The Start of the Game.

“Hi.”

She stared deeply at the folded piece of paper that she found under her desk after lunch break. She didn’t recognized the handwriting but she half-suspected that it came from one of the guys in her class by the name of Damian. Though, that was stupid thought, of course as the guy certainly had his eyes on other people.

Maybe she was the one crushing on him? Nah, nonsense, she thought.

She was alone in class and didn’t wish to leave. She was always the earliest to finish lunch and wait in class. She was waiting for her friend, Syazee.

A figure suddenly appeared at the class’ door. Speak of the devil; Syazee was there with her sling bag beside her waist. She was late for school as always.

“Nuiz, there you are.” Syazee said, walking into class. Nuiz looked up from the piece of paper she was staring at and looked at Syazee with a smile. No matter what bothered her, she always had a way of hiding it from people.

“I tried looking for you in the cafeteria. Though, I did suspect you were waiting in here.” Syazee said as she sat down next to Nuiz, not taking off her sling bag.

“Why were you late?” Nuiz asked, folding the piece of paper and keeping it under her desk. As she was folding it, she got a glimpse of what was written behind the paper.

‘Answer and leave this under your desk.’

‘Maybe later.’ Nuiz thought.

“The usual reason.” Syazee answered Nuiz’s previous question. The two of them started talking as usual, waiting for the bell to ring.

“Hey, what’s up? You seemed disturbed.” Syazee suddenly asked as they were talking about the latest school gossips.

“Nothing.” Nuiz answered.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Your name means ‘live’ you know so you should be ‘living’ your life to the fullest.” Syazee told Nuiz with a grin. Nuiz smirked and asked, “Oh really? Then what does your name mean?”

“I don’t know. It’s a mystery.” Syazee then gasped. “Maybe it’s because I’m meant to be mysterious.”

Syazee laughed as Nuiz rolled her eyes. “What nonsense.”

Soon, the bell rang and Syazee went back to her seat, which was in front of Nuiz. Nuiz took out the folded piece of paper, unfolded it and wrote, ‘who are you?’ She then folded it back and left it under her always empty desk.

She looked around to see if anyone was looking or observing her every move. No one was though.

‘Whoever this anonymous writer is, he or she is sure good at acting.’ Nuiz thought.

-------

School ended at 4 in the afternoon. Nuiz and Syazee got their bags and walked back home from school that day, talking as usual.

“Any plans for tonight?” Syazee asked Nuiz.

“Syazee we’re only 14. We can’t go to clubs or get ourselves drunk.” Nuiz replied, not really answering Syazee’s question.

“I know we can’t do that. I’m just asking.” Syazee told Nuiz.

“Probably just going to surf the internet and write stories.” Nuiz answered with a shrug. “Why? Are you planning on going out tonight?”

“The movies, probably.” Syazee replied.

“What movie are you planning to watch?”

“We. What movie are we planning to watch.” Syazee corrected Nuiz.

“Oh, so I’m in on this now?” Nuiz asked with a grin.

“C’mon. What’re we watching tonight?” Syazee asked.

“I heard there’s a new thriller movie that came out 3 days ago. Wanna watch that?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“Great.”

“So, I’ll come to your house at 7PM tonight?”

“Yeah, okay.” And with that, the conversation was over and the both of them walked home as usual.

-------

“HELLO???!!”

“Oh my, who’s that?” Nuiz’s mother asked. Nuiz grinned. “Relax mom, it’s only Syazee. Gee she could’ve just rung the bell.”

Nuiz got up and unlocked the door. Outside stood Syazee in her casual clothes, jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt with her sneakers.

“You could’ve just rung the bell you know?” Nuiz told Syazee as she lifted her eyebrow.

“Why, thank you for welcoming me into your house, bruh.” Was Syazee’s reply as she walked into the house. Nuiz shook her head with a smirk and closed the door.

“Good evening, Syazee.” Greeted Nuiz’s mom. Syazee shook her hand as a sign of ‘thank you.’

“So, I heard you both will be going out tonight?” Nuiz’s mom asked.

“Yeah.”

“Bring her back by 11.”

“You got it!”

And with that, the two friends set out for the cinema at the nearest mall they could find.

-------

The both of them got their seats in the theatre. Not many people had shown up yet.

“Don’t eat the popcorn yet.” Nuiz told Syazee who was already digging into the popcorn they bought to share with each other.

“Sorry.” Syazee replied.

The movie started soon and a man came up to Nuiz and sat down next to her. It was too dark for Nuiz to see his face.

Suddenly, Nuiz felt something in her jacket pocket. She looked at it and saw that the man was putting something in it. Nuiz didn’t know what to do so she whispered, “What the heck, man?”

The man didn’t answer, instead, he got up and sat somewhere else.

“Creep.” Nuiz said. She put her hand in her pocket and found a folded piece of paper. She couldn’t see what it wrote. She kept the paper anyway.

-------

The movie ended at 10 PM and Syazee and Nuiz walked back home from the mall.

“I’ll see you tomorrow at school, aye?” Syazee asked. Nuiz nodded and went into her house. She went up to her room and remembered the folded piece of paper she had gotten from the creepy guy she bumped into in the theatre.

She was surprised to see that it was the same folded piece of paper she had received at school. There, someone had answered, “I can’t tell you who I am, yet. That’ll just spoil the game, Nuiz.”

There was something else too.

‘Answer and leave it under your desk tomorrow.’

Nuiz didn’t know what to write. After pondering for a few minutes, she finally came up with something.

‘Let the games, begin.’

To be continued in: Guess Who.