Has she always been here?

"Kenny, sweetie, wake up! You're going to be late for school again!"

Ken opens his eyes thanks to his mother's screams and the annoying noise of the alarm clock, which he deactivates by slamming his hand almost violently on it. He turns onto his other side with his eyes closed.

"Ken!" Silence. "Breakfast's ready. Your little brothers started eating already and I don't know if I'll be able to keep them from eating your part too." His eyes are wide open now for hearing that his breakfast is in danger of being eaten by those rascals of his younger brothers. He immediately gets out of bed and runs towards the kitchen, despite being in a tank top and shorts.

He stops at the door, just in time to stop Seth and Emma from skewering his breakfast.

"Keep those forks away from my..." He pauses for a moment to look at the food on his plate, then immediately continues the sentence. "...waffles?! Thanks, ma!" His mother, who in the meantime has returned to the stove, smiles at him.

"I know how much you like them and it's been a while since you've had them. Now eat and put something on!" Ken does as his mom instructed and sits down at the table, grabbing his fork and sparring with it with Seth still aiming for a piece of his waffle.

After dressing in a simple gray sweatshirt and black jeans, he takes a look in the mirror and shakes his head to further tousle his blonde hair. Girls like a carefree look, he thinks before shouldering his ruined blue backpack and heading towards the front door where he finds his little brother Seth waiting for him. Since they're still little, their mother has asked him to take both Seth and Emma to school.

"News from Emma?" Seth shrugs before answering him.

"She's still in hee room getting ready."

"Emma, ​​are you ready?" Ken screams from the doorway.

"Here I am!" The girl walks quickly towards her brothers so as not to make them wait any longer.

"Did you do your pigtails today?" Ken asks as soon as she stops, admiring her ash-blonde hair pulled up in high ponytails.

"Hehe! Mum just made them for me. Do you like them?" Emma swirls to show her hairstyle.

"They're ugly." Seth sticks out his tongue which Emma immediately returns. The three leave the house.

"Let's go now, we're already late." Ken smiles at his brothers, takes them by the hand and starts running dragging them behind.

* * *

By the time Ken made it to class, everyone was sitting in their seats awaiting the arrival of the first-period teacher who, fortunately for him, was getting late that morning. He immediately sits in his seat trying to catch his breath, when his classmate greets him.

"Morning. Slept well, huh?" Will, one of his best friends, says sarcastically. Ken just glares at him as he catches his breath. Seeing him with a grin on his face just makes him not want to answer him.

"Take my water bottle in the outside pocket of my backpack." Will does as he's told. He's usually a very taciturn boy but with a sharp tongue. He was one of the first people he made friends with once he started high school, along with his girlfriend Nora.

"Good morning, sleeping princess. I thought you were going to play hooky!" Briar, an eccentric-looking person stands in front of his desk. Ken doesn't answer them, completely busy emptying his water bottle.

"You should go back to your seat before the teacher comes back." Will advises them.

"Owen, may I know what you're doing standing there?" Briar freezes in place turning to the teacher who's standing in front of the door.

"You're bad luck, Will." Ken says to his friend after emptying the bottle. In addition to had failed their classes, Briar is also too lively both in personality and in the way they dresse. They're the kind of person you would call happy-go-lucky, smug and don't get demoralized very easily; Ken looks at them apologizing to the teacher: they wear a hot pink zebra-striped top, a short and puff sleeve blazer of the same color, a black jeans skirt and many bracelets that jingle with their every little movement. They're literally looking for a fight. Briar is one of his friends and he would accept them in any way they want to be but he knows how strict teachers can be about dresscode... not that they can do more than call their parents. Briar is stubborn and the day will surely never come when you see them in a simple tracksuit at school. Ken yawns, hoping the school day goes by faster than it started.

* * *

The end of class bell rings as the class prepares to go home and Ken yawns again.

"Did you sleep last night at least?" Will asks his friend getting up from his chair and putting his backpack on his shoulder, seeing him yawn for the millionth time.

"Eh, not really. I was at a girl's-" His sentence is interrupted by a slap from Will on the back of his head.

"You should stop." Ken leans back with all his weight, stretching his legs.

"Why? I'm just having fun~" He chuckles.

"No, really. At least do you use prot-" Will couldn't finish the sentence because a girl tripped over Ken's legs.

"What happened? What was that sound?"

"I think someone fell."

"You're right. Someone's on the floor."

"Isn't that Rebecca?"

"I'm sorry!" Ken says while grabbing her arm to help her up. She dodges him almost aggressively. Is the girl he accidentally tripped at least in his class? No matter how hard he tries, he can't remember whether or not he's seen her around before. Her face turned towards the floor and the long and thick light brown hair that completely covers her face prevent him from seeing her. The fact that he doesn't see her face makes him even more worried. Is she crying? She might be embarrassed or really hurt. However, her legs and ankles appear to have been undamaged and at most, she may have bruises. He sighs.

"Sorry." He picks her up bridal style under the shocked looks of his classmates. Some girl giggles telling her friends about how he did it with her too, sometimes.

Once out of the mischievous looks he tries to see her face but she keeps it as close as possible to his chest and at the same time she keeps her hands resting on it, as if she wanted to reduce their physical contact to the bare minimum. Both before and now that she's in her arms, the girl seems so small to him that he can't blame himself for never noticing her in class. And her skin is so white that even if he wanted to, he couldn't help but notice the dark bruise forming on her knee. What have I done? I hurt and made a girl cry! Will's right, I might be scum after all.

"C-Can you put me down?" The voice he heard is so low and feeble that it was almost covered by the voice of his thoughts.

"I thought I smashed something and was taking you to the infirmary..." He says worried, still looking at her knee.

"Y-you didn't hurt me, really, I just fell. I'm fine." Her voice is shaky.

"Alright..." He puts her down gently.

She takes a couple of steps with trembling legs but they seem to give away, Ken hurries to catch her before she can fall but she leans with her arm on the lockers with a loud thud that's muffled by the other students leaving their classes to return home. No one seems to pay too much attention to wha is happening to the two of them. Ken's attention returns to the girl whose name he still doesn't know because she has pulled an object he doesn't recognize from the pocket of her light green cardigan and brings it in front of her face. Ken is confused, she has her back to him so he can't see clearly what she's doing. She seems to be taking strong inhalations. I'm no expert but she might have... uh.. what's it called? Asthma?

"Do you need help?" He asks her. She stops as she inhales, almost surprised by his presence.

"I-I'm fine... my parents will pick me up any minute..." She said between one cough and another. Immediately after speaking, without even turning to him or thanking him, she starts walking quickly towards the bathrooms. He scratches the back of his head. She was so rude but I have to admit I deserved it.

His phone ring and he remembers that he has to pick up his brothers from school. The person who called him is Will. Why is he calling me if we are in the same place? Or at least, I hope he's still here.

"Where are you? Okay, I'll join you." He heads towards the classroom.

When he returns to class, in addition to Will and Briar, Brayton, Ghalen and Nora are also waiting for him. Ghalen, like Briar, failed his classes. No one has yet figured out how this is possible since he's the most diligent and polite person Ken knows. Nora, on the other hand, is a year younger.

"Is Rebecca okay?" Briar asks as soon as they see him.

"Who's that?"

"...The girl you made trip." Will says.

"So that's her name?" Ken broods to himself. "She said her parents would be coming soon and ran away. I guess I'm that charming?"

"I would rather say that you scared her." Brayton corrects him with a raised eyebrow.

"Bro, shut up." This silenced Brayton completely. His name is similar to "Bro" and his friends enjoy annoying him by calling him that.

"Do you want me to give you a lift?" Ghalen offers as he's the only one with a driver's license; and to be of age, in addition to Briar.

"Thanks, Ghalen!" Briar hugs him.

"Do you prefer to go by car or do you want to go for a walk?" Will asks to Nora, kissing the palm of her hand that he had intertwined with his.

"I'm quite tired so I'd rather accept the ride." She leans her head on his arm, slightly blushing.

"Ah, I have to go get my brothers. See you tomorrow, guys!" Ken says running in place.

"Can I take you-"

"No need, I'd get there faster by running but thanks anyway." He runs out of class.

I have to learn to do things on time, he thinks as he walks out of school, not noticing a certain girl sitting on the floor in a fetal position not far from the school entrance.