The beeping sound of the telephone echoed in his ears. It was his second attempt to call this person. Chris knew this wasn’t a normal time for him to be calling her, still, he needs to do so.

-Dang it.

He has reached the time limit and went to the voice mail. Ending the call, he dialed the number once again.

(C’mon, pick up, pick up, pick up.)

It rang and rang, but Chris could feel it was almost time for it to go over the voicemail once again. Sighing deeply in his heart, he was about to cancel the call when he heard a faint voice on the other side of the phone.

-Hello…?…Is that you Chris?

Finally an answer to his calls.

-Mom! - Unintentionally, Chris spoke with a shout when he heard the familiar voice.

-Chris…what’s wrong? Did something…happen?

-Oh no, it’s just that-

-Are you sure?

-Yeah mom, but either way-

-You are sounding a bit off your normal tone to me. Are you absolutely su-

-Yes, mom! I’m fine!

It was at times like this that Chris reminded himself how worrywart his mother is. All it took was to call her when he was supposed to be in the class that it immediately became the apocalypse.

-…I see! Glad to know it then!

As he heard her usual carefree voice over the phone, Chris knew it was a good time to talk about the real meaning of his call.

-But mom, there was a thing I wanted to ask you.

-Yes? What is it, sweetie?

He took a deep breath and said with the clearest voice he could make:

-Did you know that she…I mean, that the girl is here?

Remembering this morning, the last time he saw the girl was with his mother when he was exiting home. If there was an explanation for her to be in his school, his mom was his only lead to know.

-Yeah, I enlisted her in.

-…

Chris only stared ahead with a blank look on his face. What could he say after hearing the doings of his own mother?

-Without you here and me at work, she would be alone in the house with nothing to do. Also, isn’t it normal for boys and girls go to school at your age?

-But this isn’t something you would normally do to someone else you just met!

They had only met a week ago

-What is the matter? We don’t have problems with money and the tuitions have a discount if you pay for two students, you know?

-But!

-Or do you want her to not study while she stays with us?

Personally, Chris wouldn’t want her to leave the house at all but seen his mother point of view, it was the same as helping someone.

-…No… - It was the only choice he could say at this moment.

-Great! Now, mommy needs to go back to work. Be sure to help her out in the school as well! Bye!

With this, the call ended, leaving the boy to think alone, realizing the sore truth. Not only he would need to worry about the girl when they are in his house, but also in the only place left he could have a peace in mind.

Knowing this, Chris sighed once again and exited the toilet. Since he left class to go to the bathroom, about fifteen minutes passed. If he took any longer to stay here, he feared what his teacher would do.

He went to the sink and turned the handle to let the water flow as he washed his hands. At least, Chris knew the real cause of the girl’s appearance in his class, although a part of him didn’t want to admit it.

This wasn’t the first time his mother did something like this. It was the same with their pets at home. Some days when she returned home from work, she would often carry a stray animal in her arms while saying something in the lines of “I took pity of it so I took it!” every time this happened.

If she was like that with animals, then it would be even worse with humans. Now that Chris thinks about it, isn’t the girl like an animal rather than a human?

-Here.

-Thanks.

Finishing washing his hands, Chris picked a paper to dry his hands. For more than he didn’t want to know, now the girl is together with him even at the school. He needed to face this problem seriously.

He went to throw the humid paper in the trash and was going to leave the bathroom when he looked at the paper dispenser near the trash.

(Wait, what?)

There were only two dispensers in his school’s bathrooms, each placed at the end of the sink with a trash can right under them. He didn’t go to any of them to grab the papers, and yet he got a paper.

Confused, the boy turned back and saw the girl waiting right next to where he was with a couple of towel papers in her hands.

-Want some more?

Immediately, Chris rushed over her, covering her mouth with his hands as he dragged the girl into one of the cabins. There was no resistance from her and the girl just went in with him.

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-You idiot! Do you know where this is?

Filled with anger, the boy whispered to her. Chris made sure he entered the correct bathroom, even inside of it had urinals, and yet, a girl was there, that girl was there. To make matters worse, she had a look that didn’t understand the situation and licked the palm of his hand with her tongue.

This made Chris blush and take out his hand, releasing her mouth. Even in these times, she didn’t restrain from unnecessary things like this. Rather, she giggled watching his reaction.

-What are you so flushed about? There is none here but us.

-I’m worried that someone could come!

He already knew that he was the only one in the bathroom and didn’t hear nobody came in, but that is not an excuse for a girl to be there. Even with lack of common sense, there was a limit to how naive someone can be.

For more than he wanted to scold her, there was something telling Chris nothing he will say will change this girl’s behavior any time soon, especially inside a toilet cabin.

-Either way, let’s found a way to get out without raising suspicions.

If someone saw her entering the wrong bathroom, there was nothing to be done about it. The real problem would be if she was seen leaving together with Chris. There were enough rumors of a boy and a girl together in the bathroom and he didn’t want to be one of them.

-It’s easy! Just use the door.

-You, shut up for a moment.

Ignoring the girl’s idea, Chris began to think. This was the boy’s bathroom, so he could go out normally, but if the girl went with him and someone was in the hall, gossip wouldn’t stop about them.

He could get out and have her wait a couple of minutes before leaving, but there was a problem if someone came in and be left, alone, with her. There was also an option for him to wait outside and tell her the right moment to leave, but if he is seen, it would be suspicious to be just standing in the hallway.

A way that didn’t result in the luck of someone being in the outside or getting in the bathroom, Chris couldn’t think of it. All resulted in this random chance.

-Hey, do you not believe me?

-Not now. I’m trying to fix the mess someone did.

With Chris being silent for so long, the girl started to feel lonely and thought he didn’t want to listen to her, but he continued to just stand there with his back turned at her. This made her a bit gloomy, but then an idea surged in her mind.

If he didn’t want to hear her, then the girl might as well show to him.

Grabbing his hand, the girl dashed out of the cabin before Chris realized what was happening. When he noticed she was pulling him towards the door, he panics.

-Wait! Wait! Wait! Don’t do it!

But his pleas didn’t reach the girl and she kept running while dragging him by the hand. Chris tried to resist her, but her strength was just abnormal for him to do anything about it, so the only thing he did was shut his eyes as they were getting closer to the door.

And so, they left the bathroom and arrived at the hallway, together, while holding their hands. Realizing they had stopped moving, Chris timidly opened his eyes and looked around the area.

The hallway for long and straight, filled with lockers in the walls and a couple of classroom’s windows, where the students and teachers could see through it. On the other side of the place where Chris and the girl were, there was the girl’s bathroom and the nearest classroom was at the end of the hallway before it was divided in a T junction.

There was no one else out in the hallway, for their luck. With this sight, Chris breath out in relief.

-…Ok, we got lucky. Let’s go back to class and-

-...not enough…

-…Huh?

He could swear the girl had said something but it was too low for him to hear it. Still, it wouldn’t be good if someone saw them like this.

-Hey, we already left the bathroom. Could you release my hand now?

Seen that there was no chance of him shaking her hand off if she didn’t want it to, Chris spoke to her gently to let it go, but, instead of losing her grip, it only got stronger.

-Hey…are you alright?

She was just standing there, trembling, without speaking anything. Feeling a bit of unease, Chris asked her. If it was something serious, he would gladly help her, as long it’s not the place they were right now.

But instead of answering him, the girl just turned around and faced him. It was then that Chris realized something and he felt a bad premonition after seen her. She had a grin on her face and her eyelids were half shut.

-No matter what you are thinking right now…

It was his only hope after seen the girl like this. It was the same expression she did when they were together alone, one she did before she would get closer to him in their study sessions in his house. But this wasn’t his house, so all he could say for her was:

-Don’t.

Right after he said it, the girl started to run once again, dragging the boy away in the hallway. It was too late to stop her right now, still, Chris tried to. He resisted far more than before, although the result was the same as before.

Each step she did was loud and echoed through the walls, not wanting to hide the fact they were there. It was so loud Chris knew people in the classrooms would hear it, so he spoke to her once again.

-Ok, I get it! Let it go! You had proven your point! You were right! I’m sorry, so, just stop!

Maybe she was distressed for how he treated her before, so he admitted his mistakes, but even then the girl didn’t stop. Rather, she was getting speed, becoming even faster than before. Soon, they would reach near the classroom‘s window.

-Seriously, you need to stop!

He knew something weird was happening to her in his classroom before. She didn’t sit alongside him and handled a conversation well, so he thought it was okay to be a bit more relaxed, but maybe it was all for her to do something as outrageous as this.

She wasn’t stopping and now Chris realized she would only do it if she wanted to. There were nowhere to run and he was locked with the girl. And then, they finally reach that classroom’s window.

(Ah…it’s over…)

That was the only thought that Chris could think about it. They would see him and the new “beautiful” student running together in the hallways. Would it advance into something worse, like a rumor between them? Would it die as just something out of ordinary? To those questions, Chris didn’t care about it anymore and just faced the ground to avoid the shame.

The girl didn’t stop and continued to move through the hallways of the school, descending the stairs to reach the lowers floors until they reached the first. Chris didn’t know how many classrooms they had passed through and he let himself be dragged off without any sort of resistance.

And then, the girl stopped.

-Here, take a look.

Finally, his hand was free from her grasp and he could escape this situation, but Chris just stood there, without a will to move. Looking around, he quickly knew where they were.

It was in a hallway on the ground floor of the school. The entrance was at the end of it while the access for the sport’s field was in the other. In the middle, there were two classrooms were divided by it and faced each other. Right there, between them, Chris and the girl were standing.

There was nothing else to save Chris right now. He will just accept the fact that his peaceful days off school were destroyed and he would turn attention to himself once again.

He could imagine it. The looks of the students looking at him through the window like he was some sort of attraction. Now, he only needed to wait for a teacher or hall monitor to call him and end this shameful performance at done.

But, no matter how much time passed, nothing happened.

(…Huh?)

It was weird. The two of them can be seen by two whole classrooms right now. Furthermore, they were just standing there. At least a teacher would call them to ask what class they were. Still, nothing happened.

Lifting his head, Chris looked to the classrooms. Contrary to his expectations, there was no one in the window. Rather, all of them were looking ahead to the blackboard and paying attention to the lesson.

(No, that is not it.)

Approaching one of them, Chris saw that the students were indeed looking ahead, but that was the only thing they were doing. They didn’t take any sort of note, talked to each other or flipped their notebook, nothing at all, just facing forwards as if they were statues. Even the teacher in the class was like that, watching over the class.

-What the...

Something was off. He went to the other classroom to confirm it. For his unease, it was the same as the other. And it wasn’t only those two. Chris ran and checked all the others classrooms in the hall. The result: all of them were the same, exactly the same.

(…What is going on here?)

While looking inside one of the classrooms, Chris stood in shock as if waiting for some sort of explanation.

-I told you, right?

Suddenly, Chris heard the girl’s voice coming behind him and turned himself to look at her.

-There is none here but us.