A/N: SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING!
It's almost the end of the second semester so all the teachers are cramming all the tests in so we can get on with finals in January.
Enjoy the second chapter!
Chapter 2 - An Invitation
Previously, in Chapter 1,
The teacher who was speaking to us clears her throat yet again. She walks towards us with her clipboard in hand, then hands us two papers, one each.
"For you." She explains as she sees our faces contorted with confusion. "They're your schedules for this year.
The teachers all stand up simultaneously. In unison, they all say,
"Welcome to Iwatobi High."
xXxXxXxX
"Thank you." We both politely bow.
The teacher claps her hands and remains standing as the other sit down. "Jason, please follow the teacher over there." She pauses, pointing to a male teacher with white hair and a think mustache who is waving. Jason nods in understanding. "Violet, looks like you are in my homeroom class. Follow me please." I nod, then follow her out of the room.
"My name is Ms. Amakata, teacher of classical literature." She introduces. The bell has already rung and there aren't any students in the hallway but I hear footsteps getting louder and louder, approaching us from behind. I sense it's only a few feet away and whip around.
The person jumps. He's short, skinny, and has blonde hair.
"Oh my, Nagisa-kun, you scared me." Ms. Amakata says as she slowly turns around.
"Sorry sensei," He bows, "I'm late for class!" He yells as he runs ahead of us. He enters the classroom marked 1-C. I'm surprised he didn't make a comment about me but I guess I can't expect everyone to notice me. That would be pretty conceited.
"That was Nagisa-kun, he's a first year." She explains to me.
"Oh." Is all I say in response.
We walk down the hall in silence. I wonder why the teacher didn't yell at him for running in the hallway.
We stop at classroom 2-A. "Here we are." She says. I take a deep breath. She slides the door open.
The bright light from the windows temporarily blind me but when my eyes focus, everyone is staring at me.
Ms. Amakata walks in, her heels clicking. The palms of my hands suddenly get sweaty and my book bag feels a million times heavier. My heart starts to pound so hard that I can hear it through my ears.
She sharply turns as she reaches her desk so that she faces the class.
She gestures for me to come in. "Now now, don't be shy." She beckons.
I slightly blush but then walk in. I feel everyone's eyes follow my every movement.
"Please introduce yourself." She says, giving me an encouraging smile.
Suddenly I remember my brother telling me to always be confident, especially when meeting new people so you have a good first impression. I kind of wish I had remembered that earlier, before I had totally embarrassed myself in front of the teachers.
"Hello, my name is Violet Jennings, pleased to meet you all." I smiled and then bowed. Bowing is definitely annoying, but everyone does it a lot here as a sign of respect. Even so, I still think that it's a hassle.
A murmur goes throughout the class and I awkwardly stand there, in the center of attention. I hear people say things like "Is she from England?" or "I bet she dyed her hair blonde." or "Is she wearing contacts? No one's eyes are that green." or "Did you see her walk in with her boyfriend this morning?"
Of course, all of these things came from the girls. I could feel myself blush more and more with each comment. The guys in the class were just staring at me, which wasn't comfortable either.
Subconsciously, I'm twirling my hair because of nervousness, which many of the girls are looking at. I immediately stop and just put my hands behind my back.
"Pleased to meet you too." The class says back.
"Thank you, Violet." Ms. Amakata says. "Please sit in the back next to that boy." She points towards a guy with black hair. I walk over, and still, many eyes follow me.
When I reach the desk and pull out the chair, I take one brief look at the boy who Ms. Amakata told me to sit next to. His seat is in the corner of the back of the classroom, which also happens to be a window seat. Through the window, you can see the lunch area and the swimming pool.
He notices me staring at him and I get a clear look at his face. My jaw drops open.
"I-it's you!" I accidentally say. He was the neighbor guy! The one that was shirtless in the rain and lended me a tatami mat to sleep on!
The class had already went back to their work but now they reattaches their attention towards us.
"Is something wrong, Violet?" She asks, a slight frown starting to form on her face.
I feel myself getting hot. "No... Sorry." I bow again but fail. I hit my head hard on my desk.
"Ow.." I say, rubbing my forehead. "That hurt." I complain in English. Again the class whispers to each other. Was speaking English a sin here or something?
"Are you okay?" A guy, from the other side of my desk, asks.
"You too!" I say. I recognized him as the guy I bumped into at the convenience store.
"Oh. You're the blonde one from the convenience store." He says as he chuckles to himself. He smiles a warm and friendly smile.
"Makoto?" Ms. Amakata says. "Is everything okay over there?"
"Haik, it's all good." He says.
Everyone's eyes drift away, and I don't feel as tense as before.
I collect myself and finally successfully sit down at my desk, ready to learn.
Ms. Amakata begins to call attendance. When she's done, she says," Haru?"
The neighbor guy looks up from his daydream.
Ms. Amakata continues," I want you to be a guide for Violet. If she has any questions, you have to help her. Also, you need to show her and her brother, a third year, around."
A wave of chatter passes through the room at the mention of my brother.
Haru looks like he's about to complain but Ms. Amakata cuts him off," No objections. There's a reason I chose you." She says mysteriously.
He still looks like he doesn't agree but doesn't say anything.
"Sorry about that," the friendly convenience store guy apologizes.
"Oh, no need," I say with a smile. "It's not your fault." The words unintentionally come out cold.
"See Haru, you've made our new pretty classmate mad." He says, whispering to Haru.
I slightly smile at the compliment. Haru turns his head towards my direction. "Okay." He bluntly says.
I roll my eyes.
Ms. Amakata tells us to take out our math notebook so I do.
It reads,"Calculus AA" in clear print on the cover in Japanese.
"Wow," Convenience store guy comments. "You must be pretty smart."
I look over to his desk and he has the same math notebook. Then, I looked over at Haru's desk. His notebook said "Calculus AB", unlike mine and convenience store guy.
"Looks like we're at the same level," Convenience store guy says with a laugh. "Finally, some competition in this class. Haru's at the same level as everyone else here. We're all learning Calculus, but before you came, I was the only one learning it at a faster pace. The only difference is that Ms. Amakata gives us more homework and gives us one private lesson each week afterschool on Tuesdays."
I laugh. He was speaking really slowly in Japanese. "I know how to speak Japanese, convenience store guy."
"Huh? Oh yeah. Oh... I forgot to formally introduce myself. My name is Makoto Tachibana."
"Well, Makoto, looks like we're math buddies from now on." I grin.
Just as the words escape my lips, Haru clears his throat. We both look over. Ms. Amakata is rambling something about reviewing radicals so we don't really listen.
"Pay attention." He says. His words are cold like stone. Something about this felt childish.
I look over at Makoto and his face is one of confusion. It seemed to say, "What are you doing? I'm just trying to be nice." but of course, being someone who had only known him for about ten minutes, I wasn't sure.
The rest of class was boring. The school system itself was a little bit weird. In Michigan, the students would be the ones to change classrooms. There was a classroom for science, math, english, etc., and you would go there yourself, each with a different teacher.
Though here in Japan, the ones who would change classes were the teachers, each teaching their own specialized subject.
My teachers were all boring, except for Ms. Amakata. She was also somewhat boring but her teaching style was different compared to any of the teachers I had been taught by before.
Soon it's lunch time and my mom had packed my lunch. The eating part was covered but now there was only one problem. Who to sit with.
Throughout the morning, girls had been giving me evil looks. Honestly, I don't know why. Haru basically ignored me but Makoto had been nice. So while Makoto seems nice, Haru doesn't and they seem like good friends.. Maybe I won't sit with them.
Then of course, there was my brother. He was always an option.
I grab my bags, still wondering about whether to sit with Makoto or my brother. Everyone else has already left the classroom.
I decide to at least find my brother first and ask him how his day was. I decide to go to the bathroom first.
As I go into the stall, I hear other people enter, the sound of their talking fill the room.
"Have you seen the new girl in my class?" One girl asks her friends.
"What new girl?" Another girl asks.
"Oh! I saw her this morning." Another voice chimes in. I think they're talking about me. I look under the stall and see that their are three girls in total, doing their hair and makeup.
"What do you think about her?" The first girl asks.
"She seems pretty." The second girl says slowly.
"Well, that's all she is." My ears perk up as one of them says so. "Did you hear?" The first girl continues.
"She's just a foreigner. This morning, she bowed and then bumped her head on the desk. I think she did it on purpose to get Makoto's attention." She says, in an annoying nasally tone.
I felt like going there and telling them off and that I really did bump my head on accident, but the third girl continued,"Wow. That's really slutty."
After hearing those words, I felt like biting her head off.
I stand up after buckling my skirt and reach for the door but no, they decide to continue. "And, she was totally bugging me out when she was sticking to her brother like a mosquito." Did she really just compare me to a mosquito?
"Oh yeah, I saw that," One commented, "'till the very last second. Like glue." Now I was glue?
I really couldn't take it anymore. I was used to having people talk behind my back, but involving my brother was not something I was happily willing to let go.
I slammed the door open. "This is sad." I say quietly. I catch the first girls' eyes in the restroom mirror.
She gasps and turns around. Then, the rest of them follow.
"Y-you're the..." she points at my hair and then my eyes. "...g-girl.." She quickly covers her mouth.
"Yeah, I'm the girl. I'm the new student... Or should I say.. I'm that mosquito? Or was it glue? You decide, since obviously you know everything about me." I smirk.
I knew this was wrong, that this wasn't like me, and yet my subconscious self somehow mustered the courage to do something like this.
"But the funny part? At least I'm not that low, to talk about other people behind their back like that." I smile. But, on the inside, I was cringing, frowning, disappointed with my decision to deal with this problem this way.
I walk to the entrance, then stop, my back turned against them.
"Nice to meet you, by the way." I felt tears forming in my eyes.
I start to walk away, then gradually, I run. Faster and faster. Faster and faster. The guilt closes in. The tears fall. I don't know where I'm headed, but anywhere else but here.
Suddenly I run into something, being the extremely clumsy person I am (in case you haven't noticed). I realize that it is a person. My eyes are blurry so I don't recognize the person immediately. The first thing I notice is short black hair. The second thing I notice is piercing blue eyes. Then I notice his or her placing their hands on my shoulders.
I wipe my eyes. My vision clears. The person standing before me is none other than Haru.
"Oh. It's you." I say, sniffling to keep my nose from running.
I look to my side at his arms on my shoulders. It's not that I don't like him, but he gives off such a cold aura that when he tries to comfort people, it's just weird.
But for some even weirder reason, my heart flutters.
Even so, the awkwardness overcomes the fluttering and I cough. "'scuse me."I say. But the tears keep coming. I try to act tough, "I'll be going. See you."
I try to walk away, but his grip is strong.
"Are you okay?" He says formally. His face shows no expression. Cold. Blank. Empty.
"I-I guess." His blandness wasn't comforting but the fluttering increased.
He puts his hands to his sides and he looks like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders.
"Let me introduce myself." he says. Where was this coming from? "My name is Haru Nanase." He bows slowly.
The sudden reintroduction startles me, and I notice that no more tears are coming out. Was he trying to start over?
"I'm Violet Jennings," I say, deciding to play along. "Nice to meet you." I also bow, but then our heads clash.
"Ow." He says dully.
"Ah! I'm so sorry!" I say, blushing. I must look like a mess. Blushing and tear streaked, a bitter sweet combination.
"It's okay." He smiles, but only slightly. As for me, I laugh.
"Haru!" A voice calls.
Suddenly a figure turns the corner. It's Makoto.
His eyebrows go up as he sees us. "Oh, Makoto." Haru says.
"I thought you went to the bathroom, didn't know you were here." Makoto says with a smile.
"I just... She just... ran into me." He says.
I stifle a laugh. Oh, the irony.
"Oh that's right! Violet, you should meet our other friends." Makoto says. "Unless you're doing something..."
"No," I say, remembering the incident in the bathroom. "I'm free." Just at those words, Haru looks up. Makoto notices, then chuckles. Then, he silently walks on, from the direction he came. Haru follows, and I do too.
Soon we reach the roof. Three other people are there, two guys and one girl. I recognize them all immediately.
"I know you!" The three of them and me say all at the same time.
The first guy was the cashier guy at the convenience store. The second was the short blonde one that was late this morning. The third one, the girl, was Gou. She was the one who was really nice and showed us where the main office was.
"Wow, Violet. Looks like you already know everyone." Makoto says.
"But," The cashier person says, "I haven't formally introduced myself." He straightens his glasses, then straightens his arm towards me.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Rei-san." He smiles. In a way, he sort of looks like Haru but with glasses.
"And my name is Nagisa!" The blonde one says with a huge grin on his face.
"You already know me! Ah, it's so nice to have another girl here." Gou says with a smile.
"Pleased to meet you all. I'm Violet." I say with a bow.
"No need to be so formal." Rei says still smiling.
I blush.
"Kawaii!" Nagisa shouts.
My blush deepens.
"Let's eat." Haru says, again with the bland tone in his voice.
"Let's." Makoto says.
We all sit down. The weather is really nice. It's sunny but there's a cold wind blowing that counters the heat.
I take out my lunch. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich. This is probably the first "American" meal I've eaten since I'd come here.
"What is that?" Nagisa asks, as he pokes his head in my face.
"Agh!" I say, startled at his sudden appearance. "It's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."
"Oh." He says, but I can tell he's still confused.
I decide to explain further. "It's just bread, peanut butter, and grape jelly all in one sandwich. This is what a lot of people eat back in the States." I didn't mention that my mom probably packed it for me, thinking that I missed it back there. And I really did. I really, really do. I haven't even been here for a full school day and there are already rumors about me.
And back in the States.. That's where my life is. Friends, relatives, school, Arabella... Kyle, the list goes on.
Here, I know nothing, people look at me funny, and no ones too big on surfing.
I stood up and leaned on the edge of the roof. There was a safety fence protecting the border of the building and I leaned on it. I can see the swimming pool from here. It gleams in the sunlight and looks like a sparkly jewel but without an owner. No one is there.
I turn. Everyone is laughing about something. I turn back towards the swimming pool, ignoring them.
"It's pretty, isn't it?" Someone says. I look to my right and Makoto is leaning on the fence too, staring at the pool as well.
"It is." I say. My gloomy mood darkens as I start thinking about the ocean and my longing to go in one.
"Do you like swimming?" He asks.
I pause and think about my answer before replying, "In a way."
He turns and looks at me but I pretend not to notice. "Is that a yes?" He asks, pursuing for my answer.
I turn and face him. Suddenly curious, I ask, "Why?"
"You should join the swimming team." Another person says. It comes from behind me and I whip around. It's Haru.
"Way to be blunt." Makoto laughs.
"Swim team?" I ask.
"I agree with Haru," Makoto says. "You should join, even if you only sort of like swimming."
"I'm not that interested though.. And I've only just move here... and..." I tried to come up with more excuses. The swimming team sounded fun but I would rather use the time to surf in the ocean.
"Then why don't you just come to our practice after school?" He offers.
I thought about it. Wouldn't hurt, right?
"Uh..." A nagging feeling in my heart told me that this was something I was going to regret. "Sure."
Just then, the bell rings. Time to be tortured..
So as the day went by, it turns out the Makoto and I are around the same level academic wise. We're in the advanced studies curriculum for all subjects. Again, similar to the Calculus problem, there aren't enough people to form a separate class so we only get more homework and extra lessons after school. Greaaat.
"Class dismissed." Sensei (meaning teacher in Japanese) announced. A sigh traveled throughout the class.
"Ready to go?" Makoto asks as he shuffles through his papers to but into his bag.
"Mhm." I say hurriedly, wanting to get the 'trial' practice over with.
As soon as we're ready, we walk to the swimming pool in silence. Not an awkward silence, but a enjoying the environment kind of silence.
Soon we're there and there aren't many people, only Haru, Nagisa, Rei, Gou, and.. Ms. Amakata.
"Oh! What are you doing here Violet?" She asks, surprised.
"Ah, well-" I start.
Makoto cuts in, "She's joining the swim team."
"Well actually, I-" I try again.
"Really? That's awesome!" Nagisa interrupts.
"But it's only for-" I attempt to complete my sentence.
"YAY!" Gou screams.
I look at her, shocked by her sudden yet loud outburst.
"Now it really feels like there's more than just one girl here." She beams, widely smiling.
"Oh," I say, "The thing is, I'm not actually-" I'm cut off yet again.
"Does she even swim? We need to test out her skills first." Rei says as he pushes up his glasses.
I roll my eyes. "That's what I'm trying to explain.."
I think they catch the annoyance in my tone and don't interrupt again so I continue, "I'm here for a trial practice... Just to test out my skills or something?" I look at Makoto and he nods reassuringly.
"Let's start." A voice from behind me says. Yet again, it's Haru. He's in his swim clothes though, the black and purple ones I had seen him wearing yesterday.. When did he change? I didn't even notice..
He jumped into the pool, quickly completing a lap in 7 strokes.
He didn't look fast. But looks aren't everything. His graceful appearance when he swims makes it look like he's slow, but I think it's the opposite. His rhythm wasn't thrown off for even a split second, and he knew exactly where to flip turn with no hesitation.
Is this the skill level of Iwatobi High?
All of a sudden, just after watching him swim, I want to swim as well.
I start walking towards the pool. I quicken my pace. I'm about to jump in but someone grabs my hand.
It's Gou.
I frown, "What's wrong?" I ask, anxious to swim.
"You might want to change first..." She giggles.
I look down at my clothes. I was still wearing my school uniform.
I face palm my forehead.
Nagisa, Rei, Makoto, and Ms. Amakata start bursting out in laughter. Haru just shakes his head.
I turn red.
"Right..." I realize something. "I don't have a swim suit.." I frown, disappointed.
"That's okay! You can borrow mine." Gou says as she gives me an elevator look.
"You look about the same size as me." She continues, "Come to the changing room."
She starts walking to a small building near the pool. We enter and there are rows of lockers. No one's inside and the place looks a little run down and abandoned.
She does the locker combination of of with a red lock. It opens and she pulls out a one piece swim suit. "Here." She says as she hands it to me.
"Thanks!" I say, beaming. I want to swim. Now.
"I'll be at the pool then." She says as she leaves.
I quickly change and put my uniform in a random locker. I take out a hair tie from my book bag and do a really quick ponytail. I didn't bother to try and find a swimming cap. In my opinion, they're just a hassle. They squeeze your brain. I only wear them if I absolutely have to..
I look around for goggles. There's a pair hanging on a rack and I take it. It's grey and looks durable and clean.
I walk out and head back to the pool.
As I enter the area, everyone looks at me.
"What?" I ask.
They don't say anything and pretend to act as if nothing had happened by looking away.
I walk to the pool side and Gou whispers in my ear, "I think they were in awe of your good body, Violet." She laughs.
I start laughing too. "As if." I scoff in between the giggles.
"Ready?" Makoto asks. By now everyone, except Haru who was still on the pool, gathers around, curious to see my skill level.
I mound onto the diving board and put my goggles on. "Yep!" I say, smiling.
This wasn't the ocean, but this was close enough for now.
"Okay," Rei says. He has a timer on hand. "Ready, set..."
I go into diving position.
"Go!"
I push off, using the spring diving board and my long legs to my advantage.
As soon as I touch the water, I feel adrenaline coursing through my body. Energy flowed through out.
It was a freestyle lap, back and forth across the 25 meter pool. I imagine the pool is the ocean.
"Faster," I think. "Faster, faster." I know I haven't hi my limit yet. I can go faster.
In a matter of short moments, I reach the end of the pool as I see the end of the 'T' on the pool floor.
I do a flip turn and spring my legs off the wall, giving me an extra push to complete the lap.
I try my best to keep my rhythm. I keep on imagining Haru's freestyle as I swim. Beauty, elegance, speed, focus, I try to imitate it all.
I see the end of the pool and stretch out my right arm towards the wall. I feel my hand touch the wall. I was done.
I lifted my head out of the water. I'm panting. I hear clapping.
Everyone's clapping, the looks on their faces are priceless: half in awe, half shocked. Except Haru. He just looks at me with his cold steel eyes.
Not like I care or anything though..
Makoto walks over to my lane and stretches his arm out.
I take it and he pulls me out of the water. Gou hands me a towel.
"Welcome to the Iwatobi Swim Club."
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A/N: So, how was it? I kinda rushed but constructive criticism is defs appreciated!
I'll definitely update faster, already working on Chapter 3! But Christmas is around the corner so I might not update until then. BUT I DEFINITELY WON"T ABANDON THIS. So, with that said, feel free to follow or review (favoriting a story is more of an opinion so you shouldn't feel pressured to favorite)
3 reviews and follows 'till I update!
Thanks so much to the reviewers from last chap:
1) anna (guest)
2) kitty (guest)
3) Guest1995 (guest)
4) Guest (guest)
Wow they were all guests lol. BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH I SO APPRECIATE IT. Your reviews all inspire and motivate me. (And pop up in my email tp remind me that this story hasn't died :P)
till the next!
-Sammyy