Cherished Rain

Bubbles

Juneau sat looking out her bedroom window. The city street and cars rushed below her. Rain lightly pattered against the glass and went along quite well with the classical music she was playing on her PC.

It was a new view; rather than watching the lemon tree swaying and the green house's tarp whipping in the storm, she was instead listening to the beeping of car traffic and witnessing city life.

Other apartment buildings towered on the other side. There were many new developments in this area; the majority of them being apartments.

Juneau sighed then returned to her homework.

Biology.

Not so bad.

"Juneau..." A hushed voice came, and Juneau watched as her alien door opened.

"Cassandra," Juneau murmured tiredly. She'd had a rough day.

Cassandra entered with her bio textbook and primary binder. She turned to Juneau's PC.

"Is this music really necessary?" She asked teasingly. "Today must've tired you out, huh?"

"Yeah..." Juneau mumbled. Her head rested on her own textbook.

"What happened to, 'oh my gosh, don't put your head there. It's dirty'," Cassandra joked as she settled besides her.

Juneau slowly lifted her head, her hair obscuring her face as if she'd just awoken.

"Right now...I honestly don't care."

Cassandra's attention perked.

Juneau...

didn't

care?

"Juneau...what happened to you today?"

"Nothing, just-" Juneau yawned widely with a hand held daintily over her lioness mouth,"tired."

Cassandra wasn't convinced.

"Are you stressed...? From the sudden transition here? From school duty withdrawals? You're obviously not..." Cassandra thought twice.

She couldn't just say: "You obviously aren't Juneau." What kind of friend would she be, then?

But she wasn't going to put up with this...person's shit.

And for some reason, her conscience was telling her that nothing wrong had happened to Juneau that day.

She was just tired.

But when had such behavior begun?

She looked to her longtime friend.

It was happening.

Juneau was...

changing.

She'd always imagined how the day would come, and she'd imagined it as refreshing.

It didn't seem so, now, rather, it greatly worried her.

"Oh, are you going to help out with Daniel?" Juneau asked.

"Uh, no. Junior is."

Cassandra thought.

Then it clicked.

Maybe she was changing because of Daniel.

But Juneau didn't have such interests....

But then again, Juneau did seem different.

"Do you feel stressed out about your homework? Have you finished it yet?"

Juneau looked to Cassandra.

"You're asking so many questions today...I think you're the one who should be worried about. And yes, I've already finished everything. I just finished my biology."

Cassandra gave a subtle look of surprise.

Juneau was already finished. She usually took long amounts of time, having little confidence in her answers and always checking online.

"Have you worked on college application drafts?"

Juneau again looked to her, but with a crazed expression.

"Cassandra. We shouldn't have to worry about those until senior year. Perhaps junior year.... I think we should just focus on our current work..." Juneau looked at her innocently.

This wasn't Juneau.

This wasn't Juneau.

This

wasn't

Juneau.

"Juneau."

"Yeah?"

"How often do you talk to Daniel?"

"Ah...not very often. Why do you ask?"

"No, I need an exact number. You usually give exact answers, and that's what I need right now."

"Um...only like once every week. He's doing more research on the project, so we're not going to meet up for awhile. Junior usually walks home with him everyday, though. He's helping out."

Juneau shivered at the memory of Daniel's old house.

Slaughterhouse walls and pink furniture.

Cassandra thought to herself.

"Why aren't you stressing?"

Juneau now thought to herself.

"Lately...I've been feeling less stressed. I feel more relaxed, more calm."

Juneau then smiled.

"I feel rather happy, in fact."

~~~

Hi, everyone.

My finals are in two weeks, so I'm quite slow right now.

How are you?