Sorry it's taken such awhile to update, but with it being the middle of summer and all I guess a lot of us are busy. Well, first off I have good news and bad news: The good news is I got the third "Fruits Basket: Ultimate Edition"! The bad news is this'll be my last update for this particular story until "A Trio's Eye View: Part II" is made; I think I owe a couple chapters on that one.
Well anyway, thanks for all the great reviews everyone! I really appreciated them! And now, on with the story!
The next day…
Just when the students thought school couldn't get anymore boring, science class swooped down on them from out of nowhere. The project, as the teacher had said, was surprisingly simple: Pair up into groups, and vigilantly combine the seven chemicals, by mixing two different ones in each beaker and then writing down the results.
The procedure went by like any other experiment the teacher assigned, except of course for Jody humming "Hakuna Matata" all through the period. Luckily Ophelia had put in her ear buds and the rock music was too loud for her to hear her lab partner's singing and it also kept her from losing it. As Jody eagerly wrote notes and Ophelia slouched over her textbook, a few desks back from them, Roger and Marcus were working on the project as partners too.
This of course caused some whispering among his fellow popular students; since Marcus was so admired and Roger was so…not. It was often a puzzlement to the more trendy portion of the student body as to why Marcus associated with the "unpopular" groups of the school. But it was quickly dismissed however because no matter who Marcus hung out with, it didn't change how attractive he was to the girls; particularly Melissa O' Malley.
Meanwhile, a few desks from Roger and Marcus to the left of the room, were June and Lila. June was trying to explain what the teacher wanted them to do as best she could, but it didn't seem to be soaking in for the sasquatch girl. As far as Lila could tell, there were two parts of science: the natural and easy-to-understand science, and the hybrid math/science science. Usually Lila was an ace at the natural part, the math part…not so much. But nonetheless, she tried to comprehend what her friend was telling her.
The teacher passed by each table, watching attentively at what work (if any) was being done. Most of what he saw though was a lot of papers desecrated by a bunch of chicken-scratch handwriting, beakers untidily sorted about the desks, and notes crumbled to the side. It made him irritated; just because it was the end of the year, it didn't mean that gave the class the green light to slack off.
What really furrowed his brow though, was Roger Radcliffe, as usual, doodling in his science book; this time it was a close-up picture of a protozoa that now looked like a potato with a smiley-face. He immediately cleared his throat; Roger quickly shifted his attention upward at the instructor's voice…and blinked like there was no problem at all.
"Uh…somethin' wrong Mr. Watson?"
"Well, you could tell me why you're defacing school property." The man addressed as "Mr. Watson" replied. Roger looked down at the pages now mostly covered with pencil lead than the cheap generic-brand inked text as previous. He couldn't see what his teacher was so fired-up about; if anything, it seemed like an improvement to him. Hoping the instructor would listen to reason, he shifted his gaze back up at him.
"I like to think of it as…adorning the pages with more eye-capturing imagery." He smiled. At which, Mr. Watson handed him a yellow form.
"I like to think of it as, a trip to the principal's office." Roger sighed before taking the paper, getting up, pushing his chair in and making his way towards the door. Not that he was bothered by it though; this wasn't the first time he was sent out of the classroom for "misbehavior" as his teachers called it. There'd been times he was disciplined for overdue library books, chewing gum, faking excuses, and one time, starting a domino effect in the hallway by innocently kneeling over to tie his shoe; that group of jocks never saw what hit them, but Roger certainly saw what hit him.
Being gang-beaten by a dozen football players does not feel good, but of course when the teachers get involved, what do you think they wanna do? Give their star athletes detention so they can lose the game to the rival school by forfeit? Poor Roger didn't even get a chance to explain. At least Marcus believed what happened; maybe if he was there at the time he would've been able to stop the brutality.
Roger's art of troublemaking seemed to go in a cycle, but nothing very detrimental; he was good kid. This semester's favorite was "vandalizing/defacing/damaging school property". He didn't really see the big deal about it; where was the harm? Except for the occasional paper cut on himself, there was no physical damage. And he never wrote over the words, and some classrooms had to share books anyway so if the school declared it "ineligible", they could just make one student sit by the other.
Besides, the principal seemed to be an understanding, albeit busy woman; she never gave him a punishment he saw as too harsh. And no matter what happened to the poor guy, Roger would always be back on his feet in the end.
"Aw well, I haven't talked to her in awhile anyway." He said to himself, before opening the door and casually walking out. Anyone who found interest in the goof's punishment, now refocused what little attention they had on the task at hand. Back at their table, June picked up her textbook and showed it to Lila.
"Look, it's easy once ya get the hang of it; all you do is follow the directions on the page, write down what ya see, and then hand it in. Oh, and don't forget to put your name on it either." Lila sighed.
"Middle school's even harder than Elementary school." She stated.
"Well, that's kind of how it goes Lila. But don't sweat it; it's only your first year." June told her.
"Ok class, please listen." The two girls turned their heads at their teacher's voice.
"Finish up whatever tasks you left undone and turn your work in; it's almost time for dismissal." Mr. Watson told his classroom.
As fast as the students had lost interest, was how fast the entire classroom was cleaned, tidied, organized, and rid of any speck of filth whatsoever. After what had seemed like two seconds, every student was seated and eagerly waiting for the bell. At first the instructor was surprised, until he narrowed his eyes…then rolled them as he sighed in defeat; why even bother? Two minutes later, the bell sounded and everyone jetted out through the door.
As June and Lila made their way to their lockers, they happened to come upon a certain junior, going-on-senior, at Orchid Bay Jr. High.
"Hey Dennis." They both greeted; June with less enthusiasm but Lila putting on a small, polite smile.
"No talking in public." He replied without even looking at them. June rolled her eyes; same old Dennis, even after finding out her most precious secret, the now 16 year-old wizard still acted like the annoyed older brother.
"Good thing he'll be a senior next year; then it'll be back to only seeing Ban-dork at home." June whispered in her friend's ear. The two shared a laugh before walking on to their lockers. As they were turning their combination locks, June heard Lila asking her a question;
"Hey June?"
"Yeah?"
"Y'know how when we're done with this grade we'll be going to 7th?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, then why is it the 8th grade of school? I mean why do they call the second grade of elementary school '1st grade' and the first year 'kindergarten'? It doesn't really make a whole lotta sense; I mean, shouldn't it be like 'Zero grade' or something?" June couldn't help but emit a light chuckle.
"No offense, but that's something I'd kinda expect Ray Ray to ask. And uh, as for the question…go figure." She shrugged. Lila watched as her friend went back to her locker, before having a shrug herself and pulling her knapsack out of her own locker and heaving it over her shoulder.
"So, have any plans with Marcus today?" Right after the young sasquatch girl had asked that, the two looked up and saw the boy headed their way. June put on a light smile.
"I think I might be a little busy this afternoon." She replied, before glaring down at the bracelet around her wrist.
"Unless this thing goes off like that time it did at the park." The thirteen year-old Te Xuan Ze finished.
"Well I doubt those pus goblins'll wanna try to eat a T-shirt stand a second time. See ya June." Lila waved as she walked away.
"See ya." After seeing her friend exit through the front double-doors, June refocused her attention on Marcus, who soon reached her after making his way past the eager-to-leave students.
"Hey." They greeted accidentally in unison; both laughed a bit afterwards.
"So uh, June if you're not doing anything after school, I was thinking we could maybe go get somethin' to eat? Don't worry it's nothin' too fancy; just a burger and fry place. I mean that is if you want to." Marcus asked. June smiled before taking his arm and saying,
"I could go for some fries." Marcus smiled back before the two exited the building; not bothering to notice some of the more popular girls, particularly you-know-who, glaring at the site of them "together" as they left.
"So how'd you like the movie yesterday?" Marcus asked June as he picked up a french-fry from a basket the two were sharing. The couple had gone to a small restaurant a few blocks from the school, and were eating on the outside patio; Marcus had ordered a large basket of fries for both of them, and a root beer for himself, and June had ordered a small lemonade for herself.
"It was ok; the Lion King never gets old for some reason. But except for Jody putting our initials on all the straws-" June had to stop talking for a moment to stifle her laughter; Marcus was doing the same.
"I still can't figure out how she got that Sharpie ink to stay on." He chuckled. Both just had to laugh at the memory; not at Jody but her constant obsession with cleanliness at the theatre. But they knew she only did it because she cared about her friends, so their mirthful moment only lasted a short while. When they both calmed down June picked up a fry and ate it as Marcus took a sip of his root beer.
"So, goin' any places when summer comes in?" He asked after he set his drink on the table.
"Well, my mom and dad are planning a trip to China-" Marcus was about to make a surprised statement until June smiled before finishing with,
"-town, New York." He blinked before coyly smiling and rubbing the back of his neck.
"New York's cool. When're you going?"
"About a couple weeks after school let's out. …But uh, replace 'you' with 'they'." She replied. He raised an eyebrow at her in confusion.
"I'm not going." June said bluntly.
"Why not?" Marcus asked. June found it a bit unwise to tell him that the reason she couldn't leave was because she was bound to this place whether she liked it or not. She didn't know which was more annoying: the fact that it was impossible for her to leave Orchid Bay, or that she couldn't say anything about it to her friends or anymore people who were important to her but lacked magical features.
"Let's just say…I'm really attached to this place; I'll be staying with my Ah-Mah and her dog 'till my family gets back." She told him.
"What are you gonna do when summer comes?" June asked as she popped a fry into her mouth; wanting to change the subject. Marcus timidly rubbed the back of his neck again.
"Well, to be honest, we'll be gone for most of the vacation; my parents've been savin' up for a trip to the beach, which is also a family reunion." He replied. June blinked.
"And, by most of the vacation you mean…?" She trailed off. Marcus looked down at his feet before looking back up at her and replying,
"Two months." June nearly choked on her lemonade: two months?! She wouldn't be able to see him for two whole months?! She had planned on spending a lot of time with Marcus during break, but this new bit of information changed everything.
Planned outings with him would have to be rescheduled; she wouldn't be able to call him because she wouldn't want to be rude since he was visiting his family; movies and possible double-dates if Jody, Ophelia and Lila ever got boyfriends had now completely vanished; and most of all: it would probably get lonely every now and then.
But it wasn't like summer was completely ruined; she'd still have Jody, Ophelia and Lila to keep her company, plus if they weren't around her unofficial job would certainly be there to occupy her time. But it still seemed less glamorous than she had planned. June couldn't bring herself to even take another sip of her lemonade.
And honestly, Marcus had hoped June would also be doing something long and exciting to keep her busy during the summer; not only just to have fun but to keep her mind off him as well. When she said she'd be staying in Orchid Bay, it really put him in a downward mood; and the look that was still glowing on her face didn't help any more. Marcus, wanting to break the uncomfortable silence between them and cheer June up at the same time, looked back up at his girlfriend.
"Hey look, it's not that bad; we still got the last month all to each other. And I'll bet my family reunion won't even be that long. Don't worry about it." He reassured her. June paused, before slowly looking back up at him.
"Well, I guess-" Suddenly there was a beeping noise; the couple looked around, before realizing after about a minute that it was June's cell phone.
"Ugh; I knew I shoulda turned this off. One sec." She took the phone out of her pocket and turned away.
"What?" June peevishly asked into the speaker. It was only to half her surprise that Ray Ray was on the other end.
"Uh June, we got a problem." He stated. June sighed as she put her hand to her forehead.
"Did you knock over all my potions again? Lemme guess; Monroe's a dragon now?"
"No! I've never even been in your room! …Well not recently anyway. This time it's Dennis' fault!"
"Dennis? What'd he do?"
"Aw you should see what a mess it is around here June! When Ah-Mah gets here she's gonna turn 'im into a statue and sit 'em next ta Kai Yee!"
"Just tell me what went wrong!!" She demanded.
"Uh, June?" Came a voice behind her. The young girl blinked in confusion as she heard someone calling her name. But it only took her about two seconds to realize Marcus was still here, and then a very familiar emotion rose up inside of her: embarrassment.
And it was back with a vengeance; warm blood rushing to her face, butterflies exercising in the pit of her stomach, her limbs becoming weak. This was embarrassment alright; and it wasn't uncommon whenever she spent time with her friends, especially in her first few months of being the Te Xuan Ze. She had hoped that with all the new experience it had died down. But no, it still found ways to make her queasy; being around Marcus as its personal favorite. June gulped before turning back to face her boyfriend.
"Everything ok?" He asked, with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
"Uh, yeah. Um listen, I gotta get to my grandma's; call me around 5…uh, make that 7!" She replied as she lightly waved before sprinting off in the direction of her grandmother's house. Marcus blinked as he watched her leave.
At her grandmother's home, or Ah-Mah as she was often called by her grandchildren, June rushed up the driveway as fast as she could go…well, more like as fast as she was permitted to go; another annoying part of her job was the importance of keeping a low profile. She had to go the average speed for children her age just in case anyone could be watching. What was worse is that in the time she took to run at a tortoise's pace compared to how fast she could really go, things could've only exacerbated.
As she made it to the door she was a bit reluctant to reach out for the knob; expecting a huge catastrophe inside. But, the longer she waited, the worse it could only be getting. So with a sigh, June grabbed the doorknob in her hand, twisted it to the left, and nearly dropped her backpack at what her eyes beheld.
Everywhere; all over the walls, floor, roof, etc. was an oozing pinkish slime that would make any squeamish person want to vomit at the site. June looked into the living room and saw Dennis irritably scrubbing the floor while getting a lecture from an angry Monroe. Lila was busy with the windows and Ray Ray was blowing through damp book pages with a hair drier. June felt like turning around and closing the door behind her, but she knew that would only lead to more trouble; so reluctantly, she stepped inside.
"Knock, knock." The 13 year-old girl said as she tapped her knuckles on the doorframe. All four of them turned their heads in her direction and, with the exception of Dennis who merely continued his task and Monroe who kept a sharp eye on him, they walked up to greet her.
"June!" Came the voice of her, usually overexcited, 10 year-old brother.
"Hey, that was fast." Lila stated.
"Yeah… So, what's goin' on here?" June asked them.
"The so called 'highly-experienced wizard' covered this place with the stomach-churning substance you see before ye, by multi-tasking with his potion!!" Monroe shouted, obviously towards Dennis although the yell was indirect.
"In other words, the whole place is covered in pink goop because Dennis was playin' his little video game thingy and tryin' to make a potion at the same time." Ray Ray summarized.
"It's called a GameDude, dorkface." Dennis spat. June let out an annoyed sigh and put her hand up to her forehead.
"Why do I even bother?" She said to no one in particular, before looking at Lila.
"So, where's Ah-Mah during all this disaster?" She asked.
"She's out doin' magic-y stuff…I woulda gone with 'er but, I wasn't allowed." Ray Ray answered before Lila could, his tone was a bit annoyed at the last part.
"Well duh; nobody let's you near anything magical since that incident with Monroe." June stated, at which Dennis snickered, Ray Ray crossed his arms in annoyance, and Monroe shouted,
"AND THE NEXT TIME YOU GET AHOLD OF MAGICAL ITEMS UNSUPERVISED, OR YOU MULTI-TASK WITH AN UNSTABLE MAGICAL CONCOCTION, I PROMISE TO GIVE YE BOTH AT LEAST 30 STITCHES IN THOSE CONSTANTLY SHOWN-OFF, BUILT-IN SEAT CUSHIONS, YOU CALL-!!"
"I barely get through the door after buying groceries and already I'm hearing threats." Came an elderly yet faintly spirited voice from the doorway. Everyone looked up in that direction to see no one other than-
"Hey Ah-Mah." June greeted lightly. The old woman smiled as she calmly carried some paper bags into the house and shut the door behind her with her foot.
"My, don't we sound happy today." Jasmine sardonically told her granddaughter as she set the bags on the table in the kitchen.
"Uh, have you even seen your own house?" June asked. The woman looked back at her before smirking and saying,
"Tell Monroe that after he's done scolding Dennis, he can teach him how to do a Sanitizing Spell." Dennis, who heard the comment, glared at the dog.
"You never said anything about a Sanitizing Spell."
"I'll say it after ye get all the gunk of my doggy-bed by hand. Keep cleaning ye clumsy, nerdish oaf."
Since the next day was a Saturday and there was no homework given out, June had invited Lila over so the two could enjoy doing absolutely nothing together all day long. It was just a simple afternoon of lying barefoot on one of Ah-Mah's old blankets and staring up at the sky.
Jody couldn't come along due to her entire family attending her sister's violin recital today. And for some reason Roger and Ophelia, as of yesterday, agreed to go…well, were forced to go… by Jody. Good thing for June she was busy with Marcus yesterday and for Lila who was helping clean Jasmine's household.
The two laid out on the backyard, calmly taking in the pleasure of silence and serenity…with the occasional giant, but harmless, monster walking by.
"Afternoon ladies." It waved as it passed. After about fifteen minutes of making shapes out of clouds, watching a squirrel stuff acorns into one of the trees, and listening to the sound of their breathing, Lila turned over on her side to look at the girl who lay next to her.
"So, you wanna talk about anything? No offense but if I wanted to stare at the clouds and a squirrel all day I'd go back to my old village." She stated.
"Well I guess we could talk." June said as she removed the purple, circular, dark-shaded sunglasses from her face and looked over at her.
"What are you doing for summer?" She asked. Lila blinked.
"Hanging out with you I guess. Why?" June looked to her left, then to her right as she pondered her answer, before looking at her friend and replying,
"…Nothing." She then laid back down and put the glasses back on.
"So listen, Jody's throwing a pool party the first weekend after school lets out; everyone we know is invited, you wanna go?" June patiently waited for her friend's answer…and waited…and waited…and waited…
"…Lila?" She sat up and looked over when her friend did not respond. Lila was on her other side, glancing away; she seemed almost…ashamed of something.
"Uh, what's wrong?"
"It's just…well…I…" The other 13 year-old looked up at her friend.
"You can keep a secret, right?" She asked. June put her hand to her chin in sarcastic thought.
"Well let's see… I fight evil for a living, I do magic, my brother is a wizard and…oh yeah, my dog talks. So, I'm pretty sure." She replied. Lila smiled a bit, but still looked away as she rubbed her upper arm.
"Well, see, it's like this…", she took a deep breath, "I can't swim."
June stared. "What?"
"I can't go to the pool party, because I don't know how." The young Te Xuan Ze was astounded.
"You lived in the woods all your life and you never learned how to swim?"
"I couldn't learn! Back when I was still…'all' bigfoot, my fur was really heavy. So if I stepped foot in water it weighed me down. The only reason I would go near water was because I was thirsty; anything else, I'd drown. So…yeah…" She admitted, before shifting her gaze downward in embarrassment. June rested her head on her hand as she thought up a way to solve Lila's problem.
"Well…nobody said you had to swim. You can just lie out and tan or something. Besides, nobody but our friends are gonna be there; they'll understand if we tell 'em why." Lila was quiet for a moment.
"…You're sure they won't laugh?"
"Positive."
"Well, ok. …Oh uh, I saw Marcus walking home yesterday; he looked kinda depressed. You know why?" She asked June, who fell silent.
"Let's just say…you n' me are gonna have a lot of time to hang out." She replied. The sasquatch girl looked at her friend for a moment, before shrugging and looking back up at the clouds.
June sighed to herself; with Marcus gone there'd definitely be some new planning for break. And she would tell Lila about it, but not right now; she had hoped this would cheer her up…but apparently not. The only way this could get worse was if Jody or Ophelia, or by some chance, Lila got boyfriends of their own. Then she'd not only feel lonely, but left out as well.
Then a thought occurred to her; Lila, with a boyfriend…it was kind of, cute…and funny. The image of her friend holding some boy's arm seemed to pop right into her head; and the mere idea of it made her want to giggle.
Lila took a deep breath as she continued watching the clouds slowly inch their way across the sky; almost bored enough to fall asleep. After about a moment or so, she thought she could hear a strange noise; looking to her left, she saw June…looking like she was trying to stifle laughter.
"What?" The sasquatch girl asked with a light smile.
"I was just thinking…y'know, we oughtta find you a boyfriend." This time Lila shot June an annoyed glance.
"There are more important things to life than boys."
"That's what all the girls without boyfriends say." June smirked.
"Only because it's true." Lila replied. The two stared at each other for a moment; June with a smile on her face and Lila with a serious-looking expression… before smiling herself.
Both shared a laugh before ending up looking at the sky once again.
