The following Monday, I had forgotten to turn on my alarm in the evening, so my mom had to wake me up the next day a few moments before school started. I rushed to get ready and ate the sandwich my mom had prepared for me on my way to school.

“I’m always late,” I grumbled to myself in frustration. I’m lucky to live this close by, or else I would’ve never been on time for school.

I slipped into the classroom as soon as the bell rang and took my place, flashing the teacher an awkward smile. She sighed and shook her head but thankfully didn't say anything. Instead, she turned her attention to the rest of the class.

“Good morning, everyone! Let’s start class.”

The teacher continued talking as soon as the class started to quiet down. “Starting today, we will start working on an English assignment. We’re going to start preparing our presentations in groups of four. I have already placed everyone in their groups, but you are free to decide what your presentation will be about!”

As soon as the teacher grabbed some files, chatter filled the room. I sought eye contact with Juliet and saw the same glimpse of excitement in her eyes as mine. At times we’re not sitting next to each other, doing assignments with groups always gets us excited.

Why do you ask?

Because there’s hope! Hope that we’ll be in a group together and sit next to each other during the project hours! Of course, we’re supposed to use these hours to discuss our project and not goof off, but the teacher doesn't usually pay attention so long as we finish our assignment.

The teacher cleared her throat to get the class's attention and started listing the groups.

“... The next group will be Juliet, Keira-”

I sighed in relief and exchanged looks with Juliet, giving her a thumbs up. We’re going to do great together!

“... Shiji and Adam.”

My shoulders dropped, and Juliet’s face deadpanned.

We’re with him.

“I’ll hand out the details of the assignment after school. You have a week to prepare the presentation, so make sure you get enough work done in your spare time!”

As the teacher started handing out the handouts, I saw Adam waving at me from next to Juliet. Noticing he got my attention, he gave me a wide smile.

What’s with this guy?

I stared at him for a moment, not sure how to respond to him. How was I supposed to react after last weekend?

When we went shopping, he only complained about how I was picking out ‘cheap’ stuff. I told him to either mind his own business or go away, but he then would argue about enjoying spending time with me.

‘I don’t wanna go home! I wanna do shopping!’

Then whenever I started to get angry, he would stare at me with tight lips, eyebrows deeply furrowed, and cheeks puffed out.

The more I thought about it, the more he reminded me of a baby, and the more I wanted to get rid of him.

I had squinted my eyes a little as I was in thought, and Adam was squinting back, probably thinking it was some hidden message.

“Ahem.”

A tap on my shoulder snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned my head to the side and looked at the person sitting next to me, Shiji. “Oh, Shiji. What’s up?”

Shiji looked at me for a moment, doubt in his eyes as he opened his mouth slightly before turning his head away again. “I… don’t like doing presentations.”

I raised my eyebrow and leaned my head in a bit. “Oh?” It was rare for Shiji to speak, so I was curious about what he might say. I didn't expect this, however.

With his lips tightly pursed, he grabbed his book from his table and tapped the cover a few times before he inhaled sharply. “We haven’t worked together before. I wanted to let you know.”

I looked at him for a moment, expecting him to continue, but instead, he opened his book and started reading. Was that it? “Ah. Thank you?”

Shiji let out a small hum and nodded in response, but it didn’t seem like he wanted to continue the conversation.

I guess that was everything he wanted to say.

After the teacher discussed the assignment with the class, she went to the front of the classroom and cleared her throat. “Alright, everyone. Time passes by quickly when you work hard! It’s already time for our morning break.”

As my classmates ran outside, I walked over to Juliet. She seemed to be in deep concentration as she worked on an assignment. Maybe she didn’t even hear that our break had started.

Trying to get her attention, I tapped her shoulder. “Jules!”

The girl sighed and looked up at me with a glare. “What is it? I’m working.”

“Hehe.” I gave her a cheeky smile. “We just started morning break, you silly. Wanna swap cookies?”

“Hmph.” Juliet stood up with a slight pout and turned her back to me. “Nope.”

My shoulders tensed up. Is she angry with me? I watched her walk to the door before finally squeaking out: “But-” Then I heard a quiet snicker as my friend turned her head to me with a mischievous grin. “It’s so much fun messing with you.”

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I sighed in relief and relaxed. “You’re such a meanie!”

“Yeah yeah. Grab your cookies and hurry your bum outside!” Juliet stuck her tongue out at me before walking off.

I chuckled and walked to my desk, grabbing my cookies to bring outside.

“Hey.”

Not expecting anyone to still be in the classroom, I looked down at the desk in thought for a second before turning my head. Adam was still standing at his desk, looking at me with a glowering expression. What’s wrong now?

“Hey. … What’s-”

“Do you hate me?”

“Ah-” I widened my eyes in surprise and stayed quiet for another moment, wondering what caused him to ask that question. However, he quickly took my silence as a sign of confirmation and visibly shrank.

“Why do you hate me?”

“Wait, hold on!” I turned the rest of my body to face him. Again, how did he draw that conclusion? “I don’t hate you!”

“But you look at me angry all the time!”

“Yeah, no, well.” I was stumbling over my words. I sighed deeply, trying to relax my body from tensing up. “That’s because-”

Before I could finish my sentences, Adam started walking over to me. “Then are you angry at me?!”

“Aaghh!” Shouting from the top of my lungs, I grabbed the nearest chair and threw it against the wall with all my might. “Yes, you anger me! So shut up!!”

I could feel my body burning up from anger. My hands trembled and my breath shaky, but I didn’t stop looking at Adam. Instead, I was glaring at him at this point.

He had stepped back a little, the shock evident in his eyes. He looked scared.

I scared him.

I squinted my eyes as my anger was gradually replaced with this horrible, twisted feeling. I always scare everyone at some point. He’s just going to run away now and tell the teacher. Have the teacher give me detention, and tell my parents. He will always be scared of me now, thinking that I’m terrifying.

My eyes quickly started to tear up.

“...”

Adam continued to look at me in thought, taking in what just happened, then walked up to the chair and put it back at its desk. Then he walked up to me, grabbed something from the floor, and pushed it into my hands.

I glanced down and grabbed the small package. I had dropped my cookies on the ground without noticing. Did he just come here to pick them up?

“Adam, Keira!” I looked up at the door entrance and saw the teacher standing there, with a few classmates, Juliet and Robin included, standing behind her. “What happened here? We could hear the noise all the way from outside!”

I tensed up and fidgeted with my fingers. Oh, no…

We both stayed quiet. The teacher then crossed her arms and glared at me. “Keira, don’t tell me you had another one of your outbursts. Explain yourself!”

As I struggled with words, Adam walked up to the teacher and scratched the back of his head. “I just stumbled on one of the chairs.” He let out a chuckle. “Sorry to make you worry, teach.”

The teacher sighed and shook her head. “You should have said so immediately, Adam.” She turned back to Adam with a smile. “Let’s go outside now, okay?”

Giving me one last glance, Adam went outside with the small crowd, and Juliet and Robin walked over to me. “Are you okay?” “What happened?”

I look at them both for a moment, replaying what just happened. They wouldn’t understand. I forced a smile and rubbed the tears out of my eyes. “Nothing happened! I’m fine.” I lifted my cookies and started walking outside.

“Let’s go swap our cookies!”

Juliet and Robin exchanged glances before following me out.

Adam stopped showing up to walk to school with me. Even after school was over, he was the first to get up and rush to leave class. He often avoided me, and whenever our eyes would meet, he would give me the cold shoulder and turn his back to me. I knew I had avoided him not too long ago, but I felt empty with him ignoring me.

The next few days passed like this, and before I realized it, Saturday arrived.

I was lying on the grass field after my morning jog, enjoying the sun's warmth caressing my skin, when I heard a squeal not too far from me.

“Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind.”

“Be quick.”

I sat up and turned towards the noise, my heart tightening as I found the source of the noise. At the entrance of the clearing stood a small group of kids my age. I was quick to recognize Juliet. I knew she was coming as this was our weekly thing, but I did not expect Adam and Shiji to be her.

“Adam, if you don’t step forward, I will choke you.”

As Juliet pushed Adam in my direction, much to his dismay, I stood up and glanced at her. “What’s… this about?”

Adam scratched the back of his head and looked over at me with a deep frown. “Well…” He cleared his throat and stood straight before taking a deep breath and puffing out his chest. “I- I’m sorry for what happened last Monday!”

I looked at him with wide eyes, then glanced at Juliet behind him, who just sighed to herself and walked off, Shiji walking behind her. Did she set this all up?

Adam walked up to me and grabbed my hand, holding it up as he looked at me with pleading eyes. “I pushed you too hard and caused you to feel uncomfortable! I never meant to anger you. I just didn’t want you to hate me!”

“Well…” I pursed my lips tightly together. Why is he apologizing to me? I scared him and disappointed him. I pursed my lips tightly together and gave him a troubled look. “I don’t. I mean, I don’t hate you.”

“Really?!” I could see the sparkle come back in his eyes as he leaned toward me. “You don’t hate me?”

I inhaled sharply and avoided his intense gaze. Okay, now he’s getting too excited. “I- I’m not.”

“Yay!” Adam released my hand and raised his hands. He seemed relieved, but I couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy. “Aren’t you angry at me?”

“Of course not!” Adam laughed and wrapped one arm over my shoulder with a wide grin, pulling me close and restricting my movement.

“Hey!”

“We’re friends now!”

I looked back at him and opened my mouth to tell him to get off me, but when I saw how much he beamed, I couldn’t bring myself to risk ruining his mood. “Fine, yes.”

Adam continued to laugh as if unable to contain his happiness, and I realized how easily he was cheered up.

“Good, you two finally made up.”

I looked over at Juliet. While Adam and I were talking, Juliet and Shiji had set up a picnic on the grass field and sat down.

“Now sit down.” Juliet grabbed her bag and took a few copies of our school books. “The English assignment is due next Monday, and I don’t want to miss my assignment.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Adam quickly joined them on the picnic blanket, leaving me wondering next to them.

“Jules, did you plan all this?”

She gave me a snicker in reply. “Yes and no. The fool here approached me first,” she started, pointing the book toward Adam. “Begging for advice on how to make it up to you.”

“Hey! I only-”

Juliet gave Adam a cold glare, making him wince and shrink back down before she turned back to me with a sinister smile. “Don’t worry. I would’ve ensured we had finished the assignment, even without him. As I’ve said, I’m not planning to miss any assignments.”

I let out a nervous chuckle and sat down with them. “Right… I believe you.”

“Enough.” Shiji, who had already grabbed his book, exchanged glances with the small group before opening his book. “Let’s start.”