June 11th, Tuesday.
10:30 AM

"Come on Lydia! Help me talk to him! Pleaaaase!" Ari clings onto my arm and shakes me. "Please please please!"

"Fine. But you owe me some boba for this." I sigh and smile hesitantly.

"Alright, now come on! Let's make the most out of recess." Ari pulls me out of the door, she was exploding with bubbly excitement.

"Calm down! Before you drag me to who knows where, do you even know where to find Theo?"

"Of course! The canteen! He'd be hungry after all those lessons!" And she said those words without the slightest of doubt.

So off we went to the canteen.

"Do you think he'll like me too?" Ari asks.

"Who knows..."

"Oh come on! Give me a little hope Lydia!" Ari pouts at me and lets go of my arm.

I let out another sigh and in the passing of a second, Ari dashed behind me, hiding herself.

"What are you doing?" I turn around and raise my eyebrow.

"It's him it's him!" She whispers, nudging me with her elbow.

I turn my head to look where she was looking. And there stood Theo. He and his friends were taking slow strides probably heading back to their classroom. And all of them had their eyes glued to their nintendo switches.

If only I had the guts to admit I loved games.

I squinted my eyes, trying to get a view on what they were playing, and Ari suddenly grabs my arm and pulls me over to the busy group of friends.

"H-hey!" Ari stuttered. It was obvious that she was nervous, she was hiding her hands behind her back and was fiddling with her coat. I'm suprised that she mustered up the courage to speak though.

The group all lifted their heads in chorus. "Yes?" Theo answered sheepishly. The rest of the group whispered to each other quietly. But I could tell that they were saying something about me. I could read their lips.

"I'm Ari... I just w-wanted to say Hi." Ari smiled at Theo cutely, and I just stared at the group of boys like they were trees.

"O-oh... Is that so? Nice to meet you to then." Theo smiled gently, then his gaze turned to me. "L-lydia... You are alright being seen talking to us?"

"Eh- hmm? Me? Of course." I felt like I was talking to a tree. I want to burst out laughing but I don't want to look like I'm on drugs.

"Are you alright? You look pale." He then tells me, making me blink a few times. He was shockingly nice. I nodded, implying that I was really alright. Then I looked over to Ari, who seemed to be subtly glaring at me. Whoops.

"Hey dude, we're going to go ahead now. Catch up when your done talking with the ladies." One of the boys that was with Theo winks and begins walking away with the rest.

"Alright. I guess I should go now, see you guys some other time." Theo awkwardly waves then runs over to his friends.

Well he's awkward.

"What was that about!?" Ari crosses her arms and pouts at me.

"What? All I did was stand here." I respond to her nonchalantly.

"You two were almost flirting!"

"We were not flirting! Besides, they all look like trees. You know I'm already interested in someone."

"I won't be too happy to find out that the person you are interested in is Theo."

"I am not interested in Theo! Goodness Ari!" I facepalm and turn my body to the direction of the hall that leads back to my classroom and I begin walking away from Ari. Disappointment.

"H-hey Lydia! You aren't going to buy anything to eat from the canteen?"

"I lost appetite. Thank you."

"Lydia..." I heard Ari's voice grow soft and sullen, But I continued to walk away.

Casually waving at the students, greeting the teachers, hugging the young children.

I didn't mind it, but they just felt like detours longer than the main road to return to my classroom.

"Ms. Hill?" I let go of the child that I held in my arms, slightly shocked by the voice of my professor suddenly making an appearance.

"Professor Adley, what brings you here?"

"There is something I'd like to discuss with you in the office, If you don't mind."

"Oh... That's fine prof."

Hmmm... Should I be nervous? I haven't done anything wrong though.

And within a couple of minutes, here I am. Looking at Theo, and this other girl who had her hair clipped back with a red and white ribbon. She was cute.

"What's this about?" I asked my professor, while waiting for his answer, I began scanning every tight space and object in the room. Everything felt quite awkward right now.

"I'm holding an event in two weeks to advertise the school. The 4th years will be busy with an oral defense, so I have to ask you, the 3rd year students instead."

"And why us in particular?" The girl with a ribbon asks.

"I picked the most diligent students in each class." Professor responds. "Lydia of 3-1, Theo of 3-2, and you Sylvie of class 3-3."

Oh, so her name is Sylvie. It makes me think of Sylveon. And sylveon is such an adorable pokemon!!

"P-professor, I'm not good around people..." Theo frowns.

"Perfect! It's a great way to boost your confidence then."

"What exactly are we going to do though professor?" I ask.

Professor Adley yawns then gives us a smile. "You three will be given 10 minutes each, max, to discuss about how great the school is! Isn't that wonderful?"

"Meh..." I give my professor an indifferent look and proceed to head out the door.

"Lydia! Where are you going?" Professor asks.

"Back to class. I don't want to miss anything. Besides, it's your vacant, right prof? You should get some rest, you look like you haven't slept in ages."

"He probably spent the whole evening playing that MMORPG called divine spring again." The door suddenly opens and one of my female teacher enters, chuckling faintly.

I wouldn't have imagined my professor, or yet alone any of my teachers playing an MMORPG.

I shrugged my shoulders then waved goodbye as I was finally able to take my leave and return to class.

Thankfully my professor for the next subject wasn't here yet.

"Lydia, where have you been!?" Those were the very first words I recieved once I took my seat.

"Professor Adley had discussed a small matter with me, Ari."

"Hmph. I can't believe you really walked away from me back there." Ari took out her pen and scribbled on her notebook for a few seconds. "You aren't mad at me though, are you?" She then asks.

"No, I'm not. I just felt disappointed since you accused me of liking someone that you yourself, has a crush on. You know I would never do that."

"Yeah... Sorry Lydia. I bought you some soda by the way." Ari puts down her pen and pulls out a bottle of pepsi from her bag and hands it to me, making me smile.

"Aww Ari... You really didn't have to!" I took the pepsi and popped it open.

"Whattt, I felt really bad about the things I said earlier!" She gives me a sheepish smile.

"Hahaha, it's alright Ari, I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have walked away like that."

"Hehe. Anyways, what's this small discussion you and Professor Adley had?"

"Well it appears that I and two other students will be having to give a speech about how 'great' the school is for an event which Professor Adley is hosting. I haven't agreed on it yet, however it looks like I don't have a choice."

"Oh, well if that's the case, then good luck!"

"Thanks Ari."

"Who are the two other students though?"

"Theo and Sylvie."

"Theo!?" Ari began squeeling jibberish. It looked as if she was about to have epilipsy in her seat. "You better learn more about him for me and everything! Be cupid!" She placed both her hands on my shoulders, gripping tightly, and she began to shake the life out of me. "You. Will. Do. Your. Best. To. Help. Me. RIGHT?!"

"YES I WILL! So stop shaking me." And she stopped. The ruckus that the two of us were making caused the other students to look at us.

"Yay! You're the greatest Lydia!" Ari pinched my cheeks.

Ohhkaay. Looks like my mission log has a new entry. Sighhh!

Help Ari get with Theo.

And for a moment, I imagined myself in a diaper, shooting cringy pink arrows at people.