Apparently fanfic didn't like when I had an entire sentence fused into one word… Sorry about that…

Highschool Hell. Chapter 3.

Kimiko was heading to the courtyard with Keiko for lunch, it had been a day since she rejected Hannibal for the third time, and Kimiko was still trying to process it all. She had eaten with Keiko for a little while before going to throw out the trash. Keiko ran out after her and she immediately began spewing random words at her.

"I thought you said you weren't going with Hannibal to prom!" she whispered.

Kimiko blinked. "I'm not," she responded.

"That's not what he's telling them out there…!" Keiko said, pointing. Kimiko scowled- this had to stop.

She came out and stomped over to where he was sitting with the others. He grinned. "There's the lucky lady now!" he said happily.

Kimiko was about to scream at him all sorts of horrible profanities, when she found his arm around her waist and his lips crashing into hers. Eyes wide, Kimiko slapped him across the face.

She spit in disgust and she snapped, "What the FUCK is wrong with you? I said I'm not going to prom with you! Stop telling all your friends that I am!"

Hannibal was staring at her for a moment, but slowly his gaze turned into a hardened icy stare as she yelled. After she had made her point clear, and Kimiko had seen that all the kids with Hannibal were staring at her, she turned and walked away.

She didn't wait in her normal hallway, that was too close to him. Every part of the school was. Kimiko went to the nurse and signed out. She texted Keiko and told her she'd meet her back at the house later and Kimiko went ahead and watched any movies she wanted to.

Keiko came back later and offered up the idea that they go get ice cream or something, anything to calm Kimiko down. Kimiko said that it would be nice and they went out. They went to a really old parlor in the mall that had been there for years and Kimiko watched people walk by as she ate.

"Look, that girl has the same earrings as me," Keiko said, pointing a little at a girl with big, black hair. Kimiko smiled.

"Maybe she shops at the same stores as you…?" she offered.

"That bitch," Keiko muttered before actually biting into her ice cream. Kimiko laughed at her friend.

The two saw the popular kids walking around again- probably spending some of Hannibal's father's money… Kimiko noticed that Wuya was glaring daggers at her right from the beginning- apparently she had heard that her ex-boyfriend had asked her out…

Kimiko glared back at her and flipped her the bird. Wuya looked ready to explode she was so angry. Kimiko only laughed. Keiko was gazing at Raimundo as usual, so Kimiko decided to be funny and mess with her friend.

Leaning next to her, Kimiko whispered in a mock moan, "Imagine the rippling pectorals hiding under that shirt…" Keiko turned beat red, squeaked, and punched her as hard as she could in the arm.

"Shuddup shuddup shuddup!" she squealed, beating her friend's arm like a drum. Kimiko smiled and laughed.

"I was only messin' with ya, sheesh!" she said happily. After Keiko finally calmed down, Kimiko noticed the group of kids were remaining where they could see. It was really weird…

Kimiko saw Hannibal repeatedly glance over in her direction and it was starting to piss her off. She glanced to her left and right and smirked when she saw a familiar boy with spiky red hair.

"Hey Jack!" she said happily. Jack Spicer, an inhumanly pale boy with red hair and red eyes, whom she knew from her tech class only because he was the top student and he had a huge crush on her. He froze when she said hi to him, and she saw him visibly blush.

"H-hi K-Kimiko," he stuttered excitedly. Keiko was staring at Kimiko in horror as she wondered just what her friend was planning.

Kimiko grinned. "Jack, I was just wondering…" she began with a convincingly innocent smile, "Do you have a date to the prom yet…?" Keiko's jaw literally fell to the floor when she heard that.

Practically glowing red, Jack replied, "N-not yet…"

"Wanna go with me?' Kimiko asked with a big smile.

Jack, who knew everything that happened in the school even though none of it happened to him, quickly asked, "But I heard that Hannibal was taking you…?"

Kimiko frowned and said, "I can't stand him, that must only be a stupid rumor." After clearing that, Kimiko asked again with her smile, "So, whaddyou say?"

Jack smiled ecstatically and he said much too loudly, "YEAH! Of course I'll go with you!" Kimiko glanced for a split second at Hannibal and she saw him stand up at his table- he looked PISSED.

"Awesome," Kimiko said with a smile, "Try and find something black and gold to wear, okay? Keiko and I picked out my dress already…"

Walking away, blushing a deep magenta, Jack replied, "I will…! Thank you Kimiko!" And he turned around and started jumping up and down and fist pumping and being generally too happy.

Kimiko came to Keiko and sat next to her. Keiko asked with her mouth agape, "What. The. Fuck. Was. That?"

Grinning, Kimiko replied, "I figured Jack would want to go with someone who knows how to have a good time…"

Keiko narrowed her eyes and she whispered, "Don't fuck with me, Kim. You only asked him to piss off Hannibal…"

Kimiko smirked and said, "Maybe just a little…" Keiko grinned at her evil minded friend and they left the mall to go home. When they walked by the popular kids, Kimiko purposely ignored Hannibal and acted as if he wasn't even there. She knew that would bother him. Exactly why she did it, though…

The next day at school, all the kids were talking about how Kimiko, Hannibal's supposed date to the prom, was actually going with Jack Spicer. It was amusing, like a reporting website- trying to get the scoop and spread it faster than anyone else. She saw Jack practically glowing with pride in Tech class, and he at one point hugged her. He let go quickly, though, because he was still nervous around her. Kimiko didn't particularly mind the talking, but when kids were suggesting that she was only doing it for attention, then she got angry. Kids were whispering right next to her in Battle Tactics, like she couldn't hear them five feet away!

"She's probably just trying to make Hannibal jealous… I heard she BEGGED him to take her to the prom in the first place… He probably said yes out of pity…" Kimiko broke her pencil in half when she heard that comment from the kids next to her.

Flipping her head to the side to glower at them, Kimiko spat, "Look, if you're gonna talk about me behind my back, then make sure I can't fucking hear you." The teacher scolded her for her coarse language, but Kimiko ignored it. Kids kept whispering, and it was making her crazy.

Jumping to her feet, and getting every single person in the room to stare at her in shock, Kimiko shouted angrily, "Hannibal asked me! Three fucking times! I told him no! There's the truth, now take that instead of all these goddamn rumors!" And with that friendly note, she stormed out of class and went to go and calm down.

She sat in the courtyard, drawing incredibly darkly into her sketchbook. Erasing was physically not possible when she was like this- every stroke was permanent. If she didn't like something, she'd rip out the page and throw it away. She was sitting and grumbling angrily when the door next to her opened with a squeak.

Chase was there, and he said softly, "The professor wanted me to come get you…"

She swallowed and looked away from him as fast as she could. She replied with one quick word, "No."

Her voice sounded shaky, like she was going to break down into tears at any moment. Kimiko hoped Chase wouldn't notice that she was so angry she really was going to…

"Look, he asked if anyone would bring you back, and I volunteered… If I don't come back with you, he'll have a fit…" he said calmly, stepping forward.

Swallowing back tears, Kimiko responded, "I don't care. He can be angry all he wants… I'm not going back."

She saw his foot move closer to her and she heard him say, "You'll get detention for skipping…"

"You think I care?" she spat back, but as soon as she did, Kimiko wished she hadn't. This was Chase she was talking to! She needed to at least be civilized. No swearing like a sailor.

He was quiet for a moment before he said, "You just seemed like one of those kids who only cares about their grades…"

She spun her head to glare daggers at him- she didn't care how much she liked him- she wasn't going to sit there and take this. She spat at him, "So to you I'm just some fucking nerd you can walk all over and treat like shit? Is that it? I'm lower than dirt to you and all you're fucking friends…" Now she knew she was crying. Kimiko quickly swiped her sleeve at her eyes to keep those tears off her cheeks. She glared away from Chase again, choosing the grass as her victim.

Chase remained silent for a little while when he finally spoke, all he said was, "I'll just tell him I couldn't find you…" And then the door squeaked shut and Kimiko was left alone to sob into her shirt's sleeves. She stayed there until Keiko showed up. And when Keiko showed up, the popular kids showed up. She didn't even look up for them…

"Kim, I heard about what happened," she whispered, rubbing Kimiko on the shoulder, "Wanna talk about it…?"

Glaring directly at Hannibal for causing all this shit, Kimiko whispered, "No." Keiko left it at that and she ate in silence with her friend. Keiko knew Kimiko didn't want to talk, but at one point she did have to break the silence.

"Jack said he picked out his tux… He wanted me to tell you that," she said softly.

Blinking a few times, Kimiko looked at her in confusion. Then it came back to her and she remembered that she and Jack were going to prom together. Kimiko nodded once and rested her chin back upon her arms.

"It's black… And the ascot he bought with it is gold…" she said softly.

Kimiko smiled. Ascot. She loved that word- so fancy for something that was basically just a cloth you tuck into the top of your shirt. She loved it.

She finally calmed down enough to go to the rest of her classes, but Kimiko didn't do any more talking for the rest of the day. Everyone in school was now treating her like a diseased fish, but honestly, she liked the space. Elbow room wasn't a problem when everyone knew you exploded in class.

A few more days went by, and Kimiko was happy once it was Friday. She loved Fridays- she got to go home that night. In her English class, Kimiko was handed her copy of the literary magazine- it took two weeks to publish, but she was happy to find her poem inside. She hoped the one it was addressed to did, too…

To Chase

I suppose it's a crime to watch you when you walk by

I suppose it's illegal to want to take you home with me and never let you go

And I suppose you don't even realize

But I've never been so mad for anyone before

I suppose this changes the way you see me, but

I'd really just like if you'd actually see me first…

It wasn't deep, it wasn't even clever, but it was her poem. And she was finally able to confess in a setting that wouldn't put her in the spotlight. Kimiko felt pretty damn good after she read that, and she grinned when she read down at the bottom –Anonymous. Ha!

During lunch in the courtyard, all the girls were whispering about the poem addressed to Chase. When he finally showed up, they all asked him about it. He silenced them by simply saying, "I read it… I'd really love to know who wrote it though…" And immediately all the girls started saying they wrote it for him because they loved him so very much. Kimiko snickered under her breath and Keiko gave her a funny look afterwards.

On the way home, when Kimiko told her exactly who wrote that poem for Chase, well, Keiko was shrieking.

"Oh, Kim! That's so romantic! Why didn't you tell me you liked him?" she squealed excitedly.

Replying softly, Kimiko whispered, "Because I knew this would be how you'd react…"

Keiko quickly said, "Kim, you've got to go out with him! You'd be the most adorable couple ever! You're both perfect for each other!"

"No, Keiks, we're not," Kimiko said, "I'm not like him… He's popular, rich, attractive…" Kimiko's voice had faded for a moment before she continued, "And he's a horrible person who only cares about himself… He doesn't think of me as anyone…"

"Aw, c'mon Kim! I'm sure that's not-!" Keiko had begun to argue, but Kimiko cut across her.

"He and I talked today… He thinks I'm a nerd… He thinks all I care about is bookwork… He sees me as dirt…" she whispered. Kimiko felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she managed to say, "It's never gonna happen, Keiko…"

Keiko swallowed and fell silent and into step with her sad friend as they walked back home.