Maze

1

June 2006, 02:29 PM

"Rena! Come on down, your friends are here!"

I was lying down on my soft bed to play with my pink Nintendo DS when Mommy called out from downstairs.

"C-Coming!" I shouted back and rolled out of the bed. I brushed my messy hair then took deep breaths. They're finally here. Don't do stupid things, Rena.

This was the first time everyone decided to go to my house for our next meetup, with Edward behind the plan. They simply agreed with no questions, although Aly kept asking me if I was fine with them coming over.

"I'm just making sure you're not overwhelmed." I remembered her concerned look, but I told her it was totally okay.

Ever since I got to know Edward from the school trip, I have been hanging out with him and Aly at school or on the weekends. He even introduced me to his group of friends: Sebastian, Adelynn and Raphael. Now that all of them were here, this was the perfect time for me to interact with them more instead of hiding behind my best friend.

I can also be much closer to Edward too.

As soon as I opened the door to my room and heard the familiar voices of my friends, I tightly gripped on my DS. However, this wasn't the time to back off, so with a gulp, I walked down the stairs. As their conversations were becoming louder, so were my heartbeats in my ears.

Don't be nervous, Rena...

I slowly peeked from behind the wall, and there was the group, huddling on the sofa and playing their game consoles. Mommy was giving the strawberry milkshake she made this morning to Edward's mother, whom I could tell from the way a small part of her short wavy hair stood out of her head.

Okay, now you gotta come out and say hi—

"Rena, they're waiting for you!"

Mommy shouted again, and the way it pierce through my ears almost made me want to retreat back to my room. While my mind wanted to do just that, a part of myself was yelling at me to just step out already. Well, there was not much choice now that I was here... so I pushed myself from the wall and revealed myself.

"U-um, hey..." I greeted.

All of their conversations stopped as their eyes were all on me, I couldn't move at all, completely frozen in place. I instantly looked down, focusing on my own DS and summer dress instead. What am I doing?! Why am I acting so weird?!

"WHOA!!"

Out of nowhere, Edward cried out and leaped off his seat, nearly knocking the others off and making me jolt. He rushed towards me at the speed of light, and not even a second later, he was already right in front of me. My entire face felt even warmer than ever, because his blue eyes were literally inches away from mine.

"You got your own DS, finally!" He hungrily stared at the gadget in my hands. It seemed like he wanted to see more of it, so I gave my DS to him. He studied it as if it was a piece of gold, before he handed it back. "Come on, I'll show you how to set it up—"

"Gosh Chrissy, can you just chill out for a sec? You're always freaking her out!" Aly huffed, as she walked towards us. "Besides, I already helped her set everything up yesterday, so she's good to go!" She beamed at me. "Right Rena?"

"Um, yeah..." I watched as the others had also followed behind Aly. Both Adelynn and Raphael waved their hands at me, while Sebastian smiled without a word. I managed to return all of their greetings before they spoke with each other again.

"Well, let's jump into it!" Edward dashed back towards the couch. "Oh yeah Buttercup, you said you wanna trade Haunter with Clamperl, right? I really need a Gengar."