My best friend is a nine tailed fox. He sneaks out at night and turns into some creature with nine tails. It’s a secret, nobody knows but me; his best friend; Joan. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone.

“Seriously?”

Joan jumped, her pen falling off in the process. King laughed loudly, his eyes twinkling mischievously as he laughed. He had spoken very close to her ear. She sighed, picking up the fallen pen and turning back to her writing.

“Your best friend is a nine tailed fox.” he repeated, coming to rest on the table she was writing on.

“Yes” she snickered, looking up at him, “You sneak out at night and turn into some creature with nine tails. It’s a secret, nobody knows but me; your best friend; Joan. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone.”

She finished in a dramatic whisper, a small smile on her face as she watched him burst into laughter again.

“You've watched too many Korean series” he commented when he finally stopped laughing.

“Like you don’t watch them with me also” she replied, shutting the book she had been scribbling on. His eyes followed her movement then he looked back at her.

They stared at each other. She was used to their stares. They would stop halfway in a conversation and just stare at each other or one of them would sight the other somewhere and they would venture into a staring contest.

“It’s nice to know you’re always thinking of me.” he spoke finally.

She scoffed, looking away from him to anything else.

“I was bored and I found myself scribbling nonsense”

“Because your brain has so much information about me. I'd say I am the first thing you think about when you wake up and the last thing you think about before sleeping”

She had already started shaking her head before he completed his statement.

“Where do you get such ideas from?” she laughed nervously, looking back at him. He chuckled, going to lie backwards on her bed. She turned around on her chair to face him properly while he looked back at her from the bed.

“Isn’t it true?” he asked, expressionlessly.

“No, King. You’re not the first person I think of when I wake and definitely not the last person I think of before I sleep.”

“Ok.”

“Ok?” she raised a brow.

He laughed, “Ok. What else do you want me to say?”

“Did you see my mum before you came up?” she changed the subject, glancing at her room door.

“Yeah, with a visitor. They’re in the kitchen”

She turned back around, facing her reading table and opening her book again. She placed big strokes across the last thing she penned down and then hesitated before tearing the page off and throwing it into the waste bin.

“Do you want to go out? Take a walk or do some other thing?” he asked.

“You can go yourself”

“I wouldn’t be asking you if I wanted to go myself”

She didn’t reply instead she drew. When the drawing became clear, she realized she was drawing him.

“Thinking of me again”

She jumped, again. She flung her hands at him, successfully hitting him on the forehead. He always had his way of creeping up on her.

“It’s nice” he admired. His jaw rested on her right shoulder so it made funny movements as he talked. She added strokes and slashes, completing the drawing. It didn’t exactly look like him but they both knew who she had been drawing.

“You can add it to the ones in your room” she offered, tearing the page off and folding it into a neat square.

“What?” she asked when he didn’t say anything. He sniffed her neck in reply.

“Are you prepared for school tomorrow?” he asked, taking the folded paper from her.

“Yeah. You?”

“What I did before coming here. Actually I came here to sleep” he replied, placing a kiss on her neck before leaving.

She turned around, watching him lie on her bed comfortably.

“I’ve told you to stop staying up late. It’s not good for your health not anyone’s for that matter. At least 4 nights a week, get a good 8 hour sleep” she advised.

“You know” was his reply.

“I know King, I know but it doesn’t excuse you.”

“I’ll sleep now.”

She sighed, staring at his back he had covered with her duvet.

“I’ll be here when you wake.”

**************

Joan slipped on a jacket over her gown as she picked up her bag from her bed. She glanced at the rumpled bed, she'd just have to leave it that way till she returns from school, she was late

She took a quick look at herself in the mirror, just enough to see that her clothes were in order, that her face didn’t have any weird particles on it and that her hair was neatly brushed. She wasn’t a fan of vanity, spending long minutes on front of the mirror, for what exactly?

“Good morning mum” she greeted as she came into the kitchen, giving her a hug.

“How was your night, darling?” her mother, Mrs. Michaels, asked, moving to rub her head. She dodged as always.

“Fine.” she replied, sitting at the table in the kitchen. She picked her mug her mother had already laid out before hand and poured he self tea from the teapot that was still very much hot.

“I'm late.” she sighed after taking a sip of her tea, watching her mother scrub the kitchen counter clean.

“As always. Just make sure you put something in that flat stomach of yours before leaving my house.”

She chuckled at her mother’s expression. Her mother was a beauty even in her late fourties with he heart shaped face, big eyes, small nose and slightly wide lips. Her hair was packed, as it was most times, in a ponytail.

She looked away, picking up a toast from the stack on the table. She bit into it, reveling in its goodness.

“What time did King leave yesterday?” her mother asked

“11.”

“He slept.” she added as a way of explanation. Her mother didn’t reply.

“I’m leaving.” she announced, picking two more pieces of toast. Her mother looked at her about to say something then shut her mouth.

“Finish that tea” her mother ordered.

She replaced the toast then picked up the mug, gulping down its content hurriedly. She picked the toasts again.

"I'm done! I'm leaving!" she shouted, hurrying out of the house.

Sisi lived right beside her. She was late, Sisi was much worse. She would probably just be taking her bath. She rang the doorbell just as the door flung open.

"I'm ready!" Sisi announced, a bright sheepish smile on her face, her arms spread apart to buttress her point. She laughed, handing Sisi a toast.

Sisi mumbled a thanks as she shut her door and locked it.

"Part of the reason I'm still friends with you is because of this baby over here. Otherwise, well..." She said jokingly, gesturing to Sisi's blue mustang parked on her driveway.

Sisi laughed loudly.

"Lies!" Sisi exclaimed.

The car beeped, showing Sisi had unlocked it. They got into the car; Sisi at the driver's seat and she at the passenger's seat.

"I'm considering taking driving lessons." she said as she buckled her seatbelt. Sisi gave her a look at the act.

"Or you'll just teach me." she added, ignoring the look. Of course, Sisi didn't do seatbelts.

"Babe, better go and learn from professionals. I'll just teach you to destroy roads" Sisi spoke, finishing her toast.

She chuckled, handing Sisi the second one.

"Okay" Sisi laughed, “I'll eat for the both of us"

"Fast fast" she hurried Sisi who finished the toast in three bites.

"Good girl" she hailed laughing.

Sisi shook her head, a sorrowful look on her face as she started the car and they drove to school.