1.3 | Under The Pink Evening Sky | ✓

1 | water fight

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There was an infuriating boy who was Sana's neighbor and classmate. The more she was determined to avoid him, the more he was determined to annoy her.

He had caught her telling her friend that she was not interested in becoming the class monitor. The first thing he did, when the teacher asked for volunteers to be the class monitor, was raise his hand as farther up as possible and yell out her name.

"I want to nominate Sana!"

She was made class monitor, against her wishes. She didn't lose her composure and accepted defeat with a smile. 

She was always graceful. Always.

Wanting to be graceful stemmed from the storybook she had read about a princess who defeated all her enemies through elegance and kindness.

Nothing couldn't be solved with kindness.

So, she treated Shrest with extra kindness. She'd offer him candies, if she brought some. She's offer to partner with him during art classes. All this was refused by Shrest, who viewed it with justified suspicion.

Yesterday, she had to deal with him poking her back with the blunt back of a pencil. She had turned around, a smile plastered on her face. "Can you please stop?"

"No." Shrest responded, imitating her smile.

"Why not?"

"Because I won't stop doing fun activities."

She narrowed her eyes, her smile not leaving her face. This was one problem, she realized, that couldn't be solved with kindness.

She let out a long breath, as she contemplated how to get him to stop annoying her. Gazing at the tulips growing in her school yard, she picked up her water bottle and began watering the plants.

These plants were her friends. The garden was her place of comfort. Whenever Shrest had managed to make her lips turn downward into a frown and her hands shake with anger, she'd rush down to the garden and let the tulips soothe away the ungraceful emotions.

Today was another such day.

As she squatted on the ground and watered the plants, she suddenly felt trinkets of water fall on her head. Hm? Was it drizzling? She raised her head. It was a clear blue sky with not a raindrop in sight.

Her eyes moved to the window of her classroom, directly above the garden. Shrest smirked at her, waving, his water bottle in hand.

Sana grit her teeth, plastering on her smile, as usual.

"What do you want, Shrest?"

"Mm?"

A few more water drops fell on her head. 

"Can you please stop pouring water on my head?"

He rested his chin on his palm and gazed at her. "What did you say? I can't hear you."

"Stop pouring water on my head!"

Water rained over her. Shrest watched her with wide eyes. "Sorry, that was a slip."

Sana lost her smile. She slowly raised her eyes, glaring at him.

"I'm sorry, that was a serious mistake. Didn't mean it."

Sana marched to her class, clothes wet, water droplets dripping from her hair. She looked terrifying. Clutching her water bottle, she marched to Shrest's desk.

She had no smile on her face.

"That's it, you idiot. Now, you're over."

She poured all her water over him. The entire class gaped.

Shrest jumped up, glancing at his own wet shirt.

"Sana! Shrest! What's happening here?" The teacher came into the class, her expression furious.

Sana and Shrest glanced at each other. 

"She started it!"

"He started it!"

The principal glanced between them. Her phone call with the chairman of the school was put on hold, to deal with the two.

"Haven't you been taught to not waste water?"

The two kids slowly nodded, looking down at their shoes, their expressions a mixture of resentment, irritation and embarrassment.

"Why did you two fight?"

Sana raised her head.

"This idiot has been picking on me, ever since 1st grade started, ma'am."

"Language, Sana. Is that true, Shrest?"

Shrest blinked. "I wanted to annoy her. I didn't want to bully her."

"Why did you want to annoy her, Shrest?"

"She's always smiling. It's annoying. She needs to frown sometimes, too."

Sana, "...."

The principal, "...."

Just what sort of sadist was this kid?

"I'm sorry." Shrest admitted, in a small voice. "I didn't want to fight."

Sana stared at his face for a few moments. Reluctantly, she let out a small "apology accepted".

The principal smiled at them both. "You've resolved your fight?"

The two glanced at each other and then nodded.

"Good. Now, go back to class."

On the way to the classroom, the two glared at each other and huffed. The fight was over. But only temporarily.

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wordcount: 720 words

cover by @meha-k