A/N: For starters, let me just say that this story began ENTIRELY ON AN IMPULSIVE WHIM...literally, it just popped into my head (due to binge-watching Nozaki-kun) one night out of nowhere, starting out as this cutesy "idea" I toyed with until it took the shape of some annoying, romance story about my fave characters in the world...well maybe not so annoying or romance-y. While I'm a fan of Gothic literature (or anything deep, dark, and complex in general), I do take a break once in a while for those cheesy romance stories (Who doesn't?), as I find it quite refreshing-another reason why this story was made! So anyway, enough with my blabber: I present to you a wonderful package of semi-complicated SoRiKai, complete with the typical life and antics of teen-y high schoolers, with my (what I hope to be) amusing sense of humor. SO BEAR WITH ME ON THIS; YOU WONT REGRET IT, I SWEAR!
Read and review as well, peeps, I thrive on feedback!
...Not to harshly, please, I'm new to this! *insert super sweet smile here*
Disclaimer: HAHA, as if! Only in my dreams will the franchise be under my control...so until science creates some "Dream-Manifesting" machine, my dreams will stay as...just that. Forever. And ever. For now...*grins evilly*
The (False) Hopes of High School!
Today was the day.
No scratch that: Today was the day.
The specific day of which every teen in the world either dreaded, anticipated, or built themselves up with confidence in preparation the night before said day, only to wake up the morning after and have an absolute mental breakdown...
The First Day of High School..
Enter Kairi Kusanagi, sixteen-year-old redheaded (some would argue burgundy, but who cared?) teenage girl who was currently experiencing the latter of the aforementioned scenarios. With an iron grip on a Chi curling wand, she was currently wrapping a loose tendril around the hot rod in a vain attempt at creating one of Seventeen magazine's most sought-after hairstyles of the season—the "its-not-styled-I'm-just-lucky-to-have-woken-up-like-this", tousled look.
"I hope it comes out right...there's gonna be a lot of cute girls at school, and I don't wanna be a social pariah because my hair looks crazy!" she wondered aloud, the only life source caring to listen being her fluffy, white rabbit named Marzipan, who was sleeping soundly within his large, decorative cage.
As the last of the steam rolled off of her hair, she lowered the wand onto her vanity table to begin the dreadful assessment of her results. One cute, wine-red tendril hung in a wave at the corner of the right side of her head, complimenting her, looking as girly and as perfect as ever. It was the perfect hairstyle for a back-to-school occasion, one that would undoubtedly capture the eyes of girls and boys alike if she continued the process of curling the entirety of her round-shaped head...except that in her eyes, the curl was a complete and utter disaster that would probably ruin her; get her ridiculed for the sheer pity of it. To make matters worse, the adorable lip gloss tinted peach with subtle hints of shimmer which gave her small lips the illusion of fullness would make everybody think she was a slut, trying to win attention to a giant, botox-ed excuse for mouth. And who the hell told her to wear that damn eyeliner that formed a charming wing above her lash line, drawing attention to her beautiful indigos? Who the hell told her she was pretty?
"...This is HORRIBLE!" the distressed redhead whined, scrutinizing the reflection in the vanity mirror with thorough distaste. "I...I look like a clown! All the girls at school are gonna laugh at me! O-Or worse, they're gonna think I'm desperaaaaaaate!"
Marzipan's floppy ear twitched in the background.
She collapsed her head dramatically onto the table of the vanity set, burying her graceful face in the makeshift pit of her elbows. How could she have thought she had the gall to compete with the beautiful girls at school—though she wasn't trying to compete at all; she just wanted people to deem her worthy enough to stand next to her. For goodness sake, it was an all-girls' school...she didn't have a snowball's chance in hell, did she?
As the clock on the wall made its announcement of striking seven o'clock, Kairi lifted her head miserably and quirked her lips. She stared at her visage for an eternity (it was actually two minutes), before she cocked her head to the side and came to the sudden conclusion that hey, she didn't look...that bad. Maybe, dare she say, she did look...decent, at most. The other girls at school would throw a chuckle or two at her, worst case scenario. Nodding her head in silent affirmation, Kairi took a detour in her plans and reached for the neglected flat iron, and straightened out the curl that cried at it's demise. Back to her usual look of sleek tresses, she thought, the "old-reliable"; there could be no wrong in what worked, and what was natural—minus the presence of the eyeliner and peach gloss, of course.
"Ehh, guess I'll get dressed now." she huffed, motioning the turn of her swivel chair to face the infamous private-school girl uniform. There, sprawled on top of a cushion-y mattress covered with neatly-made white bed sheets underneath a baby blue comforter, lay a pressed, carmine blazer with a golden insignia with the initials C.R.A. on the left lapel, and a matching golden bird's feather directly below it. A black, pleated skirt, being it 's partner, was right next to it, and the unforgettable standard knee-highs and chestnut suede penny loafers to complete the ensemble was within the vicinity as well. Although the outfit, even in it's disassembled state, had rather cutesy appeal, Kairi didn't think it'd suit her in any way...
"No, no, NO, no more breakdowns!" and after mentally slapping herself, she donned her uniform.
With officially thirty minutes to spare, Kairi took a maximum of five of them to scrutinize herself once more before chucking up her thumb up at a forty-five degree angle (in the second quadrant), and slinging her messenger bag over her shoulder. It was days like this when she really appreciated the fact that she lived within walking distance of her school, so that gave her all the time in the world to criticize and reconstruct herself—though whether or not this was a positive aspect in particular, who knew. At the every least, she had the blessing of being able to sleep longer than any other teenager, so kudos to her. She had the wonderful advantage of pleading "ten-more minutes, Mom, please?", eating a full breakfast at a leisure pace without risking indigestion, and extra time to do "forgotten"—as if—homework...
Dareka no tame ni ikite yukenai, jibun o yuruseru tsuyosa o...
The sound of Aimer gracefully belting out her lyrics resounded from Kairi's decorated flip-phone, and her shoulders immediately sagged at the caller-ID. She wasn't even late, and she was sure that girl was going to screech her ears off about not showing up at her house to help her do her hair—
Oh...crap...
Like a lightning bolt that struck, her remembrance of a promise came jolting back into her brain. Kairi had completely forgotten abut her promise to Selphie that she'd help with the hyper brunette's back-to-school look. God, she could imagine the poor state of affairs Selphie was in; that girl could not handle anything remotely related to making one's appearance enhanced—she'd just fail disastrously, doing the horrible opposite. Kairi failed in rescuing her friend from a potentially dangerous situation...and now she was going to lose her hearing because of it.
Gingerly, the nervous redhead creeked open her cellphone along with a shaky smile before saying, "Heeeeey, Selph, how's it goin-"
"How's it going? HOW'S IT GOING?" There was a long pause on the phone, as if the angry Selphie had to recollect herself from hearing Kairi's sheer audacity at asking such a thing, before continuing, "You've got some nerve, chica! You don't even realize how UGLY I look right now because of you! You promised, Kairi, you promised!"
Kairi could hear the muffled sobs over the phone (Dear Lord, she hoped the girl didn't have on makeup at the moment), along with the sound of her own heart cracking from guilt. With only a few handfuls of time left to dawdle before school started, Selphie was going to be the epitome of the fear Kairi held in the initial start of her morning.
"Selph-"
"And now my makeup is even more ruined because of you again! I'm so UGLY-"
"S-Selphie, please-"
"I'll never get a boyfriend! EVER! Everyone will remember this day as the day when Selphie Ukishiro degraded the entire female populace!"
"SELPHIE, PLEASE!"
Sniffles signaling the end of a sob and a rant were heard.
Sheesh, and Kairi thought she had insecurities.
"Look, Selph, I know I'm at fault, and I'm so, so sorry! But please, just relax, okay? I'm gonna make it up to you, I swear—not promise—but swear, on my...on my Hello Kitty charm that I'll fix this, okay?"
She didn't have to hear he exact words no see the girl to know that the gears in Selphie's rampant mind was turning, considering the offer, rolling blue eyes heavenward in silent deflation, and finally accepting the negotiation.
"Fine." she bitterly spat, pursing her lips as Kairi she would do. "My house. Five minutes. You'd better start flying, chica, 'cause if we run out of time to fix me, it'll be your head—and your charm!" And with a lasting prima donna-esque threat, the line clicked off, leaving a frowning Kairi holding a dead one.
Heaving a heavy sigh, the redhead cracked a small smile before heading over to a still-sleeping Marzipan and whispered goodbye, and promptly left her room.
In the end, Kairi wouldn't have the privilege of a morning meal (Yay for indigestion!), but before her lunch blessing could be snatched away from her too, she grabbed the bento waiting patiently on the kitchen counter-top with a note that said, "Have a good day, princess! See you at dinner!", and stowed it away in her bag. With the house neat and quiet, she departed from her home with a turn of the lock, and inhaled the fresh, morning air.
"Well, today definitely had a start." She chuckled to herself before beginning her half-run, half-walk to a certain damsel in distress.
And so, in a just a short amount of time, our young heroine would be waltzing through the doors of hell of begin her freshman year.
