Disclaimer:
I don't own anything about Digimon. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author Notes:
I'm sorry for the massive delay, first it was just that I was busy, then writersblock, then it was that I didn't like how the story sounded, then after 32 rewrites, I had this sudden insight that it wasn't that the chapter was wrong, it was the fact that I was missing a scene, so I worked out another scene and it definitly looks a lotand I mean a lot better.
Now I know that I usually answer questions and give comments to all those who review, butit's about 3:23 in the morning right now and I have a 1030 class so I'm so sorry but I don't have time. I hope that this chapter is good enough that you forgive me.
Thank you to all those who reviewed you did help get me to get off my lazy butt.
**********
Philip L. Moore, esquire
gochikku_tenshi_e_hikari
MoonlightNIV
Sorato4ever
kallie
I love Jenrya
Story Weaver
Takako
squishybookworm
littleweirdwriter
Taiyou
Holy Knight
blucherry
SVZ
K. Kasai
Henrika
Teenager Rika
kodachifighter
K. Kasai
q.t
Virgo Writer
**********
PS, sorry but it's a cliffy.
Sorry one more point, I might be raising this Rating for this story to "R" just to be safe for future chapter. No it's not going to turn into porn or anything like that, but there might be references so I'm not sure if it's against or not. Being that I'm from Canada which means we have different standards to that of everywhere else in the world what is rated "R", "PG", "PG-13", and "NC17". So just a warning, but most likely I'm going to change it just to be safe.
*******************************
Perfect : Chapter 7/?
*******************************
I didn't know what to do… I was sitting beside the boy of my dreams and I didn't know what to do or say, my eyes were on him as he laughed and joked with his friend Kazu. Ryo was his usual charming self as everyone kept their full attention to his stories of getting touch downs, scoring goals, or pranks and jokes he played.
Glancing at my table, I saw Juri and Takato smiling and giving me thumbs up. Henry had apparently left, his things were gone but the odd thing was his tray was still on the table the food was clearly only half eaten or not even touched. Odd that he would do that, he always made a point to throw his own food away because he said the cafeteria staff had enough to deal with without throwing away other people's trash. `It's a point of principle,' he would say. On top of that… Food left? We are talking about Henry Wong, my best friend, the person that never left a crumb on his plate. Whose belly was full of holes?
"Yeah this Friday's dance should be cool, I heard the theme was seventies," said Kazu.
Seventies? I can see it now, bell-bottom pants, terrible disco dancing, and big puffy hair. Didn't people know that the seventies died for a reason?
"That sounds pretty cool," agreed Ryo.
Of course it was cool, I couldn't wait either, Ryo was going so it couldn't be that bad right?
"So Rika, do you have a date yet?" asked Ryo.
Surprised I choked on my juice, using all my skill I managed to keep from shooting the liquid everywhere. "N… No," I stuttered.
"Well you can come with me," offered Ryo.
I could see all the girls around the table looked deeply disappointed.
"I would love to," I said trying to contain my happiness.
"Great, I'll pick you up sometime around seven okay?" smiled Ryo, turning to Kazu, "hey let's go play some b-ball."
Then I was alone sitting at a deserted table, picking up my tray I hurried back to Juri and Takato, "I'm going to the dance with Ryo!" I squealed.
"Wow you sure work fast," said Takato surprised.
"Congratulation Rika," said Juri.
"Where's Henry?"
I so had to tell my best friend this; I owed him so big for getting me to sit with Ryo and on top of that putting in such a good word that I got a date with Ryo too.
"He left when you sat with Ryo," said Takato uneasy, "didn't really say where he was going."
Juri shifted uncomfortably in her seat while nodding at Henry's tray that still sat on the table, "Yeah he was in a bit of a hurry, probably joining a club or meeting someone."
Henry Wong? Taking part in some extra curricular activities in school? Meeting someone yes but didn't tell me? That doesn't sound right at all.
"That's strange," I said frowning, "well I'll go look for him."
"Good luck," said Juri and Takato exchanging looks.
A quick search of normal placed Henry would go, the library, the field, the basketball court, down to the only tree that was on school property came up with nothing. To my surprise I couldn't seem to find Henry, it was strange really, knowing that I couldn't find him or having him near made weird feelings in my stomach. The bell rang that signalled the end of lunch, which meant the end of my search.
Entering class I took my usual seat and waited for Henry, it was science class so I waited for my usual lab partner, which was of course Henry. I watched to clock in front of the class worried Henry it only held a minute before class started. Finally Henry walked in, I don't know but something about him struck me odd. I don't think I've ever been uncomfortable with Henry before but something about seeing him made me really uncomfortable, like he was sending out weird vibes or something.
"Hey," I said happily.
"Hey," acknowledged Henry glancing up briefly he flashed me a quick smile as he pulled out his books.
"So, where were you?"
Henry shrugged as he continued to dig through his bag, "No where."
"Oh… Well guess what happened at lunch today," I started excited.
"I heard," interrupted Henry setting up his books he started to read his science text.
Okay now I know something is really wrong, he hasn't acted like that since once when we were nine, I got really angry at him for no reason and dropped a pitcher of melted ice cream on him.
"Is something wrong Henry?"
Henry didn't even take his eyes off his book, "Nope, absolutely nothing wrong."
"Henry something is wrong," I insisted.
I may not be the world greatest detective but I could sure annoy Henry enough till he talked. Hm… I should add that to prospective jobs, interrogator.
"Nothing is wrong," snapped Henry.
Did he just snap at me? He is angry at me? How dare he? He isn't allowed to get angry, I'm allowed to be angry because of him being so childish right now. You no angry person, you… You stupid head!
"Henry…"
Henry looked up at me with a sigh, giving me an apologetic look, "Look Rika… It's just… Never mind okay? I'm just a bit ticked off about something."
The softness in his voice made me regret the want to snap back at him, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Henry shook his head, "Nah, it's nothing kay? Just drop it."
I nodded slowly but feeling sullen, Henry and I usually talked about everything, every problem, every item, we even delved into the uncomfortable subjects that our parents kept calling `The Birds and the Bees'.
Turning back to my things I began to spread them along the desk properly, each item had a specific place.
Henry reached out to move an item but seeing my frown and shooting death glares he smiled and leaned dangerously back in boredom while he kept tossing an eraser up into the air.
Then our teacher came swooping in, her long messy hair flowing as she whirled around and dumped her books on her desk in a loud bang. Ms. Fujikawa wasn't my favourite teacher in my opinion, she was a bit eccentric always willing to try new things and her staying on a schedule was atrocious, but she did know her stuff.
"Well class, today you'll be starting your exciting projects, I've posted up who you are being partnered up with so once you know who your partner is, it's off to the Library for research," said Ms. Fujikawa clapping her hands in excitement.
I glanced a question at Henry who shrugged as he meant that he didn't know that there was a project or that it was suppose to start today. Rolling my eyes, I quickly made my way to the posted up sheet, it wasn't like I had to everyone knew including Ms. Fujikawa that Henry and I were always suppose to be put together. The reasons were simple; I was the only one who could control Henry long enough for him to work on a project. Second most people who worked with me had a problem of how I needed to organise everything. So in the long run the teachers knew if they stuck Henry and me together that the project will get done well and no one would be traumatise.
Scanning down the list I found my name and following the line to my partners name I stopped and blinked in surprise, after a few more scans of the sheet I found that I was paired up with Juri… Quickly I found Henry's name and found him paired up with Alice Rowlen…
Alice Rowlen was the exchange student from France, she was the standard beautiful, smart, and have everything together kind of person, the one that you have to grit because the one and only flaw is the one that you can't fault her on, that one flaw is that barely speaks a word of Japanese.
Turning to Henry I was going to voice my concerns but I saw him talking to Ms. Fuji with Alice behind him.
"Now Henry I know that you speak French…"
"Not fluently," stated Henry calmly.
I was surprised Henry wasn't as furious of this as I felt.
"Better then anyone else in the class," said Ms. Fuji.
"Rika speaks French better then I do," Henry pointed out again his voice never changed from being calm.
I blushed slightly from Henry's comment to the teacher.
"Yes, well Rika… Rika is a bit eccentric… I want you to work with Alice Henry," said Ms. Fuji firmly.
Henry shrugged, "Okay."
I grabbed my things and started to head to the library.
I could hear footsteps behind me, very familiar footsteps, amazing what you can tell with just your ears sometimes…
"Rika… Hey Rika wait," said Henry behind me, "okay now that's the opposite of waiting."
Ignoring him I continued to walk until he grabbed my arm and turned me around.
"Rika what's wrong? I know you are ignoring me and whether it's childish or not I want to know," said Henry quietly.
I could see Henry's eyes shining brightly; they looked so innocent as they shone brightly. I quickly looked away fearing that he would be able to see everything through my eyes, how I was acting childish, how I didn't know why I acted the way I did.
"Rika? Come on just tell me," pleaded Henry.
I shook my head, "No I'm sorry it is childish."
Slipping his hand into mine he gave me a reassuring squeeze, "Okay as long as we're cool… Hey you want to at least share a table?"
Smiling I nodded, "I'll like that."
Meeting Juri and Alice we told them to find a table while Henry and I searched out the books we needed. Since Henry and I spent many lunch hours in the library for we were trying to find the correct answer to settle disputes that we had, like who was the fastest person in the world, what was the farthest charted star in the Universe, who invented spaghetti, etc… It was quick work for us to gather all the good books we needed. Arriving at your table we piled the mountain of books we had into small sections of maybes, needed, and must read, Henry and I sat across from each other while we sat beside our respected partners.
I was working peacefully until one thing happened, Henry shifted his books knocking it into mine, looking up he gave me a sheepish grin and a quiet apology before returning to frowning at his books. I don't know what happened but the moment I looked up my stomach gave a lurch… Something I truly did not expect because I didn't eat anything particular during lunch. My eyes somehow began to notice different features of Henry I usually didn't see, like how his eyes had a way of glowing in the current light, how his shoulders were broad enough to rest my head on. I watched as his shoulders rose and fell as he breathed, my eyes followed to his hair, it's un-kept state gave me a pause, the sudden rush for me to pull out the ever ready brush out was gone, instead I felt the urge to run my hands through his dark blue hair.
Henry must have noticed me staring because he looked up curiously at me, "Rika… Rika? Is something wrong?"
My mouth opened and closed for a few times as I was unable to utter a word.
Henry shifted uncomfortably, glancing behind him he noticed Ryo goofing off as usual, turning back Henry smiled, "You're drooling Rika."
Then it hit me…
Ryo… Henry… Cute… Falling…. Oh God…. Oh God… This can't be happening… This isn't happening… It's a… Oh… My stomach gave a lurch, I felt… Well I wasn't sure what I was feeling; I started to breath heavily, unable to control my breathing properly. Everything was changing, my perfectly planned life just changed… For once it wasn't because other people ruined my plans, it was because I ruined then… But most of all I wasn't sure if it changed for the worst.
Turning to Juri I pushed her, trying to get her up since my mouth didn't appear to work.
Juri was definitely started, but bless her soul, thanks to her personality she was concern instead of angry.
"Everything okay Rika? What's wrong?" seeing that I didn't answer but I kept pushing her frantically her eyes widened with concern. Juri turned to Henry, "Henry something's wrong with Rika… She can't seem to say anything."
Suddenly I felt Henry's hand on my shoulder and more shocking was his hand accidentally brushed my neck. His hand against my skin was electrifying, half of me wanted to move closer to his hand, the other was so surprised of how it felt that I jumped away quickly and terrified.
I could see Henry's face filled with concern as he spoke to Juri, "Something is wrong, but she wants to talk to you in private."
I froze, I forgot that Henry and I could understand each other without words, a cold fright rushed through me as I wondered if Henry could see everything else that was passing through my head.
Juri took my hand and carefully lead me out of the library, "What's wrong Rika? I've never seen you like this…"
"Henry… Ryo… Henry… Falling… Cute…. Henry?" I sputtered.
Juri frowned giving a half smile as if she was trying to crack a joke, "Well it finally happened, Rika you're insane… I got to get Henry to make any sense of this… His the only one who speaks Rika."
Giving a squeal of fright, I grabbed Juri's arm and shook my head frantically.
Juri sighed and rolled her eyes, "Rika I can't help you if I don't understand you… And Henry is the only one who can understand you in this state."
I could actually feel my brain turning into putty as I tried to communicate to Juri while I tried to form a proper thought about what was happening to me. My stomach gave another lurch, I felt sick, everything was not how it was suppose to be. I felt flush or was it just hot? Breathing was erratic as I tried to catch my breath even though I was just standing holding onto Juri's arm. Then I tried to take another breath but I couldn't, everything started going black. I heard a distant scream, then everything disappeared.
*******************
Oh my head, what happened? One moment I was freaking out then everything went dark… My head felt like someone did about three hours of the rumba in it. Opening my eyes I groaned as the bright light filled my vision. There was a weight on my left arm as I tried to move it to cover my eyes, looking down I see a familiar disarray of dark blue hair, I pulled out my hand from under Henry. Giving into the urge I ran my hand through his hair, it was as I remembered it, thick and silky, plus it didn't smell half bad. I chuckled lightly, I had to hand it to Henry's sisters, since they bough all the hair grooming products, Henry was stuck using their shampoo, conditioner, and what nots.
Sighing I decided it was time to wake Henry up, unfortunately or fortunately depending how you looked at it, Henry was an extremely heavy sleeper. There were only three ways to wake him, of those three I was the only one who knew one in particular. Carefully I rubbed the back of his right ear.
Henry's eyes blinked, his silver orbs began to focus on me.
"Hey," I whispered softly still allowing my hand to run through his hair.
A wide grin spread through his face, suddenly I was caught up in a very tight squeeze of Henry's hug.
"Henry… Need to … Breath," I gasped.
Henry pulled back giving me his adorable sheepish smile, "I'm glad you're okay."
Blushing I looked away from him before I became tongue tied again, "I hardly can tell…"
Henry laughed lightly as his hand grazed my cheek as he pushed back some of my hair behind my ear.
It took all my willpower not to gasp, his hand was soft and reassuring I wanted to so much to press against his hand.
"I'm fine Henry," I said trying to keep my voice steady.
"Good," said Henry taking my hand into his, "do you want to tell me what happened?"
I stared down at our hands it was a familiar gesture for us to hold hands but now it felt different. Before I got a chance to answer the door swung open in a bang revealing Ms. Kawu.
Her lips were purse only a thin line could be seen and she definitely irritated, well more then she usually did. "Henry Wong! What is this I hear that you refuse to go back to class?"
Henry shifted his body so it was in front of me as if to shield me, "I was with a friend that was ill," said Henry his voice was extremely calm and confident as usual.
"She is being taken care of by trained professional, as far as I remember you are not a medical expert, your presence was definitely not needed. Your presence in class however is mandatory!" screamed the Vice Principal.
"I disagree," said Henry evenly.
Ms. Kawu's eyes widened, "You disagree? Boy you do not get to make these decisions, you are just to attend your classes and listen to your teacher."
Before the argument could uglier though I seriously doubted it could, a sharp voice interrupted, "Ms. Kawu you maybe Vice Principal, you also may have just cause for yelling at young Henry Wong, but you are in my office and more importantly, you are disrupting my patient's recovery, so I'll ask you to leave and wait in your office… Do not worry I'll send Henry in a few minutes so you can continue your conversation."
I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw Mrs. Choi; our grey hair old nurse of the school, her brown eyes were filled with energy as she calmly snapped at the Vice Principal.
Ms. Kawu opened her mouth but a glare from the wizened old nurse caused her to hold her tongue, spinning around she left the office in a huff.
The Nurse Choi turned to Henry her face filled with kindness as usual when she talked to students, her voice however was stern, "Now Henry I know Rika is your friend but that does not give you grounds for you to disobey your teachers."
Henry nodded looking down at his feet.
Shuffling over to Henry she patted him on the shoulder gently, "However I do understand and if I was in your shoes I'll probably do the same. That being said however you still have to face the wrath of the Vice Principal… Off you go now, no sense of waiting till later, then you can come right back."
Giving my hand a quick squeeze Henry paused looking into my eyes, out of nowhere he leaned in quickly kissing my forehead lightly before leaving for the Vice Principal's office.
Nurse Choi sighed sitting down beside my bed she clucked her tongue as she took my pulse, "That boy cares for you."
"Ex… Excuse me?" I asked startled.
The old nurse turned to me her expression amused, "Please don't tell me you have never noticed?"
My mind whirled as I sat speechless, I never did notice… Wait notice what? Henry has always been Henry… What's there to notice? Was there something to notice?
Then an old memory returned, one that I've tried to so hard to push away to not think about. It was when we were ten…
I don't own anything about Digimon. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author Notes:
I'm sorry for the massive delay, first it was just that I was busy, then writersblock, then it was that I didn't like how the story sounded, then after 32 rewrites, I had this sudden insight that it wasn't that the chapter was wrong, it was the fact that I was missing a scene, so I worked out another scene and it definitly looks a lotand I mean a lot better.
Now I know that I usually answer questions and give comments to all those who review, butit's about 3:23 in the morning right now and I have a 1030 class so I'm so sorry but I don't have time. I hope that this chapter is good enough that you forgive me.
Thank you to all those who reviewed you did help get me to get off my lazy butt.
**********
Philip L. Moore, esquire
gochikku_tenshi_e_hikari
MoonlightNIV
Sorato4ever
kallie
I love Jenrya
Story Weaver
Takako
squishybookworm
littleweirdwriter
Taiyou
Holy Knight
blucherry
SVZ
K. Kasai
Henrika
Teenager Rika
kodachifighter
K. Kasai
q.t
Virgo Writer
**********
PS, sorry but it's a cliffy.
Sorry one more point, I might be raising this Rating for this story to "R" just to be safe for future chapter. No it's not going to turn into porn or anything like that, but there might be references so I'm not sure if it's against or not. Being that I'm from Canada which means we have different standards to that of everywhere else in the world what is rated "R", "PG", "PG-13", and "NC17". So just a warning, but most likely I'm going to change it just to be safe.
*******************************
Perfect : Chapter 7/?
*******************************
I didn't know what to do… I was sitting beside the boy of my dreams and I didn't know what to do or say, my eyes were on him as he laughed and joked with his friend Kazu. Ryo was his usual charming self as everyone kept their full attention to his stories of getting touch downs, scoring goals, or pranks and jokes he played.
Glancing at my table, I saw Juri and Takato smiling and giving me thumbs up. Henry had apparently left, his things were gone but the odd thing was his tray was still on the table the food was clearly only half eaten or not even touched. Odd that he would do that, he always made a point to throw his own food away because he said the cafeteria staff had enough to deal with without throwing away other people's trash. `It's a point of principle,' he would say. On top of that… Food left? We are talking about Henry Wong, my best friend, the person that never left a crumb on his plate. Whose belly was full of holes?
"Yeah this Friday's dance should be cool, I heard the theme was seventies," said Kazu.
Seventies? I can see it now, bell-bottom pants, terrible disco dancing, and big puffy hair. Didn't people know that the seventies died for a reason?
"That sounds pretty cool," agreed Ryo.
Of course it was cool, I couldn't wait either, Ryo was going so it couldn't be that bad right?
"So Rika, do you have a date yet?" asked Ryo.
Surprised I choked on my juice, using all my skill I managed to keep from shooting the liquid everywhere. "N… No," I stuttered.
"Well you can come with me," offered Ryo.
I could see all the girls around the table looked deeply disappointed.
"I would love to," I said trying to contain my happiness.
"Great, I'll pick you up sometime around seven okay?" smiled Ryo, turning to Kazu, "hey let's go play some b-ball."
Then I was alone sitting at a deserted table, picking up my tray I hurried back to Juri and Takato, "I'm going to the dance with Ryo!" I squealed.
"Wow you sure work fast," said Takato surprised.
"Congratulation Rika," said Juri.
"Where's Henry?"
I so had to tell my best friend this; I owed him so big for getting me to sit with Ryo and on top of that putting in such a good word that I got a date with Ryo too.
"He left when you sat with Ryo," said Takato uneasy, "didn't really say where he was going."
Juri shifted uncomfortably in her seat while nodding at Henry's tray that still sat on the table, "Yeah he was in a bit of a hurry, probably joining a club or meeting someone."
Henry Wong? Taking part in some extra curricular activities in school? Meeting someone yes but didn't tell me? That doesn't sound right at all.
"That's strange," I said frowning, "well I'll go look for him."
"Good luck," said Juri and Takato exchanging looks.
A quick search of normal placed Henry would go, the library, the field, the basketball court, down to the only tree that was on school property came up with nothing. To my surprise I couldn't seem to find Henry, it was strange really, knowing that I couldn't find him or having him near made weird feelings in my stomach. The bell rang that signalled the end of lunch, which meant the end of my search.
Entering class I took my usual seat and waited for Henry, it was science class so I waited for my usual lab partner, which was of course Henry. I watched to clock in front of the class worried Henry it only held a minute before class started. Finally Henry walked in, I don't know but something about him struck me odd. I don't think I've ever been uncomfortable with Henry before but something about seeing him made me really uncomfortable, like he was sending out weird vibes or something.
"Hey," I said happily.
"Hey," acknowledged Henry glancing up briefly he flashed me a quick smile as he pulled out his books.
"So, where were you?"
Henry shrugged as he continued to dig through his bag, "No where."
"Oh… Well guess what happened at lunch today," I started excited.
"I heard," interrupted Henry setting up his books he started to read his science text.
Okay now I know something is really wrong, he hasn't acted like that since once when we were nine, I got really angry at him for no reason and dropped a pitcher of melted ice cream on him.
"Is something wrong Henry?"
Henry didn't even take his eyes off his book, "Nope, absolutely nothing wrong."
"Henry something is wrong," I insisted.
I may not be the world greatest detective but I could sure annoy Henry enough till he talked. Hm… I should add that to prospective jobs, interrogator.
"Nothing is wrong," snapped Henry.
Did he just snap at me? He is angry at me? How dare he? He isn't allowed to get angry, I'm allowed to be angry because of him being so childish right now. You no angry person, you… You stupid head!
"Henry…"
Henry looked up at me with a sigh, giving me an apologetic look, "Look Rika… It's just… Never mind okay? I'm just a bit ticked off about something."
The softness in his voice made me regret the want to snap back at him, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Henry shook his head, "Nah, it's nothing kay? Just drop it."
I nodded slowly but feeling sullen, Henry and I usually talked about everything, every problem, every item, we even delved into the uncomfortable subjects that our parents kept calling `The Birds and the Bees'.
Turning back to my things I began to spread them along the desk properly, each item had a specific place.
Henry reached out to move an item but seeing my frown and shooting death glares he smiled and leaned dangerously back in boredom while he kept tossing an eraser up into the air.
Then our teacher came swooping in, her long messy hair flowing as she whirled around and dumped her books on her desk in a loud bang. Ms. Fujikawa wasn't my favourite teacher in my opinion, she was a bit eccentric always willing to try new things and her staying on a schedule was atrocious, but she did know her stuff.
"Well class, today you'll be starting your exciting projects, I've posted up who you are being partnered up with so once you know who your partner is, it's off to the Library for research," said Ms. Fujikawa clapping her hands in excitement.
I glanced a question at Henry who shrugged as he meant that he didn't know that there was a project or that it was suppose to start today. Rolling my eyes, I quickly made my way to the posted up sheet, it wasn't like I had to everyone knew including Ms. Fujikawa that Henry and I were always suppose to be put together. The reasons were simple; I was the only one who could control Henry long enough for him to work on a project. Second most people who worked with me had a problem of how I needed to organise everything. So in the long run the teachers knew if they stuck Henry and me together that the project will get done well and no one would be traumatise.
Scanning down the list I found my name and following the line to my partners name I stopped and blinked in surprise, after a few more scans of the sheet I found that I was paired up with Juri… Quickly I found Henry's name and found him paired up with Alice Rowlen…
Alice Rowlen was the exchange student from France, she was the standard beautiful, smart, and have everything together kind of person, the one that you have to grit because the one and only flaw is the one that you can't fault her on, that one flaw is that barely speaks a word of Japanese.
Turning to Henry I was going to voice my concerns but I saw him talking to Ms. Fuji with Alice behind him.
"Now Henry I know that you speak French…"
"Not fluently," stated Henry calmly.
I was surprised Henry wasn't as furious of this as I felt.
"Better then anyone else in the class," said Ms. Fuji.
"Rika speaks French better then I do," Henry pointed out again his voice never changed from being calm.
I blushed slightly from Henry's comment to the teacher.
"Yes, well Rika… Rika is a bit eccentric… I want you to work with Alice Henry," said Ms. Fuji firmly.
Henry shrugged, "Okay."
I grabbed my things and started to head to the library.
I could hear footsteps behind me, very familiar footsteps, amazing what you can tell with just your ears sometimes…
"Rika… Hey Rika wait," said Henry behind me, "okay now that's the opposite of waiting."
Ignoring him I continued to walk until he grabbed my arm and turned me around.
"Rika what's wrong? I know you are ignoring me and whether it's childish or not I want to know," said Henry quietly.
I could see Henry's eyes shining brightly; they looked so innocent as they shone brightly. I quickly looked away fearing that he would be able to see everything through my eyes, how I was acting childish, how I didn't know why I acted the way I did.
"Rika? Come on just tell me," pleaded Henry.
I shook my head, "No I'm sorry it is childish."
Slipping his hand into mine he gave me a reassuring squeeze, "Okay as long as we're cool… Hey you want to at least share a table?"
Smiling I nodded, "I'll like that."
Meeting Juri and Alice we told them to find a table while Henry and I searched out the books we needed. Since Henry and I spent many lunch hours in the library for we were trying to find the correct answer to settle disputes that we had, like who was the fastest person in the world, what was the farthest charted star in the Universe, who invented spaghetti, etc… It was quick work for us to gather all the good books we needed. Arriving at your table we piled the mountain of books we had into small sections of maybes, needed, and must read, Henry and I sat across from each other while we sat beside our respected partners.
I was working peacefully until one thing happened, Henry shifted his books knocking it into mine, looking up he gave me a sheepish grin and a quiet apology before returning to frowning at his books. I don't know what happened but the moment I looked up my stomach gave a lurch… Something I truly did not expect because I didn't eat anything particular during lunch. My eyes somehow began to notice different features of Henry I usually didn't see, like how his eyes had a way of glowing in the current light, how his shoulders were broad enough to rest my head on. I watched as his shoulders rose and fell as he breathed, my eyes followed to his hair, it's un-kept state gave me a pause, the sudden rush for me to pull out the ever ready brush out was gone, instead I felt the urge to run my hands through his dark blue hair.
Henry must have noticed me staring because he looked up curiously at me, "Rika… Rika? Is something wrong?"
My mouth opened and closed for a few times as I was unable to utter a word.
Henry shifted uncomfortably, glancing behind him he noticed Ryo goofing off as usual, turning back Henry smiled, "You're drooling Rika."
Then it hit me…
Ryo… Henry… Cute… Falling…. Oh God…. Oh God… This can't be happening… This isn't happening… It's a… Oh… My stomach gave a lurch, I felt… Well I wasn't sure what I was feeling; I started to breath heavily, unable to control my breathing properly. Everything was changing, my perfectly planned life just changed… For once it wasn't because other people ruined my plans, it was because I ruined then… But most of all I wasn't sure if it changed for the worst.
Turning to Juri I pushed her, trying to get her up since my mouth didn't appear to work.
Juri was definitely started, but bless her soul, thanks to her personality she was concern instead of angry.
"Everything okay Rika? What's wrong?" seeing that I didn't answer but I kept pushing her frantically her eyes widened with concern. Juri turned to Henry, "Henry something's wrong with Rika… She can't seem to say anything."
Suddenly I felt Henry's hand on my shoulder and more shocking was his hand accidentally brushed my neck. His hand against my skin was electrifying, half of me wanted to move closer to his hand, the other was so surprised of how it felt that I jumped away quickly and terrified.
I could see Henry's face filled with concern as he spoke to Juri, "Something is wrong, but she wants to talk to you in private."
I froze, I forgot that Henry and I could understand each other without words, a cold fright rushed through me as I wondered if Henry could see everything else that was passing through my head.
Juri took my hand and carefully lead me out of the library, "What's wrong Rika? I've never seen you like this…"
"Henry… Ryo… Henry… Falling… Cute…. Henry?" I sputtered.
Juri frowned giving a half smile as if she was trying to crack a joke, "Well it finally happened, Rika you're insane… I got to get Henry to make any sense of this… His the only one who speaks Rika."
Giving a squeal of fright, I grabbed Juri's arm and shook my head frantically.
Juri sighed and rolled her eyes, "Rika I can't help you if I don't understand you… And Henry is the only one who can understand you in this state."
I could actually feel my brain turning into putty as I tried to communicate to Juri while I tried to form a proper thought about what was happening to me. My stomach gave another lurch, I felt sick, everything was not how it was suppose to be. I felt flush or was it just hot? Breathing was erratic as I tried to catch my breath even though I was just standing holding onto Juri's arm. Then I tried to take another breath but I couldn't, everything started going black. I heard a distant scream, then everything disappeared.
*******************
Oh my head, what happened? One moment I was freaking out then everything went dark… My head felt like someone did about three hours of the rumba in it. Opening my eyes I groaned as the bright light filled my vision. There was a weight on my left arm as I tried to move it to cover my eyes, looking down I see a familiar disarray of dark blue hair, I pulled out my hand from under Henry. Giving into the urge I ran my hand through his hair, it was as I remembered it, thick and silky, plus it didn't smell half bad. I chuckled lightly, I had to hand it to Henry's sisters, since they bough all the hair grooming products, Henry was stuck using their shampoo, conditioner, and what nots.
Sighing I decided it was time to wake Henry up, unfortunately or fortunately depending how you looked at it, Henry was an extremely heavy sleeper. There were only three ways to wake him, of those three I was the only one who knew one in particular. Carefully I rubbed the back of his right ear.
Henry's eyes blinked, his silver orbs began to focus on me.
"Hey," I whispered softly still allowing my hand to run through his hair.
A wide grin spread through his face, suddenly I was caught up in a very tight squeeze of Henry's hug.
"Henry… Need to … Breath," I gasped.
Henry pulled back giving me his adorable sheepish smile, "I'm glad you're okay."
Blushing I looked away from him before I became tongue tied again, "I hardly can tell…"
Henry laughed lightly as his hand grazed my cheek as he pushed back some of my hair behind my ear.
It took all my willpower not to gasp, his hand was soft and reassuring I wanted to so much to press against his hand.
"I'm fine Henry," I said trying to keep my voice steady.
"Good," said Henry taking my hand into his, "do you want to tell me what happened?"
I stared down at our hands it was a familiar gesture for us to hold hands but now it felt different. Before I got a chance to answer the door swung open in a bang revealing Ms. Kawu.
Her lips were purse only a thin line could be seen and she definitely irritated, well more then she usually did. "Henry Wong! What is this I hear that you refuse to go back to class?"
Henry shifted his body so it was in front of me as if to shield me, "I was with a friend that was ill," said Henry his voice was extremely calm and confident as usual.
"She is being taken care of by trained professional, as far as I remember you are not a medical expert, your presence was definitely not needed. Your presence in class however is mandatory!" screamed the Vice Principal.
"I disagree," said Henry evenly.
Ms. Kawu's eyes widened, "You disagree? Boy you do not get to make these decisions, you are just to attend your classes and listen to your teacher."
Before the argument could uglier though I seriously doubted it could, a sharp voice interrupted, "Ms. Kawu you maybe Vice Principal, you also may have just cause for yelling at young Henry Wong, but you are in my office and more importantly, you are disrupting my patient's recovery, so I'll ask you to leave and wait in your office… Do not worry I'll send Henry in a few minutes so you can continue your conversation."
I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw Mrs. Choi; our grey hair old nurse of the school, her brown eyes were filled with energy as she calmly snapped at the Vice Principal.
Ms. Kawu opened her mouth but a glare from the wizened old nurse caused her to hold her tongue, spinning around she left the office in a huff.
The Nurse Choi turned to Henry her face filled with kindness as usual when she talked to students, her voice however was stern, "Now Henry I know Rika is your friend but that does not give you grounds for you to disobey your teachers."
Henry nodded looking down at his feet.
Shuffling over to Henry she patted him on the shoulder gently, "However I do understand and if I was in your shoes I'll probably do the same. That being said however you still have to face the wrath of the Vice Principal… Off you go now, no sense of waiting till later, then you can come right back."
Giving my hand a quick squeeze Henry paused looking into my eyes, out of nowhere he leaned in quickly kissing my forehead lightly before leaving for the Vice Principal's office.
Nurse Choi sighed sitting down beside my bed she clucked her tongue as she took my pulse, "That boy cares for you."
"Ex… Excuse me?" I asked startled.
The old nurse turned to me her expression amused, "Please don't tell me you have never noticed?"
My mind whirled as I sat speechless, I never did notice… Wait notice what? Henry has always been Henry… What's there to notice? Was there something to notice?
Then an old memory returned, one that I've tried to so hard to push away to not think about. It was when we were ten…