Author's note: Meh. Chapter two is out finally and my brain is now empty. Its summer in America and no sane teenager wants to think properly. I would also like to thank readers for taking the time to read story. That's all.
The red haired teen curls his feeble legs to his chest while hiding under the cover of shinning metal bleachers. Part of his pale shoulder was already turning an unhealthy scarlet from being in the blistering summer sun for a short moment. His headphones lay on the far corner of the bench next to a tan blond man staring at Neku like a criminal caught committing murder.
"Neku, stop being all pouty and exercise." An ashen hair teenager says kneeling down to the hidden boy's level.
"No way in hell Josh." He replies sticking his middle finger up at his friend.
Neku is not a jolly fellow right now. It's not that he hates exercise, no no no that's not the problem at all, it's that the God damn sun has it out for him. People are always saying that outdoor physical education is good for you because you have the wonderful fresh air and it's healthy or shit like that but clearly those people have never met a ginger in their life! They don't have normal flesh, they have this weird flammable paper like material that is vaguely shin color! Normal humans get tan then get burnt yet red heads are set on freaking fire. And don't even suggest sunscreen because whatever all-knowing being is up there decided to create ginger-kind with an immunity to anything that can save them.
"Well unless you want Coach Sota to keep your headphones forever you better start running." Joshua points out poking Neku in between the eyes repeatedly.
Slapping his hand away he slides out under the bleachers and runs onto the track. Neku has no reason to wait for his violet eyed best friend, he has other people to hang around and be an ass to. Joshua has tried to get them acquainted with each other before but let's just say people just aren't his thing.
The older teen pulls his uninterested friend towards a few people, carefully avoiding the left arm.
"Josh this is fucking stupid. Who needs friends?" The uninterested boy groans, digging the heels of his purple sneakers into the concrete of his deceivingly strong best friend.
"Oh come on Neku, Only by alowing strangers in, we can find new way to be ourselves." Joshua preaches as he stops in front of their destination.
"I hope you know saying gets more annoying every time you say it."
"Eri, Raimu, Daisukenojo this is my good friend Neku Sakuraba." Yoshiya announces, gesturing is hands towards the blue eye boy who was detracted buy the newly bloomed Sakura trees in front of the school.
"Hey what's up?"
"Dang it Prissy, I told ya to call me Beat!"
"Hello nice to meet you."
The group greet simultaneously. The frail teen held his yellow banded hand against the cup of his headset as he glanced to the colorful group of people he was dragged to meet. To their credit they didn't seem like a bad bunch. The pink haired girl seem to show more clothing than anyone should be comfortable with in an educational environment but she didn't seem like a bitch. Or the short blond girl who was probably the only one in the area to where the girl's sailor styled school uniform properly if you excused the black beanie. Also it was nice to see that Joshua has other male companions even though they happen to look like the type who would knock the books out of a nerds hands so they won't feel bad for not being able to read.
"Whatever." Neku sighs looking back to the far more interesting trees.
Then again the three never expected him to be antisocial as a rock floating in the middle of the ocean.
The purple iris teen crosses his long arms and narrows his eyes disapprovingly at his close friend. "Neku, would it kill you to be a bit kinder to new company? Try opening up for once."
"Yes. Yes it would." The red head spits, sharply turning his head towards him with a scowl on his face. "It would kill me slowly and painfully. By the time I am recovered by the cops they won't even recognize me as a human being."
"Like they would any other time." The soft haired male quips twirling his curly and leaning into Neku's personal space. Now one ever seems to mind his personal bubble.
"Low blow Josh." The teen growls, turning his body to completely face his companion.
"I apologize dear, you just make it too easy." Joshua mocks patting the spiky teen on the head with that infuriating smirk on his face.
Neku pushes the hand away and smiles leaning in closer till their faces where almost touching. "Like you?"
"Now who's delivering the low blows?" The blond frowns placing one arm across his chest and the other on his chin as if he was contemplating something.
"You in a cheap motel." retorts back to the pale nearly emaciated teen, who is now repeatedly poking in between the others eyes.
Joshua grabs Neku's yellow banded wrist and is not amused. "One: it would so be a five star resort. And two: you did not just go there."
"Oh I'm afraid I did Kiryu. I just went there and made it back to tell the tale." The teen reply using his free hand to pull down the blue headphones.
"Do my little ears deceive me? Is that a challenge I hear?" Yoshiya questions cupping his ear to hear his friend to hear him better. "Because if it is then I accept."
"That wasn't the call of a challenge. It was the sound of me winning it."
In their trivial battle of egotism neither teen heard the little blond girl asking if they were going to stop the flirting and make out. Nor did they hear the sound of the three pairs of feet walking away after ten minutes of bickering. And later they would wish that they paid attention to the morning bells on their first day of high school instead of snarky remarks on the other's hair.
Neku never talked to those people again but it didn't matter because he believed thing where fine the way they were. All the world needs is him and people just don't get that. Or at least he thought.
"Hey you!" A female shouts from behind him when he reaches the curve on the tar track this snapping him out of his flash back.
Turning around he sees the glasses girl with dark brown hair from this morning. She's appears to be tiredly running towards him, waving a black blazer frantically in the air.
"Y-y-y-yo-you foooorgot thhhissss..." She wheezes stretching her hand out to show Joshua's school blazer before she gets acquainted with the ground for the second time that day.
Neku kneels down to pick up the jacket then staring at the probably dead girl lying flat on the track. He starts to wonder when she entered his class since even he couldn't miss someone this weird in his class but drops the train of thought when he stops caring. Since the short haired youth went through all that trouble to return this jacket so he might as well ask if she's okay.
"You dead yet?" Then again Neku has never been a man of reassuring words. He throws the jacket back on her head to reproduce the look of a recently deceased body.
"Anm mouw pweeez hep me ump?" She begs with her face still smooching the pavement.
Sighing, the boy pulls her up with great difficulty seeing as she is not the skinniest person on the planet. A couple classmates running by were laughing at them as he hauls the girl up. Once up the girl bows at him multiple times before standing straight up reviling a freshly battered face.
"Thank you." She breaths out as she bleeds heavily from her bruised nose. "I'm Shiki Misaki, it's nice to finally talk to you."
"Uh...Neku Sakuraba. You got some blood on your face." The sapphire eye boy bluntly points out while roughly whipping her face with the sleeve of his friend's jacket. It's not that he wants to stay there helping the girl more but that accursed social contract is making him help. Then again he wanted to torcher Joshua with a blood stained blazer.
"Oh no your jacket!" The frail floor loving girl cries clutching the piece of cloth in her hands, "I can't let you ruin good fabric with my blood."
"It's fine. The damn thing is not even mine it's Josh's." Neku explains putting his hands in his PE shorts.
Shiki stares at the black blazer horrified at herself with the nearly visible blood stain and screams, "KIRYU-SAMA'S JACKET!?"
"Sama?" The taller teen questions raising an eyebrow at her. He contemplates when Joshua deserved the title of "sama" knowing that his friend is only the master of witty comebacks and the quick clearing of conditioner bottles.
"You used his jacket to clean my blood! I could have sold this to some girl for so much if I knew this was his and now it's has blood on it!" She complains using her delicate hands to examine the damage done to the blazer.
Wait a minute. What?
Neku stares at Shiki in shock at what she just confessed. He knew his friend was "popular with the ladies" as Joshua likes to call it, or "popular as the ladies" as Neku calls it, but this is too much. Suddenly that state of shock was replaced by a smile beaming joy as he burst out laughing at the thought of some messed up drug dealing with Yoshida's clothing.
"Hahahahahahahaha! Oh God it-ha ha-i-it hurts!" He howls holding his stomach and tears staining the edge of his blue eyes.
"Stop laughing! You just cost me two thousand yen!" Shiki yells shaking the jacket in her fists. She didn't know what was so hilarious about the fact her losing equivalent of twenty American dollars but as she stares on at the red haired boy who was practically paralyzed of laughter she starts to be dragged into the mirth herself.
The two engulf themselves in their guffawing for a long while ignoring the odd stares and the threatening glare Coach Sota was giving them for not running their laps. They also didn't notice the small group of teens that have completely stop running look on in disbelief at the red head tearing up full of mirth.
"Misaki! Sakuraba! What in the world are you two doing?" The tan man asks marching up to them. He stops in his tracks when he sees Shiki's bloody beaten nose. "Sakuraba! Why haven't you taken this young lady to Nurse Nao Nao?! What kind of man are you?"
"One who's laughing his ass off." He replies to the furious teacher knowing full well he's going to end up in a ditch somewhere announced missing but right now he didn't care.
(Line)
"I can't believe you dragged me into this." Joshua grunts leaning on the large window of the school infirmary. "Why the hell did you two say it was my fault?"
"Stop your bitching Josh. You're not the one that has to stay here." Neku says watching the dark skin nurse treat Shiki's beat up face. Nurse Nao skillfully avoids cutting the school girl with her sharp pink nails as she puts on the last bandage.
"You are like really lucky." She explains handing the brunette a lollipop from her small white desk. "I'm like really surprised your nose isn't broken from falling."
The nurse puts the first aid box up on the shelf above her bureau and turns back to the three. "You guy have like ten minutes left of class so like... You can stay here until then. Help your selves to the candy."
Then the yellow hair nurse left the room, stretching her hands above her hands and yawning. Where in the world was she going? There are perfectly decent beds in the infirmary to use.
"Soooo…" Shiki blurts out pointing a lollipop at the dull blue eye boy in an attept to break to silence, "do you want a lollipop too?"
"No." Neku response quickly backing away from it as if someone was threatening him with a loaded gun.
"Let's just say Nekky here has problems with harmless pieces of rock candy on a stick." Joshua teases holding Neku in a childlike embrace and pats him on the head softly.
"Damn it Josh, Stop that!" The spiky ginger yelps pushing away the older male like the plague.
"Wow Neku. You must really hate Halloween." The bruised face female state in amusement.
"Neku?" Joshua narrows his eyes at the girl, crossing his arms disapprovingly. "Misaki-san, isn't that too informal seeing as you two just got acquainted with each other today."
"Sorry! I wasn't paying attention." She gasps covering her wide mouth with her hands.
"I don't care." He states placing his headphones over his ears then tossing himself on the bed next to Shiki. While he's getting comfortable Neku points at his flaxen haired friend as he closes his eyes. "Josh stop being a formal prick about these things."
"Well excuse me for trying to keep it classy." Yoshiya huffs excusing himself out of the room saying something about forgetting his bag.
"Kiryu-sama seems to kind of hate me." The dark chocolate colored hair female sighs hanging her head down dejectedly.
"Seriously, why are you calling him 'sama'?" Neku groans out of disgust for the sickening name. The boy was already narcissistic enough.
"Don't you remember what he said at the beginning of the school year during introductions?" She questions sitting properly in the plastic chair.
"Look, I don't listen to the fucking introductions." The boy states putting his hand under his head to create a make-shift pillow. "All people ever say is their name and a hobby. There's nothing interesting to hear."
"Well that's not true. When Kiryu-sama had to introduce himself he proclaimed 'If you're not my friend then you mustn't address me like one. To the rest of you simpletons shall refer to me as Kiryu-sama or else." Shiki reiterates with her nose in the air and a proud smirk on her face trying to impersonate Joshua.
"Or else what? He starts bitching about it? That's pretty threatening to me." Neku responses monotony.
"Well his family is pretty rich so what if he got rid of us or something with all that power!" The girl screeches flailing her arms, hitting random objects around her including Neku.
"Shiki…" The tired teen growls bopping her on the bruised nose. "That's stupid."
Rubbing her nose with the palm of her hands, most likely making it worse, while glaring at him. "You don't know that."
"That kind of crap only happens in dramas and lame shojo anime." the red head states turning to this side and opens his eyes to look at the assumed otaku
"Wait you mean dramas aren't realistic?" Scratch that. The certain otaku.
"Yeah Shiki. Teen dramas are the most realistic thing in the world." Neku says in the most cynical tone he can possibly muster. "Because we all know that the KEY for a rich guy to get a girl he's hot and bothered for is to be complete trash to her."
"That's because he's misunderstood and sheltered." The brunette whines, pouting her lower lip out and glaring at the orangette on her left, as she nervously fiddles with the red bow on her uniform.
"Right, of course he is. So is every fabulously wealthy guy in those shitty shows." The male rejoinders waving his banded arm in the air for emphasis.
"Hey, they must be doing something right if people keep watching them." Shiki shrugs in defeat and decides to reach in her bag for the black plushie. She holds the animal up in front of her face, moving its hands as if the plushie was talking to Neku.
"I forgot to properly thank you for finding me." She cheers changing her voice two octaves lower.
"Whatever." The savor sighs lightly punching the stuffed animal's plush stomach in Shiki's face. "Next time don't set your pig near your open window."
"He's a CAT!" the girl yells whacking Neku on the head with Mr. Mew. "I've was looking in every trash can for the little guy."
Neku takes the tattered animal from his aggressor, holding it up in curiosity. He really didn't need to ask why but his pale scrunch up expression was asking the question. Shiki sighs hanging her head low refusing to let the conversation goes on. The few minutes left in utter silence.
Neku drags his feet along the waxed tiles, his headphone blaring loud music and bag gathering dust from the floor, awaiting the growling in his stomach to subside. His light hair friend strides next to him with a packed lunch in his right hand.
"You know Neku, you wouldn't be so hungry if you just ate breakfast once in a while."
"What are you my mother?
"Do I have bright pink hair?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if you did."
He moves inside what would have been a spacious lunchroom, if not for the colorful crowd of shouting people trying to out yell each other, and towards the lengthy line near the counter. The flaxen hair teen follows Neku to the trail to student, pretending not to notice the hot stares he is currently gathering from civilians around him.
"Don't you have another table to get to?" The red-head sighs monotones shoving his hands into his black pants pockets.
"What? Tired of me already Neku?"
"No but you packed your lunch. You should be over there."
"Aww, but we haven't spent any quality time together lately. I miss you." The attractive teen pouts attempting to sound like a kicked puppy.
"Josh that is the creepiest thing I've ever heard you say-" Neku was about to turn up the volume in his headset and continue walking to in the line to order lunch when a memorable black tail catches his eyes. A familiar brunette walks towards an isolated lunch table cheerfully, blissfully ignoring the giggles and sneers she got from the girls around her. She hugs the stuff cat tightly against her chest in her right arm and carries a packed lunch in her left, not meeting the glares.
"Hey Shiki, I heard you've been dumpster diving. Finally hit rock bottom?"
"Did Eri get some common sense and leave you?"
"What is she even doing here? She's so weird."
"Neku, what are you looking at?" Joshua asks, narrowing his amethyst eyes at the red-head, wanting to know the reason for his hypnotized silence.
Neku want to look the other way, ignore the stranger he's been seeing much of today, and erase her being from the existence to his mind but something broke in him seeing the brunet like this. There are so many people he's ignored before and will ignore in the future. He grips his yellow wristband, frowning slightly at the familiar sting, and turns to his disapproving only friend and does something Joshua has been telling him to do since the day they met.
Neke raises his thin arm and calls her over to join him much to Joshua's dismay but little did the pair know that small action will change their friendship forever.
Nooooo! Josh don't be a Shiki hater! Then again one of my best friends hate her but oh well. Anyways I am a terrible human being who loves cliffhangers. Sorry. Review comment and criticize to your heart's content.