!Claudia

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Coffee?

I met Yza back in seventh grade. We were both at the waiting shed, waiting obviously.
I noticed that she was wearing the same uniform as I am, just with a sweater over it.
"Psst, Hey!" I called. "You go to Iverson too?"
She nods her head. "Yeah, 7th grade."
"Shit, me too!" I exclaimed.
She turned red and hid her face under her sweater and went back to writing on what I assume is her journal.

I looked at her from head to toe, she had her hair tied in a bun and was mindful of her posture. Then I noticed that one of her shoe is missing.
"Hey, where's your other shoe?" I asked.
"My classmates and I were playing and someone from the 8th grade took it. They said they'll give it back tomorrow so it's fine." She explained.
She smiled but a voice inside my head was screaming, something about this feels wrong.

I didn't know what's gotten into me or why I did it, but my instincts told me that it was the right thing to do.

I took my bag, grabbed her hand and we ran back to school.
"Wait, why are we going back?" She sputtered.
"To get your shoe back, dummy!" I yelled.
We got inside the school and there were just a handful of people left.
"Where are they?" I asked.
"Who?"
"The people who took your shoe!"
"They probably went home already, let's go back–"
"Hey Yza! You came for your shoe? I told you to get it tomorrow right?" Someone shouted. It was the eighth graders, they were tossing her shoe around.

I walked up to them and took a deep breath.
"Hello! I'm Yza's friend, can we please have her shoe back?"
They stared at me for a brief moment before one of them let's out a chuckle.
"I didn't know Yza had friends, are you sure you're not her girlfriend?"
"I'm not gay!" She shouted.
They kept laughing, I'm done with them at this point. I slapped the guy holding her shoe and took it. We ran as fast as we could before they could even react.
"Let's go! Faster!" I pulled her out of the school.

Once we got far enough we stopped and rested on a bench nearby. We were both panting and sweating bullets. Then she started laughing.
"That was fun, thank you..." Still panting.
She was about to wear her shoes but her sock had a hole in it.
"Wait..." I said. "...take your socks off."
"W–what? Why?" She was flustered.
I knelt down and took out my handkerchief, quickly removed her socks and wrapped it around her foot.

Am I a pervert for doing this?

I put her shoes on and I gave her socks back.
"Keep the thing, you probably have sweaty feet." I teased and we started laughing.

We walked back to the waiting shed together and finally had a semi-formal introduction.
"You're name is Yza, right?" I asked.
"Yup."
"Short for Yzabelle?"
"No, it's just Yza."
"Oh... well, I'm Claudia, but people call me Cloud for short."
"Cloud's a cute nickname. It sounds really comfy."
I'm blushing, why am I blushing?

We got there and her parents were waiting outside their car to pick her up. She ran towards them and gave them a big hug.

I wish I could've hugged my mom like that. I wish I had met her.

Her mom looked at me with disgust, as if I just drank piss out of a bottle. What's her problem?
They went inside their car and drove off into the sunset.
Or the stop light...

Before they got far Yza peeked out the window.
"I hope to see you tomorrow!" She shouted as she waved goodbye.
I smiled and waved back.
"I'll wait for you here!"

After that day we started hanging out more. We ate lunch together and walked to the shed together on our way home.

She was at a different home room so we weren't in the same class, but that didn't stop us from being besties! We'd often plan our outings a week or even a month earlier because of her parents.
They don't really like me that much. Her parents to her that I'm too "wild" and I act like a "tomboy" or some shit. She had to make excuses to go out with me.