Six

                                    

                                          

CALIX
At school on Monday, she was late to first period. I could feel when she began walking down the hall to class, and was slightly appreciative to the fact that the only open seats was the one in front of me and the one beside me. People had apparently gotten the hint that I wasn't here to make friends.
                          
Akina walked into the room with her binder, textbook, and phone in her left hand, her right hand and wrist covered in bandages. I felt pain radiating from her, pulsating like a heartbeat.
                          
"What happened to you?" Ms. Anderson asked quietly. The rest of the class was too absorbed in their gossip to pay attention to Ms. Anderson's inquiries. I knew that it was too loud in here for anyone else to hear, but I could perfectly.
                          
"It was an accident. A little mishap. Nothing big," Akina replied. Ms. Anderson looked at her questioningly. "Here." Akina shoved her hall pass at Ms. Anderson, and turned to face the class. She searched for an open seat, and I could feel the anger as her eyes found me.
                          
I felt ashamed, although I had done nothing wrong, and heat rose to my cheeks.
                          
"Glad you're embarrassed." Her voice was terse and angry as she sat in front of me, her books slamming on the desk.
                          
"What did you do to yourself?" I asked quietly.
                          
"Do to myself?" She sounded even more angry.
                          
"I just meant what happened," I corrected. "Not that you did it to yourself."
                          
"It was an accident. Nothing happened."
                          
"Akina," I said.
                          
"I don't want to talk about it! As a matter of fact, I don't know why I'm even talking to you!"
                          
"Because you feel like you should," I told her. 
                          
She laughed a dry, humorless laugh, and shook her head. "Why the hell would I feel like I should talk to you?" She was facing the front of the class, opening her textbook and notebook. She fished a pen out of her bed, and pain spiked like an angry ember from her hand. 
                          
"Are you sure you are alright?"
                          
"I'm sure I don't need you checking up on me."
                          
"You obviously need someone checking up on you," I said, and then regretted it. I had gotten angry, and I knew that that was the worst thing for my condition.
                          
Her skin flushed bright red, but she remained completely silent. Akina bit her cheek, a hurt and enraged expression crossed her face. It was quickly replaced with a passive one. She said nothing more. 
                          
-------------------
                          
I saw her walking down the hallway, and knew I needed to talk to her. So when she passed, I fluidly reached into the front pocket of her bag and pulled out a notebook. 
                          
After the bell rang and we were released to lunch, I waited until she was almost out the door, and called her name. 
                          
"Akina!" I said, and reached down to pretend I was picking her notebook up from the floor. 
                          
"What do you want, Calix?" 
                          
"I just thought you might want this," I said coolly, and held it up. 
                          
Her eyes grew wide, and she pulled her eyebrows together. "Where did you find that? Did you- did you take that from my bag?" 
                          
"No," I lied, and stood to walk over to her. "It was on the floor under your desk."
                          
"And how did you know it was mine?" She asked suspiciously. 
                          
I held it up, and showed her her own scrawled writing on the front. "It, well, it has your name on it," I said. "And unless another Akina sits beside me in this class, I am pretty sure it's yours." I handed it to her, and she hastily shoved it in her bag.