Peculiar world

CHAPTER 9(Loud Cat Miya√)

We're back to the old routine in the classroom, with Miya greeting me with a loud welcome. She follows me into the room and sits in her seat while I sit in mine. She then starts talking about a variety of topics, but usually I don't give her a response.

She's used to my ignoring her because she's normally so vocal. I wish I could ask her whether she ever gets weary of talking so much, because she thinks I'm an i***t since I never respond.

"Did you know, Lori, that something funny happens when you laugh?" More than whatever gibberish she's talking about, I can comprehend her laughing. I don't know what she was talking about but I just let her talk and talk to me.

She may be simply telling me funny stories about what happened to her a while ago, or if she ran into someone handsome, or maybe about the tv series she's watching. Random. Miya's stories are so random, I think she's blindly throwing countless topics to find out which one will interest me.

"Hey Miya the loudy cat! Can't you shut up? You're talking so much, it's annoying !" He scolds her even as he steps inside the room, "Your voice reaches the second floor!"It's Rome, Miya's male counterpart in terms of noisiness. He is skinny and tall.

He sometimes styles his hair hanging over his face, sometimes pointing up, but always messy. Miya stands up at his words. She was annoyed.

"HEY! WHAT DO YOU MEAN ANNOYING?! LOOK WHO'S TALKING!"

"OH YEAH? YOUR LOUD MOUTH NEED TO SHUT UP SOMETIMES. OR ACTUALLY EVERYDAY! "

"HOW DARE YOU CHICKEN WIRE! HMP!"

My classmates started to laugh. This too is full of energy. I can't.

"WHY AREN'T YOU CRINGING OVER WHAT YOU JUST SAID? WHICH SIDE OF YOU IS BEAUTIFUL? HUH ? TELL ME? TELL ME?"

"EVERYTHING! FROM HEAD TO TOE!"

"You're both annoying," Our heads turn to the person walking into the classroom, Kenji Tamako.

His hair is still spiky, and I think there are even more band-aids and pieces of cloth tied to his arm. He's the 'badass gangster' type, and even now none of us know if he comes from a foreign family based on his name. It's been a week since he's gone to school and it's a miracle that he has come at all.

"Kenji! YOU'RE ACTUALLY ALIVE!" Rome brightly greets him, they're always together.

"Oh, Tamako, it's a good thing you thought to go to school today." The class representative, Lord Troy.

Aqueva III suddenly says. A hush falls over everyone, and surely the tension between him and Tamako is the reason for that. It's been long since they started

making each other's blood run hot. One other thing, Aqueva is the most influential person in the class.

Everyone believes anything he says.

"I go to school when I want to." Kenji says.

He kicks a chair on the way to his seat.

"Omg, it's Kenji."

"Why'd he have to go to school?"

"Tss...you're right."

"He'll just disturb the class."

There's nothing they're thinking about besides the trouble he might make. Kenji, the delinquent, is neglected by this society. Especially in school.

Well, I don't care about what he wants to make of his life anyway.

….

It's already 8:01 am, but the first-period teacher, Miss Mathilda, isn't here yet. Usually, she's here one minute before class should start.

"Guys, Miss Italia is absent." One of my classmates is late. Unlike other students, who are delighted when they find the teacher won't be

coming, our class is different.

"Why did Miss decide to be absent when the exams are so close? Tsk."

"I'm already behind in my cram school."

"Me too, I have to study in advance for the entrance exams."

That's how thirsty they are for studying. And who's

"Tss...you're right."

"He'll just disturb the class."

There's nothing they're thinking about besides the trouble he might make. Kenji, the delinquent, is neglected by this society. Especially in school.

Well, I don't care about what he wants to make of his life anyway

….

It's already 8:01 am, but the first-period teacher, Miss Mathilda, isn't here yet. Usually, she's here one minute before class should start.

"Guys, Miss Italia is absent."One of my classmates is late. Unlike other students, who are delighted when they find the teacher won't be coming, our class is different.

"Why did Miss decide to be absent when the exams are so close? Tsk."

"I'm already behind in my cram school."

"Me too, I have to study in advance for the entrance exams."

That's how thirsty they are for studying. And who's

responsible for why they're like that...

"In this country, out of fifty people, only three will be happy." She said that to us on the first day of school. Miss Matilda told us that life wasn't fair, and not everyone will be happy. She easily influenced our class to study hard-good news, though there's something wrong. Not everything is based on what

grade you're going to get, right? And because of her...the society in this class isn't fair. A School Caste System is not funny or cool at all. If you get a high grade, that's your benefit. And if you get a low one, if you're getting left behind:

you're part of the 47 who will never be happy.

….

"Look, the social climber b***h is passing through."I hear them say as Alex and Isabel walk in front of them Poor Isabel, I watched her sitting alone in the cafeteria while suffering because of those girls.

She really looks miserable. She doesn't wear makeup anymore, she even lost all her fancy jewelry.

"friends" from other sections. See, nothing is permanent. Things just come and go.

"Seasons change and people will

grow", as the saying goes.

After I told Vince off, I had a thought. Does anyone have the right to love whoever they want? If not, no one will get hurt, but heck, Isabel deserved that I'm not saying what Vince did was right but she needed to learn, and now that the material things of this world are not what's important.

Last night, the web blog posted a new status

update: "You sure could talk a lot huh. Lorie, you really don't know anything." Yeah, that's right I don't know anything. If only you could live a life not knowing anything.

….

"Hey, people of White Knights!" a boy's voice from the speakers around the campus echoes, and all the students in the corridor stop.

Lunch break is ending and I am on my way to the classroom.

A lot of students were surprised at the return of the Student Amateur Radio Club. They are rarely on air because the school prioritizes the academic system over the extracurricular activities. They have only fifteen minutes to be on air because it's almost one o'clock and classes will resume.

After a while, it broadcasts the sound of a live band playing I'd love to know just what you're thinkin' Every little river, runnin' through your mind You give and you take,

You come and you go.

The girls walking near me suddenly stop.

You leave me here wondering' if I'll ever know--How much you care or how much you don't Whatever you need, whatever you want-

"Hey! Hey!It's Kit!"

"His voice is so so hot!"

"Omg!"

If you're gonna be somebody's heartbreak If you're gonna be somebody's mistake--If you're gonna be somebody's first time,Somebody's last time, baby be mine--If you're looking to be somebody's 'just friends

Baby, baby, baby, be mine, all mine If you're gonna break someone's heart, yeah--Hey, Lorie Might as well, might as well. be mine- I didn't expect Kit to fit my name into the lyrics. As a result, all the people in the corridor stare at me. Urgh. That annoying guy. Why won't he just

let me go?

What is a friend to you? And how are you as a friend? (Include a pattern from a to z)

How ironic. Of the dozens of questions I could have gotten for Miss Mathilda's class recitation, it had to be this one? I wonder if fate itself gave me this question to unsettle me. I stand by my seat. I feel like everyone's gaze is locked on me.

They wait for the moment my mouth opens and spills words. I only have one minute to think of an answer.

What are friends anyway?

Someone, you need?

Someone you could hang out

with?

Someone who cares about you?

Someone you could talk to? S

Someone you could fight with?

Someone who listens?

Who keeps your secret?

Who keeps promises?

Are they the ones with you when you need them?

And the people who won't

abandon you?

Friends...What are they really? Wait. Do levens have one?

I take my eyes off the piece of paper and look straight ahead. I'm right, all their eyes are on me, waiting for me to speak.

"Go, Lorie," I hear Miya say, cheering me up. She considers me a friend but does she know if I feel the same way? A friend isn't just anyone you meet or talk to. Do I really have to answer this question or

not? I don't know the answer. Even if there are so many thoughts in my head, none of them wants to come out of my mouth. Anyway, I haven't read

the question I randomly picked out loud yet. So l change my own question. I know it's not fair. Well, I have the freedom not to answer. Some questions are never meant to be answered.

Sometimes it's not because you don't know what to say, but because of the past, you can't escape. Once upon a time, I had friends. Like shadows, they were with me in the light, but when darkness came- they vanished. There are some people who will stay in your memory but not by your side.

Where did they go? They're with me in this class right now, but not even one of them remained my friend. Pity me.

….

Thear footsteps behind me. Who else, beside him, would come to the library and distract me from my peace? And if he thought I was flattered by what he did yesterday, ha, no.

"Hey, Lorie...Might as well, might as well...be mine."I'm not laughing at his game.

"Get lost, Kit." I say. No reply. I hear him pull a chair out a little away from me and sit.

"So," suddenly, my heart jumps. That voice,

"You're expecting him, ." Logan. My seatmate. Silence reigns between Logan and I. My mind is filled with questions. Why? What is he doing here? And how did he know?

….

"Why did you change your question earlier?" he says, "Why didn't you answer the one you got?" Wait, he knew I changed my question earlier?

"Because..." I say, "I don't know."

"You don't know?" He laughs softly. Logan, what exactly is funny?

"Friends are like treasure, it's hard to find them, but they are very special. If you are a friend, it means you were chosen. You were chosen to stay in someone's life.

"I'll never forget those words. Because you're the one who said them, Lorie. And that's where we started." Stop it.

"I know it's weird that here- I'm talking to you. But in the classroom, we ignore each other." It's as if I can't breathe at every word Logan says. I stand to go, but he lays a hand on my arm.

"Can't you remember? Why can't you remember?" He struggles to look into my eyes, but I hang my head and keep my eyes on the floor. His grip on my arm is starting to tighten, and starting to hurt.

"You don't know how hard it is. You don't know how hard it is for me to see you like this!"

I slowly, slowly, raise my gaze, until I reach his eyes. And the moment I lay my eyes on his. I don't see the future. But I see a figment of the past. There's a memory I don't want to remember so I shut my eyes.