Red String

Chapter 2 - Misread Signals

The morning sun spilled lazily across the hallways of Saint Elysia High, catching on polished floors and the bright colors of student lockers. Rose Blanc hurried through the familiar chaos, backpack bouncing lightly against her shoulder. Her glasses slipped slightly as she adjusted them, scanning the sea of students. Today, she felt... cautious.

Not cautious in the usual sense of being late or forgetting homework. No. This was different. Today, she told herself, she had to pay closer attention. To him.

Clei Mendez.

She spotted him almost immediately, leaning against the fence near the badminton courts, hoodie pulled halfway over his head, racket dangling loosely in his hand. Evan, as usual, lounged beside him, tossing a shuttlecock from hand to hand with casual ease, but his gaze kept flicking toward Rose.

"Uh-oh," Mica whispered beside her, nudging her shoulder. "You're staring again."

"I'm not," Rose replied, though her eyes stayed on Clei. Something about his stillness drew her in. Not intimidating, not cold—just... different.

Mica rolled her eyes. "Sure. You're not 'staring.'"

Rose shot her a playful glare and jogged slightly to catch up with Adrian and Janna, who were walking ahead. Her mind, however, remained partially on the quiet boy by the fence.

In Classroom 2B, Rose dropped her bag at her usual desk near the window. The first bell had rung, but the air still hummed with chatter and laughter. She immediately noticed Clei at the back, sketchbook open, pencil moving slowly yet deliberately across the page. Evan leaned back in his chair beside him, occasionally glancing toward Rose with a knowing smirk.

Rose tried to focus on her notes, but every so often, her eyes wandered to the back of the room. She caught a flicker of awareness in Clei's gaze—a brief glance, barely noticeable—but her heart leapt. He noticed me.

Or did he?

The doubt nagged. She remembered the previous day, how she had waved in the cafeteria and how his eyes had briefly met hers before he looked away. Surely that meant something. Didn't it?

She leaned over to Mica during the first activity. "Do you think he actually notices me?" she whispered.

Mica smirked. "Notice you? Maybe. Pay attention to you? That's a different story."

Rose sighed, staring at the worksheet in front of her. Algebra. Numbers twisted into strange shapes and symbols, but her mind wasn't on the math. It was on him.

Clei, meanwhile, didn't interact with anyone. He completed his work silently, occasionally tapping his pencil against the page, eyes flicking toward Rose for a fraction of a second before returning to his sketchbook.

Evan, ever the observant friend, leaned slightly toward him. "She's right there, you know," he whispered.

"I know," Clei replied flatly, not lifting his eyes from the page.

"She's... persistent," Evan murmured, a grin tugging at his lips. "Maybe too persistent."

Clei ignored him, muttering under his breath. "She's... loud. Annoying. Focus."

The morning bell rang, sending students spilling into the hallways. Rose walked with her friends toward the lockers, chatting about weekend plans and the latest school gossip. But her attention kept drifting. She noticed Clei walking alongside Evan, a subtle distance between them. She waved casually. He paused. Briefly. Then continued.

Rose smiled faintly to herself. That was enough for today.

"Do you think he even remembers my name?" she whispered to Mica.