Rin's POV

I'll admit, I didn't expect Mamoru to hit me.

Maybe I was bothering him or something, but I would've thought maybe a little snide remark or a cold insult would be the worst. I mean, come on. It's only a metal ruler, right?

But no. He literally threw his chair out of the way, gripped the ruler, and whacked the side on the top of my head.

It didn't hurt much. It was like stubbing your toe, it hurt like hell for a few minutes, then went away.

I was still on the hurting like hell part, though.

I went to the floor, making my knees scratch against the rough carpet. My head was throbbing with a burning pain. The teacher came over after I had been rubbing my head for a few minutes.

She said she'd take me to the nurse's and took me there. I never liked it there, to be honest, it seemed... too empty.

I was to sit down on that long bed and to hold a pillow on my head until the nurse got an ice pack. The ice pack was super cold, since of course it was ice, and the nurse made me stay there for an unneeded ten minutes. The only thing entertaining was the phone calls the nurse made.

"Yeah, I have a few days off this week. I'll make it to your party."

"No, I'm allergic."

"I have a student here, I can't go."

They were mostly just simple calls that anyone would have with their family and such, so I didn't pay much attention to what she was saying. It was boring. But one call made me drop the ice pack.

"Him? He looks like he has depression."

Crack!

The ice pack problem probably had all the ice in it break. Depression? Who had depression?

The nurse hung up the phone and I blurted out my question. She took a few minutes to answer.

"A boy named Mamoru. He looks sad, I'm sure you've seen him, right?"

I nodded, knowing full well that he was the one who whacked me.

"I think he's depressed, due to his loss."

"Loss?" I asked. "He lost someone?"

"Oh, er... Why don't you ask him yourself? I'm not the person to answer those questions."

I wondered if I was feeling guilt or mad. Guilty for getting mad at a kid who lost someone, or mad for him still whacking me. I couldn't imagine losing anyone, like Len, my big brother, but I wouldn't whack anyone for it.

I also thought about him being sad. He never really... had any emotions. Or he didn't looked like it. His face was a permanent straight face, like he didn't care about anything. That didn't seem sad, but I guess when you're sad, you block out everything.

Maybe if I was friends with Mamoru, I could help him and stuff. I helped Oliver when he lost his bird, James. Why not Mamoru?

I was sent back to class, with the ice pack still on my head. It felt cold and embarrassing.

I sat down in my chair next to Mamoru. He didn't say sorry or even talk. How rude. I didn't talk back.

I didn't look at him until he put the metal ruler on my desk. I didn't really need it, I could always use the edge of a paper, and at the time, I wanted the ruler and got whacked. So, I was kinda nervous of using it.

Then I remembered that I wanted to be friends with Mamoru. Well, great. At least he was making the first move on this friendship thing.

"You're so mean, Mamoru-kun," I joked, using -kun to make a nickname. "I just wanted a ruler."

I took the ruler and drew lines on my graphs. "Thanks, though," I whispered, hoping he could hear. If anyone else heard me, they'd grill me and tease that I like him.

The thing was, I was dating Oliver. We liked each other, and when he lost his bird we just took it to the next level and became boyfriend and girlfriend. I couldn't exactly make people think I was cheating on him, otherwise I'd be in big trouble.

Mamoru didn't give any response to my thanks, and just went to his work. The teacher made him come up, but he didn't talk about it. I was just about to try and make conversations when the bell rang for passing period.

Mamoru packed up super quickly and practically ran out the door. Crap, right when I was gonna talk about stuff. Right when I would make friends with him.

The rest of my next class went by as I thought of how I could be friends with Mamoru. He technically owed me for his little scene, so I should get the right to talk to him.

Then I made the mistake of trying to talk about this to Oliver.

***

"He what?!" Oliver dropped his salt water taffy in the ground. Guess he wouldn't be eating his special orange cream ones that he'd just bought.

"He must have snapped or something, and hit me on the head," I explained again, popping a taffy Oliver gave in my mouth. "But then I heard that he-"

"I'm gonna pound him into tomorrow then!"

"No, Oliver..." I gripped his hand. "It's not that big of a deal, and I heard that Mamoru actually-"

"Not a big deal?!" Oliver tapped my head lightly, maybe trying not to touch my sore spot. "Rin, are you awake? A guy just hit you and you're okay with that?!"

I wanted to talk, but so far, he's been cutting me off. "Oliver, just listen-"

"No," Oliver ripped his hand from mine. "I'm gonna go to that guy and give him a bloody nose."

He ran off, which was bad for me since I'm an awful runner. "Wait," I called out, "Oliver!"

Oliver went upstairs, and I saw him holding Mamoru against the lockers. Papers and a binder littered the ground. Oliver must have gotten Mamrou when he was going through his locker or something.

I turned to Oliver and Mamrou. Mamoru didn't have any change in his blank face and Oliver looked pissed.

I tried to talk him out of it, Mamoru tried to pry free while I was stalling, but Oliver was intent on punching.

And punching he did.

Mamoru got a bloody nose. It wasn't that bad, but it was bad for me. He was gonna be my friend, and I don't like it when my friends are punched in the face.

I helped him up and picked up his stuff that Oliver may have thrown to the floor. I told him not to get blood on it, like a joke, but I don't think he got it. He just stared at me, like he was windering why all of a sudden someone was actually talking to him. Especially since he had whacked me and I was the one talking to him.

I couldn't help but look at his eyes. I know, creepy, but they looked so... so... I don't know, deep? It was like looking at the ocean. Just a little darker.

He eventually took his stuff and I had to pull Oliver downstairs. We got into a fight, but we didn't break up. Oliver was steaming, though. I thought maybe I could make some space in between us. Not much, just enough that Oliver knew I didn't like what he did.

I think it was the next day when I really made progress with Mamoru's friendship with me.

I brought up a few points in math, like how the teacher's graph was really messy and how she really didn't look where she was going. Mamoru didn't really speak, but I could tell he was holding in a chuckle. Come on, I'm funny. No one can resist a chuckle from my jokes. Then bell rang before I could really make any conversation.

At lunch, I went looking for him, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. I could feel that little confidence I had for this friendship deflate as I reluctantly went upstairs to be the early one in my Art class.

I want up to the door to see Mamoru working on a picture in there. The door was slightly cracked open, so it was easy to see that he was drawing on a canvas. But, crap, I forgot to put on my contacts today! I couldn't see the picture he was drawing!

I saw some yellow, maybe he was working on some yellow car or a banana. I would have preferred an orange, but whatever tickles Mamoru's fancy.

The bell for passing period rang and Mamoru scrambled to put his picture away. His binders were right on a table, so I had to hide in the girls' bathroom until Mamoru had left.

In my Art class, I tried prying into the canvas closet, but the teacher had seen me trying to pick the lock with my bobby pins.

"I don't respect you picking my lock, Rin," Mr. Shion said. "I have pictures in there that I could proudly show you, but lock picking isn't necessary."

"Gomen ne," I apologized. "I'll never do that again, I was just curious about a picture in there..."

"And what may that picture be?"

"I... Er..."

What was I supposed to tell him? That I was stalking Mamoru and wanted to see what he was drawing? He would've told me it's not him to decide whether I should see it, it was Mamoru. So I didn't tell him that. Instead...

"I was... just wondering if... you had any picture in there that you've drawn that could.... maybe inspire me?" I managed to lie-ask. For some reason, Mr. Shion's face grew rosy.

"Uh... I'll choose the pictures I've made so you can see Rin," he muttered. "Just... don't get too curious. I've made more, but you can't see them."

"Why not-"

Mr. Shion clapped his hands together so the class could look up. "Okay class!" He called out. "I have a new project that I want us to work on! Clay pots!"

The class started to buzz with excitement as Mr. Shion started to explain about the clay and glazes that we could choose colors of.

Clay pots, huh? Maybe I could place a few flowers in one. That'd be nice. But, I had no experience in shaping a pot, how were we gonna do this?

I raised my hand to ask my question as he said, "Actually, I think first period made some before you guys. I could show you all, give me a minute."

My hand stayed up as Mr. Shion went to the big closet where he stored clay pots and brought out a few that shined like they had been made of gems instead. One caught my eye, one that had been colored a dark, rich blue. Like... Mamoru's eyes...

Gah! Where did that come from?!

"This one was made by Cynthia Baker," Mr. Shion said, raising a purple one. It looked kinda streaky, the inside wasn't smoothed out, and had a few chips of clay knocked off. I knew Cynthia, and it didn't surprise me that she didn't really care for Art. She said she wanted to be a lawyer, and that she had no time for activities that'd distract her.

Whatever floats her boat.

"And this one... Well, I think he'd like to stay anonymous." Mr. Shion picked up the dark blue one. I really liked that one, it had little circles on the edges that were kinda hard to see, and then the inside was really smoothed out. The paint wasn't streaked. It looked perfect. I wonder who could've made it.

"You'll all make a pot like this," Mr. Shion beamed. "It'll be a lot of fun! But we need bowls, preferably big plastic ones. No metal ones, or paper, please. Bring one in by Friday, alright?"

The class was talking about how they were gonna make the biggest pots, color it red or blue or green, and that they'd make the best on in class.

I didn't bother. I was too busy looking at the blue pot. My fingers felt the smooth glaze that covered the small circles around the rim of the pot. The inside was perfectly round, like a ladle. It was amazing!

I checked the bottom for the name, but I barely made out an M. The last initial either wanst there, or wanst marked deep enough.

"Like that one?" Mr. Shion said, right behind me. I nearly dropped the pot.

"Ah! Oh, er... Yeah. I like it a lot."

"Can you guess who made it?"

"Uh..." I didn't have a list of his classes before this! Or after! I mentally checked who I knew that had M for a first initial.

"Miku Hatsune?" She was my best friend.

"Nope."

"Miss Meiko?" A staff member.

Mr. Shion blushed at the mention of Miss Meiko. "No..." He almost whispered.

"Uh... Mamoru?"

The name came out like a random number in the lottery. I didn't chose it and I didn't want to say it. Mamoru didn't seem that interested in Art, I've only seen him draw a picture. Why would I mention-

"Yes, actually."

I was glad Mr. Shion held the pot after he said that. Otherwise I would have broken Mamoru's pot.

"He made it and he didn't want me to put his last initial. I didn't put it, and then he told me he wanted to leave it here. That boy, he's something..."

He looked out the window. "I sometimes wonder, can you even read that kid's imagination? He's a pretty good artist, I can't imagine what's going on in his head."

I nodded to agree. If Mamoru made this pot, then I couldn't wait to ask him to see his drawing!

I was so excited to make a pot. For the rest of the day, I rummaged through our cupboards at home, looking for a big bowl.

"What are you doing?" Len asked. He was doing his math honors homework on the couch and had his glasses on. "It looks like you're looking for the last orange. Again."

"First off, I'm looking for a bowl to take to Art!" I yelled from under the counter. "And second, I have my own stock of oranges since Rinto always takes them. Can you tell him that there's actually someone else in this household that likes oranges too?"

"I wouldn't have to tell him if you and him just made a compromise like me and Lenka-"

"UNLESS YOU HAVENT NOTICED, RINTO IS A THIEF!" I screamed. "I TRIED MAKING A COMPROMISE, AND THEN HE ATE ALL MY TANGERINES, THAT PIG!"

"LOVE YOU TOO, SIS!" Rinto yelled from upstairs.

"For the love of all that is banana cake, why can't you two ever get along?" Len asked, taking off his glasses. "I swear, all you two do is fight."

"He's just jelly because I have a boyfriend," I mumbled. "Rinto isn't liked by any girl."

"Harsh, Rin. Just harsh," Len sighed. He twirled his pencil in his hands. "Hey, do you know what 144 divided by 3 is? Then the answer to that squared?"

"I'm awful at Math, you know that."

Len threw his hands up in frustration and slapped them on his binder. "Why me? Why do I have to be the Math kid and you get Art?"

"I didn't say I was good at Art," I said, putting banana cake mix on the counter so it could get out of my way. "I'm just interested in Art."

"Great, now... Okay... So, it's 24 times 24 then... Eh..."

"Good luck," I sarcastically said as I reached deeper in the cupboard. There wasn't any proper bowl for this assignment, crap!

"Same for you bowl," Len said back. He then threw his pencil down. "Ha! It's 576! I did it!"

I saw that his pencil had rolled near my leg. Uh, yeah. Not picking that up, I have something to do here. "I'm not picking that pencil up."

"Again, dear sister. You are just harsh."

I just ignored that. I had a bowl to find in this sea of banana and orange stuff we had stuffed in here.

The next week was great. Mamoru and I actually started to talk! Even though, Oliver didn't really like me doing that... Then again, he didn't really chew me out on it. He just gave me worried looks or faces that showed disapproval.

He didn't think me hanging out with Mamrou was a good idea.

I wanted Oliver to at least give Mamrou a chance. He had one little break out, one! And it didn't even hurt that much! I needed something to show that Mamoru was a nice guy.

And it was like Mamrou knew what I wanted. Because on Wednesday, Mamrou found something that I'd never thought I'd see again.