I woke up at 6 in the morning and did my usual house chores. Afterwards, I started preparing myself for school and as I was doing so, I kept thinking about last night. That memory always made me smile—not to mention extremely red. I felt like I was floating on air. Things were finally starting to turn around for me. Who cares if the town's people were harsh to me? Now I have someone. One person was enough; he was all I needed. Fate couldn't mess this up.
As I opened the door to get out of the house, I saw Hero standing outside of my home's picket fence. He was waiting there, with his hands in his pockets.
"Hey!" he greeted with that ever melting smile of his, "Ready for school?"
I walked up to him, smiled and nodded.
Three weeks passed and things went on the same. Hero would always be waiting for me outside my house so that we'd go to school together in the morning. We've gotten much closer to each other ever since that night. One day though, another odd but miraculous thing happened. During our stroll, I've noticed that some people weren't watching us so intensely anymore. They also weren't talking that much about us. What freaked me out was that some of them were even smiling at us.
"Okay, what's going on?" I asked.
"Well, I guess they did get over it," he teasingly replied.
"Hero!" I cried out in frustration.
"Well, I think that they've realized you're not dangerous at all," he said seriously this time.
"Where did they get that conclusion?"
"Well, I'm still in one piece right?" he answered, "Nothing bad happened to me while being with you."
Now I get what he was talking about. Is this for real? People were changing their minds about me? When they saw that Hero wasn't harmed after being with me all this time, did they begin to think that maybe I wasn't so bad like they thought I was? Could it really be true? I was proven right when we got to the school grounds. One student who was in a rush accidentally bumped into me, causing me to lose my balance. Luckily, Hero was there to stop my fall.
"Oh I'm so sorry Saya," The student apologized, "I was in a hurry and didn't watch were I was going."
"It's...okay..." I replied, mouth open in sheer astonishment.
"See ya guys!" The student bid farewell and went on his way.
Both Hero and I were speechless with what took place. That person wasn't actually scared that he had bumped into me. I'd imagine one to be freaking out just to get that close to me but he didn't. That student was calm just like Hero was the first time we met.
"I'm not sure of what's happening here," I said as I shook my head in disbelief.
"This is getting good," Hero said with a crazy grin, "Come on Saya, we got to get to class."
During class, I began to imagine things like the town's people actually accepting me in the long run but I stopped the thought immediately. I was getting way ahead of myself. I didn't want to be hoping for nothing just like when I hoped to find something at Aden 's crash site. I was staring out the window when suddenly, I heard the teacher call out my name.
"Saya," she said, "Please define the radius of a circle."
I was surprised for a few seconds and then I answered, "The radius of a circle........is the distance from the center of the circle to a point on the circle."
"That's correct," she said, smiling.
Did I see what I think I saw? All the teachers, including her, were always cold to me! But now, she was being nice. That same class, some of my classmates who never even talked to me before started asking me questions as well, like answers to the teacher's question and other stuff.
"This is awkward," I thought to myself.
I didn't know how to react to this. After class, I immediately rushed out of the room to tell Hero about what happened. I was taken aback when I saw a couple of boys talking and laughing with him. One was actually placing his arm over his shoulder like a buddy.
"Sure, I'll see you guys," he told them as he moved towards me.
When the boys left, Hero turned to me and shrugged.
"I don't know what happened," he said, "They just became friendly."
"Same with me," I said to him, "Even the teacher changed."
"This is great!" he said in a cheering tone, "People are starting to be nice to you now."
I sheepishly smiled and shrugged. This situation certainly surprised the both of us. For our 30 minute break, we decided to go the cafeteria. However when we got there, we saw a crowd of students gathering together. They seem to be reading something that was posted on the bulletin board.
"Come on Saya, let's take a look." Hero said.
He held my hand and started to walk forward, bringing me with him, but I resisted. He turned to me, wondering.
"I'm not so sure," I replied, "You go ahead."
"You sure?" he asked me.
I smiled and nodded. I was still scared to go into a pile of students and interact with them even if some were starting to be nice. It was better to play safe in this situation. Hero understood that, I'm sure. He softly smiled as he let go of my hand and went to the bulletin board. I saw him read something then grab a piece of paper that was pinned on the board. He quickly left the crowd and went back to where I was.
"What is it?" I asked, also curious to know what the fuss was about.
He showed me the paper he got. It read,
ANNUAL SCHOOL DANCE
This Friday, November 23 at the School auditorium.
Bring a partner and be in your formal attire.
(Seriously, formal attire only)
8:00 PM
"A school dance?" I asked him.
"Yep, looks like it." he replied as he put the paper away. "What do you think?"
Before I could answer, a couple of girls went near us. They were three students who also belonged to the same year level as Hero and I. I was familiar with them, having seen them everyday but never actually talking to them. The auburn-haired girl in the middle was called Reina and the two blondes beside her were Terra and Ann. They stood in front of us and they seemed to be overly excited. The two blondes gave their friend a push, closer to Hero.
"Uhm...Hero," said Reina.
Hero turned to her.
"Yeah?" he answered, wondering what she wanted.
"Uhm...I was wondering if..." she paused for awhile then looked back at her two friends. They simply gave her a thumbs up as an encouragement to continue. She shyly and slowly turned to Hero again.
"...if you'd like to go to the dance with me?"
Hearing that, my heart leaped. She just asked him to go to the school dance with her. I could see that her face was all red from blushing. I knew that she obviously liked Hero. I didn't understand what I felt though...I wasn't angry but I felt bad. I decided to just keep quiet and wait for Hero's response.
Hero smiled and took my hand.
"I'm sorry but I'm already going with Saya," he finally answered, scratching his head.
His answer made me glad and this time, it was my face that turned red. I wanted to smile but I stopped myself...I didn't want this girl to feel bad. She already had a hard time trying to ask him and having been rejected must be really embarrassing for her.
"Oh..." she said, sounding disappointed. She glanced at me for a second, giving me a passive look before turning to Hero once again. "It’s okay, thanks anyway."
She gave a shy smile at the two of us then turned around to her two friends. While leaving, I could hear their depressed sighs. Wow, they really wanted her to go with him and she really wanted to as well.
"Whoa...that was close," Hero spoke, turning to me.
I slowly nodded in reply.
"So...what do you think?" he asked.
"What do I think about what?" I asked back with a blank expression on my face.
"The dance," he answered, "Will you go with me?"
I moved back and paused.
"Hmmm..." I smiled teasingly.
"What?" he worriedly frowned.
"I'm not much of a dancer so I'll have to think about it," I said, sounding so serious.
Hero quickly lowered his head and his mood turned blue. I laughed, looking at him like that.
"Sure, one dance event won't kill me." I said, laughing at him.
Immediately, he looked up and smiled. Boy, this dance will be another night to remember! He gently placed a hand on my waist and led me to our table.
After school, I went home and went upstairs to check on my mom's old things. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find a dress then I remembered that my mom had one that she always kept in her trunk. I opened the old dusty trunk and searched around to see if I could find it. In the middle of my search, I saw a couple of things that almost made me cry. I saw pictures of my mom when she was still younger, I saw my baby pictures and some other things like my mother's favorite spatula. I then realized that I missed my mom...it has been 4 years since I lost her.
Later on, I found my mother's dress. I took it out and brushed off the dust that had accumulated onto it. The dress looked stunning. It was a long, white, backless spaghetti satin gown and it was perfect for me. Even though it was kept in storage for so long, it still sparkled in the light. It was not too stunning but not bad either. There were still a few more days until the dance and I got all the time to prepare. I kept it to myself but I was actually looking forward to this event and I'm pretty sure that Hero felt the same way too. There was something that connected us, in a way, although I still didn't know what it was. Somehow, this connection meant a lot to me...
AN: Things are looking pretty well for you Saya, but are you sure fate won't mess things up? Let's see at the very last chapter. ;)