Wow… so no death threats? That's good too hear. Heh… I'm happy to see that the last chapter elicited the exact response I was going for. So, be prepared to be surprised!
"I think it may be best, if we stop spending time together…"
Athrun had still not lifted his face towards her, as if he was too scared to. Cagalli sat in silence, her hand still on the door handle. It was it that moment had been frozen, and neither person said anything. Cagalli's grip on the handle tightened slightly.
"This... is your decision?" She bitterly forced the words out of her mouth, hating the way they tasted as she held them back, and hating the way they sounded in her ears even more. Athrun looked serious, eyes dark and eyebrows furrowed. He gave a curt nod.
"You understand though, right? Why? I mean... you heard." He tried to explain, feebly. Cagalli felt something inside of her break.
"Yeah. So that's it huh?... Am I allowed to talk to you anymore?" She questioned sarcastically.
"Of course. It's just that... not outside of classes. I think that should do it."
Another awkward pause. Both felt like they should say something, but neither could think of anything to say. Athrun opened his mouth dryly, as if he had something to add. Cagalli eagerly anticipated it, as if hoping he'd say something like "Joking!", or pull something stupid like that. However, wordlessly, he shut it again and she frowned.
"Fine." Cagalli concluded bitterly. "Fine. Good luck with your grades then." She felt the anger in her well up slowly. She had never thought he was this kind of person. She knew he cared about his grades, but this much? She had never thought... not even for a moment had she doubted him. "I guess I didn't know him as well as I thought..."
Suddenly she realization about what she was doing hit her. She caught herself in a jolt and sighed, as if tired and embarrassed.
"Geez, what am I saying? I understand Athrun, I really do." She let out a strange laugh briefly. "I'm acting like we're a couple breaking up or something, but hell not only are we not together, but we've only been friends for less than 2 months. I'm such a nut."
She turned to him, finally. "Good luck, all right? I'll be seeing you around... and... don't do anything stupid. I'm not going to be able to look out for you or anything anymore, so even though I know now, personally, how seriously you take grades, well…don't take them too seriously. Remember to have some fun." She opened the door.
Suddenly, Athrun's hand, which was on her shoulder pulled her back into the car. Cagalli's neck jerked back to face him, only to find him staring curiously at her.
"Cagalli..You say you understand, but I don't think you do."
Cagalli glared angrily at him. "What the hell are you talking about! I heard you and the head speaking. I heard it all! I know that your grades are slipping dammit!"
"That's not it!" Athrun protested.
"Don't make excuses! Your grades are important! I understand that!" Cagalli insisted.
"DON'T ACT LIKE YOU UNDERSTAND WHEN YOU DON'T AT ALL!" Athrun yelled furiously, venting his frustration.
"THEN WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THIS FOR!" Cagalli exploded. "I know I'm taking this too seriously, for all it's worth. But I don't care! If it was anyone else I wouldn't give it a second thought. I'd just say fine and walk away! But you're different dammit! And if for some damn screwed up reason you want to let yourself get pushed around like pet gerbil and really don't mind, and actually like it, then FINE! But you better have a damn good reason for wanting it!"
Athrun's mouth dropped slightly in surprise. Recovering quickly from the initial shock, he launched into his defense. "This isn't about my grades! I don't care if they're dropping! I could pull them up anytime! No I'm not being cocky!..." He said, as he observed the doubtful look she had shot him.
"I'm being dead serious! Don't you get it Cagalli? You heard what the department said! Everyone thinks of you as a distraction! And I don't want that! I don't want people to look at you through me! I don't want them to judge you based on your effects on me! You're more then that and they don't see it!"
"You think I CARE ABOUT WHAT THEY THINK OF ME!" Cagalli screamed.
"YOU THINK I CARE ABOUT MY GRADES!" Athrun shot back.
"THIS ISN'T ABOUT WHAT THEY THINK!"
"THIS ISN'T ABOUT WHAT THEY THINK OF ME EITHER!"
"THEN WHY THE HELL ARE WE STILL YELLING?" Cagalli yelled so loudly, she could swear that some permanent lung damage was being done. But for a moment, there was nothing but silence. She opened her eyes and stared at Athrun... and suddenly.
He grinned….and burst out laughing.
Cagalli blinked in shock, but the sound of his voice laughing and the light tone that it captured was contagious. Soon she found herself laughing so hard that she was holding her stomach in pain.
After the laughter had subsided, both of them leaned back into their chair. Athrun turned his head to look at her.
"So what the hell IS this about?" He asked, in an amused tone, his voice weak from the combination of screaming and laughing.
Cagalli shrugged. "It's about…misunderstanding."
"Let's talk about this. I mean... really talk." Athrun suggested. "Before we…. Or rather. I, do something really stupid and cut our friendship on an assumption."
Cagalli nodded. "Sounds good. What do you have for me?"
"Well, I dunno. Don't I annoy you sometimes? I'm too serious, I over-complicate things and I'm always unwilling to do half the insane things you want to. I mean, I'm sorry but solo sky-diving isn't the first that comes to mind, when think of a REGULAR, LEISURELY weekend activity." Athrun joked lightly.
Cagalli blushed slightly. "I thought it would be fun…" she mumbled. "Whatever. Okay, I can understand that you DON'T like taking risks. You like to think things out. I know that. But you don't annoy me. If you weren't so serious, well Kira would have my head for going out of my mind and trying half the stuff I want to try. Now my question: Don't I annoy YOU? I'm so crazy and I always drag you into doing the most obscene and obscure things that I amaze myself sometimes." Cagalli shook her head, in disbelief. Athrun grinned.
"Naw. I'm happy to be your anchor."
"And I'm happy to be the boat that pulls the reluctant stubborn anchor along."
Athrun laughed and sighed.
"Okay, now the real stuff. I thought, that we should stop being friends and that you should disassociate yourself from me, because I realized that people weren't getting to know you. They all just think that you're a bad influence, because you're just an average student." He explained.
"Okay... and I thought you wanted to stop hanging out with me because I was making your grades drop." Cagalli added.
"So then..."
"We're BOTH idiots." Cagalli concluded with a nod. Athrun chuckled.
"Guess so... So now that we're BOTH wrong… What are we going to do?"
"Well assuming that neither of us actually WANT to stop hanging out together..." Cagalli started, giving Athrun a look. Athrun blinked and shook his head furiously. "Okay... how can we do this? No screaming, like what I like to do. NO OVER-THINKING THINGS, like you want to do… or dare I say, have done all night?"
Athrun nodded sheepishly. "Yeah… Well what do you want to do? Compromise? Scream while thinking?"
Cagalli shrugged. "Your move man. You got us into this."
"Fine." Athrun accepted her frustration. "For once, I'll simply things. Right now, face it. I do need you to drag me out of my dorm and expose me to the sun. At the same time, even though your grades are average, you could be doing much better." Athrun saw Cagalli raise an eyebrow doubtfully. "Really." He sat up. "See where I'm going with this?..." He hinted mildly.
"Fine... from now on, you're my personal tutor and I'm your social coach." Cagalli put plainly. Athrun frowned.
"Social coach? What's that supposed to mean? I know how to act in society!"
"Yeah, if you had a lunch meeting with the Queen of English I'm sure you'd be fine." Cagalli rolled her eyes. "I'm talking about casual society! Pop culture! Taking it easy, relaxing, stuff like that."
Athrun still seem unsatisfied. "What's wrong with being refined and polite?"
"Nothing! Geez, man, don't take it so seriously. I just mean, I'll help you act more...normal. On a regular basis." Cagalli struggled for words. Athrun frowned.
"I'll let you pull me around, but I won't call you my 'social coach'..."
"FINE!" Cagalli threw her hands up in frustration.
"Okay... then that's settled." What do you need the most help with?"
"Blah, stuff. I dunno. Physics would be nice... but oh wait! My English literature professor said that my compositions lack structure. And… how are you at French verb conjugation?"
"Okay..." Athrun nodded. "Physics I can do. I guess I can do English too... but really Lacus would be better suited for that. And I don't take French… so we definitely need Lacus for those. " he sighed.
"How many people are we getting involved in this?" Cagalli raised an eyebrow.
"I dunno. Oh wait, Kira's better at computer programming. Are you taking that?" Athrun shrugged and added.
"No... but if Lacus is joining us, Kira will want to tag along too. Besides I'd hate to leave him out." Cagalli lifted her head in consideration.
"True true. All four of us?"
"Next Sunday."
"At 11am."
"For lunch at that cafe down the street."
"Then your house."
"For studying."
"Deal."
"Deal."
Athrun and Cagalli shook hands firmly, both wearing sloppy grins.
"First lesson! Dating and dealing with those fangirls of yours!" Cagalli proclaimed proudly. "I'll be a great social coach! Just you wait!" Athrun blinked.
"I have fans?"
Cagalli was dumbstruck. "You didn't know?" upon seeing Athrun shake his head shyly, she continued. "You never noticed that group of girls that follow you around. You NEVER see the stalkers!"
At this point she was frantically waving her hand around, making hand motions and gestures as if acting out the fangirls with her hands. Athrun couldn't help but crack a smile, but still shook his head. Cagalli suddenly slumped forward and her head hit the dashboard. Started, Athrun jumped forward.
"Are you okay!"
Unexpectedly, Cagalli's hand came soared out of nowhere and flew past his face. "You idiot! You're totally oblivious!" She glared long and hard at him.
Athrun blink and finally shrugged. Exasperated, Cagalli finally stepped out of the car. Then halting her step and turning around, she paused.
"We should probably tell Kira and Lacus about this huh? I mean… making plans that involve them and all."
Athrun laughed. "I'm on it. Have a good night."
Cagalli nodded and walked towards her apartment building. Athrun waited outside in the car, until he saw the light of her apartment turn on. Satisfied, he smiled and drove off.
"So that's the way it's going to be..."
Bwahahaha… sorry if I scared anyone there. Had to go for the cliffhanger though. Just HAD to.
So yes! You Athrun and Cagalli nuts…err... fans can rest easy now! snort As if I'd ever break then up…
From what I'm seeing, I think that the last chapter made people assume that Athrun was too worried about his grades? Similar to what Cagalli thought? Yeah, I figured, in this situation, he would certainly be concerned about that, but would probably be absolutely frantic about how his actions may affect others. So, I went for the 'wanting to keep Cagalli an individual' thing.
So, some of you may be wondering if this weird break up of a massive chapter I did will affect the next update. Well, because of my lame chopping up, the next chapter will be coming a week from the date that I posted chapter four. (Err… that's a Tuesday for me and I live in North America). In other words, although I haven't started writing it, it's coming in about five or so days.
Until then, reviews, please!