“And…ready.”

  BEEP BEEP BEEP

  My alarm was ringing making too much noise. In other circumstances, I would be waking up with that noise, but that would be pointless, after all, I'd already woken up thirty or forty minutes ago. The reason? Probably everyone remembers this, but in case someone forgot it, we were allowed to wear casual clothes today, so I needed more time to get ready.

  “I think I look good.”

  The previous day I used all my brain cells trying to figure out what clothes I should use. At first I thought of something like a dress, but that didn’t convince me, so I ended up putting a white sweater over a white dress making it look like a skirt.

  “Maybe I should dye my hair…I think I already had this problem before.”

  The only special thing about my hair was that I chose to let it loose, without a single accessory. Just in case I changed my mind during the day, I already put some accessories in my bag.

  “It will be very strange to see Aisha in her overalls during a school day.”

  What we did should be exposed during the last class, but we'll see each other before that, so I talked to Camila and Aisha about meeting up before classes started so we can immediately see what we look like.

  “...I should eat something already.”

  I quickly went with my Aunt who was already eating breakfast without me. She was obviously surprised.

  “I thought you would be waking up at this hour.”

  “Today is that thing I told you.”

  “Oh right, that explains the outfit.”

  “What do you think?”

  “I like it, but it is not my style. Anyways, do you want breakfast?”

  “Today I must go earlier, I will eat something fast.”

  I prepared two toasts and quickly started to eat while my aunt was looking at me instead of looking at the TV.

  “I have something for you.”

  “Is one of your card collections?”

  “I’m still angry with you for stealing that, but no, catch.”

  Before what my aunt threw hit me in the face, I tried to catch it. I somehow managed to, but there were two objects, so the second one ended up on the floor.

  “What is this?”

  “Arm warmers with a tattoo design. They're not extravagant, but I think they'll come in handy if your arms get cold.”

  “...I see."

  “Enjoy.”

  After finishing my breakfast, I went to the bathroom and put those arm warmers on my arms. It felt weird, but somehow, safe.

  “It's pretty...and opaque...I quite like the design.”

  Trying to forget what I was thinking, I brushed my teeth and went to the door.

  “See ya!”

  “See ya.”

  The sky was darker than other days. I was going to the school too early, so it makes sense that the road was different.

  “We’re supposed to meet in the classroom, probably Aisha will be the first one.”

  She was totally the type of person that would be in a place thirty minutes before. Maybe she's the second one to arrive when we hang out together, but this was a meeting in the school, it would be really weird for her to be late in a place like this.

  “...I feel sleepy…Maybe I should sleep after arriving…”

  My sleep time wasn’t the best last night. I spent too much time thinking about my outfit and being excited for today. It didn’t help that even when we have an event, we’re still having normal classes. The last class of the day is supposed to be short so we can take a look at all the projects.…It would be better if the short one was the first…

  “Hello…”

  Because of the fatigue, the journey felt longer than usual, but I managed to get to the classroom and, surprisingly, I was the first one there. Perhaps Aisha wasn't ready to change her sleep habits? My actual state wasn't the best for asking those questions

  "Just two minutes…”

  When I reached my place, I fell asleep after a few seconds. Somehow that hard and cold desk was the most comfortable pillow. I guess the human can sleep in any place when is very tired.

  “Hmm…”

  I spent about thirty minutes sleeping until something touched my face. At first I ignored it, but what was supposed to be a touch became two, then it became three, then it became ten. Very irritated, I looked up and noticed Camila.

  “That is not good for your back.”

  “I’m sleepy…”

  “You’re the one who wanted us to meet earlier.”

  “I know I know….”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Camila’s clothes were different from what I expected. She was using a white t-shirt and over it a brown slim jacket. Her legs were covered by black jeans that fitted perfectly with the rest of the outfit.

  “I was waiting to see you with some formal clothes.”

  “This kind of days are for experimenting.”

  “Right.”

  “I think Aisha was the biggest surprise.”

  “Aisha…right, she’s here?”

  “Yeah. She told me you looked tired, so I waited before waking you up.”

  “Where is she?”

  “She’s looking the place where the projects are gonna be exposed.”

  “Right, where is that?”

  “Huh, you didn’t see it?”

  “I was too tired to notice things.”

  “Well, let me guide you.”

  I slowly stood up from my place and started to follow Camila. Although it was very early in the morning, I noticed some people that probably had the same idea of reuniting before the classes started. If the appearances were already varied during a normal day, today the correct word would be ‘unique’. This was totally a day where the students could express with total liberty.

  “This isn’t gonna affect the classes somehow?”

  “A very loved quote here is: ‘Trust in the people and they will be trustworthy’.”

  “I see.”

  “I see some problems with that quote, but is truth that some people will be good if you trust in them.”

  “That’s why the rules about appearance are so flexible?”

  “That’s one of the reasons.”

  “I need to investigate more about this school.”

  “You can just…see the website?”

  “...”

  “...You didn’t know about it either?”

  “First time I've heard about it.”

  “How do you register in a place and don’t investigate any detail?”

  “Most of the process was made by my family, I just see the most necessary things.”

  “You are the type of person who always is discovering new things…”

  “That’s something good?”

  “Look, we’re almost there.”

  The courtyard was full of tables and every table had a student name, various names or a group name. Some names were on the floor instead of being on a table, so probably some projects are too big for being in a tiny place.

  “Okay, Aisha’s overalls are very obvious, we should find her soon."

  “Overalls?”

  “Yes, the same she used during the camping day.”

  “That means…I thought it was your idea.”

  “Huh?”

  “Maybe she wanted to surprise you.”

  “Can you be more specific?”

  “You can just see it by yourself.”

  “What do you-”

  Camila quickly pointed to a direction, so I tried to see what was in there. What I saw was Aisha, but she wasn’t using anything I was waiting for. She was using a business hairstyle, two black dots as earrings, and instead of wearing overalls, she was wearing her suit.

  “...Why does she seem taller?”

  “Oh, she-”

  “Actually, I want to ask by myself.”

  I approached Aisha and when she noticed me she also approached in a very natural way.

  “Hello...”

  “I think you didn’t understand the ‘casual clothe’ part.”

  “I just wanted to use this…”

  “Anyways…wait a minute.”

  I approached even more and I confirmed that I wasn’t wrong. Somehow, she was some centimeters above from where she was supposed to be. Obviously she didn’t grow up that much during the night.

  “How did you do this?”

  “I put platforms on my shoes.”

  “I didn’t know you had a problem with your height.”

  “I don’t have that. This clothes look better in tall people, so I tried to be taller.”

  “That's not something uncomfortable?”

  “I practiced moving last night and today in home.”

  “I see, just…don’t get hurt.”

  “I’m gonna try.”

  Now that we’re together the three decided to go back to the classroom. During our way I noticed some people looking in very not subtle ways to Aisha.

  “Why do you always get that much attention with that kind of clothes?”

  “I guess she is the prettiest boy in our classroom.”

  “I didn't ask for that…”

  “Unfortunately, we didn’t put a picture of Aisha with that clothes in our project.”

  “That would make it even more interesting.”

  “We can stick a picture right now…?”

  “It would feel unnatural if we put it now.”

  “Right….”

  After entering the classroom, Aisha and I sat in our seats, and Camila sat in a nearby empty seat. Without waiting for anything else, we each gave our opinion on the other's appearance.

  To Camila, Aisha was elegant and beautiful. To me, she was objectively good-looking.

  Aisha thought the dress and sweater combination looked great on me. She admitted she didn't understand the style, but that I was probably doing alright. Camila, instead of commenting on my clothes, told me my hair was pretty.

  To me and Aisha, Camila’s clothes were unexpected.

  “Lucia, could you give a more personal opinion about Aisha's clothes?”

  “Ah, that…”

  “I’m satisfied with what Lusia said.”

  Aisha was quick to say that. I was very grateful for that, she totally deserves some honey cookies from me.

  After forty minutes, the classes started and Camila went to her seat. She apparently is going to be a volunteer helping to move the projects during recess, so we are only gonna talk with her after the last class.

  “Aisha.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Are you satisfied with the final result?”

  “Ask me that when we look at the other projects.”

  “Okay.”

  The class went like always. The atmosphere wasn’t different from a regular day. This was totally an example of what Camila told me, I think even some students were more comfortable having that much liberty with their own appearance, or maybe the uniform is just uncomfortable for some people.

  The biggest distraction I could notice was that Aisha got some eyes on her every time she adjusted her tie. I just hope she doesn’t get more phone numbers, she totally wouldn’t call any of them.

  “(At least people are looking at her with good eyes.)”

  When the recess started. I used that time looking with Aisha to her phone in the lab. During our ‘investigation trips’ she took a lot of pictures, and this was a good day to see all of them.

  “You got a good angle in that one.”

  “I thought that being on the ground might help me get a good look at the ducks...”

  “And you get it. That one is the sky?”

  “It's the lake, the water reflected the sky too well.”

  “Hehe, I was very good choosing the place.”

  “That’s why you are the one who takes decisions.”

  “You could do it more often.”

  “I decided taking this pictures.”

  “Technically, I did it.”

  “I’m the one who touched the button to take them.”

  The day passed really slowly due to my wish to see the projects already. When we reached the last class, I basically counted the seconds. The teacher on the other hand, was very relaxed, probably because he knew that his class only would have the half of the normal duration.

  RING RING RING

  When the ring that announced the end of the classes sounded earlier, everyone started putting their thing on their bags, and the teacher started to erase what was written on the board.

  “Please don’t run, the projects aren’t gonna move.”

  Some students of course ignored that and went to the courtyard very fast. I just grabbed Aisha’s hand and started walking at a normal pace.

  “Finally, that took forever!”

  “But I heard you snoring in some of the classes.”

  “Those were tiny naps, that only takes a few minutes.”

  “If you say so...”

  The courtyard was totally different to how it was during the morning. Tiny sculptures, canvas filled with paint, really tiny objects with a massive explanation about the context. I quickly approached a trash sculpture and started taking pictures with Aisha’s phone.

  “Aisha, look.”

  “You could just ask to use my phone…”

  “I already know the answer. Also, you don’t have a password.”

  Some projects had very simple explanations, like 'I like this place, so I painted it gold'. Others, however, included more extensive explanations detailing the process and how the idea came about.

  Next to the projects were slips of paper where people could write their opinions. Of course, I did too.

  “I like the idea of using broken gamepads as wings.”

  “How is this one even attached…?”

  “I think I can see thumbtacks.”

  We walked around, looking at all the projects we could and sharing our opinions. We may be at school, but this almost felt like being with Aisha in a place we'd never been before. It even felt somewhat exclusive because it was something we'd only see today until next year.

  “...Oh.”

  “Is something wrong Aisha?”

  “I found our project.”

  The place where Aisha was looking was full of people from our class. Aisha is someone that almost everyone in the class knows thanks to her unique personality, so it was obvious that they would want to know what was going on her mind.

  “Excuse me, we want to see it too.”

  It wasn't easy to move through the crowd, but thanks to Aisha's strength we managed to reach our project.

  A big piece of cardboard was held up on the table by a stand I got from a nearby store. The cardboard was completely black, but thanks to the paint we used it gave the illusion of a night sky. The hardest part was getting tones that made the sky natural, but with some experiments mixing colors we got what we needed. My part was basically coloring without getting out of the lines so I did it very well. This is the first time I do something related to art and I don’t feel useless.

  “Hehe.”

  “You look happy.”

  “I’m proud of my hard work.”

  “That part was easy compared to the stars…”

  “Yeah, that was so complicated.”

  Our sky of course had stars, but those stars weren’t white points or various pentagrams, instead, every star was a picture. We knew it would be hard noticing the images, so we put some lenses so the people could look close to every single picture.

  The museum, the art gallery, the lake, even things like the flowers I photographed last month or earrings from a shop were in our project.

  “Aisha, I want to read the explanation again.”

  “...You already did it five times…”

  "I still can’t believe you wrote that."

  “...”

  To not bother others besides Aisha I started reading the explanation near her ear.

  “One day, I looked at a painting of a sky full of stars. At first I thought it was big, and that thought somehow awakened something in me. When I looked at a real sky with stars I thought I was missing something, but the circumstamces made everything clear. All this variety that I’m suddenly forced to live, is big like that sky, full of different brights.”

  “...”

  “Is that a shameful face or a confused face?”

  “...”

  “Now you can answer the thing I asked before?”

  “...I’m satisfied with the final result…”

  “Great. Still, I’m still wondering-”

  “Aisha, Lucia, I finally found both.”

  I was interrupted by Camila who had a tiny fan close to her face. She was noticeably tired from the hard work.

  “There you are, we didn't see you during the last class.”

  “We had a problem, so I offered to help before going back to class. They accepted, and it turned out to be more difficult than we expected.”

  “I see…”

  “I’m bothering both?”

  “No, actually, we just finished reviewing our project.”

  “Let’s see more projects, I want to rest a little from helping.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “Yeah…”

  From Aisha's expression, I could tell she was happy with how the project had brought her. Things might not have gone perfectly all the time, but it made me happy to see her so content.

  Still, my last question was never answered. In the project, we used photos of our faces as a constellation just because we liked the idea, but Aisha never explained to me why she insisted on using me as the North Star.

  In the end, I forgot about that question and simply enjoyed the rest of the day.