Romantic Economedy

001 | Amel Stride | Part 1

"What sort of debt do I owe you? This must be you bullying me, huh?"

The contents of my head were frantic, failing to discern what I was dealing with.

A girl my age, whether she had been following me or not, stood in the way. My eyes locked onto her, haunted by fright. Not only forced to be perplexed, but also stunned by her outward appearance. For a high school girl, she was gifted with relatively mature, slender build, both in terms of volume and geometry.

No, I was definitely not in the lustful side, and to be sure, I wasn't fixing my eyes on her breasts either. That's rude—I know such level of mannerism, too.

"Don't accuse me just yet! As it is—I speak honestly, I have nothing to cover up, let alone a lie," the girl tried to improve her image.

"Your phrasing makes me more cautious. How many girls these days say they've simply fallen heed over heels? Possible, yeah, but nowadays not so much. Girls aiming that straightforward are endangered species, you know? Especially if they don't know their target of affection well."

"But, we are classmates. What is so wrong with that? Are you telling me your criteria not being met?"

"That is precisely where my anxiety lies, since when did you pay attention to me, someone you don't know about, until you finally went and asked me to be your boyfriend like this?"

"You can guess for yourself—it could be yesterday or last week. A year ago might be a possibility as well."

"Last year we weren't in the same class?! Never mind the grade, there's no way we'd been schoolmates!"

It has only been two months since I finally lived my life as a high school student. Unfortunately, obstacles have arisen to confront me, quite literally. I had expected a time like this to come—a time when the disturbances came in a row, particularly during the transition period. One of them includes having trouble of getting along at the new environment. I won't even be surprised if the first month or two I fail to make friends with my classmates.

However, not once, not a single time too, I've predicted being pestered here by a girl whom I've just heard her name today. Talking to any young woman for more than two minutes is already a miracle on its own for me, especially this one.

Come on, chances of romantic comedy happening in real life were much smaller than the apocalypse was.

"Just so you know, I'm not delirious, rambling or delusional. Let's just say that you just won the lottery or something."

"Oh, the sweepstakes, huh... Hmm, makes sense. Yes, I'm satisfied now," I commented.

"Okay, want to come home with me? Or dropping by halfway through?"

"What kind of wager is this?! Sounds like a shady coupon."

"I thought you were jumping for joy in your head."

"Wrong! I'm both happy and terrified..."

"Uh, so you want to say you're not satisfied or what?"

This girl sighed as if in disbelief seeing she still hadn't succeeded in pulling a fast one on me. Does that mean I avoided an unfortunate fate of being a victim? Uh, didn't she say she wasn't deceiving me?

Moving on, it turns out that the look on the girl's face is indeed pleasing to the eye, regardless of whether her being upset or joyful. Although I admitted that my guts shrank a little when I thought about what might happen. This girl was probably up to something while busy distracting me.

Whatever it is, I don't want to deny how happy I am to be able to hold a conversation to girl like this. My pent-up hope seemed to come true.

Though, I agreed it was too early to determine whether in the near future we would be close as friends or not, to greet as fellow classmates or not. Again, had my worries ignored for just a moment, think about this—which guy isn't relieved to end up having a conversation with the opposite sex whose personal interest being clearly visible?

To me, worrying about not encountering a girl who was so enthusiastic about chatting with me was even more bitter than having no friends at all.

"From any angle, this is all strange. I prefer to be friends with two or three boys at first even before my supposed acquaintance with you, for example. That is, if I dare to do so."

Well, my own opinion looks a little more than bizarre. However, I say it bluntly. Rapidly getting close to someone feels like taking a fewer steps—not only does it sound silly, it also feels inappropriate.

Hearing my complaints, the girl put her thinking cap for a moment, as if my words attracted her, or rather, there was something she got bothered with.

"Oh, I see. You don't really have friends, do you?"

Damn, I got busted!

"Tch, want to laugh? Just go ahead. Please do so to your heart's content...."

"No, I'm not that cruel. It's none of my business, though. In fact, you should be overjoyed at being approached like this by me."

"I don't have any friend, then why should I believe me being your boyfriend material?"

I can't help thinking why those romantic comedies captivate some people—if you think about it, all the scenes in them, including the conversation, would constitute bullshit in real life. It was so senseless, that not considered a friend by anyone, either by the opposite sex as well as by anyone else for that matter, appears to be much better.

"Sorry, this may sound illogical. The answer is undemanding—liking someone does not require a reason. No other words were needed, no reason at all—the feeling was so obvious it felt stupid to describe it."

This girl is crazy—either crazy about me or crazy about trying to mess up my life. Whichever the case, I was not too confident to deal with it.