Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. By now you know who the OC's belong too. Amber and Ruin are mine.
Chapter Ten - Confessions
For the first time since Nana had moved into her farmhouse, she was getting a new kitchen. Fitted cupboards, a worktop, lights, new door, the works and all installed by gifted crafts-men… namely my three uncles and cousins who were up in the kitchen area, cursing, grunting, and falling over each other like the three stooges. If it weren't so funny, it would be embarrassing. And, where were us ladies? Well we were in the living room, in front of the blazing fire watching the soaps. Where else would we be on a Sunday evening?
The clock on the mantle piece was ticking time away until Monday began and the second week of the Siege of Tory Comprehensive overwhelmed our mediocre lives again. Can you believe that everything hasn't settled down yet? I swear if Kai and his companions would just let it lie instead of making comments every time Oliver walked anywhere near them everything would just blow over. Alas, they haven't, it hasn't. Last Friday a bunch of fourth year farmers jumped Oliver. If it weren't for my aunty Anne coming along when she did and Mr. Thompson yanking them off him, I don't know what would have happened. You can imagine how well work went for me.
Julia has agreed, after much pleading and begging from me, to swap her shifts with me so I don't have to work half as much with Kai, which is grand because I think he's avoiding me anyway. Tala hasn't returned to the Moors, though I've been up there at least three times this week and Rei has joined the cause. If it had something to do with Mariah phoning him and yelling at him for his crass attitude, I have no idea. However, because he sat beside us at lunch, Salima now hates him and in turn, Kane snarls at him in class. Supposedly every one thought that Salima and Rei could be the 'it' couple and suddenly Rei is defying her. Hmm… could it be that Rei found someone nicer and better? I think yes.
A turn up for the books is that Tyson who remained very much on the fence on this whole issue since it really didn't concern him has decided that Oliver is a righteous dude and is now into Gay rights. He now swaggers about and accompanies Oliver to the toilets and the likes as his personal bodyguard. Sure there have been lots of passing comments about that but Tyson is too hard headed to acknowledge them so they quickly died down. That and Miyami threatened to cut the balls off every person who said that her cousin was that way inclined.
She then said -privately to us- that if Tyson were that way inclined, she'd fully support him but that she didn't think he was since he has a crush on some girl named Hillary who he sexually harasses all the time to see her go red in the face. I don't know much about this girl Hillary, except what I've seen of her on the bus and she seems very intelligent, if not a little prudish but she did have a crush on Kai, of that I know.
It seems to be gone now that he's showing his true colours. Yet I just don't think he is. Strange, huh? I just get this feeling that he's acting the way people expect him to react.
I'm not speaking to Ozuma. At dinner today, the whole Oliver thing came out and the men had pretty much the same reaction as the boys did. What conservatives! Then Aubrey said that he was being unjust to the 'poor wee fella'. Therefore, to take the heat of him and the praise away from me, he said that I was just feeling sorry for Oliver and that he was my pet project for the month. Oliver is not a charity case.
Then Nana agreed with him and started bringing up the various animals I used to look after. Like Sunbeam, the unfriendly horse that would grind riders legs against the hedges to unseat them. Or, Constantine, the dog that would bite and snap at people. Or Whiney, the horse that bucked and reared constantly. Or Tamba, the rabbit that had a nasty habit of biting the person that handled it. Or snowy, the white Alsatian, who had a habit of chasing sheep and even went so far to bite one. However, it wasn't her fault; I mean all dogs chase things that run away, she should have been tied up. And Tamba just wasn't used to being handled. Moreover, maybe Sunbeam and Whiney had a bad experience while people were riding them and were scared. See there were other possible reasons other than they're just bad tempered.
I didn't like how they made me sound like I was only helping Oliver to make myself feel good and important. That wasn't it. Oliver was my friend. I wanted to be there for him.
Therefore, I stopped talking to Ozuma. Like he had a clue anyway. I mean, he was just saying that to deflect the heat. He was definitely in the wrong. After all, who was he to pass judgement? However then Nana started spouting off on how there were no gays in the bible and how Adam was meant for Eve not Steve… Was there a Steve in the bible? I mean Nana's never struck me as homophobic but she is religious. She just thinks Oliver hasn't found the right woman and has confused his admiration for Kai as a person for lust…
Yeah, I don't think so but what can I say. Dad's just as bad. He's not overly religious but he's not too keen on gay people or blacks. I just think it's because he's never had a good experience (or any experience) with people from different cultures. But that's life. Ireland is a backwater country, still reasonably stuck in the dark ages in the Western parts. Just watch Podge and Rodge sometime and you'll have a good clue on how the Western country acts. Redneck hicks.
"Ah shit!"
Aubrey rolled her eyes and put away her magazine. "I better go and see what he's cut this time."
"As long as it's not the electricity or the phone line, I don't care." Kirby muttered from her place on the floor with her laptop resting on her folded legs. Her fingers, -the nails painted an interesting metallic purple that she would have to remove before school tomorrow (nail varnish is a strict no-no and will get you sent to the secretary's office to get it removed - I know, I've seen Russia sent there most days and Miyami sent there three days out of five)- rapidly moving over the flat keys.
"You're awfully quiet Amber, something wrong?"
Other than the fact that your nephew is a heinous fuck wit; no nothing. "I'm just reading this book." I so want to live in America. No one gets tortured in America for being gay. They have shows like Will & Grace that embrace the gay society. I'm not naïve to think that everyone whose gay gets to prance through a field of daisy's but… still, no one treats them like lepers.
"So has Bryan said why he's here yet?"
Ugh, Bryan now there's another problem. He refuses to talk to anyone, even Nana. He locks himself up in his bedroom most of the time and only comes out at mealtimes. Every time mum has tried to get in contact with Ciara, she's only gotten voice mail or nothing. Ciara hasn't even rung mum back, which is odd; this is her child we're talking about. Mum's afraid to pry too much in case he runs away. If I'm honest, I feel the same. It's obvious he's unstable at the moment. He just grunts and mumbles his comments and he's scaring me.
"No."
"Weird." Kirby mumbled, before looking up. "I mean, surely he would have offered at least a basic reason as to why he's here. And Ciara hasn't even showed up yet. What about Sinead? Or Yurgi?"
"Nothing from any of them. I think Sinead's on holiday with her fiancé. As for Yurgi, well does anyone ever know where he is?"
Anne sighed and flicked the station. "It's a pity; he's a very bright boy."
"Hmm."
"So how's everything with your mum and Hiroshi?"
"Aye, grand. As well as can be expected," given that Bryan has just shown up and taken up permanent lodging in the spare bedroom. Nevertheless, I didn't add that. I mean, Bryan is not Mum's blood but Dad's, but he came to mum. It seemed somewhat odd to me. I mean, sure me and him used to hang out a lot when he came to Nana's, but that was years ago. Though he used to let me listen to his music, and when we played on the play station, he never held back. Which meant I lost. A lot.
The door opened and Nana walked in with a tray of tea and cups, which rattled shakily. Anne was already on her feet, giving out to her mother and telling her she should have called down for some help. Nana brushed her off with a look.
The door swung open once again and Daichi strode moodily in. Great, someone must have given out to him for something or other.
"Now what's the matter with you?" Nana demanded as she shoved a cup filled partially with tea in his face.
"Nothing." He snapped.
"Aye right." Kirby muttered, frowning ever so slightly at her computer screen.
"I said it was nothing. Just leave me alone."
"Daichi." Aubrey warned as she walked in and took a cup from Nana.
The heat of the fire was getting to me and all the noise was beginning to irritate me. I love my family but I was just getting all antsy for no reason. Maybe I was getting my period or something. Closing my book, I got to my feet and had just reached the door when Nana called out to me.
"Do you not want your tea?"
"No thank you Nana. I just need some fresh air."
I didn't bother to take the quick exit through the kitchen and out the back door; instead I wandered down the hall with its musty smelling carpet and out the front door that smelled strangely of cacti. The door tinkled from the wind chimes before I stepped out into the cool night air.
In the distance, I could hear the river lapping against the shore, sending its cool zephyr up to flutter against my cheeks. The apple tree in the corner of the garden provided a dark shadowy corner where anything could be lying in wait. When I was younger, I used to believe someone stood in that corner awaiting me to walk by and then it would pounce out. Now I was older and a little wiser, if they were going to be hiding anywhere it would be in the butterfly garden. This was where I was going. Great job, Amber, scare yourself to death.
Mystel?
"I'm here. I won't leave you." He murmured as he materialized beside me. The cold didn't seem to affect him as he was in his short-sleeved white shirt, the one that made his skin even more bronzed and brought out the white lights of his hair. His hands were shoved in his loose black trouser pockets and his shoulders were pushed back as he looked up at the sky before he turned to wink at me.
We walked down the garden in silence, his ghostly hand interlinking with mine but others wouldn't see it. The butterfly garden was a deep pocket of the garden with large bushes like lupines and the like to attract the little insects and a winding path that took you to the hidden end. Down the cobbled path we walked until we reached the dark corner where there were little tree stumps arranged to provide seating around a larger tree stump table.
I managed to muffle the scream but not the mile high jump as I caught sight of the figure sitting there and was already taking a step back when I realized it was Bryan.
"Jezzus, what the ruddy hell are you doing out here?"
I couldn't quite see his face but I did see the orange flare at the end of his cigarette. He didn't reply, whether that was because he was intoxicated and didn't hear me (unlikely); or he just couldn't be arsed (likely).
"I didn't know you smoked."
"Never used to."
"But you do now?" I probed.
"Hn."
K. "Uh, Bryan, why are you out here?"
"Why are you?"
"It's too loud in there, too noisy and crowded."
Sighing, he put out the cigarette grinding it onto the tree trunk table. "Have a seat."
I settled myself onto the seat across from him and leaned my elbows on the table, breathing in the scent of rotted wood and moss. "Aren't you cold out here?"
He shook his head. "Not really."
My eyes were beginning to adjust to the dim light and I could make out his lavender eyes, half lidded as he gazed into space. His pale lilac hair was just a little longer than it used to be, in some kind of short mullet style I wanted to cure him of immediately. His shoulders were broad and hunched and his thighs were the size of tree trunks themselves. He always reminded me of a giant, no wonder I had been frightened of him as a child, then I got over it.
"You should have a coat, at least. Can't have you getting the cold."
"I can survive."
"Dublin's warmer than here, you know. You've got all that crap in the air, it keeps in the heat."
He tilted his head back to survey the sky. "Can't see that many stars in the sky back home."
"That's because of all the crap in the air." I replied just as Mystel did the same and I struggled not to chuckle. I looked up at the spattered sky. It looked like someone had just spattered silver paint over a navy canvas. It was pretty and it looked very crowded.
"In a few centuries time, the North star will be replaced with Vega."
I blinked startled and stared at Bryan in surprise. I wasn't expecting that out of his mouth. "Do you stargaze often Bryan?"
"Not really. Can't see much in Dublin." He repeated.
"I'm sure you can see some."
"Not as many."
"Sometimes I think we don't see half as many stars up there as there is."
"Hmm."
"Hey, want to head home and we can play on the PS2 or something?" I do not know where that came from.
"It's that other Amber trying to sneak through again, quick suppress her!"
I'll suppress you, you blonde twit.
"Don't let her win; she'll start making friends with everyone, oh the horror"
Kiss my ass.
"I would if I could but I can't."
"Are you ok?"
I winced and peeked up at Bryan through my lashes. Mystel was standing over him, trying to… measure his shoulders. Shit, that is wide; I thought as he stepped aside and showed me the breadth with his hands apart.
"Yeah, I'm fine…" They really are wide, that head just puts you off though. "Huh, sorry?"
"I asked what was bothering you."
"Oh you know, this, that, gay people, the usual."
"Gay people? As opposed to not gay people?"
I thought about that for a moment. "Exactly, Bryanny, I can tell we're going to get along fine."
"We used to get along."
I nodded. We did. I used to look up to him as my protector. "Yeah but people change."
"He died."
"Yes, he did."
"I maintain that that was not my fault, nor was it my ambition."
"So do you want to tell me what happened? You just showed up here and you won't tell us what's wrong? How can we fix it if we don't know?"
"I don't mean to worry you."
"We're family, that's what we do." I told him simply, beginning to fall into the rhythm I had previously with him. After all, he had been there for me, a rock after Mystel's death. I guess I had been… cautious of him as I was of most people. Besides, I hadn't seen hide or hair of him since.
"No, we're not."
Huh? We're not what? Family? Of course we were. His mother was my father's sister. Sure, we weren't immediate family but we were cousins and that makes us damn close for relations. "Yes, we are."
"She told me. We're not."
"She?" She's the cat's mother, which still tells me… "Oh, Ciara?" What has that snotty bitch said now? God, I wish Nana had enrolled her in some school for personality. Because when God made her, he must have forgotten to give her some.
"We're not family. She's not my mother."
I swallowed hard. She's not…? How can that be? She had raised him as her child.
"Jesus."
"Lemme guess, she was in a fucking mood and she took it out on you and said you were no child of hers."
"No, she and Da had a fight. He walked out. For good. She got pissed. Asked me to leave. Said I wasn't her son, I was some other poor whores' child. I wasn't going to argue. I just packed and got on the bus. Didn't know who to go to though, came to yer ma's. Figured she'd let me stay fer a while."
That might have been the most Bryan has ever said to me… And holy Jesus. I knew, I mean I would hear my aunts and mum discussing things and I just knew even though they never said it out right that Bryan's Dad had affairs and that he and Ciara weren't happy but I never knew that Bryan wasn't hers. Did that mean my family didn't know?
"How could she just say that to you? Doesn't she care at all?"
Bryan snorted, his eyes flashing venomously. "Ciara, care! Not likely."
"But… holy shit Bryan. What are you going to do?"
"Nothin'. Find Da, get some money from him. Go abroad. Join the army, whatever. Doesn't matter."
"Well it matters to me." I snapped. "Look, you can stay with us for the time being. I'm sure mum won't mind, but you have to tell Nana. I'm sure Ciara was just being her usual bitchy self. If Nana has a word with her, everything will sort itself back out."
"I'm not going back to her."
I understood that feeling. "I never said you had to. You could go to the local IT."
He shrugged. "I'll think about it."
"But you gotta tell Nana because they're all worried about you. Despite what Ciara says, even if she's not your mother, you're still my cousin. They're still your family because in the end, it doesn't always come down to blood. After all, look at Kirby and Alyssa."
"Aunty Amber strikes again."
He almost managed a quivering smile and for that, I got a fuzzy feeling for being able to say something that meant something. Just as long as Ozuma didn't think that, I was taking on Bryan as a charity case!
We got to our feet and headed back to the house to try to get this mess sorted out. I just hoped it was sorted out because no one had a right to say those things and if it were true, just how screwed up would that make Bryan?
Nana was furious about what had been said and I got the feeling that she had known all along but had believed Ciara wouldn't say anything. I don't know if Bryan got that feeling, but I certainly did. However, she said she'd talk to that 'ungrateful daughter of hers' and they'd get things sorted out. I wanted to stay at home the next day with Bryan but mum woke me bright and early to get me to school on time. Something I really wasn't looking forward to.
I was right to dread class; it was nothing but a bore. I couldn't absorb anything the teachers said, my attention was constantly drawn to watching over Oliver and thinking about Bryan. A couple of teachers had commented on my lack of attention much to the amusement of half the class because since I was on Oliver's side in this, I was obviously against them, which made me an enemy too.
I didn't like being an enemy so much. It really sucked. My friends and I were suddenly being thrown into the public spotlight and frankly, I happened to like hiding in the shadows. If I was going to be noticed, I wanted it to be for something other than 'being the girl who's friends with that gay guy'. In other words, I wanted to be noticed for being me.
Civics class had been a nightmare. I had sat in the front row beside Miyami and Aspin. Behind us, there had been muted whispers and implied comments followed by snickers and jeers but we'd simply hunched our shoulders and continued with our homework. Gordo and his little group -and when I say little, I mean little; he didn't have many friends in this class- were the ringleaders of this attitude towards us. Kai and his merry gang of wankers were simply angry with Aspin and Miyami for turning on them, after all, they had been friends and now they obviously weren't. I kind of felt bad because Miyami had admitted rather reluctantly that she had a crush on Johnny and now that was pretty much flushed down the drain. And she had been friends with Kai for so long and I missed Tala and I think even Aspin missed fighting with Kane. They weren't even talking much, if he even tried to initiate a conversation she shot him down.
My aunt knew what was going on but she had decided to let the students sort this out themselves but if the situation became worse, then she would have to talk to the headmaster and get it sorted out.
As I left Civics, I was jostled to the side and I teetered worryingly. As I did go over on my ankle, I hissed and began to windmill my arms to keep balance. Oh bugger, falling front of the school was not going to be- "Oof."
"Watch it, Benson."
I think I would have rather fallen. In fact, falling sounds much better than being pulled against Hiwatari in order to stop myself from making a public idiot of myself.
"Wasn't my fault." I grumbled, shoving away from Kai with a disgusted sigh. Why did he have to have such a firm chest anyways? "Who pushed me?"
"McMullen." Kai replied shortly before he turned away and headed for the Science area.
Oh him, he's a freak. Shifting my bag back onto my shoulder again, I headed for the HE room, which had become my safe haven recently.
"That guy is awfully gropey around you."
Huh? What do you mean?
"Well every time you falter he seems to be there, ready to catch you or whatever. You two seem to be around each other more than possible considering you're not friends." Mystel casually pointed out something I had been thinking myself.
If I were a paranoid sort, I'd think he was stalking me, which is ridiculous because Kai really isn't stalking me. I mean, honestly the guy probably has better things to do… well things to do, I wouldn't consider picking on the gay guy something better.
"What if he does like you, how would you feel about that?"
Mystel!
"Hey Amber."
I waved at Oliver and smiled at Enrique who had just popped up holding a potato in one hand and an onion in the other. The strange thing is we're not cooking today. Yeah, and people think I'm strange.
"So which one are you adopting?"
"I didn't lay a potato."
"It came out of your ass Oliver."
"That's funny; things usually go into his ass, not out."
I clenched my fists and slowly turned to regard Johnny who was fetching a glass of water since the HE room was the only place bar the canteen that you could get drinkable water. Students happened to come in and out of the room quite often to get a drink, usually just before class started because they weren't allowed to leave their class. "Gee, you're a funny bloke Johnny. Care to share any more wisecracks? We loved to be entertained by homophobic scumbags."
"Benson, feck off. I wasne sayin' nayhin' t' yeh."
"Ooh, look Braveheart."
Mystel, shut up! And that sounded so gay.
"But Braveheart Amber, I wasne-"
Shut up!
"Johnny just go." Rei said as he took his seat beside the fridge.
Johnny turned on the water and filled up his glass. "Sticking up for the faggot now, Rei? What did he offer yeh?"
"Johnny!" Enrique yelped almost shocked beyond belief. Even I was surprised. I mean, Johnny had always been a bit rough around the edges but this was just ridiculous.
Johnny gulped back his water. "Sorry Rei. Shouldn't have said that."
"What about Oliver?"
He shrugged but made no reply simply slammed down the glass and stormed out, almost barrelling over poor Ming-Ming who happened to enter just as he was leaving. With an appalled expression, she watched him leave before shaking her head. She crossed over to the table and pulled out her chair, taking her seat beside her friends who I didn't really get along with. They were all about boys and drinking. The things I just wasn't into.
"This is getting beyond a joke." I muttered as I yanked out my HE book with very little success almost toppling over from the weight of it.
Rei nodded. "I've tried to say things, but…"
"The three of them are too hard headed. But if you topple one of them, you topple them all." Enrique spoke suddenly with surprising clarity.
"Which one would be the best to topple?"
"Why just choose one?" Rei questioned turning on his seat. He hadn't apologized to Oliver, then again, I doubt he had a reason to and sometimes apologies just made things more awkward because it dredged everything up again. I'd rather just move on and forget it happened, but then again, I wasn't Oliver.
"So we topple all of them separately?"
"Divide and conquer."
I grinned at the astuteness of Rei's reply. I could see why Mariah liked him. "So… we send Miyami after Johnny. I'll take Tala and who takes… The Thing?"
Oliver snickered into his palm. He seemed to like how I called Kai The Thing. It amused him, which made me call him that even more even going so far as to refer to him as The Thing to his face. Funny, Kai just didn't find it very amusing. Being laughed at by the resident gay was really uncool!
"Maybe Ruin should take Tala." Rei said spoke softly.
"Why?" I wanted to take Tala. I wanted to talk to Tala.
"Because Tala could wind you around his finger."
"No he damn well could not. I'm as tough as nails."
"Uh, Ams, your nails are kind of brittle."
Only when I hit them off something.
"If you're so tough, you take Kai then."
Mystel laughed at Enrique's suggestion while I flipped him off. "No thanks. I'll take Tala. I'll be able to wind him around my finger. Trust me."
"I'll take Kai."
We froze and blinked at the figure standing before us. Ming-Ming. Of course.
"I think Kai might have a little problem with her version of taking him. It's called rape."
"No thanks." Rei replied with a wane smile as I snorted at Mystel's comment. Rei didn't really seem to like Ming-Ming, then again, she is Kai's unofficial stalker and if Mariah or Mattie had a guy like that around them, I don't think I'd like him too much. Of course, Rei was too nice to say anything. Something I had found out about Rei was that he and Kai went way back. Not as far back as Tala and Kai but Rei and Kai had been in the same class on entering Tory and they'd become friends. That's a couple of years of friendship that can't be ignored over the years.
"Who would be able to relate to Kai? I suppose you could do it, Rei."
Rei shook his head. "Kai won't listen to me."
"Yeah, that's some friendship. Can't deny that."
Oh shut up, Brooklyn could never deny you anything so what does that say, queer boy.
"I'm not gay!"
SHUSH!
"Shitty." I managed to choke out despite the fact that out of the corner of my eye I could see Mystel flexing his muscles as though that showed he wasn't gay. Ha ha! "Then who would he listen to?"
"I could try my feminine willies on him."
"I think she meant wiles, not willies."
We looked at Ming-Ming's petite figure and struggled not to laugh at that stupid comment. Obviously she had just found that word in her 'word a day' calendar and hadn't learnt how to pronounce it.
Besides, I didn't like Kai but… shit, I wasn't setting Ming-Ming on him.
"Miyami?" Rei tried blatantly ignoring Ming-Ming but not until he'd shared a brief private grin with Enrique who wriggled his brows. "She is his friend, the only girl he really lets close."
"Why is this coming down to the girls?" I suddenly questioned.
"Because you're the only ones who stuck by me." Oliver pointed out quietly.
"Oh yeah." I chuckled and winced, sometimes I could be such an airhead. "My bad."
"Why do you want to help anyway? As far as I know you were just as bad as Hiwatari and all his friends." Enrique was saying to Ming-Ming who was pursing her lips and planting a tiny fist on her hips.
"Ming-Ming, I appreciate you trying to help but honestly, I think the less people involved the better." In all honesty, I really shouldn't be involved. I mean, I'm the newbie and I have really no problem with anyone here. No one has been out and out mean to me, I guess it's because I don't really cause people to feel any strong emotions as far as I'm concerned. So I really wasn't sure why I was marching into this fight, I guess Ozuma was right.
"You're trying to do the right thing. And, supporting Oliver is what a good friend does. With your support, he's gaining the courage to fight back."
Thank you Mystel. "Ok, I'm back in the game." I rubbed my hands with purpose and the boys looked at me as though I'd lost it.
"You left it?"
"What game?"
I brushed off the comments. "Right, so I'll take Tala. Aspin can have Kane. Miyami can take Kai and Shahero, Johnny. Right?"
"Oh yeah Shahero, forgot about her."
I may be an airhead but I'm so glad I'm not blonde.
"Enrique is a certain type of blond, to be as dumb as him at times, takes skill."
Mystel, you're blond.
"Oh yeah."
You were saying?
"Ok, that works for me."
"Let's hope it works full stop. It's getting beyond crazy."
I nodded at Rei's words and looked up as the teacher swept into the room with her cookery books tucked under her arm. Her gaze lingered on Rei's standing figure for a pointed moment before he quickly vaulted my table to sit down in the empty seat beside me.
Now all I had to do, I thought as our teacher opened her roll book and began to take attendance, was find Tala and knock some sense into him.
"Don't you mean talk?"
Yes, yes that's what I meant.
"In the bleak mid-winter, frosty wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow. In the bleak mid-winter, long ago."
The solitary soprano voice lingered in the stale air of the assembly area as the piano played the intro for the second verse and the choir lifted their sheets to join in. Ming-Ming was revelling in this roll as lead soloist. There was no doubt she was a beautiful singer but she could be a little bit modest about it. It was really irritating me how she was taking this choir thing way too seriously. We're a choir, we're not her backing vocalists but if one person went out of tune, she screamed blue murder. Mr. Connolly, our music teacher, was not helping one bit. In fact, he was just adding fuel to her flames.
Why was I a member of the choir? Because I had maths this class and I wasn't in the mood to have McDaid yell at me for not having my homework done again. I think that was the reason most of the seniors were here for Connolly's choir practice, it certainly wasn't because of the stimulating pep talks. For our first practice, he'd split us into soprano, alto and tenor (he couldn't be bothered to split the boys into their separate sections because there was only 10 of them and if he even looked at them the wrong way they were likely to scamper).
Then he asked us to try singing some well-known hymns, which was quickly followed up by Ming-Ming, asking to audition for her solo piece. I heard Arista shove Shahero forward for a soloist position and the groan of pain following, signalled that Shahero had declined. Sonia on the other hand was being beadily eyed for a solo verse, so on noticing this; she had carefully decided to hide behind Aspin who wasn't too impressed.
Luckily, all was well on the alto side. I was squashed quite happily between Miyami and Russia only two rows in front of the males. Behind us, you could hear their slimy comments on how Oliver could be a good soprano what with his high voice and all; and the girls behind us all giggled and flirted with them.
All I could think about was how if you kicked them in the balls, they would be singing like a soprano too. I think Russia was on the same wavelength, as she glared directly at Kai when he made his goad about Oliver and he paled significantly before quickly averting his gaze and saying something that made Tala and Johnny chuckle softly. Rei was half-asleep as he lounged against the radiator, Hitoshi looked strange standing slightly taller than the others did, and Enrique was cheerfully enjoying the attention of the fourth year sopranos in front of him. And this was the guy who thought people would think him gay for hanging out with Oliver. How naïve.
"What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part; Yet what can I give him- Give my heart."
We finished off and took a relieved breath of fresh air as Ming-Ming skipped down to the piano to ask Mr. Connolly another question on the song and her voice range or something, casually glancing up to see if Kai had noticed her. Seemingly he hadn't because he and Johnny had found something down the back of the radiator.
"'ey, look at this."
I glanced at Russia and then down to her piece of paper that held all of the songs we would be doing at the Christmas carol service at the start of December. Funny, Halloween hasn't even come yet and we're practicing Christmas carols. No wonder I don't have any Christmas spirit, all my Christmas spirit will have been used up by the time Christmas comes round.
"God rest ye merry gentle men, let nothing you dismay, for Jesus Christ our saviour was born upon this day, to save us all from Santa's power-" She quickly mumbled in a hushed tone.
I blinked and zoomed in on what she'd just said. "Santa's power?"
"Satan." Miyami corrected automatically.
"Dat's not wha' it says on my page."
I quickly leafed through my pages and snickered. "Oh yeah, Santa's power. Huh, I wonder what power that is?"
"'e can summon reindeers wit' enormous red noses t' blind ya."
"That evil fiend."
"Hey, there's another one 'Christians awake and salute the happy moron."
I muffled a chuckle in the sleeve of my sweater. "Which one?"
"God or Jesus?"
"Oh, nice one Russia."
"Thou shalt not take the lords name in vain." Miyami whispered mockingly as she shook her finger angrily at us. "In others words, shut up, I don't want to be smited."
"Smite me lord, oh smite me."
"Oh that's Bruce Almighty." I recognized.
The whole spectacle just caused me to dissolve into giggles as Russia tried to look properly chagrined and only succeeded in looking constipated which Miyami then commented on causing Russia to mutter a few choice words under her breath.
Suddenly I began to notice that the room, which had been filled with a nice buzz, was suddenly eerily silent… Biting my lip, I chanced a glance up to see that my suspicions were proved accurate. We were so busted.
"If you're quite finished girls." Mr. Connolly griped.
"Aw sorray sir, we were jus' wantin' t' salute da happy moron."
Shit.
"Shut up, Russia."
"Right, Miss Benson, come down here to the front row."
I looked up startled. Why was he moving me? What had I done? "Hey, but I didn't do anything."
"You're too small to be standing up there."
"What!" Ouch, my voice just pierced my ear and not in the cool way. Ouch. But that wasn't fair. Miyami was just a half-inch taller than I was! Which I damn well told him.
"Yes and if she was half an inch shorter, she'd be joining you."
"I don't want to stand in the front. People will see me!"
Mr. Connolly smiled brightly. "And we wouldn't want to deny them the pleasure of seeing your beautiful face, come down to the front Miss Benson."
I hate him!
I grumbled and crumpled up my paper as I sulkily stomped down to the front row between some bitch and another bitch with a pack of harpies standing behind me. I glowered at Mr. Connolly trying to tell him just how not happy I was but he paid no heed and just grinned before turning to help Ming-Ming again.
Before he could say anything more, the bell went. With a scowl, I slammed my papers down on top of the piano and strode for the exit. Miyami and Arista soon caught up with me as Russia went to find her smoking pals and Shahero, Sonia and Aspin sauntered after us.
"Aw poor Amber. All alone up there in the front."
"I'm surprised you're not standing in the front begging for everyone's attention." I muttered glumly. "It's not fair. I don't like standing in the front. I get all red faced and all clumsy."
"Yeah because with your colouring you're really going to stand out with a red face."
I scowled. "I'll look like Rudolph's nose."
"I'm sure he won't mind you stealing his look for one night." Arista chimed in, leaning an elbow on my shoulder.
"It'll be festive."
Ha, bleedin' ha. Folding my arms, I hunched my shoulders against the nippy breeze whipping up. "Oh, Mariah told me to invite you all to her Halloween party. You don't have to come but I'd really like it if you would."
"Mariah's your best friend from home right?"
"Right."
"So she'll know all about you, including what you were like as a child, your embarrassing moments, etc."
SHIT! "No, no she won't. She- she has anaesthesia."
Miyami snorted and Arista clapped a hand over her mouth. "She's, um, immune to pain?"
"Huh?"
"Anaesthesia is what you get when the dentist pokes you with a needle Ams, you meant amnesia." Mytel told me with delight as he walked just in front of me, tilting his head to see the sky. The clouds were giddily passing by the blue sky at a fast pace as though they didn't want to be spotted.
"I know what I meant." I muttered gruffly.
"Yeah, but we don't." Arista laughed causing Mystel to laugh harder.
"Yeah laugh it up."
"Wow you're a grumpy old soul, aren't you?"
"Rudolph's nose and Scrooge's temperament. You're really getting into the season. Pity you're just two months early."
"Hey Amber, wait up!"
My friends grumbled at the voice and gave me a look, almost pleading with me to ignore it but I couldn't just pretend I hadn't heard her. That would be unfair and wrong. Therefore, I gave them an apologetic smile and slowed my pace to wait for Ming-Ming.
"Your friends don't like Ming-Ming so much."
Nope. I don't understand why. Sure, she's a bit much but she's not a bad girl. Just a little strange.
"You've seen her around Hiwatari, the word bunny boiler springs to mind."
That's two words, Mysty. Aren't you glad I wasn't like that?
"Of course I am. But seriously, I feel a little bad for Kai. He doesn't even encourage the girl."
Well, I mean, she likes him. He could just try to get to know her.
"He's not interested."
How does he know? She could be exactly what he needs. She's so full of life and he's so… not.
"I just think you should try to encourage her to find someone else. She's only going to get hurt in the long run."
"Hmm." Maybe I should. It would be for the best. Kai obviously doesn't like her and she's wasting her time trying to get him to notice her. However, maybe that's my reason for being here. After all, that's what Mystel said. He said I could change someone's life. Maybe Ming-Ming and Kai are meant to be together.
"She's not from Ballykuten."
Huh?
"Hey Ams. So what did you think of choir?"
"It was…" A way to get out of Maths and that's all. "Great fun, really. Until he moved me to the front. Now I can't mime because people will know."
"Oh, why would you want to mime?" she asked tilting her head so the sun shone on her glossy teal hair.
"Um… because I can't sing. Not like you. You are really good Ming-Ming."
She blushed cutely and cast her eyes down to the ground in a bashful manner I was sure she was kind of faking because she knew she was good. "Well, I really like singing." Or maybe she wasn't faking it.
"So now you have to find yourself a male soloist to finish of that song."
"Oh yeah. That's going to be somewhat hard. I mean, none of the boys even want to sing."
"Maybe they can't. All I ever hear from them is this monotonous rumble at the back of the choir; it shifts from sounding like the ignition of a car turning to snoring."
"Now Amber, that's no way to talk about our singing."
I sighed and turned to face Tala. The sun was behind his head so I had to shield my eyes and squint to make out his expression. It was pretty amused but there was a strain to it. I really just wanted to smile at him and make everything all right between us but I couldn't, not with Oliver still being their public enemy number one.
"Hey Tala, Kai."
Oh yeah, he's there too. How surprising. And that was dry sarcasm because I'm not that surprised. Those two seemed to be pretty much joined at the hip. Being such good friends and everything.
"Maybe they're gay."
Could be.
"Ming-Ming."
"Mingin'."
I will not laugh, I will not laugh.
Oh, it was so hard not to laugh, especially when she glowed because he'd noticed her. I guess to those who didn't know he called her mingin', they wouldn't have heard anything but her name. Poor Mingin', I mean Ming-Ming.
"So are any of you two going to do the solo?" Hint, hint Kai! She's not looking at anyone in particular, except her eyes are directly on you but that could just be a coincidence.
I glanced at Tala to see if he had noticed and was pleased to note that he was looking at me too. We both shared a private grin at Ming-Ming's obvious infatuation and Kai's discomfort that is even more obvious.
"Ah, no thanks. I'm not that great a singer."
…
I was now grinning widely at how Ming-Ming had just completely ignored Tala's comment in favour of giving Kai a penetrating meaningful look.
"What about you, Kai?" I finally demanded since Ming-Ming just couldn't seem to roll up her tongue in order to speak to him. God, he's like her idol.
Kai gave me a look that said clearly that I must be barmy. I think I was, here I was trying to talk to the king of crappy conversations. Yeah, I needed to get my head seen to.
"Well?" Ming-Ming probed. "I'd say you'd have a good voice."
"Yeah, don't you sing in the shower?" I questioned making my eyes impossibly wide so everything about me seemed innocent.
Ming-Ming's eyes glazed over just as I knew they would and Kai's face darkened, just as I knew it would. Do you know he still hasn't forgiven me for telling Ming-Ming he had been in the shower instead of coming to answer the phone?
"I'll take that as no, shall I?"
"I don't sing."
"You don't sing, you don't dance, and you don't help out at the stables; tell us Kai, what do you do?"
Kai simply glowered at me before he strode off muttering something about a football match or something. Ming-Ming watched him go and her lip actually trembled before she rounded on me with her tiny hands in fists.
"Ah, he does football, that-
"Amber! Why do you always scare him away?"
"What!" I couldn't help the laughter that bubbled out at the ridiculousness of that statement. "He's twice the size of me; I hardly think I scare him."
"Ooh!" she growled before she stomped off. "I'm not talking to you until you start being nice to him."
Wow… I guess I was never going to talk to Ming-Ming again. No wait, she said she wasn't going to talk to me. I could talk to her all I wanted. But um… "Oops."
I doubled over as I began to laugh hard at the image of Kai running from a giant me. It didn't help that Mystel was calling out the rhyme from Jack and the Bean Stalk.
"Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, she smells the blood of a Russian man, be he blue or be he red, She'll grind bones to make her bread. Run, Kai, run!"
Tala sighed beside me and shook his head as he slipped his hand under my elbow and began to escort me to the canteen, past the prefabs we had been standing by.
"Why are you so hard on Kai?"
"What? I'm not hard on Kai. I barely say boo to him." That comment came with a mental image of giant me lifting off the thatched roof of a small house and yelling 'BOO!' at poor Kai who was just trying to eat his meal.
I chuckled again.
"You know, you could ease up on Kai. He's not as bad as you think."
Yeah right. "He's making Oliver's life a misery…" I muttered darkly, before adding in a bright and oh so surprised quip. "You're right, he's a regular Ghandi. Why didn't I see it before?"
Tala sighed. "Look, let's not bring Oliver into this."
I shook my head, pushing my way into the canteen, having to fight to clear a path through the group of students collected at the door. I rammed my elbow into some guy whose hand drifted too near to my ass and stumbled over someone else only for Tala to catch me.
"What's going on?"
"Will you fucking move?" Tala snapped.
The student quailed but managed to babble out an answer about something or other. I didn't really hear because of the loud din of noise but whatever Tala heard had made his expression stiffen.
I broke through the crowd and it took me a moment to take everything in. Then I gaped in astonishment as I spotted Kane pressed against the wall with Aspin being held back by a frantic Johnny. Shahero and Miyami were shouting things at both boys while Arista and Sonia were huddling around a hunched over Oliver.
"You bastard!" Aspin snapped as she yanked Johnny's hands off her and she stumbled back into Miyami's arms.
"How could you?" Shahero implored.
Alarm bells started going off in my head as I began to weave my way towards Oliver. Something was seriously wrong here and judging by Arista's frightened expression, I knew I wasn't going to like this. I slipped into the seat opposite Sonia just as Miyami came over to escort Oliver out of the canteen. A quick glance at Oliver's face told me he'd been crying and neither Aspin nor Miyami seemed very happy with whatever had happened.
"What's going on?"
"While we were in choir, Rev. Mahon pulled Oliver out of class."
Oh no. That wasn't good. "What did he say?"
Sonia just shrugged. "You know the usual stuff. Kind of tried to counsel Oliver but Oliver says it was as though he was trying to talk him out of being gay." Well that made sense; Religion was very much against homosexuals and anything that deviated from their version of the norm. The worst part was that Oliver was Catholic and Mahon is Presbyterian, which really just didn't help. They were too different religions, if he was going to be counselled, it would have been better to at least have someone he could relate to. I wouldn't feel very comfortable having a priest talk to me about anything personal.
"It also seems Balkof told his parents."
I gulped, almost unable to believe my own ears. His parents? Oh Oliver. I didn't think that would go down to well. I couldn't even begin to imagine how my parents would feel if I came out as being a lesbian. I didn't think my mother would have much of a problem but my father and my uncles on the other hand… well that was a different story. Different generations have different thoughts on certain things. Nevertheless, the terrible part was that Oliver didn't tell them. I couldn't imagine how betrayed they must feel, even if they can get past him being gay, but the fact that he felt he couldn't go to them and then to have a school teacher, particularly one who Oliver didn't have a good relationship, tell them.
"Oh god."
"Yeah and some of the parents in the PTA are asking Balkof to expel Oliver."
What! They couldn't do that. He had just as much a right to be here as any of us. It wasn't as though he was a threat to the school or the students. He wasn't going to harm any of them, unless it was heartbreak and he couldn't really be held responsible for that.
"Oh my god. This has to stop."
Sonia nodded. "Yeah. I don't think the boys were expecting this kind of reaction. At least both Kane and Johnny looked shocked. The worst part is that his parents are extremely religious."
"Oh man, this is really bad. What's he going to do?"
Sonia pushed to her feet and shook her head. I got up to follow her out of the canteen where everyone was watching us as though we'd do something amazing like spontaneously combust because we can do that, you know. We're that special.
"I don't know. But his parents aren't going to accept this. I have a funny feeling that they might try to exorcise him or something." She gave a weak chuckle as though she expected me to believe she was only joking but her words had a ring of truth to them. Still his parents, well they were his parents. They would still love him. Right?
This had to be stopped.
Before this could be stopped however, I needed to find Oliver to get a clue about what was said and how he was handling it. And where was Oliver? In the toilets crying apparently.
I felt sick.
I wanted to go to him, I wanted to help him.
I shoved through the double doors and marched to the main staircase, taking them two at a time.
I ignored the small first years I herded out of my way and returned the venomous looks of girls I happened to topple over as I walked to the boys toilets on the first floor. Not bothering to check who was inside or if anyone saw me go in, I just charged inside. The boys toilets are much like the girls, white washed stone walls, mirrors on the wall opposite the cubicles with urinals hanging on to the wall at the end.
I looked around for Oliver and figured he must have been in the cubicle with the door shut.
"Hey Oliver, are you in here?"
The toilet flushed and the dead bolt slid back as the door began to open… Oh crap!
Kai gave me a bemused look as he crossed to the sink. Pushing down on the tap, he ran his hands under the brief gush of cold water carefully watching me in the mirror. "Having a gender crisis Benson?"
"I'm sorry for barging in on your wank, but you haven't seen Oliver, have you? And if you have; can you possibly tell me where you left his mangled body?" I figure the best defence is a good offence and well… this was as good as I could come up with. Sarcasm has never failed me before.
Kai pulled a sheet of particularly rough paper from the dispenser and wiped his hands. "No, I haven't."
Dumping it in the bin, he walked to the exit and I slowly followed.
"You're ruining his life, you do know that don't you? Any trust he had in people is slowly dwindling and you're becoming a sick bully."
"You don't know me, Benson, so don't try to judge me."
"You're treating him like the Pilgrims treated those they thought were witches. Those you don't understand, you attack. How is that right?"
He froze and clenched his fists before turning and grabbing my hand. The next thing I knew was that Kai was drawing me into an empty classroom. Oh dear. He closed the door and rounded on me. Oh dear, oh dear.
"Have you seen the email?"
"No I haven't. But you all have. What you don't seem to grasp is that, first of all, it was private. How could you show that to others? He was scared and confused and trying to understand his emotions and you're all using it against him."
"He's gay!"
"Yes and he's still human."
"He treats us like meat."
I smirked. "How does it feel to be on the other side? Degrading isn't it? Nevertheless, it's ok when you're doing it to a girl because you're the stronger sex and we're all weak. Look, Oliver isn't going to force you to be gay and he's not going to pass it on like a disease. Anything he said in that letter was just him trying to figure out why he felt that way. It wasn't for you to read, but if it's any consolation I'm sure girls look at you just the same so don't worry, you're not just attractive to men." I managed a wry grin before become sober again. "But seriously Kai, if you continue acting like you are; people are going to wonder just how straight you are."
With that, I went to the door but Kai kept it closed, holding it with his hand. I sighed and turned to face him. I just wasn't in the mood for this.
"I'm not gay." He growled. I didn't like how he loomed over me or how the heat pumped off him in physical waves crashing against me and scalding my skin through my uniform.
"I- I know that. Honestly, I wouldn't care either way because you're still a dick for hurting my friend. But you have the power to stop all those boys out there treating him like a leper because they'll listen to you and your friends. They look up to you and they follow your actions."
"Why should I? Oliver's… a faggot."
"No, he's just gay." I told him softly, wondering where this calmness was coming from, this understanding tone that I never usually had. "And that's not such a big deal. You guys are making it into one, though. If you ignored it, many other boys would too. Why draw attention to it? He never lied to you."
"He lied every time he was in the changing rooms with us. We were… naked."
Now I struggled not to laugh. I never would get naked in the changing rooms; I liked to keep my clothes on. It was hardly that warm, or clean, at that. "Really?" the word came out strangled and Kai's awkwardness drained away to bemusement.
"Not quite but still. He was there perving on us."
"You don't know that."
"He said he saw…" he sighed and leaned his head against the door, which meant he was pressing himself closer to me, which I wasn't comfortable with. There is such a thing as personal space.
"Probably in passing, he noticed things." I was trying to keep this logical… but hell, if I had been in a room with a naked person, I would see things too. There's hardly much hidden, is there? Besides, what was Oliver supposed to do? Walk around with his eyes closed?
"He noticed my eyes!" Kai exploded with irritation, his eyes narrowing as he pushed back from the door.
"They're very nice eyes." I supplied not knowing what else I could say. I was struggling to remain passive but this was becoming amusing. I sobered up and smiled softly. "Look, that's nothing. He's not going to start buying you flowers. He knows you're straight and if he has any worries you can always ease them… by dating Ming-Ming." I finished brightly, liking this idea. I'd kill two birds with one stone. "Or a simple kiss in front of the entire school would suffice."
Kai groaned. "Not that again."
"But then you wouldn't have to worry about Oliver." I pointed out cheerfully. Yeah I really liked this idea.
"No I'd have her after me. I don't know which one's worse. The gay or the fairy."
I bit my lip against the laughter and raised a hand tentatively. "Which one's which?"
At that he snorted with amusement and then just broke down and began to chuckle. I had to join him; it was nice to be able to relieve the stress that had been building up.
"What about Oliver?" Mystel asked with a disapproving edge to his tone.
"Yeah, could you just try and ignore Oliver? I mean, he's having a really hard time and I'm really worried about him. Plus, by leaving him alone, Mimi and Aspin might come round again."
"Look, I can't speak for the others but I'll leave him alone. I've been doing that all week anyway. If he stays away from me and doesn't do any funny business, then I don't have much of a problem with him."
I raised a brow. If he stays away from you. Funny business?"You're confusing Ming-Ming with Oliver again, he's not your stalker. I doubt he even likes you that much anymore."
"Good."
"Oh come on, Kai, he just wants things to go back to normal. Isn't it bad enough that his parents know and he might be expelled?"
Kai's eyes suddenly sharpened on mine. "Expelled?"
Oh, so he hadn't known about that.
"He was at football practice, remember?"
Oh yeah, forgot about that. "Some parents have found out about Oliver being gay, they're asking for him to be removed. Didn't you know?"
Kai shook his head. "No, I… I hadn't heard about that. Look, I can't do anything about that but I'll leave him alone as long as he stays away from me. But I can't guarantee the others. I won't protect him, if that's what you're after but I won't back the other boys."
I guess that was the most I could expect. "Thanks Kai."
"I'm not promising that people will leave him alone."
"But you and Tala and Johnny will? No more snide comments, no more shoving him around-"
"I can't speak for Johnny or Tala but I'll ignore him, ok? But if he does one thing I don't like-"
"You better give me a quick update on what you don't like Kai, because you seem to dislike an awful lot."
He gave me a disconcerting look and I shrank back against the door. He blew out a breath and shook his head. "Look, if he stays out of my way-"
"Yeah but that's a little difficult. He's in some of the same classes with you."
"So is Ming-Ming." It was almost a joke, the way he compared them but I got his drift. If he could ignore Ming-Ming, he could ignore Oliver.
"He won't say anything to you Kai, believe me, he doesn't want any trouble."
"Yeah, well whatever. I gotta go to my next class, I'll see you later."
"Aye, at work."
He shot me a surprised look. "You're working today?"
I nodded. "You're dad asked me to come in."
With a shrug, he ushered me away from the door and then left through it. I turned to Mystel who was leaning against the table with his arms crossed.
"Well, that went well don't you think?"
He chuckled and shook his head. "I was right."
"You were right? About what?" I stared at him but still nothing was dawning. "Is this an all's well that ends well thing? Because I don't even remember you saying anything like that."
He grinned and tapped a finger to his nose.
"What does that mean? Hey, you can't just say something like that and go quiet. What do you mean?"
The door opened and the caretaker looked in, shooting me a very annoyed glare. "You're not supposed to be in here," he grumbled.
With a sigh, I shot Mystel another peeved look before I sauntered out of the empty classroom and set off to my next class with the intention of telling the girls that Kai had been taken care of and that just left Johnny and Tala and then things would be as close to normal as they ever would be. Or so I hoped.
Yeah Kai's slightly odd in this chapter. I hope you like this. I can't get any Halloween spirit for the next chapter so it may take some time. Sorry.