Hey hey! Here is chapter 9, finally! I couldn't update last weekend because I was too busy between work and the school dance XD. Anyway, reviews!
BishounenzAngel—Yes, Seto is a bastard sometimes. That's why we love him, ne? ;)
panmotto—Indeed, there was a double-take… mwahaha. And there's more to come with Jono and Kumiko, don't worry. Oh, how I love drama –grins-
kikoken—You updated! But it wasn't long enough. I'm still glaring at you. –glares- but I hope you enjoy this chapter! –makes puppy eyes for a second before glaring again-
ShibiChicken—Don't pester me, mister –pokes- I barely come on anymore because I work, ok? …I'll probably be on yahoo tomorrow night, so if you're that desperate… -shakes head- And Seto isn't one to look at girls. After all, he's a workaholic, he has no time for romance –winks-
SukiLovesAnime—I shall! You keep reading!
AllisonWalker—Fortunately, she did not have a pimple on her nose ;) Seto was just surprised to see that she listened to him and left her hair down.
Mariku's-heart64—A new reader! –does cartwheels- I'm glad you're enjoying it, too! Have fun with the rest! And three thumbs! In your face, movie critics!
Rakuen No Tobira—blushes furiously- I'm not so sure this is that good, but thank you very much! I appreciate that –grins- I hope you get caught up and continue to read as I post! Arigato!
Samurai Angel—Well, Shinobu said he did, so I guess he did –smiles- Wait till these next few chapters… whoo hee hee hah…
So! This chapter begins the scene that I've been planning to do from the very beginning; I'm super excited. Warning: There's a REALLY nasty cliffhanger. Ha. Feel my wrath of absent writing. This is, however, one of the longest chapters so far. Enjoy while it lasts ;).
Chapter 9-
Monday came, and I got up on time, spent a while brushing my teeth and my hair, and calmly started on my walk to school, thankful that it wasn't windy at all. I had a good feeling about that day; I don't know what it was. Classes went by quickly, and before I knew it, it was lunchtime.
Shinobu came and found me in my usual spot. "Hey, Kumi-chan, my buds want you to come over and sit with us," he said, grinning widely.
"Sure they do," I mocked back.
"They do, actually." He put a hand on my shoulder and pointed at his group, and they waved at me. "Come on; I've been meaning to try and get you some new friends anyway. If you don't like socializing with them, then I promise to never introduce you to anyone again. Fair?"
I sighed, smiling and putting my book away. "Yeah, sure." I stood up and we walked over to them; they were really friendly, actually. I was a bit uncomfortable when they started asking me about myself, but after the few former introductions they calmed down and started talking about random things. It was nice, just being able to sit there in their company; there were definitely a few that were really good-looking and funny, but none of them could have compared to Seto, not in this lifetime.
I was just starting to really enjoy myself, when I saw the mean girls pass by the table. They usually did that, flaunting whoever had their skirt hiked up the highest, trying to get the guys to notice at least one of them. It really annoyed me, but they didn't do it this time. They were all looking at me.
"Hey, Ikari!" the leader cooed at me, roughly grabbing my arm and hoisting me up. "Could we borrow you for an eensy little conversation?"
"Uh—I-I—"
"Hey, you girls better leave her alone." Shinobu got a hold on my other arm, his grasp firm, but gentle, unlike the girl's. I could feel her French-trimmed nails digging through my uniform.
"Don't worry, Shinobu-kun, we just need to ask her something, honest." Considering how in love she was with Shinobu, I couldn't understand how she was able to talk to him without stuttering.
"It's ok, Shinobu..." I murmured. He gave me a stern look before letting go of me, and I was escorted towards my usual place, where not many people were. Suddenly the girl pulled me behind the building and shoved me against the wall.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled at me.
"I-I don't—I don't know what you're talking about," I said, rubbing my back.
She let out a sarcastic laugh, the rest of the girls imitated her. "You really think you're better than us, don't you, with your pity boyfriend and his friends… you're such a slut."
"Oh, so I don't have to sleep with half the guys in the school to qualify for your position?" It fell out of my mouth before I could stop it, and I knew it was a mistake before I could even relish in the sight of her reaction.
"I don't try to make myself look good by clinging desperately onto boys; you obviously can't see that they think you're the ugliest—" She prodded me in the chest with each insult. "—flattest—most annoying girl in Domino High!"
"So why are you jealous of me?" Uh oh. Another slip. I was digging myself into a deeper hole.
"I am not in the slightest! It's just your stupid, stuck-up attitude that I can't stand! One day, I'll make Shinobu-kun realize what an idiot he's been, that while he was busy pitying you, he had someone perfect for him in every way standing right under his nose! Your helplessness is the only reason his friends even talk to you; they know you're easy to take advantage of."
"You've said all this about Shinobu to me a million times before; why do you need to say it again?" I asked.
"Because you've certainly gotten more popular with the guys recently," she sneered. "I just want to keep them from losing their focus on someone who actually matters, and you're not doing anything to help." She pointed a finger at me, leaning towards me. "I swear if you do anything to get in my way, you'll be sorry," she hissed. She reached behind her and snatched something out of her friend's hand. I shrieked as she dumped the hot cup of ramen all over the front of my uniform, the soup burning my skin as it trickled down my leg. The noodles fell at my feet with a sickening "splat", and the girls broke into a fit of giggles and stalked off.
The whole front of my uniform was drenched, and next period I had class with Seto! Oh, crap, what am I gonna do? What the hell am I gonna do!
"Kumi-chan!" came Shinobu's voice. I suspected he had heard my cry of terror. I really didn't want him to make a big fuss, so I decided to dash inside the school.
Once I was safely in the bathroom, I took my arms off my front and looked at myself in the mirror. I was flushed, all right; the tops of my legs were pink because of the hot soup. God, I look like I just crawled out of a sewer. How the hell am I supposed to fix this?
I started by wringing out what hadn't dripped off me already, then grabbing some damp paper towels and fervently scrubbing the fabric, hoping that it would somehow lessen the smell. Oh god, this isn't helping at all. Why did she do that? She could have punched me or something; at least then it wouldn't look like I wet myself! Oh, crap, there's another thing! I can't waste too much time doing this; I need to use the hand dryer!
I threw the towels away and stepped in front of the machine, pounding a fist on the button to make it start up; I stood on my tiptoes, lifting my skirt a little towards the stream of warm air. Thankfully I got mostly dry before the bell rang, and I hurriedly gathered up my bag and went to class, massaging my hands together to keep them from cramping up from holding my uniform for so long. I took in a deep breath, smoothing out my skirt a little and running my hands through my hair a few times; I was grateful that the ramen had missed my head.
I walked in and started towards my seat, when I felt a strong grip upon my arm, holding me back. "You don't need to sit there anymore; there's no point in not sitting down next to me right when class starts." Seto tugged me into the seat next to his and resumed whatever he had been doing on his laptop.
He… he just… he just touched me! I felt as though his slender hand was still imprinted on my skin, and I blushed furiously, turning to get something out of my bag to disguise it somewhat. Oh God, ok, now nothing to get into a fuss over, he was just saving us some valuable work time, that was all. But he could have done that without grabbing me—stop hoping! Sheesh!
Once class had settled down, the teacher announced a pop quiz, to the disappointment of everyone, including me. Her "pop quizzes" were more like mini tests that took the whole period for most people. Seto and I usually finished first about twenty minutes in, but that left us with nothing to do. This one was over derivatives and logarithms, things I happen to be really good at, so I finished relatively early—not before Seto, of course.
Towards the end of the period, everyone had finished, and the teacher started into complicated word problems that I was struggling to understand as she whipped through them. "A cylinder has a radius of 4 centimeters and a height of 12 centimeters. It is being filled," the teacher explained, her chalk scraping across the board like a machine; this was probably the third or fourth time she had taught this today. "…at a constant rate of 2pi centimeters cubed per second. When the height of the water is 6 centimeters, at what rate is the level of the water changing?" She turned to the class with a big smile, obviously expecting someone to shout out the answer.
No one spoke, as they were still writing down the original problem, some were chewing their pencils with indecision. I was one of them. I hate word problems.
"One eighth of a centimeter per second."
"Very good, Kaiba-kun! I can tell you were paying attention!" she praised. "Let's try anoth—"
The bell cut her off sharply, and everyone picked their bags up hastily to get out of there before she could assign some homework. "Do worksheet 6.1 for tonight!" she nearly shouted.
I groaned and started packing my things up—I wasn't in any particular rush. Seto got his things packed away and watched me until I was done. "You looked really confused through that whole lecture," he pointed out blandly.
"Uh, yeah, I was just sorta getting into it a little slow—"
"Don't lie; you had no idea what was going on." Funny how easily he can crush one's feeble attempts at an excuse. I decided not to respond, flipping the top of my bag closed and pulling it over my head. "You do know the point of study groups, don't you?" he asked.
I paused, wondering whether it would be wise to answer. I looked up at him. "To make sure people stop failing this class, which is why it's kinda pointless for us," I replied, nearly wincing at the stupid joke I had tried to make.
"Not so pointless for word problems, apparently. I suggest we have a study session outside school to make you realize how simple this stuff really is. What are you doing today after school?"
"N-now wait just a—"
"Right, nothing, as I suspected. Your house is more than likely closer than mine, so we'll have it there"
"Hang on a minute!" I said, exasperated and quite flustered. "Don't I get any say in this?"
"Of course not. I'm doing this for your own good. Unless you'd prefer to refuse my help, that is." He gave me one of his piercing stares; I was sure that he knew I was no match for it. I looked at my feet.
"I-it's not that," I murmured, trying to calm my pounding heart.
"Are you afraid to be alone with me?" he prodded.
I met his eyes again. "How did you know my parents were out of—" I cut myself off. Crap.
"Well, I know now. For God's sake, it's just a study session." Somehow he didn't seem like he was too focused on the second part of his statement. I had just told him that my parents weren't going to be there.
What am I thinking? Like anything could happen! Like he'd even want to do anything! Why am I getting so freaked out? Calm down, calm—I can't! Seto's coming to my house, MY house! Oh God, what do I do?
"We'd better get going if we want it to be light out when we start," he said, somewhat mocking my silent panic. I obligingly followed him out, fidgeting with the strap of my bag nervously as I felt the butterflies in my stomach multiply like horny rabbits.
On the way home, we were really quiet. I didn't particularly want to talk out of fear of sounding like an idiot. About a minute from my house, he spoke.
"You wore your hair down again," he commented, obviously knowing why,
"I… couldn't find a hairtie," I said, cursing at the fact that he already knew I was lying.
"Right." He slightly sniffed at the air. "You know, people along your street must really like cooking or something; I've smelled something all the way here."
"U-uh, yeah, they do," I said quickly, unconsciouslytugging atmy sleeves in my palms. The slight movement caught his eye, and he suddenly gripped my wrist and pulled it up to his level, taking another whiff of the air.
"It's you," he said, trailing his eyes down my arm and to my face, not releasing his grip.
"That's what I meant," I rushed out, lightly tugging my arm back so that I didn't have to stand on tiptoe as I walked. "That is… well, I like to cook a lot—"
"In your uniform?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow.
I really didn't want to tell him the real reason why I smelled like a noodle bowl, but fate gave me a break right then. "Umm… I—oh! Here we are." We just reached my house, and I took the opportunity to try to distract him from my lack of a plausible explanation. I fumbled around in my bag while he gazed at my house in silence, and I realized with a start that I didn't have my key.
"Crap… hang on, there's a back way in," I said, stalking past him and around the back of the house. He followed me. "You can just wait by the front, you know, I don't need any help."
"It would be faster if you just unlocked the back door to let me in."
He was actually getting on my nerves a little bit right then, so I huffed slightly and dropped my bag on the back porch. There was a loose window next to the back door, and I rattled it just a little bit to make it slide open; from there I could reach in and unlock the door from the inside. I got it open, picked up my bag, and walked inside, shutting the door after Seto.
We were in the kitchen, and I was thankful that I tried to keep things tidy while my parents were gone, as I would have been severely embarrassed if he were to see what a slob I am when they are home. "I can probably whip up something really quick, if you're hungry," I offered, continuing straight through to the living room and dropping my bag beside the coffee table.
"No thanks," he said, taking off his shoes beside the door and following me. I couldn't see why he did; I had walked in my house plenty of times with muddy shoes on, but I didn't really care. I was starting to get nervous again now that we were alone in my house.
"I'm… I'm gonna go get changed really fast, alright?" I said, nodding upstairs.
He made a slight noise of affirmation and set down his briefcase; the bookcase stuffed full of my manga had caught his eye. Peering through narrowed eyes at them, he turned and looked at me as I was going up the stairs. "You like tragic romance stories?"
I laughed in a voice that was slightly higher in pitch than normal. "Y-yeah… it's a small hobby; I don't really spend time reading that much or…" I cleared my throat and went the rest of the way up to my room; I could hear him chuckling at me.
I shut the door a little loudly and leaned against it, closing my eyes and tilting my head to look at the ceiling.
Oh my God, Seto Kaiba is in my house. My house. I would have never even dreamed that something like this could happen, no way. I wonder what he thinks of it… does he think my books are frivolous? What if he does get hungry, what should I make? Will he like it? Does my hair still look ok? Alright, calm down… first focus on getting out of these smelly clothes…
I unbuttoned my jacket and pulled my shirt over my head, hurriedly smoothing my hair down again and readjusting my glasses. I stood there in the middle of my room for a little while longer, holding my shirt and looking down at it.
What if the mean girls find out that he came here? They're freaking out enough as it is… well, it's not like any of them like Seto or anything… at least I think they don't… I felt a small surge of possessiveness come over me. If they do, they do a terrible job at showing it. Besides that, if they knew he was over here, rumors would start up and spread like wildfire… oh God.
Seto Kaiba is in my house.
I barely heard the door click open behind me, but when I whirled around and met eyes of cold ice staring me down, I still remember the first thing that flashed through my mind:
Oh God, I'm only a B-cup.