A/N: Thank you for the reviews. They're a great inspiration! I can't believe there's already ten chapters. I promise that the other boys will have alot more time in the story as soon as I find my head. Lol.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ronin Warriors. I just own my simple, little OCs.
A Fine Line Between Love and Hate
KiahWMConnie
Chapter Ten: The Disk
'Today's the day,' Rhonda thought to herself, as if it was a matter of national security or something. To her it was. If this worked, the Dsweeb would be crushed. She knew she sounded evil, but at this point, she didn't care! She took a deep breath as she entered the school doors.
She entered her history class, casual as ever.
"Class, bring the assignment to my desk one by one," Mrs. Otori instructed.
Rhonda got up with ease. No one knew that, under that cold and calm exterior, was a storm; a storm that was brewing up a plan. She calmly handed her small floppy computer disk to the teacher, just like everyone else. God, she hoped this plan worked.
Shortly after Rhonda had arrived at Han'a High, the history class had recieved an assignment for a big project. The instructions were very detailed. Each student had to do a report on a specific time or event in Japanese history. They were to type their reports on the computer at home and bring the reports to the school on a floppy disk. The assignments would then be graded at the school.
Class went by pretty fast. Now was the time for Rhonda to make her move. She carefully slinked through the hallways, trying to remain unnoticed and unsuspicious. If she remembered her investigations right, The Dweeb had the language class for second period, the period everyone was headed for right now. The language classroom was quite a ways off from his locker, and he wouldn't be there until after second period. Everything was going according to plan.
The hallways were so crowded that no one noticed Rhonda break into Rowen's locker. She dug around for several minutes. Her face was scrunched as if she were digging in horse manure. She finally found what she was looking for, reset the locker as if nothing had happened, and bouncily ran off to her own second period class.
Rowen entered his third period class, history. He personally liked this class. He always had an interest in history. Little did he know, that in just a few moments, he would hate the history class.
Mrs. Otori went on like she usually did, "Class, bring the assignment to my desk..."
Rowen opened his cluttered history notebook. He went through several papers and whatnot until he came to a pouch that held the disk containing his assignment...or so he thought. Nonetheless, he took a floppy disk to the desk, gave it to the teacher, and sat back down.
For no particular reason, Rowen thought about Rhonda. She was certaintly a mystery, alright. She had mentioned several times about how all men were dirt, or something like that. Just why did she hate men so much? Probably angsted way too much about an ex-boyfriend, was Rowen's guess. He thought back to when they went to the grocery store. That was a fun time...not. Somewhere between the food fight, getting thrown out, and the ice-cold treatment, Rowen decided that he just didn't care to see, hear, or even know her. It seemed that whenever they wound up in the same place, there was sure to be some major fight. Most of the time it was her who started it. Stupid Americans...
The bell rang and everyone started to get up.
"Mr. Hashiba, please come here for a minute," Mrs. Otori called to Rowen before he walked out.
He did what he was told.
"Do you think it's funny to insult me, Mr. Hashiba?" came her icy voice.
Rowen blinked, "W-what? What are you talking about, Mrs. Otori?"
Mrs. Otori wrinkled her nose and pointed to the computer screen, "Is this not your 'project'?"
Rowen leaned forward and saw that the computer screen was blank. He gave her a look of sheer confusion. She pressed a button on the hard drive and out popped a floppy disk. She then placed it in his hand.
"This is the disk you gave me...and there's nothing on it," she informed him.
His pupils narrowed slightly, "M-mrs. Otori, there must be some mistake. Are you sure you opened it correctly?"
"Mr. Hashiba, I have pressed every function key on this keyboard, but i assure you, there is nothing on this disk."
Rowen stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. He didn't get it. Why did it show up blank? There had to be some mistake!
She took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, Mr. Hashiba, but unless you give me the real disk, I'll be forced to give you a failing grade."
Rowen scurriedly looked through his backpack and folders. He was sure he gave her the right disk, unless, he lost it. But how could he? He'd admit, he could be careless sometimes, but not this bad!
After what seemed like forever, he dropped his bag to the floor. He couldn't find it. It was gone. That damned disk was gone.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Hashiba," she said after a moment.
Rowen picked up his things, and left without a word or any emotion on his face.
"So, what do you think happened?" Sage asked as Rowen lied on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
"I don't know," he replied, "I was sure it was the right disk. I went back and checked in my locker and I went back home and gutted my room too! It wasn't anywere."
"Jeez," Kento added, "I don't know how something like that could happen."
"That's what I thought. I know I lose stuff sometimes, but not anything like this."
The five boys were in Sage's room laying across miscellaneous pieces of furniture. Usually they'd be talking and laughing up a storm, but today was different.
"Well," Ryo spoke up, "I know it was a major grade, but with the high marks Ro gets, it shouldn't be too hard to pass." He looked at Rowen, "You'll just need to work hard from now on."
They nodded. Ryo's optomistic leadership could be a real pick-me-up sometimes.
"Cye, you got anything to add?" Kento directed at his friend.
"Hm?" Cye snapped out of deep thought, "Oh...no. I was just thinking."
'Maybe,' Cye thought, 'Just maybe...'
Rhonda sat on her bed, staring at the prized possesion in her hand. It was nothing more than a square, black piece of plastic, containing small electronic devices that brought up words on a desktop. Who knew that it could be used as a weapon of mass highschool destruction?
She did it. She really did it. It was done and in the past. The Dweeb didn't know what hit him until it was too late. Rhonda was able to switch the disk without any trouble at all. Yet somehow, it was slightly less fulfilling than she thought it would be.
'Oh, come on,' she thought, 'Don't tell me my conscience is acting up now.'
She dismissed that thought. Probably what unsettled her the most was what was inside the disk. She secretly pulled it up on her computer and read over it. No matter how many times she tried to deny it, it was good. It could've passed as college level.
'Pull yourself together, Rhon,' she told herself, 'It's not Christian-like to be this way. Still...' she almost giggled, 'My redneck nature calls for a bit of a jealous bone. Wait...did I just admit I was jealous of that punk? No way! He may be book-smart as hell, but I'm ten times better than anyone like him! Especially if they're a guy. If anything, he should be jealous of me.'
Satisfied with that thought, she got up off of her bed and walked to her ever-so-neatly-kept closet. She opened the door, took out a shoebox, put the disk in and placed the box in the very bottom of the back corner of the closet. Rhonda could be a little over-paranoid sometimes, but better safe than sorry. She figured, keep the disk hidden for a few weeks, then throw it in the trash can in the alley later, when no one could see her.
It was the perfect crime. The Dorkus was defeated. No one knew what she did. It was all too perfect. Rhonda went to bed last night, hateful as ever, yet somehow slept better with a sadistic smile plastered on her face.
Rowen stared outside his window into the moonlight. Today had been quite disturbing. He still couldn't get over the fact that he had lost that disk! And where did that blank disk come from? He never remembered having a blank floppy in his backpack.
As he stared out the window, he remembered how things used to be. He wished he could be in his armor again, floating around space in his little bubble where no one could bother him. Highschool drama was starting to take its toll.
A/N: This chapter's really short. Sorry TT I've been having some trouble with my compy and I wanted to get at least this in before it crashes or something. I hope it'll be fixed soon.
