Lunch break

As soon as the bell rang to signal the start of lunch break, some my classmates start stretching out of their sits and going through the usual routine of inviting their friends to buy and eat at the cafeteria or just eating packed lunch in the classroom. Some even just stay by their sits reading their books while eating bread in isolation.

“Yo Drew! Buying food in the cafeteria today?” Kevin ask, raising his hand and moving in front of my desk. His big build blocking the view in front.

“Yeah but I have to pass something first.” I reply, putting my shoulder bag on the table and rummaging through it.

“huh? What is it?” Kevin inquires, peering inside my bag. His spiky black hair, hitting my forehead.

“Your hair is hitting my forehead.” I complain, pushing him away a little.

“Your bag sure is messy.” He comments, stepping back and smiling.

“Shut up.” I state and continue trying to find the piece of paper.

It’s not that messy. It’s just that I don’t have a folder to place all my papers in so they usually get crushed whenever I put a book back inside it. It’s all an accident when it happens, see?

Reaching the bottom of my bag, I feel a crumpled paper and pull it out.

Smoothing it out, I read the header of the paper:

‘Field Trip Waiver’

“HEYY! We had to pass that yesterday!” Kevin bellows, pointing at it with his index finger.

“I was absent, wasn’t I?” I reason. “Besides, I already asked our adviser if I can pass it today and he said I should turn it in before the end of the day.” I explain.

“Oh right!” He says, laughing at his mistake as he scratches the back of his head with one hand.

“Alright. I’ll leave you to deal with that. Anything you want in the cafeteria?” He asks, putting both his hands in his pocket.

“No. I’m fine. I have packed lunch today.” I reply, waving my hand in front of me.

“Okay. I’ll see you there then. Some of the guys are there already. Just find us in one table.” He remarks, heading towards the door and leaving me.

“errr, Andrew.” A soft voice calls out to me from my side.

“hmmm?” I curiously look at the source of the voice and see Maro standing beside me.

I wonder when she got there.

“H-hello.” She waves her hand.

“Maro, Hello. What’s up?” I greet her, turning to her direction.

“I heard you and Kevin were talking about this?” She says, raising the same waiver I have in my hand.

“Ah. The field trip waiver. Yeah. I was absent yesterday so I have to pass mine today.” I explain to her.

“Oh.” Her eyes shine as she heard what I said.

“oh?” I repeat, confused.

“I was absent yesterday as well so…” She plays with her fingers as she explains.

“Oh. Alright. Let’s pass it together then.” I tell her as I close my still exposed bag.

She nods and smile adorably.

I can’t help but look away at her because of how cute the smile fit her.

We exit the classroom and head towards the 1^st floor of the school building. As we were in the 3^rd floor of the school, it isn’t really much of a walk but the hallways are crowded at this time.

“Say, you know I can just pass it for you?” I say to her, trying to match her pace.

She looks towards me and waves her hand.

“No. its fine.” She replies, smiling.

“oh.” Her shoulder jerks up as she seems to realize something. “Are you fine matching my pace? I’m really slow. My friends usually teases me about it” She inquires with wide eyes.

“Yeah. We can take our time. I’m not really in a hurry” I reply, smiling to reassure her.

She nods and stares forward.

As we walk silently for a couple of minutes, I take a peek at her face and see her smiling. Satisfied with her adorable smile, my then gaze shifts from her face to her other features.

Average height and with a meek demeanor, her hair that flows to her back is tied into twin tails which are both held by black cords. She’s wearing the school uniform which is a black long sleeved sailor uniform with a dark blue ribbon in the front. Her uniform is like a size bigger than her though, making it a tad bit loose for her which in turn exposes some physical features on her body that one wouldn’t notice such as her sculpted collar bone which I could see from where I am standing and how slender her arm probably is from how baggy the sleeves are. Her modest chest just slightly noticeable from her uniform. As for the bottom half of her body, she is wearing the usual black miniskirt and her trademark black stockings and black shoes. As far as I remember, she always wore black stockings and rarely have I seen her go to school without it. I wouldn’t mind not seeing it as she has quite the beautiful legs though.

All in all, coupled with her kind and gentle face, she is a cutie and I wouldn’t mind having her as my girlfriend.

I nod to myself as I reach this conclusion and take a peek at her face.

Her face is red as she looks away from me, giving me momentary side glances.

“Maro, what’s the matter?” I ask, stopping in my tracks and facing her.

She stops as well and face me, looking up at me and playing with her fingers.

I raise my eyebrow and wait for her to speak.

“err. Andrew, is there something wrong with the way I’m dressed today?” She asks, looking down and hiding her face.

“errr. N-nothing? Why?” I stammer, scratching my cheek.

‘Did she notice?!’ I panic.

I wasn’t being creepy was I?

Wait. I was just checking her out. That’s it. I didn’t mean to make her embarrassed. I didn’t even want her to notice. I was sure I was doing it subtly.

Didn’t I?

Looking up she states.

“W-well, you were looking at me from top to bottom. It was a little embarrassing.”

My shoulders jerk as she mentions it.

“S-sorry. I must have been imagining it.” She says, forcing a laugh as she waves a hand in front of her. “We should keep going now.” A forced smile as she states.

Why did she say sorry?

She was clearly not imagining it.

Wait. I should apologize first.

“M-maro. Sorry. You weren’t imagining it.” I apologize, looking her in the eye.

“huh?” she looks at me, tilting her head to one side. Her face seems to have regained its original color.

“Embarrassing as it is, I was staring at you.” I explain, looking away from her as my face heats up.

“eh? Why would you do that?” with her head still tilted to one side, she inquires as she puts her index finger to her chin.

“W-well…” I stammer.

“hmmm…” she continues to stare at me.

I’m a loss for words as I can’t just say that I think she’s cute. Actually…

“Nothing. I was just amazed at how cute you look. Anyways, let’s go. Lunch time will be over if we diddle-daddle around here. You haven’t ate yet, right?” I say as fast as I can. Hoping she won’t notice it.

She drops her waiver as she puts both hands on her cheeks, trying to hide her face.

“w-w-w-what did you just s-s-s-say?” freaking out, she stammers on her words.

“H-hey! You dropped your waiver.” I say as I pick it up.

As I look up, I see her running towards the girl’s bathroom.

Scratching my head, I walk towards the bathroom.

“Maro. Come on. Let’s pass the waiver already.” I call out to her from outside.

A wait a minute for an answer.

None came.

I sigh and sit down, Indian style, between the bathrooms. The girls and boys bathroom are just separated by a wall between them.

I take out my phone and text my friends:

‘I might not be able to eat. The adviser’s asking all kinds of questions.’

And press send.

I chuckle as I realize that I possibly can’t send a message while being ask questions.

There’s really no reason for me to stay here. I can just go to the teacher’s area myself and pass the waivers together. It’s not like they’ll care. As long as they get it. I guess I’m just a little worried about Maro. I am the reason she’s in here after all. I didn’t think she’d run off like that though. I mean, I just complimented her. Isn’t she supposed be happy and going ‘t-thank you’ with her adorable smile, instead of running away from me. I definitely prefer that end instead of this.

Feeling disappointed, I close my eyes.

I feel myself being shaken.

A good dream of a date with a specific girl starts to blur as I hear a familiar voice.

“Andrew.” A soft voice.

“hmmmm.” I grunt, opening my eyes.

In front of me is an angel clad in the school uniform. I can’t see its face yet as my eyes are still blurry.

“An angel?” I murmur, rubbing my eyes.

“n-no.” it said.

“Maro. It’s Maro.” It said, introducing itself.

“Maro?” I try to remember.

As my vision starts to focus, I see her face on level with me.

“w-what? Maro? Why are you here in my room?” I reflexively ask her, standing up.

She chuckles, putting a hand over her mouth.

Her chuckle is suspicious so I look at my surroundings and see that I am at school.

The heck?

“You slept sitting between the girls and boys bathroom.” She says, standing up.

“eh? Why?” I inquire, still having a hard time remembering due to my half asleep state.

“t-that’s because…” she trails off, looking away from me with a tinge of crimson on her cheek.

Huh? Oh right. I remembered. I called her cute and she ran off.

C-c-c-cute!?

The nerve of myself. I wonder if I was high or something a while ago.

“A-anyways. Let’s pass this.” she says, holding out the waiver to me. “You dropped it as you stood up.”

I take mine from her and remember the time.

“What time is it?” I ask, looking for a clock on the walls.

“5 minutes before lunch break ends.” She states. “The first bell rang already. That’s why I know.” She explains.

“Oh. OH! We have to hurry! We’ll be late for class then if we don’t run” I tell her, panicking.

“I can’t really run.” Frowning as she says so.

“Oh right.” I say, scratching the back of my head. A little embarrassed.

“D-don’t worry about me. I don’t want you to be late just because of me. You can go on ahead” she says, smiling.

She woke me up when I fell asleep here. She could have just left me alone and passed the waiver and now she tells me to just go on my own. I don’t really think I can do that. Besides, seeing a forced smile from her just hurts me.

“Okay then, let’s just go on your pace. If we’ll be late, we can be late together at least and if we get chewed out, leave it to me!” I smile at her, giving her a thumbs up.

She chuckles, covering her mouth.

I laugh with her but fully intending to do as I said. I’m reliable after all. Or so I like to think at least.

 “Oh wait. You can actually return now and I’ll just pass it so you at least won’t be late.” I say, just realizing the other possibility.

She shakes her head.

“No. let’s pass it together.” She says, locking eyes with me.

I feel my face heating up a little as she says it.

‘Such conviction… could it be? She l-l-likes me?!’

“O-okay.” I shyly reply, trying to dodge her eyes.

“hmm? Why are you looking away?” she inquires, bending over a little to look at my face.

A better view of her neck and collar bone as I glance at her.

‘God, save me.’ I pray.

“Your face is red. Are you fine?” she asks, putting a finger on her chin as she asks.

“Y-yes. Let’s just go already.” I say, trying my best to look at her eyes instead of anywhere else.

“Alright.” She replies cheerfully, standing straight. “I’ll take you to the nurse’s office if ever you collapse or something.” She says, showing a peace sign.

Totally out of character but totally cute!

“If ever that happens, I’ll be counting on you then.” I sigh, giving up.

“Yup! You can count on me!” she says with a beaming smile as she puts a hand on her chest.

I smile at her pose and we start walking.

Author's Note

any comments would be appreciated