Chapter VI:
Stupid, Stupid Boys
Carla had been secretive of her laptop for only two days before Ellie started to become suspcious.
The blonde very rarely kept secrets, especially from Ellie, and often it was easy for her to spot that Carla was hiding something. Given the prior nature of Carla's secrets, which were hardly ever serious or life-changing, Ellie let her best' friends suspicious secrecy go and continued on with her studying for mid-terms.
The two weeks that passed were the most stressful that Ellie had ever experienced. Her mid-terms were a consistent source of anxiety as she trudged through her exams with varying degrees of sleep in between. Her Extended English, Modern History, Ancient History and Japanese exams went by easily enough, although she had expected them to be easier for her, given the fact that they were her best subjects. Religion was a pain, as always, but Ellie pushed through it to try and reach the standard she often strived to achieve.
Although Ellie was only required to do five subjects in Year 12, she'd chosen an extra two subjects, Legal Studies and Biology, out of sheer interest. She needed a minimum of ten units to complete her HSC, which she far exceeded with her chosen subjects adding up to a staggering fifteen units for the year. Her school hadn't really minded that she wanted to do the extra subjects. She was already ahead in every curriculum and sending her teachers progress reports every week with homework as proof of her high level of study. Ellie was their star student. Why would they deny her the desire to learn more?
Ellie supposed her unwavering desire to learn from extra subjects was born out of her slacking off during Year 11. She'd kept to the minimum amount of units required, which was twelve, but only because she had training and fitness to worry about through the start of the new swim season. Ellie felt guilty about the lack of learning she had allowed herself during the previous year. She wanted to know more and be more. If that meant more stress and anxiety, then that was the price that Ellie was more than willing to pay.
"Oh my God, thank the Lord that this is over," Ellie exclaimed as she slammed the dorm door behind her. "Legal, done. And that means my horrible, anxiety filled mid-terms experience is over! I think I'll watch the rest of The Walking Dead as a reward."
Carla groaned from her desk, typing away at her laptop with astounding speed, the foundation caked onto her face barely hiding the dark circles that decorated her eyes. "Shut up, Tornado. Stop bragging. It just makes me want to hit you."
"Wouldn't be the first time." Ellie sat down at her desk and switched on her computer, a monster of a machine that went over three large monitors and a set-up that she had built herself. She had her Year 11 I.T. class to thank for that. "What other subjects do you have left?"
"Music and Drama. Mrs Cannon has been on my back for the last week about this exam, ugh. I'm just about ready to claw her face off."
"Yeah, that's why Year 7 and Year 8 Music was enough for me. I really didn't want her for another few years."
"Says the girl who got Mrs O'Farrell for SOR."
"Hey. Our mutual friendship is on the mend."
"Oh yeah, I'm sure she forgot the time that you basically ran an entire lesson after correcting her on the morals of Buddhism. Keep thinking that, Ell. It'll do good for your confidence."
Ellie rolled her eyes and kicked off her shoes, clicking through her emails with vague interest. Just as she was about to put on her headphones and start watching the last of The Walking Dead episodes that she'd missed, Ellie's phone chimed as a text message from Rin lit up her screen.
"Let me guess," Carla called from the other side of the room. "Shark Boy?"
"Mmhm. You can't say anything, Funkita. At least Rin knows when he should or should not text me. Don't think I haven't noticed you texting Sosuke at twelve in the morning. You have your alert on the highest volume. Kinda hard not to notice."
Picking up her phone off her desk, Ellie flicked through her lock screen and read Rin's message quietly to herself. Are you going to come visit me in my new dorm or are you being a horrible person and ignoring me?
Ellie rolled her eyes and typed up a reply. Well I'm sorry but when you have a two hour exam that starts at eight in the morning, the last thing on your mind would be entertaining your red-haired, shark-toothed friend. Want me to come over now?
Yes please. Sosuke is starting to whine that he hasn't heard from Carla in a while. Plus, I need someone to watch me wallow in self pity as I try to recover from the Red Wedding. BTW, WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN ME, YOU SATAN CHILD?!
Muah ha ha. Feel the pain. The Lannisters send their regards, my friend. The Lannisters send their regards...
( - _ - ) I really hate you sometimes.
I know you do. Still want me to come over?
Oh yeah. At least you'll be able to stop me when I feel like throwing my laptop out the window because of Episode 10. Bring Carla.
Will do. See you soon.
"Hey Carla," Ellie announced, placing her phone back down on her desk and swivelling around on her chair. "Wanna go visit Rin and Sosuke? Apparently you haven't been texting the bulk of a guy and now he's whining. You have him wrapped around your little finger, don't you?"
Carla scoffed, placing her laptop up on her desk as the device began to get too hot for her lap. "Like I have time. I still have to finish my Drama notes and send them off to be proof-read. And yes, I kinda do. It was intentional."
Ellie groaned and rolled her chair over to Carla's side of the room, wrapping her arms around her best friend's shoulders and resting her head the edge of her desk chair. "Oh, I'm sure. Come on, Carlie-bear. You've been stuck in this room for almost as long as I have. Get some fresh air. Be proactive later, okay?"
"Nope. Can't. Sorry to tell you Ellie, but you aren't the only one who likes to excell in her classes. Except of course, I'm not the insane one who thought 'Yes, yes, it'd be a great idea to do seven subjects this year. Yes, of course!' Not to mention the fact that you basically changed your entire schedule from last year, except for a couple of subjects."
"Ouch. That hurt my soul."
"Everything hurts your soul, Ellie. It's why I'm constantly having to look after you, remember?"
"Mmm..." Staring harder at the tab that was open on Carla's laptop, Ellie suddenly realised why her best friend had been so protective of her computer for a decent two weeks. Juilliard Dance-shit. Carla's been looking at dance school applications. Goddamn it, should have known.
For as long as Ellie had known her, Carla had been obsessed with contemporary dance. It was her main love, above even swimming, and the hobby occupied the majority of her time whenever she wasn't swimming or studying. For years, Carla had followed Ellie into everything, from the Youth Olympics to coming to Japan with her, and dance was often the only thing that Carla had to herself. It was the only thing that was her own and Ellie admired that.
Carla was a beautiful dancer, in almost every style, and she made it onto the Mercy dance ensemble every year she tried out for it. It didn't surprise Ellie that Carla would want to join a dance college after she finished high school. She loved dance much more than swimming, even though she did still love swimming. Ellie knew that in Carla's heart, she was a dancer, not a swimmer, destined to shine on a stage rather than in a pool.
Ellie partially understood why Carla wanted to keep her desire to attend a dance school a secret. Even though Ellie was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, Carla had always been there for her when she needed shoulder to cry on or a person to calm her down when she was on the verge of a meltdown. She guessed that Carla now felt responsible for Ellie, like it was her duty to protect her best friend from her own twisted mind. But how could Carla protect Ellie if she wanted to go to a school half a world away from her best friend?
The thought must have been on Carla's mind when she decided to keep her ambitions a secret from Ellie. Carla didn't want to hurt me, Ellie thought as she stared at the open tab on the screen. She doesn't want to hurt me by leaving me. God, what kind of a friend have I been?
Biting her lip, Ellie decided to speak her mind. "Have you been looking into dance schools, Carlie-bear?"
In an instant, Carla froze, her fingers hovering over the keys on her laptop as her heart slowed to a near stop under Ellie's arm. It was obvious that she didn't want Ellie to know about the dance schools now. I am such a horrible, horrible friend. "How did you know that?"
"The tab on your laptop," Ellie said as she pointed at the screen. "If you're trying to keep a secret from me, you might want to try a little harder."
Carla's reaction was even more instantaneous than Ellie expected. She slammed her laptop shut, almost jamming her fingers underneath the screen as her mind acted quicker than her hands. It was more than obvious now that Carla hadn't wanted Ellie to know about the dance schools. Horrible, horrible friend, Churchill. You are a true asshole.
Sitting back further into her seat, Carla's fair-skinned face turned a bright red under the embarrassment of being caught. "It's nothing. Really. I just wanted to look at my options, you know. Maybe for a double major or something."
Ellie smiled as she lifted her head off her best friend's shoulder, paying close attention to the hesitant nature of Carla's voice. "You know, Carla, I honestly wouldn't mind if you chose to go to a dance school after the HSC is finished. It's not up to me after all. It is your life that's to be decided."
Carla scoffed. "Yeah. Right. As if you could last without me having to take care of you after you have a mental breakdown two hours into your first lecture. Yeah, separating from each other's a grand idea."
"Well, like I said, it's not my life that's on the line. You do what you love. And from what I've seen and known over these past few years, you love dance more than you love swimming. It'd make sense for you to do this, rather than follow me like you always do."
"I only follow you to protect you from yourself, Ellie. It's not exactly a choice that's hard to make."
Ellie groaned and banged her head against Carla's shoulder. "Not everything's is meant to be for me, Carla. I do want you to have a life outside swimming and outside having to watch out for a wack-job like me."
"Yeah, well, I'm only considering dance schools at the moment," Carla replied. "Doesn't mean I'll ever get in. The requirements are extensive for most of the schools and I'm only half as skilled as I should be. I'd be better off considering a sports scholarship at AIS or the University of New South Wales. It's closer to home anyway and-"
"Woah, okay, enough. I am not in the mood to discuss universo ties with you. Right now, I think Sosuke wants to see you and I need to support Rin while he watches Episode Ten of the dreaded Season Three."
Carla raised an eyebrow as Ellie backed off, her blonde hair flowing down her shoulders like liquid gold. "Do I have choice?"
"Obviously not. You ready?"
Ellie was livid. More than livid even, after what Carla had done to her. If she had the mental strength to murder her best friend, she would have done it, and done it with flair. This shit's not fucking on. God, I hate her sometimes. I hate her, I hate her, I hate her...
Ellie, by most definitions, was a strictly jeans and track pants kind of girl. She never wore dresses that exposed her unnaturally long legs and annoyingly muscular thighs, nor did she wear skirts that were so damn short that she could hardly bend over without giving everyone behind her a rather unpleasant view. Ellie avoided those kind of clothes on principle, her taste in clothing mainly including sports apparel and relatively hipster-like day outfits. It eternally bothered Carla that her best friend was so unfeminine but Ellie stuck to her style, no matter what her friends said.
She refused to stoop as low as wearing a skirt to her dinner with Rin. Ellie just simply could not bear the thought of it. She'd had her clothes laid out on the floor by her desk while she was getting ready, her nerves shot through the roof and her mind racing as she thought of things that could possibly go wrong. Naturally, Carla had a problem with the clothes she had chosen.
"Ellie, you are not wearing jeans," she'd said as she picked up Ellie's best pair of ripped boyfriend jeans and examined them with a sneer. "Even if they are a nice pair. You're not wearing them."
Ellie rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't realise you were in complete control over what I should or should not wear. I didn't get that email. Oh wait, you aren't in control. So I don't give a shit."
"First warning, Churchill. First warning," Carla said in her netball umpiring voice. "And I should have control of your wardrobe choices at this rate. I swear all you wear are trackies, hoodies, jeans and t-shirts with the occasional high waisted shorts and mid-drifts mixed in. And you always wear black. Or grey. Or another one of the colours that are actually considered shades."
"I'm so glad you're paying such close attention to my clothes. Does this conversation have a point or am I just wandering into one of your argument traps again?"
"I have a plan. And I intend to get my way."
Low and behold, Carla did get her way, just as she always did. And Ellie was left agitated, nervous and most importantly, wearing a black skater skirt instead of her infinitely more comfortable boyfriend jeans. Karma must seriously hate me today, she thought as she waited for Rin by the front sign of Samezuka Academy.
Tugging anxiously at the unnecessarily short piece of material hanging from her narrow waist, Ellie mumbled nervously to herself, curses and threats directed toward her best friend being the most popular of her ramblings. It was stressful enough that she was going to spend the night with Rin. Add on the factor of her end-of-term reports coming in soon, the looming prospect of incoming pre-lims and a horribly packed schedule of study planned for the next term. Ellie felt as if she was nearly being pushed over the edge. Thank God for the two week school holiday, was all she could think through all the stress. Thank the fucking Lord.
"Jesus, Khaleesi, are you wearing a skirt? I didn't think you were capable of showing skin that hadn't already been exposed by your swimsuit."
Ellie groaned inwardly and turned her head toward Rin's throughly amused voice. He strolled toward her in black Vans and ripped black jeans, a lopsided grin dominating his face. Ellie felt like slapping that happy grin off his face. Oh, how dangerously close you are to the invisible line, Matsouka...
"It all on Carla," Ellie muttered. "Apparently, boyfriend jeans weren't good enough. Nor was my fandom hoodie. All I got to keep was the band tee." Ellie pointed down at the distinctive Jim Morrison t-shirt that she wore tucked into her skirt, puffed out in sections by Carla to look 'stylish'. Ellie had stole it off her mother before leaving for Japan. It was the only cool thing that her mother owned, as far as clothing concerned.
Rin shrugged at her excuse, his grin hardly fading. "Well, you still look nice. It's just strange though, since I've never seen you in anything but track suit pants, t-shirts and singlets."
"Trust me, that's about as far as my fashion sense goes. At least you have a better grasp of it than me."
Rin tugged consciously at the black stylised beanie he wore, with just the right amount of his hair poking out to make him look familiar but also, unhelpfully attractive. "Ow. Don't take my manliness away from me, Ell. It took effort to become like this."
"Dude, you look like a carbon copy of Michael Clifford. Just without the lip piercing."
"Who?"
"A member of an Aussie band by the name of Five Seconds of Summer-look, that's not the point."
"There was a point to this conversation? I thought I was just allowed to stare at your legs and hope you didn't notice while you talked away."
That earned Rin a sharp smack across the arm as Elle fought back an infectious smile and various blushes that she had to force deep down into herself at his comments. Oh, so very close to that line. "Watch it, Matsouka," she warned. "I may be in a skirt but trust me, getting stomped on by an angry stressed-out teenage girl in heels hurts just as bad as having to wear this thing. Friends, remember?"
"Oh, I know, Khaleesi. I'm just teasing. And I'm quite sure you'd do much worse to me if I made a move. Ready to go now?"
Ellie groaned, raking a hand through her perfectly brushed hair. Rin was too good at side-stepping out of danger. It infuriated Ellie, so much to the point that she almost hated that part of him. It was a defining factor that shaped Ellie's need to please everyone; she liked to win.
The evening went by surprisingly smoothly, the conversation hardly changing from the things that the pair often talked about on the phone or through Skype. Ellie was surprised. She expected her nerves to get the better of her, just as they always did, and her words to crumble into inaudible sounds every time she decided to speak. But almost as soon as they started talking, Ellie relaxed into the flow of conversation.
The restaurant Rin took her to possessed an uncommon mixture of both Japanese dishes and foods that Ellie was used to seeing back home. The months of living away from Australia and it's particular culinary delicacies finally caught up with her. Ellie had almost felt like crying the moment she looked at the menu and saw that steak was offered, not to mention the fact that she near had a mental breakdown over the fact that they provided knives and forks rather than chopsticks like every other restaurant in town.
Rin laughed at her excitement, ordering Ellie's meal for her as she near bounced up and down in her seat, smiling excitedly like a hyperactive child. Once the waitress had left, giving Ellie a strange look as she went, Rin shook his head and tapped the table rhythmically.
"God, Ellie. I didn't think you were that deprived of your Western foods," he said with a crooked grin. "I think you scared the waitress."
"Let her be scared," Ellie said. "I haven't seen proper cutlery in over three months. I think I would have had meltdown before Mum sent me more foods from home."
"You got your mother to send you foods from home?"
"Yeah, of course. I'm the kind of person who misses the food from home rather than the people. Nothing made me more angry than the fact that I couldn't find any Cadbury chocolate bars at the airport. Literally, I mean God, how hard is it to import, you guys? How freaking hard?"
Their waitress came back in an obvious hurry, placing their drinks down before politely bowing and hurrying away to serve the next customer. The restaurant was quickly filling up but Rin had strategically sat them down in a quieter section of the restaurant where hardly anyone came to sit. Ellie was grateful for that. Loud people in restaurants were yet another pet hate of hers. Man, my list is growing.
Rin leaned back into his seat, a look of recognition flooding his face. "Cadbury chocolate? Oh, I remember that stuff. God, I hated it."
Ellie basically choked on her coffee. "Excuse me?" she croaked. "Are you Satan?"
"Well, thanks, Khaleesi. I'd have the hair for it."
"No, you, my friend, are the love child of Shark Boy and Lava Girl with that hair and those teeth. Seriously, why the hell don't you like Cadbury?"
Rin rolled his eyes, taking a drink before speaking again. "I don't like sweet things. Why do you think I don't put up with Carla most of the time?"
"Very funny, wise guy. As you do recall, that is my best friend you're talking about, remember?"
"I never said I didn't like her," Rin said. "But getting back on topic, I just like other foods better. Besides, why are you judging me when you drink enough coffee to keep a whole army up for a week?"
"Coffee is a necessity," Ellie replied, holding up her cup as an example. "Just like chocolate, you red-headed monster."
"I think I just realised what Carla meant about you being scarily cheery once your exams finished. And since I didn't ask, how did your exams go?"
"Pretty good," she answered. "Religion was the one exam that made me want to rip my hair out and paint the walls of my dorm with blood because it was so damn frustrating."
"I sincerely hope you didn't actually do that, Ellie."
"Oh, I didn't but let me tell you, my sanity very nearly let me rationalise myself into doing it. I was incredibly close."
The evening went on with the familiar unhindered and smooth feeling of conversation and little by little, Ellie began to learn more about Rin. She absorbed all the little details like his favourite type of music, his obsessive need to sleep with a pillow and his inability to eat anything that had over one teaspoon of sugar. She laughed at the little jokes that had developed between them, near choking on her food when one particular joke was mentioned at the wrong time, and she answered questions that she was surprised to see that she could answer. Ellie was ever so slightly annoyed at that. Yet again, she was giving in to Rin's smiles and clever nicknames with the drop of a hat, like her social anxiety meant absolutely nothing. Stupid, goddamn, idiotic boy.
The familiar food was an added bonus, a lovely reminder of home that brought on the conversation of Rin's time in Australia.
Rin explained that he had lived in Sydney during his time in Australia and entered the SOPAC team with much hype and expectation. He had attended the Kings all-boys boarding high school, a widely known private school that boasted large grounds and 'quality' education. Ellie had known of the school through a friend who attended the all-girls sister-school to Kings. Even thought her knowledge of the school was sparse, Ellie still held a strong hatred for the school, just as she hated most private schools in big cities. Ellie blamed it on her small town mentality. People were always nicer the further inland you went. Foreigners just never understood that.
"I still cannot believe you went to Kings. You're just too nice for that," Ellie exclaimed over her desert, her spoon hovering over the whipped cream that sat on the corner of the plate, waiting to be eaten.
"What's wrong with Kings?" Rin asked, tapping the edge of his coffee cup as he spoke. "I didn't have much of a problem with it."
"Everyone else does," Ellie replied. "The girls at my school would call it the 'School for Rich Wankers with lots of money and little pricks'."
Rin raised an eyebrow, a small smile forming on his face. "Unnecessarily vulgar but okay."
"I live in a country town, remember? Bogans basically built the place."
"Bogans?"
"Stereotypical Australians. You know, the typical 'G'day, how ya goin' ?' type of people? They-hang on. I've just had a thought. I wonder, do you still have your SOPAC hoodie?"
"What?"
Ellie rolled her eyes as she chewed on her food before speaking, dropping her spoon on her plate with a loud porcelain clatter. "You know, the big fluffy green hoodie that basically every member of the SOPAC team wore to meets. Don't tell me you don't have one because I'll know you're lying. I saw you wearing on in the marshalling area during State Age the other year."
"Oh, that hoodie. Yeah, I...may or may not have lost it," Rin admitted sheepishly, averting his eyes with a mocking smile.
"You're kidding me? All I ever liked about the SOPAC team was their bloody hoodies and the moment I may be able to steal one, you freaking lost it."
"I didn't lose it. I just...misplaced it."
Ellie rolled her eyes again and slipped her coat back on as she swallowed the last of her food. "Those two statements mean the same thing, genius. Come on, let's go. The dorm supervisor's going to have minor fit if I don't get back before curfew."
Rin nodded, wandering off to pay for their food while Ellie stepped outside to wait for him. The air outside was colder than she remembered, brisk and noticeable against the skin of her legs, but it was still warm enough to feel the ever lingering humidity that clung helplessly to the air. Ellie shifted uncomfortably under the weight of the subtly sticky air.
Ellie had never done well with humidity. Especially when it came to spending eight hours out in the sun during summer swimming carnivals. The sun always zapped her energy away faster than she could retain it and the humidity often felt like an extra weight dragging her down to the bottom of the pool with every stroke. Ellie's mother had always joked about that little factor of her being. "You come from Tweed Heads," she would always say. "You should be used to hot and sticky weather."
Ellie smiled at the memory of her mother, the feeling of homesickness forming slowly in the pit of her stomach. Ellie hadn't thought about her parents in a long while, mainly because she felt as if she was doing perfectly fine on her own. Being an only child, she had always tried to be independent from her parents and do as much on her own as she possibly could. Her parents luckily trusted her enough to make her own decisions and solve her own problems without their help, if she so wished. It was the main reason that they had let her move away and spend a year in Japan in the first place; they knew Ellie could take care of herself.
But even Ellie knew that she would eventually get homesick. She knew that she'd miss her mother and her obsessive knack for cleaning every nook and cranny of their cottage-like house. She knew she'd miss her father and how he would always ask Ellie to shoot the rabbits that ran across their driveway every morning, despite the fact that she didn't have a gun license and her grandfather's .22 had a rather nasty kickback. Ellie found that she missed them both more than she originally thought she would but she didn't feel that debilitating kind of loneliness that always seemed to creep it's way into an average person's bones. Ellie simply missed her parents and nothing more.
The bright lights of the restaurant began to fade behind them as Ellie and Rin walked home through the moonlight, talking quietly as they walked. They took the long way back to Sakura, simply for the purpose of passing the time. It wasn't long before they reached the beach, the waves rushing in with the sounds of hushed whispers. Ellie remembered loving the beach as a little kid.
Back when she lived in Tweed Heads, it had been only a five minute walk from where she lived to get to the beach and for almost an hour every day during summer and spring, Ellie would spend her afternoons swimming in the open surf. Sharks were never a worry to her. It was incredibly rare to see a Great White around the Gold Coast beaches and she knew that she was more likely to be struck by lightning than to be bitten by a shark. All Ellie had cared about was the warm summer water and the force of the waves that pushed against her as she swam.
The wind carefully weaved itself through her hair as Ellie sat down on the edge of the concrete walkway, her feet dangling a couple of metres off the sand below. Rin sat down beside her, his shoulders touching hers and a few fingers of his hand overlapping hers. Ellie barely noticed the contact. She was too relaxed to panic anymore.
Rin spoke first, breaking the momentary silence. "Tell me something, Ellie."
"Hm?" Ellie turned her head to look at him, her hair slipping down to cover one side of her face. "What do you mean?"
"If I were to kiss you right now, how would you react?"
What kind of a fucking question is that?! Ellie fought hard against the blush that was rising quickly in her cheeks. Suddenly, that simple relaxed feeling that had stopped her from panicking vanished and Ellie felt her heart hammering hard against her rib cage with every breath. If there was a guidebook to the kind of questions that gave Ellie heart attacks, that particular question would have came with extreme warning signs covering the pages.
Ellie breathed in and out through her nose, structuring her sentences together carefully as if it were delicate work. "I...I don't how I'd react to be honest. I'd probably start crying from the surprise."
"Why?"
Ellie shrugged, shivering as she clasped her hands together in her lap. "I've...I've never actually kissed anyone. Not really. Kind of embarrassing to admit but there it is."
"Excuse me?!" Rin exclaimed. "I don't believe I heard you correctly. Never?"
"Dude, I was twelve the last time I actually had a boyfriend and that hardly counts. I just...swore myself off boys at that age. I needed to focus on swimming and so it was a done deal. No boys equalled a hell of a lot more focus."
"And zero fun, as far as I know."
Ellie laughed mockingly, shaking her head at the thought."Oh, yeah. As if I was going to be sneaking off with some guy in the middle of a championship meet or something. I'd rather yank my fingernails off with pliers."
"Ow. That kinda hurt."
"What? The fingernails or the comment?"
"Well, both, to be honest, but that's not the point. How could you just 'swear' yourself off guys? As far as I'm concerned, that should be impossible."
Ellie smiled and shook her head again, feeling strangely defiant against Rin's claims "Not for me. I am-well was, too focused to really care. Distractions can throw off your form, then that destroys your confidence, which in turn, destroys your ability to race."
"And boys were a distraction?"
Ellie nodded. "And they still remain to be."
Rin took his time thinking up a response, a wicked smile spreading across his face as he thought of things that Ellie prayed to God weren't menacing enough to send into an anxiety attack. Ellie felt a spike of fear lodge itself just beneath her ribcage. This cannot be good. "What are you thinking?" she asked nervously.
Rin's smile widened at her question. "Would you consider me a distraction?"
Oh fuck you. Stupid, stupid, stupid boys and their annoying questions. God! Ellie bit her lip as she tried to calm herself down. Nervously, she fiddled with her ring as she spoke. "I don't know. Should I consider you to be a distraction, Rin?"
Rin leaned in closer to her, that stupid smile of his still plastered on his face, and Ellie felt her heart near skipped a beat. God, this guy is going to give me a heart attack. Jesus! "That's for you to decide, Churchill. It's all up to you how far you go and it's all up to you to make your own decisions."
"I've made my own decisions before, Rin," Ellie whispered, the quickly closing gap between them causing her to lower her voice out of instinct. "It's not like I'm clueless."
"Then what am I? Distraction or not?"
Ellie breathed in and out, filling her lungs with as much oxygen as possible just to keep her cool. "I don't have enough variables to make that kind of decision yet."
"Then keep thinking."
And that was when he kissed her.
A.N: Nyah ha ha, I went overboard yet again...
Now that I feel like curling into a ball and dying thanks to the fact that I left all my netball gear at school and I have a game today, I thought it'd be a good time to finish this chapter. I honestly don't know how I feel about this chapter. I kinda feel like I'm rushing it but I'm happy with it, nonetheless.
Ermahgerd, Nagisa in the new episode. Made my heart bleed. Babykins *sobs*.
Thank you to Aoi, SheepRainbow, LilweenGalatrass, IKhandoZatman and Azuki Bean for reviewing and thank you to everyone who followed and favourited. I wuv you all. (Yes, I committed the text talk crime just there. Muah ha ha.)
Aoi: Tomorrow When The War Began is a book I've never actually finished because goddamn it, Ellie just whined too much. I'm pretty sure I burnt my copy... As for the Year 12 thing, ha ha ha no, sorry. I'm actually basing a lot of this off of research and the experiences of my best friend's sister who's in Year 12. We laugh at her pain but I'm not looking forward to it that much. If Year 8 is making me worry, I don't even want to think about Year 12 right now.
LilweenGalatrass: Yes, I do swim. 50m butterfly State Age bronze medalist over here. A lot of what I write is from my own knowledge and experiences but other parts are researched. I do like to keep some kind of realism in my writing.
Azuki Bean: Eh, it's all about personal preference. Not everyone's going to like what I write. I can accept that. :)
Until next chapter...:)