Chapter 8

Inita stared blankly at Yuki for awhile. She would now be subjected to him day and night and every hour in between. Wouldn't that be fun?

"So what should we do now? How about we cook together or something?" He asked.

"Grow up, Yuki! You can cook by yourself." She grabbed Deidara's arm and dragged him after her, "Don't expect me home too soon."

"Bye." He murmured reluctantly. As their figures faded he growled. "There can't really be that many guys after her, right?"


"Hey, Inita…" Deidara sat next to her, watching as she stirred her strawberry smoothie nervously. She seemed lost in thought; confused.

"Huh?" She looked up, with a quizzical stare plastered on her face.

"That Yuki guy…How did you meet him?"

"At my previous high school." She mumbled, almost wishing she never knew him. She flicked the straw idly.

"So you were really popular back then too?"

"Popular? No way. I was anything but popular."

I was an unknown kid. Pretty, yes. Pretty and snobbish enough to be noticed? No. My only real friends were Suki and Aremilia…Until Aremilia committed suicide. Then it was just Suki and I, trying our best to keep our sanity against popular girl attacks. And then Yuki transferred.

He was handsome, polite, rich…A heartbreaker; a trophy collector and it was always proven whenever he seduced a new girl and then tossed her aside. Who could resist a guy like that? I did. I was, in fact, one of the only girls who never looked his way more than twice in a week. And strangely enough he asked me out because of it.

I, totally lost about what to say and only half listening to what he had asked, simply said 'ok' and it became front page news. It annoyed me to no end, but then I thought of the fringe benefits of being Yuki's girlfriend. Maybe this wasn't so bad, I managed to convince myself. Maybe he's really a nice guy. Unfortunately that mindset lasted all of…oh…three minutes. See, that was the day he promised he'd go out with me, but I saw him with another girl I knew all too well…My rival, Karin. And they were all lovey-dovey…That made me sick and so, I left. No I didn't cry over it. What was there to cry for? I wasn't really interested in him anyway.

He never knew I had been there or that I had seen him. In effect, he thought I had stood him up. I just let him go on thinking that, explaining it away as family issues. I also added that in retrospect, I realized I really don't like him. That just set of a bomb. From then on I was his center of attention. If he did anything, he always wanted my approval. Usually, I'd ignore him or make sure my answers stung with the total insignificance of his project in my eyes. This just made him all the more eager to please me…

Needless to say, I became more unpopular with the school divas, if that's even possible. Those divas included, yes, none other than Karin. But eventually they got the message. I just wasn't interested in Yuki.

Well, except Karin. She constantly tried to get back at me for that. And when I started fantasizing about singers she and her clique made sure I understood I wasn't good enough, pretty enough, talented enough… you name it, they came up with it. One of the reasons that stung the most was that the guys I liked…The guys I'd fallen for were way too famous to care about me.

I didn't want to believe it, but hearing it over and over just seemed to weaken my determination. Eventually I just gave up replying because I was actually starting to believe them.

"Wow. You had it bad." He said at last, pushing his empty smoothie cup aside.

"What about you?" she queried, pulling the cover of her cup to drain the last bit of strawberry goodness that seemed to completely elude her straw.

"My life is pretty charmed, I guess. My friends have always been there for me. I get good grades…I had a few girlfriends but they annoyed me like hell. I always get anything I want… If you keep resisting I'll have to rephrase that."

"Oh well…I don't plan on surrendering any time soon." She capped her now drained cup and stacked it on top of his.

"Hey, Inita…"

"Yea?" She turned to him. Her eyes locked with his, causing an almost uncontrollable blush to shoot across her face. How long was he going to stare at her like that?

"There's a smoothie trail leading to your chin." He smiled at her predicament.

"Oh? Is there really?" she asked, totally embarrassed. She reached for a napkin but he stopped her.

"I'll take care of it." He leaned closer, eyes closed, his tongue following the pink liquid trial back to her lips. For a moment, he half-opened his eyes as if waiting for permission from her.

She could feel electricity surging through her as she gently pressed her lips to his, closing her eyes to savor the moment.

"Still want to resist me?" he laughed.

"I think you're cute. That's it." she remarked, looking away to compose herself.

"Cute, huh? Is that all?" he asked playfully.

"Hmm…"

"Then, from now on," he kissed her neck, "I will be your 'unofficial' lover."