You stood in the courtyard, watching the other kids play tag and eat their lunch. Because you were effectively 5th graders, your school didn't have much recess equipment except for something like a tetherball and a pull up bar. Eh. There were two yards to play in - One with grass, one with concrete.. And you stood currently at the very edge of it in the grass, by the fences and the trees. Standing in the middle of the empty field would just be awkward, and you wanted some time to yourself. This time went very well for the first 10 minutes of lunch. To think, you've almost forgot about him... That was a mistake.

" Hello. " You ignored the voice the first time, observing it as an auditory hallucination from all of the misery he puts you through. Closing your eyes, you continued drinking the last of your packed meal.

" Hello. Bug. "

Ah.. not so lucky. He was either above you in the tree or beside you standing his entire height. You simply looked away, in hopes that it would discourage him. You will soon learn that this does the complete opposite.

" Heyyyy~- You-know-I'm-talking-to-you, little thing. "

His face was dangerously close to yours. He... sniffed you.

" Oh my god! Get away from me. " You shoved his face away. Then realized what you've done and what you've touched.. You grabbed your shoes and ran, embarrassed out of your mind. God he was weird.

" Eeeee. They smell good. " He was mostly happy that you did not ignore him this time, and also, that you touched him. This is his first time ever being truly infatuated by something he felt he had to handle on his own. His stupid lazy mother barely got him shaved ice, and he knows his siblings wont help him with this. No, this was a one-man show. One for all, all for Souichi.

" Oh come baaack. " He watched your retreating form enter the cafeteria. Smart... Too smart. Never smarter than him though. Hes smarter-er.

All you wanted to do was enjoy the outdoors and eat and he ruined that for you. You spend the remaining lunch period trying not to blow a fuse, looming at some random's lunch table. You'll have to be extra precautious when eating breakfast it seems, if he knew you liked the outdoors this much he may stalk the woods for you.. to your dismay. But it was a reasonable thing to gamble - your favorite place should never be tainted by the stupid anemic pipsqueak. And really, You have no idea when he gets to school.. and barely any of when he leaves or begins to leave. He usually disappears before the bell. Probably gets written up to death over it.. Laughing bitterly, you return to class with no comment from him or anyone else.

-

" This is by no means an invitation to disrupt our studies by passing notes and talking... buuuut. The rumors are true. There will be a dance this Saturday at the youth center. You kids should gossip less - The board learned about this later than you did. "

You watched your teacher finish the speech with a grim smile, then continue on with Social Studies, and then History. Because of the way your elementary school worked, 2 teachers shared the 5 subjects about the day - Literature, math, science.. SS and History, then announcements. Er, announcements, then SS and history. Supposedly, today. You were hit on the back of the leg softly by a paper ball. Following procedure, you fake dropped your pencil to retrieve both items. Uncrumpling of the ball, you anticipated a note - and you were correct. It seems you were actually the 6th or 7th in line to receive it.

Eeeee im excited wwww - MI

me2 - You assumed this was from the sweet boy you walked home with yesterday, because you recognize the handwriting.. but he didn't sign it. His name is indeed Chee.

ClO: wm

Well, this is the most that you can make of it. Someone has seemed to taken a red (changed teal bc of wattpad guideline smh) marker and scribbled through the good portion of the paper.

Annoying. typical elementary schooler stuff.

Taking your pencil, you wrote what you could;

[Name]: What does this say?

Recrumpling the paper, you placed it on the floor and kicked it back towards your friend Misaki.

-

" So, you guys going to the dance? " You let the backpack hang off of you loosely. Damn, each year this thing gets heavier and heavier. Misaki and Chee both shook their heads.

" I don't trust that dance!! I think i'll have a sleepover with one of my girlfriends instead. "

" Sounds fun. Plus ones? "

" Yeah. Way safer than walking home alone in the dark. "

" Oi, lets all go. Then we could just walk home together in the morning. "

" Smart Cheee~ "

" It's a plan! "

" I'm glad. "

"III'll have to call my mom first, though. "

" You always have to ask your mom. Loser~ "

" Get out of my face. Your breath stinks. "

You guys could joke around like this, but you all knew that if you all weren't together... you'd definitely be fresh dog food for bullies or the school weirdos. At least you felt less alone on being picked on. This school was just misreble, no matter how much fun you had with your friends.

Chee spoke a different dialect than the general consensus here since his parents used to live way south. So, when he stuttered while answering questions or used different words, people would pick on him for that or his physical attributes. You hoped you and Chee could go far away from here, and read books by the seaside. Misaki was tall, and she got pimples early. Gameboy dude.... Played with a gameboy. All of these things are just stupid excuses for people to pick on so they felt better about themselves. You took your lame ass home very slowly. It was Thursday. You have hope that tomorrow could be better.