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Eve’s POV

“I can be your friend” said Alaric, who immediately blushed right after, and blushed even harder after our eyes caught each other. 

I didn’t really know how to respond. No one asks to be my friend. How should I respond?

“Sure…” It was an odd question as I rarely talk to him. I don’t talk much, and I’m fine with that. “Why ask?” I blurted, as I gave a small blush as I thought the question was brash.

He asked me how far I would go to save my friends. 

How should I know? I have none…

But I gave an immediate response off of a guess on the top of my head. 

“I guess it’d matter how much they mean to me” I answered. I thought it was a decent answer. 

I thought I weirded him out, though, as I hadn’t seen him until 2 days later when Sister Amy was scolding him. 

I was truly happy when he returned… It's been a while ever since I’ve felt happy to see someone. 

I didn’t know much about him, but he’s different from a lot of the kids. He’s mature, very fluent in Nimati, and is really smart.
Sister Amy catches him not paying attention and asks him a difficult question, but he always comes up with an answer.

He obviously values quietness like I do, so maybe we can be friends? What does having a friend feel like?
I sighed and sat up from my bed. 

I might as well try… 

I stood up, fixed my bed, and headed out to class. 

It was another day of learning Nimati and Gedo Kingdom’s history. 

After class finished, I went to my usual spot to watch the city as the sun falls and the glistening grass blow in the direction of the wind, feeling the gentle wind press against my soft face. 

This was my life. 

There was nothing else to it. 

My endless days were me just watching other people be happy. I fantasized everyday of living out of the city in a safe town, raising my children and having a wonderful husband. That was as far as my life could go. 

I thought that if I reached too far, I’d end up failing terribly in life. 

The other girls didn’t really want to hang out with me because I’m like this. 

I didn’t even know if I was mature. I was just a child with no hopes and dreams.
I thought that maybe they saw me as bad luck or that maybe they’d see me as so pessimistic that it’d ruin their fun. 

We were all abandoned children with no home, but they still acted like kids, living the same life as every other kid as if they still had a chance to do anything in their life while I tried to make something out of nothing by just thinking beforehand and learn as much as I can from this free education. 

They see themselves as another kid instead of disciplining themselves as much as they could- like how parents do to their children so that they can look more appeasible to the outside world. 

I’ve had so much time to think to myself that I couldn’t even see myself as much of a child anymore.  

Regardless, I didn’t mind making friends. 

What was the harm, I thought? I thought that if it were really worth joining in with them instead of making the best person I could be, then maybe I should… 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t. Nothing held me back except myself.

I didn’t know how to talk, and when I tried to start conversations, it would only start with greetings and questions and then quickly end right after. 

The kids didn’t bother talking to me back ever again.

No one did unless I confronted them.

Everyone, but Alaric. 

He’s weird, but a good weirdo.

Maybe he understood all of this? 

My fingers brushed through my hair as I looked at the hallways outside of my door and gave quick glances to the girl who lived with me in this room. 

I was eager to see Alaric, but I haven’t seen him in a long while.

 I understood, though. He was looking for his friend who probably meant a lot to him.

I decided that in the meantime, I’ll wait and think a little more.