"I don't know. He's the one who chose to knell down for that long," I replied back while turning my face away from Luke's stabbing stares.

I wondered why Luke was acting like this. I clearly wasn't his partner for the next month and what was happening between Allan and I was clearly only between us. Plus, he raised me! My anger started to swell up in my chest, as I thought: Oh please, we're both in the same age! And I was mentally at least ten years older than him!

"The Allan that I know wouldn't kneel down in that field for no reason. What happened Rika?"

I gave in to Luke's threatening stares as I decided to confess everything, "It was because I refused to attend cla.s.s for the next two weeks."

Luke didn't look angry anymore, instead he was frozen in shock. "You decided to not attend any cla.s.ses in the next two weeks?"

"Yes."

The room was silent for a moment while Luke tried to recollect his thoughts.

"Why? You're not this kind of person Rika!" Luke yelled.

"When I returned home, I realized what I was missing out on when I was spending all my time at school. Everyday at school, I was pressured into studying and constantly had to push myself to the brink to survive through this h.e.l.l! But, I didn't even know it was h.e.l.l to me because I got used to it! While I was at home during summer break, I got to play some video games while catching up with some 'books'. I finally got decent time to myself and I was free of expectations for once. I got time to do some shopping everyday and spend some time with my parents. I even had the time to get angry at myself when my parents tried to conceal their sad faces because they knew I would be spending only a week with them! Do you even know how I felt when I saw their faces back then?" I yelled out.

"Well you know that reality is cruel. Or else we wouldn't be studying this hard! The more you slack off, the more you go to lower cla.s.s schools and drop through the districts. That's why your parents chose to send you to this school!" Luke replied back.

"I know! It's because I know that I was only going to rest for two weeks!" I yelled while my tears were running down from my face.

My tears kept running out from my eyes as Luke presented me the truth that I was running away from. This world was very cruel to children I thought. So cruel that a young ten year old was constantly thinking about the future starting from a much younger age than now.

"Then I hope you rest well for the next two weeks while torturing your innocent partner that has nothing to do with this!" Luke said sarcastically.

Luke left the room while shutting the door behind him looking disappointed in me. Maybe I was wrong with treating Allan this way because I wanted a good break. All that he asked me was to attend cla.s.s and maybe I was being selfish with denying that one request.

I walked back into the field behind my cla.s.sroom to see Allan still kneeling down on the gra.s.s. "Is attending cla.s.ses all that is required of me?" I asked for confirmation.

Allan nodded his head while looking barely conscious. "Then should we head back to our room?"

Allan finally got up to topple down soon afterwards. I ended up supporting him all the way back to our room and laid him down on his bed. I grabbed a light novel and ended up falling asleep without turning one page.

I woke up early the next morning to get ready for school. I guessed old habits died hard. When I was almost finished changing into my uniform, Allan woke up. "Good morning!" I said to Allan.

"Good morning!" Allan replied back.

We soon walked towards the cla.s.sroom and the day resumed as normal. I talked to Ellen and Sh.e.l.ly during the break and studied hard during cla.s.s.

I saw Allan interacting with Alex with his bright laid back smile and didn't even dare to look at Luke that was right beside them.

However during lunch time, I was relieved that Allan didn't have to starve when Ellen shared some of her food with him. When I pulled out my bag of chips and started to open the bag, Luke threw the bag into the garbage and ordered another set of food for me. I guessed that meant that Luke wasn't mad at me anymore? I decided to forgive him with throwing my chips away and accepted the tray of food. I was getting sick of junk food so I was glad Luke ordered another potion of food for me.

These peaceful days continued, until an entire two weeks quickly pa.s.sed by and the teacher announced we were going to switch partners again.

"It was nice being paired up with you Allan" (Rika)

"While it wasn't exactly a pleasant situation, it was a unique experience." Allan replied back.

I didn't know why, but I was hearing some hints of laugher from Ellen and Sh.e.l.ly from Allan's reply. I wondered why.