Cyra

Releasing a sigh, I set an alarm for later so I'll have a reminder to study for tomorrow's test.

I threw all my worries aside and checked my phone for messages.

I first declined Francis' invite to play a game and proceeded to explore my account.

A minute didn't even pass by when my gaze was captured by a message.

It was from an unfamiliar person so it didn't go straight to my main chat list.

[Hi]

My mind deliberated whether to reply or not for a couple of seconds before I replied with a;

[?]

It was a simple and a blunt way to ask what they wanted and who they were, so I just used that.

'Almost time...' I muttered as I saw the time on my phone.

As I was about to throw my phone away, intending to focus on my studies, it lit up and displayed a notification.

[Tough day, isn't it?]

'Hmm?'

I tilted my head slightly in contemplation.

Did they perhaps message me thinking I was someone else?

I looked at the person's profile picture and saw that it displayed a girl's back with her hands on top of her head, forming a 'heart' shaped gesture.

When I looked at her name, no particular person came in mind.

[Cyra]

I wanted to ignore it and focus on my studies but my mind couldn't focus at all.

[Who are you?]

I finally sent a reply after a while.

[Really?]

[You don't recognize me?]

I immediately received two messages, like the person was waiting for my reply.

[Am I supposed to?]

I replied back, confused.

[I'm one of your classmates T-T]

'You what?'

I pulled out the list of my classmates' names on my phone and saw an Cyra listed down.

'Oh frik'

It was already the first quarter examinations and I still couldn't recognize one of my classmates.

[Oh, right, you're the person seated at the 4th row, right?]

I answered confidently.

[...]

[I'm on the second row, similar to you]

'Oh sh*t'

I shouldn't have responded with that if I wasn't confident! Now I just embarrassed myself.

[Oh, I knew that. I was just testing you.]

I sent shamelessly.

I got to save some face somehow, right?

Even though she knew I was lying, she'll pretend she believes me to make it not awkward, right?

[Sure, sure.]

Ah?

At reading her response, I chuckled towards myself.

I did pray she would believe me, but that message, for some reason tells me otherwise.

It was like she was forced to agree or something.

[Aren't you gonna study?]

I quickly changed the topic.

Though it was obvious, it gave us something to talk about.

[Just finished Science.]

[What, really? When did you start studying?]

[When I got home?]

She responded like it was the most obvious thing to do.

[Oh, right, right.]

[You haven't studied yet, have you?]

Ah, she saw right through me.

[Not yet.]

[Oh, then wanna study together? It's boring to study alone, you know.]

[Study together?]

I understood those two words but it formed a completely different meaning when they're brought together.

[It's when people study together?]

She responded with the obvious response everyone would probably answer when fazed with that question.

But not gonna lie, I didn't know what I was expecting when I sent that message.

It was so simple, 'study together'. But to me, it sounded foreign.

Most of the time I spent with my friend/s were just playing together and doing something absolutely meaningless.

And it wasn't like I wanted to study in the first place.

I'd rather use my time in doing something I enjoy presently.

But again, thinking about how my grades would turn out and how I would eventually suffer at the hands of fate when I don't study, my mind was in turmoil.

[It's okay if you don't want to.]

She sent a message while I was in the middle of my contemplation.

'Oh frik.'

It must've seem like I was not interested because I wasn't replying for a long time.

[Sure, why not.]

I finally sent, giving up my hopes for playing my favorite game.

[What do you want to study first?]

Thinking that my silence brought an uncomfortable atmosphere to the conversation, I took the initiative.

[What about Math?]

[Sure, where do you want to start?]

...

10 minutes later,

[Alright, last question, Find x in the problem...]

Seeing the question, I picked up my calculator and contemplated.

My hands fluttered around the calculator and my pen flew across my notebook like a bad*ss.

[4.582333

So if I round it off to the nearest hundredths, it'll be 4.58.]

I sent, full of confidence.

[My answer is 5.58 though.

Did you forget to cancel again?]

She responded.

[Oh!]

I slapped my head in realization.

What the heckk, this was the 5th time!

[How'd you know though?] I asked.

[Just a guess, hahaha.]

As time passed, we went through all the subjects in one go.

Science,

What are the dangers of...

...

At some point, one of us would open up our notes and ask each other questions.

And sometimes, we would study ourselves and exchange our knowledge, questioning each other with a question we formulated on our own.

[Sorry, my mom is calling me, we need to eat. You should too!]

We went through many study methods and I didn't even realize that it was already 6pm in the afternoon!

After all those hours of messaging each other, we got closer in no time.

And I saw learned one thing: she's smart.

Her answers are short but it's straight to the point.

She doesn't need a paragraph to state her opinion, she just needs time to think so she can wittle her answer down from a paragraph to just a few sentences.

Although our main topics were about studying, we also took our time in joking around and gossiping about small things.

We even talked about teachers who we think were pain in the ass.

[Have a good meal!] I sincerely smiled from the bottom of my heart.

It was such a long time since I felt this satisfying feeling on my heart.

It felt so sweet and so relieving.

It was like letting loose and being myself again.