Meliora - Extricate - 08

[lady_mab]

Jun Zhou

It turns out that Zoné is a master at evading the topic.

This is either because he doesn't want to talk about it, or because he honestly does not notice my attempts to engage him in conversation.

I keep trying to bring up his text message throughout lunch, but my words get no further than a concerned look and a few half-formed syllables before he's distracted by something else.

As much as I want to press until I get an answer, I know that he will at least find me after school, and hopefully put an end to the questions running around my head.

The deadline to sign up Meliora is two days away, and I still have not come any closer to finding someone to partner with. Or an Informant. I've started several texts to Jonas, asking him about it, but each time I deleted them and decided that I would wait one more day.

Perhaps I'll skip it after all.

After classes let out, I make my way through the tide of students towards the main doors. I can't keep my footing within them, so I let myself get carried away and onto the steps that lead onto the sidewalk.

Zoné never mentioned where he wanted to meet up, so I'll just have to hope that--

"Hold on a sec, would you?" A hand latches onto my shoulder, and I squeak in surprise at the sudden touch.

However, when I twist around to look, Zoné is pulling himself free from the crowd to join me. "Oh! You found me!"

"You certainly didn't make it easy," he says, though there's no malice behind the tone. He shakes his tie free and shoves it haphazardly into his school bag. "Whew, that's better. I didn't know you could move so fast."

"I do not think my feet even managed to touch the ground. I felt so squeezed in between everyone that I just let them carry me!"

Zoné laughs and, after adjusting the straps of his backpack, reaches for the bag I carry that contains all of the lunch boxes. "Let me carry these for you."

I make a small sound in protest, but he immediately hides the bag behind his back in an attempt to block me from making a grab at it. "Okay, fine. But you have to tell me what has been bothering you."

"Yeah. Uh, sorry about that random text." He ruffles one hand through his hair as we start to walk. "Um, it's really hard to explain."

"The stop I take is a ten minute walk, so use the time to think." I won't push him to talk about it if he doesn't want to. Our friendship is tenuous at best, strung together over a week's worth of lunches and a one-time borrowing of a jacket. Still, I like to think that we are friends for more than just the fact that I bring a lunch twice a week.

Zoné has his lips pursed as he walks, studying the sidewalk passing beneath our feet. When we reach a crosswalk, I still push the button out of habit. No one drives in Eminence, save for the buses and emergency vehicles and a scant few official looking people in suits. The lights haven't worked for years, according to some of the Aunties I’ve spoken to.

Still, years of having to avoid drivers in Chonqing has taught me to be cautious.

The crosswalk light turns green and I skip into the street after a cautious glance back and forth. I make it halfway before I realize that I'm alone.

Zoné stares out at nothing, and the confusion that has been warring with concern all day flares into an intense worry. "Are you coming?"

"Oh! Yeah!" His smile is in place, but something is off about it as he hurries to my side.

We're not the only ones walking in this direction. There's several other students walking in pairs and clusters, chatting about their plans for the weekend. Despite the war of inner thoughts taking place inside Zoné’s head, hints of it showing on his constantly expressive face, I am perfectly fine walking in silence.

My mother always preached about the silence of mind and body, and it’s something that has been ingrained in me for as long as I can remember. My brother is louder, but even he has the same stillness.

Being around Zoné and his friends has been a real change in pace.

Finally, six minutes into our walk, he finally speaks. "Okay, I have a question."

I pause and glance up at him. "Have you figured out how to phrase it?"

"Not really, so bear with me." He scratches the back of his head and grins. But the expression falls away and he heaves a breath. "I know that... we don't really know each other that well. Like, two weeks if you're feeling generous. And that's not a lot of time and all."

A small spring of fear pokes up inside my chest. Is this... him asking me out on a date? I scramble to find a way to turn him down politely as soon as the question leaves his mouth.

"So, you know last week, when I was acting all weird?"

"That does not narrow it down for me, but go on."

A laugh makes his shoulders shake, but I can't quite hear it. "I want to tell you why."

The conversation is veering away from an awkward of one kind to a stilted awkward of another.

"You do not have to if it makes you uncomfortable."

"No, it's not that. I'm leading up to something here, so just go with it." The fingers of his free hand clench and unclench as he takes another minute to work the words over in his head. "I came to Eminence looking for my brother, right? He left home randomly and no one seemed to care, so I decided I had to be the one who did. And it took me here."

I stand silently before him, studying the way his face shifts between angry and frustrated, upset and lost. I know not to mention that I had no idea he even had a brother, though I wonder if the others are aware of his situation.

"I land here in Eminence and his trail eventually goes cold but there's just something that tells me he hasn't left yet, so I never did either." He fiddles with his collar, the buttons on his shirt, the straps of his bag. Looks anywhere than at me directly. "And then I receive this text about Meliora--"

The statement is such a shock that I squeal in surprise before actually forming words in English. "You got one!!" I clamp my hand over my mouth as a group of students stare at us as they walk past.

A hint of relief comes to his posture. "I did. It... served as a reminder of what I had come here for, even though I stopped looking for him two years ago."

My hand drops away and I bounce on the balls of my feet. It explains a lot -- why he was acting so weird last week, his anxious energy. I've been feeling it too as the deadline looms closer. "Are you going to participate? I didn't see you at the meeting."

"I didn't go. I... didn't think I had a reason to do so."

I settle back flat onto my feet, shoulders slumping. "Oh..."

"Mr. Stavros gave me a list. That's how I found your name. But, well... I think I might have found a clue about my brother." He's falls silent, waiting to see how I will react.

While I'm not too sure who Mr. Stavros is beyond the teacher that Zoné and Mal share for Culture and Evolution, I easily pick up on what he's hinting at. "So you are going to participate?" I almost hate the note of hopefulness in my tone. I don't need to participate. I only want to because I am curious about this city and no one else has answers that satisfy me.

"I will if you join my team. People are saying that we need teams? I don't really get it, but Mr. Stavros has agreed to be my Informant thingy, so I just need that second person."

A smile takes over my expression and I have to resist the urge to rub my hands together excitedly at the prospect. "Please! If you will have me on your team, I would love to! I was beginning to think I would not be able to find anyone."

Relieved laughter overtakes him and he deflates with a loud rush of breath. "Thanks. I'm glad."

"No, thank you. Ah, this is wonderful. I am glad I can get the chance to participate." I shift from foot to foot, suddenly unsure of what to do with myself and all this newfound energy. I want to tell Uncle Bao. I want to tell Jonas.

I want to know everything.

"I will meet up with you on Sunday, and we can walk to the meeting together," I say, reaching for the bag of mine that he still carries.

He makes a face, though I can't tell if he's confused or not. "I don't even know where it's going to be."

"Well... Honestly, neither do I." It could be at the same place as the first one, or it could be somewhere completely different.

Though hopefully, if it is somewhere else, the Program Manager doesn't tell us in some cryptic clue that doesn't make sense to people like me who don't speak English fluently and haven't been in the city long.

"We'll figure it out together!" Zoné chimes, and the familiar energy is back in his posture. He pumps one fist into the air and grins at me. "I'll talk to you later, alright?"

His energy is infectious, and I smile as well. I wave as he turns away, jogging back the direction we had come.

It's amazing how something like the idea of participating in Meliora can affect my mood so suddenly. As I turn to join the queue at the bus stop, I can't help but wonder how much I've changed in the short span since receiving that email.

Or even since first talking to Zoné.

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