What Rumors? I Don't Care

"Kevin? I'm Sarah. I want to tell you something. This is important, it matters your relationships with other classmates in class."

"What the matter, Sarah?" Kevin wondered.

"You are going to spend time with Alfie, right? I suggest you keep a distance from him."

"Why?"

"He is kind of a weirdo and have strange rumors."

"What do you mean?" Kevin was puzzled as he had no idea what Sarah was talking about. Sarah sighed and explained to him patiently.

"Alfie has strange behaviors such as he talks to the air even though there was no one there. Or make a little laugh for no reason. There is even a rumor that he can talk to ghosts, he is a very strange guy, if you spend much time with him, you will be treated as a weirdo too." She warned. Kevin's eyes darkened a little, but he still forced himself to smile.

"Sarah.....where did you heard those rumors?" Kevin asked.

"Well, I heard it from other classmates."

"Where did those classmates hear the rumors?"

"Err....I don't know. Classmates from another class, maybe?"

"I see. Thanks for your warning. I gotta go and find Alfie."

"Hey! Wait! Didn't you hear what I said? You will be isolated!"

"I know."

"If you know, why you still stay with him? He is a freak."

"Sarah. What you say are only rumors, rumors are often not reliable. I will not make a decision based on the evaluation of others. Whether Alfie is weird or not, I will determine it by myself. Friends are not chosen by others but chosen by us. If I ever regret choosing the wrong friend, that is my fault and my responsibility and not yours, you don't have to worry about my personal relationships." Kevin stared at Sarah coldly, leaving her to be in shock.

"Kevin, I'm back." Soon, I came back from the washroom. Kevin heard my name and turned around.

"Bye, Sarah." Kevin waved goodbye and walked by my side. I felt curious why they knew each other's names already but I didn't ask Kevin why. We both carried our lunchboxes and left, leaving Sarah in the classroom.

Kevin and I walked to different places in school while Kevin took out his camera to take photos. He told me that he got permission from a teacher who was responsible for the photography club to bring a camera to school to celebrate his first day at school. As we walked, I kept on introducing different places, Kevin was astonished at what he saw, we never stopped chatting, there were too many common conversation between us. It was a wonderful time. Eventually, we finished visiting all the places, Kevin opened his mouth and asked.

"I'm starving. How about we have lunch together?"

"Lunch?" I wondered if I imagined it. Kevin noticed me became silent suddenly and showed eyes of worries.

"Sorry, am I being over approachable? Or do you want to have lunch with others?" Kevin apologized and thought I mistaken him as he didn't want to have lunch with him.

"No! Not at all. Of course, I can. Let's have lunch together. Speaking of lunch, I know the best place."

I guided him to my secret base, the school's rooftop where I often had my lunch alone. I loved staying on the rooftop, you could always feel the cool gust of wind slipped past your cheeks and observed the white fluffy cotton clouds floating leisurely in the blue sky. There, I could forget everything, there's no pain or sorrow, like a distant mystery paradise. As the autumn breeze melted in the bars of sunshine, Kevin breathed in the fresh air and exclaimed.

"Ah...it's very cozy here..." Kevin stated.

"I'm glad you like it. This is sort of my secret base." Kevin took out his camera and took photos again in the sky.

"I see you often use your camera to take photos. You really like photography, do you?"

"Hmm.....People are always forgetful, it is always hard to remember every detail in your life, right? But if you take photos, you can turn your memories into realistic objects and you will never forget it."

"Err....what you say is rather hard to understand."

"Is it? Sorry that I said something boring. Let's leave that aside and have lunch. I'm starving." As we enjoyed the scenery, we both had our lunch merrily. A while later, Kevin finished eating and asked me.

"Ah yes, Alfie. I didn't ask you about your hobby. What do you like to do?"

"Emm....what about you? Except for taking photos?"

"I guess it is exploring. I love to go to different places, animal farms, theme parks, countryside, back streets, museums, etc. There are so many places that I have never been too, I want to visit all of them and broad my horizon. You?" he answered as he touched his fancy camera.

"Umm. Reading books and playing board games?"

"Playing board games? That's new! Where do you play them?"

"I usually play them at home. But there is a board game shop at the shopping street."

"Interesting. Hey, Alfie. Why don't we go home together today after school and take a look at that shop? I have never been to a board game shop before so I want to check it out." Kevin suggested.

All of a sudden, I froze. What Kevin said came like a bolt from the blue, my stomach was hurting me again.

"Sorry. What did you just say?" I asked, my voice was cracking, revealing my fear. I wondered whether I heard it wrong.

"I said do you want to go home with me?" Kevin asked again, smashing my doubts.

"......err....don't you know my rumors? If you are with me, you'll be isolated." I warned him but he didn't seem to understand. Instead, he made a short laugh, as if he heard a funny joke, he wondered who sent out the bad rumors of Alfie, no matter who he was, he must have made a mistaken about Alfie. Because the boy who was standing in front him was nothing sounded like the rumors.

Kevin calmed himself down and gazed at me, saying, "I don't really care about rumors. You're my friend! Friends don't care about things like that! No matter who you are, what you have been to or what others say, I will determine it by myself whether it is right or wrong. So, you don't have to worry about anything." he said naturally.

"........." Hearing Kevin's words, the sunshine shone on me seemed hotter. I was not sure what I should reply, I remained silent instead.

"What's wrong? Why are you in silence?" Kevin asked, worrying me.

"Umm....sorry.....I.........I.......never have a friend at school before.....so I'm a bit surprised." I answered with voice cracking.

"That's great." Kevin said. I froze again, I didn't understand why he was happy that I didn't have friends at school. There was nothing to be happy about.

"What do you mean?" I asked. Kevin stared at me, I saw my own reflection in his light-yellow eyes, as if they were sparkling.......like Jay. Kevin gave a friendly grin and stated.

"Because that means that I'm your first friend at school."

Kevin's words fluttered into my ears, I questioned myself why I doubted him in the first place.

I never should have.

In reality, the only friend I have is Jay. At school, I didn't bend in well in social circles. I never thought of having a friend. Having a friend is too distant for me.

But perhaps....I'm wrong.

Perhaps....having a friend is not so hard at all.

While I was thinking, Kevin grabbed my shoulders and shortened the distance between us. He held his camera up in the bright sky and flipped up the screen of his camera. I could see my face clearly on the screen. My eyes popped out while Kevin was smiling. "Well, in order to celebrate you are able to make your first friend. Why don't we take a photo using my camera?" he said.

"Err....." I hesitated. Unexpectedly, Kevin gripped my shoulders more tightly and interrupted my thoughts.

"Stop thinking and say cheessse!" he shouted.

"Huh?! Wait, I'm not ready---" By the time I finished my sentence, it was too late, Kevin had already pressed the button. He took a look at the photo and laughed heavily.

"Ha-ha. You have a strange face." He said, I went near him to take a look at the photo. It was a bad one. I wasn't even looking at the camera, I was looking at Kevin and asking him not to take the photo too fast. Feeling embarrassed, I gazed at Kevin, he was still laughing.

"Don't laugh, it's embarrassing. Come on, Kevin. Delete it immediately!" I insisted and tried to take the camera away from him.

"Ha-ha. No way. I'm not giving you the camera." Kevin teased me as he held the camera up high. As he was taller than me, I couldn't even reach his hand.

"Come on, Kevin..." I complained.

"Well, if you agree on coming with me to the shopping street, I'll consider whether I'll delete it or not." Kevin suggested.

"Err......err...emm....." I hesitated again.

"Yes?" Kevin wondered and waited for my answer.

"Err....emm...what I want to say is.......err....."

"Yes??"

"Err......Kevin, I don't know how to explain but......you know....I.......err....err.....err....."

"Yes???" Kevin asked again, he was getting more and more impatient.

"Wait. I'm building my words. I never deal with this kind of situation so my instinct tells me that I need to give a good answer.....so, Kevin......" I mumbled.

"Come on, Alfie! Tell me now!" Kevin shouted, he couldn't stand any longer.

"Emm......thanks."

"Thanks? Why you thank me?"

"......nothing. I said I'm happy to come with you. Thanks for inviting me."

"That's settled then, let's go to the shopping street together after school today."

"No. I can't go." I refused, Kevin's mouth enlarged when he heard what I said.

"What..........WHAT???!!! Didn't you say you want to go with me? I waited for your answer so long and you reject me???" Kevin screamed, he seemed to have high expectations that I would accept his offer.

"No, that's not what I meant. I mean that I can't go with you today. I promised someone that I would come home quickly after school is over. If I come home late, he may be worried about me a lot. How about tomorrow?" I explained, correcting his misunderstanding.

"I see. But I can't go tomorrow. I have karate training that day. I need to rush back home." he said. I was surprised he knew how to do karate, I felt curious and asked.

"You know how to do karate?"

"Yes, but only a little. My foster dad is the owner of a Karate Dojo so I got interested in karate," he said. I praised him, in the past, I read from books that karate was a tough and tiring activity, it was quite amazing that he could continue learning karate for years. As we continued chattering, we decided that we would go to the board game shop together this Friday. I am really excited about it.

Hours later, the sound of the school bell rang.

"Our lesson ends now, everyone is free to go. Just remember there are many car incidents that happened this month. Remember to watch the road and......." While I listened to my the class teacher, I packed my stationery and waved goodbye to Kevin and hurried my way back home.