“You okay?”

She grimaced. It was a different day, a different month, even a different topic being discussed in class and yet he persisted to ask the not so different question.

“Yeah.”

And she persisted to give him a not so different answer.

An eyebrow cocked and knuckles rapped softly against her side.

“You sure about that? Ya look more like a ghost than a girl if I do say so myself.”

It was her turn to cock an eyebrow. She brushed his hand away and gave him what she hoped to be a glare. The glare, however, perished before it left her crystalline eyes. She could never manage to glare at him. How could she?

“Mmm. So say you, as you said. And as I said, I’m fine.”

Having said that, she flashed a half formed smile towards him and went back to her note taking before The Bird noticed two of her prized pupils not listening to her equally prized sermon. He clucked his tongue in annoyance and rapped his knuckles against her side again but with a touch of firmness.

“What’re you so afraid of? Is it so horrible to tell me what’s wrong?”

She wanted to tell him; truly she did! But she couldn’t. She didn’t want to break his heart, or lose his friendship for that matter. Instead, she stayed silent, in hopes that he would somehow understand.

He didn’t. He made to prod her again, but The Bird had snapped her pudgy fingers in his direction and asked for the answer to the question that had yet to be answered. He stuttered over his words, a smile touched her lips. Though she couldn’t fully find solace in him, his concern was enough to show that he really, truly did care… but not enough for him to win the truth.