9. Hermosa Espina

The majority of the tests that we were ordered to endure, not including the interviews, were mostly finished according to our homeroom teacher. I felt exhausted. The last week was just work, work, work. How can they expect us as students to be able to survive with so much homework? I feel like this is a common theme now. My complaints.

I was sitting down, going over some notes with Juliet in the classroom. We were set to leave soon and I had a tad tinge of anxiety thinking about meeting up at some random undisclosed location with Miya. My brief life was flashing before my eyes.

Miya was humming softly to herself, a russian song I think? “Vychodil na bereg Katyusha, Na vysokij bereg na krutoj. Vychodil, pesniu zavodila Pro stepnogo, sizogo orla."

I had no idea what she was saying. Truthfully, Miya had a decent voice. So that made up for my lack of understanding. The thought triggered something in my head that left me curious, she speaks Japanese, English, and Russian?

“How many languages do you all speak?” I blurted out.

“Two,” Juliet smiled.

“Four,” Ayase answered monotonously.

“Thirty-seven,” Miya joked. I think. She’s kidding right? Is that humanly possible? I pulled out my phone and checked. Is this possible? World record is fifty-eight, huh? You’re joking. People like that exist? I can’t even pass Spanish class.

“Miya’s first language isn’t English, bet you didn’t know that?” Juliet spoke. I looked at her. These guys are messing with me. “I didn’t know until she stumbled, looking for words once.”

“You’re joking?” Please say yes.

“Not even a little,” Juliet asserted. Miya isn’t human. I know this as fact. I could test her,

but I don’t speak the languages either. Hmm... google translate, I need you.

Miya removed her attention from her desk long enough to look at me. “I know many languages; of those thirty-seven, I speak ten fluently enough to be taken as a native speaker. The rest I can speak sounding like a foreigner, and yes Juliet you did catch me doing that, quite an embarrassment.”

“It was so adorable, you got so flustered!” Juliet laughed sweetly. Miya being flustered, huh? Doesn’t sound cute to me. Just dangerous. Like she’d punch a wall.

“What is your first language?” I directed the question at Miya.

“Russian.”

How fitting, “Seems appropriate.”

“Why’s that?”

“I always feel like you’re about to end me.”

“I’ll let that comment slide.” Miya was so generous.

Juliet’s phone began to buzz and so she picked up the pink device that had a cute little tassel teddy bear hanging from it. It must have been important because she excused herself and proceeded to exit the room. That meant that I was alone with Miya, queen of the Nile, and all crocodile kingdoms. Alligator? Dammit, what’s the difference?

“Don’t forget our meeting…” She said casually.

“What’s supposed to happen?”

“Just be there,” She ordered.

So I did. I went. Scared out of my wits, dripping with sweat, possibly going through cardiac arrest I took the bus to the location I was ordered to which was much closer than I first believed. And as I stood staring incredulously at my doom I raised my eyebrow in disbelief.

“What the hell, this is an arcade?”

I heard a well-mannered cough and turned my head to see Miya, standing, in casual clothing. A mid-sized beige skirt, with a long sleeved blouse, a cardigan, red hat, and boots. She was carrying a purse and wasn’t accompanied by anyone. She held out her purse expectantly, “If you would?”

With extreme confusion I reached out and held her purse, she stretched her hands in front of her body. “Do you like games?”

“Y..yeah?”

I followed her as she made her way to the door, stopping right in front of it. She glanced at me. Again, I found myself at a loss but went ahead and opened the door for her.

“Thank you,” she nodded at me approvingly as she entered the arcade.

As I followed her inside we were greeted by a strange man behind the desk. He had a tattoo that ran along the side of his face, it looked like a bird of some sort. He reached under his counter and pulled out a bag. I heard the coins jangle as it hit the top of the counter.

“The usual, yes?” he said in a strong eastern European accent.

Miya nodded and smiled at the man.

The man looked me over, appearing to be sizing me up. “Is boyfriend? Look rather…puny, no?”

“Uh, wait, we…” I was thinking of defending myself. For starters there was no way I was dating Miya. Wait, was this a date? I mean it was just the two of us at an arcade together. But no absolutely not, we are not on a date! Secondly, don’t just call a man puny okay, I have pride! Except that pride melted instantly as I met the scary man’s eyes. My voice sank and all my pride went with it.

Instead, Miya spoke up, “He’s merely my bag boy today, come now…” She began to walk and I followed her, not wanting to be stuck with whatever his face was.

She beelined for one of those shooting games where you have the gun attached to a cord. Forgot to say she had made me also carry the heavy bag of coins, by the way. Though she hadn’t paid anything for it. Although he knew her by name so my guess was that she already had a card on file or something. She was wealthy after all.

“Uhm Miya, why are we here?”

“Why else would we be at an arcade?” She looked at me numbly. As if I was an idiot.

“I…I don’t know.”

“To play games.” She popped coins in and handed me a gun. I set her purse down and held it awkwardly. I had played these games before but like always I was caught up in Miya’s pace.

“I suppose.”

“You’re my back up, watch my six,” Miya said and stood at the ready with the gun. When the game began it was difficult for me to keep up. I like to think I’m pretty decent at video games but Miya was frame perfect. Her shots hit the second an enemy appeared and with killer accuracy. I was sweating just trying to hold my own because she had chosen the hardest difficulty. Instead of me being her backup she had more than often dispatched her mindless npc aliens so quickly that she slaughtered half of mine as well.

When the game ended I set my gun down and took a deep breath. Miya was smiling happily as she pulled out a small wipe and wiped down the gun.

“What are you doing?”

“Gun maintenance is one of the most important procedures to follow,” she said matter-of-fact.

“It’s a toy?”

“And? Should I disregard proper handling and technique, making myself negligent and forgetful simply because it's a war game? What do you think practice is for if not training for reality? If you practice wrong, you may as well not practice at all.”

I blinked at her. It’s a video game. “This isn’t like real shooting though it’s, you know.”

“Everything is a learning experience, as you’ll see,” she ended, looking past me.

I turned to face the sound of footsteps ever so quietly breaking through the buzzing, beeping, and screaming of fighting games in the background. Another man I had never met was facing us, but he wasn’t mature like the man at the counter; he was our age, maybe a year or two older. He was a tad taller than I was and had a handsome looking face with a straight line shaved off on his left brow. His hair seemed to defy physics and stood wavy and to the side. His arms were covered in tattoos and he smelled far too intensely of cologne.

“Mi hermosa espina, you’re back,” The guy spoke confidently and didn’t so much as spare me a glance he was watching Miya with obvious intent.

“I am, it's a free space I come here sometimes,” She replied but was less offensive than I would have expected. She looked at me, examining me carefully but I didn’t understand what was happening nor who this dude was. While I may not be great at Spanish I did understand what he called her. Thorn? I mean, she is prickly. But beautiful? No, that was accurate too. But still what kind of balls does he have?

“I’m glad. I thought I wouldn’t be able to see you again. I wanted to ask if you’d like to join me for a night on the town. I got my bike back from the shop,” He rubbed his hands together and kept up his smug smile.

“What, is she going to ride on the handle bars?” I let out. I was surprised at myself for saying anything but he was making me uncomfortable now. Don’t just refuse to acknowledge someone you asshat.

He seemed to truly notice me for the first time. “Motorcycle, not bicycle, es un poco tonto, eh?” He nodded towards me while looking at her when he said that last bit.

Miya smirked. “Y eres tan vanidosa como el antagonista principal en una telenovela.”

“I love it when you talk dirty to me,” He replied.

“Okay man, enough. I get it if you think she's attractive or whatever but she’s obviously not interested so can you not come over here and insult me for no reason?” I said, angrily. This entire day was getting on my last nerve.

Smirking yet again, he ran a hand through his hair. “She isn’t merely attractive. A woman at the bodega can be attractive. An actress, a model, they can be attractive. But the stars, a sunset, the reflection of light off of the waves as they crash against the beach, no mi tonto, that transcends attraction. And you’d do well to learn that. I’ll see myself out for today. I look forward to being in your presence again without distractions, Mi hermosa espina.” He bowed to her slightly and walked off.

Once he left I couldn’t help it. “Who the fuck was that?”

Miya shrugged. “I would have told you if you didn’t fail everything today.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing, just don’t expect my blessing.”

“Your blessing for what?”

Miya ignored me and wandered off to the air hockey table. And unfortunately she beat me six times in a row before I begged to play something else.