Jellyfish: Volume 1

Chapter 2

After school I had to work on some set designs for a theater showcase we were having soon. After that, I had planned to go straight home. But I had found myself going over to the soccer field. There were stairs to get down there but I only stayed on the top, looking if I could see Katherine. I wasn't sure why, I didn't have feelings for her. Suddenly I heard a "Hey" behind me and I quickly turned around. Not only did it startle me, I knew it was Katherine. Sure enough, she was looking right back at me, smiling. "I didn't know you were waiting for me with Logan," she said
I shook my head, trying not to bite my thumbnail in front of her. "Uh no, I have theater and..."
"You were working on the showcase?" Katherine asked.
I nodded. I figured she knew because she was going to act in the showcase. It was a part of all the theater classes grades to do something in the showcase. "I saw you painting sets this one time," she said, "Your name is..."
"Jude," I replied quickly, "It's Jude,"
Katherine shook her head, "Yeah but your name was something else. You know, in middle school?"
She knew I existed in middle school? And how could she possibly remember that Jude wasn't my real name? Even the people I hung out with had forgotten my real name. But I didn't want to tell her. She'd laugh at me, right in my face. She'd probably ask me to repeat it. But for some reason, I didn't want to say no to her. "It's..." I said, "It's uh Tasuki,"
I braced myself for whatever she was about to do next but all she did was repeat my name. "Tasuki?" She said, "Wow, I love that name. Are you Japanese?"
She pronounced it...perfectly. Normally people would pronounce it wrong even after I tell them twice. I think that's when I started having feelings for, because I loved the way she said my name so much, I started to love her too.
But I had to answer her question, I was taking too long to answer.
I quickly nodded. "Yeah my parents were born there,"
"That's so cool," she said, "Well, I have to go,"
"To see Logan?" I asked.
I had regretted asking that question, I was afraid I sounded jealous or even bitter. But Katherine's expression didn't change, she kept smiling. Which is something I never stopped noticing. "Yeah...practice ended early so I think he won't come for a little bit," she said a bit quieter than usual.
That was when she was frowned, she took a glance at the soccer field and then turned back to me. It was then she realized that she, at one point before she said hi to me, was crying. Why was she crying and chose to say hi to me? "Hey is everything okay?" I asked before I could think.
Katherine just stared at me and I felt my face heat up. She probably thought I was being nosy. "Nevermind," I said, "I'm sorry,"
"It's okay," Katherine said, "I'm fine,"
She smiled at me again but this time it didn't look genuine. That's when I realized that her smile while talking to me that whole time wasn't genuine. She was hiding something. But Katherine said she was fine. She turned around to leave, waving as she went.
"I'm fine."
Soon I'd grow to hate those words.