CHAPTER 5. high school days

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''YAY— A JOSH!''

A cheerful yell from far behind, yet loud and echoey enough to make the poor guy jump and throw a stack of books he had been carrying with a loud thud after another, one falling with the edge first on Joshua's instep, forcing him to bend down with a hissing inhale to rub the spot through his shoe.

''Oh, my bad!'' Eva's chirpy voice was now much closer as she kneeled down next to him. Joshua gave her a bit of a nasty look which his friend thought of as a typical loving gesture, offering back a sweet smile as a return service, or payback. However Joshua wanted to interpret it. The school hallway was empty yet the atmosphere was warm and welcoming, quiet as always around the library when the afternoon started to set.

The only thing Eva liked about the school was that it wasn't just a cement block with white paint on the surface, but had some character with wooden paneling, huge windows separating the classrooms and hallways, subtle color added here and there. Even the outside was nice, showing that the landscaping had been given careful thought. And the other thing Eva liked about the school — was seeing Joshua and running to reach him.

''Let me help you with these. Gosh, they're heavy!'' Eva took almost all of the books and began to carry them towards the library, ''Here, right?''

Shaking his head, having to deal with the new chaos lately, but strangely not wanting to object to it's company, Joshua got up and carried the minor load left for him.

''And then! Listen to this, they tried to throw water over me from above the stall, but didn't know that I had crawled to the next one from under! Such an old trick, what a bunch of buffoons.'' Eva giggled, excitedly telling him about her heroic escape from under the ruthless group of girls while they stacked the books in their own respected shelfs. Eva had began to help around with library duty, but only when it was Joshua's turn.

''I wondered..'' Joshua clapped his hands together as the last one found it's gap. He noticed the thin layer of dust starting to set on every surface.

''Hm?'' Eva smiled and came down a couple of steps from a stool, also done with her portion, left unnoticed how Joshua placed his hands hovering on her sides just in case.

''Why your clothes got so dirty again..'' Joshua noticed how his comment made Eva look down at her school uniform, a white button-up shirt with an oversized dark green knitted vest over it and a black skirt with white checkered pattern on it.

''Yeah, you're right! This is what happens when you army crawl on a bathroom floor.'' Eva started to stretch the fabric and hitting it, trying to dust it off.

''Wait here..'' Joshua did not wait for an answer, even though Eva yelled questions about where he was going and whether he'd like to go together instead.

A moment went by. Eva picked out a book filled with pictures of the universe in it. She watched the colors of pink, purple and blue of a milky way and admired the next page after another. Her thick dark brown hair was a short bob with a fringe that reached her eyebrows, lately tucked behind the ears neatly, her amber eyes gathering the beginning of a sunset, glowing like honey being stretched out with a honey dipper as she leaned against a table in front of a window.

''Did he go home?'' Eva thought, finding herself disappointed with the thought. He hadn't been gone for too long, just a couple of minutes at that point when suddenly she could hear hurried footsteps approaching. And from the hallway and to the reading area of the library, swung Joshua so quick he had to hold the doorway to slower down.

''Good..'' Joshua said from under his breaths, ''You're still here..''

''Where would I go?'' Eva smiled at him while closing the book.

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