I slowly opened my eyes and glared at my pillow, groaning as a cold breeze hit my back. My blanket laid on the ground next to my bed, and my body quickly caught up to the temperature.

Even though it’s mid-spring, the weather’s been very grim lately. It has been freezing over the past few days, and today will be no different.

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling momentarily before closing my eyes and groaning.

“I don’t want to get up.”

Opening my eyes, I glanced at the digital clock on my radio—half past seven. I’m up early for a change. I did some light stretches on the bed before getting up and sitting behind my desk, soon starting to work on my homework.

My thoughts got interrupted by a knock on the door, followed by a soft voice.

“Keira, are you up yet?”

I smiled to myself and turned my head to the door. “Yes, I’m up!”

My mother approached me and gave me a small peck on the forehead. “Good morning dear, have you slept well?”

“Yes, very well!”

She smiled at me and combed through my hair with her hand to tame some of the curls. However, she quickly caught a glimpse of my opened schoolbooks. “Did you forget to do your homework yesterday?”

I quickly averted my eyes from hers. Oops, I've been caught. “I might have.”

The woman sighed and walked to the windows, opening the curtains and cracking the windows open to let some light and fresh air into the room.

“You’ve had the whole weekend to do your homework, but you just kept playing games on your computer. You know you’ll get in trouble if you don’t do your homework.”

“I knooooow,” I whined back and returned to my schoolbooks, again trying to avoid her stern gaze. “That’s why I’m working on it now.”

I heard my mother sigh again and walk back towards the door. “I’m going to check up on your brother. Keep in mind that you have to make your breakfast as well.”

“I won’t forget!” I quickly said, and she walked out of my room.

After finishing my homework, I quickly showered, dressed, and brushed my teeth before heading downstairs. Even though she told me to make it myself, my mother had prepared breakfast for me, so I quickly ate it at the dinner table and rushed to prepare to leave.

I lived in a village, so every place was close to each other. My school was only five minutes away from home. Still, I managed to rush to school. I quickly walked over to my seat and unpacked my bag before the teacher could comment.

The seat next to mine was already occupied by a slim-looking girl. She was deeply immersed in the book she was holding in front of her. Aside from her chest expanding and her eyes moving from side to side, she was sitting still as a doll. However, she could easily be mistaken for one with her pale skin and straight golden hair.

“G'morning Juliet.”

Juliet looked at me from her book and watched me sit behind my desk.

“Did you do your homework?”

“Hmm... Well, yes. I did it this morning.”

“I thought so.” Juliet's lips curled up in a smug smile as she turned her attention back to the book she was reading. “You always come in just in time when you do your homework this late.”

I felt my cheeks burning up slightly and looked down at my desk. There's no need to rub it in.

“Good morning, everyone!” Our teacher chirped as she walked to the door and closed it. I would've gotten detention if she had shut that door before I had entered.

“This afternoon, when everyone returns from lunch break, I want to introduce you to a new classmate. That means we will only work in the morning, and after lunch, we will do some activities to get to know him better. Since it’ll be a bit sunnier later in the day, we might get some fresh air outside.”

Chatter soon followed, and the class was getting uneasy. Juliet and I looked at each other with curiosity. “I hope that he’s not annoying,” I whispered to her, getting a chuckle in return.

“Who said it’s a ‘he’?”

“I mean-”

“Anyway!” The teacher continued, clapping her hands to draw the attention back to her again. “Let’s start class!”

We checked our homework and followed the lesson as much as possible, but Juliet and I couldn’t stop talking about this new classmate. Neither could the rest of the class. Everyone was excited to meet the new person and couldn’t wait until the first half of school was over.

After the morning period, Robin quickly approached Juliet and me as we packed our bags. “I wonder how they will be!”

Juliet only glared at the brunette. “Gosh, I can't wait.” Ignoring Robin's confused look, she swung her backpack over her shoulder and started walking off. Now that I think about it, she was never a fan of getting to know people.

I forced out a chuckle and patted Robin's shoulder. Poor guy, I'm sure that glare wasn't meant for you. “Well, I'm curious how she'll be too.”

This got a chuckle out of Juliet again, and she turned her head to me again. “So now it's a 'she'?”

As we left the building, I stuck my tongue out to her. “You know what I mean!”

“Well, we'll see you after lunch.” Juliet waved at me and turned left after passing the school's fences.

“See you!”

Walking home, I saw a boy my age on the other side of the street, crouching and looking at the ground. I didn't recognize him, was he maybe lost?

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I decided to walk up to him. “Are you okay?”

The first thing that struck me when he looked up was his piercing blue eyes. The next thing was the earring he was wearing, the jewel glowing blue as his eyes. Wait, was the earring actually glowing?

“Ah, ehm.” The boy stood straight and dusted himself off before giving me a bright smile. “Yes, I'm doing superb!”

“...” Did he say superb?

It seemed my confusion was written all over my face as the boy visibly tensed up. “Did I say something weird?”

“Well.” I scratched the back of my head. Technically he didn't say anything wrong. “I've just never heard anyone say that.”

He gave me a slow nod. “Ah... I see.” Though his voice was calm and his expression didn't change, his cheeks had quickly turned red.

Oh no. The poor guy looks like he could explode any second. “Usually, people would say good or okay.”

“I'm doing good?”

“Well.” Why am I teaching this kid how to speak? “Usually it's 'I'm good' or 'I'm doing well.'”

He nodded once, let out a slight hum, then nodded twice. “I’m good!” He said in complete confidence as if redoing his answer.

“So.. you don’t need any help?”

“Oh, I do.”

He told me he was searching for a necklace with a red, glowing stone attached to it, so I helped him look for it for a little bit during my lunch break. Sadly, we couldn’t find it even after searching for 15 minutes.

“Hm… It seems like you’ve lost it real bad.”

The boy sighed in frustration and ruffled his hair. “Agh, you’ve gotta be kidding me. I’ll be in so much trouble.”

As he continued mumbling to himself, I looked up at the church’s clock past the roofs. “I have to go too; I still haven’t had lunch.”

“Wait, no! Please help me look for a bit longer.”

“I can’t. I’ll be late if I stay longer.”

“For what? Lunch? C’mon, this is more important!”

I glared at him. Is this guy serious? Acting as if the thing he lost is more important than my lunch. “Look, you shouldn’t have lost your stupid necklace in the first place! Deal with it yourself.”

I turned around with a ‘hmph’ and continued walking back home.

I tried to forget about the frustrating encounter during my lunch, but my mood had only worsened by the time I got back to school. The teacher had changed the layout of the desks.

“Kyra, just in time! I was just about to close the door.” The teacher closed the door behind me, then quickly pointed towards the whiteboard at the front of the class. “We shuffled around the desks so our new classmate could fit in.”

I felt a slight panic inside me and looked around for Juliet, but once we had eye contact, I saw her sigh and shake her head. Juliet and I weren’t sitting next to each other. My frustration quickly turned into anger, but I took a deep breath and sat down at the desk with my nameplate on it.

I was sitting in the same group as Shiji, the guy that doesn’t say a word to anybody, and two other people I never talk to. This is great.

While unpacking my things and getting ready for class, a boy our age entered the classroom. Though he wasn’t tall or had any remarkable features, the boy showed his cheerfulness in his broad smile and the sparkles in his piercing blue eyes.

Wait a minute.

“It’s you!” Before I realized it, I’d jumped up from my chair and pointed at him.

“Eh-”

“Ah, so you have met Adam already, Kyra.” The teacher exchanged glances with us. “Isn’t that nice?”

“No, it isn’t! He’s a-”

“Hold on! Let’s not call your classmate names on his first day.” I pursed my lips together and reluctantly sat back down.

“Adam, introduce yourself.”

I glared at Adam one last time before turning my head away and staring outside the window. Telling me to skip my lunch to help him with his necklace. Hmph. First, he’s rude, and now I’m not sitting next to Juliet because of him. He deserves to be name called on his first day!

“Well, my name is Adam. I am twelve years old, and I like to run.”

The class giggled at his way of phrasing his interest. Adam seemed to get flustered at this. “I’m good at running, I swear!”

“I’ll race you during the break!”

“Yeah, I want to see!”

The teacher chuckled at the liveliness of the class, but soon clapped her hands together to turn the attention back to her. “Right, I can see that we’ll all get along with our new classmate. Adam, you can sit next to Juliet. Then we can start class.”

The bell for the afternoon break rang, and our class quickly made their way outside. As a small group of classmates lined up on the playground’s field, Juliet, Robin, and I sat on a bench close to the school’s fence.

“What was that fuss about when Adam joined?” Juliet asked. I growled in frustration and ripped open my pack of cookies.

“He told me to forget about my lunch and help him search for a stupid necklace,” I grumbled, biting down on my afternoon snack. “After I’ve spent half my lunch break helping him look for it!”

Juliet hummed and looked down to the ground in thought. “Well, he sucks.”

“He does!”

“And he’s a show-off.”

“That he is!” I watched the small race our class had set up and saw Adam staying right on our best runner’s heels.

“You know, he’s pretty fast, though,” Robin commented. There was more enthusiasm in his voice than I would’ve liked. “He’s almost able to outrun Jace! And, well, you both know how fast Jace is.”

You know how to get on people’s nerves. Who’s side are you on, Robin? I glared at Adam as he came in second place after Jace. While Jace was nearly out of breath, Adam looked like he hadn’t broken a sweat.

“Amazing. Adam isn’t only fast. He also has a lot of stamina!”

Right, I’ve had enough. “I’m gonna go to the toilet.”

Before I returned to the school building, I saw Adam looking my way with a troubled look.

The class quickly became fond of our new classmate and enjoyed doing the activities with him. Robin thought he was nice to hang out with, but I couldn’t deal with the fact I had to be in the same class as this guy.

Time flew by, however, and school was almost over before we knew it. “Remember, don’t forget to do your homework!” the teacher said as the bell rang. The class hurriedly packed their bags so they could go back home.

Juliet walked up to my desk with a small smile as I packed my bag. “Want to play on Hyves today?”

I beamed at her suggestion and gave her a firm nod. “Yes, I do!” Playing online with Juliet was a rare occasion; there was no way I would refuse. Just as I had packed my bag and was ready to leave the classroom, Adam walked up to us.

“So… How’re you doing?”

I raised my eyebrow at him. Was this dude serious? Does he not recognize me or something?

“I’m doing great. Thanks.”

“Right...” He scratched the back of his head and looked away. What? That’s it? It seemed he wanted to say something else, but the words didn’t come out. His flushed cheeks almost made me believe he felt embarrassed.

After a minute of silence, I sighed and adjusted the straps of my backpack as I walked past him.

“See you tomorrow, Adam.”

As soon as I got home, I immediately went to my room. When I finally got onto my computer and logged into Hyves, I saw Juliet wasn’t online yet. I wrote her a message, telling her to message me as soon as she got on.

“Keira, everything okay?”

I turned around and saw my mom standing in the doorway, looking at me in concern. “Ye- Yeah, mom, I’m fine.” I quickly answered. “Juliet just-”

“You didn’t even say hi to me when you came in and went straight upstairs.”

“Yeah, I-” I let out another sigh in frustration. Why can’t people leave me alone today? “I’m sorry.”

“Come give me some company downstairs once you’re done.” She turned around and left again.

I returned her an ‘mhm’ and returned to my computer. Juliet left me a message. She was online and ready to play.