// Author's Note: Wowza! Chapter 20! Exciting. I owe it to my readers. Without all of your support, I would never make it this far. This is the first fanfiction I've ever gotten this far in! I'm so proud. Of course, I hope this chapter is to your liking. Also, a shout out to Sobi15, one of my friends who reads Harvest High! religiously. She has an awesome fanfic going on right now, "What I Never Thought Would Happen", a constant source of inspiration because Sobi's writing style is beyond awesome. I highly reccomend it, especially if you like my fanfic.
So... enjoy Chapter twenty! End Author's Note //
Characer Notes
Lucy Clifford : Lucy is one of my original characters, expect to see more of her in following chapters.
Chapter 20: Ninjalicious Romance
"Hmmm..." Carl said, as he and Sacchun were waiting in line to buy their movie tickets. However, they still hadn't decided on what movie to watch.
"Oooh, how about that one?" Carl said eagerly, pointing to a bright poster of a girl sitting on a bench with multicolored leeaves around her.
"Autumn's Epilogue?" Sacchun snorted, looking incredulous. What a fruity movie!
"Well I heard it's supposed to be really good!" Carl said defensively.
"I bet it is." Sacchun said dryly.
"Fine. Then how about that one? It looks like a movie you might like." Carl pointed to another poster - red, black, and filled with the silhouettes of ninjas.
"Rise of the NinjArmy." Carl read out loud. Sacchun felt a twinge of uncomfort as she realised she was supposed to see that movie with Joe. It doesn't matter, though. she thought to herself. Serves him right for going out with that skank... and anyway, if worst comes to worst, i'll just go see it with him and pretend I've never seen it before.
"Sure, fine." Sacchun said, as they arrived at the ticket booth.
"Two for Rise of the NinjArmy." Carl said, taking out his wallet.
"No, Carl, I'll pay." Sacchun said, stepping in front of him, digging into her purse.
"N-No, that's okay, Sacchun." Carl said timidly. He blushed.
"No, no, I'll have no boy paying for my movie tickets." Sacchun said firmly, paying for their tickets. The lady behind the glass looked at them with an amused smile, and handed them their tickets.
"Enjoy the movie." she said, as the next people walked up. Sacchun and Carl walked into the main room of the theatre - a large circular room, one side with a huge concessions store, and the other with many doors leading to many different cinemas.
"I feel bad for not paying, Sacchun." Carl said as Sacchun zipped up her purse.
"Like I said, I'll have no boy paying for my movie tickets." she repeated. "...Snacks, however, is a different story." she smiled sneakily, and steered Carl over to the concessions store.
"Oh, Eheheh." Carl chuckled as he pulled out his wallet again.
"Now then... a large popcorn - we can share that - a blue ice slushie for me, a small bag of BBQ chips, some sour candy, those chocolate covered almonds, and some of those cinnamon sticks there." Sacchun pointed out her entire request and Carl seemed to droop with each item added to the list.
Regretfully, he emptied his wallet onto the counter to pay for Sacchun's miniature feast.
"Oh, that reminds me," Sacchun started. "Do you guys have ... Hmm... Pocky?" she asked hopefully.
"Huh? What's that?" the lazy teenage boy working their asked.
"Er... Nevermind." Sacchun waved and walked off, Carl stumbling after her holding all her concessions.
"Come on Carl, the movie isn't going to wait for you to catch up!" she said impatiently, tapping her foot. She wheeled around to see Carl struggling with the weight of all the stuff he had to carry.
"Oh, wait, you... Let me help you out." Sacchun said, with a pitying look on her face. She took the drink from him and started sipping it from its white, transparent straw.
"There you go, hunny!" she said with a satisfied smile, as they entered a Cinema with a big neon '8'-sign above it.
---
Joe and Katie escaped the cold winter into the theater, hand in hand. Joe playfully shook the snow out of Katie's breadstick-hair-roll-curls - he didn't know what else to call them - and they proceeded to buy tickets. Joe felt a twinge of guilt as he bought the ticket from the lady.
"Oh, Katie," he said, suddenly remembering they were on a date. "Should I buy your ticket too, or...?"
"No no, It's okay, you wanted to pay for the lunch." she said, forking out money.
"Yeah, but the lunch was a dud. I didn't even pay." Joe pointed out.
"It's the thought that counts." Katie smiled.
"Er... Katie, no offense, but if money could be replaced by kind thoughts the world would be a much better place."
Katie laughed, and had the sudden urge to embrace Joe in a bone-crushing hug. She resisted. There would be plenty of time to kiss, fondle, and do god knows what in the darkness of the cinema.
"Heheh... Anyway, shall we get some snacks? Those I'll pay for." Joe said, looping his arm with Katie's as they walked into the cinema's lobby.
"I've never been one to turn down movie snacks!" she said, as they made their way over to the conessions store. Buying some candy and a regular sized bag of popcorn each, the young couple checked their tickets.
"Cinema 8." Katie said.
"Shall we?" Joe asked. Katie nodded and they were off to Cinema 8. As they entered the cinema, they got seats right at the back, where the screen wouldn't glare down on them and they would be free to make out as they pleased.
"Comfourtable?" Joe asked as he took off his coat. Katie took hers off too.
"Yep."
A lame preview started, for a new movie.
"Ugh, how lame is that?" Joe felt like retching. It was a chick-flick romance that looked like the fruitiest thing ever.
"It looks sweet!" Katie argued.
Yeah, sweet like vomiting up expired candy, I guess. Joe thought, but refrained from voicing his thought.
"Hey, Look at that..." Katie said suddenly, pointing to something scribbled on the back of the seat in front of them. Joe stared at it.
KaReN's Property, Yo!
Katie laughed. "Wow... I wonder if anyone's noticed it yet."
"Leave it to Karen to claim her seat in a movie theater." Joe smiled.
"Are you friends with her?" Katie asked suddenly, as the preview continued to play.
"Not really. I mean, we don't hate each other, but we don't hang out much either." Joe shrugged. "Why, are you?"
"Oh, I try to stay out of those popularity clashes. Buuuut... Well, I don't like Karen much. She's too much of an alcoholic." she said, rolling her eyes.
"She's really nice though."
"I like Gwen better, truthfully." Katie said.
"Weren't you friends with one of Karen's friends a while ago?" Joe asked, suddenly remembering Katie hanging around a girl who always hung around with Karen.
"Oh, Lucy Clifford? The one with long dark purple hair?" Katie asked.
"Yeah! She's in my French class." Joe remarked.
"Yeah, we used to be best friends. She was a cheerleader with Nina and me. Well now, obviously, we don't hang out much. We got into a fight but... we don't have to talk about that now, do we?" Katie said, as the lights dimmed for the movie to start.
"No, it's okay." Joe said hastily, not wanting to touch on a subject Katie didn't want to talk about. He knew Lucy Clifford was a friend of Karen's, was a drinker, was snobby, and was really, really rich to boot. Though, even with all these faults, she was still one of the most popular girls at Flowerbud High. A fact that seemed to boggle him. "Oooh, the movie's starting..."
The movie started, and continued. Katie seemed to get into it more than Joe thought she would, as the storyline did feature a small amount of romance between an assassin and a ninja princess.
"Oh, Joshiru! I can't stand this anymore! Even if it means you must kill my father, I cannot stand to be away from you longer!" the woman on the screen cried, as the rain poured around them.
"Sachiko, you must realise that we cannot be together..." the assassin said in his deep, calm voice.
"This is soooo... coool!" Katie whispered to herself, her eyes twinkling. Joe was happy to see that Katie was enjoying it.
"Then before you go... Let us share one last kiss." the music suddenly turned into a string orchestra of romantic music, as animated flowers blossomed around the two characters. They shared a kiss.
"That is sooo touching..."
"Katie." Joe said, imitating the voice of the assassin. "Let us share one last kiss." he moved in and him and Katie were at it again. They were - as Manna would call it - regular tonguemonkeys. Suddenly, their making out was interrupted by a scream from further down in the theater.
"NOOOO!" yelled a girl with black pigtails. She was bouncing up and down and finally jumped up, knocking her popcorn over on a boy next to her with blonde locks.
"Is that... Ca-"
"YOU IDIOT!" the girl yelled. Joe felt a horrible sinking in his stomach. He knew who's voice it was. For a second, he thought Sacchun was yelling at him.
"DON'T YOU DARE KISS HER! YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO MURDER HEEEEER!" Sacchun yelled, throwing popcorn at the screen. It didn't make it, and just fell on the people in front of her.
"NOOOO! PRINCESS SACHIKO!" she yelled, as the princess fell over, the rain carrying her blood.
"I'm sorry, my love. It had to be this way. What is truely more cruel? The war that our clans are waging, or our love, that was so strong?" the assassin said, tears streaming down his face.
"YOU IDIOT! I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU UP!" she yelled. Joe felt himself snicker. Sacchun always got way too into movies. Of course, that was half the fun of going with her. He shrunk back into his seat, hoping she would not notice. He was not in danger of that, however, seeing as Sacchun was focusing too intently on the movie.
"Joe, isn't that Carl? And your friend? That girl who was in the Café?" Katie asked, shaking Joe's arm.
"Uh, yeah." Joe said sheepishly.
"Let's go say Hi to them!" Katie suggested, clearly thinking of having a double date.
"Look Katie, no offense, but now's really not a great time."
"Oh, because we're right in the middle of a movie! Right, stupid me." Katie laughed.
"Uh, sure, let's go with that." Joe said to himself. The last thing he wanted was for Sacchun to realise he was here with Katie. He had more or less disrupted their plans by coming to see the movie with her, and Sacchun was going to be disapointed. Wait... or would she? Suddenly, it hit Joe.
That... That little... She came to see the movie without me!! She was ... urgh! How could she disrupt our plans?! I can't believe her! Joe fumed to himself. He felt his insides boiling, and seemed to have forgotten that he was just doing the same thing she was.
"Joe, are you okay?" Katie asked, turning to him. Joe forced a cough.
"Errm, yeah, just have some popcorn stuck in my throat." he lied.
"Hehe, okay." Katie said, turning back to the movie. Joe barely focused on the rest of the movie. Between make-outs with Katie and Sacchun's many outbursts, he had a hard time keeping his eyes on the screen. By around her third outburst, their fellow movie-goers were starting to get annoyed with Sacchun. Some even threw popcorn at her. Joe smirked. It took a lot more to take down Sacchun once she got started.
"She really is... loud, isn't she...?" Katie whispered to him as Sacchun yelled in rage at the screen.
"Shut up!" they heard a voice further down say.
"MAKE ME!" Sacchun yelled. "YOU IDIOT, USE YOUR KATANA! NO! WHY DID YOU USE THE NINJA STAR?! YOU JUST KILLED ONE OF YOUR OWN SOLDIERS!"
"I'm surprised she hasn't been kicked out yet." Joe said truthfully, with a small chuckly. It wouldn't be the first time.
"It doesn't matter. I'm not that interested in the movie anyway." Katie said, sounding bored.
"Aw, I thought you liked it." Joe said, suddenly confused.
"I'd rather spend the rest of this time..." Katie turned to him with a cat-like stare.
"Oh..." Katie pounced on him and they were once again making out. For such a small girl, Katie sure had a lot of... ferocity, when it came to making out. Joe liked that, though. It was enough to turn him on.
"I'm going to assume that that's a roll of breathmint candy in your pocket." Katie said, looking down at Joe's pants and blushing.
"Uhh... Yeah... I love my breathmints." He laughed sheepishly, "And I'll just assume that your top mysteriously unbuttoned itself."
"That's exactly what happened, and don't you question the magic of my blouse!" Katie put a finger to his lips, and in moments they were making out again.
"Ewww... Mommy, look!" a little boy said, just a few seats below them. He was standing up on his seat, pointing at Joe and Katie making out at the back of the cinema.
"Jimmy! Stop pointing, it's rude! And don't look, either." his mother scolded him.
The rest of the movie passed in this harmony. Joe so did not complain. He stretched as he put on his coat and they exited the cinema, while the credits played. A few girls in front of him and Katie were crying.
"That was like, sooo sad." one girl said.
"I know! If that happened to me and my boyfriend..." the other girl continued.
"Uh... What happened? Why's everyone crying?" Katie asked Joe.
"Oh, just something about some assassin sacrificing himself for his love or something like that." Joe said. "I don't really know. I was... distracted."
"I hope you're not dissapointed."
"Are you kidding? That was the best movie date ever!" Joe exclaimed.
"Um... excuse me? You're kind of holding up the line. People would like to get out." said a familiar voice behind them.
"Oh, Sorry ma'am." Joe stepped to the side, then realised, with a wave of horror, who he was talking to.
"Hiya, Joe." Sacchun said, unblinkingly. She had a half-amused, half-slightly-insane look on her face.
"H-H-H-Hiii Sacchun... g-great movie, huh?" He said, visibly trembling.
"Yes, yes it was. I guess you missed half of it, while you were making out with this slu-- slushie-drinking young woman." Sacchun said, refusing to blink.
"Yeah! Joe's a great kisser." Katie said, in an attempt to make friendly conversation. Joe groaned.
"Right, so... You don't mind, that I saw this movie, do you?" Joe asked, wanting to get the awkwardness out of the way as soon as possible.
"Huh, Joe? Why would she mind...?" Katie asked, tugging at his coat. Joe didn't answer. He didn't want to get Katie involved.
"Why would I mind, Joe?" Sacchun said, her face turning into one of calm indifference.
"Well, I mean, we were..." Joe wanted to get the message accross without sending any weird signals to Katie.
"Oh, Hi Katie!" Carl said suddenly, walking out of the cinema. Thank the Goddess for well-timed fruit cake boys. Joe thought silently to himself.
"Carl! I didn't know you were here! Did you like the movie?" Katie said, engaging in conversation with him. Good timing, Carl. Joe thought.
"Anyway, Sacchun..." he said in a quiet voice, almost a whisper. "I know we were supposed to see it together, but, well It's a long story. I had no choice!" Joe pleaded.
"It's okay Joe." Sacchun said coolly. "It doesn't bother me."
"It - It doesn't?"
"No, it's none of my business what you do on your time." Sacchun said, her eyes turning misty and expressionless.
"Sacchun, I'm so-"
"You don't need to appologize, Joe." Sacchun said. "You're going out with Katie, it's not a big deal."
"You're ... okay with it?" Joe asked uncertainly.
"Should I not be?" Sacchun asked, staring him in the eyes.
"...Er, right, anyway, I better go, Sacchun. Enjoy the rest of your --" he hesitated to call it a date. He shrugged and just walked off to join Katie, who smiled at him.
"That was fun. I have to get to work though, want to walk me?" Katie asked, batting her eyelashes.
"Sure..." Joe said, feeling dejected. It was Sacchun's indifference that bothered him the most. He would have preferred to be yelled at by Sacchun. He wished she would yell at him and smack him, not just... calmly accept it. Something about it seemed so wrong, he just didn't know what it was. Next thing he realised, his lips were locked with Katie's again. He held her tightly.
He sighed to himself, as he saw Sacchun walk slowly outside, Carl holding the doors open for her, grinning nervously.
"Oh, Sacchun..." he said in a small voice.
"What was that?" Katie asked, smiling up at him. He smiled back at her.
"Nothing..."