"You idiot! You had the perfect opportunity to start something with Fiona, a friendship at least, and yet you still blew it?" Moonbay yelled in anger at Van the first chance that she got after hearing of what happened transpired between the two of them in their little walk.
Van had barely walked through the doors of his home that night after walking Fiona home when he was confronted by his two eager looking friends. They wanted to know what had transpired and weren't too pleased when he heard that he didn't have much success.
"Don't blame me! I didn't want to put her in a situation that she obviously didn't want to be in. What is the point of it if she can't seem to trust me?" Van asked trying to defend himself. "I tried but had no success. It is as simple as that," he said walking towards the stairs.
"Van, Van, Van. You need to actually try harder than you did then. It would be good for you and Fiona to be together. We see it as a perfect pairing for the two of you. You just need to be more aggressive about it," Irvine said grabbing Van by the shoulder and steering him towards a couch.
"Irvine, I know this is what I've been training to do all summer but I don't want to do this is Fiona is unwilling. I am not just going to force her into a friendship she doesn't want. I am going to take my time with it and try to work for it. Wait until Fiona actually wants it," Van said standing up and walked to his room without another word said.
Moonbay couldn't help but smirking. "Looks like he's learning," she said and Irvine nodded in agreement. "Most push so she pushes them away. Van takes his time and she may try and open up," she said before they walked out of the house.
Thomas's patience was ticking away little by little each moment. He thought things were going great for him and that soon he would have Fiona but things suddenly changed too quickly. Van had changed and wasn't the weakling he was the year before and he obviously was going after Fiona.
Thomas's eye twitched when he noticed Van take a quick look in Fiona's direction before looking away. The only thing that he had to be glad about was that Fiona didn't appear to be returning any of his looks. 'I have to do something or else he will start trying,' Thomas thought angrily before the bell rang and he rushed out of the question shortly after Fiona.
He walked in the direction of Fiona's locker and was glad when he saw that she was already there. He put on a proud smile and walked in her direction, and stopped right by her. "Excuse me, Fiona," Thomas said quietly.
Fiona took a quick look in Thomas's direction and then looked away. She knew what was coming. "What is it Thomas? I am in a bit of a hurry," Fiona said grabbing some of her books and started walking away quickly.
Thomas ran to catch up to her and put a hand on her shoulder to make her stop. He was suddenly starting to feel a little bit nervous. "I was just wondering if maybe you would like to go see a movie or something this weekend," Thomas said in a hopeful tone. He had a good feeling about that day. Then that good feeling came crashing down.
"I am sorry but no Thomas. I have to go," she said pulling her shoulder out of his hand and continued to walk. Much to her annoyance, Thomas did it again. "Will you please let go Thomas? I have to get to class," Fiona said struggling to get out of his hold.
"Why can't you go out with me Fiona? You aren't going out with anyone else are you?" he asked in a slight panic and was glad when Fiona shook her head. "Then why is it that you won't go out with me?" he practically begged her. He was not going to take no for an answer.
"Let me go!" she practically yelled struggling a little and ended up dropping her stuff. She suddenly felt the weight listed off her shoulder and turned to see that Van had pulled Thomas away by the back of the collar of his shirt. The situation before her was rather funny with Thomas trying to escape but failing, just the position she was in before.
Van let go of Thomas and he fell to the ground with a thud. He turned to look at Fiona picking up the things that she had dropped. He found one of her books at his feet and picked it up handing it to her. "Are you ok?" he asked as she gratefully took the book from him.
"Yes, thank you. I was just in a hurry and he wouldn't let me go," she said not even looking at Van but at the floor. There was something about the new Van that was bugging her. It was certain things that she didn't want to feel. Perhaps it was the fact that he was one of the few who was kind and never pushed for something out of her. It was the exact opposite of Thomas.
"Well if you are in a hurry then I had better not keep you," Van said and bowed his head slightly before she walked away. He walked in the opposite direction that Fiona was going. He saw Thomas get up rubbing his neck.
"That had nothing to do with you Van. Why did you have to butt in when I was about to get a date out of her?" Thomas growled out getting right into Van face and was pissed when Van gave an I-don't-care look.
"You weren't going to get anything out of her Thomas. She didn't want to be there and you should try to force her when she was obviously not interested," Van said highly pissed at Thomas's attitude. He knew absolutely nothing of women and what they actually wanted. Heck, Van was still confused about what they wanted.
"Yes she was. I am sure that she was about to accept when you interrupted. Oh wait, I see. You were jealous that she was going to accept and decided to interrupt. You and your stupid crush on her. Do actually think that she will ever accept a loser like you?" Thomas said glaring at Van.
Van just sighed and walked away. "You know absolutely nothing about her. Neither do I. You should know when she isn't interested and just back off though. She wanted to leave and you wouldn't let her," Van said before walking away without looking back.
'Yeah, he is definitely jealous of mine and Fiona's relationship,' with a grin as he looked into his own imaginary world where him and Fiona were happily together and Van was utterly alone for the rest of his life. 'Just like it will be,' he thought before walking to his class.
Third bell history with the old man came around and Van walked into the room to see Fiona already there and Thomas in the back staring at her with lustful eyes. He had to say that he felt sorry for Fiona with having idiots like him after her all the time. 'I am not one to talk, I am trying to get her as well,' Van thought sadly as he took his normal seat by Irvine and Moonbay.
Everyone in the room was quiet for a few moments before Dr. D walked into the room with a smile on his face. "Good morning everyone. I know school only started yesterday but I have a bit of a project for all of you," he said and heard the class groan while he smiled on.
'I wonder what this project will be. Dr. D doesn't do anything too difficult on the first day. Then again, he isn't exactly the type of person that people can predict what he is going to do,' Van thought watching on for some sort of explanation. He was actually curious about what the project was unlike the rest of the class.
"You will be working in pairs for the project," Dr. D said and no sooner had he said that than Thomas's hand shot up into the air waving around frantically. "Which I have already chosen," he continued to say and Thomas's hand went down downheartedly. "One man and one woman will be working together to research one historical figure and create a presentation for it which will be presented in class in two weeks," he explained excitedly.
The eyes of almost every male in the class went towards Fiona wondering who would be the lucky person to be her partner. Fiona didn't look all that excited about it though and Van couldn't blame her. She was probably going to be stuck with someone who only wanted to go out with her. He had to admit that he was hopeful that he could be paired up with her.
"The partners are as followed. Irvine and Moonbay," he said and no one was surprised by that, the two always did everything together. "Crystal and Jack, Thomas and Fiona," he said and he heard Thomas cheering. "Oops, my mistake, Thomas and Julie," he said and heard Thomas groan. "Van and Fiona," he said and all eyes went towards Van as he shrunk back a bit.
Van couldn't believe that he would be partners with Fiona. He was thanking his luck then. He took a look over at Fiona and just saw her paying attention without a look of happiness or sadness. He was upset because she wasn't happy about it but was happy that she didn't hate the thought.
"Now please get into your groups and start to discuss what you are going to do," Dr. D said as people got up and walked to their partners. Dr. D noticed that Thomas walked up to him instead. "Is there something the matter Mr. Shubaltz?" he asked when Thomas came to a stop.
"Um… I think that there has been a mistake sir. I am supposed to be with Fiona but you put her with Van instead," he said putting on an innocent face to hide the fury that he was feeling on the inside. "How dare he give MY woman to him,' Thomas thought angrily.
"I am afraid that there is no mistake Thomas. I pulled the names at random and this is just how they turned out. Now please go back to your partner and get to work," Dr. D ordered and watched as Thomas reluctantly went back to his seat. "I should remind you all that this isn't just an in-class project and that you will need to meet up with you partners outside of it to finish it. We won't be working on it every class bell. Just remember that I will know if you worked together or not," he said to the class.
'What! Now he gets to meet up with her outside of class like on a date!' Thomas mentally yelled as his jaw dropped nearly to the floor. He angrily walked towards his partner and watched as Van did the same.
Van slowly walked towards Fiona and stopped when he was next to her desk. "Is it ok if I sit down Fiona?" he asked not really sure why he did it in the first place. He had to so they could work on the project like Dr. D told them to.
Fiona looked up at Van and then down at the history book that she was looking through. "Go ahead. We have to get started on this anyways," she said quietly as if entranced by the book that she was reading.
Van was disheartened to know that she still didn't want to talk to him even though they were partners for the project. "Oh, ok then," he said quietly as he sat down in the seat next to her which earned him glares from the rest of the men in the class. "So… do you have any ideas on what we can do this project about?" he asked her trying to get her to talk.
Fiona shook her head remaining quiet. She realized that she was really looking rude to the people around her. "No, what about you? Do you have any ideas?" she asked finally looking at him with his head on the desk staring out the window.
Van's head shot up when he heard her talking to him. "Um… no, not really. That was kind of why I was asking you," he said scratching the back of his head nervously. "How about we go to the library after school and do research to find out what we are going to do?" Van asked with a slight blush which no one could see easily.
Fiona looked down at the books again after he asked that. She knew he didn't mean it like Thomas was but she still felt uneasy. "Um… sorry but I can't today. I have things that I need to get done," she said quietly.
"Ok. Is there any time that you can come? We really need to get to work on it and I would rather have your opinion on what to do," Van said but was stopped when the bell rang. 'I wasn't even aware that we have been in the class for that long,' he thought a bit annoyed.
Fiona stood up and started to walk towards the door but stopped and turned towards Van. "We will talk about what we are going to do tomorrow," she said in a monotonous voice before she walked away without looking back.
School was completely boring after that. Except for a small argument with Thomas about the project pairings, nothing had happened to Van. It was strange for him because he was used to something always happening to him such as being picked on but he hadn't been picked on at all since he came back.
He couldn't help but wonder in all of his free time what it was that made Fiona keep her distance from everyone that tried to talk to her. He was just trying to be friendly and she still didn't pay much attention.
He had asked Moonbay about it because it got on his nerves too much but she managed to make a quick excuse and ran off without telling him anything. It was the exact same thing for Irvine. Van always hated it when he was left out on some sort of secret.
He could clearly remember what it was that made him jump in as soon as he saw Thomas asking Fiona out. Fiona looked really panicked when Thomas wouldn't let her go and he just couldn't take that look in her eyes. He just had the sudden instinct to help her.
'Don't let it get to you,' he remembered Irvine saying before he ran off earlier that day. 'If she wishes to talk to you then she will. You just have to be patient until that time comes,' Irvine had continued to say to a rather disheartened Van.
Van knew that he was right. He knew that if he pushed for something that he would be no better than Thomas and all the other people in his school. He wanted Fiona, he would admit that. But he was not going to force her like other had tried to do. It would be unfair to her if he did.
He walked down the street with no clear path ahead of him. He didn't feel like going home right then. He wanted to know the point of all he went through. Why the two of them were so insistent on helping him.
'What is the point on training me for one thing like that if they knew that it could possibly fail? What are they really up to? What is their reason?' these question were continuously going through his head all day since Fiona continued to refuse to talk to him.
Van walked by a park and walked into it since it was the quickest way to his home. He happened to catch a glimpse of something and took a closer look and saw Fiona sitting on a swing set with the saddest look on her face that Van had ever seen.
His steps were cautious so as to not startle her in such a state. "Fiona? Are you ok?" he asked and saw her jump in surprise. 'So much for not startling her,' he thought shaking his head. "Sorry to startle you, I was just passing by and noticed how sad you looked. I just wanted to make sure that you were ok," he spoke softly and at a distance.
Fiona quickly wiped away her tears and shook her head. "I'm fine," she lied looking off to the side as she swung back and forth lightly. "What are you doing here?" she asked quietly because she was usually alone in the park.
"This happens to be the fastest way to get to my house from the school, so don't take it as stalking you. You don't look too good. Is there something on your mind. If you want to talk than I am willing to listen. It isn't good to keep things to yourself. It is better to talk about it. That is basically what I have learned," he said softly as he took a seat on another swing a few seats away.
Fiona looked at Van with pain filled eyes yet they also looked kind of thankful. She took a deep breath before she spoke. "Van, what is it that you see when you look at me?" she asked turning her gaze towards the ground.
Van was shocked by the question and thought of what he could say that wouldn't sound too stupid. "Well, from what I can see, you are just like any other young woman. You have your obvious secrets. You are very beautiful, which is probably what most people look at when they see you. I see that you have this great personality if you were to open up to people. Why do you ask such a thing?" Van asked looking at her slightly reddened face.
Fiona couldn't help but blush at what Van had said about her. "I just wanted to know why it is that everyone seems to be after me. Are you like that Van? Are you like the rest of the people at our school?" she asked quietly.
Van knew he just couldn't lie to her. "In ways you can say that I am, and in other ways you can say that I'm not. That is really up to you to decide such a thing. I think they are all assholes though, except Irvine and Moonbay. Those two are just pains," he said chuckling to himself.
"Yeah they are but they are the best of friends for me. They are all I have really have had in my life," she said and noticed the questioning glance that Van was giving her. She had no idea why she was telling him some of this. She barely knew him. "I have pretty much grown up alone. My parents are always away on business and it is rare to see them home for more than a day or two before they leave," she said sadly.
"So that is why you said sort of when I asked if you lived with your parents?" he asked and she just nodded her head. "I guess that I don't know what you are going through because my parents have always been there. Although there are times that I do feel as alone as you do. I always hated being alone," Van said staring up into the bright blue afternoon sky.
Fiona glanced at Van and put on a small smile. "Moonbay and Irvine were right, you are a nice guy. Don't get any ideas though. I am not interested in any sort of relation even if you are a nice person," she said softly and was surprised when he smiled back.
"I won't. From what I have seen and heard, there is so much about you that me nor anyone else know about. If you wanted something like a relationship, then you would have one yourself. It isn't fair for other to try and force you into one," he said with a smile.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "I am sorry about earlier. I guess I took what you were saying a little wrong and panicked a bit," she said but he just waved it off. She was about to say more when the two of them heard some rustling in some bushes.
The two looked at each other and then at the bushes. They stood up and walked towards it pushing some branches apart. The next thing they knew, Irvine and Moonbay fell out of the bushes looking up at the two of them with guilty looks on their faces.
"Irvine, Moonbay. What are the two of you doing spying from the bushes?" Fiona and Van pretty much growled out at the same time. They looked down at the two of them as they shrunk back a bit.
"He, he," Moonbay chuckled nervously. We saw the two of you and were waiting for you to finish since we didn't want to interrupt?" she said nervously under the intense glares of the two teens. "Ok! We were interested in what you were talking about!" she said crossing her arms in front of her.
Van sighed shaking his head as he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I swear, the two of you are hopeless," he said leaning against a pole of the swing set. "Not to mention you two think too much alike for my tastes," he muttered.
"You two sure seemed to be getting into the discussion," Moonbay said looking between the two of them. "So… are you friends yet?" she asked hoping that the talk might of eased things enough between them and allowed Fiona to let him in. even if they were, Moonbay knew Van was right. There was still a lot that he didn't know about Fiona. That would take more between them for her to spill it.
Fiona looked towards Van for a second as if thinking about it. "Maybe," she said softly before she lifted up her backpack. "I had better go. I have a lot of homework to do," she said giving them a smile before she walked away.