Rival Chatter
Rating: R
Jess' Rant: Hello everyone! I'm finally writing fics again after a long break. I still have to work on my History paper, but I need this little reprieve. I think Nuri-chan covered the disclaimer basics so I can skip over that part. On to the chapter! .
Chapter 2: Heero POV
People are so transparent. Every day it's the same routine, the same monotony, the same people trying to weasel their way into my good graces. I know I sound like the rotten, spoiled rich kid who never wants to share what they have, but I have a reason for it. I wasn't always wealthy. I used to have a life when I was little, when Papa was still around. We used to live in my native country of Japan then and we were happy. One day, Papa had to work late and was the victim of a reckless driver incident and my life changed completely.
Mom didn't want to stay in Japan, so far away from her own family and friends and culture so she moved us to America. She said that Japan was full of memories and she wanted to get away from all that. Two months later, we were living with her sister until "things looked up."
It wasn't long after that that mom met someone and got married. Her husband was nice and he was a world-renowned physician by the name of Odin Lowe. At first I didn't understand the implications of that, but pretty soon I learned just what that meant. Mother and I were thrust into a world where you had to be careful in every aspect of life. I learned that my classmates wanted to be friends with me because of Odin's money and not because of me. The only exceptions to that were two boys; Quatre Winner, sole male heir to his family's fortune, and Chang Wufei, only child of a proud and influential Chinese aristocratic family.
Now, six years later, they are the only friends I have and the only ones I want. Over the years, they are the only ones that haven't tried to swindle me because the pair of them have to watch their backs against that sort of thing as well. As a result, we've tried to alienate ourselves from our peers, but that idea sort of backfired. Instead of us disappearing from plain view, everyone holds us in high regard. We've been deified and even dubbed "the royal three" by our peers.
Personally, I don't really care so long as people don't bother me.
"So, Heero… do you think you'll be able to make it to the circus tonight?" Quatre asked as I shoved my books into my locker.
"Sorry, Q," I said as I grabbed my math notebook, "I have to work on that creative writing essay tonight."
"Oh right, the one that's giving mister perfect a perfectly hard time," he smirked.
"Shut it, Blondie, or I'll sic your entire harem on you!" I teased back as we made our way to class.
"Heero, that's gross. They are my sisters, NOT my harem," he said pouting. "Besides, you can't do that, they'll smother me!"
I grinned, "So what's the problem?"
Quatre glared at me and punched me in the arm. He wasn't intimidating at all at first glance and was also quite effeminate, something that he got defensive about. As cute and innocent as Quatre looked, he had a bit of a mean streak in him. He was as shrewd as any business man and a tactical genius. The most amazing part of it all was that he was known to get back at all those who taunted him without the least bit of evidence to incriminate him. Being a wealthy child had shown him the ugly side of people; the side that only wanted to use him. He, like me, had few friends and was wary of getting close to anyone. The irony of it all was that he was the most sociable person in our group. He could get people to do any number of things without ever committing himself to anything. That boy was raised to be the head of an empire, but I worried about how it would affect him in the long run.
"So… any ideas as to what to write about?" he asked as we took our seats.
"Well, I have SOME idea, but I'm getting a little bit of help from someone I met online."
"Oh really?" he asked, putting on his innocent face. "Who is this person, Heero?"
I sighed, I knew what he was getting at, "Listen, Quat, he's just helping me out on an assignment. It's not like he knows who I am."
Quatre looked at me suspiciously but nodded, "Just be careful. You never know who's
waiting to stab you in the back."
"Dually Noted."
The bell rang just then, only a millisecond after Maxwell sauntered into the room. That only meant one thing; If Maxwell was here, there was an exam to take. That miscreant had the uncanny ability to show up on the days we had an exam on and still get the second-highest ranking in the school.
"Settle down, class," Mr. Rice said as everyone took their seats. "Take out a sheet of paper and a pencil… we're having a test."
There were some groans and quite a bit of mumbling and grouching as everyone did as they were told. He then proceeded to pass out answer sheets and exam packets, then went back to his seat.
The test was easy enough and I was able to finish with an hour to spare. Putting my pencil down, I stood up and made my way to Mr. Rice's desk to turn in my exam.
"Easy enough, for you Mister Yuy?" he whispered as I handed in my papers. I just shrugged a little, making him smile.
"You too, Mister Maxwell?" he asked looking at the long-haired boy next to me. "Well, we can't just have the two of you sitting idly for an hour in my class making everyone else nervous. I'm sending the two of you to the library for the rest of the class. I'm sure that at least there you'll be able to do something constructive." With that, he took out a stack of neon green slips and wrote both our names on it. "Give that to Miss Sanchez in the library," he said, handing me the pass.
I nodded and went to grab my stuff off my desk and met Maxwell at the door.
"Out of all the people I had to be sent out with, it had to be you," Duo griped as we walked down the hallway. "I know! The teacher is punishing me for never going to class."
"It's not like I asked to be sent out with you either," I replied. "You didn't have to turn in your test so soon… besides, once we get to the library, we can split up and we won't have to look at each other."
"Fine. Lead the way, oh fearless leader!"
"Hn." I felt no need to answer his mocking tone and merely continued on my way, Maxwell following behind me.
"Heero, Duo! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?" A thin, young woman with glasses and mousy brown hair in a bun whispered as we walked into the library.
"We finished a test early," I whispered back as I handed her our pass.
She looked it over quickly then motioned us to a small conference room off to the side. "We have a couple of classes doing research today. You boys will just have to sit tight here for a while. I trust you two have homework or something to work on?" she asked, giving us a you-better-not-cause-trouble look.
"Yes, Ma'am," we both answered in unison.
She smiled and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Duo then pulled up a chair, tossing his knapsack onto the table and slumped down heavily on it, "So now what?"
I just shrugged and sat down across from him.
"Why don't you just buy the library so you can get this done quicker so I can get away from you sooner?" Duo asked, blowing his long, shaggy bangs out of his face.
"Don't be stupid, Maxwell, I can't buy a school, I doubt anyone can." I answered, pulling a notebook out of my backpack.
"Well la-di-dah… why don't you have your parents buy it for you?" he grouched.
I rolled my eyes at him and pulled out a pen, fully intent on starting my paper.
"Don't you have anything better to do than bother me right now? I have a paper to write." I asked him.
He snickered at me, looking as if I had said the funniest thing in the world, "You mean you haven't finished it yet? Here I thought you were Perfect! Wait till I tell the whole school that the perfect student isn't really perfect at all!"
"You just do that. I doubt you've done any of your homework in years"
Duo blinked at me and pulled out a folder from his knapsack. As he flipped through it, he looked at me giving me a taunting grin, "Actually, I've finished all my homework for the week. Unfortunately, I have to show up to turn it all in."
"So why don't you just do home-schooling? I'm sure the church you live at has enough kids to create a little private school."
Duo just sighed, "Not that it's any of your business, but where I live they wouldn't let me be that lazy. Trust me, I'd rather be anywhere than at this school."
"So why don't you just transfer?"
"Can't do that either. Unlike some people, I don't have the MONEY to transfer."
I immediately felt ashamed at what I'd said. It wasn't right to rub one's home life in their face. "Gomen nasai. I didn't mean to invade your privacy."
Duo just leaned back, and sighed as he put away his papers. "Fine I'm sorry too, I didn't mean to be a…. well, I can't say that word in school, but you know what I meant."
I closed my notebook, unable to think of what to write, "If I may ask, what do you have against me? I don't remember being out rightly rude to you."
He looked away from me, giving a small bitter laugh, "It probably has nothing to do with you and more of what you have in general."
I smiled back, amused at what he thought of me, "You think I'm a spoiled rich kid."
"Actually, I think anyone who has money is. But then again, that's because that's the way I saw things when I was growing up."
"So you intend to be poor forever?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.
"No, actually, I have quite a bit of money set aside." He then gave me the once-over, looking at me from head to toe, "But unlike some people, I've been working really hard to make mine."
"So if and when you get to wealthy status and have kids, won't you turn into the very thing you hate?" This guy was an enigma. He apparently hated people with money but had every intention of moving up in the world.
"No, because…" He trailed off, giving me a little sad look that I'm sure he wasn't aware of. "I've seen things that I don't ever want to see others go through. If I do make money, I probably won't be keeping much of it."
He didn't sound like such a bad guy after all. I had a feeling that no one really knew Duo Maxwell, that there was more to him than met the eye. Unfortunately for human-kind, he's coated in layers of barbed wire. Still… from the conversation we managed to salvage, he didn't seem like the unwashed miscreant riffraff Wufei made him out to be.
"Commendable." He looked a little stunned that I had given him that much of a complement, but didn't have a chance to respond. As soon as the bell rang, I was already halfway out the door. I had homework to do and a date to keep.
That evening after dinner, I logged onto my computer and waited impatiently as my messenger loaded. I smiled as HIS name became highlighted, indicating he was on, and wasted no time in sending him a message.
Instant Message Alert from Perfect1 to AngelofDeathShinigami:
Wing: hello again. i didn't think you'd make it
Deathscythe: are u joking? after the day i had, i need this.
Wing: why? what happened?
Deathscythe: Don't ask. I don't want 2 remeber it.
Wing: well, i'm here if you need to talk
Deathscythe: can i ask you something & not scare you off? worries his lower lip
I smirked as I turned up the radio. It was on my favorite oldies station and they were playing one of my favorite songs.
Wing: hit me with your best shot
Deathscythe: smirks just remember, u asked 4 it. sighs how do you feel about those who r born 2 money?
Wing: I feel that they have as much control over that as a poor person. they can't choose what they're born to and have their own problems to deal with.
Wing: then again, being born to the lowly working class, i wouldn't know what it's like to be a rich child.
Deathscythe: rolls eyes typical answer of one who doesn't understand.
Wing: well then tell me so that i can understand
Obviously this guy had some sort of grudge against the wealthy. Was this a theme today? "At least this guy doesn't hate me straight out," I thought out loud. He was probably just having a bad day.
Deathscythe: Those who don't struggle in life take advantage of those who do. When the weaker ones can't measure up, they are turned away.
Wing: I think that's a blanket comment and money has no bearing on that.
Deathscythe: oh really? i've seen it first hand.
Wing: Well even if one is rich, one may be taken advantage of. People that don't want to work for what they have may take advantage of the resources of someone who is well-off. There are many cases where a person amounts wealth by working hard and is taken for a fool and parted with all that person has accomplished. I believe the word for that is "gold-digger." I'm not saying that it's right, but at least when you're from a humble background, you have true friends. Can you even imagine the sort of back-stabbing that happens if you have money? You never know if you can trust anyone at all.
I waited anxiously for his reply.
Deathscythe: well what do you do when the wealthy abuse of their power and leave the poor even worse off than they began?
Wing: I'm sorry if something happened to you… That isn't right at all and I apologize if I've upset you.
Deathscythe: I'm sorry too… I told you I had a bad day at school…. SO… what can I help you with?
Several hours passed and we covered a lot of bases. By the time we finished chatting, I had more than enough material to write my paper. Glancing at the clock, I found it was too late to keep working and headed to bed. I'd write my paper tomorrow, thanks to Deathscythe.
