"Annie, there's a small Asian girl in your class, right? What's her name?"
And her heart crashed into a lake. "Saki!?" Annie blurted in surprise.
"I've got to find her!" Carrie declared.
"What are you going to do to her?"
"Ask her to stay away from Darren!" Carrie replied. However, the way she clenched her fists suggested that the encounter might become physical.
"Can't you just talk to her nicely?" Annie suggested, "Maybe she's not interested at all."
Annie shrank back from Carrie's glare. If Second Sis were to find out who Darren was truly interested in, it would be bad for the little girl, especially since they lived in the same house.
She had to at least warn Saki.
Thus on the morning of Tuesday, it was a race to her class but Second Sis was much faster. Carrie was already in the classroom by the time Annie reached panting at the door. From the empty seat next to the door, she knew that Saki had yet to arrive.
Annie looked back the way she had come and saw Saki in the distance. She frantically gestured the Asian girl a warning to run, hoping that she saw it despite the other students moving between them.
"Huh, she's not here," Carrie said as she appeared beside Annie.
Annie glanced back and to her relief, saw that Saki had disappeared.
Second Sis waited until it was almost time for the bell. Then she gave up and returned to class. Saki entered the class a moment after that, just before the teacher arrived.
Annie would have to explain the situation to her friend. Maybe the Asian girl could think of a way out of this.
However, meeting Saki was not as easy as she had thought. During break times, the girl disappeared as soon as the teacher was out and just before Second Sis appeared at the door. And she was back just before the teacher. Once she came back with the teacher, when Carrie dared to wait until the last moment.
Saki's ability to avoid Second Sis was impressive. She must have been actively avoiding Annie that time when she was looking for her. However else could she have been so difficult to locate?
Could she be a ninja? Well, it would be cool to have a little girl classmate friend who was actually a ninja. But Saki was not one. If she were, Annie would never have caught her. Since she was not one, Second Sis would eventually catch her.
***
After school on Wednesday, while Annie was walking near the stairs, she heard rapid foot steps from above. Saki shot passed her and ran along the corridor.
Behind her, Carrie slid down the smooth banister and landed on the hallway. She chased after Saki into the girls' washroom. Pushing her bags behind her, Annie hurried after them.
Annie entered the washroom to see Second Sis at the open window. At the sound of the door opening, Carrie had turned back. Seeing it was her younger sister, she turned her attention back to the view outside the window.
With one hand holding her bags back, Annie pushed the door of the first toilet stall open with her other hand. Saki was there, crouching on the closed toilet with arms hugging her legs and eyes as wide as a deer's when staring at a pair of rapidly approaching headlights. Annie slowly pulled the door close and checked the next stall, which was empty.
Carrie looked into the remaining stalls from the opposite direction. "Lost her!" she cried in frustration, "Annie, you've got to help me find Saki!"
"Calm down, Sis," Annie said, "She's not easy to find. Even I had trouble finding her and we're in the same class."
Carrie paced around the washroom. She kicked at the door of one of the toilet stalls.
Annie's heart skipped. It had not been the door behind which Saki was hiding. She had to get Second Sis out.
"Sis, don't you have basketball practice today?" Annie knew that Second Sis had basketball practices on Mondays and Wednesdays.
"Yeah," Carrie confirmed. She grunted once and slammed open the door against the wall on her way out the washroom.
Annie followed behind. Safe! Disaster averted. For now.
This situation had to be cleared up as soon as possible. Second Sis was getting increasingly frustrated and might take it out on Saki. And the little Asian girl could not avoid Second Sis forever.
***
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