harumaki cover.jpg

I'm sitting at my desk working on a new design instead of working on my essay for English class when there's a knock on my door.

"Enter," I say while I continue to sketch.

Nicholas comes in and I finally look up.

"What took you so long?" I ask.

"My mom made me drive, and well, I'm still getting used to driving...so."

"So you drove like my grandmother."

"Yeah, okay. I'd never driven before a few weeks ago, so fine, I drive like an old lady. So what."

I laugh at how flustered Mr. Cool Guy got at being called out for finally not being good at something.

"Yeah. Yeah, keep laughing," he says, putting his phone down beside me on my desk. "I'm going to use the bathroom."

I go back to my sketch when a notification pops up on my phone screen. I don't even look at what the notification says because I'm too busy looking at the picture he set as his wallpaper. What is that?

I pick up his phone to take a better look. It's a hand with a grumpy cat face on it. It's his hand; I can tell that much by the polish on his nails. So who, I wonder, did he let draw on him? Is he flirting with someone in one of his classes?

Nicholas finally reappears, and I wave the phone screen at him, pointing at the picture.

"What is this all about? Who drew this picture on your hand, and why did you save it as your lock screen?"

"I'm not answering any of those questions."

"Why not? Do you have a crush on somebody? Do they know you like them?" he says coyly. "Not going to tell me?"

"Yeah. NO!"

"You're such a pain."

"Well, it's not like you tell me anything."