AFTER YOU- CHAPTER ONE
"Aren't you going to our booth?"
"Nah. I'll stay in the classroom. And besides, it's too crowded." I told Nonoko and she nodded in return, her eyes showing a bit of disappointment.
"But wait.." She quickly turned back and as if looking for something. I watched her as she went to a table and picked a small bag, probably the first aid kit she used on our wounded classmate.
"Please pu-"
I didn't hear her next words. I tried to near my face but no use. I also noticed she stopped midsentence as we both looked to the source of the big noise. It's from the school field, where many booths are competing noises. The noise is from a certain booth which we don't know what, and maybe the people cheered and shouted because they won or something.
The field is full of students like crawling bunch of ants transferring from one booth to another. Even though we're from a distant, the noises and faint chats are entering our ears. We could not even identify which booth was noisy because really, everybody's hyper.
When we looked at each other again, I raised both of my brows indicating I'm saying "What?"
"Please put this in my locker since you're going upstairs in our room." I heard her this time because the pitchy shouts went down a little. I grabbed the bag and waved bye.
I saw her ran to the busy field going to our Chemistry Booth. I went on the opposite direction, going to our school building, which was unusually quiet and no students can be seen chatting in the hallways. No group of friends making fun of a little boy. No jealous high school girls ranting about how stupid and weird students in the science section are, which happens to be my class. Honestly, why do girls kept gossiping about how we live? Because honestly, I could be considered as a nerd, but I'm not stupid. I'm just a plain typical silent girl who, by fate, became one of the students in the favorable science class.
No girly giggling, boys chasing and running, or people laughing. Just, plain silent. All are busy in the school field playing or having fun on different booths.
What I can only hear is the sound of my black shoes as I approach the 2nd floor. Our room is in the 3rd floor, which is a hassle for me. I can hear momentary faint shouts from time to time. They're from the ecstatic students in the field.
From a distant, there far away in the other side of the hallway, I saw boys. I reached the second floor, I narrowed my eyes as their image became bigger and bigger.
... Wait, they're actually running. And I'm sure they are from the lower section.
My eyes widened. It was only then that I realized they're coming my way. I moved aside, held to the stair railings, unblocking my way. Who knows? They could bump me.
I remained unmoved. Then I got a bigger view of them. The first boy passed on me, he held on to the railings as he changed his direction 90 degrees to the left then down the stairs. The second boy also held to the railings, almost touching my hand as he gained balance to swiftly change direction. He swung himself down to the fifth step then continuing running.
What came into my mind is that, why are they running like mad?
And the others came simultaneously. They passed upon me at the same time, making a swift wind that blew my hair. It's kinda awkward.
They all passed and moved, some jumped, some flew, and some just ran. But as they all went away, I saw one was left. A raven haired boy was stuck somewhere in the middle staircase, trying to pull his ID lace that was stuck in one of the railings' holes. I saw that the other boys are already down there.
"Fuck…" I heard him mumble.
I unconsciously watched the scene. The other boys stopped running, maybe noticing their friend stopped too. Some went back a bit, desperately motioning him to stop-whatever-he-is-doing-and-run. I stared at them, but it seemed as if I'm invisible. But I'm sure they saw me.
He harshly pulled the ID lace, and maybe he didn't notice that he dropped his ID because he just slided down the railings then he and his troupes went away continuing their run. Honestly, are they on a racing or what?
.
I went down a few steps on the stairs and saw that they're already gone outside, went to the field. I looked at something on my feet that I just realized I was stepping on, it's his ID.
The back of his ID was facing me when I picked I it up.
I turned around, still holding the ID, ready to continue my interrupted walk towards our classroom. I flipped the ID, but before I could even register in my mind what was written on his ID, or even take a one step up the stairs, a pair of teachers appeared that made me look up.
I don't know why, but as soon as I saw them, as if a reflex action, I quickly hid the ID behind my back. I held it carefully, touching the broken lock because of the harsh pull he had done on it.
They were obviously tired because of dripping sweat from their foreheads and continuous panting. Not a good sight for a sensei.
"Hey girl, ha.. have you seen boys.. running?" the female one said, wiping a sweat on her forehead using a hankie.
Unconsciously, I shook my head. It's weird that I didn't tell them the truth. "I..I..I just came here maam." There's a force forcing me not to tell them.
They looked at each other, then immediately ran downstairs without having a second word. Then I put the ID on my pocket.
.
.
Only three girls were in our classroom when I entered. One was sweeping the trashes brought by the garbage of our Chemistry Booth, one was cutting papers, and one was sleeping on her chair with a cellphone on her side playing a loud rock music bringing sound to the silent atmosphere.
The girls greeted me, except for the sleeping one. I smiled back, and they continued whatever they were doing. I headed for Nonoko's locker, and squashed inside the bag.
I sat down on a chair beside the window I just opened for fresh air. I searched for my pocket for the ID.
There, a picture of a lad lazily looking at the camera, his red eyes staring back at me.
.
.
'Natsume I. Hyuuga'
Ooooo~~OOOO~~oooooo
I made this late at night, so probably there are typos. Review?
:D