Chapter 3
It took Monday the longest time to finally arrive. I got out of bed despite every part of my body screaming in pain.
"Why the hell do I hurt so damn much?" I wondered out lout to nobody in particular.
As I took my shower, I remembered the reason I am in so much pain. Saturday morning consisted of me being in the cross-hairs of Haruhi's target practice. I also did meditation exercises with Ayame and learned how to summon my shield on command, although that still needs lots of work.
Sunday was hand-to-hand combat training with both of the she-devils and I became their personal butler… in my own house! Then, later in the day, I did grueling training on how to control my spiritual energy.
Thanks to that, I can make little energy balls. Mine, right now, are about the size of a small marble, but they hurt like hell if they hit you; the proof is on my leg.
I got out of the shower and blow-dried my hair before re-bandaging my leg and shoulder. I then, although painfully, managed to get my uniform on and leave the house. It took me a while to find a comfortable way to carry my backpack, since mine hangs over one shoulder; it's a messenger bag with a dark purple butterfly on the outside flap. The main color of the bag is light purple, while the trim is also dark purple.
I finally walked outside to find a beautiful day. It wasn't too warm, but it wasn't cold, and the sun was fighting the clouds to come out. It was the kind of day that makes one glad they live within walking distance from school so you could enjoy the walk.
Since I don't like silence, unless it's coming from Haruhi, I decided to listen to my Mp3 player. I popped in my earphones and set the play list on random. The first song to come up was Addicted by Saving Abel.
I love music in English, partially because I'm the only student at my school that speaks English; at least, the only one I know of. Plus, nobody would really guess this, but for some reason, I like dirty songs; songs like Inside of You by Hoobastank, Talk Dirty to Me by Poison, The Bad Touch by The Bloodhound Gang, and the one I'm listening to.
Suddenly, even though my music player was kind of loud, I could hear footsteps coming at me, and they were coming fast. When I could sense the source near me, I took a step to the right and saw someone skid to a stop. He turned to face me and I noticed who it was.
"Good morning, Ririn." It was that guy from yesterday… hmm… I want to say… Kenji.
I gave my good morning greeting and continued walking, hoping he would leave me alone, but, he wouldn't. I put my Mp3 player away because I was positive I wouldn't be able to listen to it much this morning.
"So, since I couldn't walk you home, how about I walk you to school?" He looked me straight in the eye, and I felt myself blush again.
I quickly looked away, hoping he wouldn't notice. "Um, well, we are going in the same direction." I looked in my bag and felt around. "Oh, darn it!" I said with fake emotion. "I left something at home. Looks like I need to turn around. See ya."
"What did you forget?" He inquired.
"Oh, uh, my Mp3 player. There is an important file on there…"
He gave me a look; giving me a feeling he didn't believe me. He walked up to me and grabbed my hand. We started walking toward the school.
"You were just listening to it." He pointed out.
"Oh. I was?" I took another look in my bag. I must've not hidden it well enough. "Oh, that's right…" I was disappointed. I really wanted to be alone this morning, considering how busy I was this weekend, and I'm sure I won't have another chance for solitude for a long time.
"So, you like music?" He asked.
I just noticed we were still holding hands. I released myself from his grip as I replied. "Yeah, I love music."
"What kind of music do you listen to?"
"Oh, you know, a little bit of this and that." He nodded.
There was a kind of awkward silence, so I decided to break it. "Um, what music do you listen to?"
I could see him glance over to me out of the corner of my eye. "Well, I like mostly rock. Most American bands are pretty sweet; ones like Slipknot, Korn, and Hoobastank."
"Really? I never would've pegged you as the type to listen to that stuff."
He shrugged.
"I think those bands are awesome, too." I continued. "My music player is full of them."
He laughed. "Oh, really now? A girl like you likes music like that?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He continued laughing.
"I don't see what's so funny. I mean, you listen to the same thing."
"Yeah, but I'm a guy, I'm allowed."
"Oh, I see. Just because I don't have a penis, that makes me less of a person? Like I'm not allowed to like the same things guys do?"
I saw his face turn a light shade of pink.
"Forget it; you're just like everyone else." I sped up my pace to get away from him but he caught up.
"Hey, wait. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to say it like that."
I put my earphones back in and put on Falling Down by Atreyu on full blast. I could faintly hear him talking, but I wasn't paying attention.
I finally made it to school with him still pestering me. I was about a hundred yards from the front of the school when I turned off the music and turned around to face him. "Just shut up! I haven't been listening to you for the last ten minutes; what makes you think that's going to change now?"
I turned around and ran into the school building. I glanced over my shoulder to see him jogging to catch up.
Suddenly, I was pulled to the side. "So," Haruhi began. "Why did you walk to school with Prince Charming?"
"Please, hide me." I said, pulling her and Ayame closer together.
"Hey," A familiar voice said, causing my friends to turn around. "You two are friends with Kamachi-san, right? Did you see where she went?"
They shook their heads. "Even if we did," Haruhi continued. "Why the hell would we tell you?"
"Forget it; I'll see her first period." He said, walking off.
They turned back around. "What was that all about?" The red one inquired. "Oh, I get it. He tried to make a move on you."
I gave her a dirty look.
"So, you think he's cute?"
"What? Kaoru, no. He just creeps me out."
"His names Kaien." Haruhi corrected.
"Oh, right, whatever."
"You aren't good with names, are you?"
"No. Well, I'm good at remembering the names of important people, but it takes a few introductions to get everyone else." Actually, that's not entirely true. I have an excellent memory, but for as long as I can remember, I've always had a hard time remembering the names of those I had a crush on. I'm not sure why I keep forgetting his, though.
"Liar" Haruhi stated.
"Do you agree, Aya?"
She nodded. "We can tell you're lying." Ayame pointed out.
"How so?"
"Well," Ayame continued. "You said you remember the names of important individuals, yet you remembered Haruhi's name right away."
"Hey!" Haruhi exclaimed. "For such a dull girl, you can be cruel!" She stood there and started 'crying'.
Ayame grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me all the way to our first class to get away from the drama queen and the embarrassment of being seen in public with her.
We went upstairs to the third floor, which is the Math and Science floor, and we walked into the Biology lab. There were about ten students already there, including, unfortunately, Kaien, who was sitting in my seat.
I walked in through the doorway when I was stopped by his fan club. From what I could remember, the one with the long black hair is Hoshikumo Yuki, the one with the brown hair held in a long braid is Matsumoto Saya, and, well, I hadn't gotten the name of the short blonde yet.
"I hope you don't get a swelled head just because Kaien-sama is sitting in your seat." Hoshikumo started. "Actually, why is he sitting in your seat?"
I gave a sinister grin. "Just lucky, I guess."
"Let's get one thing straight," Matsumoto said, "He's way out of your league." She said with a grin.
I leaned in and said, "If you want him so freaking bad, you can have him."
They were about to respond, but I pushed my way past them, bumping into Yuki with my shoulder, which screamed in pain. I kept my composure, but barely. Ayame and I walked up to the nuisance that was Kaien.
"That's my seat; get out."
"But, I don't see your name anywhere." Ayame handed me a sheet of paper. I looked at it and saw that it was the seating chart. I showed it to him, pointing out my seat.
"Oh, I see. But, it says that that seat belongs to a Kamachi Ririn. If this was, in fact, your seat, you think it would say 'Goddess of beauty'." Before I could respond, sensei walked in.
"Okay, troublemakers, in your seats. That means you, Amane-san, out of Kamachi-san's seat." He got up.
"This isn't over." He whispered as he walked by. Right as he sat down, the bell rang.
"Okay, today, we're dissecting night crawlers. It seems to me that you, Kamachi-san, and you, Tsukinowa-san are missing your lab partners. With that being the case, you two need to team up." We nodded and Ayame came up and sat next to me. When she sat down, Sensei began the lesson.
By the end of biology, the entire floor stunk like dead worms. Almost everyone had the collars of their shirts over their noses in an attempt to save themselves from the stench. I only have one more class on this floor, so I didn't have to deal with this smell for too long. Hopefully this odor stays on this floor.
"I don't know about you, but I think I'm going to go vegetarian for a long time." Ayame said, laughing slightly.
I giggled a little. She seems like a totally different person. This weekend, she was 'Strict-trainer-bitch-from-hell'. Now, she's more… pleasant.
We walked down the hall to the stairs where she went upstairs and I went down. I had cleared a flight of stairs when I saw Haruhi walking up with a sad expression on her face.
"Haruhi?" She looked up at me and I noticed her eyes were a little puffy like she was crying. "Where were you? I thought you'd be excited for biology today. We did, after all, dissect worms!" I said, trying to cheer her up.
It must've worked because she smiled. "Oh, that's right. Damn it! I chose the wrong day to cut class." She gave a kind of nervous laugh. "Not really. Actually, I was in the principal's office."
"Were you in trouble?" I inquired.
"Huh? O-oh, yeah, I was so busted. They even called my parents in."
My eyes got wide. "Wow, what did you do? Did you get some kind of detention?"
She shook her head. "Um, no. I didn't get anything, oddly enough. Uh, I got to go get my stuff. Could you tell Tamaki-sensei that I'll be a few minutes late?" I agreed and she ran upstairs.
I got into Japanese class seconds before the bell rang.
"I guess I'll mark you as on time." Tamaki-sensei said as I headed toward my seat. "But as for Miss Inoue…"
"Actually," I interrupted. She stared at me over the top of her glasses. "She'll be here in a minute or so; she was in the principal's office."
Sensei nodded. "Go figure. Alright, have a seat, let me take attendance."
Haruhi made it back to class about seven minutes in. Other than the occasional poke in the side or stupid side notes I got from Haruhi, the rest of the class was uneventful.
Something must be wrong with Haruhi I thought to myself. She was missing in Biology, and was kind of quiet in Japanese. 3rd and 4th period are classes we don't share, but from what I heard, she was actually tame, kind of.
5th hour has finally come around, which is World History, and I'm in that class with her as well. I want to see if anything's wrong that I may be able to help her with.
I walked into class and took my seat right next to her.
"Hey, did you miss me?" She asked.
"Actually, I wanted to ask you something." She nodded.
"Are you okay?" She gave me a puzzled look. "I mean, you've been kind of quiet today ever since I saw you after 1st period."
She shook her head. "No, nothings wrong! I'm just running on empty. I forgot breakfast this morning, and I'm starving."
I nodded. "Well, we have lunch next hour, so, you won't have to suffer for much longer."
"I know, but knowing lunch is right after this class, that means this hour will take for fucking ever!"
Everyone that was currently in the room looked at her and Amane turned around. "Ladies shouldn't swear."
"Yeah, but Inoue swore, so, it's okay." The guy sitting next to him said with a laugh.
"Dude, back off my friend." I said, absentmindedly.
"I apologize for this idiot's rudeness." Amane said. "Fumi just said it to be funny."
"Well," I continued, "It wasn't funny."
"Rin-chan!" Haruhi said.
"It's no big deal; his insults are so weak anyway."
Amane, Haruhi and Amane's friend, Fumi laughed.
"Ha ha… oh, wait…" Fumi said, just realizing that was an insult aimed toward him.
Things didn't get much better after that. About ten minutes into the class, we finally realized Sensei wasn't there. I saw a girl from the back row get up and leave. I'm guessing she went to the office to see what was going on.
"So then, I was like 'whoa, dude! That's not supposed to feel like that.' Then she said-"
"You know what?" I interrupted. "First of all, why are you telling us about your first time you grabbed some girls boob. Second, just so you know, that wasn't really a woman. Third, um, where's Sensei?"
"Well, first of all, you weren't there and you didn't see her, so you can't possibly tell me whether or not that was a girl. And, I don't know where Sensei is. She's probably off doing girl stuff." Fumi guessed.
"Something's got to be up." Amane noted. "She's the one that's constantly pounding into our heads how important punctuality is, so, why would she be this late? She is here today, right? No substitute sensei?"
"No," I said. "I saw her in the hall this morning, so, I don't know."
He stared at me.
"What?"
"Nothing," he said with a smirk. "You just look so pretty when you're in thought."
I blushed. "Then, how does she look when she's not thinking?" Haruhi asked.
"S-she, um, well, I guess-" He stumbled.
"Dude, you blew it. Just take that thought you're trying to think right now and just… let it go." Fumi said with a hand movement one makes when letting a butterfly fly off from one's hand. I started to giggle.
Suddenly, a thundering voice interrupted the conversation. "Why is it that nobody came to tell me about your situation sooner?" It was the principal, Morinozuka-sensei. He's a large man with a large suit and a large tie, and a hairpiece that doesn't match his natural color.
"Well? I want an answer."
We were all silent and I started shaking. For some reason I get really nervous when my superiors get mad. I know it's not my fault, but I always feel like it is.
"Well?" He got louder and I flinched.
Suddenly, Fumi stood up. "I'm sorry, man. We should have said something, and we're really sorry it happened, and it won't happen again."
I opened my eyes and looked at him. From my peripheral vision, I could see Amane and Haruhi looking at me with a concerned look.
"I see." Morinozuka-sensei said. He turned around and was about to leave when Fumi decided he had one more thing to say.
"I guess we didn't do anything because we decided that we'd rather just hang out instead of learn."
I swear, I could've cried at his stupidity.
"Excuse me?" The principal turned around with a very angry look on his face. "Hang out? You decided you would rather 'hang out' than do schoolwork?"
Fumi nodded.
Oh my god. He doesn't realize what he just did I thought to myself.
"Well, how about you and your three friends come 'hang out' in detention today after school?"
Three friends? Oh no, he can't mean…
"Inoue, Amane, and Kamachi, you three have a detention after school today."
"Why us?" Haruhi demanded.
"Do you want to double it?" Haruhi sat down in a huff. "The rest of you don't have a detention because I know you all aren't stupid enough to associate yourselves with him. But still, since nobody came to tell me, I will be your sensei for this period."
There were some scattered groans. Morinozuka-sensei walked to the front of the class and started, reading Honda-sensei's lesson plan.
I could barely pay much attention during the entire class. I had an unhealthy mix of anger, embarrassment, and sadness. I was so angry at Fumi for getting me in trouble, I was embarrassed because my group and I were yelled at in front of the whole class, and I was sad because I have a freaking detention! This is my second one in the five days since school started. I could feel tears fill my eyes.
Just then, Amane put a note on my desk while Sensei wrote on the board. I unfolded it silently and read it.
Ririn,
I'm sorry Fumi got you in trouble. He's a total moron. I'll see what I can do about getting you and Inoue out of the detention since you two didn't do anything. So, don't worry. I got your back.
-Kaien
P.S. You look beautiful when you cry, but I'd much rather see you smile.
-Sigh- He ruined it with that one last phrase. He's so troublesome. I realized I just sounded like Shikamaru from Naruto, but, I couldn't help it.
The bell finally rang and it was time for lunch. Just before me or 'the other three' exited the door, Sensei reminded us, ever so kindly, that we have a detention after school and that we need to report to his office beforehand.
I went to my locker and grabbed my bento box and went straight to the roof. I really don't care if those guys from before were there. I just wanted to get away from everyone and everything.
I opened the box, grabbed my chopsticks and started eating. I was on my third bite when I heard whispering coming from the door.
"I know I saw her come up here." One voice whispered.
"I saw her up here once, but that doesn't really mean she does this all the time." That voice sounded like Haruhi.
"Hey," A third voice said. "Isn't that the corner of her messenger bag?"
I panicked slightly. I didn't know where to run off to. There was a huge vent to my right and the fence was to my left. I had set myself up from the very beginning.
I saw a shoe step into view, so I looked up to see who it was attached to. "Hey, I found her!"
It was Fumi. He motioned for other people to come join us. He came over and sat next to me and two other people turned the corner. It was Haruhi and Amane; they came over and sat in front of Fumi and myself.
"Why are you eating all by yourself, Rin-chan?" Haruhi asked.
"I like eating alone, and don't call me 'Rin-chan'."
She cocked her head to the side like puppies do when they see something funny. "Why?"
"I just don't like the name 'Rin-chan'. It sounds too kiddie."
"No, I mean, why do you like eating by yourself?" She corrected herself.
I sighed out of frustration. "I just do."
"So, Rin-chan," Fumi spoke up, "I'm sorry I got you into trouble last period. Kaien and I tried talking to Morinozuka-sensei after class to leave you girls out of it, but he wouldn't listen."
I nodded. "It's no big deal, and stop calling me Rin-chan." I was starting to get irritated.
"But, it is a big deal." Amane put in. "It goes on your permanent record and colleges look at those. They'll think you're a problem child and they won't accept you. You do want to go to college, right Rin-chan?"
"How many times do I have to tell you to not call me that?! You guys are tap-dancing on my last good nerve!"
"But Rin-chan- Ouch!" I smacked Fumi on the back of the head and got up and grabbed my bento box and my schoolbag and left them.
These people are such a pain I thought to myself, finishing off the bento box.
I threw the container in the trashcan and sighed. "So troublesome..."
"What is? Oh, would it be that ugly mug of yours?" I turned around to find the three girls from that stupid fan club.
"What do you want?" I asked them.
"Oh, I don't know, how about you leave Master Kaien alone?"
"Oh my god- I don't even like him."
Liar
"I was just eating on the roof and he found me and decided to eat with me. I didn't ask him to."
"Oh yeah, like Master Kaien would eat with such a disgusting image in front of him." I shook my head and turned to walk away.
"Hey, don't you walk away when someone's talking to you." Hoshikumo whined.
I turned around and walked right up to her. "I would only follow that rule if you were, in fact, a somebody. But, since you're not, I can walk away anytime I want. So, if you like the way your face is configured, you should let me go wherever I want, whenever I want with whoever I want."
There was a short staring contest until she finally spoke. "Oh, please. You can't touch me."
I could tell her voice was slightly shaky. "Oh, I sure can, but I won't. If I even laid a finger on a piece of shit like you, it would take for ever to get it off."
At that, the two girls grabbed my arms and punched me in the side, causing me to double over in pain. Hoshikumo grabbed my braided hair right as the door to the roof opened.
"You! Let our Rin-chan go!"
She stopped for a second. "Um… no!" Then I heard a kind of a 'snip' sound, and they dropped me just before running out the door.
I heard footsteps bolt down the stairs. The footsteps belonged to Fumi and Haruhi. "Take care of the girl!" She ordered just before the door shut.
I heard another set of footsteps run down the stairs. "Are you alright?" It was Amane.
I groaned as he helped me back up. He took my hands in his and got me to my feet. I looked up and saw his face really close to mine. I felt myself blush, so I backed up, tripping on my schoolbag. He caught me before I could meet the floor a second time.
I finally collected myself while he picked up my bag and escorted me to the restrooms. He had an arm around me the entire time because he, and I quote, "didn't want me to fall victim to gravity again."
We made it to the restrooms and he stood outside holding my bag while I cleaned myself up. I went to the sink and rinsed my face off with water and dried my face with one of the paper towels. I looked in the mirror and noticed a lock of hair was shorter than it should be. I turned so I could see my back in the mirror to discover my hair was about three inches below my shoulders, and I started to cry.
(Begin Flashback)
When I was younger, my mother would take me to the park to go play with the neighborhood kids, since I was an only child and had nobody to play with. Mom would sit on the bench talking to the other parents while I played 'Cops and Robbers' with the boys, as opposed to 'House' with the girls.
I never really played with the girls; I hung out with the boys. I wore my hair short all the time and I was a tomboy.
Walking home, mom would hold my hand, smile a sweet comforting smile and ask "Why don't you ever play with the girls, Rin-chan?"
"Cuz boys are cool and girls are troublesome." Was my reply.
She'd laugh. "Alright, whatever, as long as you're having fun."
Mom and I had the same routine every weekend until late November when I was nine. That's when she was taken from my world.
On the day of her funeral, I vowed to grow my hair long and be more feminine. I knew my mom wanted me to be more girly, but she didn't want to force me to be something I'm not and taking away my independence. I knew she wanted this from me, even though she never said it out loud.
(End flashback)
I found myself crying over the sink, sobbing so hard, I could vomit. I heard someone come in, so I looked into the mirror and saw Haruhi standing there. "Fumi and I caught them and dragged them to the principal's office. He told me to give this to you." She said quietly, holding out her hand which contained my missing hair, still keeping its braided form.
I took the hair from her hand and tied the other end with a spare rubber band so the hair wouldn't unravel.
"Let's get you cleaned up; your eyeliner is running."
I returned to the sink and fixed myself. I knew there wasn't much I could do about the puffiness of my eyes, so I just left that alone and left the bathroom with Haruhi. I put the hair in the inside pouch in my schoolbag and relieved Amane of the bag.
"I'm going to walk her to class. We'll see you guys later." We departed and the bell rang.
"You doing okay?"
I nodded.
"You know what?"
I looked up at her.
"When I went to the principal's office and told him what happened, he said you don't have to come to detention today. Isn't that great?"
I shrugged.
"Oh, and I talked to Ayame and told her what happened. She immediately whipped out her cell phone and made a hair appointment for you. She's taking you to her aunt's salon right after school. But, before then, let's do something about this…" She said turning me around to examine the back of my head.
Then, she pulled my hair back and put it up in a messy bun. "There, now you can't even tell." I thanked her as we entered the art room.
"I have to say," Haruhi said as we exited the art room, "that was probably the coolest art class I have ever been in."
"Pervert." I mumbled.
"Oh, come on! She told us to draw a naughty picture, just to get it out of our systems. How could you not have fun?"
I shook my head out of shame. "By the way… what did you draw?"
I suddenly had an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. "I, uh, drew a picture of Temari and Shikamaru from Naruto."
Her eyes lit up. "No way! I drew one of Hinata and Naruto! I didn't know you were a Naruto fan!"
I giggled. "Yeah, I love it. If you were paying attention when you ambushed me Saturday morning, you'd see I have all the graphic novels on my bookshelves."
She gasped. "All of them?"
"All of them. I had to; I collect graphic novels."
"Wow, you're rich."
I shook my head. "It was from my mom's inheritance money. She told me to use it to complete the collection, so, I did."
She gave me an odd look. "Inheritance money?"
My face turned pink from embarrassment. I forgot I hadn't told her about that. "I'll explain some other time. For now, let's just go to our classes."
At that, she went up to Algebra while I went to Gym.
I went down to the locker room to change clothes when I was called in to Itachiin-sensei's office. "What are you doing?" She asked.
"I'm getting into my gym uniform, ma'am." I replied.
"Well, I got a call from Morinozuka-sensei excusing you from gym class today. What happened?" She asked, looking up at me with her huge, shiny brown eyes.
"Oh, I just got hit in the side with something hard. It really hurts, but it's really no big deal."
She nodded. "I see. Well, Matsuri-sensei told me your class is playing soccer, so how about you just sit off in the sidelines and watch?"
I nodded and turned to leave. "I'll let sensei know."
"Actually," she stopped me before I could take one step, "you don't have to. There was a family emergency, so I'm covering his class today."
I nodded and headed to the gymnasium.
Soon after Sensei came up, we all headed outside. Everyone was sorted into teams and got into position while I sat down in the nice soft grass. I just noticed the girls that jumped me weren't in class today. I figured they must've had their parents take them home or something.
The game was going well and the team I was on was doing well at first, until Amane got a soccer ball in the face, causing to have an insane nosebleed. I wanted to laugh, but felt it would be mean to do so, so I kept to myself. Amane sat out for the rest of the game, and to cover for him, Sensei joined the game.
"Sho, Habbig fun?" Amane asked, holding his nose to keep the blood contained.
"I'm doing okay. That looked like it hurt, though."
He nodded. "I've hab worf."
I nodded. I was getting bored, so I got out my sketchbook to start drawing. Since I suck at drawing moving objects, I decided to draw my sideline companion.
"Hey, Amane." He looked at me, and I froze up. "Oh, um, never mind."
He looked at me funny, and then fixated his attention to the game. I situated myself so I was facing the city and decided to draw the skyline.
I reached into my bag to get a darker pencil when I noticed a large figure hovering over me.
"What the heck?" I looked up and saw that it was Amane. His nose was done bleeding and he seems to have wiped his face clean.
"Wow, you're a really good artist." He said with excitement in his voice.
I blushed slightly. "Oh, thanks."
"Are you in art?"
"Oh, yeah, that was last period."
"Do you do it in your free time?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I have a ton of filled sketchbooks at home. It's a hobby."
He nodded.
"My father cleaned out the attic and turned it into my little art studio."
"That's cool. So, wait, you live on Tenth Street, right?"
"Yeah."
"Which house do you live in?"
"I live in the big blue house with the black fence and fountain in the front yard."
His eyes got wide. "Dude, I used to live there when I was little!"
"Oh…wow…" There was another awkward silence…
"So," He continued, "have you guys done anything cool to the house? You know, besides the fountain and the attic?"
I thought about that one for a minute. "Well, my mom did a lot of gardening in the front and back yards. And, we got the kitchen remodeled; got in new countertops and cabinets, but other than that…"
He nodded. "Your mom must like housework."
I nodded. "She even put in a garden box outside my bedroom window. She put in one of those bushes that attract butterflies."
"You like butterflies?" He asked.
I nodded. "Yeah, I like them a lot.
I continued with the sketch without saying much else. I hadn't quite finished the sketch when we all had to go back inside.
"Okay class, put the shirts in the bin and get dressed." Sensei ordered. "Kamachi, come here for a second."
I walked over to sensei whose hair was a mess and had strands of it sticking to her slightly sweaty face.
"So, do you think you'll be well enough to participate tomorrow?"
I poked my side and checked my shoulders. They still hurt, but not as much. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll be set by then."
She nodded. "Good, because otherwise, I'll probably have to go out there again, and me getting my butt whooped by my students is embarrassing."
We both laughed before she dismissed me. While everyone else went in to change, I went into the gymnasium and waited for Ayame, since we're going to her aunt's place to fix my hair.
I hadn't been waiting long when Amane came up from the locker room. He moseyed out the door and wandered over to me. "You look like you're waiting for someone." He pointed out.
"Yeah, I'm waiting for Ayame."
"Oh, her? I see; makes sense. If you're friends with Inoue, you're somehow associated with Tsukinowa."
I nodded. "Oh, and thanks, Amane, for taking care of me when those girls ran off after beating me up."
He shook his head. "It's not a problem. Oh, and, call me Kaien."
I blushed and looked away.
"Hey, what are you doing to Ririn?" I turned around and saw my pink haired friend walking over to us.
"Nothing, we're just talking." He said just before the bell rang.
"Talk to you later, Rin-chan." He bolted out the door before I could get a word in.
"Rin-chan?" Ayame asked.
"Please don't call me that." I pleaded.
"I won't, but, why does he?"
"Because he knows it bothers me." She shook her head.
"This is exactly why I hate men." I laughed as we walked out the doors to go to our lockers and get out of here to get my hair fixed.
