Chapter 2

"Class, I would like you to turn to the person next to you and introduce yourself to him or her. Later, you must introduce your partner to the class," said Ogawa-sensei.

I turned to my right. It was that idiotic girl from this morning. Forget it. I turned left. It was the window.

I stared at her. She stared back at me. She rolled her eyes. It was mutual dislike.

"Takeno Rika," she spoke to the ceiling, monotonously.

"Rukawa Kaede," I said with equal enthusiasm. There had to something said when Ogawa-sensei asked right?

I looked out the window. There was another block of classrooms. What were those girls doing over at the other room? They were waving at something and blowing kisses. Weird people. Suddenly they looked down and scribbled some stuff anxiously. Then a huge white piece of paper was raised against the window. There was a big red heart and it read "We love you! Rukawa!" They're talking about me? What the heck. Crazy.

"Right, class let's start the introductions," he exclaimed. And so they began. She's Minato Kyoko and likes to read. He's Hakani Shino and loves soccer. So on.

"Ok, now you two at the back."

"He's Rukaha Kade," she pointed at me as though identifying a criminal. The class laughed. She couldn't even get my name right.

"Rukawa Kaede," I corrected. "That girl," I jutted my thumb at her, "is Tameyo Ri..."

"You aren't much better. I'm Takeno Rika," she interrupted.

Both of us prepared to sit, when he smiled, "I see the two of you are having problems with each other's names! What about the other's hobby?"

We stood up reluctantly. I grabbed at the only thought I could think of and said, "She enjoys being a stand-up comedian." which was half true. She made me laugh at everything she did.

I could feel her anger rising up as she gritted her teeth saying, "He loves sleeping and calling people asshole."

I saw some people glaring at her, including that bimbo that'd interrupted my sleep. That idiot could have said something like playing basketball, right?

Ah well, she didn't know, did she?

******

What the heck was his problem? Is he on his way to making me the school outcast? Stand-up comedian?

I stood outside 1-9's classroom waiting for Shiya, my best friend, to come out. I was fuming.

"Hey Rika! What's wrong? You look like your brain cells were having a barbecue and smoke was coming out of your ears!"

"Rukawa Kaede. I feel like smothering him." I rubbed my fist against my palm vigorously.

"You're one of a kind. Rika. All the girls in school are drooling over him while you are here complaining about him. Haha... Your type is endangered already."

"Let's check out the cafeteria." I tugged Shiya along.

"You aren't so desperate to eat usually," she sounded confused.

"Well, today I feel like having scrambled eggs."

"...and flattened Rukawa?" She laughed.

"Nah, I don't take infected meat. It's bad for health."

"Hey Rika, the udon looks really good. Could you get a bowl for me? I'll go get some drinks."

"Anything you say, master. Oh yeah, I'll have lemon tea."

"'Course!"

"A bowl of udon and a plate of scrambled......"

Suddenly B1 barged in front of me and said, "Egg sandwich with wholemeal bread, I tell you, no mayonaise and only lettuce."

The store lady replied sarcastically, "And I suppose I must make sure the knife used to cut the egg had no traces of butter on it? This isn't MacDonalds. No special orders." I laughed. She turned to me and asked, "One bowl of udon and a plate of scrambled eggs?"

"Yup."

B1 went away sulking but spun around, as though remembering something, and gave me a weird "I wanna kill you" look. With that, she strolled off, butt-shaking and all. What did I do? I let her jump the queue and didn't say anything about it! The ultimate asshole, on par with Rukawa.

I took a tray and placed our food on it. Smelt good. Where was Shiya? I scanned the cafeteria for her. What do you expect? With Koji, her boyfriend, of course. All right, now I'll be really careful with the noodles.

The soup was almost up to the brim! Slowly, slowly, slowly...

"Rika!" someone shouted behind me.

I turned around. "Hey Ken..." His arm shot out and pulled me away. "What are you...?" A red-haired guy running at top speed collided right into me! I lost my hold on the tray and my eyes widened with horror as the bowl of udon flew up, overturned... I hit the ground and he landed on top of...OW! He felt like a brick wall! Next thing I knew, I had the special privilege to experience a rare shower of udon rain.

I struggled to get up, pushing him off me. I picked the udon off my uniform and felt like killing that red-haired beast. Kento was laughing his head off. Geez.

"Oei! You're blocking the Tensai's view! Yohei, where's Haruko?" he yelled and pushed me away.

"Oei yourself! You crashed into me and my udon!"

"You made me lose Haruko! Do you want one of my headbutts?"

"C'mon!" I challenged.

"Oh! There she is! Maybe next time! Haruko!" he exclaimed as he geared up and ran away, oblivious to the udon in his hair.

"Hey sorry about Hanamichi. He's bling to everybody except Haruko. Here's 100 yen for your food. Bye!" I stood there bewildered as his brigade of 3 or 4 dashed after that red-haired guy.

100 yen? I spent 430 yen on that!

"Guys are such assholes," I muttered under my breath.

"Guys are what?" Kento grinned.

"Assholes, all of you! What am I gonna do now? I'm all wet and sticky!" I cried. Feeling uneasy, I suddenly noticed all those pairs of eyes boring into me. Right, I picked up the bowls and chopsticks, practically on all fours. I felt like an idiot for the 5th time.

******

I ought to do myself a favour and stop lloking at that girl. She made me feel queasy in the stomach. I always see her at the wrong moment. Sucks.

I was feeling groggy after I was given a punch but that red-haired asshole. Stupid guy! Beat me up for no reason. But he suffered no less.

Good thing it was just a blow on the forehead. What should I say I did, this time? I slipped on the stairs when I was sleeping? Nah...I've used that excuse a million times. Hmm, how about this? Someone bought a boomerang from Australia and let me try it out but I forgot it would come back to me after I threw it and WHAM! It knocked into my forehead! Yeah, that's it!

Very funny, Rukawa Kaede.

My finger was poised to press the doorbell but Mum opened the door already. "Kaede..." she gave me a suspicious look.

"Oh! This?" I pointed at my wound. "It's nothing! I slipped down the stairs when I was sleeping and, you know!"

She raised her eyebrows and grabbed me by the ear. "Can you be more original next time with your excuses? I thought you promised me mot to fight the last time? Down 50!" she yelled.

The problem is, she never believed me.

"One...two...three..."

******