Enpitsu: You know the drill. Actually, there's a warning about the language in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing at all.
Claim: Hileimi and Reidan are my own. Jasmine and Shayna are iSLANDGiRL05's.

Chapter Four
Stares

The next morning, Hileimi sat in trigonometry, trying to work her problem out. It was her only non-advanced placement class and she was still trying her best to get a good grade. "The sine of angle A is . . ." Reidan was in his little carrier on the single desk next to her own, innocently minding his business which wasn't a hard feat to accomplish.

The young woman couldn't wait until fifth period; AP Economy. It was hard but she abhorred the government so there was no way she was taking gov. Her friend, Jasmine, didn't really have any preference but she took the class as a chance of being with Hileimi. Their other friend rather liked the government though, so she settled with that class. Hileimi had only one class with Jasmine and free period with her other friend, Shayna.

Yesterday, Jasmine had begun to tell Hileimi about a certain young man she had met in the family restroom of the local mall. The latter was curious to know who he was but Jasmine teased her, refusing to tell the name but describing him as best as she could. Strangely enough, Hileimi thought she mentally recognized the guy she pictured but she didn't bother to guess. Strategy games were something that either pissed her off or bored her.

Hileimi realized she could just ask Jasmine at lunch when someone's perfume wafted to her nose. She turned her wine-colored eyes up at Michelle who settled herself at the single seat in front of her, legs crossed. Mr. Kore, their teacher, was in the corner working on another exercise he could give the class so the students were pretty free to work or not. The midnight-haired girl raised an eyebrow at the red-head.

"Can I help you?"

Michelle soon dramatically sighed, attracting the looks from still-hormone-induced boys. Our female protagonist continued to stare at her, not phased by the sound. Michelle turned her hazel eyes to lock with Hileimi's own and smiled.

"So, my dear, I heard you were paired with little Rei," she started smoothly, examining her nails. Hileimi rolled her eyes, trying to keep her temper in check, and tried to get back to her work (which was a little odd for her).

"Uh-huh. He's great," Hileimi answered, trying to sound disinterested. A thought suddenly popped into her mind. Michelle was always trying to talk to Rei and his friend—she had seen it the other day—but they never responded. If she found out that the two of them had went out alone—save Reidan—that would be sure to get on the red-head's nerves.

"Not only is he great . . ." Hileimi trailed off, putting her pencil down and raising her head. "He's perfect. Rei was a real gentleman when we went out the other day." A challenging twinkle was in her eye and Michelle matched it perfectly.

"Is that so?"

"Yup," Hileimi answered easily. "We went out to Panera after school. It's fascinating how polite he is when eating . . . Of course, you wouldn't know since he and his friend turned you down the other day." She knew the comment about him eating politely was stupid but Michelle could be too, when her pride against another girl was at stake.

"As if Rei had a choice," she replied haughtily, drawing up to her full height while still seated. "I'm sure if he did, he wouldn't even go near you."

"Oh, and like it'd be any different with you?" Hileimi countered, crossing her arms. By now, attention was slowly starting to gravitate towards the two young women. The few people who had heard about the argument Rei had taken part in yesterday started whispering some more but Miss Yogoya ignored them.

"Actually, yes it would have," Michelle said, pleasant voice starting to rise. She rolled her eyes at the brunette. "In case you've forgotten, I've known Rei since middle school. That's got to be more of a comfort."

Hileimi sighed herself, really trying to keep this conversation low-key. She knew that yesterday's argument with Rei had unearthed some gossip so she didn't want her reputation to be a person who started fights. She personally didn't care what the others thought but she was going to be tagged with Rei for a while, and she had the feeling the kind of annoyed him already as it is.

She tried not to show that she was bothered but she really just wanted to be (only) friends. Rei was always so secluded with that shark-tattoo guy—and sometimes she saw him with that Tyson fellow and some blonde—but she had never seen him really smile. There was some kind of emptiness in his golden eyes that she knew could be filled if only he did that one simple action.

"I think you've forgotten that I knew Rei as well," Hileimi said evenly, disregarding her inner thoughts. Under the desk, her foot was wiggling in annoyance but she played it of very well. She was about to add the part about the portrait but smartly decided to keep her mouth shut when Michelle started to talk again.

"You've been away for a while, Baby," the red-head drawled, smirking. "Things have changed between many people." The other young woman's eye brows furrowed and the wiggling of her foot ceased.

"Don't call me that, you ho," she warned, trying not to grit her teeth. "You know only my friends call me that, and you're far from bein' one of those, Michelle. I'm surprised you remembered all this time." Her tone was clipped and low.

"While we're on the subject of babies, let me see yours," Michelle chirped, getting out of her desk and practically skipping to the baby carrier. "Hm. What's his name?"

"Reidan." Hileimi's answer was short and sweet, unlike the way she was felt about fights. At the moment one was sounding very enticing . . .

"Apparently he didn't get his looks from his father," the red-head mocked, looking over at the robot. At this, Hileimi stood up, face very annoyed at the antics.

"Are you stupid or somethin'?" she demanded, irritated. "As great as the Japanese are at makin' 'em, we can't afford the robots that actually look like individual people. They all look the same, babe." Hileimi's tone was now more calm but it was still low like earlier. She was now regarding the other young woman as if she were a younger child. More people started to stare while Mr. Kore had stepped out to make copies.

"What did you just say to me?" Michelle hissed, narrowing her hazel eyes. The other girl met her gaze, unflinching.

"I didn't say anythin'. I asked you if you were stupid but even I know that's not true," Hileimi patronizingly muttered. She watched as Michelle put a hand on her own hip and one on Reidan's carriage.

"You're going to regret that, bitch," she growled, grabbing the handle of the carriage. Wine-colored eyes quickly shifted to that, and back to hazel ones.

"What're you gonna do, ho, throw it at me?" she challenged. Michelle tried to control her breathing, knowing that Kore could come back any second.

"I just might do that, so watch yourself."

"You know," Hileimi started, really pissed at Michelle's idea. "You're daughter doesn't look that great either. Just admit you're jealous that I got partner like Rei and you didn't even get his friend, Kai."

She had just remembered Rei's friend's name and other girls nodded in response, obviously sad at Kai's single father status. Michelle stayed silent, too angry to curse her outloud.

"It's a shame that you don't even know who the father is," Yogoya continued, going over to Michelle's own robot. "I heard you got dumped in your scenario."

That was the last straw. With a cry of rage, the red-head threw the carriage to the front from the back of the room to the front where Hileimi was now standing. Everyone held their breaths as it seemingly sailed through the air, but actually doing so at a very fast pace. Reidan's so-called 'mother' steeled herself and caught it solidly. The carrier had hit Hileimi but she didn't show it, gripping the edges of the carrier to prevent herself from doing so. The crowd 'ooh'-ed and she set Reidan down, upper arms and body slightly hurting, and Michelle staring back in shock.

"Now you're gonna pay for that, ho. Don't you ever touch him with your skanky-ass hands again."

"What's going on here?"

The tension in the room break immediately as those words were spoken. Michelle saw Kore standing in the doorway and suddenly broke into very convincing tears. No one said anything to go against her and Hileimi was too pissed to. Not only had she gotten into another confrontation, Rei would probably dislike her even more. It was not going to be easy trying to be better friends with him if she brought trouble all the time . . .

"Damn it," Hileimi muttered, now sullenly on her way to sixth period. She was using her right hand to carry Reidan's transportation device and looking at the floor as she walked. How was she going to tell Rei that she had an hour's detention?

Tala casually fell into stride with her, hands buried in his pockets. He noticed that she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings and nudged her accordingly. Hileimi looked up at him, a plastered grin on her features.

"Hey there, Tala," she greeted. He continued to look at her, a red eyebrow raised in question at her strange behavior.

"What's wrong? Get in another fight with Rei?" Tala joked, tilting his head. Hileimi sighed, not even surprised that he knew about the little spat from yesterday.

"No," she grumbled, still trying to sound chipper but failing. "I got in a little argument with that stupid ho, Michelle, and now I gotta spend a freakin' hour in detention . . . It wasn't even my damn fault but now I gotta give Reidan to his father so the schedule won't get all messed up, you know? Ugh, I'm so hella pissed."

"Hm," the male red-head replied, nodding. "I'll go tell Mrs. Larent that you might be a lil' late, all right?"

"Thanks," the girl replied gratefully, a real smile dancing on her features. Tala saluted her, winked, and turned the corner just as Rei came into view. "Rei!"

Said boy watched as she trotted up to him looking slightly ruffled. "Rei, can you do me a little favor?"

"What is it?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow and staring at her pleading eyes. The shorter girl gave a slightly sheepish grin.

"Can you take Reidan for sixth period today?" Hileimi asked him, grinning. The young man furrowed his black brows.

"I don't mind, but why do I have to take him?" Rei asked her, trying to get some details out of her. The one minute bell rang and Hileimi sighed.

"I got a detention after school but can I just please explain it later?" she requested, holding Reidan out to him. "I'll get your number from Tala and call you." Rei was going to ask another question but Hileimi beat him to speaking.

"Please, Rei? Do it for me."

Her tone was not unlike a certain brunette on television who traveled with a silent samurai and a rough swordsman. Though that one anime played occasional reruns now, Rei knew that Hileimi sounded like Fuu in the first episode. For some reason, Tyson absolutely loved that certain line and the Chinese teen had always been vintage.

"Don't worry," Rei sighed, running a finger through his silky bangs. "I'll take him but I just wanted to know what was wrong." He had a feeling he had said this before.

"Why would you think something's wrong?" Hileimi said, smiling almost convincingly and handing him Reidan. The father glanced to his left and into the class, ignoring the curious glances of his classmates and appreciative look of the teacher who had his arms crossed in amusement.

"I can just tell," Rei mumbled, averting his gaze to the robot. "Besides, Tala did too and you weren't in fourth period." Hileimi gave him a brilliant grin and laughed.

"It seems like you always wanna know what I'm doing, babe," she quipped, tilting her head so that her wavy hair moved with her. Rei didn't open his mouth to speak because he knew that if he did, he would've sputtered. That was not what he meant.

The final bell rang and Hileimi groaned, this not being her first tardy to a class this year. Rei ducked into his classroom and she followed, walking past him when he sat down. She gave Mr. Larent an apologetic grin and nodded toward the door which joined his room and his wife's. The teacher waved his hand in a dismissive manner and Hileimi's grin brightened. She waved good-bye and was through the door as quick as a fiddle.

All eyes fell on Rei, who was staring at the black binder he just took out of his backpack. The young man was willing Mr. Larent to start the lesson. The teacher, sensing the discomfort, did just that.

As Larent started talking Kai shot a look at Rei who shook his head in slight agony—both metaphorical and real. The Russian rolled his eyes and quickly jotted down some calculus equation that was on the board.

That girl is attracting more attention to Rei than even Michelle does Kai thought. But the fact of the matter is: He walked right into that last statement.

At that moment Reidan started crying and Kon put the pacifier in his mouth. Halfway into the period, Kai started to talk. It was an odd thing to witness but his table mates miraculously didn't faint.

"I met this girl on Tuesday," Kai muttered very quietly. Rei almost fell off his stool but managed to keep his balance. The Russian shot him a glare. "She helped me with that diaper shit. Thank God."

Rei chuckled and shook his head. "You're lucky you got help, man. I had to do everything practically by myself. Tyson was too busy grimacing." He looked down at his equation, glanced up at the board, and nodded. "Anyway, what's her name?"

"Her name was Jasmine," Kai said, not meeting Rei's eyes. "She was different, this one. But not in the weird way that makes you dislike Hileimi."

Kon shrugged, peeking at his friend's work to check his own. "There's just something about her . . . I got a weird feeling about her."

"Whatever," Kai said, putting down his pen in satisfaction. "You're the weird one."

"And this is coming from you?"

"Shut up."

At three-thirty, Rei's flip-phone began to ring. Luckily enough for him, the landscapes he sold kept him alive for a while. Granted, it was an old model, but it was still a cell phone. Even phones considered old enable the user to speak face to face with the person on the other end. The young man reached into his pocket to stare at the caller ID and opened it.

"Hileimi?"

"Hey, Rei. Can you pick me up so we can go to the mall now?" The young man stared at the phone screen for a minute before talking again.

"Today? Can't we just do it tomorrow?" he asked her, a little worn out from the nights with Reidan. There was silence on the line as his partner thought, looking at him from her end of the phone.

"Actually, I have a thing to do tomorrow and we already agreed to go today," Hileimi said, pulling on her hair as an ambulance passed by—an old superstition she still believed in. "But I'll tell you what . . . I'll take Reidan tonight so you can be free."

Rei's eyes, which were half-lidded in drowsiness up until that point, snapped awake. That was a very good proposition and he wasn't going to be passing it up. Hileimi saw this reaction on screen and grinned.

"Just let me get changed," Rei said, getting up and going to his room. The girl contained a small laugh as he placed the phone on his desk.

"Don't let me stop you," Hileimi joked, knowing very well that she could see everything he did as long as he didn't hang up on her. He caught the little slip before he did anything and walked over to pick up the phone once more.

"I won't," he said, giving a fake grin and cutting the connection.

He finished changing into a simple shirt and jeans and grabbed his black, hooded jacket. As he slid the garment on Rei pocketed the cell phone and slung the baby bag on his shoulder, grabbing Reidan's carrier as he did so. With another sigh and quick glance around the apartment, he departed.

He drove up to the front of the school to see Hileimi waiting in front of the blue gates. She smiled and when he stopped, opened the passenger's door. "How's my baby doin'?"

Rei was about to grudgingly answer, by now used to her little pet name for everything. When he looked her way to hold Reidan up for her to sit, he realized it was the robot she was talking to. The human shook his head as Hileimi got into the car and settled Reidan onto her lap. He was driving with a crazy girl riding shotgun. That wasn't something to ease his nerves.

They got to the huge mall fifteen minutes later, a traffic jam causing the unexpected delay. Hileimi had removed her tie and unbuttoned the first two buttons of her shirt, sighing gratefully. She delightfully got out of the car, leaving her school things but taking Reidan and the baby bag with her. Rei looked at the indoor hell and silently groaned.

I'll be damned if she doesn't look at things for herself too Rei thought, following her on their walk to the entrance.

He opened the door for her and she grinned at him before stepping in. He did the same, though slightly less enthusiastic. It was the same as Rei remembered—gigantic and foreboding. This was the second biggest mall in the United States, second only to the Mall of America. It was every boy's, young man's, and grown man's nightmare.

Hileimi stared at the lit up map, her wine eyes going down the list of stores. Rei could see her face light up from time to time, no doubt seeing a Forever 21 or Charlotte Russe or where ever she frequently shopped.

"Alright! I'm hella pumped for this!" she declared, bouncing slightly. "Are you ready, babe?"

An elderly couple that was walking to Rei's right acknowledged them as a cute couple. He wanted to explain himself but changed his mind, deciding it wasn't worth it since he didn't even know them. Hileimi continued to expectantly stare at him.

"Yeah . . ." Rei answered, giving a shaky, lop-sided smile. The girl punched him lightly and laughed.

"Next time make it real, yo!" Hileimi joked, indicating the smile he just gave. Rei shrugged and she started to drag him around, fingers clasped around his wrist.

They came to a store with fairly nice clothes. The two planned to split whatever the costs were, but Rei wasn't going to lie—he wasn't rich. Being a gentleman though, he had the habit of always offering to pay more than his share.

"It's okay," Hileimi said, holding up a two piece set of clothes. "Most of the things I'm gonna buy are probably gonna be for my own son in the future."

Rei stuffed his hands into his jacket's pockets and looked up at the ceiling. Boy, this girl is stubborn. He watched her look through the various tiny clothes and couldn't help but think that she looked right at home doing it. Rei got the urge to slap himself again and he almost did, if it wasn't for the fact that Hileimi turned to him with a grin.

"What about this? Isn't it funny?"

The shirt had long sleeves which were red and the rest was white, much like a baseball shirt. On the white part it said "My papa's better than yours" in red, kid-like writing. There were little blue jeans and a little red cap to match.

The older teen regarded it silently. It wasn't really that bad. It was plain and simple. Rei preferred simplicity to garish any day.

"I like it," he offered nicely, nodding. Hileimi looked at the set and back at her partner before her face lit up again.

"Really? Okay, we'll get this one," she announced, draping it over her own forearm. Rei knew it was pointless to disagree with a shopping woman, so he kept pleasantly quiet.

After three hours the pair was walking to the food court. It was now about six and both were hungry. Hileimi was walking happily beside him, carrying three big bags filled with pacifiers and accessories, blankets and anything else they needed. The weight didn't seem to bother her since a fourth and fifth bag she carried was filled with sale items for herself from the stores she had seen on the list earlier.

Rei was walking next to her, the heaviest bag (of baby clothes) in his left hand and Reidan's carrier in his right. The new bag that Hileimi purchased was slung over his head and one shoulder. The young man noticed that a lot of things she bought for their robot was Winnie the Pooh orientated. She seemed to like the pale green and beige, white or off-white combination.

The two were a wonderful looking couple. Since Hileimi was still in her uniform, even though she had taken off her blazer people knew she went to Weatherbury and correctly assumed that Rei attended that high school as well. News had traveled quickly by teens that their school was doing some baby project, so they weren't worried about the baby being real. Because of that, people were convinced that they were the luckiest couple in the world.

Despite the fact that he didn't like to make friends with girls for romantic reasons, Rei Kon was still a great piece of young man. His golden eyes were the things that expressed his emotions the most and most girls just swooned without even trying to read their secrets. His face was unbelievably smooth but he never let anyone close enough to touch it. He was tall like Kai, who was about five foot eleven, so all he had to do was tippy-toe to get out of a girl's grasp.

No one really knew what kind of body Rei had under the uniform he always wore since he hadn't taken P.E. since his sophomore year. It had been two years since he had taken his shirt off in front of other guys and hardly anyone saw him out of his school clothes. But for some strange reason he would always return from summer vacation as tan as ever. Obviously he removed his shirt and the girls who liked the shy kind of artist were desperate to find out where.

Hileimi's skin was just a tad bit lighter than her partner's. While his face was calm her's was always bright. Her own eyes were rich like real wine and weren't afraid to step up to a challenge. Even their hair texture was different—his was silky and straight while her's was wavy and curly. The only make-up she wore was the lip gloss on her sensitive lips, much to Rei's silent gratitude. He liked natural beauty—if the girl had it—much more than manufactured beauty.

Both were attracting stares from both genders. The girls were eyeing Rei and giving Hileimi envious looks while some men were doing vice versa. Everyone could see that they were a beautiful couple—if they even bothered to notice.

Rei didn't notice how they looked together, but he had seen the way guys would look at Hileimi. Ever since they even stepped into the mall he saw eyes dart towards her. He just couldn't understand what made men as old as possibly thirty think she was so captivating. As brilliant as he could be at times, he simply didn't get it.

When she finished her gulp of strawberry-banana smoothie, Hileimi sighed contentedly. The two were now sitting across from each other in the massive yet full food court. She lazily chewed on her corn dog, one elbow resting on the table. The girl blew her bangs out of her eyes when she finished her bite. She watched Rei eat his pastrami sandwich and suddenly something popped into her mind.

"Hey, Rei, what did I miss in fourth today?" Hileimi inquired, leaning closer to him. Being the gentleman he was, his eyes didn't even glance down her shirt. He put his Pepsi down and cleared his throat.

"Nothing really important. She told us that the robots created waste with special chemicals in their stomachs, though," Rei replied, taking another bite as he finished. Hileimi blinked and nodded, taking another bite and swallowing.

"That's hella stupid, yo," the girl simply said. He nodded at her, casually noting another guy that was staring. "Any other assignments?"

"Oh, yeah," Rei nodded. "We're supposed to, well, spend time with each other at least twice a week—without our robot."

"I have dance practices practically everyday, remember? So we can only really chill on the weekends, and that's including Fridays."

"What about today? Don't you have a class?" Hileimi giggled and put a finger to her lips, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"I told my teacher I had an extra long detention. Funny isn't it? I told her yesterday I was gonna have detention and it ended up becoming real," she laughed, winking. Rei slowly nodded, swallowing the last bite he took

"So why did you get detention?" he asked her, his turn to get an answer. The midnight haired girl nodded and took another sip of her smoothie.

"Long story short, that bitch—Oops!" Hileimi covered her mouth as her wine eyes fell on Reidan. She snapped her fingers and grinned in apology but Rei waved it off, having slipped up once or twice in front of the robot already.

"Anyway, that girl was being very . . . uh, mean and she got all jealous or somethin'," the girl said, scowling at what was left over of her corn dog. "She just freakin' went up to me and started talking sh . . . stuff.

"She freakin' threw Reidan's carriage at me, I set it down, and I threatened her when Kore walked in. She started cryin' and whatever and I was just so . . . upset that I didn't say anything."

She mouthed this last part: "I was so . . . fucking pissed, though."

Rei chuckled at this and Hileimi's angry expression dissipated into a pleasantly surprised one. "Was that just a laugh?"

"What? You think I can't laugh or something?" Rei incredulously demanded. When she didn't answer, he sighed. "You did, didn't you?"

"This is the first time you've shown that you're even kind of having fun!" Hileimi declared, immensely grinning. The young man didn't answer her because he knew she was right. Instead, he settled with a shrug.

"Truth be told, it pretty much is the first time I'm having fun," the Chinese youth mumbled, actually deciding to continue on. He thought that she would look down-heartened, but she was quite the opposite.

"I'm so glad, Rei!" She sounded as if she was congratulating him about graduation. He didn't think it was such a big deal, but obviously she did. Her smile was so big that the wine of her eyes was barely visible.

The whole situation was so idiotic that Rei shook his head and started to chuckle again, shaking his head at it all. He turned his face down so she wouldn't see it but Hileimi did her best to peer at his countenance. The small notion of amusement got her laughing. It wasn't a real smile but it was a start, wasn't it? People looked at them and envied them—a perfect couple from Weatherbury.

After their mirth died down—well, Rei was the one who was waiting since he hadn't been so giddy—Hileimi clasped her hands together. He looked at her, casual face back, asking her what she was thinking.

"Listen Rei, I have this little idea," she proposed, cracking her knuckles. "There's this party tomorrow night and I was wondering if you wanted to come. You're a friend, right? It would give us a chance to chill and Robert can watch Reidan."

The young man stared at her for what, to him, felt like an eternity. In reality it was only two seconds until Hileimi smiled at him. Rei nodded his assent. I can't believe I'm doing this . . .

"All right," he grudgingly mumbled. "It's a once in a lifetime thing, so don't regret it."

Hileimi almost squealed in delight, if it wasn't for the fact that she had been sipping on her beverage. She put it down and was about to hug him but thought better of it, settling to pat him on the back and winking.

"Trust me! You'll never regret this one, babe."

Author's Notes: Thanks for the reviews. Haha, I'm glad you think this is a great fic, goldenSMiLE. Spread the word. Lol, I'm just kidding! Really, don't lol. So, who watches So You Think You Can Dance? There's this guy that reminds me A LOT of Rei. He's all humble and apologetic until he does what he's best at—dancing. Then, he goes all out. Not to mention he's pretty attractive. Okay, no more rambling about that.

Who caught the allusion in this chapter? Lol. There was one...but I don't know if people watch it lol.

Thank you very much for reading and please review!