Begins with a sadness

[Scarlet POV]

"You know, most of the time I feel like I'm invisible."

"Nobody ever looks at me, or even talks to me."

[June POV]

"Oh?"

-----June-----

Age: 17

------------------

[Scarlet POV]

"Ah, of course I don't mean you, June!"

"I'm always grateful that you let me hang out with you whenever I need someone to talk to!"

"But you know, my classmates... don't really..."

"You understand."

June didn't answer, just turned the page of the book she had propped open on her lap.

(Eh? She didn't hear me?)

(Uu uu... I need to learn how to speak louder...)

(But it's so quiet up here on the roof, it's just us, I really though...)

(Maybe she's trying to focus on her book and I'm just distracting her?! Uwawa...)

As I fretted, June blew her gum up into a large pink bubble, before letting it burst with a pop.

[June POV]

"Yeah. I get you."

[Scarlet POV]

(She was listening!)

June was a year older than me, but come to think of it...

"...June, you don't talk to your classmates much either, huh? I never see you with them."

She turned another page.

[June POV]

"Nope."

[Scarlet POV]

I waited for her to continue talking, but she didn't.

It was the last day of school. We would both be going back home for Thanksgiving soon.

The breeze felt cool on my cheeks, which were still warm from... well.

"You know... for the first time today..."

"I felt like I was seen by somebody."

[June POV]

"Oh?"

[Scarlet POV]

"And not just anybody either."

"How do I put it..."

"Do you know Paris Templar?"

[June POV]

"Eh."

"Hard not to know him."

[Scarlet POV]

"Ahahaha, that's right, he's like the most popular boy in school isn't he?"

"Sorry, that was a stupid question..."

[June POV]

"Don't apologize."

"What happened with Paris?"

[Scarlet POV]

"Well, uh, um, I-I... I think..."

"I think I might have just become friends with him? Like, like, uh..."

"Agh, just... here!"

I whipped out my phone.

The large, glowing screen showed Paris's name, with his phone number under it.

June's expression didn't change, but her eyes shifted a little to fix on my face.

Her hand stopped in the middle of turning a page.

For a moment, we stared at each other in silence.

[June POV]

"Good for you, Scarlet."

[Scarlet POV]

She finished turning the page, and her gaze locked back onto the tightly packed foreign words.

June was always reading strange books in strange languages that I never understood.

Even though we had grown up in the same small town as childhood friends...

...and managed to get into the same high school in the big city...

...it felt like we were living in entirely different worlds sometimes.

"...Y-you're not going to ask me how I got the phone number of the cutest boy in school?!"

"This is Paris Templar, you know?!"

"The golden-haired Prince Charming that half the school is in love with?!"