“Please go out with me!” a boy declared to Lotte in the middle of the school’s corridor, causing an audience to form.

“I’m sorry,” Lotte responded while fidgeting uncomfortably with her maroon scarf. “I’m not interested.”

“But–”

“You heard her, she’s taken.” Liara put her elbow on Lotte’s shoulder and gave the guy a dirty look. The crowd whispered amongst each other and Lotte shuffled awkwardly with her feet. “No one is allowed near her, so beat it!”

“But… how about you? Would you like to–”

“Take a hint!” Liara and Lotte exclaimed and the guy skittered away. The bystanders murmured about this scene and Liara barked at them. “Scatter! If I see one more guy try something this pathetic, I will bite their hand off.”

Whoever was watching this scene quickly dispersed, emptying the hallway of any onlookers for five meters around them.

“That wasn’t necessary; everyone was watching,” Lotte mumbled into her scarf. “What if they get the wrong idea? You know no one can find out that–”

“They’re too dense for that.” Liara furrowed her brow. “ Though ever since, it seems as if we have become magnets for those guys. Earlier this morning someone asked me out, again!”

A few weeks have passed since the two of them had begun dating one another. Their lives got equally better and worse in that regard.

The best part, Lotte couldn’t be happier since she didn’t have to tiptoe around Liara with the topic. She felt freer and more content when they spent time together. Her heart started to beat with more strength than before—as if a heavy burden was lifted from it.

She was glad that Liara didn’t have to move away with her parents and could stay with her uncle.

But there was a downside to things.

They had to keep it secret from everyone. From their school and parents. Especially Lotte’s parents, like her mother who as of late was finding any reason to spend more time with her daughter.

Even barging into her room unannounced to talk about their day. Her mother never did that before, so Lotte was more than a bit agitated by the sudden change in behaviour and the reason behind it.

Meanwhile, her relationship with her father was deteriorating for some reason.

Ever since Lotte ran away with Liara on this trip, her father had been giving her radio silence. It’s as if her parents had switched roles. Her attentive and caring father was distancing himself from her and her ever-so-busy mother was strangling Lotte with attention.

Lotte held her throat; she had trouble breathing whenever she thought about it. “I’m suffocating. I don’t like this.”

She was content to keep the status quo with her parents but not if that meant jeopardising her new relationship with Liara. It was too much, so much to bear for her and her heart could barely endure it.

She felt ashamed, restless and angry. She wanted a change so desperately but not like this. Why was it hard to be happy?

“By the way, what’s with the scarf? It’s not autumn yet.” Liara put a hand on her hip and nudged Lotte who pulled the scarf closer to hide her mouth.

“You know why, I can’t look at you,” replied Lotte and Liara pulled her scarf down, revealing Lotte’s strawberry-coloured face.

“Why so flushed?” Liara grinned to both Lotte’s dismay and joy.

“Liara C. Shepard!” it bellowed from the corridor and Liara startled forward, using Lotte as a cover.

“Dang, Ms. Dodds is on patrol again.”

The teacher in question stood before the pair and crossed her arms. Her scowl deepened. “I told you not to call me that, I’m not a fury!”

“You sure act like one,” mumbled Liara behind Lotte, though the teacher heard that and grabbed Liara by the arm who yelped in response. “Oww, oww, what is it, Ms. Dämerich?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know.” Ms. Dämerich pointed with her hand up and down Liara’s legs. “Ignoring the dress code, again? How many times do we need to tell you this? Girls wear skirts, boys do pants.”

“What can I say? I find pants fitting for my body type, way better than skirts, wouldn’t you agree?”

Liara put a hand on her hip and turned to Lotte to wink at her. Lotte quickly looked away and hid half of her face behind the scarf.

“Change. Now.”

“Can I just put a skirt above and wear my gym shorts underneath?”

“No, you know the rules. Don’t think you can keep making a fool out of us. You go to change, now.”

“Wait, but–” Liara was dragged away by the teacher, all her protest was in vain and all her schoolmates gave her silent prayers as Ms. Dämerich held her fate in her hands. “See you after school, don’t run off without me!”

Lotte waved after Liara and rubbed her cheek. Her face felt hot and she couldn’t stop thinking about how Liara was teasing her with her hips. More so than usual as she liked to draw Lotte’s attention to them in a playful way.

It wasn’t a big gesture, mostly a lot of small ones but Lotte couldn’t help but feel flustered by it all the time. Their transition from friends to those in a relationship changed a lot in how they approached one another.

Liara also unfairly knew more about her weaknesses than anyone else.

“Dang her and her thunder thighs, cursing my mind!”

The school bell rang and Lotte went to her next class without Liara. No matter how often she got reprimanded by the teacher for violating the dress code, Liara always found a way to get her way.

“An admirable trait,” Lotte thought, “Though now I am alone for class.”

Lotte moped and blew a strand of hair out of her face. She lost all interest in her paperback book; phones were not allowed and she didn’t feel like reviewing her notes.

She missed Liara and felt like falling asleep since the teacher was unusually late today.

“Morning, class.”

“Speak of the Devil,” thought Lotte when the teacher entered the class with an unfamiliar new student in tow.

“We have a new classmate today, everyone, give our new student a warm welcome.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

—✧—

As if on cue, all the girls in class fell into gasps and loud giggling at the new exchange student while the rest responded with loud groans and throwing wads of paper.

The new boy had short but wavy brown hair. Nothing too stylish, but the slight undercut made it stand out even more. His almond-shaped eyes were a startling blue with a yellow ring around the middle. The skin wasn’t particularly tan but he looked like he had been from a warmer area.

According to the girls’ reactions, they immediately liked him. He wasn’t tall but he looked lean and mean with his frown and sharp gaze behind his glasses.

Lotte wasn’t interested in the commotion and gave an irritated look towards the outside world. A sigh escaped her lips. “Please come back soon, I miss you.”

“Ahem, why don’t you tell us your name?” the teacher coughed into his fist when the student continued to remain silent.

“Sure.” His voice wasn’t very enthusiastic—great start. “My name’s Okada Ryoma.”

“Okada,” the old teacher nodded, “a very oriental name.”

“Please,” Lotte shook her head in exasperation, “just say Japanese.”

“Usually people call me Ryoma. Okada is my family name.”

“But why did you introduce yourself with your surname then– Nevermind,” the teacher awkwardly dabbed his forehead. “Everyone, as you can see, Ryoma here can speak our language very well. Ryoma, why don’t you tell us what part of the world you come from? You must be from very far away.”

“Not very smooth,” thought Lotte as the teacher was pointing out Ryoma’s obvious Asian heritage.

“It is far away, indeed,” affirmed Ryoma. “I’m from California… America.”

The class erupted in laughter at Ryoma’s deadpan response and the teacher’s flustered response to it.

“America? But you look–”

“Asian? Yeah, my parents are of Japanese descent but I was born in America.”

“Oh, yes, ehm, Charlotte.”

The teacher redirected the attention towards the only girl in class who hated being in the spotlight. “We have two other girls with darker skin and one guy from Morocco yet you pick me? Seriously!?”

“You are a foreigner as well, right? Why don’t you share with us where you’re from?” The teacher laughed nervously as everyone else held back a chuckle.

“Actually, I was born here,” Lotte replied, more than agitated by the teacher.

“H-how about your parents?”

“My mother grew up here but my father is a foreigner.”

“Great!” the teacher replied enthusiastically. “Where is he from?”

“Norway.”

Again the class erupted in snorts and giggles at the teacher’s futile attempt to save face. “I better stop before I embarrass myself any further…”

“Smart idea.” Lotte scowled at the teacher. She didn’t appreciate his move.

“Charlotte, where is Liara?” the teacher asked and tried to calm down the class.

Lotte on the other hand rested her chin on her hand and said, “Ms. Dodds got her.”

More laughter.

“Ah… the fury strikes again… don’t tell her I said that. Ryoma, take a seat next to Charlotte for now. I don’t think Liara will come back very soon.”

Lotte felt like she was being sucker punched. There were a few more empty seats with seatmates that were more eager to take in a new transfer student than the one girl in class that wasn’t interested in him.

With all the stares Lotte received she was glad that Ryoma was not a talkative person to sit next to. In fact, he didn’t talk at all unless the teacher asked him something.

Regardless of what Ryoma said or not, everyone had their eyes on him.

“Keep on staring and you will burn a hole into him. Would also spare me the death glares,” Lotte bit at her pen and stared back at the girl who was trying to intimidate her from afar. The girl quickly turned away. “Thought as much.”

Call it Liara’s bad influence but Lotte felt bolder as of late. She didn’t feel as intimidated or timid by others but felt much more confident. Though she was still very much embarrassed when Liara teased her.

Like this morning.

And now Lotte couldn’t stop thinking about Liara and her– “Curse my mind!” Lotte furrowed her brow and bit her lip. She was on the verge of insanity driving out those thoughts.

Lately, all she could think about was Liara, more so than usual—and it showed as red as her face now was.

“Is it always like this?” Ryoma suddenly whispered to Lotte.

Lotte gave him an irritated look and removed her hands from her face. “Pardon me?”

“Class, is it always so biased? The school and teachers, I don’t know what to expect of them.”

“You get used to it,” replied Lotte begrudgingly. “After all, they are adults. They teach us what they believe is right and rarely want us to question things. What can we do anyway? To them, we are mere children.”

Ryoma sat quietly alongside Lotte and listened to the teacher reading from the textbook. The students nodded along, not questioning whether what the teacher taught them was right or wrong.

It was facts over facts over facts until you turned off your head and gave up thinking. Some blinked and made a wondering expression and then went back to nodding along.

Ryoma dipped his head. “I wonder if it ever gets easy with the adults. No matter where—problems persist.”

“You get used to it,” Lotte thought one last time, picked up her notes and nodded along.

—✧—

“Tell us, are you seeing someone right now?”

The class was at recess and as Lotte feared, the girls—and some boys—crowded around Ryoma. One girl was so bold to try and push Lotte out of her chair to sit next to the new guy.

Somehow him simply staring at her coldly made her reconsider the decision.

“I am not, I just moved here.”

“Ohhhh,” the crowd hung on his words.

Lotte gagged and rested her head on her palm—she was tired and waiting for Liara to return.

“Hey pal,” a girl’s voice made the crowd part like Moses did with the red sea. It was Liara with her arms crossed, a scowl on her face and a red skirt Lotte couldn’t look away from the rare sight. “You’re sitting on my chair, move.”

“Oh, oh,” thought Lotte and watched how Ryoma stood up to stare at her. He was as tall as Liara but was just as scary as her.

Everyone was steering away from the trouble.

“My bad, the teacher assigned me this spot for today,” Ryoma grabbed his bag and walked out of class. “See you all tomorrow.”

“Don’t come back!” Liara barked and turned to the rest who were still crowding the around space. Her gaze fell on the girl who previously tried to push Lotte off of her seat—Liara had a nose for troublemakers. “What are you waiting for? SCATTER! CLASS IS OVER!”

Leave it to the daughter of a military family to intimidate everyone into packing their things and moving out in seconds.

“What took you so long?”

Liara put a fist on her hip and grinned towards Lotte, playing as unfairly as she always did to tease her. “You know how long it takes to escape the fury? Takes some time but anyway,” Liara spread out her arms and made a curtsy. “How do you like my outfit?”

Lotte’s face reddened too much to simply hide it with her scarf. Liara was playing unfairly as she showed off her legs in her skirt. Lotte always preferred it when Liara wore pants but this was more than unfair for her heart to take.

“G-great, you look great,” Lotte mumbled into the fabric.

“Nawww, someone is embarrassed,” Liara teased and shared her chair with Lotte and put her arm around her to shake her playfully. “You’re so easy to fluster, I can’t help it.”

“You can be mean, you know that?”

Both of the girls left the class with Liara still having an arm around Lotte and teasing her on their way out. Around the corner, still bothered by their classmates, was Ryoma, watching them leave.

It was a fleeting glance but he spotted them sneakily holding hands. Something he thought wasn’t allowed around here.

Outside of the school grounds, the girls met the usual commotion they got used to seeing.

“I told you, I was sorry!”

“Sorry won’t cut it, you threatened me!”

“You spooked me! I thought you were her clone, how much do I have to apologise for it?”

“Great, the same kind of show with my uncle and your mother, didn’t miss it.” Liara noticed how Lotte let go and uncomfortably rubbed her arm once she was in the eyesight of her mother. “Hey, it’s alright.”

“It’s not,” Lotte thought. Her mother had been picking her up for weeks and spending time with Lotte after work—which she in fact, never did before and now did under the wrong pretence.

“Charlotte, finally you are here.” Her mother waved for her and Lotte fought back the urge to hide away.

Liara rubbed her back in support and whispered, “Talk to you later today, ok?”

Lotte nodded and put on her fake smile for her mother for another day of forced bonding.