A/N: This is the final chapter in my back-to-back postings. I really hope you enjoy it and review. Constructive criticism is very welcome and don't forget to vote on a pairing. Thanks and enjoy. :)
Finally, fucking English class, I thought, propping myself up. If Monday had been boring, today was definitely ten times worse. Time slowly crawled as we learnt about American history, something I'd been taught in seventh grade. Math was no better, with me still struggling with logarithms and the boy in front of me allowing me no reprieve. Honestly, his actions, if not obnoxious, were just flat out arrogant. It felt like decades before we finally reached English, my best subject. And it was still before lunch.
"Can anyone correct this paragraph?" Sensei turned around, having written down an entire paragraph on the board.
That guy clearly needs a projector, I thought. No one in their right mind would write all of that on the board. Glancing around, I saw only one hand raised – that of the second Hitachiin brother. Name…Kaoru. He seems like the younger one.
"Ah, Kaoru, please come up," he said gratefully, moving aside for the twin to approach the blackboard. "Improve it as best you can."
We all watched, though for different reasons, as Kaoru approached the board, chalk in hand. Though I found the exercise frustratingly easy, it wasn't hard to see that in this class, such a problem was among the more difficult sensei could hand out. I smiled to myself, watching as Kaoru carefully examined the paragraph, marking it as he went.
"I'm done," he said after a few minutes, setting the chalk down. "I think that's all that can be changed."
"Excellent work, Kaoru. You may take your seat," sensei said. While the twin headed back to his seat, sensei surveyed the remainder of us. "Would any of you like to add anything to Mr. Hitachiin's work?"
As time passed, no one raised even a finger. I was actually surprised. "I will."
Standing, I didn't even wait for the teacher to green-light my participation. Grabbing a piece of chalk, I set to work, writing over Kaoru's own corrections in favor of my own. Honestly, it was fun to work in my own language again. Although I didn't have anything against Japanese or Kanji, as I've been learning it since before I could walk, English was, and always will be, simple more natural to me. Probably because it was my primary language for the first sixteen years of my life.
"This comma is misplaced," I began, scribbling down corrections. "And the grammar is still a bit messy, although Hitachiin did improve it significantly. However, word choice hasn't even been considered, although many of these terms are completely unnecessary." I scratched out a few words. "Instead of this use 'divergence'… You can replace this word with 'proliferation'. …'Vast' and 'deeply rooted' are also excellent vocabulary words…" After nearly re-writing the entire paragraph, I moved back to survey my work. Brilliant, I thought proudly. Although it wasn't my best work, that single paragraph could have easily been taken from a college thesis paper. On butterflies. Meh.
As the class read the paragraph, they were dumbfounded. It's like they didn't expect me to be any good at my own language, I thought, setting my chalk down and heading back to my seat. Sitting, I ignored the shocked stares of my classmates and resumed my original position with my hand propping my head up.
Sensei cleared his throat nervously. I guess my writing was past his level of comprehension or something. I'm probably just flattering myself. "Well, um, can anyone explain to me the reasoning behind Miss Daisuke and Mr. Hitachiin's corrections?" Looking around, he couldn't find a single willing student. "Anyone…?"
English class ended up being pretty good. I managed to both make my teacher look stupid and do something I was good at. It was a rare occurrence when I could accomplish both of those within an hour. In my opinion, that was a rather quick class period. However, when we were finally dismissed to our 'noontime recess in the refectory' (these people managed to make even lunch sound snobby), I was relieved. My stomach was killing me.
As I packed my stuff, students around me began to file out as quickly as possible. As groups of two or three chatted amongst each other, I couldn't help but watch as the rather feminine, brown-haired boy stayed in his seat, pulling out…
"A bento box?" I quickly turned away, embarrassed to have been staring. Of course. He's the commoner everyone knows about. Honor student and what-not.
Grabbing my bag, as there were several rather expensive items inside that I didn't want stolen, I began walking. Stupid clasp, I thought, struggling to close it as I walked. The thing always got stuck.
"Hey, new girl."
My head jerked to the side, looking for who was calling for me. "Wha-?"
A sudden shove from my left caught me by surprise and knocked me to the ground, sending my bag flying. Papers scattered across the empty hallway, along with pencils, erasers, other random junk, and…my laptop.
"No!" I shouted, trying to get up so that I could scramble over. No such luck. The moment played out as though God had suddenly decided that slow motion was much cooler. Before my eyes, my precious laptop, a Christmas gift from my parents, slammed down on the cold, hard marble floors. A distinct crack could be heard as it landed.
"Oops, sorry."
I turned my head to look at my assailants. Of course, I thought bitterly, seeing the all-too-familiar faces of a group of airheads, my cousin in the middle of them. I should've known Natsumi was behind this. I watched silently as the gaggle of second-years passed by, looking down on me both literally and figuratively.
"You should really look after yourself more carefully, Cous'," Natsumi taunted as she passed, making a point to step on my stuff and rip my science homework. Laughing rather maliciously, she and her goons turned a corner, disappearing down the stairs.
"Damn it!" I swore aloud, pounding my fists against the floor. I didn't even bother translating my angry mutterings into Japanese as I pulled what was closest into a pile in front of me. I hate my life. I was saving the fateful moment when I found out whether my laptop was dead or alive for last.
"Hey." A spiral-bound notebook appeared before me. The cover was ripped, bent, and pages were missing, but I could still see my distinctive doodles on the front.
"Thanks," I muttered, adding the book to my growing pile. Honestly, for a moment I'd completely forgotten about the boy who eats in the classroom. Although closer up, he looks even more like a girl, if that's even possible.
"I'm Haruhi," he said, bending down to help me pick up my things. "I, ah, saw what happened. Does she do that a lot?"
"Nine times in the past week," I grumbled, getting over the initial shock that he was actually talking to me. Reaching over, I grabbed my empty pencil bag, dropping a few pieces of lead inside.
"Oh…" Haruhi seemed lost for words as he grabbed a few papers. "I'm-."
"-sorry," I finished for him, angrily grabbing my math textbook. "I know. I've heard it before." And so I have. Probably about a thousand times. But that didn't mean I had the right to snap at him like that. Especially since he was helping me pick my stuff up.
The hallway was quiet, save for the rustle of paper. Neither of us knew what to say.
"So, er, Akira-san, I saw you take Honey-sempai out with one hit yesterday," Haruhi said, breaking the silence. "You must be pretty skilled to even touch a Haninozuka."
"No, not skilled," I said. In the corner of my eye, I could still see the black case of my laptop, lying on the ground forlornly. "I took him by surprise. The situation was going downhill anyways. My dad taught me to defuse the problem as soon as possible, so that's what I did. The only think I really know is pressure points and that's what I used on sempai."
"That's still pretty cool," Haruhi replied, handing me the last textbook. "What does he do? Your dad, I mean."
"Um, he was a United States senator," I said after a short pause. Something about this guy, I thought, stuffing crap back into my bag. His aura…it's surprisingly…comforting. Just as I thought that, a sudden, brief surge of pain emanated from my back, making me flinch. "My mom…was a doctor," I forced out, trying my best to not make Haruhi aware of my discomfort.
"Huh, pretty neat." I watched as he crossed over to the laptop, picking it up. My face fell as I saw the dents and scratches on the component's outer shell. "Hey, this one's yours too, right?"
"Um, yeah, thanks," I said, accepting the lightweight device. The moment of truth, I thought, preparing myself for the absolute worst. Holding my breath, I slowly opened the lid. When tiny pieces of glass fell onto the keyboard, I groaned. "It's a huge crack," I said, quickly opening it all of the way. Sure enough, a fracture had formed down the middle, splitting into dozens of tinier ones as it moved down. Great.
"That's really awful," Haruhi said, looking at the screen. "We should confront Natsumi. She can't just go around doing this to people!"
"No," I said, shutting the laptop. I could barely contain a wince as more clinks resonated from the electronic. "It'll only make it worse. Thanks, Haruhi-kun, but you can't do anything, alright?" I shoved the laptop into my bag, fastening the clasp immediately afterwards. "You have to promise not to tell anyone."
The expression on his face was of pure bewilderment. A moment of silence passed as I waited for his reply. "I-I promise," he finally stuttered, still looking at me.
"Thanks." I shouldered my bag and forced a smile on my face. "Well, I'm starving. I'd invite you to join me, but I know you eat in the classroom every day. Well, see you!"
Leaving the poor boy dumbfounded right outside our classroom, I turned away, heading in the direction of the cafeteria (or as they called it, the 'refectory'). Of course, once I was out of sight, I dropped the grin and took a little detour, away from the masses and into a quiet bathroom, where I could wait for the lunch period to end. As was typical in the past month, my appetite had left me in favor of another, much less messed-up, teen.
