High School Drama

The one thing I really don't like about High School is the drama. I mean, seriously. Life in High School would be SO much easier if the assholes just shut their mouths, or if certain egos weren't incredibly LARGE.

But they're all teenagers. What do they know about life?

Actually, no... I shouldn't be saying that. I had an encounter with a girl a while back. The girl was more mature than I was, in a way. See, I was just heading home, all of my paperwork complete, when I saw a figure sitting on the bottom step of the steps leading up to the main entrance. I walked over and looked at the poor thing.

It was a girl (obviously). She had probably been sitting in the same spot for an hour, judging by her sun burn marks. She just kept staring at the space in front of her, hardly moving. I raised an eyebrow.

"Are you ok?"

The girl lifted her head, surprised. She gave a quick smile. "Oh, no. I'm fine. Thanks, though."

I took a deep breath. I wasn't a councelor, nor was I a very good advice giver, but something about the situation just bugged me. Perhaps it was because I recognized her from one of my classes. "You really shouldn't try to lie to a teacher."

The girl's face paled, and she returned to staring in front of her. I stood there for another minute, then shrugged and gave up. Yet, as I was walking away, the girl spoke.

"It's really nothing, Mayuko Sensei," she mumbled.

Now I remembered. Her name was Ritsuko. "If it was nothing, then wouldn't you have let me leave?" Ritsuko was trapped, and all she could do was shake her head and look away from me. I sighed and sat down next to her, putting down my bags for the time being. We sat in silence for a little while.

"Who was your first love?" Ritsuko suddenly asked.

My breath hitched in my throat, and I coughed. The question kind of confused me. "Uhh... in adulthood or... ever?"

She shrugged. "Have you ever had that one person that you just can't forget? That one damn-" she shut her mouth as I gave her an amused look. "Sorry... that one stupid person who you can't move on from?"

I inhaled, his face flashing before my eyes. "Yep."

At this, Ritsuko stretched out her legs and leaned back against her hands. "It sucks, doesn't it, Mayuko Sensei?"

I chuckled. "More than I can describe. Something happen, Ritsuko-chan?"

Ritsuko's cheeks were instantly filled with a pink color. She looked down at the ground and mumbled, "Yeah... something happened."

I waited for her to respond. When she didn't, but instead glanced at me, I motioned for her to continue. She laughed.

"No offense, Mayko Sensei, but you probably don't want to hear about it," she told me. When I replied that I was genuinley interested, she waited a little longer, then sighed. "Do you know that one kid? Koki Yamazaki?" I nodded. "He's the one."

"The one you're going to marry, or-?"

"Hell no!" She gasped and shut her mouth again. "Sorry... I mean... I'm way too young to think about marriage, but he's the one I can't stop thinking about." She bit her lower lip. "It's been an entire year since I've liked him. No... a year and a half. For the past half, we haven't spoken to each other. Before then, we were best friends."

"What happened?" I asked, concerned.

"Well..." Ritsuko sat up and began thinking. "There's a lot of other sh... crap that goes into this story, but to make it short, I was just stupid and let slip that I liked him... a lot. Since then, we haven't talked to each other."

"At all?" I asked, shocked. I knew Koki. I could see why someone like Ritsuko would be so attracted to him. In fact, in the begining of the year, all they did was hang out with each other. Some of their friends were with them, of course, but still. "Is it because he didn't like you in the same sense?"

She gave me this look that kind of made me feel retarded. "He had just confessed to me the night before that it would take a little while to get over his ex, whom I helped him get in the first place."

"Ritsuko, you didn't..." I said, feeling horrible.

"Well, I did!" she threw up her hands, frustrated. "I wanted to be a good friend, so I gave him advice, found out what she liked... everything." She shook her head. "So, of course, he wasn't going to return my feelings."

I was silent for a moment, then decided to ask, "Have you done anything about it?"

She gave a small, dry laugh. "Actually... I wrote him a letter. I was going to talk to him, but I wrote a letter as a backup plan because-" she nodded at me. "You know how shy I can be."

I shrugged in understanding.

"So I gave that to him today, telling him that he needed to read it, and that everything in it was true, and that I would appreciate it if he would respond as well," Ritsuko explained. "It had a lot of stupid shit- I mean!" She smacked her forehead, and all I could do was laugh.

"Ritsuko, it's after school hours, and I swear like no other person I know," I said. "Feel free to express feelings through foul language."

She gave me a grateful smile. "Thanks... anyway... There was a lot of stupid shit in it, like 'I'm sorry I can't talk to you about this in person' and 'Our friendship has become nonexsistent' and I even put in a 'I wonder if I was ever more to you than a friend'."

"Hm."

"I gave it to him in the morning," Ritsuko said. She shook her head at herself. "He responded this afternoon, right as school ended, telling me in person that he wasn't avoiding me. He said that he had just been extremely busy since then. And then he appologized because it sounded like such a lie."

I paused. "So that's a bad thing?"

Ritsuko nodded, a look upon her face as if she was disgusted by her own actions. "It was nice of him to come up to me in person, and I really appreciate the fact that he understands the situation and that he wasn't avoiding me, but..." She just sighed. "Before then I felt like I was getting better. Like I was finally moving on. And now... now I'm right back to square one."

We sat there, on the step, for a long time. All she could do was reflect on her 'stupidity', and I tried to think of something to say.

"Ristuko-chan," I said slowly. "You're only fifteen."

"I know!" she wailed. "And it's too young to be thinking about anything serious with a boy because, let's face it, I'm in 9th grade and nothing in High School lasts. And I know the whole 'you'll move on' story, but it's just not working! And I really, honestly shouldn't be so concerned about Koki because I actually like being single, but..." She let out a frustrated squeal. "Mayuko Sensei, I haven't been this hooked on a boy since the fifth grade when I was obsessed with Satoshi Niwako!"

I let out a snort of laughter. "You mean the quarterback of the football team who is currently cheating on five girls?"

She nodded, and I had to wipe the smile from my face. "It just bugs me. We didn't even cover everything that I wrote in the letter."

"Maybe you should just tell him that?" I suggested.

"After I already made an ass out of myself twice?" she asked, her voice low. "And I just wrote him a letter. What kind of girl will that make me look like? Can you imagine how pathetic he thinks I am?"

"If he thinks you're pathetic, then he's not worth it," I blurted out, becoming angry. "Trust me."

"Then why do I think he is?" Ritsuko asked, her voice cracking. Without thinking, I pulled her into a hug. Surprisingly, she didn't resist.

"Because we're stupid, hormonal, too-damn-young-to-know-what-the-hell-we're-doing females," I said quietly. "How's that?"

Ritsuko sniffed, giggling a bit. She pulled back and smiled at me. "That's fine." She exhaled, wiping away some stray tears. "Think I'll ever get better?"

It was my turn to give her a smile. I patted her shoulder. "I have no doubt in my mind."

"Ritsuko-chan?"

We both turned to see a young man standing at the top of the steps, his eyes focused of the young woman sitting beside me. His blue eyes filled with concern immediately, and he rushed over to us.

"Are you ok?" he asked, skidding on the last step, but trying to make it look like he meant to do that by sitting down hard. He winced. "What's up? Why are you crying?"

Ritsuko laughed. "Gee, Dai-kun, I didn't even know you had such a thing as emotion in your body."

The young man scowled, then playfully punched Ritsuko's arm. "Shut your mouth. Of course I have emotions."

Ritsuko snorted. "Yeah, around your friends."

Dai rolled his eyes. "You make me sound so mean."

"This is my step brother," Ritsuko explained to me, turning her back to the brown-haired fellow. "Daisuke, this is Mayuko Sensei. She's one of my teachers."

"Well, that's a relief," Daisuke said, his tongue practically dripping with sarcasim. "I thought she was a random stranger that you just decided to spill your guts to."

He stood, ruffling part of her hair. She moved her head and swatted his hand away. Standing up at last, she stretched, causing more than a few of her sore bones to crack. She gave a meek smile and for the first time that day, of which I have seen, she relaxed. "Thanks for listening to me, Mayuko Sensei. Come on, Dai-kun!" She began walking home, her mood noticably brighter.

"I hate it when she calls me that," he mumbled. I couldn't tell if he was speaking to me or to himself. Despite the annoyed sound in his voice, he let out a kind, thoughful smile as he watched Ritsuko jumping up and down, trying to awaken her numb legs.

I stood and stretched a bit myself. As I gathered my things, Daisuke turned to me.

"Thanks," he said. He held out his hand for me to shake, so I did. "I appreciate you being there for her."

"Why? Is it always you taking care of her?" I asked, sticking out my tongue playfully.

He shrugged one shoulder. "Eh. She takes care of me more than she knows, but I'm the one she comes to when she just can't take life anymore."

I nodded and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Watch her back. She's having some... boy problems, shall we say."

Daisuke gave a grunt. "Yeah, I know. That Koki guy." When he saw my look of shock, he rolled his eyes. "She mentioned it once, but I noticed her behavior around him. Plus, I saw her typing a letter to him yesterday. Don't tell her I know," he added quickly. "But... yeah, I know."

That's basically all that happened. I watched Daisuke and Ritsuko walk home along the sidewalk, Daisuke occasionally pushing Ritsuko playfully. She would try to shove him off the walk, but would only end up bumping into a nearby tree due to Dai's strength compared to hers. It was cute, watching them walk home together. It kind of reminded me of the good old days. Mostly, it reminded me of myself.

But, unfortunately, there wasn't another incredibly cute male who was my best friend who just happened to have a thing for me, which I would, according to The Rules of Life, eventually see in a different light, and we'll end up happily ever after. I guessed I was just unlucky like that.


A/N: Ritsuko's problem is almost exactly like mine. Won't go into details, because it's kind of all there in Ritsuko's chat with Mayuko Sensei. I was just bored and decided to draw from real life experience. Except I'm kind of like Mayu at the end. There isn't an enormously cute step brother (nor any other male that I kow of) that just happens to have a thing for me. Hope y'all are liking this so far. I'm probably going to keep posting even if you don't :P