:: chapter 2 ::

Chihiro sat plunked her lunch tray down on the table between Miki and Aiko. She sat down with a huff. "Uh, not again."

Miki poked warily at her food. She swore that the brown, lumpy goo moved on its own. "Yep. Chef's surprise."

Aiko bit happily into her sushi. "Good thing I had some leftover sushi. I had a premonition of some strange lunch like this."

Chihiro gave Aiko a grumpy glare. "Gee, thanks. Just had to rub it in on us poor, poor people eating the leftover cafeteria food from the last two months."

Miki stuck a straw into her milk and slurped. "Hey, what do you think of that new guy. What's his name, Takahime?"

"Takahashi. He wants people to call him Hashi, though."

Aiko giggled. "Getting friendly, aren't you? Going by shortened names already?"

Chihiro raised an eyebrow. "Oh, puhlease. Does everything have to be around those weird romance novels you read?"

Aiko pouted. "They're well written!"

Miki grinned Cheshire-cat-like. "So, what do you think about him?"

Chihiro took a sip of her milk. "Ah, he's cool. I mean, who else would stand up to Maruimoto? And he went to New York! Isn't that just cool?"

"Yeah, sure. He's cool."

Chihiro noticed what Miki meant. Her face flushed a bit red. "Hey, hey, hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

Miki and Aiko were busy laughing at Chihiro's flushed, embarrassed face, and Chihiro was busily trying to stifle those laughs. "Can I sit here?"

The three girls froze. In front of them was Takahashi, holding a lunch tray.

Miki put her head under the table to stop her wild laughter. Aiko stared up at him with a blushing face, stuttering over the word 'yes'. That left Chihiro as the only sane person. "Sure, Hashi."

In a graceful swoop, Hashi settled himself into a chair across from Chihiro. He glanced at Aiko, who was still red, and Miki, who was convulsing under the table with wild giggles. "Uh, hi. Nice friends you've got here."

Chihiro kicked her two friends, and the two immediately straightened up. "This is Miki Hanabashi, and that's Aiko Osaka."

Hashi flashed them a smile. "Nice to meet you, Miki, Aiko."

Miki nodded back, and nudged Chihiro. In a very audible stage whisper, she said, "Nice boyfriend you've caught, Chihiro."

Chihiro blushed and sweatdropped. Hashi blushed momentarily too, but he almost immediately returned to his normal self.

"Uh, anyways . . ." he said, changing the subject. "What are you girls doing after school?"

"I'll be babysitting my cousins," Miki said.

"I have dance class," squeaked Aiko.

"I'll be home, slaving away on homework." Chihiro sighed. "Nice lives, eh?"

Hashi finished his milk, and prodded his lunch. He wrinkled up his nose, and tipped his lunch into the trashcan behind him. "I'll be home too, but my stuff's not set up. Want to come with me to the library for homework? And afterwards, we can go get some ice cream. My treat."

"Sure, alright!"

"Great." Hashi stood up and smoothed out his blazer, which was part of the school uniform. "I'll meet you at your locker, ok?"

"Sure. Bye for now!"

Chihiro turned and looked at her two friends, whom had their jaws dropped to the ground. "You two ok?"

Miki was the first to recover. "I swear that he just asked you out on a date."

Chihiro blinked. Oh yeah, huh . . .

Miki whistled. "Love at first sight, eh?"

"Hey!"

"Chihiro and Hashi sitting in a tree, K I S S I N G . . ."

"GUYS!"

Even as she protested, she knew that Miki and Aiko wouldn't stop bugging her about this.

Then again, she didn't really mind.