Fiery Girl

There was a brief pause for the girl to take a deep breath, as if she was gathering some power. 

And then, with all the determination and hatred that had been bottled up since the day before, she said, "It's the idiot who knocked the boxes onto me!"

Neo couldn't believe what he was seeing. The loud girl he had bumped into the day before was now in front of him, even more stressed than before. Nagoya's words echoed in his mind: "That girl is trouble. I saved you."

Now that she was in front of him, yelling, he thought he could reason with her a little. "I can't believe you're in the same classroom as me. I already apologized for what I did. It was an accident," he said, annoyed.

Instead of calming things down, it only fueled the fire. "An accident? You didn't even care about what you did! I could have been hurt, and you didn't give a damn."

"But you weren't hurt! You seem to have plenty of energy," Neo replied.

"Plenty of energy? Are you kidding me?"

"It looks like those boxes affected your cognitive abilities."

They continued arguing, escalating the fight further. Neo had given up on trying to make peace. It seemed like they were about to start fight.

Then Saya took two little bags decorated with hearts and stars out of her backpack. Each one was sealed with a beautiful colorful ribbon. Call for them and manage to catch their attention.

"Look what I have here," she said, shaking the bags. "Whoever stops fighting gets a cookie."

She chuckled lightly as both of them were left speechless. Her laughter was so sweet that it made Neo feel awkward. She was too cute.

The fiery girl looked at Neo curiously, observing his reaction to Saya. Her demeanor changed completely.

"Nice to meet you! My name is Sunny, and yours?"

Sunny extended her hand towards him, but the boy was suspicious of what the girl might be planning. It was impossible for her to be the same girl who was arguing with him. Now, she was being friendly and smiling. There was something strange about it.

"Pleasure, mine is Neo."

Slowly, he extended his hand to shake hers, wary of any trap she might have set.

Her hands were warm and soft. He had expected them to be rough based on her demeanor, but he was mistaken.

"Both of you are silly," said Saya, laughing as she observed them.

The golden-haired girl handed the promised cookies to each of them, and Neo sighed with relief that the conflict had ended. Sunny playfully punched the boy's arm and whispered while Saya was distracted.

"I'm still mad at you, but I'll forgive you because of this sweet girl."

Neo heard that and let it go. There was no reason to prolong something that was already resolved. 

The English teacher entered the classroom, bringing pain and despair, and Neo made his way to the back of the room, where his desk was.

"Hey, Neo," the boy next to him called.

"Tadashi?"

Neo was surprised.

"Let's share," Tadashi pointed to the bag of cookies on Neo's desk. "I'm hungry."

Neo looked at the bag of cookies and wanted to eat them alone since Saya had given them to him. However, his conscience spoke louder.

He gave some to Tadashi while eating one himself. The cookies were crunchy and sweet, Saya was good at baking. They both ate the cookies discreetly, as the teacher didn't seem to be in the mood for anything.

"Why are you here anyway?" Neo asked curiously.

"I always sit next to you."

Neo had never noticed.

Perhaps because he was so quiet, he went unnoticed.

During the break, Neo realized that Sunny's arrival made Saya practically unreachable. There was no space for him to approach and start a conversation.

He overheard them talking about the weekend party. Sunny was part of the fashion club and was excited to use her friend as a guinea pig for new outfits. She asked the girl which color she liked the most, only to ignore her preference and choose something that matched instead.

Neo was curious and wanted to see the result, but the lack of suitable clothes prevented him from attending the party without embarrassment.

Motivated by the confirmation that Saya would be at the party, he decided to take a walk downtown after school.

If there was no one to borrow from, he could try finding someone to sell him clothes. He went to the south side of the city, where the chic clothing stores were located.

After visiting several different shops, he discovered that formal clothes were too expensive, and he would spend all the money Karine had given him.

Just remembering the days he went hungry, being broke was out of the question. Another idea crossed his mind: asking for more money. However, Karine had already done so much for him that it would be rude to ask for more.

So, he went back home and tried to find someone at school other day willing to lend him clothes.

The next day, the memories of the nightmare he had over the weekend were bothering him, and during the history class, while listening to the teacher talk about the city's formation, he had a great idea to ask him about that symbol from the nightmare.

"Marcio?"

|The class was over and all the students had left, and only the teacher remained, looking at his notes. He seemed quite busy.

"You can speak, Neo. Any questions about the class?"

"Not really. It's something else."

"Go ahead."

"I saw a symbol of a golden lion somewhere. Do you know what it means?"

The teacher looked at the boy curiously, the question was strange to him, and in Marcio's mind, the answer should have been obvious.

"Neo, that's the symbol of your family. The Lancasters."

"Lancasters?" Neo asked, confused.

The teacher's expression changed as he remembered something, and he looked to the side, avoiding eye contact with the boy, he was sweating. It seemed like he was carefully choosing his words.

"Yes. I'm sure you know what that means. I don't need to say anything, right? Well, I have an important commitment in the teachers' room that I have to attend to."

He quickly got up from his desk and headed for the door.

"Your things, Marcio!"

"You can leave them there. I'll pick them up later."

The teacher left quickly, leaving the boy full of doubts and pondering about himself.

Lancasters? Why does my family have a symbol? Who am I? These were frequent questions in his mind.