End of the Day

I entered my run, sweet sweat dripping from my forehead. Jane is sitting on my bed with Yuki and Lucy on her sides, in her hand, she is holding a big and strangely familiar book.

“And in this picture, he is in the shower,” Jane said pointing at the book.

“Ohh…” both girls exclaim.

That book is the family album with really embarrassing pictures of me that I have kept hiding. How did she find it?

“J- Jane! What are you doing” I tried to take the book off her hands.

“I'm just showing them how cute you were” she said with a smile evading all my movements.

I should have burned that album long ago instead of hiding it.

“Yeah, you were really cute be-fo-re” Lucy said.

“Did you just highlight the before?”.

“Yeah, especially in that picture where you are wearing a sailor suit” Yuki said.

“Please forget you ever saw that”.

After the embarrassment / bullying I suffered from Jane and the girls, we all went out to get dinner. Surprisingly, Bernard brought enough food to even give the girls as well. The girls wanted to leave at first, but I refused to let them go. Although after they saw my embarrassing pictures, I didn't want to look at them, I still felt bad to have them waiting outside their doors while we ate.

After dinner, the girls wanted to wash the dishes as a thanks while Bernard and I cleaned the table.

“Now that I remember…” Jane says “Isn’t the balcony of your room really close to the ones on the sides?”.

“The balcony…”.

I remember our apartment has a balcony that is really close to the ones in the other apartments, you can technically enter the other apartment from the balcony.

“Now that I remember, my room has a balcony.” Lucy said.

“Mine too” Yuki added.

The three of us noticed how dumb we are and realized that we could use the balcony to get them into their apartments from the beginning.

If I had thought about it before, they wouldn't have seen those embarrassing pictures.

“Thank you for everything” Lucy and Yuki said goodbye to Jane, Bernard and Emmi.

“Please consider what I told you” Emmi said to the girls.

“Well do” Both of them responded.

“What?” I am intrigued. Emmi was all alone with them when I left to the store. So, she could have said a lot of things to them. I just hope it wasn't something bad.

“What did you say to them?”.

“It is none of your business”.

Sometimes I think she doesn't respect me as she should.

We got to the balcony. We see that the balconies next to mine are technically one inch from each other, so the girls can pass easily.

“So, our bedrooms are next to each other” Yuki says.

“That seems to be the case” Lucy starts crossing to her balcony.

“Panties!!” I shouted in my mind.

Lucy is wearing a skirt. Did she forget or what??

I am just going to look away like nothing has happened. If she finds out, I'm done for it.

“Thank you for everything. And sorry for thinking you were following us”.

“Yeah...N- no problem, it was my bad for hiding”.
I cannot face her; that image is still in my mind.

“Then, goodnight” she entered her room.

“I should be leaving as well” Yuki said while crossing the balcony.

Why are these girls so carefree? You are also wearing a skirt, Yuki, mind me a little.

“Thank you, and also sorry for thinking you were a freak, perv and stalker”.

“Those adjectives were unnecessary”.

“See you” she said entering her room.

“See ya…”.

I sigh and enter my room. I am mentally exhausted; this day was chaotic.

“Did they leave?” Jane entered my room.

“Yes, they did”.

“Bernard is about to leave as well”.

“I see. I'll say goodbye and then take a shower before going to sleep”.

“First” she grabbed me by the shoulder “Can you explain to me the fact that you brought two girls that I didn't know without telling me”.

“No, well, you'll see, this happened and then that happened…”.

Explaining is useless, I am ready to die.

“Hahaha” she laughed. “Don't be like that. They already told me what happened. I was just messing with you”.

“I- I see…”.

Not funny for my heart.

“You did the right thing, not letting those girls stay outside their doors waiting. I'm proud of you”.

Hearing that small sentence is a big thing for me, and I think it is for everyone, to hear your parents or the people you respect say they are proud of you, is something that everyone wants to hear.

“They seem like nice people. Are you going to accept them to be your tutors?”.

“How do you know that?”.

“Bernard told me”.

“I see...”.

“So? what are you going to do?”.

“Nothing, they obviously are going to decline the offer”.

“But if they accept. What are you going to do?”.

“I don’t think that would happen. There is a very small chance of them accepting the offer”.

“You have to be prepared for all your chances even if they are small, it is still a possibility”.

“I’m- I'm not sure. Getting good grades is something that I set myself as a personal goal, it's something that I have to overcome myself".

“You and that way of thinking of yours. Listen here, this is something you would have to remember. You can call it parent advice”.

“Why did you just enter in parent mode all of a sudden?”.

“There are things that you cannot overcome by yourself. We always need help. I needed help when Emmi’s dad left. I need help now to manage two kids, and I'm sure I will need help in the future. We, people need help, we depend on each other, that’s how life works”.

I don’t know what to say, her words are true. I have spent almost five years already by myself and I haven’t made any progress, so getting help is the only option I have left. Although I would like to accomplish my goal by myself, I'm not going to make it alone.

“You don’t have to say anything, just think about it” she leaves my room.

I stand there thinking about it. It is true that I haven’t thought of the possibility of having them as my tutors. I want to test them, but I know they are more than capable, maybe it is just an excuse to not accept them.

Jane is right, I can't do this alone, I definitely need their help. But the possibility of them accepting it is still low. Well, I did make some progress today. I have one week before the first day of school, when they will tell Bernard their answer. Having them as my neighbors will make it easier to be on their good side. I will think about a plan tomorrow, today I am too tired to do anything.

I went to the living room to say goodbye to Bernard.

“Oh, I almost forgot, I brought you the thing you asked me”.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of paper, at the same time a pair of keychains fall out of his pocket.

“What is that?”.

“Oh right, I forgot to mention it, but I found these on the floor of my office. Do you recognize them?”.

One pink keychain with a cat and the other one is a light blue with a dog on it. I never saw these keychains, I don't know who they may be… wait, don't tell me.

“Those are Yuki’s and Lucy’s keys!”.

“Is that right? Well, take care of retrieving them to their owners for me, would you?”.

He puts the keys in my hand.

“It's late, so I gotta go, see ya”.

And just like that, he left.

After I took a shower, I lay down on my bed, thinking about everything that had happened. And again, this has been a really chaotic day, from the beginning to the end.

Tomorrow, I have to give back these keychains, well, I can use this as an opportunity to try and make some progress with the girls. Nothing can go wrong, right?