Summer reached to an end, and it was time for me to go back to school.

  Had I enjoyed my holidays? Less than I had hoped, but I still got to enjoy it somewhat. I was granted the occasional day off that I would spend at the pool or walking around the parks or woods. I had gotten a nice suntan, so I was satisfied, overall.

  My return to csses wasn’t all that peaceful though. I only got out of bed after the third time the arm bell rung and my mum came to kick me out of bed. It was the first day, we’d only be doing introductions, so who cared if I skipped? She did.

  “I’m not spending my hard-earned money to raise an incompetent child,” she told me when she grabbed and tossed me out of bed.

  And just why did we now have to wear these stupid uniforms? We were a public school, not a private one. Imagine me, someone that couldn’t sit still, now having to wear a mini skirt that easily flipped up at the gentlest breeze. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

  At least it’s a bit breezier than wearing shorts.

  I walked inside of what would be my cssroom for math. With a quick overview I noticed I didn’t know anyone inside. Even if I did, that wouldn’t help me much. My past cssmates kept their distance from me.

  The second thing I looked for was a pce to sit. People seemed to have already formed clicks, or had already had them on arrival, so there was only one vacant pce.

  For today I’d be sharing my desk with a sleeping girl. At least I thought she was sleeping.

  “…Yup. Fast asleep,” I told myself after putting an ear close to her and hearing a soft snoring sound.

  I was yet to see her face, but so far I had the impression she was pretty. She was thin, had long bck hair, long legs coming out of her skirt, and elegant hands that precariously help her gsses over the edge of the table. She was also very pale, something I found odd. Everyone else had at least a bit of a tan, but her skin was practically albino in colour. And right now she was so vulnerable that I was fighting the urge to mess with her in some way. But it was my first day, so I should try to not get people hating me right off the bat. Emphasis on the “Try” part.

  Still, it was surprising how she could be so fast asleep in a cssroom filled with cmouring teens. Was she dead tired, or was it that she slept the sleep of the dead?

  “Alright, css settle down. Settle down, I said!” shouted the teacher as he came in. “This is high school! Start to behave like it!”

  Five seconds in, and I already disliked Mr. Scrooge. That wasn’t his name, but whom he reminded me of. Slightly hunched, with wrinkles that ran deeper than the Grand Canyon, and skin so leathery, he looked like he had been mummified at some point. To think he would be our math teacher.

  …Oh, who cares?

  The more pressing matter was my desk mate. She was still sleeping despite all of his shouting. It’d be better being me the one waking her up instead of him. I had the feeling he’d whack her in the head, violence not being allowed not being an issue for him.

  I shook her gently, but she still shot up like I had tased her. She stared at me in a daze before her face turned to the same expression I was staring her with.

  “It’s you!” she staggered.

  Her voice was the final piece of the puzzle to reminding me of her.

  It was that girl! The one I met at the exam and when I went to check my grades. What were the chances?

  Maybe not all that improbable, in retrospect. We were still in the same school, the buildings where junior high and regur high took pce being different, and they could have divided the students by academics, so we got paired because we only finished ninth grade on the second phase.

  “Hi there!” I cheered, happy about seeing a face I knew after all. And one I had fun with at a previous time.

  “…Gardener. Is there a Ms Abbigail Gardener?” our teacher impatiently called.

  “Yes, that’s me!” I answered, carrying my cheer in the voice.

  “Pay attention when people are calling your name!” he barked.

  “S-sorry,” I whimpered, my voice starting to choke.

  “Humph!”

  What was his problem? Was it really necessary to be like that? On the first day no less?

  It’s not like I did it on purpose. I got easily distracted and excited about things, but I tried not to. I honestly did.

  Smile Abby. Smile.

  Right, I had to shake those bad thoughts away. Besides, the girl sitting by me was a potential friend. I had to present my best foot forward.

  She was now fully awake and sitting very straight in her chair. From the side, she looked very mature and pretty, specially how her gsses rested on her small, chiselled nose. Back when I first met her, I found her kinda pretty, but now that she was dressed in a more favourable way, she was looking very good. She was still a bit featureless, though. Not in a bad way, mind you, just… she could maybe pass as a feminine looking boy if she wore the right clothes, perhaps.

  I attempted a conversation with her, but she shushed me, afraid she’d get yelled at too. That was completely understandable, but I wasn’t exactly reasonable, so I was going to give it another try.

  “Yes! That’s me!” she shouted a bit louder than needed after our teacher said her name.

  Ah crap! What was her name?

  I remembered we had introduced ourselves, but I couldn’t remember what hers was, except I had found it beautiful. Was it… flower reted?

  Rose? Gardenia? Violet? Magnolia?

  None were ringing any bells, so I’d have to ask her.

  “Erm, sorry, but—”

  “Please Abbigail, shut up! You’ll get us in trouble!”

  “Will you at least talk with me afterwards?”

  “…Yeah, sure. Just… please be quiet for now, ok?”

  That was still a bit of an ask for me, but I managed to stay with my mouth shut until we were let go. Our teacher wanted to start teaching right away, but none in css had brought any schoolbooks with them. None who weren’t that girl, I mean. She brought a heavy-looking bag that had manuals sticking out. She did look like one of those diligent students. A bit of a mystery how she managed to have to go to the second phase of exams if that was the case.

  “So?” she began, sounding a tad annoyed. “What was it you wanted to talk about?”

  She asked me without looking back as she cut our way through the crowd. Having her walk in front of me was convenient, otherwise I’d have been swallowed by that ocean of people.

  “For starters, what’s your name?”

  I almost bumped into her when she suddenly halted to turn around and face me.

  “Weren’t you paying attention? And also, I distinctively remember you saying you’d remember it!”

  Yeah, that sounded like something I’d say.

  “I’m so sorry! It’s just… so much stuff happened in the meantime that I forgot! I remember it was very pretty and reted to flowers!”

  I was truly sorry for having forgotten her name, and I think she was being swayed by my emotions. Her face was slowly softening as we stared at each other.

  “…It’s Violet… Violet Evergreen.”

  Oh… it was Violet after all.

  “Nice meeting you again Violet! You can just call me Abby.”

  “…Hmm.”

  She resumed walking and I kept following her, thinking about what I should ask her next. Two topics came to mind. Our school uniforms, and what we did during the summer.

  She had a very strong opinion about our new dress code.

  “To raise school spirit and make it easier for the lower income families to blend in with the others. It still cost me almost all my part-time job money to buy this stuff—Ah!”

  She turned to look at me again, her face fring up with shame.

  “…I don’t care if you’re poor or rich. Really, I don’t,” I assured her.

  In fact, I’d say I preferred if she wasn’t rich. If she was, chances were, we would have already met, and I didn’t like her. At the very least, I wouldn’t be able to trust her.

  My mum ingratiated herself with anyone in town who had money and forced me to be friends with their kids, so any possible friendship I could form with her, I’d always be suspicious about whether it was real or pinly convenient. Mum would argue I was being na?ve to trust this poor girl so much without knowing her, but Violet appeared to be someone who wore their emotions on her face, and so far, she was coming across as someone very honest and that, if lying, I’d be able to tell right away.

  “What did you do during summer?” I asked after giving her some time to compose herself.

  “Worked.”

  “Worked? Didn’t you go out with your friends?”

  “…Don’t have any.”

  Her words were spoken in such a dry manner, it was as if she was trying to finish our talk as fast as possible. No, she absolutely was going for that.

  However, her st answer resonated with me. That small pause she made sounded like she was actually a bit lonely. I too didn’t have any friends at this point.

  “How about I become your friend?” I asked, happy to have found a kindred spirit.

  She stopped so suddenly that this time I did bump into her.

  “I don’t even know you!” she said, almost sounding offended.

  “That’s ok! That will come with time!”

  She was now at her peak of confusion. It was like I was speaking alien to her, her ears recognising the sounds, but her mind not understanding them. Her perplexed face was also very funny, but I held in all my urges to ugh. If I failed, she’d probably think I had been messing with her and start to hate me. I didn’t want that. She could find me annoying, and even refuse my offer, but hating me would be the worst.

  I’m aware it was impossible for everyone to like me, but if someone like her disliked me, then I think that would have made me feel like a complete lost cause.

  “Do people really say such cliched things?” she mumbled as she turned and walked away.

  I chased after Violet, this time the corridor being empty enough for me to get to walk beside her.

  I peeked at Violet’s face, hoping I hadn’t gotten her even madder at me. Imagine my surprise when I saw her tomato red and with a wry smile she was doing her best to keep hidden.

  This time I couldn’t help but giggle at her charming expression.

  “W-what is it this time?” she grumbled, looking away.

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” I told her, amidst giggles.

  I just made a new friend! I was so happy, and hopeful this one would st longer than all others that came before.

  That day looked like it would be a bore fest when I left the house, but thanks to Violet, it turned out to be very nice.