Let's skip forward a month or so because nothing particularly interesting happened during that time. Gina and I got a 92% on our project so we went out for ice cream to celebrate. I got triple chocolate, obviously, and she got watermelon sherbet. Then we hung out. We hung out the next day, too. And every day since. To be honest, I'm not sure what we talk about half of the time, but I've never been more excited to wake up each morning.

"Gina!" A girl's high-pitched voice exclaims from behind me. It's between class periods, so I popped over to Gina's desk to discuss with her about a book I'm currently reading. Gina pokes her head around me and grins broadly.

"Yuria!"

"Gosh, Gina, I feel like I haven't seen you in years." The girl called Yuria approaches Gina's desk, completely oblivious to my presence. She's wearing the school uniform, but I can tell that she doesn't like it much. The sleeves are hiked up past her elbows, the skirt to its minimum length, and she's decorated herself with an appalling number of bracelets. "What have you been doing?" She asks Gina.

"Studying, you should try it sometime." Gina teases. She then gestures toward me. "This is Nomi. Nomi, this is Yuria. She's from a few classrooms down."

Yuria looks at me for the first time, blinking. "Oh, hey. What classroom are you from?"

"This one." I say, and when she gives me a look of confusion, I point to my desk.

"What? No way!" Yuria stares at me as if I just revealed that I'm an alien. "I thought I knew everyone from this class!"

Ah. Well, I can see where she went wrong, although it isn't her fault that I'm practically invisible. Honestly, I wish I could go back to not being seen right now. Her huge eyes actually seeing me is stressing me out. What is she thinking? That I look weird? Maybe my clothes look funny. Or is there something in my teeth? Oh gosh, she probably thinks I'm super lame.

"Umm, hello?"

My heart jolts and I feel my face grow hot as I realize that I had yet to actually reply to her. I force myself to look in her eyes. Don't mess up, Nomi. Wouldn't it be super cool to have two friends?

"I—"

"Yo, Yuria, been a while." Kanbe, a guy in my class, slides up and shifts his sloppy, light brown hair. He normally sits in the second to last row next to the window and has an issue keeping quiet during class, but he gets the best grades in the school.

"Kanbe, heyyyy! Ohmigosh, I just found out that Nomi is in this class." My heart jolts again.

"Nomi?" Kanbe asks.

I glance at Yuria, but immediately regret it when there's a sharp burst of pain in my head, causing my knees to almost give way. I remain standing, though, and avoid looking at Yuria. She has a crush on Kanbe. Huh.

"Yeah, Nomi. This girl." She gestures towards me, and I nod shyly, still a little dazed from the sudden headache I had gotten. Kanbe microscopically frowns in a thoughtful manner when he nods back.

What do I do? Do I say something? Kanbe obviously has no idea who I am, but it would probably be really strange to Yuria if I had to introduce myself to a classmate four months into the school year. Ahhhh, I want the floor to swallow me up. I glance at Gina with a desperate look.

Help me.

I don't know if she saw it, but she definitely saved me.

"C'mon, Kanbe, are you still sleeping? The teachers are going to hate you if you keep acing their tests without paying attention. At least pretend."

He laughed, all questions about who I am disappearing. "Not my fault that they're endlessly boring."

Yuria sighed wistfully. "I wish I were half as smart as you. I take the most diligent notes and still can't get good grades."

"You may take the notes, but do you study them?"

Yuria playfully smacked Kanbe with her notebook. "Shut up. Maybe you should tutor me."

At this point, I'm wondering if I should leave. I should leave, right? They all probably want me to leave. Kanbe and Yuria have no clue who I am, and Gina probably—definitely—wants to hang out with them over me. But if I leave and they didn't actually want me to leave, they'll think that I don't like them, and then they'll think I don't want to be friends with them. And it's not as if I do want to be friends with them, it's just that it's been so nice hanging out with Gina this past month that I'd really like to try to branch out a bit, or at least be able to get along with her other friends. Oh gosh, what if her other friends don't like me, so they tell Gina, and Gina says she can't be friends with me anymore because I'm not cool enough?

"Nomi?"

I jump. Gina. Staring at me.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"Hm? Oh! Yeah, totally fine. 100%. Way cool. Oh, Yuria is gone." I glance around and note that Kanbe was back in his seat too, staring blankly out the window.

Gina tried to keep down her amused smile, failing to prevent her laugh to make fun of me. "Are you sure you're okay? You even waved goodbye when she left."

...I did?

"I did?"

At this, Gina let loose and burst out giggling. "Yes! Nomi, where even were you?"

I laugh, too, but much more awkwardly. "Uh, haha, not sure. Just thinking, I guess."

"Pfft, well, think back to your desk, class is about to start."

"Ah, right."

Right.

I walk home with Gina again today. She waits for me as I switch my shoes and we head out together with a comment about the math homework. We almost make it out of the gates before a voice halts us.

"Gina!"

We both stop and turn to see Yuria racing after us, shoes half-on and backpack dangerously unzipped. When she reaches us, she drops her bag with a huge breath of air, zipping it up as she catches her breath.

"Gina, and...uh, I'm really sorry, I forgot, what's your name?"

It takes me a moment to realize that she's talking to me. "Nomi."

"Okay. Nomi. Anyway, Gina, I have a favor to ask you."

"Ask away," Gina says.

"My class is doing a project and we're supposed to collaborate with people from other classes—" she rolls her eyes. "—and I was hoping you'd be willing to help me out?"

Gina uncharacteristically hesitates for a moment. It catches me by surprise since she always seems confident and willing to help out anyone. That's why she always helps me out, right?

But while I was unsure about why Gina hesitated, Yuria had no such question in her head.

"C'mon Gina! I know you're super busy with that thing, but you're the absolute best option for me and I need you."

That thing? What thing? I've been constantly hanging out with Gina for a month now, and I don't know about any sort of thing.

My mind races, analyzing every moment I can remember from this past month. Will I be able to figure out what it is? Why didn't she tell me? Does she not trust me?

"What would I have to do?" Gina asks.

"The point of the project is that we both interview people from other classes about my topic and compare the data. You're the only one I know who knows as many people as I do."

Gina knows lots of people? How many people is that? Why does she hang out with me, then?

"Huh? Why can't you do that yourself?"

"I don't know! It's just the project. Different social groups or something. Please, Gina? You'll get extra credit."

Gina sighs. "Of course I want to help you out, Yuria," Yuria breaks out into a bright grin, which soon lessens a bit. "But I don't know if I'll have the time to interview a bunch of people."

"I-I know, that's why—"

"That's why," Gina smiles enthusiastically. "Nomi and I can work together on it!"

Huh?

….Wait. "What?"

"C'mon, Nomi, if we both do it, we can finish in half the time! Plus, we're going to be hanging out all the time anyway."

I glance at Yuria. It looks like she's deep in thought, perhaps just trying to remember the rules of the assignment, or perhaps wishing I wouldn't get involved. She probably doesn't like me much. I shouldn't push myself into her project if she doesn't want me to. I go to decline, but then Gina aims her brilliant smile towards me and it blinds my logic.

It feels nice, like she's totally confident in my ability to help.

"Sure," I hear myself say. Gina's smile, if possible, shines slightly brighter.

"Great!" she exclaims. "So, Yuria, we'll be in your care!"

"Oh, gosh, thank you!" Yuria grabs Gina into a big hug, and gives me a small smile over her shoulder. "I'll share the google doc with you guys, it'll have all the details! Thanks again!"

And then she plopped her bag back on her shoulder and rushed off, bleached hair bouncing behind her.

Gina grabs hold of my hand and pulls me along, restarting our walk home.

"C'mon, let's go. Can we grab food, too? I'm starving."

What "thing" is Yuria talking about?

I want to ask. I've never had problems asking anything before, but for some reason my tongue just won't shape the words. What if she doesn't want to talk about it, and will be mad that I'm asking? What if she doesn't want to be my friend anymore?

I let Gina drag me to a cafe. We talk as usual, but the doubt won't leave my mind.

She's not telling you something important.

But I'm not brave enough to ask what it is.