Friend At First Sight

I gaze at the metal structure that stares at me back from afar.
So, today is the day, my high school life is just ahead of this majestic double gate.
You know what they say, the bigger the doors you take step into, the bigger your dreams are becoming. Yeah, this just came into my mind, and realized as fast as I finished saying it that it didn’t even make sense. A bigger gate than this should be the gates leading to heaven. Well, it means there is a chance; my dreams can grow steadily right after my death! If I stay a morally good person that is.

“And! That’s what I’m planning to do! I will save this school from ignorance and bring utmost serenity!”

Serenity did not sit well there, it showed from the blank stares I was getting from my fellow colleagues. Anyway, my point is made. My first goal is not publicity, that will be made when I have something to show in my hand. The official club is needed. But it is a shame I can’t introduce my club in the joining ceremony because I am a fresh-blood.

Thinking, I make my way towards the double gate, taking my first step into the school gates. I was quite early to get accustomed to the school surroundings and see the fellow early-bird colleagues. My face memory is one of my good points, so remembering, getting to know some facts for future reference is a well-balanced requisite, of course that was not a certainty for personality classification. With great volition, I have no intention of lingering! Perhaps, I could show my passion, and with my cogency skills I can make it in time for club introduction. Though, it is especially pointed out in rules, fresh-blood club presidents can’t participate in club introductions. This is to make the already existing clubs stay relevant, be an attractive offer, and not to clog the school with many clubs. This is reasonable on paper, but you are ignoring the boiling bloods of fresh-blooded younglings, don’t you see it?

I sigh, closing my eyelids and relaxing a bit.

The question is… can I persuade teachers to give me a pass?

In the midst of my thoughts, when I opened my eyes back, my vision was cut by a staring face a couple centimeters away from crashing. I held my breath, backpedaled immediately. That’s odd, if I wouldn’t have opened my eyes for one more second, and the touch-caution system wasn’t on auto pilot, this person would have taken my first kiss. Talk about the cliched encounters, to think this of all people will happen to me.
I gained my composure without much struggle, and I started to filter my colleague in front of me beginning from his feet. My first impression is his slender lower build for a second-year or more. I thought that way because he is probably here for an invitation, hunting fresh-bloods early, so he should already be my senior. Am I a pokenom now, in the info it states my catchable habitat as the school grounds? No, I am just joking, I would do the same, everybody does too, because it is the most effective way. You can’t find an unethical but unbannable bug and expect players to not exploit it. Ethics comes after the spoils, or, never, this is a warzone. Wait… Inviting people in the school front is not even immoral to begin with! That’s the rooted philosophy of every school! And highly advised, and totally legal! There is nothing more moralistic than this!

I scratch my temples and fortunately my thoughts come to halt, soothing my senses. My eyes move upward, the white lines that dance, swirl beneath that charcoal tone, and finally join in the waist in conundrum. The half cut trouser has a good nature. A simple yet impactful design choice implies the characteristics of Ainocho Academy uniform. I wear the same-

I pause. The word half cut trousers settle onto the core of my thought. As if my eyes had failed me, I went back and grasped it again. This man literally cut his trousers to his knee! I decide to proceed all the way to his face, closing my eyes, a speck of sigh coming from the gap of my lips. It's not my job to judge, I'm just fresh-blood, it's not on my to-do list to meddle in whether certain rules are enforced as my first encounter with a colleague. I have read it all, of course, and I know this type of dress choice should be prohibited. Who am I kidding? Rules are there to be broken… younglings should live their lives as if there is no tomorrow! School administration must know this and allow it to some extent. Good, my plan may-

I’m bored, but I pause, yet again. I should have known, perhaps subconsciously I already knew it, that the person in front of me is actually a girl. Judging by her standing and holding nothing in her hands, it occurs to me she is in fact not searching for club members. For someone clasping her hands together and having a rule breaking male attires on, her face begs to differ as it shouts cuteness as what my fellow male colleagues would call. Right side of her hair is rolled on the back of her ear and tied with a uniqueness you wouldn’t encounter everyday, the left side cut short and released gently towards her ear. The black art on top and the modest smiling inside the smooth face on the bottom is welcoming, and I’m somewhat feeling fulfilled for the first day of highschool. This is known as the attire representation of a tomboy in my world. I said only attire because I’m honestly not really sure about her personality. While she does seem like a proper tomboy on the outside, inside is what makes the tomboy in lexical meaning.
To her heart-warming smile, my sides of the mouth rises gently before I speak,

“This first encounter… Might this be the harbinger of a wholesome love story, Mrs. lady?” To my bland but obvious joke, to lighten the already light mood bare no fruit as her brows rise at different speeds and mouth sides fall flat as her head tries to find an answer to god knows what, then she… she pouts?!

“I was just joking… Please, don’t take it seriously. May I ask what made you stop me?” I accept my failed communication, but as a future official, totally legal love-advocate, psychologist something should be made clear; I don’t show my variety skills in the open. That’s not about having standards, but the care I harbor for my fellow colleagues. I won’t pry for their private-life relating to love that can be caught with just the glimpse of my gaze, -the actual potential that I possess- nor have I think, give advice about it. These matters are just as crucial a topic as depression, and should be taken care of with delicacy fitting for the gracious ladies and ever-so gentleman brothers. Until I make the club official, create a space they can be comfortable in, I promised myself to not use my utmost skills, even though I know I will never use them against them. But, if someone approaches me and wants my advice right away for their problems, desires, I would welcome them open handedly. If something comes to that point that means they trust me, and that’s all I need.

Smiling by myself as if I'm some kind of full-fleshed psychologist that published world changing thesis, this very self satisfaction haul off completely with the words comes from the girl’s mouth,

“Aska, it's been a while, isn't it? Time flies by, hehe.” Her sentence finished, a balmy open smile followed in with shut eyes.
The girl started to shrink down before my eyes, years go by with every ticking of my wrist watch. Her hair changed shapes, became more disperse but did not lose its uniqueness. Mood leapt on, a second I saw her tears striking downward her cheeks, and another second she shone brighter than the sun on top of me. It ended abruptly and I'm left alone thirsting for more, in a somewhat somber after-state. It took a little more than ten seconds, but I would give a solid nine out of ten to that movie. I haven’t seen something so quiet, fragile, brief yet so satisfying. Satisfying left a bitter taste in my mouth as I realized it didn’t give its justice.

The girl in front of me was my first and only friend… and mere words are not enough how I feel.