7 Page 7: What a morning

It was a chilly evening. A woman with heavy bags stood under the shed, waiting for a break in the rain. No one else was under the wide shed. The woman in a royal blue pea coat and a shoal covering her head, sat on the third and rightmost seat, vacantly watching the rain. Her attention was drawn to what had happened in her house earlier before she had decided to run away.

"Eve!" Dave's shaking woke me up.

"Dave..." I mumbled under my breath as I gathered myself still lying in bed.

"You okay?" he said, his face full of worry.

"Yeah, why?" I slowly got up, wondering what's he so flustered about.

Dave shoves my desk mirror into my face and there I caught a glimpse of myself, covered in tears, eyes swollen up.

I gasp. But it came out more of a *gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasp*.

"Now you get me?" Dave said as I took the mirror from his hands, "Did you have a nightmare?" he said softly.

I scratch my head, "I don't remember really..."

I must have been really tired because I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed. But I don't remember dreaming either. Or maybe it's one of those 'I dreamt but the dream faded and now I don't remember any of it' moments again.

"By the way, Eve." Dave said putting back my mirror on the desk.

"Yeah?" I passively replied rubbing the sleep off my eyes.

"Your principal called," I hear his voice shaking in anger.

Oh crap. I forgot to tell him I got in trouble.

"A-And what did he tell you? Haha." Smile it off, smile it off.

He turns to me, face about to erupt, "Let's talk over breakfast, shall we?"

Oh no.

.

.

.

Grunting while walking in the streets going to school wasn't my original plan for the day. That Dave is really a nag. I tried explaining to him what really happened and all he could hear was that I deliberately cut class whenever I want to and so I got community service as a punishment. He even had this whole speech about delinquency prepared.

I walk past a convenience store and caught a glimpse of my reflection on the glass. Damn, even with these glasses on, my eyes still look puffy. Just when I was using the glass as a mirror, I notice a face from the other side, making an ugly face at me.

I scream in shock and I see him laugh at me and walk to the exit carrying his bag of goodies.

"What the hell was that?" I yell at the blonde boy walking towards me.

"Good morning m'lady." he said, mocking me.

"Oh cut the crap, Niko. Why were you even there?" Seeing him just made me remember of Miya's revelation to me yesterday and it's just so infuriating.

He lifts the plastic bag he brought with him out, "I always buy snacks here you know. The real question is, what are YOU doing here? Or are you not aware this is not a mirror." he said pointing at the glass where I'd been staring earlier.

"I am aware, thank you very much." anger seething in my voice, "And to answer your question, I live in the area but I don't take this route too often." Only when I don't want to bump into Dave if ever he decides to follow me out of the apartment building.

His eyes widened, "REAlly? I live around this area too."

Well, I will be damned, can the world be smaller than it already is?

"Okay, enough, I get it." I show him my hand to stop, "Let's keep the information to a minimum."

He shoves my hand away, "It's not like I was gonna tell you where I live." he turns his back at me, "Well? Aren't you coming?"

"You mean.....you want to walk with me to school?"

He scowls, "You really are Idiotshioka. This is the only path going to school. We're going to be late if we decide to fight now."

This might be a miracle, him not picking fight. Then again...he does have a point.

"Well ain't this nice.." I sarcastically remarked, walking beside him, "I guess you're not ill-tempered in the morning huh."

"I'm just trying to not get into any more trouble, okay. Ever since I met you, I've been into different kinds of trouble already."

"Hey, it was only this once! Why are you talking like I'm a walking disaster?"

"I'm talking in the future tense."

He says he's not picking a fight, but the way he talks to me is basically the same when he tries to anger me. What the hell.

"Enough about me, you look awful." he said glancing at me, "Had a fight with your folks early in the morning?"

Ah..he meant my eyes. "Ah, this..." I said touching the swelling underneath my eyes, "This is nothing. I woke up like this. Besides, I don't live with anybody."

"Oh..right. I heard about your story from Langley."

What? Did they talk about me? "You mean Miya?"

"Yeah. Last year, when we were in a leadership camp, she told me how you were living alone in the city and that the reason you're barely in school is because of your grandma's health that you'd been taking care of her."

There goes the grandma's story again. Now I feel more guilty about how stretched this lie has become to reach even Niko. Okay but enough about that, so they DID talk about me.

"And here I thought you hated me enough you'd rather not hear a word about me..." I mumbled.

He chuckles, "That's the opposite you know." he looks my way looking all smug, "You got to research about your opponent to know their weaknesses you know."

Now, that's just pulling my strings. The nerve.

"Also, sorry for assaulting you that day."

...Niko is apologizing?! Wait, hold up..is it going to rain?!

"Hey, stop looking at the clouds. I know you're thinking it's going to rain since I'm apologizing."

"He's even reading my mind. Gosh, it must be a storm."

He walks back to me and...THUNK. "I'm being serious here."

"You didn't have to hit me on the head!" I yell. Does his apology mean anything at all?

"How else am I supposed to make you listen then?! It wasn't even that strong!" he glares.

I slowly back away, with a look of disgust, ".....go on." I said.

He sighs, "Look, I acted the way I was back then because I heard you were a person who had no regard for other people so you deliberately leave school and dump all the responsibilities on people without working hard for it."

This idiot! "I thought Miya explained to you about my situation?"

"She did, but I was really frustrated you know. It's like I'm just this spare tire because you didn't want to make the speech."

"Okay let me clear this out. I didn't know I had to make a speech. I didn't know I ranked first up until the day before the first day of class. I had no idea there was such a tradition. And I know even if you did manage to research about me, you'll never find this certain information I am about to reveal to you because only the principal and Miya knows about it and neither of them is allowed to reveal such but since it has reached this point let me get this out of my chest so we could both have our peace."

He looked terrified of my speed talking, "That was a lot of words in just a few seconds, but okay..?" he said hesitating.

I take a deep breath and exhaled, "I was isolated since birth. I had been home-schooled up until sixth grade so I'm very bad at dealing with people and emotions in general. I have no idea how to act human and that's why Miya has been by my side since then to help me adjust to society."

He fell silent. Of course. His face just went blank.

"I don't expect you to believe me but—"

"Your family locked you up?" he softly responded.

"Uh..yeah from birth...wait what are you doing?" he suddenly hugged me.

"I'm sorry."

His voice tickled my ears. Why is he being so gentle? "Hey, you can let me go now."

He pulls away, and he stared at me.

"Why are you giving me that face?" I push him, "You're acting really weird, now."

"Eve," he whispers, my heart skips a beat.

"W-What?" I said.

"I'll keep your secret," he said. I was surprised. It isn't much of a secret but to think Niko is acting this way. Oh well, if it keeps my life peaceful enough.

"Oh really now?" I crossed my arms, distrustful.

"In return," he added.

I knew this was coming. "In return?" I raised a brow.

"You have to study with me." he grins.

......."Excuse me?!"