A Firefly's Glow

Chapter Nineteen: Part Two

Keita sat in his seat, face perfectly composed and hands placed by his sides. He wasn’t exactly sure what time it was, but he knew it was past the preferred time in the morning to leave for school.

The engine of the limousine was running. It wasn’t good to waste gasoline like this. Gasoline wasn’t too expensive for him, but it did cost him money. He’d rather spend less.

This was so typical of that girl. An idea girl would be punctual to school every morning, walking poised with the right shoes on the right feet. Keita really couldn’t care less about how she wore her shoes whether she knew she was wearing the wrong shoes on the wrong feet or not, but he never mentioned anything.

He didn’t want to be picky about the way she chose to dress.

Besides, he found it just a little amusing. It would be more amusing if she dressed that way on accident.

During the night before, Keita had made that girl promise not to ever fall for him, and it’s not like he had forgotten. He wasn’t narcissistic enough to think that the girl should fall for him at any minute now. He simply just did not want any repeats of history.

Wasn’t every girl the same when they fell in love? Did they all do the same things? Did they all act the same way?

 

Besides, he knew that the girls that were already around him at school who had claimed to have fallen for him only fell for his looks.

He didn’t see what was so special about the way he looked. He had two eyes, a nose with two nostrils, and a mouth with a set of teeth that had yet to rot as he got older. He knew some people could go bald at a young age, but he wasn’t bald.

He knew a lot of people who also had two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and hair. He didn’t see them being followed by groupies of girls.

And all the girls that “fell for him” probably knew close to nothing about him. Just falling for someone because of the way they looked seemed like a waste of a fall.

Was he cursed with his looks?

The way people looked at him was so peculiar. There was some chattering, swooning girls, but what he paid attention to was the fear that seemed to be directed towards him. People stood out of his path when he walked by. They bowed their heads when he hadn’t even been talking to them.

They didn’t give him glances that were particularly friendly. They looked nervous and fidgety, as if he was going to say something to them that they didn’t want to hear.

Why? What did he do to receive all of this?

 

His thoughts were paused as he heard the car door open. The girl, with her hair neatly combed across her forehead, flopped beside him. She was heaving loud sighs and panting.

“I’m sorry I’m late!” she began. “I had to double-check if I put the wrong shoes on the wrong feet. I get teased for that, y’ know.”

So she did dress like that by accident.

“It’s not like they’ll praise you for it.”

The girl let out a loud growl against Keita’s remark. “The shoes look exactly the same and they’re both equally pinchy! I can’t tell them apart!”

It’s not like one shoe should be pinchier than the other.

“Jeez, it’d be nice to wear sneakers again.” Regardless of the fragile hairstyle she was wearing, she leaned her head back against the chair. She closed her eyes, slumping her shoulders and letting out the last of her panting.