If there was one word to describe today, it'd have to be "sticky". Everything just felt gross and sticky. My shirt stuck to my skin, my hair stuck to my face and if it got any hotter I feared the bottom of my shoes would melt and stick to the pavement. It was the start of the day and Marin and I were the first seated for roll call.

   I sat backwards in my chair with my chin and arms resting on the top. "Say."
   "Yeah?" Marin responded.

   "Mmn. You know about Sara, right?"
   While I thought of myself as someone got along with a lot of folks, it was on a fairly superficial level. Unless someone really interested me, I could barely remember their names or what they looked like. To be fair, I felt like it was normal not to remember everyone you meet, especially in a school... Marin on the other hand, tended to be attentive and she knew people outside of who was in her classes. Hell, she knew our school captains. I didn't even know we had those.

   "Sara... Komiya..?" she looked up to me from her notebook. "The 'Prince'?"

   "The what..?"

   "Wh.. You brought her up and you don't know..?"

   "A.. ahaha..?"

   "Really..?" She gave me an astonished look as if I'd been living under a rock, then started to elaborate when she noticed my confusion wasn't going away. "The Princes of Benmore, they're just a couple of Year 11s that got popular somehow. That Sara one's the icy type, I've only really seen her by herself."

   Marin paused for a second before adding, "That's just the rumours floating around, though. I wouldn't put that much stock into it, s'all a stupid game of telephone."

   Yeah.. I can defo attest to that...

   "So that's why you're suddenly into the library now-a-days?" Marin's attention snapped back to me.

   "You could tell!?"

   She let out a sigh and responded in a flat tone. "Your interests connect like a straight line. Each new hyperfixation you got's linked to your last one."

   "R.. right... You got any other info on her?"
   I was gonna drop the topic if Marin wanted to steer the conversation elsewhere but now that my motivation had been outed, I had no reason not to force it back to where I wanted it.

   "Uh.. Other than that, prolly nothing more than you do. I think she's got a brother? I dunno."

   Hmmn.. 
   I asked that last question but I wasn't actually paying too much attention to the answer.. I was actually still fixated on that rumour part.

   If what most people think of her are from rumours... that's not really much about her as an actual person then...

   I sat up straight as I came to a realisation.
   Does that not mean that I know the most about her?

      

   I, Sara Komiya, usually spent the school day on my own. I wouldn't say it was 'cause I had no friends but rather    that despite all the attention I attracted, nobody ever wanted to strike up a convo.

   I gotta say, the staring's kinda pissing me off though...

   Most of the time, I just try to ignore it. I dunno why people wanted to look at me like that but wasn't like I could really stop them. To pass the time, I found myself doodling in my notebook.

   Lunch breaks were generally more of the same. Students whispered as I passed by, stopped to gawk and while everyone gave me a wide berth, it still felt just really damn claustrophobic. After I grabbed whatever I felt like at the tuckshop that day, I made a run for it.
   K Block was the building the school used for STEM and it was quite a bit larger and looked much newer than all the others around. The higher floors usually had no-one in 'em at lunch time, so I used it as my little hideaway spot when I couldn't use the library. I opened my brown paper lunch bag and pulled out what was called a "chicken burger". It was all obviously ingredients from the local Bullies' store though.

   I just wanted to get away from it all, the gossiping and all that. I mean, like-
   "Prince", my ass. Bunch of randos putting me up on some pedestal like it's a good thing, even though I'm just an exhibit to show off.

   Those were my honest thoughts, but it's not like I was even trying to change what they thought of me... Maybe it's partly my fault here too. If only dealing with people came easily to me, this probably wouldn't have even happened.

   "Thought you'd be here, you loner."
   It was a familiar voice, one which made him sound older than he looked. His name was Ashton, another student that people liked to call "Prince". The label nor attention didn't seem to affect him all that much. Either that or he was much better than me at hiding it.

   "What, feeling lonely since the meathead's not around?"

   "I get you guys like to butt heads but you could call her by her name at least."

   Ashton sat down next to me, which I didn't mind. When he first called out to me was after the whole Prince thing started up so I guessed it was 'cause of a weird sense of camaraderie? Whatever the reason, I appreciated it.

   His shaggy, sandy blonde hair was done up in a half ponytail which gave him slight delinquent vibes and yet he was the most studious person I knew. He was also amiable with everyone and quite approachable, happy to help out with anything so long as it was within his abilities. Compared to a downer like me, it wasn't a question why he had fans. If Ashton was a girl, I was sure he'd be my type.

   "So? Whatcha doing here?" I asked.

   "You make it sound like we're not friends."

   "Are we now?"

   "I'd hate to think we aren't."

   Same, honestly. I wasn't going to say that out loud though. I'd thought of us acquaintances at most so him considering us friends gave me the push for me to do the same.

   "A bit of company's just nice, is all." It was belated but he answered my question. Actually he might have been answering both my questions in one fell swoop. Clever ass.

   "I wonder."

   Before I realised it, the rest of the day had flown by. At the very least, I had been paying attention in my classes but whether or not it would really stick was the real question. Ashton joined me again for the second lunch break. We were both routinely flanked by loudmouths so I think we were both glad the other was the quiet type. If he wanted to talk, he probably had tons to share with being a part of the student representative council, however I would've found all that a massive bore.

   My breathing was getting a little stuffy, so I turned my head to the side. I wasn't particularly tired but today I sat in my usual spot in the library with my head buried in my arms. I was more lost in thought than anything. Well, even then, all I could really ask myself was;

   What am I doing..?

   I enjoyed the calm I was afforded here. At the same time, there was a little bit of me that felt suffocated when it got too silent. Then I thought of Ro, that little punk. She made herself right at home in my personal space regardless of if I gave a shit. How free spirited. She'd somehow lost her entire pencil case the first time I saw her prancing around and the sight of it was honestly a little irritating. I thought I could just quickly get her out of here since it was pretty much the only thing thrown into the lost and found when I checked. Looks like that backfired though...

   With how clingy and exhausting to deal with she is, you'd think I wanted nothing to do with her but... For some reason, Ro's a lot more tolerable than anyone else. Maybe it was 'cause she at least cared enough to ask my name directly, or maybe 'cause she didn't even know who I was..? I didn't quite know. The point was, I didn't hate that she was around.

   While I was busy introspecting, I felt something perch itself on my head. I looked up to see what happened, and speak of the devil. What I felt was Ro's hand.

   "Sorry..~ I was thinking like, your hair looks really fluffy so I couldn't resist..~"
   I had no words. Instead, my raised my own hand to Ro.

   And gave her a light flick on the forehead.

   She recoiled back, a little more than I was expecting. No way it hurt that much.
   "Ow- What was that for..?" 

   "'Cause you're being a weirdo again."

   Now fully back to reality, I sat up straight and stretched my arms to the ceiling. "Whew.."

   Watching Ro, I let out a tiny sigh. Not my usual one of exasperation but one that was more of a chuckle.