Story of my life. Chapter one.
AN: Okay, it's been a while since I've written anything. (And to those who have read my other story, I haven't forgotten it... I simply have hit a really major block and have no idea where to go with it next.)
Let's see how this goes...
It was just like any other day, and a 20 year old Haruka Tenoh was stuck in a mundane dead end job at a local supermarket. It was only refilling shelves, but it paid money and jobs were hard to come by in the recent economy. It was better than nothing.
"Hey Tenoh, a customer needs help with finding an item, go help her" a co worker semi-yelled at her.
The sandy blonde left the half open box of tinned tomatos to approach the older customer with whatever it was she wanted.
A disgruntled Haruka found out that the little old granny wanted to reach a box of cornflakes off the top shelf. Without getting on tiptoes, Haruka reached to get the desired item for her, even though her co worker could of easily done it.
"Is there anything else I can help you with?" Haruka asked politely.
"No dearie, that's all, thankyou" the shorter woman replied with a toothless smile.
"Thanks Hiro, really, thanks" Haruka said bluntly at her co worker and best friend.
"I thought the customer service side would do good for you" the black haired teenager replied, smirking.
"Like you're one to talk" Haruka shot back.
Yep, this was her life. An outsider by nature and not yet finding her place in life, this was about as much as the blonde's social life got. Despite her dream of wanting to be on the race circuit and being a mechanic, it simply wasn't viable with no traineeships being avaliable and the course fees were beyond her reach. It was a sad reality. Majority of people in the area were homophobic, so she didn't have many friends, asides from Hiro. He was the only one who seemed to accept her for who she was.
"Hey Tenoh" Hiro said "Have you been invited to Haine's wedding?"
Haruka's supervisor was getting married to her high school sweetheart.
"Yeah, I got the invite. You?"
"Yeah... I wonder who's going to be working when the wedding is on" Hiro said.
Haruka shrugged. She didn't care either way about weddings. Haine was okay. Good enough for a boss, she supposed. She didn't mind missing out on the wedding to work instead, it meant saving money on buying a suit anyway.
The conversation ended there. Hiro and Haruka kept restocking shelves until the end of their shift.
"Catch ya tomorrow Haruka" Hiro said, parting ways from the blonde.
"See ya" she replied, heading towards her car.
Her car was nothing special, just a simple second hand car that ran fine.
Haruka started to drive to the gym, that was her outlet. To run, to gain strength, her fitness was already at it's peak and today she hoped to break her record for running 10kms.
She greeted the staff members as she entered the building, a regular at the gym was always on first name basis with the staff and instructors. She headed to the change rooms to get out of the depressing workclothes and into her usual gym get up of a singlet and shorts.
As she signed in to the gym, she couldn't help but notice another girl who seemed to be signing up for a membership. She was slim, a lot shorter than the blonde, and had aquamarine hair.
Haruka stared for a moment, before moving towards to the gym area. It was a relatively small town she lived in, and everyone generally knew everyone else. But yet the aqua haired girl had her stumped.
Haruka shook her head as she dumped her bag in a locker and went to the treadmill to get started. Having no need to give the aqua haired girl a second thought, she started to pound the treadmill, the endorphines started to kick in to give her the high she needed...
"Hey Tenoh, a customer needs you" Hiro shouted at his coworker.
"If it's another old lady who can't reach something, you grab it" Haruka yelled back grumpily, kneeling over yet another box of cornflakes. She was not in a great mood today.
"If that how you treat all your customers?"
Haruka spun around to see the girl she saw at the gym yesterday standing next to Hiro. Hiro sniggered, knowing he was going to make a fool out of Haruka in front of such a pretty girl.
Haruka was lost for words and shot a dark glance at Hiro who kept smirking. She knew she was set up.
"Well...?" The aqua haired girl looked amused.
"Uh, no... : Haruka wasn't sure what to say.
Hiro walked past Haruka and patted her shoulder. "Way to go, loser" he teased.
Haruka punched him in the arm in return, Hiro simply laughed, walking down the aisle to leave Haruka alone with the beautiful girl.
"So... What can I help you with?" Haruka asked cautiously.
The aqua hair girl giggled and passed an evelope to the confused blonde.
"What's this? A love letter?" Haurka joked.
"An invitation. To Haine's hens night. I'm her maid of honour" the girl smiled.
"I see... Does the maid of honour have a name? Seeing that you already know mine" Haruka added, looking at the name on the envelope.
"I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Michiru. Michiru Kaioh" she extended her hand to Haurka who shook it.
"Haruka Tenoh, but you already knew that huh?"
"Just doing my job as the maid of honour" Michiru smiled.
From up close, Haruka noticed how Michiru's eye were a bright blue, and her flawless skin had a few faint freckles. Overall, Haruka thought she was gorgeous.
"I saw you down at the gym last night, you new?" Haruka asked, hoping to bump the conversation forward a bit.
"I am, I just joined. Swimming is my strength though" Michiru replied.
"Why the change?" Haruka asked curiously.
"Oh, I haven't changed completely. Overall training helps though, you know?"
"I see... I might see you down there sometime" Haukra gave a smile.
"I'm sure I will. I'd better be off. I've got more of these to give out" Michiru waved a small pile of envelopes. "I hope you can come to the Hens though, it should be a good night." Michiru turned to leave.
"I'll do my best" Haruka smiled, still gazing at swimming beauty.
"Oh and Haruka?" Michiru stopped in front of her.
"Hm?"
"You might want to try being nicer to customers" Michiru said with a smile.
Haruka blushed slightly
"Yeah, yeah, I'll work on that" noting to herself to have a strong word with Hiro about that particular issue.
"You're a douche, you know that right?" Haruka whacked her best friend over the head as she walked into the staff room, on her lunch break.
Hiro gave a laugh, not even wincing at the touch of the sandy blonde. He was used to it.
"The look on your face was worth it" His hazel eyes shining with mischief, as he took a bite out of his sandwich.
"Loser" Haruka muttered, sitting down next to him.
"So what did she want?" Hiro asked, still eating away.
"Just to give me an invite to Haine's Hens night" Haruka sighed, running a hand through her short hair.
"You gunna go?"
"Can't see why not"
Hiro raised an eyebrow at her.
"That's unlike you, to go to something so girly"
"Shuddup" Haruka blushed slightly.
Hiro just sniggered.
"So band practice tonight, yeah?" Haruka asked, changing the subject.
"Yeah, I'm up for it. Pretty sure the others are too" Hiro replied. He looked at the clock.
"I gotta bail. Back to work I go" He sighed, cramming the rest of his sandwich in his mouth as he stood up.
"No problems. See you back out there"
Haruka opened up the invitation and skimmed through it.
It was held in three weeks and you had to dress up as a TV character.
'Wait, what? Dress up?'
Haruka's face fell.
"Awww man..."
So, what do you think? A little rusty for the first chapter but I'm hoping it's gunna pick up. And if it makes sense, I usually call my best friend by their last name than their first. A weird quirk about me... Leave a review? =)
