Selina sat in her room and tried different ways to put on make-up, but soon realized that she couldn’t even do it half as well as Show. She got very frustrated, and decided to call him.
“Hello?” a voice answered.
“Show?” Selina asked.
“Selina?”
“I have some problems with this whole make-up thing, and I thought it was better to call you…”
“Do you seriously call me at 1 a.m. to ask about make-up?” he yawned, and Selina could hear his bed squeak when he sat up.
She quickly looked at her watch, and saw to her shock that it was past midnight.
“Oh! I’m so sorry, Show, I didn’t mean to wake you up, I just…”
“No problem.” He sounded irritated. She was about to drop the phone in nervousness when she continued.
“I didn’t watch the clock, the time ran from me…”
“I don’t want to hear about why you’re awake at this time,” he sighed, but Selina could hear that he had softened a bit.
“Uhm… Okay… I just…” She had suddenly forgotten why she actually called in the first place.
“If you have problems with the make-up, then I can come over tomorrow before school.” Oh yes. That was the reason. But…
“O-over to me?” This didn’t promise well.
“Yeah, I could show you how to use the make-up,” he said, getting a keener tone in his voice.
“No, you really don’t have to, I can just walk over to you like today or just wait or just ask Jolin or just…” She definitely couldn’t let him see how she lived, or how her father just lied on the couch and slept it off. She had seen how clean and stylish he lived, and it would make her incredibly embarrassed if he saw her poor house.
“Stop that nonsense; I’ll come over tomorrow… Goodnight, and go get some sleep.” He hung up on the phone. Damn.

The next day, Selina most of all wanted to stay in bed.
Not that it was a new feeling. But before, it was because she was afraid of going to school, being in school and go home from school, because it meant being bullied and mocked.
Now it was because she was afraid of that Show, Hebe, Ella and Jolin would take distance from her if they saw her pitiful environment. That was when she realized that they actually had the power to make her the school’s taunting-object again.
She slowly stood up and despondently opened the closet to find some clothes. There were so many different pieces, what in the world should she choose? This whole thing had happened so fast that it had exceeded her limits.
She was so tired from all the transforming and suddenly changing her whole style and appearance, plus the new kind of attention. When she let her thoughts fly, she started thinking if it was all a dream, or if Ella, Hebe and Jolin had another motive behind all this. Maybe they just wanted to make her look bad in front of the school in a more complicated way. Maybe it was all fake, and this was just a new angle of entrance to taunt her.
But of some reason she never thought of Show being a part of the plot. His voice always made her relax, even though his way of talking was kind of girly – it still didn’t change the calm and convenient tone under his voice. She knew why he was popular, and it wasn’t all because of his fashion-sense and make-up talents. It was because he helped people with his skills.
Thinking about this woke Selina up and made her a bit happier, though a bit more nervous, but she took out some clothes (she tried her best to match it) and took them on, brushed her hair and teeth and walked out to make some breakfast.
As usual, her dad lied on the couch, snoring. The unusual thing was that her mother wasn’t awake yet. Selina hurried into her mother’s room to wake her up if she was still sleeping, so that she could get to work, but the only thing she found was a letter:
“My dearest Selina
I can’t tell you where I am, or why I have to be there. This must be shocking for you, but I won’t be back for probably a long time – I don’t know how long yet.
I am sure you can take good care of yourself. I have saved up some money for you, because I knew this time would come. They are in a locked box under this bed, and the key is in the lowest shelf in the bookcase. It should be enough.
You are a strong girl, and I am sure you can handle it.
About your dad – let him be, but don’t give him any money. These are yours, and he can work if he wants some.
- Mom”
Selina could feel the tears take shape in her eyes. The letter was written with her mother’s beautiful, swung handwriting, which Selina had loved since she was young. There was a spot from a tear on the paper. Her mom had cried. And now tears from Selina’s eyes also dropped on the paper.
Why did her mom have to leave? Why couldn’t she at least tell her the reason? And it wasn’t like her life was easy in the first place. What if her mom never came back? Was that a possibility?
The doorbell rang. . Selina had forgotten everything about Show.
She dried her eyes with a quick move, even though it was still very obvious that she had cried, and she still sniffled when she opened the front door.
“Hey Selina, are you ready to… what’s wrong?” His voice changed from happily to worrying.
“N-nothing…” Selina dried her eyes again.
“There obviously is.” He sounded a bit confused. “Let’s get inside… have you gotten breakfast yet?”
He followed Selina inside, and didn’t comment the small and shabby house. But he stopped hesitating when he saw her dad.
“Who is that?” he asked, like he had seen a ghost.
“My dad…” Selina sniffled.
“Your… dad?” He wrinkled his nose like he had smelled something unusually disgusting.
“He is just drunk… Don’t mind him,” she said, with nearly no feeling in her voice. Her dad didn’t mean much to her, at least not at this moment.

“So tell me… what happened? You look drenched.” They sat in each side of the table and drank some coffee.
“You don’t have to worry… it doesn’t matter.” Selina didn’t want his pity. She had never needed anyone’s pity; she didn’t pity herself, and nobody had ever pitied her. Her mother had taught her to face challenges and learn from them. By the thought of her mother, she had to look down. She didn’t want Show to see her tears.
“Look, I have a great insight in girls’ minds, and if you have love-problems, you can feel free to discuss it with me, because I also like guys the m…”
“It’s not a love problem!” Selina said loudly. Show looked baffled. Selina had tears running down her cheeks.
“First, I wouldn’t CRY because of a love problem. Second, I’ve never had one. Third, I don’t think I’m going to, because I can’t imagine the guy who would like Uglina.”
Show still sat frozen and stared at her.
“And fourth… It’s about my mother, and it isn’t anything of your business.”
Show’s soul finally came back.
“Okay, okay, you don’t have to get angry,” he said in a really girly tone and picked on his earring.
“I just want to know what troubles you. About your mom – where is she? I haven’t met her yet.” He looked around like he expected that she would jump out of the cupboard.
“She isn’t here…” Selina said abandoning. She could feel that he would keep asking if she didn’t just tell him. She gave him the letter.
He started to frown as he read it, and blinked a few times when he was done, before he read it again.
“Why would your mom leave you alone?” he asked. The girly tone was all gone.
“How should I know? She didn’t write it in the letter.” Selina tried to sound harsh, but it didn’t work.
“This is really weird… You really had no idea that this would happen?” He still frowned, and studied the letter.
“No, she didn’t tell at all, she just…” Her voice cracked, “…left.” She laid her head down in her arms on the table and started to cry seriously.
Show didn’t know what to do. He was used to assist at girls’ boy-problems – he knew everything that was going on of that kind in the school – but this exceeded what he could handle. He ended up laying his hand comforting on Selina’s back. She sobbed and tried to get her voice under control.
“I don’t know what to d-do… I never thought she would just l-leave like t-this… She always helps me with e-everything and doesn’t even want me to w-work because she doesn’t w-want me to get s-sick… She n-never…” Selina collapsed in tears again.
“Just cry it out,” Show said.
“W-what?” She hadn’t expected this kind of reaction.
“Crying spreads a calming effect throughout your body. After crying, we can discuss what we should do.” He patted her a little on the back. Selina took a deep breath and dried her eyes.
“We only have a quarter before we have to be in school, but it can wait. The teacher will understand, especially if I use The Glance…”
Selina didn’t have the energy to ask what he meant with ‘The Glance’.
“Wait a sec.” she said, and a few minutes later, she came back with the box with the money.
“Wow, she has really saved up… But if you need any more, you can just tell me, okay?” he smiled.
“My parents will also help, I am sure. If you need help, just call me, ‘and I will be the-ere’,” he sang the last piece. Randomness.
“Are you okay?”
Selina sniffled and nodded, before she got on her feet.
“I’ll pack my bag…” she said.
“I’ll go with you! We still have to lay make-up, you know!” His voice turned back on the fanatic-girly channel.

After a few minutes, they were on their way to the school. Selina’s mind was still all messed up, and she speculated on how she should tell her father. She had the letter with her in her pocket.
They arrived in the last minute for school, and rushed to their different classrooms. Selina had found out that Ella, Hebe and Jolin were in the same class, while Show was in another.
She came inside the door only ten seconds before the teacher. Her classmates started whispering when she sat down and took out her books. She had forgotten one in the hurry.
The teacher started talking.
“Please look at page 16 in your textbook. Today we’re going to work with…”
Selina raised her hand.
“Yes?” the teacher asked.
“Miss, I don’t have my textbook, I think I forgot it,” she said, but some of the boys immediately started to laugh loudly.
“What is it?” the teacher asked them irritated.
Through his tears of laughter, one of the boys pointed out of the window. There, on the roof of the opposite building, there was a book. Selina’s textbook.
“How did it get there?” the teacher exclaimed, when she looked out of the window. Selina lowered her gaze. It wasn’t over yet. A new look didn’t make her popular, but that was also what Ella, Hebe and Jolin had said. She shouldn’t have gotten careless enough to leave her bag in the classroom when they had break yesterday.
“It was… haha… Joe Cheng from the other class…” a guy laughed.
“Then I will tell him to go get it back,” the teacher said, and walked out of the classroom. A tear ran down from Selina’s eye. This was just the last thing she needed right now.

When she walked out of the classroom, Show was already waiting outside.
“Why are you here?” Selina asked surprised.
“To follow you to the others in the schoolyard. Seriously, do you think there’s one single person in the whole school who doesn’t know about the book-thing? It would be easy to attack you if you walked around alone.”
She suddenly got a deep feeling of gratitude towards him. They started to walk towards the schoolyard, and spotted the three girls in the corner. Some nerdy looking guys were stalking them a bit away. Show walked over to the guys and Selina followed. He pricked one of them on the shoulder. When the guy turned around, he exclaimed an ‘Aah!’ in shock, with made the other guys turn around too.
“What are you looking at?” Show asked in a very friendly tone, like he was talking to a little child.
“We… we just… uhm… What is SHE doing here?” the guy pointed at Selina.
“Answer my question and get your sight away from my girlfriends,” Show said. Selina was surprised by the choice of words – girlfriends – but then realized that he meant it like female friends, and just talked like he was a girl himself.
“Your…?” one of the guys also wondered, but Show just gave him a ‘your speech-time is over’, and then they quickly got away.
“Giiirls!” he shouted to Ella, Hebe and Jolin. They turned their heads his way and waved.
He walked quickly over with Selina right behind him.
“Air-huuuuug!” he said happily when he was close enough to Jolin. He air-hugged and air-kissed Jolin two times before he did the same to Hebe and Ella.
When Selina just considered going to the toilet to puke, someone pricked her shoulder. She quickly turned around, and looked into a smiling guy’s face.
“Hey,” Jiro said.
“H-hey…” Selina said hesitating. She could see three other guys standing a bit away, looking half annoyed and half interested.
“I heard about what Joe did to you this morning. Are you okay?” His voice was very calm and warm, and reminded her of someone.
“Yes, that isn’t my biggest problem right now,” she said a bit sadly.
“Oh, I see.” Jiro thought she was hinting to the scenery behind her, where Show now chatted with the three other girls like they were all ‘girlfriends’.
“No no, it’s not that!” she quickly said, and blushed.
“Show and the others are very nice to me, and without them I would still be… ugly,” she continued.
“You’ve never been ugly, you just didn’t know how to get the best out of your appearance,” he smiled. Selina blushed deeper. Now she seriously wanted to puke.
“Uhm… do you want to go to a café with me, Aaron, Chun and Calvin after school? It would be nice,” he said.
“Can I take Show and the others with me?” she asked hesitating. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. She was used to not to trust people, and would feel safer if a person like Ella was by her side in such a situation.
Jiro wrinkled his nose.
“If you really can’t go without them,” he finally said. He looked at Show in a weird way. At the same time, Show also saw what was going on, and his smile was immediately gone. He quickly walked over.
“What are you doing?” Show’s voice had a harsh tone that she had never heard before. But his eyes also glinted of confusedness.
“I’m talking to her, do you have a problem?” Jiro talked back. His eyes were calm, but had a slight glint of amuse, and something else that Selina couldn’t define.
“Hey-hey, calm down guys,” Hebe said jollily, when she, Jolin and Ella also came over.
“I just asked Selina if she would go to a café with me and the guys …” He laid a pressure on ‘guys’ and looked smirking at Show. “… but she would not go without you four.”
Ella, Hebe and Jolin looked surprised at each other. Show had pinched his lips together to a thin line.
“Well of course we will go!” Jolin exclaimed happily.
“Yeah, that will be cosy!” Just so typical Hebe to use such kinds of words.
“What are you saying, Show?” Ella asked.
Show cleared his throat and smiled.
“I don’t have any problem with it,” he said, smiled to Jiro and waved at the other three guys who stood a little away. They however looked a bit impatient.
“Looking forward to see you then. We’ll meet in front of the school after the last classes, ok?” Jiro said, mostly turned to Selina. She nodded, and he walked back the other three.
“That is great, Selina! See, you already capture the interest of popular guys! And their friends,” Ella said, with sparkling eyes.
“Why were you so harsh, Show?” Hebe asked.
“What? Oh, just thought Selina might have enough troubles already… There is actually a thing we need to talk about, come over here in the corner,” he said, and began walking.
“Show, it really isn’t important, they don’t have to bother…” Selina began, but Show cut her off.
“What could be more important than this?! Remember that you are talking to a person who has never known his mother!” he said, obviously a bit more indignant than he had wanted it.
There was silent for a bit, while they walked.
“I’m sorry, Show. I didn’t know. I just don’t want them to worry about it,” Selina said, and looked down while she blushed. Ella, Hebe and Jolin looked curiously from the one to the other.
“It’s okay. But it is best that they know what is going on,” Show said a bit silencer. They all sat down on a bench, and Selina slowly took out the letter and gave it to the three girls. They read in silence, and looked baffled up when they were done.
“How can this be? And why is she so heartless to your father?” Ella asked.
“Oh, you haven’t seen her father,” Show broke in.
“And I don’t know. I don’t have the slightest idea,” Selina said.
“Isn’t it superfluous to say that we will help with everything we can?” Hebe asked.
Selina sniffled. The tears started to run again, but this time because of the sudden deep, happy feeling inside her.
“Thank you so much,” she whispered. So this was how it felt to have friends.

***
¤¤¤ IMPORTANT ¤¤¤
I’m going to Paris until Friday next week, so I unfortunately can’t update before that :/ But it would be really, really, extremely nice if you commented, so I can see that you haven’t forgotten me :]
Wow – I can’t even remember when I last updated. I’m so sorry :’( hope this is long enough to make up for it :p
And again, please please please comment, it would be so amazing :]
I love to write about Show’s character xD And now Jiro has seriously appeared…
Hope you liked it :}
- Blitz