cherry blossom

It just happened. One day at class when she was staring out the window having no deeper intentions than just to survive the boring class, she had to endure, she saw her. It was nothing but a glimpse that she got of the female body crossing the campus between the cherry blossoms. Only now she noticed how beautiful they were...

Noticing how she was spacing out again her friend slightly nudged her shoulder. "At least pretend to pay attention or we're both getting detention again." She only hummed in response before looking straight forward to the board again while her thoughts drifted back to the mysterious person.

When the sound of the bell rang in her ears - the same disturbing sound it had been for the last few years - she just threw all of her colored pens and the single schoolbook inside her bag. "Hey, wait for me!" her friend screamed and so she stopped in her tracks until her friend had caught up with her. "Did you see Eric today? He looked so hot in that T-Shirt! And when he-" The sound got quieter and quieter until she did not hear it anymore.

She knew that her friend was head over heels in love with that one baseball player from the school team, which was not that easy, given the fact that she wore a proud 10 centimeters of heels today. Not that she did not care about her friend, she actually loved her a lot, but she just could not endure the same sweet talk over and over again.

Suddenly something or more someone caught her eye. She was wide awake by now. It was the same girl she saw earlier, just a few meters in front of her and her friend, walking past them and leaving her in confusion. Why did she even care about that that stranger? She did not even know all of her teachers' names but suddenly there was an unknown curiosity burning in her. Who was the girl with the beautiful straight black hair and the porcelain like skin? And why did she care?

Even after she and her friend bid their goodbyes, she had not gotten rid of the thought yet. She was determined to find out who the mysterious female with the beautiful futures was. But why? She brushed it off, it was probably just another daydream.

The following weeks went by in a rush and whenever she could she tried to look out for the girl but to no avail. Until one day in a break on the way to her next class (she did not even know what class it was this time) she caught a glimpse of the familiar back a bit more than 15 feet in front of her. She quickened her steps.

But as soon as she had fought her way through the crowd of students to where the girl stood just a few seconds ago, she was gone. 'Don't run away from me...' was the only thing she thought.

Her friend had spoken of Eric again today. The way he walked, the way he would wink at her from time to time. She had never liked any boy. "Why don't you like anyone? Come on Kell, have some fun already! You're 16 and living like a nun!" her friend would say from time to time. "I'm not a nun" was the only thing she ever answered.

She was not at all popular like her friend, she was just a shadow between all the students running through the hallways... a shadow who followed another shadow from time to time.

"How is it being in love?" she asked her friend all of a sudden. "Being in love? Hmmm.... Actually it's ... the need to be with them, find out more about them. Them liking you becomes your number one goal, everything else becomes irrelevant. The inexplicability is the important point, I think. You just have the need out of nowhere. With Eric, I first-"

Number one goal... She had never had any goals. Just like the cherry blossoms outside, she followed the cycle a higher force had determined. But the girl... She caught her eye. Not that she had other focuses apart from painting and letting her fingers slide through her little kitty's fur delicately from time to time but now her only focus was that female. She needed to know who she was.

But how... She would not fall in love with a random stranger, would she? Unless...

"Hi!" a female voice said. "You look lost haha! Just like a little puppy. I actually prefer cats but that- I should stop rambling... Anyways, do you need help perhaps? Not that I could help you 'cause I'm new but..." Her eyes became round and big when she turned her head towards the woman that had just spoken.

When she did not answer, still taken aback by the fact that it was the woman the latter tilted her head and furrowed her brows in an attempt to understand what was wrong with the girl. Despite the fact that she was just wearing a school uniform and no makeup she was the prettiest person she had ever seen in her lifetime, almost ethereal. "It's not like I bite or something, you know."

"I-I..." 'Stop the stuttering!' she scolded herself in her mind. "I- Actually I d-do need help I think." '... I just need you to stay with me for some unknown reason but that's just-'

"Oh cool! I'm new here, you might've seen me around. I'm Yinghua and I'm from China but perhaps you already knew that because of my name hehe. And the way I look but anyways! I'm in the grade above yours I think but I'm not sure as I just got here about a month ago! And you?"

樱花  (Yīnghuā) – Mandarin Chinese for "cherry blossom"