ASlaveToWords: Yay, fourth chapter!
ETP: Now I get to write the fifth!
ASlaveToWords: Thanks for all the amazing reviews. You guys really helped our confidence.
ETP: So please review again and enjoy the chappie!
Disclaimer: We don't own GX, Duel Academy, or anything else other than our characters.
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Éire pulled herself up to her full height as she entered her dorm, prepared this time for the usual attack. But, to her surprise, nothing happened. She carefully stepped further into the dorm and looked around.
Finally she spotted Saija and her composure returned. She watched her roommate for a few moments in wonder, unable to figure out why the girl hadn't seemed to budge upon Éire's arrival. There was no annoyed or loathing glare, no insistence for a rematch, no acknowledgement at all. Saija was simply sitting there on her bed, propped up against the headboard, knees raised and fingertips pressed together in front of her face as she starred off into nothingness.
Éire tilted her head slightly to one side and regarded Saija for a moment longer. Eventually, emerald eyes turned on her with the familiar irritated look Éire had gotten so used to.
"Can I help you, oh great one?" She retorted sarcastically.
Éire blinked at her, "I was just wondering why you haven't bitten my head off yet."
Against everything Éire expected, Saija didn't say a word. She simply looked ahead of her again with an emotionless expression. After a lengthy silence, Éire realized Saija wasn't going to say anything. She sighed heavily and absently blew out an upwards breath.
"I think I liked it better when she was glaring at me." Éire thought in annoyance. "At least then she figured I was worth acknowledging!"
Taking another deep breath, Éire walked over to her bed. She sat down and moved up to the headboard to mimic Saija's pose, then watched her again. Finally Saija had had enough and turned to Éire with blazing eyes.
"Okay, usually you're complaining for me to leave you alone! Well earth-to earth-child, I'm doing just that!"
"Well, yeah. It's a start." Éire replied, holding back a smile.
Was she finally getting through to her cold roommate?
"I mean at least you're not pestering me. But how about you stop ignoring me and we can actually have a conversation?"
Saija looked at Éire with a cold expression, one that made the fiery redhead's blood run cold.
"Maybe you're not worth my attention." She replied icily.
That was it, Éire finally snapped.
"You know what?!" She yelled, an angry expression on her face as she knelt up on her bed to stare Saija down. "I'm sick and tired of this! Ever since we got here, you've been nothing but horrible to me! No, scratch that, you're just plain horrible, period! I've been so nice to you and I've only tried to be your friend but you don't want to hear anything about it?! Well you know what? I AM worth the attention and I don't deserve the way you're treating me!!"
Saija blinked at Éire for a moment, then smirked.
"Good job Earth-Child, 'bout time you grew a backbone. I told ya I'd toughen you up."
Saija turned away from Éire and closed her eyes. Éire fumed.
"Listen to me!" She demanded. "Who do you think you are? What makes you think you're better then everyone else? You're nothing special!"
This finally got Saija's attention. Her emerald eyes flew open and she sat up abruptly as she glared back at Éire.
"Don't you dare tell me that!!" She screamed savagely.
Éire gasped and fell back onto her backside again, Saija's outbursts having thoroughly startled her. Saija's glare was so intense it felt like she was burning a hole right through Éire's very soul. Her eyes were wide as she blinked at the girl across the room in shock.
"Don't you dare say that…" Saija hissed lowly this time.
Saija got up from her bed and grabbed her backpack from a chair beside it. Éire blinked a few times, then sat back up straight again, a defiant look coming to her face then as she watched Saija storm over to the door.
"Well, you're no better then anyone else!" Éire said bravely. "What makes you think you can treat people the way you do, huh?!"
Saija whirled on Éire as her hand touched the doorknob.
"I dunno!" She yelled, a strange new glint in her eyes. "Probably the same thing that makes everyone else think they could treat me that way!!"
With that said, Saija threw open the dorm room door and stormed through it, leaving Éire once more blinking behind her in shock.
"What had Saija meant by that? And what was that strange look in her eyes?"
Éire shook her head to clear her thoughts. Well, no matter, one could waste an entire lifetime trying to figure out someone as complicated as Saija Porter. The main thing was, Éire had finally stood up for herself against her cold and seemingly heartless roommate.
She'd won right?
Éire frowned.
If this was true, then why did she feel so bad. . . ?
_________________________________________________________________
Saija clenched her teeth and fists as she practically flew from the Obelisk dorms and ran as fast as her legs could carry her to the beach. Once there she immediately dropped to her hands and knees, her bag falling into the sand beside her as she panted heavily.
"Why am I letting all this get to me, dammit?!" She thought angrily. "Stop it, Saija! You're better then this! Real champions don't feel! When you're the best, you don't let stupid things like memories and new people get to you!"
Her teeth grinded as she fought to gain control of her emotions again.
"Stupid, stupid girl!!" She said aloud, pounding her fists into the sand beside her.
"She might be annoying and way too much like Jaden, but I don't think she's stupid."
Saija's head jerked up to see a familiar face standing before her. Immediately Saija masked her emotions and glared up at him through narrowed eyes as she sat back on her backside in the sand.
"I wasn't talking about McKenzie, I was talking about-"
Stopping herself before she said 'myself', Saija clenched her teeth and her eyes narrowed at Chazz.
"Are you stalking me Princeton?"
An ever-so-slight pinkish tinge appeared on Chazz's cheeks as he glowered down at her.
"No." He replied indignantly. "I was just going to get my books from my dorm when I saw some kinda odd blur fly past me. I wanted to see who it was. Pretty impressive Porter, I didn't know you could fly."
Saija stared up at Chazz with non-amused eyes and watched him sit down next to her.
"Aren't you just the funniest little dork?" She replied sarcastically.
"And aren't you just the little ray of sunshine." Chazz countered with a smirk.
Saija blinked at him for a moment until finally a smirk crossed her lips. She then pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them as she turned to stare out over the ocean.
"Congratulations, Chazz." She spoke after a short silence. "You're the first person I've met since coming here who's not a complete waste of my time."
Chazz mirrored Saija's smirk.
"Sounds like a compliment coming from you."
Saija snorted humorlessly.
"Believe me, it is."
The two turned to stare out over the ocean until finally Chazz spoke again.
"So . . . what happened earlier? To make you so, uh… upset?"
Saija frowned, not looking at the pale teen.
"I wasn't upset. . . And it's none of your business." She replied coldly, tension immediately replacing the calm Chazz had previously given her.
Chazz frowned again and turned back to the ocean. The silence was longer this time and eventually Chazz broke it again.
"We should get back to class, break is over."
When Saija didn't move, Chazz rolled his eyes.
"Look, I get that you wanna be all independent or whatever, but you're going the same way as me so we might as well walk together."
Saija remained still for another few moments before finally grabbing her bag. She ignored Chazz's extended hand, causing him to roll his eyes again as she stood on her own.
"Alright, fine. Let's go then. If I- we… wanna be the best, then we've gotta do the best."
Chazz shook his head as he followed after Saija but he couldn't hide the tiniest whisper of a smile that unconsciously crept onto his face.
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"Really? She said that?"
Éire nodded at Jesse as he appeared to look thoughtful.
"And believe it or not, it actually looked like it hurt her."
Jesse looked a little confused.
"But why would somethin' like that offend someone? I mean, does she hate to think of herself as ordinary or somethin'?"
Éire shrugged.
"I don't know. But it was really weird… she got so angry with me. And you should have seen her face on the way out Jess… I-I actually felt kinda bad."
Okay, so that was sort of a lie. Éire had felt terrible, but she didn't actually want to admit this. Again Jesse looked thoughtful and looked up at Éire to speak, but he paused when he noted the curious look on his best friend's face.
"What's up?"
Éire didn't say anything, she simply gestured behind him with a nod of her head. Jesse turned around and immediately spotted Saija and Chazz walking towards them. He frowned upon seeing the girl's face.
"Did you see that?" Éire whispered so only Jesse could hear.
Jesse looked at her and replied, "See what?"
Éire leaned back and spoke aloud, "Nothing."
But it distinctly was something. Saija's eyes had momentarily fallen on Jesse unblinkingly as if in a trance, but as soon as he'd turned to look at her, she blinked once and quickly turned away.
Had Éire been the only one who'd noticed?
And more importantly, had Saija herself noticed?
Éire then thought of something and had to resist a smile.
"No. . ." She thought to herself. "Couldn't be… could it?"
Deciding to test her theory, Éire called out to Saija.
"Hey, Saija, over here!"
Saija turned to look at her, wrinkled her nose in disgust and turned away again without another word. Éire smiled, surprising Jesse and Jim, who were both standing before her.
"Since when do people smile after being snubbed off, Sheila?" Jim teased playfully, though he was half-serious and a little confused.
Ignoring his comment, Éire spoke to Jim without looking at him.
"Call her over Jim." She said simply.
Jim looked like she'd just announced that she was in fact a man.
"What?" He replied, greatly taken aback.
"Call her over."
Jim raised an eyebrow, then turned his head and called after Saija.
"Hey, Saija, come on over, Sheila!"
This time Saija didn't bother to so much as acknowledge them. Instead of being put off however, Éire's smile widened.
"Thought so." She whispered.
"Thought what?" Jesse and Jim asked in unison.
Again Éire ignored them, keeping her thoughts to herself.
"You try Jess."
Jesse sighed heavily.
"Éire," He began wearily. "She's not-"
"Just do it."
Jesse sighed again and turned slightly, looking after the girl whom was now half-way down the hall and currently back-on to them.
"Hey, Saija!" He called simply, not expecting any results.
To his and Jim's shock and surprise, Saija stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. Jesse blinked, utterly stunned.
"Huh. Guess third time really is a charm." He said aloud.
Éire finally grinned, "Yeah, right." She said softly.
Saija raised an eyebrow at the bluenette.
"Yeah?"
Jesse shook his head, then gestured her towards him.
"Come over. I uh… wanna talk."
Saija turned to face Jesse and stared at him for a moment. Her jaw worked for a few moments until finally, again to Jesse's amazement, she began to walk towards him. Chazz, who no longer looked as cocky as he had moments ago when Saija snubbed off the other two, frowned and reached out to take Saija's arm.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Saija blinked at him as if he'd just asked her a really hard question, then she shook her head as a defiant look appeared on her face.
"I'm going to go see what he wants. It could be something about my rematch with McKenzie."
Chazz looked over her head at Jesse and scowled. Yeah right, that was definitely the reason she was going to go talk to him -- not! He looked back down at her and his frown deepened.
"You'll be late for class." He said pointedly and Saija rolled her eyes.
"I'm a big girl, thanks. Let go of me."
When Chazz let go of her with a slightly pained expression, she sighed lightly.
"I'll meet you there, okay?" She replied in an annoyed tone, though it was an ever-so-slightly softer one.
Chazz again looked at Jesse one last time and scowled at him, obviously not liking being snubbed off for the bluenette.
"Fine." He mumbled as he turned and walked away. "I'll save you a seat."
Saija didn't bother to watch Chazz leave, or to answer him. Instead she turned back to the trio who'd been calling her and headed over to them.
"Yeah? What do you want?"
Jesse looked at Éire questioningly.
"Go talk to her!" She mouthed quickly.
Jesse looked back at Saija and rubbed the back of his head absently.
"Uh… can we talk?"
Saija gave him a straight face but was unable to say, for some reason, the smart remark on the tip of her tongue.
Instead she settled for, "Sure."
Jesse led her a few feet away from the other two to stand next to a row of lockers. When he turned to look at her he frowned. If he was going to have to talk to her about something, he figured it may as well be about something productive.
"About this… thing, with you and Éire. What's it all about? I mean, I've gotten her side of the story but I don't know yours. I've never known her to lie or exaggerate, but it'd still be nice to hear your side of the story."
Saija frowned at Jesse.
"None of your business. If you think I'm going to spill my heart to you just because I decided to talk to you, then you're dead wrong. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got classes to attend to."
Saija made to move past Jesse but he lifted his arm and placed it against the lockers beside Saija's face. As she was against the wall on one side, the lockers were behind her, Jesse in front and his arm blocking the other side, Saija was trapped and couldn't move.
"It is my business." Jesse said firmly. "I care a lot about her and I can't stand to see her unhappy."
Saija clenched her teeth as she looked up and starred defiantly into Jesse's face.
"Look, it's nothing personal… per-say. I just…"
Saija stopped and looked away from Jesse. She bit the side of her lip for a moment, then took a deep breath and lifted her chin, finally looking back at Jesse. The bluenette was a little surprised to see a strange glint in her eyes he'd never noticed before.
"I get it, she means a lot to you. I'll back off, okay? Is that what you want? Tell your little girlfriend-"
"She's not my girlfriend."
Saija paused in her rant and blinked at Jesse, stunned.
"Excuse me?"
"She's not my girlfriend." Jesse repeated. "She's my best friend, and I really do care about her, but we're not together. We don't like each other in that way. Éire is like… a baby sister."
Saija blinked twice, and then finally took a long, deep breath as she thought about this.
"Oh… I thought… never mind, it doesn't matter. Anyway, you can relax… I swear, no more attacks on your best friend. Scouts honor…"
Saija ducked under Jesse's arm and made to walk away but he gently took her wrist and stopped her.
"Saija, wait." He said softly, looking deep into her eyes when she looked over her shoulder at him. "What's wrong? Tell me why you're so distant and angry and… cold. Please, talk to me. I can help you…"
Saija stared back at Jesse as if hypnotized. Her chest heaved slightly as she apparently fought to keep her breath even. The sincerity in his captivating gaze and voice was weakening her, and she couldn't fight it.
Finally, after a good, long silence, Saija's lips parted and her words gushed from her lips like water from a broken dam. She told Jesse about her parents, about her childhood and how hard the people in it had made it for her, about her uncle and his lack of attention -- despite how hard he tried, and about her obsession to be the best.
Jesse stared at Saija in shock and indeed she looked just as shocked as he did about her lengthy confession. Eventually he opened his mouth to speak but a loud ringing overhead interrupted him. Now looking quite disheveled, Saija blinked a few times and swallowed hard.
"I've never been late for class." She said pointedly, her voice cracking slightly as she spoke. "Excuse me…"
Jesse stared after Saija with a still-shocked expression and mouth slightly agape. Soon a nudge to the ribs forced him to look down at Éire, whom was smiling at him.
"Come on, we'll be late for class. There's only about a minute between the warning bell and the class bell."
Jesse nodded and followed after her as they headed towards their classroom. His mind drifted back to Saija and he frowned deeply, guilt burning through him immediately.
"How could we all have been so wrong …?"
______________________________________________________________________
Chazz snorted indignantly as Saija climbed the stairs and moved in to sit next to him.
"How was your chat with pretty-boy?" He asked a little bitterly.
Nevertheless, his expression quickly changed and softened when he noticed the still slightly disheveled look on Saija's face.
"Hey… what's wrong?"
Saija shook her head.
"Nothing, I'm fine."
Chazz frowned and looked down to glare at Jesse and the two people whom had just entered with him. The bluenette was looking up at Saija with a frown.
"If that loser did anything to-"
"He didn't." Saija interrupted. "I'm fine Chazz…"
Chazz frowned and sighed heavily.
"Fine, if you say so."
He turned then to look down at the professor as he began his lecture.
Now finally feeling all eyes off of her, Saija closed her eyes and rubbed her hands over her face. She took a deep breath, then lifted her head and looked down at Jesse a few seats below her.
"What the hell happened?!" She scolded herself furiously. "I've hidden all my secrets and kept everything to myself for my whole life, and then some pretty face comes along and I just open up like one of Éire's stupid flowers at blooming time?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH MEEE?!"
Saija clenched her teeth angrily as she fumed, unable to understand why she'd broken down, lost control and why she'd even gone to Jesse when he'd called her in the first place.
It was when Saija felt another pair of eyes on her that she noticed Éire looking up at her.
Remembering her promise to Jesse -- and unable to understand as well why she even cared -- Saija resisted the almost over-whelming urge to glare back at the redhead or scowl or anything she usually did. Instead however, she simply took a deep breath and looked forward at the Professor with narrowed, concentrated eyes.
Below her, Éire's wide grin returned. Just as she thought, it appeared her best friend had some sort of effect on her cold and distant roommate, though she had yet to figure out just what kind of effect it was Jesse had on Saija. Oh well, a little more experimenting and research would answer that question.
Éire's grin widened as she turned back to the Professor and pretended to listen. This just might be a lot of fun. Now she just had to figure out how to use her newly acquired information to her advantage.
"I may not be able to help Saija open up, but I'm sure that Jess can… and maybe one day we might even be friends…"
That was the hope Éire had to hold on to, and one she fully intended on holding on to.