Chapter 14: Doubles.
Must listen…must pay attention… must be attentive.
I…I…I give up.
"Sakura Mikan how very bold of you to take a nap in my class!" the terror teacher, none other than Mr. Jinno yelled.
My head shot up the moment he screamed out my name. My eyes widened although everything seemed to be a blur. "H-hai!" I screamed in surprise. I rubbed my eyes and saw Mr. Jinno standing in front of me with his arms crossed and his disciplinary stick in his hand. I could hear my classmates giggle. Geez, this is embarrassing.
"You're nothing but trouble, Sakura." He hissed and walked back to the black board.
I sighed and then turned to my best friend, Hotaru who rolled her eyes at me. She's probably thinking about me and saying 'Idiot' over and over again. I got back to looking at the blackboard. I'm so tired and sleepy right now, I almost didn't get any sleep at all from drafting some design ideas for the Sakura-Flames original.
Mr. Jinno glared at me, he really hates me. He's not supposed to be the one in class anyway, but because our teacher is ill today, he just had to fill in his position. 'There is so much to do.' I thought to myself as I opened my notebook and started doodling.
The bell rang and it was finally dismissal. The last teacher left the classroom and my classmates started to hurry on out. I stuffed all my things in my bag slowly because I did not really have any energy to move fast. I won't be going to the office today either, I'll be doing my project with Ruka.
"Ruka, are we still up for our project?" I asked him with a sweet smile on my face.
"Of course." He replied. "We have to start doing it. You'll ride with me, right?"
I beamed. "Yeah."
"Great." He replied.
I walked out with my best friend who was waiting for me outside the room. "I'm riding with Ruka today because we're going to do the project in his house." I told her.
"Oh." she just uttered.
It reminded me of the fact that Hotaru and Natsume might not be making any progress in their work. "Have you and Natsume started on the project?" I asked her.
She shrugged her shoulders. "Guess I'll fail to pass one project this year." She said nonchalantly.
I held her hands. "That can't happen. If you miss a project, your performance in school will be affected."
The classroom opened and Natsume and Ruka stepped out. "Shall we go?" Ruka asked.
I bit my lip. I wish I had an idea of what to do. As the best friend of Hotaru Imai, I cannot let anything happen to her that would affect her negatively. Come on, Mikan. Think.
"Mikan?" Ruka called.
I got it.
"Wouldn't it be great if we could help each other in this project? It would be a lot easier." I said with slight trace of second-guessing on my face.
"What?" they questioned in chorus.
I decided to be firm about my suggestion. "I mean, I know that Hotaru and Natsume haven't started with their project yet. Wouldn't it be great if we could help each other out together?"
"Don't you have any invention to make sappy and stupid love stories, Imai?" Natsume asked his partner.
"Why would I make such an invention?" Hotaru replied as if she was offended.
"I can't imagine Hotaru making a machine that concerns romance and the like, unless it was a practical joke." I commented. "Come on, I don't want my best friend to miss a project. She's running for honors, Natsume."
"I know! if you write us a story I'll cut the cost of your debt to me." Hotaru answered.
"HOTARU!" I exclaimed as I pouted. "I'd rather be buried in your debt than let me do your project. That'll be unfair. I can only give ideas, you know!"
Ruka faced his bestfriend. "It is a project, Natsume."
"Yeah, whatever. I don't want to argue with an idiot today. My head hurts too much." Natsume replied.
I could have bitten him back. But never mind, at least I know they'll be passing a project.
"I must be in heaven." I whispered as I gaped at the big living room in front of me.
Ruka's house IS the dream home anyone has ever wanted. It was huge! even ten times; no make it fifteen times bigger than my house. Well, that's what it seemed to me. Two maids and a butler lined up on the foot of the stairs, kind of like what you would see in the movies.
"Ruka-san, welcome home." They greeted in perfect chorus.
"These are my friends." He said.
"Natsume is here as well?" the butler asked.
"Yeah. Oh, and this is Hotaru Imai and Mikan Sakura." Ruka added.
"Charming girls." One maid said with a friendly smile on her face.
"We'll be doing our project. Please make everyone feel at home." Ruka instructed his house helpers as they walked away.
"Ruka, your house is fabulous!" I said excitingly.
He chuckled a bit at my actions.
Natsume looked at me disgustingly. "Cut it out, you're embarrassing yourself."
Ruka led us to the second floor. We entered the study room that was full of bookcases. It had two desktop computers and one laptop on one of the study tables. There were four study tables, so yeah; you could just imagine how big this room is.
I tried to keep my mouth shut this time. I might repel Ruka with my actions and he might think I'm a weirdo.
"Shall we get started?" Ruka asked.
We stationed by pair, having one desktop computer each. We started with our projects, and minded our own businesses.
"Next scene is…"
"No, Ruka. There's a few more lines I'd like to add." I replied.
I started thinking as I glanced upon my best friend and her partner. It has been ten minutes and the two of them looked like they didn't make much progress.
"What have you done so far?" I asked them.
BAKA.BAKA.BAKA.
"What was that for?!" I yelled as I recovered form Hotaru's baka gun attack.
"I'm frustrated." Hotaru simply replied.
I walked over to them since I wanted to read what they've come up with so far. Hotaru stood up from her chair as I walked closer. She looked distressed, it is probably the second time in my life I've seen her this way. Normally, she always has a stoic expression on her face.
"I…have to go to the bathroom." She said.
I almost fell to the floor.
"Uh…sure." Said Ruka as he stood up and led her out of the room.
It was quiet. I sat down Hotaru's chair and started reading the story they made. Natsume was on his chair behind me, rubbing his temples.
Boys and Girls
By: Hyuuga Natsume and Imai Hotaru
Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl says no and then the boy gets a one-way ticket to Mexico where he meets a beautiful gypsy dancer named Isobella at a fast food restaurant. They become best friends because they both like to eat double cheeseburgers. They realized they were falling in love because they both liked cheeseburgers with milkshakes. They want to get married because they like cheeseburgers with milkshakes and curly fries. Then they lived a happy life with cheeseburgers served in their wedding.
The End.
My jaw dropped. What is with the cheeseburgers?
"Natsume, did you help in making this story?" I asked.
He didn't respond.
I turned to him as I saw him still rubbing his temples.
"Hey, are you alright?" I asked him. "You look… sick."
"I'm fine, polka dots." He said with his usual tone of voice, yet I could see that he looked really sick.
"You don't look too good."
"I said I'm fine!" He yelled out really loud. He was furious for some reason; he was a lot more hot-tempered today than ever.
I stood up and placed my hand on my hips. "You ungrateful moron, you should be happy I'm concerned!"
"Shut up." He replied as his eyebrows crossed. He looked like he was going to fall out of his chair. He was sweating on his forehead, and he was a lot more hot-tempered today.
"You really don't look well; I think you need a glass of water."
I walked to the door. Honestly, I was a little worried about him. He didn't look so tough back there though he was yelling at me. Something was weird about him.
I grabbed the door knob. "Damn it…" I cursed. "Why is this door so hard to open?"
Suddenly, I heard something hit the ground.
I turned.
"NATSUME!" I yelled.
Author's note: Hi everyone! Is this chapter good or bad? I was in a rush to write this one because I have a ton to do but of course, I wanted to update really bad. Hehe. Please leave a review. Thank you.