CHAPTER SEVEN: Pain
"...Allen?"
The voice was calling out to him. His mouth was so dry that he couldn't reply. The choking feeling had subsided, leaving nothing but dulling pain. As his eyes flickered open, the objects around him blurred slightly before focusing properly.
He was lying down on the school's sickbay bed. The first face he saw was Lavi's, followed by Lenalee's.
"Allen! What happened?" the redhead shook him violently, earning a dirty glare from Drewel for 'hurting' Allen further. Allen sat up unsteadily and felt his throat. "I'm…alright I guess. What happened?"
"You started to make strange noises in class, but then you blacked out," Lavi anxiously said. Lenalee quietly handed him a cup of warm tea, her eyes avoiding his.
"I'm alright."
"Are you sure?" Drewel asked softly, unsure if she had the authority to even talk to the normally-quiet boy. Allen nodded, but Lavi insisted. "You should stay here till Additional Mathematics, Allen-san."
"I said, I feel normal now! Stop bugging me!" Allen snapped back. There was a pregnant silence until Kanda broke it by leaving the sickbay, slamming the door behind him.
Lavi simply stared at Allen, hurt reaching his emerald eyes. Then, he headed out. Shizuka and Drewel followed, but Lenalee stayed back.
"If this is about me, Allen-kun…" she quietly said. "Don't blame the others. I can't stand it, the way you seem to keep things from me."
Allen shifted his legs off the stiff bed and stared at her. "It's not about you, Lenalee. It's about us."
--
Lavi stared up at the cloudy skies and sighed loudly. Things kept changing in this tiny town; his heart, Allen's behavior. Even the weather seemed to change according to the tense atmosphere. Thunder rumbled overhead.
"You don't have to keep hiding,"
The redhead turned around, startled. Drewel had climbed up the steep staircase to the rooftop. She approached him warily and sat down beside him, twirling her umbrella in front of her.
"I'm not."
She laughed lightly. "You guys lie really well…"
Lavi glanced at her. "I don't lie often."
"You do."
"Give an example then?"
Drewel's rich emerald eyes flashed. "How about your tuition last night? Not being hurt when Allen snapped at you? Flirting with the artificially-blond bimbo?"
Lavi glared at her with a single green eye. "Irrelevant."
"What? The bimbo?"
"Why do you even care?" the redhead replied loudly, watching her in muted rage. Her eyes misted over for a second.
"…I don't know."
The sudden uncertainty of the girl startled him greatly. Drewel bent forward, hugging her knees. "I'm an idiot, I guess."
Lavi sighed, watching as pellets of rain fell from the heavens and stung his skin. "I'm the one."
--
Shizuka turned to Lenalee. "So, is the outing still on?"
Lenalee nodded slightly, although she wasn't really in the mood of partying. She had to keep to her promise. She hated backing out last minute, especially when she had organized the whole thing. Allen was probably listening in, so she wouldn't need to tell him about the trip to town… Then, from the voices that were echoing in, she could tell that Drewel and Lavi were entering the classroom. They were arguing too loudly to be mistaken…
"For goodness sake, how many times must I tell you it's not about the bimbo?
"Then, what is it all about?" Lavi hollered back although they were next to each other, shoulder to shoulder.
"I have no bloody idea; you're the one who kept repeating the word BIMBO at me!"
"I didn't! You were the one all indignant over the word!"
"Oh, don't you talk to me like that, redhead!"
"Why shouldn't I?"
"''Cos this all started with you and your bloody bimbo!"
Then, as if on cue, both of them sniggered involuntarily as they walked to the table.
To which, Lenalee and Allen jaw dropped at their incredible randomness.
"Yo, Allen-san!" the redhead cheerfully draped an arm over Allen's shoulder, thumping him on the head. "Gotten rid of your lil tantrum yet?"
Drewel jabbed him hard in the ribs, but he seemed unfazed. Like an inflatable orange rabbit head. Allen weakly smiled back, "Yeah… I guess so. Gomenasai, Lavi."
Lavi casually waved it off and slipped into his seat, positively beaming and almost sparkling at his unwavering enthusiasm. Lenalee glanced at Allen—just to get trapped in the mesmerizing gray irises.
"I'm sorry." He murmured, sincerity ringing out in every syllable. "I don't think you know what I'm talking about, but I really am."
Lenalee couldn't reply, the intensity of the male's gaze was overwhelming. She felt her cheeks burn, and burn…
When she could finally gather up all the strength to look away, she was near hyperventilation. "I-Its okay, Allen-kun…"
Lenalee heard Allen chuckle softly before opening his desk to take out a copy of The Living Past out. She sighed softly, looking at the scribbles on her desk. She was going head over heels… about him.
--
Drewel found herself paying less attention in Biology class, especially when Lavi was sitting next to her. Her brows were furrowed… The grasp on her pencil was tightening…
"Will you stop it?!" she hissed furiously.
Lavi shot her a bemused look and continued clicking the tip of his pen. "Stop what?"
"The clicking thing! I can't concentrate!" Too bad she couldn't raise her voice in class.
"Oooh." The redhead sounded as if he had made a great discovery.
"The pancreas in the body actually produces the hormones and…"
"Pppft. Hormones." Lavi sniggered.
Drewel suppressed a smile. His laughter was as contagious as malaria. "Stop it…"
The clicking came back, along with the rapping against the plastic table. Three annoyed anime-marks appeared on Drewel's head.
"Lavi. If you don't stop it—"
The redhead went so close that his angular nose nearly brushed against her cheek. Even at the distance, she couldn't find any flaws. "Then… what?"
Drewel gulped. "Get lost."
Her heart stopped for a second. Then, it picked up double speed. But Lavi had already pulled back, smiling wistfully. "It's too easy to make you blush."
The teacher had gone to have a toilet break from all the digestion talk, so the whole class was buzzing with conversations. Shizuka went off disturb another guy behind them, Allen and Lenalee were deep in conversation, or rather, mesmerized in each other's eyes. Kanda, meanwhile, was watching the girls watch him.
"Says who?" Drewel snapped indignantly.
"You want another round?" Lavi smiled, but the source of mysterious sadness had already spread up to his emerald eyes. Drewel stared, concerned. "What happened?"
"Nothing…" he said, but didn't meet her eyes anymore.
Lavi had always been a playboy. One that received true love, but didn't give it. But now… his heart… had miraculously been defrosted. And the emotions that flowed in were as lethal and forbidden as banned poison.
--
Tyki strolled into the compounds of Highferson's School, gaining attention from the girls hanging around the corridor. Who wouldn't get distracted? He was tall, tanned and amazingly graceful.
"Komui-sensei." He calmly said as he opened the doors of the Main Office. "I've come to set things right now."
Komui sternly glanced up into Tyki's golden eyes. "I won't let you, Tyki Mikk."
"You'll have to," the male smirked. "But you'll have grace time with your dear sister… The Earl has fair bargains. Meanwhile, I just have to slowly eliminate all the little boys surrounding her…"
Komui didn't hear him. He had already run out of his office, desperate to find his sister. Things were going the wrong way, and he hoped he could make it right again. After all, it was his fault… for everything he'd started and laid on Lenalee's tainted future.
--
"Holy crap," Lavi's jaw was clenched, his eyes frantic. Allen shot him a look that read panic. Kanda's eyes were narrowed, fighting to stop showing any fear. The redhead put down his tray of food in front of Drewel and bent forward.
"You finish the food. I've to go."
Allen murmured something to Lenalee that sounded like an "I've to go, see you later on."
Lenalee could only stare after his back, feeling dejected. She was always feeling left behind, unworthy of his flawlessness. Lavi had left too, but Drewel had left her seat to comfort Lenalee.
The worst was yet to come, she could tell. But she wasn't ready to let go of Lavi yet.
A/N:
This chapter is kinda depressing…
Tyki will fight them later, I think. Thanks for all the reviews, love them lots… Just for your info, Drewel is kind of psychic. That means that she is able to become one of the Cursed Clan members if the Earl wants her to be. And of course, I'll add more AllenxLenalee in the next few chapters!
Meanwhile, review while I plan out the next chapter! Thanks…
-Skitter
