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Where as many students were able to afford their own computer, Yvette had not been so privileged. Whenever she needed to check her emails from her parents, she had to go either to the library or the computer lab. She had debated for nearly half a day over which facility she wanted to visit. The final result ended with her in the school library.

Several students were reading books, others were working on homework, and about a handful of students were on the computers. Some were researching, some were writing papers, and then a couple were doing frivolous things such as browsing the internet and reading emails. Yvette was one of those two people.

She had just finished up reading an email from her parents and was now typing up a response. Her response brushed upon how people were getting sick lately, but nothing aside from that. Certainly, in the back of her mind, she knew that it wasn't so simple, but nobody else seemed to be concerned about this sudden outbreak of bacterial meningitis. Maybe she was looking too hard into this. Maybe it really wasn't a big deal.

It was somewhat ironic, but for being such a quiet girl, her typing was quite the opposite. It was obnoxiously loud and clunky, each letter she typed was loud enough to hear from halfway across the library. The dark haired girl's cheeks were rosy as she typed, as if acknowledging that she indeed did type loudly, and that it was definitely something she considered embarrassing.

Disadvantage to having loud typing. You couldn't hear someone walking up behind you. It was only when Elke announced her presence that Yvette jolted up slightly in her chair. "Eep!" she managed to squeak as she turned to face the other girl. Her face went from rosy to just flat out red in a few seconds. Even the mere utterance of her flawed typing was enough to cripple her naturally quiet voice further.

"I-i-i'm s-s-sorry..." she whimpered out, naturally assuming she was going to get lectured over how loud she was being in a library. She hadn't even really caught the real question just because her mind went into mental overload within seconds. She was causing this person problems by typing so loud. It was a library, she should have picked the computer lab! At least in the computer lab, people weren't trying to do homework as well. In an embarrassed fashion, her eyes drifted down, away from Elke's eyes, then from the girl's face in general. Yvette had screwed up yet again (or at least, that's what she thought).

No matter how much this girl told Yvette that none of this was her fault, none of it was really sticking. In her mind, it was all her fault for being so noisy. She really didn't look up, but something strange happened. Where as most people would have remained standing, this girl had ducked down so that Yvette could once again see Elke's concerned face. Yvette couldn't help but look away in a timid fashion.

Her voice sounded more like that of a scared child than of someone who was angry. "'M s-sorry," she apologized again before attempting to give an explanation. "I-i-i'm n-not angry... th-that's just how I naturally type. M'sorry..."

In the background, some other students hissed out a "SHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Yvette winced slightly at such a sound. It didn't help that Elke was now listing all the things that the girl shouldn't be doing. The very first instinct she had was to say "I'm sorry" again, but for that, the girl bit her tongue. It didn't hurt at all, like when you accidentally bite or chomp on your tongue. Only once the urge passed, she offered an uncertain "Ummm... uh....'kay..."

The subject change was very drastic, and quite frankly, the dark haired girl had NEVER had any interest in the subject before. Where as most little girls wanted ponies, the young Yvette wanted nothing to do with them because she knew how smelly the poop was. Even as a young child, she realized they were highly impractical. So now that the subject to talk about was ponies, Yvette really didn't have much to say. She looked at Elke with doe-like eyes, as if expecting her to start the conversation off. It wasn't like anything Yvette was about to say was going to be too "happy" when it came to the ponies.

One moment, the girl was insisting about talking of ponies, and the next moment, very awkward silence. It was quite drawn out in such a fashion that Yvette couldn't help but think Oh, I guess we aren't going to talk about ponies. She wasn't disappointed, but it seemed awkward to want to talk about a particular animal, then not talk about it at all.

Fortunately, Elke saved the day with a much more relevant question that didn't seem to stump the quiet girl. It wasn't an embarrassing question either, so the girl was able to answer the question much easier.

"Oh! I'm writing home to my parents." She turned towards the screen and poked the monitor with her pinky, underlining the "To:" section. "I don't have a phone of my own, so it is just easier to email my parents." She smiled slightly, hoping this was a sufficient answer.

Why did Yvette get the feeling she was now being looked at like she had 3 heads? She was quite familiar with the fact it was considered strange for someone of her age to not have a phone. Heck! It was even pretty odd to find a kid in elementary school that didn't have their own phone. She meekly turned to the computer monitor, as if seeking something else to look at as she answered.

"It is always nice to hear how things are going back at home... so I guess I do enjoy writing to them." She smiled slightly. "Sometimes it takes a couple days for them to reply, but I always get a reply." Her mother was the one who had the biggest issue with Yvette's absence. Certainly, her dad didn't really reply, but at the same time, the girl knew that her mother was very accurate at describing any and all events that happened at home, no matter how small the incidence was.

It would at least seem that the dark-haired girl had calmed down, though there was still that hint of shyness that never really seemed to go away. "Uh... um..." she squeaked out, sneaking a stray look towards Elke. "What about your parents? D-do you talk to them a lot?"

If there was one thing someone could do to calm timid Yvette's nerves, it was to have a normal, polite conversation with her. Nothing that would embarrass her, and nothing that would put a spotlight on her. Just the basics seemed to be enough to keep her in a good place mentally.

She folded her hands politely and set them on her lap as she listened to the mention of parents and siblings. "Oh, no, I am an only child. I'd imagine it would be nice to have a little brother or sister though. Or even an older brother or sister." An older sibling definitely had more appeal to the girl. The older sibling needed to protect the younger one. Yvette, who could hardly stand up for herself, would have had a hell of a time defending a younger sibling. If she had an older sibling, that would have meant she would have had someone to defend her in her times of need.

Realizing her mind was half drifting off, she straightened her posture up a bit and once again gave Elke a quick look. "It sounds like you must be close to your brother though, if you write to him..." Her voice dwindled off, as if she didn't know where she had been going with the statement, so she just decided to stop.

The girl smiled and blushed slightly. "It... it can be a bit lonely. I mean, I love mom and dad, but sometimes I don't want to talk to an adult, you know?" Elke probably didn't know, now that Yvette thought about it.

The mention of cake seemed to lighten up Yvette's delicate features. She smiled and looked to the girl, a bit more confidently than she had been able to before. "...apple cake sounds good..." she started, "...but I need to head back to my room to work on some more homework." She sighed slightly, her voice seeming to grow a bit more disappointed. Poor Yvette just depressed herself by pointing out the facts.

"Uh...uhm... maybe another time?" her tiny voice managed to squeak out in consolation.