Selina was actually happy that she didn’t have to go straight home to her father. She was extremely nervous for the meeting with Jiro and his friends later, but was really thankful to Ella, Hebe, Jolin and Show because they would go with her. Even though she still had a slight urge to vomit when she listened to Show talking like a girl. It felt so unnatural.
When Show and Jolin walked a bit in front of them, Selina silently asked Ella and Hebe:
“How can you stand that he acts that way all the time? It feels so… unnatural.”
“Unnatural? I love it! He is the coolest guy I know, you can talk to him about all kinds of girly stuff, he is an expert in fashion, make-up and hair, you can even compare boy-taste with him. It feels so great to have a friend who is a guy, who you aren’t in danger of,” Hebe said and smiled.
“Danger?” Selina asked wondering.
“Yeah, you know, there’s always a slight possibility of guy-friends to fall in love with you,” Ella said, like it was something there couldn’t be doubt about.
“Oh… I see,” Selina said. Well, maybe it was right. And it wasn’t really all the time he acted that way anyway; it was mostly when he chatted with the girls.
Meanwhile, they had reached the school gate, but Jiro, Aaron, Chun and Calvin weren’t there yet.
“Does their schedule end later?” Show asked, when they all stood in front of the school.
“Maybe they just…” Ella started, but was cut off.
“Pst!” someone called from a bush. They all looked in the direction and saw the guy who obviously was Chun, waving at them.
They looked surprised at each other, before Ella as the first walked towards the bush.
“Jiro and the other two are waiting a bit away form here, but we had to run from a huge group of cheerleaders… It was quite scary,” Chun said while he made his way out of the bush and brushed some leafs out of his hair. The others stared at him. Selina wondered if this was normal for these sport-stars, because it didn’t seem like Show, Jolin, Ella and Hebe had ever been forced to hide in a bush.
“Follow me,” Chun said after checking that he’d got no more leafs on him. He started walking and they followed, with Selina as the last. At least until Jolin shouted from the front, that she had something to tell Selina, and Selina had to run forwards to walk next to her.
“What is it?” Selina asked out of breath after running.
“Well, in two weeks, my parents will have a huge crowd of guests in the weekend, so they want me out of the house. Therefore, I’ll be in our vacation villa – or, one of them – in South Taiwan. I may bring as many friends as I want – will you come?” Jolin asked relaxed, like this was something that happened every day to her.
“Uhm… Me?” Selina asked nervously.
“Yeah, of course! Show, Ella and Hebe are coming too, so I thought we could continue on your Transformation Program. And of course relax in the swimming pool and such,” Jolin said smiling. Selina thought about it. So many things had happened lately, so she nearly couldn’t cope with it. But maybe it would actually help to get a little away from it.
“Aren’t your parents a bit worried about letting Show – as a guy – live in the villa with four girls?” she asked.
“Does that mean you will come along?” Jolin looked happy.
“I think.”
“Great! And no, why should they? First, they trust me and give me adult status in our family. Second, they know Show very well, also about his taste,” she explained.
“But anyway, when has this Chun-guy walked enough? Ella seems to chat fine with him though,” she continued, and nodded in the direction of a happy Ella chatting with a smiling Chun.
Hebe also seemed to be tired of walking, or else she just didn’t want one of her best friends to get stolen away.
“When are we done walking?!” she shouted forwards, but she hadn’t needed to ask. Jiro, Aaron and Calvin were waiting around the next corner.
“Hey girls… And guys, but they are not as important, right?” the guy named Calvin said nonchalant, and walked towards them with his hands in his pockets.
“Agree… Hey Selina!” Jiro said, and half-ran to Selina’s side and offered his arm. Jolin – to Selina’s other side – smirked and pushed the baffled Selina in the side when nobody saw it, so Selina bumped into Jiro and was forced to take his arm to cover over it. Jiro smiled, and didn’t see the killer-gaze Show sent him. Jolin did. But she didn’t think further about it, because Calvin entered a conversation with her about her new shirt. Aaron chatted with Show and Hebe, while Chun and Ella still walked in front towards a little café on the next corner.
“Was school okay today? If we forget about the Joe-thingy,” Jiro asked.
“Oh… Yes, it was okay,” Selina answered. Even though it was a big lie; someone had also taken her History book and thrown it in a toilet. No one would tell her who did it. But it still had become better – now it was only some persons who were really against her, and not collectively the whole school. Some had actually said hello to her during the day. Mainly members of Show’s fanclub.
“That’s good. Oh, there’s the café!”
They all sat down around a table, and the rest of the afternoon was mostly spent on chatting and discussing between them all. Even though Selina didn’t say much, she listened closely and felt that she came to know the eight other persons better and better. Calvin, Aaron and Chun, who she hadn’t talked to before, was much nicer than she had expected. Of course Calvin’s everlasting, corny compliments, Aaron’s very deep interest in cheese and Chun’s eating habits seemed quite funny, it was actually also quite charming.
Chun and Show had cake-eating competition to the last. Which was when the café ran out of cakes, so they couldn’t finish the match. Or, the café refused to sell them more cakes, because they else wouldn’t have enough for the other guests, and the baker had gone home. They also refused to let Chun and Show borrow the kitchen.
“Oh well, they aren’t as good as my mother’s cakes anyway,” Show said and stretched his arms.
“Your mother has got a bakery?” Chun asked. And then they had a new conversation topic.
What confused Selina was that Jiro often looked at Show and then laughed a bit to himself, like the sight amused him. Whenever Show noticed it, he frowned confused and tried to keep his attention to something else (cakes). When they chatted, it seemed completely normal, but Selina seriously couldn’t figure out what was going on.
What confused Show was the way Jiro looked at Selina. Of course it was also the flirting way that made the other girls smirk and nod understanding to each other. Maybe Jiro had made it sound like a friend-come-together event, but there was no doubt about his real purpose. The confusing thing was that there was something else behind his gaze, which Show couldn’t define. He didn’t like it. It was like a fox looking at a rabbit. He got a cold feeling inside when he saw it, but was still extremely curious about this guy. He didn’t know exactly where to place him before he got the full story from his father, and that didn’t seem like it was going to happen.

Selina had nearly forgotten everything about the home she had to return to, before Jiro offered to follow her home. She declined. It was already bad enough that Show had seen how she lived, had he had even been well-mannered enough not to comment it.
She walked slowly home after saying goodbye to all the others. When she came to the front door, she thought about how long her mother intended to stay away. The half of her still believed that it was all a dream, and that her mother would wait inside and ask her if she wanted some dinner. But when she walked into the house, there was no one – not even her father, but he was never home in the evenings anyway.
She dropped her bag and looked around. She was not hungry, so she decided not to have dinner. If her mother was here, she would have forced her to eat some, because else she wouldn’t have energy in the morning. But Selina was so full of cakes and hot chocolate so she couldn’t stand the thought of eating more.
She took out the letter and the box with money and looked at it. She could the letter by heart, but she hadn’t looked closer at the box. There was a whole lot of money. Her mother must have had saved up money for a long time, which meant that her departure was planned a long time ago. The amount of money told Selina that she was going to be alone for a very long time. She suddenly felt very lonely. She started counting the money, while she thought about what to do.
When she reached the bottom of the box, she found another letter. It said:
“Sel
I hope this will last till I come home.
If your dad is troublesome, leave him, don’t fight. Don’t give him the money, they are only for you.
Be strong
- Mom”
It was written fast and sloppy, like it was written in the last minute before she took off. Selina could feel the tears burn in her eyes again. She squeezed the two letters before she laid them in the box, which she closed.
“Lydia! Lydia, come out!” she heard a voice shout from the entrance. Weird. Her father used to be gone until at least four o’clock in the morning.
“Lydia! Selina! I’m hungry!” her father shouted again. She hid the box under her bet and walked out.
“Selina, where’s your mom?” he said. It was obvious that he was drunk.
“She isn’t home,” Selina answered.
“When will she be?”
“I don’t know, but not in the nearest future.”
“What do you mean?” His eyes were foggy.
“She wrote a letter about that she won’t be home for a very long time.”
“W-why? Let me see that letter!”
“You can’t, and she didn’t write why,” she said. It was hard to act cool when she only wanted to cry.
“You obnoxious girl! Don’t talk back, give me that letter!” He now looked angry, to the scaring point.
“You can’t!” Selina shouted, but then stopped herself. Her mother had asked her not to fight with her father.
“You…” he started, but Selina had already run to her room again. She hurried inside and closed the door. Could she leave? Should she? She had nowhere else to go that she could think of. They had no relatives she knew. She fell asleep thinking about it.

***
HOOOME!!!
I’ve missed my computer xD And my friends. And Denmark :D
Here is the stuff I wrote in Paris, plus some more. I am dead tired, but pulled myself together to write it this morning -.-‘’’ Hope you like it :3
Have I lost readers? :[ please please please comment, if you’re there! It would make me really, really, really (x100) happy :) and thanks to those who comment! It cheers me on ^^,
- Blitz