Friendships
Summer. Friendship. What was friendship? Is it talking alone with a person in a secluded restaurant far from the regular eye?Or is it the person you pass by in the hallway, occasionally waving hi to? Rena, though, has a very interesting view on friendship, however. She believed everyone was her friend, from the people she beat up to that random guy behind the cashier in the local convenience store, and of course, Jurina.
Jurina was an interesting case. When Rena, in this case, 'summer' Rena, first met her, there was this sort of spark, a sort of natural lure towards the new girl in the school, like she met her before. And she rode the wave, following what her body felt was right to do, and of course, that was to befriend Jurina, even though the latter may not be too keen on it, but that's irrelevant.
Rena watched the sleeping face of her 'friend'. The moonlight illuminated the beautiful features, her eyes fluttering slightly, and a look of serenity filled her face that Rena never saw before. She mostly saw disgusted glares or sometimes uncomfortable expressions, but never this. This peaceful look. She's never seen it before in her life.
But was her life? She's only experienced the heat of the sun or the pitter patter of the rain that sometimes came. In the books, she's seen tundras, snow, winter, and CHRISTMAS! Oh how she wished to experience Christmas! Although the thought of Christmas made her somber. When will that time come? Only boring half-important days came her way. Stupid Summer.
Jurina made a slight purr in her sleep, which Rena found absolutely adorable, and turned over, away from Rena's spying eyes, disappointing the girl. And as Rena watched the sleeping back, she looked outside the window, where delinquents huddled around a bonfire and ate meats off the steel grills. Watching them, she hatched an idea.
"Psst Jurina.",she said as she lightly tapped the girl,"Pssst."
Silence. She didn't want to wake up.
Rena sighed. She didn't think Jurina was a heavy sleeper, but she needed to wake up her up somehow. So she raised Jurina's bedsheets, and tucked herself in, right beside Jurina, and hugged her from behind.
"Wake up Jurina.",she whispered in the other girl's ear gently, softly, hoping that it will startle her, and almost immediately, to Rena's delight, Jurina opened her eyes and turned her body around, meeting eye to eye with Rena, who was grinning wildly, which, of course, made her very very bothered.
"W-What a-are you doing?!",she yelled, since they were alone in their cabin, before she pushed Rena off her bed, who landed with a thump on the floor.
"Ouch..",Rena said, rubbing her butt, which got hurt in the fall,"I was trying to wake you up.",she said.
"Why? Why?",Jurina said, panicking, her eyes flashing with urgency.
Rena smiled, getting up slowly, her eyes now sparkling, and said,"Let me take you somewhere."
____
"Where are you taking me?",Jurina asked, her hand interlocked with Rena's as the girl led her to someplace. The forest around them was dark and eery, and for the first time, she kind of wished the other delinquents were here with her. It was chilly; she was burring from the slight wind, and she berated herself for not bring a sweater.
Silence. The forest was silent except for the occasional hoots of the owls and of course, the rustling of leaves, since they were wading through the foliage. Jurina looked up at the night sky, spotting the moon. It was full.
"A special place.",Rena said before letting go of Jurina's hand and deftly climbed a small rock wall garnished with vines and leaves. Once she got up, she crouched and held a hand out at Jurina,"Come. It's safe I assure you",she said mysteriously before Jurina agreed to come.
Jurina was nervous. Too nervous. But Rena's assuring hand only squeezed tighter when she tried to pull away as they ran faster through the forest. How far was this place? She felt she's been running for about a mile now and her stamina surely can't keep up. How does Rena have this much stamina!
Oh right. She fights.
Jurina pushed the stupid thoughts out of her head as Rena started slowing down, her hand letting go of Jurina's. She heard the deafening sound of the rush of water, realizing where Rena took her.
A giant waterfall, her head straining to even see the top of it. Mist covered the bottom and it became a lot colder. Oh how she wished for a sweater right now.
Rena looked back at the awestruck Jurina looking up at the waterfall.
"There no use looking that much at it!",she said playfully, before going up to Jurina and taking her hand again.
"Where are you taking me?!",she yelled as the rush of the water faded her speech, trying to get her fatigued legs to match the speed of Rena's. But Rena only looked back, a smile planted on her face and said some words Jurina didn't want to hear.
"A swim!",Rena screamed ecstatically as she pulled a surprised Jurina along with her into the pool of water.
Friendships. This one just started.
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Spring. Friendship sucks. Well she was only saying that because she got rejected for the fifth time by Rena, who of course, really wanted to be friends, but can't get herself to say it. So Jurina was barraging her, trying to finally get her to give in ,with requests of friendship, but this tsundere was tough to crack.
"Get away from me.",Rena said adamantly, her eyes stoic and unmoving. She quickly pushed Jurina aside, away from the class door, and went in, sat down at her seat and read a book while the room was being ransacked by delinquents.
Jurina sighed, it was the second time today, fourth time this week, and it's only been two school days. She entered the room and took her seat, the one beside Rena, and took out her notebook and pen. It wasn't class time yet but Jurina liked to draw and of course, Rena was always on her mind. Her drawing book was full of portraits. From side views to—well she only had side views. Rena didn't look at her once, not even a simple glance. So she has no frontal goodness that she'd be able to draw. But sometimes she felt a piercing gaze at her, but when she raised her head, nobody seemed to even care for her, not even the teacher.
The notebook is not the only article of interest for her. Well...truthfully it's another notebook. But this notebook was for stories, fantasies, that she'd write. From dragons to her homeroom teacher; it was filled with the depths of her mind. She especially liked her story about the dragon. One day, she'd tell that to her kids someday, if she ever had any. But many stories, like her other notebook, was about Rena, since she couldn't keep her mind of her. Rena had this sort of mysteriousness. A sort of "I'm unreachable-you-can't get-me-as-a-friend" sort of aura around her. She would like to be friends, of course, but if Rena ever became a preppy, perky, clingy sort of girl; she'd be so turned off she'd avoid the girl any chance she got. She liked nice people, yes, but on Rena? Absolutely not. Direct kindness from her was foreign.
The door again opened with an old teacher, who was limping his way to the podium, calling for order. He was weird. He had a thinly veiled scalp. His eyes were lizard-like. And he sometimes picked his nose, giving the students a full view of his unhygienic practices. But he was a nice guy. He always stayed after school to help the struggling kids trying to get into college, which was almost all of them, except Rena, of course. She somehow was ridiculously smart. And he gave them candy, which was sort of weird, but highly rated by the students. And even though he did all these kind things, Jurina didn't like him.
She saw him as this opportunistic mutt who would use his position to look at high school girls and spy on their—
"We're gonna have a school trip in the summer."
Ok. He's cool now.
____
Autumn. Sweaters. She liked sweaters. It kept you warm and cozy, safe from the cold breezy wind. And as she walked through the park again, she tucked her hands in the pockets, and walked peacefully against the gusts of chilly air. She hope to meet Rena again, wondering if she changed personalities again, or if her hunch was right and she only changed by the seasons.
"Oh it's you.",a voice said, breaking her out of her thoughts. It was Rena. She was smiling, far different from the girl from yesterday. She was walking towards Jurina with a spring on her step but it was a hoax. Jurina didn't see it coming.
A punch. A straight up punch landed on Jurina's cheek, who groaned at the impact and keeled over, a loud noise resonating through the park. Her nose was bleeding, running down her face, blood gently dripping on the pavement.
"Don't show your face here again. If I see you, you're dead."
And while she laid on the cold pavement, covered with orange and red leaves, she regretted her decision wholeheartedly. Why would she want to meet the dangerous side of Rena? She should've come in the spring or the winter, or even better yet, the summer. But she couldn't afford to go back now, she met her again. She got up, patted the stuck leaves off her, and looked at the tough girl in front of her. Their eyes were interlocked. A beam that fought each other seemed to be coming out of their eyes as their glares created an undeniable tension between them.
"Don't mess with me Rena. I know all about you."
Rena's eyebrow was raised, surprised at the challenge. But she smirked deviously, thinking it was fun. It's been a long time since someone challenged her, but truthfully, to her, it felt like yesterday. To her, it's just another day for Gekikara.
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Bloody sweaters. Bloody nose. Bloody pavement. Rena was laughing manically. Jurina was suffering, her body hurting in all sorts of places. She shouldn't have said that. She really shouldn't have said that. And as the trading of blows between their faces and bodies continued, only Jurina seemed to be the one getting hurt. It seemed Rena just absorbed it and used the power as her own, but humans weren't like that. Although Jurina thinks Rena is far from human right now. Her strength is immense.
Jurina was on the ropes. She didn't have much time till she collapsed from the pain and only a few more kicks and punches was all that it would take till she would resign. She only had one option left. She blocked a punch from Rena and reached into her pocket, pulling out a polaroid picture, and showed it to Rena, who was about to punch again.
"Look! Look at this!"
Rena looked at it and gulped. She didn't want anyone to see or anyone to find out. It was a picture of both of them from the summer camp, arm in arm, smiling widely.
"You. Who are you?",Jurina said, while Rena looked into her eyes ominously,"And what have you done with Rena?"
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"That's it for today.",Rena said, standing up from the cozy couch,"It's time for bed.",she continued much to the disappointment of the kids.
"B-But we wanna hear the rest!",they cried out, protesting.
"Tomorrow. You'll hear it tomorrow. I'll tell it to you after you go to school okay? But right now, go. You guys need your sleep."
They nodded, understanding, and ran up the stairs, racing each other to the top. Rena looked at the side table where her empty coffee cup lay. A picture frame that was face down also laid there and Rena had an itching feeling to look at it again. She looked around, as if someone was there, and picked it up, reminiscing at the memories. It was the polaroid, looking as fresh as the day it was taken. Tears welled up in her eyes as she set it down, angry at herself for not controlling her other self.
Stupid Gekikara. Why'd you do it?
Topic: Story Time - chapter 10 (WMatsui) 15/09/2017 (Read 17943 times)