Summary: Five days until spring break, nine days of vacation, and another six days until it all comes down. During this time, Kenshin will find ways to fix his current life of continually faking it…and help his ex-girlfriend do the same…
A/N: Here goes – my third KK story! I've finally gotten around to writing an actual high school story! Converse wasn't in school…and Almandine wasn't a normal school…so this is huge!
Standard disclaimers apply.
Countdown to Vacation: 5
He was often noted as the carefree poet with a guitar in hand. The observation was true, that he couldn't deny. At first glance, his thoughtful yet playful violet eyes, ripped jeans, and old guitar fit the standards for a deep, mysterious musician. He was okay with it.
Nobody had to know anything else.
But many had vague ideas. Especially those who had been to school with him long enough. Most knew that this was to be the worst week of the school year for him. Besides the fact that it was the last painful week before spring break, it also held a very sad anniversary.
Two, he would correct some.
The first, which was rather ridiculous to many, was to come the next day. The second, and the most understandable, was to come in three days.
He absolutely hated this week.
But there were things to look forward to. This year was it – he could feel it in his gut and he was sure it wasn't the remnants of the stomach flu he had over the weekend. The band he sang lead and played guitar for, The First Absolute, was going to win Battle of the Bands at the Akabeko next week.
The band had been polishing their old songs, and he had been coming up with new songs that he knew could blow anybody's mind after one listen. Yes, he was confident about next week.
He felt a ghost of a pang in his chest – it was too old and familiar for him to wonder why. It was another lost event he could've shared with her.
But there was still some hope – things could possibly change within the next week or so…
He looked down the line of parked cars and spotted a lovely raven-haired girl just getting out of her car. And not just any car – it was a powder blue Volt's Wagon Beetle – the dream car she had always wanted. Putting his hands deeper into the pockets of his tan jacket, he made his way over to her.
"I'm glad one of us got what they wanted for their birthday this year. Sadly, I didn't get my early birthday wish of having my grandma get run over by a reindeer." He said, leaning against the new car, slightly scowling. His birthday was earlier in the year – January eighth. He usually got birthday gifts during the holiday season, which justified his comment. He also harbored an unbearable hatred toward his grandmother – his mother's mother.
She looked over to him, rolling her blue eyes in the process. "Of course she didn't, she would've beaten the shit out of it before it did such a thing." She gave him a small smile.
He chuckled a little. "True. So how eventful was your birthday?"
She shrugged before locking her car and walking toward the school. "It was typical. Some family visited for the weekend, grandma Yuki baked a cake…you know…all that stuff."
Sadly, he did know. He was once involved in "all that stuff." "How's your other grandma?" He asked concernedly, twisting a sterling silver ring around his finger.
She clearly noticed his nervousness and the ring he was twisting. She had given it to him a few years ago when she came back from summer camp – when everything changed. Her teeth covered her bottom lip for a few seconds. "Okay. She insists on getting out. Apparently before I visited she tried to 'flee the premises' as they worded it."
He threw his head back and laughed. "No way! Granny is the shit. Honestly, you have the coolest grandma. Give her my regards, would you?"
"I will." She grinned at him, and he felt as if he lifted off the ground a few inches. Making her smile like that made his day complete.
He noticed that she wasn't wearing her silver heart necklace that she normally wore everyday. Instead, a small gold flower was hanging from her neck.
"A gift from Enishi?" He asked casually, nodding at the necklace.
She unconsciously put her hand over it. "Yeah, it was really very nice of him. It's beautiful." She answered as if she had said it many times in her head.
He didn't bother to point out that Enishi was a complete moron for getting her a necklace. Anyone who knew her was aware of the fact that her simple silver heart necklace was obviously of importance to her. However, those who really knew her knew that her late grandfather had given it to her when she was seven, the year he and she had met…
"Alternating will be a pain in this ass." He added with slight smugness.
She gave an exasperating sigh. "Don't go there, Kenshin, just don't."
The smile faded from his face. He cleared his throat. "Right. So…I'll see you in gym." He said, ending the conversation on a quick note. It bothered him to no end that she couldn't tolerate any resentment toward Enishi. He had a right to hate him. After all, he was the one whom she dated almost directly after breaking up with him.
When he walked past her, she allowed herself to finally graze her teeth over her bottom lip. She constantly forgot how woefully beautiful he truly was these days. His gem eyes held a stark keenness, making her feel like an open book. Then again, since they knew each other for so long, she assumed it was natural to feel that way, they were too close for too long.
She sighed loudly. How did he continue to stay exactly the same all these years? His fluid lifestyle and adaptable way were beyond her comprehension – after all that had happened to him…
But she supposed that was why he was this way – it was only natural since he found out at such a young age how life is fleeting and can be taken away in an instant.
She internally shuddered at the thought. It almost made her want to scream and yell at everyone who had such petty worries in this school. Who cared if the theme for junior prom should be Nautical or classic? Who cared if two people in the school had the same shirt as you?
Almost.
She had been down this train of thought plenty of times since ending things with him. But she knew deep in her heart that she wouldn't give up all her hard work just for a fleeting moment of relief. Despite her deep beliefs against those who are so shallow and fake, she knew that was what she partially was. She couldn't help it – what she did involved being a bit fake.
God, she hated Mondays. It almost made her forget why she broke up with him sometimes.
Someone tapped her shoulder, to which Kaoru slowly grasped to be Megumi's doing. She smiled at her friend. "Hey, what's up?"
"Ugh, dying for vacation." Megumi groaned, closing her eyes, as if she was trying to pretend that she was on a beach instead of being in school. "But besides that, just a ton of homework – I was so busy this weekend."
"Yeah, me too! These A.P. classes are out of control – they're really cracking down because of these stupid tests." Kaoru agreed, rolling her eyes.
Megumi sighed, looping her arm with Kaoru's. "Just wait, next year when we're seniors at this point in the year, we won't have anything to worry about."
"Well, hopefully I'll just have to worry about student government." Kaoru reminded Megumi, a small smile on her face.
"Oh, please. You're going to get that presidency. Tomoe totally has you under her wing – it's so obvious she wants you." Megumi said with a dismissive gesture. "Also, with Mr. Enishi Yukishiro as your totally hot boyfriend, you've got it in the bag."
Kaoru beamed, thinking of Enishi. "Yeah, I didn't talk to him all weekend – his cousins from Colorado were visiting. I miss him."
"Then how did you get this?" Megumi squealed, pointing to the gold necklace around her neck.
"He managed to drop it off at my house at an ungodly hour, which was very nice."
Megumi shook her head. "He should've called, that naughty boy."
Kaoru had to agree, he should've called to wish her a happy birthday. But she knew that he did manage to give her a cute card with Snoopy on it with the necklace, so she let it slide, despite feeling slightly disappointed.
Kaoru shrugged. "I understand he's been busy…it probably slipped his mind until late last night when everyone left."
A very unpleasant thought came to her mind at that point: Kenshin always managed to call her on her birthday.
She tried to brush it away, even though it was a very valid point. When the two of them were best friends and when they were going out, he always found a creative way to wish her a happy birthday, even if he wasn't always there to do it.
"Well, you two will just have to kiss and make up." Megumi said with a mischievous glint in her eye.
Kaoru smiled and shook her head. She was sure that Enishi would come to her with large puppy dog eyes, apologizing profusely for not calling her. Yes, she was sure of it.
Kenshin had a million reasons why he hated Pre-Calculus Honors. But there was one, bright reason why he loved it: Enishi was in his class.
A lot of people would stare at him confusedly for that answer. After all, Enishi was Kaoru's boyfriend, and Kenshin had every right to hate him, and he did take full advantage of it. But, they all forgot that Kenshin had a natural ability that shocked every teacher he got in high school.
And on the fifth day before spring break, he was pleasantly reminded why he enjoyed being in the same room with Enishi Yukishiro for forty-five minutes each class four times a week.
"This class average was horrible on the test you took on Friday." Mr. Saito stated bluntly, dropping the pile of tests on his desk, making a loud noise.
All the girls in the class winced and boys fidgeted uncomfortably. Kenshin, however, let out a breath and leaned back in his chair comfortably. He admitted that the test was a bit harder than usual, but it wasn't enough to worry him.
Not that he would actually worry about a stupid test – there were more important things in life.
He fingered his wide, brown leather bracelet with plaited leather strips that had an adjustable buckle. A good luck bracelet – Kaoru had given it to him for one of his own birthdays. He always did well wearing it.
He looked toward one of his best friends, and band mate, Soujiro Seta, who gave him a slightly worried look. Soujiro played rhythm guitar for The First Absolute, and had any sort of idea of Kenshin went through when he was eleven, given that Soujiro lost both his grandparents to cancer at a young age. But as to their feelings on grandparents – they had no common ground whatsoever.
"What was the class average, Mr. Saito?" An annoying girl chirped, raising her hand high in the air. She was always that girl in class who always asked for the specifics of test results.
"Probably a sixty-five. And that's only because there were a few people that brought up the average."
Kenshin yawned and closed his eyes briefly. He should've just skipped this period – all they would do was go over the test because his class was occupied by too many kids who liked to be spoon fed everything.
But he did respect Saito in a grudgingly sort of way. The two had a very strange relationship – not only was Saito extremely curious about Kenshin's complete lack of concern for the class, yet managed to ace every test, but he had known Kenshin since he was baby.
It so happened that Saito and Kenshin's father were friends in college.
But they weren't very close, so Kenshin hadn't met him until he was about five or six. He remembered that horrifying moment when he first laid eyes on him – he was very similar to the "big, bad wolf" in the story books his mother used to read…
Shit, Kenshin thought to himself, don't think about her now.
"Kenshin – you were the only one to get that problem right – show us what you did on the board." Saito said, interrupting Kenshin's thoughts.
His violet eyes shot up to Saito's face, who stared back expectedly. He sighed and slowly got up from his chair, walking all the way up to the front where Saito held out his test expectantly.
He noted that he got a ninety-seven – he wondered what miscellaneous errors Saito managed to find this time.
He didn't need to ask which problem he needed to do – it was the second to last problem. He knew this because he had a bit of trouble with it in the beginning, not that he would admit that to anyone. He snorted when he found one source to his point deduction – he forgot to write down the answer to a square root could be positive or negative…even though the answer was the positive value.
Robotically he copied what he did, eliciting many "oh's" and "I see's." At the end, he bolded the positive/negative sign by drawing over it a few times, getting a low chuckle from Saito.
When Kenshin finished, he placed the piece of chalk back in Saito's hand and walked back to his desk. He and Enishi made eye contact, and Enishi gave a slight scowl. Kenshin gave him a small smirk in return before sitting down.
"Okay, see what formula he used…" Saito started, point to the board.
And Kenshin officially spaced out once again. School was such a waste of time – he could be doing more important things, such as coming up with new songs for the band. Or rehearsing – they had a performance on Thursday…which he was not happy about. But who was he to deny an opportunity for his friends? Although they all told him that he could cancel their gig, knowing what the coming Thursday meant to him, but he couldn't do it.
He would just have to suck it up and deal with it, which he was a master at.
Kaoru hated gym. It wasn't because of humiliation of coming up to bat and striking out, nor was it the annoyance of changing clothes.
It was the fact that her boyfriend and ex-boyfriend were in her class as well.
But it wasn't just that, it was also because Enishi didn't act like himself. He was so against Kenshin that it drove him insane…and it annoyed Kaoru to no end. She confronted him about it after the third class in the beginning of the year, and he did improve slightly, but there were still days that made her want to break up with him.
She guessed it was to be expected, given that Kenshin loved to torment Enishi. But she couldn't blame Kenshin for that either.
The situation could not be defined in black and white.
It also didn't help that her gym teacher was as old as some of the books they had to read in English – which meant that students could get away with a lot of things. Also, it meant that she wasn't very sharp – and continued to put Kenshin and Enishi on different teams.
She wasn't quite sure if her gym teacher actually did notice and took a perverse pleasure in watching the two of them battle, or if she truly was clueless and it was just a coincidence.
Somehow she thought it was the former.
Kaoru reached into her backpack and took out her new gym shirt to wear and turned paper white. "Shit!" She whispered, opening up the shirt, hoping it wasn't true.
It was. She managed to take the one shirt she carefully avoided taking ever since she dumped Kenshin over a year ago – it was one of the first t-shirt designs for his band.
She didn't even want to think about Enishi's reaction to the shirt.
But she knew Kenshin would make a smart comment about how that shirt would be worth thousands of dollars when the band would become famous.
"Hey, do you have a shirt that I could wear?" Kaoru asked a freshman girl. She continued asking around for a couple minutes, everyone suspiciously not having an extra shirt. "Fucking freshmen…" She muttered to herself in defeat as she put on the shirt, immediately crossing her arms over it to hide the design, which she had to admit, was very cool.
It had The First Absolute written in blue block letters and there were dainty green vines around the name, contrasting the bold letters. She was the one who designed it.
Misao, an old friend of Kaoru's, looked at her crossed arms with a questioning expression. Kaoru let her arms fall to her sides for a brief second before putting them back up again.
Misao chuckled. "Kenshin will have a field-day and Enishi will flip a shit. This is going to be a great gym class."
Kaoru groaned as they walked up the stairs from the locker room to the gym, where half the class was waiting. Enishi came up to her and put his hands on her shoulders.
"I'm really sorry about not calling you. After seeing my ridiculous cousins off it was already eleven…I'll make it up to you this weekend, okay?" He said with wide, apologetic eyes.
Kaoru gave a small smile. "How can I resist those eyes?" She admitted.
Enishi smiled and kissed her temple before looking at her tightly crossed arms. "What are you doing?" He asked with an amused grin.
She sighed. "Let me just tell you that I was in a rush this morning and I wasn't thinking when I took this shirt."
"Now I'm really curious, what is it?"
She lowered her arms, revealing the band that Enishi despised. He frowned at the shirt, trying to hide his immense disgust. The thought of Kenshin and her together was enough to make him vomit – he didn't understand how such a girl like her managed to fall for such a guy like Kenshin Himura.
"Well, well, Miss Kaoru, I never thought I would see that shirt again." Kenshin said with an amused voice, draping his sinewy arms around Kaoru and Enishi's shoulders. "That was always my favorite design – it will be worth quite a lot when the band becomes famous."
Kaoru couldn't help but snort – she figured he would say something along those lines.
"You're so predictable." She muttered, shrugging his arm off her.
Enishi roughly removed Kenshin's arm from his shoulder and glared at him. "It wasn't intentional, so stop pretending that it is."
Kenshin merely shrugged with a light smile on his face. "It couldn't have been completely unintentional…but that didn't need to be said out loud, right?"
"Kenshin." Kaoru said sharply, effectively stopping him from saying anything else.
He shrugged again, giving her a flippant smile. "Then I'll leave you to it." He turned his attention to Enishi. "I'm going to make sure I hit you in the face today." He informed Enishi as if he was simply telling him the weather.
"Don't sing it, just bring it." Enishi said calmly, raising his eyebrows.
"Then maybe it works when I leave, yeah, you fake what you say you love." He sung before humming the rest of the song to himself before walking away from the couple.
Kaoru had to take a breath before looking at Enishi. There was something about Kenshin's voice that got to her every time. Despite hearing him sing countless times, his voice always managed to ensnare her. She loved hearing him hum to himself as well – it sounded just as good as when he sung.
But she would never admit that to anyone.
When Mrs. Mimura separated everyone into teams, she couldn't help but analyze the lyric he had sung. Out of the thousands of songs he knew by heart, he managed to select one about her relationship with Enishi, according to him of course. Who was he to judge – she truly loved Enishi – she wasn't faking it.
But he seemed to think so.
"I'll make your past regret its future…" Kenshin murmured under his breath, rocking back and forth on his green Converse as they waiting in line to come up to bat.
"Would you stop?" Kaoru muttered.
He chuckled. "You know this song too, right?"
"No."
His smile fell. "What?"
"I don't listen to that stuff anymore, you know that."
He clucked his tongue once. "Well, look them up – All Time Low. Catchy, and good lyrics. They're fun."
"I'm too busy to look up miscellaneous bands." Kaoru said dismissively.
"Oh, right, too busy for that, yet you have more than enough time to organize the junior prom." He rolled his eyes. "Meanwhile, you could be discovering music that could potentially change your life."
It was her turn to roll her eyes. He always exaggerated the importance of music. "Music isn't high on everyone's 'important things' list."
"It used to be on yours." He said softly.
She bit her tongue to prevent herself from saying, "that was only because of you."
Mrs. Mimura shoved the bat under Kaoru's nose, preventing herself from saying anything to Kenshin that she might regret later. After whiffing the first pitch, she managed to hit the ball so it rolled between second and third base.
"Here's to you." He whispered, watching her as she ran to first base and laugh when Enishi grabbed her with the ball he was just thrown. His hands began to tremble a little by his sides.
He looked down to his shoes when he thought of a later lyric in the song:
The flavor of your lips is enough to keep me here. Keep me here…
"Happy birthday, Kaoru!" Kaoru heard someone exclaim as she was doing her U.S. Government homework that was due the next day. She looked up and grinned when she recognized who it was.
"Thanks, Tomoe."
Tomoe quickly grabbed the seat next to Kaoru, running her hands behind her so she could sit smoothly with her jean skirt. She raised her eyebrows at Kaoru before asking, "so, what did you get? I can't believe my protégé is seventeen!" She then sighed rather dramatically. "It seems like only yesterday when you came to the first student government meeting at fourteen-years-old."
Kaoru smiled fondly at the memory. "Yeah, I was quite the little frosh."
"Yeah, good thing I got to you in time. Can you imagine what would've happened if I continued to let you wear that jean jacket?"
Kaoru laughed along with Tomoe but looked away from her. That was a Kenshin's old jacket…
"Yeah, well we all go through our awkward phases, yeah?" Kaoru said lightly, closing her textbook. True, it wasn't the most flattering piece of clothing she owned at the time, but it was like an old blanket to her. The best thing about it was that it smelled like him no matter how many times she ran it through the wash.
"True. So, what did you get?" Tomoe asked again. Her eyes immediately started scanning down Kaoru's body from her low ponytail to her pearl studs. Her searching eyes stopped at the gold necklace resting on her chest. She gasped as she reached a hand out to touch it. "Is this it?"
Kaoru beamed. "Yeah, wasn't it so sweet of him? You should've seen me when I opened it, I totally flipped."
Tomoe's eyes shined with excitement. "You two are just the It couple. It's so cute. Can you imagine next year, Kaoru? Taking my place as president of the student government and having the Enishi Yukishiro as your boyfriend? It's perfect!"
"He is rather perfect, isn't he?" Kaoru said with a sigh. She couldn't deny that Enishi was quite a catch: he was going to be captain of the three teams he played on which included soccer, ice hockey, and lacrosse, he was very good looking, and he was as sweet as could be. He treated her like a princess.
"And that's exactly why the two of you will be like royalty next year." She made a little squeal of excitement.
Kaoru laughed as she shook her head. "People still have to vote for me, you know."
Tomoe waved a hand dismissively. "Everyone will vote for you. There's no contest. Megumi's going to be V.P., Sakura is going to continue being the treasury, and everyone else is just no contest."
A thrill ran through Kaoru's stomach at the thought of being president. How amazing would it be to have that on your high school transcript? Besides, she really wanted to make a difference, as cheesy as it sounded even to her.
"Well, let's try getting through the rest of this year. I have to get through fourth quarter with killer grades because unlike some people," Kaoru gave a pointed look at Tomoe, "who haven't gotten into college yet."
Tomoe laughed. "Don't worry, in a few months you won't have to worry either." She looked down at her small-faced watch before gasping. "Damn it! I have to finish this Calculus packet before next period! I'll see you tomorrow in Government." She said quickly before swinging her pink Vera Bradley bag over her shoulder and striding out of the cafeteria.
Kaoru sighed as she reopened her textbook. Somehow she didn't feel quite as motivated to finish her homework early.
After school when everyone was pulling out of their parking spots, Kenshin realized with a certain thrill that he was stuck behind Kaoru in the line of cars. A slow smirk grew on his face.
He waved to her, knowing she could see him through her rearview mirror. After a few seconds she gave a short wave without turning around. He shook his head, thinking, that won't do.
Making faces at her, he stuck his tongue out, and twisted his face into all sorts of expressions. When he saw her shoulders shake he smiled. She turned around and grinned at him while shaking her head. He honked at her when he realized that the line was moving forward.
He mouthed, "come on then!" and moved his hand, signaling her to move forward.
She immediately turned around and moved the car. When she was turning left out of the parking lot, she lowered her window. He quickly did the same and managed to hear her call, "you loser!" with an amused grin.
"One of a kind, dahling." He said with a New York accent.
She shook her head once again and brought her window back up again.
She was still smiling when she drove out of the school, he noted with a triumphant grin of his own.
He had to meet the band at Sano's house, where all the recording equipment was, in a half hour. In the mean time, he would drop off his bag, pick up his electric guitar, and maybe grab a bag of chips.
Pulling into the driveway, he turned off the ignition and ran to the front door. Before unlocking, he heard muffled yells. As quietly as he could he unlocked the door and stepped inside.
"What do you mean you crashed your car? I'm not paying for it, you know." Pause. "God damn it, Sozo, you're twenty-years-old!" Kenshin heard his father curse on the phone.
He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding – for a few moments he thought his brother was actually home at the same time he was.
Running up the stair skipping two at a time, he strode to the end of the hallway where his room was, which was originally to be a den, but when his family first moved in, Sozo and he flipped a coin to see who would get the room for himself.
When Sozo and Kenshin stopped talking to one another, Kenshin was always smug of the fact that he had the bigger room.
His room was his safe haven from the world. The space immediately relaxed his racing mind. His bedroom was rather large with a queen-sized bed covered by a quilt decorated with blocks of plaids in various colors across the room and a large window with a navy cushioned bench underneath. A huge, navy throw rug covered most of the wooden floor along with miscellaneous papers for school and an amp for his electric guitar, which was propped up against the window bench.
Quickly tossing his messenger bag to the side, he walked over to his bed where his acoustic guitar was resting. The guitar was like an old stuffed animal to him, he simply couldn't live without it.
He strummed a few chords as he walked back to the left of his room were his Mac was already turned on. "Don't Be Shy" by Cat Stevens filled the room by his doing. His fingers on the frats moved expertly and with barely any thought as he checked his e-mail, horribly hoping that somehow his band wouldn't have to perform on Thursday night.
Of course, he was sent a confirmation e-mail by the manager, with a little note saying how she was very excited to see them, since she heard such great things about The First Absolute. She even included a smiley face, which made him groan.
"Fuck me…" He whispered as he rolled his eyes, immediately stopping. He stood up slowly and put his acoustic guitar back on his bed, grabbing his royal blue electric guitar by its neck and then placing it inside the soft black case for it.
Before leaving his bedroom, he opened his bag to take out a messy black notebook with some papers sticking out. He flipped through it, watching the transformation from his awkwardly messy writing to his currently smooth, quick script. Turning to the last page he wrote in, he frowned. Nothing came to mind today, which was abnormal.
Probably during rehearsal something will hit me, he thought to himself as he closed his notebook and stuffed it in his guitar case.
When gathered his stuff and went downstairs, his father was still yelling at Sozo in the kitchen, so Kenshin decided to skip out on the bag of chips and just eat food from Sano's house.
"Hi dad, bye dad." Kenshin said on his way out the door. He didn't expect an answer as he shut the door and made his way to his car. After all, their relationship was pretty lax, given the fact that his father had missed out on over four years of his son's life.
Sano lived on the opposite end of Westbrook from Kenshin. Sano's house, although rather small, was full of energy and life and opposed to Kenshin's own rather large, empty one. Kenshin enjoyed coming to the Sagara house because it was completely different from his own. He felt much more comfortable there than anywhere else.
Although he had to admit, their driveway wasn't the easiest to get in and out of.
Ringing the door bell, he waited patiently, knowing that it would take at least two minutes for someone to stop being lazy and answer the door, a trait that existed in every family member, except for Sano's younger brother Ota.
"God, can anyone get off their lazy ass?" He heard Sano's younger sister Uki exclaim before opening the door. "Hi Ken, everyone's down in the hell hole."
Kenshin smiled. "Thanks Uki. Haven't seen you in a while – how're the middle school teachers?"
"You mean Mrs. Tomokazu specifically?" She asked with a knowing smile. "She referred to you the other day."
"Really?" Kenshin asked interestedly as he entered the house and shut the front door behind him.
"Yeah, she was talking about our research papers and how yours was one of the best she's ever read…despite being an absolute slacker."
Kenshin grinned. "Yes, that always pissed her off. Still bitter about it even after three years."
"You should see the way he treats Shuya in my English class. She's totally rides on him about slacking. You started that, and he's so pissed at you even though he's never met you."
Kenshin shrugged with nonchalance. "Can't help with that. At least I have some sort of smarts to make up for it. If he's just a slacker and a moron, then he's just wasting himself." He turned right down the small hallway to the door that led to the basement. "I'll see ya around, kid."
"I'm fourteen, God damn it." She called as she went in the other direction to the staircase that led to the upstairs bedrooms.
He chuckled as he opened the door and shut it before walking down the steep steps to the basement. He could hear his fellow band mates chatting and Sano's loud laugh as he made his way down and entered the room.
Sano was sitting on a high stool across from Yahiko, who was sitting on a lime green beanbag. Soujiro was sprawled on the torn leather loveseat next to Yahiko. They all looked to the entranceway when Kenshin strolled through.
"Hey! It's Kenshin the…shit. Nothing rhymes with your name. I guess you're not cool enough." Sano said as Kenshin propped his guitar against the wall.
"What rhymes with your name then?" Kenshin asked amusedly as he collapsed onto the matching leather couch. "Paesano? Which you aren't because, one, you're not Italian, two, you're not a brother because I'm not even in the room for two minutes and already you've insulted me, and three, Sano is actually your nickname, I just realized, so it doesn't actually count. Wow, I effectively wasted my own breath and everyone else's time."
Soujiro laughed out loud before sitting upright, taking a chip from the nearby bag and eating it.
Sano snickered. "Nice try, buddy."
"Go fuck yourself. It's confirmed – we're playing Thursday." Kenshin said, effectively changing topics. In the corner of his eye he saw Yahiko eating from the bag of potato chips. "Can you share the chips?" He asked Yahiko, who hesitantly passed the bag to him.
"Is that okay with you? We could totally lie and say that you're getting tested for Herpes…totally believable." Sano offered with a smile on his face.
"Fuck you. No, it's fine. I'll be fine. It's probably exactly what I need." Kenshin said before eating a chip. "Mm, I like this flavor. What is it?"
"Salt and vinegar. We were getting tired of the sour cream."
"Correction – you were getting sick of the sour cream, Yahiko." Soujiro noted.
"Fine, I was, but we needed a change anyway. We've been eating sour cream for too long."
"Yeah, but maybe they're a lucky flavor." Sano said.
"What?" Kenshin asked amusedly, taking a handful.
"Like, we've come up with some really good shit while eating them. Maybe we shouldn't switch." Sano explained, traces of worry showing on his brow.
"Are you joking? Sano, chip flavors can't bring luck." Kenshin said, shaking his head incredulously as he ate a few more chips.
"Besides, I think we're good enough to not rely on superstitious things like lucky…flavors…" Soujiro said, trailing off with a puzzled expression on his face. "That really doesn't make sense. How in the world did you think of lucky flavored chips?"
Sano shrugged. "I don't know. You know me, random shit pops into my head."
"True." Kenshin said as he swung his legs to the ground and stood up. "Alright, enough about lucky flavors, which, by the way, is definitely going on your senior sweatshirt Sano,"
"Every random thing I say is going to end up on my senior sweatshirt! The end of this year is going to suck because I'm going to have to choose…" Sano exclaimed.
"Anyway," Kenshin said with a smile, "we should get practicing."
"Yeah, my research paper needs to be handed in this Friday." Soujiro added in a worried tone.
"Oh, please, knowing you the paper's already done." Yahiko said dismissively as he went to the drum set.
Soujiro shrugged sheepishly. "I still need to edit!" He grabbed his rhythm guitar from the wall and started tuning.
"Why do you even bother wasting so much time? After all, Yuriko is so easy." Kenshin said dismissively as he unzipped his guitar out and began tuning his as well.
Soujiro stopped what he was doing to stare at the redhead. "Are you serious? She's so hard! I barely get a B in that class!" He exclaimed with wide eyes. Kenshin froze in the middle of twisting the knob on the neck. Oh, shit, he groaned internally. "Oh my God, not her too! Are you joking, Kenshin? I thought the only reason you don't share your grades from that class was because you were nearly failing for once!"
Kenshin almost snorted at that comment. He would never fail a class based on grades alone. In fact, if only his tests and papers were just used in grading, he would surpass even the top student of their graduating class.
Soujiro let out an uncharacteristically frustrated sigh. "How unfair…of course the guy who doesn't care about school does well in Yuriko's class."
Kenshin smiled sadly. Out of everyone in the band, Soujiro cared the most about his grades and the clouded future of college. "She just likes my style. She's a bitter old witch…so I tend to write in a style that would most amuse her. It's the only reason why I haven't been thrown out of that class yet." He explained as he finished tuning.
Soujiro laughed. "Yeah, well, you should really try to at least pretend to pay attention."
"Now why would I do that? It's total bullshit. I think the teachers find it rather refreshing that a student isn't trying to fake his interest or whatever. I'll pay attention when I find whatever we're learning interesting…which is rare."
"Actually, teachers just get pissed." Yahiko said as he started drumming a beat.
"Not with Kenshin, especially the female ones." Sano said while wiggling his eyebrows. "He's just so charming!" He added in a high voice, resembling a girl.
"Shut up." Kenshin said, wanting more than ever to stop this conversation and just play.
"All right, we'll leave you alone." Sano said, backing off and strapping his bass guitar. "I asked for a new bass for by b-day…you know the one that was on display."
"And? What did Kamishimoemon say?"
"My father said, 'get the fuck out of here,' and went back to his work."
"Ouch." Yahiko said.
"Meh, he'll get it for me anyway." Sano shrugged. "I normally don't ask for shit."
Kenshin smiled as he dug his hand into his pocket for a guitar pick. "I'm sure he will. Alright, so Thursday we're going to sing 'Out Of My Head,' 'Free Dream,' 'Lullabies,' and a Beatles song?"
"I think we should do 'My Virtues' instead of 'Free Dream.'" Soujiro said. "I think it's a bit more polished…I think we need to work more on 'Free Dream' at a later date since we need to fix my and Yahiko's part. It's too much to do between now and Thursday."
"Good call, we'll do 'My Virtues.' So we're good?" Kenshin said. Sano, Soujiro, and Yahiko nodded in agreement. "Okay, sweet. Which Beatles song do you guys want to do?"
"Well, it depends…" Yahiko said slowly.
"Depends on what?"
"Do you…want to do some sort of tribute of sorts to your mom?" Yahiko replied softly. "I don't about you guys, but I feel guilty about playing on Thursday, it's not fair to you, Kenshin."
Sano and Soujiro murmured in agreement. Kenshin sighed and ran a hand through his bangs. "I'm fine. I told you, it's probably going to be the best thing for me. It really should be a normal day anyway." He added the last part in a quiet voice.
"We'll sing 'Let It Be.'" Sano said flatly.
"Look, we don't have to –" Kenshin started before being interrupted by Sano.
"Too bad, we are. Everyone good? Good. Let's just play, I'm ready to go deaf." Sano said as he started giving a beat. "Come on, Yahiko, let's roll."
Yahiko grinned and joined in a fast tempo. Soujiro sighed and shook his head before strumming his rhythm guitar.
Kenshin smiled as he watched his friends play, more grateful for them than ever. With that thought, he jumped in with a catchy melody and began singing, freeing himself from all thought, of course, never quite freeing himself from a certain blue-eyed girl.
A/N: I was inspired by two things to write this story. First and foremost, the skeleton of the love triangle was inspired from the ABC Family show Greek, a wonderfully hilarious show about college life and the Greek system (returning March 24th!!). Second, and it's so beyond geeky, is The Great Gatsby.
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MissGoalie