Okay. What?

  I didn't hear it wrong when Aiden told me that the guy is out of town for a few days. And won't be able to meet me. But the message here is totally opposite to what should be happening. Is someone playing pranks with me?

  I really can't understand it all but still, I think I might, if I meet him in person? Who knows.

  I type a positive reply and ask him where to meet?

  ||TheOnlyLameGirl||: I think, yes. Where?

  The message was instant.

  _mr.face_: 7 in the evening at milk and sugar

  ||TheOnlyLameGirl||: done

  _mr.face_: see you then?

||TheOnlyLameGirl||: sure

  And that is the end of it. His last message for the day, I guess.

  With a sigh, I walk towards my study table and sit there for a while calculating the ratio between the time left before the dinner to the amount of homework left to be done. And sadly, the latter one was a lot more than the former. And I prefer sleeping rather than doing anything productive after I have my dinner. So, I guess I'll have to get it over with.

  Life sucks!! (imagining crying emojis in my head lol)

°°°

  I'm a totally typical and normal girl, guys. Why do people have to look at me oddly while I pass through the school hallways. Okay, so it's just today. But then again, what happened? And nobody is caring to tell me.

  I walk towards my locker while bearing with people looking at me from the corner of their eyes. God, don't their eyes hurt looking towards a corner with such intensity? Mine definitely would. And the whispers. It doesn't stop. Some care about it while some don't. But what has happened that is making the others divert from their business and mind my business?

  A disappearance happened.

  Wow! That was a really direct answer.

  And this is what is written on my locker. So, what? Why do people care about it. And whose disappearance happened?

  As the bell rang, people start moving to their classes and someone bumped into me. "Looks like we've got a kidnapper in our school," that girl says as she passes without apologizing and instead having a scowl on her face directed at me.

  Seriously?! High school kids are so annoying sometimes.

  Who she calling a freaking 'kidnapper'? They really don't care about other people's feelings and emotions, do they? I felt a little pang of hurt in my heart. They don't even know what happened. Hell, even I don't know what happened. Then how could they say something just like that? Well, that's all a given with the high school life.

  Just to say it was less, The Valerie Hale decided to block my way.

  "That's a little piece of vandalism you've got there on your locker," she says mockingly with her hands crossed on her chest, making her assets look a little more bigger. On purpose.

  "Thanks, but I'll be just fine calling it rather a piece of art," I object. Am I defending the person who did it?

  "Oh, how nice of you. It must have taken a lot of effort to write in a handwriting that no one recognizes, right?" She says with light in her eyes and looking at my locker. Admiring the work?

  "You do realize the bell has rung, right? Shouldn't we be heading to our classes?" I interrupt her admiration and make her face the reality.

  "Yup. But take care, who knows what might happen next?" She says as she walks away. I turn around to see her expressions during the statement but her back is towards me and I could only think of a hint of smile on her face when she might have said that.

  I'm starting to think, she might have done that. After all there're a countless number of reasons for us to scratch each other's face. This is a mere vandalism.

°°°

  "Yeah, I heard about it," May says while chewing her food calmly. "But who might have done it?"

  "Don't know? I have my suspicion on Valerie," I guess while playing with my french fries.

  "She can be a bitch sometimes, but do you think she'd really do something like that."

  "Like I said, I don't know and it doesn't matter. Whoever did it might be playing games with me and it's the first time. Let's see if anything else happens. Then I'll think of running my so-called dense mind."

  "Well, 'dense' for a reason and not 'so-called', okay," I say quoting in the air.

  "Whatever," I roll my eyes to that.

  People started calling me dense around two years ago due to an incident.

  There was a guy that used to bring me chocolates everyday which were my favourite and gave them to me personally and people around would hoot. I didn't get why.

  But one day he came with the same chocolate again and confessed that he liked me. And I was blank and dumbfounded.

  "Sorry?!" I said with surprise.

  "I-I like you," he repeated again with chocolate in one hand between us and rubbing the back of his head with the other hand shyly. Truly speaking he was cute and kinda good looking with nice eyes and lips and hair and body and all so, I didn't take it hard on him.

  "You didn't know?" He asked looking amused when he saw me still confused.

  "How, exactly am I supposed to know?"

  "I gave you your favourite chocolates everyday?" He said in a way trying to ring a bell in my head.

  "Yes, and I ate them thinking you liked giving people chocolates."

  "C'mon, how're you so dense?" He asked in disbelief.

  Everybody around from that point on started whispering dense and made it a recognition adjective for me.

  "I don't know. Wanna ask my mom?" I said with a little giggle. I don't even remember why I did that. But I do remember saying yes to being his girlfriend.

  We dated for about eight months and then we, also, broke up because, apparently, I was dense. As per people, just so you know.

  That guy proposes me first and after a few months himself tells me that we weren't meant to be. Amazing, right?

  "I'm sorry, but we just don't click together," he said in the school hallways and everybody saw it.

  "I thought you liked me?" I said with sadness in my voice.

  "Liked." He said trying to put force on the word.

  "Why so suddenly?" I said, my voice coming out a little less audible than I intended it to.

  "It's not sudden. I gave you signs that I was loosing interest. God! You're so dense."

  And there goes that word again.

  Dense.

  So, for all, I'm dense. But that just happens occasionally. I'm not always so-so-uh. . .dense. Atleast that's what I believe.

  "Where's the handsome guy?" May askes while looking around excitedly and expecting to tell her.

  "What?" I ask in clear confusion.

  "You were looking at something or somebody, so, I thought it would have been a good looking guy that you're again gawking at," she explains her frantic-ish behaviour just now.

  "Do you see me drool?"

  "No."

  "That means I'm not gawking anybody. Just staring into space."

  "Oh, sorry," she apologizes.

  Now come to think of it, why would somebody write something like that on my locker.

  A disappearance happened.

  Who's disappearance? And what does it has to do with me?

  I don't want to work up my mind on something so trivial. So, let's just simply stop it.

°°°

  It's seven already in the evening and I'm waiting for Mr. Face as planned by him at Milk and Sugar.

  I'm waiting for him at the seat where I and May sat on, that day, when we last arrived here. Now getting impatient, as it has been 18-20 minutes already, I'm playing with my pony to pass the waiting time till he arrives. I hope my attire isn't too much for first meeting with a stranger, but also a handsome guy, as I'm wearing a loose white crop top and a high waist jeggings. Well, it's really normal if I think again. Anxiety of meeting a gorgeous being taking over me.

  I hear the bells at the entrance jingle, hope fills inside me as a look up. I see dirty brown haired and good physique guy entering the cafè.

  The boy that I've been waiting for has arrived. He looks around the place searching for something or someone. Maybe he's searching for me. I should make him acknowledge me presence, right?

  I wave my hand high for him to look in my direction. But as he looks towards me, our eyes make contact for a second or two. Although it's just for a short while, it feels so long and awkward. Then suddenly, it seems like he snaps out of it and looks at me weirdly. Like, he wasn't actually looking for me? I mean we were both supposed to meet each other, right?

  I look at him in confusion while he looks at me strangely and he doesn't know me. He then walks up to the payment counter to greet Mr. Hughes and then sits at the same table that he was sitting on with Adrian that day.

  What the actual hell?! I thought he knew me? He follows me, so he must have seen my posts to recognise me. Then why is he acting like I'm a wierd stranger? I think I'll just talk to him myself.

  I stand up from my seat and walk towards his at diagonally opposite corner. He's glued to his phone and barely noticing me walking towards him.

  "Uhh-hi?" I say with hesitation as i reach his table. He looks up from his phone and looks at me from my head to feet probably judging my cloth choice and all with small eyes.

  "How can I help you?" He asks not looking interested.

  "I'm Ryleigh. We decided to meet here?" I try to give out our acquaintance.

  "Well, that's a good trick to start a conversation with a handsome guy. I'm impressed," he says, smirking.

  "I'm sorry, you got it wrong but we fixed this meeting. You yourselves asked me to meet here," I state.

  "I'm sorry, but i don't really remember doing such a thing."

  He seems serious now. Like he's speaking the truth. I feel like showing him our chats but then I notice a few people from around, kind of listening to our one-sided acquainted conversation and probably thinking I'm some kind of a love-struck, creepy stalker girl. So I leave the conversation there. He denying to know me is embarassing enough in itself.

  "Oh, I think I got the wrong person. Sorry to waste your time," I feel embarrassed.

  "Nah, that's okay. I'm used to it," he flashes his teeths in self-appriciation.

  I leave the cafe that very moment with my one hand trying to cover my face and save the looks from the people around.

  How can someone be in a daze of thinking that they're too good for the others? I mean, it's not like he isn't good looking but, seriously?

As I step out of the cafè and turn left, I notice a car coming from the front being parked in the parking. I see the person coming out of the car while walking. Valerie Hale. Just the person we were missing this evening.

  I prepare myself mentally to face her in case she sees me but surprisingly she's just focused on the cafè and walking straight to it. I stop in my path and observe the scene.

  She enters the cafe and after looking around, spots the table she wants to sit at. She goes and sits in front of the new Mr. Face. I thought he would treat her the way he treated me when she walks up to him. But no. It seems he actually knows her?

  The world is so small.

  But wow, their nature are kinda similar. Why won't like people make friends with each other.

  After seeing the whole thing, I leave the place finally. I'll never forget being stood up by a person who actually came. The situation is so funny. I think and mentally face palm myself a thousand times while driving back home and reaching my room.

  I decide to text the new Mr. Face. God knows why, when I just made a fool of myself. But that's because the person denied to know me.

  I am so disappointed with life and him and myself and the whole world.

  So typical of me.

  But now I am feeling angry. That guy totally made me look like a fool. And I think it was on purpose. I take out my phone and start to text him on Insta.

  ||TheOnlyLameGirl||: why would you do that

  _mr.face_: what happened

  Whoa. Does he always remain online?

  ||TheOnlyLameGirl||: you said you didn't know me when i met you at the cafe

  _mr.face_: was that you?

  ||TheOnlyLameGirl||: no shit, Sherlock

  _mr.face_: I'm so sorry, i didn't know cuz I'm used to being stalked and there's just so many Ryleigh girls around me. So can't help but think you were one of them.

  ||TheOnlyLameGirl||: do you take me as a fool?

  _mr.face_: well, i don't know cause if you weren't then you should have known what was meant by the locker message

  What?! How does he know about the locker message?

  ||TheOnlyLameGirl||: how do you know?
                    – do you by any chance go to our school?

  The messages are left on seen and the message that he wrote earlier is deleted.

  The hell?!