Costa Crew: Our Turn To Die

Chapter 18: Time flies...

"Finally," Paul sighed, as he walked out of the detention hall. He had never been a very patient person, so an hour of sitting with nothing to do was his idea of hell. He turned round a corner and started to hastily make his way home. Paul never normally walked too quickly - mainly because he focussed more on talking to people than actually walking - but with no company and an inevitably angry mother for him to explain himself to, he figured he should speed home and get the confrontation over with.

Turning another corner, he bumped into someone. They dropped their suitcase, and all sorts of papers came flying out.

"Oh Jeez," they complained.

"I'm so sorry," Paul said, quickly. He bent down and started to help them pick up papers. "When I'm in this sort of mood, I'm never particularly perceptive... I mean, I'm not particularly perceptive anyway. My friends and I always joke that I'm romantically involved with the floor, since I spend so much time 'falling for it'. Silly-old Paul here."

"Paul?" they asked. "One of my clients mentioned you. Well, they mentioned a Paul, but they did say he was kind. I doubt most students here would have even looked back at me dropping my belongings, let alone help me gather them, so I think they were probably talking about you. You're the same year as them so it makes sense."

"Oh?" Paul asked. "Well, unless I have a secret admirer, I'd guess you're talking about Becky."

"No secret admirer as far as I'm aware, sorry." they replied, laughing.

"Ah well," Paul shrugged. "Wasn't really looking for that anyway. I'm asexual and having two advanced higher courses means I already have too much on my plate. I haven't got time for dating... sorry, I'm telling you my whole life story and you probably have places to be."

"Oh God no," they replied. "I've got to head to a birthday party. It's gonna be a drag. I don't mind giving you a lift home if you want, it'll keep my mind off the hellish gathering I'm about to face... although you only just met me, so I guess that was probably a strange thing to offer."

"It's fine, I don't want to inconvenience you," Paul said. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Petunia Hill is out of the way for most people?"

"No way!" they gasped. "My aunt lives in Petunia hill! Do you know Imogene Ettenberg?"

"Well... no," Paul laughed. "Petunia Hill is kind of a big place."

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that," they said. "Anyway, I'm actually on my way to visit Aunt Imogene. It's her birthday and God forbid I miss it. So, it's no inconvenience."

Paul hesitated. "Well, normally I'd just walk home but I'm not exactly looking forward to putting off the lecture from my parents about 'trying harder in school' and 'keeping out of trouble', so if you don't mind..."

"Not at all," they reassured. "I could do with the company. My music player is broken and travelling in silence is never fun. The name is Mr Hiyori but feel free to call me Sou."

"Okay then," Paul said, walking alongside him. "Kind of a long name though, Mr-Hiyori-But-Feel-Free-To-Call-Me-Sou."

Sou laughed. "You know, your friend made a very similar joke to that one."

"Well, she learns from the best," Paul shrugged. "Maybe I should throw away computing and become a comic."

They got into Sou's car, Sou passing his briefcase onto Paul's lap. "Hey, I said it was a joke. I didn't say it was a funny joke."

"Yeah?" Paul gasped sarcastically, as they began moving. "Well, you did laugh. Anyway, let me put these papers back in your briefcase while I'm sitting here."