When Love Hurts 44
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Ishikawa was looking the crowd walking outside through the glass of the cafeteria. The cup of coffee in her hands was almost cold, but she wasn’t paying attention to it, not even to her best friend, who was seated in front of her trying to hold a conversation with her without luck.

“Where are you, Rika-chan?”

“What do you mean?” asked Ishikawa turning her head to look at Shibata “I’m right here”

“No, you’re not. Where’s my friend?” asked the girl worried “What happened to the cheerful Rika-chan that I knew?”

“I can’t be happy all the time”

Ayumi lent back in the chair and crossed her arms.

“You used to be, ‘till Erika step into your life”

“You don’t know anything about that” replied Rika with the coldest voice ever.

“Then maybe it’s time for you to tell me?”

“It’s none of your business”

“You’re my best friend, of course it is!”

Shibata raised too much her voice and all the people in the cafeteria looked at her. She was ashamed, but seeing that Ishikawa was going to leave, she stood up from the chair and took her friend’s hand.

“Rika-chan, please” she said making her friend to sit again “I’m not the only one worried”

Ishikawa’s face turned from angry to surprise. There were more people who knew about Erika?

“Some girls came to me ‘cause they saw you with her and wanna know what’s happening. They think that she’s using you”

“That’s silly. Why would want Erika to use me?”

“I don’t know. The only thing I’m sure about is that, since the day she joined, you’ve changed. And I’m not talking just about your attitude towards me… What happened with Yoshizawa? One day you tell me you’re madly in love with her and the next…”

“Stop it”

Ishikawa didn’t let her friend to finish the sentence. She turned again her head towards the glass and looked at the people outside. She needed to think the words carefully before saying anything.

“I’m not going to tell you what happened with Yossi ‘cause that’s something between us and nobody else. And about Erika…, maybe I’m the one who’s using her”

“What do you mean?”

“She was just in the right place at the right time”

The way that her friend was talking began to desperate Shibata. Rika-chan wasn’t answering her questions and was making things even more confused. But she needed to know more. It wasn’t only to reassure the other girls.

“So… she helped you with something about Yossi?” tried to ask again.

Rika-chan didn’t answer and looked at her watch.

“It’s late. I have to go”

Ayumi couldn’t do anything to hold her friend. She just stayed in her chair looking at Ishikawa leaving the cafeteria.

Maybe she didn’t get any answer to her worries, but there was something that she was sure about. Something really big happened with Yoshizawa and Erika had something to do in it. She just needed to know what.

To be continued...

Labels: When Love Hurts