Tohrue's Note: Hm. What to say? Funny how I wrote this story with Kairi switching to a new school and whatnot -- and I just did the same, myself. How I wish I was in her situation, though. But don't we all, then again?
The Dumbing Down of Love
Chapter Two
Old Friends and New; A Fight Waiting To Happen
Jaded in anger, love overwhelms you ..
Kairi's pencil taped lightly against the face of the desk as a rather hefty girl stood at the base of the room, giving a lecture on something relating to the media and how it affects the way girls think about themselves. With only a glance of the room, it didn't look like anyone was really interested in what the girl had to say. People had their faces rested on their desk while some were busy doodling&writing in their notebooks while others had their attention fully in contact with the world outside the window.
She wasn't good at giving speeches. Talking in front of the class made her nervous -- especially when she knew no one. It was only her second day at the school and already she'd been given an assignment the night before. She didn't see why this class was so important to the career she was to be pursuing. All models did was pose in front of a camera and strip off their clothes like mindless zombies. Personally, Kairi knew she wasn't really going to get into the business her mother had dreamt for her to be in, but come on, speech class?
"Kairi, you're up next."
"A-actually, do you mind if I use the restroom first?"
".. .. Make it quick. Selphie, you're up."
Turning a light shade pink as a few giggles came from the boys and girls around, the red head was soon out of her chair and racing for the door. Once her hand grasped around the metal brass knob of the door and twisted it in command for the door to open, she felt a small sense of relief overwhelm her. Stepping outside of it seconds later, she shut it behind her; breathing a sigh of relief right after.
Resting there for a few moments, she finally moved away and began to head towards the restroom.
SWISH.
While walking down the hall, after a few minutes the sound of something sliding across the floor passed her in a brief moment of time. The girl stopped in her trail to study the object lying on the floor a few feet away. She hadn't had enough time to know what color the object was until she heard ..
"Hey! Can you bring that back here please?"
"Sure."
Kairi didn't bother to look behind her to see the embodiment which the voice belonged to. And besides, it would have been rude to say 'No way. Get it yourself, freak.' Walking a few steps forward, when she finally reached the item of belonging to the person, she walked around the opposite side of it so while picking it up, the person or anybody else, couldn't look up her skirt.
How sad. The spiral notebook which had been carelessly tossed across the floor was already in poor condition. The plastic face of the book was torn and a little ripped while pencil scribbles graced the cover; probably drawn there during a time of boredom. The object grasped in her hand, Kairi looked up across from her a feet away to see who'd practically thrown the notebook away.
"Thanks! I appreciate you getting that."
Six feet away, the person kneeling at his locker couldn't have been any more surprising or random. In fact, she thought she would have been less surprised to see Jay Leno at the foot of the locker, smiling at her. Instead, minus about forty years, the gray hair, the lisp, and other small traits, it was Sora. Or "Mister I'm On Top Of The World" as she had learned Selphie already liked to call him. She stared at him for a few passing moments until she realized how dumb she must have looked, hunched over like Quazzy Moto.
Standing up straight, as she began walking over to the brunette, she switched her gaze down below to the floor. When she finally reached him, she hesitantly handed him the notebook. Watching him, he took it from her and rested it next to his leg on the floor as he continued to dig for things resting at the very bottom of his locker. Whenever he'd find something he'd need, he throw it into his open backpack at the other side of them.
"Do you mind me asking what you're doing?"
"I'm just getting my stuff I need for homework tonight. I have to leave in a few for some interview photo thing downtown."
"I hope you have fun there."
Sora stopped from gathering his things and looked up at Kairi. For a moment, his stare remained glued to her until he finally broke the odd moment with a laugh. Standing up, the bag that had captured what he'd thrown inside it, was swung around his shoulder. A jacket inside of the locker hanging on a hook was grabbed and soon, the maroon color locker was slammed shut. Sora turned to face her while placing on his jacket in a struggle.
"I'm Sora."
"Kairi."
To be polite, the young girl stuck out her hand. It wasn't for a moment until Sora grabbed her hand with his to shake it. Moments before his arms had been struggling in the sockets of the jacket.
"You don't look like an actress type."
"No. Acting isn't really my thing. The only reason I'm here is for my mother," As soon as the word 'mother' rolled out on her tongue, you would have sworn it was one of the seven sins by the way her expression on her face dramatically changed. She wasn't trying to be funny, but once Sora started laughing, she joined in too.
"I know how that is," he paused to adjust the backpack on his shoulder. "My parents had me in diaper ads by the age of 8 months. Constantly ushering me to auditions for movies, hiring and firing new talent agents, booking acting classes, blah .. blah .. blah."
"My mom never got that serious with my 'dream' career. I don't think it really hit her I could be some sort of a model until last year when I grew three more inches in the summer and my hair grew out." Shifting her feet beneath her, she hadn't realized how awkward it was having a conversation like this was someone she'd just met seconds ago. As Sora began to reply, she glanced at one of the clocks in the hallway, noticing that seven minutes had now passed since she exited the classroom.
"Ah! I'm sorry for interrupting but I've gotta get back to class. They're gonna think I got lost in the bathroom stall or something."
"O-oh, yeah, don't worry about it. I better be going, too."
Another silent moment passed. Though they should have been parting their separate ways, it was funny how neither of their feet had moved except just to help balance them in their spot. To break the silence, Kairi cleared her throat and tucked a piece of cinnamon colored tress behind her ear. It didn't seem to do much until Sora finally spoke up again.
"Well, hey, uh .. we should talk again sometime. Maybe one day during lunch or something we could sit together if you're not busy getting other offers from other guys to sit with them."
Bursting out laughing, she couldn't help but to find it funny with the idea of guys offering to have her sit with them at lunch. But by the expression found on his face, he didn't seem to be joking the least bit. It was then she ceased laughing as it only made her feel slightly stupid and red.
"Yeah, that'd be fun!"
"Y-yeah .. ha ha .."
"Well, bye .. Good luck at your photo shoot."
"Thanks. See ya."
It was then that Sora moved to the side and began to head the opposite direction. Kairi stood facing the opposite way for a few more seconds before she too, began to head back to class. On her way back, she kept her bottom lip bit and her eyes strictly forced to face the tile of the floor. Embarrassed for the out of nowhere conversation that had happened between the two unexpectedly, her cheeks were flaming red in embarrassment and in delight.
"Mom!"
"Kairi!"
"Mom! That's too revealing!"
"Kairi, don't get the wrong impression!"
In the tiny space of what was the bathroom, Kairi and the older version of her, her mother, stood facing each other. The older red head had a sleek charcoal colored v neck dress on; somewhat of the chest on the verge of being exposed. Kairi, who was casually yet nicely dressed in a denim skirt and a blue&green striped polo, looked like she didn't belong to the older woman who was under the impression of a 'sexy' look.
"He is just a friend, dear! And the only reason he's coming over tonight is to discuss business. Not to mention the man is already married. Besides, do you really think I would even consider going on a date with your father's best friend?"
Looking up, Kairi noticed her mother giving her a rather cold and cross look.
"No, mam' .."
"Alright. Now grab some blush on the counter and let me do your cheeks."
As she grabbed for the pink palette resting on the bathroom counter, she kept her cranium sunk low. Seconds later, she could feel the bristles of a brush gracing her cheeks but she didn't bother to move. It seemed whenever the woman was serious about something, she had to bring up Dad. Though her Father had been dead for six years already, she still found it a touchy subject to bring up or discuss.
Once the two ladies had finished each other's makeup and making sure they looked okay, they slowly exited out of the bathroom and headed for the downstairs. The man meeting with mother was going to be over for a couple hours so she had her invite Riku over to keep her company. While she and the man could have fun discussing finances over a lasagna dinner, Riku and herself would have more of a ball watching the latest movie that'd been added to her movie collection.
"Honestly, Riku! Does your mother really like you wearing those jeans?"
"Mom!"
"Not at all,mam'." Grinning, Riku shut the door behind him and was soon taking off his muddy shoes in the doorway. Frowning slightly while standing at the bottom step, her mother watched him as if he was something so interesting to study. Kairi just laughed. The neither of them cared. Riku had practically grown up in this house and she was sure that her mother was like a second mom to him.
"Let's go into the den. My mother needs to be alone while she waits for her hot date."
"It's business, Kairi! Business!"
"Sure it is, mam'. Have fun. Don't bite off his head right away." Winking at the red head's mother, Riku soon started to laugh as they walked out of the front room; her mother being left to stand there with a shocked and at loss for words expression upon her face. Of course, the two of them were just joking around. They loved to have fun with her mom.
As the two settled into the den, Riku lazily hopped onto the couch and was soon sprawling his figure out across it. She, on the other hand, headed over to the shelf of DVDs and began to search for the newest or most interesting one they had. In their family collection of DVDs, they must have had at least 200, no joke. Everything from foreign to romance to independent films. And she had only probably watched only 60 of the DVDs on the shelf.
While Riku yawned and Kairi continued to search for the right movie to watch, the doorbell rang. The sound of her mother's high heels could be heard moving across the floor in the other room. Finally, the entrance door's creak loudly etched across the house and then muffled voices began to speak. Both Kairi and Riku looked back toward's the den's door in hopes of hearing anything that was being said but sadly the only thing they could make out was tones of voices and that was all. Figuring it was useless, they went back to both being lazy on the couch and finding a movie to watch of both their interest.
"Let's watch a Drama."
"No way. A comedy."
"A romantic comedy."
"Fine. But no chick flick romance comedies."
Kairi sat up a bit to view the higher shelf of the DVD collection. Sadly, the shelves on the shelf were all organized by movie type. The first top shelf was Drama, the second Horror, the third Romantic Comedies, the fourth Action, and so fourth. As Kairi's index finger traced along the sides of romantic comedy titles, it wasn't until she came across one of her favorites that she was done searching. Pulling out the slender box with the words 'Just Like Love' written vertical, she did a 90 degree spin on her knees and then stood up.
Looking to the boy on the couch, she flashed the front of the DVD box to Riku. For a second he looked at her and then to the DVD; letting out a small disappointed sigh in response. Smiling, she headed over to the DVD player and pressed the button to let the disc tray open.
"Hey Kairi."
"What?" she asked, popping in the disc.
"Your legs don't look as fat as they did last time you wore a skirt."
"Riku!" In a shocked but yet laughable expression, the girl turned around and tossed the DVD box at the boy's head. Seconds later after it flew across the room, it hit the boy directly in the chest, bouncing off onto the floor. At first he let out a 'hey!' in surprise, but soon the both of them were joining in with each other's laughter.
However the laughter did not last for long. Unexpectedly there was a knock on the door. Both of the two looked towards the door as to wait for who was there. It would probably be her mother to introduce her date or as said 'friend and business partner.' With the thought of this, her eyes went rolling into the back of her head at the sour thought. With every date she had, she always introduced the blonde haired, blue eyed man with a strong built to her like she wanted to the two to become friends. And yes, her dates were always along the lines with blonde gold hair and blue eyes. Their names were also always smart sounding too. Presley, Blake, Graham, it never ended.
"Kairi?" Her mother's head peaked through the door.
"What do you need, mom?"
"I have to introduce you to someone." Pushing open the door more fully to expose more than just her head, Kairi was expecting to see the taller older man but it was anything but that she saw.
"This is Sora, you two." Turning around, the woman ushered the boy who was standing before her, forward. "This is my partner's nephew. He had to bring him tonight since he had his plans canceled and his father was too busy to pick him up. I hope you two don't mind if he joins you tonight."
Kairi's eyebrows raised towards the high heavens in an unexpected shock. Her eyes for a moment casually drove over to Riku's face to see how he was reacting to this. Riku, just like her, had a confused and surprised expression drawn to his face. He was studying Sora in a dazed like state; not quite sure what to make of the boy. Looking back to Sora, she slightly nodded her head.
"Yeah, we actually met today in the hallway at school. He goes to my school. And of course we don't mind, Mom. What would make you think that?" Glancing towards her mother, she grinned in a somewhat acknowledging way. Her mother meekly smiled back in response.
They both knew that Riku took a hard time liking to strangers. One time in fifth grade, Kairi had invited the new girl to her birthday party. Riku, for whatever reason, decided to rely his entertainment on her that day. Throughout the whole party, he was calling her names and making nasty faces at her. He even managed to put pepper flakes on her cake and cut off strands of her hair during hide and seek when she was counting. And in the eighth grade while at lunch, another new guy had asked if he could sit with him and Kairi during lunch. Riku's response? When the boy sat down later that day at the table, Riku 'accidentally' let his tray of food fall on his lap.
"Alright. Go ahead and sit down, Sora. I think the two were gonna watch a movie." And again, she pushed Sora forward; only this time, shoving him past the door. Once he was through, she flashed another smile and closed the door.
A blanket of silence quickly fell through the room. Sora remained where he was by the door, looking uncomfortably awkward. Riku continued to examine from the couch while Kairi's eyes were nervously shooting back and forth across the room. Perhaps the atmosphere wouldn't have been so awkward if Kairi hadn't mentioned to Riku about Sora earlier that afternoon on the phone. She said how he'd been nice in the hallway, but had heard nasty stuff about him. Like rumors of how stuck up he was, how he once told a girl that she needed to stop looking so ugly, and how she thought he was looking at her chest during their small little talk. Of course, she was just joking about the whole having her chest stared at thing but she wasn't sure Riku knew that.
"W-why don't you sit down on the couch?" She laughed nervously. "We're going to watch a Romantic Comedy if you don't mind."
"Not at all," he replied in response with a weak smile. After that, he slowly began to make his way towards the couch.
"You can sit on the ground. Kairi's going to be sitting on the couch and there isn't that much room since it isn't very big," Riku suddenly suggested out of nowhere in a curt and rude tone.
"Riku! He can sit on the couch! There's plenty of room!"
Though Riku was a mean person to quite some people, if there was one thing that he despised, it was mean people. Though hypocritical to some aspect, it was true. And by what Kairi had told him about Sora on the phone, she now got kind of a good idea that Riku already didn't like him. Whether it was because of the silly joke she told about him, the rumors, or how he already seemed to be living the perfect life with his almost guaranteed successful career, Riku didn't seem to be liking him already.
The DVD title screen now already on the screen of the plasma TV, Kairi grabbed for the remote to the DVD player and moved her way over to the couch. Sitting next to Riku, she was going to make sure Sora didn't have to suffer an hour and a half of sitting next to him. So after seconds later of sitting down, Sora sat down also, only next to Kairi.
Rather close, Kairi cleared her throat and moved slightly more towards Riku. After that, she pressed the 'play' button and the screen of the TV warped from the title screen to a blue statement about how it was illegal to copy the movie and whatnot. But as she had moved closer just a bit towards the old friend, he must have took notice due to what came out of his mouth next.
"So Sora, do you like to snuggle with random strange girls?"
"All the time," he stated in a sarcastic tone.
"Well, don't try getting close with Kairi. She doesn't like conceited jerks."
"You must have a really low self esteem talking about yourself. That isn't very good for your mental health you know, calling yourself a conceited jerk." Sora turned his head to look at Riku from the other side of the couch. Kairi tried not to laugh at the turned around insult.
"Are you saying you'd try to get close with her?"
"Well, she is pretty you know. I'm sure all the guys are always after her."
"You know, you're a real son of a bitc--"
"SH! It's starting!" Now flaming red, Kairi quickly clapped her hands together and the lights went off in command. For a few minutes, she could feel both pairs of eyes from the sides of her looking directly at her. But finally, the tenseness of both of them fell onto the screen and away from her. As the music of opening credits began, she relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. But just as she felt comfortable and more at ease, the presence of an arm relaxing behind her back and a hand on her shoulder could be felt.
Tohrue's Note: You really can't read a fanfiction and escape that 'tense' feeling Riku and Sora always having going between them.
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Tohrue