Chapter II – Literature Club?

I was thinking about food, as I always do after a school day, when Sayori, after stuffing her things in her bag and getting off the chair on my left, asked me "So, did you check any club out already?". "Well, not really. The only club I wanted to check out was the anime club, but they only reunite tomorrow…". She looked at me with a bit of hopeful expression "So why don't you check out the literature club today? We're reuniting now that classes are over, and I'm sure you would love it! You even have a good grade at literature and everything, you'll do great"

Sayori had a point, even if it wasn't my favorite thing in the world, my literature grades were not bad "Sayori, even if I have a good grade, you know literature is not really my thing…". "Oh come, you don't know if you like it until you check it out!" She tries to make a sad face before continuing "We even got some cupcakes…"

After hearing that, it all became clear to me. Sayori spent the previous week talking about her club and trying to make me join it, but for some reason that was unknown to me until then, she didn't mention a thing about the club the entire day, until then. She looked at me as I found out about her plan. "You mention the club all day so I wouldn't eat anything early and you could make me check the club out because I don't say no to food when I'm hungry didn't you?" She smiled triumphantly as I took notice of her scheme. "You're hungry aren't you? You can get a cupcake or two from the literature club if you check it out!"

Even if I don't want to admit it, she caught me. She can be a bit naive most of the time, but she can actually pull out some sneaky plans like this from time to time. Most of the time I see through it since I know her since we were kids, but this time it definitely wasn't the case. She really pulled it out of nowhere and it really got me, because when I'm hungry the only thing that I think with if my belly…

"Unbelievable..." "Come on, I already told everyone that I would bring a new member to the club…pleaseeee…." This girl… not only she had pulled it off, now she made it so I can't say no because if I do her club partners may get mad at her… "…okay, fine! I'll check it out, but only for the cupcakes! I may or may not join the club after I check it out okay?" She jumps with excitement as she hugs me right after "Oh, I knew you would check it out! Thank you so much, Mew!" "Come on, let's just check it out already…" I think I blushed a bit from the embarrassment, it's not all days you simply see a girl hugging a guy in the middle of a classroom. "Alright, let's go!" Her smile really exposes her happiness about this. I guess I can't get mad if I make her this happy.

We went to the last floor have we turned to the right hallway where most of the school clubs use to get together after classes. Sayori stopped in front of the club's classroom door and looked at me has happily as she could be. I don't know what was making her happier, me checking out her club or the fact she actually pulled that her scheme through. "Here we are!" she said. That was the precise moment I sold my soul for a cupcake…

She opened the door and said "Hey everyone! Here we are! I brought the new member!" "I told you I didn't know if I was joining…" "Meanie!" She tried to make a sad face but failed embarrassingly, her happiness about this was really telling, so she wasn't able to hide it even if she wanted to. I took a glance at the classroom as I was talking to Sayori. I saw a girl reading a book in one of the classroom's desks and a girl on the teachers' desk. The girl on the desk left her book on the desk as she got up and approached us while entered the classroom. She politely greets me once she gets close to me and Sayori "Hi Sayori, good to see that you did bring your friend with you. Welcome to the Literature Club, it's a pleasure to meet you!" She gave me a friendly smile after taking a look at me. I took a look at her appearance as she greeted me, a bit taller than Sayori, but a bit smaller than me since I have around 5'9", purple, long, straight hair and kind of a more mature lady posture, she had a body much more "developed" than Sayori, if I can call it that way. "I, thanks for having me! Hope Sayori didn't bother you that much with me coming here and take a look."."Oh, don't worry! She didn't bother us at all, Sayori simply said nice things about you. My name is Yuri, you must be Mew right?". I hope I didn't blush, although I think I might have, it's not every day a girl know my name with me not knowing her. "That's me! Glad to meet you, Yuri!"

"Seriously? You actually brought a boy? What a way to kill the atmosphere Sayori!" A voice that came from behind me was one I didn't recognize. I looked behind to see a smaller girl coming in our direction and sitting on a table on my right side. Her attitude was a bit damaging for my opinion on her, but I had to admit, she was as cute as a girl can get. Short, around her shoulders pink hair, even knowing she was probably shorter than most girls our age, she definitely was beautiful. Her appearance really attracted me, somehow much more than Yuri, but her reaction to me and immature looking attitude really diminished the willingness I had of approaching her. I probably would have liked to try to have something with her, since this is the first girl that I actually found attractive to the point of me letting my bashfulness with girls behind and really go for her, but that aggressive attitude might have pushed me back permanently. I don't like getting judged, because most of the time I'm judged by having long hair being a boy. At least she didn't call me a girl, that would have just killed her for me.

"Ah, Mew! What a nice surprise! Sayori actually brought you here! Welcome to the club!" I looked to my left to see the girl who was on the teachers' desk getting closer to us all. At first, I didn't recognize her but has she was approaching us I finally remembered who she was. She was Monika. She was in one of my classes last year, that's the only reason why she knew who I was because she was evidently completely out of my league. Beautiful, athletic, intelligent, she is probably the school's most popular and it was pretty obvious why that was the case. I don't even know if anyone in school was in her league, but she probably has a boyfriend anyway. "Hi Monika, thanks for having me!"

I took a quick glance at all the girls that were with me, Sayori at my left side, at her left was Yuri, Monika in front of me and the girl with the sour attitude at my right whose name I didn't know yet at my right. This club was indeed full of incredibly cute girls. I took a bit too much time looking at the girl at my right and she caught me looking at her, I immediately took my look off of her but I think I still got caught.

"What were you looking at? If you want to say something, say it…" She said that has she blushed slightly, but none of the remaining girls noticed it. "S-Sorry…" "Natsuki…could you go get the cupcakes please?" said Yuri, giving a disapproval look to the girl in my right, whose name is apparently Natsuki, and she apparently was also the one who brought the cupcakes. "Hmph" has she said that Natsuki retreated from the table to my right and went to the closet, probably getting the cupcakes like Yuri asked her to.

Sayori turned to me and starts whispering at my ear "Don't worry too much when she gets like this, it's not that she doesn't like you or anything. She just has a bit of a hard time trusting people. Even after some time with us, she still doesn't talk that much about herself." She turns back to Yuri and Monika after that. "Anyway, she is Natsuki, as you already know she is Yuri, the smartest in the club! And you already know Monika, our club president!" she said that pointing to each girl, except Natsuki since she wasn't around us, as she summarized me of every member of the club. "D-Don't say things like that, you are embarrassing me…" Yuri slightly blushed has Sayori gave her the compliment. She seems more mature as I suspected, but she is almost as bashful as I am, even if she is just talking to people the same gender like Natsuki or Sayori. I only have problems with most girls, especially when I find them attractive. Sayori is attractive, but she is my childhood friend, so I talking to her is as simple has it gets.

" Well, it's nice to meet you all, even if I already knew Monika before this…" "That's right! But its great to see you again." She gives me a warm smile. We don't really know each other since we rarely talked in all the time we were in the same class last year. Still, having her smile at me as genuinely as good. Maybe we might have a chance to know each other this time. "You too!" Somehow I don't feel even a bit nervous while talking to Monika, even knowing she is as popular as she is.

Sayori sat at a round table where most of the girls' stuff was, she placed her stuff besides her and called me "Mew, come sit with us! You can sit next to me and Monika.". "I will make some tea to complement the cupcakes, anyone wants some tea as well?". "I want some tea please!" I answered to Yuri before she left with a smile on her face as I sat beside Sayori, with Monika having a seat next to me. Yuri came back with some tea, served me some and sat at my right next to Sayori. I thanked her right after she served me the cup of tea, obviously.

Suddenly, Natsuki proudly approaches us bringing the cupcakes' tray in her hands. They looked amazing and pretty much looked like they just got out of the oven. The decoration made the cupcakes look like cats, with the icing used to draw whiskers and little chocolate pieces used has ears. It looked like a professional baker's work or something taken of a sweet's magazine. Either case, I was actually amazed. "Wow, that's amazing Natsuki. Was it you that baked them?" Natsuki blushed slightly, looking a bit surprised with my complement. "They're so cute!" Sayori adds immediately, with Monika following right after her "I had no idea you were so good at baking, Natsuki!". "Ehehe. Well, you should have known. Anyway, just hurry and take one!"

Each of us 4 grabbed a cupcake, first Sayori, then Monika, followed Yuri, and finally me. Has I take mine, I notice that Natsuki's answer to both Monika and Sayori was very confident, although her responding to me she seemed kind of nervous. Do I make her nervous? Each of them takes a bit, with me looking at Sayori trying to talk with her mouth completely full. Have I laugh at her full mouth expression, I notice Natsuki observing me expectantly from the corner of my eye. Is she waiting for me to try the cupcake? Maybe I caught her attention before when I complimented her work on the cupcakes' appearance. Anyway, it must be my imagination.

I finally take a bite. The icing's full of flavor, unlike any sweet I ever tasted. I had to admit, even knowing I'm not much of a sweets guy, I would be a happy man with sweets like that from time to time. I definitely wasn't expecting so much quality in a simple cupcake, not only it looked amazing, but it tasted has amazing has it looked. I start thinking I really underestimated her, maybe I could be wrong about her personality too? Maybe. I compliment her work once again "Natsuki, it's amazing! It tastes has good has it looks. Thank you." She blushes and turns her eyes to the side avoiding eye contact. "W-Why are you thanking me? It's not like I m-made them for you or anything…" "Huh, you didn't? I thought Sayori said…" She interrupted me right away "W-Well, maybe…but nor for, y-you know, you! Dummy…"

Wait…did she just call me a dummy? She just nicknamed me…she looks like she is trying to approach me, or is it just me imagining? The blush in her embarrassed expression tells me otherwise. No, she actually flirted with me. Very slightly, but I'm sure she did…I try not to push her much more since I think if I do I might push her away. "Alright, alright…Thank you anyway." She avoids eye contact, not saying a thing, and I leave our conversation at that to not push her much more.

We all started talking about random stuff until Monika eventually asked me what made me consider checking out the literature club. I didn't want to bury Sayori, even knowing she probably deserved that. I that a look at her and she avoids eye contact so she doesn't have to deal with anything I might say. What a friend I have… "Well, I haven't joined any clubs yet, and Sayori seemed really happy about being her in the club with you all, so I got a bit curious and wanted to check it out.". "Oh, that's okay. We'll make sure you feel like you're in the right place, okay?" I'm actually surprised by Monika. She really looks invested in making everyone feel the best they can here. I start seeing now why she is the president. I knew she was in the debate club last year, but although she was good, the rumors spreading around the school talked about her not standing the politics around the major clubs. Since the literature club is much smaller, she doesn't have to deal with it, so she is probably much happier about that.

I shared my theory with her. She laughed a little but eventually confirmed my suspicions "Yeah I was in the debate club, and I ended up leaving because of that same reason you talked about. But I'm much more invested in the Literature Club, although it is hard starting a new club and getting people interested in something that doesn't grab your attention at first, I really think we can do it and make the club grow. And this also makes school events like the festival next week that much more important. Everyone agreed with Monika, myself included. She was a natural for club president, and that was pretty obvious.

I was still kind of behind with the literature stuff, but getting to know these girls left me wanting to spend more time here. Even knowing that more literature stuff would come with that. Do I really want to join knowing that I'm not that into literature? Well, I guess I can simply get out if I find that its really not my thing so…yeah, I made my mind!

"Okay girls, I made my decision. If you let me, I would like to join you all in the Literature Club.". Sayori jumped off her seat "W-What?! Really?!" Monika glanced at me with a big smile "I would be very happy if you joined us". Yuri agreed with Monika, leaving Natsuki's opinion left. "Y-Yeah, I don't really mind him joining. W-Whatever…" She acted like she wasn't fully on board with it, but she released a slight expression of happiness for a second, blushing right after she noticed I saw her real expression. Is she happy I joined? I already pushed her a bit, so I guess I'll not push my luck that much more today, maybe I'll ask her tomorrow.

Monika took the honors "Well, that seals it then! Mew, I officially welcome you to the Literature Club!" Everyone, myself included, happily applauded her declaration. "And has first thing we'll all do with our new member, we'll do poem share. We will all go home, write a poem of our own and tomorrow we'll bring it to the club and share it with each other! This way we'll get more comfortable for our poetry session on the festival next week and it will help us feel more comfortable with each other now that Mew also joined the club, how does that sound?

Natsuki wasn't really on board with it "I-I don't really want to share them…". "Wait, you already wrote some?" I was actually curious. "W-Why do you care?" "I think that's impressive, I would like to read them sometime" She rejected my wish right away "A-Ah, no…y-you wouldn't like them…" "Oh come on, if they are as good as your cupcakes, surely it's something I can't miss" She blushed hard and turned her back to me so I couldn't see her blushed face "D-Dummy…" She looks even cuter when she blushes. Thinking about her makes my heart pound, but I'm sure it's nothing, I barely know her. Although I still hope she shares one of her poems with me tomorrow.

"Sharing poems it's not something you can do easily, it's something kind of personal, and it takes not only confidence from the writer in his skill but also confidence from the writer in the person the writer is sharing with" Yuri sounded very philosophical saying that, and I guess she is right. My poetry skills aren't the best, but truth be told they are not the worst either.

"Okay, everyone! I think on that note, we officially finish today's meeting. Hope to see all your poems tomorrow!" And like that, Monika finishes the club meeting, leaving me thinking if I can impress anyone with my writing skills. Well, Monika surely will be hard, as she is one of the best in the entire school. Yuri seems very wise, so she probably doesn't have much difficulty expressing her feelings on a paper. Natsuki seems to have experience with writing poems, and although I would like to impress her to see if I catch her attention, that might be as difficult has it will be to impress Monika. Sayori is a bit below my level on literature, but sometimes she can pull it out big time, so this doesn't look like an easy task…

"Well, if it was easy, probably it wouldn't be worth my time in the first place! Sayori, are you coming?" I grab my bag as I look at Sayori. "Yeah, I'm going with you. Oh, by the way, I should add your chat account to the Literature Club chat. I'm gonna message Monika and send her your chat ID okay?" "Sure, that sounds great! Let's go!"

When we got to our street, I and Sayori said our goodbyes as I walked towards my house, leaving Sayori behind. Today was a good day, a very good day…