Secret Singing Superstar

Seven ~ ♫♪♫

Claire already expected to have a rotten day, but why did LOTE have to be the first class in the morning? It was a Friday after all.

The minute she'd walked into class today, she'd immediately went to find Leanne, except that Leanne wasn't in class. And she didn't turn up for the whole morning.

A girl named Stephanie had told Claire and Caitlin that Leanne had texted her saying that she wouldn't be here today because she was sick.

"Is she okay?" Caitlin had asked.

"I think so. She mentioned that she had a high fever."

After Stephanie had left, Caitlin had said to Claire: "Do you think Leanne is actually sick?"

"I don't know." It was the truth. Leanne could've been either avoiding them or she was sick. Or both. "If she's sick, I hope she gets better soon."

"Me too," said Caitlin. "I checked the signup sheets today, and they are rapidly filling up. Leanne better hurry. Do you think I should write her name down for her?"

"No," said Claire, a little too sharply.

Caitlin stepped back. "Okay, fine. I'll wait until she gets here."

Claire had fallen silent after that. Now she was in LOTE, doing absolutely nothing except listening to the Japanese teacher talk about their Japanese orals that they needed to do and how they would do it.

First of all, they were going to be in pairs.

Claire didn't know to pair up with. She often sat alone in her Japanese class. Sometimes another girl named Isabelle would come and sit next to her if her other friend wasn't here, but usually she left Claire to herself at the back.

Everyone started trying to partner up with their friends until the teacher interrupted. "I will choose the pairs."

The whole class except Claire groaned. Claire didn't mind, as long as the teacher didn't put her with the annoying people.

Her partner was this girl that she didn't really know. She tried to remember her name, but she had forgotten. She knew the girl, however; she was the girl who scared the dark-haired girl outside in the corridor the day before.

"Hello," said Claire.

"Hey," the girl said shyly. Her cheeks turned a pale pink colour.

They introduced themselves to each other (in English). The girl's name was Helina. They talked about a few more things, then Claire tapped her fingers on the table, unsure of what to say next.

"You like scaring people, don't you?" she asked.

Helina frowned. "What? Oh, you mean scaring my friend? She's just really jumpy so I like scaring her everyday. I haven't scared her today, though. I need to remember to scare her later."

"I can always scare my sister, but she can't scare me," said Claire.

Helina giggled. "If my sister scares me, she usually tries to choke me in the process."

"Why?"

"Because that's what sisters do."

"They don't. Well, my sister doesn't. She's older than me, and she's nice enough."

"My sister is younger. I think there's a difference."

Claire laughed nervously. She looked outside the window of their classroom, where she just happened to see Caitlin walk past. Caitlin waved at her as she passed, and Claire waved back.