*** Author's Notes ***
The original "Peach Girl" is copy-righted to its original creator, Miwa
Ueda; the characters represented here are also copy-righted to Miwa Ueda
and her publisher, with the exception of the events and the original
character that I have put in myself (you'll see who it is when you read on
in this chapter). I have been waiting for months and months to put this up,
so, here it is, my first full-length Peach Girl fanfic. This is only the
first chapter, and I'm sure that there is more to come, just please be
patient with me. I hope you enjoy this first chapter of my Peach Girl
fanfic, "Don't Feel Sorry For Yourself." Enjoy and please leave a review if
you like. ^^
"Where am I?"
Momo tried to make sense of her surroundings. It looked like she was in a dark hallway, but, for as far as she could see, there were no doors, except for the one that was at the end of the hall, but when Momo tried to walk towards it, it seemed to move farther away. Momo didn't know why, but for some reason she wanted to get to that door, and open it, see what was inside. Her curiosity was eating away at her so badly she almost couldn't stand it. She wasn't normally this curious or anxious, but there was something about the door that made Momo want to tear it off its hinges and end her anticipation altogether by discovering that the thing that was behind the door was nothing unusual or interesting.
But Momo could not stand just waiting around any longer, and she ran towards the door, assuming that it would just move farther away... instead, Momo crashed into the door, it flinging open and tossing a surprised Momo onto the ground, it shutting behind her.
"Huh?" Momo blinked. "Where am I now?" she said aloud, looking around.
"Didn't like it where you were, Momo?" a familiar, sly voice asked.
'Sae?!' Momo hastily thought, 'No... it couldn't be...!'
Momo suddenly remembered where she had seen this familiar place before: it was Sae's room. But, what was she doing there?
"Guess you don't like my old dollhouse, huh?"
"Eh?" Momo's eyes widened as a giant Sae came towards her, kneeling down and looking at Momo with a menacing look in her eye... the look Sae always seemed to have when she was obviously enjoying her handiwork of destroying Momo's life.
"'Dollhouse?'"
"Yes, 'dollhouse!'" Sae snorted, and, with her enormous fingers, turned Momo to face the door she had just come out of, and as Momo's eyes looked upward, she saw where she had been: in a dollhouse.
"Wha--?" Momo looked back to Sae and the room. "Sae, how did you get so big? And... when did I suddenly become small enough to fit inside your dollhouse?"
Sae shrugged. "I just found you outside a few hours ago, small, like you are now. I brought you inside, and, since you were too small for you normal clothes, I put you in doll clothes instead."
Momo looked down at her clothes and almost died. Sae had dressed her in this horrible, pineapple dress and hot-pink shoes. Momo's fist quivered. If she weren't so small, she would have beaned Sae right in the nose. The nerve, dressing her like this! Sae dressed her so distastefully on purpose!
"Oh, I invited over some friends, if you don't mind..." Sae said slowly.
"'Friends?'"
"...you don't mind, do you? ...Oh, Toji? Kiley? You can come in now!"
Momo froze. Toji?! Kiley?! If they saw her, dressed like this and small as Thumbelina... oh, she would never live it down! Momo raced for the front door of the dollhouse, but Sae's nimble fingers snatched Momo up by the back of her dress and lifted her up; Momo's arms and legs flailing wildly in the air.
"Put me down!" Momo demanded.
"Momo...?!"
Momo recognized this voice: it was... Toji's.
"See? Doesn't she look cute in this outfit?" Sae laughed.
"Whoa, Momo's really small!" Kiley exclaimed.
"Shut up, Kiley!" Momo snapped.
Toji was silent; he didn't say anything more.
"Toji..." Momo began, but, then, Toji's image began to become fuzzy and soon, Momo couldn't see him clearly. "Toji!" she screamed. "...TOJIIII!"
"...And the weather is looking fine this morning..."
"Mm?" Momo slowly opened her eyes to see her familiar bedroom ceiling. She gently rubbed her eyes and sat up in her bed. "...Just a dream...?" Letting out a heavy sigh, brushing some of her hair back behind her shoulder. She yawned. "It was too real for my tastes!" she said as she got up and walked over to her bedroom window, closing it.
"...For all you high school girls, it's Best Friends Day, and, if you and your best friend come to the set-up of the yearly festival tomorrow..."
The clock-radio was interrupted as it met Momo's fist.
"'Best Friends Day?' Give me a break!" Momo grumbled, removing her hand from the radio, "What kind of holiday is that?"
'Hm, guess I'm not late this morning...' Momo thought to herself as she walked to school, her bookbag softly thumping against her side, '...usually, Mom's yelling at me to get up...'
"Hi, Momo!"
Momo felt a pair of hands clamp down on her bookbag, pulling it back; she stopped to see Kiley smiling back at her.
"You're even a pervert in the morning?" Momo said half-sarcastically, as she snatched her bookbag from Kiley's hands, "And this early, too?"
"Aw, Momo, you're so mean to me!" Kiley whined.
Momo rolled her eyes. "Why aren't you at school already?"
"Why should I be? This is the time I normally leave for school," Kiley shrugged. "Plus, I get to see my Momo before school!" Kiley clasped his hands together. "That's a plus! How about a kiss... OW!"
"Don't even think about touching me, you pumpkinhead!" Momo snapped.
"Geez, Momo..." Kiley rubbed his cheek, "...I was only joking... OW!"
"And that's for saying 'my Momo!', Mr.Pumpkinhead!"
"You're lucky I haven't left you, for all the abuse you make me suffer through!" Kiley said, pretending to wipe away a tear.
"It's self-defense, Wiley Kiley."
"Ssh! I told you not to call me that anymore!"
"Sorry, Wiley Kiley."
"Momo!"
Momo laughed. Kiley made the tears she cried last night seem irrelevant, although the memory of the pain she had felt because of Sae would never go away. But Momo tried not to think about it as she and Kiley walked along to school; it wouldn't make things better if she just let it bother her. Talking with Kiley made her heart feel relieved, somehow, as they walked together, speaking of a various array of subjects, but mostly the upcoming festival.
"So, are you on duty for it, Momo?"
"Well, yeah, isn't everyone? They practically FORCED us to sign up. I'm stuck with helping run one of our school's snack booths."
Kiley seemed to perk up when Momo mentioned her duty. He practically squealed when he said quickly, his face in a silly expression, "'Snack booths!?' Momo, I'm setting up those too! We'll be working together then, side by side!"
Momo shook her head. "No, I don't think so, Kiley. When they announced everyone's placements, I had the job of helping run the beef- stick booth. And you..." Momo squinted for a moment, trying to recall what job they had announced for Kiley, and then suddenly, she gasped, "They put you in the beef-stick booth too!"
"Really!?" Kiley made exaggerated gestures as the two continued to walk, "That means we'll probably be on the same shift, too!"
'Oh, great...' Momo thought, '...I get stuck with Wiley Kiley? God's really looking down on me today.' Momo then thought of something else, 'And Sae's gonna have a FIELD DAY if we get the same shift. Either way, it's a crummy fate.'
"I'll have such fun working with my Momo!" Kiley exclaimed as they reached the school's front doors, "Such fun, la de da..." Kiley began to hum and snap his fingers as they walked down the hallway.
Momo's fist quivered. But, she decided not to punch Kiley, since there was no way she could change her position at the festival now, since they were setting things up today after school.
'Guess I'll be hanging out with Pumpkinhead after school today,' Momo thought grimly as she removed her shoes, 'and I know that Sae will be all over it in two seconds.'
"Oh, Momo?" Momo raised her head as Chisao, the Student Council vice- president walked towards her, a cardboard box in her hands.
"Hi, Chisao," Momo said. Chisao, a junior, was one of the few people who actually talked to Momo and actually treated her like a human being. But, Chisao would never be actual friends with Momo, she knew this, since Chisao was rather vulnerable to Sae, and Momo figured that Sae had probably already told Chisao a few, unflattering things about the dark-skinned "playgirl." Nonetheless, Chisao still seemed to like Momo, and Momo hoped that someday, when everyone saw who Sae really was, Chisao would realize that Momo was nothing like the person that the rumors around school said she was. "What's up?"
"Well, since we're setting up the booths after school today, everyone's been scrambling for the supplies, and, since we still have some in the janitor's closet, I was wondering if you take this box and put the banners in it and take it with you to the park for me when we leave after school today please, Momo?"
"Sure, Chisao," Momo said, taking the box.
"The people who are helping out get out of school an hour early today, so, do you think you could get the banners then? Here are the keys for the closet." Chisao handed Momo a large key ring with at least a dozen keys on it.
Momo's eyes widened as she looked at the ring and all of the keys dangling from it. "Which...?"
"The key with the green mark on it is the key to the janitor's closet. It's a pretty bright shade of green, so it's hard to miss it." Momo nodded. "Ok, thanks a lot, Momo!" Chisao said quickly, and she then turned and ran off, heading towards her first-period class.
'I better hurry and get to class.' Momo looked up at the wallclock, and saw that she had ten minutes before the bell rang. 'Well, guess I better head to class now...' Momo suddenly remembered the rather large cardboard box she was holding. Momo looked at the keyring and shrugged. 'I'll just put it in the janitor's closet for now, for safe-keeping,' Momo thought as she began to walk down the hallway, 'so I won't have to carry this around with me all day.'
Softly whistling as she walked down the hallway, Momo eventually stopped at the door labeled 'janitor.' Setting the cardboard box down on the ground, Momo put her books under her arm as she flipped through the keys on the giant key ring, whispering each color aloud to herself as she checked the color of each key. "Orange... blue... red... yellow... pink..." Momo's voice trailed off some as she continued to flip through the keys. "...maroon... ah! Green!" Momo smiled as she plucked up the key with her index finger and thumb; taking a hold of the doorknob, Momo slid the key in the keyhole, and turned it to the left. Momo turned the doornob and tried to open the door: it didn't open. Momo was just about to turn the key to the right when she felt two hands on her waist.
"Momooo..." someone whispered in her ear. "Wha... OW!"
"Hi again, Kiley," Momo said dryly, "and what might you be doing here, hmm?"
Kiley rubbed his nose. "I tink you broke my node..."
Momo rolled her eyes, and returned to what she was doing before.
"Whatcha doin', Momo?" Kiley asked, looking over Momo's shoulder.
"Trying to get this box put away in here so I can get to class..." Momo answered as she looked up at the wallclock: six minutes before the bell rang.
"Box for what?" Kiley inquired further. "Why are you carrying around a box?"
"It's for the school festival; Chisao asked me to get some banners out from the janitor's closet into this box and bring it to the festival grounds after school. I'm putting the box in here just for now."
Kiley picked up the box and looked inside. "What's supposed to be in here?"
"Banners, like I just said."
"Oh." Kiley let the box fall to the floor.
Momo turned the key to the right, and then turned the doorknob, pulling outwards: the door still didn't open. "Arrgh!" Momo pounded a fist on the door. "Why won't this key open this door?!"
"Momo, calm down!" Kiley said nervously, "You don't want to get in trouble..."
"I don't care if I get in trouble! I've tried TWICE to get this stupid key to open this... STUPID door and each time it hasn't worked!"
"Here, let me try, then." Momo stepped away as Kiley turned the key and turned the doorknob; but, each time the door wouldn't open.
"Arrgh! Stupid door!" Kiley said, pounding a fist on the door.
"See what I mean?"
There was a pause and then, "...Yeah." Kiley sheepishly nodded and took his hands off of the door.
"What's up with this door?! Is it the wrong key?"
"...You got it."
"Huh?" Momo and Kiley both looked behind them, to see an older girl, with long, blond, crimped hair and beautiful, milk-white skin standing behind them. "Hiya." She waved and smiled, her hoop earrings dangling. Her hair was pulled back with small, pink clips, and she wore light, sky-blue eyeshadow and her lips shimmered with pink and glitter. It was like no make- up Momo had ever seen... it was so beautiful, and not even any of the seniors at the school had make-up that was like this. One of the seniors was a model, and she knew how to put on professional make-up, but even none of her make-up was as wonderful-looking as this girl's was. The girl wore the school's girls' uniform, but it seemed faded... Momo was sure it was just the light of the hallway, but it seemed so old...
"Uh, what do you mean, 'you got it?'" Kiley asked the girl.
"You've got the wrong key in the door," she said, taking the key out of the keyhole, "the right key for the janitor's closet is the key with a red mark, not a green mark. They just changed it a little while ago."
"Oh, really?" Momo flipped through a few keys until she came to a key with a red mark, and, when she put it into the keyhole and tried to open the door, it did. "Yes!" Momo exclaimed happily, sliding the box into the closet and then closing the door and locking it. She turned to the talk to the girl, but, she was already gone.
"Um, Kiley...?" Momo looked around the hallway for the girl. "Did you see where that girl went?"
"Hm?" Kiley looked up at Momo from the floor; he was tying his shoelace. "Oh, no, I was down here tying my shoelace when you got the door open."
Momo sighed. "I wanted to thank her..."
Kiley shrugged. "She's probably a new student; you'll see her around today, in the cafeteria or something."
"Yeah, you're right..." Momo nodded as Kiley got up from the floor. "But, they didn't say anything about a new student coming..."
"Do they ever? C'mon, Momo, stop worrying about it."
"Kiley... didn't she look familiar to you?"
"Eh?" Kiley blinked, and then frowned. "Well, yeah, she kinda did... like I'd seen her somewhere before..."
"You two! Why are you not in class?!" a voice suddenly shouted.
Kiley and Momo looked to see Meimi, the hall monitor, her pad and pen out in her hands, ready to write any doddling students down who weren't speedily getting to class.
"The bell rings in five minutes!" Meimi continued, approaching them. "If you don't hurry, I'm going to have to write you down!"
"Aw, Meimi..." Kiley slinked over to the girl, "...you wouldn't do that to me...!"
"You bet your buttons I would!" Meimi said, swatting Kiley in the face with the pad of paper.
"Owww!" Kiley put a hand over his nose.
"Adachi Momo! Please take your belongings and get to class!" Meimi put her pad and pen away.
"Yes, of course, right away!" Momo picked up her books and pencil bag and started to walk off.
"Oh, Adachi-san?"
"Hm?" Momo turned around.
"Please take Okayasu with you."
"Yes." Momo nodded, grabbing Kiley by the shirt-sleeve, and dragging him off.
"Byeee, Meimi!" Kiley waved, smiling goofily. "Thank you for allowing my Momo to take care of meeee!"
Momo snorted. 'Here we go with the 'my Momo' stuff again!'
Eventually, Momo let go of Kiley's sleeve, and he began walking with her, down the hall.
"So, Momo, whatcha doin' after school?" Kiley asked.
"What do you think? Going to the festival grounds to set up."
"Oh, that's right... I am too."
"Yes, I know that."
"Well... see ya later, Momo!" Kiley winked, and disappeared into his classroom, leaving Momo to walk down the rest of the hallway to her own classroom, where she would be greeted by dozens of judgemental stares, and the sly grin of Kashiwagi Sae.
As Momo slid into her seat, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sae whisper something to the girl sitting in front of her, and they both glanced at Momo, and snickered. "Can you believe it?" she heard Sae say. The rest of the conversation Momo blocked out of her head. She didn't need to hear what Sae had to say right now... she had other things concerning her... things much more important than Sae's petty lies... although, those "petty" lies always seemed to escalate into more monstrous things... but Momo didn't want to consider that. She just wanted to be in balance with her life; with everyone... even if right now, it seemed foolish to try. The teacher called for everyone's homework to be passed up to the front, and as soon as everyone's paper had been collected, a new worksheet was passed back to each row of students.
The worksheet enduced an array of groans from the students, but Momo wasn't focusing on how horrible this new work would be. Momo took out her pencils and eraser, and began to work, as soon did everyone else, with the exception of a small group of boys who were copying each other's papers. But, as thoughtful on the worksheet as Momo seemed she was, her mind was on other things... like how she was going to survive after school today.
Working with Kiley wouldn't be so bad, but when Sae saw them setting up the booth, she wouldn't be able to help herself. Momo could just imagine Sae trotting over to them, that sickenly sweet smile plastered across her face as she said, in her annoying voice, "Oh, you two are working together? How cute!" Momo could almost throw up at the thought. Of course, Sae wouldn't be lifting a finger after school today. She had enough followers to do everything for her.
Kashiwagi Sae, the Goddess. It was too bad none of her worshippers knew the truth about their wonderful Sae. Sae was a liar, a deceitful person. But it seemed that only Momo knew the truth... and that didn't mean that she could stop Sae from ruining her life. Right now, it seemed like noone could. And, for now, it seemed that Momo would have to suffer in order for everyone to slowly see the real Sae that was hidden behind the mask of lies that Sae had created for herself.
'But how long will I have to suffer?' Momo thought, as her pencil's eraser rested upon her bottom lip, 'How long before everyone knows the real Sae? The real Sae I've known for six months now?'
Momo glanced back at Sae, who was, as she already knew, secretly participating with the group of cheating boys, except, unlike them, Sae was coy. Sae was an expert on cheating; Momo know this. And she already knew that Sae regularly cheated on quizzes, tests, and exams... but she never, ever got caught... and Momo was sure that Sae never would. However, Momo hoped, with all of her heart, that Sae would be caught lying. Caught lying about everyone, everything. Have that pretty yet ugly mask ripped off of her face; have Sae's true self stripped in front of everyone, so that everyone could see the ugly truth. The ugly Sae. The Sae that noone ever saw... because Kashiwagi Sae made ugly seem so beautiful.
And Toji was falling for it... the act that Sae put on for everyone... and Momo could hardly bear it.
"We will be doing problems on the board, and a few people will be called forward to do problems: Kashiwagi, Takashi, Oshima, and... Adachi."
'Great.' Momo grimaced. And, as fate would always have it, Sae would choose the spot right next to Momo, to smirk at Momo whenever she got the chance. Getting up from her desk, she walked over to the place that was left, at the left end of the chalkboard, right next to Sae. In front of Momo, tacked up, there was a poster advertising for the festival.
"Ah, Momo... you can take that down for now; for space," her teacher said.
"Okay..." Momo carefully peeled off the poster from the chalkboard, to see the characters that spelled out... the word that Momo was so often labeled: "WHORE." Right next to it, the characters went further: "MOMO IS A WHORE."
Momo was silent as she looked over at Sae, who was rimming with pleasure at seeing Momo confronted so hatefully. Momo could hardly control herself.
"Oh! Momo! Who would right such a thing?!" The teacher rushed up to the chalkboard, and erased the obsenities off of the board. "Whoever did this should be ashamed! I'm sorry, Momo..."
"I-It's okay." Momo felt so weak and timid, like a mouse... but the person who did this was a RAT... something that would feed off of the mouse... and that person was the one standing right next to her... Sae, the Rat, that noone ever caught in the trap, even if she was lured in by the delect aroma of unsuspecting prey.
As soon as everyone had finished their assigned problem, as the teacher checked each one, Sae turned to Momo, a sly grin upon her face. "Oh, Momo, I'm terribly sorry about what you found..." she had the obvious 'Of Course I Did It!' look upon her face, that only Momo seemed to see... Momo hated that look... but she hated it basically because it seemed to be the only expression Sae really wore when she was around Momo. "But..." she said quickly, just as the teacher was moving on to checking her problem, "...we'll have fun after school, today, won't we, Momo?" She gave Momo one last sneer before she turned to the teacher, putting her mask back on; the mask she would use for the rest of the day, and tomorrow, and the day after that...
"Good job, Kashiwagi... you may return to your seat now."
"Thank you, ma'am!" Sae bowed, and practically skipped off back to her seat.
"Good job, Adachi... you may sit down now."
"Thank you, ma'am." Momo bowed, and walked off to her seat, checking her seat before she sat down... many a times she had the unpleasant surprise of a nice tack awaiting her. Sitting back down, with no booby- traps in sight, Momo relaxed and turned her attention back to the lesson. She wouldn't think about what was going to happen after school today... (Sae's words didn't exactly help Momo feel any better about the situation)... until "after school" came.
"Where am I?"
Momo tried to make sense of her surroundings. It looked like she was in a dark hallway, but, for as far as she could see, there were no doors, except for the one that was at the end of the hall, but when Momo tried to walk towards it, it seemed to move farther away. Momo didn't know why, but for some reason she wanted to get to that door, and open it, see what was inside. Her curiosity was eating away at her so badly she almost couldn't stand it. She wasn't normally this curious or anxious, but there was something about the door that made Momo want to tear it off its hinges and end her anticipation altogether by discovering that the thing that was behind the door was nothing unusual or interesting.
But Momo could not stand just waiting around any longer, and she ran towards the door, assuming that it would just move farther away... instead, Momo crashed into the door, it flinging open and tossing a surprised Momo onto the ground, it shutting behind her.
"Huh?" Momo blinked. "Where am I now?" she said aloud, looking around.
"Didn't like it where you were, Momo?" a familiar, sly voice asked.
'Sae?!' Momo hastily thought, 'No... it couldn't be...!'
Momo suddenly remembered where she had seen this familiar place before: it was Sae's room. But, what was she doing there?
"Guess you don't like my old dollhouse, huh?"
"Eh?" Momo's eyes widened as a giant Sae came towards her, kneeling down and looking at Momo with a menacing look in her eye... the look Sae always seemed to have when she was obviously enjoying her handiwork of destroying Momo's life.
"'Dollhouse?'"
"Yes, 'dollhouse!'" Sae snorted, and, with her enormous fingers, turned Momo to face the door she had just come out of, and as Momo's eyes looked upward, she saw where she had been: in a dollhouse.
"Wha--?" Momo looked back to Sae and the room. "Sae, how did you get so big? And... when did I suddenly become small enough to fit inside your dollhouse?"
Sae shrugged. "I just found you outside a few hours ago, small, like you are now. I brought you inside, and, since you were too small for you normal clothes, I put you in doll clothes instead."
Momo looked down at her clothes and almost died. Sae had dressed her in this horrible, pineapple dress and hot-pink shoes. Momo's fist quivered. If she weren't so small, she would have beaned Sae right in the nose. The nerve, dressing her like this! Sae dressed her so distastefully on purpose!
"Oh, I invited over some friends, if you don't mind..." Sae said slowly.
"'Friends?'"
"...you don't mind, do you? ...Oh, Toji? Kiley? You can come in now!"
Momo froze. Toji?! Kiley?! If they saw her, dressed like this and small as Thumbelina... oh, she would never live it down! Momo raced for the front door of the dollhouse, but Sae's nimble fingers snatched Momo up by the back of her dress and lifted her up; Momo's arms and legs flailing wildly in the air.
"Put me down!" Momo demanded.
"Momo...?!"
Momo recognized this voice: it was... Toji's.
"See? Doesn't she look cute in this outfit?" Sae laughed.
"Whoa, Momo's really small!" Kiley exclaimed.
"Shut up, Kiley!" Momo snapped.
Toji was silent; he didn't say anything more.
"Toji..." Momo began, but, then, Toji's image began to become fuzzy and soon, Momo couldn't see him clearly. "Toji!" she screamed. "...TOJIIII!"
"...And the weather is looking fine this morning..."
"Mm?" Momo slowly opened her eyes to see her familiar bedroom ceiling. She gently rubbed her eyes and sat up in her bed. "...Just a dream...?" Letting out a heavy sigh, brushing some of her hair back behind her shoulder. She yawned. "It was too real for my tastes!" she said as she got up and walked over to her bedroom window, closing it.
"...For all you high school girls, it's Best Friends Day, and, if you and your best friend come to the set-up of the yearly festival tomorrow..."
The clock-radio was interrupted as it met Momo's fist.
"'Best Friends Day?' Give me a break!" Momo grumbled, removing her hand from the radio, "What kind of holiday is that?"
'Hm, guess I'm not late this morning...' Momo thought to herself as she walked to school, her bookbag softly thumping against her side, '...usually, Mom's yelling at me to get up...'
"Hi, Momo!"
Momo felt a pair of hands clamp down on her bookbag, pulling it back; she stopped to see Kiley smiling back at her.
"You're even a pervert in the morning?" Momo said half-sarcastically, as she snatched her bookbag from Kiley's hands, "And this early, too?"
"Aw, Momo, you're so mean to me!" Kiley whined.
Momo rolled her eyes. "Why aren't you at school already?"
"Why should I be? This is the time I normally leave for school," Kiley shrugged. "Plus, I get to see my Momo before school!" Kiley clasped his hands together. "That's a plus! How about a kiss... OW!"
"Don't even think about touching me, you pumpkinhead!" Momo snapped.
"Geez, Momo..." Kiley rubbed his cheek, "...I was only joking... OW!"
"And that's for saying 'my Momo!', Mr.Pumpkinhead!"
"You're lucky I haven't left you, for all the abuse you make me suffer through!" Kiley said, pretending to wipe away a tear.
"It's self-defense, Wiley Kiley."
"Ssh! I told you not to call me that anymore!"
"Sorry, Wiley Kiley."
"Momo!"
Momo laughed. Kiley made the tears she cried last night seem irrelevant, although the memory of the pain she had felt because of Sae would never go away. But Momo tried not to think about it as she and Kiley walked along to school; it wouldn't make things better if she just let it bother her. Talking with Kiley made her heart feel relieved, somehow, as they walked together, speaking of a various array of subjects, but mostly the upcoming festival.
"So, are you on duty for it, Momo?"
"Well, yeah, isn't everyone? They practically FORCED us to sign up. I'm stuck with helping run one of our school's snack booths."
Kiley seemed to perk up when Momo mentioned her duty. He practically squealed when he said quickly, his face in a silly expression, "'Snack booths!?' Momo, I'm setting up those too! We'll be working together then, side by side!"
Momo shook her head. "No, I don't think so, Kiley. When they announced everyone's placements, I had the job of helping run the beef- stick booth. And you..." Momo squinted for a moment, trying to recall what job they had announced for Kiley, and then suddenly, she gasped, "They put you in the beef-stick booth too!"
"Really!?" Kiley made exaggerated gestures as the two continued to walk, "That means we'll probably be on the same shift, too!"
'Oh, great...' Momo thought, '...I get stuck with Wiley Kiley? God's really looking down on me today.' Momo then thought of something else, 'And Sae's gonna have a FIELD DAY if we get the same shift. Either way, it's a crummy fate.'
"I'll have such fun working with my Momo!" Kiley exclaimed as they reached the school's front doors, "Such fun, la de da..." Kiley began to hum and snap his fingers as they walked down the hallway.
Momo's fist quivered. But, she decided not to punch Kiley, since there was no way she could change her position at the festival now, since they were setting things up today after school.
'Guess I'll be hanging out with Pumpkinhead after school today,' Momo thought grimly as she removed her shoes, 'and I know that Sae will be all over it in two seconds.'
"Oh, Momo?" Momo raised her head as Chisao, the Student Council vice- president walked towards her, a cardboard box in her hands.
"Hi, Chisao," Momo said. Chisao, a junior, was one of the few people who actually talked to Momo and actually treated her like a human being. But, Chisao would never be actual friends with Momo, she knew this, since Chisao was rather vulnerable to Sae, and Momo figured that Sae had probably already told Chisao a few, unflattering things about the dark-skinned "playgirl." Nonetheless, Chisao still seemed to like Momo, and Momo hoped that someday, when everyone saw who Sae really was, Chisao would realize that Momo was nothing like the person that the rumors around school said she was. "What's up?"
"Well, since we're setting up the booths after school today, everyone's been scrambling for the supplies, and, since we still have some in the janitor's closet, I was wondering if you take this box and put the banners in it and take it with you to the park for me when we leave after school today please, Momo?"
"Sure, Chisao," Momo said, taking the box.
"The people who are helping out get out of school an hour early today, so, do you think you could get the banners then? Here are the keys for the closet." Chisao handed Momo a large key ring with at least a dozen keys on it.
Momo's eyes widened as she looked at the ring and all of the keys dangling from it. "Which...?"
"The key with the green mark on it is the key to the janitor's closet. It's a pretty bright shade of green, so it's hard to miss it." Momo nodded. "Ok, thanks a lot, Momo!" Chisao said quickly, and she then turned and ran off, heading towards her first-period class.
'I better hurry and get to class.' Momo looked up at the wallclock, and saw that she had ten minutes before the bell rang. 'Well, guess I better head to class now...' Momo suddenly remembered the rather large cardboard box she was holding. Momo looked at the keyring and shrugged. 'I'll just put it in the janitor's closet for now, for safe-keeping,' Momo thought as she began to walk down the hallway, 'so I won't have to carry this around with me all day.'
Softly whistling as she walked down the hallway, Momo eventually stopped at the door labeled 'janitor.' Setting the cardboard box down on the ground, Momo put her books under her arm as she flipped through the keys on the giant key ring, whispering each color aloud to herself as she checked the color of each key. "Orange... blue... red... yellow... pink..." Momo's voice trailed off some as she continued to flip through the keys. "...maroon... ah! Green!" Momo smiled as she plucked up the key with her index finger and thumb; taking a hold of the doorknob, Momo slid the key in the keyhole, and turned it to the left. Momo turned the doornob and tried to open the door: it didn't open. Momo was just about to turn the key to the right when she felt two hands on her waist.
"Momooo..." someone whispered in her ear. "Wha... OW!"
"Hi again, Kiley," Momo said dryly, "and what might you be doing here, hmm?"
Kiley rubbed his nose. "I tink you broke my node..."
Momo rolled her eyes, and returned to what she was doing before.
"Whatcha doin', Momo?" Kiley asked, looking over Momo's shoulder.
"Trying to get this box put away in here so I can get to class..." Momo answered as she looked up at the wallclock: six minutes before the bell rang.
"Box for what?" Kiley inquired further. "Why are you carrying around a box?"
"It's for the school festival; Chisao asked me to get some banners out from the janitor's closet into this box and bring it to the festival grounds after school. I'm putting the box in here just for now."
Kiley picked up the box and looked inside. "What's supposed to be in here?"
"Banners, like I just said."
"Oh." Kiley let the box fall to the floor.
Momo turned the key to the right, and then turned the doorknob, pulling outwards: the door still didn't open. "Arrgh!" Momo pounded a fist on the door. "Why won't this key open this door?!"
"Momo, calm down!" Kiley said nervously, "You don't want to get in trouble..."
"I don't care if I get in trouble! I've tried TWICE to get this stupid key to open this... STUPID door and each time it hasn't worked!"
"Here, let me try, then." Momo stepped away as Kiley turned the key and turned the doorknob; but, each time the door wouldn't open.
"Arrgh! Stupid door!" Kiley said, pounding a fist on the door.
"See what I mean?"
There was a pause and then, "...Yeah." Kiley sheepishly nodded and took his hands off of the door.
"What's up with this door?! Is it the wrong key?"
"...You got it."
"Huh?" Momo and Kiley both looked behind them, to see an older girl, with long, blond, crimped hair and beautiful, milk-white skin standing behind them. "Hiya." She waved and smiled, her hoop earrings dangling. Her hair was pulled back with small, pink clips, and she wore light, sky-blue eyeshadow and her lips shimmered with pink and glitter. It was like no make- up Momo had ever seen... it was so beautiful, and not even any of the seniors at the school had make-up that was like this. One of the seniors was a model, and she knew how to put on professional make-up, but even none of her make-up was as wonderful-looking as this girl's was. The girl wore the school's girls' uniform, but it seemed faded... Momo was sure it was just the light of the hallway, but it seemed so old...
"Uh, what do you mean, 'you got it?'" Kiley asked the girl.
"You've got the wrong key in the door," she said, taking the key out of the keyhole, "the right key for the janitor's closet is the key with a red mark, not a green mark. They just changed it a little while ago."
"Oh, really?" Momo flipped through a few keys until she came to a key with a red mark, and, when she put it into the keyhole and tried to open the door, it did. "Yes!" Momo exclaimed happily, sliding the box into the closet and then closing the door and locking it. She turned to the talk to the girl, but, she was already gone.
"Um, Kiley...?" Momo looked around the hallway for the girl. "Did you see where that girl went?"
"Hm?" Kiley looked up at Momo from the floor; he was tying his shoelace. "Oh, no, I was down here tying my shoelace when you got the door open."
Momo sighed. "I wanted to thank her..."
Kiley shrugged. "She's probably a new student; you'll see her around today, in the cafeteria or something."
"Yeah, you're right..." Momo nodded as Kiley got up from the floor. "But, they didn't say anything about a new student coming..."
"Do they ever? C'mon, Momo, stop worrying about it."
"Kiley... didn't she look familiar to you?"
"Eh?" Kiley blinked, and then frowned. "Well, yeah, she kinda did... like I'd seen her somewhere before..."
"You two! Why are you not in class?!" a voice suddenly shouted.
Kiley and Momo looked to see Meimi, the hall monitor, her pad and pen out in her hands, ready to write any doddling students down who weren't speedily getting to class.
"The bell rings in five minutes!" Meimi continued, approaching them. "If you don't hurry, I'm going to have to write you down!"
"Aw, Meimi..." Kiley slinked over to the girl, "...you wouldn't do that to me...!"
"You bet your buttons I would!" Meimi said, swatting Kiley in the face with the pad of paper.
"Owww!" Kiley put a hand over his nose.
"Adachi Momo! Please take your belongings and get to class!" Meimi put her pad and pen away.
"Yes, of course, right away!" Momo picked up her books and pencil bag and started to walk off.
"Oh, Adachi-san?"
"Hm?" Momo turned around.
"Please take Okayasu with you."
"Yes." Momo nodded, grabbing Kiley by the shirt-sleeve, and dragging him off.
"Byeee, Meimi!" Kiley waved, smiling goofily. "Thank you for allowing my Momo to take care of meeee!"
Momo snorted. 'Here we go with the 'my Momo' stuff again!'
Eventually, Momo let go of Kiley's sleeve, and he began walking with her, down the hall.
"So, Momo, whatcha doin' after school?" Kiley asked.
"What do you think? Going to the festival grounds to set up."
"Oh, that's right... I am too."
"Yes, I know that."
"Well... see ya later, Momo!" Kiley winked, and disappeared into his classroom, leaving Momo to walk down the rest of the hallway to her own classroom, where she would be greeted by dozens of judgemental stares, and the sly grin of Kashiwagi Sae.
As Momo slid into her seat, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sae whisper something to the girl sitting in front of her, and they both glanced at Momo, and snickered. "Can you believe it?" she heard Sae say. The rest of the conversation Momo blocked out of her head. She didn't need to hear what Sae had to say right now... she had other things concerning her... things much more important than Sae's petty lies... although, those "petty" lies always seemed to escalate into more monstrous things... but Momo didn't want to consider that. She just wanted to be in balance with her life; with everyone... even if right now, it seemed foolish to try. The teacher called for everyone's homework to be passed up to the front, and as soon as everyone's paper had been collected, a new worksheet was passed back to each row of students.
The worksheet enduced an array of groans from the students, but Momo wasn't focusing on how horrible this new work would be. Momo took out her pencils and eraser, and began to work, as soon did everyone else, with the exception of a small group of boys who were copying each other's papers. But, as thoughtful on the worksheet as Momo seemed she was, her mind was on other things... like how she was going to survive after school today.
Working with Kiley wouldn't be so bad, but when Sae saw them setting up the booth, she wouldn't be able to help herself. Momo could just imagine Sae trotting over to them, that sickenly sweet smile plastered across her face as she said, in her annoying voice, "Oh, you two are working together? How cute!" Momo could almost throw up at the thought. Of course, Sae wouldn't be lifting a finger after school today. She had enough followers to do everything for her.
Kashiwagi Sae, the Goddess. It was too bad none of her worshippers knew the truth about their wonderful Sae. Sae was a liar, a deceitful person. But it seemed that only Momo knew the truth... and that didn't mean that she could stop Sae from ruining her life. Right now, it seemed like noone could. And, for now, it seemed that Momo would have to suffer in order for everyone to slowly see the real Sae that was hidden behind the mask of lies that Sae had created for herself.
'But how long will I have to suffer?' Momo thought, as her pencil's eraser rested upon her bottom lip, 'How long before everyone knows the real Sae? The real Sae I've known for six months now?'
Momo glanced back at Sae, who was, as she already knew, secretly participating with the group of cheating boys, except, unlike them, Sae was coy. Sae was an expert on cheating; Momo know this. And she already knew that Sae regularly cheated on quizzes, tests, and exams... but she never, ever got caught... and Momo was sure that Sae never would. However, Momo hoped, with all of her heart, that Sae would be caught lying. Caught lying about everyone, everything. Have that pretty yet ugly mask ripped off of her face; have Sae's true self stripped in front of everyone, so that everyone could see the ugly truth. The ugly Sae. The Sae that noone ever saw... because Kashiwagi Sae made ugly seem so beautiful.
And Toji was falling for it... the act that Sae put on for everyone... and Momo could hardly bear it.
"We will be doing problems on the board, and a few people will be called forward to do problems: Kashiwagi, Takashi, Oshima, and... Adachi."
'Great.' Momo grimaced. And, as fate would always have it, Sae would choose the spot right next to Momo, to smirk at Momo whenever she got the chance. Getting up from her desk, she walked over to the place that was left, at the left end of the chalkboard, right next to Sae. In front of Momo, tacked up, there was a poster advertising for the festival.
"Ah, Momo... you can take that down for now; for space," her teacher said.
"Okay..." Momo carefully peeled off the poster from the chalkboard, to see the characters that spelled out... the word that Momo was so often labeled: "WHORE." Right next to it, the characters went further: "MOMO IS A WHORE."
Momo was silent as she looked over at Sae, who was rimming with pleasure at seeing Momo confronted so hatefully. Momo could hardly control herself.
"Oh! Momo! Who would right such a thing?!" The teacher rushed up to the chalkboard, and erased the obsenities off of the board. "Whoever did this should be ashamed! I'm sorry, Momo..."
"I-It's okay." Momo felt so weak and timid, like a mouse... but the person who did this was a RAT... something that would feed off of the mouse... and that person was the one standing right next to her... Sae, the Rat, that noone ever caught in the trap, even if she was lured in by the delect aroma of unsuspecting prey.
As soon as everyone had finished their assigned problem, as the teacher checked each one, Sae turned to Momo, a sly grin upon her face. "Oh, Momo, I'm terribly sorry about what you found..." she had the obvious 'Of Course I Did It!' look upon her face, that only Momo seemed to see... Momo hated that look... but she hated it basically because it seemed to be the only expression Sae really wore when she was around Momo. "But..." she said quickly, just as the teacher was moving on to checking her problem, "...we'll have fun after school, today, won't we, Momo?" She gave Momo one last sneer before she turned to the teacher, putting her mask back on; the mask she would use for the rest of the day, and tomorrow, and the day after that...
"Good job, Kashiwagi... you may return to your seat now."
"Thank you, ma'am!" Sae bowed, and practically skipped off back to her seat.
"Good job, Adachi... you may sit down now."
"Thank you, ma'am." Momo bowed, and walked off to her seat, checking her seat before she sat down... many a times she had the unpleasant surprise of a nice tack awaiting her. Sitting back down, with no booby- traps in sight, Momo relaxed and turned her attention back to the lesson. She wouldn't think about what was going to happen after school today... (Sae's words didn't exactly help Momo feel any better about the situation)... until "after school" came.