Scars
Chapter 6
Covering Scars
By: Yuy Ren
Mother's words made it hard for Jenna to sleep for the next few days.
"He was born?" Jenna had asked in utter confusion.
"Rofis was loved by his parents very much, Jen. Until that year when he turned seven. You remember don't you?" Mother had given her a very sad smile. Before Jenna could inquire more, her mother had left for bed, leaving Jenna to ponder on the event that occurred ten years ago.
Jenna sighed, trying to fall asleep for the last time. It failed. Grunting a sign of defeat, she propped herself up on her elbows and turned on the lamp on her nightstand. Sitting up, she leaned against the wall and began to go over Rofis' seventh birthday party, an event she could never have forgotten.
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A seven year old Jenna sat on the front porch of Rofis' house, looking at all the kids still playing dodge ball. Jenna had been distracted that day and was knocked out early in the game. She looked about her, seeing the parents of the kids sitting in the backyard, talking in something that sounded like complex English.
"Jen?"
Jenna looked around to see a seven, no, now eight-year-old Rofis standing in front of her, grinning. The party hat, which was too big, slid over his eyes. Pushing it up with one hand, he sat down beside her.
"I got knocked off the game." He stated, smiling again. "Well I guess it doesn't matter, it's the last game anyway. Mom said my friends should be leaving now."
With those words, he looked up into the sky, glazing at the reddish hue tinted by the evening sun. Suddenly, he turned his head to her, with an excited expression.
"Hey, you want to see something cool? Come on!" Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed her arm and led her down the street. Jenna had to run extra fast just to keep up with Rofis' excited leaps. Before she knew it, they were in the forest situated at the end of the street. He let go of her hand and walked around, as if he was looking for a specific tree.
He was.
Having found it, he gazed up and pointed at a branch.
"See over there?" He noted, "There's a nest over there. Deryk and I found it a few days ago. There are little birds in there. Come on." He motioned her towards the tree. Seeing the she didn't understand what it is that he wanted, he demonstrated by starting to climb up.
"Rovy, are you CRAZY? Don't climb that, you're going to get in trouble."
Rofis looked down at a panic stricken Jenna. As the orange rays of the evening sun penetrated the green blanket of leaves, Rofis smiled down at her and told her not to worry. Jenna could only remember that he had looked angelic.
Without much afterthought, Jenna proceeded to climb after Rofis and being a very flexible child, she soon caught up to him. He stopped climbing and pointed.
"See over there?"
Jenna did. Inside a nest, there were five oval eggs, bathing in the orange glow of the forest. Before she could ask what kind of bird it was, Rofis began to speak.
"Well I don't know what kind of bird it is. So don't bother asking. But you know what? I was thinking about it. See that bird over there, on that branch? It's watching us. That's one of the parents. Parents are pretty cool, they always watch over their children. They built the nest too, and every hour or so, they come back with food."
Jenna noticed, by the detail of Rofis' explanation, that he had come here very often. He continued to speak, "Yeah, I come here pretty often. But if you think about it, for the children, the parents build the basic fudmation, until they grow up." Rofis concluded his speech, being very proud of the fact that he had used a big word like 'foundation'. Jenna was surprised at Rofis' philosophical way of thinking. She leaned over to get a closer look and placed her foot on a branch in front of her.
It snapped.
Without a second of advanced notice, she began to slip. She gave out a shriek. Rofis, acting fast, pulled her back onto the branch and Jenna grabbed the trunk, turning to give Rofis a thankful smile.
However he was no longer there.
Whilst pulling Jenna back, he had lost his balance and was falling to the ground.
Jenna didn't remember what happened next. The next few hours were a rush of conflicting and complicated emotions. Fear, anger, sadness all in one package. She only remembered that somehow they got rescued, that Rofis had gone the hospital, that she didn't see him for the next two months.
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Staring at the third plaque he had received, Trowa sighed. Old Mark sure knew how to handle things. Try to make the employer look good by giving them cheap pieces of wood with "Employee of the Month" written on them. You start to notice they don't mean anything when Mark gives out one every week.
Mark snuck up from behind Trowa and tapped him on the back, making him jump. He held out his hand, in it was a plaque. Trowa eyed it suspiciously.
"Mark, you already gave me one today." Trowa commented, waving his as evidence.
"S'not for you, Tom. S'for Wendy. Give it to her for me, will ya? I'm not going to be in this afternoon." With that, Mark handed the plaque and turned around to leave.
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Jenna was probably the only person on earth dressing and running down the street at the same time. She was late for work because a certain exam for a certain chemistry class went into overtime. She hastily put on her visor, her apron… wait, she took the apron off and pulled the gas station t-shirt on over her tank top before she pulled on the apron again. She took no notice of the people staring at her as she raced down the street and turned the corner.
She stopped panicking and slowed down to a jog as she observed that Trowa was covering for her. He noticed her and waved. Something was in his hand. A piece of wood?
"Here's your piece of wood." Trowa exclaimed as soon as they were in hearing distance. "Treasure it."
"Excuse me?" Jenna asked, not knowing what a piece of wood would do her any good. Then she looked at it. "Employee of the Month: Wynde"
Before she could open her mouth to ask why she received an employee of the month plaque on the same month as Tina did or why her fake name was spelled wrong, Trowa placed a finger on her lips to shush her. He grinned.
"Two things, Jenna. Actually, they all come up to one. Senility and lack of spelling skills that tend to plague the senile."
"Oh."
"Well, I'm done covering for you. You REALLY need to get married to more people." He commented, but then puckered his lips as if in deep thought. "Actually, I don't think I'd want to share you with anyone else." With that, he gave a wink and left to answer another worker's call.
Jenna stared after him and placed a hand on her lips, where the touch of his finger still lingered. Could he possibly be flirting? Jenna thought.
She chuckled.
Nah.
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Lying in the bed, Rofis stared at the ceiling of the attic. He rubbed his eyes. They were dry and itched like mad. Giving a cry of frustration, he sat up. Wearily, he walked over to the mirror by the door and gave himself a long hard stare.
"This is what you've become, Rove." He muttered to himself, looking utterly disappointed. "You're some poor loser hiding in someone else's attic, afraid to face everything and everybody." He laughed bitterly at his sorry state.
There was a knock on the door. Wondering who could be there at this time, since Jenna and her mom were both out working, he unlocked the door and opened it. He stared at the man who stood in front of him and felt like he was going to collapse, but to save face, he stood his ground.
"Hey, Mr. Gollins." He backed up from the door, slowly so as not to fall and expose his weakness. Mr. Gollins entered the room and closed the boor behind him with one swift motion.
Rofis had always admired this stable man. Mr. Gollins was always sure in whatever he did. All his words were meaningful, all his advices were helpful, and all his decisions, when acted upon, came to excellent results. Rofis had vowed when he was ten that he would become a man just like Mr. Gollins. So far, it hasn't been working.
"It's really good to see you again, Rofis." Mr. Gollins began, examining Rofis with his eyes. "You look well, is what I would like to say, but you're looking rather pitiful."
Rofis gave a snort and leaned against a wall. He gave Mr. Gollins a hard look.
"It's been kind of shitty for me, recently."
"I don't doubt that." Mr. Gollins countered, without missing a beat. "It's been kind of shitty for me too. I'd switch with you if I could, but I can't, so I'll just have to deal with my problems. The first thing I need to do is know exactly what it is that I want to accomplish, then the most rational way to do it. And whatever it is I do-" Mr. Gollins stopped short, waiting for Rofis to finish his sentence.
"I do it with my chin up." Rofis finished. "I know."
"Good. Now if your done sulking, come downstairs and we'll do something together, catch a movie maybe." With those words, Mr. Gollins exited the room and purposefully left the door open, meaning for Rofis to follow.
'Whatever you do, do it with your chin up.' Feeling the power of the words, he lifted his chin, smiled, and preceded down the stairs.
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Reading up the in new changed in the curriculum, Heero sat in the teacher's office. The door connecting the teacher's office and the hallway was open, since one of the teachers didn't close it on his way out. Heero shook his head at the stupidity of that action. Any minute now, the students would pile out the classrooms and the chaos that is usually just restricted to the hallway will pour into the office. He got up and walked towards to door. Already, he could hear some students come out of their classrooms, those that were dismissed early. He reached the door and looked out into the already filled hallway. Nodding at some of the students who muttered their hello's to him, he proceeded to close the door. However, a snippet of a conversation told him to do otherwise.
"Hey did you hear?" A girl exclaimed. She whispered something into her friend's ear.
"NO WAY! JENNA'S GOING OUT WITH HIM?" The friend who had just received the news exclaimed and both squealed in excitement.
Heero froze. What is going on? How did a rumor like that spread? And so quickly? Was is Jenna who spread it? Without giving it a second thought. He rushed over to the two receding figured of the girls. He had to weave through the crowd.
"Excuse me. Cindy?"
The girl named Cindy turned around, she looked confused, but still flushed from the excitement of her friend's news.
"What is it that you just said? Repeat it."
"Mr. Yuy? … Um… wait… Oh yeah, I said, 'Jenna's going out with him?'"
"I see. Well it's just a rumor." Heero stated. Cindy looked so confused that he reluctantly elaborated.
"I have no such relationship with my student."
There was a silence. A teacher NOT avoiding rush hour in the hallway was already a very surprising thing, but this just added more flavor to the soup.
"Sir." Cindy stammered, not knowing the right thing to say. "I was referring to Mr. Winner."
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To be Continued
Hehe, yay, finally done this chapter. I think this chapter is a lot lighter on a mood scale than the previous one.
Um. Yeah, I don't own Gundam Wing, wish I did, even prayed for it, but since it's not true and probably will never happen. I've given up that dream of owning Gundam Wing and am satiated with just owning this fanfic.
Now, to the wonderful, wonderful reviewers:
gundam06serenity: Yes, leaving it as "He was born." Was not the nicest thing I could have done. :P~ But yeah, to tell you the truth, I didn't know what to write after it, so my choice was to leave it.
Water Lily2: Yes, lol, a cliffie. Personally, I don't write cliffhangers like that. More like the one for this chapter is my style. Oh well. Thanks for your support and please keep reading. ^^
Bishie Lovers 'R' Us: Hm, personally, I'm not anti-Relena, but I can see from why many people are. Oh well, she's a character, so I guess I should make use of her. Although I didn't in this chapter. :P
Gothic Valley Girl: Cool, thanks for supporting me!! I hope you'll keep reading and keep liking it. (^_^)v
Bama: *GRIN* Thanks for your review! I hope you'll like this story just the way it is. But seriously, never know what will happen. I don't even know ^_^
Vylian Li: Ok, Vyl, to tell you the truth, the Dark twisted twist was supposed to be placed LATER in the story. But it just sorta flowed out at that time and I didn't want to change it. That's why there was such a jump in the mood. *shrug* oh well. :p~~
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