THIS FANFICTION IS CURRENTLY BEING REWRITTEN AND UPDATED.
THINGS HAVE BEEN CHANGED AND I WOULD RECOMMEND REREADING THIS TITLE IF YOU HAVEN'T IN A WHILE.
THANK YOU FOR READING x
[START]
Define 'Normal'
Chapter 19:
Harry returned at the start of the third period, trekking in behind the Social Studies teacher. Yuri not the only one to perk up at his presence.
"Looking good, Harry-kun." Budo called from ahead of her and the boy smirked at him. He flashed a peace sign with his bandaged fingers and flushed as murmuring started up the sight. A few braver souls made comments themselves that Harry was quick to laugh and tease along with as he made for his seat.
Their teacher called for quiet and spun around to scribble away at the whiteboard, all the while students returned to their seats,
"You okay?" Harry to Yuri, immediately after taking his seat. The girl freezing under his piercing green gaze before his tender smile helped her straighten her back,
"Ah erm, y-yes, thank you." She murmured, smiling minutely in reply, Harry returned the gesture before turning around.
A fairly brief lecture on local history took place, blissfully brief; Oroko-sensei cursed with a deadpan delivery of whatever she deigned to deliver to her class. Illustrating her bland, black and white presentation with minute raises in volume and the beam of a thin laser pen. She collapsed into a chair behind her laptop after dismissing the room to get on with their assigned task.
Stretching his arms above his head and his back-issuing clicks and cracks as he did so, Harry began to shift, as well as the others, a good twenty minutes into the lesson when they were all told to find pairs for their lovely new Social Studies assignment,
"A scavenger hunt, hmm? Oroko-sensei sure does do things her own way." Taro slinked up to the boys table alongside the headband wearing Budo, the three dark haired boys setting into small chatter with ease as many others around the room did the same under the teachers tired brown eyes.
"Huh, is Najimi-san not here today?" Harry's musing after a hum of surprise, responding to something that Yuri hadn't been paying attention to,
"Ah, yeah. There seems to be a bug going around. I think Engeika-san and Ryugoku-san has it as well." Taro again, looking over almost mournfully at the two girls' empty desks,
"Would have thought Osana-chan's fiery passion would have burned it alive before it could settle." Budo murmured a little loudly, Harry snorted and gave his friend (sat on his desk) a withering look whilst Taro chuckled off to the side, "What are you gonna do?"
This in reference to Taro, who had had his last few paired assignments chosen for him by either their teacher picking pairs for them or Osana declaring herself his partner,
"Ah, erm. Can I partner with one of you two?"
"And split up the greatest duo in Akademi high history!"
"You heartless fiend!" Budo followed by Harry. Taro looked unimpressed, but Yuri hid her giggles behind the textbook she was pretending to read, "But if that is our fate, then I have no choice but to submit."
"Oh, Harry, you cannot be saying…"
"Y-You take care of my dear Budo-kun, you hear Taro-san!" Harry wiped away false tears as the class looked on in collective irritation,
"Are you two idiots done?" Kamegana-san turned her grey eyes to the pair from the front of the room and glared. The two just snickered under her glare and she huffed, hurling her dark hair over her shoulder as she turned her back on them once more,
"You going to be okay finding a partner?" Budo turned to his friend, Harry shrugging non-committal,
"It's just an assignment, and it's probably good for me to actually talk to other people in the class for more than five seconds." Harry laughed a little and scratched at his head in a clearly embarrassed gesture. Budo slipped off his desk with a nod and laugh in reply, Harry's chair scraping sharply across the floor as he rose. The boy made a beeline to Monika in the front-middle of the class as Yuri watched on a little wistfully from the back of the room. Her heart aching.
But it inadvertently soared as she shook her head in the negative. She seemed… nervous? Scared even… by Harry? Shaking her head and visibly stuttering whilst unable to meet his gaze.
'What on earth?'
A scowl briefly twisted Yuri's lips head full of memories of Monika's waggling eyebrows, light half smiles and smirks as her eyes raked him up and down like a piece of meat.
Yuri flushed. Yes, she did similar, but she had the class to be a bit subtler about it (e.g. hiding behind a book as she fantasized about grabbing hold of Harry's firm… posterior as he walked by), but it did not halt her hypocritical mind from disliking the otherwise lovely girl's clear interest in the object of Yuri's desire.
The object of her desire that was looking her way. Razor sharp green eyes having raked over the room before settling on her in the far corner. The sun briefly slipped out from behind a thick grey cloud and illuminated her in a halo of gold, she winced and scrunched her eyes up as they adjusted. Thus, she missed his silent deliberation,
'He's coming over here. There's no way in hell that he's actually coming over here!'
"Erm, hey Yuri." He waved a little with his greeting, quickly snatching his own hand down and returning it to his waist with a little wince and clear discomfort,
'This isn't happening.' She couldn't really speak, mind running a mile a minute as her heart leapt into her throat, 'SPEAK YOU IDIOT! HE'S ACTUALLY TALKING TO US! I SWEAR IF YOU SCREW THIS UP-'
"Erm, hi Harry." She murmured out a little too quiet, "H-HI!"
A little too loud, she winced also. He seemed a little jarred at her sudden volume and she preceded to savagely kick herself under the table.
"Ah, I was wondering if-"
"Please be my partner!"
He paused, as did she. The two's eyes locked before Harry's face contorted into laughter, hand on his stomach as his body shook with laughter. Taking a few seconds to shake it off and smiling gratefully down at her, the young woman blushing at the sight,
"Haha, I was going to ask you the same." He scratched the back of his head as he spoke with his cheeks a little pinker than hers, "You… you sure you don't mind?"
'Is this beautiful idiot actually brain dead?!'
"O-of course not!" she tried to keep the indignance from her voice.
He dragged his chair around to her desk and sat across from her (after another trip to the front of the room to get the packages their teacher had prepared for them), dropping a map and multitude of picture heavy leaflets on the table for them to sort through. Their goal with this assignment was to pick a few of the monuments and spots in and around Buraza town to explore their cultural significance. Fascinating stuff, but easy work.
Yuri's eyes briefly flitted about the room as Harry set up and the nastier part of her conscience had its moment,
'I'm not his first choice… Not even his second.' Her eyes flitted to the boys, Taro clearly exasperated by whatever Budo was saying as he shook his head. She choked out the nasty element, 'But he DID choose me.'
It wasn't smugness that ran through her, but it was something like it as Harry turned his chair to her desk and spread out the map and sheets their teacher had assigned them. His proximity meant she could FEEL the warmth his body emanated, leading her to feel a bit… warm herself…
He hadn't the faintest idea on how he wanted to tackle the task, what monuments he wanted to look at with her or much about them to be honest (beside what the smartphone he placed on the table between them stated on the first page of Wikipedia), but he had a clear determination and a little bit of wonder and curiosity in his voice that grew as he continued on,
"Ah… erm sorry. I kinda started rambling on there." He chuckled, cheeks flaring pink again after having noticed Yuri's slightly glazed expression. She shook her head, and offered up a smile with flushed cheeks,
"It's fine, Harry. I like your enthusiasm!" She leaned forward and flushed harder. Simultaneously registering his proximity and the rough smell of his deodorant barely covering what must have been his scent, "P-P-perhaps we could try with these, th-they are near where I live."
She gulped as his eyes lit up a little and he took the photos he suggested from her slightly shaky hands. A roguish grin curling up his face as he did so,
"I defer to your experience." He issued with a wink as he took them, Yuri's mind forcibly blanked,
'Hehe, he touched me.' The next coherent thought sometime later, as their fingers brushed a few times.
It was stress, and she loved every moment of it.
[TO BE CONTINUED]
TO NEW READERS, WELCOME!
TO OLDER READERS, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND CONTINUED SUPPORT!
AND TO EVERYONE, THANK YOU FOR READING x