#dramatica act 3

During lunch period, she sat with her group of friends. They'd usually talk about the same old things--baseball games, weird rumors at school, club activities, but one of her friends decided to push her buttons today.

"Hey, ■■■■! How'd it go with you-know-who?" her friend Uichi asked. His glasses exaggerated that stupid smirk on his face. She knew she was in for some teasing.

"Uh, who?" 'Alice' feigned confusion at the question.

"You know, 'her'! I thought I saw you go up to 'her' after school last week."

"No way, it's about time! Did you make your move, dude?" Toyoo suddenly cut into the conversation while swiping something from Alice's bento.

"Nah, I didn't... I just...walked with 'her' home, nothing crazy." 'Alice' picked at her lunch, defending it from any further pilfering. Plus, she didn't want to give the guys anymore room to tease her about this.

"Maaan, you've gotta say something eventually!" Uichi sighed. "You know a bunch of other guys have got their eye on her."

"I mean...it's not like she's some kind of prize," 'Alice' said.

"You think you're gonna get her with that gentlemanly act? Girls these days like the assertive type, you know. If you aren't charming like me, I mean," Toyoo boasted.

"Oh and do you have any experience with that, Mr. Suave Guy?" Uichi prodded, these two were always bickering like this, so 'Alice' was glad when they finally ignored her and moved on from teasing her.

...Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to try talking to 'her' again. She knew where 'she' lived now, so it wouldn't be weird to stop 'her' after school again, right?

As soon as the dismissal bell rang, 'Alice' changed her shoes and ran to the school gates to meet up with her. She made up some excuse to walk home with 'her' and 'she' agreed. She just hoped that her friends weren't secretly watching from somewhere.

On the way home, they started talking about classes, how their friends were doing, what sort of stuff they do at school or at home... Eventually the topic somehow turned to 'Alice' sharing her notes with 'her'. She'd totally forgotten about her notebook doodles, but they immediately caught 'her' eye and she seemed to be happy to see the pages that were nothing but drawings.

"Is that one supposed to be me?" 'She' suddenly asked, pointing to a sharply dressed figure with cat ears and a puffy tail. The long, dark hair was probably a dead giveaway.

"Uh-uhm... Yeah..." replied 'Alice' sheepishly. Her face's temperature was rapidly rising and she half-hoped that she would either pass out or drop dead from embarrassment. Preferably the latter. Hopefully the guys would put together a decent funeral for her--

"She's so cute! Do you draw a lot?"

'Alice' was taken aback. She expected something more like, 'what's with the cat ears?' Or maybe, 'I don't think I really would dress like that.'

"Not really, I just started kind of recently..." 'Alice' lied. She did draw a lot as a kid, but stopped when she got into her first year of junior high.

"Really? Wow, you're pretty good if you just started recently." The girl leaned in closer to 'Alice', nearly touching her shoulder. "Can I see more?" 'she' asked with an excited twinkle in her eye. Suddenly, 'she' reeled herself back in and added, "It's okay if you don't want to show me though, no pressure..."

'Alice' could hardly believe it. 'She' wanted to see more of these embarrassing scribbles?! Well, it's not like they were that bad or that weird, but how would she even explain it to 'her'? Should she just go, 'Yeah, I had a dream about you and my friends, but we were all in this place called wonderland where I lost my memories. Also you were a cat and I was a girl there and my name was Alice.' ...Maybe she should leave that last part out.

After deliberating for a moment or five, 'Alice' finally reluctantly relinquished her notebook to 'her'. She tried to stammer out a warning that things might not make sense, but she couldn't get the words to come out--it was like there was a wad of cotton stuck in her throat.

'She' wordlessly flipped through the pages. 'Alice' studied her expression carefully, but tried not to make it too obvious--she did notice she would stop to read the notes next to some of the drawings, but she just...kept smiling at all of the drawings. No matter which one she was looking at. She put the book back in 'Alice''s hands where their hands touched--for just a moment. 'Alice' couldn't bring herself or look at 'her', so she just kept her eyes on her notebook cover.

"So...uh...what...did you think?" she stammered.

"I really liked them...you're super creative, ■■■■. I hope you keep drawing."

"Thanks... It's nothing, really! They're, like, based on a...dream I had...?"

"Really? So I was in your dream? And I had cute cat ears?"

Shit. Why did she say that?

"U-uh, it's not like it was a weird dream or anything!" 'Alice' quickly tried to veer the topic anywhere else. "I just remember thinking one of the people in the dream there had your eyes..." Except that she quickly made it much weirder.

"My eyes?"

"Th-the... The person with the cat ears, yeah..." 'Alice' slowly lifted her gaze again to meet 'hers' and 'she' was looking at them with her kind and clear blue eyes. 'Alice' would look at them forever if she could. They stayed like that for a moment, before the girl asked a question.

"...Can I ask you one more thing?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Who's the cute girl with the bow?"

'Alice' flushed, then frantically opened her notebook to make sure she had the right character in mind. Though, honestly there was only one who fit the description of "cute girl with a bow". She ended up flipping to a page filled with drawings of Alice with the Cheshire Cat, then showed it to 'her' to make sure it was the right one.

"Yeah, her! she has the same eyes as you," 'she' said.

"Sh-she does?" 'Alice' examined her drawings again. She was drawing herself as she showed up in the dream, but she wasn't sure how to explain that. "Well...uh...it's...up to you if it's her or not...?"

"Hmmm..." 'She' stared at the drawings a bit longer before looking up at 'Alice' again. "Well, I think she's super cute. Will you show me anything else you draw in the future?"

"Sure... Honestly, you're the first person I showed these to. I think the guys would laugh at me if they saw these."

'She' giggled. "I'm happy I'm the first person you showed them to, then."