"Will Ayame, room 3-14 please report to the principal's office immediately."
The P.A system rang throughout the quiet classroom of 3-14 in which students were writing their tests. The silence was broken, however, by the announcement from the office that had sent for Ayame.Not being a prompt nor disciplined class, therewas a sudden outburst of murmurs and ruckus throughout.
There were the dumbfounded, "They sent for Ayame?"
Then there came the jokes... "Ooh, the top student's in trouble now!"
Of course, then there were people who decided to take advantage of the situation. "What's the answer for number five? Quick!"
"Quiet!" The teacher screamed and banged her fist on the desk as the students snapped back into fake silence. "Ayame, you heard the announcement. Finish your test after lunch."
"Yes, miss." Ayame said obediently and put all her stationary away and handed her test to the teacher before straightening her kilt to go down. She wondered what she had done. Maybe it was one of her cousins or her mother who was there to come pick her up for an early appointment, or maybe it was just to go pick up some papers for her teacher. Pushing back her glasses that fell onto the bridge of her nose, Ayame sighed and ran down the tiled stairs to the office.
"Keep your hands off of the report cards, Bankotsu." The secretary snapped for what seemed like the millionth time, trying hard not to lose patience at the infamous braided boy who seemed oblivious that she was even talking to him.
"Whoa, who the hell is this shithead?" He muttered under his breath as he filed through the marks of 60s and 50s."This kid couldn't even get a job at a drive-thru."
"Don't swear in the office!" The secretary burst out, a purple vein protruding from her tight forehead. She wiped all the report cards from the desk into a cardboard box that Bankotsu had taken them out from. "Young man, you really are going to get it one day and you won't be smiling then!"
"Just one question I'd like to ask you, miss." A seductive grin swept over his face, mischief twinkling in his lavender eyes. "I'd just like to know…"
She looked up behind her square framed spectacles, giving the least of her attention. "What?"
"Is your forehead naturally that tight, or are you a botox bride?"
The secretary was about to curse loudly at him, and she would have if Ayame hadn't come striding into the room. As she regained her poise with great patience, Ayame stood on the other side of the room, her curious green eyes observing the office for her kin. The secretary stood up and pointed a trembling finger towards the principal's office, signaling both of them to get in there before Bankotsu did anything else that would break her.
"Why, hello, Ayame." the boy winked suggestively. She gave a slightly snobbish snort which erased the grin off his face.
Ayame stared at the braided boy before she realized who he was; he was Bankotsu, the boy who was well known as the school's juvenile delinquent. He was always out of uniform; and right then and there wasn't any different from anytime else. His shirt was untucked, His collar not buttoned up, and his name tag was nowhere to be seen. And what was with the silver chain with the dog tag? Ugh.
"Ladies first." Bankotsu said as he strided over to the door to the principal's office in two bounds and held the door open for Ayame like a polite gentleman. As Ayame hesitantly walked through the door, Bankotsu gave the secretary a wink and a smile as he closed the door and heard an annoyed growl.
"Please, take a seat." Principal Kaede said as she shuffled through some papers and held out a yellow sheet to Ayame and a purple sheet to Bankotsu. Her graying hair was tied tightly into a bun and she was dressed up so businesslike that anyone could have mistaken her for a shrewd businesswoman. "Ayame, I wish to comment you on your lack of community service hours…"
"Excuse me?" Ayame replied with a tint of aggressiveness to her voice.
"Your graduation requires community service hours." Kaede sighed. "All two hundred of them over the three years of high school. And you barely have twenty, Miss Ayame. You'd better live it up soon or else when graduation comes, you'll be forced to watch your peers graduate while you stay back."
"Sucker." Bankotsu snickered to himself, but quickly plastered on an intended fake smile as Kaede turned her words on him.
"And you, Bankotsu, I don't know how you managed to get through the first and second year. But your grades are dropping fast as raindrops, and that is a concern."
Bankotsu said nothing and suddenly turned interested in curling the tip of his braid with his finger. Kaede coughed and continued.
"However, it has come to my attention that you have already registered your two hundred service hours in the first year, and that is to be praised. Now, don't get a smug face, Bankotsu. I will pair you up with one of our academically smart students to help you to pull up your marks by the time you graduate."
"…and who…might that be…?" Bankotsu questioned slowly as his head snapped up and turned abruptly a finger towards Ayame's direction."
"Her!" Bankotsu bellowed as he pointed a finger to Ayame.
"Him!" Ayame screamed just as loudly as she pointed a finger to Bankotsu.
"Yes, exactly what I was thinking." Kaede said calmly at the dumbfounded teens. "Of course, Ayame, you will help Bankotsu until the rest of the year until I see some progress in his marks; don't make that face at me, girl, I will give you service hours for it as well. Bankotsu, you will be able to pull up your marks, so there's a fair deal for you."
"Don't I get anything?" Bankotsu complained harshly.
Kaede locked her fingers and said, "Your reward will be a good report card and a promising future. I think that should be good enough for you. Now away you two go."
Taking off her glasses and wiping the glaze of sweat that trickled of her forehead, Ayame walked dazed out of the office with Bankotsu striding a few steps behind her. As both walked up to the third floor back to their seperate classes, Ayame let out a sigh. Unfortunately, Bankotsu had heard and decided to comment against it.
"So bitch, you don't want to teach me, do you?" he growled menacingly. Ayame turned and shot back,
"I don't want to teach you, you don't want me teaching you. We're square, I should say."
"Well, well, I can't wait for you to fill my worthless brain with all your scholarly knowledge, Oh great one." came his sarcastic reply. "Seriously, I have better things to do than having to hang around at this hellhole of a place all friggin day."
"Then why don't you just drop out already?" Ayame said snappishly, not giving much of a thought to it. Bad choice of words, she thought, for the next thing she knew she was slammed against a wall and Bankotsu's fist was next to her head. With a leer he snickered.
"How the hell would you know, you and your rich and privleged life?" He sniffed her hair deeply that made her shiver. 'Wearing Channel, toting your Gucci backpack. You don't know the meaning 'life's a bitch,' do you? Having everything handed to you on a platter, it must be a hell of a thrill., no?" he said quite matter-of-factly, spitting his words like venom through firmly clenched teeth. Ayame regretted ever responding to him and prayed that a teacher would come and spot them. No one came. After a long, eerie silence Bankotsu broke it with a cough.
"What time is it?" he asked.
"It's thirty minutes to the bell." she answered, watching him shuffling in his bag. Taking out a stash of papers, he tied them together with an elastic, took out a cigarette and put it behind his ear. He handed the messy bunch to Ayame and said,
"Take that to Room 3-7. That's for my teacher."
And he went down the stairs without looking back. A while passed before all she heard were the buzzing of flies. She turned her heel and walked to Bankotsu's class thinking,
'Fine, if I can't change any of this, I might as well teach that idiot! Hmph!' Ayame grunted and looked at the stash of papers, and couldn't help but snort as she looked at a huge stain of what looked like coffee. Her eyes then lit up as she started reading his report.
'Hey…' she thought. 'this guy…he sure knows how to write…'
She thought for a moment and cocked her eyebrow. '...and exactly HOW does he know I'm wearing Channel?'
Hello. This is Yunilon, formerly known as Yuni-chan...well, let's just say, a lot of things have come up and I really haven't found the time or the drive to write anymore. I was close to giving up ever writing or posting my work to others to enjoy and criticise, but I'm just going to mention that some people have helped me get on my feet much to my thankfulness. Guys, you know who you are...thanks. I really do appreciate it.
So now I'm back with a fresh new drive to write stories. The first thing I wanted to do is rewrite one of the first Ayame x Bankotsu pairing stories on the fanfiction world that I wrote, as I thought 'yeah, maybe they could be a cute couple...' a couple of years back. So here is the fresh, renewed chapter of my story, 'Hip-hop through Life,' formerly known as 'Breaking the Ice,' even more formerly known as 'Tutoring the Juvenile.'
I'm proud to say that 'Tutoring the Juvenile' was the first Ayame x Bankotsu on and I'm a bit sorry that I erased it due to a group of flamers hating on me so much for writing it. To those who reviewed BtI and formerly TtJ, your reviews inspired me lots to write HtL. Props to you. Thanks so much.
Yunilon is BACK! (muahahaha!)
