Queen of Hearts

Chapter 24: Chinese smog | Evan

In my room, Linny lay flat on her front, watching me as I pressed a button on my laptop, allowing me to video call Penny. The grey and purple haired girl hadn't been surprised to find out that I had brought the majority of my electronics - including my three portable chargers - along to Japan with me. She had heard stories of how I had usually spent my high school lunchtimes with my eyes fixated on a laptop screen.

We were both bored, so we thought we might as well call our friends and see what ridiculous (and possibly stupid) things they were getting up to back at home.

Unlike Brendan, Penny took ages to respond. I was left calling her for so long that I considered hanging up before her face appeared on the screen. She appeared breathless. "I'm sorry!" she apologised, her messy dyed light brown hair covering half of her face as she leaned closer. "I had to get my earphones."

"You actually didn't have to," Hannah's voice called, and Penny shifted her laptop so that her twin sister was in view by the doorway. "Come out, your boyfriend's cooked dinner and Hudson will eat it all if we're not there soon." For once, Hannah sounded quite responsible. Then again, Hudson wasn't in the room.

Penny hesitated. "Are you sure?" She turned back to us. "You guys alright with migrating?"

Hannah's smile grew when she spotted us. "Hey, haven't seen you guys in ages! How've you been? How's Japan?"

Linny beamed at the girl. She and Hannah had a weird sort of friendship, I noted, since Hannah was Linny's punching bag whenever her cousin wasn't around. "Not too bad. Look what I got for Bren." She picked up 'Jaydan's bald head' and held it up so that Hannah could see.

"That is some terrifying crap right there," Hannah reeled back, despite being far away from Penny's laptop screen. As for Penny, she only shut her eyes tight and grimaced. She said something inaudible to her twin before rising and following Hannah out of the room, clutching her laptop in her hands. As she did, I pressed a single button on my keyboard, earning a shake of the head from Linny as she realised what I was doing.

"What else did you guys get up to?" Penny asked as she walked.

I described to her our tourist trip around the city of Kobe, visiting places such as Nunobiki Falls - Kameron's favourite place - and Arima Onsen. Linny and I had spent the majority of today staring at the waterfall, lost in our own thoughts, our own world. We'd only turned away because our driver had reminded us that we had wanted to go to more places. I had half wanted to stay longer, but my hands had been numb from the cold, so I didn't. I imagined that the waterfall would be beautiful at sunset, or even twilight.

Penny placed her laptop on the dining table, faced from the side so that Linny and I could see them all. I recognised the house as Penny's and Hannah's.

"Did you have any moments?" Penny wriggled her eyebrows at the camera as she sat down beside Brendan, leaving Hannah to join Hudson on his side of the table, something that she did not seem happy about, judging from the sour look on her face. Hudson's expression mirrored hers.

"Moments?" Linny questioned blankly.

Unfortunately, I understood what Penny was trying to say. "No. Penny, that's ridiculous. You should know that."

"I'm joking," Penny said lightly, reaching out for the pasta on the table. "Don't take it to heart."

"I want that pasta," Linny muttered, so quietly that only I heard her. I laughed, feeling the urge to roll my eyes.

"1 cent just wants to hear about other people's moments because she hasn't had a memorable one herself ever since she took a plane solo to San Francisco." Brendan smirked, a faint expression of mirth on his face as Penny flicked bits of pasta sauce at him.