It is almost impossible to smile on the outside
He was gone again, not surprising, she had grown accustomed to him no longer being around. She had learned quickly enough that he could no longer be the shoulder she leaned upon, those days were over. And yet, she still found herself looking to his seat in a silent plea that today would be the day he would show up for class, that he would take an interest in her and their friendship again. It wasn't surprising when the day passed without him….again.
She packed her bags quickly, avoiding eye contact with her fellow classmates so as to avoid the inevitable questions: "Where was, Kurosaki?", "Was he sick?", "Why doesn't he come to school anymore?"; questions that she herself was afraid to find the answer to.
She jammed the last of her belongings into her bag and turned to make a swift exit when she was stopped by an impressive set of breasts. She sighed loudly and looked up into the kind eyes of Orihime Inoue.
She had hung out with Orihime a few times here and there outside of class because an assignment called for it, but she didn't consider the strawberry blonde a close friend. She was slightly surprised to find her blocking her path.
"Can I help you with something Orihime?" she asked half heartedly. All she wanted to do was hurry home and crawl into bed….maybe call the Kurosaki clinic and see if Ichigo had returned (she didn't hope for much though). She shifted impatiently from foot to foot hoping that the busty female would get the hint that she was in a hurry.
Orihime smiled widely and as if she were barely holding back a juicy secret. She held the smile a second too long, and just when the girl was getting fed up with waiting, the blonde finally burst.
"Ichigo says that he is sorry for staying away so long, that he doesn't want you to worry about him; he is a-okay!" Orihime held up a thumb sign to stress the last part. Her words caught the girl by surprise.
"You have talked to Ichigo!" the girl asked stupidly. Ichigo barely said two words to the busty blonde before and now he had Orihime relying information to her from him! The girl began to wonder, and not for the first time, what was going on with her lifelong friend.
Orihime nodded eagerly. "He also told me to tell you that he wants you to smile more, he doesn't like it when you frown; that it makes you look like an old woman!"
The girl bit back a smart reply, reminding herself that it wasn't Orihime saying these things, that she was only relying words that Ichigo had sent….just for her. The thought brought a smile to her face.
"Thank you Orihime," the girl said quietly. She moved around her classmate and towards the door.
Ichigo, her long time friend, hadn't forgotten about as she had feared. He was just a little busy and when he was ready to tell her just what he had been up to all this time she would be there to listen. For now she had a lot of notes to take for him; she didn't want him falling too far behind in school!
When she reached the frame of the door she turned to look at the once again smiling blonde. "Tell him, when you see him, to hurry up and come home." She offered the large eyed girl a large smile before leaving the room, her whole attitude a thousand times better.
Without feeling better on the inside.