The wind was softer up here—higher, cooler, like it belonged to a different sky. It tugged gently at her hair, swept across her legs beneath the pleated skirt, and brought with it the distant sound of laughter from the classrooms below.
Reina leaned against the railing, just enough to look effortless, the way her reflection always looked in glass doors and convenience store windows. She swept the stray hairs that fluttered with the wind—with the kind of elegance that was cultivated throughout the years. Leaning against the railing she watched the students from below come and go.
"A rooftop huh? How cliche" she thought. The rooftop confession. She's had her fair share of confessions throughout the years and this was by far one of the most used locations she's been asked out on.
Reina knew she was pretty. Not in the "oh, she's kind of cute" way. No—head-turning pretty. Letter-in-the-shoe-locker pretty. "Will you go out with me?" whispered in hallways and scribbled into notebooks. It happened often enough that she no longer blushed. She only smiled. Gently. Like she might say yes.
She liked to make them wonder.
And today? Today felt like any other day. She honestly couldn't wait to dump the dude already.
The door creaked open behind her.
"Took you long enou—" she started, turning with her best half-lidded smile.
Only, it wasn't the guy whose name was on the letter—scratch that it wasn't a guy at all! It was a girl about the same age. She recognizes her by face but not by name.
Reina was now fully facing the girl, her back leaning against the guard rails. Quiet, wanting the other party to make the first move. But there was something about the girl that made her... Uneasy? Something was definitely off.
The other girl looked frantic and contemplative... Like she's waiting for something to happen? She cleared her throat and prepared to speak.
"The note. He didn't write it. I did."
A pause.
"Seriously?" she laughed, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "What, do you like me now too?"
"God, you're insufferable," The other girl spat, suddenly shaking. "It's always like this. You walk into a room, and suddenly I don't exist."
"Not my fault if you blend into the walls."
"I work hard. I study, I try to be nice, I try to be someone people notice—but you don't even have to try. You just… smile. And people fall over themselves."
"How is it my fault that I'm that likeable."
The other girl stepped closer. "Do you know how many times I've heard my name start to come up—only for someone to change the subject to you?"
"Okay, so what? I'm supposed to apologize for being better than you at existing?"
"You don't even care, do you?" Her voice cracked. "You don't care who you hurt. You don't care who disappears."
Reina sighed, exasperated. "Look, I'm sorry you're forgettable, but you came all the way up here just to whine? This is kind of pathetic, even for you."
The other girls breath caught. She looked at Reina like she was something unholy.
Then—quietly, almost too softly:
"I just wanted you to feel how it feels… to be pushed out of the frame."
And she shoved.
Suddenly the world went askew as Reina felt nothing but shock as she was now free falling from a 5 story high building. Her eyes locked on the figure of the other girl who looked more scared than she was.
In a matter of seconds, 18 years of living—ended, all because of childish envy.
The pain didn't register at all, I guess you could call her lucky that she fell head first. Reina didn't know what to expect...but it certainly wasn't...this.