HELLO AGAIN! I finally got the time to type this up, and now it's here!

Please enjoy! The next chapter probably won't be coming around for a while, knowing me and my laziness :T

Also, I'm sorry if this chapter was a little confusing! I kind of wanted like a new "beginning" of my story where I actually give background information on them, but I didn't want to rearrange all my chapters... Damn me and my laziness.

And that's just how this chapter starts.


Damn that Butch.

Damn that Butch!

DAMN THAT BUTCH!

"Damn it!" I shouted, as my crutches topped over onto the floor yet again. Why wouldn't they stay resting on that stupid desk?

"Language, Ms. Matsubara," said the teacher coolly without turning around from the whiteboard.

Grumbling to myself, I shoved the crutches onto the floor under my desk.

I hated these crutches. I hated how they required both of my hands, so I had to carry my books on my back instead. I hated how they tripped people in the hallway, so people had to jump out of my way whenever I came around. I hated how they were too goddamn big for me, so they dug into my armpits and stretched my fingers. I hated how without them, I couldn't walk normally, and people passing by would give me mocking looks of pity.

Damn that Butch! I seethed, as the girl in the next row stumbled over my crutches while returning to her seat.

As the teacher started to review the lesson, I scribbled down as many notes as I could. That goddamn whore, Butch, didn't even have the decency to give me any kind of help whatsoever - not that I needed any from him, anyway.

He slams me headfirst into concrete, breaks my leg, and now he has the decency to treat things like they never happened? What the fuck was up with him? He can go burn - in - hell, I growled to myself, stabbing my notes paper with each word. Never mind whatever feelings or shit we may have had before. Fuck him, I say. Fuck him.

Let me tell you something about Butch. That boy flirts with girls like a lion hunts deer. Every time I see him in the hallway, he's always got two or three girls fawning over him. It's sickening! Despicable!

As we're growing older every day, you'd think he'd be more mature and serious about love right now. Apparently not.

That Butch is a player. Who needs him anyway? He can sit in his corner and pass notes to girls all he wants, while I pick up on my studies and end up with a higher grade than him!

"I'll show him," I growled, making dents into my paper.

"And now," the professor announced, jerking me out of my hateful thoughts, "let's beam the current class rankings on the projector here, and see how we're doing. First quarter's almost over, mind you."

Grades. That's another thing I hated about Butch. He always - always - managed to get a higher grade than me in all our classes. He enjoys rubbing that fact in my face. His grades aren't the best in the class (much less the whole grade - who could possibly beat Smartass Momoko?), but they were always good enough to beat mine.

From my seat near the back of the room, I scanned the list of scores.

Yes! Yes! I beat him by point-one percent!

Butch, eighty-six-point-six, and Kaoru, eighty-six-point-seven!

Ha! Take that, Butch! Take that, you womanizing jerk! You sit two seats away from me in the same row, and yet I have the higher grade! You ass, how dare you avoid my gaze when I'm mentally beating you up! Look over here, goddamn it!

My eraser tapped him lightly on the top of the head. I felt a vindictive pleasure imagining the hollow sound it made.

Unfortunately, watching him wink at me and pocket my eraser didn't improve my mood any more after that.

Neither did the yellow "detention" slip tacked onto my desk minutes later.

Not to mention, because I'd been so infuriated, I'd now have to stop by Dr. Rei's again later for a new pair of crutches.


Normally I walked home because my house was just about fifteen minutes away by foot, but today I saw a sleek black car waiting for me out front.

"Get in," said Uncle Namkha.

Uncle Namkha was Brick, Boomer, and Butch's older cousin and was generally lazy as hell; it was rumored that he wouldn't get up at all from watching TV unless he had to use the bathroom very, very badly. I was surprised to see him driving a car (though at twenty-three, I guess it was normal.)

"Hey, Uncle Namkha!" I exclaimed, my head throbbing from irritation as squeals of "he's so hot!" erupted from behind me. Uncle Namkha, he made it a point for me to call him that, even though we weren't related, and he was in the same generation as me. "Why're you here?"

"Figured I'd give you a ride home along with the boys today," he replied with a wink.

The boys? They usually walked home as well; their house was even in the same neighborhood as mine, but mine was a street farther away. I guess walking or skateboarding home would be out of the question for a while though. (Damn that Butch!)

"No chance of 'em walking home today, after what happened with you and them," he continued, grinning as he leaned on the steering wheel. There was a tone of mischief in his voice.

"Nothing happened between Butch and me," I scoffed, looking out the window. I saw Brick walking out with Momoko. She seemed to be trying to argue with him, but he kept brushing her off with a casual smirk. He saw the car and, after giving Momoko a quick man-hug and peck on the cheek, he climbed into the backseat.

"'Sup, Kaoru," he greeted me, taking off his cap and shaking his bright hair. "Going home with us?"

Uncle Namkha became lazy as we reached the boys' house, and refused to drive me any further, so he told me that I might as well stay over. I didn't particularly care; neither would my mom, I knew. I was used to coming over to the boys' house; they were my favorite playmates when I was younger.

After we went in and I finally was able to put my stuff down, Brick and I knocked out some zombies and monsters in the new Zomsters game Uncle Namkha bought us; after that, we had an eating contest of who could finish a big bag of hot Cheetos the fastest; after that was arm-wrestling and doing pull-ups for about another hour. We did so much activity that i had no more worries of getting out of shape. If I came over every day, Brick could be my motivation to get exercise without having to use my legs!

I woke up in a bed sometime later to a finger poking my cheek. I swatted the annoyance away drowsily.

"It's still alive? Let me poke it harder and see."

"Mm, go away, Butch, lemme sleep..." I mumbled, turning over.

... Shit, Butch? What was he doing, watching me sleep?

"Butch, what the hell do you doing?" I yelled at him, sitting up and scooting away from him as fast as my cast would let me.

"Watching you sleep. What else?" he replied, almost in a bored tone.

"I'm not wearing anything!" An obvious lie, but it was sort of worth a shot, I guess.

He rolled his eyes, laughing. "Idiot, you're wearing the same boring tee-shirt and jeans you wore at school."

"How would you know? You sticking your nose into everyone's business? Were you staring at me all day?"

"Sorry, I ain't gay." He chuckled at his own joke. "Were you waiting for me, little Kaoru?"

"What the hell would make you think that? You ugly hoe! Get your ass out of here!" I threw a pillow at him heatedly. I was so humiliated because he'd already seen me in many vulnerable situations, and me sleeping was just another addition. Why was he talking to me now, when he hadn't spoken to me in almost a week? Did he feel sorry for me? I don't need his pity; I don't need his sympathy. I don't need anything from him.

"Well, when a guy comes home to find a girl in his bed, you tell me what that's supposed to mean!"

"This is your bed?" I retorted scornfully, even more embarrassed than before.

"No shit, Sherlock! Now move over, I'm sleepy."

He yanked off his shirt and tossed it aside.

"What the hell, lemme get out-"

"Too late."

He climbed in quickly and pulled up the covers, making sure to squish me against the wall with his warm body. I closed my eyes for a couple of seconds, trying to calm myself. The only way to get out now would be to climb over him. What the fuck was up with him today? I thought grumpily. How could I ever even end up in this situation?

I waited until his breaths became long and calm before moving. Like me, Butch could easily fall asleep whenever he wanted to.) Tentatively I put one foot on the other side of him on the thin edge of the bed. I looked down and groaned inwardly; moving my broken left leg would take a while, and I was stuck in such an awkward straddling position. Thank God he couldn't see me now.

A hand shot out and latched onto my arm; the next second, I found myself lying down on top of that beast, with two strong arms wrapped around me.

I was definitely wide awake now. What the fuck was happening to me? I felt so uncomfortable, so defenseless, so squirmish; the only times I was this close to a guy would be when I played sports, like soccer or wrestling.

"Kaoru," he whispered into my ear. "I want you."

I paused in my fidgeting and stared at him. Butch, wearing the trademark smirk I always saw him wear when he thought he'd won a new prize.

That made me thrash about even more; I was definitely not a prize to be won.

"LET - ME - GO - YOU WHORE!"

He had my arms pinned to my side, rendering my hands useless. Desperately I turned over and landed face first onto the floor (which wasn't very far away, so I wasn't hurt much). However, Butch had flipped over as well, and he'd landed on top of me with a grunt.

I let out a grunt as well - he was pretty damn heavy! Ignoring the throbbing pains in my left leg, I rolled out from under him and tried to lock his arms between my legs, a martial arts move I enjoyed using on him when we were younger. (It was harder to do it this time though, considering one of my legs was much harder to move than the other)

"What're you guys up to?"

Boomer poked his head in the room. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Ooh, Butch is gettin' some, ain't he?"

He stepped over to us and gave my leg a small tug.

SHIT! I snapped to the reality of my body; the bones in my leg felt like they were being smashed all over again. How distracted did I have to be not to notice this agony?

I used my other leg to kick Boomer's hand away, trying to keep my face neutral and emotionless.

"I haven't started my homework yet."

It was only when I was finally able to step outside for fresh air, that I realized how madly my heart had been beating before.

Oh Lord, what was happening to me?


Oh Lord, what was happening to Kaoru?