Moonlit Waters

Chapter 25

Claire hasn't yet arrived when I enter the homeroom in the morning.

For a moment I stand in the door, a little lost, but then I see Mika wave at me. With a relieved smile, I plop down in the seat next to her. Emma's already here, too, but she has slumped over onto the table, hiding her face behind her arms.

"Morning," Mika says, giving me a small smile.

I halt. Her eyes are of a beautifully warm, dark brown. How did I never see before? How pretty they are, I mean.

Well, I probably never looked closely enough.

"Selena?"

Her voice pulls me from my momentary stupor.

"Something wrong?" She's giving me a half-amused, half-concerned look.

I nod. "Yeah, no. It's just..." Do I tell her? Is it weird if I say that? Will she think that I'm flirting with her? Because... because I used to be a guy... "Your eyes," it slips out and I blush.

"Huh?" Now she's just confused.

I shrug and look down. My face is hot. "They're really pretty." But isn't dark brown a normal eye colour as well? But they really are pretty.

"Thank you!"

When I look up, she's openly beaming at me.

"Yours are beautiful, too!"

My blush deepens. So giving compliments is okay, but I have to be prepared to receive some as well. Which is probably worse?

There's a growl from underneath the sea of red hair next to Mika. "Y'all are in a far too good mood for this time."

I eye her for a moment, but she doesn't move. Then I glance at Mika.

"What happened to her?" I whisper then. She seemed to be quite awake around this time yesterday.

Mika grins in reply. "She stayed awake until four in the morning to watch the series I recommended her," she whispers back.

"I can hear you!" Emma snarls. "You're so going to hell for doing this to me. You should know better than to tell me about a cool series when it's not the end of the week. That's dangerous misguidance."

"What's the name of the series?" I ask, leaning forward to have a better line of view onto Emma.

"My Name," comes the groaned reply and Mika adds, "It's a Korean production, a revenge-thriller is what you call it, I think? It's got great action and cool romance."

"The lead actress is so fucking hot," is Emma's muffled comment.

"Huh?" I turn. "You like girls?"

"Yes?" She moves her arm to be able to look at me sidelong. "Shouldn't you of all people be less surprised by queerness than, like, everybody else in this room?"

I shrug, once again blushing. I should, probably.

"Probably? Sorry. Still growing into all this."

"Don't worry about it, pretty." She winks at me. "You can make up for it in the broom closet."

I'm still trying to figure out what she meant with that when Mika hits her on the shoulder.

"Don't make her uncomfortable, you nympho."

I'm about to ask Mika what that means and probably get laughed at, when a voice behind me says,
"Morning giiirls!"

It's Claire, of course, her dark-blonde locks tied back in a ponytail.