It's almost the end of the school year and all she's been able to do is talk to him a few times. And they were only because she had happened to be speaking with one of his friends when he joined in the convo, or when her friend went to the park and he was there. She sighed with disappointment as she waited at the bus stop. What's wrong with me? She thought to herself. Why can't I muster up the courage to have a decent conversation with him? She thought about the boy who was a year younger than herself. I'll be graduating soon and I still don't know anything about him. Just his name and grade and that's it, I only know that because I heard someone mention it, but still he didn't tell me himself. She did a great sigh and the bus arrived. She waited for her friend to hop on first so that she had a chance to search for any free seats. Sure enough there were a few. And not only was it the seats she was looking for, but for him too. And, like every other morning, he was there.
'Lenalee!'
Lenalee turned to see one of her friends indicating for her to sit next to them.
Lenalee nodded and smiled as she walked over. I'm only a seat in front of him. She thought. But this is nothing new. In fact, this happens quite frequently. She sighed and began talking to her friend. Lenalee turned to her left to speak with her other friends, she could see the boy, Allen, in the corner of her eye. And every now and then he would glance over at her. Forgetting herself she looked at him and he was looking at her, she hesitated and smiled as she waved. He waved back and smiled.
Of course, we're only acquaintences after all. If it weren't for my friends, I wouldn't have known him. I wouldn't know his name at all, but the sad part is, he doesn't know my name. I never introduced myself to him, I've heard his friends call out to him so many times, his name is also easy to remember. Mine's difficult, it's different. And not exactly common.
'Lenalee, where were you yesterday morning, why didn't you catch the bus?' Lenalee turned to see one of her male friends speaking to her. 'I got dropped off at school cause a friend of mine stayed over the night before- wait, you noticed?'
Another friend of hers laughed. He shook his head. 'Of course we noticed, it was quiet without you.'
The two boys just laughed and Lenalee glared at them and joined in with the laughter. Her friend next to her was speaking. 'Yeah, we were like, ''Hey it's quiet this morning, oh that's right, Lenalee isn't here.'' haha'
Lenalee sat there in embarrassment. 'I'm not THAT noisy am I?'
The three of them stared at her for a while. 'Fine,' she sighed. 'If that's how it is I won't catch the bus at all.'
'No, no, no!' the girl beside her pleaded. 'Don't, we were just kidding!'
Lenalee gave her a serious look. 'Really? Cause I was pretty serious, I mean I am graduating soon after all.'
'That's exactly why we want you to catch the bus, spend more time with us before you leave.'
The conversation changed topics and the four friends laughed and every now and then Allen would laugh to himself hearing the conversation. The boys were getting off the bus and Lenalee wanted to say bye to Allen. She waited for him to walk past expecting him to acknowledge her with a wave or smile. But he didn't. So instead she reached over and punched his arm, softly of course.
Allen turned to face her with a grin and nodded a bye.
She returned it with a smile and her friend beside her was complaining about nearly getting hit herself.
When Lenalee got home she rode her bike to the nearby park where her friend and Allen would hang out on rare afternoons.
Now that I think of it, it's been ages since I last saw Allen here.
She parked her bike by the tree near the playground and lied on the grass and listened to her music. She gazed at the mountain whilst listening to 'Halo'. She closed her eyes listening to beats of the song and taking in the lyrics. She thought of Allen straight away.
I'm such a fool! She thought. Why do I find it so difficult to just converse with him? I've been catching the same bus as him for the whole year and still haven't become friends with him. How did I become close with his friends and not him? Why?
She started to get all teary, for some reason the music seemed to be pumping in her ears, she turned it down to the lowest it could be. She could hear the cars go past and the murmurs of the other people at the park. But what she didn't hear was the sound of another bike riding on the soft grass. And it was because of this that she hadn't realised the person kneeling next to her. She had her arm over her eyes covering her tears. All of a sudden her earphone got yanked out of her right ear. She jerked her head to see who pulled it out. A tear ran down her face as she saw the sweet face of Allen. He had a worried look on his face when he saw her tears.
Before he could say anything, Lenalee sat up abruptly and wiped the tears away. 'Wh-what are you doing here Allen?' she asked as she turned off her music.
He grinned. 'You should know by now that I come here for a bike ride.'
'R-right, sorry I forgot. Besides its been a while since you last came.' she laughed nervously. 'So are you meeting up with her?'
He shook his head. 'She's not allowed to leave the house besides, I was planning to take a ride around to find the other parks.'
'What, by yourself? You'll get lost, especially since you don't know your way around here.' Lenalee said as they both stood up.
He turned to face her. 'I know, which is why you'll be the one to show me'
Lenalee pointed to herself. 'Wha- Me? No, no, no, no. I'm . . . Not the person to show you around' she said as she waved her hand in front of her.
That was a lie, and Lenalee was more than aware of that. She knew her way around the village more than anyone else did.
Lenalee sighed. And this is how it is, every time he's at the park the conversations never get deeper than this.
'It'd be nice if you could come with me, it's my chance to get to know you better.'
Lenalee froze thinking she heard the wrong thing. 'You . . . Want to get to know me?' she repeated stupidly.
Allen nodded his head with a smile. 'Yeah, you seem like an interesting girl, I mean you act weird on the bus but I somehow don't think that's your real self.'
Lenalee blinked at him in amazement. Unbelievable, she thought, is he serious? Or is he just toying with me. Does he really want to become friends with me?
He looked her in the eyes. 'I want to be your friend, Lenalee.'
Lenalee could feel herself blush. 'Wait, you know my name?'
He nodded his head in response. 'Of course, I hear it on the bus every morning.'
'Yeah but, isn't it hard for you to remember?'
He shook his head. 'Well, it was at first, but after hearing your friends and my friends saying it a few times it kind of catches on. It's different, but it's a nice name.'
'Thanks' she whispered. 'Well, where would you like to go first?' she asked as they walked over to their bikes. She noticed that Allen parked his next to hers.
He shrugged his shoulders. 'Where's that park that the bus always goes past in the afternoons? The one with the climbing thing.'
'Oh, it's just down there,' she said as she pointed to the direction. 'You wanna go there?'
He nodded his head. 'Yeah, that'd be nice, you don't mind?'
Lenalee shook her head. 'It's ok with me. I like that park, it's quiet. Come on, let's go.'
They both hopped on their bikes and Allen followed Lenalee. She was going pretty fast, so fast that Allen was surprised. 'You're pretty fast.' he called over as he caught up with her.
She laughed. 'I love riding, and running. I like to speed, it's an amazing feeling, almost like . . . Almost like flying.' she said with a peaceful expression on her face.
Allen smiled.
It wasn't long til the two of them reached the other park.
As soon as they got there Lenalee began climbing to the top most part of the playground. Allen looked up at her with a grin. 'Hey Allen, you coming up or not? It's really pretty up here.'
He nodded and began climbing. When he got there he stood beside Lenalee who was sitting on the rope. So do you go to the park everyday?'
She nodded her head. 'Yup, well as often as I can anyway. It gives me time to think and stuff. And when I'm not riding, I jog to the park.'
'I came to the park the other afternoon, but you weren't there.'
'Yeah, I had some work to do.'
The two of them were silent until Allen sat down next to Lenalee. 'So, you're pretty close to those guys on the bus, do you like one of them?'
Lenalee spun round to face him. 'Ha? No, they're my friends that's all. They're very nice people, I enjoy talking to them. It makes my bus trips worth while.'
Allen smirked. 'That so?'
Lenalee nodded. 'You know, you seem like the quiet type,'
Allen shook his head. 'Nah, it's just that I don't think I could ever join in on your conversations. Besides you guys are already having fun.'
'No way, you know the more people there are to talk to the more fun it is. Because you have different ideas and responses being brought into the conversation.' she turned to Allen who was staring at her blankly. 'Uh, you must think I'm weird, sorry. I shouldn't have said that.'
Allen chuckled. 'No don't apologise, I should be the one who's sorry.'
Lenalee looked at him. Allen looked her in the eyes.
'I mean, you've been trying to get my attention haven't you? That's why you smile and wave to me in the mornings. The truth is, I do wanna join in with your conversations and stuff but, wouldn't it be odd, if I just randomly joined in?'
Lenalee shook her head vigorously. 'No! Of course not, everyone else randomly joins in. You know, most of our conversations don't even make sense, and half the things I say are nonsense, but everyone still enjoys themselves.'
Allen smiled. 'Alright, tomorrow I'll talk with you guys.'
Lenalee nodded her head in agreement. 'Yeah, that'd be nice.'
They talked and laughed for a while until it was time for Allen and Lenalee to go home. Lenalee checked her phone and groaned. 'I've gotta head home soon,' she said.
'What's the time?' Allen asked.
'Ten to six,'
'I better head home too.' he said as they both climbed down. 'Thanks for showing me the park. It was fun, I enjoyed hanging out with you.'
She laughed nervously. 'It's ok, I enjoyed hanging out with you too.'
Allen smiled. 'You really are different on the bus you know. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just glad I got to see the real you.' he said as he and Lenalee headed over to their bikes. 'I'm glad I'm friends with you, Lenalee.' he said as he smiled at her.
She nodded her head in agreement. 'Me too, I'm glad I got to know you a little better, Allen. So I guess I'll see you on the bus tomorrow?'
'Yup, we should do this more often, and maybe . . . We could become good friends. See you next time.'
Lenalee was about to respond when he waved and road off.
That was the first time he said bye to me first, she thought. She smiled as she road home thinking about her afternoon with Allen.
The next day Lenalee was waiting at the bus stop. She seemed unusually happy and her friend noticed.
'You seem overly happy' he said as he grinned.
She smiled back. 'Really? I thought I'm like this everyday?'
He shook his head. 'Not this cheery.'
They both turned their heads and saw the bus coming. Lenalee walked up. 'It's ok, I'll go on first today.'
The boy stared at her wide-eyed as she got on the bus. He smiled and shook his head as he followed her.
Lenalee looked around for some spare seats, her friend was indicating for Lenalee to sit next to her. Lenalee smiled and saw Allen.
He caught her gaze and had a grin on his face. She walked over and he put his bag on the floor and indicated for her to sit next to him.
Lenalee hesitated, shocked because he wants her to sit next to him and happy, that she gets to finally sit with him. As she sat down her friends gawked at them. She turned to her friend who saved her a seat. 'What's wrong?' Lenalee asked.
She blinked dumbfoundedly and shook her head. 'N-No, it's nothing. So anyway how are you?'
'I'm good, you know what?'
At that moment Allen turned around to join her. He smiled. 'Lenalee is a weird girl.'
The two boys smiled knowingly and the girl laughed nodding in agreement. Lenalee glared at Allen who had a mischeivous smirk on his face.
Lenalee smiled at the boy named Allen. The boy who is no longer an acquaintance, but her friend.