Popsicles:
The Great Pretender
"Wow…" Kota said as he stared at the enormous building in front of him. Kota was your average high school freshman, blue hair covering his right eye, and in a pony tail. Hazel eyes, thin body type and an average height. He was wearing the official school uniform. This was his first time going to this new school district, after he had moved, and the first day of his high school career. The building in front of him was to be his new school. It was three stories high and spanned for what seemed like miles in both directions. The school was built in a sort of crescent effect at the entrance, with a fountain near the middle of the open area that lead to the school. This giving it an elegant atmosphere. But the entire building was surrounded by an eerie old gate with only one entrance, and one exit. Kota began to walk toward the magnificent place when someone spoke to him.
"Rather an imposing institution, what?" the kid asked. This kid was wearing the same school uniform as Kota, black pants and a white t-shirt with a black button up over shirt and a black tie over it. The kid had orange, short spiky hair, and he wore small glasses over purple eyes.
"Huh?" Kota asked, confused by the abrupt use of complicated words that his brain had yet to interpret.
The kid sighed, "The building, Setsuki High School, it is intimidating, correct?"
"Oh… yes it is," Kota agreed, "my name is Kota, nice to meet you." He said, holding out his hand.
"Yuki, charmed." Yuki said, meeting Kota's hand in a firm shake.
"Well then, shall we go meet our doom?" Kota joked.
"I suppose, I mean we are the only two students not inside the building." Yuki answered.
"Oh man, your right!" Kota said worriedly as he ran with Yuki towards the quickly closing gate. The gate shut with a crash unlike any other. They were locked out of the school on their first day. "Aw, man… So much for a good first impression on the first day…" Kota moaned. Yuki opened his school bag as casual as if they were where they were supposed to be, and shuffled through it. After a few seconds he pulled out a cell phone and started dialing in a number.
"Fuyuka? It's Yuki… Yes… I know… Can you come open the gate? Okay, thanks… Bye."
"Who was that?" Kota asked.
"My older sister, Fuyuka. She is a part of the club that helps the school, and she has that for her first class. More importantly, she has the keys to get us inside." Yuki answered/
"Nice, connections. Is that her?" Kota pointed to a thin girl in the distance wearing a long black skirt and a tight black shirt, the girl's uniform. The girl had brown eyes and long dark brown hair up in pig tails.
"Yes it is. Hello there, Fuyuka, sorry to inconvience you like this." Yuki said.
"Well, well, Yuki. Look at what you've gotten yourself into now." She said smugly.
"Yeah, yeah. I know. Just let us in please." Yuki said.
"Us? Who is that young man?" Fuyuka asked curiously.
"His name is Kota. He is one of my new friends, we got caught up in conversation and lost track of time." Yuki answered.
"So I see, I guess I can help you two boys out. But you owe me a favor… Both of you!" She said in an almost evil tone.
"You got yourself a deal!" Kota said without a second thought.
"Wait Kota… What exactly are the favors?" Yuki asked, cautious of his older sister.
"Hmm… I can't give you an answer to that right now. I don't have anything on my mind currently, but you don't have a choice but to accept my terms." Fuyuka said slyly.
"Oh boy… But you are correct. We accept." Yuki said almost sickly.
"Alright then." Fuyuka said as she started to open the heavy gate. When it was open, the boys thanked her as she went back to her classroom.
"It should be okay for us to be late today. We can claim that we got lost and had to find help. What is your homeroom class anyway?"
"I have Mr. Kwick in room 213 B." Kota answered, looking down at a schedule he had pulled out from his bag.
"As do I," Yuki said, "Shall we find this room then?" Yuki gestured towards the building and began walking.
"Yes, lets o that." Kota replied as he caught up to Yuki. The two entered the building, and climbed up the stairs to the second floor. They soon found their class, and found out the teacher had not even arrived yet. They found two open seats and sat next to each other. They soon found themselves bored after a while, and the teacher not being there made the rest of the class chaotic. But, it only lasted for a short time, because the teacher showed up.
"Class! Settle down this instance! Get off those desks! I will not be disrespected like this!" Mr. Kwick exclaimed as he rushed into the classroom. Mr. Kwick was a tall, average man wearing a suit, and was bald.
"Oh boy…" Kota whispered to Yuki, who nodded in agreement. They could tell that this school year was going to be interesting.
"Alright, I apologize to you students for my being late. My name is Mr. Kwick for those of you who don't already know. Now I'm going to call roll." The teacher said as he called roll. After he called everyone's name, he handed out an algebra assignment. Yuki found this assignment extremely simple, and was finished in a matter of minutes. When he went to turn it in to the teacher, however, he was not pleased.
"Yuki, look at this and read to the class what it says." The teacher said.
"… Make sure to show all of your work…" Yuki mumbled, angered by the slight embarrassing moment.
"And what did you do?" The teacher asked.
"I solved every single problem in my brain without difficulty and only wrote down the correct answers." Yuki proudly noted.
"But you did not follow the instructions that I gave you. No matter how amazing it is that you actually did these problems without difficulty and in your head, you still need to show your work or people will think you cheated. Now go sit and write out all of the work needed to be done in order to solve these." Mr. Kwick instructed Yuki.
"Yes sir…" Yuki moaned, as he went back to his seat.
"Well then, you may just be too smart for this class, Yuki." Kota joked.
"That's just it, I am." Yuki said. "I always have been. I just choose not to go into higher level classes for fear of having a class with my sister."
"And why is that?" Kota asked.
"She will have me do her work for her somehow. That is why I am afraid of the favors we owe her. In the past I have had to do some extremely embarrassing things for her."
"What were those things?" Kota asked curiously.
"Well… Do not go spreading this kind of stuff around, but the one thing I will tell you is that she made me model for her… Wearing different 'skirts'…" Yuki whispered.
"Oh my gosh… Why didn't you warn me before I agreed to her terms?" Kota whispered hurriedly.
"Well, there was no time then, and we did not have a choice anyway. We could not just skip school." Yuki answered.
"Well, we could have..." Kota began to say, when a shocked Yuki interrupted him.
"Are you mad? Do you know what that would do to my unmarked record? Besides that, it is wrong! I cannot even begin to believe that you would…" Yuki was interrupted.
"Yuki! Keep it down. Have you finished showing your work yet anyway? How about your friend? Now be quiet and finish your work." Mr. Kwick exclaimed. The two students quickly finished up their work. Next, Mr. Kwick handed out some biology, history, and other worksheets. "These will be due tomorrow, at the end of class." Mr. Kwick announced, as the majority of the students began procrastinating and started slacking off.
"I don't know about you, but I think I'm going to work on these tomorrow." Kota said.
"… As shall I." Yuki decided. "Do you have any idea of what we could do while we wait?"
"Hmm… I'm not sure, do you?" Kota asked
"Well, physical education begins in approximately twenty minutes, we could stretch." Yuki said.
"In the middle of class? Don't you think we'll stand out?" Kota questioned.
"I guess. Well, since we cannot think of anything to do, maybe we should work a little." Yuki said, beginning to work.
"You do that, I think I'm going to relax." Kota said as he sinking into his seat. He had almost fallen asleep when someone woke him.
"Hey, wake up. I have a question to ask you!" A voice said shyly. When Kota looked up and his eyes focused, he saw a boy standing over him. The boy had medium length, shaggy brown hair. His eyes were blood red, and he was wearing the school uniform, same as everyone.
"Yeah, what is it?" Kota asked dazed.
"Uhm… Problem twelve on the algebra sheet, 'one a'. Can you help me set it up?" The student asked.
"Sure." Kota said as he helped the student set up the problem. "Oh, my name is Kota by the way."
"Oh, I'm Haruto, nice to meet you." He said as the class ended and began physical education.
"Alright, students! Listen up! I know it's your first day and you're used to taking it easy. Well that's about to change! All of you do twenty laps around the field, and don't even try sneaking your way out of it! I'm watching you…" The physical education teacher growled as he blew his whistle and the first of four groups started to run. Kota was in group one and as he looked back to see what group Yuki was in, he couldn't tell. So he slowed and turned his head slowly. Suddenly, there was a tall figure right in front of him.
"Ah, a trouble maker, eh?" The instructor said, staring straight into Kota's eyes. The instructor was a tall, middle aged, muscle man with a receding hairline of army cut black hair, and had black eyes.
"Uh… No sir." Kota said surprised.
"I got my eye on you, boy." The teacher said as he walked away. Kota began running again, giving up on the search for Yuki.
"Quite a large one, isn't he?" A voice called from behind. When Kota turned his head, he saw two students behind him. They both had short blond hair and blue eyes.
"Huh?" Kota said confused.
"I agree." Said the second student.
"Hi, I'm Laux, and this is Yagami." Laux greeted Kota.
"We're twin brothers." Yagami added.
"I'm Kota, what did you mean by that comment?" Kota asked.
"Which one?" The twins simultaneously said.
"About what you said; 'quite a large one, isn't he.'" Kota answered.
"Oh, I meant the teacher. Who else would I be talking about?" Laux answered.
"Heh, well we better finish these laps before class is over," Kota said as they ran faster. After P.E. was Kota's lunch period. Kota decided to eat on the roof. After he bought something to eat from the cafeteria, he climbed up the stairs to the roof. When he opened the door, there was nothing but the railing. No one ate on the roof apparently. He settled himself and began eating.
Kota heard the door creak and looked up. There was a girl peering out looking at him.
"Hello?" Kota said.
"Oh… Hi there." She said surprised.
"Would you like to join me?" Kota asked.
"Yes, if you wouldn't mind." She said.
"Not at all." Kota smiled. When she opened the door fully, he saw her long brown hair and delicate yellow eyes. She came out and sat next to him shyly, hiding her legs in her long skirt. She was wearing a black short sleeve v-neck.
"My name is Kota." Kota told her.
"Oh, nice to meet you, my name is Ayumi. I usually eat up here alone, for the past year anyway." She explained.
"Oh, I'm sorry…" Kota apologized.
"No, no, don't apologize, it's kind of nice having company. But, you're not a new friend of Yuki's, are you?" She asked worriedly.
"Yes, do you know him?" Kota asked.
"Well, I heard about you from my from my friend, Fuyuka, you owe her for letting you two into the school." She told him.
"Oh dear… Do you know what my 'favor' is?" Kota asked.
"Well, she said she was going to let you off the hook this time. But Yuki has to do her homework for a month." She answered.
"Aw, man, that sucks for him." Kota said.
"Yeah." Ayumi replied, as the bell rang for them to go back to their homeroom. The two said their goodbyes. Now in the homeroom class was English and Japanese courses, which were quite boring. Yuki and Kota merely talked through both hours. After this was Kota's elective class. Kota wandered the enormous building until he found the exit leading to the archery area. He entered the bow storage area and saw the rest of the class watching a video on archery. Kota snuck in and took the nearest open seat. He found himself sitting next to a boy with long blue hair, with purple spiked tips, and light blue eyes. The boy had hair clips on the right side of his hair. And a girl with short hair, colored blond, and dark purple eyes. The two were playing a card game.
"Gah! I don't get it! Why do you always win?!" The boy scratched his head in confusion.
"Oh, Kale, just face the facts. I'm better than you!" The girl sneered.
"Shut up, Amanda!" Kale frowned shoving the cards for her. "I just don't get it… I got it! You're getting help, aren't you?!" Kale stood up and turned around fast.
Kota and another boy turned their attention to the movie quickly. "It was him, wasn't it?!" Kale said, his finger on Kota's nose.
"I-It wasn't me." Kota said surprised. Amanda busted out laughing, as the other boy began sneaking around to Amanda's side.
"Ah-hah!" Kale lunged himself at the boy and tackled him to the ground.
"P-Please, let me go!" The boy yelped.
"Aw, c'mon, Kale. It was all in the name of fun." Amanda winked as she helped the two up.
"Well, if that wasn't interesting, then I don't know what is." Kota said, wide eyed.
"Oh, you think that's interesting, you should have seen some of the things from last year." Kale said.
"Yeah, back in the good old days." Amanda added.
"Oh, I'm Kota by the way." Kota said.
"I'm Amanda, and that's Kale. We've been friends for ages."
"I can tell, you two seem pretty friendly." Kota hinted.
"We're not that kind of friends, Kota. But pretty much everyone assumes that." Kale sighed.
"I was just teasing you." Kota smiled. The three laughed, and soon the class was over. Kota left the building and began walking home. His house wasn't too far from the school, only about a mile. Kota arrived to a small blue house where his mother was waiting for him.
"Hi mom, I'm home." Kota greeted her. Kota's mom was a thin figured woman, with long light brown hair, and black eyes. She was wearing a green dress and a white apron.
"Hi, Kota, how was school?" She asked.
"It was fine, did Mr. Yazushu call about the job yet?" Kota asked. He had applied for a position at a place called 'Bakers Bakery.'
"Oh, actually yes. He said to start coming in every day after school, weekends off." She said cheerfully.
"Alright then, I'd better get going." Kota said.
"Hurry, you don't want to be late!" She said pushing Kota out the door. Kota left for the bakery.
"Perfect… You did exactly as I told you to." Said a mysterious voice.
"Just what are you planning to do with us?" She asked.
"Oh, I'm afraid you'll have to wait and find out for yourself. Goodnight, Mrs. Atoku."
END CHAPTER ONE