Beth's POV
Well, here goes the whole story thing again. But this is no ordinary, everyday, story. This is the story of how my two best friends, Mary Johnson, Lydia Harrison, and I met the…. Very strange and amazing Mabudachi Trio. I'm sorry to say that you will have to wait for the full story for a while. A while being a few chapters. But, anyways, here is the scenario.
My two friends and I live in a tent by a river in Japan. Yes, you heard me right. We really do live in a tent. But, it's not so bad. Just a little cramped, but things could be worse. We attend high school still, or at least began attending last week. I know this is going to be really confusing, but It'll get better. I swear. Everyone there ignored us, and pretended like we weren't even there. That caused the three of us to cling to each other even more than before.
"Hey. Mary, Lydia, get up guys." I said softly, shaking my two friends gently. They groaned.
"Ah, Beth. Knock it off…. I'm tired…." Mary said. She groaned again and pulled her pillow over her head, blocking me out.
"Well, if you guys really WANT to be late for school, therefore failing our classes, therefore not graduating, therefore not getting jobs, therefore living in this tent for the rest of our lives, that's up to you. Now, see you later guys." I said, getting up and slipping on my uniform. That woke them up.
"Fine…" Lydia said. We all got dressed and grabbed our books. Before I knew it, we were sitting in the middle of science class. Thank God that we had pretty much the same schedule.
"Okay class, now we will pair you off for science reports." Said our teacher. I crossed my fingers under my desk. 'Please, please, PLEASE let me get paired up with one of my friends.' I thought. Then, I looked over to them. But, if I got paired with one of them, then one of us would be alone. Well, we would just see how it turned out I guess. Then, the teacher called my name.
"Bethany Anderson. You will be partnered up with Hatori Sohma." I looked around frantically. I didn't know anyone in the class except for Mary and Lydia.
"Hatori and Beth, raise your hands please." He said, to my relief. I raised a hand timidly. Another boy a few seats away from me raised his hand too. I looked at him, as he looked at me. We studied each other. He was tall and skinny with very dark hair. It was black, but shimmered in the light where it appeared almost a dark green. His eyes were an emerald green, and they sparkled in the light as well. He was incredibly handsome, and I suddenly felt really self-conscious. I didn't even have anything to make me look okay; after all, I lived in a tent. He slowly stroked back a long strand of hair covering his left eye.
He flinched and covered it back up. I cocked my head. Why did he flinch like that just because of his eye…? Oh well, that was none of my concern. He finally turned away, and I did too, blushing. I realized that the entire class had been watching us silently.
It turned out that Mary and Lydia were paired up with two other Sohma boys. Lydia was paired up with Shigure Sohma. He had dark black hair, which was really shaggy. He also had huge brown eyes that kind of looked like my old dogs eyes. He was handsome too.
Mary was paired up with Ayame Sohma. He was very strange looking, much different from the others. He had long silvery hair and gold eyes. They kind of scared me, and when I looked into them, I felt like I was drowning in a sea of gold. I know it sounds over dramatic, but it was true. After the bell rang, I began walking to my next class, (Study Hall) with Lydia and Mary. We were almost there when a hand grabbed my shoulder. I stifled a gasp and spun around to face Hatori Sohma. Mary looked at me, then at him, confused. He was flanked by Ayame and Shigure. They beamed at us, but Hatori kept a stern face.
"Hey. Since we're going to be working on our project together, and we both have study hour next, would you like to go to the library to think of a topic?" Hatori said softly. I gawked at him.
"Uh… Sure." I said, still tong-tied. Ayame laughed loudly.
"Oh! I have an idea! We should all go! That way we can all talk about our topics! Isn't it ironic that we got paired up like this! I mean, you three being sisters and us being cousins! So ironic!" Ayame said, still beaming. None of us bothered to tell him we weren't sisters, just best friends.
"Sounds good Aya!" Shigure said, staring at his cousin with respect. I looked at Mary and Lydia. They were obviously as taken aback as I was. We came from a small town in Indiana, and we weren't used to people this… loud.
"If it's okay with everyone it's okay with me." Hatori said. He looked at Mary and Lydia. Mary forced a smile on her face, and so did Lydia, but I could tell they were weirded out.
"It's fine with us." Mary said. Lydia nodded.
"Okay! Then it's settled! Let's go!" Ayame cried out, skipping down the hall with Shigure, laughing insanely. Yep, those two were really messed up.
Soon, we were all sitting at our separate tables in the library. Hatori had a notebook held in his hand and was tapping his pencil softly. Honestly, I was too intimidated to talk. Finally, he looked at me.
"So. Do you have any suggestions for the project?" Hatori asked me calmly. I thought about it for a minute. Honestly, I had no idea. I wanted to say something, but I was at a total loss.
"Uh… Not really." I said shyly. To my surprise, he laughed. I stared at him. Had he gone crazy? Well, he was related to those other two. I turned around to look at Mary's table. Ayame was making crazy hand gestures in the air and laughing. Mary looked at him like she wanted to lock him in an asylum and throw away the key. I suppressed a giggle. When I looked at Lydia's table, I busted out laughing. Shigure was doing something stupid, and laughing crazily. Lydia was cowering against her chair, looking like she was going to cry. Hatori stared at me, and then followed my gaze. He laughed too.
"I don't think your friends like my cousins very much." He said. I finally started to calm down, and then took a big breath.
"No… I don't think it's that. We come from a small town in Indiana. I don't think they're used to people being as…. Flamboyant as those two." I explained. He laughed at me.
"Well, anyways, as I was saying. I think before we can get any good ideas, we really need to get to know each other. So, would you like to meet me outside under that huge oak tree after school? We can talk more then." He said. I looked at him. Wait, did he just ask me out? No, I was imagining things. I was being stupid.
"Okay… sure, I'd love to." I said. Then, the bell rang and he smiled, picking up his things. I stood up too, and waited for my friends.
"Wonderful. I'll see you later then." He said, before walking away. I explained my plans to Lydia and Mary. They wished me luck as I left to go outside to meet Hatori. When I walked over to the tree, I saw that Hatori was already under it. He was lying down with his arms behind his head and his eyes closed. He looked so peaceful like that; it was almost a shame to wake him up. But, I was afraid he would be angry if I let him sleep like that. I quietly sat down next to him.
"Hey." I said softly. He jolted up, his gaze glassy. He shook his head, covering his eye with the same strand of hair.
"Oh, hello. I'm sorry. I didn't get any sleep last night and I guess I just drifted off." He smiled a crooked smile at me, but I could tell he didn't smile much.
"Oh, it's okay." I smiled at him. He chuckled quietly.
"So, do you want to introduce yourself first, or should I introduce myself first?" He asked. To be honest, I didn't really want to go anyway. But, I would rather just get it over with.
"I guess I will if you want me to." I said. He looked at me with his dark green eyes. I looked into them and felt something like a dark shadow creep over me. I studied him. Something about this guy… I don't really know what…. But something is very strange.
"You can go first." He said. I nodded and smiled.
"Okay, well, I guess I'll just start from when I first met Mary. I was in first grade when I met her, and we were automatically best friends. Her parents…. Well… her mom loved her a lot. But… well, let's just say her dad really wasn't the greatest." I paused. It went much deeper than that, but I wasn't going to tell this guy that I just met this morning.
"So then she ended up spending a lot of time at my house. We were practically sisters." I said. He frowned.
"Oh… I thought you were sisters." He said sheepishly. I shook my head and laughed.
"Well it does appear to be that way, but no. Anyways, after a while she basically lived at my house. I had an entire side of my room all for her. Then, her dad left." I frowned. Yeah, that was believable.
"So, she was alone more than ever. Then, in fifth grade Lydia moved to our school. After that, there were three of us." I giggled.
"Most of the time I was the serious one, but sometimes it would be one of the others keeping us out of trouble. It just depended on the mood or the situation. But then…." I stopped and felt my head droop down.
"Then Lydia's parents died on a plane ride to Indonsia. So she came to live with my family. Then, everything was fine for a few years. Until…." I stopped again. The memories were so painful, and I could still feel them eating away at my heart. Hatori noticed this too.
"Bethany, you don't have to continue unless you want to." He said. I shook my head. He really deserved to know.
"Until they went to a meeting at the school. It was an open house. It was the very beginning of spring, tornado season. That was ironic because that was my favorite season. Mary's mom and my parents went together. I told Mary to come spend the night with Lydia and myself. That was the best decision of my life to be honest. But then, an F4 tornado came through the town. I took my friends down to my basement and we hid under a couch. When we came out, the whole house was rubble, except for the basement. We got lucky that time. But…." I stopped and let myself breathe out.
"But my parents weren't so lucky. They were killed in the accident. And so we were all orphans then." I stopped once again, tears silently running down my face.
"I… I'm so, so sorry. I know that doesn't help, but I am." Hatori said, putting his hand awkwardly on my shoulder. I looked up, forcing a fake smile on my face.
"Yes, well thank you Hatori. But that's when we were sent over here to live with my grandfather. We lived there for a few months, but didn't go to school. We taught ourselves, but no one in my family thought we could take the pressure of school. And they were right. But, a few weeks ago, Grandpa's house was going to be remodeled so his daughter, my aunt, could move in with her son. My aunt didn't have room for us in her apartment, so Grandpa asked if we had friends to stay with. I lied and said we did. We had only been going to school for a few days, but he believed us. So, we left so as not to be a burden. And now…." I put on a fake smile.
"And now we live in a tent!" I said. He looked at me. I blushed, tossing my head down again. We sat in silence for a minute before Hatori said something.
"Beth… I don't know if you want to, but I would like you to come live in my estate. We have an extra room." He said. I looked up shocked.
"Wha-What? NO! I mean, not that I'm not glad that you offered, but… I couldn't, I really couldn't impose like that! It would be too much trouble!" I protested. He looked amused.
"No, I insist. We need a housekeeper anyway. And our house is a mess. And we need a cook too. We only have microwaveable ramen noodles." He said.
"Shigure, Aya, and I are very messy, and we have our own house. It's a family tradition that when a Sohma turns 16 we get our own home." He said. I stood with my mouth wide open.
"No! I really wouldn't want to put you to all of that trouble!" I replied, still shocked.
"Beth, it would be far more trouble for all of us if you didn't come to stay. And I'm not doing this because I have to; I'm doing this because I want to." He said quietly.
"Please." He added. I stared at him thinking. His green eyes burned into mine, and I felt very uncomfortable. It would be good to have a home again, but what if my friends didn't want to… But I really didn't have a choice, so if it's what I have to do…
"Okay."