"Just a little more, Cathlyn! You can do it!" encouraged the girl with long black hair in a ponytail to her friend who was climbing up the tree with her.
"yes! Jess! I did it!" the girl with long wavy blond hair exclaimed happily.
They both reached the branch on the very top of the tree and sat there side by side.
"Look at the stars!" Jess said pointing at the dark blue sky painted with golden stars.
"yeah. It's really beautiful." Cathlyn agreed "I always feel better when we're up here. It's like we see everything."
"hey… we're leaving tomorrow…" Jess whispered.
Cathlyn didn't answer.
"It's been a long time since I have been to Japan." Jess continued.
Both were silent for a while and they found themselves thinking about their life in Japan until Cathlyn yawned.
"Let's go back home." Jess suggested. She was getting sleepy too.
This night was their last night in Australia. They were both 13 years old and they were the best of friends. They will migrate to Japan tomorrow.
Momoshiro and Ryoma were walking to school to practice when they passed the park. Ryoma wanted to get a drink so they walked towards the vending machine.
"Hey look! I think I saw something in that big tree!" Momoshiro proclaimed pointing to the tree by the playground.
"So what? Maybe it's a cat or something." Ryoma murmured while sipping Ponta.
"come on! We gotta help it go down!"
"do what you want."
So Momoshiro pulled Ryoma and ran towards the big tree.
"go up, Echizen." Momo ordered as he looked up the tree.
"no way. You go up. It was your idea" Ryoma ordered back.
"your reflexes are better besides you're smaller. So go"
"what does being small have to do with this?"
"it helps climb trees. Now go Echizen!"
Why the fuck is it so noisy in here?! Jess thought. She glanced at Cathlyn who was trying her best to reach the branch to go to where Jess is.
Jess was about to tell Cathlyn to be careful when SNAP!
"AHHHHH!!!!"
Cathlyn's branch broke and she fell to the ground.
Groans of pain were heard from Cathlyn. This made the two boys stop arguing and stare at the girl with long blond hair wearing jeans, sandals and a long sleeved shirt lying face flat on the ground
Ouch. That's gotta hurt. That girl fell at the speed of light. Momo winced as he thought of it.
"Cathlyn! Are you alright?!" Jess said and hurriedly climbed down the tree to help her friend.
"I'm fine, Jess" Cathlyn replied with a small smile. She moved her right leg but flinched.
"Hey miss, are you alright?" Momo asked as he went near the two girls.
"Who the hell are you?!" Jess screamed in his face.
"She needs to get to the hospital. She might have a broken bone." Ryoma suddenly said. He's smart enough to put some distanced between him and Jess.
He glanced at Cathlyn and asked "Can you walk?"
Cathlyn tried to get up but with her right leg hurting so much, the other leg gave out and she fell. Momo caught her just in time and carried her bridal style.
"um.. you don't need to carry me. I think I can walk" Cathlyn whispered, getting red.
"no you must not walk in a state like that. It's alright. You're not that heavy." Momo grinned.
"Oi! Don't be a pervert! Just take us to the hospital already." Jess glared at Momo.
"fine, fine. Let's go" Momo sighed and walked out of the park.
Cathlyn was blushing so hard and she tried her best to avoid eye contact with the boy.
"I'm Momoshiro but you can call me Momo. The other one's Echizen. What's your name?" he suddenly asked her.
Cathlyn looked up to find that he was staring at her. He's looking at me!! what am I gonna do?? I've never been this close with a guy I don't know before. She blushed even harder and tried not to stutter. "um.. I-I'm C-Cathlyn Rsyher. Nice to meet you."
"You too. Who's your friend?" gesturing to the fuming girl behind them who was staring at them with scary eyes. Mmm.. Cathlyn's really cute. And so shy… and her friend is so… loud and… LOUD.
"She's Jess." Cathlyn answered quietly but smiled.
"Are you a foreigner?" Momo asked when he noticed her accent, hair color and eyes.
"Um… yeah." Cathlyn answered.
"Is the hospital far?" Jess asked Ryoma. More like demanded.
"No. We're almost there." he replied
"Damn it… it's my fault. We shouldn't have done that in the tree." She silently muttered to herself. She didn't know that Ryoma heard her.
"Ah. It's entirely your fault." He said lowering his cap.
"Say that again!?" she snapped glaring at him.
"It's entirely your fault." He said calmy… looking bored
"You little punk."
"You hag"
"Egg sized punk"
"Ugly hag "
Momo and Cathlyn looked back after hearing what the noise. One was shouting her lungs out and one was just calmly retorting back. That continued until they have reached the hospital.
They entered and went to the reception. The nurses put Cathlyn in a wheel chair and took her to the doctor while the 3 waited in the lobby.
"So what were you both doing in the tree wearing those kind of clothes anyway?" Momo sweatdropped.
"what's wrong with my clothes?!" She looked down at her black shirt, army pants and combat boots. "And it's none of your business."
"Come one. We did save your friend." Momo pushed.
"What part of that do you call SAVING?! I could have carried her." She snapped. Even harder.
"But then… I was the one who carried her. so tell me what happened, Jess." Still pushing….
"We wanted to look at the clouds. You happy now square head?!" she finally gave up but she still snapped.
"Square head?! My head is not Square!" Momo ALSO snapped.
"How'd you even know my name?!"
"Cathlyn told me, JESSS"
"Who the hell are you two anyways?!"
"I'm Momoshiro and this is Echizen. You can call me Momo." Trying to be friendly…
"That punk's name is Echizen?!" she looked like she was about to erupt… don't know if that's good or bad though.
"what? Don't tell me you're also hitting on me?"
"Say that again?!" She snaps a lot. "Who would hit on you?!"
"Well, there's the Jyoshei hag and then there's the-"
"You little punk." Jess interrupted.
"You're just as tall as I am, in case you didn't notice."
"Oh yeah? well—"
"Excuse me, you can see the patient now." The nurse suddenly interrupted.
They all stood up from their seats and went to see Cathlyn lying in the bed with a cast on her right foot.
"Cathlyn!" Jess suddenly screamed after seeing her like that.
"Um.. hey" she smiled back at all of them
"She's alright. She just sprained her ankle. She'll be fine as long as she doesn't do any running for awhile." Doctor said and made his way out of the room.
Ryoma looked at the clock and saw that it was already 8:00 am.
"Senpai, We're late! We have to go!" he pulled Momo to the door.
"Shit! You're right! We're going now. Bye! Take care!" Momo yelled before running for life.
Cathlyn giggled when they ran.
"So you're not going to school next Monday huh?" Jess asked Cathlyn. Still feeling guilty and gutted. But seriously.. who wouldn't? it was HER scream that SCARED her and made her fall.
"Um.. I guess so." She replied looking a bit down. She has been looking forward to going to school.
"Cathlyn… I'm sorry."
"It''s alright. I'll be fine." Cathlyn said smiling.
"No… I shouldn't have let you get up on that tree. It was not that safe. I mean there are a lot of trees in Japan but this tree looked like our tree back home so—"
"Jess, it's alright." Cathlyn interrupted. "I miss home too."
"Coach is gonna kill me for what happened to you." Jess groaned.
Cathlyn giggled. "Don't worry. It was my fault."
"No Way is he gonna believe that. We've only been here for 3 days and now I got you a cast."
Cathlyn giggled again. "Seriously Jess, you shouldn't say that."
"What? The coach hates me! He'll hate me more now… oh… fuck." Jess groaned louder and sat down in the couch.
"So I guess you won't be able to go out until next week huh?" Jess asked after serious groans.
"Yeah. I guess I really need to have balance." Cathlyn giggled.
"YOU? You're the best in balance that I know! Don't even deny it!" Jess grinned.
A knock was heard and two maids in white uniform entered and bowed to Cathlyn and Jess. They proceeded to Cathlyn's bed and helped her get into the wheelchair.
"I have to get our supplies for school so I guess I'll come visit you tomorrow." Jess said and hugged Cathlyn.
"Thanks. Take care on your way home." she hugged her back and smiled.