This Girl

“You’re late Mr Okazaki!“ screamed a tall man with thick glasses.

“Um my name’s not Okazaki, it’s Baller, Treyson Baller. Don’t you remember me? We’re literally in the same-“

“I don’t care about your little nicknames!”

“Oh no it’s my real name, funny story really-“

“In fact I don't care about you at all!”

“Wow um that’s a little-“

All I care about is the fact that you ARE LATE…do you have any comments to make on that Mr Bowler?”

In case you were wondering this is Shinji Nakamura and no he isn’t a teacher he’s just very serious about…well life. You see, every class from Grade 10-11 is split up into teams with the task of running a stall for the annual Spring Fair. There’s a prize for the team that earns the most cash and Shinji here has set his sights on winning…in his own toxic dictatorial manner. Weird thing is, none of the teams actually receive any of the revenue they make anyway. It just seems like capitalism and child labour to me but hey I’m just a 10th Grader, what do I know?

“Um yes actually. First of all it’s Baller and second of all,” I say while holding my wrist-watch up to the Captain’s face, “according to my watch it’s only 6:55. Last time I checked our shift only starts in 5 minutes so actually I’m early.”

The captain pulled my hand closer to his face as he readjusted his glasses while studying the watch-face intensely. He then consulted the pocket watch that was dangling from his suit pants before raising his head.

“Actually you are incorrect!” he bellowed triumphantly. “Your watch is wrong, the time is actually 6:45!”

“Wha-wrong?? That can’t be, I…wait did you just say 6:45?”

“Indeed I did,” he replied smugly as he stroked his non-existent beard.

“But doesn’t that make me…even earlier then?” I asked impatiently. Shinji Nakamura more like Shinji Dumb-kamura…that sounded funnier in my head.

“Exactly! But then tell me why everyone else is here…BEFORE YOU!” he said, waving his arms around like a performer on a stage. “That’s it, it pains me to do this but I’m afraid rules are rules. I hereby sentence you toooooo…PUDDING DUTY!”

“Pudding duty?? So I’m being punished because everyone else came earlier than me??”

“No that would be preposterous. You’re being punished because you’re the only one who showed up.”

“WAIT WHATTT???”

So here I am, stuck in a crummy tent, filling cups with Malva pudding. I swear if my outfit gets ruined I’m gonna show that Shinji some real punishment. It’s so dark in here I can barely see what I’m doing. As far as I know I’m supposed to fill the cups and pass them through the hole and onto a table where a Server will distribute them to the customers, but since I’m the only one here I guess I’ll have to go out and be a Server myself once I’m done…

“Well forty cups should be more than enough, I guess it’s time to go and…wait where did they go?” I could’ve sworn I placed forty cups on the table last time I checked but now I can only count ten!

“Oh great, first I had to deal with a crazy captain and now a bunch of thieves? What is this, One Piece episode 2000?”

“Well now that is a very rude name to call your saviour now isn’t it? And you definitely have no right calling anyone crazy Mr Schizo,” said an unfamiliar voice from outside the tent.

Who the heck is this? She doesn’t sound like anyone from my class let alone my team. And what is she doing here? AND MY COMMENTS ARE COMEDY GOLD I’M NOT SCHIZOPHRENIC.

“Hey! Talking to myself is…therapeutic…wait how long have you been here anyway?” Wow she heard all my complaining? Great way to make a first impression Trey!

“Long enough to know you need a vacation,” she said while giggling. “Hm? O-oh yes of course, have a nice day thank you for coming.” She must’ve been talking to some customers. Wow, to think we were working together all this time and I only noticed now, maybe I am losing it.

“Sorry what were you saying?” she asked while reaching into the tent to grab a few more cups. At that moment my heart stopped. Her hands were so…pretty…Is that weird to say? What is happening today? It’s literal human hands not a stained glass window, get a grip Trey!

“So it’s just…you and me working here?” I asked curiously while trying to focus on my work.

“Mmhm…” she said before greeting a few more customers. “Lucky you I guess,” she added nonchalantly.

“Yeah…I guess I am lucky…”

“Wh-what? What did you just say?” she asked, clearly shocked by my honesty.

“Well I’m just agreeing with you, is that such a crime?” I said in as cool of a voice as I could while I handed her a pudding cup through the hole. Now that is what I call a comeback!

“Mmm no…” she said pensively after a long pause before taking the cup from me. Her fingertips brushed mine for a brief moment and in that split second I felt so…happy? This is so weird, someone pinch me please what is going on!?

“What is a crime,” she responded finally, “is the fact that you’re over here flirting with a beautiful girl you’ve just met yet you don’t know her name, in fact you don’t know anything about her now do you,” she said matter-of-factly with a smirk I could practically hear.

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” Where did that come from?? Have I been hanging around Shinji too much? It’s fine, women find Shakespeare romantic right? I mean English teachers sure do...then again they’re paid to.

“Quoting Shakespeare huh?” she said with a giggle. “So Mr Schizo actually has a few brain cells in that head of his.”

“And the Malva Girl has a sense of humour, I guess we’re both full of surprises,” I countered.

“Mhmm, you surprised me the most when it took you half an hour of working with me to even say a word.”

“Well can you blame me? I didn’t even know you were…wait did you just say you wanted to talk to me?”

“Hmmm…hard to say really…I didn’t know anything about you back then,” my heart deflated for a second, wow and here I thought we were actually getting somewhe- “but right now? Yeah…I think I do.”

…woah.

“Do? Do what?”

“Y-you know, do I have to spell everything out for you!” she snapped obviously trying to play it off…Wait, did she just stutter? What is it about this girl she’s just so…so…I can’t seem to wrap my finger around it.

“Geez no need to be so dramatic, but will you at least tell me your name?” I asked, trying to keep my growing excitement in check.

“Mmmm…Malva Girl sounds just fine to me,” she said, giggling as she stuck her hand in the gap, waiting for another pudding cup. In that moment everything made sense. It felt like every single moment of my life had led up to this, and in that one second I made a decision…to run and not look back.

I placed my hand in hers gently.

She flinched and took hers back.

“I’m sorry I-”

“N-no no it’s just I…I didn’t expect you to be so…so honest…” she said as she let her hand slip through the gap once more and meet mine. “I like that about you.”

“I…I like your laugh,” I said holding my breath. That was the most basic compliment ever why was it so hard to say!

“Wow, that’s all?” She said, giggling in a surprised manner, “I mean at least it wasn’t something cliche like: I like your hands.”

“What? When has anyone ever said that in the history of romance?” I snapped before breathing a sigh of relief; That was exactly what I was gonna say next!

“Oh? So this is romance hmm?” she coaxed receptively.

“Oh trust me, you haven’t seen anything yet,” I said teasingly.

“And you haven’t seen anything yet either,” she replied with a wink I could almost picture through the tent, “all you’ve seen of me is my hand.”

“Well will I…ever get to see more of you?”

“Definitely not when you put it like that, that was so gross.”

“You know what I mean!”

She giggled once again, this time squeezing my hand as she did so, “I know I know I’m just teasing! But to answer your question…just…

be patient”

____________________________________________________________

“Earth to Treyson Earth to Treyson! And then what happened?”

“Like I said, Zach, that’s all I can remember…it’s still so hazy in my memory I still can’t tell if it was a dream or not…” I said softly as I closed the diary I’d been reading from and ran my fingers down the cover.

“And you still wanna go looking for this ‘girl’ despite that?” asked Zach, more seriously this time.

“I mean…I honestly wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t at least try.”

“Well suit yourself, it’s not gonna be easy with such a vague description though.” he said casually as he stood up and slipped his phone out of his pocket. “Say, what’s her name anyway?”

I sat there looking in the distance, trying to recall anything, something that would help. But all that I could think of was the feeling I had felt when we first brushed fingers, the feeling I had felt when she said she wanted to talk to me and the feeling that was overcoming my being right now: I need to find this girl.

“Eh…Malva Girl?”