Chapter 5

In small two bedroom apartment on the outskirts of Nova Raton. There is a man in his pajamas sitting in front of a phone.  The room is so quiet that all you can hear is sound of seagulls cooing outside the window. 

There window blinds have been pulled up to allow sunlight to brighten up the otherwise dark room. The sunlights illuminates one half of the man's face while the other half is obscured by darkness. 

Upon further inspection the lifeless man; he appears to be Mr. Shishijima. Sprawled out on the couach awaiting a call from the girl he tried to sign last night at the Dol' Fest. 

"Uhhhhh", Shishijima lets out a big gasp as he seems to be immensely tired. 

"When is this girl going to give me a call?" he thinks intensely to himself. 

“This is so embarrassing, I mean what girl could resist my good looks and bad boy persona?”, he thought out loud. 

“Pshhhhh, a lot of girls!” said the tall women from the bar last night. 

“Knowing you; she was probably thinking you were recruiting her to be a part of a strip club or poaching her for a ponzu scheme!” she said tauntingly. 

“Huh? Why does everyone say that?” Shishijima responds with a look of shock. 

The woman sits down with a sports bra and long board shorts on. 

“Hey Hunter, when are you going to pay the electricity bill?” pestered the woman. 

“Any hotter it’ll be like the room will melt! My processor can’t this heat.” sitting with her legs crossed and staring at him with doe eyes. 

Shishijima responds with; “I’ll do it eventually.”

“Well Hunter; I’m going to charge in lobby down stairs. Do you have the blanket; I don’t want people to know I’m EV-Dol” said the lady looking at Shishjima. 

“It’s in the kitchen. Second drawer to the left of the sink.” Shishijima replying in a somber manner. 

“Thanks!” the lady says as she gets up from the couch to go look. 

Shishijima sits there looking at his phone in utter disappointment. 

“Well, I guess she may be busy seeing as though it’s a weekday.” Shishijima sits back and lounges. 

“Does anyone know the answer to question #3?” A lady with ruby red EV-Specs and a short bob cut said to the class. 

The class sits in silence as the teacher slowly walks around the students’ desks. Until she stops right next Rin who has had her down the entire class. 

The lady then turns to Rin; “Hello, Ms. Finsterwald. You know we haven’t heard you speak for a while. I think it’s time for you to participate. Please solve problem #3 on the board.”

Rin sits in silence with her head still pinned to her desk like she’s paralyzed. 

“Well; maybe I should have a conversation with Mr. Pepperidge. Seeing as though you don’t seem to have enough energy to participate in class. I would be for the best if he takes you out of the Spring Art Festival committee.”

Rin then pops up from her set at lightning speed. She takes her style stylus and begins writing on the board at a frantic pace. Making every stroke of the stylus tight and compact in order to shorten the time she would have to take to solve the problem. She finishes races back to her to desk to put her head down and flips up the hood to cover her head. 

Underneath the hood she’s sweating panting like she just ran a 15 mile marathon. Her deep breaths cause her shades to produce condensation. She then lifts her head up for a second to wipe the excess condensation off her shades and precedes to put her head back down. 

“Damn that witch! She knows about last night and wants me to be found out by the class. Damn you Dr. Gomez!!!”

“Well-Well—Well. The answer is correct good job Ms. Finsterwald who would’ve thought you were even paying attention all the time you daydream in this class!” Lamented Dr.Gomez to the rest of the class. 

“Oh shut up! I’ve averaged a 78 average in the class since the beginning of the semester.” Rin thought to herself. 

“She just wants me to show my face so that she can mention me being at that stupid contest.” She wrenched at the thought of even having to mention that damned performance. 

The bell starts to ring and the students all leave out for lunch. 

“Ms. Finsterwald! I know you probably don’t want to talk about your televised performance. However, I just wanted to say that I thought you did pretty well.” Dr. Gomez says assuringly whilst standing next to Rin’s desk. 

She then walks away and into the hallway but comes back to the doorway. 

“However, if it was me up there I would’ve been a bit more happy and less panicky. If you were to stay the whole time you would’ve been definitely top 5.” she then walks away back into the hallway giggling. 

“Ooh. That lady makes me so angry.” Rin said to herself as she slowly lifts her head to see if the coast is clear. 

She gets up from her desk and runs to find Mari. 

She quickly evades the oncoming group of students and makes to the side stairwell door. 

She runs across the field and onto the bleachers where Mari and her always sit at lunch. 

Mari is there with her bright neon colored getup and a squared-tubular book bag. 

“Where were you I’ve been waiting for ten minutes? Don’t you go making me wait for you a recurring thing!” Mari said accusingly. 

“No-No! I didn’t mean to I was just waiting for the classroom to finally empty out.” Rin said panting. 

She sits down by Mari her long leather jacket and her shades fogged from the condensation of her breath and body heat. 

“Um. Rin are you ok?” said Mari switching from her annoyed look to one of concern. 

“Yeah. I’m fine. I’m just a tad bit hot in this outfit but I can manage.” said Rin as she slowly starts to catch her breath. 

“ really think you are blowing this whole thing out of proportion; Rin. I was in home room for two classes and heard nothing about your audition stage.” said Mari trying to reassure Rin. 

“Well, Mari you don’t really have a high level of awareness for situations like this. What’s the word I’m looking for?” Rin asks in confusion. 

Mari finishes chugging down her energy drank before turning around following up with “Do you mean oblivious?”

“Yeah! That. You’re definitely oblivious to what goes on around you.” Rin exclaims. 

Mari opens up the side of her metal book bag containing a hoagie. She grabs a hold of it and begins to bit into the sandwich. 

“ WellLl *chomping* at Leass *chomping* I reeeemembar thinGsss.” Mari says incessantly chewing on her sandwich. 

“Well say what you want about me but I’m always on high alert. You never know when something unexpected may happen” brags Rin looking at her phone. 

“LUkkiee Herre” says a chewing Mari. As she gestures at Rin to look over towards the baseball field. 

There a groups of kids are walking over towards their direction. Amassing more and more students the closer they get to the bleachers. 

Rin looks in panic as she unaware whether the target of the mobs is her or something else.

“Stay calm I’m sure they are coming over because they have some type of dispute. Did you know Emma and Bradley cheated on each other? It’s probably them causing a scene.” Mari trying to ease Rin’s mind. 

“Yeah— that’s most likely it.” Rin says haphazardly. 

They begin to get close and all Mari does is look at Rin and eat her lunch. Every inch close they get to the bleachers Rin’s becomes stiffer and stiffer. 

The crowd finally makes it to the edge of the bleachers. 

One guy shouts out “Hey Rin! Why are you out here all alone? 

“Uhmm-Uhh-Well.” Rin says starting quiver. 

“You guys know! Remember I told you we always eat lunch outside on the bleachers.” Mari says to the guy that just spoke. 

Rin side eyes Mark as she stuffs her face with the hoagie. Then turning slowly over to Mari facing her completely. 

Rin then says with a blank face. “Uhh. Mari.” 

“Yeah! What is it I’m trying to concentrate on the glorious hoagie.” Mari quickly responds as she goes in for another bite. 

“Umm. Mari remember on the tram I told you to not tell anyone where I was.” Rin says irritatingly.

“Well. He didn’t ask me where you were in particular he asked where do we usually sit and lunch.” Mari says to refute the earlier statement. 

“Yeah, but if you tell them where I was going to be at an exact time doesn’t it make it easier to find out my location?” said Rin as she looks back at the crowd of people. 

“I Gess you arr Right.” Mari says as she takes another bite of your sandwich. 

The crowd looks at Rin in excitement and then they all rush towards the bleachers. 

“AWwwww” squealed Rin as she is suddenly swarmed by a mob of students asking questions about the fateful night.