STARLIGHT

16. Finding Common Ground

"Neori," Saomi called out as she entered the school campus.

"Oh hey Saomi," a very excited Neori replied.

"So...today's the day," Saomi said, as both walked towards the school building.

"Yeah it is," Neori responded, "although, are we even going to be able to do it? I mean, what do we talk about? I don't think we have anything in common with Keya."

"It's going to be difficult. But we need to do this. Let's just give it our all," Saomi said, looking a little nervous herself.

"You're going to have to lead this one, Saomi. You already know that Keya and I don't really see eye to eye."

"If I were the kind to know what to talk about, Neori, do you really think I would have found myself in this situation in the first place?"

"Well then, we're in the same boat, and we're gonna suck today," Neori said, "Oh...I mean...sorry," she suddenly said, remembering that Saomi didn't like talking slang.

Saomi gave out a slight laugh, "No, I think you're right this time. We're gonna suck."

-------

<At lunch break>

Saomi and Neori were anxiously waiting for Keya in the canteen with their lunch in front of them.

Somehow, Saomi wasn't hungry and to her own surprise, neither was Neori.

"Pfftt...this girl has some serious problem with time," Neori commented, as they were eagerly waiting for Keya to arrive.

"Hey," Keya said, a moment later, in a monotonous voice.

"Oh hey..." both girls replied, straightening up their backs immediately.

Sitting down with her food, Keya said to them, "So...what are we talking about?"

"Um.."Neori looked to Saomi.

Saomi looked towards Neori.

Keya looked from one to the other.

"Guys, don't tell me this is what we'll be doing for an hour," Keya asked with wide eyes.

"No...no, of course not" Saomi responded, "we were just talking about.....um....time."

"Time?" Keya asked.

"Oh yeah..yeah, we were talking about time," Neori said, "um...how it' so.......uh.....awesome," she ended when she couldn't think of anything else.

Saomi rolled in her eyes in awe of Neori's inability to find the right words.

"Oh my Gosh! Seriously?" Keya exclaimed, "you mean the band, Time, right?" she asked, sitting at the edge of her seat.

"Yeah" "No", Neori and Saomi replied respectively at the same time.

Saomi stared at Neori with wide eyes but Keya was too excited to notice any unusual behaviour.

"I love them so much. Their songs are so upbeat," Keya went on excitedly, "Wow...I didn't expect the two of you to know about them. Very few people know Time."

Saomi and Neori stared at Keya while she talked on and on about this apparent band that they knew nothing about.

"Um...Keya," Saomi interrupted finally, "I think you've misunderstood.....we're not fans of this Time that you talking about."

"What?" Keya said, suddenly coming back to her usual expression of grim.

"Look, we..." Saomi started.