CN
Petals
Chapter Four: The Perks of Being a Girl
That whole day during school, there was an even stronger-than-usual animosity amongst Hamtaro Haruna and Bijou Ribon. It was evident by the way they kept glaring at each other throughout their classes, trying to wear the other down, yet still wondering what would happen at that interview on Thursday.
"Well I know that I'm not gonna have any problems getting that job," Hamtaro ranted at lunch as he stabbed his pasta vehemently. Deciding he wasn't in the mood for pasta, he dropped his fork and picked up a butter knife. He picked up a small piece of bread and a small prepackaged butter packet as well.
"I.mean.who.in.their.right.mind.would.give.that.stupid.dumb.annoying.little.miss.spoiled.a.job.over.me!" He cried as he vigorously rubbed butter all over the bread, all the while receiving strange looks from Stan, Boss and Oxnard.
"Dude, maybe you should take it easy," Stan said tentatively as he watched his orange and white-haired friend.
"I'm sure you'll get the job…No one would give a job to an heiress," Boss reminded as he took a large bite out of his apple. He chewed his apple for a while and added, "You're smarter than her I bet."
"I care to disagree. Pepper says that Bijou's one of the smartest girls she's ever met," Oxnard explained. To this, Hamtaro simply threw down his piece of bread and let out a gruff growl.
"Way to make him feel better, Oxy!" Stan exclaimed as he slapped the back of Oxnard's head.
"Professor Vivian said that Bijou and I were two of her best students," Hamtaro said quietly as he leaned his head against his fist.
"That still doesn't mean anything," Boss reminded. "I'm sure the people at the botanical gardens will agree that you've had a harder struggle in life and deserve this job more than she does."
"Yeah, come on," Stan said, "She may be a sweet girl,"—to this, Hamtaro rolled his eyes—"but she's still had it easier in life than you have, that much is obvious."
"I guess so," Hamtaro mumbled.
"Hey, guys! What's up?" an excited voice asked he sat down at the table.
"Hey, Panda," Stan greeted. As Stan looked up, he noticed Bijou, Pashmina and Sandy sitting at a table not too far from the one they were currently sitting at. "Oohh…forgive me, Haruna, but I'm gonna go fraternize with the enemy." With that said, he got up and went over to the girls' table.
"Try to convince her to skip that interview," Hamtaro added in a strange, somewhat upset-sounding and somewhat angered voice, just as Stan left the table.
"Why do you sound so down?" Panda asked as he poked the square end of his fork at Hamtaro.
"He's just upset because he's gotta beat out Bijou Ribon for a job," Boss explained. Panda made a strange face.
"Bijou Ribon, eh? Why does she need a job…she owns a company, right?" Panda asked as he took a bite out of his lunch. He mulled over the thought for a while Hamtaro decided to keep igniting the flame.
"You're right, Panda! That girl was born with a stupid silver spoon in her mouth, all the money she'll ever need saved somewhere in a vault the size of my house, probably. And yet she's still going to try and steal a job from a hard-working Samaritan like me," he said angrily as his blue eyes sparkled. Boss, Oxnard and Panda tried to hide their laughter, but that wasn't an all-too-successful effort.
"What's so funny?" Hamtaro asked innocently as he watched his friends laugh at his words. "You think it's funny that Ribon is competing with me for a job she doesn't need?"
Panda held up his hand as he tried to chew his food without choking on it. As he finally swallowed down his food, he stared at Hamtaro.
"A Samaritan? Sorry, Hamtaro, but your name isn't exactly synonymous with that term," he explained.
"Yeah, I agree. With all of the pranks you've pulled on Bijou over the past…how many years?" Oxnard asked before Hamtaro really had a chance to answer.
"Seventeen," Boss supplied. "We've known her since pre-school, remember Oxy?"
"Right, seventeen years…Well, in that time you've played a whole lotta tricks on her, and wouldn't it be funny if her ultimate revenge was stealing this job right out from under your nose? That would be amusing," Oxnard said simply as he took a sip of water from his bottle.
"Cats, Oxy, whose side are you on?" Hamtaro asked indignantly. To this, Oxnard shrugged and Hamtaro turned around and stared at Stan, who was still sitting at Bijou's table (along with Pashmina and Sandy). Ribon was laughing animatedly with Stan and looked quite happy. Pashmina and Sandy were also leaning across the table and telling something to Stan, which he must've enjoyed listening to for he couldn't help smiling. Then, out of nowhere, Stan leaned back and Hamtaro watched as he placed his head in Bijou's lap.
Bijou, instead of rejecting Stan, simply laughed some more and offered him some of the grapes she was nibbling on. Hamtaro watched this scene unfold with narrowed eyes.
"Relax, you probably will get that job," Boss reminded. Then a thought hit him. "Hey, Haruna?"
Hamtaro's eyes were still locked on that table and he was not really listening to anything else that was going on.
"Hamtaro?" Boss asked again. Still no answer.
"Hey buddy," Oxnard called with no success.
"Hamtarooooo!!" Panda cried as he waved his hands in front of Hamtaro's face. Hamtaro suddenly broke out of his reverie and shook his head.
"Sorry. Was someone talking to me?" he asked as he turned around.
"Yeah, stupid, I was just about to ask you something before you spaced out," Boss said in an annoyed tone.
Hamtaro tore off a small bit of a noodle from his pasta and flicked it at Boss. "What?"
"Well," Boss said as he flicked the piece back at Hamtaro, "I was just wondering if you knew if your interviewer would be a boy or a girl?"
"Not sure," Hamtaro admitted as he thought about it. "Why?" he finally asked as he flicked the piece of pasta away. Panda and Oxnard suddenly made a strange face, as if they had just realized something...something bad.
"That could be a problem," Boss said as he put his hand to his mouth, "if the interviewer is a boy, that is," he added quickly.
Hamtaro, not quite understanding, stared at the group of boys with a confused expression.
"The perks of being a girl," Panda said under his breath just loud enough for everyone at the table to hear.
"You mean…she might flirt her way into a job?" Hamtaro asked, eyebrows arched.
"You sound surprised…why?" Boss asked.
"You have to be somewhat good looking for that to work, am I right?" Hamtaro reminded more than asked. The boys at the table nodded in agreement. "Well then…there's the problem!"
"Kid," Boss started to say as he finished clearing his throat, once again using that voice he used to prove that he knew more about Hamtaro in the category of girls, "you can criticize Ribon all you want about being spoiled…I'm sure she was, she probably still is. But don't say that that girl is not good-looking," Boss said as he shifted his head in the direction of Ribon.
Hamtaro's eyes widened and his mouth hung ajar. "Ribon? Pale-skinned, white-haired Ribon?"
"You gotta look beyond that," Boss explained.
"I don't get what you see," Hamtaro admitted. "She'll always be that annoying French brat to me."
"Well, you'd be in quite the minority," Panda added as a small blush crept onto his cheeks. "I mean, Stan certainly seems to think so."
"Stan, I'm sure you've had more than enough of your daily dose of grapes," Bijou said as she tried to get the boy's head out of her lap.
"Bijou, my sweet, sweet lady friend, I told you: I have to have exactly one full branch thingy of grapes fed to me by a gorgeous babe everyday. Don't worry, Pashmina: Your turn's tomorrow."
"Gee…I feel like the luckiest girl in the world," Pashmina added.
"Well…when's Crystal's turn? You do know that she's back in town for a couple of days, right?" Bijou asked, knowing Stan's weakness. Stan's eyes widened and he immediately sat up.
"Really?" he asked, slightly unbelieving of what Bijou said. As he saw the smirks he was receiving from Bijou, Sandy and Pashmina, he started to stutter, "I-I mean…she'll get her t-t-turn the day after tom-tom-tomorrow!" he finally spat out.
"Saving the best for last, Stanny?" Sandy asked, her smirk unwavering. Stan merely scowled in response and then turned to Bijou.
"I need to ask you something," he said as he took her hands into his own, a flirting technique he always used on Bijou.
"And that would be?" the French girl asked as she started to swing their linked hands a few inches to each side.
"Why do you need a job?" he asked quickly. "Just curious as to why you're going to that interview on Thursday, that's all."
"I hope that wasn't supposed to be a subtle attempt by Haruna to get me to not come," Bijou said as she let go of Stan's hands.
"No, of course not! Just asking a little question to one of my bestest friends ever," Stan explained as he blinked his eyes several times, an attempt of making fun of how girls flirted.
"Well, if you really want to know—and I suggest increasing the volume on your microphone incase Haruna's got you wired—I just wanted to do something that I…well, you know, liked," she said, without even looking at Stan, as she pulled off a grape and put it into her mouth. The fact was she wasn't really looking at anyone at this particular moment. This was a touchy topic for her.
"What you like?" Stan asked, confused.
"Didn't I explain this to you when I first went into this school under a science major?" Bijou sighed. "In short, I like science better than business…but, it was my daddy's wish that I be the first girl born a Ribon to take over the company, and I want to respect his wish, so eventually I will be CEO of that company."
"But until that day comes, you want a science-related job," Stan said to himself. "Makes sense."
Bijou's face turned into a small smile. "Explain that to your jerk of a friend," she said as she turned to Stan with a bunch of grapes in her cupped hand. "Open up."
Stan more than enjoyed all this attention he was receiving, and this was more than dually noted by the group of boys sitting at a table not too far away.
A little blue car drove through the highways that afternoon. The thunderstorm from last night left many of the roads flooded, so there was a lot more traffic than usual. But the three girls within the car didn't mind…they were unwinding from a long hard day of school.
…well, sort of…
"…and so I completely blanked out and couldn't even remember the sine of 90, or the sine of half pi," Pashmina explained with her head in her hands. She brought her head back up and stared out the passenger side window of Bijou's car.
"Aren't the sine of 90 and the sine of half pi the same thing?" Sandy asked from the backseat.
"I'm pretty sure they are," Bijou said, concentrating more on the road than the conversation, as she turned a corner. She glanced quickly at her friend. "I'm sure you did fine."
"Yeah, like since when do you not do well on a math test?" Sandy reminded. "You're like Bij always stressing out with all this unnecessary worrying." This last part made Bijou glare at Sandy through her rearview mirror; Sandy simply waved (in what she thought was a very cute manner) back to Bijou.
"Guys, really, you have no idea…I totally forgot everything." Pashmina leaned against her seat. "At least October break's in a couple of weeks…I'll get some much needed time off."
"Definitely," Sandy agreed as she stared out the window.
"Not me," Bijou sighed. "Crys said that if I got the job, I'd have to start ASAP, meaning my first few days of work will probably be during October break."
"So…then wouldn't it kinda be a good thing if Hamtaro got the job over you?" Pashmina asked. Bijou bit her lip as she thought.
"I guess if I really felt like I needed some time off…but the truth it, I don't. I'm not totally overloaded these days," Bijou replied.
"What about that chemistry makeup test?" Sandy reminded. Bijou winced for a second, but then she smiled.
"I'll just have to study a little harder than usual…"
"And does your mother still expect you to come in every Wednesday afternoon to intern at the company?" Pashmina asked.
"Well yeah…"
"That on top of all your other schoolwork," Pashmina added.
"It's nothing I can't handle, really-"
"And if you got that job…like when would you ever have free time?" Sandy asked.
Bijou tapped her fingers on the steering wheel as the car continued driving down the road. "Are you two trying to make a point?"
"We're just saying it wouldn't be the end of the world if you didn't get the job," Pashmina explained.
"You have a little too much on your plate as it is without the added worries of that job," Sandy supplied.
"I do not," Bijou cried. After seeing the looks she got from Pashmina and Sandy, she decided to change her opinion a little. "And even if I do, it's only going to help me in the long run. How am I supposed to be successful if I don't work hard?"
"Bij…you're going to be the head of some gazillion dollar company in a few years…what's not successful about that?" Sandy exclaimed.
"Yeah but that's gonna be handed to me. I'm not gonna earn it. That's why I have to prove Haruna wrong that I am not just a spoiled brat and can actually do something on my own." Bijou stared out at the road with a fiery passion in her eyes, which just amused Sandy.
"If you say so…"
Pashmina looked at Bijou for a moment, wondering if she should ask something. "Would you admit he's cute?" Sandy leaned forward as she examined Bijou's face. The white-haired girl sighed.
"I guess he is," she said at length.
"Oh, so you'll admit that but not swallow your pride and say that you're too busy?" Sandy asked.
"I'm not in middle school, guys. If I think some guy's cute I'll admit that much," Bijou explained. Suddenly, the sound of thunder shook throughout the sky and the three girls stared out the windows. There were gray, ominous clouds looming, dangerously close to releasing a downpour over the city. Sandy and Pashmina looked over at Bijou and saw her frightened face.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll beat the rain," Pashmina assured Bijou as the French girl's face paled considerably.
"So that's all she said? Because she wants to do something that she likes?" Hamtaro cried as he fell back onto his couch.
"Yeah, it's understandable," Stan added as he sat down beside Hamtaro with a large bowl full of popcorn.
"It's corny."
"Well how would you feel if you had a predetermined job that you really didn't like? Wouldn't you at least want to have a job that interested you for a little while?" Oxnard asked as he sat down on the other side of Stan and took a large handful of popcorn.
"Seriously, Oxy, try to remember that you're my best friend!" Hamtaro cried as he ran a hand through his hair.
"What's with you?" Boss asked from the kitchen of their apartment. "You're usually not this upset over anything."
Hamtaro groaned. "I've been seeing more of that girl than I want to over the past few days."
"Don't see what the problem is," Boss said with a wry little smile on his face.
"Yeah, I like seriously fail to see what's wrong," Stan added.
Hamtaro tapped his fingers against the armrest of the couch. "Are you trying to make a point?"
"Yeah, relax," Stan said. "There will be other jobs."
"But not as great as this one," Hamtaro reminded. "And the thing is, I'm actually really interested in botany, and she'll probably end up leaving soon so that she can head her company, so what's the point of her having this job in the long run?"
"I'm sure they'll consider all those things at the interview," Oxnard reassured.
"I guess so," Hamtaro said under his breath. As he continued drumming his fingers along the side of the couch, a thought hit him. "Maybe if I talk to her-"
"Woah…kid, I think that's the last thing that will make her change her mind," Boss said as he sat down on the couch.
"Yeah, just let fate unwind as it may," Stan said in that smooth voice which didn't sound nearly as nice with a mouthful of popcorn, unbeknownst to him.
The next morning, Bijou's mother was talking up a storm on the telephone, and this was especially inconvenient for the girl since she was desperately trying to get ready.
"Oui, oui, je sais!" (Yes, yes, I know!) Bijou cried as she pulled a navy blue sweater over her head. "I have to take over the company eventually…muzzer, we've been over this so many times!" she cried to the speakerphone as she went over to her vanity.
"Bijou, zarling," her mother still had a very strong French accent, "last night, I waz zalking to zee lawyers at zee company."
"Oui, qu'est-ce que ils ont dit?" (Yes, what did they say?) Bijou asked as she quickly worked her blue ribbon into her hair.
"You will never believe it!" her moth cried. For some reason, this made Bijou more nervous than excited.
As the white-haired girl stepped out of her small house which she shared with her two best friends, she was immediately greeted by a bouquet of very pretty flowers. She looked up to see who was holding the flowers, and as soon as she saw, she continued walking away.
"You?" Bijou asked as she quickly stepped down the stairs of her porch and walked down the front path. She desperately wished Sandy and Pashmina would get ready sooner so that she didn't have to deal with this nuisance alone.
"You know, when a guy gives a girl flowers, he expects something in return…a hug, a squeal of gratitude, a kiss at least," Hamtaro teased as he followed her.
"Please, go, I'm not in the mood this morning," Bijou said, keeping her head low as she unlocked her car's door. Hamtaro noted that her usual anger was not that strong.
"I can see that," he replied as he watched her. "Anyway, these flowers are for you." He held the bouquet to her once again, but Bijou turned didn't accept them.
Bijou stared at the flowers. "If I put my nose too close to them, will water come spraying out at me?" she asked dully.
"Not exactly," Hamtaro said. "I just wanted to talk. Can we take my car to school today? It was just fixed."
Bijou sighed heavily and looked at the boy. She leaned into the slightly opened door of her car.
"If it's about the job, then just know, you can have it."
Well, I don't really like this chapter, but not every chapter can have a ton of action I suppose. Don't worry, there'll be plenty of surprises coming up soon.
I'm just really excited…the 'big twist' that I've been hinting at is soon, but not just yet, so hold on!
AmyAddict1-You asked if I liked writing plot twisters and if there would be any big twists coming up—clears throat—yes, I ADORE twists in stories. And there will be one major twist to come in this story (the big one) that will shock all the parties involved, and then some. This twist will introduce the characters that haven't yet been mentioned and force a lot of new changes, not necessarily good ones at all. So there's your answer.
Cappyandpashy4ever-Yeah, who gets the job is actually pretty critical to the rest of the story. Let's hope you enjoy reading it. I can't wait to write it! Thanks for the review!
Crystalgurl101-I'm really glad you think Crystal's in character so far. Sorry, I had to cut her out of this chapter (there was a scene with her and Hamtaro), but in order to keep this story from running away with OCs, I decided to keep this chapter pretty much canon. And, if you think the rivalry's getting good now, just wait until…you'll see!
Kaitlyn Takaishi-What you said in your last review…mhmmm…I..umm…thanks for your review! –sheepish—No …comment?!
LylHamGirl-You're so sweet! And don't' say that at all! You're a wonderful writer, didn't Celestial Night say so herself? lol I know the feeling…when an author I like updates their story, I'll put a halt to everything to read that chapter!
Wishbone the Lover of Books-I'm really glad you changed your mind about this story! Trust me, it does get much better. And longer, actually…I have it all perfectly planned, if I do say so myself.
Well, the prequel to this story is up, and it's been written and finished for a while. But I have a pattern of updating. Petals, Chuujitsu, then Unfurling.
Please review? I know this chapter wasn't anything special, but please??
-CN
