156cm

Chance stood in front of the mirror with a perplexed expression. He put his hand over his head, bringing it to the meter stick that continued to disappointed him. 156 centimeters.

Now, he could understand if he didn't grow his first or second year of high school. Some people are late bloomers, right? No big deal. Except, it was his junior year, and he hadn't grown more than five centimeters during his time at Saeren.

Chance gave himself one last look-over and sighed. What did height matter, anyway? It's not like his recent interest in a certain someone made him concerned about his appearance, or anything. The pureblood proceeded to imitate a puddle on the floor. His energetic little friend, Peep, chirped at him, flying over to rest on his stomach.

“Ugh, why am I so short?” he moaned, voicing his main concern over the past few weeks. Peep tilted his head.

Actually, that was a lie. His main concern had been why a short-tempered, ill-mannered guy like himself had fallen for the most intelligently, annoying and proper female at Saeren. His phone lay up on the bedside table, taunting him.

She's probably studying, he thought, despite it being summer vacation.

Usually during summer, friends would go out every other day, chat, party, enjoy each others' company—but not this summer. Most everyone had been wrapped up their families and/or their significant others. The majority of his summer had consisted of him laying in bed, thinking, and playing video games to stop himself from thinking.

He wondered when he began to consider the possibility of him and Ethuil being more than friends. Maybe it was when he saw her excitement for the present he gave her on Christmas? Or when she punched him in the face for doubting himself? Or perhaps when she wasn't putting up her “all put together” front, and actually let him see how troubled she really was? Ethuil was a lot more passionate than she let on.

It's unfortunate she thinks that side of her is ugly.

Chance fiddled around with his phone. If Ethuil saw him as anything, it was probably a child. While he would let his emotions get the best of him most of the time, he had to give himself some credit, he was making progress. It was still a bit foreign to him—friends, that is. People that care about you.

Summer vacation had been pretty lonely without them. Oniko, Ceg, and the lot of them. Hell, he even missed Kouin and Amaira's antics. Maybe even Cresil, but that was stretching it.

RRRRING RRRRING!

Chance dropped the phone like a hot coal, making impact with his forehead.  Peep fluttered up in surprise, chirping at the buzzing object. Chance stroked the bird's ruffled feathers, rubbing his head. “Shh, it's okay it's just–”

Ethuil's name appeared on the blinking screen.

“SHIT!” Chance shouted as he scrambled for his phone.

“H-hello?”

“Chance? Is that you?” the Arcan asked in her usual proper tone. “Your voice sounds different, I guess I haven't heard it in a while.”

“Yeah, probably,” he said with an awkward chuckle. Chance recalled the last time the two had talked. It hadn't been the friendliest of conversations...

“Before you say anything, I wanted to apologize.”

Chance perked up. “Huh?” This was a pleasant surprise.

Ethuil cleared her throat. “I'm sure it's in neither of our interests to start off the semester in such an uncomfortable way, so I'm toughing it out and asking for your forgiveness for my outburst. Alright?”

The “outburst”, as she'd described it had been a minor spat that Ethuil had gotten overworked about. That had been the last thing on his mind, though. Hell, he'd almost forgotten about it. I wonder... “You were worried about that? Did you think I  was angry?” Chance asked, interested.

Ethuil puffed. “Do you want the apology or not?”

He laughed. “Ha, I'll take it. I'm sorry too.”

Chance pictured Ethuil's genuine smile that only a few were favorable enough to see. Almost instinctively, all of the energy built up in his thoughts over the past few months spilled from his mouth in one question.

“Hey, Ethuil, what would you think if someone liked you?”

Immediately, she replied, “I would think he's a fool and tell him to stop wasting his time. Assuming it's a he. Why?”

Chance confirmed what he already suspected would be her answer. “No reason,” he lied. “Just curious.”

Her pause said she wasn't buying his excuse. Chance's face grew hotter as he mustered the courage to say, “'suppose I've always been kind of a fool, huh?”

The unreadable silence on the other end of the line made him so nervous that he dropped the call. Chase chucked the innocent piece of plastic across the room. Tears of frustration welled up in the corners of his eyes. “Shit, there's no way she's not figuring that out. Shit shit shit...!”

The little pureblood flung himself backward onto his bed. All of the good times spent and their innocent days were over, thanks to him. What fun would anything be, now? Great. Now instead of being completely pathetic, he'd be totally worthless. The semester was going to start uncomfortably either way. Peep nuzzled in the pit of his neck to sleep, comforting him.

Chance looked down at his feet, which barely reached three-fourths the way down the bed. He sighed, his thoughts drifting to his now-irrelevant concern. I wonder if she likes taller guys...?