Life Clouds; Someone's Mystery Gaze

Anna looked at the sky. No visible clouds. Only a proud and arrogant sun was dancing and spreading its heat towards her.

I wonder if the summer season started ready or not?

The weather was bright and sunny. It was just ten o'clock in the morning and the sun seemed not to show any mercy. Anna sighed. 

It was a pity for those who live in the country near the equator line..Like me in Country M! Yeah…my friends and I are 'happily' bathing under the sun now!

Anna expressed a pouted face thinking of the country, weather and her surroundings.  

Country M was different compared to the other four seasons countries. It was usually hot or summer throughout the year. However, when uneven sparsely grey clouds brought in by two monsoon seasons from Southwest and Northeast winds from different directions and at different time periods, the rain distribution was always unpredictable throughout the year.

Anna rolled her eyes upwards looking at the bright sky without uplifting her head in an obvious manner.

Today there are no signs of grey clouds! How 'lucky' am I? Great! Can't the sky show some pity by pouring some miracle rains today?

Anna's face was sullen. Since it was towards the end of the spring and the beginning of hot climate, the normal daily temperature would usually be higher. The average degrees of hot weather could be ranging from 23 degrees up to 32 degrees. Today, one could predict the temperature was higher than usual.

The heat pierced into the bones of a number of groups of students who were practising marches in the middle of the school field. Sport's day was coming soon. All the teachers and students were busy doing their preparations for the upcoming event which was nearing in two weeks time. 

Oh, my leader! Do you not feel hot and sweaty? How long do we need to stand in this position?

While Anna immersed in her own thoughts, a command sounded from their team leader. " Attention!... Right turn!... Stand at ease!... " a broad shoulder girl with a ponytail hair kept on gave drill commands to a small cadet group. She did not stop there and continued her commands.

Alongside with the other group members, Anna fulfilled her duty. Although her mind was wandering and protesting, yet she alerted with the commands being thrown towards her like the others. She liked marching. If not, she would not be here in the first place. A smile curved on her lips' corner. Anna turned to the right and obeyed the march rules in an orderly manner. A few minutes passed by. Everyone stood still in the current position under the harsh sun.

 Oh, no..no..my nose feels itchy! Aaargh! Whatever! It can't distract me! I can do it! Focus, Anna, focus!

The intense look on Anna's face explained everything. For her, to entertain an itchy nose was not as important as the commands from Charlene Choi. At this moment, it was not possible to lift her still hand and scratch her nose, nonetheless wipe the running sweats.

Secondary school Krakz was considered as the only prestigious school in this small semi-urban area which was three hours drive from the capital city L. One needed to drive through the ghostly hilly highway to reach Krakz town that was located a couple of miles away from the mountain feet.

The reputation of the public school of Krakz was not left far from the other notable and rich schools in other nearby cities. This included a few schools in the small city of Benta which was located in a distance of one hour far from Krakz town and was the nearest city to the main capital city L.

Although the number of students' production in the academic area was above average, the Krakz school topped as one of the most prominent sports schools in the state level.

The teachers were busy handing over the tasks of organising the sports event to the senior students to train them as the leaders and allow them to experience the taste of conducting an event. The students' performance would be assessed as part of the curriculum. There were a few clubs working synchronically; the event club, sports club, uniformed bodies and the student council to ensure the sports day this year, would be going well like the past years. 

Far in the middle of the school field, a few groups of students of various uniformed bodies were practising their marching execution. The team leaders from each group were doing their best in drilling the commands to ensure a smooth marching art being produced by each group members. 

Similar to Anna and her bunch of her friends, the students were almost bathed in sweats under the evilly smiling sun. Sweats escaped from their forehead and dashed down on their faces.

Anna fully focused herself on the commands being given non-stop by their one-year older senior student, Charlene Choi, or they simply called her senior Choi out of respect.

" Attention!... Left turn!.... By the left, quick march!... " The squad marched confidently before they heard the word 'halt' before they stopped. The loud-voiced Choi looked at the team in satisfaction and proud moments.

" You all did a good job today! Cheers to your commitment and hard work for today. I will see you tomorrow on the field! You can disperse now! "

Finally..!!!

Her words somehow released the breath held by Anna and made her at ease. " Pffff…" After she wiped her sweats and rubbed her itchy nose with the back of her arm, Anna walked towards the resting area and took her bag. After grabbing the water bottle, she hung the bag strip on her left shoulder.

Suddenly, Vani approached her from behind and shuddered her shoulder which left the latter person shocked for awhile. Vani jumped joyfully as usual by ignoring her friend's frown face.

" Vani! " Although slightly startled, Anna was not angry with her. She was used to Vani's childish behaviour. Anna pretended to be furious and put her hand onto her chest. She showed a displeasing face to her. Luckily she did not open the water bottle yet. Knowing no reaction from the other party, Anna shook her head and smirked at her vivacious friend, Vani. After ensuring Vani stopped shaking her shoulder, Anna began to open the water bottle and drank it. The feeling when the water went into her throat was indescribable.

Ah…refreshing!

Vani did not bother at Anna's exclamatory or her facial expression. She was used to her cold attitude. After happily shaking her, Vani started to pestering Anna with her chattering mouth. 

" Anna, what's your plan later? Later, we all want to have a small break at the canteen! Just a small gathering! It's really hot today! One should grab juice, ice-cream or tea or whatever to soothe our thirsts. Come join us! It would be fun to be at the same table with those handsome seniors! Some seniors visited our schools to help us with the sport's day. " Vani's eyes glittering. She smirked and chuckled to herself imagining the fantasy she would have been by looking at those handsome faces. These opportunities were very rare and needed to grasp when it came. Since tomorrow would be their marching competition with other teams, the seniors would cheer up their groups.

Anna looked at Vani. She understood her friend well. She raised her eyebrows.

How thoughtful…

She looked sarcastically at the girl in front of her who was five inches shorter than Anna. Her double braided hair with fringe covering her forehead would make people judging that the girl was from a lower secondary school or in the worst case, she was from the primary school.

Anna smirked at her thoughts. She knew this sweet tanned girl since primary school. Due to Anna's cold and quiescent character in the school, she usually distanced herself from the other students. She did not like to mingle with others. Only Vani would stick to her till now despite Anna's cold character.

Other students tended to bad-mouth her due to her lack of socialism skill. Anna did not care and she would not bother about those gossipers behind her back. But the impulsive Vani could not hold back if she heard any criticism being thrown towards her close friend, Anna.

Anna chuckled when she looked at Vani's childish face. It reminisced Anna on how her friend always defended her in front of those petty and brainless students. Anna did not bother about all these things because it did not affect her emotions or daily routines at all.

A few years ago in front of Krakz primary school…

It was late in the evening. Anna was waiting for her parents at the bus stop in front of the school and she noticed a small girl was sitting not far away from her. Suddenly, a stray dog came towards them and barked. Vani cried on the spot and tried to move from her place. She attracted the dog's attention. Anna knew barking dogs would not bite people unless they were being provoked. She analysed the situation. Since Anna had raised a puppy when she was a kid, she understood this tricky animal's behaviour.

Anna walked one step nearer to Vani and stopped. She knew it. If you did not provoke the stray animal, it would not attack you. Despite of that, even though how careful you were, the characters of the wild stray animals were unpredictable. Any stress circumstances could make them be maddening and attacking strangers. So, one should not make any moves towards or away from them. Especially running or disturbing the dogs. 

" Don't move! Don't cry too! "

Anna's firm and loud voice awakened Vani and she did not move. Vani stopped crying but whimpered sounds still were heard by Anna. Anna also did not move from her place. With a strong voice, she warned the dog. She did not stare at the dog's eyes but looked elsewhere.

" Go away!!! "

The dog's attention changed and now focused on Anna. It looked fierce and it made growl sounds which were not a good sign. It's teeth visible and saliva was dripping from it's mouth.

When Anna was thinking and eyeing on surrounding rocks and broken old branches from the nearby tree, she planned to pick them up and calculated escaping time at the same time while protecting the girl behind her, the security guard who just finished his routine rounding at the school compounds heard students' voices and also dogs barking. Thought something was not right, he rushed towards the bus stop outside the school gate. He saw two small kids struggling their ways from a fierce dog.

Fear of students' safety, the guard who was running towards the kids waved his stick and shouted at the dog. Due to his sudden appearance with a loud and echoing voice, the dog ran away. He sighed in relief. It was his job to protect the students and staff within the school compound vicinity. 

Anna sighed of relief before she turned around. After walked towards Vani, she patted on her shoulder to calm her down. Vani was still traumatised.

" Are you okay girls? " The guard seemed guilty and looked at the two tiny girls. He bent down and held his knees to support himself. While catching his breath, he tried to examine the girls' conditions. He wanted to make sure nothing was serious occurred to them. However, he was amused to see the calm expression on one of the girls' faces and she was consoling the other girl. He felt proud of her action in delaying and confusing the dog just now. The guard could not imagine the terror if the dog attacked both of them. He gulped his saliva. The girl's voice alerted him to check the situation at the bus stop. He praised the bravery of the girl where she put her life in the front line and sometimes even an adult would not dare to do it.

At the same time, both of the girls' parents arrived to fetch them. The guard explained the situation to them. Vani's parents thanked Anna's parents for their girl's bravery. However, they were disappointed with the school system in neglecting the safety of the students.

Since the incident, a new rule has been enforced. The students were not allowed to step out from the school gate nevertheless to wait outside at the bus stop. Indeed, they needed to wait at the canteen area and security guards would open the gate once the bus or parents arrived. Otherwise, the gate will remain closed. 

Both girls were eight years old only during the incident. Since then, Vani stuck to Anna like glue.

Present day.

Anna shook her head looking at her silly friend. She understood the sparkling stars in Vani's eyes when she spoke. Nowadays, the girl even dared to daydream in front of her. Something wrong with the teenage hormones. Anna shook her head looking at the Vani's blank face staring somewhere. Recently, she liked to boast about handsome boys. Anna smiled coyly.

For her, it was merely wasting her time to think about boys. Anna did not have time to entertain these kinds of things and as she looked at her watch, she might run late for her side work. She got something else to do after the marching practices. 

Without waiting for Vani to make a comeback to reality, Anna poured some water onto her face to cool herself down and drank remaining water from the bottle. Her face and hair got wet from the water, yet it gave a brand-new feeling for Anna. The freshness of the water woke her up and she felt energetic after quite some time being spent on the training.

" You may go. I have something else to do. " With a short answer, Anna put her water bottle into the bag before she left. Vani, on the other side, back to reality after a few seconds. She smacked her head and realised she was letting her mind wander again. The time Vani turned around, Anna already walked away.

" This girl… " Vani shook her head and sighed at this cold childhood girl whom she admired most in her lifetime. Without wasting her time, she turned around and ran to join other girls before heading towards the canteen to join their seniors.

While walking, Anna sensed someone was watching her from afar. She turned around to see a tall teenage boy leaning on the tree watching her. Their eyes met and it surprised Anna. The aura surrounding the boy made Anna tense and uncomfortable. Although it was a bit distant, those light brown eyes were clearly staring at her. It made chills run down her spine.

Weird kiddo.

Without giving any further glimpse and thinking it may be a coincidence, she turned back her head to focus onto her walking track and she fastened her movements. She did not know the reason but her heartbeat became faster.

A few minutes ago,

Steven just reached the school field after finishing checking the cadet club documents. After taking the staircase leading to the school field, he stood still observing the school environment. He noticed the size of the school field was huge and he wondered the level of capacity of the crowds it could contain at a time.

Outside the vicinity of the school field, there were forest areas on both right and left sides. The left side forest area was denser compared to the right side forest area because a small motorbike trail leading to the main road could be seen among the trees casing the school field. Opposite the school, after the school field situated in the middle, there was a closed gate leading to the residential area on the other side of the school field.

Steven kept on walking. He reached the stage area that stood alone on the left side of the school field. Behind it was the forest. He also noticed a tree was left untouched besides the cemented and roofed stage area and a few students rested inside the stage area watching the proceeding marching in the middle of the school field. The resting students might complete their training and take a break from their practices.

Steven walked towards the tree and leaned against the tree trunk. With his arms crossed and his left shoulder slightly touching the tree, he positioned his body against the tree in a relaxed mode. His right leg stood straight while his left leg bent slightly with the ankle being lifted with the footpad raised high and the toes touched the ground. He intensely watched the marching training.

The practices were going on very well. By looking at each of the group leaders commanding, he felt proud. He did not realise how long he was watching the scenes. He looked at his watch. Before he planned to stand still from his leaning position against the tree, his eyes captured an interesting figure.

A familiar figure among a group of the police cadet uniformed body seized his sights. An average height girl with a calm face reminded him of someone. Since she was facing the other side, he could only see her half face. The team leader cheered and wished the group members for tomorrow's competition.