All My Stars

4

"Seriously, are you okay?" My friend Jayla inquires, stopping and turning to face me as we walk together toward the parking lot.

"Hm? it's nothing "

Jayla scoffs.

"See! you've been distracted and distant since you got to school, what's wrong?"

" Nothing's wrong really"

"So then what?"

" Natsumi's coming to get me, I'm just a bit nervous Is all" And I was, she had sent me a text earlier in the morning saying she would be in the parking lot when I finished my last class before my break.

"Has it been hard? the whole arrangement thing I mean" We start walking side by side again.

"Not really, She treats me as her equal. I think I got lucky"

" You like her don't you" The way Jayla phrased it was like it was set in stone already and the look on her face proved that.

"What? No!"

"Keep telling yourself that" She walks ahead of me, laughing loudly.

"Jay seriously no!" I struggle to catch up with her and as I was a step or two away, someone sidesteps into my path almost making me crash into them.

"Hi" her face is so close to mine I have to step back just to get a clear view of the stranger bombarding me.

"Hello"

"I'm Lena" Something about her is weirdly off-putting, from her wide-eyed stare to the ear-to-ear grin.

" Navi"

We've been in most of the same classes for months so it's strange that she's introducing herself now.

Behind her, Jayla is making the same expression that I'm pretty sure is showing on my face.

"I've seen you around so I just wanted to say hi, you're probably in a hurry so I'll be going now, bye" Before I can get a response out she's already halfway down the hall.

"That was weird" 

"Definitely"

It's easy to find Natsumi, she stands out in my school's yard even from a distance.

"Hey I'll see you later" 

Jayla nods before giving me a brief hug.

"Yeah, later"

Natsumi pushes off her car when I get closer.

"Hey"

"Hi" Jayla's words from earlier haunt me and instantly I'm blushing.

"You ready to go?" Her hair blows slightly in the late morning breeze.

"Mhm" 

Natsumi opens the passenger door waiting for me to sit comfortably before closing the door and rounding to her side.

 "Who was that?"

"That's my best friend Jayla"

"Not her, the blonde"

"Just some girl who's in a couple of my classes"

She turns to me, eyebrow raised slightly in confusion.

"This is the first time I've had a conversation with her" I focus on buckling my seatbelt up briefly.

"Okay, how were your classes?" She asks as we get going.

"Not bad, We have an exhibition at the end of the year that we should be working on but I'm not really sure what to do yet"

" There's an acquaintance of mine putting on a show in a couple months, if you're interested and still out of ideas we can go check it out for inspiration" Natsumi suggests.

"Really!"

She smiles at my excitement.

"Yeah, why not"

" That would be great, thank you"

"Sure"

"Hey, Natsumi?" 

She hums, eyes focused on the road ahead.

"Can I call you Sumi?"

Her eyes meet mine briefly.

"Okay" Sumi agrees easily.