“Huh?” Oka asked as she rolled out of bed. “You know, I am keyed up. Let’s go somewhere!”

  “Alright! Where?”

  “…I don’t know!” Oka said. “But I’m feeling all cramped in here.”

  “I think you o go out somewhere and talk like a normal person and not a sociopathic shopkeeper.” I suggested.

  Oka promptly ged into more fortable clothes and rushed me out into the hallway. I had no idea where we would end up, but her enthusiasm was iious.

  “Kalei’s out and about too, we might run into her.”

  “That’d be great!” Oka said. “It’d also be great if we don’t. Cuz, you know.”

  Oka suddenly gave me a goofy light headbutt to the shoulder.

  “You are so hyper.” I said.

  “I just,” Oka said. “I dunno, it’s just so o see you. Being at py practid having akes my Zeta time that much more special.”

  “Aw,” I said. “I agree. Even if my club isn’t the same kind of stressful as yours.”

  “How is your club going?” Oka asked.

  “Well, we’re w on the script for the sed ercial now,” I said. “And by ‘w on,’ I mean we haven’t gotten anything do least KJ lowers the intense infatuation for Rain whenever cameras, scripts, or filming are mentioned. But then Amara sees that as an opportunity to ultra fawn over Rain.”

  Oka was walking so fast it was hard to keep up. We went outside and wahe school grounds, following the stohs dividing the grass that zigzagged around from building to building.

  “And you have til the end of the semester to make it all?” Oka asked as she leapt onto a little stone side wall o the path we were on, holding her arms out to bance as she walked.

  “Yeah, til the end of the semester for at least five,” I said. “Did they give you an energy drink today or something?”

  “his is all Zeta energy,” Oka said.

  Oka looked a little embarrassed that she said that out loud, but aion I had to that was overridden by my heart feeling full just hearing it. And also bathumpy. But I was having too much fun already to worry about that.

  As we did a few ps of the school grounds, we passed by plenty of other students that looked like they were gearing up to head into town. Sihe premiere was still hours away, they didn't seem to be in a hurry. Oudent did, though. Ko Matora marched along one of the paths, looking like she was in a big hurry. She paused for a sed when she saw me, giving a quizzical look before tinuing on.

  Before I had time to really think about that, my phone buzzed.

  “Alright, Kalei just texted me when we’re gon up,” I said. “She said we take the bus down and that our…wheatbands? Oh, she must mean wristbands…anyways, they work as tickets, so we don’t have to pay anything.”

  “How much time do we have?” Oka asked.

  “We have an hour before we have to be there,” I said.

  “I decre this hour to be just for us, then!” Oka said. “Zeta and Oka time!”

  I suddenly had an idea.

  “Why don’t we just take the bus down now?” I asked. “Just you and me, we meet Kalei in Sky Cy proper then.”

  “Zeta and Oka, cruising the mean streets of Sky Cy,” Oka said, speaking it out loud as if she o hear it pitched as like a TV show before she could picture it. “Let’s do it! Would Kalei be OK with that?”

  I texted her if we could meet her at Sky Cy so we could head over there now, and she said that was fine as she o burn off some more nervous energy. I told her she’d have to get in touch with Nikki then, to which Kalei responded with a keysmash and a few all caps “NO” messages.

  “Pnning things is hard,” I said. “Maybe we should check with Nikki before we go because I don’t have her number and Kalei’s running around.”

  “Or we just go and not see Dentist Haircut?” Oka asked.

  “I’d probably like that too,” I said. “But Kalei would kill us.”

  “But then we could skip seeiist Haircut,” Oka said. “ick up the maiails through cultural osmosis anyways. That’s how I learned about that space movie with the bee guy. You know?”

  “I don’t know what any of that means,” I said. “We’ll find her quid then go, and then it’s Zeta and Oka time!”

  “Do you know where she’d even be?” Oka asked.

  I realized I had no idea, and I really didn’t want to waste potential solo Oka time hunting her down. I called Kalei.

  “Kalei, where do you think would Nikki be around now?”

  “U-uh, well,” Kalei said. “Around now…I think she goes to py guitar on the grounds in the gazebo with the yellow fg on top.”

  “You know her routine pretty well,” I said, teasing her a bit.

  “Y-yeah,” Kalei said. It was weird to hear her all flustered like this, but still kinda sweet. “Are you going to tell her the pn then?”

  “Yes, so you don’t have to,” I said.

  “You’re a very good friend, Zeta,” Kalei said.

  “And don’t you fet it.”

  As Kalei said, Nikki was in one of the gazebos on the school grounds. Eae had a fg oop. On such a nice evening, most were pretty full, but Nikki was alone in hers, strumming on an acoustic guitar and singing lightly.

  “She has a really nice singing voice,” Oka said. “She should join choir with me. But then you’d be out a club member. Or! If she was in two clubs. But then again, I don’t know if someone who joined a zy club to be zy would want another club on their resume. And a club that takes up a whole css period, at that.”

  “Nikki seems pretty free spirited so I don’t know if I could guess either way.” I said.

  I wasn’t sure how to interrupt her mid song, so Oka and I just stood there awkwardly until she finished.

  “Oh hey dudes,” Nikki said. “Ready for the movie?”

  I reyed the pn to her, and she was characteristically chill about it.

  “I’ll catch Kalei a you guys at the theater then,” Nikki said. “Oh hey, do you have her number?”

  I resisted giggling as I gave Nikki Kalei’s phone number. I could not imagine how Kalei would react having her crush randomly text her.

  “Alright sweet, thanks!” Nikki said, a back to pying music.

  “She definitely is a free spirit,” Oka said. “So it’s us time?”

  “Yes!” I said. I almost said, “It’s a date.” But caught myself and turned date into deal at the st sed, saying “It’s a daa-eeeeal.”

  As we waited for the bus, I realized I had wao cute myself up a bit more for the hangout tonight. I was fine in casual clothes, but I wao look extra nice for Oka. The bus pulled up.

  “e on!” Oka said, and I decided not to bail to run back to our room to take an hour on that.

  “It’s kinda weird we never go to Sky Cy,” I said as we sat down. “We don’t even need day passes for it like LE and Iho Vinai.”

  “We’re just two crazy cats with too little time on our hands for the small flies at Sky Cy.” Oka said.

  “Huh?”

  “It’s that py dialogue, it’s breaking me,” Oka said. “But hey, I memorized a line enough to paraphrase it so that’s goht?”

  The ride from Rising Shards to Sky Cy’s main street only took about five minutes, but the long and winding road from Rising Shards would have taken us forever to walk. The main street had lots of stores aaurants all crammed in together, and the movie theater had big glowing lights on it so it was hard to miss.

  “I see two movie theaters,” Oka said. “They’re right o each other at least so we correct easily if we go to the wrong one.”

  Both theaters had signs on its walls deg how much better it was thaher movie theater. I tried to not let it hit me too greatly that I was alone hanging out with my crush/best friend, who was in the giddiest and cutest mood she’d been in and said it was because of me. But like h to not think about something usually goes, it just made me think about it more.

  “S-so, now what?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” Oka said.

  “Let’s get dinner,” I blurted out, my voice crag as I realized what I was asking halfway through. Logic part of brain screamed in panid emotional side screamed in joy.