Next chappie is last! Now, swimsuit, talents, and the second cut!
Neh, I started a doujinshi! It has horrible animation, but still! Actually, it's of this fic, starting with the "almost kiss" scene from the end of chapter three... I'll have to try animate more parts of it later.
At this point I'm running off 20% memory, 70% imagination, 5% Coke, and 5% Happy Room. Gomen if I don't remember squat and things end up wrong.
Ok, GOMEN NASAI OR NOT UPDATING! You know you gotta beat writer's block when people are reviewing your other fics and asking you to update this one. I guess one would thank the peeps who kept bugging me about it...
Ryou: **sigh** I was happy about not wearing a dress or swimsuit for a while...
Seto: But you looked good in them. I mean, as I said, not many guys can actually wear a dress and look like a girl.
Ryou: -_-
Chapter 7-
Pizza Party? Or Not...
Ryou kept his towel closely wrapped around his body. Rachel was in the bathroom, but still!
"Hey Jen!"
"Yeah?"
"D'ya have any tampons?"
Ryou's eyes widened as his face reddened. "N-no!" Why the hell would she be asking him that?! Oh wait, he was a 'girl' right now, and that, Ryou guessed, was what girls did, ask each other of they had feminine products.
"Oh... let me look... oh, never mind!"
Ryou's face stayed reddened. "You guys aren't listening, are you?" He mumbled quietly.
Silence. "Huh? What? Did you say something Ryou? Sorry, we were watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail and eating fast food."
"No, I didn't say anything." Ryou glared at nobody.
"Hey, the competition's starting up soon, isn't it?"
"Yes..." Ryou mumbled.
Rachel came out of the bathroom in the swimsuit. "Come on Jen, we gotta go!" She grabbed his arm and started half-running, Ryou following. He clutched at the towel desperately, unwilling to let it slip off.
"Here we have our ten finalists, ten gorgeous ladies who have surpassed all the others in this contest with beauty, intellect, and empathy."
I'm embarrassed... Ryou giggled mentally. He was getting over the embarrassment of doing this quickly. It was kind of fun... he pulled on his skirt nervously and tapped his foot with the background music.
He flushed as the states were announced one by one. When Texas was called, he went out, looking feminine and sexy. He smiled- though forced himself not to laugh- and hoped he had done well enough not to let anyone know he was a guy. And in his mind he thanked the skirt of his swimsuit. Also, in his mind, he wanted to kill the person who assigned them this assignment, but it wasn't like he'd say that aloud.
Ok, get me off the stage! Please, get me off the stage!
He sighed greatly as one by one they were slowly let offstage.
"Seriously, this is nerve wracking... fun, but nerve wracking." He hurried and got ready for the talents section of the eliminations. That meant running back to the room and changing in the privacy of the bathroom. Also grabbing his flute and music.
By the time he made it back to the stage, he was shaking and wearing a long, pale lilac-pink dress.
"Just in time. You're up Jen."
"Already?"
"Yes, you took a while."
"I don't see why you can't just change with the rest of us, are you embarrassed about something?"
"Sorry for taking so long." He dodged the subject, took out his music and placed it on a stand. After taking out his flute and tuning it, he took the stand on stage, carefully balancing the music.
And since no description of the song needs to be put, the author won't put it. Besides that it sounded pretty and the author can play it on the violin.
Except he messed up on one note. He had to hold the note out and realized he was flat just a tiny bit, but enough to hear. But his quick thinking came in handy when he turned it into a trembelo, playing the correct note and the flat note quickly multiple times to get a shaky tone that fit.
But besides that all went well. He didn't trip, his flute didn't faint, he didn't trip, and no guys yelled loudly from the audience only to get trounced.
A round of applause went up as he exited, this included some whistles.
He hurried off and found Rachel.
"Hey, how about we get changed and go for that pizza?" She asked.
"Sure, steady the nerves before tonight..." Ryou sighed.
"And we can come, right...?" Ember grasped his arm.
"Sure, sure." Ryou rolled his eyes and Rachel groaned.
"Yay! Did ya hear that Mary?"
"Yes, yes Ember. Calm down."
"Ok..." Ember pouted.
"Going somewhere?" Bakura asked in the mike.
"Without your lover?" Yami added, snickering.
Ryou let out a low growl.
"You ok Jen?"
"Oh, yeah! Just clearing my throat." He faked coughing a few times. How they fell for it still amazes him.
Ten minutes found all four of them at the hotel entrance, wearing casual clothes and minimal make-up, hardly recognizable as Miss United States contestants. One would think they were just some college girls out for a good time.
Ryou forced himself to improvise. He had no casual girl clothes, so he had to use his normal jeans and a T-shirt... and had to wear certain things he would have preferred to leave behind. Oh, he'd have so much fun going back to being a normal guy.
"So, we're all competing for the title, we find out later tonight which of us, if any, go to the top five." Rachel's face grew serious.
Mary kept concentrated on the road. "I wish all of you good luck. We made it this far; as for as I'm concerned, even if I don't make it tonight, I did good. Same for all of you."
"But I wonder, who will make it?" Ryou asked, still masking his voice slightly- it was still a little masculine, just not enough.
There was a stiff silence in the car. Eyes grew figuratively dark as each woman- or man- contemplated their running and place.
The silence made Ryou uncomfortable. He even now wished that Bakura and Yami were making jokes in his ear just to lighten his mood. But no, he had left his earpiece at home, as well as his camera. He still had the necklace though. I fingered the heart slightly and gave a miniscule smile. At least he had gained something relationship-wise, maybe.
But yet, he had to get further along, to guarantee the safety. If only the three girls he sat with knew their lives were in danger, and only this guy who was cross-dressing as a woman could save them. Ryou felt very angsty.
"Moo." Ember said suddenly, breaking the silence.
Stares turned to the dirty-blond. Small smiles slowly cracked on their faces and chuckles and giggles erupted and began to crescendo into all-out laughs. The tense air was lifted like a veil.
"Oh my god, that was so dense, yet funny!"
"Thank you." Ember smiled at her accomplishment.
"Reminds me of my first boyfriend." Mary commented.
"Spill." Rachel grasped her chair.
"Ok, we were at the mall. He had bought a calendar from this cart. He paid for the thing, took the change and started walking off, completely forgetting the calendar! I had to grab it and call after him. He turned to me, stopped, took the bag, and started walking while turning back around. BAM! Right into a brick column."
"Yeah? Well, my high school boyfriend ran up a flight of stairs and into a doorframe." Rachel nodded.
"When I was younger," Ryou started, "I took a walk at the Reflective Lake in front of the Washington Monument. There were these Canadian geese there. I was a little kid, so I bought some ice cream and tried to play with the geese. They chased me around, hissing and flapping their wings." He laughed. "That and the added experience of my father telling me to pet a goose at the zoo made me somewhat afraid of them. The goose bit my finger."
"Washington? Aren't you from Texas?"
Ryou caught his mistake. "I used to live in Washington, before moving to Texas. Yes, there was a lake of geese there." He nodded.
"Ah..."
"No, at my 8th grade end-of-school dance, they had these strobe lights flashing." Ember pantomimed flashing lights. "I was dared to stare straight into them for as long as I could."
"How long did you go?"
"Ten minutes. I did blink, I will tell you. But ow, that hurt."
"That's what happened to your brain." Rachel smirked.
"Rachel!" Ember lightly hit her upside the head.
"Hey girls, there aren't any decent pizza places around here. How about a restaurant?"
"Ooh! There's Bennigan's!" Ember pointed, halfway standing up.
"All opposed?" Silence. "Bennigan's it is, I guess."
"Yay!" Ember sat down.
"Calm down girl, you act as if you never get fed!"
"Hey, what time do we need to be back?" Ryou asked.
"Hm, eight-thirty is when it starts... so, eight, I'd say."
"It's five-forty right now, we have enough time."
Mary parked and all the girls and Ryou walked in. They were automatically swept up by a waitress to be seated.
A young man came up, smiling nervously. "So, what can I get for you ladies to drink?"
"Oh, an iced tea." Rachel said.
"Water."
"Coke." Of course, Ember.
"Iced tea as well." Ryou raised his hand slightly to indicate he had said it.
The waiter winked and walked off.
They started flipping through the menus.
"Hey Jen, isn't that your boyfriend?" Rachel asked, looking over his shoulder.
Ryou turned around. Lo and behold, there were Seto, Yami, Yuugi, Bakura, and Chou Ryuuen, now just to be called Ryuuen in the narrative.
"Who is that he's with?" Rachel inquired.
"Oh, some friends who came along." Ryou waved it off, cold-sweating at the thought of being discovered.
"Why don't you go say hi?" Mary asked.
"No, no. That's ok."
"Huh?"
"Um... you see, his friends don't know we're dating, and he'd prefer not to let them know." He mentally kicked himself for the lame excuse. "Plus, how would you feel if you were a guy and saw you girlfriend, going for Miss United States, in a restraint like this?"
"Good point."
"Hey, isn't that Mr. Chou Ryuuen?"
"The pageant consultant?"
"Yeah!"
"Jenny, your boyfriend knows him?"
"Um, yeah! They... met here! You know, they just became friends really quick and all."
Just then the waiter came to give them drinks. Ryou would have stood and kissed the guy, had he not already been in love and had a lack of wanting attention.
"Two teas, a water, and a Coke. Ok, are you ready to order?"
"Victoria filet, well done."
"Same here, medium well."
"Here too, medium rare."
"Um, same thing?" Ryou halfway asked. "Medium well."
Slight time lapse. Ok, large time lapse.
"Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom." Ryou excused himself and got up.
Ok, guy's or girl's? Why couldn't I just hold it?
He finally made up his mind, walking into the guy's room and shutting the stall tightly, praying no one came in. The restaurant wasn't particularly full, so luck came with him.
He started washing his hands when the door opened. His eyes widened.
"R-Ryou?" Seto asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Seto? Thank god, I thought you were some normal person! My predicament would be hard to explain in that situation."
"Yes, it would. But I repeat, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, some of the girls and I came out to get some food. What, d'ya think you have to only eat salad to keep this figure?" He slapped himself lightly on the ass to emphasize his point.
Seto started wondering what the hell happened to Ryou. He was starting to act like a girl- as if he hadn't sometimes already. "No, no. Just wondering why. And also why you removed yoru earpiece and camera."
"Hey, I've heard a lot of girl talk on the way here. You don't need to hear it."
"You told them of the geese incident, didn't you?"
"Yes... and according to my story it took place a long time ago..."
"Rather than two years ago, huh? Ryou, what am I going to do with you?" He put a hand on his companion's shoulder, suddenly realizing that it felt very good there. They made eye contact and held it there in a liminal moment.
"I-I... I need to get back before they wonder where I am." He turned slowly, feeling the warm hand slip off of his shoulder.
"Ok then. I'll see you later, I guess."
"Yeah. See ya."
Ryou came back to the table and sat down.
"What took you so long? We were about to come look for you."
"Sorry. Um, I met Seto at the entrances and we talked some."
"Ah, I see..."
"Since when have you been having this problem?" Ember filled in jokingly.
"Seto's his name, huh?"
"Go away..." Ryou glared, causing his companions to laugh. He couldn't glare if he seriously wanted to.
"Well, it's about time to go. The bill came while you were in the bathroom."
"Here, it's on me." Ryou took his wallet out of his pocket and wrote out a check and pulled out some money as a tip- a little extra because of the earlier save.
Ryou sent a small wave to Seto, who had come back to the group of guys and was watching them intently.
"And now, here are the top five of this competition! All ten of these women have risen quickly through the crowds to each become their own shining star. But only one can wear the crown. Here! This is the time to eliminate half the contestants remaining! First up is... California."
Mary smiled and winked at the others.
"Texas!"
Ryou almost fainted as he stepped up, but then shot a smile to the crowd and to his fellow contestants. Oh my god! I'm in the top five!
"Louisiana!"
Ember stepped up, careful not to trip over her garments.
"New York!"
The black woman- Destiny- came up and flashed a beautiful smile.
"The last state is..."
Ryou then realized that Rachel wasn't up here with them. He looked back at her, eyes widened in a pleading manner.
"I am willing to accept it." She mouthed to him, nodding.
Ryou bit his lip.
The sentence from the announcer's mouth came as a waterfall of words. "The last state is Florida!"
"Ah!" Rachel screamed excitedly.
Ryou smiled and clapped, eyes filling with tears of relief.
"Oh my god...!" Rachel hugged Ryou tightly. "We did it, all four of us."
They were all lounging at poolside tables while other women swam off jealousy and the stench of defeat.
Incidentally, certain guys found this the perfect time to come out for a swim, but this section isn't focused on them. Except Yami and Bakura took the chance to whistle at them and yell about a certain Texas representative- most likely to get a certain other person jealous and pissed off.
Ember climbed out of the pool and wrapped a towel around herself. She sat down and sipped a Dasani bottled water.
"So, what do all of you think brought you up this far?" Mary asked. "I think it was faith in myself and others."
"Yeah, confidence, without being over confident." Ember agreed.
"The help of others and belief in myself and those others." Rachel smiled. "What about you Jen?"
"I want to change the world."
And now I start singing to the Inu Yasha Japanese theme.
Ok, so it wasn't long enough to compensate for the long amount of time gone without updating, but oh well! The next chappie is last, and I'll try to make it worth it. I'll try... my mind is not settled on humor now, mostly drama and romance, and the next chapter will be romance-oriented. Yes, some humor too, and the mission recalled...
A lot of the experiences mentioned, such as the goose thing, are true stories... damn geese, I hate geese now! Otou-san told me to pet the goose in the cage at the zoo and it bit me! Then the flock of geese in Washington! They didn't like me...! **sniffles**
Well, I again mention the people who forced me to update. Seriously, I typed the majority of this in about an hour, including bathroom and Coke breaks, so I haven't had time to read over it, gomen nasai. Well, I guess I'll see y'all later! Ja ne!