The next day seems to be a pretty busy day. In school the teachers are rushing through the lessons as there isn't much time left until vacation.

"Students, I am giving you all study guides. You will be having a test on your current unit soon," says Mr. Rhoads as I am in history technology, my last class for today.

"After this test we will start preparing for your final," he says.

"Class is over, I will send you all your study guides," Mr. Rhoads says, the bell ringing right after he says that.

Class is finally over! This day has been going on and on and on! I'm getting tired!

I slowly leave the classroom and go to the bus stop. I am too tired to go any faster. As long as I make the bus, it doesn't matter how long it takes me.

I reach the bus stop just when the bus is arriving at the bus stop. That's how slowly I was walking. Usually I have to wait a good 5 minutes or so, but today it seems I don't have to wait at all.

I fall into the empty seat next to Lily.

"Rin? Are you alright?" asks Lily.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I say.

"You sure? You see really tired," Lily tells me.

"I am a little tired," I say.

"Maybe you aren't getting enough sleep," Lily says.

"No... I think it's today. Today was so busy with the teachers rushing through the lessons and the day dragging on and on," I say.

"Oh. Today was pretty busy," says Lily.

"Yeah. I wish this day would just end!" I exclaim.

"Maybe you should sleep. Switch with me. I'll wake you when we arrive at our bus stop," says Lily.

"Thanks," I say switching with Lily.

"Rin, wake up. We are going to be at our bus stop soon," I hear Lily say.

"Wha?" I say.

"It will be our bus stop soon," says Lily.

"Oh," I say getting up.

The bus soon arrives at our bus stop and we get off.

"Bye Lily..." I say sleepily.

"Bye Rin! Don't fall asleep while doing your homework!" says Lily.

"That's a weird thing to say," I tell her.

"I guess so. Really, don't fall asleep while doing your homework though," says Lily.

"I will not," I say.

"Good," replies Lily.

I walk into my house and get started on my homework.

The next day doesn't feel as long as the previous day. It definitely is weirder. Someone asks me to meet them at the café on Saturday after school.

"Meet me at the café on Saturday," a female says to me while I am going to the bus stop.

I study her face. She has brown hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. She is pretty. I notice on her uniform is slightly different from mine. Instead of showing the community and the main school for higher education, it shows the community and the other school for higher education.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"That doesn't matter. I just want you to come. I think you might be interested in what will happen," the girl tells me.

"I'm not sure if I should come," I say.

"Please. Just come. You will not regret it! It's important to me!" the girl says.

"Well, I guess I'll think about going. Is it fine if any of my friends come with?" I ask.

"I don't think they would be interested. I'd rather they not come," she says.

"Alright, I guess. I'll come since you really want me to," I say.

"Thank you!" the girl says to me.

"Your welcome?" I say.

"Don't tell anyone about this," she says.

"Why shouldn't I tell anyone? I barely know you," I say.

"Please. Trust me! You will not regret it. If you tell someone, you will regret it. After this you can forget I even existed. Please, just don't tell anyone! If you do," she starts to tear up at the words "if you do."

"If you do.... I will regret it too, you know? I just need you to come. You will not regret it... I promise you that... Just please... Come and don't tell anyone about it," she says.

"You can stop saying I will not regret it. I will come and not tell anyone about it. Does that make you happy?" I ask.

"Yes," she says.

"What café should I go to? When should I go?" I ask.

She tells me to go to the café I went to with Alexandra and Lily the other day and to come after school, as soon as possible.

The rest of the week goes by pretty fast, but it is boring. The teachers are rushing making the days seem shorter.

When class ends on Saturday, I realize that I need to tell my friends something. It would be weird if I wasn't on the bus. I decide to act normal.

"Lily. Alexandra," I say when we are at the bus stop.

"Do you want to hang out tomorrow?" I ask.

"Why not today?" asks Alexandra.

"A friend invited me to go shopping," I say.

"They didn't invite us?" she asks.

"They... They don't know you. Maybe I could introduce you sometime. I guess, if I get around to it. The thing is, I don't know this friend. I don't know her that well. I met her recently. A week or two ago," I lie.

I know I shouldn't lie, but that girl has convinced me otherwise. I am interested to find out what she wants. Also, it seems that the girl wants me to come really, really badly. It would be weird to say that I just met her yesterday. I can't take back what I said now. Alexandra seemed a little hurt that she wasn't invited, in the first place. I really hope I don't get in trouble for this...

"Oh, I hope to meet her," says Alexandra.

"Have fun!" says Lily.

I start to walk in the direction of the café, but I turn down a different street and wait Alexandra and Lily to get on the bus and go home.

Once they have left I walk to the café.

When I enter, I see the girl is waving at me from one of the tables. I go over to that table to greet her.

"Hi," I say.

"Hello!" she says cheerfully.

"What was it you wanted to talk about?" I ask.

"Please sit down," she tells me and I sit down in the chair across from her.

"Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?" I ask again.

"First let's order some drinks," she says.

"Can you just get to the point?" I ask.

"Later. I want to get to know you first," she says.

We both order drinks.

"I'm Akiko. What's your name?" she asks me.

"I'm Rin," I say.

"Do you think you are normal?" she asks me.

What's with that question? This girl is weird.

"Huh? Isn't everyone normal?" I ask.

"Oh right," she chuckles a little, "I guess so. Do you feel like you fit in?"

"Yeah, of course!" I say.

"I know, that was a weird question. What's your life like? Do you have a lot of friends?" she asks me.

"Friends?" I say, stopping for a minute before continuing, "I do have some friends... Like Alexandra and Lily. Those are my best friends. I have a few other friends too. I have a nice family too! There's Mom, Dad, and Lucas. Oh! Lucas is my younger brother. Since I'm 13, I'll be moving out soon. Although I think I'm kind of nervous about my life changing."

"Ah, I see," she says.

"What was with those weird questions?" I ask.

"What ones?" she asks me.

"The one about being normal and fitting—" I am about to continue but Akiko stops me.

"Don't... say that," she says in a voice filled with anger.

"What? What is it?" I ask.

"About this questions. Sorry! I didn't mean it in a weird way or anything like that. I just wanted to know about your life," she says.

"I see. That makes sense," I say.

"Let's go somewhere else," she says later once we have both finished our drinks and we have talked for a while.

"Uh... sure," I say, feeling a little unsure.

When is this girl going to get to her point?

I follow her to a back alley way in the community.

"What are we doing here?" I ask.

"Quiet," she tells me.

"Ok," I whisper.

What exactly is going on?

"We're here," she says after we have taken a turn or two.

"Where?" I ask.

"Have you been wondering when I will get to my point?" she asks.

"Yeah..." I reply.

"I now will get to it," she tells me.

"Huh? But... look! There's a ceiling here... but there isn't over there! I'm confused!"

"That doesn't matter."

"Uh?"

"It seems that a secret of some sort is being kept from us," says Akiko, with a serious expression on her face.

"What do you mean? Who's keeping it from us?" I ask.

"I don't know. All I know is that you are forgetting something," she says.

"Huh? I don't know what you mean," I say.

"I heard it... I heard it the other day," she says.

"Heard what?" I ask.

"That man! Do you not remember him?! He asked you if you remembered something, and you said no! How could you not remember?" she says in frustration.

"I don't remember any man like that."

"...really?"

"Yeah, I don't."

"Fine. Just keep to the promise and don't tell ANYONE. That way you will not regret it."

"But what if I do?"

"Then you will severely regret it."

"That information is really weird, but I guess I will not tell anyone," Akiko lets out a sigh of relief before I continue, "but I really should tell someone."

"Huh? Don't! Don't tell anyone! Both of us will regret it! You will regret it! Please... just don't... just don't..."

"You're starting to cry," I say.

"I am?" she asks.

"Yeah. I've got it, I will not tell anyone. This must be very important to you in some way," I say.

"Thank you!"

"Your... welcome," I reply.

"You should get going."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"I'll be at that café every Saturday after school, so feel free to come any time you want if you want to talk... or anything... like that. If you want to talk, just come right after school. I visit it after school and  then I usually leave soon after. Just know that I will not talk about what we were just talking about... How I think you have forgotten something," she says, the last sentence sounding very serious.

"Alright," I say going back the way we came.

"Bye Rin!"

I look back to see that she is waving at me.

"Bye!" I say, waving back.

What was that? I can't tell anyone... Akiko... I promised I wouldn't tell anyone, but isn't it better if I do? What you said was something that obviously wasn't normal!

I start to take out my cell phone when I remember what Akiko told me.

"Fine. Just keep to the promise and don't tell ANYONE. That way you will not regret it."

"But what if I do?"

"Then you will severely regret it."

"That information is really weird, but I guess I will not tell anyone," Akiko lets out a sigh of relief before I continue, "but I really should tell someone."

"Huh? Don't! Don't tell anyone! Both of us will regret it! You will regret it! Please... just don't... just don't..."

I put my phone back away.

That was weird, what Akiko said. It seems she wants to keep what she told me a secret. It seems she doesn't want anyone to know. I guess I shouldn't tell anyone then. She seems really nice and I want to be friends with her. I guess I'll just forget what she told me.

I sigh, continuing to walk to the nearest bus stop.

Wait... What am I going to tell Alexandra and Lily? They might want to come too... I guess I could ask Akiko if they could come. I already told Alexandra and Lily that I met her two weekend's agooo! I... I... I lied! Why... would I ever do that... to my best friends? The friends I would tell anything to! Now they can't come meet my new friend because I lied. I can't tell them the truth either! What do I do?

I get on the bus with those thoughts still going through my head.

I should just forget all of this...

Later in the day I try to act normal. Surprisingly, it works well. No one asks if anything is wrong. No one suspects that something happened today. It's as if nothing even happened.

"Hi Rin! Could I meet your friend sometime?" Lily texts me near the end of my free time.

"Sure, sometime," I reply.

"I have to go. My free time is up," she texts back.

"Same," I say.

Later, I am lying in bed awake because I cannot fall asleep. I don't know why. I am thinking about how I went to Alexandra's house with Lily earlier today.

I can't wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow we are going to do some shopping!

I had so much fun at Alexandra's house! We talked and talked and talked! I would have been home late if my holo-watch didn't go off 15 minutes before I have to do homework!

I finally fall asleep thinking about what will happen tomorrow. I am so excited to go shopping! More excited than normal!

In the morning, I get a text from Alexandra.

"I can't go shopping today, mine and Lily's schedules don't work out."

I reply with, "That's ok!"

I really wish we could have gone shopping, but I guess it's alright that we can't there is always next weekend. If Alexandra and Lily could come, then there's the chance I wouldn't of been free.

"My dream," I say to myself, remembering a little of last night's dream.

My dream... it was something bad? Something that I didn't want to know? I don't remember if it was even a dream. Wait. Of course it was a dream! How could it not be a dream? It was with some girl? Her name started with an A, I think.

AN: I've still been wondering, what are your theories :P 

(I'm wondering cause I will be needing some ideas in the future for the story. Also I just want to see what you people think will happen.)

Expect the next chapter soon. I said I would update every Friday, but I couldn't wait. xD I think I'll try to have the next chapter up by Sunday.

By the way, Rin dreamed Akiko.

Words: 2354

Total words so far(not including AN): 21314