Clara laughed softly.
"Listening in the boys' changing room? What exactly are you thinking?"
Eris immediately looked at her.
"Shut up."
"Okay, okay. Sorry."
Clara lowered her hands in surrender, but the smile on her face remained.
"Pfft."
She laughed again.
Eris gave her a long look before sighing and turning her attention back toward the stairs.
"You really become a kid when he's around."
Eris frowned.
"No, I don't."
"You do."
"I don't."
Clara smiled.
"You absolutely do."
Eris crossed her arms.
"You've been watching too closely."
"That's because the difference is hilarious."
"What difference?"
Clara leaned slightly toward her.
"You always have that cold expression on your face."
Eris raised an eyebrow.
"I don't."
"You do."
"I don't."
"You do."
Eris sighed.
"Fine."
Clara grinned.
"But when Tyler is around..."
She paused deliberately.
"Your face becomes brighter than the sun."
Eris stared at her.
"That's an exaggeration."
"Is it?"
Eris opened her mouth, but no answer came.
Clara noticed.
She didn't tease her further.
Instead, she waited.
Eris's gaze drifted towards first floor hallway.
For a moment, she thought about it herself.
Why was she different around Tyler?
She had noticed it before.
She simply never stopped to question it.
"I just..." Eris began slowly.
She paused, searching for the right words.
"I guess I don't feel like I need to."
Clara looked at her.
"Need to what?"
Eris lowered her gaze.
"Be like that."
Clara remained quiet.
Eris continued.
"You know how my parents are."
"Your parents?"
"They're both very influential in their work groups."
Eris rested her hands loosely on bag strap.
"Their jobs require them to maintain a certain image. They're supposed to be strong. Authoritative. They can't just say whatever comes into their heads. They have to choose their words carefully."
She glanced toward Clara.
"They don't need to raise their voices to make people listen. They don't need to explain themselves five times. They speak, and people understand that they're expected to follow."
Clara nodded slowly.
Eris continued.
"When I was younger, I thought that was what being strong meant."
She looked down at her hands.
"I used to watch them during business gatherings. Sometimes they brought me along. I'd see them talking to people, negotiating things, giving instructions. Everyone around them acted so serious."
A faint smile appeared on Eris's face.
"They always looked completely in control."
She paused.
"So I thought... if I wanted to become like them someday, I had to start early."
Clara's expression softened.
Eris continued.
"I started watching how they spoke. How they reacted. How they carried themselves."
She gave a small shrug.
"I stopped saying things unless I thought they were necessary. I tried not to react too much. I tried to think before speaking."
"That explains a lot," Clara said.
Eris gave her a sideways look.
"I know."
Clara smiled.
"But where does Tyler fit into all of this?"
Eris looked toward the distance.
"When I first met Tyler in primary school, he reminded me of them."
Clara blinked.
"Tyler?"
"Back then, he was different."
Eris's expression became thoughtful.
"He was calm all the time. He spoke carefully. He didn't react to things the way everyone else did. Even when something surprised him, he rarely showed it."
She smiled faintly.
"He didn't feel like he was our age."
Clara laughed.
"That sounds like him."
"It really did."
Eris leaned back slightly.
"I became interested in him because of that. I wanted to understand how he could act that way."
She looked down.
"And then I started studying him."
Clara raised an eyebrow.
"Studying?"
"Watching him."
"That's somehow worse."
Eris ignored her.
"I started copying some of the things he did. The way he spoke. The way he stayed calm. The way he didn't waste words."
She paused.
"I thought that was what maturity looked like."
Clara listened without interrupting.
"But eventually, my father noticed."
Eris's expression changed slightly.
"He told me something."
Clara waited.
"He said, 'You're only seeing one side of us. Try seeing us from a different perspective as well.'"
Clara tilted her head.
"And that changed everything?"
"Not immediately."
Eris shook her head.
"At first, I didn't understand what he meant."
She looked toward Clara.
"So I started paying more attention."
Her voice became quieter.
"I watched my parents when there were only the three of us at home."
A small smile appeared.
"They were completely different."
Clara smiled.
"How different?"
"My father could be ridiculous."
Clara laughed.
"Your father?"
"Very."
Eris's smile widened.
"He would come home from work acting completely serious, then spend ten minutes trying to fix something around the house and somehow make it worse."
Clara laughed.
"Seriously?"
"Once he broke something that wasn't even broken."
"What was it?"
"A light switch."
Clara burst out laughing.
Eris couldn't help smiling.
"He kept insisting that it had been complicated."
"And your mother?"
"She just stared at him."
Eris imitated her mother's expression.
"She asked him how he managed to break a light switch."
Clara laughed harder.
"What did he say?"
"He said he thought it was broken already."
"That's terrible."
"I know."
Eris shook her head, still smiling.
"But then my mother started scolding him."
She paused.
"And a few minutes later, she hugged him."
Clara's laughter faded into a softer smile.
Eris looked down.
"That's when I started understanding."
She spoke slowly.
"My parents weren't always serious."
She looked at Clara.
"They weren't cold people."
"They simply knew when they had to be."
Clara nodded.
Eris continued.
"When they were working, they had responsibilities. People depended on them. They needed to act a certain way because nobody would take them seriously if they behaved like they did at home."
She paused.
"But at home, they didn't need that."
Her voice softened.
"They could laugh. They could make mistakes. They could be stupid. They could argue over something completely meaningless."
A small smile returned.
"And none of that made them weaker."
Clara remained silent.
Eris looked toward the field.
"That's when I realized what my father meant."
She took a slow breath.
"I had mistaken their professional side for their entire personality."
She looked down.
"And I'd done the same thing to myself."
Clara watched her carefully.
Eris continued.
"I thought I had to be cold and calculating all the time because that was what strong people were supposed to be."
She smiled faintly.
"But I didn't."
For a moment, she said nothing.
"Then there was Tyler."
Clara's expression softened again.
"He was the same."
Eris nodded.
"When I first met him, I saw the serious side of him. The calm side. The side that made me think he was different from everyone else."
She laughed quietly.
"But the longer I stayed around him, the more I saw."
Clara smiled.
"His stupid side?"
"His very stupid side."
They both laughed.
Eris continued.
"Now He jokes. He teases people. He laughs at ridiculous things. Sometimes he acts like a complete idiot just because he thinks it's funny."
Clara nodded.
"That's definitely Tyler."
"And eventually I realized something."
Eris looked at her.
"He didn't need to act serious all the time either."
She paused.
"If he could be himself around people he trusted, then I didn't see why I had to pretend around him."
Clara smiled.
Eris shrugged.
"So I stopped."
"Just like that?"
"Not exactly."
Eris thought for a moment.
"It happened gradually."
She looked down.
"I started answering his teasing instead of ignoring it. Then I started teasing him back. Eventually, I realized I wasn't even thinking about how I was supposed to act anymore."
She smiled.
"I was just comfortable."
Clara gave her a knowing look.
"So that's why you're like this around him."
"Probably."
"You don't feel like you have to maintain that serious image."
"No."
Eris looked across the field, where changing room is.
"I found my comfort zone."
She paused.
"With my parents first."
Then, after a moment:
"And eventually with Tyler."
Clara smiled.
"That actually makes sense."
Eris nodded.
"I'm still the same person."
She glanced at Clara.
"I still think carefully. I still analyze people. I still like knowing what's happening before I make a decision."
"Terrifying."
Eris rolled her eyes.
"But I don't need to do it every second of the day."
She smiled.
"I finally learned the difference."
Clara nodded.
Then Eris's smile faded slightly.
"I just wish Tyler would learn it too."
Clara looked at her.
Eris continued quietly.
"I found my comfort. I know when I can stop pretending."
She looked toward Tyler again.
"But I still don't know when he'll find his. He still has barrier around him that he never let anyone pass it."
"I just have feeling that he had lot of secrets, you also have experienced it acting all weird around you until i force him to talk it out with you."
"And even after we sort things out two days before, I still don't knowwhy he acted weird around me all this years." Clara said.
"Well that's him, no one knows what he''ll do next."
Clara thought about that for a moment.
Then smiled.
"Don't worry."
Eris looked at her.
"He'll find someone eventually."
Clara's voice was gentle.
"Someone he doesn't have to pretend around."
Eris remained silent for a moment.
Then nodded.
"I hope so."
Clara smiled.
The silence lasted only a few seconds before her expression suddenly changed.
A mischievous spark appeared in her eyes.
"So..."
Eris looked at her suspiciously.
"What?"
Clara leaned closer.
"Did I also come under your comfort zone?"
Eris stared at her.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she sighed.
"Unfortunately."
Clara immediately laughed.
"I'll take that."
Eris shook her head, but she was smiling.
And for once, she didn't bother hiding it.
---
Clara and Eris finally reached the school exit.
As they stepped outside, Eris glanced around the road ahead before looking at Clara.
"Do you even remember the way?"
Clara stopped.
"What?"
"Is it left or right?"
Clara stared at her.
"What do you think I am?"
Eris thought about it for a moment.
"Someone who takes everyone's burdens upon herself."
Clara's expression immediately flattened.
"You could've just said I'm bad with directions."
Eris smiled.
"Would that have been more accurate?"
"Much more."
Clara pointed toward the left.
"This way."
Eris followed her.
"See? You remembered."
"Of course I remembered."
Clara walked ahead with her bag over one shoulder.
After a few steps, she spoke again.
"If I don't take these things into my own hands, our middle school would probably just end normally."
Eris looked at her.
"Without any special memories?"
"Exactly."
Clara glanced toward the school building behind them.
"You saw it yourself. Nobody really did anything during our first and second year."
Eris nodded.
"Everyone wanted to do something."
"But nobody wanted to take the initiative."
Clara sighed.
"When I first came to this city, I didn't know much either. I was new here, so I mostly just watched and tried to understand how everything worked."
She paused.
"And then I saw how things kept unfolding."
Eris looked at her.
"And you got disappointed."
"Exactly."
Clara nodded firmly.
"So this time, I decided I had to take the initiative."
She looked ahead.
"I wanted these slowpokes to at least have some decent memories of middle school."
Clara suddenly glanced sideways at her.
"Actually..."
She corrected herself.
"Except for the two of us, all our slowpokes."
Eris laughed.
"That's more accurate."
They continued along the road.
After a while, they turned right.
Eris looked back toward the school one more time.
"Our class really is strange."
Clara smiled.
"Antic?"
"Yeah."
Eris thought about it.
"With all the chaos and drama that happened over these years..."
She smiled faintly.
"It was memorable."
Clara nodded.
"At least I never got bored in that class."
"Neither did I."
They walked in comfortable silence for a few moments.
Then Clara suddenly looked at Eris.
"Eris."
"Hm?"
"I think we probably already got this year's biggest drama."
Eris raised an eyebrow.
"The Oliver one?"
Clara nodded.
"Yeah."
She looked curious.
"Do you know what actually happened?"
Eris looked at her.
For a moment, she considered how much there was to explain.
Then she sighed.
"That's going to be a long story."
Clara smiled.
"Well..."
She glanced at the road ahead.
"We still have time."
Eris smiled.
"Yeah."