Winter’s POV

I was about to rush off to the girl’s restroom to meet Ningning, but I turned around to see a confused looking Giselle. She raised her eyebrows at me. I think she’s now judging me for crouching next to a bin.

“I -I’m just having period cramps.” I stood up and hugged my stomach while faking intense pain.

Giselle narrowed her eyes on me. She has a sharp mind, much like her gaze right now.

“I know you can get away with lying on the phone,” She smirks as she continues. “But you are a terrible liar face to face.”

My friend saw right through my lie. She’s one of the smartest in the school. She knows me well enough too, so I bow lowered my head in defeat. I take a small breath before explaining the situation to Giselle. She doesn’t like Karina for some reason, but I can use this to my advantage. Maybe she can help me persuade Ningning in reconsidering her: Let’s be friends - to Karina.

Speaking of Karina, I looked over my shoulder to see she’s still there sitting alone with her back facing Giselle and I.

“I’ll explain, but not here.” I said quietly.

Giselle looked confused, but nodded her head anyway. After walking in silence down to the least used basketball court inside, I stop and explain. I was hoping Giselle would understand even if I didn’t reveal Karina’s past. I was wrong. She looked surprised by my words.

“I know I don’t like her and all, I understand that you want Ningning to be alright etc, but…” Her voice fades away.

“But?” I prompt her, wanting to understand why she won’t help.

She looked away and tried not to show her face.

“That’s Ningning’s call to make. Not yours.” She finally met my eyes with her own. “Just what happened between you and Karina for you to say all this?” 

The look on her face is encouraging, but I’m not ready to tell Giselle about what happened in the past. I remained silent, as I have been for years now. My friend looked disappointed after she realised she wasn’t going to get an answer. She sighed in defeat and looked up at the basketball hoop towering above us.

“Whatever happened, it didn’t happen yesterday, right?” She looked down to see me reluctantly nod my head. “I’m sure Ningning will lose interest after being ignored a few times, don’t stress too much.” She states the facts and gives me a comforting pat on the shoulder.

I can’t help but smile back at my friend. I hope she’s right. I pulled out my phone and texted Ningning to say that I’ve recovered. She replied saying: As long as you’re okay! 

I’m grateful to have such good friends. I found myself smiling at the texts and then to Giselle who returned the smile.

Karina’s POV

I continued eating my breakfast in the cafeteria. Once I finished, I threw the rubbish in the bin. If only stress could be thrown in the bin as easily. I can feel eyes on me as I walk to class. I instinctively pull out my phone to text my ex, but I quickly delete it. It was out of habit. We usually greet each other via text, but now I’ve lost the only person I really hung out with. I was going from one train of thought to another. I was thinking so much, I didn’t realise someone was approaching me.

“Karina!” I instantly recognize that voice.

Ningning jumps right in front of me. How old is she?

“Let’s be friends!” She said that again with enthusiasm.

I feel a bit confused, until I remember her thanking me a lot from yesterday. Ningning must not be used to people standing up for her. She’s smiling at me while waiting for my response. I want to reject that suggestion. 

“No.” I answer with the same amount of enthusiasm/ sarcasm.

hung open and I smiled at my victory. She then began to pout.

“That’s not very nice.” She mumbled.

“I’m not, move.” I resumed walking to the classroom.

That must not have been a clear enough hint that I didn’t want to talk, because I can hear her whining. Causing a scene in front of what other students are here.

“Why?” She whined.

I started walking faster. But she’s right behind me. I can hear how close she is. This is harassment! Can’t she tell I don’t like her? I can hear people start their usual: wow she’s really rude. Their comments are like bullets, hitting me where it hurts. I just want some peace and quiet.

“Please?” She started to beg. “I won’t talk too much, I just want to be friends, please?”

I abruptly stopped in my tracks, making Ningning bump into me. I spun around and looked at her without any apprehension.

“Fine.” I quickly whispered to her through my smile. “Just be quiet.”

Ningning’s face brightened up and in an instant she was smiling again. I brought my finger to my lips to tell her to be quiet when I saw she was about to make a big deal about it. She nodded and saluted me.

We were walking to class when I saw Winter and her friend Giselle. The vice president and her sidekick looked shocked when she saw Ningning by my side. 

“Guys!” Ningning runs up to her friends. “Karina and I are friends now!”

She jumps for joy, but the other’s eyes widened in response. The vice president looked especially shocked. She looked between Ningning and I. 

“Is that true?” Winter asked me quietly.

I broke eye contact with her and shrugged. 

“I guess.” was all I said.

“She means ‘Yes’.” Ningning said.

I don’t know why, but Winter looked sad for a split second, before she covered it with a smile. Ningning looked like a brilliant idea struck her, because she pulled out her phone and began tapping away. Giselle peered over her friend’s shoulder and asked her what she was doing.

“Karina, can I add you to our group chat?” Ningning startled us all, she noticed and said: “What?”

Before I could respond however, Giselle spoke up.

“No way!” She rejected the idea, but I expected that from her. “Are you crazy?”

“Don’t be mean.” Ningning shot back.

While those two went back and forth Winter walked up to me. Worry was evident on her face. She swallowed her worries then asked to speak to me alone. Her voice was low enough while the other two were bickering. I gave her a nod, wanting to get away from that noise. We were walking nowhere in particular, she seemed to be in deep thought.

“Talk.” I say as I stopped walking.

We were far away from Ningning and Giselle’s arguing by now. There were less students here, but they were all basically busy in their own circle of friends to notice us.

“Why…” I heard her mumble. 

She turned around and stared at me. She got closer and looked me in the eyes, as if she was looking for something.

“Why are you like this?” She finally finished her sentence.

I felt offended until she continued.

“We used to be friends, didn’t we?” She was fidgeting with her uniform.

I was surprised she brought that up. I stayed quiet for a moment.

“That was a long time ago.” I said slowly.

She nodded her head and stopped fidgeting to look up at me.

“I know.” Winter sighed. “I just wanted to say this: I know we can’t go back and change what happened in the past-”

I shut my eyes tightly trying to push back the memories. I succeed and continue to listen.

“I just want you to promise me that you won’t hurt her.” She looked at me with a serious gaze.

I returned the look, but I faltered when she reached out to me. I took a step back.

“Promise me.”

“I’m not that person anymore.” I respond, feeling like I’m still being judged. “Like I said, that was a long time ago. Besides…” I get into her personal space and look down on her, making her eyes widen. “She’s not the one that took away the closest person to me.” I referred to Kim.

Winter’s eyebrows nearly connected since she didn’t look happy to hear that. I watched as she walked away from me and back to her bickering friends. I saw her slim figure disappear around the corner. I have a distant look in my eyes.

I didn’t realise Winter let what happened years ago bother her to this day. She always looks so happy and friendly. Where as I’m the opposite. I keep my distance from others by scaring them off. I keep people at arms length, because I don’t want to hurt anyone. We couldn’t be more different from each other. Winter’s right to be hesitant.

My heart feels restricted and it hurts. I hear the bell ring and make my way to class. 

The day goes by quicker, having Ningning for company can be sore for my ears, but she helps me feel less alone. When the final bell rings, I make my way to the room where detention is held. When I get in there and take my seat, I see Winter making her rounds, checking to see each student write their lines or other things like homework. I ended up writing down something and screwing it into a ball. I flicked it next to me, catching Winter’s attention in the process. She breathed a sigh again and picked it up. I watched her do a double take when looking at it. It said: Read Me. She looked at me, in response I continued writing my letter to the principal for breaking the school’s rule.

I stole a glance to see that she was already looking at me. She was standing there frozen. I looked away then back at her to see she was also writing on a piece of paper. I looked away as she placed the piece of paper in front of me. It said: 

“It’s in the past, but thank you for your apology Karina. Please finish up your apology for the incident then I’ll put in a good word for you, that way you don’t have to come to detention more. I know you don’t like it here”

I don’t know why, but my vision began to blur. A few drops fell on the paper, I quickly wiped my eyes and put the note in my pocket for safe keeping. 

I looked up at her and our eyes met. She gave me a small smile, I gave her a nod and wrote the apology letter faster.

'Thank you.' I thank her in my mind.