Leaking Heart

To hide his embarrassment, he put his head on the table and covered his burning face with his hands

I’m such an idiot.

“S-sorry…about that.” Peeking to the side to look at Louise, he whispers this to her.

“Ah…it’s fine. It’s…not like I hated it.” Muttering this in a soft tone, she turned to the side to escape his line of sight.

“Let’s finish the report.” Trying to calm himself down he says this while trying to focus on the work in front of him.

Another half an hour passes, and they both split up, heading to their next classes.

The teacher walked in and handed out tests for the unit that they had been working on for the past 3 weeks, and he had been studying every day at home in preparation for this test, so he was completely confident in his skills to ace this test.

Why did she say that?

Looking at the sheet of paper in front of him, he could on remain still, remembering the words that Louise had spoken to him.

‘It’s not like I hated it.’ That means…”that”, right?

“Ok time is up, so pass the tests up to the front of the class.”

Dammit, I could barely focus on the test, but either way my score should be fine. Now onto my next class.

While on his way to class he noticed that someone had dropped papers on the floor but was struggling to pick them up with all the students walking about. He walked up to them and helped him pick the papers up.

“Here you go, be more careful next time okay.” He spoke to the student in a slightly raised voice to be heard properly in the crowded hallway.

The student nodded and took the papers that he had collected and went off, assumedly to his next class. Mena then continued walking to his next class himself. Once he got there, he sat down and started thinking.

So far, I’ve had the feeling of someone or something softly tugging on my sleeve 3 times today, with only the 3rd time having the perp accounted for. I guess thinking about it now won’t really solve anything since each time there were no indications.

While waiting for the teacher to prepare the assignment for the day, he rested his head against his desk to recover from the stress he had racked up thus far.

Just a little rest should be fine right?

Soon after he was awoken to a smack on the head from the teacher, and immediately apologized for falling asleep in class. After that, the class continued without incident and was soon over as well.

At least now I can push my worries aside by shoving food into my mouth.

At the cafeteria, he got a basic meal that consisted of bread, juice, and pizza. After quickly eating his food, he pulls out his phone to read through his messages, when he comes across a contact that read: “Louise”. He scrolled through their past messages and smiled to himself as he read the banter, flirting, and random ever-day topics they had messaged each other.

“I wonder what she’d say if she knew about this.”

Honestly, she would probably be happy…and that just makes it hurt even more. If she felt creeped out by it, then I wouldn’t end up…like this even more.

Getting up from his seat, he throws his trash away and leaves the cafeteria.

That was really, okay. Well, school aren’t anything to write home about anyway, but I’m sometime surprised by how exceptionally…okay they are, in a boring kind of way; not too good, but also not too bad, just…okay.

With that he walks outside the school, but soon realized that he wouldn’t be able to do much since there was only 20 or so minutes left of class.

A little exercise couldn’t hurt, not that I need to do that.

After about 15 minutes of lapping around the school, he stops and opens a note app on his phone.

3428 laps. That should be enough, I guess.

Full of vigor, he returned to the cafeteria to find nothing out of the ordinary and silently waited for lunch to end. After 5 more minutes, he got up and headed to his next class, which was close by, so it took no time to get there. On his way to class, he noticed someone with untied shoelaces and tied them for them without getting noticed. He then went inside the class to find that there were only a few people in the room at the time.

I guess since it was lunch last period people are taking their sweet time coming back to class.

After some waiting, the remaining students got to class, and the teacher soon began the day’s lesson. While working on the practice problems that were given to him, he thought about what he would do after class was over.

Now that I think about it, how would I find her after class, I haven’t even seen her since science, so I’m going to need to come up with a plan. Just showing up at her class would make me look creepy, so I need to come up with something else, something that won’t make me out to be a stalker. Maybe I should just wait by the front gate until she passes by, but if she’s doing something after school then I could be playing the waiting game for who knows how long.

Once class was over, he got out of class and headed for the front gate.

Should I just wait though? What if she doesn’t go that way?

While distracted he bumps into another student who seemed to be in a hurry. He reaches his hand out to help them get up

“Sorry about that, you seem to be in a hurry though, is there anything I can do to help you ou-” Noticing who was in front of him, he stops talking.

Found her.

“Yeah, I’m looking for someone: black hair, somewhat tall, and gives off this depressed vibe… well isn’t this some coincidence?”

Well, that solves where she is, but why was she looking for me, and she looks like she was looking hard too. Also, do I really look depressed?

“I guess the roles are reversed this time, huh.” Remembering the similarity between now and when he first met her, he accidentally blurts out something unnecessary.

“What?” Now back on her feet, she asks him, confused by what he meant.

A sharp pain hits his heart, and he turns around to hide his expression from her.

Oh yeah…she wouldn’t remember that either…would she.

Something warm was flowing down his cheeks.

Tears?

Upon hearing the completely silent pattering of something hitting the ground he wipes his eyes with his sleeve. After confirming that the tears were gone, he turned back to face her again with a plastered-on smile.

“Ah, sorry, I remembered a sad movie I watched last night, and started crying.”