A/N: A few things that need to be addressed before reading this story:
1) There is some crude language in this story. This story stars teenagers, and no real teenager says "holy cow." Don't read if you're easily offended or bothered by profanity.
2) The main character, Rima, OOC for a reason. Don't write any reviews that go something like "Rima isn't in character!" or "I don't think Rima would do something like that?" because here's the thing: I DID THAT ON PURPOSE. It's for plot-purposes, and she will eventually turn IC as the story progresses, I can assure you. If you want more of an elaboration on why she's OOC, then read the AN at the bottom.
3) If you've ever read the book/seen the movie "Beastly," then you'll see some similarities. I guarantee you, that it's not my intention to recreate the story written by Alex Flinn. Although, I would be lying if I said that some parts of the story didn't inspire some parts of this fic.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, here are a few notes:
First off, this really isn't that original of a fic but I wanted to write this for so long, and I had fun doing it, so I uploaded it. I originally got it written during the summer, but it wasn't that good and there was a lot of editing needed to be done.
Thank you to En ar Ciel who graciously beta'd this story, though it's not like I give her much of a choice, but I still appreciate the time and effort she puts into these things. :)
This story is dedicated to all of you die-hard RimaHiko fans. You crazy guys are the ones who were my main inspiration for this.
She's so fine.
She thinks she's so damn fine.
She might be fine,
But she ain't worth a second of your time.
-The Way We Talk; The Maine
Being perfect really isn't impossible.
If I can pull it off, then anyone can, right?
Wrong.
You see, not everyone's perfect. I'm not saying nobody is, but there are only a select few that can actually reach this level. Just because I'm one of them shouldn't give you hope.
Because I'm special, and you're not. It's the honest truth, and if you can't handle it, then you clearly aren't cut out for this world. It's people like myself that live a good life. Why? Well that's anybody's guess. Karma, genes, whatever. I'm just perfect, and that's that.
And because I am, you're not.
To say that Rima Mashiro was pretty was an understatement.
Rima Mashiro passed pretty. Rima Mashiro had pretty for a midmorning snack. "Pretty" was a word that could be used to describe a single lock of her hair.
Rima Mashiro was the epitome of glorious.
You had to be blind to not notice her sublime features. Her eyes were bright topaz that glittered like jewels whenever she happened to glance your way, if you were lucky enough. Long, silky, golden curls framed her heart-shaped faced with rosy cheeks that held the most adorable dimples ever to be witnessed. Her lips were a natural light pink, and never seemed to have been chapped a day in her life. A blemish never made its way towards her face and her teeth were always pearly white. Anyone who was ever lucky enough to witness her smile will say how the even the sun was blinded by it.
Some may say that she's too petite, but that just emphasizes the famous "porcelain doll" analogy that she carries around. So small that you want to keep her safe and untouched, because when she breaks it's earth-shattering. She's so beautiful that a single flaw could result in the end of her world.
And it did, for a while.
Seiyo Academy was a school that every parent wanted to enroll their kids in. It was the Harvard of high schools. Only children with an exceptional academic record had a chance at being considered, and there was very small amount of children that were offered a scholarship each year. Seiyo Academy was a school for the elite, and it wasn't surprising that Rima attended there.
Rima didn't just go to Seiyo Academy, she ruled it. Top of her class, every teacher's favorite pupil, and on the board of every important school club, but that was just the facts that the school cared about. There wasn't one student at Seiyo who didn't know who Rima was, and even the seniors had a look of awe whenever she passed by. Rima was high school royalty. She had every clichéd "Queen Bee" quality and made sure that everyone knew it.
It had been this way ever since she could remember. Even in diapers people adored her. She had the right amount of baby fat in all the right places, making her look adorable and precious. Her dimples were as wide as craters and her laugh was contagious. Every kid had wanted to be her friend, and even today she had qualities that made other kids turn green with envy. She lost her baby fat and hardly ever laughed anymore (She was too cool for things like that), but she had enough money to buy out NASA and throw a party on the moon. Plus she was just so incredibly cool; she was oozing with it. Rima practically invented "cool". If she ever deemed something as uncool, it obviously was. After all, Rima Mashiro was never wrong.
Yaya Yuiki was one of the few girls who had the opportunity to consider Rima as one of her "close, personal friends" despite being a ninth grader. Having her in her contacts list and being able to talk ro her via video chat was proof that Rima liked her enough to tolerate the young freshman, even with her persistent questions about what shoes and accessories to wear with her chosen dress for the big Fall Ball that Seiyo Academy was holding. The Fall Ball was a huge social event, despite the incredibly dull and unoriginal name it bore. Seiyo Academy had been holding them since the first year it opened, and it topped all other school events.
"So the Prada or the gold strappy ones I got in Italy during the summer?" Yaya held the shoes up close to her computer's camera, making sure that Rima was able to see them from her own laptop screen. Undoubtedly, Rima was the first person her friends went to for advice. Especially when it came to serious questions like if wearing too many name brands was lame or chic.
"Normally I'd say that you can never go wrong with Prada—" Rima jingled her Prada charm bracelet in front of the camera to make a point, "—but you haven't worn those gold ones before and no one else has them. Everyone will be jealous and you'll start a trend." Yaya giggled and tossed aside her Prada shoes as if it were a candy wrapper, and placed the decided shoes right beside her dress.
"I'm not sure if I'm as much of a trendsetter as you are, but you've never been wrong before." Rima smiled, knowing that both of those statements were true. "So, onto more important things: Who in this lame school who should I go with? I mean, not to sound like an anti-feminist or whatever you call it, but there's no point in even buying a new Dolce dress if I don't have an equally exquisite and attractive guy to take me there."
Rima pursed her lips, thinking hard. "I normally never suggests guys from the soccer team, but you should go with Kuukai…maybe." Yaya and Kuukai were friends; everyone thought that they made the most attractive couple ever, and Rima couldn't disagree. Kuukai wasn't Rima's type (Too athletic—Rima absolutely loathed jocks), but whenever he wasn't sweating or covered in grass stains, he actually looked kind of attractive. He was so nice (Or as Rima saw it too simpleminded) that he would do anything anyone asked of him. He was the ideal type of boyfriend: Good-looking and easy to manipulate. Rima probably would've dated him if he wasn't already in a serious relationship with his soccer ball.
Yaya grimaced. "No way, that's like going out with my brother. And besides, he's totally been blowing me off lately to go hang out with that blonde supermodel who just transferred. You know, the one with the tacky pigtails that remind me of bananas and—"
Rima held her hand up, silencing Yaya. She wasn't in the mood for one of the freshman's long rants about how stupid the stupid jock was. She heard enough of it at school. "Think, Yuiki. There has got to be someone available for you at that lame-ass school we go to. Consider even the freshman, because there's no way you can go to that dance without at date." Rima used her small hand to flip her huge mass of curly hair over her shoulder. "I mean, this is the Fall Ball we're talking about. Going stag in your new Dolce is like stating to the entire world that you don't have enough money to get everything you want."
Yaya frowned, giving the girl on her computer screen a confused look. "If I'm able to snag the new gold Dolce then I think that I have enough money to get anything else I want."
"Anything—" Rima paused for effect. "—but at date."
Yaya bit her lip and sighed quietly, twirling her an auburn lock of hair with her finger. "Well there is this one guy in my science class…" Rima merely raised an eyebrow, prompting the younger girl to spill more. "I mean, he's just a freshman, but he's really nice and has that whole 'cute nerd' thing going on—"
"You're lying," Rima snapped, her voice staid. Yaya's eyes widened like a deer caught in headlights.
"Wh-what do you—"
"That's not true. There are no cute, 'nerdy' freshman. There are a few juniors, some seniors, but no freshman." Yaya's eyes looked down at her manicured toenails and began to nervously pick at the polish. "What's his name?" Rima asked, getting a surprised 'Eep!' from Yaya. "What's his name?" Rima prompted again, and frowned. She hated having to repeat herself.
"Kairi Sanjo," Yaya squeaked quietly, peeking up at her computer screen and bit her lip even harder once she saw Rima's eyes turn into slits.
"Please tell me you're joking." Yaya opened her mouth to say something but Rima beat her to the punch. "You want to go out with that loser? Yaya, he's like twelve."
"He's fourteen," Yaya said quietly. "My age."
"He's still younger than you," Rima rolled her eyes. "Isn't it a little too soon for you to start looking into a future as a cougar? And besides, you can do way better than that kid. The freak wants to be a samurai, for crying out loud."
"He's nice," Yaya said, no longer quietly muttering her words under her breath. "And I think he likes me—"
"Of course he likes you, Yaya. You're way out of his league." Yaya said nothing and looked back down on her toes. Rima huffed. "Look, I'm only saying all this for your own good. Do you know the kinds of things people will say about you if you take that kid to the Fall Ball? And this is your first, too, so it's the second most important one, right behind your last Fall Ball as a senior."
"Look, it's not like I was serious, okay? But, let's be honest here. It's not like I have a bunch of hot senior guys practically breaking down my door and begging to go out with me like you do." Yaya still refused to look up, and continued to pick at her nail polish as if it was more interesting than Rima.
Rima rolled her eyes, starting to get annoyed with her friend. "Quit being so pathetic, Yaya. Just pick a guy and I'll even help you get him if your self esteem is really that low. Just promise me you won't take Mr. Samurai to the dance, or any other loser you come up with. The theme of the dance might be 'Fairy Tale Dream'—" Rima stuck her finger in her mouth, fake-gagging at the corny name the student committee came up with, "—but going as Beauty and the Freak is just pushing it, don't you think?"
"Whatever. Just forget I said anything, alright?" Yaya blew a stray strand of hair out of her face and finally looked back at her webcam. "Let's talk about something else. What are you going to wear to the dance?"
Rima's lips curled up in something that looked similar to a smile, but Yaya knew that was just the face Rima made when she was hiding a delicious secret. "It's a surprise."
Yaya grinned back. Whenever Rima had surprise, it was always well worth the wait. "Of course it is. Alright then, can I ask you who you plan on going with?"
Rima scoffed, as if that was the stupidest question anyone ever asked. "Are you serious? Tadase Hotori, of course."
"Of course." Yaya shook her head. "Silly me. Who else would you go with?" If Rima was the Queen of Seiyo, then Tadase Hotori was the King; he was basically Rima's male counterpart. Tadase was filthy rich, smart, athletic, the president of every important school group, and the undoubtedly the most popular boy in the entire school. The only thing that set the two of them apart was that Tadase was known as a warm and friendly person, whereas Rima was the unmistakable Ice Queen.
"Has he asked you yet?" Yaya asked, and failed to notice that Rima took a bit longer than normal to answer her question.
"You know Tadase. He's so old fashioned. He probably plans on getting my dad's 'blessing' beforehand, or something like that." Yaya giggled. "And you know that I'm so not the type of person to wait around for a guy to ask me out. Either he pops the question tomorrow or I'll be forced to go with the next best person." On cue, Rima pretended to look at her phone for the time. "Look, I got to go make sure that my imported bath salts are ready, otherwise I won't be able to shower tomorrow morning and smell almost as bad Ikuto Tsukiyomi after his lunch period." Yaya didn't hold back laughing out loud this time, since it was no secret that the senior spent every free period smoking with a bunch of other rejects on the roof of the school.
"Goodnight," Yaya told her webcam and waved to her computer screen. Rima blew a kiss in return and quickly closed the window, smiling to herself as she laid down on her bed and began to check her Facebook, expecting to see something new on Tadase's wall.
Right on schedule, he got a new wall post from none other than Yaya Yuiki.
Yaya Yuiki: So Tadase, when are you finally going to grow some gumballs and ask Rima Mashiro to the dance?
Rima closed her laptop and smirked. Yaya was such a reliable person to have. She was the biggest blather mouth Rima had ever met and she knew that the freshman couldn't resist telling the whole world about how Rima and Tadase were totally meant to be. So why was it taking so long for him to ask her out?
Rima groaned. Why did the King of Seiyo High have to be the most boring and dullest person ever? With her luck, he would probably say something like how he had to re-read the Bible to a bunch of special needs kids on the same day of the Fall Ball. For someone who was such a kind person to the rest of the student body, he sure had a way of being a jerk to the most important girl at Seiyo.
A terrible thought suddenly occurred to Rima: What if he was already going with some other girl? No, that couldn't be. After all, she would've been the first person to know. Just to make sure and get rid of her paranoia, she jumped for her phone and quickly went back on Facebook. Checking Tadase's relationship status, she let out a sigh when she saw that he was still listed as "single."
But Facebook was hardly that reliable. She, like everyone else, would just have to wait until tomorrow to know for sure. Her paranoia got the best of her again and she went back onto Facebook and continued to search through Tadase's wall, hoping that she wouldn't see anything strange. She was pleased to see that Yaya's wall post got four likes and three comments in just the first few minutes of it, but got annoyed when she saw that he still hadn't replied to it. It wasn't a surprise. Tadase hardly ever went online and only used Facebook for "school purposes."
Rima hated herself for being so hung over a guy, but she couldn't help it. Tadase was, after all, the King of Seiyo High, so it was only expected that they went out together. Only problem was that her King still didn't seem to realize that.
Rima huffed and clapped her hands, shutting off all the lights and got herself nestled underneath her bed sheets. Like her mother always said, gray hairs and worry lines were not worth a night full of stress over a trivial matter. Besides, it was already ten thirty. If she stayed up any longer she'd get bags under her eyes and have to use cover up. Rima's motto was to always wear as little makeup as possible, since she found that makeup was only a tool that celebrities used to avoid looking pale in pictures taken on the red carpet, and for ugly girls who didn't have enough natural beauty to flaunt off so they had to rely on MAC for it.
Rima was perfect. Rima was the epitome of glorious. Even if Tadase didn't have enough balls to take her to the dance, it didn't even matter. She was Rima Mashiro. She already had a line of guys waiting to take her outside her door. And Tadase would have to be the biggest dumbass in the world if he rejected her.
She was Rima Mashiro.
And she was perfection.
"So has Tadase asked you yet?" Yaya chirped excitedly the next morning. Rima almost frowned at how incredibly spastic the girl could be, even at such an ungodly hour like seven thirty. Rima wasn't a morning person, but she always tried to be by waking up at five thirty every morning so that she could have a chance to see her mother off to work. Sometimes she was forced to cover up the dark eye circles that sneaked onto her face, but they soon disappeared the next day with the help some French eye cream that her mother used. Waking up early meant wasting precious sleep and being even bitchier than she usually was, but Rima liked to think that it was worth it if she got to spend at least a few minutes with her mom, even if she was half asleep and her mom was too busy chatting on her Bluetooth with someone important from work to even realize that Rima was still alive.
"I haven't even seen him yet," Rima pointed out as she ordered a grande-sized sugar-free vanilla soy latte. Coffee was the only thing that could help her so early in the morning. Her usual posse, Yaya and fellow junior Saaya Yamabuki, didn't mind joining her on her daily early morning visit to the Starbucks just a block from the school. Well, maybe they did mind, but it's not like they were going to complain about it.
"Did he call you or text, at least?" Yaya pressed, wanting all the dirty details.
"It's still too early in the morning for me to check my phone." Rima yawned as she waited impatiently for the cashier to give her the right amount of change.
"Then let me check it," Saaya said, making a grab for Rima's purse. Saaya was arguably the richest girl in the school and practically owned it, considering how many donations her family gave every year. Saaya was pretty, but no one ever dared to compare her to Rima. It was no secret that she had been crushing on Tadase Hotori since elementary school, even way before Rima moved to Seiyo. But considering the fact that Tadase was always busy buying food for the homeless squatting in downtown to even consider a girlfriend, neither Saaya or Rima had a chance until now. Rumor was that Tadase was planning on asking Rima to the Fall Ball ever since Yaya spread the word that Rima would go out with him if he asked her, and Saaya was less than pleased.
Rima held the bag out of Saaya's reach, which was hard to do considering the fact that Saaya was nearly a whole foot taller than Rima. "Please. Do you really think that Tadase would ask me out through a text?" Rima asked her tall, red-haired companion.
"Oh yeah, I forgot. He only uses his phone for 'school-related' reasons," Yaya snorted as she grabbed her double chocolate chip frapp from the barista. Rima wondered how the younger girl still managed to maintain her ballerina figure even though she ate so much sugary crap. Rima always had a naturally small figure, but she was too cautious and never risk it by gorging on chocolate everyday like Yaya did. And she had already decided to outgrow the double chocolate chip frapp when she was in the sixth grade. Yaya, however, failed to get the memo.
Saaya handed Rima her drink as she uncapped her mineral water. "He's on a lot of school clubs and takes a ton of extracurricular activities, not to mention the numerous amounts of charity work he does. It's understandable that he doesn't have enough time to send a Tweet or do a status update everyday." Noticing the strange look Rima was giving her, Saaya quickly corrected herself. "Besides, he might be a workaholic, but that doesn't mean he has no class. He probably has a way more romantic way of asking you out."
"Whatever. I hardly even care about Tadase. Sure, we would look great together, but it's not like I don't have other offers," Rima told them, acting nonchalant as she strolled down the sidewalk. Usually when the weather was good enough the girls would have someone drive them to Starbucks and they'd walk the rest of the way to school, since it was only a block away. They would have a better chance at catching up on gossip that way; though the sun was bright and the wind was strong, making the girls grumble as they attempted to fix their hair.
Rima adjusted her Seiyo High uniform skirt and frowned at it. It was bright red plaid and didn't do a good job of matching the tacky blazer that went with it. Fortunately for her and the rest of the fashion-conscious student body, the Seiyo High board was more lenient than other private schools about the dress code, so most of the kids at Seiyo could get away with wearing just their white dress shirts and ties and ditching the blazer altogether. Some never bothered to even put on the official tie properly, which matched the skirts (Or for the males, the blue plaid shorts) and had it hang loose around their necks.
Ever since Rima transferred to Seiyo, she was determined to somehow manipulate the sub-par outfit and make it coordinate with the expectations she had for herself. She somehow got away with hiking up her skirt a bit—since there was no way anyone as short as her could look chic with a knee-length plaid skirt—but not too high that it'd be considered trampy. She only wore the blazer in the morning for the daily school announcements in the auditorium (Since that was, sadly, the only time during the entire school day where the principal cared if the students had their shirts tucked in properly, and they were were forced to abide the dress code unless they wanted a hour-long detention) and later replaced it with a chic navy Burberry sweater. The red tie was to her schoolbag as a little bow accessory, a trend that later soon caught on with a lot of the other girls. She had her socks scrunched down stylishly to match any kind of shoe she wore that day; the way she styled her uniform pleased her and made her represent the school in a good way, even though she got several complaints from the teachers for the tie on her purse.
"I hate the school colors," Rima scoffed, gesturing to her skirt. "I mean, really? Red for girls and blue for the boys? This is high school, not some lame-ass baby shower."
"Cursing is unladylike," Saaya said, snickering as she read something on her phone. Rima rolled her eyes and playfully smacked her friend with her purse. "After all, isn't that what you always used to say?"
"She still says it." Yaya smiled as she sipped her frapp. Again, Rima wondered how she could possibly manage to drink that kind of stuff still, not to mention that it was fall and the weather was beginning to get colder and colder.
Rima took small sips of her latte. "Cursing is unladylike. And immature. The only exceptions to the rule are Seiyo High and dumb-ass boys."
"Speaking of boys, let's get inside already!" Saaya said as they strolled on campus. "I want to see how Tadase asks you out. Plus, I need to pee." Despite saying that, Saaya continued to drink her water.
"Then quit wasting time standing out here and let's go already," Rima snapped, adjusting her school blazer. "Mother Nature is mad at me today, and I don't want this stupid school uniform to do something I don't want it to do," she said, using a spare hair tie to pull back her huge mass of wavy hair before it got raped by the wind. Saaya smirked at the thought of Rima's skirt flying up and shoved her half-empty water bottle into her bag as she took quick, long strides to the school, then slowed down because of the fact that Rima's short legs and refusal to break a sweat at all caused her to lag behind.
After doing their business in the bathroom, which involved less peeing and more hair-fixing, the three girls strolled out of the bathroom and down the main hall, where a certain boy made them all halt suddenly.
"There he is!" Yaya whisper-shouted. "Ohmygawd, do you think he's going to ask her now?"
"Shut up," Saaya muttered, the fair skin on her cheeks flushing a light pink at the sight of Tadase Hotori talking to his friends in the hallway. One of those friends, a tall boy with long, violet hair pointed to the girls, wearing a smile on his face as though he just heard something funny. Tadase turned around and gave them the same friendly smile he gave to everyone as he waved a hello.
"He's totally going to ask!" Yaya squealed in Rima's ear. However, Tadase made no show of doing anything besides saying "Hi" to Rima as he went back to conversing with his friend.
"That's strange," Saaya said, sounding more chipper than she was before. "It doesn't look like he's going to ask you." Rima tried to hold back her shock and remained nonchalant. Why wasn't he asking her? Didn't he know that unless he asked her now, she wouldn't say yes?
Maybe he was shy. Yes, that's it. 'Guys are hopeless', her mother had once told her. Sometimes they just needed a small push in the right direction. Luckily, Rima was an excellent liar and quick thinker. Rima frowned for a second, and quickly made a show of grabbing her phone and pretending to check it for messages.
"Oh," she said, feigning surprise as she looked at her phone's wallpaper, which was a picture of her and her mother on their summer trip to Fiji…three years ago. "It turns out that he did text me last night." Before either of the other girls could check her phone to see it for themselves, Rima quickly locked it and slid it back in her purse. "No wonder he's ignoring me. He thinks I'm ignoring him by not replying to him."
"Well why didn't you reply to him?" Saaya asked, looking at Rima suspiciously.
Rima rolled her eyes as though the answer was obvious. "I'm too busy to check my phone twenty-four/seven like some people. He's been texting me for quite sometime now but I can only reply to him so many times. No wonder he's a little bit miffed." Saaya nodded, as though she understood what it was like to be too busy to talk to the most popular boy in school, and Rima congratulated herself for being such a naturally great actress.
"Well what are you waiting for?" Yaya asked, trying not to look hurt and wondering why her friend didn't tell her about any of this when they were gossiping about boys just the other night. "Go talk to him!"
Rima sighed, and pretended to think about it. "I guess I should explain to him what happened. I mean, it would be bad if he continued to ignore me just be cause of some misunderstanding." She turned to look at both her friends. "You guys wouldn't mind if I—"
"GO!" Yaya said while at the same time Saaya mumbled a "Yeah, whatever." Pleased with herself, Rima quickly strolled over to where Tadase was with his friend.
"Hello Rima," Tadase gave her the same warm smile that he always had on everyday. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, thanks." Rima pretended that she didn't notice Tadase's tall friend stifling his laughter as he looked back and forth between the two of them. What's his problem? Rima thought as she directed her attention to Tadase. "Tadase, I was wondering if we could have a moment to talk." She gave the tall, violet haired boy a look that usually made other people feel awkward and walking in the other direction. However, the boy just gave her a bemused grin and remained right where he was.
"Well, sure." Tadase gave her that same, warm smile of his. "What is it that you wanted to talk about?" Rima continued to glare at the taller boy, who apparently didn't get the hint that she wanted to talk to Tadase alone.
"Don't mind me," he said to her, annoying Rima even more.
Fine, do whatever you want, she thought and looked back at Tadase, giving him a large, fake grin. She didn't know what it was about him, but whenever Tadase would smile, everyone else would smile, too; he was contagious. Rima, however, forgot how to smile a long time ago. She occasionally had a fake grin plastered onto her face whenever she needed to, and the closest thing she had to a real smile was a sardonic smirk that she would only flash on rare occasions.
"I wanted to talk to you about the Fall Ball," Rima said, and tried to prevent her ego from bruising when she saw Tadase's smile drop.
"Oh, you heard the rumors, too?" Before Rima could say anything, Tadase beat her right to it. "I'm sorry Rima, but I have no idea who started all that stuff about you and me. Believe me, I have nothing to do with it. This morning I found my inbox flooding with alerts that were tagging you and me together and I don't even—"
"I don't care about the rumors," Rima said, cutting him off. "That's not what I came here to talk to you about. I just wanted to let you know that the Fall Ball is coming up, though you don't really need a reminder for that, and you should ask me to be your date."
Tadase's tall friend gave her a strange look. "Is that your attempt at asking him? Because it's kind of pathetic in comparison to other stuff girls have done—"
"Was I talking to you?" she snapped, and gave him the iciest glare she could muster. She felt victorious once she noticed him avert his eyes in the other direction.
"I'm sorry Rima, I don't think I understand your question." Tadase gave her a confused look. "Are you asking me to the dance or—"
"I said," Rima huffed, hating having to repeat her self, "that I think you should ask me to the Fall Ball, since I don't have a date yet and it doesn't seem that you have one either—"
"Wait a minute," Tadase's stupid friend cut in again and Rima felt the urge to smack him with her purse. "You're asking him…to ask you?" He looked at her as though she was something that came from outer space. "Is this some sort of joke?"
Rima gave him a blank stare. "I don't joke," she said flatly. Of course she wasn't going to ask Tadase to the dance. Rima liked to believe that chivalry wasn't dead and that men still had the decency and the balls to ask girls out themselves, even if they did need a small push in the right direction once in a while.
The tall boy laughed. "Then you sound pretty desperate to me."
Rima's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. "I beg your pardon?" Desperate? How dare he call her desperate! Did he not know who she was? "Just who do you think you are?"
The boy held out his hand, as if he expected her to shake it. "Nagihiko Fuji—"
"That was a rhetorical question, I honestly don't care who the hell you are," she snapped at him, and turned away to look back at Tadase. "So are you going to ask me or not?"
Tadase blinked. "Ask you… You mean, ask you to the dance?" Rima resisted the urge to give him one of her infamous eye rolls. "Um, I'm sorry Rima, but I'm not going to the dance."
Rima blinked once. "Forgive me, I didn't quite catch that. Did you just say that you're not going?" Before Tadase could compose a reply, Rima asked, "How can you not be going to the Fall Ball? It's the Fall Ball. You're the student council president, you're practically in charge of the entire thing!"
Tadase looked surprised to see her react in such a way. "I'm really sorry, but I have a family thing and—"
"If you already have a date then just cancel her and go with me," Rima demanded, not buying the whole "family" excuse.
Tadase looked at her, and hesitated right before asking, "E-excuse me? Rima, I'm not lying. I really can't make it." Before Rima could attack him with her words, he said, "Look, I have to go to the auditorium. The student council is presenting something for the announcements today. I'll talk to you some other time, alright?" Nagihiko Fuji— shrugged and followed Tadase down the hall, talking to him about something that Rima couldn't hear. She did, however, notice how Nagihiko Fuji— continued to look back at her and frown, which wasn't the kind of thing most people did when they saw her.
Rima tried not to look to shocked or feel too humiliated as she watched their retreating figures. Quickly recollecting herself, she turned and marched right back to her friends, who hadn't moved from their spots since she left. They both looked at her expectantly, waiting for her spill the details.
Rima sighed and tried to maintain her cool façade, though she was raging and furious and absolutely humiliated on the inside. "Well, we cleared everything up, but when I brought up the Fall Ball, he said that he had a 'family thing' and wasn't going."
Saaya raised an eyebrow and gave the shorter girl a suspicious look. "That's an excuse if I've ever heard one."
"What kind of family thing?" Yaya asked, confusion adorning her round face.
"There is no family thing. He just made that up so that his friend wouldn't know about his…" She pretended to look around for eavesdroppers, as though what she was about to say was very important. "…His secret."
"He's already dating someone, isn't he?" Saaya asked, looking disappointed.
"Something like that—" Rima's eyes sparkled as she came up with the perfect lie, "—but it's not what you think."
Yaya's eyes went wide. "Tellmetellmetellme—"
Saaya glared at her. "Yaya, shut up!" Yaya quieted down and Saaya turned away from the younger girl to look anxiously at Rima. "What is it about?"
"Well Prince Charming isn't all what he's cracked up to be." Rima paused for effect. "As turns out, Tadase Hotori plays for the other team."
Saaya's mouth hung open in shock while Yaya frowned. "What, you mean he used to go to a different school district or something?"
Rima rolled her eyes, and tried to find a simple term to explain the situation so that even someone like Yaya would be able to understand it. "No, I mean, Tadase's so deep in the closet he's practically found Narnia!"
Yaya's eyes grew wider, if that was even possible. " No way!"
"How do you even know that?" Saaya asked, refusing to accept the fact that her long-time crush was gay.
"Well it's always been so obvious, hasn't it?" Rima asked, looking at Saaya as though she was surprised that it took so long for her to figure it out. "He's never had a girlfriend and always rejects dates, from even the most attractive girls in school." Rima didn't bother to mention that she was one of those girls. "He never hangs out with anyone but athletics guys."
"That's because he's is on the baseball and soccer team," Saaya pointed out, still unsure about everything her friend was telling her.
Yaya snorted. "Well, duh, of course he is. If jocks weren't so gross, wouldn't you join the team just to stare at a bunch of ripped guys running around?" Yaya broke out into a huge grin. "I always thought that it was strange how he's never shown an interest in girls—"
"He's the student council president and has more extracurricular activities than the number of handbags I own." Saaya was starting look incredibly miffed as she dared to look down at Rima. "Look, I've known Tadase since I was in elementary, and it's really bitchy and low of you to start a rumor like that. Just because he made up some excuse to not go with you—"
"Look at the pot calling the kettle black," Rima said, her voice colder than ice. "You weren't even listening in on our conversation. I could go out with him if I wanted to, but I'm in no mood to be some fag's beard. Just because no guy wants to take you seriously enough to be your boyfriend doesn't mean that you need to take out your insecurities on me. That's petty and pathetic." Rima stuck her nose up in the air while Saaya stared at her, speechless. She had always seen the Ice Bitch (Which was name several kids referred to her as since she embraced it so well) use her words to make other losers upset enough to drop out of school, but she never thought that she'd be on the other end of the stick like this.
Saaya heard something make a beeping noise beside her and glared at Yaya, who was in the midst of telling the entire world about Tadase. "What the fuck, Yaya. Don't you ever know when to shut your trap? Do you really need to tell the entire fucking world about some lame-ass rumor some bitch made up?" Yaya looked up at the redhead nervously, but quickly looked back down at her phone and finished composing the message she was writing since she was more scared of what Rima would say if she stopped. Yaya wasn't a mean person, she was just incredibly careless and hardly thought of how some of her actions would affect others. She didn't think that it was wrong of her to tell people about Tadase being homosexual. After all, Rima said it was true, and who was she to say that he wasn't gay?
Saaya turned her glare towards Rima, no longer afraid of what the shorter girl would say to her. "You may think that you're so superior to the rest of us just because your ego is bigger than your weight, but you seriously need to get over yourself." She marched away from the Ice Bitch and her freshman pet, bumping into a tall, blue-eyed blonde on her way.
"I'm sorry," the blonde said, and ignored the fact that Saaya was too upset to say anything back as she stormed down the hall. The blonde didn't take her eyes off of Yaya and Rima. If anyone bothered to look at the quiet, invisible girl for more than a second, they would've realized how strange she looked. She was wearing the school uniform like all the other girls, except hers followed the school's dress guidelines word for word, as though she spent time reading it and making sure it was just like the picture in the book.
The odd girl's red skirt was exactly at knee length, and she wore the blazer, the tie and the long-sleeved blouse all together and put together as according to the handbook, even though a lot of people thought that wearing it all was just too much. She was donned in nylon stockings, something that all of the girls at Seiyo quit doing once they reached middle school. Her hair was done in a bizarre way; it was big and curled at the tips, looking like she stepped right off set of a production of Hairspray. There was an odd-looking clip in her hair, some strange green stone that clashed horrible with her outfit. At one look at her, you can tell she was out of place from the other posh and rich girls in the school.
Rima pointed all this stuff out to Yaya, who agreed that the girl did in fact look like she got lost on her way to the Catholic school on the other side of town. The girl seemed to know that they were talking about her, but she didn't look uncomfortable or awkward, and continued to stand there, staring right at the two girls, particularly Rima.
"What's her problem?" Yaya asked, starting to get uncomfortable with all the staring, yet her mind wouldn't forget about what just happened with Saaya. Would she ever forgive them? They've had petty spats before, but everyone knew about how Saaya felt about Tadase. It wasn't like she was going to easily forget about what happened just now.
Rima just shrugged, not that bothered by it, clearly used to being stared at all the time. "Probably one of Tadase's fans who's P.O.'d at us for saying all that stuff about him."
"I was talking about Saaya, but I guess that could be used for the both of them." Yaya picked at her nails nervously. "Do you think she'll stay mad for long?"
Rima rolled her eyes. "Who cares? Now let's go to the auditorium. If I'm late to the announcements again, I'll probably drop dead during another one of Nikaidou's lectures about tardiness. I don't have time to play the staring game with some home-schooled freak." Yaya opened her mouth to say something but was cut off. "Come on, you might catch that girl's bad fashion sense and be ugly forever." It was a lame and immature comeback but Rima wasn't in the mood to wait around any longer. Saaya had put her into a rotten mood since she hated causing scenes like that.
The blue-eyed stranger merely frowned as she watched the two girls' retreating figures. "How can someone be so ugly?" she murmured to herself, her wide blue eyes never looking away even after the two girls strolled out the hall.
A/N: This chapter is long and not much happened, I know. This first chapter is mainly to set a background and give you guys a chance to see what's what and how I make the story work in my head. If I just jumped into the story, it wouldn't be as good and the characters wouldn't be as fleshed out. This is basically a base that set everything up for the rest of the story, which truly starts in the next chapter.
^^(Don't you just hate it when authors say stuff like that?)
I wanted to have a female be the beast, because the thing about girls, especially teenage girls, is that they're vicious. I'm not trying to be sexist by saying that girls are vixens and snakes who lure in innocent men with their seductiveness. Guys are terrible, too, and Alex Flinn is pretty great for being able to portray that terrible-ness in a teenage guy and have it still make sense. I'm pretty sure if I wrote this with having one of the SC! guys being the beast, it probably would've been really, really stupid. I also wanted to try something new, because IDK if I've ever seen someone write a "Beauty and the Beast" fic using the girl as the Beast and the guy as the Beauty. Plus, Nagihiko and Rima fit this scenario perfectly, don't you think?
I made Rima a vicious bitch, because to be honest, I totally thought she was a cold bitch when she was first introduced in the series. I absolutely hated her. Despite the fact that I love her now, I'm still pretty inspired with the way Peach-Pit made Rima. She's a bitch, but she has her reasons and hides them by putting up a bitchy façade. I plan on doing that exact thing in this story. Rima's a bitch, but she has her reasons, and I kind of inserted some of those reasons in this chapter, although it's really subtle and a lot of it is more of the in-between-the-lines kind of stuff. If you picked up on it then you're awesome.
The rest of the SC! characters act kind of OOC, but that's because the setting and the situations are totally different, so I kind of altered their characters a bit, though it's A really, really tiny bit, I swear! Their characters are still intact, but just slightly different mostly because they're teenagers and for other reasons that shall be revealed later on in the story.
Whew. Now that I've gotten all of that written down, let me just end this by say thank you for reading, and that any kind of feedback or concrit is greatly appreciated. :)