"Yamuraiha, your face is still blank, what gives?" Pisti waved her hand slowly before her friend's eyes.
Five minutes passed since the bell rung. The other students already poured out to meet the bus and other means of transport.
A very shocked Yamuraiha was guided to Sharrkan's car by Pisti. She could still move, yet her racing mind made it hard for her to think, let alone speak.
Yamuraiha shook her head. "A part of me really wanted the part, but I don't know." She sighed and reached for her seatbelt. "I didn't think I'd be able to get it, or maybe I did and just it happened so fast."
"Wow, you're so dramatic." Sharrkan smirked, adjusting his rearview mirror. "You're perfect for the part no matter what it is. You have that whole appearance of someone that bleeds theatre." He started up his car. "Seatbelt, Pisti."
"Oh right,"
"Wait- 'bleeds theatre'? What does that even mean?" Yamuraiha crossed her arms and her face turned sour.
"Oh come on, you get passionate about whatever you're doing- and that's just what those theatre nerds are about." Sharrkan paused and shook his head furiously as if to rattle up his thoughts. "Whatever, let's just get going, the roads are going to suck for the first five minutes of driving." He backed out of his parking space and joined the line of cars driving out from the school to their destinations.
"That means our sing alongs are going to be great the first five minutes!" Pisti turned on the radio. "Yamuraiha do you sing?"
"No, but she dances,"
Yamuraiha rolled her eyes at the toothy grin she saw on the rearview mirror. "I mean, I'm not good," she said to Pisti, ignoring Sharrkan's reference to the incident which happened a few weeks ago.
"You don't have to be good you just gotta sing with soul, right Sharr?"
"Right. No fools in this car." He tapped his fingers impatiently waiting for the car in front of him to turn.
Pisti turned to a station playing an old popular song. "Hey, do you guys remember this song?" She turned up the volume. "It was so overplayed,"
"Damn, I feel old listening to it," Sharkkan laughed, then glanced back at Yamuraiha, waiting for her to respond.
The song was familiar yes, but she couldn't figure out where she heard it and why it made her feel to unexplainably sad. It was a happy song, no doubt about it. Her friends seemed to be jamming out to it and singing off tune with such delight.
"This would always play in the toy store, you know the one in the city?" Pisti said, still drumming her fingers in the air.
"Oh, right. Even I hated it back then." Sharrkan added.
The toy store rung a bell in her head, but that wasn't why she was sad. She pictured her younger self hearing that song and walking around with her father. People were particularly sympathetic to her that day.
The toy store was almost vacant however, that she knew well. Aside from the owners there were no kids there- she and her father probably visited during a weekday. It was rare of him to ever take time off of his work and to use that time to go to a toy store was unheard of.
"Oh remember the time we went to that graveyard at night last year?" Pisti broke Yamuraiha's train of thought. "You were so scared," she teased Sharrkan.
Yamuraiha had gotten so lost in her thoughts she hadn't realized the school was no longer in sight and that they were driving through a part of town that had an empty valley on one side and what seemed to be the the largest graveyard she had ever seen in her life on the other.
"Yeah, but not as scared as Sinbad- he held onto Jafar the whole time," he said, letting out a small chuckle. "Hold on guys, we're making a sharp turn."
Yamuraiha took a good long look at the graveyard and she remembered. Finally, she remembered-and she wished she hadn't.
She was at the toy store with her adoptive father after her real mother's funeral. It was such a terrible feeling seeing someone who was meant to be so close to her dead. Her nine year old self didn't know how to react to seeing the person who gave her up without any thought.
It wasn't like her real father and mother were separated and they had money too. She couldn't believe how bitter she still felt after all these years.
She remembered hearing some people at the funeral whisper over her about how her parents didn't think twice about giving her up. 'Not good enough,' was a phrase that circled around in her mind at the time. Actually, that was incorrect- it was a phrase that continued to haunt her mind.
She cried during that funeral. And she didn't hold back a single tear. It was the worst feeling in the world. And she hated that she still felt empathy towards someone who never even felt enough towards her to even give an explanation of why she was abandoned. It was moments like that which made Yamuraiha wish Matal was less honest with her. At the time she would have rather thought her parents had disappeared. Any tragic fake backstory would have hurt less than knowing she was voluntarily given up.
"We're here guys," Sharrkan said as he turned the car engine off.
"Can we get food and go to the piercing shop first?!" Pisti excitedly asked.
"Whatever you guys want, I'm fine with anything," Sharrkan said in an overly relaxed tone. He just wanted an excuse to get out of his house. His older brother was visiting and whenever that happened things weren't looking so pretty.
"I'm fine with anything too," Yamuraiha undid her seatbelt, and pushed her bag to the side. "But if we're eating I can pay for you guys- as long as it's reasonable."
Pisti shrugged. "Sure I'm fine with free food how about you?"
Sharrkan looked back at Yamuraiha's glum face, knowing that something was up. "Sure," he replied. It was better not to pry- and food usually helped erase a grim expression. "Have you been to the mall before?"
Yamuraiha shook her head. "No I haven't been to this mall before, but back home we had a big one," she said as she slid out of the car.
"Yeah this mall is okay, the one by Sinbad's summer home down southwest by the ocean is the best though," Pisti chirped all while gazing at the sky, reminiscing. She lead the way towards the entrance of the mall. "You should really join us this spring break this year- there's lots to do over there,"
Yamuraiha bit her bottom lip and tried to think of a way to politely decline. She did say she would stop running, yes, but to go on spring break with a bunch of, well for lack of a better word hooligans would definitely not be a good idea. Especially after the fiasco that was Sharrkan staying overnight after they both blacked out from drinking.
"I mean, I don't know if my dad will let me," she sheepishly said, shrugging.
"I'm sure you can convince your dad!" Pisti said.
"If she doesn't want to go she doesn't have to, Pisti." Sharrkan said coldly.
"What makes you think I don't want to go?"
"I can tell when people lie," Sharrkan looked at her smugly. "You could say it's a gift," he said, adding an overly dramatic hand wave.
"Well maybe you're wrong this time," she crossed her arms to emphasize her point. It was hard enough already for her to look like a serious adult in front of him, actually, it was hard enough for her to look like a serious adult in front of anyone due to her being 5"2.
"Well maybe you shouldn't bite your lip while you think of a lie to tell," he pressed her nose as if it were a button. "And your face is really red right now," he added, chuckling to himself.
Pisti joined in on his laughter.
Yamuraiha tried her best to be mad at them, but she soon found herself snorting along with them.
"Okay, fine, you're right," she admitted. "I'm just unsure as of how everything will work, I mean won't it be awkward having me there?"
"Trust me, it won't be," Sharrkan put his hand on her shoulder. "And even if you do make it awkward it won't be as bad as Pisti." He shot a certain look at Pisti which Yamuraiha was having a tough time to decipher on whether it was him being mad or a joke.
"Hey, say what you want, but at least things are fun with me around," Pisti bragged. "I'll get the door," she held the entrance for them to walk through.
"Yeah and things are illegal when you're around too," he rolled his eyes.
"That was like three times!"
"More like three times every day,"
"Uhm, guys, sorry to break up this banter here- I have to ask, where are we even going?" Yamuraiha was genuinely concerned as the mall was uncharted territory and full of strange unfamiliar faces.
"Oh right, food court," Pisti snapped her fingers. "First floor, we're already here," she pointed forward, "the middle of the mall,"
And onwards they went.
AUTHOR: Hello, sorry this chapter was meant to be longer, but I'm going away for a week and didn't want to leave you guys with nothing. I also can't see my reviews for whatever reason :c anyways this chapter isn't much, but I wanted some backstory on Yamu. There will be more backstory on Sharrkan too soon and Yamu will be much more in depth.
Also, for anyone wondering English is my third language. Russian is my first and French is my second. Thanks again for reading!