Wednesday

“She’s here again.” Mark murmured softly as he heard the gentle rustle of over turned pages and suppressed laughter in the midst of staggered breathing emerge from the  dimly lit and abandoned corridor towards stairway to the school’s rooftop. It’s only source of light was the light post that illuminated behind and after school.

It had been quite a while since school ended, the cool breeze of early March was gradually dropping as the sun slowly set and night took over. Taking in a deep breath of the refreshingly sharp air, as if somehow bracing himself, Mark took fairly long strides and wore an expression on his face that was bordered in the middle of total indifference and extreme curiosity.

“She is here.” He said again in his mind as a confirmation, when he spotted a hooded figure resting just near the stairs leading to the school’s rooftop. With a paper bound in her hands and MP3 player sticking out of her pocket, short barks of laughter would escape her firmly pressed lips, though Mark didn’t know that since the hoodie she wore completely rendered the boy nothing of the her face.

After taking in the girl’s presence, Mark dared to get near to the figure and slump himself just across the girl, he too took out a book and began reading. As dusk began to dig deeper into the remainder of the day, and the occasional flickering of the light post took Mark out of his daze. He spared a glance at his watch, at the b moon and stars, the light post and eventually at the girl herself.

He found out that half an hour had already passed, the moon and stars didn’t look half as bright as the day (or night) before, the light post was still flickering and that the girl was actually reading a manga. She had it positioned just before her face, making the cover completely exposed and her face covered.

“Same series, new volume huh?” Mark caught himself thinking and shook his head. It was strange and outmost creepy that he could take note of such tiny details, but he couldn’t help it. He had had a glimpse of the girl’s reading material the day before when she had placed it on her lap and took out her MP3, to possibly change the song. Mark had seated himself beside the girl that day, since his usual spot (of two days that time) had been wet due to rain. The girl seemed to have been uncomfortable at first but loosened up afterwards.

Comfortable enough to have moved from the statue still stance she had been putting up since he had sat down anyways.

She had been wearing her sweater under her blazer that day too, and the day before that day and the day before that days as well.

 Mark remembered being the first time he saw her.  “Must be because of all this cold.” He thought.

Though his musings and reminiscence of the past two days were cut short when he heard a shrill, high beeping emerge from the girl’s side. The girl noticed a moment too late when she noticed the boy’s staring and looked up to meet eyes with him, to which Mark averted his eyes first.

Taking off one of the buds from her ears, was when she understood the situation at hand. Quickly letting the paperbound out of her hands, she rummaged her bag and swiftly taking out her phone. She stood up hastily, trampling on both of forgotten book and earphone wires.

Fortunately, she caught herself before she ever fell face first on the floor, her book landing cheekily on Mark’s feet and earbuds that were nowhere near her ears and were just lazily resting at her feet. The sweater’s hood  was also swept neatly off her head, exposing her face bare to the boy.

Mark swore that for even for a second that confusion etched the girl’s face. He took it upon himself to hand him both the book and earbuds to the girl, who in exchange gave him a meek bow in appreciation and scampered away from the scene to answer the call.

From the opposite side of the hall, he heard the girl’s voice as she answered the call. “Hello?” her voice was hushed and pleasing to the ears.

Mark simply gave out a smile and returned to gaze and focus unto the book he was reading, careful as to avoid unintentionally eavesdropping on her call.

He kept reading until he noticed the blinking light post had completely gone off, or so he thought. Looking up to see what had happened, he locked eyes with the girl for the second time that day. “Thank you.” She said, not breaking contact with the boy, a tiny grin was playing at her lips.

Mark found himself breathless at first, choked up with the words that were stuck in his throat. “ Ah…. No problem.” He said, giving the girl a friendly smile.

The girl looked alarmed at first, making him wonder whether the lack of lighting made him end  up looking suspicions, though she cleared all the boy’s assumptions when she returned the smile and abruptly turned around to get her bag.

“Well I’ll be taking my leave then.” She said hesitantly as she stood awkwardly with the backpack slung around her shoulder, stuffing her book, phone and MP3 player in it. 

Her face was carved in awkward curiosity, which was unbeknownst by Mark as she stood waiting for the boy’s response.

“I see.” He started off, struggling not to make the conversation too awkward. Quickly searching for the next things to say, he chose the words that first came into mind.

“See you tomorrow then.”

He regretted the choice of words the moment they were out. He saw the girl’s smile go wider, as she gave him a slight bow made a dash out of the building.

Wide eyed, the boy could only watch the girl go out of sight and mused “Well wasn’t that something?”