One in 12 Billion

7

Word count: 1204

Ant screeched quietly, as she walked into someone. Leo.

"Scooch pretty boy," she said, sliding past his lean body.

Leo came to me, mouth wide looking down at his phone. A notification vibrated in my phone; he'd aired me a video to me on Gotcha!. As I rejected it, he looked up. His lips parted in mock-offence. I put my hand up to silence him, "I'm not happy with you."

He raised an eyebrow as I mimicked his words, "I sense a but."

"But." I looked down to both hide the smile that came onto my face as I said it and ignore his victorious grin.

"I need your help." I finished. That was a bit dramatic, but Ant had really thrown me a curveball.

Dumping his bag on the chair, he lay down on the table. The tables at the back of the room were separated from their chairs, each one used for three to four students. His long torso and legs took up the full length, whilst his feet rested on the next table.

Using his hands to support his head, he looked up at me, "I'm all ears."

"What is hara-kiri?" I asked.

"Huh? I think I may've heard of that." I flicked his ear.

"Oi, what was that for?" He frowned, massaging his earlobe with his fingers.

"It was in the big announcement."

He made a face. "Dunno what you're asking me for. Ask Google."

"You made me even madder," I said, my voice inclining at the end. He gave me a full smile, showing both rows of his teeth.

I brought out my phone, taking the precaution to type it, as it seemed confidential. I searched for it, disappointed in what I found.

"Leo," I said. "It says no results."

"They must've blocked it on school Li-Fi, try your data."

I shook my head as I go the same result, though this had happened before. "What did we do last time?"

"Erm, went on a search engine called Bing."

So I did, and I quickly found out that it was not as smooth as Google. I internally wretched. Typing the same question: 'what is harakiri?', I read out the first result.

"Ritual suicide," I stopped, re-reading the words.

"Any more info?"

I skimmed over the words, selecting important ones. "By disembowelment with a sword... practiced in Japan. It's an honorable alternative to execution?"

"What the hell?" Leo said.

"I know."

"That sounds awesome!" Leo exclaimed.

"Suicide means death..." My chest felt hollow, and I slowed my breathing to try and relieve some of the pain. It was a shooting pain, that fell into the pits of my stomach.

Leo sat up, sliding over to where I was seated. His eyes softened, seeing that I had genuine concern for this.

"Suicide means choice." He patted the patch of table next to him.

Begrudgingly I got up, "It also says 'present-day' I guess."

"Exactly." He placed an arm behind me, and rested it on my hip.

I buried my face in his shoulder. "I'm sorry," came my muffled voice.

"For what?" he chuckled, causing his shoulder to rise.

"Melanin."

"No you're not. That's what you want me to hear," he therapised, holding my neck steady with his warm hands.

"Fine, I'm not," I grumbled. "But what about the suicide stuff," I whsipered.

"We don't know anything and it was blocked- so we don't need to know anything."

His voice was reassuring. From my position I could hear its vibrations in my throat. "It won't even affect us will it?"

"Probably all the, like, homeless people or bad people."

"If it's bad people then it could be us."

"Real bad guys think they are good guys," Leo cited from a poster on the wall.

I gave him a weak smile, although I could feel bile rising through my throat. I licked my lips uneasily, and readjusted how I was sitting.

I pulled my face up, a neck cramp starting to form. "How can I reassure you?"

I shrugged.

"Turn," he said, and I swung my legs around until there were laid perpendicular on top of his. He pulled me by the small of my back so that my bottom touched my thigh.

I could feel my heartbeat. I dared not to move or even breathe.

"Look into my eyes," he said, and I stared up at his mint green orbs.

He grabbed my arm, and put my full palm on his chest. The flat surface rose and fell steadily under my hand.

"Just follow mine," he said in hushed tone. His chest began to rise and fall animatedly.

This interaction was more intimate that anything that I could remember us doing before, that it almost made it comical. However, suppressing the urge to laugh, I attempted to follow his heartbeats.

It was no use. They were so irregular that I kept missing beats. In my efforts to catch up, my breathing rate seemed to quicken, and I brought my arms down with a slap. My frustration was evident. Leo looked at me, a small smile adorning his features.

"What?"

"You look so cute, I could just-" He shook his head, turning to the front of the classroom.

I slapped his cheek, snapping his neck to face me once more. "Finish your sentence."

"Okay," he said, taking a breath.

He looked at me in an odd way. I awaited his comforting words, or the pointless banter. Instead, he leaned do that our foreheads touched. I looked down his nose, he looked at mine. Next thing I knew, his lips brushed onto mine. I tingled, taken completely off guard.

He pulled back and searched my eyes, I had no words. With a fraction of a second to react, he slammed his lips onto mine once again. This time I squeezed my eyes shut- it only lasted for marginally longer.

"Better?" he questioned, smooth my hair over with his hand and licking his slightly pink lips.

His voice seemed slightly raspy so close to my face. I let his words waft into my ear, saying nothing -not that I could control it. His fingers since balanced my chin on top of them.

"Yup," I forced, an odd feeling overcoming me.

My eyes darted left and right. No one was watching. But that wasn't my main concern. I took a moment to think over the series of events that had occurred.

My voice was a harsh whisper, "I don't want you to die."

My arms folded over his broad shoulders. Letting my hands lock my elbows in place, I placed my cheek on his shoulder. A small amount of my neck had been exposed from my ponytail, and I could feel the skin being stimulated by his scratchy skin.

"I won't die." And his voice didn't waver. "What kind of friend would do that?"

I didn't think he was going to die, but as I heard him complete his sentence, a reality washed over me. I didn't what brought me to the brink of tears, but as his hand caressed my spine, a small tear plunged from my cheek onto the table. I let me eyelids fall, as another droplet met the first.