Four Years Apart

Play Date 101

~Kerri's POV~

IT IS FINALLY MONDAY. I woke up slightly earlier to get myself ready. We were meeting for lunch and a little studying session. Okay, so, I put on my new clothes, made myself looked presentable and packed my bag. I asked Christina whether I looked presentable. As usual, she said no, which meant yes to me, so I left home.

I walked to the nearby mall; we were eating there first before taking a train to the city library. We decided to go to the city library as it was usually deserted on the weekdays, and Shane obviously did not want to run into huge crowds at the library.

I sauntered to the mall, knowing that I am still early.

~Shane's POV~

I was really nervous. What if I screwed up? What if I embarrass myself? What if...

The millions of thoughts racing through my mind at the moment was too overwhelming for me. Nonetheless, I already promised her to meet up with her. My brain felt as if it was about to explode. I pushed those thoughts away and changed and got ready. I have already finished my work, so I just took the book I was working on to read later. I walked to the mall we were to meet at. I saw her waiting waiting near a shop, sipping on a drink. My nerves suddenly got the better of me. I wanted to say hi, but the words seemed to be stuck in my throat. Instead, I decided to walk to her first, before saying hi. She saw me first, and she said hi first. I waved back with a smile on my face. "So, uh, where do you want to eat at?" I asked her. My mom kindly gave me quite a sum of money, so I could afford a pretty decent meal. We chose a pretty Japanese restaurant. By the time we were done, I was stuffed with sushi. One thing with Kerri was that she ate really fast. She was done with her food when I was barely halfway through. While waiting for me, she was talking to me about things in her life while sipping on some green tea.

We walked out of the Japanese restaurant, towards the train station. When we got there, it was pretty secluded, and I sighed in relief. When we got to the city library, there were only a few old people walking around, browsing the books that laid on the countless shelves. We found a nice table at the corner of the second floor. Kerri immediately got to work. I myself also quickly got lost in my book. Although we did not speak much, the silence was comforting and just all round awesome. I finished the book I brought in two hours and decided to go to the shelves to take another book. I found a thriller that seemed to be pretty popular. I have heard of the author before but have not read her books. I opened the book and started reading. The story was really interesting and original and I finished it in one sitting. When I was about to go put the book back on the shelf, I saw Kerri staring at me. "You read really really fast. You're a pretty big bookworm too, huh." I smiled awkwardly and nodded. I could feel my cheeks heating up slightly. Was I blushing? Oh my...

~Kerri's POV~

When Shane was immersed in his book, the look of intense concentration he gave was just adorable. His large glasses suited his personality well. He was such a great guy, why was he so lonely? I have tried to subtly ask him that before but he seemed very uncomfortable so I decided not to push it. I guess I will have to wait to find out. We arrived at the library at two, and left the library at eight. Within this six hour period, I managed to get most of my work done, with only a few more pages to go. Shane on the other hand has read four whole books, mostly thrillers. He seemed pretty drunk on books. As I packed my bag, he went to put the books back on the shelves or onto the browsing trolley. After he was done, we walked out of the library together. "Today was really nice. You were great company." I said to Shane. He seemed a little stunned at first but quickly regained his composure. "You were great company too." I smiled at his reply. Most of the working adults were already done with work. By the time we got to the train station, it was not that crowded.

On the train, we were mainly talking about the new school term that was going to start in a week's time. He seemed quite excited for it. He was such a humanities guy. It was highly unusual for a guy to like humanities. But, Shane was definitely the cutest and most special guy I have met ever. He was perfect. Why did he seem so lonely and sad...

That night, I couldn't get my mind of all the possible reasons as to why Shane was so sad. Images of a sad Shane flashed through my mind. Silently tearing up, I fell asleep with my pillow damp.

~Shane's POV~

"FAG FAG FAG FAGGG!"

My eyes opened and I sat up from my bed. It was only a dream. I glanced at my bedside clock, it read 3.30 am. Being too shaken up to fall back asleep, I made my way to the park once again. This time, the tears threatening to come flowed down from my face freely. Those memories never left. They haunted me almost every night ever since those boys started bullying me. While walking around the park, I cried and cried. I sat down on the bench, trying to sort myself out. Just as I was about to head home, I saw a very familiar figure. Tall, skinny, frizzy hair.

Kerri? What was she doing at the park at 5 am?