A Needle in a Haystack

“So the Malva Girl has a sense of humour hmm? I guess we’re both full of surprises,” I said with a smirk.

“Mhmm, what surprised me the most was the fact that it took half an hour of us working together for you to even say a word to me,” she pouted with a playful glinter in her eye.

“Well can you blame me? I didn’t even know you were…wait did you just say you wanted to talk to me?” I asked, unable to believe my ears.

“Hmmm…hard to say really. I didn’t know anything about you back then, but right now?…Yes…

“Yes I do Treyson Baller...”

She said slowly as she closed her eyes and leant into-

DING DING DING DING!

“Ah saved by the bell,” said Mr Saunders to the class with a smile. No, you ruined my daydream!

“Well I expect you all to finish Module 12 for homework then, oh and Treyson? This isn’t art class, the only drawings I want to see in your book are graphs, okay?”

As I looked down at my maths book I was greeted by a smiling girl with no eyes. Well that’s just great, about 4% of people sleep walk but I happen to be the 1% that sleep draws…this is so embarrassing!

“Yes Sir, sorry Sir,” I said quickly, trying to forget the whole ordeal as I crammed my books in my bag and made a dash for the door before Mr Saunders gave me one of his famous pep talks.

You see, Mr Saunders’ son, Jocky, is what you would call a juvenile delinquent, and his worst crime to date is making his poor father so scared for the “youth of tomorrow” that he took it upon himself to teach us more life skills than actual maths. His students’ marks plummeted but hey, at least we know how to pay our taxes now, right?

As I ran out of the corridor and onto the school grounds I found that I still could not outrun my memories. The same daydream from maths class played through my mind over and over again, although less exaggerated this time. In reality she didn’t know anything about me nor I her, all we knew was the feel of each other’s hands and the voices that accompanied them.

Pretty romantic, right? Well romance is great when you’re asking your crush out but pretty useless when you’re trying to locate her! And in a school like Sycamore High it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.

All I had to go on was the fact that I had seen her during the Spring Fair, so therefore she must be a student at the school right? Or maybe she was just visiting? Sometimes I wondered if I’d just made the whole thing up.

I broke into a jog upon seeing the familiar figure leaning against the school gate, two cans of soda in hand. Speaking of visitors…

“Yo Zach, quit looking so suspicious, you look like you’re trying to kidnap a child,” I said by way of greeting as I raised my hand up to him in a fist.

Zach’s been my best friend since as long as I can remember. We were in the same class for the whole of primary school until we were separated at the start of high school. Well, seperated is a bit harsh, we practically see each other every day!

“Well maybe if you bought the drinks for a change I’d have something to smile about,” he said jokingly as he handed me a can and returned my fist pump.

“Remind me who has their own ride and goes to an International School? Yeah you’re clearly the rich one, one soda won’t kill you,” I said smiling while taking a sip.

Unable to answer, Zach followed suit and took a sip of his drink with a sigh, “There’s nothing wrong with trying to save money, Trey”

“Relax, I’m gonna pay you back dude. Geez you’re starting to sound like Mr Saunders.”

“Who? Ugh nevermind,” he said waving me off, “Cut to the chase, did you find anything?” he inquired impatiently.

“Find anything?”

“You know, your Malva Girl?” he mocked with a smile.

“Oh shut up it sounds so weird when you say it out loud…and no,” I sighed glumly, “honestly I don’t know where to start,” I said looking into the distance as if it held the answer.

“Oh come on Treyson, you always give up so easily!” Zach snapped at me with a fiery tone I’d rarely ever heard him use.

“Look, you told me you guys worked together at your Fair Team’s stall right?”

“Well yeah but I didn’t see her at all.“

“And her voice?”

“Unrecognizable.”

“And who was in charge of the stand?”

“Uh Shinji, our team captain…? What’s with all the que-“

“Then I guess it’s time to pay ol’ Shinji a visit,” he said before taking a swig of soda, clearly proud with himself. What? What does he think this is, Cluedo?

“Woah there Sherlock don’t look so smug just yet. What do you expect me to do? Waltz up to him and say, ‘Oh hiya Shinji, the guy I’ve spoken to about five and a half times in my life, I was wondering if you could help me find this girl I have a crush on’ I said in a high pitched sarcastic tone that made Zach choke on his drink.

“No dummy! Play it casual,” he said mid-chuckle, “Go for something more welcoming like: ‘Hey Shinji, gimme the girl or I’ll give you a black eye!’ he said in his best impression of a gangster. We both burst out laughing so loudly I almost didn’t hear the school bell ring.

“Dang looks like I gotta bounce,” I said as I slapped Zach on the back and ran off before he could react.

“Cut it out! I’m so not buying you soda again!” he said in his familiar grumpy tone.

“Hey, Treyson!”

“Yeah?”

“What are you gonna do now?”

I looked up, trying to formulate an answer in my head before stopping myself and looking at Zach one last time. “I don’t know,” I shrugged, “play it casual?” I said with a wink as I turned around once more and ran towards the school building.

____________________________________________________________

The mission hadn’t exactly become easier but at least I knew were to start. As I passed through the door of the science classroom and made my way to my desk I couldn’t help but feel excited. This was by far the most interesting thing to happen to me in my whole life, and I was determined to make it count! My science textbook brought me back to reality as I struggled to pull it out of my bag.

Suddenly the book slipped out, bringing with it my maths book which fell to the ground. As I knelt down to fetch it I noticed it had turned to the page with the drawing of my mystery girl. I smiled, “I wonder what she really looks like, or what she’s doing right now,” I said to myself softly. As I looked out of the window I couldn’t help but wonder one more thought, that was a little bittersweet.

“Is she even looking for me too?”

____________________________________________________________

The sun shone brightly through the trees which cast a gentle shade onto the veranda of the house. Many would consider this a blessing, a comfortable retreat from the scorching heat, however, the bundle of blankets peering outside the glass door of the house begged to differ.

“Honestly dear how are you cold during this weather? This is by far the hottest day of the season.”

“Believe me mother if I knew the answer to that I would- aah, aah…AAAH CHOO!” The bundle of blankets was not sentient. On the contrary, it was actually the shelter of the daughter of the house who had a terrible cold and was unable to attend school today.

“Aww you poor thing,” said the mother of the house as she walked into the living room and greeted her sickly daughter with a warm cup of pudding. “You know, they say that when you sneeze it means someone is thinking about you,” she said with a smile as she held the pudding cup up to a small hole in the blankets.

“Th-thank you,“ the daughter paused as she looked at the pudding cup from the hole in her blanket covering.

“Something the matter?”

“No…” she replied, taking the cup from her mother’s hands quickly as she turned back to face the window in order to hide her blushing face, “you just reminded me of someone…”

As she gazed outside the window and looked down at the steaming hot malva cup in her hands she murmured to herself, “whoever it is…I hope it’s him.”

____________________________________________________________

See, she does exist! But will Treyson find her? Find out how Treyson’s interrogation goes in the next chapter of Eh…Malva Girl?

Are we seriously calling it that? Can’t we call it something cooler like, I don’t know, Mission Impossible?

That’s already taken Treyson.

Oh come on! Zach’s never gonna let me hear the end of this.