Chapter 9: A New Friend

The school bell rang, signaling students that it was time for lunch. Rin and her friends joined the other rowdy teenagers after just finishing their class together. Sango and Jakotsu were yakking on about something, but Rin was too engrossed in her phone, tapping away at her screen.

When Sango noticed her friend wasn't a part of the conversation, she snapped her fingers. "Earth to Rin! Are you listening?"

The brunette waved her off. "Yes, I'm listening."

Sango scrunched up her face, obviously not believing her friend. "No, you weren't."

Rin rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine I wasn't."

Jakotsu looked over his friend's shoulder. "What's up? You've been glued to your phone since we walked out of class."

Rin innocently shrugged. "No reason."

Jakotsu peered closer. "Ooh, she's texting a boy, and not just any boy. It's Sesshomaru."

Sango gasped in amusement. "Let me see!" She snatched the phone from Rin's hands.

"Hey!" she cried out.

The other girl only ignored her as she scrolled through the message history and ultimately frowned. There was nothing juicy to gossip about. The conversation was unimpressive to say the least. The only thing Rin and Sesshomaru talked about was their project.

Sango tossed the phone back to her friend. "Boring."

Rin huffed. "That's a total invasion of privacy." She loved her friend dearly, but there were lines that you just didn't cross. Rin stashed her phone into her backpack.

It was true though. Rin and Sesshomaru's conversation were confide to discussing their project. After all, they only had about a week and a half left to complete it.

"So how about we take our lunch outside," Rin suggested, hoping the topic of conversation would steer away from her.

Jakotsu smiled in delight. "I second that motion! For once we don't have to eat in that gross cafeteria."

"It is a nice day outside," Sango concluded.

Rin smiled, hooking her arms through her friends' to enjoy a nice lunch out on the grass.

XX

The air was fresh and there wasn't a cloud in the sky as Rin, Sango and Jakotsu relaxed in the plush green grass enjoying their lunch. The current topic of conversation was what were their plans going to be for the upcoming weekend.

"We could go to the movies," Sango suggested. "There's a new romance flick playing."

"I'm broke," Jakotsu stated flatly. "How about we go shopping?"

"My allowance was short this week," Rin informed. "What about bowling?"

Sango winced. "I forgot I used my last few dollars at the vending machine."

Rin huffed. "Okay, what about something that doesn't cost money."

The group sat in silence, all contemplating fun activities that would keep them occupied over the weekend, when Sango suddenly snapped her fingers in realization.

"We could have a sleepover!"

Jakotsu made a face. "Lame. We're not five, Sango."

Rin took a bite of her sandwich before saying, "Well we could always make it interesting like a spa theme."

Jakotsu's interest was immediately piqued. "With facials and mani-pedis."

Sango smiled brightly. "That sounds awesome. I'm in!"

"Me too," Jakotsu added.

Suddenly a smooth deep voiced sounded behind the group. "What are you guys getting into?"

The trio looked over to see it was Miroku. Sango jumped to her feet, planting a kiss on her boyfriend's lips. She was always ecstatic when it came to seeing Miroku even if they had just seen each other less than an hour ago. She got back into a sitting position, making room for her man.

"Oh, we were just talking about our plans for the weekend," Sango informed.

Miroku pouted. "Aww babe, I wish I would have known sooner. I was going to put together a really romantic date night."

Sango's face fell in anguish. It had been awhile since she and Miroku spent any sort of romantic time together between their hectic school schedule and her nosey little brother, it would be a relief to finally spend some time together. But she'd already agreed to the sleepover with her friends, and she didn't want to disappoint them.

"Sorry, babe," she said. "But I already promised my friends that we would do something."

Miroku pressed a kiss to his girlfriend's forehead. "It's okay, maybe I can tag along like a love sick puppy." He stuck out his bottom lip for dramatics.

Jakotsu interjected. "Sorry, girls only."

Miroku looked at the other male quizzically. "But you're a boy."

"I am all diva," Jakotsu scoffed.

Miroku rolled his eyes. The group soon found themselves settled into a conversation that ranged from how their day was going and to what their plans for college would be after Prom and graduation. Miroku was looking into something with videography or engineering since he was currently apart of the AV club. Jakotsu and Sango were listing off different fashion schools they would like to someday attend. In all honesty, Rin had no clue what lay ahead of her after Prom and graduation. Even Sesshomaru was likely to be some big time basketball star.

"Hey, watch out!"

The group was snapped from their convrersation as a runaway football hurtled itself in their direction. It knocked into Rin, who at the time was holding an open can of juice, the contents splattering onto her pristine white uniform shirt.

"My shirt!" she cried.

An underclassman, who she didn't recognize came jogging up to the group to retrieve his ball all while apologizing.

Rin jumped to her feet, wiping at the spot with some napkins, but it only seemed to get worse.

"You should try to wash out it before the stain sets in," Jakotsu suggested.

Rin tsked at the fact she would have to do an impromptu wash day at school, but nevertheless trekked it back into the school, making a dash for the restrooms. She found an available sink that wasn't occupied by other girls checking and re-checking their make-up in the mirror or just hanging around gossiping. She pulled a few paper towels from the dispenser, running some warm water onto it. She dabbed and scrubbed at the spot and some of it seemed to want to come out. She added a few pumps of soap, and it appeared to be doing the trick, but there was still a faint color of the juice remaining. She figured the rest would have to be continued at home.

Rin shut off the water to the sink, and was just about to leave when the faint sound of something coming from one of stalls stopped her. It was sniffling as if someone were crying. She checked the stalls and saw that there was only one occupied. Rin gently knocked on the door with her knuckles.

"Um, are you okay?" she asked.

There was no response, only more sniffling. Rin tried again.

"Do you need some help?"

There was a moment of silence until the other person said, "Just go away."

Rin was a bit taken aback at how familiar that voice sounded. It couldn't be, could it? She thought.

Gently pushing open the door, the girl was revealed to be Kagome and she had her lunch tray nestled in her lap, crying over her sandwich. Her usually perfect make-up was now running down her face.

"Kagome?" Rin questioned in surprised, shocked to find the popular cheerleader in this fallen state. "What are you doing eating your lunch in the girls' bathroom?"

The cheerleader snorted. "What does it look like?"

Rin frowned, not caring in the least bit about her attitude. After all, Kagome was the one crying over her vegetables in a cramped stall, not her. She threw up her hands in mock surrender. "I just thought I would ask, that's all." As Rin turned to leave, Kagome stopped her.

"Wait!"

The other girl stopped, looking back at Kagome.

Kagome huffed, blowing the bangs out of her face and wiping her eyes with some tissue. She took in a few deep breaths. "If you must know," she started. "I'm eating in here because the cafeteria is really gross."

Rin made a face and crossed her arms, obviously not believing the girl. "If you're not going to tell the truth, then I guess I'll just leave." She turned to make her exit, but Kagome stopped her again.

She huffed. "Fine! I'm sitting in this disgusting stall because Kikyo said I couldn't sit with them." She looked away. "She got pissed when I wouldn't let her copy off my homework."

"Well it's still not right to make you eat in the bathroom," Rin surmised.

Kagome sighed heavily, shrugging her shoulders. "That was partly my idea. It was either this or sit at the nerd table."

Rin placed her hands on her hips. "What's wrong with nerds?"

She didn't take too kindly to that comment, seeing as how all throughout her school years she was referred to as all kinds of things like dweeb, geek and loser.

Kagome grabbed her tray, getting up off the toilet and dumping her lunch in the trash can. "Nothing, I guess." She pulled out some paper towels from the dispenser, wetting it and dabbing at her face to clear up her runny make-up.

Rin leaned against the sink. "Well considering how mean your sister treats you, maybe you would have been better off at the nerd's table."

Just on that comment alone, the other girl appeared as if she was on the verge of tears again.

"Maybe you're right!" Kagome cried. She dabbed at her eyes again, the tears spilling.

Rin was beginning to feel sorry for the girl. The popular cheerleader, who was related to the even more popular cheerleader, was reduced to tears and eating her lunch less than five feet away from the toilet. She had never seen Kagome like this before. Then again, she never showed any other side of herself other than what Rin and her friends saw when she was around Kikyo and her posse. Rin felt awkward watching her cry. Kagome always seemed so put together, but then again that was probably due to Kikyo's bitchy influence.

"Don't cry Kagome," Rin stated, placing a cautious hand on her shoulder. "Do you mind?" she asked unsure if she wanted the other girl to touch her.

Kagome shrugged. "Whatever." She sniffled again.

Rin sighed. She didn't know what to say to make her feel better. She never really had any interaction with Kagome unless she was hanging around her sister, and even then she was a snob but she figured she would try.

"You know you shouldn't let her treat you like this way." That was a good start she figured.

Kagome blew her nose with the rough paper towels. "What other choice do I have? It's not like I have many friends."

It was true. Ever since Kagome was a little girl, for some reason she always struggled to make friends. She didn't know if it was her personality or her appearance, but she just couldn't get people to gravitate to her like her sister could. Over the years, Kagome noticed that her older twin treated people with disdain and they would accept her friendship, either from craziness or fear. Kagome figured that was the only way you got people to like you, and that was to treat them like crap, but deep down she knew that was wrong. She was always told by their mother to treat people the way you wanted to be treated. Obviously Kikyo skipped over that little lesson.

Once Kagome appeared to be calm again, Rin said, "Maybe you should make some new friends."

Kagome scoffed. "That's easier said than done. Everyone at this school hates me."

"They don't hate you," Rin tried to reassure. "Just your sister. You're more like hate by association."

Kagome shot the girl a look. "It's not like I want to be mean anyway. It's just that Kikyo has had things come to her so easily; friends, boyfriends. She never has to try."

Rin was truly beginning to feel bad for the girl and actually understand where she was coming from. As crazy as it was, Kagome did have a point about her sister. In all honesty, Kagome didn't really seem like a bad person. She probably only did what she did to prove to her sister, she could be just as good as her. It must suck living in your perfect sibling's shadow. Rin took in a deep breath. She was contemplating doing something she never would have considered, but bearing in mind the situation she figured why not give it a shot.

"Look, my friends and I are having this spa sleepover thing this weekend," she said. "There's an open invitation if you're up for it."

"You're actually inviting?" Kagome asked. "What's the catch."

Rin smirked. "No catch."

Kagome thought about it for a moment. This could truly be a new start for her. She could finally get away from her impossibly demanding sister and her friends. If she could find peace with a new set of people, maybe she could finally start to feel like her old self again.

Kagome smiled, something she hadn't done in a long time. "Sure, thanks."

"Now what do you say we finally get out of this nasty bathroom," Rin suggested, already making a b-line to the door.

"I'm with you on that!" Kagome stated, following right behind her.

Both girls stepped out of the confines of the bathroom going their separate ways. Kagome concluded that this would be a new beginning for her and it was definitely something she looked forward to.