Chapter two... It was really hard for me to think of how I would open this chapter. I had a lot of ideas but this one's final. I love anime/manga because they make the characters look like whatever the hell they want and go and say they're Japanese. Lol, I don't remember seeing any blonde or red-haired Asian chicks in my life. But that's what makes writing my story a lot easier so, I am grateful... Welcome to Leah's world;)
Hope you like it!
Sweat rolled down Izumi's cheek as the curtains opened. She sure was not ready for this, they've only worked on this piece for 2 weeks. Kristy, their dance instructor, told the girls, not too long ago, that they would be competing in the Mainland All Star Dance Tournament. This was a big thing. Throughout the 56 long years of history at Shibuya HS, not once has the dance team been able to attend the tournament.
Izumi looked into the crowd, which seemed like millions. They all gave a quick applause as the announcer introduced them.
One of the judges leaned into her microphone. "You may begin."
With that, the music began to start. It had a slow and steady beat, the Varsity girls were the only ones with a routine at the begging of the song. The rest were still in standing position, heads faced down to the floor. The song began to rise it's tempo quickly, and more girls started to join in the movement. Right when the beat dropped, they all exploded. Literally. They all purposely danced in different tempos, but Izumi knew it was a disaster. She could feel herself loose balance when they started their spins, which was all supposed to be in unison. Before she knew it, the music stopped and so did the dance. The crowd started to applause and there was an uneasy tension in the air. The people knew that they messed up. It was horrible.
Izumi could see the disappointed look on Kristy's face as they all stumbled off the stage. She should be proud of them, for dancing in such short notice, but she was instead shaking her head as they all passed.
"Girls, I know you can do better than what you did today." Kristy said, walking into the waiting room, behind the girls.
A senior spoke up to this. "Kristy, you gave us the routine at the last-minute. Did you expect us to do well?" She was the head captain of the team. Izumi kept forgetting her name though.
"No. And I know, it was my bad. But I have seen you girls dance better at rehearsals." Kristy took a seat and brushed her auburn locks away from her face. "We've built our reputation to the point of dancing here, today. Do we want to go back down where we started? You all know how hard it is for a small group like us to get somewhere like this."
After a long half hour of her speech, Kristy finally walked out of the room, leaving the girls by themselves.
Izumi got up and started to walk over to where Kari was. She was changing out of the purple ruffle dress everyone else on the team wore. Kari looked up and gave Izumi an uneasy smile. She got easily frustrated, when it came to dance. Even then, she was still as calm and relaxed.
Once they all finished dressing, the captain stood on a stool and started yelling.
"Girls! Girls! I need your attention." She paused a bit until everyone faced toward her. "Today was a mess. Ya'll know that right?" Everyone nodded, whispers rising here and there.
"It would have been nice if Kristy had better prepared us, but we all know that this thing we're in ain't easy. We got, to get, on our, game." She then looked toward a group of six girls, who were all JV. "So, stop bitching about everything all day, and start practicing more." She would always make snotty comments about them, just because she was good. And in charge. She did know how to keep a team organized, but Kari was way more advanced at techniques and skill, ever since last year.
"That's it. You can all take break now." Captain said. Everyone scattered.
Izumi turned back to her friend.
"This just ruined my whole summer!" Rika said as she walked over to where the two girls were. Kari kind of ignored her and kept dressing.
"There's only a week left." Izumi said. Summer this year had flied past them, and most of that time was taken by dance rehearsals. A lot of girls ditched practice, saying that it didn't matter because Kristy never came anyways. But Izumi went everyday. The people who actually cared went. And it wasn't like she had anything better to do.
She did plan to fly back to Italy and stay over at a friends for a little while, but they haven't contacted each other since last summer. Right after Izumi moved to Japan. None of her other friends tried to call her or anything either. They probably don't even remember her anymore. Izumi wasn't very talkative with her friends back then.
"I'm really not looking forward to going back to school." Rika sighed. Her face stayed in blank expressions a lot. She was also very monotone at times. When Izumi first met her, she had actually thought Rika was mean, and a little scary. But she actually turned out to be quite funny.
Kari was the first to finish changing and packing. They all had the same big duffel bag that said 'Shibuya Dance'. Being far away from home, they team was staying at a nearby hotel for the night.
"Let's go get some lunch from the stands." Kari said.
They all headed for the door.
"Make sure you're at your seats in the theatre before the awards start!" The captain said, stopping the three and a couple of other girls before they walked out.
"You got it Captain." Kari said as she walked out.
Izumi followed behind, but someone caught her arm. She was turned to face the magisterial girl. "I want to see your spins improve by the time season really starts, or I'll consider taking you off." she said.
Izumi did not appreciate the finger being pointed at her face. "Okay, uh, Captain."
She really wished that she knew her name now, because she felt dumb calling her that. Kari had done the same just a moment ago but it didn't sound so foreign in the ears as it did when Izumi said it.
The team captain squinted her eyes at Izumi. "You may be a good dancer, but you're not well disciplined. So get you're shit together."
Izumi hated her. She was so rude and cursed so much, a kitten probably died every time the words slipped out her mouth. If Izumi had the guts, she would have stood up for herself. But of course, she didn't.
"Okay." She walked away as quick as possible.
Kari and Rika were waiting for Izumi at the end of the hall.
"What did Jada say?" Rika asked as she approached the two.
"Who?"
"Jada." Looking at Izumi's confused expression, she added "Jada Anderson? Our captain?"
"Ohh, yeah! Her..." Izumi tried to fake a laugh, she didn't want them to know she was clueless on the name, but Rika wasn't falling for it.
Kari started laugh, causing Izumi to really laugh. "Silly girl. I can't believe that all this time, you didn't know the captain's name!" Kari said
Rika rolled her eyes. "Who cares. What did she tell you anyways?"
"Nothing important. Just wanted me to practice more." Izumi said. She couldn't tell them that the captain, or Jada, straight up told Izumi that she sucked. It was too embarrassing.
Rika wondered why Jada hadn't warned her about anything though. She was pretty sure Izumi was a better dancer than she.
"Can we just hurry and get something to eat? I'm starving." Rika shrugged off the confusion, then headed towards the food stands.
The rest of the day went by like a flash. After they finished with lunch, they went back to the theatre for the ceremony. Not that it was a surprise, but Shibuya High wasn't awarded anything. Then the team rode the bus to a hotel nearby.
"I am exhausted!" Izumi said as she hopped onto one of the beds. It wasn't as soft as it looked though. "Ow..."
Rika realized that there were only two beds in the room, so one of the three would have to sleep on the sofa. She raised an eyebrow at the girls. She wanted a bed. Badly. "I'm sleeping on this bed here." she said, putting down her bag on the bed close to the window.
"Rika!" Izumi said. She tried to push her friend off the bed, but she wasn't budging a bit. "You are so unfair!"
"You can have the other bed Izumi. I'll just sleep on the sofa." Kari said from behind. She had a tint of sadness in her eyes. Izumi couldn't just stand it when Kari did this. It was probably on purpose, just to get what she wanted. And it worked every time.
She kindly shook her head at the short girl. "No. I'll sleep there."
"I love your hair Izumi!" Kari told her. She brushed a strand of her friend's moist golden locks. They all just finished showering.
Izumi smiled shyly, even though Kari could not see her face. She was used to people commenting on her hair, but she was still self conscious about it. Her hair seemed boring and the same thing every other girl had.
"You should really be thankful for that hair of yours." Rika said. She was sitting on her own bed, watching the two girls. Rika wasn't into that kind of stuff, it was all too girly. But she did admire Izumi's hair. It was long, reaching her lower back and incredibly straight. And it was all natural, unlike most girls.
Izumi blushed again at the comment. "My hair is too ordinary. I can't even do much with it since it always slips its way out of hair bands and all."
"At least it's not thick and sticking out from everywhere! All I can do is put my hair up into a ponytail! In addition to all that, I'm a ginger, which makes everything worse." Rika didn't care much about looks. The only thing that bothered her was the color. Everyone seemed to find it interesting and tease her about it. It was so annoying.
Rika looked towards Kari, who was still brushing Izumi's hair. "Now you, Kari, have perfect hair that you don't even have to worry about it." she said.
"I don't do anything with it. That's why I keep it short, it's easier."
"I would do that, but my hair would get poofy." Rika said. Kari examined the red-head and gave a determined smile. "I can do it right now, if you want."
But Rika just made a disgusted expression and turned away.
There was silence for a little. Izumi decided to let out something she had been wondering about.
"Remember at the party when-"
"IZUMI! DON'T TALK ABOUT THAT NIGHT! WE SWORE ON THAT! REMEMBER?" Kari exploded.
Rika and Izumi jumped at her sudden screams. It wasn't like her. Kari had woke up the next morning of the party in her room. Her head felt heavy and she couldn't recall anything that happened the night before. Later that day, Rika and Izumi told her everything that happened. It made her sick just to think about what she had done. She hoped that everyone at the party was too drunk to remember her behavior. She didn't want to jeopardize her family finding out. They would make her quit dance, and that was the last thing she wanted.
"I'm sorry." Izumi apologized. But there had been something on her mind since that day, and she couldn't stop thinking about it. Or him...
"I need to ask you guys something about that night though." she said. Kari pouted at her to stop but Izumi kept going. "Who was that guy? The one who kind of, uh, saved us?" Izumi questioned towards Rika.
Rika stared blankly at Izumi. Obviously, she was asking her this because she formed new feelings for the boy, but she never thought Izumi would get over Kouji. She was, a little obsessed with that kid. Pushing her thoughts aside, she smirked. This was all too funny to Rika.
"You mean, Takuya?" She scooted to the edge of her bed so she could near the girls on the other side.
Kari seemed to be less upset by the subject. She had thought Izumi was going to recall about the whole alcohol incident again. But surprisingly, it was about romance, or at least she thought it was. "Takuya Kanabara? Congratulations! You're fan-girl #28834, Izumi!" Kari joked. She hated to admit, but Kari loved the feeling she got when she teased others. She never did, so it was kind of weird, but the only time she ever did was to Izumi about Kouji. Because she drooled over a boy she never even heard speak. And now she was doing the same with Takuya.
"Kari! I don't like him!"
Izumi smacked Kari's leg and moved away from her.
"Yeah, you do." Kari pushed it a little further.
Rika listened to the two as they rambled on about if she liked him or not.
"I heard he toys with girls all the time." Rika interrupted. Izumi seemed to be interested in this topic, so Rika continued. "You know, the popular guys. They tell you lies just to get in your pants."
Kari strongly disagreed with Rika though. "I talked to him a couple of times, and he's really nice!"
"That's probably part of his act."
"He's a lot different from the other guys."
Rika rolled her eyes. "He's still immature. Just look at who he hangs out with."
Izumi nodded at Rika's last comment. She did not like his friend at the party.
"But, he saved Izumi." Kari said. Then she faced toward the blonde. "He's your prince charming! Awwhhh."
Izumi felt her face flush with warmth. She put her hands to her face. Her friends could not see her blushing.
But they already knew.
"You should talk to him Izumi!" Kari said. She was trying to pull her hands away to reveal her red face. She started to give her a speech about getting to know him or something, but Izumi was too embarrassed to listen. She didn't want to like this guy. She didn't even know him, but he was perfect. From what she could tell, he's everything she wanted in a guy. But she was basically liking him for the looks. She always wanted to become close to a boy, then fall in love, but come to think of it, she never even knew Kouji either. Kouji. He was beyond different from the guys she normally crushed on, but she liked him a lot. That's right, she shouldn't even think of other boys when she has a huge crush on him already.
"I like Kouji. You know that Kari." Izumi said, finally responding.
"You don't even show the tiniest bit of effort to talk to him!" Rika butted in.
"I'll talk to him! First day of school, I swear."
Kari and Rika gave each other indecisive looks. It wasn't the first time Izumi had 'swore' to talk to him. In fact, there were too many times she had said it to count.
"You promise?" Kari asked.
"Promise."
Izumi wasn't too sure of this, but she would at least try. Kari stuck her pinky out, like a child, and Izumi linked hers, confirming the promise.
"Takuya is a little out of your league anyway. Even I know him, and I barely even acknowledge people from my own grade." Rika said.
Izumi pouted at the harsh comment. There was no way anyone was too good for someone else. And she kind of wanted to prove Rika wrong. But she just played along. "Yeah yeah." She didn't have any more energy to talk back anyway.
"How rude!" Kari stepped up. "Izumi is beautiful, and I am sure that any guy would fall for her!"
Izumi was blushing hard now. All the attention was on her in their conversations.
"You're right. Izumi is really pretty." Rika said. But she rolled her eyes. It wasn't that she didn't think Izumi was, but that even if she was good looking, Takuya would never notice her. She'd bet on that.
Kari saw Rika's attitude and let out a heavy sigh. "It's getting late. We should sleep."
Izumi nodded and headed over to the sofa. It didn't feel as bad as she expected it would. She lay down and pulled the blanket over her head, something she did since she was younger. The tournament today felt like it was a long time ago. Hopefully they would never perform like that on stage ever again... She closed her eyes, and that was the last thing she could remember.
Ehem...
I'm announcing that I decided to change the title of the story from Samaritan to what it is now, because you see, I'm very indecisive. So I hope that doesn't confuse you or anything. (I still love you Kimbra!)
But thank you for continuing with my story! One person is just enough to make me the happiest person in the world. Reviews also make me cheese (A facial expression characterized by an upward curving of the corners of the mouth and indicating pleasure, amusement, or derision. According to The Free Dictionary) so, hit me up!