13 Shades of Grey
Chapter 04: One Step Closer
-O-
Mr. Gerro lectured Arista for only five minutes because he had a board meeting to discuss. She was glad it wasn't long because listening to him was like listening to a staticky radio station you just couldn't tune out. It was boring to say the least. And he always spoke in a monotone.
She would have fallen asleep right there and then but that would only get her another week's worth of detentions. She already had a week with London because of her big mouth. Someone down there in Hell must like me, she thought to herself. As soon as Gerro left she slowly walked out the door, scuffing her shoes on the waxed tiled floor to get skid marks on it. She grinned when she saw at least three black marks streaking after her footsteps.
"I stand corrected. Someone down there in Hell must love me." She spotted Brooklyn waiting for her in the hallway outside the office doors. The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. "What do you want now?"
"To talk."
"We've been through that already."
"Just listen."
"And why should I?"
She sneered at him and started walking. He walked alongside her.
"Why do you do me this?" She threw up her hands exasperated, and cursed. "Blast it. You won't go away will you?" She eyed him and frowned. She slowed to a stop.
"Like I said, to talk."
"Okay. Fine."
She walked out the front doors to the school and sat down on the steps leading inside. He sat as close as he possibly could, causing much discomfort to the Russian female.
"What do you want to 'talk' about?"
He stared at the green, green grass still covering the ground. "I---"
"Wait! I have to ask you something."
He raised an eyebrow and stared at her in mock interest.
"I... Can we work out and agreement so that in two weeks I can play hockey again? On the team, I mean."
Perfect opportunity, he grinned. "And why would I do that?"
"I only have four days left, so it doesn't matter." Then she added, "does it?"
He wanted to shout for joy because she was just setting herself up. "Yeah it fucking does." He watched her eyes narrow, something in them glinted. "It matters a lot."
"Then I guess I have nothing to talk about." She stood up briskly and turned around.
He held on to her wrist so she couldn't get away. "I could make a trade though."
Arista opened her mouth to retort something but she shut it knowing it would only make him reconsider his offer if she did. "What?" She said instead. She shrugged out of his grip, and sat down again, though farther away from where she was originally sitting.
"If you want to play in two weeks, you owe me two more weeks of servitude."
Arista's mouth fell open, and her jaw was stretched out so that it hung down.
I could stuff a gobstopper or a jawbreaker in there. Brooklyn snickered at the thought.
He tapped his finger and closed it for her.
"I---You---I don't...want...I mean, I want to play hockey." She thought about what he'd just said. "You can't really mean that..." She looked at him and held his bluish eyes with hers.
She looked so childlike, her eyes wide. He had a sudden urge to pat her head and tell her it would all get better. He narrowed his eyes and looked away.
She turned away and looked at her shoes. They were scuffed at the sides and were smeared in mud and dirt. Her eyes saddened.
"I can't." She squeaked. "I give up." She raised her knees and hugged them. Arista winced when pain pricked her left hand.
She loosened her grip and rocked back and forth. "I don't want to anymore...I quit. I don't care what you think or what anyone else thinks."
"You don't care what other people think anyways, why does it matter now?" He cocked his head back to look at her.
"You don't get it, you don't understand." He was making her angrier by the second until finally her sadness subsided for anger. She looked up at him in disgust. A scowl was plastered on her face. "Leave me alone. Just leave me the fuck alone."
He didn't know what to respond with so he just kept his mouth closed. Until another idea struck him.
"One week. And the four days you owe me too. Then everything will be normal again." He sighed and then added "I promise."
Confusion took a hold of Arista's eyes once again and she opened her mouth. "Okay. Fine. Deal. Whatever." She sat there and let silence slip in between her and Brooklyn. They heard a bell ring in the distance.
The school day was over for today. Arista got up and walked towards the school doors, she pulled at one but it didn't open. "Fucking door, why won't it open?"
"Because it's a push door, smartass."
She stuck her tongue out at him and folded her arms against her chest. "Kiss my ass."
"I would but you have none." He smirked and pushed at the door. She growled out in anger and annoyance.
"You're such an ass jack."
"You're a loud mouth that's temperamental."
"You're a freak of nature!"
He pushed at the door again but it didn't budge. "Why won't it fucking open?"
"It's stu... Wait, the doors automatically lock after three-thirty. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck. This is not my day."
"At least it's not raining." Brooklyn added sort of sympathetically.
Arista glared at him and heard a distant rumble of thunder. In a instant a downpour of rain had started. Arista started towards the back of the school. She looked up at mostly closed dorm windows. She saw and open one and looked around for a tree. Luckily the school had planted trees surrounding the back of the school.
She ran towards the tree, soaking wet. Brooklyn ran after her through the rain. His white shirt was already sopping wet and his black trousers were being whipped by the wind.
She started up the tree but had no luck because she was much too short to reach the first branch.
Brooklyn sighed and pulled her back. He put his hands together in a foothold and waited for her to climb up.
Arista's face was of disbelief. "I'm wearing a skirt." She stated.
"All the more reason to." He replied smirking.
"Yeah right!" She smacked him upside the head. She walked around him and jumped on his back. "Now climb." She commanded. She put her arms around his neck and held tightly.
Her wet clothes clung to him like glue. She started singing.
"Well, I don't know much. And I don't how. Why did she put me through such torture! I would have given my life for her! Now I'm alone sitting on the corner!" She sang at the top of her lungs. Brooklyn had to admit it sounded nice. Her Russian accent gave the song and edge.
He grabbed onto the first branch and started to climb up. Arista continued singing. "Well, I looked at her face. And then I knew she changed. My heart turned black and the sky turned grey! My heart turned black and then the sky turned grey!"
She continued to sing the parts she knew while Brooklyn climbed up the tree.
-O-
Miyami sat on her bed sewing up a pillowcase. She was sewing it for Shahero while she took a bath. It had a picture of a dragon artistically drawn on it, she accidentally pricked her finger and yelped in surprise. Her thoughts had run away with her again. And they were constantly on Johnny, the red-headed Scot. She sighed and went to the bathroom to get some toilet paper. She raised her silver brows at Shahero sitting on the floor. She had paper on her nose, trickling tiny red splotches.
"Are you ok?" She asked concerned.
"Yeah. I'm fine. I just slipped on the tiles."
Miyami surveyed the wet, soap covered floor. "It was like that when you went in?" She questioned.
"I don't know. I just go in, get wet, and come out. How am I supposed to know?"
"You mean you don't even wash yourself properly?" Hitoshi poked his head through the door way of the washroom.
Shahero was flustered and her breath was heavy. She was wearing a black tank top, and white boxer shorts with hockey sticks on them. Her blue hair was sopping wet, her sapphire eyes were narrowed in his direction. She pulled a sweatshirt from the clothes hamper and slipped it on because she felt oddly uncomfortable.
Her nose had stopped bleeding, but her face was a shade of deep red.
"At least I take a bath." She shot back. "I don't know about anyone else, but you smell really bad."
"Yeah, while everyone else thinks I smell just fine."
"That's because everyone else doesn't know a bad smell if it's shoved up their nose!" She growled and walked out of the washroom. Miyami washed her hands and put a bandage on it. It was red and blue. Spider-Man 2 was written across it in black writing.
"Hey, I want one of those!" Arista ran into the washroom and looked around for the box of bandages.
"Where did you come from?" Shahero asked.
"My mom's vaginal region."
Hitoshi made a face. Shahero scrunched her nose.
Brooklyn walked exhaustedly into the room. "Belyaev, if we wanted to know about the birds and the bees then we'd go and ask an expert."
"Namely you." Miyami retorted.
"Fuck off." Arista bent down on all fours and fished around in the cabinets for the bandages. "Miyami!" She complained. "Where did you put them?"
Miyami threw the box from her hands behind her. "I don't have them."
Arista sat crossed legged on the bathroom floor and closed the cabinet doors. "Uhm, where are they?" Even though she already knew the answer she still asked.
Brooklyn smirked. He held the band-aid box in his hands. He shook it just to make sure it wasn't empty then stuffed it into his wet pants pocket.
Hitoshi watched Shahero brush out her hair. She was pulling it so hard, hair was sticking to the brush like fire spreading. He walked over and pulled it from her hands. "Sit." He commanded.
She rolled her eyes and sat down on the floor near the end of a bed. Hitoshi sat at the edge of the matt and ran the brush through her hair. He smoothed her hair back into it's silky mane. She growled loudly when he worked out an extremely stubborn tangle. She cursed him and punched at his leg.
He glowered at the top of her head, while he brushed her hair effortlessly. He ran his fingers through her hair. She moved away hesitantly. He pulled her back so that she was leaning against his legs, and held her there.
"Your hair smells good." He murmured into her ear. She fought the urge to laugh out loud because it was tickling her. Shahero bit her lip and shrugged her shoulders.
"Hitoshi, stop trying to eat Hero's hair." Arista said. She jumped on him, dripping water on him and Shahero. She was still wet from the rain outside.
The lights flashed on and off, thunder cackled and whipped in the distance.
"Give me the bandages." Arista struggled with Hitoshi for the box she knew he didn't have.
"I don't have it, Ari, get off me!"
Arista had latched herself on to his leg, Shahero had stepped back to watch the film, snickering every few seconds.
Hitoshi shook his leg. He was much taller than his cousin, she didn't even come up to his collar bone. "Get off."
"Incest?" Brooklyn's eyes had taken on a green tint. He scowled and then crossed his arms over his chest.
Arista let go off Hitoshi's leg like it had burned her skin. She narrowed her eyes, and scowled. She went into the washroom. She re emerged with a bucket of water.
"Don't you ever say anything like that again. I care about my family."
She dumped it over him and watched his reaction. It was freezing cold, he shivered and shook his damp hair. It stuck to his head and forehead.
-O-
Kai groaned and rubbed his nose. It had pretty much healed but it was still sore. Although his voice sounded slightly nasal, he was pretty much fine. Or at least he would be if Amber didn't consume every molecule of his brain.
Frustrated with himself because he couldn't stop thinking about her he slammed his fist on his thigh and ran a hand through his blue hair. He rubbed his face and lowered his body onto himself. Slate blue bangs overshadowed his eyes and most of his face.
He was sitting, leaning against the wall of the main boys change room on the first floor. He slid down to the floor, his body made contact with the lino of the identically tiled floor.
He remembered when he and Amber were little kids. He'd always help her and keep her safe from harm. She always smiled when she saw him, and he eyes lit up when he entered a room. Her eyes still lit up, only this time with anger or hatred. Now it was different. When her dad left she had started to blame him for that and everything else too.
It had saddened him and at first he didn't know why, then he'd understood why. She'd needed someone to yell and scream at because she didn't want to think it was her fault. Not that it was. Amber hadn't done anything to make her dad leave. She didn't want to think that, or perhaps she had and needed someone to blame instead of herself. Kai had never really quite figured it out.
She was complicated. But that was her. She was a jigsaw puzzle and half the pieces were missing. It wasn't fair, it just wasn't fucking fair.
Love.
It flashed like a lightening bolt in his brain. He loved her. Damn it, he knew that. He'd always had, just that now it was more than a sister figure kind of love. Hell, it had been since puberty had reared it's ugly head.
Kai frowned and shook his head. He closed his arms around his knees and drew himself together. Everything would be normal again when he went to collage. Only two years. Two bad he didn't only have one like Hitoshi.
But when he went to collage he could and would forget all about Amber. He didn't need her. He didn't.
"I don't need you!" He screamed out, then slammed his head on his bent knees.
A boy with copper brown hair walked out into the boys washroom, stared at Kai with raised eyebrows and a confused expression.
"What?"
Growling, Kai got up and exited the washroom, slamming the door after him.
He was going to have a little talk with Amber.
-O-
"Hey." Tala caught up to Ruin shooting pucks into the empty net on the ice. He skated up to her and stood watching her. "I missed you."
She stopped shooting and slowed her stick to a stationary motion. She turned around and came face to face with Tala Valkov. Ruin almost smiled but bit her tongue. The gothic female shrugged, and skated to the boards. She jumped over them and sat down on the bench behind them.
She took off her helmet. Tala sat down beside her. "So how are you?" He asked her.
"Good." She lowered her gaze to the floor. "You?" She still didn't look up.
"I'm fine now that your back." He joked and weather he meant it or not she didn't know. He was too complicated to understand sometimes.
"Whatever." She cocked her head to look at him. He was still picture perfect. His stunning turquoise eyes, blood red hair. Pale creamy Russian skin. She sighed inwardly at the sight of him.
"Ruin, I---"
He stopped and closed his mouth when she hugged him almost reluctantly.
"I missed you too."
He grinned and pulled her so close to him because he was afraid he would lose her again.
A Kodak moment, he thought with pleasure.
-O-
Now I will tell you
What I've done for you
Fifty thousand tears I've cried
Screaming, deceiving, and bleeding
For you
But you still won't hear me
Going under
Arista sat singing along with Amber. They're voices were being heard by one other; Hitoshi. Aspin had left them saying she needed to talk to Kane. Tala and Ruin were nowhere to be seen, and everyone else had pretty much disappeared.
Amber hadn't seen Kai all day, and she was glad. She was still miffed at him for not believing her. Sure she sometimes used apologies to manipulate people, but she'd always meant them when she said them to Kai. She was also confused because he wouldn't talk to her either. She was bored stupid, which was the only reason she was helping clean under Arista's bed.
Don't want your hand this time
I'll save myself
Maybe I'll wake up for once
Not tormented daily defeated by you
Just when I thought I reached the bottom
As if in slow motion, Hitoshi dropped a picture frame accidentally on the floor. The glass shattered. The only reason he was helping was because he wanted to catch a glimpse of Shahero. The girl had been avoiding him like the plague since Friday.
I dive
Dive again
Kai walked into the room deceptively calm and looked around for Amber. When he found her he walked to her and stared at her for a few seconds. Her black, ebony streaked hair was open, hanging to her shoulders. Her full lips were parted slightly, and her eyebrows were raised emphasizing her tawny eyes.
I'm going under
Drowning you along
Falling forever
I've got to break through, I
I'm going under
"What? Is there something on my face?" Amber waved her hand in front of his face. He didn't even blink. He stared into her confused ochre eyes, then lowered his gaze to her mouth.
Kai could vaguely make out her voice, but he didn't understand anything she was saying. All he could think about was how much he wanted her.
He crushed his lips to hers and put his hand on the sweetly venerable curve of her neck. He pulled her closer to him and held her there.
-O-
Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. You all get pumpkins, on honour of Halloween, the best time of the year. Anyways, I have so many ideas for this fic. So keep the review coming please. Amber must be so confused, she won't know what hit her until it's too late. Ah! The evil love bug is spreading. Ehk. Review please, and you will get another pumpkin. Doncha love me? Please say yes. Aw, man, my fingers are so cold. It's freezing in me room. Ehk, R&R plz.
Alexis: Digital Survivor: I like it more when I prank people, but making people feel good is okay too. Actually, I like snakes. They're cool and freak out most of my cousins. Ew, worms I don't like! Yeah, there was a lot of Brooklyn/Arista. You get two pumpkins because your so nice to me.
ButterCup: Which chapter do you mean? I'm confused. Anyways, pumpkin for you and a thank-you too. :D That rhymed.
unknown: I'm glad you liked it. Please review this chapter too. Aw, well if you know any good fics then you can recommend them please. Hands you a pumpkin
ChibiKai02: You live in Brooklyn? Aw, dude, that's so cool. Here's the update. Read and enjoy. Damn it, your internet to MSN got cut. Stupid MSN always causing problems. Enjoy your pumpkin.
uni n secylia: Cliffy? Really? Well, that's a good thing then. :P Aw, my grammar isn't perfect. blushes I have spell check. Lol. Thank you for reviewing. Here's a pumpkin for you. Glad you liked it.
Ayuka-chan: Brooklyn is the bestest. Rivalled only by the other red-head in Beyblade. I updated. Gives you a pumpkin
Anonymous: You get two pumpkins because you reviewed twice. And no I'm not mad at you. I'm glad you liked it, review please. She'll get better soon, snickers. My name is pronounced 'R-Kay-Dah'. Thanks for reviewing, and enjoy this chappie.
la-de-da: Hey! You get six pumpkins! And another because your so nice to me for reviewing every chapter! That's so sweet and nice of you. I feel so loved. Gushes
aZnpRyD: Hands you a pumpkin Hey, thanks for reviewing and I'm glad you liked it.
katrinaKatsy: What's his/her name? I wanna thank them, and I'm glad you like it. here's the update, thanks for reviewing. And here's a pumpkin for you too.