Thank you so much for all the reviews! I got 7 overnight! Not bad for my first fic with less than 500 words! I'm soo happy! Anyway, our story with the Soul Eater gang continues! You'll see more of everyone in this chap. And I kind of just made this chapter from scratch and didn't really plan it out, so forgive me if it's bad!
I don't own Soul Eater, and the usual spiel. But you don't care, unless you own Soul Eater, which I'm guessing you don't either. Don't we all wish for it, though?
Enjoy!
He took his time during the lunch break to walk over to the offices reserved for teachers. He was nervous as hell, but not because it intimidated him to be doing this. He was just so confused. He felt like he had a blindfold on and he had to feel his way around, or he'd step on a landmine and be blown to smitherines. Walking into the unknown, you'd call it.
And it freaked the hell out of him.
He walked through the doors he remembered so vividly from getting sent to teachers during his school days. He spent his lunches in here when he got into trouble, and would eat alone. So not cool. Cool people don't eat alone. They have a possy.
At least, that's what he thought then. He was more mature now. He tried not to make any more mistakes. Despite not thinking it was cool, he hadn't tried to fix his attitude towards teachers. He didn't put in the effort, didn't care. Lord Death had seen good in his badboy self despite all that from seeing him fight, so when Soul came looking for a job at the only thing in his life he seemed to be able to succeed at, Lord Death had helped him.
Day after day, he had sat there, until Maka came and told the frustrated teacher watching him he had gotten in trouble with another teacher, and had to go see them immediately. They always believed the straight-A meister.
Maka.
God, the cause of the nerves inside of him.
Then he saw her. Lounging in a rolling chair behind a small desk. She wore some clothes that gave him a shot of nostalgia. It wasn't terribly similiar, though. She wore a plaid miniskirt that was quite familiar to him, and a creamy yellow sweater vest. However, she wore a white, collared, button-down, short-sleeved shirt underneath it. The first few buttons were undone, showing between the V-neck shape of her sweater vest. It teasingly showed some slightly tan skin below her collar bone. Her familiar pigtails had vanished, replaced by a ponytail that had long, lusciously wavy hair falling out of it. It came as a bit of a dissapointment to him. He sort of liked the kid-ish hairstyle he always teased her for. Black boots went halfway up her shins. They didn't sport the white "X"s Soul had come to know.
He hesitantly walked up to this beauty he now saw.
"Maka," he started.
She snapped her head to look up at him, making her full ponytail whip around. She flashed her intense eyes at him. As green as ever.
"Um..." His confidence slowly started slipping out of his grasp. No! He had to do this now! Dammit, how can I just get to the point?
"Why are you here?"
Damn! Too straight-forward! Plus, he sounded like a total jerk!
Her eyes narrowed further.
"I mean," he tried again, "I haven't seen you in a while. I didn't know you were back, much less working here."
Crap! That sounded worse!
Her petite, firm body stood from the chair, never breaking the fierce eye-contact. She had gotten taller, but so had he. He got a closer look at her face, which was covered with some light make-up. Stuff like eyeliner, gray stuff on her eyelids - which he thought Liz would call "smokey" - and some shiny junk on her lips, which he had to say made her lips look very full and womanly. And, was it him, or were her cheeks unnaturally pink? He was super clueless when it came to girl stuff. She took a step forward, getting a strong momentum.
"That was the point," she said as she passed his nerve-racked form, and bumped his shoulder. She continued walking until she was out of the room.
Soul sighed, releasing his tension. Jesus, if she wasn't difficult before, she sure was now. He was talking to wall. It was pointless.
His eyes wandered downward to her desk. A plaque was screwed to the side. Miss Maka Albarn was carved into the metal. Soul's eyes dimmed.
"Guess she's not just a substitute."
Soul then took his next free window of time(after school) to saunter off towards the library. Thankfully, Maka didn't teach today because of the paperwork every teacher had to go through with Lord Death before teaching, courtesy of Medusa. He did not look forward to the awkardness awaiting in the classes they would teach together. But clearly the awkward aspect of it was one-sided.
He plopped his elbows onto the library desk, getting the attention of his long-time friend standing behind it.
"How's the job been treating you, Tsubaki?" Soul sighed kindly and politely due to tiredness.
The tall librarian turned to face him, placing a stack of checked in books on the counter. "Hello, Soul," she smiled brightly. It amazed him how cheerful she could be after a day at work. He always just assumed she loved what she did. "How are you holding up?"
"Alright," he replied. This was one person he could get right to the point with without feeling like he was putting his foot in his mouth. "Do you know why Maka's here? I mean, did you know she was coming here?"
Tsubaki's eyes darkened a bit. "Well, no."
Soul looked down. "Oh. I figured she would at least tell you. I guess I'm not that surprised."
They stood like that in silence for a while, then Tsubaki seemed to decide on something.
"Soul," she began, "It took me a while to get Maka to talk after she left. She had cut herself off for months. Then, a long time later, I got a short message on my phone saying that she wanted to meet up." She paused, biting her lip nervously. Soul listened intenly. "Just be pacient. She'll open up eventually. Maybe more quickly for you than me." With a polite, encouraging, slightly sad smile, Tsubaki took the books and left.
Soul watched her leave. "Thanks Tsubaki."
Soul rode his motorcycle home. He had wanted to get a car, but somehow he felt like his motorcycle was part of him. However, he did modify it slightly to make it a little more practical. It still got him places, and he could give a certain friend(Black Star) a ride home when they got too drunk at a bar.
He arrived at his apartment, and immediately upon entering, the home phone started ringing. There was only one in the apartment, as Soul did not enjoy being interrupted in more than one room, therefore he could avoid being in it too much. That's why he was extremely aggravated to be disturbed already. He picked it up anyway, knowing how many calls he ignored and/or actually got.
It was Black Star.
"Yahoo! My voice has graced your pathetic reciever!" Surprise, surprise. He was already giving him a headache.
"How on Earth do you do that, Black Star?" Somehow, whenever Black Star wanted to make Soul's life miserable by calling, he knew exactly when Soul would arrive home. It's a rare and exceedingly annoying talent. "Do you stalk me?"
"Hell no, man! You're way not interesting to the great me. I just know how long it takes you to drive home on that peice-of-crap bike. Sorry, man, but you never pick up your phone otherwise. You also shut off your cell the minute school lets out."
"There's a reason behind that, you ass," Soul sneered. He was so not in the mood for this. He grabbed some cold water out of the mini-fridge, slapped some Mio in there and started chugging. "You sound like Kid. Aren't you going out with Tsubaki tonight? Why are you talking to me?"
"Yeah, I am. But I just wanted to ask you something."
Oh, Lord. Here it comes. Something idiotic that will plumet Soul's day into the dark pit of sucky-ness.
"What are you planning to do about Maka?"
What? Soul stopped downing his Mio-enhanced water and slumped onto the couch.
"I mean, you weren't exactly acting like BFF's earlier. She's just... different, man. It's freaking me out. What should we do?"
Soul thought hard about it for a while.
"I don't know, Black Star. I honestly don't know."
That's it for this one! Hope you liked it and whatnot. Next Chap. is Maka and Soul's first class teaching together. Fangirl gold will be included. XD 3 love you all!