Couplings include one-sided Takari (Beginning only!) One-sided Miyakeru (Beginning only!) Miyashiro, and Taiora. Ok, to make this Taiora, you have to pretend that Matt is younger than Kari, and that their siblings. Also pretend that Tai and Kari aren't related and that Sora is the oldest of the group. This will be my biggest ficcie yet at 50 chapters! You wont be disappointed. Oh and, ken is psycho and Sam makes an appearance, as does my charrie and her boyfriend. ^_^
The Night Room
Tuesday, November 28, Chapter 1
TK was standing before the Odaiba High bulletin board. "Good morning, Ichabod." The girl's voice was deceptively sweet. He caught a glimpse of wiry brown hair as a khaki-clad figure moved to stand at his right.
Kari. He didn't turn from reading the announcements. "Good morning, Mother Teresa." If Kari pushed him any further, he'd ask for her blessing.
With a muttered swear, the girl moved on. Touche, he complimented himself. The warning buzzer hadn't even sounded, and already he'd drawn blood.
Actually, he didn't mind being called Ichabod. He'd come into the nickname when he hit his growth spurt. Ichabod Crane. Okay, he was tall and gawky, and he had and nose too big for his face. He had it on good authority (female) that another female thought he was cute, only his authority refused to tell him which one.
Not Yolei Inoue. Not a prayer.
"Just the boy I want to see." Ms. Ruddley was his grade 11 Health teacher, and also the school counselor.
He froze into immediate guilt. "What did I do?" More likely, what hadn't he done? Whatever it was, he'd hand it in by the end of the week. Promise.
"It isn't anything you did," The slim black woman said. "It's what you're going to do. Stay here. Don't move. I have a treat for you in my office." She disappeared through the doorway.
First period started in fifteen minutes. A teacher had a treat for him. Sure. He glanced at the teachers' bulletin board, full of notices about meetings that looked like guaranteed snooze time. Someone had tacked up a stained gym sock with a note reading 'Cinderella, where are you?'
Ms. Ruddley was back immediately with a sheaf of announcements. "Read the one on top. Or the one on the bottom. They're all alike."
Caught by the sight of his own name---galvanized by another that made his heart do wheelies---he began to skim the notice. He stopped and stared. "Were doing the Argus program now?" This was Star Wars stuff, the prototype of a computer program that was supposed to show them at their tenth high school reunion. Odaiba was one of the first to try it.
"Just read the notice."
A N N O U N C E M E N T
Date: November 28
Attn. Health 11 Class seven (7) students
Re. Personal Development Unit
Mimi Tachikawa Takeru Takaishi
Davis Motomiya Hikari Kamiya
Rebecca Rhodes Miyako Inoue
Cody Hida
Your appointment with Argus is scheduled for 5:00 P.M. on Thursday, December 7. We will meet in the observatory parking lot at the university, and I will have a few words with you before we enter the waiting area. You will bring permission slips signed by a parent or guardian as well as completed medical forms.
Wear comfortable, loose clothing. Prepare for delays by bringing homework or other reading material of an uplifting nature. You will enter the Night Room one at a time. For maximum value, those who enter early are asked to refrain from discussing their insights with others waiting.
REMEMBER: Argus is a scientific program. Its purpose is to give you an idea of your POSSIBLE future based on the individual interviews and questionnaires filled out earlier. Other factors are luck, aptitude, skill, opportunities and the willingness to work toward a goal. The purpose of this program is to get you to ask questions, not provide answers.
Life is a pie. You can choose the slice you want (Although you wont necessarily get it.). You can take whatever your handed on a plate. Or you can let the dessert cart pass you by.
Edith Ruddley
Counselor cc: Dr. Sora Takenouchi
VERY IMPORTANT: BRIEF MEETING
3:15 P.M. TODAY, RM. 101.
The lines about the metting after school had been underlined in red.
"We're going through Argus next Thursday night?"
"Thursday," The teacher echoed. "I know this is short notice, but Dr. Takenouchi's assistant just phoned me. The computer will be underutilized next week because of exams, so they're able to squeeze us in. Otherwise we won't have an appointment until spring. Do you have any problem with the time?"
He shook his head. His social calendar wasn't exactly full, and he was curious about this computer program that was supposed to foretell his future.
"I'll phone the university and ask them to give Rebecca Rhodes a message about this afternoon's meeting," Ms. Ruddley said. "I believe you have classes with everyone else. Everyone except-"
"Miyako Inoue" Tk always got a ringing in his ears from hearing her name. Speaking it made him breathless and giddy.
"Do you think that you can find her?"
"Miyako?" Tk wheezed. "Inoue?"
"Miyako." The counselour paused. "Inoue."
Bells chimed joyfully-carillons, not the strident buzzer that called students to first period homeroom. Tk heard little tinkling bells, huge dignified sumo-wrestler-sized bells. Bells jingled on the harnesses on Santa Claus's reindeer as they delivered gifts to deserving little boys. He also thought he heard "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" played on a Fisher-Price xylophone, although he wasn't prepared to swear to that.
"Earth to Tk. Come in, Tk." Ms Ruddley was looking at him peculiarly. "You'll find her standing near the entrance to the library. She's circulating a petition, I think."
He tried to take a shortcut up a down staircase, got stopped, and had to run down again through hordes of students. After the second staircase plaus a three-quarter turn around the school, he suddenly saw her standing near the library door. Miyako Inoue. His goddess.
Morning sunlight poured through the tall window at the end of the hallway, outlining her in a flame, turning her fair hair incandescent. Blinding him, but that was okay because he didn't plan to use his eyes again. She was talking to two girls, probably about the petition she was holding.
Kari was also there, standing at a table near the library entance, reading a Greenpeace pamphlet. In the bright sunlight, her hair shone like a new penny. "If you're trying to sneak up on me," she said when he came to a halt beside her, "I think you should know that you'd make a rotten spy. I spotted you on the stairs. So, what do you want now?"
"Nothing from you."
"Good. That's what your going to get." She paused. "What do you really want?"
"Can't tell you. I've already sent my wish list to Santa. Anyway, it's X-rated."
"YOU?" She laughed. "PG-13, tops."
A lot she knew. He picked up an identical pamphlet. "I need to talk to Miyako. I guess she's busy."
"Miyako. I might have figured." She returned to her reading. "You are so obvious."
AM NOT. ARE,TOO. He mentally filled in the blanks, then remembered something as they stood side by side, staring at their pamphlets. "I read your article about the science fiction convention you went to. It wasn't bad."
Kari worked on the school paper. Next year, everyone expected her to be editor. For a moment, she looked startled, then pleased. "It was good, wasn't it? Actually, that story was one of my favorites."
Her hair fascinated him. He wondered what it would be like to touch, whether it would be springy under his hands or soft. She looked almost pretty when she smiled, and that discovery puzzled him, too. Kari probably thought the flak jacket plus the camera hanging on a strap around her neck made her look like a real investigative reporter.
He had no idea why he was noticing these things when he was only a few feet away from the girl who occupied his fevered dreams. As Kari began to turn away, Tk remembered that her name was on the list. "Wait."
"What's this?" she asked as he handed her a notice.
"From Ms. Ruddley. I have to give one to Miyako."
"You do that." She began reading the announcement. "Go talk to Miyako."
He turned back toward the source of the light as a girl finished signing Miyako's petition. She moved away.
"Hi, Tk." Miyako smiled at him. Tk was afraid that he would throw up or worse. "I guess class is starting soon."
Her smile made him feel like he was standing in front of a warm fire. "Class," he croaked. "Soon." He glanced at the wall clock. Very soon. He held out an announcement. "I have something for you from Ms. Ruddley."
"Thanks. Have you signed our petition yet?" She held out the clipboard. "We plan to present it to the school trustees on Friday."
He'd sign it ten times if she would smile at him again. One hundred times for a kiss. "Do you have a pen?"
She pointed to a pen attached by a string to the clipboard.
Tk's ears grew hot. He had just made a fool of himself in front of Miyako. She had positive proof that he was an idiot.
He managed to balance the petition on top of his books as he signed , praying that everything wouldn't fall to the floor.
As he signed-what was he signing?
"How many signatures do you have so far?" Kari asked Miyako as she strolled up to them.
"Almost two hundred," the other girl answered. "There are still a few days left. Your story helped."
"Tell me if there's anything else I can do."
He scanned the top of the page rapidly. Day care. The petition asked for a classroom at Odaiba High to be used as a nursery so students with babies could return to classes.
"too bad there aren't any extra classrooms," Kari said.
"It's a great idea," Tk said loudly. "Great."
Miyako's silver charm bracelet tinkled as she took the clipboard from him. The charm bracelet had come from Izzy. Her boyfriend. They had been going together since the previous summer. Izzy was eighteen, a freshman at the university. Tk had seen them together, hand in hand, arm in arm, and on one horrible occasion, lip to lip.
He had to admit that they looked good together. If they were in a movie, Izzy would be cast as Miyako's surfer boyfriend. Just thinking about him gave Tk a headache.
Still, rumor had it that Miyako had a lot of free time on her hands lately. Tk was hoping that that meant she and Izzy had broken up. He'd even been practicing in front of the mirror. "I have a great shoulder to cry on, Yolei."
Miyako's eyes sparkled when she looked up. "Next Thursday? That's great. I've been looking forward to Argus."
"I'm coming that night, too,: Tk said.
Kari gave him a sharp look, and he remembered that she was on the list as well. "I haven't decided whether I'm going," she said.
Miyako's next words stopped him before he could respond. "The timing is marvelous, too. I can't see Izzy because of Hell week. He's really hitting the books."
"Hell Week." He said flatly
"Hell Week is what they call the exam week at the university," Miyako explained. "Izzy has five finals."
The buzzer sounded. Kari turned to go. "See you later, Tk." Not Ichabod. But the brunette girl's correct use of his name barely registered.
He sighed deeply. The only reason Miyako wasn't seeing her boyfriend was because he had to study.
Not all the chapters will be this long, but I want at least 1 review before I continue each chapter.