"This," Cho said pointedly, drawing an imaginary line across the bed. "Is MY side."
"WHAT! No way! That is like, 5 times the size of my side!"
"Yeah, well. Ladies first."
"I'm bigger than you…by like a ton!"
"Why do you keep saying "like"? It's getting on my nerves."
Mello folded his arms and narrowed blue eyes at her. "I…do…that…when…I…am…mad…be…cause…I…have…to…share…a…bed…with…a…stupid…FRICKING…GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he choked out, his pupils small enough they could have been the little dark red dots on the crimson bedspread. Cho's blackberry hair stood on end as she leaned forward, nose in a knot.
"WELL IT'S ONLY FAIR YOU B-!"
"I'M NOT A-!"
"OH YES YOU ARE!"
"SHUT UP! ANY OTHER GIRL WOULD BE A BLUSHING OVERJOYED MESS!"
"OR A QUIVERING TANTALIZED TERROR STRUCK LITTLE RABBIT!"
"LIKE YOUR IDIOTIC "FRIEND" ANNA SOFIA????"
"SHE'S NOT A-!"
"OH YES SHE IS!"
"SHUT UP! ANY OTHER GUY WOULD BE AS SOFT AND KIND AS A FUR COAT AROUND HER!"
"OR A DISGUSTED STONED FREAK AT HER FRAIDINESS!"
"LIKE YOUR FRIEND JEB?"
"HE'S NOT A-!"
"OH YES HE IS!"
"SHUT UP! ANY OTHER GIRL WOULD BE A—Hey, wait….didn't we just do this with ME?!" Mello stuck his finger into Cho's chest. Cho pulled away.
"OW! PERVERT!"
"I'M NOT A--!"
"OH YES YOU-!"
Suddenly, Michelle stood up, marched over, and grabbed Cho and Mello around the shoulders.
"Shut. Up. Now."she growled
"But he-!" Cho began, like an indignant child.
"UH-UH!"
"She's the real--!" Mello cut in, embarrassed to be reprimanded by his little sister.
"NNT!" Michelle closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "For one week. ONE WEEK! Can't you two just decide to not cross boundaries…FAIR boundaries, and to…act your age?"
Her eyes plead with all their might. Cho and Mello sighed simultaneously and turned to the mattress. Near watched the whole situation with a bemused look on his small angular face.
"Honeymoon blues. Maybe that wasn't such a fab pair." He observed, tossing his white hair as the lights went out.
"Shut. It. Now, faggot." Mello growled from the darkness, like one of hell's angels.
Near's sarcastic snort was the last thing anyone heard.
Well, it would have been if you considered Michelle, Near, and Cho everyone.
Mello turned over onto his back and stared into the swirly, dark, black that he could barely make out. Looking at Cho, her white, white, coconut popsicle skin contrasted against her blackberry hair, and her cherry lips and cheeks, he knew this was going to be a long night.
Just his freaking stupid luck to be stuck in unlucky number thirteen with all these fast sleepers. It was always nice to have Jeb as his roommate, Jeb who had major insomnia and sat up late talking Mello into a sloppy boyish sleep. Now everyone was asleep, and Cho's face was the only thing he could see in the black, her sleeping smile and her long black lashes on her cheeks. How it would be impossible to make her look even mildly ugly and how he felt when she---. No, no he was just tired. Tired and delusional about this immature little (he glanced at her chest), well not undeveloped little girl.
"Well. I can always try to sleep." He thought, and rolled over onto his stomach, face down. Soon, he was seeing all those little patterns you see when you press your eyes against something hard, and he was half asleep, for once. A white swirly pattern came up and he felt like he was falling and falling then-FLUMP. Had he hit the bottom? Was Mello dead. Gasping in panic from this nightmare-like vision, he opened his eyes wide.
It had to have been at least an hour since he last woke. The moonlight had shifted and lay on his face. Yawning and trying to roll over, he realised there was something there…a pressure around his back, round his middle.
"No. Way." He choked, feeling his half-conscious self grow shocked. It couldn't be? Could it? Yeah, prob'ly but still….
Cho? Cho was hugging him?! In her sleep. He could feel her skinny arms around him, her soft, thick hair over his shoulder, onto the pillow in front of him. In a way it was kind of comforting. A girl hugging him. At night. And not a bad looking one. No, not at all.
NO MELLO. Don't get caught up thinking like that. It's perverted, sick guy thinking. Still, she would probably move in a couple minutes.
So…just…re…lax…
The white swirlies were back in seconds.
When Cho woke up, it was still dark outside. In fact it was so dark that Cho could barely breathe. She tried to move her head, and then…wait a second…
She could hear muffled giggling and see a flicker of light to the left and there were someone's what felt like arms clenching her tight. Oh. This wasn't the darkness she had her face buried in. It was Mello. Cho let out an earpiercing scream and flew back, smoothing her wild, now tangly (thanks to being smothered in Mello's arms all night) hair and feeling to make sure her oversized Rammstein T-shirt and underwear were fully on.
At that exact second, Mello woke up as well, immediately leaping out of the bed and across the room. His blonde hair was somehow still perfect, though-as always-a little gay looking.
Cho spat out some choice cuss words that would have pleased Billie Joe himself. Mello seemed at a lost for any better and pointed a shaky finger at Cho.
"Exactly." He nodded. "I agree."
"With the f-word? Yeah, you say it enough." Michelle said, recovering from a bout of hysterical giggles. Even Near cracked a genuine smile.
Mello scowled. "Crap." He muttered finally.
There was a knock on the door followed by a child's voice.
"Breakfast in five, cuss-heads." It said then scrambled away, giggling. Mello cracked his knuckles. "They tell, they're dead."
"They would never tell." Near said matter-of-factly, twisting his curly hair around one finger. "It's you Mello. You would murder them."
"Damn right." Mello spat in his hand and smoothed his hair back, confidence boosted.
After breakfast, there a schedule was handed out, also on neon paper, but this time green.
7:45-8:45- Breakfast buffet
9:00-10:15- Two-Mile Hike on Mountain (Groups by room assignment) (bring bathing suit, sunscreen)
10:15-1:30- Free Time on Beach (towels provided
2:00-3:00-Picnic on beach (PB&J on side if you do not enjoy Japanese food)
3:00-6:00-Showers, Volleyball, Swimming, Tours
6:30-7:30-Dinner in hotel
8:00-10:00- Dessert in rooms, relax in hotel pool and rooms
10:15-Lights out
"Whew!" Cho said as she finished. "This already rocks!"
She was right. The kids spent the day running around in the heat. Cho wore her black with hot pink skull bikini all day, Michelle in her baby blue two-piece.
As the sun went down Cho stood outside the hotel, which was yards away from the beach watching the pinky-purpley-orange splattered sunset explode before her. It gave her n unexpected burst of energy, sending her bursting into a flash of speed that would last her the next 2 miles there and back.
You always dreamed of the beach. The heat and the sand and the warmth that London never had. You wanted to go to the beach in California, see all the crazies on rollerskates, the ice cream stands and the hotties with filled-to-the-brim bikini tops. You always said that we would hear the funny Americans with their odd, clangy, mushy accents, and their tanned skin, and their Hollywood. We would stay there all summer and then go to somewhere cold and snowy-never rainy like London- all winter. We would never have to go back to the dreary city of London and my looks and voice would make us richer than Bill Gates. We'd have a house in every country and we would never ever ever grow old. I would find a boyfriend and you a girlfriend, and we'd kiss on the beach with fruit and whipped cream and cherry chocolate and a bonfire. Then we'd lie under the stars and count every single star until they all blended together in their little crystal dotiness. We would become immortal from happiness and live together forever in heaven on the beach.
Now here I am there, but you aren't with me and you probably never ever ever will be and I always will. I want to live and die here and get my pale skin tan and my skinny body strong and healthy from running all over like I am now. And now I can feel the tears on my cheeks and they feel so good, just like my whole body that's running and running and running. But I have to go now, I'm tired and I'm back at the hotel and I'm probably in big trouble with adults you'll never meet. Love you big Bro.
Butterfly Girl
11
Days rolled on like wheels, and by the time three days had passed, Cho felt like it had been hours since she stepped off the cramped plane from London into Japan. Room 13 was in a warp. No one had changed, a relief (everyone agreed Mello would be scary as a nice guy) and a regret (Cho arguing with everyone about everything which led to Mello punching her to her punching him back to Michelle intervening, to Michelle shoved out crying, to Baki-sensei coming to scream at Cho and Mello until their ears bled) but it was all good.
The orphanage ruled their own section of the beach merely by the fear the peace-seeking tourists held of two hundred kids running full-speed at the sparkling blue water. The first day, an overprotective mother on vacation from Hiroshima had tried to sue Wammy's for nearly trampling her baby.
Yet, every vacation holds problems and scary stories (that are funny now) and perfectly horrible disasters. Of course, 200 random children on a beach in the middle of Japan, all with boundless amounts of energy, will attract one or two more problems than intended.
It all started like this
"Hey! Take a look at that!" Cho's finger was pointing at a giant rockside that the children had passed everyday, that she had barely ever noticed. "I bet no one could climb that."
"I so could." Mello said, having noticed the rock before. He barely knew the limits of his strength, but definitely had enough endurance. Cho rolld her eyes and ignored him, trying to avoid another ear-pounding from BAKA-sensei.
"See it Michelle?" she asked, nailing her friend in the rib with a badly aimed nudge. Michelle rubbed her ribs and squinted up quickly at the rock to be polite. She'd noticed it as well.
"Uh-huh. Cool. Now let's go, we're falling behind." She said, pulling Cho by the wrist hurriedly.
Near was at Cho's shoulder.
"We've passed that cliffside EVERY day and you haven't noticed it." He commented.
"Really?!" Cho shoved her face in Near's, genuinely interested.
"Yes." Near said, showing no emotion. "Little Miss Mindless."
"Taller than you!" Cho giggled, hurrying up to find Michelle again. Near sighed and stared up at the rock, his wide lilac eyes silent and observing. He had somewhat hoped she wouldn't notice it. She would most ultimately think she ould climb it---or would dare Mello to, and that was nothing but trouble. As he watched Cho wrap her arm around Mello and point at the rock, Mello shaking his head and laughing then nodding he groaned inwardly. He'd have to keep them busy.
"Not this trip." Mello said. "If I die, Michelle will cry and I'm not that stupid. Neither are you."
"You're scared." Cho decided, tossing her hair and smiling. "I won't make you do it. If you did I'd…kiss you." She decided brokenly, shrugging.
Mello's eyes got wide and his cheeks turned an unnatural shade of pink. "Naw way. Now I'm totally off it." He said. Cho laughed, burying her head in the nape of his neck. He felt himself turn redder.
He would set off that afternoon. Maybe just a couple feet or so---test it out.
Later on that day, Cho took a swim in the beach. She had found the joy the water..the snow…anything cold brought to her. It rushed through her veins and made her warm body cold as the ice she felt like she was made of when submerged underwater. Michelle sat on the beach watching her, wearing a pair of sunglasses and drinking lemonade.
"Cho! Come on up here!" she called for the second time in the past half hour. "The water can wait! Roger made lemonade! That won't last!"
Cho came up, having somehow heard Michelle and shook her head.
"Ten more minutes Michelle! Save me a cup or two!" she said, throwing her hair back over her shoulders. Water drops splayed out across the sunny afternoon, like a small pixelation in its perfection. Cho let herself fall back into the water, head curved down and out like one of those supermodels on TV. She entered the water, eyes closed, feeling every particle of sand that brushed her arm.
Michelle, unknown of the spectacle Cho was feeling sighed and waited for her to remerge from the watery depths. It was hot out and she was getting a little impatient. No one else was out in this part of the water. Michelle didn't really want to be. She had a strange, unnamed urge. The kind you get when you are ignoring something that needs to be done. She just needed someone to tell her what it was.
Cho came up finally.
"Cho." Michelle sighed, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear. "Come on. Please."
Cho heard the note of desperation in her friend's usually mellow voice and rolled her eyes.
"Fine. Michi. I'm coming out. That lemonade better be REAL good." She trotted out of the aqua surf, kicking her heels up to make the water splash around her ankles.
Michelle handed the girl her towel, which Cho took and squeezed her hair out with. The wetness from her hair came down and made the sand browny-tan. She then proceeded to wrap the polyester material around her waist and grab Michelle's wrist.
"Lemonade?" she asked, still slightly pissed at her early exit from the water.
Michelle rolled her eyes as Cho pouted her lips and pointed down the beach to a cooler half filled with icy lemonade. It seemed to be quite popular, as there were only 2 pitchers of the twenty-two original remaining.
Cho stalked over, poured a glass and took a long, gulping sip.
"Mm…" she said, not bothering to conceal her contentment.
"Good?" Michelle asked smugly, reaching for the pitcher. Cho moved aside, face suddenly clear.
"I've had better." She lied and tossed her hair. Michelle took a sip of her second cup and took Cho's empty hand.
"Lets sit." She said, pulling Cho onto her towel. Cho nodded and lay back. There was silence as she sighed deeply.
"Where's Mello?" she asked, yawning. Michelle's heart skipped a beat.
"I…"
Cho opened a crimson-purpley eye. "Yeah?"
"I…don't know." Usually Mello was loud and easy to spot, but neither girl had seen him since around one. Michelle checked her watch. It was three.
Cho frowned and shrugged. "Maybe he's up in the room resting." She said simply.
Michelle shook her head, a worry line appearing briefly. "When I went up to get my suit on, he wasn't there."
"Eating?"
"Nah. He only eats at meals and whenever he can get his hands on chocolate. There's none here."
"Reading?"
"You talking about Mello?"
"Hiking?" There was a brief pause and Michelle stood up. "Cho." She said abruptly, taking a little breath.
"Nn?" Cho had her eyes closed again.
"Didn't you dare him to climb that rock?" Michelle's voice shook ever so slightly.
Cho opened her eyes and stood up, eye to nose with Michelle. "Ohmyfreakingod. He would never."
Michelle nodded. "He might."
Cho's eyes were alight with fire. "Idiot." She rapidly fingercombed her hair and turned.
"Well. He'll probably be back in about 5 or 10. After he falls and gets a little scrape."
Michelle's azure irises brimmed with doubt. She waited. "It's been 3 hours since we last saw him." She said hesitantly.
Cho shrugged. "He doesn't have to be in our sight every second. He's probably only been gone half an hour or so." With that she walked off, leaving Michelle to follow her. Michelle sighed and bit her lip, looking up at the looming hill of thick forest where her own flesh and blood might be in peril as she thought.
He couldn't be that in trouble, could he? Nah. Not Mello.
Michelle nervously checked her watch. It was 6:30 and there were still no signs of Mello anywhere. As she nervously nibbled at a hot dog for dinner, she began to worry. He was missing dinner. Mello never misses a meal. Unless he found chocolate. But that was doubtful. What kind of freak finds random chocolate on a desert island?
Michelle put down her hot dog and pushed it around with her finger. The weiner fell out of the bun and rolled across her plate, softly thumping against her potato chips. Cho looked up from her own hot dog and looked a little unsure.
"Michelle…he's still not back, is he?" she asked knowingly, setting down her plastic fork.
Michelle shook her head slowly. One. Two. Three. Four…
"C'mon, he's fine."
Michelle's head continued saying no. Cho sighed deeply and took a breath, not letting it out.
She stood rapidly. The food on her lap clattered to the floor in slow motion, ketchup spattering on Michelle's legs.
"That's it. Bye Michelle, I'll be back." Her words were sharp edged and full of confidence.
Michelle couldn't find the power to say anything. It was pretty obvious that Cho was going to find Mello, but for once Michelle was totally blank. Her eyes reached an impossible degree of being wide open. Cho shook her head and turned, beginning to run down the path out of the hotel and onto the sand, long black hair trailing after her into the sunset.
"CHO! STOP! WAIT!" As the blonde girl stood, suddenly in a panic she realized no sooner than the words left her mouth that it was too late. She muttered a rare curse and stared at the ground, brow furrowed.
Someone touched her shoulder, tentative fingers curling around her neck. It was Near, hidden in a white sweater and gloves.
"What now, Michelle?" he asked in his slow, girlish voice. Michelle's heart began pounding as the words sunk in.
She pointed viciously into the slowly disappearing sun.
"We follow." The girl grabbed Near's wrist, taking him by surprise and ran, following after her best friend and brother…where ever they were.
