A/N: Hi folks! Well, I've been informed by a certain someone- cough- Sasscreech- cough that I'm not allowed to reply to reviewers. Well, that's just stupid, but I'll follow the rule anyway. Since I'm really lazy, I probably won't respond to each of you in e-mail. If I find something about your review particularly interesting, or if you have a question about the story I will answer it directly though. You will, however, be named in my chapters, just because I'm not responding directly DEFFENATLY doesn't mean I'm not reading reviews, don't forget that.
Thanks to all my Reviewers:
IGAF-Kun Spider
Squirrel: ROFL. (MacBeth? (Gets struck by lightning) owie…)
Baby05 KuroNeko1392
Taliesin sage
BrokenHummingbirdWings: It was feeling crumby- HAHAHAHAHA…it's not that funny, as you can tell…
BbraeBabe
BunnyKat
Kikyz
Digicowboy
Sasscreech: Thanks for telling me, even if I am breaking the rule right now…
RM and RJ co.
I feel awfully random: Can't…Stop…Laughing…
Gregthezombie
MonchhichiSorry if the chapter isn't all that great, I was kind of skeptical about it. Tell me what you think!
Chapter Nine, AKA: To tumble, or not to tumble… is not an option.
Rachel suppressed a yawn as she sat idly in math class, her second period. She got to see Garfield today, which was, surprisingly, turning into the highlight of her day. What was up with that anyway? She glanced up at her teacher who was completely occupied with Richard's trouble making and Kori's trying-to-get-you-out-of-trouble thing she had to do for him all the time. She watched the spectacle for only a few minutes, however, as the bell rang quicker than she had expected it too. She gathered up her belongings and headed to her next class, the bane of her existence: Gym.
Rachel changed quickly, ignoring anyone or anything that tried to talk to her. She really hoped they would have a substitute, yesterday Mr. Shark had been so sick he was coughing all over everyone, it was gross, to say the least. She climbed the stairs to the gymnasium, hoping they wouldn't have to do anything embarrassing today. Running she could deal with, she was good at that. Cheerleading and Basketball was… not her thing.
Near the middle of the gym was the teacher, a substitute- great, Rachel thought, not sarcastic for once. The sarcasm came back however. Sitting at the head of her gym class in the middle of the room, was Garfield. Rachel groaned; how was he teaching gym, he had no muscles… Though the shirt he was wearing kind of made her wonder… She shook her head, ignoring anything that she had been thinking.
Rachel took a seat at the back, sitting cross-legged and out of view.
"Hey Rae!" Apparently this guy had eyes like a freaking hawk. She gave a small wave; she could at least be polite. He turned to face the rest of the class.
"Alright dudes, I'm the substitute for today, since Mr. Sharks is sick. I don't want to waste time talking, since this is the best class ever," Several groans were heard from the girls and some guys that Rachel thought seemed very queer, "so today we will be doing…" He looked at the schedule and made a face, "Team building." Rachel's eyes widened, Team Building meant one thing…
"So everyone get up…" Her muscles tensed as she prepared for the disaster, her life flashing before her eyes…Okay, maybe not, but she felt like it should have been.
"And find…" Rachel looked around, everyone looked calm now, but in a second that would all change…
"A partner!" She found herself in a massive stampede, scrambling from the dangerous hooves- er…feet that threatened to trample her.
Making a mad dash for the other side of the room, she made an escape with barely any damage: a few bruises and some minor cuts. There was one problem though…she didn't have a partner. Once everyone had settled down she glanced at the people partnered up and sitting on the floor. There was no one left and Rachel cheered internally. Maybe he would excuse her since everyone already had a partner?
"Well, since there's no one else to work with, I'll team up with you, Rachel." Rachel cringed and was almost afraid to look up. Standing in front of her with the biggest grin she had ever seen was the guy she was going to have to work with, it was Garfield.
"Is that even allowed?" She asked hopefully, maybe it was against the rules and he had forgotten because of all the teaching stress? Garfield, teaching, and stress didn't go in one sentence unless there was a series of particular words to go in between them.
"Afraid not, looks like your stuck with me." She gave an exasperated sigh; just kill me now.
It wasn't until that moment that Rachel realized something; the girls were all working with girls and the guys were all working with other guys (though not looking as excited about it as the girls). Was there something she was forgetting?
"Alright, so for team building all we have to do are some tumbling exercises." Yes, yes there was. From years of attending this school she had learned something, when you do 'tumbling exercises' with a guy…well, it started rumors, among other things. Rachel looked at Garfield again… Damnit.
So what exactly is tumbling, you ask? Well, it's a 'team building' exercise (though I'm sure you've gathered that much) where you work with a group or partner to make a series of shapes or whatever using your body. You can only imagine why Rachel hated it so much. It was basically cheerleading, without the cheering. She met her teacher at the poster with all the different exercises on them, studying each with an intensity that she hoped would burn up the stupid paper. It wasn't working.
"Mr. Logan-"
"Call me Garfield." He said, still smiling like always.
"Right, Garfield. I'm not doing this."
"Oh come on Raven, it can't be that hard." She ignored the nickname for now, difficulty, however, was not the problem here. Pride was. There was no way she was doing something that looked like an act that she would rather not mention with Garfield. She was confused about him enough as it was.
"I'll tell you what, Raven, just do one then I'll let you sit out for the rest of the class." She seemed to consider it, how bad could it be?
20 minutes later…
It could be bad, it could be very bad. They had been arguing for twenty minutes and there was only ten minutes of class left. They were arguing about, strangely enough, who should be on top. The position they had chosen was a simple one, one person would stand on the others back, simple enough. And it wouldn't hurt anyone's pride, too badly at least. It would make a lot more sense if Garfield would support Rachel's weight, but he complained about a sore back, and Rachel refused to have him stand on her.
"Oh come on! My back has been hurting lately, is it really that bad?"
"Garfield, I'm not carrying a full grown man on my back! Besides, how hard could it be to carry me?"
"I don't know, you look kind of heavy." Wrong thing to say. A sharp slap echoed around the room and the next thing Garfield knew was that he was on the floor, looking up in surprise at Rachel, a red handprint marked clearly on his face. Ouch. Unfortunately, the scene had inevitably brought the attention of the other students who were now looking on in interest.
Rachel cringed; she hadn't meant to hit him that hard. What the hell kind of reflex had that been? Offering her hand to him, he slowly got up, his cheek still stinging slightly. Everyone turned back to their partners, talking and laughing about this or that…or what just happened.
"Sorry I hit you." Rachel said, she did feel a bit guilty.
"Sorry I… called you fat, 'cause you're not, you're skinny. Not too skinny! But I mean…" Rachel looked at him, anger radiating off of her like…something that radiates a lot of anger.
"What I mean is…" He looked at her, studying her closely, looking for something apparently. Not for something, he was looking for flaws. He couldn't find any.
"I mean you're perfect." And just like that, the anger melted away from her in seconds; did he just call me perfect?
Garfield watched her curiously, had it worked? It looked like it had. Flattery gets you everywhere, especially when it's true. Rachel looked up at him, how could one sentence bring up so many… feelings? Memories? What was the word she was looking for? Rachel had no time to think about it, the bell rang, excusing her from class. She walked away, headed toward the locker room to change into her normal school attire.
"I'm anything but perfect." Even if it had been whispered, Garfield's hawk eyes were apparently accompanied by dog's ears. He had heard her, even if she hadn't meant him to. 'Emotions; that's the word…'
A/N: I think there's going to be a lot of romance in the next chapter, which continues the day that this chapter takes place in. Don't forget to REVIEW! (Because I don't say it enough ) Oh, and yes, there really is something called tumbling, just in case all of you who don't have those activities at your school were wondering.