"I need to meet your sister." I said, looking at Steve dead in the eye. He froze and I'm pretty sure his mind went blank. "I said I need to meet your sister." I repeated, pulling him back to earth.

"No, I heard you the first time. I just don't get why?" he whispered back.

"That's none of your business."

"I'm not helping then." He replied.

I knew that it wouldn't be easy, so I had come prepared. I paused for some time on purpose and fidgeted around pretending to be uncomfortable, then in a weak voice I said, "It's a girl thing."

His mind went blank yet again. He continued gawking at me trying to come up with a reply until, "Mr. Miller, mind paying attention?" the teacher called him out.

He sat back in his seat and pretended like he was listening to the class. I did the same.

Me trying to find Emma was like a cat trying to catch a laser point. Except for Steve and me, no one at school knew she even existed. No one knew about her in her class. Not even her homeroom teacher.

Her friend, Idiot- like she called him, was just as mysterious as the former.

The girl did say that she would tell me about what happened that night the next time we met, but I couldn't stay waiting. I needed to know what happened. Quick.

While I tried to play detective and find Emma a thought came across my mind. What if that girl wasn't even Steven's real sister. Yes, I did find them similar, but that was only after she mentioned that she was his sibling. What would be even worse is if I am just delusional and imagining stuff. The thought was so distasteful and terrible that I shoved it away immediately. I needed to believe that whatever happened was real.

Soon the bell rang and students rushed to the cafeteria like usual. Unusually, Steve left with the rest of the class even when I asked him to wait for me. Well, considering how loud my voice can get, he wouldn't have heard it, but he should've waited for me nonetheless. I even ran out of the class to chase after him but he disappeared. Just like his (supposedly) sister.

School ended for the day without another conversation with Steve. He continued evading me with his family's generational skill: disappear without a trace.

With no Steve around, I had plenty of time to waste. I didn’t want to go home right away just to spend hours alone with nothing to do at hand. So I decided to visit the nearby park.

Okay, it wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. I used to come here and spend time until sundown before I got into my current relationship.

If you are thinking there was something special about this park, you are mistaken. This park isn’t anything special. It isn’t special to me either. It’s just that parks in general are calm, warm and with people around that like to mind their own business. With exceptions, of course. In conclusion, spending time at a park was like eating cereal for breakfast for me. There’s nothing special about it, it’s just comfortable, but there is some innate speciality in the quitenes-

“Hi Annie!” A familiar figure sat beside me on the park bench. It took me a moment to recognize her without the uniform, but thanks to her features, it didn’t take long. There was no mistaking it, Emma is Steve’s sister.

“What happened that night?!” I demanded, without beating around the bush.

“I will. But I need you to help me out with something first.” She said, red seeping into her face.

“Only after you tell me.” I said commandingly.

“How about I give you a teaser of what happened, and after you help me I tell you the whole story? ” She negotiated.

I could’ve tried a little harder to make her tell the story right away, but I didn’t want to risk her walking away cause she sensed a bad deal. “Fine by me.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

She said, “On the night you tried to sneak into my house and failed, I was watching you through the security cameras all along.”

I nodded, waiting for her to continue, which she didn’t. “That’s it?”

“Yeh, that’s it.” She replied. Reading disappointment on my face she quickly said, “I’ll show you the footage if you help me.”

After 5 minutes of back-and-forth between me (trying to make her tell right away) and her (trying to get me to help her) I decided to give up and go along with her. Man, this girl is more vehement than I am.

All the boldness she showed so far crumbled and her face flushed in red. She started mildly fidgeting, “I want you to help me set up a date with Nathan.” she said, sheepishly.

“Who?”

“Nathan. The guy I introduced you to yesterday in the cafeteria.”

Oh, his name is Nathan.

Wait, she liked that fat kid whom she berates? Damn.

I’m trying not to be fat-phobic, but damn. Kid’s got better luck than most average looking guys from my class.

“Just ask him out.” I suggested. After a moment of silence, I realized the problem and continued, “I know, it’s hard to get the courage, but he will never know unless you tell him how you feel. You might fear him turning you down, but-”

“Oooooo. Why should I be the one asking? As a man he should be the one asking me out and taking me on dates. He does absolutely nothing- that worthless boy. He doesn’t even pick up when I phone him. He says, ‘Oh- I was busy cracking a website, didn’t notice your call’. I would’ve sent him 30 messages by then asking why he wasn’t picking up the call, cause I’m concerned, obviously. But even that is a problem for him. He acts as if I am suffocating him or something. Why can’t he just be normal and just ask me out? Why should I be doing everything? Why does he not even phone me on his own?...”

Oh. I realized that my realization was wrong. This girl… I bestow upon her the title ‘Tsundere’. But looking at how fast she is able to climb the ‘psychotic’ scale, she might even upgrade to ‘Yandere’.

Poor kid.

I probably should convince Emma that privacy and private space are a thing, being the older and mature one, but I wanted to get done with it as soon as possible.

“When do you want to go on the date?” I asked, when she paused to take a breath from all the complaining she had done.

“Today!” She declared.

“Where is this Nathan kid right now?”

We headed to the library and Emma showed me where Nathan was. She stood back and watched from a distance while I conversed with him.

“Hello Nathan.” I greeted the bespectacled chubby kid who was so engrossed in his laptop that he jumped out when I called his name.

“Do I know you, miss?” He asked politely.

“We met yesterday in the Cafeteria remember?” I said.

He bobbed his round head to the side and rested his chin on his palm, trying to remember. Suddenly he threw open his eyes, saying, “I remember you! You are Emma’s friend. You are Lana, right?”

“Annabelle.” I corrected his mistake.

“Close enough. So what brings you here?” He asked cheerfully.

“I booked two tickets for a movie this evening. I planned on going with Emma’s brother, but I don’t think he will show up. So I was thinking you and Emma could go instead.” I pulled out the tickets that Emma handed me in the park.

“Oh. Don’t worry about that, I can go to the cinema's website and get you a refund.” He replied. He immediately opened up the website and pulled up some kind of green colored interface and began typing furiously.

Emma, who had been listening in on our conversation on a call panickedly said through the earphone, “Make him stop! Tell him you don’t want a refund!”

“No. No. I don’t want a refund.”

Nathan paused in his tracks and innocently asked, “Then?”

“I want you to watch the movie along with Emma.” I bluntly stated.

“Hmmm…” He then looked me dead in the eye and asked, “How about you and I go instead?”

***

It took a lot more effort than I had expected for Nathan to take Emma on that movie date.

Taking into account how cute Emma is, regardless of her personality, anyone would accept a movie date with her in a heartbeat. But not Nathan, apparently.

He kept dodging my request for him to take her out. Instead, he asked me if I wanted to go with him, which angered Emma so much that she dropped her cover and came stomping towards us. She then ordered Nathan to come along for the movie in the most disdainful manner humanly possible.

Then without a word Emma left alongside Nathan, without fulfilling her end of the deal. I tried talking to Emma before they left, but her glare was so fierce, I decided otherwise. Later, I sent a couple of messages and phoned her numerous times, but to no avail. The girl wouldn’t reply.

Two days passed without a word from her or her brother. In all honesty, Steve wasn’t actively trying to avoid me, unlike his sister.

It is Friday evening. I layed in my bed, feeling slightly groggy after I had finished reading “I’m so hot, I’m the sun”. I had gotten back from school early today because Steve was busy with his Soccer practice today as well. He hasn’t talked much to me since our fight about a week ago on the soccer field, but I think it is more to do with his upcoming tournament than him still being sulky.

While I lazed on my bed, my dad put his efforts into cleaning the house. He was so into it that the vacuum cleaner hadn’t been turned off for a few hours now. Amongst the chaotic thunderous noise of the antique vacuum cleaner and an equally chaotic room, I lay in disbelief, as more and more questions churned into existence in my mind.

Two days prior, when Emma wanted to ask me for help, how did she know that I was there in that park? Was it a coincidence? I think not.

And what about the fact that Nathan casually said he would go to a website and simply do something about the refund? I mean, he might’ve been referring to some sort of cancellation of the tickets and getting a refund, but my intuition said otherwise.

Hm… the very existence of the Millers family was a mystery and so was everything associated with it.

Wait, if that’s true, since I am also associated with the Millers, am I mysterious and weird as well? What if I am, and I don’t even realize it?

The doorbell rang and my dad finally turned the vacuum cleaner off and got the door. “Annie, your friend is here for you!” He yelled from the living room.

Steve?

I rushed to the door and found Emma standing there, with a warm smile on her face. “Hi Annie.” She greeted me.

“Today’s my birthday. There’s a little dinner party at my place tonight, so I came to invite you. My brother will come pick you up.” Without waiting for a reply, she left.