| teenage dirtbags

"these teenagers! all they do is give inconvenience! when will they learn?!" ruan opens her eyes as she heard the sudden shouting outside of their house. ruan sat up, rubbing her eyes as she tried to brush off the heavy feeling in her eyelids.  "what was that?" she muttered, hands looking out for the curtains as she opened the window and saw an old man yelling outside.

"you! youngsters never learn!" another shout, the bright sunlight forcefully opening her eyes, watching from her window she saw an old man, holding a stick and two girls in the other side.

"mister! we are so sorry!" the other one stated, her hair black and shorter, almost like a middle length one that reached up on her shoulders, the other one whose hair was black with a tint of blonde streaks along her long locks.

"come on man! stop yelling already!" the other one stated, pouting, ruan sighed, shaking her head as she got up and ran down to their front yard where the chaos was happening.

"mister! please calm down! i'll take care of this!" ruan stated, bowing her head as she faced the two girls almost the same age as her.

there was a visible confusion on their faces but other one with pure relief.

"right ruan, thank you please tell those punks to stop playing near other people's house!" the older man yelled, pointing the stick to the girls.

"okay, man next time just tell us and stop yelling!" the girl with long black locks stated, then pointing at ruan.

"look! you woke her up!" then continued.

ruan sighed and shook her head. "no it is okay." the man left, with a grumble— cursing under his breath.

"you guys okay?" ruan asked both girls who nodded. "yeah we are." the raven haired girl stated.

"yeah, that man aish... so loud!" the other girl said.

ruan laughed sheepishly and scratched her pink hair.

"sorry about that, he's getting older." ruan stated, the short haired girl glanced at her friend. "see youngeun, don't ever raise your voice at them again okay?" the so called 'youngeun' groaned but nodded.

"sure kotone." oh.

so kotone and youngeun.

ruan bowed, then stretching out her hand to offer a handshake.

"ruan ikema, sorry for that again." ruan introduced herself, as kotone tried reaching for her hand, youngeun came first with a smile, surprising ruan.

"hi ruan! i am seo youngeun." youngeun shook her hand for a few second before letting go and standing beside kotone.

kotone smiled before reaching ruan's hand and gently shaking it, different from the other girl.

"kamimoto kotone." kotone introduced herself, before gently letting go of ruan's hand, ruan smiled, her hand shaking as she gently placed it on her side.

"what happened by the way? i just woke up because of the loud screaming from mister." ruan asked, looking at the two girls, youngeun glanced at kotone, who looked back at her as they shrugged.

"we were playing softball and youngeun accidentally threw the ball so high near their front yard." kotone pointed out to the house next to ruan's family, but the ball wasn't visible in their position.

"yeah and all we wanted was to get it but we were only yelled by the old man, we haven't gotten it." youngeun responded, and pleaded. "please get it for us."

ruan heaved a soft laugh, sheepishly facing the house next to theirs as she walked off followed by youngeun and kotone.

near the doghouse was the ball, gently laying down near the stand.

"oh," ruan muttered before breathing heavily and smiling at the two girls behind her.

"i'll take care of this." she said.

entering the front yard she speaks: "mister may i take a look at shiba?" ruan asked, carefully stepping a foot at the ground.

"yes you may ruan!" shouted from the inside of the house, behind the walls of the front yard— youngeun and kotone hid carefully.

"hey there," ruan crouched as she gently pats the big dog's head and then reached for the ball, as she was about to stand up, the dog started barking at youngeun and kotone.

"what the—" said by youngeun before she was pulled by kotone.

ruan shushed the dog even before the old man could react and left, softly trudging against the fallen leaves of the trees.

as soon as ruan gets back to the alley, she saw youngeun and kotone standing next to each other, ruan smiled at kotone before throwing the softball to her.

"be careful next time." she said before entering their house.

happy as she was, she slumped back on her bed and think when will she meet them again.

°°°°°°

"ruan!" hearing the familiar voice, ruan turned her head at the sight of an older girl.

"manami!" she greeted at her senior, who was also her close friend.

people had always thought and always saw them as friends at the same age, i mean manami doesn't even look like she age, at all.

"my sunday was so boring, i did nothing all day." manami stated as she walked off inside the school ground side by side with ruan.

ruan laughs. "really, i met two new girls yesterday morning, as soon as i woke up i heard screaming from our neighbor and saw two girls." ruan paused, before they stopped in front of their lockers to pick up their slippers.

"well, found out their names and they were playing softball, and old man got mad at them for it." ruan continued.

"are they new? you seem to not know them." manami asked as she waits for ruan to finish fixing her things.

"probably, but we never know?" yes, ruan doesn't know, will she see kotone— youngeun again?

will destiny tie them up together for another chance to meet and get to know each other?

if only,

if only destiny would be a lot kinder to her.

as soon as she opened their classroom she was greeted by the familiar sight, ezaki hikaru, hirokawa mao, yoon jia, and other classmates she would rather not name one by one.

the discussion went on and on until followed by recess where she talked a lot with her friends, then discussion again, lunch she went out to meet manami and other friends from other classes and years.

before she blinked and it was already dismissal.

dismissal, huh?

time surely pass by so fast.

she actually agreed to meet up with manami in their rooftop but she was greeted with the news that manami would be later than usual.

but she still walked off, making her way to the stairs and opening the door to be greeted with a girl the same height as her,

short hair flowing to her shoulders, as she stood there doing absolutely nothing but think.

"excuse me?" ruan excused herself as she entered, the girl barely registered her voice but she turned back.

eye to eye, she sees kotone.

the sun, it was orange, pinkish or whatever, the clouds they were whole, the wind it was strong.

everything illuminated on kotone as she faced ruan.

"ruan?" kotone muttered, before smiling brightly, there was a spark— ruan wouldn't lie, the glint in kotone's eyes, it was so pretty, bright and full of interest into something unknown.

"hey, kotone." ruan smiled back, honest, waving her hands.

"i didn't expect to see you here." kotone stated, as she followed ruan with her gaze.

ruan nodded, standing next to kotone.

"me too, i didn't expect to see you again actually, i thought we'd only meet once."

giggling, kotone beamed at ruan. "well i forgot to tell you we actually moved in a few blocks from your house."

ruan smiled, a big one, bigger than what it usually was.

she was happy, relieved.

that she gets to see kotone again, it is a weird feeling but welcomed.

ruan liked it.

and for some reason she wanted to spend more time with kotone and just, you know? talk, watch the sunset.

ruan, for some reason kind of forgot about manami, ignoring the consecutive vibration of her phone as she stared at kotone who just stared at the sunset.

kotone looked at her, there was sparks, like literally, like seeds that bloom one by one inside ruan's chest, covering her ribcages and making it harder for her to breath.

"i'm from the other class by the way."

°°°°°

"i forgot about manami, i didn't see her text." ruan stated as she went downstairs along with kotone.

"is there something wrong?" kotone asked, genuinely curios or concerned.

"oh, no. she just told me she'd be later and will go home, i didn't see the message." ruan explained as they took turns to the lockers and got their things.

"wanna come home with me then?" ruan stopped from her actions as she heard the invitation.

looking up she saw kotone's eye glimmer in hope.

so she nodded.

"sure!"

ruan was nervous, no she was anxious?

no she doesn't get it.

her heart was beating fast, she desperately held on kotone's waist as the other girl pedals their way in the alley.

she was offered a ride home, in a bike.

their bodies having an indirect contact behind the almost thin fabrics of their uniforms.

she wonders, does kotone hear it?

her heart beating that is.

she wind sways, blowing non-stop as kotone continued to pedal through.

sky was getting darker than before.

and for goodness sake all she can hear was the crickets, her heartbeat thumping on her chest and kotone's soft breathing.

and it made her crazy, so crazy.

but then everything stops as kotone paused and ruan was awaken back to the reality to open her eyes and see that she was in front of their house, so she hopped down, dusting her skirt, mustering all her courage and facing kotone with a smile.

"thanks..." suddenly she felt shy.

kotone swore she saw ruan's cheeks flush but decided to ignore it.

"welcome." smiling, kotone waved and left.

and for the first time, ruan felt so happy.

so happy and contented.