Amor, tam pulcher | KTH

14| From five to ten

—Now playing: Nobody by Jeon Soyeon, Winter, Liz (IVE) ✫

The air was fresh and the environment peaceful. The gym doors were slammed closed as they went to the gates that soon opened when the bell rang and pierced through the silence.

Since the weather was gradually getting chillier, hoodies became thicker. Daphne was wearing an oversized pebble-coloured one, dropping almost to mid-thigh and covering most of her hands. Her legs were clad in the jean material of her pants which got wider as they inched closer to her ankles. Her feet, in a pair of old sneakers and her hair, loosely flowing with the wind. She had something slightly more colourful underneath the hoodie but it was too fresh outside and, with it on, her outfit matched her mood so well.

The classes were officially over for the day and students were soon flocking around town going home or hanging out. Daphne and her friends didn't stop at the terminal to wait for the bus nor was any of their parents there to pick them up. Their first stop was the nearby mall.

The day was very bright thanks to the reflection of the sun's rays through the white clouds. The five friends fully occupied the sidewalk as they approached their destination. Daphne and Cleo were walking right behind Asher with their arms linked and tailing them were Nick and James. Asher was leading the way. Cleo, Nick and James were playing around as usual, trying to include Daphne but she was rather silent, occasionally smiling very lightly. They noticed that but what could they really do?

Soon they were turning on their right to a wide opening where escalators were placed one next to the other. Some went upstairs, others went downstairs. Following Asher's lead, they went downstairs to the supermarket. To follow through with the boy's plan, they had to get themselves everything needed for a picnic for which he quickly created a list as they made their way there.

Unlike two months ago, when the sliding doors of the mall opened, the air inside wasn't noticeably colder but rather the same. Ceiling lights reflected on the tiles and music played through speakers. The mall wasn't too crowded so the teenagers soon moved to walking on the same line. James, next to Asher and Nick, next to Cleo. Daphne was in the middle subtly feeling out of place.

"Hey, do you think I'm missing anything?" Asher was speaking directly to James, placing his phone in his view. The first word on the list was 'picnic blanket'. Then came all the ingredients needed to make sandwiches which Asher explained were better because they couldn't buy hot food like pizza. The list went on with other things and James ended up not adding anything so Asher moved the question to the others.

"We're going for a picnic?" Daphne's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. This wasn't the hang-out she was convinced to have agreed to. She was expecting something more... lowkey.

"Do y'all want anything else?" Asher ignored her question and insisted. Cleo simply stated they'd eventually remember everything as they shopped.

As they did so, Daphne tried to wrap her head around how easily her friends were adjusting to Asher's hang-out idea not knowing it was all a plan. Maybe she was just an overthinker but never in her life would she be able to organize a picnic for five in such a short time.

Her friends were going up and down the store with the little trolley picking food and other necessities, all unfazed so she decided to loosen up and go with the flow. The test didn't go well for any of them so she couldn't go on acting like she was the only one hurt—she could do that at home. Now, as they stated, the picnic is supposed to take her mind off it.

"I'm taking this Bluetooth speaker because, without it, it'd seem we're at a funeral. Music is important, guys," To Daphne's surprise—mainly because she wasn't focused for most of the time—her friends all had a trolley each that they were filling up so her head quickly spun around, hoping she'd just find an empty one abandoned in a corner.