Lotus

Kai - 15: Sister

     Christmas break had finally ended… for Rina at least. Some schools had extra days off because of a heavy snow storm that took out the power of the city and surrounding towns. However, Rina’s school remained miraculously intact.

     Luckily, Rina did not have to arrive at school until nine o’clock because her classes did not start until then. She slept for a little while longer, ate breakfast, got ready, then left her house.

     When she arrived at school, she sat in the library by herself and typed a story that she had been working on for the past several months. This will be my masterpiece. This is the best piece I have ever come up with in my entire life. This will be great. This will be—

     Suddenly, her phone went off. Fortunately, the librarian was away running around the building looking for someone who had not returned a book. Rina quickly put her phone on silent and looked at the message. It was from Kai.

I heard you still have school today. That sucks (LOL). Don’t go to Ren’s house today! I want to pick you up when your classes end :D

     Rina smiled and typed back her response. She actually wanted to go take a nap after school, but she was excited that Kai wanted to spend time with her.

I’ll wait for you ☺

My classes end at 3, but the street is always filled with so much traffic. Call me when you’re here!

     For the next hour, Rina continued typing her story. She wanted to get it finished before the end of the month. When the bell rang for homeroom, Rina reluctantly got up and left the library to go to her locker. She said hello to her friends who were all in their little groups. Each were paired up with somebody. But who was Rina’s partner? She didn’t know. Lindy? She and Rina were the best of friends… but they were in different friendship groups.

     Rina sighed and went to her homeroom. She sat by herself… surrounded by cliques that she didn’t belong to. There were the snobby girls. She didn’t like them. She sat with the friendly, well-liked girls… until they left to go see their other friends. She would’ve sat with Lindy, who came to visit her homeroom almost every day, but Lindy sat with her own group of friends. Feeling left out, Rina decided to sit with her friend from grade school and her friend since freshman year… but even with them, Rina felt left out. The two talked about their boyfriends, who were also friends with each other. They talked about their boyfriend problems. Rina didn’t have anything to complain about. She couldn’t think of anything wrong with Ren. She got to see him every week. She got along well with his friends and family. She loved him. He loved her.

     Second period came. It wasn’t that bad. Rina just sat there in her seat, taking down notes and reflecting on her life as her teacher digressed from the lesson. After second period came lunch. Rina sat with a group of girls who she was friends with, though she still felt left out. They again complained about their boyfriends. They talked about their sex lives. One of the girls, a pathological liar, went on and on about her boyfriend and how she loved sex and drugs.

     Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.

     “Hey, don’t you have a boyfriend, Rina?” the liar asked.

     “You have a boyfriend?” asked the liar’s friend.

     “What?! Why didn’t you tell us?” asked Rina’s friend from dance school.

     Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.

     “Well?” asked another girl.

     “I don’t like talking about my love life anymore,” Rina said. “Things may be going well then all of a sudden, things could be over. I don’t like getting my hopes up and embarrassing myself in front of people when things don’t go as planned.”