ENG - My best friend's sister ᵐᶦᵏᵉʸ ˣ ᵒᶜ

54

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The rest of the weekend is relatively uneventful, without anything special happening. We spend most of the time on the beach together with Kei and the others. However, my hangover is still giving me a hard time and I'm desperately trying to recover from the persistent headache. Nevertheless, I haven't let it spoil my good mood.

Right now I'm in the doctor's examination room again, as I'm supposed to come back for another check-up. Keikei insisted on accompanying me, so he is there again. The doctor takes his time to examine me thoroughly, performing various tests and carefully analysing my results. After a while he comes to the conclusion: "Everything seems to be fine again. If you want, you can continue to participate in the camp for the rest of the week."
A relieved smile spreads across my face and I thank the doctor warmly for the good news. Together with Kei, I leave the doctor's building and feel a wave of joy rise up inside me.
"Off we go then, eh?" asks Kei with a broad grin and puts his arm around my shoulder. As we stroll leisurely towards Mikey and Chifuyu, who aren't going anywhere without us anyway, I can literally feel the anticipation of the days ahead.
"Yes finally!"

We reach our partners and see that they are standing there with my class teacher. When we arrive, my class teacher notices us and looks angry. He's always in a bad mood anyway, but this time it seems even angrier than usual, his eyes almost sparkling with anger.
"Meiyo, you come with me right now. And you too," he orders, pointing at Mikey and me. I look questioningly at Kei, as if he knows something, but he just shrugs. With heavy steps and a lump in our throats, Mikey and I follow our class teacher into a separate room - which is obviously there to hold conversations in a private atmosphere.
Once inside the room, Mikey and I stand lost, our gazes fixed firmly on my teacher, who is leaning casually against a table. His arms are folded in front of his chest and he eyes us with an impenetrable stare. "So? Are you going to tell me on your own or shall I?" he begins in a cutting voice.
"What exactly do you mean?", I ask quietly, my voice trembling with nervousness.
"You are not siblings. And before you come up with any excuses..." he begins in a threatening tone. He holds out printed sheets to us, which I reluctantly accept with shaky fingers before he continues, "Siblings don't kiss. You are both excluded from the camp and you, Meiyo, will get an F for this school year and punitive work for cheating. Extra assignments won't change that."

I feel the colour drain from my face as I look at the pictures on the paper. My heartbeat speeds up and I can hardly believe what I'm seeing and I'm also only half noticing what my teacher is saying.
"I really don't know why you need to cheat, Meiyo. You are so talented in sports. But this is not a camp for your summer flirting. Give me your card and get out of here," his words, muffled and distant, reach my ear. They hit me like a punch in the face. Desperately I try to find an explanation, but the pictures speak for themselves. I am still staring at the images, desperately trying to remember when it was supposed to have happened in the first place. I barely realise that Mikey is already handing over everything the teacher asks for without comment before he snatches the sheets from my hand and pushes me out of the room by the shoulders.

"And what the hell did he want?" my best friend inquires curiously. Now I realise again where I am and what is happening. Obviously Keikei and Chifuyu are waiting for us outside.
"We've been busted, someone must have tattled," Mikey replies with frightening composure. His shoulders shrug slightly, as if he doesn't really care.
"Oh shit," is the only response my best friend produces.
"Kei I'll see you later, I just need to talk to Mikey yeah," I say quickly. I firmly grab Mikey's wrist and pull him behind me, far away from the others. When we reach a secluded place and no one is near us, I let go of his wrist and look at him.
My emotions are bubbling up inside me. "I don't know whether to be angry or cry," I begin but still look at him angrily as I continue, "Angry because you kissed me again and I don't remember it, or cry because I can't join in now that I'm finally well again!"

Frustration overwhelms me, I tussle my hair and squat down desperately, trying to calm down somehow.
"Mei on the one ev-...", he begins, but I only extend my hand in his direction as a sign for him to be silent. And he does.
"It's okay, it's not your fault, you were just trying to help me out here with actually. And about the kiss, I don't remember that, so I can't really be mad at you for that. We were drunk, so it's okay... I guess...", I confess to him and let out a depressed sigh. Desperately, I try to hold back the rising tears that gather in my eyes.
"You don't remember?" he asks me and I just nod and say, "I don't remember anything about that night, but Keikei already told me what I did. I guess I can take the kiss, it's not like it was my first time," I laugh a little pained and lower my head to my knees.
"That's so unfair, who gave that away? Only Keikei, Chifuyu, Hina and her boyfriend knew about it, right? Who did, Mikey?", I change the subject desperately. And then I burst into tears, uncontrollably and painfully. Mikey comes to me and kneels beside me. I lift my head to look at him and he looks at me with a look I can't interpret. There is silence between us for a few seconds before he finally speaks.
"I don't know, it just sucks," he says instead of comforting words. His voice sounds muffled somehow, almost as if he was trying to say something else with it, but maybe I'm just imagining it.

A silence surrounds us as I try to control my tears and slowly calm down. Mikey remains kneeling beside me, his eyes full of uncertainty. I sense he wants to say something, but I don't question it further either. If he wants to, he'll do it on his own. Slowly I breathe in and out deeply and my hands tremble slightly as I try to calm myself down a little.
For a while we sit here silently next to each other until I stand up and just feel depressed. I go back to our caravan and fall into bed, depressed.

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