The brunette walks alongside the pink-haired girl, talking about her excitement for school. The brunette is known as Rishima Atona who waves her arms around to stress her point. "I'm super excited for high school. It's gonna be an epic four years!" She spins around, thinking about all the things the future has in store for her. Her pink-haired friend, Anko Merigol, smiles and pulls out her phone. She looks at a picture of a boy on her screen.
"Yeah, and Graham is going to enroll in our school! His parents decided to move!" she sighs dreamily. She keeps her eyes on the picture, her smile becoming more loving.
Rishima laughs, "You and your dream guy. I just want to make more friends! It's going to be a fun-filled time!" She looks around, seeing all the new people around, even some familiar faces back from middle school. She sees some teenagers messing with the school's sign, trying to cover up some of the letters, working with 'Great Blacksburr High School'.
The pink-haired girl scoffs, rolling her eyes, "If you call slaving away to homework that doesn't help us in the future, then sure. Totally fun." She adjusts her purple long sleeved shirt, making sure the heart shaped opening on her chest isn't too revealing. The two continue to walk, coming up to a small park near the high school. They have some time to spare before they have to go home, due to their curfews. School starts the next day and the girls' parents would have their heads for coming home late. A kid runs past Rishima, the girl watching with nostalgia as she'll be an official adult in four years. She turns to find a boy sitting at the swings all alone. It's a pair of swings, the dark blue-haired boy staring glumly at the ground. His green eyes have flicked up to meet Rishima's brown ones before he turns his head to the side.
"I'll see you later, Anko. I'm gonna go talk to that guy," Rishima informs her. She glances at her light brown-haired best friend, gasping.
"Why? He's the weirdo, remember?" she claims, eyeing him suspiciously. Rishima gives her a smile, pointing at the lonely boy.
"I'm gonna be his friend! Also he looks sad, so I'm gonna cheer him up!" she determines, hands clenched in fists as she looks to the sky. She's hopeful, believing in herself and her ability in making friends. Anko sighs, knowing that she can't talk Rishima out of this. The girl is stubborn when it comes to things like these and she hopes that Rishima will be okay.
Anko rolls her eyes once more, smiling and saying, "Alright, I get it. Good luck on that, Rishima." The girl waves goodbye to her taller friend, walking away as Rishima returns the gesture. They don't always walk home together, even though it is safer that way. Anko continues her way home as Rishima spins around, facing the boy's direction once more.
She walks up and sits on the empty swing on the boy's right, a soft thudding coming from the swing and the jingle of the chains. The boy raises his head to look to his right, curious and squinting as the lowering sun rests upon his pale face. Rishima grins happily, waving her hand in a friendly gesture. "Hello!"
The boy holds a grumpy, pissed off look on his face. "What do you want?" he grumbles. He just wants to be left alone and this girl is interrupting his alone time. He doesn't even know who she is!
Rishima leans back in the swing, holding tightly onto the chains as she looks at the sky. The sun's rays also fall upon her face, making the right side more shadowed than the left. "Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to say hi and I thought we could be friends. You look pretty nice," she spouts.
The boy glares at her, going unnoticed by the female. "Yeah right. Where are your friends? Are they gonna take a picture and take it out of context? Then, send it to everyone?" his anger seeps into his words, but also frustration and some sadness. Rishima notices, sitting up straight, looking sadly at him. A frown finds its way onto her face, brows furrowing in worry.
"What? No, that's terrible," she takes a deep breath, "I just thought we could be friends. I've seen you in class before, but I was always too busy to make conversation." It is the truth, middle school was a busy time for Rishima. She was too busy choosing classes for high school and always planning sleepovers with Anko. She couldn't do much of anything else as piano lessons took her time as well, even flute lessons. She barely made good friends, Anko being an exception as they met in kindergarten.
The boy doesn't say anything, eyes locked onto his gray pants, toying with his red suspenders. Rishima notices his silence and decides to take action. She sticks her hand out towards him, causing him to look at her hand. He looks up at her, listening her saying, "I'm Rishima! I'd like to be your friend!"
He straightens his back, moving out from his slouch and taking her hand, a small smile etching onto his face. "Name's Landon. I guess you could be my friend if you let me be your friend," he repeats. The girl shakes his hand excitedly, giving a small giggle.
"You bet you can be my friend! I knew you were nice!" Rishima laughs, releasing his hand.
Landon rolls his eyes, "Yeah, well no one ever was nice to me, so I guess you're the first to experience my 'nice guy' side. Congrats." Rishima lurches towards him, wrapping her arms around him in an awkward hug, squishing his face against his swing's chains.
"We will be the best of friends, Landon!" she grins. A few seconds go by and her watch beeps. She rips herself away and glares at the watch, eyes widening. She hops up, screaming, "Oh no! I gotta get home!" Landon watches her, confused as to why she's in such a panic, the girl looking around for any of her stuff. She remembers she had no stuff and smacks her forehead. She starts to run off, but not before waving back at Landon, yelling, "Bye, new best friend!" she isn't looking where she is going and falls onto her face, getting up and yelling again, "I'm okay!"
He smiles, waving even though she isn't looking, watching her run down the street. The light gets darker as he gets up, walking back to his home, not sulking this time.
Rishima is running at full speed to her house, hoping she'll make it in time. She reaches the walkway to her front door, running up the steps and reaching for the door. Yet, the door swings open, revealing a shadow of a figure. Rishima knows who it is and is fearful now.
"You're late," the figure sternly says, eyes bright with fury and worry. Rishima is sweating from the fear, a panicked look on her face as she looks up, facing the vicious monster in the doorway.
"Mom, I swear I was running home full speed. One minute shouldn't be that bad, right?" she explains nervously. The shadowy beast looks at her, a sound like a growl coming from the beast. A hand comes out rom the darkness, coming into the light out of the dark doorway. A woman sprouts from the darkness, bearing similar physical appearances to Rishima. She hugs Rishima, eyes full of tears.
She softly says, "Oh, Rishima. You think I'm upset about the minute..." Rishima holds a relieved smile on her face, thinking she has succeeded punishment. But her mother grins devilishly, grabbing Rishima by the shoulders, the poor girl terrified. "You unpunctual child. No coffee for a week!" she laughs evily. She lets her child go, walking inside, waving her hand while Rishima mentally dies behind her. "That'll give you more time to get home faster."
Rishima waddles in, a sad expression on her face. They go into the kitchen, seeing her dad sitting at the table, drinking some tea while reading on his tablet. Rishima waves at him, "Hi, Dad."
"Rishima!" he father exclaims, looking at her. His attention returns to his tablet, a blank look on his face. "You're late tonight. Your mother and I were very worried."
Rishima goes into a frustrated pose, bent at the knees, glaring at the ceiling, arms bent and hands also facing the ceiling. "It was one minute! You guys are so protective!" She knows her curfew and she's always home on time, they should let her off. It was only one minute and they are being ridiculous about it! She's almost 16, she should have a later curfew!
He turns his attention back to her, his facing contorting into a stern look, "The dragons fly out at this time. What if one goes rogue? You would be dragon food! Seven-thirty was our time and if you're even one minute late, there's gonna be a consequence."
"But Dad," Rishima starts.
He interrupts her, "No. Just eat your dinner and get ready for bed. First day of high school tomorrow." Rishima's mother pops into the kitchen, dancing happily. She sets a plate of food in front of Rishima, dropping the silverware beside it.
"Oh my goodness, first day of high school! I remember my first day, it was lovely and it was the day where I found my true calling! I also met your father!" she cheers, clapping her hands. She loved going to high school and while Rishima was getting ready for her first day, her mother was there. All. The. Time. She really wanted to be there and help choose school supplies, backpacks, and chooses classes as well.
Rishima sticks her fork in her food, responding, "Yeah yeah. You've told me about a hundred times already, Mom. Me and Anko—"
"Anko and I," her mother interrupts, correcting her. Man, her parents just love to interrupt her every time she wants to say something. Even so going to correct her grammar when speaking, which is so frustrating to her.
"Anko and I," Rishima says through a fake smile, "Chose a lot of the same classes so we wouldn't get separated. Also I made a new friend at the park today."
Her mother screams happily, hands to her face, "A new friend?! Who's this person?!" Rishima holds her ears, covering them from the abuse they just witnessed. Her mother covers her mouth with her manicured hands, whispering, "Sorry."
Rishima sighs, explaining, "His name is Landon and now we're best friends! Hopefully I'll have some classes with him, it'll be great! Going to class with my two besties." She glances at her mother, seeing a sight she's never quite seen for awhile now. Her mom is smiling, tears falling from her eyes like small waterfalls.
"Finally, my child is leaving the nest."
Rishima chuckles to herself, getting up and setting her plate in the sink. "Okay, Mom. I'm gonna get ready for bed." she informs her, heading towards the stairs that lead upstairs where her room is located.
"Sleep well, Darling!" her mother says, a big smile etched onto her face, eyes closed now. Her father is still looking at his tablet, but he says something too.
"Goodnight, Honey." He's really into the news.
"Goodnight, Mom and Dad" Rishima replies, walking up the stairs. She pulls out her phone, checking to see any messages. She just sees the text from Anko.
"So, who's the stranger at the park?" the text says. Rishima could feel her friend's curiosity and probably worry. She is probably staring at her phone, waiting for Rishima to respond and make Anko know that she isn't possibly dead.
"He's not a stranger. His name is Landon and we're best friends! You should meet him too." Rishima replies back. She goes to the bathroom, beginning to brush her teeth, looking at her phone and reading the new text from Anko.
The text has a feeling of slight anger and jealousy, "Did you get his number? Also I'm your best friend!" Her comment makes the light brown-haired girl roll her eyes, as she texts back.
"No, curfew cut me off. You're both my best friends. You're the best friend alpha, Ann!" Rishima goes to her room, pulling off her shirt and replacing it with a pajama shirt. She struggles sticking her arms through as she hears a ping from her phone. She quickly goes to it, reading the text.
"Heck yeah! Anyways, goodnight, Moonie," the text says. Rishima laughs at the use of her old nickname, planning to do the same.
"Goodnight, Rabbit." She sets her phone down on her nightstand. Rishima lays down in her bed, snuggling under the covers. She looks at the ceiling, whispering to herself, "The first day will be the day to have good first impressions." She closes her eyes, darkness filling her sight as she falls asleep in a matter of minutes. Impressive falling asleep time.