Pixies and Heartbreak

   The cafeteria dish tables were always fresh. Made just right when everyone got there, it felt like. Replaced as soon as it was taken, yet somehow still warm the next day. Did the pixies eat it? Hao Hao didn’t see the pixies eat. She didn’t see them do much other than work and otherwise not be present. Did they have a break room? Where did they go when they weren’t working? A look at them in soul sight told her that they didn’t have any spirits.

“Do you know about the pixies?” She asked Shui.

“I… actually don’t.”

Later on in the day she came to Jim’s office, but he wasn’t there. That was too bad. If anyone would be able to tell her about them, it was him.

“Hey Hao Hao!”

“Hi,” pause, “Sumi.”

She wasn’t trying to be rude, but she was still a little nervous around some of the students. She didn’t know much about Sumi. The girl always appeared at the garden club since joining. She went along with basically anything that was going on or whatever the crowd was talking about. She didn’t appear to have any hobbies.

“So what are we doing?” Sumi asked.

“Oh, well… I was looking for Jim.”

“What for?”

“I wanted to ask about the pixies.” Hao Hao found her voice in questions, “Have you ever tried to talk to them? They, um, they don’t hold a conversation down long.”

“Sort of like you, then.”

“Um…”

Hao Hao was known to trail off, yes, but the comment was a little rude. Hao Hao went quiet. Sumi said, “I think I saw Jim over this way. Let’s go see him!”

They came up to one of the classrooms and stopped. Pixies filled the room. Some sat on the front of the desks with their legs crossed, others chose to lay down below the desk as if they were getting a sun tan, and several others were floating with each other in a deep conversation. Others zoomed back and forth across the room in an intense game of air tag. It was complete pixie chaos.

Jim stood at the front of the room with his hand up, mumbling numbers. Neither Hao Hao nor Sumi wanted to bother him so they sat outside the classroom and waited. Sumi had a magazine with her to read but Hao Hao just lowered her head. Not with the intention of listening in, but she could hear as Jim spoke.

“Is that all of you? That looks like all of you to me.” He said and he tapped on the desk gently. Hao Hao stole a glance towards the classroom; some of the pixies looked up but most of them continued as if he wasn’t speaking to them. “I just wanted to thank you all for being here. Really, it’s a huge load you guys carry. Can you believe this school used to not serve food? Or get cleaned? Huge oversight on my part.” The few pixies that were looking returned to what they were doing before. Jim put his hands together. “Well, I gathered you here today because I really did just want to express my gratitude. I couldn’t do this all without you, so… hurry for teamwork!” He tried to shout with excitement, but it fell a little flat, and none of them were listening anyway. He sighed, “Feel free to stay on break a little while longer. You guys deserve it.”

He walked out of the room, and he saw the two girls outside, “Hao Hao, Sumi. How are you two?”

“Just peachy.” Sumi said.

“Good, good. Did you have a question?”

Sumi stayed quiet. Hao Hao gathered herself and said, “I was hoping to ask about the pixies. What are they?”

“Honestly? I don’t know too much about them either. Their jobs are usually on the other side of the border, but I pulled a few of them from the forest to help me here.”

A few of them, he said. Meanwhile a hundred at least were floating about in the other room.

“I just wish I could show them my appreciation somehow.”

“Can you give them a raise?” Sumi said.

“They don’t really take paychecks. The fairies live more in a more freeform way, relying on each other’s kindness and sense of responsibility. Luckily for me, because I don’t think I could afford them even if I sold off my house and gave up my pension, but I’d like to do something for them.”

He looked away from them and put his hands under his hood. To his chin, assumingly. Hao Hao and Sumi put their thinking caps on too. After a few moments Hao Hao said, “Maybe you could throw them a party?”

“A party?” Jim asked, “That could work. An appreciation party. I’ll get on that. Thanks Hao Hao.”

“Oh, oh!” Sumi shouted with excitement, “Will it be pixies only, or can we attend?”

“It’ll be on school grounds, so yes. You can attend.”

“Is it a formal party? Can we get dressed up?”

“It doesn’t really have to be formal, but I guess if that sounds fun to everyone, yeah, go ahead.”

“Will there be dancing? Like a prom?”

Jim spared a glance towards the pixies still in the other room. Plenty of them had gotten up to play a game now. They looked like tiny children in adult shaped bodies. Jim said, “I think the pixies will enjoy that. Yeah.”

And with that, Sumi ran off. More excited than Hao Hao had ever seen her before.

A few days later, Jim had posters up on the bulletin board. The party would be next month. It was described as a dance, with silhouettes of people dancing. Be there or be square! it said. Making everyone, including Hao Hao, wonder how old Jim was exactly. He sounded young, but you couldn’t see what he looked like under the hood.

The classroom was as it usually was. Possibly a little more lively than usual. Hao Hao could hear Taeyang asking Kirai if he was going to the party. Emily and Daichi ahead of her also spoke of it. Hao Hao stared at her notes, trying not to think on it all too hard.

“Hao Hao?” Alice asked.

“Yeah?”

“Do you happen to know what happened to Sumi?”

Hao Hao looked past Alice to see Sumi. Head on the desk of the table, seemingly staring at nothing, but biting on her teeth like a beaver. Hao Hao said, “She was really happy just a couple days ago.”

“I know. I wonder what happened.”

They brought their heads back to the lesson. Sumi was probably just nervous because of the lesson; perhaps history wasn’t her strong suit.

Later in the cafeteria, the girls in the gardening club sat together while they ate. Some of them spoke of seeing a deer with glowing antlers the other day, but that was really just to lighten the mood. Sumi was absent.

“Do you think she’s okay?” Alice asked.

“She’s been nervous since yesterday.” Mae said, “I have no idea why.”

“I already tried asking her, but she wouldn’t tell me what was wrong.” Emily said. She wasn’t actually in the gardening club, but she liked to oversee things in an, quote on quote, ‘official capacity’.

Alice looked at Hao Hao. She asked, “Would you be willing to try? You’re better than any of us at talking to people.”

Hao Hao nodded.

Since Emily had already tried directly to her, Hao Hao decided to try spirit sight. Sumi’s spirit was white with long black hair. Wearing a white hair band just like her human counterpart did. Her name was Suki.

“What happened?” Hao Hao asked.

“Nothing.”

“You’re sure?” Shui asked.

She wouldn’t say. Shui suggested to Hao Hao that she might be too distracted to talk. Shui asked the spirit, “Suki, where is Sumi?”

Suki took them down the hall, where Sumi stood, hiding behind the wall. Watching. She blinked out of soul sight and came forward. She whispered, “Sumi?”

“Sh!” She said, backing up and whispering, “I’m busy right now.”

“Sorry.”

Sumi went back to her staring. Hao Hao took a peek and saw Taeyang, Joy and Kirai talking. Well, mostly Taeyang and Joy talked while Kirai stared down at the floor, acting like he wasn’t there.

“What are you doing?” Hao Hao asked.

“I’m trying to get myself to approach them.” But then she turned away and looked at herself. She asked Hao Hao, “Do I look nice?”

“Hm?”

“Do I look nice? Or do I look like I forgot to brush my hair this morning? Help a girl out please.”

Despite the nervousness, Sumi was a very pretty girl. Long hair that almost always looked perfect. Hao Hao only just noticed she put on some lipstick and mascara. “You look nice.”

“Okay. Okay.” She turned back to them, “Just need to get over my nerves, and also wait for an opening. Will Joy ever stop talking?”

“You’re hoping to talk to Taeyang and Kirai?”

“Just Taeyang.” Sumi said.

Hao Hao was confused at first. Why would it be so important to talk to just him? She glanced over at one of the bulletin boards, seeing the banner for the dance, and suddenly, it all clicked.

“You’re… going to ask Taeyang to the dance?”

“Yes.”

Hao Hao had no words for that. She supposed it was normal for a girl her age, but… Hao Hao didn’t get it, on a personal level. She thought she might leave, but Sumi turned back towards her.

Eyes begging for support as she asked, “I can do it, can’t I?”

“Well, yeah.”

“He won’t think I’m weird, will he?”

“I…” I don’t know, she thought.

“Oh, what if he thinks I’m weird.”

She resumed the nail biting. Hao Hao went quiet. She wanted to leave, but her spirit appeared next to her. Gently encouraging, as it always did. Hao Hao said, “He won’t think you’re weird.”

“He won’t?”

“No.”

As she thought before, it was perfectly normal for children of their age to have crushes, and Taeyang was nice anyway. He’d never tell her she was weird. Even so, Sumi still looked just a little shy. She asked Hao Hao, “Could you join me? Hold the conversation a minute. Maybe get Kirai and joy to leave too?”

Hao Hao stared at her. She supposed it couldn’t hurt to try to help. “Uh… sure. Yes.”

“Thank you.”

The two of them walked out. As they did they saw that it was just Joy and Kirai now. Sumi walked up and asked, “Hey, um, which way did Taeyang go?”

“That way.” Kirai said.

“Thank you.”

“Oh, you should have seen it.” Joy said, “Taeyang just asked Kirai to the dance.”

Sumi turned, “What? Really?”

“Yes! It was the cutest thing ever. He even handed him a flower!”

Kirai looked embarrassed beyond words. Sumi’s eyes fell to the floor, dejection written all over her face, and she ran away. Joy’s smile fell from her face, “Did I say something wrong?”

“You act like I said yes to him.” Kirai said.

“But you didn’t say no, which is really close to a yes for you.” Joy said. Pestering Kirai further, Sumi entirely forgotten from the conversation.

“I’ll… see you later.” Hao Hao said.

She followed after Sumi, eventually finding her in the girls bathroom. She sat on the floor of it. Crying.

“Sumi?”

She looked up, then looked back down. “I’m such a fool.” She said.

Hao Hao stood there, for a minute, wondering what to say. She didn’t understand what it felt like to feel rejection of this sort, but she still felt the words Sumi said at her core. It… wasn’t entirely unlike the way Hao Hao had been feeling the first day of school. She remembered then what she heard from Shui. The encouragement it had given her made her feel better almost instantly.

“You’re not a fool.” Hao Hao said.

“While I was sitting there thinking about asking him out, he asked someone else. Sounds pretty foolish to me.”

“Well… it isn’t.” Hao Hao sat beside her. Sumi kept quiet. Hao Hao said, “I get it. I’m… I’m shy too.”

“How did you get over it?” Sumi asked.

Hao Hao hadn’t realized it, but… yeah, she had been getting out of her comfort zone a lot lately. She said, “You… you just have to keep trying. It’s hard, but it does get easier.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

She cried a little bit longer. Hao Hao sat with her until she was smiling again. She said, “Thank you.”

Hao Hao nodded. She said, “Did you… still want to try to ask him out? Kirai said he didn’t say yes to the invitation, after you left. There might still be time.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. And, um, whether he says yes or no, it’s still practice, so… try to not be nervous about it.”

Sumi perked up. Hao Hao and her separated shortly after, Sumi saying that she would tell her later how it went. Later came quickly because it was a rejection, but she seemed far less nervous about the whole thing afterwards, seemingly taking Hao Hao’s words to heart.