Tick tock, Tick tock. Damn. Class takes forever to finish. I can't wait till- BRRRIIINNGG! Yes! I grab my things and head for the door. I rush past the crowd of people through the hall way and walk to the courtyard. I sigh and set my stuff down on a bench. I take out my paints and mini canvas and start painting. The crowd of students rushing to get to their next class. The sun making a perfect shadow across the students and the floor. I paint and paint till I'm done. I sigh and take a good look at the wonderful art I've just created.
"Hey! What are you doing out here?" I turn around and see Kazune.
The sun behind him makes him seem as if he's glowing. I want to paint him but, that would be weird. I pack up my things and say
"Just painting."
He shrugs and says "You do this every day don't you?"
I smile and shrug. "Do you stalk me?"
He chuckles and says "Maybe." He is such a weirdo. Anyway I sling my bag over my shoulder and start to walk away. He runs up beside me.
"What class do you have next?" He raises his eyebrows in a goofy way. I laugh and almost trip. He catches me and steadies me.
"Walk much?" He jokes. I shove him playfully and tell him,
"Well if you must know I have the same classes as you. Remember?" He frowns and then shakes his head 'no'. I blink and shout,
"We've been in the same classes for 3 years! How could you NOT remember?!" He shrugs.
"AARRGGGHH!" I stomp off and head to the girls' bathroom. When the door closes I slide down and sit on the floor. And I start thinking. Does he like me? Or most importantly do I like him? But he has a girlfriend why would he want to bother with me? Does he like me more than his girlfriend? Wait. But who is his girlfriend? Why am I thinking this all of a sudden?! *Sigh* I really need to get out more. I get up as someone comes into the bathroom. I walk past the person only to be stopped with a grab of the wrist and it's not hers. I turn and see her face. She looks like she is trying to remember something.
"Um… Can I help you?" I ask awkwardly. She releases my hand and shakes her head. Is this girl nuts?
"Sorry but, Do you… Do you happen to be Karin?" I raise my eyebrows.
"Why do you want to know?" She sighs in relief and hugs me.
"I've missed you so much Karin!" I don't hug her back I don't know this stranger! She suddenly lets go of me but looks confused.
"You don't remember me?" I frown and shake my head 'no'. She sighs and rubs her temples.
"I knew this would happen if I left. You don't remember your best friend!" I stare at her for a long time. Suddenly a name comes to mind.
"R-R-Rosie?" She smiles and hugs me again.
"I knew you would remember! I moved remember? Now I moved back and I found you!" I smile when all the memories suddenly flood back. When we made mud pies in her backyard. Playing dress up with her mother's old dresses. Talking about boys. Yeah I remember everything now. How devastated I was when she had to move because her dad got a new and better job.
"What brings you back to Japan?" I smile and ask holding her arm.
"Well my mom and dad got divorced and she wanted to come back here." She looked sad for a moment but then said "It's fine though. I get to visit him during breaks." I can't help but think about love more. I shake my head and rid myself of those thoughts. I just got reunited with my best friend and I want to be thinking of Love? Wow what a sucky friend I am.
"Hey do you want to meet my boyfriend?" Rosie asks breaking me out of my mental debate.
"Um, sure." We walk out of the bathroom and see Kazune waiting by the stairs. He looks up and smiles. God I want him to smile like that every day. But only to me.
"Hey Rosie. Where 'ya been?" He asks looking at Rosie. I blink and look between both of them.
"Do you two know each other?" I ask. Rosie smiles bigger (If that's possible) and says
"Meet my boyfriend Kazune!" She grabs his arm and gives him a kiss on the cheek. I can't hear anything. I feel sick. My stomach dropped right when she said it. Could it be that it was never meant for us to be? Is the world trying to keep us apart?
"Hey are you ok?" Rosie asks looking worried.
"Yeah. You're looking kind of pale." Kazune asks looking equally worried. Before I could answer I cover my mouth with my hand and run away from them. I can't take it. Just seeing them together makes me sick. Tears threaten to come out while running. So I run right home. Where there are no bad thoughts, no memories of them being together. Just my sanctuary. I lock myself in my room and turn off the lights. I sit there staring at the wall but I want to leave but I can't. My mom comes knocking on my door telling me dinner is ready. So, I know better than to be defiant, I open the door slowly and cover my eyes because the light is so bright.
"Karin? What's wrong?" She strokes my hair and I feel better for about two seconds.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Just tired." I walk past her and head down to the dining room. As I walk in I keep my head down looking at the floor.
"Hey Karin." My head shoots up at the voice. It's Rosie, she actually came to dinner. Just like she used to do when we were kids.
"Sorry for ditching you guys earlier. I just felt sick." I say sitting down at the table. I sit to Johnny, my little brother, He is already digging into his mashed potatoes. He looks up and smiles. I giggle and wipe mashed potatoes off his face. He is just six years old so of course he'll make a mess. He frowns and babbles,
"I don't need you to cween me." He continues eating his mashed potatoes and I look up at Rosie. She smiles at me.
"You became a good sister to your only brother." I smile and say thanks. She talks to my mom and dad to fill them in about her and her family. Apparently her mom finalized the divorce papers yesterday. We talk for hours and finally the fun has to end at 8:49. I walk Rosie to the front door and say goodbye to her. She waves to me from her car.
"Hello Ms. Johnson!" I shout when I see her mom in the driver's seat. She waves back. Noticed how I used her maiden name? I walk back inside and forget about all the drama today. I'm about to walk up the stairs to my room when Johnny tugs on my jeans.
"Do you want me to tuck you in?" I ask. His face is red but he agrees. I walk him to his room which is decorated with trucks and robots. It used to be animal wall paper but he said he didn't like it. I pick him up and lay him down on his bed.
"Goodnight Johnny."
"Goodnight 'Rin." His nickname for me is 'Rin. Which I think is cute. So I turn on his racecar shaped night light and turn out the lights. I walk out of his room and down the hall to mine. I change into my pajamas and climb into bed. I instantly fall asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.
I wake up at 8:30 and get ready for school. I put on my uniform which is a White t-shirt and black tie. I put on a plaid skirt and put my hair up in a ponytail. I slip on my black Vans and walk downstairs. Johnny still isn't awake so I sit in his chair and eat breakfast. I hear footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Heeey. 'Rin that's my seat!" I sigh and move over to the next chair.
"There. Happy?" He smiles and eats my cereal. I get up and ruffle his hair. He pats it down and continues eating. Mom comes down and gives Johnny a kiss on the head.
"Good morning Karin. You'll be late for school if you don't leave now." She says without turning to me. I leave with a small 'humph'. I grab my suitcase looking school bag and head out the front door. I see Rosie walking with Kazune down the street. I wasn't ready for confrontation yet. So I'll just have to ignore them. I walk down the sidewalk and straight in the direction of school.
"Hey Karin!" I stop walking when I hear Rosie shout. I turn slowly and force a smile.
"Hey guys. Wonderful morning huh?" I turn quickly and walk away before they could answer. Damn Kazune or Rosie will question me later. Crap why do I feel so weird around them? I do like Abraham but now I can't tell him. I don't want to ruin my friendship with Rosie. What should I do? Just stand idly by and watch them be all lovey-dovey? I'll think of something. I walk through the school doors and head to first class.
When will class end? I need to start painting now! It is currently fourth period and we have six classes. Damn. Damn. I can't sit still any longer. I watch the clock. It's going so slow. I already finished the classwork and homework. So I'm just waiting for-RRRRIIIIINNNNNGGG! I gather my stuff and head out to the courtyard. I sit at my usual bench and take out my art stuff. I look at the crowd of people and don't want to paint that. So I turn towards the sun and paint that. I finish and start painting dark clouds over the sun shine. I paint rain and thunder, that's exactly how my mind looks like right now. I'm really into my painting that I don't notice Kazune behind me.
"A little dark don't you think?" I get so scared that I turn around and splash Grey-Blue all over his face. He looked surprised and frankly I didn't blame him. I had gotten his white shirt a little dirty. I bit my lip and looked down.
"Sorry!" I shout. He wiped most of it off his face but you could still see it. So I quickly got up.
"I'll go get you a paper towel." I run off to the bathroom and grab a paper towel from the dispenser. I wet it and grabbed another one that I didn't wet. I ran back to him and sat beside him.
"H-Here." I handed him the towel and watched him wipe his face. When he finished I gave him the other towel to dry his face. He looked at me for a long time.
"W-What?" I stuttered feeling embarrassed.
"Nothing it's just… Do you like me?" His cheeks look a little red to me. I gasped and thought, Should I finally tell him how I feel? Will he turn me down? I stop myself from thinking all these thoughts. I open my mouth and say,
"I—" I got interrupted by Rosie who came and shouted
"Kazune! Where were you?" She hugged him from behind and kissed him on the cheek. I felt my face flush. I was just about to confess to my best friend's boyfriend. I should feel bad. I should feel stupid. He was probably just messing with me. Suddenly I start laughing uncontrollably. I think it's funny how I just noticed that I liked him and now it's too late. And I was just about to confess to him. They both looked at me strangely. I stopped laughing and turned to gather my stuff. I put my paints away and my painting too. I grab my schoolbag and art case and get up to leave. Kazune stutters but doesn't move.
"Will you answer my question?" He looks up at me. I frown and shake my head I walk away but I know he could tell I wasn't telling the truth. I walk into the girls' bathroom and put my stuff down. I go and splash my face with water. I look at myself in the mirror, Stop acting weird around them. They'll suspect something. If Rosie realizes you like her boyfriend she'll freak out! Wait. Did he ask me if I liked him? Why would he ask me if he has his own girlfriend? STOP! STOP! STOP! Stop over analyzing this. He probably just asked because he assumed you did because of the way you were acting. Yeah. That's got to be it. *sigh* I've got composition next. Think about that. I grab my stuff off the floor and head out of the bathroom. I walk upstairs and into Mr. Collins' room. I sit down and freeze. Kazune sits next to me in this class. Damn! How could I forget!? I sigh and start talking out my notebook. I doodle on the front cover and scratch out the paper. The bell finally rings and I look up when the door opens. Shit! Kazune walks in with a tardy pass and comes to sit beside me. I avoid eye-contact and stare down at my notebook. I give in and steal a quick glance at him. He looks confused and slightly angry. I roll my eyes and pay attention to what Mr. Collins is saying.
"Ok class. Today you will be working with your partners. I'll pass out a sheet of paper in a while. But here are your instructions, you must work with your partner to create poems about what the person is like. No arguing I don't care if you don't like the person. You will work with them." He hands each of us a piece of paper and tells us to begin.
"What's your favorite color?" I ask looking at the ground.
"Um, I think you know that by now." He sounds uncomfortable. I finally get the courage to look up and see hurt in his eyes.
"Sorry." I whisper. He frowns but shrugs. We start working on our poems, since we already know everything about each other. We finish earlier than the other kids so we kill time. He takes out a blue paint marker and starts writing on his notebook with it.
"Hey can I see that?" I ask. He hands it to me and I take off my backpack and right my name on the left strap. I smile and look at him.
"What are you doing?" He asks.
"Writing my name."
"Write my name." He has a grin on his face. I stare at him for a long time. Trying to decide whether he was teasing me or really asking me to write it. So I challenge him.
"Why don't you right my name first?" He shrugs and grabs the marker from my hand. He writes 'Karin' on the right strap of his backpack. He smiles and hands the marker back. I grin and write his name on the right hand side too. Not because I wanted us to match but because I already wrote my name on the left side. I write a smiley face at the end of his name too. I hand the marker back to him and smile. I could feel my cheeks heating up. I try to calm myself down but it's no use. The heat rises to my cheeks before I could stop it. He smirks at me and chuckles.
"Alright class!" Mr. Collins' voice booms making me jump.
"Who wants to present their poems first?" He looks around the classroom for a minute or two before his eyes finally settle on me.
"Karin. Would you like to share your poem with the class?" I sigh and stand up. He knows I hate presenting. I sigh again and try to calm the raging butterflies in my stomach.
"My poem is about Kazune. As you all know he is my partner so… Here it goes. Ahem, He smiles all the time and jokes around. But under all that is a hidden person. No one has ever known. That no one has ever gotten the chance to encounter. He makes me laugh and smile but he also makes me sad. His favorite color is blue. The blue that is everywhere, surrounding us with pleasantness. He is my best friend so I know everything about him. How his nose crinkles when he gets mad. How when he is sad he only smiles with his mouth. When he is very happy his eyes gleam. When he laughs, to me it sounds like violins playing. He always spikes up his hair except for the weekends. He doesn't care what people say about him, only when it's someone important to him. He is my best friend and I could never lose him. He makes me happy and sad all in one package. I have a best friend one that I could say anything to. He is my all-time favorite and I will never forget him. Even when we part." I look up from my paper to see everyone gawking at me. I look at Kazune and Bit on my lip. Hard. I just gave him my heart on a silver plate. He must be in shock. I can't look at him. Everyone knows I like him now. Damn I have to get out of here.
"You may sit down Ms. Hanazono." I sit obediently like a dog to its master. I feel like running but can't find myself capable of moving my legs.
"Mr. Kujyou would you care to share your paper?" Kazune stares at me and gets up. He clears his throat and begins.
"The first day I met her I thought she was crazy. That she was weird for always painting in the courtyard. I thought she was lonely. So when a friend introduced me I felt entranced with her. I felt the need to always be around her. She is my best friend and I wouldn't have it any other way. She make me happy, yes, but she can't trust me very much. Her favorite color is red the color of blood. She has tons of posters in her room on the walls. She never backs down. When she gets mad her fingers start to twitch. When she is sad she paints more than usual. When she doesn't know what to do she avoids everyone completely. I can't figure her out sometimes but she is my best friend. I want her to be my best friend and nothing else." That just brought tears to my eyes so he doesn't like me? I breathe and continue listening to him.
"I think of her as my sister. She is a person that I cannot live without. She is my best friend and I…" He left it hanging like that made an excuse saying it wasn't finished. I get up and everyone turns their attention towards me. I turn and run out of the class room leaving all my art stuff there. He doesn't like me. I messed up with that poem. Spilling my guts like that. I wipe my eyes and stop running. I look around and find myself in the courtyard. You deserve it. He probably liked you and you messed up! Now you want him to like you!? I sit at my bench and will myself not to cry. I hear footsteps. Running? I look up and see Kazune standing there breathing fast.
"What the hell was that!?" He's pissed. His nose it crinkling.
"Leave me alone." I turn away from him and shut me eyes. He grabs my arm roughly and turns me around. My eyes snap open and I look into his eyes.
"What's wrong with you? You've been acting different lately." He says in a quiet voice. I hug him and say sorry.
"Why do you keep saying sorry? Are you mad at me Karin? What did I do?" He really sounds hurt. I pull away from him and he pulls me back to him.
"Don't be mad at me. I want to help you so tell me." He pleads.
"I can't." I say
"Yes you can you have a mouth now say it." He growls in frustration.
"No I can't. I won't." I reply annoyed.
"Why won't you tell me!? I'm your friend aren't I? Can't you trust me? Let alone anyone? Get over yourself and tell me how I can help you!" He keeps pushing me to say it. I feel like I'm going to burst Just hang on.
"Stop being stubborn and tell me. Why are you avoiding me and Rosie!? TELL ME!" I become frustrated and shout it out.
"I LOVE YOU OK!?" I gasp and cover my mouth. Oops. Hope no one heard that. He looks utterly shocked. Beyond terrified. Now I know that he truly loves Rosie. I turn away and try to get up but he won't let me. I dare look him in the eyes. I don't see any anger. Sadness. Fear. His eyes are softer than before. He leans in slowly & just before our lips touch he whispered,
"I love you too." Before I can reply his lips crash against mine.
I slowly lean into the kiss and my eyes droop. Wow. This is so cool. I'm kissing Kazune. I'm… I'm kissing… Kazune!? I quickly but, gently, push him away. His eyebrows furrow.
"We can't. We… can't kiss." He frowns and says,
"Why not?" I get mad and shove his arm.
"You know why! You have a girlfriend! My best friend is your girlfriend!" I shout at him in rage. He narrows his eyes at me and says,
"You actually believed that? She's not my girlfriend. I asked her to help me make you jealous." He starts laughing and I suddenly feel stupid. He played you and you fell for it. You lost the game and now he's rubbing it in your face. You're an idiot. To fall for such lies. I should have known. I quickly wipe my eyes. Tears are starting to stream down my face. But the more I wipe them away, the more come out. He stops laughing and says,
"Are you ok? Why are you crying?" He reaches toward me and I slap his hand away.
"Leave me alone. Do you think it's funny to mess with my feelings? Do you think I want to be humiliated by you!?" I start shaking in anger. He wraps his arms around me and whispers,
"I would never hurt you. I just wanted to see if you felt the same way about me. I love you Karin. I really do." I bury my face into his chest and cry out of pure happiness. He really did love me. And I just noticed. He lifts my face by gently grabbing my chin and wipes my tears away. My chin suddenly feels warm and so does my face. He leans down and kisses me. I sigh and lean into the kiss again.
"Hey guys! Stop making out in public. It's grossing everyone out!" I pull away from Kazune and look over his shoulder to see Rosie. She is standing there triumphantly looking proud of herself. I smile and get up. Kazune frowns.
"Hey! I thought we agreed that you wouldn't take Karin away from me." He shouts. I laugh and walk over to Rosie. She smiles and hugs me.
"See. Now you have something to be happy for." She pulls away and puts a hand to her chest smiling.
"Except for me of course." I laugh and grab her hand. We both walk over to Kazune and I say,
"Crap! I forgot my art stuff in the classroom." I sigh and sit down, letting go of Rosie's hand in the process. She smirks and says,
"I have your bag right here." She walks behind on of the pedestal things and walks back with my bag. She giggles and hands it over to me.
"Wait. How did you know we were here in the first place?" I ask narrowing my eyes. She laughs nervously and shrugs.
"Who knows?" We all laugh like the end of one of those cheesy movies and go walking home together.
Didn't know how to end it. So I ended it like this without ruining it. Or did I?