This is a little story I've wanted to write for a while. A teenage, high-school romance. 'cause why not?
Hope you enjoy it!
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Preach to the Choir.
Chapter 1 – Touching a nerve.
Tyson shuffled impatiently in his seat in the waiting area of Mr. Dickinson's office.
They had been there for about half an hour already, waiting.
The members of the Bladebreakers got a call the previous afternoon asking them to come in for a meeting about an upcoming tournament.
Four of the five members were already there.
The only person not currently present, was Kai.
"Urgggh..." Tyson huffed, fed up. "Trust Kai to be the one to keep us all waiting." he complained.
"Now, now, Tyson. It's not his fault." Mr. Dickinson chuckled, "Kai is being brought directly from his school. Today was a test day, so he probably couldn't leave on time. I'm sure he'll be here shortly."
Kai was coming to the end of his first year of high school. In true Kai form, he didn't tell the others where he went or how it was going, so they didn't really know anything about his school life. Or personal life. Or anything for that matter.
They sat waiting for another five or so minutes when the door clicked open.
They turned to the door and were all taken aback by what they saw.
Instead of his normal, tough-guy, don't-mess-with-me facade, the boy they knew walked in in a whole new light.
He wore grey pants, a white shirt, deep purple tie and navy blue blazer with a fancy yellow symbol embroidered on the breast pocked. Clearly his school uniform. A fancy school at that, by the look of it. His face clean of his usual blue war paint. If it weren't for the same wild hair and moody expression, they may not have been able to recognise him.
Tyson snorted, "Nice uniform..." he teased.
Kai shot him a look that could only be translated as 'go fuck yourself'.
Their eyes came off their friend to a man following directly behind him.
He was a tall, well built man in his late thirties, wearing a suit but bright coloured sneakers. His brown hair cut fashionably, slight stubble on his face and thick-rimmed glasses in front of his steely grey eyes. He looked pretty cool, whoever he was.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, test ran over time and there was traffic..." he told them, as if they knew each other.
The other four members stared at him, smiling politely, but wondering who he was.
"Ah, how rude of me." the man said, realising. "I'm Dan Harris, Kai's home-room teacher." he said cheerfully as he reached out and enthusiastically shook their hands. "And you must be the Bladebreakers. I've watched some of your matches on TV. Nice to finally be able to meet you in person."
Kai rolled his eyes.
Mr. Dickinson stood up from his seat. Mr. Harris met his eyes and went to shake his hand as well.
"And you must be Stanley Dickinson, it's so nice to finally meet you after talking so much on the phone."
Kai glared at him with his arms folded. The others looked between them.
"A pleasure to meet you too. And thank you for bringing him at such short notice. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."
"Oh not at all."
A young woman came in to the room.
"Sir, there's a phone call for you."
"Ah, please excuse me for just a moment, gentlemen." Mr. Dickinson said before excusing himself.
Kai sat himself down, silently. Mr. Harris sitting himself opposite him. The boys began chatting amongst themselves as they waited.
Rei was trying to make small talk with Kai. It had been a while. As always, Kai gave short, to the point answers back, but answered at least. He seemed to relax a little, and even asked Rei about what he'd been up to. He even cracked a small smile as Rei complained about Tyson playfully.
From the corner of the young Chinese teen's eye, he noticed his teacher watching them, or Kai at least, trying to be subtle about it. He seemed a little surprised.
Mr. Dickinson came back from his office.
"I'm sorry about that boys, if you'd all like to join me in my office, we'll get started."
They got up and followed the old man in to his office, leaving Mr. Harris in the waiting area.
They had been brought in to discuss the next upcoming tournament. For some reason, the date had been pushed up, which meant they had to make sure everyone was able to make it in order for the team to enter. The paperwork had to be signed by them all and sent off right away to be processed in time.
Luckily, it wasn't a problem.
Yet.
After they finished, they made their way out of the office and back to the waiting area, where Mr. Harris was playing some game on his phone.
"That was fast." he said as he noticed them come out, putting his phone away.
"Let's go..." Kai said abruptly, not even looking at him.
"Hold on a sec..." his teacher chuckled, putting his hand gently on him to stop him. "Mr. Dickinson, I know you're busy, but do you have a minute for a little chat?"
Kai finally lifted his eyes to him, they narrowed suspiciously. Mr. Dickinson nodded and gestured for him to enter his office.
"If you boys wouldn't mind waiting here..." the old man said before shutting the door.
They sat back down. Kai dropped his bag lazily on the floor and slumped down, eyeing the door to the office.
"You in trouble or something, Kai?" Tyson asked nosily, also looking at the door.
"Not that I know of." he said flatly.
"Why do you seem to have such a problem with him? Seems like a real nice dude." Max questioned in his normal cheery voice.
"Hn..." was his answer.
Rei smiled and shook his head. He was still the same old sourpuss with his guard up against everyone. He took the opportunity to look him up and down. Taking his friend in in this unfamiliar clothing. He...scrubbed up nice. If he'd just wipe that pissed look off his face, he'd actually look really handsome.
About ten minutes passed when the door opened slightly, Mr. Dickinson poked his head out, getting Kai's attention and motioning for him to join them.
The boy huffed before uncrossing his legs, getting up and leaving the others.
"...wonder what he did?" Tyson wondered out loud, seeming to enjoy the idea of Kai being busted for something.
"I'm sure he didn't do anything, Tyson.." Kenny replied, knowing his friend was being mean.
"But then why is his teacher talking to Mr. D...?" Tyson asked.
"Well, Mr. D is his legal guardian until he's 18. Any school matters will have to go by him." Kenny answered matter of factly.
"Oh...yeh...I guess he is." Tyson felt bad he'd forgotten the little he did know about Kai's messed up family situation.
They were distracted from their conversation by the sound of a loud, angry voice coming from Mr. D's office.
The door was soon thrown open, and a fired up Kai stormed out. Rage in his eyes.
The two adults followed.
"Kai, come on...let's talk about this calmly." Mr. Dickinson said, alarmed at the enraged teenager.
"Come back in, Kai. We're not done here." Mr. Harris said firmly in his teacher's voice.
Kai whirled around to face him and growled.
"Oh, yes we are! Who the hell do you think you are butting in to my life like this?! You have no right to interfere with what I do outside of school!" he yelled furiously.
"I'm not butting in, this is about school. I'm here as your teacher trying to resolve an issue with your guardian. You just don't like it." he said calmly.
"Oh, please! I already told you, my answer is no! You thought you could come here and bully me in to it through him." he pointed at Mr. Dickinson, "Real dick move! But too bad for you, I'm not going to change my mind, so I guess you're shit out of luck!"
"Hey! Language!" Mr. Harris raised his voice.
Kai scowled at him before turning his back to him. He grabbed his bag and roughly threw it over his shoulder before heading towards the door.
"Kai...." his teacher warned, his face clearly getting angry, "don't you dare walk away from me..."
Kai kept walking.
"You walk out that door and you're looking at some serious consequences, mister!" he threatened.
"Do your worst! See if I care!" Kai spat back.
"I mean it..."
Kai reached the door, grabbed the handle and roughly opened it. He turned to give his teacher a murderous, defiant look.
"Bite me!" he snarled before slamming the door behind him.
Mr. Harris clenched his fists and let out his own annoyed growl. "Uuuurrrgghhhh...That kid drives me insane..." he thought out loud.
The realised that he'd actually said that and turned his head to the other members of his student's team, who just stared wide-eyed at the drama they had all witnessed.
"So...is he...this charming with you guys, too?" he asked jokingly.
"Oh, trust us, we feel your pain, sir." Tyson laughed.
"Indeed...he's uh...quite unique in his ways..." Mr. Dickinson added, a sweat drop on his forehead.
"Too stubborn for his own good, you mean..." his teacher sighed.
"I'm sure he'll come round once he's cooled off..." Mr. Dickinson said in a forced, optimistic voice. Mr. Harris just raised an eyebrow at him, "...do you really believe that?"
"Can you tell us what all that was about? He was seriously steaming." Tyson pried.
Mr. Harris stiffened. "I'm afraid I'm bound by teacher-student confidentiality..."
Tyson looked disappointed.
"...I don't think he's got that problem, though.." he smirked, nodding towards Mr. Dickinson.
The boys looked over at the old man. All of them curious and wanting the story.
Mr. Dickinson was clearly uncomfortable being put on the spot like that, wondering if he should tell them. But the he gave in as the four sets of eyes waited.
"You see...Kai's not exactly...socialising well with the other students school..."
"Shocking..." Tyson interjected sarcastically.
The old man ignored him, "It's been an ongoing issue...His teachers are very concerned at his lack of interaction with...well, anyone. While his academic performance is excellent, his social skills and attitude are...to be desired."
"Come on, tell us something we don't know already!" Tyson protested, getting him a nudge in the ribs from Rei.
"Quiet, Tyson..."
Mr. Dickinson nodded a thank you to Rei. "Mr. Harris put forward a suggestion to him to try and help bring him out a shell and learn to work with his classmates. He refused. So, he came here to discuss it with me. I also feel it would be good for him, so told him if he refused, I wouldn't accept his application for the next tournament."
"Jeez, Mr. D! Way to back him in to a corner!" Tyson laughed.
"Tyson, will you stop!" Rei scolded, "In case you forgot, he just stormed out of here saying he wasn't going to back down, which means we may be down a member!"
Tyson stopped laughing.
"Mr. D, you were just bluffing though, right!? You wouldn't really do it, would ya?!" he panicked.
Stanley sighed. "I'm afraid I don't bluff. For his sake, I feel I should honour my threat. It's about time he learned to interact with people."
Tyson's face dropped.
"You can't be serious!"
"I'm afraid I am, Tyson. I'm sorry. But I have to do what's best for him. It's for his own good."
"Well...maybe we can help! What is it you wanted him to do anyway?"
Stanley looked over at Mr. Harris,who shrugged.
"He uh...he wants him to join the school chorus and perform in the next concert."
Their faces paled.
"...we're doomed." Tyson said, defeated.
"Hold on..." Max voiced, "How exactly is joining a chorus going to help him? Seems like a bit of a far-fetched idea to me...no disrespect."
Mr. Harris came to life, unimpressed at the criticism of his brilliant idea.
"How will it help, he says!" he scoffed, "That guy couldn't express himself if his life depended on it! The only thing he knows how to do is push people away. I see it daily!" as he spoke, he got more and more animated.
"Being in a chorus requires teamwork and cooperating with other people. It only takes one person to upset the harmony. Every member must tune in to the others and give it their all, singing deep from the belly!"
"He's already part of a team." Max argued, a little freaked out by how much this guy believed in a chorus.
"And from what I heard from Mr. Dickinson, it wasn't exactly easy getting him to do that at first. But it involved beyblading, so he went along with it.
Max couldn't argue with that.
"I'm not saying being part of this team hasn't helped, I can see he's...slightly warmer with you boys...but it doesn't make him use the one thing he needs to learn how to use. His voice. He needs to learn how to show some feeling. To emote. Something joining a chorus can provide him!" he stated almost dramatically.
"I'm going to go ahead and take a wild guess that you run the chorus..." Rei smirked.
"Indeed, I do!" Mr. Harris beamed proudly, "and it's a damn good one!"
Rei sighed at the overly enthusiastic man and turned to the others.
"Well...I think we'd better try and persuade him, then."
"Are you crazy!? He'll murder us!" Tyson exclaimed.
"Mr. Harris is right...I'm pretty sure we're the closest friends he has, and we barely know him. He still holds us at arm's length. Maybe this would be good for him...and it's our job as his friends to help him...besides, if we doesn't, he's off the team. None of us want that."
"...so how do you propose we do this?" Kenny asked him.
"I...I don't know..."
"You should talk to him, Rei." Max suggested.
"Yeh. Tag, you're 'it', Rei." Tyson backed him up.
Rei choked.
"Why me!?" he protested. He was always lumbered with dealing with their moody teammate.
"...he sure as hell won't listen to any of us. You're our best bet."
He knew they were right, if anything they'd just make it worse.
"...fine..." he sighed, "I'll go look for him..."
"That'd be great! I uh...I can't really go back to the school without him..." Mr. Harris rubbed his head. Rei shook his head again and went off to find him.
Luckily, he had a few ideas of where Kai could be brooding around here. They used to come here a lot in the early days for meetings, and he'd always been the one sent to go find him back then, too when he'd wandered off.
He went with his instincts and checked a tiny, dark cafe down the street.
He hadn't lost his touch. The sourpuss was sat on a table by himself, nursing a coffee.
He walked in and slumped down opposite him.
"What do you want, Rei?" he said flatly.
"What makes you think I want something?" he asked innocently.
"You're here."
"Charming."
There was silence.
"Kai...look, we heard what all that was about."
"Hn. I thought as much. Sent you to try and get me to go along with their stupid idea." he grumbled bitterly.
"Actually, I offered."
"You're wasting your time, I'm not doing it."
"Why not?"
"Do I look like a fucking song bird to you?" Kai spat, annoyed.
"Heh, not one bit."
"So I'm not doing it."
"But Kai...you'll be off the team if you don't..." Rei said, pleading sadly.
"Well, then maybe it's destiny saying it's time to move on." he said, seemingly unphased.
Rei looked hurt.
"You...don't mean that, surely."
"Oh, I don't?"
Rei frowned.
"So this is all it's going to take for you to abandon us. Again." his voice filled with disappointment.
Kai stiffened, what happened in Russia was still a sensitive topic, even a few years later.
"All you have to do is show up and sing a little with some other students. What's the big deal? If it were me, it wouldn't even need thinking about. You guys mean more to me than my pride. I'd sing by myself in front of a room full of people if that's all it took to stay with you guys...we've been through so much together."
Kai didn't say anything.
Rei sighed.
"I'm not going to try and make you...you're too stubborn for that, so I won't waste my breath. But just know, if you do leave the team over this, it'll be...really disappointing."
He got up and left the other alone.
He made his way back to Mr. Dickinson's office. They turned to him as he entered with hopeful eyes. He shook his head. "I did my best, guys...but he's stubborn."
There was a chorus of deflated sighs.
The door opened again.
"Kai!" Mr. Harris exclaimed, relieved he hadn't lost his student and hoping he'd reconsidered.
The sulky teen didn't come in, he stayed in the doorway.
"Oh, don't get excited. You're my ride, remember." he huffed before throwing a glance at Rei and leaving.
"I guess that's our cue to leave. See you around, boys. Mr. Dickinson, I'll be in touch."
He left the room and followed his student silently back down to the car.
Things stayed quiet in the car. But that wasn't anything unusual with Kai around.
But Mr. Harris hated it.
"So...you have time to think about what we said?"
Kai huffed and looked out the window.
"...I'll think about it..." he said ever so quietly.
"...what was that?" Mr. Harris asked, he genuinely hadn't heard him.
"I said I'll think about it..."
Mr. Harris choked on the air he was breathing.
"You will?"
"Hn..."
"What the hell!? Me and Mr. Dickinson talk to you about it and we incur your wrath, Rei flutters his golden eyes at you and you change your mind?" he joked.
Kai didn't respond. Mr. Harris checked on him in the mirror. His stony faced student had an ever so slight pink tinge across his face. He was blushing!? Why? He had only made a joke, but...could it be that he...?
He smirked, feeling brave.
"You know, I couldn't help but notice you're way nicer to him than I've ever seen you be to...well, anyone...even saw you flash him a smile. You, uh...you sweet on him or something?" he asked coyly.
It was Kai's turn to choke, the pink quickly turned to a violent red.
"What?! Where the hell did that come from!?" he barked, embarrassed.
Mr. Harris raised a smug eyebrow.
"Oh-hoooo...did I touch a nerve there, Mr. Hiwatari?" he teased.
"Shut up! What kind of teacher asks a student something like that!?"
"Kai loves Reeeeiiiiii..." he sang childishly.
"Seriously, how are you an educator?!" he yelled, his voice seeming to crack ever so slightly. Not the kind of sound that often came out of the mighty Kai.
Mr. Harris looked at him again in the mirror, the kid was actually worked up. Seemed he really had touched a nerve. His face was burning. He didn't know Kai was capable of looking so flustered.
"...holy shit, I'm right, aren't I?"
"No! Just...knock it off! This is hardly an appropriate conversation." he protested in a quiet voice, arms back to their folded position.
Mr. Harris realllllly wanted to rib him more. Lord knows this kid was enough of a pain in his ass on a daily basis to deserve it. But, he did want him to be on his side, he remembered.
"I'm sorry, Kai. I was only teasing." he smiled.
"Whatever..."
They drove the rest of the way back to the school in silence.
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End of intro chapter! Hope you enjoyed!