It was easy to get her name and number with how her two friends freaked out cause I stood before them. If I were to grade their thoughts on their friends' personal decisions, I'd give them minus a hundred. She had said no, but they went against it. Still, I was glad while Jide had not been. But I could not blame the guy; he never got to see the beautiful Mermaid in the water.

We were not supposed to be in public places on campus without the personnel hired by my father after I was robbed a year ago. But I always found them useless because that brought the attention of people to me. Without them, I was able to sneak in and out of places without being recognized. Reluctantly, my talent manager agreed with the condition of keeping a low profile. I was still a student, what sort of low profile could I keep?

I checked the time. It was 9;45pm. I picked up the laminated cardboard with rows and columns drawn on it and began to write my next day schedule. It helped me stay sane and active. Usually, I got distracted quickly, lost track of time, or did one or two that I was not supposed to. My brother had suggested I write down and follow my plans. And it had helped a lot back then. These days, I could not seem to do anything I wrote accurately, but I kept writing out of habit. I once forgot I had to go to the recording studio and freaked at how it had messed up the rest of the week. But my closest friend was there to help. She sat on the table next to my bed. I liked to call her she because she was sexy and enticing and sweet, and she made me so happy, happier than I had ever been in my life. And she never left me.

I dropped the makeshift planner and reached for her. Observing the content in the new syringe today. Not like I could overdose or something.

"But that won't be bad to try," I spoke aloud in the comfort of my two-bedroom flat. I could get so high and reach the highest peak, never to return.

"Or that would make for a better lyrics...I'm so high, far above the sky, with my mind on you...lame." But my mind really was also on a 'You'. A smile caressed my face when I remembered those brown eyes firmly telling me no. I picked up my phone and looked through my contacts dialing the one saved as Mermaid.

I grew nervous as the dial tone rang. Once, twice, the third, and the fourth.

"Hello?" her angelic voice came like a whisper, but I could not be sure.

"Hi there, Mermaid." My heartbeat slowed to normal. But immediately she ended the call. All I could do was laugh at the action. I stroked my left arm as I stared at my favorite She and redialed the number again. It was easy to know she would not answer the call, but I would not be Kiishiju if I gave up easy. I redialed again and again and again.

It took about eight calls for her to answer. "Why are you calling me?" This time, I was sure it was a whisper. "Were you not taught to not call somebody when it was past 9:30? And who gave you my number anyway?"

She asked everything in a shot without breathing in between her words as if she was on a timer. "Well, it was the black one that looked fat. She giggled through every number she gave, and I was not quite sure it would go through. I almost gave up thinking the network would say 'This number is incorrect', but then you answered and abruptly ended my call, and that is rude." My eyes were off the syringe now. I looked around my room, which wasn't neat. Clothes littered the ground, papers squeezed beyond redemption played around on it also. On the wall by my bed hung three different headphones, and just by it were dark-colored caps. One was mine, and the other had belonged to my brother. A slight pang hit my chest.

I took my eyes off them and to the rectangular mirror at the far right of the room. Tired, I sat up and observed the planners hung around it—Monday and Tuesday (I was yet to put tomorrows). The mirror itself was decorated with small circle lights that illuminated the post-it notes of different colors pressed unto it. It was my board for lines and verses I thought about but could not make into a song, at least the type of song society would like or just generally what came into my head that sounded aesthetic.

I should add the 'high on top' to it. I gave myself a reminder before the voice at the other end caught my attention again.

"Urrgh. See, thank you for...what you did the other day but don't call me again. I have a boyfriend."

"I never said I wanted to be your boyfriend or your friend even. I just wanted to know how Mermaids have sex. Maybe you can show me a thing or two," she groaned. "And find out if you got that pneumonia I talked about since you shivered your way to where you live. Where do you live?"

"Look here! you may be some kind of self-absorbed celebrity on campus that people worship, but I don't like you, and please don't call me again." Polite when demanding, nice.

"I mean no harm, really." Bored with sitting on my bed, I made my way outside. Sometimes I liked looking at the sky to see if I could spot constellations. This has been a constant of mine ever since I was told about Greek mythology. But I never got to understand that shit. Still, I stared at the stars, silently greeting them. Some were bright, others were faint.

"Can you not call me again," she whispered less now.

Instead of the reply she would have expected, I asked, "Did you know that we turn to stars when we die?"

"What?"

"Something I read on the internet. We become stars to watch over the people we love. We are stars that exploded and so to stars we become after death. What do you believe?" And something I was told.

She snorted, "I believe you should not read everything you see on the internet and that we are not stars."

"Then why do we wish unto falling stars?"

"Because we're dumb set of species that just want to have something to believe in. We like to think we don't depend on other things, but we do, we are weak, proud set of creatures that destroy everything that comes our way." I smiled at her reply.

A calm breeze touched me, "Believe, we just want to believe." I whispered out loud, this would probably go onto my mirror. "So you believe we believe cause we are weak."

"I guess so, dude. Don't call me again," she said in haste, and my smile was planted back on my face. Faintly I heard a voice ask who it was, she replied 'wrong number'. I ended the call, not wanting to listen to her private conversations.

"We're just dumb creatures wanting to believe." I looked to the hostel behind me, lit with lights. My apartment was what they called 'landlords quarters' because it was initially made for the hostel owner so he could be able to monitor what students who rented the off-campus rooms did to his building or something like that. But a rented quarter meant more money.

Note to self: Add to the word board.