Chapter 3 of 'I am Special' is up! Yay! Anyway we see what happens when Ryou is late at home and a first glimpse of Lola's life in a Halfway House. Hope you like it! P.S a bit sad and angsty and memory fluff about Lola's parents. Hope you like it anyway!
Disclaimer: Don't own a thing
'So… you're telling me you got to ESCORT that girl up to the school? Talk about lucky, dude.' Joey had grabbed Ryou at break and taken him up to the lockers. 'Man she's HOT! Do you like her? Or is she still available for the rest of us?' Joey nudged him. Ryou looked up.
'Um… uh… well I… don't know…' Joey smiled wide-eyed.
'You have the HOTS for that girl! Ryou that's so… weird! You're just not the type, y'know?' Joey said, a little egotistically, adjusting his blazer collar à la Elvis Presley. Ryou looked away. He had more important things to worry about. What about Bakura? What would he say about Lola? And he had detention after school. He'd be angry when he finally got home.
'Joey, I need to go. Can you talk about this to someone else? I promised Lola I'd show her round the school today.'
'Oh…' Joey said, giving Ryou an exaggerated wink. 'I see… I'll leave you two alone then.' Ryou frowned a little before heading off to find Lola.
He finally found her wandering around the sports grounds, looking lost. 'Ryou!' She almost screamed his name and ran towards him. 'I've been so lost without you! I'm so glad you showed up! Thanks for agreeing to show me around the school, it's really nice.'
'Oh no… that's OK, honestly.' Ryou said, feeling his face flush. 'So… um… where do you want to go first then… um…?' Lola smiled shyly.
'Well, I thought I could talk to you for a while. How about round the back of the school? It's less crowded there.' Ryou flushed an even more visible red. All the smokers and X-Rated couples always went there for a cigarette and a quick make-out session. If anyone saw him going there with Lola… well they wouldn't think they would be smoking. But he was too polite to say so, so he nodded and they started heading towards the back of the school. Lola was talking in a happy voice but Ryou was starting to panic. He couldn't possibly tell Bakura about her. He'd do something awful. He always did.
'Ryou? Ryou, we're here… are you OK?' He snapped out of his trance. Lola was sitting on the grass in front of him. 'Um… I was wondering if I could talk to you, because you're my first friend here, if that's OK'
Ryou blushed… again… but nodded and sat next to her on the grass. To his surprise, he saw a solitary tear slide down her cheek. He suddenly felt a dull ache in his heart. Was he… sad to see Lola sad? That wasn't right. She was just… a friend. Probably just muscle-pains. But all the same he looked shocked and asked her what was wrong.
'Nothing. Nothing, it's just, when Madame Gisele mentioned my parents… Oh god, I shouldn't be doing this, not in front of you, I hardly know you I'm so sorry…'
'No, it's OK Lola, honestly. It must be hard without your parents. I'm living with a flatmate myself. My sister and mother died and my father isn't around anymore. I'm sorry you have to live alone, though.' Lola smiled as more tears fell.
'Yeah well… I've never really been a friend person. You're the first person who's really made an effort, you know?' Ryou felt even more shocked. He didn't know what had happened to the bright bubbly girl he'd been talking to a minute ago. But then she wasn't going to start crying in front of a whole crowd of people.
He looked away and was quiet for a while. Her tears brought back some painful memories from his past. Now his eyes were beginning to well up. Lola apparently noticed this. 'Oh no… I didn't mean to make you cry too. I guess us both having lost people… oh god this is all my fault, Ryou I'm sorry – ' She wanted to say more but suddenly she just burst into a full-blown stream of tears. Ryou blinked back his own.
'Lola? Are you alright? Do you… um… need a hug or something?' Lola looked up at him through her wet eyelashes. Ryou instinctively reached out to wipe a tear from her eye. This surprised him. He wasn't usually like that towards people. Lola nodded silently and leant into him. Ryou's body instantly began to heat up and he wrapped his arms around his new friend. 'It's alright, you just… cry here for a while… I'm not going anywhere.' Lola cried some more. His heart ached again. Ryou realised it was paining him to see her cry. He felt something wet slide down his own cheek. He wanted to wipe it away but he couldn't help it. He didn't know Lola had lost people too and it made him more emotional than usual. They sat like that for a few minutes before Lola sat back up and wiped her eyes with a tissue.
'Oh god I'm sorry, how embarrassing – Ryou?' He was looking away from her, not wanting her to see him cry. 'Ryou…?' She asked tenderly. 'Please don't tell me you're crying. I didn't mean for it to happen. Honestly I didn't. Please look at me.' Ryou turned round to face her, his cheeks wet with his own tears. 'Oh I'm sorry Ryou. I have another tissue. Here.' But instead of handing him the tissue she reached forward to wipe his face. To her surprise he let her. She didn't know why, but it made her feel good. He touched her wrist and she realised that for a boy, he had surprisingly soft hands. She brought the tissue away from his face and touched his hair. It, too, was surprisingly soft and again, he let her. He looked up at her and she realised the warmth his eyes held.
He noticed her looking. And the touch of her fingers in his hair, and the way she gently wiped his face and before he could stop himself, he had leant forward and captured her lips in a tender kiss.
Lola dropped the tissue she'd been holding, her heart racing. But she kissed him back. She hadn't meant to. She just did.
Ryou surprised himself badly. He thought she'd pull away, but she didn't. He pulled her in closer as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He didn't want to stop this. It felt too good, and so natural. It appeared she felt the same way about him. He slid his tongue gently into her mouth and she moaned slightly.
She knew she should break away but she couldn't. She let his tongue explore her mouth and touch her own and she felt his warm hand caress her cheek. She tilted her face into it, wanting to feel as much of it as she could. She touched his hair and he let her run them through it and stroke it softly. The bell rang in the background but they didn't break apart.
After a few minutes like this, Lola finally managed to break away. Their foreheads touched and she smiled gently. 'The bell rang five minutes ago… we should go…'
Ryou smiled back. 'Yeah we should… go… I mean.' He took her hands and brought her to her feet. 'Mr Otogi is going to kill us for being late…'
Lola touched his cheek. 'I know… that really shouldn't have happened…' Ryou smiled and brought her in closer to him by her waist.
'Let's go… they'll start to wonder…' And he started to lead her towards the Auditorium.
They both had detention for a week thanks to Mr Otogi. Them and a bunch of other delinquent looking teenagers were sat in rows in the assembly hall and they were sending notes again. Ryou was worried. He kept thinking about what had happened between them round the back of the school, it wasn't supposed to happen. He was panicking about Bakura. He was going to be so angry.. the bruises hadn't gone away completely and were still tender to the touch.
Lola was also worried. The supervisors at the Halfway House didn't like you being late or getting detentions. She didn't want them to know about Ryou. They'd want him checked and scanned and vetted and a lot of other checks they liked to keep. He'd get a profile at the House and she didn't want him to get bothered by it. Besides, it hadn't meant to happen. But her heart kept leaping every time she thought about what had happened. She liked him. She couldn't help it. Suddenly she received a note on her desk. It was from Ryou.
Are you OK? I mean… I'm really sorry. That shouldn't have happened earlier. If u feel I took advantage of you I'm really sorry. I still want us to be friends.
Lola's heartbeat quickened. She didn't want to be just friends. She wanted so much more. She decided she had to say so, otherwise he might think she didn't like him.
What if one of us liked what happened. What would happen then? What if… what if I said I liked it… and didn't want us to just be friends?
She threw it over and waited. No reply. She saw him looking at it but he didn't write anything else. He didn't reply for the rest of detention. When the bell rang, she saw he'd already gone and felt a sudden wave of sadness. It had truly been a mistake. She knew she'd said too much. What would she do now?
Ryou was running. He'd read the note that Lola had sent him and although it made him feel out-of-this-world happy, he couldn't face her. What about Bakura? Was he truly falling in love with Lola? He saw his house straight ahead of him. The curtains were drawn but he could see his Yami's shadow moving about upstairs. What would he say to Ryou? What would he do?
The door was open. He burst into the house and went to run upstairs but someone had caught him by his hair. They pulled it forcefully and it stretched Ryou's scalp until he thought it would bleed.
'Tell me, little hikari. Why are you late?' Bakura's chilling voice rang into Ryou's ear, sending a cold shiver down his spine. He heard the door slam behind him. Ryou struggled to say something.
'I… I… I had detention, Bakura.' He whispered quietly, so quietly that he could barely hear it himself.
'What? I DIDN'T HEAR YOU? WHY ARE YOU SO DAMN LATE!' Bakura roared in his ear and Ryou felt his Yami kick him in the back. He fell forwards and turned to sit upright.
'I…I'm sorry Bakura! Onegai! I got detention after school with Mr Otogi! I'm sorry Bakura! I'm sorry!
'NOT GOOD ENOUGH!' Bakura yelled again, kicking Ryou square in the chest. Ryou coughed and fell onto his back. Bakura took the portable phone off the charger and through it at Ryou's face. 'WEAKLING! HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING! DO NOT APOLOGISE! YOU ARE WEAK RYOU, WEAK!' Ryou began to sob. He felt blood trickle down his cheek.
Bakura stamped on his chest and Ryou heard something crack. He tried to breathe out but he struggled. It hurt to inhale. Bakura laughed and kicked him in the side again. Ryou wheezed uneasily. 'There. Let's see you be late after this, weak hikari! You forget who controls you. I control you. I have power over you. I'm STRONGER than you. BETTER than you.' He looked disgusted for a second. 'Why did I have to get stuck with you.' He said, spitting in Ryou's face before entering the living room and slamming the door, leaving Ryou, weak and injured in the hallway.
Lola was crying. She had gone back to the Halfway House and was lying face down on her bed. She was upset over Ryou. She'd thought there was something. He didn't even wait for her after detention. Her heart ached horribly before another stream of tears flowed down her cheeks. She sat up slowly and looked in the full-length mirror opposite her bed. She was a mess. Her hair was tangled in knots and her eyes red and puffy from her crying. She sniffled. She wanted desperately to talk to Ryou about earlier, but she couldn't do it. Not like this. She got up from her bed and walked forward to the window. She pressed her face against the cold glass. Someone sprinted past their house with a pair of earphones on and someone walking their dogs sauntered casually past, staring straight ahead. She slammed her hand against the glass. She wanted to break it. She wanted to see her blood, to remind herself she still existed, she was still real. She lifted the stone ornament placed on her window-ledge and threw it forcefully at the wall. It hit her chest-of-drawers, shattering into pieces and knocking down a photo she had beside her bed.
'Oh… no… please don't be broken, please.' She whispered, rushing over to where the picture lay. She turned it over and her eyes stung as she looked upon the happy faces of her family. Lola herself, her mother and father, and her little sister Daisy. They were standing in a group on holiday. They were on the deck of their yacht, Rosalie, they had called it.
Lola had lost her whole family on that very yachting holiday. Just days after that picture was taken, she remembered. They had been sailing in the loch to be safe because of Daisy, when the wind had picked up. They had been forced out of the loch and into the ocean when a full-force gale hit them. There was a lifeboat on board, and Lola was instantly lifted into it. Daisy was in it too but her mother and father couldn't get in on time. The ship was forced farther and farther away until Lola saw it capsize. She knew her parents hadn't survived.
For days they drifted endlessly in the ocean, when a passenger ferry saw them floating and picked them up. Daisy had caught hypothermia and didn't survive the night. She stayed in a one-room cabin by herself, in too much shock to comprehend what had happened. She'd been by herself ever since it happened, the year before. When she turned sixteen she was moved to a Halfway House where she would stay until she was an official adult, and could find a place of her own. A solitary teardrop splashed onto the glass surface. She wiped her eyes. Thinking of it was painful. She preferred not to. She wanted to speak to Ryou. In fact she had his phone number written on her hand. She placed the photo back on the chest-of-drawers and went over to her phone on the bedside table. She tapped in the digits and waited for someone to pick up. What if he wasn't home? She worried. He hadn't looked very happy towards the end of the day.
Ryou heard the phone ring. He was struggling to breathe properly and couldn't sit up. Bakura didn't give a damn, he didn't have any friends. And if it wasn't for him, he never bothered. Ryou tried to reach up but his chest was in agony. He relented. 'Help me…' He whispered. 'Help me please.'
Lola put the phone down, her eyes wet. So he wasn't picking up. She stamped her foot. She'd have to go and find him, to explain. Without another word, she grabbed her jacket from the walk-in closet and walked out to find Ryou.
Not the best of endings… but so sad! Poor Lola… - sniffs - . Please R and R, because I also want to know what you thought about that kiss? Xoxoxo AS.