I walk into the classroom. It's Friday, luckily for me I don't have to be here for long. Friday's are half the length of a normal day. We learn less but at least we can go home faster. I sit at my seat, Maddie's already in hers. 

  Once she notices me she smirks and cutely meows. I hate her cute little noises. It annoys me sometimes. I feel all tingly. I wonder how it doesn't embarrass her. She rises from her chair and skips over to me. “Meeoww!” She says again. “Somebody's sad… Is it not cheering you up?”

   I ignore her. “C'mon! I'm ruining my popularity to cheer you up a little! At least pay attention to it.” She scoffs. Then the teacher walks in. “Maddie, since you were talking with Akrin, you're his partner.” Maddie and I both look up at the teacher. “What's the project?” I ask.

  “It's for the school festival.” The teacher says. “You'll be running a maid cafe.” Maddie's smirk grows. Probably as fast as my face goes red. “So I'll be cooking right?” I ask. “C'mon, I could do the cooking. I think you'd look cute in a maid dress.” Maddie says flirtily.

  “Remember in middle school?” I ask her. “You burnt the water!” She puts her hands on her hips. “I got better!” She speaks defensively. “I cook, you do the serving bit.” I replied. She sighs, “Fine.” She gets an idea, “But what if I need help?” The teacher overhears and assigns Amber to work with us. She just nods and stays quiet.

  Most of the day is spent with him assigning people to specific parts of the festival and answering questions. I could've got out of this if I signed a paper they handed out on a day I missed. Only about seven people in my class decided to do it. One of those being Maddie.

  Her dad does have some power. Maybe she told him to make the teacher assign us together for the festival. But would she do that just to bother me? Probably. I think the only reason she comes to school is to annoy me.

  After school is over everyone who is assigned with helping at the festival over the weekend has to stay. The teacher said we're staying until our room is set up. No staff can help either. We get the whole cafeteria to decorate. Because of course, it's the biggest room, already has tables, and has a kitchen connected to it. 

  The basement has all the decorations. And we can buy more at the store if we want to. You get bonus points if you do. It's kind of like a pay-to-win video game, stupid. Amber goes to the basement to grab a bunch of things but returns quickly, empty handed.

  “What the hell Amber!?” Maddie scolds her, “Where's the stuff?” Amber flinches at the loud voice. “S-sorry, it was too dark, I… I couldn't do it.” Maddie sighs, “Fine. Me and Aki will get the stuff.” I cross my arms.

  “Why do I have to come?” I protest. “In case I get scared, I'll need something to hide behind.” She grabs my arm. “C'mon, we're wasting time.” I let out a deep sigh, “Fine.” For some reason it's like I can't say no.

  The basement is dark. Well until Maddie uses her sense of touch to find the lightswitch. Turning it on shows the true size of the room. It's massive. Maybe even bigger than the school. We looked around for a while before finding a door labelled “Paper”. That's what we need.

  Amber had a whole plan, to make custom decorations of what we have to buy as wall decorations. I think it's pretty smart. Then again, she was always a smart girl. Ranking top of our class every year since forever.

  Maddie opens the door. “Nope! Not going.” She says, arms crossed. “Why not?” I ask. “Too dark.” I expected that. “Here,” I held out my hand to her. “Hold on.” She takes a small step back, thinking for a second. Then, after a bit of hesitation, grabs my hand tightly.

  I walk down the dark, damp hallway. The noises of machines that are in the main storage area for everything else are muffled by the thick, stone walls. We continue down the hall. The time we're in here is extended because of Maddie's small, scared steps.

  It's actually nice seeing her nervous like this. It shows she's not as strong as she acts. It makes her feel human. But I know she's far from fragile. She just has her fears, just like everyone else.

  As we make it to a pile of boxes full of coloured paper, we hear a loud thud. Turning around I notice the door is closed. “Maddie, go check the door.” She nods and walks over to it but still slow and hesitant. I pick up a box ready to carry it back up when I hear Maddie whimpering.

 “No, no, no!” She yells in distress. “Help us!” She bangs on the door, signalling to me it's locked. She falls to her knees and sucks on the side of her hand. I wonder what she's doing but context explains. Blood where she was hitting on the door, meaning her hand's in her mouth to stop it from bleeding all over her.

  After a while she stops, I walk over to her and sit next to her. The bleeding seemed to stop. “It's hopeless.” She says. “We just have to hope someone comes looking.” She sounds completely scared now.

   “So Maddie, now that we're alone. Tell me why you're always annoying me.” She stays silent for a bit before answering, “I like attention.” without elaboration. She smiles at me, “Y'know, for a total dummy, you're still really good at structuring your questions.” She says before looking down. “Uhm... Thanks?” That was a stupid thing to compliment.