Blonde

Keith was the last one into class after lunch. He almost always was, not because he wanted to be late, but because he usually spent lunch in the library. With his pillow, as Isaac put it. So when the bell rang for the end of lunch, he was slow to pick up his belongings in his tired state, and walked lazily to class. The odd thing was that the Ranger School gave their classes absurd amounts of time between bells, so he still had two or three minutes every day at the end of lunch to talk to - or annoy - Kate and Rhythmi.

It had only been two months since Kate had come to the Almia Ranger School from Fiore. Somehow, the somewhat-friends Rhythmi and Keith had forced her to be their friend right from the very first day of her education, and now the three were as close as could be early that January. Some even called them the three musketeers.

Some also said that Keith had to secretly like one of the girls, because why else would he spend so much time with them? But Keith honestly enjoyed being friends with the girls, nothing more.

When Keith walked into Ms. April's classroom, he wasn't surprised to find Rhythmi and Kate in the room's corner, talking animatedly. He also found it quite normal that they seemed to be disagreeing on something. The two had conflicting personalities, which started arguments weekly. Quickly scanning the room for the teacher, he walked over to the two and purposely interrupted Rhythmi in the middle of a sentence. "What's up this time, guys?"

Rhythmi glared at Keith, while Kate launched into an explanation. "I mentioned how Isaac's hair is so shockingly blonde, and Rhythmi said he had to have dyed it, and I said that I didn't think he was the kind of person to dye their hair. But then she tries to convince me that I would look cute as a blonde! Honestly, why would I want to dye my hair?"

"Because you'd look cuter, and I think it would suit your eye colour!" Rhythmi pouted.

Kate crossed her arms. "That has nothing to do with how I feel about my hair. I don't care about stupid eye colour harmony or whatever, and others might possibly find me good looking, but I'd hate it! I like myself how I am, and I'm not that cute now, am I?" Kate glared at Rhythmi, daring hr to answer, but it was Keith who kept the conversation going - sort of.

"Yes, you are," Keith said before he could stop the words. "You're plenty cute."

There was silence as the three registered the words. Then Rhythmi grinned, probably thinking of blackmail, and Keith...well, he freaked out. "Holy-! I-I didn't mean it like that, Kate! I just meant - you
know - it isn't like that!" He fumbled over the words, his face heating up a minuscule amount every word as Kate slowly figured it out. Finally, he gave up and grumbled over to his seat when Kate's eyes widened and she stiffened.

Thirty seconds later, when Ms. April walked into the room, the other students rushed to their seats - and Kate was directly to his left. He mentally groaned at his mouth for forming those cursed words.

Later, when they finally got out of class, Keith was the last one out. As he exited the door, he was sharply pulled to the side.

"When you said I was cute, did you mean it, like...romantically?" Kate whispered nervously.

"Wha..." After realizing what had just happened, he said, "No. It- it was an accident. I'm just as embarrassed as you are."

She grinned. "Me? Embarrassed? Idiot, you should know that I wasn't embarrassed. More surprised and nervous that you'd meant it, because that would've been awkward."

He sighed. "Now, if we could just get Rhythmi to forget about this..."

Kate's grin faded as she groaned. "Good luck with that. We're doomed; the whole school will know about it by dinner. Oh well, nothing we can do, unless...maybe I can stop her from telling more people. See you later, Keith!" Kate yelled, running out the front doors into the snowy wonderland that winter had made of the grounds.

Huh. She's the idiot if she believes that Rhythmi can be stopped when she's on a mission. Keith headed towards the doors as well. On the other hand, we're desperate to be saved from embarrassment - well, in my case. The never-caught-blushing-or-embarrassed wonder will be annoyed and angry.

I hope she has the right words to stop her before it's too late...

Meh. A bit choppy, in my opinion, but it's done!

Blazie