Shadows of the Past (on break)

one.

"Huh," Harper said as she looked at the camera she received from her older brother, Hayden.

Hayden grins. "Pretty neat, huh?" Harper looks at Hayden in disbelief. "Is this for me?" she asks. He chuckles. "Well yeah, or else who would it be for?"

"Thank you." Harper mumbles and looks down at the camera. "I'll store many memories inside here." "So you like it?" Hayden asks softly. "Yeah, love it."

The door slams open as Laila Ernest enters, "Harper, what's keeping you?!"

"Yes mother, coming." She mumbles and gives Hayden a soft smile before going downstairs.
On the way downstairs, she notices Archie revising for his biology class sitting on the dining table chair. As always, he's sporting a sour look on his face. Harper rolls her eyes and swings her bag over her shoulder. "Finally, the princess is out of her burrow!" Archie exclaims sarcastically before plastering a cold look on his face.

"Shut up, Archie." She says, and follows her mother out the door with Archie trailing behind them. Harper gets in the back seat while Archie is in the passenger seat and the mother driving. She notices her mother mumbling about how she's late for work and blaming it on Harper. Harper digs her fingernails into her palms while thinking about how the first day would go.

15 minutes later, the car steers to a halt in front of a large wide building painted with red and white, long pillars holding the structure of the establishment, windows taking over the entire face, and a huge sign stating East-Wood High.

"Harper! You're going to be late." Yells Laila, and Harper then realizes she had been spacing out. She looks up to see Archie scowling at her. She scurries out of the car bidding her mother goodbye and follows a frustrated Archie into the building.

They arrive at the front desk and Archie states to the woman sitting there, "Schedule for Ms. Harper Ernest, please" in a strained voice and glances at his wristwatch. He turns to Harper, "Great, now I'm late because of you." In a passionately annoyed voice. The woman hands Harper the schedule and Harper utters a quick 'thank you' to her before following Archie.

Harper glances at her surroundings and unknowingly makes a right turn, hearing Archie groan and pull her collar, leading her in the opposite direction, "Oh my god you dumbass, it's this way." He snaps.

After a minute, Archie stands before a classroom and throws Harper in. "Get in, princess. Do you need me to carry you in?" Harper looks at Archie and then a very surprised teacher before spotting a familiar face amidst the flood of shocked students. It was her best friend from middle school, Scarlett.

"Uh, good morning. You must be... what is it, Harper Ernest?" the teacher awkwardly announces. "You can sit beside... Ryogi. Ryogi, raise your hand." Harper looks at the hand of the exotic-named person and discovers a very Asian-looking, probably Chinese, black-haired lad.

Before Harper could even take a step, Ryogi yelled from the back, "HEY! DO YOU HAVE A PEN?!" Harper takes a while to process the present moment, and embarassingly glances at Scarlett. Scarlett gives a low chuckle, keeping it as quiet as possible.

Ryogi on the other hand, the probably Chinese guy, looks at her expectedly. Harper makes her way to the back and abruptly hands Ryogi a black ballpoint pen. She sits down and finds herself looking at a very beaming Ryogi as if a light was shooting out of his face directly towards Harper.

"Thank you, Harp, the instrument?" Ryogi adds a bit of confusion to the last word. Harper chuckles and says, "You're welcome... uh- Roga?"

Ryogi gives Harper an offended look before resuming, "It's Ryogi. So, was that your brother?"

"Yeah, it was the grumpy one." She rolls her eyes. Ryogi smiles and turns his focus to the teacher.

Recess befalls as Harper scribbles down a bunch of words into her notebook, while Ryogi sits as if time had stopped. Scarlett approaches Harper, "What's up, Peppa?" Harper jumps and groans. "Archie's getting on your nerves, isn't he?" Harper sighs and nods gloomily.

Scarlett and Harper walked arm in arm through the school 'horridor' according to Scarlett's vocabulary, and as they were about to make a turn, Archie popped up and exclaimed, "Hi sisters!" in a very James Charles tone. Scarlett bursts out laughing at the more than accurate imitation while Harper scoffs. "Get out of here, don't you have the periodic table to memorise?" Harper states annoyedly. "I ain't no kindergartener, princess." Archie responds back.

3:15 PM

As Harper made her way out of the class, she halted to a hand on her shoulder and looked back to see a panting Ryogi. "May I have your number?" Ryogi asks in a very nervous but also exhausted manner. "Uh, sure, I guess," Harper says as Ryogi beams at her once more. He hands her his phone and stands patiently as Harper types in her number.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to send you texts every day," Ryogi says before he rushes out of the classroom.

He's weird as hell.