Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

It's a Prom Thing

Chapter 4

Anna and Tamao, were, once again (as they always do anyway) sitting outside the picnic tables during lunchtime.

Tamao had just opened her mouth to tell Anna something, but instead someone called out, "Hey Anna!" She closed her mouth. That wasn't her. She turned around to see who it was, and blushed beet red.

It was Yoh, waving in their direction cheerily while crossing the lawn towards them.

Anna, who was peering at her sandwich (it was ham and egg, if one can still call it an egg…are they supposed to be green?) and didn't even notice Tamao was going to talk to her nor Yoh call her, now looked up and stared at her friend strangely. "What's with you?" she asked, and that's when she noticed the headphone-clad boy approaching them.

Glancing at Tamao, whose blush had receded from beet red to pink, Anna felt a twinge of her least favorite emotion: guilt. No matter what Tamao said, it was obvious that she still had a crush on Yoh, big time. Seeing both of them at once only reminded Anna that her friend was stuck with someone whom she probably didn't really want as a date to the prom anyway, while she, Anna, was going with Yoh, whom she REALLY didn't want to have anything to do with. She couldn't help but give him a full glare as he stopped in front of them, those thoughts running inside her head.

"Hey there, Tamao," Yoh greeted.

"Hi," the pink-haired girl squeaked.

"What do you want?" Anna nearly growled at him.

Undaunted, he just grinned. "I just wanted to know if you're doing anything after classes."

Hateful thoughts vanished, to be replaced by semi-panicked ones. Is he…? "I—I'm going to study," she blurted out. "With Tamao. We have a long exam in Social Studies next week…right?" She nudged her friend.

Tamao, who was only half-listening to this exchange, gave a start. "Huh?" Anna widened her eyes meaningfully. Just follow my lead! But Tamao, in an unusual act of playfulness, did the opposite. "Ohh…riiiiight," she drawled. "Yeah, the exam…but, Anna, I was just going to say to you that—" she paused, searching for the right excuse inside her head. "My mom asked me to run a few errands for her after school. We can study tomorrow, though." Anna's going to kill me…what am I doing? Must be hanging around Horo-horo too much…

"Great!" Yoh said. Now Anna was glaring at the two of them. Tamao gulped, but Yoh was oblivious. As usual. "If you're free," he continued, "I was wondering if we could go out for coffee or something and…you know, talk."

This was bound to happen sooner or later, Anna realized. Might as well deal with it. "Fine," she answered coldly. "I'll meet you by the school steps at 3:30."

He nodded. "See you then. Bye, Tamao."

Anna didn't say anything, and Tamao just lifted her hand in a wave. Putting his headphones over his ears, Yoh sauntered off.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Anna turned to Tamao. "Traitor," she hissed.

"Are you mad at me?" Tamao asked timidly.

Check heart: is it thumping wildly because of mad desire to scratch so-called best friend's eyes out for selling you out, or because of close encounter with the boy who relatively turns your world upside down whenever he's there? "No," she admitted grudgingly.

"Good. Because I'm not sorry," Tamao grinned, taking a bite from her lunch, a very harmless looking salad. Suddenly, she squealed. "Do you know what just happened? He asked you out on a DATE!"

"It is NOT a date," Anna snapped, feeling her face grow hot. "It's just…" She waved her arms about helplessly.

"A date," Tamao supplied.

The blond girl shook her head vehemently. "No. Like he said, we're going to talk. And that's just what we're going to do."

"Really?" said Tamao, her voice still teasing. "What are you going to talk about, then?"

Anna stared in the direction Yoh went off to, her eyes becoming distant. "A lot," she said quietly.

Her friend stopped at the tone of her voice. Unable to help herself, Tamao asked, "Anna, I know you just entered our high school this year, but…how long have you known Yoh?"

"Since we were little," Anna replied, still sounding distant. Then she seemed to snap out of it, and said abruptly in an angry tone, "I don't want to talk about it."

Awkward silence reigned for a few moments. Then Tamao sighed, and extending her hand towards Anna, said, "Why aren't you eating your lunch again? Let me see that… Here, let's swap lunches, take my salad."

Anna handed over her sandwich, feeling grateful to her friend for not pursuing the subject. She smiled a little, letting the thought of her meeting Yoh later slip from her mind as Tamao shrieked, "YUCK! Is this egg! Why the heck is it GREEN!"

:skip:

"Lyserg, why are you still here? Today's session is over. Everyone else has gone home already."

Lyserg Diethyl popped his head out from under the table where he was picking up bits of crumpled paper and some pencils on the floor. "Sorry, Mr. Strahnbrad. I was just cleaning up the mess in here before I leave."

The teacher shook his head, smiling a little. "You don't have to do that. You know very well the janitors clean the whole school after classes. Now come on, let's go home as well."

The boy shrugged. "If you say so, Sir." Lyserg walked to the end of the classroom and picked up his bag before stepping out onto the hallway to join his teacher.

Mr. Strahnbrad looked fondly at him as they walked. As a teacher he really shouldn't have any favorite students, but Lyserg is exactly that: his favorite student. Besides always getting A's in the subject that Mr. Strahnbrad is teaching, English, Lyserg also aces the rest of the subjects without any problem. He is, in fact, a candidate for valedictorian when their batch graduates from high school. Aside from that, he has no record whatsoever in the disciplinary office. Absolutely impossible, as the boy has a quiet temper, always polite to everybody and has very helpful disposition. What Lyserg does every afternoon, in fact, is to help Mr. Strahnbrad give extra lessons to those students who have quite low grades in English. It was the green-haired boy who volunteered himself, and the teacher was grateful for his help.

But despite of all Lyserg's good qualities, the older man couldn't help but think that his student was a bit…uptight. Studying hard is good, anyone can agree with that, but too much studying is a different matter altogether. He actually thinks his student should loosen up a bit…and what Lyserg needed was…a love life.

And speaking of love life…Mr. Strahnbrad sighed, shifting his briefcase from one hand to the other as they continued to walk. His daughter, Jeanne, seems to be having an active one. She was only 14 years old but was already a junior at the school. Quite brilliant herself, she managed to get herself accelerated two grades up.

He had actually forbidden—er, not allowed—Jeanne to date yet, on the grounds that she is still too young. However, that rule doesn't deter all the boys from following her and practically crowding around her during school time. This was no wonder, really, because his daughter is extremely beautiful just like her mother (God bless her departed soul). They all try to ask her for dates, and she has to say 'no', of course, or be grounded for life by her father.

But father and daughter made a pact: she still isn't allowed to date until she turns sixteen, but she can have a date (or 'companion' as Mr. Strahnbrad would rather like to think) during prom night. Being protective, though, he couldn't trust her judgment to whom she will say 'yes' to.

As he mused, Mr. Strahnbrad's gaze fell on Lyserg once more, and a germ of an idea began to form in his mind.

"Lyserg," he started out conversationally, "Your promenade is just three weeks away, am I correct?"

The boy looked up at him. "Yes, sir, that's right."

"Well, are you going?"

If Lyserg thought it was strange for his teacher to take a sudden interest in his prom plans, he didn't show it. "Yes sir, because I'm the head of one of the prom committees. I really have to be there to see if anything goes wrong."

"Are you taking someone as your date that night?" Mr. Strahnbrad continued his interrogation.

At that, Lyserg couldn't stop himself from furrowing his brows at him. "As a matter of fact, yes, because Manta said all the committee heads have to have dates for the prom." Manta Oyadama was the student council president, and also the over-all head of the prom committees. "But I haven't really asked anyone yet," Lyserg added.

"You haven't?" There was no mistaking the relief in his English teacher's voice. "That's good!" Then he coughed embarrassedly. "Er, what I mean is—"

"Sir, do you want me to do something for you?" Lyserg asked.

As perceptive as ever. "Actually, yes, I have quite a favor to ask of you. You see my daughter—"

"You have a daughter?" Lyserg cut in, surprised.

"Yes, she's a junior here, haven't I mentioned her before? Anyway, since you don't have a date yet, if you wouldn't mind…" Mr. Strahnbrad hesitated. "You could take my daughter to the prom."

Lyserg was frowning. "I'm not sure about this, sir. She may be going with someone else already." And besides, I don't even know who she is, he added mentally.

"That is my problem." The teacher's voice lowered conspiratorially. "A lot of guys have actually been asking her. But I don't really trust any of them. Why, just the other day, she told me that Hao Asakura—oh, speak of the devil…"

Hao was bounding from the other side of the corridor towards them. He was, strangely, all alone. He gave Lyserg and Mr. Strahnbrad a cheeky grin and a nod as he passed them by.

Hao Asakura was quite notorious in the school. Besides always disrupting every place he goes to or even just the ones he passes by because of the screaming schoolgirls in his wake, and having been given another student's handbook because his first one had already been filled with letters from the discipline coordinator to his parents regarding his conduct: incomplete uniform every single day, caught smoking during lunch breaks, cutting classes, writing his own "black book" inside all of the cubicles in the third floor men's room (the names of all the girls took up THAT much space), forging signatures, giving answers to exams to his classmates for a price, caught doing acts of lasciviousness in various places of the school, etc, etc…Hao Asakura is notorious because he is, quite unbelievably, very intelligent. Like Lyserg, Hao would've been a candidate for valedictorian, if it hadn't been for his VERY long record of violations. Their similarities end there. Hao had so many offenses that he should've been kicked out already, but the teachers always held back. They just couldn't believe someone as intelligent as him would have a conduct THAT bad, and was always hoping he would "turn over into a new leaf." Whether he would be given honors or not when the senior graduation rolls around is currently a topic of heated debate among the school administration.

As soon as Hao disappeared from their sight, Lyserg burst out, "Hao Asakura asked your daughter out!" She must be a looker, he thought. It was always the girls who chase after Hao, not the other way around.

His teacher nodded, tight-lipped. "Yes. She turned him down, thank God. But now do you see? What if some other misfit—"

"Sir," Lyserg interrupted, "I would be happy to take your daughter to the prom for you." He looked up to Mr. Strahnbrad a lot. Now Lyserg had made up his mind to protect his daughter for him—from Hao.

"But I think you should ask her first if this arrangement is fine for her," Lyserg continued over his teacher's mumblings of profuse thank-yous as he shook his hand over and over again.

"Oh, that wouldn't be a problem," Mr. Strahnbrad exclaimed, letting go of Lyserg's hand. "There she is now." He pointed to a figure across the school parking lot.

As they walked toward her, Lyserg suddenly felt unsure about his decision. He honestly thought his teacher's daughter would not agree to go with him. He has never met her before and he doesn't know anything about her either. What if they have a rotten time together? What if—

"Jeanne," Mr. Strahnbrad was saying, and Lyserg was roused from his thoughts. "I'd like you to meet Lyserg Diethyl, a student of mine. Lyserg, this is my daughter, Jeanne."

Their eyes met, and Lyserg's mouth dropped open.

"Mr. Strahnbrad!" a teacher called out from the school entrance, waving a bunch of papers in her hand.

"Oh, I forgot I have to talk to her. I'll be just a minute." With that, he left the two of them alone.

Lyserg closed his mouth, trying to gather his wits. She is…just…she's…wow, was all that his brain could process at the moment.

Now Jeanne, as a matter of fact, was perfectly aware of how beautiful she was. She was used to boys practically drooling at the sight of her. But she couldn't escape the fact that she felt herself blush as Lyserg stared at her. And she couldn't escape the fact that he was cute.

REALLY cute.

Oh, who was she kidding? He was handsome.

"Hi," she finally said, breaking the silence. "Nice to finally meet you." She stretched out her hand and he shook it timidly, slowly. She liked the feel of his hand: warm and dry. "Dad's been telling me a lot about you."

"Really?" He let go of her hand. "He talks about you a lot, too." Nice going, Lyserg. You win an award for the lamest line in history.

"Does he, now?" She raised an eyebrow. At that moment Mr. Strahnbrad returned.

"Nice to see you kids getting acquainted!" he said heartily. "But we better get going. Thanks again for helping me, Lyserg. See you tomorrow!"

"No problem, sir." Lyserg wasn't exactly sure if his teacher was saying thank you for the tutoring session or for being Jeanne's date.

Jeanne just smiled at him before climbing into their car. Her father started the engine, and they drove off.

Lyserg released the breath he didn't realize he was holding.

To be continued

Reen's ramblings: I was supposed to put this up last week but unfortunately I didn't get to actually finish writing it grins sheepishly I was going to be gone for only 4 days, but I just got home on Tuesday. My family and I are only chance passengers in flights, so we got stuck at the airport for a couple of days O.O SO boring. Don't you feel sorry for me? looks around Guess not. Hehehe.
1.) Yes, Hao is an honor student, ohohohoho!
2.) I give credit to keiko for giving me the idea of Hao asking Jeanne to the prom. You told me to email you and I did, but it got sent back to me. Apparently Hotmail doesn't like Edsamail X.X
3.) Mr. Strahnbrad is my own character obviously. I was actually having a hard time thinking up of a surname for Jeanne. Syaotot actually suggested "Sarcophagus" :p I got Strahnbrad from War Craft 3, when I was playing the game during the days when our modem hated me. As you can see, it loves me again because I got to upload this chapter
4.) I would also like to give lots and lots of credit to Apple-chan for helping me with the plot of this chapter :)