"Eve!" Jen ran outside, far behind her class that had already been outside for 5 minutes.
Evelyn looked up from her paper sitting in her lap, "Jen, what's up!? You're late!"
"Shhh!" Jen sat down next to her friend underneath the big apple tree and handed her Ryo's note. "This is Ryo's real note that he wanted to give you. Just read it, please."
Eve rolled her eyes, "What the hell..."
Jen stood back up, "Eve, just fucking read the thing. I have a good feeling about this boy."
Eve bit her tongue, "Whatever. I guess I'll read it."
Jen smiled, "Good. I'll be right back cause I gotta explain myself to the teacher."
Evelyn folded her long legs underneath her and unfolded the letter. "Dear Evelyn. I know you don't want to hear from me right now, but just hear me out for 3 minutes. I know you don't like me. I know that you're with Nic. I want you to know that I know those two things before you read on. I like you. It can't be put any easier. I love thinking about you.... thinking about your eyes and how you would look with me. But right now, all I'm asking is that we be friends. I don't want anything else right now except for that. -Ryo."
Evelyn smiled. It was short and she liked it.
Jen ran back down to her friend and plopped herself on the ground. "So... what did he say?"
"Well, honestly, I was expecting this asshole to write me something about how me and Nic should break up and how he wants me or something... but this letter... he's... well, he seems innocent and sweet."
Jen cracked a huge smile. "I told you! Back when I was dating his friend Rowen, Ryo was the big sweetheart of them all. He's a huge teddy bear."
Eve shook her head and laughed, "Alright, but that still doesn't mean that I'm going to break up with my Nicholas."
"Evelyn... Nic is a freak! I'm sorry but he is. And he is really acting weird lately! He keeps talking about how shitty the cafeteria is and how he's going to 'spice it up' lately. Do you know what I mean? What is up with that?"
Eve swallowed, "Yeah I know what you mean. But we've been together for 8 months. That's a long time to stay committed for me."
Jen nodded.
"I trust him so much... you know he's just saying stuff to be saying it." Eve sighed and bit her bottom lip. "But I will tell you what I'm going to do... I'm going to write Ryo back." She smiled and ripped a piece of paper out of her notebook and began to write.
~*~
Cye and Kento sat in cooking class. Kento was frustrated as usual, and Cye was bored.
"Gods!" Kento groaned as he pulled out a dish of black crisps from the oven, "This is supposed to be bread..."
Cye sighed as he eyed his own masterpiece, sitting on the teacher's desk and already half eaten. Cye turned and glanced at Kento's food and burst out laughing.
"Dude, cut me some slack or help me!"
Cye shook his head, "Kento, you're supposed to cook it at 250 degrees for 20 minutes, not 500 degrees for 5 minutes!"
"Well, I thought that it would just save time...." he grumbled and threw his inedible food in the garbage can. "Damn, this is another class I'm going to fail..."
"Well, you're lucky that you don't have to eat your food to pass," Cye remarked with a laugh. "Besides," he paused and waited for the bell to finish ringing, "There's the bell."
Cye and Kento grabbed their stuff and headed for the door.
~*~
Eve folded her letter and stood up, "C'mon Jen, there's the bell for lunch."
"Are you going to give the letter to Ryo during lunch?" she asked, following Evelyn inside the school.
Eve hesitated, "Should I?"
Jen looked at her like she was stupid, "Of course!"
"OK," Eve smiled, "I'll do it." She picked up her books and headed for the door, her note in her pocket.
~*~
As Sage picked up his things, he kept an eye on Twister and Nic. He thought it was rather odd that they were suddenly bolting for the cafeteria. Together. Twister was the biggest freshman nerd and Nic was the senior bully.
"Don't you find that just a tad bit odd?" Sage asked Rowen as they walked down to the cafeteria.
Rowen nodded, "Has me confused."
Sage grinned. "Yeah. Hey, there's Ryo and Cye." Sage pointed to a round table set to the side of the cafeteria.
Rowen and Sage walked over to the table and sat down. "What's going on guys?"
"Nothing. Just waiting for the line to go down before we go up and get anything." Ryo replied. "But Kento's already up there."
Rowen chuckled, "Figures."
"Hey, Ryo,"
"Yeah, Sage?"
"Isn't that Evelyn?" He pointed to her as she walked over to their table.
Ryo's face went a shade pinker. "Hey Eve..." he stood up and greeted Eve.
"Ryo," she paused to eye his friends, then make eye contact. "Look, I'm sorry. And... well, here." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the folded note. "Just read this and you'll understand." She gave him a smile and left, headed towards Nic.
Ryo was amazed, "Shit, I didn't think it would change her that much..."
"Open it, Ryo," Rowen said.
"Chill, I'm getting there!" He took a deep breath and unfolded the letter, then read it to himself, 'Ryo, The only way I know how to say what I feel is I'm sorry. I guess things between me and Nic haven't been the best lately and maybe that's why I've been a little more edgy around you. You're a sweet guy it turns out, thanks to Jenesis. She's said nothing but complimentary things about you and I've grown to like you but not show it. And you should know why. I'm not saying I'm going to dump my boyfriend for you, but maybe with more talk and time, you and I can become friends. Hope to see you later - Evelyn.' Ryo stood up and shouted with excitement.
"Chill man, don't draw too much attention to yourself," Kento replied, already started on his mound of food.
"What did she say?" Rowen asked.
"She said that I'm a sweet guy and that we can be friends!!!" Ryo shouted, a smile a mile long placed on his face. He did a little victory dance.
Kento spewed his food on the table in laughter. "That was the lamest little dance I've ever seen!!"
"Dude, shut the fuck up," Ryo smacked him with the back of the letter. "You would be happy too if your crush said you were sweet."
Kento still held the smile of amusement on his face, "Yeah, ok, Ryo."
"Well, whatever, but I'm going to go up and get something to eat. The line is dead now." Sage replied, standing up. Rowen and Cye and Ryo followed.
Rowen grabbed a lunch tray, making a face when he saw the main dish, "Cye, you should be back there instead of those fat lunch ladies," he remarked while heading straight for the desert table.
Cye blushed, "It doesn't look THAT bad..." He grabbed the spoon to put some of the brown mush onto his plate, but then it bubbled, "Egh... never mind."
Ryo didn't take anything but an apple. "I'm saving my appetite until AFTER we get outta this shit hole."
Then there was a scream. A loud, spine tingling scream that could only be calling death.
Sage, Ryo, Rowen, and Cye all hit the floor and watched the cafeteria turn into chaos. Everyone was running around, screaming... until a gunshot.