“Hey, what's wrong?” Cole asked me.

I didn't even know myself, I'll be honest. So I just said “I don't know.”

I was there for longer than I'd like to admit. And once I'd calmed myself down he asked me if I'd be up for getting some of the ice-cream he'd talked about. I sat there for a minute pondering my response, but what I eventually said was, “Yeah, we can do that. But that's only because I need to clear my head after school.”

“That's fine with me.” He had a little smirk on his face. That mischievous kind people get sometimes for reasons untold.

The rest of the school day seemed to be a blur of confusion, lightheadedness, and just downright suffering. That last one was normal though, school has always been that way for me. I had several people mocking me crying, and I may or may not have smashed someone's face in for it. But they had it coming in my opinion. So no real harm done, just another assholed bitch put in his place.

Once school got out I was more than happy to leave like normal, but I also was ever so slightly excited about my little ice-cream meet up with Cole. Can you really blame me? I'd never had it before, and it was the first friendly gesture shown to me in years.

I walked out of the school building to find him waiting for me. He came over to me and asked if I was ready, and I told him I was.

We took our time getting there, I didn't mind. I'm a February baby anyway, I'm used to colder weather.

“I'll cover the cost of this.” he said, “I know you don't have a ton of extra money lying around.”

“If you don't want to pay for me I can always scrape something together.” I told him. But depending on the cost, that could take a while.

“Don't worry about it, Nyx.” He looked over at me, “I was planning on paying for this when I originally offered to do this. It's my treat.”

“You know you don't have to, right?”

“Yeah, I know. But I wanted to apologize for being so insistent the other day.”

“Cole, if anyone should be apologizing it should be me. I wasn't very accepting of your friendship, and I kept you out in the cold earlier.”

“Phoenix, don't worry about it. I understand why you were skeptical at first. And I didn't mind what happened earlier today at all.”

“Also what was that you called me a minute ago?”

“Nyx?”

“Yeah. I kinda like it.”

He smiled, “I do too.”

We got to the ice-cream shop and, I'll admit, I probably asked poor Cole about every single flavor that had.

I eventually just decided on one that was a mix of two different flavors. Pretty sure it was chocolate and vanilla. I don't know, I'd know if I was to ever get it again. But either way, it was really good. While we were sitting in the park eating it, I heard something and I mentioned it to Cole.

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“I could have sworn I heard… nevermind.”

“What was it?”

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”

“Phoenix, what was it?”

“It was a bird.” I said, I wasn't lying, just not telling the whole truth.

“Then why are you getting so worked up over it?”

“No reason. I guess I thought it was something else.”

Not quite. Because I know what I heard: a phoenix mating call. They were supposedly hunted to extinction in the United States. But I'd done research on the bird that is my namesake. Lots of it. I have practically memorized phoenix calls. They're pretty distinct compared to other birds. It was immediately recognizable to me.

I'm going to search until I find it. Maybe finding a specimen of the bird I was named after will give me some clue as to who I am. I know Cole wouldn't understand.

After we finished, Cole grabbed my arm. “Just out of curiosity, how long have you had this?” He was referring to my sweater.

I sat in silence for a minute trying to figure out when I received it. “I think it was around three or four years ago. I remember that I had saved up money for weeks to get it. I was surprised they even let me purchase it, I'm not gonna lie.”

“Okay. Come on, I want to show you something.”

“Show me what?”

“It's a surprise.”

“But does it have to be?”

“No. But it's more fun that way.”

“Fair enough.”

He led me to a small store that I'm not even sure I knew existed, and he said to pick up whatever I need. It was a shop filled with nice looking clothes.

“Cole, listen, I really appreciate the gesture but this stuff looks expensive. I don't want to run you dry.”

“No worries, my parents will let me get just about anything without question. I don't normally take advantage of it, but you really need some new clothes.”

I'll be honest, I think I've fallen for him at this point. I know it's probably never going to happen, but I don't care. A girl can dream.

“Alright, but I need to ask you a favor once we leave.”