*** I'm running out of ideas to put in my A/Ns. ***

Curious Girl

12:15 PM

I didn't want to be precisely on time for our little meeting. I worried if it's just a trap from her who appeared to bear grudge towards boys. I could imagine her laughing evilly while saying boys could be so stupid and gullible. I overreacted. I've never been able to trust people easily.

Still, for some reason I managed to bring myself there, to the place where she fell on me yesterday. The fall left a little scar, nothing I couldn't handle, I felt fine. I don't want people calling me a weak... A weak baby, it's just a bruise. It'll fade. Someday.

At first, I wanted to lean to the wall, much like yesterday, but I didn't want to make the same mistake. I looked up, no, she wasn't there... Though I could hear a sound... Ah, there she was. I could hear breathing from the other side of the wall. My senses are sharp, look at me! I could hear the sounds of people breathing!

I knocked on the wall, hoping to get a reply... Hoping she wouldn't try the same method on entering as yesterday and tell me what to do.

But of course, there's none of that.

The brick wall separating the two of us... I knew there was no way she could enter (aside from the main entrance itself) the academy here. I looked up in horror. Within seconds she was already up there, on the edge of the brick wall, ready to fall... On me.

I panicked. I could still feel the pain from yesterday. I didn't want to repeat yesterday all over again. I shook my head frantically, hoping she would get the message.

She didn't.

"Catch me!" Rin said gleefully.

"NO!" I shouted back. No money in the world, no offer in the world, would be worth it to get your body flattened... Er, crushed, by a ten year old girl. It's really not worth it, I should just leave and pretended nothing happened. I didn't want to make another bad choice like yesterday.

"I'll tell everyone you pushed me off the wall!"

I almost forgot about the blackmail thing.

She leaned forward, and I readied myself. She didn't give me a single second to argue, or to think, my body just acted on its own. What else would people do if they see a girl, about to jump from a high wall? (aside from, maybe, stare at the crazy girl, doing absolutely nothing, and wait for history to repeat itself and made the better choice of leaving her in the teacher lounge.)

At least this time, I was prepared... Or, more prepared than I was before. I caught her with my own two arms, though the impact of the fall, or whatever you call it, it was too much for my arms to hold her up. Sure, I had her in my arms, only for a few, not seconds, milliseconds maybe. I let her down roughly on the floor, when I was about to though, I realized she had her arms wrapped on my neck already. The force was on my neck when I let go of my grasp.

I was chocked. And it was enough to bring me to my knees.

"Can I just ask why?" No, I didn't need to extend the question. I'm sure she knew what I was talking about. Why did she decide to jump off like that? And... We met yesterday, so, what? She knew me well enough that I'd actually catch her? Was that it?

Moreover, I was surprised she actually came. I was sure I looked unwilling yesterday, and yet she believed I'd show up?

"It's the magic of trust!" Rin said, her hands still clinging on me.

"Sure, of course it is." I rolled my hands and made her let go of my neck. I unbuttoned my coat, and, as "promised", gave her my notebook. Without saying "thanks" or "oh, wow, you actually kept your promise to me I owe you my life", she snatched my notebook away from me and flipped through the pages.

Hn, she was disappointed. There was practically nothing there. I wrote down some of the rules they told us to write down, the schedule, and I doodled a little, that was that. It's the first day of school, a new term! We can't just jump right in with a subject like that! I'll be honest here, if it weren't for her, I wouldn't even write that much (in this case... One and a half page).

"Not what you expected?"

"I was expecting a textbook!" Hahahah she was expecting a textbook. I shrugged to that, we hadn't got textbooks and such. They didn't give us anything, all we had was our notebooks, we're expected to write everything down. Maybe they'd give us our textbooks during class periods...

I'm not so sure about that though. Books are really expensive... Not expensive to me, but it's expensive to some other people. If this boarding school really does have money, then they'd spend it on renovating the whole building, they wouldn't waste it on textbooks for ... Roughly four hundred or five hundred children.

"We just got our schedules today." I demanded my notebook back, and she... She used that face again. That selfish little...

"Whatever, I can see you again tomorrow, then." Rin crossed her arms, then realized she was still barefooted. She put her heels on, struggled on it a little, (I suppose… She wasn't much of a heels fan? They do look horrible).

"What are you going to do now? I don't want to go home just yet, might as well spend some time together, right?" I nodded lightly, and wondered... Yesterday, when she said she wanted my notebook... I thought she'd just go through them, say "thank you", and leave. She couldn't live with it (I assumed), she's the chatty type... It won't hurt to get a companion, so, why not, right?

"What's with that nod? What are you going to do? We can stay here and chat or we can walk around, make up your mind!" Though she could be loud and irritating at times, and I barely know her. We met yesterday by chance, and... She's the annoyingly chatty type.

Yep. Not yet a friend. Just companion. Perhaps acquaintance.

"Let's just stay here." I sank to the cold floor, now half covered in snow. She sat next to me and whistled, somewhat happy. Just a second ago she was upset about the notebook thing, and then... then she looked really happy. I think she's mentally unstable. Mood swings... It's something all women have, right? Rin's not, a woman yet, she's still a little brat.

"How old are you?" I started the conversation. Might as well indulge her need to converse and annoy people. I'm sure that's what she had in mind too when she said "spend some time together".

"I'm nine, but I'll be ten later on the eighteenth of July. You?" I was expecting her something to say... Well, something like... "Bring me presents on that day! Lots and lots of presents! 'cause apparently I'm a little brat and you're supposed to do what I say like a servant!", but to my surprise she just looked at me expectantly.

"I'm ten, and I'll be eleven on December later." I thought we were the same age... Not that there's anything wrong with that. I don't talk, meet, or... Befriend many people, so age don't really matter to me. Age gap only served as crutch to find conversation topic anyway. Nothing to do with me.

"My dad said he'll give me something really neat for my tenth birthday... He said he had prepared it for me already and it's only a matter of time~ What did you get on your tenth birthday?"

"Nothing." I sounded really depressed there... Not really depressed, but I was being really... frank. I knew this would lead to other questions, which would lead into other questions, until eventually I would have to tell her what I've been through the past ten years with my parents. I don't like sharing my stories... It's not like I've done that already, I never told anyone, I never talked to anyone. So... Wait. If I keep thinking about this, does that mean I secretly wanted to get it off my chest? What am I talking about?

"So were your parents busy? Did they at least say happy birthday?" She showed a hint of concern in her face... Jeez, it's just a birthday. It's not the most important day of the year, in fact, I don't understand why people celebrate them in the first place. It's just mark of how long you have endured this hell called life. Some got lucky to die at their twenties, or thirties. Me? I've always thought I'd be the unlucky person who lived until his fifties.

"They did. They... Sent me here because I'm old enough, so... I guess it counts as a present." I didn't want to sound so depressed, I had to look... Like I'm having fun in this boarding school. Rin, she said she wanted to be in this boarding school, right? She hadn't seen what's inside.

"That's a nice present, attending this school and all..." Yep, I knew it. She thinks it's a blessing. "You're not so comfortable with this topic, are you?" Rin pinched my cheek... What was she doing? Was she... Trying to make sure I wasn't distracted? Because I did, a few times already... Huh, she must have noticed.

"I don't like discussing this, there." Not sure what kind of black magic she used to read my thoughts like that, but I didn't like it one bit. She could read people's thoughts, and that's scary...

"You could have just said so. I respect people's private life!" Said the person who rested on my bed and claimed it hers.

"How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"That I wasn't comfortable with the subject." Was my face that easy to read? I don't see my face in the mirror so often, especially when I talk to people (and that doesn't happen often) so... Maybe my face was funny so she could tell... She could read my mind?

"You're a predictable person. I can read people's faces! Your mind wandered a few times, which is really rude, especially when you're talking to people, talking to women."

"But you're not, you're a brat, so I don't need to listen." Rin pinched me on my cheeks hard, and she gave no mercy... It... Kinda hurts, a little. But I didn't want to admit that, in front of her face. I'm... (Uhm, I'm not a man yet) I'm in the process of being a man, so I'm not supposed to look weak in front of her.

"Say I'm a brat again!" She glared at me, both her hands still pinching my cheeks.

"You're a brat." It was funny, seeing her reaction and everything. Her childishness, or, whatever you call it, it's funny. The more I make her irritated, in a funny and teasing way, the expression on her face...

It was priceless.

"Really... You'll regret that in the future, calling me a brat..." She let go of my cheeks and sat crossed leg, back to her seat. We sat quiet for the next... Ah, who knows how long. It was hard to tell time, since... I know I said it already, I love the quiet atmosphere, I don't like crowd-like places, but it felt awkward... Not saying anything there. My head raced for an idea, or a topic, just to keep the conversation going.

"Are you having fun?" Rin suddenly asked.

"... What's with that question..."

"I'm just wondering. I feel like I'm... Forcing you to do these things" She "felt" like. No, it really did happen. She really did "force" me, to be more precise, blackmail me, on doing these things. Though... I wonder why I went along with it in the first place? I could oppose the blackmail somehow... "Go with the flow", I suppose. Things just happen, and I... Go along with it.

"You're distracted again!" She pinched my nose for a second or two.

"Gah, okay, okay, sorry! I'm enjoying myself, really, I am." At least, ... I thought so.

"That's good... That way I won't feel so guilty on getting you down." She smiled again, she showed off that smile I kind of like. "When should you go back to class, by the way?" I flipped through the pages of my notebooks, I hadn't memorized the schedule yet... Ten more minutes. She took a peek and figured it must be time for her to go.

"I don't want to bother you, so..." She patted my shoulders and stretched up. "I'll see you tomorrow!" Rin climbed up the brick wall, with the help of the wall's edges, holes, and creaks here and there. Once she was up on the edge, she slowly climbed back down. Why hadn't she done that before? Instead she fell on me... Why, god, why.

I'll be honest, and I won't lie. It's fun to have a company around, someone like Rin. I don't mind having to go through... This every day. Her mind reading skills could actually help me somehow. It's... It's not that bad.

I slowly walked down back to my dorm, feeling as if... I was missing something. Did I forget anything... Or was it something I was supposed to do... I couldn't put a finger on it but I really did... Oh, that's right. It was about Rin.

She forgot to bring her cookies. Or maybe it was on purpose? Did she do it on purpose? It was a lie, the cookies? The cookie was a lie? But… I didn't really mind, not eating the cookies. It's not like it mattered... The person bringing them is more important than the cookies itself.

.. Wait, what?