Author's Notes
Woo-hoo chapter two! This is one is from Ryoma's point of view. I'm not sure how well I captured his character; you can be the judge of that.
Thanks so much to undauntedheiress, Alianora Serein, and soni-chan for reviewing, I really appreciate it.
Chapter Two: The Other AP Student
Ryoma really hated being in the AP class. Generally, Ryoma didn't really feel strong emotions about anything. It was always his trademark bored attitude, coupled by a slight hint of irritation, or pleasure, or some other such emotion, depending on the situation. Nothing surprised him, nothing ignited any strong feelings in him. Except for tennis; tennis was the only thing in his life that ever made him feel happy and challenged, and even excited.
Ryoma wondered why that was…and then quickly disregarded the thought, remembering that he didn't care.
"For homework tonight…" Ryoma glanced up at the teacher; his face was impassive, but he was silently begging him not give them another essay. He already had two due that week. "For homework tonight…" the teacher repeated, looking down at his notes. "I want you each to write a five page essay on the first book of the Iliad, explaining if you thought Achilles' anger was justified. Include reasons and examples for your answer, with references to the research articles we discussed earlier. To be handed in tomorrow morning."
Ryoma scowled at the teacher as he packed up his things. Great, he thought, really just excellent. These teachers got high off of giving difficult papers. This would take him all night; he would have to cancel with Momo. Ryoma's scowl deepened. He and Momo-sempai had been planning on going to the outdoor tennis courts to have a game. They had actually been planning it since the start of term three months ago, but Ryoma kept having to postpone it. He never had time for anything anymore. Tennis practice for the boy's tennis club was demanding; three hours every day after school, plus the self training the regulars had to do. And every day after tennis practice, he got straight to work on his homework. It was rare for him to go to bed before one AM.
Why hadn't he flunked the entrance exams? He pondered this as he walked down the hall to the cafeteria. The test had been incredibly easy. He had gotten almost every question right, and those were just for minor spelling errors, or he had put a decimal in the wrong place. He was sure if he had studied he would have gotten one hundred percent. If he had realized what AP classes would be like, he definitely would have flunked it. Or at least gotten some more questions wrong, so they wouldn't have put him in this excruciatingly demanding class
He remembered his first day. He had walked into his classroom and plopped down in a seat in the back row, near a window. He glanced lazily around the room noticing a few familiar faces. His new classmates were all getting acquainted with each other, but he didn't bother. What was the point? He didn't want to be friends with any of these people. So he didn't introduce himself to anyone, and no one approached him. His distant expression discouraged even the bravest of them.
Ryoma noticed, as he watched the students break off into little groups, that someone seemed to have made an error in dividing up the middle schools. By listening in on the separate conversations for a little bit, he was able to figure out what school everyone was from. The three standing near the door were from Seishun Gakuen, like him. The three sitting at desks in the middle of the room were Fudoumine. And the three chatting by the teacher's desk were Yamabuki. He had heard from his sempai that the since the AP classes were so small, the faculty tried to spread out the kids from different schools, to discourage cliques. Ryoma decided that whoever had been in charge of this was an idiot, as cliques were definitely being formed. He was quite sure that the students would only talk to the others from their own schools.
Ryoma studied the faces of fellow former classmates, and recognized two of them from his English class, and one from his Math class. He had never spoken to any of them, and even now he couldn't recall any of their names. The students who usually followed him around, Horio, Kachiro, Katsuo, Ryuzaki, and Ryuzaki's loudmouth friend Osakada, were not in his class, for which he was grateful. They could all be really annoying.
Actually, Ryoma reminded himself, Ryuzaki didn't follow him around anymore. For whatever reason, she had just decided to leave him alone. She didn't say hi to him in the halls anymore, and she never once glanced his way. It was like he didn't exist to her anymore. He didn't know what had caused the sudden change; maybe she had just gotten bored with him. He found he didn't care, except…Ryoma frowned. Ryuzaki had also stopped coming to watch him play tennis. He didn't know why, but whenever he looked over to the spectators, and didn't see her standing there blushing and cheering him on, he felt strangely irritated. He wondered why that was. He supposed he was simply used to her presence. He didn't like change, anything that interfered with his usual routine. She had simply thrown things off a little, that was all. No big deal. But it was irritating…
Ryoma suddenly frowned and looked harder at the little knot of former Seishun students. Ryuzaki definitely wasn't there; he couldn't make out her red face or her too long hair. But he was sure she was in AP classes too. He remembered the day they had gotten their entrance exam results. He had heard Osakada complaining loudly that now that Ryuzaki was in the Advanced Placement program she would never see her again. Ryuzaki had given her murmured reassurances, of course not, that would never happen, before Ryoma had tuned them both out, deeming their conversation unimportant.
Maybe she decided to go to a different school, he thought, and then he remembered there were two AP classes. He smirked to himself. All the other Seishun kids were in here. He imagined her in her new class, red faced and stutteringly introducing herself, twisting the ends of her plaits between her fingers nervously. She probably wouldn't make any friends this year other than Osakada. He realized he felt sorry for her; he didn't care about talking to classmates, but he assumed she would. He dismissed the feeling and stared out the window. From here, he could almost see the tennis courts, and he spent the rest of the lesson imagining what sort of facilities the school had.
Back in the present, Ryoma descended a staircase, frowning. Ryuzaki had been ignoring him this year too. Or at least, he assumed she was. He hadn't actually seen her since school began. He knew she attended the school, because at the beginning of the year some girls had been asking Osakada if she did. "Yeah," she had replied resentfully. As always, her voice was loud and carrying, so Ryoma was able to catch every word even though he was on at the opposite end of the hall. "You haven't seen her 'cause she's in the AP class. I don't see her either, except for lunch. She's really close to her new classmates. She spends all her time with them. Guess she's too smart to hang out with us anymore," she had sniffed. Ryoma frowned. He doubted Ryuzaki thought she was better than anyone; that just didn't sound like her. She must just like her new classmates. Osakada was twisting things, as usual.
The next thing he had heard about her was that she was in "the Slackers' Chat Room." One day their teacher had been late to class, so everyone had leaned in to his or her neighbor to gossip. Ryoma didn't pay them any attention, although he gathered that everyone was talking about the same thing. He picked up on the words "slackers," "chat room," and "AP2."
Huh, he had thought to himself. Something's going on with Ryuzaki's class. He jumped slightly when someone said her name. "Yeah, it's Ryuzaki-san's class!" someone from his old middle school had said, echoing Ryoma's thoughts. He suddenly wanted to hear more. He shifted in his seat slightly, and turned his head a little to the right so he could hear the conversation going on next to him without looking away from the window.
"Sakuno?" the other person had replied doubtfully. He really should learn their names, Ryoma thought vaguely.
"Yeah, I know right?" the first person responded, a hint of wonderment in his voice. "I mean, when I think of shy little Ryuzaki-san…" he trailed off. Ryoma knew what he meant. Ryuzaki was the least likely person in the world to do anything she wasn't supposed to. Now he was really curious.
"I'm confused," the second person said, a slight frown in his voice. "What happened in the first place? What is "the Slackers' Chat Room?" Ryoma frowned too. Slackers' Chat Room?
"Well," the first person said slowly, "according to Tomoka-" Ryoma smirked to himself. Trust Osakada to be the one to spread around whatever this was. "-it is what it sounds like: a chat room for slackers. The AP2 kids are apparently huge procrastinators; they leave all their assignments for the day before they're due. So apparently, they made this chat room. The night before a paper or something is due, they all log on, and they do the assignment together. That's why their grades are so good; if I had ten people helping me, I'd get all A's too." The person sounded sulky. Ryoma was intrigued.
"Huh," the second person said. "And this is just AP2?" he confirmed.
"Yeah. Apparently some people asked to join, but they said no. It's like their own private club or something," the first person said mockingly. Ryoma frowned. Well of course they wouldn't let anyone else join it. They have different classes than everyone else, different homework. It wouldn't make sense for someone from another class to be a part of it. Ryoma wondered if this unpleasant sounding person was maybe one of the ones who had been rejected…and chuckled to himself when he realized he probably was.
The two classmates Ryoma had been eavesdropping on turned around at the noise and looked at Ryoma in surprise. He only ever spoke in class when he was called on, and no one had ever heard him laugh; it was not something he did often, and he certainly had never made such a noise in a classroom. Ryoma continued to look out the window like he didn't know they were staring. The teacher entered the room then, and they turned back around to face front. Ryoma didn't bother. He continued looking out the window, mulling over what he had just heard.
So, Ryuzaki was in a group for slackers? He was surprised. She didn't seem like the type to slack off. He wondered what else he didn't know about her… He dismissed the thought immediately. Who cared about her? She was just some girl from his middle school. He didn't need to know anything about her. He turned around to face the board, deciding to listen to the lesson for once.
Ryoma entered the cafeteria. He grabbed a tray and swiftly made his way through the lunch line. One he had gotten his food, he headed over to his usual table. He was once again in the same school as his old tennis team, so he now ate lunch with Momo-sempai and Eiji-sempai. Occasionally they were joined by some other old regulars (although they were all regulars on the high school team now) and some of Momo's and Eiji's other friends.
"Yo," he greeted them as he sat down across from his sempai.
"Hey, Echizen!" said Momo cheerfully around a mouthful of food.
"Yo, Ochibi!" Eiji greeted him. Ryoma sighed. Even though he was in high school, Eiji still called him that. He wasn't even short anymore. During the summer of his second year of middle he had had a growth spurt; He was now as tall as Momo, and still growing. Eiji was barely two inches taller than him. Although, he thought, even if he did someday become taller than Eiji-sempai, he would still probably call him that. He rolled his eyes and picked up his sloppy joe. He looked at it closely; there didn't seem to be anything radioactive about it, so he took a bite. He grimaced. It sure tasted radioactive.
Eiji and Momo, who had been watching him examine his food, burst out laughing at the look on his face.
"Don't turn your nose up at it, Echizen," said Momoshiro, shaking his own sloppy joe at Ryoma sternly, and sending little bits of chili flying.
"Oi, Momo quit shaking that, nya!" Eiji complained, holding up his arms to shield himself from the disgusting bits of food.
"Sorry, sempai," Momo apologized, grinning impishly.
"Che," Ryoma muttered disgutedly, picking up his napkin and wiping the pieces of chili off of his face and arms.
"So Echizen," Momo began, once again talking with his mouth filled to bursting with food. "How's life in the smart class?"
Ryoma sighed. Momo asked him this question every day. He seemed to think it was hilarious that he had so much work to do. Ryoma wanted to hit him.
"It sucks," was the answer he always gave. "We got another to essay to do, due tomorrow. Sorry Momo, I gotta cancel tonight."
"What, again? C'moooon Echizen," Momo-sempai whined, sounding much more like a five year old than his sempai. "Can't you just not do it or something?"
"Yeah, you're always working, Ochibi, nya!" Eiji chimed in.
Ryoma opened his mouth to reply, when a loud, carrying laugh sounded from across the caf. The three of them turned around to see where the laugh had come from. Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be Osakada. She was talking to some girl, who appeared to be laughing as well, although not nearly as loudly. The girl had wavy auburn hair that fell to just past her shoulders, and Ryoma thought that she might have brown eyes, although he couldn't tell from this distance. He could tell that she was very pretty.
"Oi oi, who's that cute girl next to Osakada?" Momo asked eagerly. "I don't think I've ever seen her before."
"She's pretty, nya!" Eiji agreed. "I think she's a freshman. She looks too young to be in my class, anyway."
"She could be a junior," Momo mused, "but I think I would know who she is then…What about you, Echizen? Think she could be in your class?"
Ryoma shrugged. There were a lot of kids in his year. There were three hundred and fifty freshmen; it was impossible to know every face. He didn't think it was that interesting, but Momo and Eiji always made a big deal about pretty girls.
"She is really pretty," Momo was saying thoughtfully. He grinned. "Maybe I should go introduce myself, eh?"
"Oi Momo you already have a girlfriend," said Eiji indignantly. "Maybe I should tell her you've been looking at other girls, nya?"
"C'mon Eiji, you can't tell Ann, you can't!" Momo begged him. Ryoma let them squabble. He was staring intently at the girl. She looked sort of familiar. Now that he thought about it, he thought he had seen her walking through the halls with a slightly taller girl with long black hair and bright blue eyes. He had never looked closely at her, because the black haired girl was so striking, she diverted all attention to herself. Her black hair was straight and glossy, and he'd never seen eyes such a bright blue. Well, Fuji-sempai, but that didn't count. Not to mention her…erm…chest…
Lost in his own thoughts, Ryoma didn't even notice when the bell rang and the people all around him starting getting up.
"Oi Echizen!" Momo said loudly, thumping Ryoma on the shoulder. "Wake up, will you? We gotta get to the assembly."
Ryoma blinked looking around him in surprise. Was lunch over already? He got up and dumped his tray in the nearest trash can, then followed his sempai out to the auditorium. Every other Wednesday there was an assembly. It was basically an hour and a half of the principal droning on to the students about school policy and special announcements and a whole lot of other stuff nobody cared about. Attendance was mandatory, otherwise no one would show up, but it was a good chance to catch up with friends (as long as a teacher didn't catch you), take a nap, or get some work done. Plus it meant shorter classes for the rest of the day.
"Hey Echizen, try finishing your essay during the assembly! Then we can go to the courts," Momo suggested.
"Hm…" He had been planning on sleeping, but Momo did have a point. He couldn't remember the last time he had got out of his house for anything other than school and tennis practice. He nodded his assent, and Momo grinned and shoved his fist in the air. "Yes!"
"Oi! Momo, Ochibi, I got seats!" came Eiji's voice from inside the auditorium. Momo went running in, but Ryoma took his time. His seat wasn't going anywhere.
"Hurry up Chibi!" said Eiji impatiently as Ryoma strolled down the aisle. There were three sections of seats in the auditorium, with two aisles going down either side of the middle section. Eiji had got them three seats near the back. Ryoma's seat was at the end of the row right next to the left aisle. Good, he hated being in the middle, with all those people pressed up all around him. He plopped down in his seat and took a notebook and the Iliad out of his bag. He sighed. This was gonna suck.
The lights dimmed a little, and the chatter died down as people either closed their eyes or leaned in closer to whisper to their friends. Ryoma could still make out his notebook, so he bent forward and started to write, when he heard a voice coming from the entryway, "Shoot! C'mon Sakuno, it started already."
Ryoma paused, then shrugged it off. Sakuno wasn't an uncommon name. The people in the back rows who had heard the boy's voice all started laughing in whispers as the latecomers crept down the aisle and took seats in the left section a row or two behind Ryoma. He had just finished the first paragraph of his essay when he heard the boy whispering to the other person he had come in with, Sakuno. He heard a familiar giggle, then someone went "Oof!" as though they had been elbowed, and then the voice that had giggled went, "Come on Kenta, shut up!"
Ryoma froze. He knew that voice-he remembered that voice. He wanted to whip his head around, but he was Ryoma Echizen. He did not do head whipping. So instead, he casually shifted in his head, as though he were uncomfortable. As he shifted, he turned his head until he could see the late comers over his shoulder. He didn't think anyone would notice with the dim lighting. He first saw a boy, with untidy brown hair. He assumed this must be Kenta, as he was rubbing his side and wincing. This was the one the girl, Sakuno, had told to shut up.
His eyes moved over Kenta and rested on the girl sitting next to him. He recognized her; she had longish wavy auburn hair. It was the pretty girl form the cafeteria. He squinted through the semidarkness so he could make out her face. A sort of jolt went through him. She had warm, intelligent looking amber eyes. She had a tiny button nose. She had a small mouth shaped like a bow that was currently pursed, as though she were trying not to laugh. Her skin was like porcelain, not a blemish of any kind on it. No doubt. It was Ryuzaki.
He was astounded. Since when had Ryuzaki been so pretty? And when had she cut her hair? All through middle school she had never once taken her hair out of those braids. He thought they were permanent. He suddenly realized that that was why he hadn't seen her this year. He had seen her, he just hadn't recognized her without her plaits. Her hair was a good length now, he acknowledged. Those braids had been ridiculously long.
The boy, Kenta suddenly leaned in closer to whisper something in her ear. Something suddenly flared up inside of Ryoma, some kind of emotion he couldn't place. Was it anger? No. It was close to anger, but…he didn't know. He couldn't name it. He did know that he did not like that boy leaning in so close to Ryuzaki. Why though? Why should he care? She hadn't had anything to do with him in over two years, and even before that you could barely call them acquaintances.
Ryuzaki grinned at the boy and whispered something back to him. A girl sitting in front of them suddenly turned around and went, "Ssshhh!" crossly. Ryuzaki and the boy looked at each other, and then they both started sniggering uncontrollably. Ryuzaki clamped her hands over her mouth to muffle the noise, while the boy bent over, trying to control himself. He put his hand on Ryuzaki's shoulder to brace himself as they both doubled up.
Finally they got a hold of themselves and were able to sit up straight, although they were both still grinning. The boy did not remove his hand from her shoulder. She didn't shrug it off. The unnamed emotion threatened to engulf him.
As Ryoma attempted to set the boy's hand on fire with eyes, he suddenly realized something. When Sakuno had reprimanded the boy before, she had not stuttered. And even though she had arrived late and been scolded by a stranger, she was not blushing. She didn't even look embarrassed. There was something else about her too. There was something about the way she was holding herself; back straight, head held high. She looked more confident than she had in middle school. Ryoma wondered how much she had changed since the last time he had seen her.
Suddenly something jabbed him hard in the shoulder. "Hey, what are you looking at?" Eiji whispered, following his eye line.
"Nothing," Ryoma said shortly, facing front and staring determinedly at the principal, who was talking about school dress code at the moment.
"Hey, it's that girl!" Eiji whispered excitedly. "Oi Momo, look, it's that girl from before nya!"
"Where, where?" said Momo eagerly, twisting around in his seat and openly peering around.
"Che," Ryoma muttered. Sometimes his sempai were really quite embarrassing. Would it kill them to act their age?
"Hey…" said Eiji slowly. "Is that…" Ryoma's heart sank. With Eiji's eyes, he was sure to recognize her. Maybe they would be mature for once, and not cause a scene. He thought without a prayer, he added. He slunk down in his seat and let his hair fall forward to cover his face. No one need know he was with them.
"Who?" Momo was asking. "You know her from somewhere?"
Eiji was, quite frankly, looking shocked. "I…I think it is…but it can't be…no. I'm positive it is…but…wow…"
"Who?" said Momo impatiently, "C'mon Eiji, who is she?
"Sakuno Ryuzaki."
Silence. And then-
"RYUZAKI?"
Every head in the auditorium swiveled around, and every pair of eyes turned and fixed on the red haired boy and the spiky haired boy, who were both standing on their seats and staring at a girl in the other section. They took no notice.
"Ryuzaki?" Momo called. Ryoma slunk down lower in his seat. "Oi, Sakuno is that you?"
Ryoma peeked through his hair to see her reaction. She was looking thoroughly shocked, as though she literally could not believe this was happening. "Eiji sempai?" she said in shock, "Momo-chan-sempai?" Ryoma frowned. What had happened to her stutter? Two people she hadn't seen since her first year of middle school had just stood up and shouted at her in the middle of an assembly, and the whole school was watching. Her face should be beet red, and she should be stuttering so badly the words would be barely recognizable. But her voice hadn't so much as trembled, and there wasn't a hint of a blush on her face. What had happened to her?
"I knew it!" Eiji crowed, pumping his fist in the air. "It's Sakuno-chan!"
Momo opened his mouth, presumably to shout something else to Ryuzaki, but-
"Kikumaru! Momoshiro!" the principal barked from the podium. "Sit down and be quiet or I'll give you both detention!" The principal sounded just a touch resentful; probably because no one had ever once been this awake during one of his assemblies before.
Momo and Eiji plopped down obediently, but they kept grinning and turning around to look at Ryuzaki, whom Ryoma noted was still looking shocked. She was whispering to the boy next to her, probably explaining who the two crazy sempai were. The boy was looking rather bemused and kept glancing over at them.
After the assembly, Momo and Eiji ran to catch up with Ryuzaki in the hallway, Ryoma trailing reluctantly behind them.
"Oi Sakuno!" Momo called, running up to her. Sakuno turned to greet them, as did the messy haired boy. She appeared to have gotten over her shock, and was now grinning at Momo and Eiji. She didn't look at Ryoma. He supposed she hadn't noticed him yet.
"Hi Momo-chan-sempai, Eiji sempai," she greeted them cheerfully. Ryoma walked up to them. Her eyes didn't even flicker in his direction.
"It's Sakuno-chan!" Eiji exclaimed, glomping Momo. "We haven't seen you since middle school nya!"
"It's good seeing you two again." You two? He was standing right there! She had to see him. Why was she ignoring him?
"This is Kenta," she said, gesturing to the boy beside her. "He's my friend, and he's in AP2 with me."
"Yo," Kenta greeted them. Ryoma sized him up with his eyes. He looked to be the same height as him, give or take an inch. Ryoma was secure enough with himself to acknowledge that he was good looking, with his shaggy brown hair that fell into his chestnut eyes. He had a friendly smile, and Ryoma noted that he was tan and had the same sort of lean, wiry muscles as him. He wondered what sport he played.
"Ah, so he's a Slacker too?" Momo asked. Sakuno and Kenta grinned.
"You guys heard about that too, huh?" Kenta asked.
Momo snorted. "Dude, is there anyone who didn't hear about that?"
Sakuno laughed, and Ryoma noticed that she had a pretty laugh. She still hadn't acknowledged his presence.
"You know, we didn't recognize you at first," Eiji remarked.
"Yeah," Momo agreed, "what happened to your braids?"
Kenta looked at her curiously. "Braids?" he inquired.
Momo grinned. "You didn't know her in middle school," he explained, "but she always used to wear her hair in plaits. I don't she think she ever took them out."
Kenta laughed and said, "I can't imagine you with braids, Sakuno."
She grinned, looking embarrassed. "I'll show you a picture sometime," she promised. "I just decided to try something new," she said, addressing Momo and Eiji again. "The braids were getting kind of annoying."
"You look good," Momo assured her.
"Yeah, you do nya!" Eiji chimed in.
Just then the bell rang, and the students still lingering in the halls all started to rush to their next class.
"Ah gotta go. My math teacher's gonna chew me out if I'm late again," Momo said.
"Me too nya," said Eiji. "See you around, Sakuno-chan!"
She waved at them as the two took off down the hall. "See you!" she called. Ryoma stared at her. Still not a word. Fine then, he was just going to have to take matters into his own hands.
"Ryuzaki-" he began, stepping forward.
"C'mon Kenta, we're gonna be late," she said coolly, grabbing his arm and turning in the other direction.
"Er, okay," he said, letting himself be steered down the hall. He looked back at Ryoma in surprise; obviously he didn't know why Sakuno was ignoring him either.
Ryoma stood there, staring after them. Then he turned around and slowly made his way to his next class.
Ryoma accepted his pink slip without comment, then went to take his usual seat in the back of the room. Staring out the window, he tried to convince himself that he didn't care that Ryuzaki had openly ignored him. He tried to tell himself that it didn't matter at all, and he didn't care. He wasn't buying it. He did care, he just didn't know why. And this frustrated him to no end.
"Echizen!" Ryoma looked up in surprise. His teacher was standing next to his chair, and he did not look pleased.
"Yes?" he asked politely.
The teacher sighed. "Did you hear anything I said in last ten minutes, Echizen?"
"Er…"
"I didn't think so," he said sourly. "We're going to be a long term project with the Slackers. Everyone will draw a name from this hat," he shook the top hat he had in his hand, "and whoever's name is on the slip of paper, that is the person from AP2 that you will be working with. You'll meet with them tomorrow, and that's when we'll give you your project assignments. So hurry up and draw a name."
Ryoma reached into the hat and pulled out the first piece of paper his fingers came in contact with. He turned around again to face the window and commenced staring broodingly at the sparrows in the spruce tree, as if they were the ones who had assigned the stupid project. The sparrows actually looked a little scared of Ryoma's black glare.
These teachers were sadists. They were giving them a long term project on top of all the other crap they had to do? He supposed it would be easier with a partner, but it still sucked. Slumping back in his seat, Ryoma picked up the folded piece of paper. He didn't even know anybody from AP2, no one in his class did. What were his teachers trying to do?
Sighing, he unfolded the piece of paper-and froze. His eyes widened. He stared down at the name written on the slip in disbelief. And then a slow grin spread across his face. He sat up straight and looked out the window triumphantly, as though he was now congratulating the confused sparrows on something.
Let's see her try and ignore me now.
What'd ya think? Review! I love Momo and Eiji so much, but I think I overdid it with the "nya"s. Also Kenta is back-I love him as well :) Next chapter I think I'm gonna go into more detail about the Slackers.
Oh, and if you didn't catch it, Sakuno is his partner. ;)
