Chapter 21
13th June 2014
When Fou had said that NAPLAN was a complete waste of time, she hadn't been joking. In fact, she had made an understatement. As Allen sat waiting for the final fifteen minutes to tick by of the allotted time he and the rest of his year level had been given to complete this government-issued torture, he thought mournfully of the four hours and twenty minutes he had wasted on these useless exercises, thinking of the many things he could have been doing instead of this. Okay, maybe he wasn't thinking of the exact things he would be doing, but he knew there was a list somewhere in his brain labelled Things I'd Rather Be Doing And Places I'd Rather Be…
His train of thought was suddenly derailed by a screwed up paper glancing off the side of his head. He looked around confusedly and saw Fou, who was sitting on the table across from his, gesturing for him to pick up the paper she had just thrown. Allen did as she asked and then unscrunched it as quietly as he could.
I am so fucking bored, read the paper in Fou's messy scrawl, Entertain me would you?
Allen frowned and then wrote a note (How?) before tossing the paper back at Fou. She unscrunched it, read and then wrote back, I dunno. Talk to me about stuff.
Like what?
Your overly complicated love life. That's entertaining.
Allen's frown deepened as he wrote back, I don't have an overly complicated love life.
Sure. I can take that. I mean I've heard that the redhead's quite the riot in bed so I suppose you wouldn't want to see anyone else.
Allen had to disguise his cry of shock and embarrassment as a coughing fit, which drew a concerned and slightly panicked look from Miranda, who had been roped in to supervise to whole ordeal. The British boy forced a smile onto his face and waited for her attention to get drawn away from him before furiously scrawling back, You better not be talking about Lavi!
Duh. Which other redhead would you be fucking?
I AM NOT SLEEPING WITH LAVI!
Bull. Of course you are. So, what's he like? He tops you, right?
I'M NOT SLEEPING WITH HIM!
Sure, sure. But he's a lot bigger than you. How do you even walk?
I AM TELLING YOU THE TRUTH!
Oh. Well, fuck, that's a bit awkward. Does that mean you have a crush on my dipshit neighbour or something?
Allen slapped a hand to his forehead and dragged it down his face before writing, No, I do not. You are about the fifth person to make that mistake.
Oh, I get it now! You're not fucking the redhead but you wish you were! Don't sweat man, he digs you. I can see it.
I'm not going to acknowledge that with a related response.
HAH! That proves it!
Before Allen could respond there was a shriek from the front of the classroom as Miranda cried, "Oh no! We've run overtime! What am I doing?! Now I'll probably cut into your lunch time! I'M SO SORRY!"
With that, she proceeded to break down into a slight nervous breakdown. As Allen stood up to go and help her, he noticed with no small amount of annoyance, Fou snickering in her seat, half at the librarian, half at him. He frowned and hissed, "This does not mean I have a complicate love life!"
"Keep telling yourself that!" Fou sniggered back.
18th June 2014
"Banzai!" shouted Lavi as he followed a pale and nervous Lenalee down the corridor towards the exam rooms, "Banzai! Go get 'em Lenalady! Woot!" The American glanced over his shoulder at their embarrassed/annoyed looking Japanese and British companions and said, "Come on guys, help spread the support! Lenalady needs everyone to help wish her well!"
"Maybe when you stop acting like a fuckwit, we will," snapped Kanda. Lavi poked his tongue out at him and the said to Allen pleadingly, "Come on, Allen, sweet cakes, don't fail me now!"
"Please stop coming up with vaguely perverted nicknames for me," grimaced Allen, "And Lavi, you are once again acting like a spaz."
"So?" said Lavi, placing his hands on his hips, "I was born this way baby!"
"Don't. Even. Fucking. Start," growled Kanda menacingly. Allen ignored them and continued, "You may not have noticed but Kanda and I… well, we don't really do spazzy."
"Except when you, you know, tackle and drag random strangers in the park into bushes," said Lavi with a grin, "Or doesn't that come under the category of 'spazzy'?"
Allen hesitated before saying, "Those were special circumstances."
"Your accent man," sighed Lavi dreamily, "Your accent…"
By this stage the four of them had reached the exam rooms. Lenalee turned to them and managed a small smile before saying, "Well… wish me luck!"
"Hey, you'll do great! You've nothing to worry about!" said Lavi lightly. Allen smiled at her and gave a thumbs up and said, "You'll do splendidly."
Lenalee stared at him for a while before saying, "I don't usually fangirl over your accent but that was amazing."
"Lenalady," said Lavi warningly, "Mine. No stealing."
"I know, I know," said Lenalee with a laugh. Allen frowned at them both and said, "Can you stop treating me like I'm a piece of furniture?"
"If you were a piece of furniture, you'd be a seriously plush, seriously comfy armchair," said Lavi absently. Allen shuddered slightly whilst Lenalee giggled before transferring her gaze to Kanda, who had remained silent throughout this whole exchange. When he caught her eye he quickly turned his head to the side and said gruffly, "You'll be fine."
And, to the other two boys' surprise, the usually composed Chinese girl blushed and said a little fluttery, "Well, thank guys!" before disappearing into the exam room. Allen and Lavi stared after her for a moment before turning to Kanda curiously. Lavi's emerald eye glittered mischievously as he asked the Japanese boy, "Something happen between you two, huuuuuuh?"
Kanda glared at him and snapped, "Shut the fuck up!" before storming off down the corridor. Lavi leaned in closer to Allen and whispered, "We need to come up with a shipping name for them!"
"Because Kanda will really appreciate that," muttered Allen as the American tore off after the sullen teenager.
23rd June 2014
After an exhausting week of exams, Lenalee thought she was more than deserving of a break. But no, because the Demon Kings of the Board of Education were hideously evil, she now had to spend the rest of this week on Work Experience. She realised it was an amazing experience to be going on, but all she really wanted to do was sleep.
And so, that was how she found herself standing outside of the federal court, a writhing viper pit of nerves in her stomach, checking her reflection to make sure the wind hadn't made her look like she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards. Once she was satisfied, she took a deep breath and walked into the foyer.
It was enormous, all marble and timber, and the atmosphere was sombre and very professional. She felt another stab of nerves and told herself quickly, Calm down. Just think, Kanda is going into his first VCE exams. I'm a lot better off than he is at the moment.
"Excuse me," said a male voice next to her. As she turned, the voice said, "I'm glad you're here on time. I'm-"
The man's voice cut off with a choke when she turned to fully face him. The owner of the voice was a young man with sandy blonde hair and black eyes, and he looked very startled to see her. So startled in fact that his face had gone pale and…
Lenalee blinked a couple of times before saying cautiously, "Um, sir? Are you alright? Something's going on with your face."
The man gave a little shriek and turned away from her abruptly. She stared at the back of his head curiously, and thought she heard him counting to ten under his breath, before he turned back to her, a big smile on his face as he stuck out his hand and said quickly, "Hello! My name's Bak Chang and I'm your guide! It's great to be able to finally meet you face to- I mean!" he cut off again, flushing to the roots of his hair, "To finally meet you! For the first time! Because we've never met before! Yeah!"
As Lenalee shook his hand, a bemused smile on her face, she thought, Well. This certainly should be… interesting.
A/N: I can't tell whether I feel sorry or happy for Bak-chan... probably a bit of both. Thanks for all your continued support and patience guys! You're the best! 'Til next time!