Chapter 3
The class seemed to drag on forever to Chihiro, but finally it was lunch. She immediately spotted Akari talking to Chihiro's other best friend Hatsumi. She quickly walked over to them.
"Hi Guys!"
Hatsumi smiled. "Hey Chihiro!"
Akari waved towards her. "Hey!"
Chihiro looked at Hatsumi. "Where in the world were you this morning?"
"I woke up late AND my bag's strap broke on the way here." Kasha pointed to her torn bag laying next to her feet on the floor. "I practically had to run all the way here."
"Wanna go to the store today after practice and get a new bag?", said Akari
Chihiro, Akari, and Hatsumi were all on the softball team together.
"Sure, and we can even stop somewhere and get something to eat!"
"Sorry guys," Chihiro said sadly ", I've got a date with tonight with Jake."
Both of her friends mouths dropped.
"What?", they said almost simultaneously.
"How come you didn't tell us you two had your first date tonight?"
"We need to get you all dressed up!"
Chihiro looked down at her feet, "It's no big deal really, he is just going to pick me up from practice and we are -"
Hatsumi broke into her sentence, "Pick you up from practice? You going to go in your school uniform all sweaty and smelly?"
"He'll probably be in his uniform too, and I'll just take a shower here at the school."
Her friends protested. "Tonight could be the night of your first real kiss, were going to make sure you look the part!"
"You could just tell him you are going to go home to get ready before your date."
Chihiro laughed. She couldn't believe how big of a deal her friends were making this into. Chihiro just thought they would go out to eat together and she would go straight home, she didn't really think of the details in-between.
Just then Jake walked up behind them.
"Hey guys, what's up?"
They all seemed to jump at his presence.
"Hey Jake"
"Hiya Jake"
Chihiro smiled, "Hey there."
Jake grabbed Chihiro's arm and began to pull her away. "You guys don't mind if I steal her for a second do you?"
Hatsumi smiled, "Oh we don't mind at all."
Chihiro shot her a look as Jake pulled her away, but Hatsumi pretended not to see it.
When they were sitting alone at a lunch table in the corner Jake seized her hand with his.
"I can't wait till our date tonight." He said in a low voice.
"Yeah, me neither." Chihiro said back hesitantly. "Why did he have to pull me away just to say that?" she thought.
Suddenly without warning Jake leaned over and kissed her gently on the cheek.
"You said not to kiss you in public.", he said grinning. Chihiro blushed.
"Um, Jake. Is it okay if I go home to uh, freshen up, before our date tonight?"
Jake laughed. "Sure, ill pick you up at your house at about, five-thirty then?"
Chihiro smiled, "Okay."
Chihiro's stomach grumbled loudly. "Heh, I'm sortta hungry, wanna go eat lunch?"
Jake smiled, "Sure."
Together they went up to the line and got their lunchs together.
-
Haku walked around in a neighborhood near by. "Did she see me back there or was it just my imagination?" He decided to stop and lean against a tree near by to collect his thoughts. "Did she even recognize me?" He picked up a stray rock and tossed it across the grass. "Of course she didn't recognize me, it's been to long." He leaned back and ran his hands through his hair. "I want to go to her so badly." He banged his head against the tree in frustration and swore under his breath from the pain.
"Any one there?", someone called from behind him. Haku leaned forward and looked behind the tree. There stood a tall blonde girl clutching a cigarette in her hand looking slightly scared.
"Who the hell are you?", she spat at him.
"Who? me?" Haku said looking surprised.
"Who else would I be talking to? I don't see anyone else here!", she snarled.
"Well um, I'm Haku. And who might you be?"
The girl laughed. Haku couldn't figure if the laugh was a friendly gesture, or a snide gesticulation.
"Who I am," said the blonde girl ",is none of your damn business."
Haku stood up. "Ill just leave you to yourself then."
As he began to walk away, the girl called after him. "Wait! I'm sorry."
She stomped the cigarette out and quickly ran to catch up with him.
"I'm Jayna," she said looking apologetic, "I just have a lot on my mind, and I tend to snap at people who don't deserve it."
Haku looked down at the girl into her bright green eyes, and came to realize that she was in fact, quite beautiful.
"It's okay", he said blushing slightly. "I should have checked to see if anyone was around before I sat."
Jayna laughed, "Well let me treat you out to lunch for my rudeness, unless you were heading somewhere."
Haku shook his head and smiled, "Nope, just walking around, getting my thoughts together."
Jayne beamed up at him, "Well I know this quaint little coffee shop not to far from here that has killer scones, care to join me?"
Haku forgot about his mission for a moment, but then realized he had a while to wait before Chihiro got out of school anyways. "Sure"
"Great, lets go!"
Haku followed the girl he had just met down several roads till they were in the in front of a little tan colored shop.
"What's the worse that can happen? A little coffee and some scones, what ever those may be, and then I go meet Chihiro. Everything is going according to plan."
-
Chihiro was changing back into her uniform and waited outside the girl's locker room doors for her friends. "What is taking them so long? I'm going to leave if they don't hurry up!" Suddenly her friends came bursting out the locker room deep in conversation.
"Who the hell does she think she is skipping school and not coming to practice?"
"I know! The girl seriously needs to learn responsibility. She is the lead pitcher! She needs to come to practice once and a while! We have a game on Wednesday!"
Chihiro suddenly stepped out in front of her friends.
"Who are you talking about?"
Hatsumi and Akari smiled at Chihiro and pulled her out the school. They walked quickly towards her house.
"Sorry were late, we were just talking about that stupid Jayna Nakamouri."
"Oh yeah, I didn't see her in practice today or in school for that matter, I wonder where she is."
"Probably out skanking it up with some guy, you know how Jayna is."
Chihiro laughed. Hatsumi could be so cruel to other girls sometimes, but she knew she didn't always mean what she said.
As they turned onto Chihiro's street, Natalie giggled, "Well we just need to keep out minds on you and your date tonight Chihiro!"
As they went into her house, they ran up the stairs to get Chihiro ready. Her parents weren't home, they would be at work till later that night. Hatsumi pushed Chihiro down onto the bed and pulled out her makeup case. Akari was searching through Chihiro's closet for a decent outfit. Chihiro laughed nervously, fearing her friends would make her look like a street tramp.
-
Later that night Chihiro sat across from Jake at the new restaurant "Soho's". Chihiro was afraid her friends over did it, but when Jake picked her up, he said she looked absolutely beautiful which sent Chihiro into a blushing frenzy. She was wearing a pale pink sleeveless shirt with a matching knee length skirt that gracefully clung to her body in all the right places. On her feet she wore her mothers high heeled sandals on account she didn't own any herself. Jake didn't look so bad himself, he wore a button down white shirt with some khakis. Chihiro was way to nervous to eat, so she just ordered soup and a light salad. Jake just had a sandwich with a Sprite himself.
After they ate they decided to go for a walk together on the town. Chihiro had to think about it because she wasn't so sure about her walking abilities in the high heeled shoes. As they walked around, they had casual conversation about school and their lives in general.
"I'm so scared of failing at times, so I don't really like putting myself at risk.", Chihiro said as they entered the park.
"I know what you mean," said Jake, "I'm not always so sure on things myself."
They decided to sit on a park bench near by because Chihiro's feet were killing her.
"Here, let me help you." Jake said as he sat her down on the park bench and placed himself next to her. He took off her left shoe and began to gently massage her foot.
"Thanks", Chihiro said before moaning softly. At first she was going to protest, but a foot rub is just what she needed.
After about five minutes of silence, Jake spoke up.
"You know, I like you a lot Chihiro.", He said staring intently at her foot as if afraid to look her in the eyes. "I think I might actually be in love with you."
Chihiro gasped and looked up to see Jakes suddenly staring intensely at her. With this Jake put Chihiro's foot down and leaned over, gently kissing her on the lips. Chihiro jumped slightly at warmth of his lips, and leaned back to break the kiss.
"Um, uh Jake", Chihiro said as she felt heat rising into her cheeks, "I like you a lot and all, but I don't think I love you in that way." She quickly looked at the ground as if suddenly interested in the concrete.
"Oh, I see," Jake said sounding heart broken. "Theres someone else isn't there? I can tell. Sometimes you go into daydreams and have such a look of love and desire on your face. If only you looked at me with such love. Chihiro, who does your heart belong to?"
Chihiro looked at Jake surprised. She had not told anyone about Haku or the spirit world, not even her closest friends. They would think she was crazy, talking about her parents turning into pigs and how she worked in a bath house in a different world. It was ludicrous, they surely would put her in a straight jacket and send her to the insane asylum. She even questioned her own sanity about it being true or not. But the love she had for Haku was real, not made up in her head. She was positive Haku was not make believe.
"I need time to think Jake..." She got up quickly and began to run in the direction of the city.
"CHIHIRO! WAIT!" Jake called after her, but she ignored him and kept running. She had left her other shoe on the park bench and running lopsided wasn't so easy. She kicked off her other shoe and continued to run. She didn't care that she just discarded a pair of her mother's best shoes, she just wanted to get home. Thoughts of Haku came flooding into her mind. "Haku's never coming back! Why am I putting my heart on hold for him?" The back of her eyes began to sing and she tried to blink away the tears. As she was running around a corner she suddenly hit something solid and it knocked her off her feet. Tears streaming down her face now, she started apologizing quickly.
"I'm so sorry, I should have watched where I was going-" she looked up to see a pair of dark green eyes staring back. It was the boy she saw in the courtyard. Suddenly all words failed her.
"Are you alright?" His low voice snapped Chihiro out of her sudden loss of speech.
"Uh, yea, fine, um, I'm fine." Chihiro quickly wiped her eyes, forgetting she had makeup on smearing black all over her arm.
The boy grabbed Chihiro's hands and pulled her up to her feet. A warm shiver ran through Chihiro's entire body as their hands touched.
"Geeze Chihiro, you should really watch where you're going!"
At the boys side, stood Jayna holding an ice cream cone.
"Jayna? What are you doing here?"
Jayna laughed and took a bite of the ice cream.
"I decided to take my new friend Haku here, out for a night on the town." Jayna looked down at Chihiro's bare, soiled feet. "Uh, Chihiro, where are your shoes?"
But Chihiro wasn't listening to a word Jayna was saying. She was to busy looking into the boys eyes.
"H-Haku?"
He smiled and stared back into her eyes.
"Yea, that's right Chihiro."
"Is this really Haku? My Haku? Has he finally come to see me?"
Jayna finally spoke after several seconds of silence.
"Uh, Hello? Chihiro? Haku? You guys can stop holding hands and staring at each other now."
"Oh, sorry" said Haku before letting go of Chihiro's hands, but he still gazed into her warm walnut colored eyes.
Jayna was starting to become irritated. After all, she had spent the entire day trying to get Haku to fall for her, but it seems she didn't succeed.
"Well I guess ill be going now." she said innocently. She turned Haku to face her and kissed him suddenly on the lips. Chihiro and Haku seemed to have the same shocked expression on their faces. Jayna slipped a small piece of paper with her number written on it into Haku's front pocket. Then she broke the kiss and smiled up at him. Haku seemed to still be in shock. She leaned up and whispered into his ear.
"Call me later, okay?"
With that she skipped off in the direction of the park. Haku, still stunned from the kiss looked back down at Chihiro.
"Um, I don't know what that was all about."
Chihiro looked up at him with tears welling up in her eyes again and went running towards her house.
"Chihiro wait!"
Haku ran after her with inhuman speed. He grabbed the back of her shirt then turned her to face him. Chihiro opened her mouth to speak, but then fainted in his arms. Haku picked her up in one swift movement and held her limp body in his arms.
-