No future

Traffic lights

The two friends walked in silence, both on their usual route to school, Mei had not said a single word after Leah's outburst, she didn't want to provoke her to the point where she'd actually drop her project. We wouldn't want the story to end that quickly, now would we? And Mei really didn't want to be the cause of the accident.

After ten more minutes of awkward silence, Mei finally decided to start off a conversation :

"So...you know we're presenting right? How are you going to explain how...that...thing works?"

Leah scoffed, "Funny you ask, because I came prepared" she said as she pulled out a seven-page long document with her free hand.

Mei's eyes widened as she took in the sight; she didn't realize how prepared Leah was for this presentation, it seemed like she had everything covered, from what she would say, to how she would do it.

Mei couldn't say the same about her own project; she had finished it during the first week since it was announced, It was an ocean display, and right now it was at school...and Mei had to admit it was rather unrefined, she didn't have a long document explaining what it was, she usually presents things using her memory alone...and sometimes that fails her too. Not very impressive for something that was supposed to be worth half her grade...

But Leah on the other hand was already busy reciting her lines, not noticing Mei who was deep in thought about how she was going to present her own project, since she didn't have something to read off of.

The two didn't realize the oncoming traffic ahead of them, until Mei saw the edge of the sidewalk coming close. She turned right to face Leah who was about to absent-mindedly walk onto the road.

"LEAH WATCH OUT!" Mei yelled in a desperate attempt to stop her oblivious friend from walking straight into the traffic

"But I'm at the most interesting part-" Leah replied script in hand, and still dangerously close to the edge of the sidewalk

Mei had no choice but to stop her physically, she couldn't keep waiting for her to react, because she knew it was going to end in disaster.

Mei lurched forward, aiming to pull Leah out of danger, and grabbed onto her sleeve, causing her to trip and fall to the side.

The sound of a car approaching startled both of them as they both stumbled to get out of the way.

"S-SORRY!!!" Leah shouted, as the driver honked at the two incautious teenagers before driving off into the distance.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? WALKING INTO THE TRAFFIC LIKE THAT? WERE YOU REALLY NOT WATCHING WHERE YOU'RE GOING?" Mei scolded, trying to figure out why Leah didn't listen to her warnings.

"Leah?" Mei said, realizing that she wasn't listening and instead was frantically picking up her papers and then looking around for something, that's when Mei realized

"Oh yeah...your project..."

Leah picked it up from where it got tossed, which was a nearby bush that Leah fell into when Mei pulled her back. It might be probable that the bushes leaves might have softened the impact and reduced the damage on her project, but you can never be so sure.

Mei stood back, watching as Leah checked it, seeing if there was any harm done to her assignment.

While she was doing this, Mei was feeling guilty for the whole situation, she thought that maybe it was her fault that Leah's hard work went to waste because she was the one who pulled her, but another side of her still thought that Leah was partially to blame, since she wasn't looking where she was going in the first place...She didn't know, the atmosphere was too tense to think straight.

When Leah finally got up, Mei was really dreading what was about to come, She thought her friend was going to blame her for what happened, and most likely get mad at her if she tries to fix things.

But instead, Leah smiled; Mei was truly puzzled.

"So...it's not broken?" Mei asked, trying to reassure herself that everything was probably fine.

"Nothing that I can't fix! The wires got a bit jumbled, but I'll be able to repair them once we get to school." Leah answered, a little too enthusiastically than Mei expected her to.

"So...nothing important got damaged?" Mei asked a second time

"Nope! Nothing too serious at least..." Leah retorted as she picked up her seemingly intact project from its original place.

"Thank goodness..." Leah exhaled, feeling a sudden weight getting lifted off her shoulders.