared at Soriel for a moment and her expression softened.

“Uh, sorry. My bad. I’ll leave now.”

After muttering those words, Ash turned around and hurriedly walked away. 

For a few moments, Soriel and I just stood there, looking at the place Ash used to be.

Eventually, Soriel spoke up though.

“I’m so sorry about that. Ash gets really riled up with big league schools due to personal matters,” Soriel said.

“It’s fine. It’s not your fault anyway,” I replied.

I didn’t want to be rude to Soriel for something her friend did. Nor did I want to talk bad about her behind her back.

Something about doing that would rub me the wrong way.

“Well, um. Your performance was really good,” I blurted out.

A small smile popped right back onto Soriel’s face.

“Thank you, but I wish I could’ve done better,” she said.

“Better? How? You did amazing. I’m not sure how to put it into words, but it was perfect,” I responded.

“Thank you, really, but I wasn’t talking about the performance.”

‘What else could she be talking about?’

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean when it comes to you and Ash. I just really wanted you too to get along,” Soriel explained in a softer tone.

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry about that,” I replied, not really sure what to say.

Soriel immediately got worried and took on an anxious expression.

“No it’s not your fault! You guys just happened to have a bad first impression! I didn’t mean to blame you!” She exclaimed.

In response to her odd mannerisms, I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

When Soriel saw that, she pouted.

“It’s not funny. Don’t laugh at my caring nature, it’s rude,” Soriel said with an annoyed tone.

“My bad, my bad,” I replied.

Soon, my smile faded and I realized that it was probably going to get late soon.

“We should probably get going now,” I said.

Soriel nodded.

“Yeah, but before that, I have to do something,” She replied.

“What do you wanna do?” I asked.

Walking in front of me, Soriel stared into my eyes.

“Do I have permission to touch you?” She asked with a serious expression.

I hesitated for a moment.

‘What does she possibly want to touch me for? Should I be concerned?’

“Sure?” I responded, a hint of uncertainty evident in my voice.

Then, Soriel brought her hands to my shirt…and buttoned the final one I’d forgot to button beforehand.

“There! Sorry, that button was really bothering me,” Soriel said as she stepped back into her previous spot.

I blinked and looked down slightly.

“Oh. Thank you?” I said.

“No problem, shall we go now?” Soriel suggested.

“Yup, let’s go.”

Then, the two of us began making our way out of the art center together.