One and a half year ago

A: What did she say?

E: She said she likes black.

A: What? How am I supposed to get black flowers?

E: Don't you just paint the flowers black?

A: Huh. I guess that works too.

The ends of my lips tugged upwards at his reply. Idiot.

A hand waved itself in front of my face, causing me to look at my best friend who was sitting beside me with an annoyed look on her face.

"Seriously, what's making you so occupied?" She huffed.

"You weren't even listening to whatever I was saying."

I gave her an apologetic smile, "Sorry, what were you saying again?"

I locked my phone and set it down on the table, directing 100% of my focus to Beth.

"Forget it," she rolled her eyes. "It wasn't that important anyways. What's more interesting is the smile you had on your face while you were texting."

I bit my bottom lip nervously. "Was that a smile?" I weakly asked.

Beth smirked, "Now you're making me even more curious. Who were you texting?"

Beth reached out to take my phone from my desk but my hand shot out like a flash of lightning to keep it out of her reach.

"It was no one." I blurted out, lying through my teeth.

"Mhm, yeah, sure. Now you're even lying to your best friend for this guy. It's Alex, isn't it?" Beth teased.

My eyes widened and I shushed her hastily, slapping my hand over her mouth. I quickly took a quick look around to make sure that no one heard her.

"How did you know?" I whispered, letting her wrench my hand off her lips.

Beth made a disgusted face and wiped her lips. She shrugged, "I peeked at your phone over your shoulder when you were busy texting him."

I glared at her, "That's an invasion of my privacy!"

"Bitch, since when do we have privacy?" Beth shot back.

That shut me up. She wasn't wrong. Growing up together, intruding on each other's personal space was no big deal to us. The downside is when things like this happen.

And the really bad thing? Beth isn't only my best friend, she is also capable of turning into my biggest bully and the biggest blabber mouth in our school.

Once, I told her that Henry asked me out when we were in the 2nd grade and the next thing you know, everyone knew about it.

"Whatever," I gave in, "Just make sure that you tell no one about this. I don't want people to misunderstand and think that Alex and I have a thing going on."

"You don't?" Beth asked, looking confused.

"We don't." I confirmed.

"Then what was with that smile on your face?" She asked.

I rolled my eyes, "It was nothing. We're just friends, B."

"Didn't look like it to me," Beth taunted.

I clenched my teeth and breathed deeply. She can get on my nerves so easily sometimes.

"Alright, chill girl, I'm just messing with you," She laughed, punching my arm lightly.

"But seriously, though. Are you sure you have zero feelings for him?" Beth asked.

"Positive." I affirmed without thinking twice.

I looked around the classroom, trying to not make it obvious that I was only trying to look at Alex.

For the briefest moment, I met Alex's eyes from across the room. He immediately took his phone and started texting, letting me know that he wanted me to look at my phone.

I opened my phone and sure enough, he was texting me.

A: I've got something for you.

E: What is it?

I turned around, not being able to contain my curiosity.

Alex was already looking at me as if he knew that I was going to turn around and look at him. He smiled and opened up his fist. A keychain shaped as a penguin dropped out of it, hanging off the ring that was slipped onto his finger.

Alex started typing on his phone again and my phone dinged with a new message.

A: A souvenir from Alaska.

E: It's so cute. You didn't have to, but thanks.

E: Question, how is it supposed to reach me?

Alex and I were literally sitting on the opposite ends of the classroom. Our seats were grouped into groups of four and I was seated at the front right corner of the class while Alex was seated at the very back of the class.

A: Just trust me. Go to the lockers and wait for me there.

I read the text twice to make sure I didn't read it wrong. For the past six months, Alex and I have only communicated through text messages. We avoid talking in person to avoid misunderstandings and dating rumors.

You can never be too careful when you're in high school. It would surprise you just how many people don't have lives and live off baseless rumors to entertain themselves.

When class ended, I took my books to my locker to swap them for the next class and also as an excuse to go to the lockers.

Our school's lockers are a bit different than the ones you see in the movies. Our school's lockers can be considered cabinets more than actual lockers. The lockers for each class of students were placed right outside of their classrooms and it's built of a stack of 5 rows and 5 columns of cabinets.

My locker was the cabinet on the bottom row and 2nd column from the left while Alex's was the 3rd from the top and 4th from the left.

Locker 14, the date of Hannah's birthday.

As I crouched down to open my locker and swap my textbooks, I watched Alex come out from the classroom and walk towards his locker from the corner of my eye.

As he opened up his locker, something dropped onto the floor beside my feet. I immediately recognized the penguin keychain and snatched it from the ground before anyone could notice what just happened.

I collected my things, shut my locker and locked it before returning to my seat in the classroom.

Alex followed suit after a few minutes.

As I took my seat, I opened up my fingers that were wrapped around the keychain to observe it as it sat on my palm.

Seeing as it was a metal keychain, I was expecting it to be cold when I first touched it but it was surprisingly warm.

A small smile formed on my lips when I realized why it was warm, my mind reminding me of how Alex kept it in his fist the entire first period before he finally gave it to me.

"He must've really thought about how to give me this keychain," I thought to myself as I stared at the keychain in the palm of my hand.

I slipped the ring around my finger and stared at how the light glinted off the metal.

The penguin was smiling, a blue scarf wrapped around its neck.

As our teacher for the next class came in, I slipped the keychain into my pencil case and typed a quick text to Alex.

E: Thank you.

A: You're welcome.

I twisted my body around, mock stretch, and shared a small smile with Alex from across the class before glancing at the clock that was hung in the back wall of the class to disguise my intent.

The day passed by fairly quickly and before we knew it, it was already 4 in the afternoon and classes were over.

"Thank God, I thought he'd never stop talking. 我累死了呀 (I'm dead tired)." Beth groaned once the teacher exited our classroom and was out of earshot. She stretched around before packing up her things.

E: You going home?

I sent the text before I started packing up my things, keeping an eye out for Alex to signal him to check his phone for my text.

Once he saw me, I quickly picked up my phone and he understood right away, fishing his phone out of his pocket.

A: Yeah, probably. You?

E: Nah, I gotta wait for my brother. He's got soccer practice til 6.

Alex raised his eyes to look at me and I rolled my eyes to show him how annoyed I was at having to wait two hours at school.

A: I'll accompany you, then.

I quickly typed my reply, not wanting to drag him down with me.

E: You don't have to.

A: No, it's okay. I don't have anything to do at home anyways. I'll meet you at the cafe beside the school's admin office.

E: Are you sure? 6 is pretty late.

A: 6 is not late. I've stayed at the cafe til 8 before.

I raised my eyebrows at him, giving him an are-you-crazy look.

Alex smiled and shrugged.

E: What were you doing there til 8?

A: Nothing. I just didn't want to go home. There's nothing for me to do at home.

E: There's nothing to do at the cafe alone too.

A: That's also true.

A: Anyways, I'll see you at the cafe then.

I bit my lip to suppress my smile, conscious of Beth's earlier comment about me smiling suspiciously.

Speaking of Beth..

Fingers snapped in front of my face, "Earth to Kate."

"Hey, yeah." I shook my head to bring myself back to my senses.

"Do you still need to wait for your bro?"

I nodded in response, packing my things. I wasn't as annoyed anymore, knowing that I won't be waiting alone.

"Do you want me to keep you company?" Beth asked.

"Nah, it's alright. I know your parents don't like you coming home late." I said. "Don't worry about me, I can just wait in the car or snack while waiting in the cafe."

"Alright, if you say so." Beth said, shrugging.

Beth and I walked to the school's gates where we part ways. She gets into her car, waving goodbye at me as her car pulls out of the school's driveway.

I turned around and practically jogged to the cafe nearby, not wanting to keep Alex waiting since he was there to keep me company in the first place.

The bell above the door chimed as I pushed it open, the cool air from the air conditioner blasted me in the face, a relieving contrast from outside's heat.

I saw Alex sit on one of the tables and took a seat on the table next to his although it was just the two of us and the cafe's staff there.

Neither of us explicitly agreed that we shouldn't communicate physically but I guess the whole secrecy just became a habit. Since the thing that made us friends in the first place was the agreement that I helped him find out more about Hannah, we often text and pass notes discreetly in class to not get caught by others.

It might look comical to others if they knew that the only 2 customers in the cafe, who were sitting in different tables, were actually communicating with each other, but for us, this was normal.

As we sat there for the next 2 hours, we talked about anything and everything. We got to know each other better and since Alex mentioned buying a new phone, we talked about what kind of phone was better to buy at that time.

In the middle of our conversation, Alex's stomach suddenly started hurting and he had to go to the toilet, not forgetting to bring his phone with him.

The next fifteen minutes, our texts looked like this.

A: Shit this shit hurts so much to shit out.

A: Shit Em, help me.

A: Send help, this shit hurts so bad.

E: You okay in there?

A: Have you ever experienced this kind of shit before?

A: It feels like it's dry and huge, my asshole's starting to hurt.

E: Are you seriously gonna text me while you take a dump?

A: AAAAAAA

A: AAAAAAA

A: Shit this shit hurts.

E: HAHAHAHA

E: This is the most hilarious shit I've ever encountered.

After fifteen minutes of battling his war in the restroom, Alex came out with a suppressed smile that was threatening to burst through its seams.

Me on the other hand, couldn't help the grin that had took over my entire face.

When Alex sat down once again and slipped his phone out of his pocket, we started texting once more.

E: Are you okay?

A: Sitting feels funny.

I bit my lip to keep my bubbling laugh in.

A: Seriously though, haven't you ever experienced that kind of dump? Where it hurts to even sit afterwards?

I gave it a thought for a moment before shrugging and nodding for him to see.

E: Yeah, I probably have.

A: Huh, it's normal then right?

E: I would hope so, yes.

This time one of the cafe's staff that has always been friendly with the students, popped up behind me and cleared his throat over my shoulder with an alarming proximity.

"What are you two laughing about? What do we have here.."

I nearly jumped out of my skin and dropped my phone. I quickly brought my phone closer to my chest and hid its screen.

"Hmm? I don't know what you're talking about. Nothing's happening here, I don't know about him." I babbled nervously.

I internally slapped myself, "Yep, real convincing, Em."

Luckily, the bell saved me as it chimed, bringing our attention to the newcomer.

My brother's head popped in and called me out.

"Em? I'm done, let's go."

I nodded, collecting my things and typing my goodbye to Alex.

E: Thanks for keeping me company.

A: Anytime.

Knowing that Alex gets carsick every time we text in the car, we always wait until we're home before we resume our chat.

E: Bye, I'll chat you when I get home.

A: Yep, I'll go home too.

E: Okay.

~~~~

Hope you had a good day today, and if you didn't then I hope this chapter can cheer you up!

Tomorrow's a new day, 大家加油吧！(Everyone, keep fighting!)

I'm always cheering you guys on from the bottom of the world (Australia) hehehe

God bless and love youuu <3

-J