Chapter 4
"Look, nothing happened. He just reminded me of a time I didn't want to remember, and I got mad. That's it, now get off my back, Yuri!"
"Fine, fine, just don't you hit me!"
"Hey, where's Yuki? I haven't seen her all night."
"She's over-night babysitting at the little girl across the street's house. Her name's Jen or something...she loves Yuki so much, she won't have any other babysitter. It is very strange."
"Well anyway, I had better get home, its already 12:00, see you Yuri." Sango walked across the street to her house, which she found was unlocked. When she walked in, all the lights were off, so she figured everyone was asleep. As she trudged up the stairs to her bedroom, she almost killed herself tripping over Kirara, falling and landing on the poor cat.
"Meow." Kirara's voice was muffled, and Sango got up in a hurry. A light went on, and Sango's mother walked out of her bedroom.
"Sango, what's all the racket for?"
"Sorry mom, I tripped on Kirara."
"Oh, how was the dance?"
"It was okay." She lied. She really didn't want to tell her everything yet, maybe in the morning after she had some time to think it over. "I'm going to bed, goodnight mom."
"'Night honey."
*****
Sango couldn't sleep. Too much had happened that night. Her old boyfriend wanted to pick up from where they left off. She was back in her old group of friends. She hated two of the seven. She had had a flashback that she had put in a corner of the back of her mind that was never supposed to come out, but it did.
So Sango wrote a letter.
Dad,
How are you? It's been a long time. Mom practically ran over a cat, and so she wanted to bring it home, and now we have a cat named Kirara. Well, the reason I'm writing you is that I need to talk to you about Miroku. You remember what happened in eighth grade, right?
Well, Yuri dared me to become friends with the group, and within two weeks I have to have a boyfriend. I had a choice between Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, Hojo, and Miroku. Of course, you know I don't want to go out with any of them: Because I hate boys (with the exception of you).
Of course, you can probably guess whom I picked, or rather, by process of elimination, the one that was left. And so Yuri made me go to the dance tonight, and that was when I started the dare.
It was pretty easy getting back into the group, but then, there was Miroku. I could tell he wanted to ask me to dance through out the night, but he didn't get the courage until the last slow song. We were dancing and he kept his eyes on me the whole time, then he started leaning in to kiss me, and right before he did, the song ended.
I ran outside and stopped on a bench, and after Kagome and Yuri had come and gone, trying to convince me to go back inside, I was alone. I started having a flashback of sixth grade, that day when Miroku and I kissed on the bench? And then Miroku was next to me, and he was confused, and I was frustrated, and he brought up what Naraku had done, and I just wish it hadn't happened!
We sat out there for the remainder of the dance, not talking or looking at each other, then the dance ended and I went home with Yuri. Of course, she wanted to know everything that had happened and I just wanted to go home!
So here I am, at home, with so much on my mind, and no one to talk to, so I am writing you. Please find time to write me back!
Love, Sango
*****
Lets just say the weekend was very uneventful. Sango confined herself to
her room, not answering the phone or her mother's pleas for her to eat
something, but Sango had to go to school on Monday.
*****
"Sango, you ready?"
"Hold on, I'm coming." Sango walked down the stairs carrying an empty backpack and a book, wearing blue jeans and a red halter-top that she managed to find stuffed in a drawer. She left her hair the way it was, flat and boring. No makeup.
She walked outside and got in the car, where she rode to school without a word said between her and her mother.
*****
"Have a good day, Sango, and try not to punch anyone, okay?"
"Yeah whatever. Bye mom." Sango slammed the door and stormed off into the school. She passed Kagome. She passed the rest of the group. She said nothing. She didn't want to talk to anyone, but she knew she was going to have to, for she had first period with Kagome and Miroku.
She went to her locker, grabbed her art supplies, and went straight upstairs to room #345, Art 2.
"Good Morning Sango." Mrs. Youngblood greeted her with a smile.
"Morning Mrs. Youngblood." Sango muttered. This was her favorite class, with her favorite teacher, but she was still in a bad mood. She took her usual seat in the back and waited for the bell to ring.
Slowly, everyone piled into the room. It wasn't until after the tardy bell rang that Kagome and Miroku came. To Sango's displeasure, all the seats were taken except the ones on either sides of her. As Kagome and Miroku walked to the back of the room, Sango ignored Miroku, but made an effort to smile at Kagome when she said hi. After all, she was doing a dare.
Kagome looked at Sango, then at Miroku, and Sango just looked at her, shaking her head. Kagome's face wasn't as bright anymore.
"Attention Class, today, we will be starting a project in groups of three. I will be picking the groups," Mrs. Youngblood added as several hands went up, "And you will be picking the project. I have written down several ideas, and so you will pick one out of a bowl, and then decide how you will accomplish that project within two weeks. The first group will be Miroku, Kagome, and Sango."
Sango's day couldn't have gotten worse.
*****
"A school newspaper? What good is that going to do?" Sango was, as you can tell, not too pleased.
"Well, at least we didn't get the trash mosaic" Soo-jin said. She and Grace didn't get off very easily.
"Hey, at least we get to draw cartoons and games and stuff." Miroku shrugged.
"What? Games and cartoons? Why do we need games and cartoons?"
"Why do you think we all read the newspapers? The weather?"
"Sango, he has a point. We also need at least two articles, and then there's the classifieds, and the newly weds and the obituaries, but we can skip those." Kagome thought about it a minute, then her face lit up and you could tell she had an idea.
"I'll write the articles, since I think I'm the only one passing English," Sango and Miroku opened their mouths to object, but knew she was right. "Miroku, you take care of the classifieds, and the games and cartoons. Sango, you take the pictures for the articles and classifieds, and you get to be the Editor, since you have a way with words."
"Gee, thanks. Okay, so I get to boss you two around?" Sango looked at Kagome, then Miroku, then back to Kagome.
"Yeah, but you also get to read over the paper before it's put to press, and you get to put it together, like, the layout and everything. Okay, what do you think we should do first?"
"We need a name for the paper."
"Yeah, that's true. Well, we could call it The Weekly Herald. That's the name of an old newspaper, and our schools name," Miroku said as Sango and Kagome shook their heads.
"Too used. We need something unique and different. So, the name of the school is Herald high, the mascot is the cougars, how about..." Sango paused, "The Crusin' Cougar!"
"I love it! Its so awesome!"
"That works. Very different and original." Miroku commented.
"Okay, now we move on to the actual paper. Miroku, you should probably start the classifieds, so I can figure out what to take pictures of. You can draw some of it, to, so the visuals vary." Miroku nodded and got to work.
"Kagome, we need to decide what you are going to write about. Every paper needs at least three articles: The Editorial, The Interview, and The Cover Story. You can write about whatever, but we need something to catch everyone's attention, something that not only the nerds would read."
There was a pause.
"The dance!" Sango and Kagome said at once. They both laughed but Miroku didn't even look up, he just shook his head thinking, Girls.
"We could write about the DJ and the music and everything!"
"It's perfect." Sango calmed down, "Okay, now we need to think about the Editorial."
"Hum, how about the recycling issue?"
"Um, no. That would be a nerd thing."
There was another pause.
"Hey, speaking of nerds, I could write about how everyone is classified by what they wear and how they act, you know? These days you are either a prep, a jock, a punk, or a nerd. I could what I think about it, and then we could take a poll!"
Sango raised an eyebrow, "A poll of what?"
"We could put up a bulletin right outside the door with a thing of sticky notes next to it and the bulletin could say something like, 'Poll: How do you classify yourself? Prep, jock, punk, bookworm, or computer-holic?' that way, we don't say nerd or geek. That wouldn't pass with Mrs. Youngblood."
"I like it. All that's left is the interview."
"PDA"
"What did you say, Kagome?"
"PDA! Public Display of Affection! We could interview the principal and ask him like, five or six questions, and then we could interview a student and ask him or her that same questions, and finally write a paragraph about the different views of the two! Its perfect!"
"Okay, great! Now lets get to work. I am going to try and write out things I need to do, so Kagome, why don't you go make that bulletin right now?" Sango smiled, pulling out a piece of paper and pencil. Kagome went off to get sticky notes and paper and anything else she could need. Miroku thought it was the perfect time to talk to Sango.
"Um, Sango?"
"Yeah? You need help or something?"
"No, I wanted to ask you something."
"Okay, shoot."
"About what we talked about Friday night..."
Sango's smile disappeared as she stopped what she was doing, but didn't look at him.
"I was just wondering, maybe we could start over, like, since I know you, I mean we, can't pick up where we left off, we could just start over. Am I making sense?"
"I get what you're saying, yeah."
"So, waddaya think?"
"I think that might work..." Sango looked up at him from her work, and she saw he was looking at her like he was at the dance. Mental note: Learn how to read minds. Sango smiled. Miroku smiled, too.
"Good. I'm glad to hear it."
"Look, nothing happened. He just reminded me of a time I didn't want to remember, and I got mad. That's it, now get off my back, Yuri!"
"Fine, fine, just don't you hit me!"
"Hey, where's Yuki? I haven't seen her all night."
"She's over-night babysitting at the little girl across the street's house. Her name's Jen or something...she loves Yuki so much, she won't have any other babysitter. It is very strange."
"Well anyway, I had better get home, its already 12:00, see you Yuri." Sango walked across the street to her house, which she found was unlocked. When she walked in, all the lights were off, so she figured everyone was asleep. As she trudged up the stairs to her bedroom, she almost killed herself tripping over Kirara, falling and landing on the poor cat.
"Meow." Kirara's voice was muffled, and Sango got up in a hurry. A light went on, and Sango's mother walked out of her bedroom.
"Sango, what's all the racket for?"
"Sorry mom, I tripped on Kirara."
"Oh, how was the dance?"
"It was okay." She lied. She really didn't want to tell her everything yet, maybe in the morning after she had some time to think it over. "I'm going to bed, goodnight mom."
"'Night honey."
*****
Sango couldn't sleep. Too much had happened that night. Her old boyfriend wanted to pick up from where they left off. She was back in her old group of friends. She hated two of the seven. She had had a flashback that she had put in a corner of the back of her mind that was never supposed to come out, but it did.
So Sango wrote a letter.
Dad,
How are you? It's been a long time. Mom practically ran over a cat, and so she wanted to bring it home, and now we have a cat named Kirara. Well, the reason I'm writing you is that I need to talk to you about Miroku. You remember what happened in eighth grade, right?
Well, Yuri dared me to become friends with the group, and within two weeks I have to have a boyfriend. I had a choice between Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, Hojo, and Miroku. Of course, you know I don't want to go out with any of them: Because I hate boys (with the exception of you).
Of course, you can probably guess whom I picked, or rather, by process of elimination, the one that was left. And so Yuri made me go to the dance tonight, and that was when I started the dare.
It was pretty easy getting back into the group, but then, there was Miroku. I could tell he wanted to ask me to dance through out the night, but he didn't get the courage until the last slow song. We were dancing and he kept his eyes on me the whole time, then he started leaning in to kiss me, and right before he did, the song ended.
I ran outside and stopped on a bench, and after Kagome and Yuri had come and gone, trying to convince me to go back inside, I was alone. I started having a flashback of sixth grade, that day when Miroku and I kissed on the bench? And then Miroku was next to me, and he was confused, and I was frustrated, and he brought up what Naraku had done, and I just wish it hadn't happened!
We sat out there for the remainder of the dance, not talking or looking at each other, then the dance ended and I went home with Yuri. Of course, she wanted to know everything that had happened and I just wanted to go home!
So here I am, at home, with so much on my mind, and no one to talk to, so I am writing you. Please find time to write me back!
Love, Sango
*****
Lets just say the weekend was very uneventful. Sango confined herself to
her room, not answering the phone or her mother's pleas for her to eat
something, but Sango had to go to school on Monday.
*****
"Sango, you ready?"
"Hold on, I'm coming." Sango walked down the stairs carrying an empty backpack and a book, wearing blue jeans and a red halter-top that she managed to find stuffed in a drawer. She left her hair the way it was, flat and boring. No makeup.
She walked outside and got in the car, where she rode to school without a word said between her and her mother.
*****
"Have a good day, Sango, and try not to punch anyone, okay?"
"Yeah whatever. Bye mom." Sango slammed the door and stormed off into the school. She passed Kagome. She passed the rest of the group. She said nothing. She didn't want to talk to anyone, but she knew she was going to have to, for she had first period with Kagome and Miroku.
She went to her locker, grabbed her art supplies, and went straight upstairs to room #345, Art 2.
"Good Morning Sango." Mrs. Youngblood greeted her with a smile.
"Morning Mrs. Youngblood." Sango muttered. This was her favorite class, with her favorite teacher, but she was still in a bad mood. She took her usual seat in the back and waited for the bell to ring.
Slowly, everyone piled into the room. It wasn't until after the tardy bell rang that Kagome and Miroku came. To Sango's displeasure, all the seats were taken except the ones on either sides of her. As Kagome and Miroku walked to the back of the room, Sango ignored Miroku, but made an effort to smile at Kagome when she said hi. After all, she was doing a dare.
Kagome looked at Sango, then at Miroku, and Sango just looked at her, shaking her head. Kagome's face wasn't as bright anymore.
"Attention Class, today, we will be starting a project in groups of three. I will be picking the groups," Mrs. Youngblood added as several hands went up, "And you will be picking the project. I have written down several ideas, and so you will pick one out of a bowl, and then decide how you will accomplish that project within two weeks. The first group will be Miroku, Kagome, and Sango."
Sango's day couldn't have gotten worse.
*****
"A school newspaper? What good is that going to do?" Sango was, as you can tell, not too pleased.
"Well, at least we didn't get the trash mosaic" Soo-jin said. She and Grace didn't get off very easily.
"Hey, at least we get to draw cartoons and games and stuff." Miroku shrugged.
"What? Games and cartoons? Why do we need games and cartoons?"
"Why do you think we all read the newspapers? The weather?"
"Sango, he has a point. We also need at least two articles, and then there's the classifieds, and the newly weds and the obituaries, but we can skip those." Kagome thought about it a minute, then her face lit up and you could tell she had an idea.
"I'll write the articles, since I think I'm the only one passing English," Sango and Miroku opened their mouths to object, but knew she was right. "Miroku, you take care of the classifieds, and the games and cartoons. Sango, you take the pictures for the articles and classifieds, and you get to be the Editor, since you have a way with words."
"Gee, thanks. Okay, so I get to boss you two around?" Sango looked at Kagome, then Miroku, then back to Kagome.
"Yeah, but you also get to read over the paper before it's put to press, and you get to put it together, like, the layout and everything. Okay, what do you think we should do first?"
"We need a name for the paper."
"Yeah, that's true. Well, we could call it The Weekly Herald. That's the name of an old newspaper, and our schools name," Miroku said as Sango and Kagome shook their heads.
"Too used. We need something unique and different. So, the name of the school is Herald high, the mascot is the cougars, how about..." Sango paused, "The Crusin' Cougar!"
"I love it! Its so awesome!"
"That works. Very different and original." Miroku commented.
"Okay, now we move on to the actual paper. Miroku, you should probably start the classifieds, so I can figure out what to take pictures of. You can draw some of it, to, so the visuals vary." Miroku nodded and got to work.
"Kagome, we need to decide what you are going to write about. Every paper needs at least three articles: The Editorial, The Interview, and The Cover Story. You can write about whatever, but we need something to catch everyone's attention, something that not only the nerds would read."
There was a pause.
"The dance!" Sango and Kagome said at once. They both laughed but Miroku didn't even look up, he just shook his head thinking, Girls.
"We could write about the DJ and the music and everything!"
"It's perfect." Sango calmed down, "Okay, now we need to think about the Editorial."
"Hum, how about the recycling issue?"
"Um, no. That would be a nerd thing."
There was another pause.
"Hey, speaking of nerds, I could write about how everyone is classified by what they wear and how they act, you know? These days you are either a prep, a jock, a punk, or a nerd. I could what I think about it, and then we could take a poll!"
Sango raised an eyebrow, "A poll of what?"
"We could put up a bulletin right outside the door with a thing of sticky notes next to it and the bulletin could say something like, 'Poll: How do you classify yourself? Prep, jock, punk, bookworm, or computer-holic?' that way, we don't say nerd or geek. That wouldn't pass with Mrs. Youngblood."
"I like it. All that's left is the interview."
"PDA"
"What did you say, Kagome?"
"PDA! Public Display of Affection! We could interview the principal and ask him like, five or six questions, and then we could interview a student and ask him or her that same questions, and finally write a paragraph about the different views of the two! Its perfect!"
"Okay, great! Now lets get to work. I am going to try and write out things I need to do, so Kagome, why don't you go make that bulletin right now?" Sango smiled, pulling out a piece of paper and pencil. Kagome went off to get sticky notes and paper and anything else she could need. Miroku thought it was the perfect time to talk to Sango.
"Um, Sango?"
"Yeah? You need help or something?"
"No, I wanted to ask you something."
"Okay, shoot."
"About what we talked about Friday night..."
Sango's smile disappeared as she stopped what she was doing, but didn't look at him.
"I was just wondering, maybe we could start over, like, since I know you, I mean we, can't pick up where we left off, we could just start over. Am I making sense?"
"I get what you're saying, yeah."
"So, waddaya think?"
"I think that might work..." Sango looked up at him from her work, and she saw he was looking at her like he was at the dance. Mental note: Learn how to read minds. Sango smiled. Miroku smiled, too.
"Good. I'm glad to hear it."