Unordinary: New Student

31: To the Mall Again

Stephanie's POV

A day after my phone was broken, John approached me afterschool like any other day. But instead of having his usual dark, angry expression on his face, he was grinning slightly, his eyes regaining some of the sparkle he had half a month ago when Sera was still here. "What's up?" I asked him, glad that John looked a lot happier than he had been for the last few weeks.

"I apologized to Arlo during lunch," he said, his grin widening. "You know, for being rude to him when he helped me yesterday? He didn't even insult me that much. I don't think he's so bad after all."

Alarmed, I recalled a few memories of Arlo that strongly, strongly indicated that Arlo was an a$$hole. "Uh, I'm glad to hear that you guys made up...?" I replied uncertainly.

"And he gave me a binder, so I don't drop my papers all over the place anymore!" He said, proudly pulling out an orange binder and waving it around enthusiastically.

'What?' I stared, disbelieving. 'Arlo isn't the type to do step down from his throne to help out a low tier! What does he want from John?' 

"Oh yeah," John quickly put his binder away, checking the time. "I invited him to hang out at Woaba Boba today. I'll see you around!" He dashed away me, leaving me openmouthed and very confused.

*TIMESKIP TO THE WEEKEND*

I heard a knock on my door, and I hurried to open it, tripping over my rug in the process. "Who is it?" I asked as I opened my door. My eyes widened as I saw Blyke and Remi standing there. And also Isen, who was slinking around in my yard.

I just stood there, not knowing what to say. We hadn't spoken since the incident with John in the hallway some days ago, and I was sort of nervous to talk to her again. "Uh, hi?" I said awkwardly. "What brings you here?"

Remi smiled nervously, and I could tell that she was as nervous as I was. "Hello. We were wondering if you wanted to go to the mall to hang out and watch a movie together?" She shuffled her feet. "We want to make sure there's no- er- misunderstanding or grudges about what happened in the hallway before." Blyke nodded, his eyes busy scouring my face to see if I liked the idea or not.

"I think that's a great idea." I grinned, my nervousness instantly melting away as the affection for my friends surged up in my chest. "Of course I'll go with you!" Blyke grinned back, and Remi smiled, relieved at my response.

"But is he coming?" I pointed at Isen, who gazed back at me, looking equally reproachful. If Arlo knew my secrets, there was an excellent chance that Isen did, too. I wasn't very comfortable around him.

"Yeah," Blyke said. "What's the problem?"

"Oh, nothing." I waved my hand in the air. "It's not like he tried to crush my wrist during an interview with me." 

"What?" Remi and Blyke yelled at the same time, making Isen flinch. 

"Anyway, just give me a minute to change." I turned in the doorway, then paused. "I'm guessing Isen found my address?" Blyke nodded sheepishly, and I let out a huff of half-laughter and half-annoyance.

I quickly changed into a sleeveless red shirt and a pair of fresh jeans. I brushed my hair but didn't tie it, only pushing a small white hairclip into place before grabbing a small bag with my wallet inside it. "I'm ready!" I called as I walked outside. 

***

We entered Kovoro Mall. That was my second visit to the popular mall, the first being the visit with John and Sera some time ago. "Wait a moment," Remi, said heading to a restroom nearby. "I've got to use the restroom."

Blyke, Isen, and I waited for her outside, leaning against the wall in leisure. I turned to my friends, asking, "You said we were watching a movie, right? Which movie?" 

"Isen chose the movie." Blyke replied. He turned to his orange-and-black haired friend. "You got the tickets?"

"Yup." came the reply. Isen pulled out four tickets from his pocket. 

'Siren's Lament,' I read, peering at the little slips of paper. 'by instantmiso.'

Blyke glanced at the tickets, too. "Aw, come on, man." he groaned, looking slightly disappointed. "Couldn't you have chosen an action movie or something?"

Isen shook his head, seeming to be pleased my his choice. "See, this is why you suck. Chicks dig romance these days."

"Hey guys," I cleared my throat. "This is actually mostly for Remi, isn't it?"

There was a pause as the boys looked at me in surprise. Then Blyke nodded slowly. "Remi hasn't been herself ever since Rei passed away... We thought we would cheer her up, you know?"

As I nodded in understanding, Remi came back out of the restroom, shaking droplets of water off her hands. "Let's go!" she beamed, motioning for us to follow her.

We walked into a store called U-Mart, and I looked around for about ten seconds before I got bored. Nothing interesting. Just some cheap everyday stuff that I didn't want or need. But the same could not be said for Isen. I saw him bent over, examining the isle full of pens closely. He was deciding between two pens, one with a gel grip and the other with a titanium clip.

Blyke tried to pass the time by examining some folders on a shelf, but Remi clearly had some different ideas. Picking up a red rubber ball from the rack, she spun it expertly on her index finger. Then she turned toward Blyke, sliding smoothly into a pose that I had seen Blyke do in Turf Wars. "Hey, Blyke! Guess who I am?" As Blyke turned around, startled, Remi chucked to ball into his face, perfectly replicating Blyke's normal attack. "Dodge this!"

The impact forced his head to tilt back in an angle that didn't look very natural. As I burst  into laughter, Blyke dropped hissed folder, looking p*ssed. "Hey, that's not funny!" he yelled, throwing the ball back at her, but Remi easily side-stepped it, laughing just as hard as I was. 

I grabbed another ball off the rack, nodding to Remi as she stepped out of my way. With a mischievous grin on my face, I chucked the ball Blyke, and the ball cannoned into his face again, knocking him off balance. As he crashed to the floor, Remi gave me a high-five. "Get rekt." she taunted Blyke.

Raising his hand up in defeat, Blyke clambered to his feet, then pointed at Isen, who was still deciding which pen to get. Remi and I nodded, and picking up the rubber ball, Blyke threw it hard at the back of Isen's head. "Hey! Hurry up and pick one, moron!" he yelled.

"We've been standing here for a half-hour already!" Remi added. "We're going to miss the movie."