A new reality (Sayonika)

Sayori

I don't understand why I feel so nervous. It's just a sleepover, nothing bad or anything. It feels like somethings gonna go wrong. No, I'm being ridiculous. Everything will be fine. I sighed, I didn't want to get out of bed. I checked the time, it was almost twelve. I groaned and sat up slowly, trying to show the universe how tired I was. Well not tired, but angry. Angry at the sun for waking me up. I dragged myself out of bed and went into the bathroom to shower. The minute the warm water touched my aching body, I felt a sudden relief. It was just me and I didn't waste my energy on anything other than standing up. I just let the water cleanse me and my mind. I dried myself and changed into some casual clothes, nothing much but at least looking like I put in some effort to look nice for my friends.

"Friend, huh? That's cute," the voice in my head whispered. I pushed the sudden thought away. I wasn't going to let it bother me today.

There was a loud knock on the door, making me jump. One of them is already here? It only just turned half past. I made my way over to the door and opened it. Ryan stood on my front step, tapping his foot on the floor impatiently. 

"Hi Ryan," I said.

"Hey Sayori," Ryan smiled at me.

"Here for the keys," I laughed, he didn't.

"No, I actually came to talk to you. I, uh, need your advice," he scratched the back of his head.

"Okay then, come in," I moved away from the door to let him in.

He walked into my living room then suddenly stopped. I had forgotten about the mess.

"Sorry I was gonna tidy up but then... I didn't," I usually was quite tidy but then I would become messy again when I'd have my internal arguments. I'd throw a few things about, leave them broken on the floor then eat food until the emptiness was gone. Right now a small porcelain cat given to me by my mum lay in pieces on the wooden floor. 

"What happened?" He turned to me in utter shock.

"My clumsiness is what happened," I stared at the floor, feeling bad for lying to him.

"Seriously, Sayori? You need to me more careful," he said, picking up the broken pieces.

"I know, but my shoulder brushed past it and it fell," I said, frowning.

He chucked the pieces in the bin then sat down on my dusty sofa. I sat next to him.

"So anyways, I've met a girl," he started. I stopped him.

"You what?" I said in surprise.

"Shut up! I had to eventually! So I met her at school, she was sitting on a bench by the fountain reading a book and I couldn't help but notice it being a manga. She caught me staring and got real sour with me."

I felt like I recognised this girls attitude.

"I apologised to her, and we got talking and I felt something. I don't know how to describe it. It was a sort of tug, as if our hearts were connected. I don't know if she felt it as well but I want her too. I thought you would know what to do," he said, his face flushing a red.

I smiled.

"Well, what I would suggest is that you don't go too far. Remember Anna from two years ago? That didn't end well because you tried to hard. She was a bit of a bitch to you anyways. So with this girl, talk to her but don't talk to her too much. And don't flirt too much. Women don't appreciate men who flirt because to them they look insane."

He nodded, still looking slightly embarrassed. There was a girl he had a huge thing for called Anna. I didn't blame him at the time because she was pretty and she was nice to him but after a while she started treating him like shit, ignoring him when he was talking to her and rejecting his little invitation to his birthday party. And she made her rejection a big deal by basically shouting out 'no!' to the entire school. They all laughed at him for a while but left him alone when Anna went onto a different guy who just got treated the same. Him and Ryan both became friends after that. 

"So I should just treat her normally until she seems more interested in me?"

"Yeah, pretty much," I answered.

"Okay thanks," he got up and started collecting the packets of crisps, chocolate and biscuits.

"What're you doing?" I asked.

"Cleaning up for you," he threw the rubbish into the bin and turned his attention to the dirty plates cluttering up my kitchen counter.

"Jeez, how do even survive here?" he asked picking up a half empty glass of orange juice. A mix of disgust and almost wonder filled his face.

'I don't,' I thought.

"Eh, I manage," I said instead.

He filled up the sink with water, squirted the dish soap inside and dumped the plate in, scrubbing the dirt off until it was clean.

"You gonna help or not?" He asked.

I sighed and stood up. I grabbed a tea towel from the draw and started to dry the growing pile of plates and cutlery gathering in the rack.

"I don't need you helping me all the time," I said.

"Come on, you wouldn't survive a second without me."

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After I had waved him off to his house, I slumped on the sofa absolutely exhausted. It had just turned quarter past two and no one from the club had showed up yet. I hugged my legs close to my chest, wondering if they were ever going to come. I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to stay at home and not tell me. My phone buzzed. I picked it up and clicked on the notification.

"Hey, I'm heading out now, will probably be there in ten minutes ❤️," Monika had messaged. My heart pounded when I saw the heart emoji she had added at the end. I don't know why it had but it did and I wasn't arguing.

'Can't wait, though I'm absolutely exhausted,' I replied.

I was telling the truth. I was so excited.