Do You Remember Me?

“…what did you find out?” I asked, holding my breath.

“Our guy…” Lotte began after a big exhale, “…is already dating someone… And not just anyone––he’s dating…”

“Kayla.”

“Kay– Wait how do you know?” She blinked at me, genuinely shocked.

“Long story. I'll explain later. Continue.”

“So,” she continued, “even if he turns out to be your Finn, he’s out of your reach now. He’s clearly moved on.”

“About that,” I began, “When I ran into him the other day in the convenience store, my doubts were cleared. He’s 100% my Finn.”

“…Wow.” She let out a breath, “He seems to have completely forgotten you then. Not his fault though, I feel sorry for him.”

“And you don’t feel sorry for me?”

“I mean…” she shrugged, “of all the girls, he had to date that one? Yeah, he’s done for.”

“What do you mean?” 

“You don’t know?” Lotte raised a brow, “Almost every girl in school knows about it.”

“We…go to the same school, right?” I frowned, “How come I never heard anything about it?”

“Because you don’t talk to anyone,” she sighed, “Anyway…It’s gonna be a bit long. Get your snacks ready. Today’s subject: Kayla.”

…

After that, Lotte started speaking.

And she spoke.

And spoke.

At some point I grabbed more snacks. Sometime I’d stop listening.
I also fell asleep 5 times.

After 3 hours of straight blabbering, Lotte fell asleep on the couch. I fell asleep a moment later myself. On the couch.

Next thing I knew, it was daytime.

Aw…Monday again…and I woke up late…Great.

I didn’t even remember 90% of what Lotte told me last night, but what I remembered was probably enough.

Turns out Kayla wasn’t just an annoying girl in class…there’s more to her.

“Hey, Lotte, wake up.” I nudged Lotte who was sleeping beside me, “we have school and we’re already late.”

I pushed myself up, nearly tripping over my own legs as my brain struggled to start.

“Five more minutes, please.”

“I’M NOT YOUR MOM! WAKE UP ALREADY!”

The next ten minutes were pure chaos.

“Where’s my left sock?”
“THAT’S MY SOCKS!”
“Oh, yeah, WHERE’S MINE THEN?”

And just like that, we were ready and out the door.

…

We walked to the train station, half awake, yawning every second, and hoping to catch the last train.

“The lack of crowd always amazes me.” I said, “Maybe we should start taking the last train all the time.”

“No way,” Lotte replied, “I can’t do everything in such a rush every day.”

“…right.”

By the time we reached school, I saw them.

Near the school gate.

“Lotte, look,” I nudged her slightly, “They even walk to school together?”

“Of course they do,” she replied, “They are dating.”

“…right.”

The classes went on and on and on.
Time just wouldn’t pass.
Teacher kept yapping and scribbling on the board.
I understood ABSOLUTELY nothing.

I’m so fucking bored…

I lowered my head on the desk, and my eyes drifted toward the window.

I gotta save Finn. But how?
Kayla just wouldn’t leave him alone.
But he was alone in the park! That means she does leave him alone sometimes.

“…na!”
I just gotta wait for the right op–

“LENA!”

I flinched.

My head snapped back towards the board.

“Can you read the next paragraph, Lena?” the teacher said.

…

“No, NO. Do not go on blaming me.” I said, glaring at her. “You were the one who kept saying five more minutes.”

“But we left together.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. You should’ve picked the lunchboxes.”

“You were the one who made them. Why didn’t you put them in the bag.”

“I…I…I thought you would do it.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

After that pointless argument, we ended up buying sandwiches from cafeteria.

I took a bite, chewing slowly.

“Hey, Lotte,” I said, “Why don’t you eat your lunch with Alice?”

“As I’ve said before,” she replied, unwrapping her sandwich, “we walk home together so I let him spend his lunch break with his friends.”

“Maybe you should eat with him today.”

She paused mid-bite, narrowing her eyes at me.

“What are you planning, Lena?”

“Nothing.” I shrugged, “I just want my best friend’s relationship to go smoothly.”

“Right.” She nodded slowly, “I can just call Alice to our class then.”

“…Okay, fine.” I sighed, “I wanted to spy on Finn.”

“What for?”

“I’m looking for an opportunity.” I said, lowering my voice slightly, “An opportunity to talk to him.”

Lotte let out a long sigh.

“I guess we can go to his class.”

We changed our direction towards class 2C.

…

“Lotte!” Alice waved in as soon as we step in, “You are here!”

“Yeah,” she said, pointing her thumb towards me, “and guess who else is.”

“Oh…” he looked at me, “Lena…you are also here.”

“WHY DO YOU SOUND SO DEVASTATED?”

We sat down near Alice’s desk and started eating.

My eyes kept wandering around the classroom, scanning every corner.

“He’s sits there,” Alice said, pointing towards the very front, “I don’t know where he is right now.”

“I-I wasn’t looking for him,” I said quickly, looking away.

“What are you two, twins?” Alice laughed.

“Lotte must’ve told you already,” he continued, “you should give up on your childhood friend. He’s a lost cause now.”

“Yeah…she did, but…”

“Part of this is my fault.” Alice went on, his tone dropping a little, “If I wasn’t absent on his first day, I could’ve prevented this. By the time I met him, Kayla’s fangs were already too deep in him.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I tried to forcefully make him cut contact with Kayla once, but…it was no use.”

He looked down.

“I’m sorry, Lena, I couldn’t save your friend.”

“No, I meant,” I shook my head, “Why did you try to help him in the first place?”

He blinked.

“Lotte told you about him just yesterday, right?" I said, "You don’t go that far for someone you just met.”

“Huh” Alice frowned slightly, “I helped him because he was someone you’ve been waiting for for a long time, right? Didn’t Lott––“

He stopped.
Mid-sentence.
I could sense it; something was off.

“What are you hiding, Lotte?” I asked slowly.

“…Guess there’s no use hiding anymore, huh.” She sighed, “Go ahead, Alice, tell her.”

“I mean,” Alice rubbed the back of his head, “Ms. Beatrice told us a student named Finn is transferring here from Zittau. And I don’t think many Finns around our age live in that small town.”

He stopped to take a bite of Lotte’s sandwich.

“And when I talked to him, it matched what Lotte told me.”

“So,” I turned to her, voice quieter now, “You knew?”

“…Yeah.”

“From the beginning?”

“…Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me then?”

“Kayla got to him before any of us. He was already a lost cause before Alice told me. Telling you wouldn’t have changed anything.”

“I guess…”

I looked down at my sandwich.

I can’t even blame her. She tried to protect my feelings. It’s just…everything slipped out of our hands before we could do anything.

The rest of the classes also didn’t go smoothly either.

The teachers kept coming one after another and blabbering about useless things.

But I survived through all of it.

“Finally over!” I stretched my arms up.

“See you at the station, Lena.” Lotte said.

“Yeah, see you.”

I packed my stuff and joined the crowd leaving the school building.

At the station, it happened again.

He’s alone?

I waited for some minutes, scanning the area carefully. Like something might jump out at any moment.

Kayla…she’s not here.

I waited a few more seconds just to be safe and without wasting any more time, I approached Finn.

“Finn,” I called out from behind.

He turned.

And just like that, everything stopped.

“I…”

My throat tightened. My chest was too full.
Words refused to come out of me.

And I fell in love all over again.

“Kayla isn’t here right now, Finn.” I said, my voice barely steady, “Just… tell me you remember me.”

I took a step closer.

“Please. I just want to hear that you remember me.”

He looked at me and opened his mouth.

“Of course, Lena, I remember you…”

…

Those three words…
They sounded better than anything in the world could.

My vision blurred, but I held it in.

He…remembers me? So it really was Kayla–

“We met in the park the other day, right?”