Author's notes: Inspired by the prompt- "We are the only two people who turn up at the wrong room for a lecture but we have no idea where it's held at." Because I haven't been updating, I've decided to squeeze two chapters in a day. Hope readers enjoy, and thank you for the wonderful reviews!
7.
The first time GoGo meets Tadashi Hamada, they both turn up at the wrong venue for a lecture.
He walks into the classroom just in time to see her slouched against the wall, arms crossed, chewing gum, blowing bubbles after every five chews and seething with frustration. It's been twenty minutes and no one has made an appearance. GoGo stares ahead of her fixedly, too grumpy to notice the student that walks in. It's her first day in San Fransyoko Institute of Technology, and GoGo is neither interested nor willing to "make friends" like her stepmother has instructed. Coupled along with her lack of sleep, and the fact that the student's staring at her like he's never seen someone with a purple streak in her hair before, GoGo decides that yes, she's in a very bad mood.
"How long have you been standing there?" The student decides to be the first to break the silence. GoGo eyes him contemplatively for a while before sighing.
"Twenty minutes."
"I see."
An awkward silence fills the air, but GoGo's never been one for socialising. She's pretty used to people treating her as if she's a contagious disease or a dangerous animal ready to strike, so it doesn't really bother her when the student regards her with a slightly perplexed look.
"Has it.. Has it ever occurred to you that we might be in the wrong classroom?"
"…"
GoGo swears the silence that follows is a lot more excruciating than the any other she has withstood. But even as she tries to come up with a fathomable answer that would not reveal her ignorance, she suddenly finds the said student standing in front of her. He's bending down (GoGo feels somewhat irked at the vast height difference between them), and she finally takes a proper look of him. He's wearing a black baseball cap with a red-and-gold San Fransokyo Ninja lettering on it, under a mass of tousled hair, and he has the warmest brown eyes that GoGo has ever seen. GoGo's about to comment on his lacking perception of personal space, but the student cuts her off before she so much as opens her mouth.
"Looks like we're both in the wrong venue for Professor Callaghan's lecture, so we might as well look for the right classroom together," He suggests brightly
GoGo doesn't quite know how she's gotten dragged into this, but the student marches out without looking back and, seeing as she's as good as lost if she were to stay, GoGo ends up following.
The student's name is Tadashi Hamada, and he's the smiliest person GoGo has met by far.
She doesn't mean it in a complimentary way- the way he seems to always smile already acts as a foil to GoGo's stoic self. But there is something relieving in having company while searching for the right lecture hall; GoGo's pretty sure she would have ended up everywhere but at the venue if she were to venture off on her own.
"What's your name?"
"Leiko Tanaka. Call me Ethel." GoGo almost chuckles at the surprised expression on Tadashi's face, but keeps her amusement at bay. She's almost enjoying his bemused expression, but given how he's been relatively helpful so far, she sighs and delivers a brief explanation.
"I got renamed when my Dad moved here from Japan." She grunts in a bored manner. No need to tell him more than he needed to know- which included being mother-less for a brief period of time after her parents had called for a divorce, a situation she would have decidedly preferred over having her name forcefully changed from Leiko Tanaka to Ethel when her Western-styled stepmother came into the picture.
"I see," Tadashi replies. They trail off into silence, but GoGo thinks it's strangely not as awkward as it was before.
Every time they go into a wrong classroom (she knows it's the wrong classroom because they're either empty or dotted with lingering students discussing about their projects), Tadashi somehow manages to come up with random questions that annoy her.
"What's your favorite color?" (Purple, she'd answered in a bored tone.)
"How old are you?" (Seventeen, she prepares to punch him should he comment that she was shorter than a seventeen year old girl should be.)
"Why do you keep chewing gum?" (It occupies me, she grunts)
"What's with the purple streak in your hair?" (First of all, it's violet. And told you purple was my favorite color, she replies grumpily.)
Finally, at the fifteenth question (Yes they've been to fifteen wrong classrooms and GoGo's ready to believe she's hopelessly lost), GoGo snaps and glares at the taller teen.
"Why," GoGo pops a pink bubble pointedly. "Do you have so many questions?"
"Because I want to know more about you." Tadashi says it simply, like it's a straightforward fact and nothing more, but GoGo can't help thinking it's the first time anyone in school has been interested in her as a person, not a potential piece of gossip. And a part of her feels just a slightest bit wanted.
It doesn't stop her from punching his arm, of course.
"Are you hungry yet?" Tadashi asks. They've been scouring the first few levels of the institute, and none of them turned out to be the venue for that damned lecture. GoGo wishes she's paid more attention when the details regarding Professor Callaghan's talk were read out, instead of being more interested in blowing and popping her bubblegum (She defends herself by saying Tadashi's no better- He had fallen asleep after bailing his younger brother- Hiro, she thinks his name was, from a botfight).
For a while, she wants to say no and continue looking for the lecture, but breakfast's only been half a sandwich (cos she can't seem to work out an appetite early in the morning) and a piece of gum (which she's still chewing on), and after so long, she's pretty sure it's almost over anyway. Besides, it's almost lunchtime now, and GoGo ends up mumbling a reluctant yes.
"Great, I'll lead you to the cafeteria," Tadashi offers, already heading in another the direction. When they reach, the plsce is already generously dotted with students, none of which GoGo recognises. But it's not crowded yet, and she's pretty relieved because GoGo doesn't like mingling in crowds, despite the fact that Tadashi seems like a sociable Mr. Popularity who probably had many friends (1). He's so damn nice after all, and it doesn't hurt that he's rather good-looking to- GoGo blinks and pushes that thought away. She spits out her gum into its wrapper, bracing herself for whichever huge crowd her 'tour guide' was probably going to lead her to.
Instead, he leads her to a table with two people- a scrawny man wearing baggy clothes, and a tall hulking guy with dreadlocks, whom he immediately greets (2).
"Fred, I thought you had mascot duties?" He asks the man with baggy clothes- whom GoGo takes to be Fred.
"Nah, I got released early," Fred replies gleefully. GoGo stands behind Tadashi quietly, feeling somewhat intrusive.
"Oh yea, this is Leiko Tanaka. Call her Ethel." Tadashi pulls GoGo forward as he introduces her to the group, and she's just the smallest bit amused that he's echoed her way of introducing her name. She shrugs off the "Hi"s and "How do you do"s and hurries away to get her lunch before her lack of social ability becomes all to evident.
When she returns to the table with a small plate of tamagoyaki (it's her favourite food after all), Tadashi's seated down and the three of them are deep in conversation. For a while, GoGo makes to move away to another empty table, but Tadashi catches sight of her and waves her towards the vacant seat beside him. She hesitates, but supposes that she should actually experience eating lunch with others so that her dad wouldn't make a fuss about her aloofness again. GoGo slips into the seat and starts to devour her food hungrily. She's formally introduced to Fred and Wasabi, (It was just one time, the latter groans, when GoGo raises her eyebrows at his introduction) who apparently got his name from the unfortunate namesake stain on his shirt.
"You sure look like a biker," Wasabi comments, in an almost cautious tone. GoGo shoots him a look, trying to search for signs of mockery, but he merely seems curious- albeit a little scared too.
"Yea." Given how uncomfortable he looks, she decides to elaborate. "I'm an adrenaline junkie."
"Cool," Fred pipes up, his eyes alight. GoGo rolls her eyes and continues with a meal silently, until Fred's exclamations almost make her choke.
"I KNOW, let's call her GoGo! Y'know, Go-go? For her need for speed and all that?" He shouts in triumph. "GoGo-" Fred's eyes land on the plate of tamagoyaki she's holding (GoGo regrets the purchase of her favorite food now). "Tomago! GoGo Tomago!"
"What. Is that ridiculous name even for?!" GoGo seethes through gritted teeth. "And it's Tamago, not Tomago!"
"Are you saying you want to be named after an egg?" Tadashi puts in.
"No!" GoGo glares at him with a you're-not-helping look. Tadashi simply smiles it off and raises his drink, as if he was wishing her good luck in changing Fred's mind.
She argues with them for fifteen minutes, but it's too late. She's stuck with the dumbest nickname of GoGo Tomago (even though it's not the worst name she's ever been called) and she doubts it's ever going to change.
She tries to avoid the thought that the name 'GoGo' has a certain ring to it.
It's her first day of school, so at night, her dad calls her and asks (rather stiffly at that) "How was school?"
GoGo thinks back on the day's events- Meeting a perky-but-actually-kinda-cute guy, wandering around the institute and getting lost, finding out from Wasabi that Professor Callaghan actually cancelled his lecture due to some 'family matters', (meaning that she spent close to two hours trying to find his classroom for no reason), and the stupid nickname she's somehow acquired.
"It wasn't bad." She grunts, and she wonders if he can hear the smile in her voice.
I sincerely apologise if you find the ending abrupt (again), but I did want to show that GoGo's actually enjoyed the day because she's rarely had friends due to her cold exterior.
(1)- I think GoGo originally expected Tadashi to be extremely popular with a crowd of friends, instead of being close to only a few of them that might even be considered misfits.
(2)- I didn't include Honey Lemon because in Chapter 2, I wrote that Honey Lemon got her nickname from Iced Honey Lemon cookies she baked, and since that means she won't have a nickname when GoGo first meets her, she would have to be introduced by her real name which I have no idea about. My junior later told me Honey apparently got her nickname from her favourite TV show (Oops.)
