Tight Headspace

A short story, first piece of fiction I make, and it's a shit post. Incredible.



A crowd of gloomy clouds set over the town's local high school, rain is to be expected from the early afternoon into the late evening with the temperature dropping into the 40s (Fahrenheit). The students go on with their usual school day, the halls would would echo with chatter, shoes squeaking, shuffling of bags and jackets. The hallways eventually simmer down to silence after the passing period bell rings and classroom doors close with the faint noise of chattering students continue inside classes.





Juliette sits in the corner of her art classroom with one pencil in hand and the other digging through her bag in search for something she may have potentially forgotten in her previous class. For a while, it seemed like she was already to get up and ask to go her previous class to find what she had left behind, however, in a sudden realization, she realized she hasn't left anything behind, and in fact, has no idea what she's even looking for. Juliette pulls out her hand from her bag and zipping it close, she just wasted a good chunk of her time looking for something she doesn't even know what it is. She's not the brightest if we're being honest, that can apply academically as well.

Aside from the social and academic struggles she goes through, Juliette is still the same person she was since the start of freshman year. She'd think she would put effort into changing herself for the better, unfortunately, she's not good with commitment, and through the years, nothing much changed about herself. It's Senior year and almost time for her to move on from her high school career to hopefully, a successful college degree in something.. Juliette never thought about that yet, she has been avoiding that future choice for a while now.





As the classroom fills up with the chattering of students with the incoming weather, school work they're dealing with, or in general other things they have in mind. Juliette sits alone drawing away while eavesdropping any nearby convo that seemed more interesting to her, it was nice really, this was the only class that didn't give her much of a headache as most of her other classes tend to do. She proceeds to slowly phase out of reality into her own imagination to eventually, the conversations around her phase out to nothing but incoherent mumbling. Juliette felt at ease until she felt a tap on her shoulder, she jumped a little, turning her head around to see a girl standing next to her. The girl laughed a little before speaking;



"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I was just wanted to ask if you could reach down below your seat, my pen rolled underneath and I didn't want to reach down there cause I thought it would look weird."



She replied with an almost awkward smile on her face, dsrk eyes, her dark short hair seemed well brushed aside from some strands sticking out. Big sweater, casual pants, and shoes where one's laces are on the verge of untying itself. Juliette never really processed someone's full appearance until now. There was something about her that stood out to her, was it the way some strands of hair would stand out? Was it the light smile she carried? Or perhaps her left shoe laces not being tied? Juliette sat there processing these thoughts before she snapped out of her thought process.



"Oh yeah, sure, let me.."



She bent on her right then left, twisting around in her stool trying to locate the pen underneath her seat, almost falling over from the stool. With a couple of more grunts and claw machine-like attempts of grabbing the pen, Juliette finally take ahold of the pen lifting back up to meet eye to eye with the girl standing next to her.



"Here you go." Juliette grunted as she pushed herself up from the uncomfortable position she was in. Handing the pen over, she caught sight of the girl's facial expression. Not to say she was giving Juliette a look of disgust or genuine discomfort and thought that she was weird and someone that she should never talk to again, but more of that awkward smile she always has on, but in a good way.



"Thank you." She said after taking the pen from Juliette's hand while giggling a little, "I get it, it really is a struggle trying to reach for your pencil."



Juliette felt less embarrassed from this convo, it feels relieving for once she doesn't get shamed for who she is. She spent a good majority of her younger years being picked on, over time she learned to ignore all the mean comments. Although it's been quite a while since she's heard the harsh criticism from people, some of those comments still tend to linger around her head from now and then.



The girl spoke to Juliette once again; "Hey, is it fine if I sit next to you?"

Juliette's eyes widen a little, she's a little surprised at this small revelation, but sure, what's a little company going to do? Not like it's going to harm her. She nods her head, "Yeah, you can." Juliette grabbed a stool that was far apart from her and moved it close to her.

The two of them got adjusted with their things, Juliette made sure she made more space for... whoever this girl's name is.. Now that she thinks about it, she's been sharing the same class as her for the first half of the school year and has no idea to what her name really is. Juliette wasn't sure if she wanted to ask that question, that would kill the whole mood immediately and maybe not the best impression of herself.

As the girl next to her sat down, Juliette managed to build up confidence to ask her;



"Uhm.. I know we've been sharing the same class for ..quite awhile but I never paid attention to my surroundings. What's your name?"



That sentence alone would either upset her or for sure, give her a reason to not talk to her. To Juliette's surprise, the girl wasn't upset to such a question like that, but to her surprise quite calm about it, she replied;

"Oh that's okay, I never really paid attention to anyone else much either, I'm Ren by the way. What's yours?"



Juliette's tense expression softened, a wave of relief rushed over her as well as the urges to laugh a little at the fact that another person in her class has never really had much attention on who their classmates were. Although it is quite common for many to be unaware of their classmates, in this situation, Juliette depended on the knowledge of knowing her peers just so she wouldn't feel embarrassed from that moment between her and Ren.



"I'm Juliette, or Julie, both can work either way. I don't mind." Juliette answered.



"Juliette.. that's a pretty name.. but so is Julie, it's very pretty." Ren smiled, "It sounds very floral" She added.



Julie felt warmth in her heart, she really appreciated the compliment associated with flowers. Out of all the compliments she has received in the past, this one stuck to her. It's hard to describe what made it so different from other compliments, she tried thinking about it deeply than any other analysis she's done in her English homework.

Julie suddenly snapped out of it realizing she forgot to thank Ren for the compliment.



"Oh- uh, thank you, sorry I was appalled from that compliment you gave me, that's the nicest compliment I ever gotten about my name." Julie stated.



Ren smiled, "Really? That must really mean a lot for you then." The conversation between both of them slowly began to open up more as both Ren and Julie conversed throughout the class period. They talked about their families, interests, doodled in each others work or sometimes on the table. Their conversation blended in with the chatter of the rest of the class as the school day went on.

5 minutes before leaving, Julie almost completely forgot to ask something from Ren, her phone number. Julie ripped off from a corner of a piece of paper handing it over to Ren;



"Can I have your number? I almost completely forgot to ask you for it."



"Oh wow, yeah sure, I was going to ask you the same thing too." Ren replied while writing her number down on the paper before handing it back to Julie. Julie quickly pulled out her phone typing down the number on her contacts and then proceeded to send a quick text. Ren opened her bag and sure enough, Julie's text did send through.



"Yay it made it through. Surprised it even managed to pull through the school's shitty internet" Julie said in the middle of packing up her stuff. "It never tries to work whenever I want it to" she added. Julie and Ren both grabbed their belongings and walked down the halls together once the bell rang and eventually going their own ways to their classes.





The rest of the school day went fairly normal, the expected rain did eventually pour down as soon was school done for the day. Many students ran through the rain while others who came prepared with their umbrellas, walked peacefully through the rain. Some stood underneath areas where the roof would stick out enough to cover them while they waited to be picked up. Smart thinking students would wait inside the school until it was clear to go out. Julie wasn't one to be inside, in fact, she liked the rain. She sprinted out in joy as it poured down, down a narrow walkway and into the front area of the school where she decided that maybe it was a good idea to stay dry and not catch a cold. While adjusting her umbrella, she heard a familiar voice call out to her;



"Julie!" The voice belonged to Ren, who had spot Julie from afar. Julie looked around to eventually spot Ren who was waving at her. She was perfectly dry, her umbrella was big enough to keep dry two people. Ren had on a coat that not only kept her warm but also maintained stylish for looks, something that Julie never really thought about putting effort in whenever she got ready to go out each time. Ren eventually made it over to Julie, who was still slightly wet from running through the rain.



"How did you get wet? Did you just now realized you had an umbrella?" Ren questioned as she lowered her umbrella now that she was in the same dry spot as Julie.



"No I actually did this on purpose, I like the rain, and I ran through it with joy. What's not joyful was realizing I could catch a cold if I did this little maneuver for too long" replied Julie rolling her eyes at the thought of it.

"I wish I was immune to any disease so I could do this without consequences, but I guess my body isn't strong enough to fight that off."



Ren giggled from Julie's whole explanation, she's quite fond of her even if they just met hours ago. Ren really adores Julie's persona as a whole, her humor, her way of thinking, but mostly her humor, that part really stands out to Ren the most. She finds herself smiling a lot when conversing with Julie, she really believes the two of them could be a good pair of friends moving onwards.



"At least you're not fully wet, that with the combination of the current cold temperatures will absolutely destroy you" Ren watched as Julie use her own jacket to wipe dry some of herself like if the jacket wasn't wet as well.



"But then again.." Ren added, "Maybe you should at least be fully dry and not stay out in the cold for far too long."



Julie paused for a moment thinking about what Ren said,



"You really think so?.."



"Pretty sure."



They both stared at each other for about a couple of seconds before breaking out in laughter, then Ren speaks up again, "Yeah I think we should get going, the rain isn't gonna stop pouring down soon."



"You're right, I should set trail, my house isn't too far from here but walking at my pace will take too long, so I gotta move." Julie said while picking up her bag and opening her umbrella. "So I guess this is goodbye.. unless we text each other, ahah."



As she was about to leave, Ren stopped her from her tracks,

"Wait, can I at least say something before you go? Or well, show you something?"



Julie's curiosity peaked from that sentence alone and turned to see what Ren wanted to show off. Ren opened her bag quickly shuffling through school work, utensils, until she finally pulled out her sketchbook. Julie knew about the sketchbook as it was shown off to her earlier in the day. Ren opened through pages searching for what she had in mind to show Julie later on. Eventually, Ren found it, a piece of paper that was folded and sealed in between the pages of the sketchbook. She un folded the paper and revealed a drawing of an Ivy flower.



"I kept thinking about you in the majority of my classes today and I sketched this drawing for you in the middle of a class instead of doing the assignment."



Julie was at awe, she's never had a friend this considerate about her until now. She took the drawing from Ren's hand and looked at it. Noticing the little sketch marks, the dark fine lines, the shading, it was a very well drawn picture. And to know that the drawing was made in remembrance of her felt.. nice, like really nice, not sure how nice but it was overall a great feeling she felt.



"Oh my gosh, thank you!! This is really nice and pretty and... other descriptive words that relate to prettiness" she said, gently folding the drawing and placing it in her pocket. "If only I could repay you somehow.. but I think my overall happiness alone is enough for you."



Ren smiled softly "You're welcome, it's just a simple gift, but I see that it means a lot for you."



Julie continued "It does, it really does, I've never had a friend who thought of me like this, thanks again."



The rain continued to pour down, pouring harder then it was before. Julie interlocked pinkies with Ren before walking off into the pouring rain with one hand holding her umbrella in place while the other slid itself into the pocket where Julie had put the folded drawing, holding on to it making sure it wouldn't fall out. On the walk home, Julie continued to think about the conversation between her and Ren. She believed the year could get better since she's now made a new friend, despite all the awful hatred and dreadful solving of math and the nuisance of idiotic classmates, Ren seemed to be a friend that cleared up her mind despite only meeting and conversing just today. On the bus, Ren has her headphones in blocking out all noisy racket from other kids on the bus. She was also thinking about her day with Julie, she was a nice distraction from all the late night hours of studying and working she dealt for a good majority of the years she's been in school. She thought about how nice it would if the two of them managed to hang out even after graduation, maybe spend college days together? Who knows what the days can bring them. For now the cold weather and rain was the only thing keeping them in a sane state while they work their way out of school.



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Part Two

Fast forward from the last weeks of January to the early days of February. Julie and Ren's bond became stronger as the days passed by. From hanging out at places, taking pictures with a polaroid, and having long night texts between each other. Both enjoyed each others company no matter what the situation, they were always there for each other.



The Valentine's dance was coming up, everyone in school was getting ready to ask out their special someone in hopes they accept their proposal. Julie on the other hand, wasn't so happy with the upcoming event. Not that she's experienced heartbreak in the past before, she just never found any love interest. There was some eventful crushes that she's had in the past before but never really had the courage to ask them out, even if they in the slightest interest in her. Julie sat in her English class, doodling in the corners of her paper. She was skimming through the reading before starting the assignment, then proceeded to space out for another couple of minutes before starting the actual work. It took her about about 20 minutes before finishing it an turning it in, afterwards, she went out to use the restroom.





Julie took her time to wander off in the quiet hallways, not speeding up her walking whatsoever. She looked at the different posters and fliers pasted around the hallways, student council, sporting event, another sporting event, a charity run, and of course, the Valentine's day dance. Julie thought deep about it, maybe she could go if she wanted to, with a friend just for fun.





She finally stops her train of thought once she reaches the restrooms, inside, there were a couple of people getting done with their business, some girls were at the sink either washing up or adjusting their looks. Julie looks at the stalls deciding which one to go into, she continues to look before choosing which one to eventually use. Julie gently opens the stall, and inside, she was expecting to find a freshly flushed toilet, instead, she was met with something that she couldn't describe as horror but more of questionable. The toilet was full to the brim of toilet paper, like a lot of it in order to avoid any toilet water to resurface. The toilet seat reeked of that annoying disinfecting spray that would make Julie feel uneasy if she smelled for it for quite a while. Although the toilet was filled with a huge amount of toilet paper, there was some items were inside the bowl. Makeup products, pencils/pens, and even some bagged snacks, Julie has never questioned something so hard and at the same time felt so intrigued. A girl walked in beside her, "Oh, yeah, this is my goodie basket." she exclaimed, as she placed in another item.



"A goodie basket?.." questioned Julie



"Yeah, you put in a bunch of toilet paper in them and save your stuff in there, it's an easy way to access some stuff when you don't wanna pull them in class, and people will avoid reaching into there." the girl explained



"Oh, I see.." murmured Julie, she walked out, checking out other stalls, some had the same layout. Julie has never seen something so outrageous and probably very unsanitary, she could report it but she'll let it reside until one of the school staff discover it.



"I guess it's a current trend going on right now.." Julie thought to herself as she walked out of the restroom. She believed it was better to go find another set of restrooms rather than the one she was just in, and hopefully, there wasn't people doing this in other toilets.



"I just wanna pee in peace man.."





A few hours later, around lunch time, Julie meets up with Ren in their usual lunch time spot. The both converse while consuming their food, taking their time to listen to each other's day, while in the topic, Julie suddenly remembers, the toilet goodies. She swallows and clears up not sure if she wants to ruin Ren's appetite. She waits for Ren to be done with her meal before speaking up;



"Ren, there's been something I've been wanting to tell you.."



Ren looked up, curious to as what Julie wanted. "Yeah? what is it?"

Julie stood from her seat and grabbed Ren's hand, tugging it a little indicating her to follow her. Ren followed Julie through the semi crowded hallways and into the restrooms. Julie opened a stall and immediately found what she wanted to show, she turned around to face Ren gently holding her hand.



"Ren, do you want to make toilet goodies with me?" Julie giggled in between her speech, knowing how stupid it would sound to her. Ren of course, looked at Julie in confusion, not understanding what she meant by that, but she also felt some slight fear in what she meant for that.

Julie knew the face of concern Ren had on, Julie stepped aside to show the amalgamation that was made within the toilet. Ren wasn't sure what she was looking at, but then it clicked. A clogged toilet with copious amounts of toilet paper with some stuff in it.



Ren sighed, "Do they at least have pasta bowls? I could really go for some pasta to be honest."



Both girls laughed, from Ren's joke comment to the idea and the absurdity of people coming up with things like placing food in the toilet. They both walked out of the restrooms back to their sitting spot, Ren suggested that they should go and hang out in the library and so they did.





While hanging out in one of the corners of the library, both of them continued to talk about the absurdity of the toilet basket trend that was currently taking form in multiple areas of the school. While pointing fun at it and giggling about it, the posters for the Valentines dance caught Julie's eyes once again. Julie was still unsure whether to go to the dance or not, tickets were somewhat at a reasonable price for Julie to buy. But who will she go with? Will she go by herself or with someone special? She wasn't sure about this.



"Are you listening?" Ren's voice interrupted her train of thought. Ren was going on about a tangent about something.. not sure what it was but it was clear that Julie managed to tune her out.



"Oh ah, no, sorry, I was thinking about the upcoming dance and.." Julie paused, not sure why she did but something felt off. Either it was the air conditioning that stopped working or if she forgot to do an assignment that was due today.

Then she looked back at Ren, still thinking until Ren disrupted her thoughts again;



"You were saying something about the dance?"



Ren awaited a response from Julie, although Julie was still in orbit within her own thoughts, they just kept coming back, why was she still thinking? Julie wanted to snap out of those thoughts and come back to reality to continue talking to Ren and-



Then, realization hits her.



She liked Ren, but more than that, despite being close friends she really liked her, like, really really REALLY liked her. All this time, she wasn't sure if the reason she liked Ren was either because she was fun to hang around all day or if she just.. adored her in every way possible. This whole time, Julie had been slowly developing a crush on her and now she's not sure whether to make her shot now or someday.. she's never had so much confidence in the past before to go ask someone out, and now it seems to be present for this exact timing. Maybe all along, she was waiting until she found the right person, that person being Ren herself.



Julie finally snaps out of it and slams her hands on the table;



"Ren would you go to the dance with me?!" she said loudly but not loud enough to get a stern look from the librarians or anyone else around.

Julie's sudden reaction startled Ren a little bit, it was out of nowhere but Ren still managed to respond back.



"Yeah, I can go with you if you want to."



This sentence alone enlightened Julie causing her to get up from her seat and grabbing Ren's hand, "Let's go buy tickets then, I have a couple of cash on me to get 2. Let's get them before lunch time ends."



Both girls got up and went out into the hallway to find the nearest stand that was currently up and selling the tickets. Soon enough, they found a stand with small line of people waiting with money in their hands. Luckily, the wait wasn't too long and both girls got their tickets pretty quickly and eventually parted ways once lunch time was over. Hours pass and the school day was over, which felt quick for those who take too much notice in how time works. Once the bell rang, Julie rushed out to make it home QUICK, she was on a time crunch to finish remaining school work due the next day and had plans in mind on how would she confess her feelings towards Ren.



Once home, it took around an hour or so to get her work done, now that her work was done, it was time to come up with an artistic way to say how she truly felt for Ren. She thought maybe a letter would be a cute way to confess, but that's overrated. Maybe she could confess to her in another way, a gift? A poem? Who knows! The feeling was very strong, Julie felt her face warm up, just the thought of seeing and hanging out with Ren just made her uneasy and bubbly at the same time.



"Maybe I'll ask her out one day.."



Julie got up from her desk and flopped right onto her bed. School was already tiring, but thinking of a way to confess to Ren was already more exhausting, even when there's the chance that Ren could reject her. Days went by, personal work and school work would get in between Julie's free time essentially not giving her the time to find a way to confess her love. It was already too much for Julie to handle, maybe she should just drop the idea of confessing to Ren, after all, why would she care? They're only friends right?..



Friday, the night before the dance.

Julie laid in her bed trying to fall away into sleep, it was around 1 in the morning and she had been doing nothing productive all day except trying to finish the last bits of school work that were due next week. As she laid in bed, she almost felt herself fall into a slumber before suddenly, she sits up, wide awake.



"I finally have an idea on how to confess to her! Although its not the best way but, I hope it goes well.."



She gets up from bed, grabs a pen and starts writing something down on paper before going back to bed, closing her eyes while smiling knowing what she had planned for the next day.



On the day of the dance, Julie had gotten up early, something that never really does. She's always been someone who would sleep in very late, although since this was a very special day for her, she pushed herself to get up and start her plan. Later at the school dance, Ren awaited for Julie's arrival, just outside the building. Ren had on a nice emerald green dress and had her hair done into a bun, she had on a simple silver necklace and slip on dress shoes. Ren held on tight to her ticket while she looked everywhere to see if she would spot Julie, fearing that maybe Julie couldn't show up for some reason. Soon enough, Julie shows up, not just in a pretty mint colored dress, and other fancy accessories, but she's carrying a bouquet of flowers and a balloon. Ren was surprised at the revelation, were those meant to be for her?



"Hi Ren.. There's been something I've been wanting to tell you about something but I think these cheesy pair of flowers that I got for you were enough to say how I really feel about you." Julie said handing over the bouquet of flowers over to Ren.



"Ren, I know we've been friends for quite a while, and I hope you're not mad, but uhm... I love you, will you be my girlfriend?"



There was a silent pause afterwards, Julie expected the worst to happen based on Ren's facial expression, however, Ren was honestly flustered, this whole thing that Julie had set up in order to confess her love on the day of the dance was very.. something, Ren was practically speechless and didn't have a word in mind to describe what she was feeling in this exact moment. However, Julie awaited a response still looking worried that maybe Ren hated her, so maybe it was about time to give back a proper answer before Julie bursts into tears.



Ren enthusiastically replied, "Yes, yes! I would love to be your girlfriend, I've always felt for you the same way since for awhile but I never had the confidence to tell you how I felt because I thought you weren't going to feel the same way!"



Julie's faced lit up with so much joy, for the longest time, she's felt the weight on her shoulders disappear, all fear of rejection went away and she was only met with deep loving emotion and dopamine. Out of nowhere she gently held Ren's face and kissed her. A moment of shock for both of them before stepping back from the kiss. Both of them took a moment to recover from everything that had just happened before Ren spoke up;



"Wanna watch genocidal cars with me after the dance?"



Julie's expression changed to a confused yet amused look, "What?"



Ren laughed, "It's a series, you'll understand once you see it."



From then on, the two lovers went inside at the dance to enjoy the rest of the day together and hopefully spend their lives together as a married couple one day.





End.