//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - Getting zapped // Story: An unexpected friendship // by Shadow SSS //------------------------------// The buzzing of the alarm. It always annoyed you to hear it. Another buzz, another day of school, another day without a friend… yet this buzzing was different. Instead of filling your head with all negative thoughts it did quite the opposite, and you had one particular person to thank that… well, in all honesty two. If it wasn’t for the first person, Sour Sweet and your clumsiness, you would have probably never talked to Lemon the day before, and while it was just a casual, somewhat friendly chat, it was a pretty cool one as well. Unlike other students, Lemon had not grunted, glare or even flat out ignore you the moment you exchanged more than two words. Not only that but she gave you half of her lunch without asking for anything in return. Most students would have at least make you pay them in one way or another. It was settled… you were going to talk to Lemon, you were going to make a new friend, and you were definitely not going to run over Sour Sweet again. After a quick shower and a nice big breakfast, you decided to kill the time you had left to prepare a little something. Considering that you wanted to repay Lemon somehow for yesterday… and even get something for Sour Sweet for the troubles you caused her, you managed to bake a dozen of cookies for both girl… who will probably share them with their friends on lunch time, which brought yet another problem. Unlike last time, where three of the group of five had stormed off to help Sour with the cleaning, leaving Lemon and Sugarcoat to deal with, this time around you will need to face all five girls if you want to have a chance to talk to Lemon alone. That was certainly something you were not looking for, but there was no backing down now. The morning went on, and while you wish you could have caught Lemon either by the entrance of her locker all alone, you had not seen her at all that morning, almost as if she had vanished. Was she sick? Was she late? And why were you getting so worked up over a girl who barely knows who you are? You don’t even know if she is interested in being your friend or not. Still it was pretty hard not to get worried for her for some reason. Luckily for you, she finally showed up and met up with her in class, but she did not take her usual desk this time around. Instead as soon as she spot you, to your surprise, she went straight and sat down next to you with a smile, though she did not seem to be listening because as soon as you greeted her, she just looked forward, pulled her books out and kept on trashing her head around with her big pink headsets on, it was not until the very moment that the ring bell that she decided to pull them out of their ears, face you and grant you a wave of her hand accompanied with a warm smile. However, before you could say anything, the teacher put a piece of paper in front of you on your desk and carried on to hand this papers over all around the class… You could not remember the last time you hand in an assignment and were given back the results, and that has a logical explanation. This was no assignment that the teacher was given back with the grades. This was a test that you totally forgot about and there was no beating around the bush with this one since it was Algebra. If it was history or even geography, you might be able to cheat a tiny bit with your phone, or even ask for the answer to one of your classmates, but Algebra was a whole different level. The teacher specifically said that she wants to see the whole formula written down, even if you can tell what the answer is by just looking at the problem, you cannot just write down the result. You need to prove her that you know how to do it and even how you get to said result. For the next hour, you pretty much just stared at the piece of paper in front of you. You could solve a problem here and there, maybe make an excuse of formula with one or two of them to try and squeeze some extra points in your favor, but in the end it was fruitless. The bell rang and you were certain that you were going to fail. Accepting defeat, you walk up to the teacher just like everyone else was doing and before leaving the classroom, your hand over your paper and avert her gaze at all cost. The situation only got worse once you were outside. Some students were of course nervous about the test just like you, but unlike them, you did not have any friends to discuss about the test or anything, no one to try and reassure you that you did your best and that maybe you will make it, or so you thought. As you were caught in your own thoughts, someone tapped your shoulder, making you jump and quickly turn around. Standing there behind you, a bit startled at your reaction, was Lemon Zest. You were almost a head taller than her due to her being so small, and you being taller than average so it felt a bit awkward being so close to her and having to look down a bit, but she did not seem to mind, or at the very least that big smile painted across her face did not show any signs of negativity whatsoever. “There you are! I was looking for you, you forgot this” As she reached out with her hand, you could see what was on her grip. It was your car keys. It seemed that in your inner struggle about how you did in the test, you forgot to pick up your keys after you left your desk. “Oh, hey, thanks… loosing this would be bad” Not only would be bad, your parents would probably kill you if they find out that you lost the car keys. You were not used to carrying them around, since you live only a few blocks away from school, you usually just walk back and forward between your apartment and here. Only on rainy or bad days you actually bother to get your car. “Anon was it? Just so you know… you should not mess with Sour Sweet today. She is… sour today, I mean like… all sour” Sour, Sour Sweet… you can’t really say that is new since she is always flipping between both sour and sweet moods, but you never saw her be fully one or the other “Mhhh, that is a shame. I was hoping I could make up for running into her yesterday with this” As you search inside your bag, you pull out the bag of cookies you had prepared just a few hours ago “Roger that and well, this were for you as well, so I guess, you can have them all today? I'll give Sour their's some other time” At first, Lemon did not seem to like the idea. She frown looking at the cookies that were given to her and then up to you “Me? Why would you give me cookies? Wait, is this for the sandwich?” With a shy nod, you could not help but blush a little bit as you looked to one side and rub the back of your head “Yea, you really didn’t have to give it to me, and still you did, so I wanted to repay you” It did not take much more convincing than that for Lemon to smile again and even wrap her arms around your neck for a quick hug “Ahhhh dude cool! You didn’t have to! Thanks” The blush on your face only grew bigger not really exactly sure on what you should do. Should you hug her back? Pat her head? Do nothing? But the answers to this questions was soon answered as both of you were interrupted by a third person. “Who’s the guy Lemon? Your new boyfriend?” Lemon’s best friend Indigo walked up to you and poked the girl’s sides making her quickly retract her arms and push her friends hand away. Why would she think they were a couple? You did not look like a couple… did you? Not that you were against the idea but still. “Stop that Indigo. No he’s not my boyfriend, he is just a friend. Anon, this is Indigo, my best friend” As Lemon was introducing you to her best friend, you could not help but notice that the sports girl was eyeing you up and down making you a bit stiff and nervous. A few seconds later Indigo snapped her fingers and pointed at you with her index finger “Hey I know you. You are that guy that pissed Sour Sweet off yesterday by dumping all your food on her cloth” Here we go again. Was this going to be a reoccurring thing now? Considering how big of a scandal Sour Sweet made that small scene from yesterday and how everyone in school took notice of this, or at least those in the cafeteria, then everyone was probably going to know you for ‘the guy that made a mess of Sour Sweet’ “I guess I am… sorry about that” Your apology did not affect Indigo at all, she just shrugged it off and smile “You should apologize to her not… hey are those cookies? Give me one!” Without waiting for permission, Indigo quickly snatched the bag from her friend’s hands and stuffed her mouth with two cookies. Of course Lemon did not take this lightly and reached out with her hands for the bag once again “Hey! Give them back dude! They were made for me not you!” It was like watching two little kids fight over who gets to use a crayon for a drawing or who gets to seat in the front seat on a car ride, but eventually Indigo hand the bag back, to which Lemon hold with both arms into a tight hug. She took a cookie, closed the bag, put it away on her backpack and then gave the cookie a bite. Both girls immediately melt down as the taste of your cookies melted down on their mouths. “Mhhhhh this are goooooood. Where did you get them?” “I actually made them myself” You said proud of your work, you were not the one to brag about the things you do, but considering that in this school you need to point out whatever you can get in your favor, you could not pass this opportunity. But your moment of glory was short lived. Indigo took only a moment to think of what to say next before her face grew the biggest mischievous grin you have ever seen in your life. “Trying to ask Lemon out? You know, since you made them for her?” Usually Lemon and Indigo tease each other like this when they are alone or when they are with one of their close friends, but never with a stranger, in this case you, or someone who is not part of their ‘circle of friends’, but this question was clearly more than just a little prank. That totally caught you off guard, making you and Lemon blush madly. You opened your mouth to try and explain why you made the cookies… but nothing came out. Indigo did not waste time after that. She chuckled and turned around “Well I will see you two later” You could not debate if this was good or bad. You did not want to get a girlfriend or a date. You just wanted a friend, but now that you looked at Lemon… she was not half bad. In fact she was pretty cute. Neither of you said anything for a few seconds making things even more awkward as both of you were now averting each other’s eyes, until Lemon cleared her throat and pointed down the hallway with her finger “I… should go to class. See you around” As she walked away, she waved at you and went on her way. Just before turning the corner, she looked at you and smiled meeting your eye with her face still bright with a small blush. Part of you was glad she was gone since it would avoid this getting even more awkward between you two, but another part of you was yelling at you for not taking the chance of asking her out, though it was for the best. You did not want to drive the only potential friend you can have away. Once you broke out of your trance,u finally got back on track and went on with your day. From that point on it was pretty uneve ntful, classes were boring, lunch was normal and lonely like usual, and after school, you head straight home. There was one thing however that keep on constant in your head, and that was Indigo’s voice “Trying to ask Lemon out?” To be continued…