As she stepped outside, she looked up at the robin egg blue nearly cloudless sky; only a few wispy clouds could be seen passing leisurely through the sky on this calm, average day. Summer was coming to California, so it was nice and warm again, and people were going to the beach more often. Girls were wearing t-shirts and shorts or cropped shirts and short shorts, while guys were once again wearing either muscle shirts or just plain t-shirts and shorts. The usual, casual wear that you’d expect at this time of the year, everyone going about their business, passing each other in small crowds, coming in and out of stores or restaurants. Breathing in the fresh air, she her lips and thought of visiting Teavana. Their tea was always good, and she liked the strawberry misaki there, even if it was a tad expensive. Brushing back a strand of brown hair and tucking it behind her ear, she headed over, pulling out her phone and gazing down, texting away to a message left un-responded to, from a friend. In her peripheral vision she had a good idea what was in front of her, so she managed to walk to her destination while texting away.

   Her thumbs flitting over the keyboard with light, sure taps, stepping out of people’s way while casually making her way towards her destination. The smell of hot tea wafted out from the shop, its doors always seeming open. After hitting the send button, she tucked her phone back into her pants pocket, fully looking up and taking in her surroundings. Instinctively she first went to one of the free sample teas that they were offering today, grabbing a plastic cup and holding it under the nozzle, pushing down on the lever and stopping when it was half way filled. It smelled good to her already, and she blew lightly over it, worried of accidentally burning her tongue. Then she raised the small cup to her lips and drank it slowly, looking around the shop. It held almost the same things every day, but the items in a tea shop still were mildly interesting. She continued wandering the store a bit, tasting the other teas they were allowing people to taste if they so desired. Samples of the teas were always good, and it was fun being able to taste them. One could even stay near and refill the little cups until they had their fill, and the workers never seemed bothered by that much.

  Finally, she headed over to the back of the little store where the workers stood behind the counter, taking people’s orders. Since it was a relatively warm day, she intended to order the cold version of strawberry misaki, yet she figured cold strawberry misaki was better than just warming herself up more. The sun was already doing that for her when she stepped outside, and she had no intention of making herself discomforted with the extra heat stirring around inside her. When it was her turn at last, and the woman behind the counter inquired what she wanted to buy today, she responded in a relatively quiet and shy tone. “One cold strawberry misaki, with sugar.” The woman behind the counter smiled slightly at her and nodded, writing down her order on a slip of paper and asked what her name was. “Alisia.” She responded, watching the woman nod and write her name down, misspelling it and writing it as ‘Alicia’. A small, inaudible sigh escaped her lips as the woman told her it would be ready in ten minutes and that she owed her five bucks for the tea. Nodding slightly, Alisia ped her purse and slipped her hand in, holding it with one hand firmly as she pulled out her black and red cartoon cat wallet and offered the five dollar bill to her.

   When the money was taken, she snapped the wallet closed and put it back in her purse, zipping it back up. Knowing she couldn’t leave the store for the next ten minutes, she wandered around a bit more, examining the goods the store offered a bit more closely to pass the time. Until, that is, she saw the phone light up out of the corner of her eye. Usually that signaled that her someone had texted her and it was a habit of hers now to check her phone on a regular basis to assure she didn’t miss any texts. Unlocking her phone, she hit the Messages icon and read over the text. Then, while seeming to barely eye all the letters she hit, she mostly watched her screen form the letters as her fingers hit the keys accordingly, swiftly pressing the back button when she caught her own typo. Eventually, the woman called out her name, and she headed over, claiming her drink and quietly thanking the woman before leaving the tea shop. For a few minutes she walked around aimlessly, wondering what store she should visit next. It felt kind of nice looking at the stores while walking outside, glancing in to see what they had to offer, while letting the cool breeze brush against her.

  Eventually she went to go sit down at a bench, placing her drink down and brushing her hand through her hair, brushing out whatever tangles might have appeared due to the wind tousling her hair. Straightening out her bangs as to make sure they properly covered her forehead as she intended them to. Sipping at her drink, she began to let her mind wander a bit, trying to plan what she ought to do next, and keeping in mind how much time she had left before she had to head home. Deciding to head back into the inner part of the mall, she picked up her drink, finishing it off and adjusting her purse on her shoulder once more. With that, she headed over to the nearest trash can, dumping her empty cup into the trash. Right then, her phone flashed on of its own accord, and she took it out, reading over the text before unlocking it and replying to it. Yet she was so engrossed in her own text messaging that she failed to hear multiple feet pound against the cement and multiple voices of boys seeming to talk all at once.

  The boys didn’t seem quite aware of their surroundings either, as they chased after a lone piece of the paper that the wind had stolen from them. “Hurry, catch it!!! It’s going that way!!” One of the boys exclaimed as another voice responded “Ugh, I knew it was a bad idea to be alone when we hardly knew the place ourselves….” While yet a third voice responded “Hey, guys!! WAIT!!! LOOK OUT!!!!” Right at that moment, the girl’s eyes looked up and met with a pair of golden brown eyes, and then suddenly she was knocked off her feet. A flash of sky blurred passed and her phone flew out of her hands. Pain coursed through her as she met the ground, wincing as a yelp escaped her. It took a moment to even comprehend her current position, and a little longer to remember what exactly had just happened. Groans of pain met her ears and she winced as she felt others somewhat on top of her move around, seeming to try and get over the shock of collision themselves.

  Frowning, she squirmed a bit and tried to escape out from under them, to no avail. “H-hey…are you guys okay?” She registered as one of the boys who didn’t hit her head on, but was pretty nearby and getting to his feet. ‘Whoa….he’s pretty cute.’ Alisia couldn’t help but think in surprise, he was a dark haired brunette, a grimace on his lips as he was still recovering from falling over. Though as she slowly looked at the other guys who’d fallen over, she realized they were all pretty cute. This was coming from a girl whom had so far deemed most if not all guys at each of her schools unattractive, as they didn’t meet her standard of attractiveness. “Hey, just who exactly did we crash into…?” Yet another one of the guys asked, as he was helped to his feet by the darker brunette. Yet the one who stood out to her was the one with light blonde hair in a ponytail, whom had hit her full on before she could stop herself. “Unnghh…” Oh, well hold on, that wasn’t a girl’s voice at all.

  It was clearly a guy’s voice coming from the blonde, which shocked her more than anything. It had never occurred to her that a guy could truly exist in real life and actually appear this naturally and femininely attractive. “Oi, Ren, you’re alright, right? You got a bit of cushion after all….” The boy teased, and she figured out the blonde was ‘Ren’ since he blushed oh so lightly and responded “Yeah I’m fine.” Golden brown eyes met hers once more and a small frown appeared on her, er, his lips. “….Are you…okay, Miss?” For a brief moment she wondered if she herself was blushing, but she managed to nod. “Yeah, I’m alright. Just surprised.” She offered him a small smile, which he nervously returned after a moment, seeming a bit uncertain. Within another minute or so, the boys had managed to disentangle themselves and the blonde one known as Ren stood up and offered his hand to her. Hesitantly she took his hand and he helped pull her to her feet.

  Unable to help herself, she stole another glance at the feminine cutie among the group. One of the boys came up to her, he had dark brown hair with side bangs, and she noted the pink gloves on his hands. She found it a bit strange that a guy would wear pink colored gloves of all things but decided to push that thought aside for now. “We’re so sorry about that. Are you okay? You’re not…injured or anything are you?” To this she shook her head “No, it’s okay.” She offered a small apologetic smiled. “I should’ve been looking to see where I was going, but I wasn’t….don’t worry though, I’m fine. I don’t even think I have a bruise.” He seemed relieved and relaxed a bit. “Ah, well I’m glad to hear that.” For a moment she hesitated, and then she asked “So why were you guys running and shouting like that for?” The brunette seemed embarrassed when she asked. “Oh, that….you see, we were playing in a contest, sort of like a treasure hunt. But Ren, who was holding it, ended up letting the wind take it almost the moment we got out of the indoor.” The boy glanced at the blonde whom seemed to feel guilty and glanced at the ground. Alisia frowned slightly and responded “Well, I’m sure he didn’t do it on purpose. Y’know? “