I am SO sorry I haven't updated!!! But I'm mostly sorry to Vanessa for making her wait so long for the next chapter to our story. I hope you forgive me... I feel so horrible... I had writers block for so long, and I've just finished all my finals, so I've been so busy!!! I hope you like it!!!
Chapter 5:Trouble on the Horizon
Joe had an overall, boring day. The teachers droned on during the classes, trying to teach their students stuff they would never need in real life.
The usual.It wasn't that Joe was a bad student, or that he was the mischievous type. He just didn't think that he needed to learn about Samarkand's LONG, boring history (A/N: Sorry, if that offends anyone. It was just a country that came to my mind.). He wanted to be a racecar driver when he grew up, and he didn't even have to go to college. He was confident that he knew more than enough to become a champion, easily.
A rather arrogant, patronizing attitude, don't you think?
Actually, Joe had wanted to become a racecar driver ever since he was old enough to think properly about his career. He knew everything there was to know about racecars and racing, and had won many junior races when he was little. He had his future all planned out. So why did he have to go to college?
The answer was simple, really. When Joe was a mere child of three, his mother had died of a heart attack. He was told she had always wanted him to have a proper education and college degree. He was just fulfilling her wishes. His father had said that Joe was exactly like his mother, ambitious, caring, and shy, all at the same time. He had also said that it was a pity, Joe had only inherited her soft cinnamon eyes, otherwise, he looked like the mirror image of his father. (A/N: HARRY POTTER!!!)Joe tapped his pen restlessly on the side of his desk, staring at the clock. He glared at it, willing the minute hand to move. The professor's monotonous droning made it hard to pay attention, especially in the end of the day.
"Mr. Shimamura!" The professor's sharp voice jolted Joe back to reality.
"Mr. Shimamura, since you are so confident with your knowledge of the ancient scriptures to not pay attention, why don't you tell the class exactly how the invading Muslims battered into Samarkand's defenses?"
"I...Um...Well..." Out of the corner of his eye, Joe could see Françoise fighting a loosing battle to muffle her giggles, clearly amused. 'Well, at least she's having fun.' He thought wryly. The professor frowned disapprovingly, and opened his mouth,"Mr. Shimamura, would you—" The bell ringing cut him off, and Joe let out a long breath. 'Saved by the bell—so cliché! That was close' He quickly gathered his books and rushed out of the room. Along the hallway, he spied Jet Link casually leaning against the wall, with a sulking expression on his face. He knew Jet from his drama class, taught by an Englishman by the name of Great Britain. Professor Britain insisted his students call him G.B; he didn't like being called a professor. He had said it made him feel old. To Joe, it just seemed he wanted to associate with his students on better terms, not just as teacher and student. Joe paused and inquired,
"Hey, Jet. What's up?" Jet glared at him and scowled.
"Changku." That explained it all. Professor Chang Changku, the small, stout Chinese Professor who taught Home etc., had an effect on Jet. He always found something wrong with his cooking, and severely scolded him for his faults, no matter how hard Jet tried. Although, it didn't seem like he was trying too hard. The fact that they disagreed on everything didn't help either. Jet never seemed to like cooking; he thought it was useless and boring. Joe had once wondered why Jet had even picked Home etc. as a subject, since he hated it so much. That question was solved rather quickly, when he discovered how many pretty girls were in the class. Joe smirked jokingly, and said,
"Don't sweat it, you'll learn to cope. He's not that bad, if you don't get on his nerves. You win some you lose some. Hey, look at the bright side! You can drop the class next semester if you want." Jet mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "But what about the girls?" Joe grinned.
"You'll manage. See ya." With that said, he walked off, thinking about a certain blond, who had occupied his thoughts for a long time now.
When he walked to the bus station, he spied Françoise with a couple of other girls, gathered around her. Their leader, whom Joe recognized as Victoria, was smiling, but rather evilly at Françoise. His forehead furrowed in confusion as he walked towards the cluster of girls.
"Hey, Françoise!" Joe called out jovially. Françoise's pale face brightened when she saw him and moved to greet him, but Victoria got to him first, and batted her eyelashes at him.
"Hi, Joe!" She said, breathlessly, "So, what's been going on? You seem awfully busy, I never see you anymore!" She pouted a little. Joe thought that this was very childish, and was rather confused.
"Uh...I have been pretty busy. I'll look for you next time." He said absent-mindedly. Victoria's eyes lighted up with glee, as she giggled and smiled flirtatiously. Joe turned to Françoise and she smiled warmly.
"Hello! Did you have a nice day?" She asked pleasantly.
"Yeah, it was awesome. Listen, I was wondering—" At that precise moment, the bus pulled into the station, cutting Joe off. Françoise looked at him curiously before boarding the bus, with him not far behind. Of course Victoria and her entourage followed them, Victoria herself trailing Joe like a lost puppy. Françoise sat down, and Joe sat next to her. She turned around to him, and asked,
"You were wondering...?""I...I wanted to know..." He stopped, suddenly choking from the lump in his throat. Why did he lose confidence all of a sudden? Why was he so confident in the first place? It was very unlike him to be so extroverted to a girl in a dating sense, especially after only a few days subsequent to their meeting. He was usually very shy when it came to this sort of stuff. It was weird, he felt as if he knew Françoise very well, well enough to ask her out on the second day of school. But that was impossible!! They had never met before!! He pushed those thoughts to the back of his head; it was a question for him to ponder on a rainy day. He had current problems to deal with now. She was waiting for him to speak, with a patient smile on her face. Joe took in a deep breath, and let it go.
"WellIwaswonderingifyoucouldgooutwithmetothemoviesthisSaturdaythatisifyou're freeandifyouwanttoIpromiseIwon'tstandyouupohpleasesayyesbutI'mnotforcingyouw hatdoyousay?" He took in a deep breath after, gasping for air. He could've sworn he was turning blue as he said that one sentence. Françoise looked rather bewildered, but he had a feeling she got the gist of it all. She smiled, eyes twinkling with amusement."Joe," she started, "that was very um...sweet, but I hardly think that we should be going out right away. I mean we've just met a few days ago!" Joe was crestfallen. He knew that it was a bad idea to ask her out, why, why did he have to go by his instincts?!? Now she probably thought he was a total dork... 'Great job, Joe!' he thought, 'Now you've really messed things up! She'll never want to go out with you now!!!' He could feel his face heating up with embarrassment because he had made himself look foolish in front of the girl he liked. 'Wait, did I just think, "liked"?!? When did that happen? This all is just too weird...' He forced a grin, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his chest.
"That's fine, I understand, you—," but she cut him off, a faint streak of pink decorating her delicate face. The coloring on her face was unnoticed by Joe, who was extremely upset about being rejected.
"With all things considered, we really shouldn't go out,"
'Oh great, now she's going to give me the reasons for not going on a date and rub it in. This is just perfect...' Joe thought dryly. She continued,
"...but I have a crazy feeling that this will work out perfectly, for both of us. I'd be happy to go out with you, if the offer still stands." His eyes widened in shock, then glittered in elation.
"Great! I'll pick you up, at around 7ish, ok?" He could barely resist jumping for joy.
"That's fine with me." She smiled at him. His eyes were bright and wide with excitement and he looked like a little boy about to ride his first bicycle.
They stayed silent for the rest of the bus ride, for vastly different reasons. Joe, because he was planning for the big night, Françoise because she was thinking about why she had accepted his offer and why he had even offered. 'It could just be mutual affection,' she mused, but then she blushed self-consciously. 'Even if I do believe in love at first sight, why would he pick me? He himself saw how Victoria was fawning over him. She's very pretty, and could give him whatever he wanted! She's definitely not playing 'hard-to-get'. But am I? That's nonsense, why would I like him? He is cute, though,' She blushed as she thought this, scolding herself for thinking such thoughts. 'What if I accidentally said them aloud? That would be so embarrassing... Why am I so attracted to him? We've only just met! But it feels like I've known him before, and he's not the only one I feel strangely friendly to. Jet Link, the boy from my drama class, my drama professor, and my home etc. professor all seem familiar to me. The odd thing is, I'm positive I've never seen any of them before!' She shook her head slightly, to clear her mind of all her jumbled thoughts. 'I'll just take the problems as they come, one by one,' she decided.
While the two were closed off, each in their own separate world, Victoria watched them with envy and hate.
"That girl doesn't know who she's messing with. I'll get Joe no matter what!" Natalie watched her friend seethed with anger, as she watched the pair together. She couldn't see why Victoria liked Joe so much, to be so bent on getting Françoise out of the way, but that was just Vicky's way of doing things. She sighed, knowing that Victoria wouldn't give up until she had Joe all to herself.
Meanwhile, in a distant lair, deep within an abandoned mountain cave, a tall man was formulating his evil plan. He laughed wildly, and shouted to the world,
"My cyborgs, have fun while you can, your time is almost up! When I have finished, all of you will be wiped from the face of the earth, leaving me to do whatever I wish!! MWAHAHAHAHA!!! (A/N: LOL!!) Beware, cyborgs, for there is a traitor in your midst!!"
Like it? Hate it? PLEASE REVIEW!!! Vanessa's a very good writer, so the cliffhanger she put at the end of the previous chapter was hard to follow up on. I know it's not very good, but I tried my best!!!! I know I haven't been a very good reviewer/updater lately as well, but now, since it's the end of school, I have A LOT more time. Actually, no I wont. This is probably going to be the last update I'm going to do for the summer, because I'm going to be without a computer for the whole summer. First, I'm going to camp for a month, and then I'm going back to China for the rest of the vacation. There aren't any computers in camp, and I'm supposed to spend time with my family in China. Great, isn't it? I won't have any T.V. either, so I'm going to miss so many Yu Yu Hakusho episodes!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! If I miss Hiei's fights, I will get SO mad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Feel sorry for me...TT I'll also be cut off from all my friends, both on fanfiction, and off... NOOOOO!!!
Ok, just as a reminder, I want to make as many friends on ff.net as possible, so my Yahoo IM sn is snowfairy102391, and my AIM sn is azureangelaura. LOL, I just had some mango jelly. It's really good!!! I'll be back when school starts, so IM me then!!!! PLEASE!!! I seriously need some conversation. My friends from school never talk, and they space out, and my friends from fanfiction are hardly ever on!! I think that's because of the time difference... Neways, I'm going to stop rambling, and wish Vanessa and Angela good luck on their collaboration. It's going to be THE best Cyborg 009 story EVER!!! I'm really sorry I won't be there to review first, but when I come back, I'll review every single chapter!! Whose penname is it going to be on, anyway? Since Vanessa's not on now, and I have a very low patience rate, I'm going to post this up right now, but I didn't really proofread it. Please, if you find some grammar or spelling mistakes, tell me!!! I hate being in the dark about my own writing. For all the flamers out there, you're welcome to flame, but don't be too mean!! LOL, I'm just really happy now!!! My cousin is coming from China on Sunday!!!!! I'm so happy!! I haven't seen him in a year, and I grew up with him!! YAY!!!!!! Ok, I'll shut up right now, so you wonderful readers can REVIEW!!! LOLZ!!!! Bye!
P.S
I've tried to make this extra long, to make up for the little updating I've been doing. I know it's probably not as long as some of your stories, but it's the best I can do. Bye for real!!
P.P.S
I'm writing this on QuickEdit right now, I don't know how to do the HTML formatting, somebody PLEASE help!! The structure looks really weird, and I want more spaces between each paragraph!! Someone who's a computer genius, or someone who knows how to work this, PLEASE help me!! Bye!! (REALLY this time!! LOL)
