I See Emeralds

Chapter Nine (Kiku's POV)

I am whisked off to various friends of Alfred, none of which I know prior to this, half of which I've already forgotten the names of. "How many friends do you have, exactly?" I ask. He runs his fingers through his hair.

"Umm...well, do you know that big group of popular kids?" he asks. "You might have heard of them, might have seen a few members."

"Maybe. I don't pay much attention to people," I say.

"I'm pretty much the leader of that group. People call me the most popular guy in school, but I think that's a bit of an over exaggeration." My heart skips a beat. The most popular guy in school?! I don't stand a chance! But he's not as bad as you'd think for such a high status.

"You look like you saw a ghost or something," he says and chuckles a little. It snaps me out of my daze.

"Sorry, just thinking. I've never really had friends before, so this is unusual," I explain quietly. His expression softens.

"I already told you I'll be your friend. And I was hoping you'd click with a few of mine too," he says. "But it's okay. I guess this is a lot to take in at once."

"You're not kidding," I complain and rub my head.

"Do you wanna sit alone with me for now instead?"

"Yes, please."

We claim an empty table and sit next to each other. He drums his fingers on the table. "We've still got fifteen minutes."

"Yeah," I say. He's quiet for a moment.

"You're not much of a talker, are you Kiku?"

"Not really. I'm not good at it."

"Not good at talking?"

"Yeah. I'm awkward and always mess things up."

"No you don't. I mean, I'm still hanging around you."

"Only because you have to." He shakes his head.

"No. I think you're interesting," he says and smiles. Darn it, why must he be so nice?

"I'm really not..."

"Yes you are! I've never met somebody like you before. Plus the whole eyes thing doesn't hurt," Alfred says.

Before I can reply, somebody walks over to our table and places his blue binder on it. "Is it okay if I sit here?" His eyes widen. "Never mind, you're Alfred Jones. Sorry about interrupting." He gathers his things and is about to leave.

"Wait, you don't have to go. I'm not gonna bite your head off," Alfred says and laughs. The boy sits across the table from us.

"Thank you. I'm Tino. My best...well, only, friend is off searching for somebody. He left me alone. We usually sit in the library together," he complains.

"I'm Kiku," I say quietly. I hate introducing myself to people.

Tino takes out a blue folder and then a piece of paper. He begins writing on it with a blue pencil. "Do you like blue? Can you see it?" I ask curiously. I've never really discussed seeing the same color with somebody before. He meets my gaze.

"Yes I do," he sounds embarrassed. "I love it."

"Me too. It's very pretty," I agree. He smiles warmly.

"My friend Mathias sees blue too. He saw his soulmate in the hallway for the first time yesterday. He's trying to find them again."

"Cool," Alfred tries to be part of the conversation. But it seems awkward. "Blue and brown are probably really different."

"I'll bet," Tino agrees.

Then I hear a shout from the other side of the cafeteria. An angry boy is being led off by a teacher. He's clearly in trouble. I wonder what he did?