Chapter three
"He's so adorable!" Shelbi exclaimed, as I showed Momiji to her; he seemed to be enjoying the attention.
"I'm going to be his mother figure," I stated, proudly, to her, as I started the rice cooker. Shelbi sighed in envy.
"Do the words spoiled, lucky, have-it-all, mean any thing to you? You get all the good stuff, cooking skills, an adorable child, etc," she complained.
"I share with you," I pointed out, adding some cheese to the rice.
"Yeah, I just can't help, but be a bit jealous," she replied.
"Hey, at least you don't have a scary partner. Hey, I don't think you ever said anything about your partner," I realized. Shelbi opened her mouth to say something, but then blushed and turned away. "You have a crush on your partner!" I squeaked, awestruck at this piece of information.
"If you knew him and saw him you would, too," she muttered, looking down.
"And you say I have the good stuff! You have a gentleman and I have Death!" I compared, starting to feel a bit of envy myself.
"Mommy, the rice is smoking," Momiji announced, pointing to the very steamy rice cooker. I went over to pull off the lid.
"The rice is ready! Hey, Shelbi, why don't you call your partner to come over?" I teased, setting the rice on the table.
"Why don't you?" she retorted, "it's your dorm, Kitena."
"Come on, I want to meet a friendly high school student," I replied, handing her my camera phone. Shelbi sighed, then started dialing.
"Hi, is this Aaron? I'm his partner, Shelbi, could I please see him? Hi, Aaron, this is Shelbi; I was wondering if you could come to my friend's dorm to accompany me for dinner, her last name is Summer. Really? Thanks, see you," Shelbi said on the phone.
"He's actually coming?" I asked, amazed at what I heard on the phone.
"Indeed, he is, so don't eat, yet," she ordered, handing me back my camera phone.
Ten minutes later, we heard the door bell announce the arrival of our guest. "You get it," Shelbi and I chorused, pointing at each other.
"I'll get it," Momiji decided, getting out of his seat and opening the door to reveal a tall, well built sophomore.
"Hey there, little guy, is Shelbi Prince here?" he questioned, crouching down to Momji's level.
"Welcome, guest of honor a.k.a Aaron Youkai," Shelbi welcomed, from behind Aaron.
"Youkai, are you Eric's cousin?" I wondered aloud, getting out an extra plate for him.
"Yeah, are you his partner? You seem so different to what I heard about you," he responded, sitting down at the table.
"He talks about me?" I inquired, serving him some rice.
"Wow, this rice looks really good!" he commented changing the subject. What does Eric say about me?
"Hey, you can't start something without finishing it, so what does Eric say about my best friend?" Shelbi demanded, taking a bite of rice. Aaron sighed, sounding like he was one of the gods Apollo's oracles about to prophesy a terrible fate.
"Fine, he says you look like a Hill Billy with your braids," he sighed again, "but, he can be rude like that sometimes, so don't take it personally." I started to see why Aaron was so hesitant to repeat such rudeness, and my pigtails do not make me look like a Hill Billy! I felt too angry to say a word, but not too angry to use my camera phone and take a picture of Shelbi blushing when Aaron touched her hand reaching for the melted cheese.