'Tree, tree, trash, another tree…'
I took careful note of my observations that I saw outside the buses' window.
While Tristan, who was sitting next to me, silently read his book.
Like always, we were on our way to school and happened to be on the same bus.
However, on this particular day, I was trying to keep my mind as occupied as possible.
'Cat, dead bird, Soriel, newspa…Wait crap! I thought of her again.'
Ever since the previous day, I caught myself thinking of Soriel more often. Even when she wasn't related to anything else I was thinking of at the time.
Not only that, I began to have an odd feeling every time I thought of her.
'Damn it, this isn't good at all. I can't start liking Soriel, that'll be a pain…especially if she ends up noticing.'
My shoulders slumped and a frown appeared on my face.
Tristan glanced at me for a moment and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
At that moment, I made a decision.
'Forget it. I've gotta get over this.'
A decision to ignore these feelings of mine.
**
"Man, I'm bored," I muttered.
"I can tell," Tristan whispered back.
The two of us sat in math class for our 2nd period.
Since it was a Thursday, Nishimoya and Soriel were also in our class.
"Don't you hate this class too, Soriel?" I asked Soriel who was sitting near me.
"Definitely. I don't mean to be rude, but I just don't find math very interesting," she answered playfully.
I smiled and relaxed back in my seat.
For just a moment, I stared at Soriel.
Blonde hair, amethyst eyes, pale skin…
And a beautiful face.
'Focus!'
I snapped out of my daze and redirected my attention to Mrs. Rivers.
I didn't want to keep being distracted.
"Alright, your tests from last week will now be passed out. Mezcal, please hand out these tests," Mrs Rivers announced.
Just as Mrs. Rivers said, we all had to take a unit test in the previous week.
But I wasn't very worried about it since it didn't feel that difficult while I did it.
One by one, Mezcal, the student Mrs. Rivers called, placed our tests on the respective individual's desk.
Eventually, he reached my desk and put down the test.
Once he did, I picked it up and looked at the score.
'98%…'
I frowned.
Quickly, I scanned the paper to find the mistakes I made.
'I could've swore I got everything right…what did I mess up on?'
It didn't take long for me to find the mistake.
When I did, my eyebrow twitched instinctively.
'I forgot to write the unit…'
Like an idiot, I completely forgot to write the units for the final answers for one of the questions.
Basically ruining my perfect score over a stupid mistake.
'Damn it.'
I gritted my teeth.
I truly was a moron.
**
"Wait, there are subgenres of romance?" Nishimoya asked curiously.
Soriel nodded affirmatively.
"That's right! There's romantic fantasy, sci-fi romance, highschool romance…" Soriel began to list every subgenre she could think of.
Nishimoya's face seemed to get more excited with every genre Soriel listed.
Meanwhile, I just sat and watched them as I ate my sandwich.
It was already our lunch period and the others were talking as per usual.
However, instead of talking after finishing my lunch, I just rested my head on the table.
Noticing this, Soriel turned her head to me.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied calmly.
Soriel tilted her head in curiosity but didn't pry further for the time being.
Then, I noticed Tristan looked up from his book, and our eyes met.
'Oh, it's one of those days.'
We had a mutual understanding.
**
"School was pretty boring today," I said.
"Yeah, it was," Tristan replied.
We both walked through the streets of New York together.
School had ended and we were having a walk.
That school day was an odd day.
Bland, I guess.
I had nothing specific on my mind besides that damned test.
Nothing I really wanted nor needed to talk about.
But I guess Tristan was different.
"You like Soriel, right?" Tristan asked.
I didn't show it, but for a moment it felt as if my heart stopped.
'It was that obvious?!'
My first instinct was to deny Tristan's question but I realized I couldn't.
'If Tristan's willing to speak up about it, then he must be pretty sure already.'
There would be no point in denying his words.
Yet, I was too much of a coward to put it into words.
So I said nothing.
That in itself was an answer.
"I don't know if you've realized it but ever since you first met her, you've started dressing slightly better. And today, you kinda seemed to look at her differently," Tristan explained.
'Really?'
What Tristan was telling me had never even occurred to me until that moment.
It was honestly a shock.
"So, you gonna confess to her?" Tristan asked.
I shook my head.
"Nah," I answered.
I couldn't do such a thing.
It would just be embarrassing.
After what happened with Aurora, I was a bit more hesitant about relationships.
I couldn't completely trust that Soriel wouldn't…you know.
But that was really just an excuse.
The root of the problem was me.
I was unlovable. Or rather undeserving of it.
Or maybe both.
The idea that I could like someone and those feelings would genuinely be returned and I could have a successful relationship with them, was incomprehensible.
I was just that insufferable.
"Hey Tristan," I called out.
"Yeah," he responded.
"Can I go to your house today?" I asked.
"Yeah sure," Tristan said.
And so, the two of us went over to his house.
**
Knock!
Knock!
Tristan knocked on the door of his house and waited patiently.
'I guess he's too lazy to get out his key…'
Tristan's house wasn't an apartment like mine, it was a two story house like Soriel's.
It looked pretty well maintained, even more so than the ones in the surrounding area.
It was a nice sight to behold.
Eventually, someone opened the door.
It was a woman.
She had pale white skin and blonde hair, a complete contrast to Tristan's tan skin and black hair.
"Hey mom. Brought Elliot," Tristan said, pointing to me.
"Hello ma'am," I greeted with a wave.
"Oh hello, nice to see you. Come on in, both of you," Tristan's mom greeted.
The two of us entered inside together as his mother held the door open.
And while Tristan went immediately went to his room I sat down at the dining table with his mom.
"So how is school and everything?" Tristan's mom asked.
"Everything's great," I responded cheerfully.
"How are you?" I asked in response.
"Good," she replied with a smile.
We began to have a little bit of tedious small talk as per usual.
Then, she brought up something interesting.
"Is Tristan doing okay at school?" She asked.
"Hmm? Yes, why do you ask?" I replied.
"It's just that…recently he's been acting a bit detached. Even more than usual. I thought he would've made at least slight improvements by now since it's been a while since we've adopted him but…" She explained solemnly.
Yes, you heard right.
Tristan was adopted.
Due to an incident in the 7th grade, both of Tristan's biological parents had passed, leaving him an orphan.
Then, he was adopted by his current parents leading us to now.
It was a hard life. I knew that.
But there was nothing I knew could help.
There was nothing I could do to help at all.
It was Tristan's lone burden.
"Don't worry. I'll pay more attention to him at school. If there's anything I can do to help just let me know," I said in an attempt at reassurance.
Tristan's mother smiled.
"Thank you," She said calmly.
And so, I stayed at Tristan's house for a little before returning to my own.