The patter of rain against the window resounded inside the grim atmosphere of the classroom. The sky shook and grumbled with thunder as the breeze cradled the trees from one side to the other. The whole class waited impatiently for the teacher to conclude the last class of the day. You didn’t mind though. The rabid howls of the rain always soothed you. You loved the rain; what was bothering you, in fact, was the conversation you had with Gou a few days ago, while walking down the school hallways. And no matter how much you attempted to shake it off, the words still echoed inside your head:
“I know you have a crush on Makoto-Sempai.” She proclaimed without even looking at you.
“What?”
“It’s obvious!” She smiled and stopped her pace in front of you. “I can see the way you ogle all over him. And your eyes shine every time he’s near. I don’t blame you though; he has very impressive muscles!” /Again with the muscles?!\.
Your stomach clenched at the truth spilling out of her words, “B-but…why are you telling me this so suddenly?”
“Hehe. Because I have a plan.”
“A plan?”
“To get you two together!” She resumed her walk with a certain hop to her step; and you followed.
“No, that’s impossible. Besides…I don’t think he feels the same way.” You glanced at your dragging feet. “He’s too good for me.”
“*Siiiiiiiiigh* Quit saying those horrid things about yourself.” Her huge, red eyes smiled at you, “Think positive, [name]-Chan; everything will turn out alright.”
/I hope so\. Once you exited the school, you veered to her and asked, “Then what’s your plan?”
She giggled, “A movie night at Makoto-Sempai’s house.”
“At....his house?”
“Yup! Golden Week is coming up, so we can go this Friday after school. Don’t worry; the whole club will be there.”
“And that will help me get closer to him, how?”
“It won’t be just any movie night. It will be a HORROR movie night. And YOU will sit next to him.”
You sighed at the flashback. /I can’t believe I let myself get into this\. Today was the movie day and your heart racked with nervousness. You weren’t afraid of horror movies. They were thrilling and very entertaining to watch. The problem resided in the fact that you were going to watch it right beside your crush. /It’s alright; there will be more people with us, so there’s no problem...hopefully\.
To your luck, the rain had simmered down to a light drizzle, so getting wet was no longer a problem. The problem was holding the umbrella while walking with crutches.
“Here, let me help you with that.” Gou took the umbrella from your struggling hands and opened it above the two of you, just as the boys caught up to your stride.
The walk was comforting and nice. You joined in the conversation that consisted mostly of swimming and something about the regionals.
“That’s right. Miss [name], do you by any chance know how to swim?” Rei questioned as he fixed his glasses. You could feel their eyes upon your skin and the shyness crawled up your throat once again.
“W-well, I did take classes when I was little. I was very good in fact. But after a while, I decided to quit since it was getting in the way of my studies.”
“If you don’t love the water hard enough, then you’re not meant to swim.”
“Haru!” Makoto shot a worrisome glare at his blue-eyed friend.
