By Ai
Chapter 10Love is a risk…some people take it
willingly, some people take it unprepared, and some people take it ignorant.
For some people, they get lucky. For
some, they fall, and nothing's the same afterwards.
Everybody practically avoided everyone else the next day at school. It was too awkward. At lunch, Relena didn't eat with the group. Heero left directly after he finished eating. The others didn't say a word.
"What happened?" Angel had asked, sure that everyone was keeping something from her.
"Nothing." They would all reply.
She looked to Heero.
"Meet you at the quad after school." And with that, he deposited all his garbage into the trash before leaving the cafeteria.
"I wonder what's up with him?" Angel wondered out loud.
Nobody said everything. They just stared at their lunch and continued eating.
Relena twirled the pencil in her hand. It was all so weird. So far, none of them have spoken to each other today. Even though Heero was in two of her classes, they basically pretended that the other wasn't there. Calculus. It was so boring. The professor was droning on about some theory. She sighed and continued twirling the pencil. Suddenly, the professor cleared his throat. Relena snapped out of her trance and looked up. On the board, he wrote two block letter words: POP QUIZ.
I didn't know there were quizzes in university!!! Relena thought in frustration. Didn't teachers just appear to lecture? Slowly, she got out her pen and calculator. The teacher started handing out the quiz papers. Relena scanned her paper and her mind went blank. It was all from yesterday's homework but the day had been so distracting that she couldn't really concentrate on what she was doing exactly. She looked around the classroom in panic. Most people seemed to know what they were doing, especially Heero. Looking down at her own blank paper, she felt the pressure build up within her. The door closed and Relena looked up. The professor had stepped out for the minute. Could she cheat off someone else?
No. Relena told herself. It just wasn't right. Suddenly, she felt something hit the back of her head. Furious, she snapped her head back to see who it was. But everyone else was just working on their own quiz. Then she scanned the floor for the object. It was a wadded piece of paper. So she picked it up, smoothed it out and read it.
Don't you remember? …
Following that question was a single word...but it triggered her memory so effectively. She was so thankful to whoever the thrower was. A light bulb clicked in her head as all of last night's homework flooded back into her brain. The note was written in very fluid and neat writing. It seemed very familiar.
Oh well. Better get to work before time's up! She thought as she started tackling her paper.
* * * * *
RRIIIINNNGGGG…..
Relena put down her pen and looked over her paper. She let out a breath of relief. She had just finished it. Everyone was heading over to the professor's desk to hand in their quiz and leave. She got up with her quiz in one hand, her bag in the other and headed towards the professor. Heero was right behind her. They were at the professor's desk, waiting for their turn to hand in their papers when Heero whispered a question in her ear.
"So, you finished everything?" He asked.
She nodded and slowly, she realized who had thrown her the hint. It was a rather smart hint. Enough to help her, yet not enough to be considered a piece of evidence that she had cheated if the professor found it. She mouthed Heero a thank you, a sheepish look on her face as she placed her quiz on the pile. Heero shrugged as he too, submitted his paper.
"Later," he said as he walked out of the classroom, his bag slung over one shoulder.
"Bye!" She called after him before making her way out of the classroom.
Relena was walking when she heard a voice, which made her turn around.
"Relena."
It was Jackie and she was standing next to the classroom door with her books against her chest.
"Hi, Jackie." Relena greeted her with a smile.
It was a silent walk to their next classes. Both girls stayed quiet, walking alongside each other.
"I'm so sorry!" Jackie suddenly blurted out, shattering the silence.
"For what?" Relena asked.
"For yesterday. I'm terribly sorry. I shouldn't have assumed. I know you both so well…I should have known better. I…"
"It's okay. I've pretty much forgotten all about it."
"Then why didn't you hang out with us at lunch today?"
"It was still a bit awkward…I could tell. Plus, I think it's time for me to hang out with some new people."
"But you met new people like Angel and the rest of the crew!"
"Jackie! Don't be so serious. It's nothing. Just as long as you believe us now, that's all that matters." Relena assured her.
"So…how's Heero?" Jackie asked nervously.
"Well…I dunno. I haven't really talked to him today." Relena admitted.
"Oh."
"Don't worry. I'm sure he's over it. He just kind of…lost his temper yesterday."
"I could tell."
"He'll be fine. We'll all be okay. Well, here's my class."
"Okay, I'll see you after school?"
"Sure. Bye!"
"Bye!"
Then both girls went their separate ways.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
He sat there on the quad steps, waiting for Angel. Heero looked at his watch. Angel was late…again. He couldn't help being slightly annoyed with her. She was always like that. Unlike a particular friend he had. Just as he was about to roll his eyes, he heard footsteps hurrying towards him. He looked up, and there was Angel. A wide grin spread on her face and her hair flying in all directions from the rush. She stopped in front of him.
"Sorry." She said sheepishly, catching her breath.
"It's okay." He replied. He always said that.
"So, what are we gonna do?" She asked.
"Why don't we catch a movie and then after, we can grab a burger?" Heero suggested. It was like a routine. It was always this or that.
"Sure, sounds great!" Angel said enthusiastically.
So they headed to Heero's car and sped off to the mall.
"Oh!" Everyone gasped. She clutched his sleeve tighter and her head snuggled closer to his neck. He stiffened. He never was comfortable with being so close to her. It intimidated him. That's why they never kissed on the lips. Once they almost did, but he turned his head at the last minute. She had asked him what was wrong and he had admitted that he wasn't ready for that. He felt so embarrassed then. Who heard of a guy being unready? So they only kept to hugs, holding hands and kisses on the cheek. Actually, most of the time, she kissed him, not the other way around. He wasn't very comfortable with any kind of close contact but he just couldn't say that he wasn't ready for anything. Then why go out? He seriously didn't know what was wrong with him. She was his girlfriend and he had to accept her care and love. But he couldn't. He just couldn't. He tried to relax himself but couldn't. So he did what he could. He directed all his attention to the screen.
"So Heero, what did you think about the movie?" Angel asked while taking a sip of her strawberry milkshake.
"It was pretty suspenseful and good." He lied quietly, nibbling his fries carefully. He was hardly paying attention.
"Well, I thought it was so scary!" Angel exclaimed as she flipped her blond hair.
Heero forced himself to chuckle.
"What's so funny?" She asked, puzzled.
"Nothing. You sounded so…scared." He commented.
"Well, I was."
"I could tell."
"Well, where are we off to next?" Angel asked while finishing the last of her shake.
"Why don't we head back to the dorms…I still have a paper to finish up."
"Sure, I have an assignment too." She agreed.
So they paid for their order and went out the door. As they got into the car, Heero caught himself shaking his own head.
I'm such a good actor. Maybe I should pursue an acting career instead." He thought amusingly. Then he rethought his thought, and smirked; before he turned the ignition and sped away back to the dormitory.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
"Hey, neat room!" Jackie exclaimed.
Relena had met Jackie in the forum after class. Turns out the rest of the gang weren't really speaking to each other either. Relena invited Jackie to come up to her room and catch up a little. So here they are.
"Thanks." Relena replied.
"No roommate?" Jackie asked.
"Nope."
"Cool. Hey, I see you still have photos of the old gang too!" Jackie commented.
"Yeah. I do. The only face in the pictures that you wouldn't know would be Hilde. She's my best friend from my other school." Relena explained.
"So I'm not your best friend?" Jackie teased.
"Of course you are! The one of you is framed beside my bed at home. I was hoping I'd run into you here." Relena rushed to say.
"I know, I know. Just having a little fun with you!"
"Good. Would you like something to drink?"
"Anything would be fine."
So Relena got them both a glass of iced tea each.
"How has it been ever since you moved away?" Jackie asked, trying to make friendly conversation.
"It's been good. The usual, I made new friends, left sad memories behind…"
"Did you have a boyfriend?" Jackie asked. "Oops, that was kinda personal," she added sheepishly.
Relena smiled.
"It's okay. No, I didn't. Sure, I went out on a few dates, but I never had a serious boyfriend. So are you and Andy going out?"
"Well, not really. I guess we're kind of on and off."
"Oh…I see. So, how's Heero been doing since I left?" Relena asked casually.
"Uh, I don't really know the details…you should ask Duo. After you left, Heero was in a lot of a bad luck and then Angel came and he finally agreed to go out with her. I don't know if that was the appropriate choice though." Jackie replied quickly.
"Huh?" Relena wondered.
"Maybe you could come over to my house sometime during the weekend. Ever since I told my parents that you were back in town, they were always asking me to invite you over." Jackie suggested, changing the subject.
"Does everyone around here go home for the weekends?" Relena asked.
"Yeah. We do. I don't even know why we live in dorms. I guess just to be more independent and live some normal college life." Jackie answered with a grin.
The two friends talked for more than two hours. Finally, it was time for Jacqueline to go. They promised to talk again sometime and parted. Relena smiled. She didn't lose her old friends after all.
A.N. : Oh my gosh, I can't even remember when I last updated. I'm so terribly sorry about it. Life was just really getting in the way. Well, this is finally here. I used my Spring Break to do this, so hopefully, it's ok! Thanks for keeping up with me, I really appreciate it!
Disclaimer: This is just for entertainment and not for profits! Don't sue me!