Wow, I was really touched by the positive reception the first chapter received! I admit I was really nervous after publishing it, but I definitely feel more confident now.
Anyway, here's the second chapter. Enjoy!
To her credit, Justine was only slightly nervous as she got herself ready to go to school. Her decision to not tell anyone what she had heard was proving to be the best option, at least to her. It really was not any of her business, and she decided that she didn't really care. At least that was what she was trying to tell herself, anyway. There was a small part of her that said she should report it to the school, but that would most likely prove to be pointless. If Laito blatantly sexually harassing female students only got him what amounted to a slap on the wrist, then Justine doubted anything would happen if she told people he was in an intimate relationship with a teacher. Though she thought that it could result in Mrs. Namikawa being fired and replaced with someone who wasn't secretly a banshee disguised as a human woman, which would be a very pleasant change. Besides, that was not the only source of her anxiety.
What really had her worried was Laito Sakamaki's strange behaviour as he left school with his five equally odd brothers. He smiled and waved to her as though they were dear old friends, even though he'd never even acknowledged her existence before. She honestly would have preferred that he'd just glare at her or something, that would at least be a logical response to someone catching you having an affair with a married teacher. But if the rumours going around school about him were true, then it would seem that he actually got off on confusing and shocking people. He was definitely not someone she wanted knowing that she was alive, and was currently unsure of how to proceed. She then thought that this was just her paranoia and trust issues acting up again, making her jump to the worst possible conclusions. While this thought helped ease her stress, it didn't make it go away entirely.
Justine finished straightening out her uniform as she stared at her reflection in the bathroom. It became obvious now that her lack of time in the sun had made her become rather pale, though she was at least glad that she didn't look like a corpse. She made another feeble attempt to make her long, wavy black hair presentable, but she had long figured out that at some point in time her hair had developed sentience and was now actively rebelling against her. It liked being messy, with one particularly stubborn lock of hair always falling between her eyes. Giving up, she left her bathroom and made her way downstairs, where her father was sitting at the dining table, doing something on his laptop and drinking some hot chocolate, dressed comfortably in a t-shirt and sweat pants. Since he worked during the day, he would drive her to school, go to bed, and then pick her up before going to work. This left little time for them to spend together, but they made up for it every few Sundays by having the occasional "father-daughter days," as he liked to put it.
"Almost ready to go?" he asked, looking up from his computer to look at her. Justine smiled and nodded, setting her school bag onto the counter as she prepared to make herself some toast. The warm smile on Akira's face shifted to a look of concern as he saw her go into the pantry.
"Justine, it's alright; I'll cook something for you. You don't have to…" His sentence trailed off when she gave him another smile, coming back with a loaf of sliced bread. She silently assured him that she was alright, and he decided to leave her to it. After all, Dr. Sohma had said that she was learning new coping skills and reacting well to the new medication she had prescribed. However, as she popped the slices of bread into the toaster, that vile, suffocating sense of dread began to creep up on her. She dared not look behind her at the object of her anxiety, lest she only make it worse. She decided to power walk over to the table where her father sat, sitting down and forcing a smile onto her face, keeping her hands clasped together in an effort to stop them from trembling. He knew how anxious she was, of course, and saw through ruse her almost immediately. It sometimes annoyed Justine how well he knew her and when she was trying to hide something. She didn't think that she was that obvious…
"Don't worry, I'll take care of the toast. Remember to take deep breaths and…" He lost focus on what he was saying once again when he took notice of her rough, uneven fingernails. Justine made the attempt to hide her hands underneath the table, but he was faster than her and took them into his own hands. His face gave way to a worried expression once again.
"Justine, are you biting your nails again?" He asked, looking her straight in the eye. She was half tempted to shake her head no, but she couldn't lie to him when he was looking her in the eye. Instead, she dropped her head down in shame.
"I'm sorry… Sometimes I just do it without even realizing…" She murmured, eyes remaining downwards in an attempt to hide herself from him. She knew she had promised to work on the whole "nail" issue, but she would begin to gnaw at them subconsciously if she was anxious or stressed. She hated to disappoint Akira, what with all he had done for her. Giving her a home, unconditional love, and a feeling of security. She just wanted to make him happy, to repay him for his kindness. When she looked up at him again, he was smiling warmly at her with sympathy in his eyes.
"It's okay, I know you don't mean to do it. Just keep trying, you'll kick the habit eventually." He told her optimistically, which brought a faint grin to her face. However, they both looked towards the kitchen when a foul smell filled the air.
"Oh crap! The toast!" She exclaimed before hurrying to the kitchen in an attempt to salvage her breakfast. However, looking at the blackened, pathetic looking pieces of charcoal that had once been bread, she found herself laughing. Despite her earlier fear, she found the situation too humourous to not laugh. Besides, it helped keep the bad thoughts and memories away.
Akira looked at his laughing daughter from the dining area and smiled, glad that at the very least she could find humour in the things that troubled her the most.
Exiting Akira's car and slamming the door shut behind her, she waved goodbye to him as he drove off back home. She began to walk to the front entrance, making an effort to scan the crowds of students for a certain red-haired pervert. Feeling that the coast was clear, she relaxed as she opened the front doors and let herself into the locker area. Swapping out her shoes, she made her way down the hall, knowing that she had some time to kill before class would start. She once again took to her aimless, peaceful walk, feeling a little better that she hadn't seen Laito yet. She scolded herself for being paranoid again and forced the strange boy out of her thoughts. She eventually made it to her little sanctuary, sitting on the pristinely trimmed grass.
"I swear, at this rate I'm going to end up never wanting to leave the house. I'll become a hermit, living off of microwaved food and things I order online." She said to herself, imagining herself residing in an isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere, scaring off anyone foolish enough to tread upon her lair by making them think she was a ghost or something equally spooky. The ridiculous idea made her chuckle to herself.
"Oh? Why would you say that?" a distinctly familiar voice said from behind her. Justine let out a shriek before jumping up off the grass, spinning around to reveal the recent source of her anxiety. Laito simply stood there wearing that dumb hat of his, arms crossed and a sly smirk on his face. His eyes stared directly into her own, as though he were sizing her up.
"S-Sakamaki-san?" she blurted out, still somewhat in shock while wondering how he was able to get behind her without her noticing. He gripped the edge of his fedora and winked at her, though to her it came across as anything but flirtatious. He chuckled to her before speaking again.
"You seem surprised. Did I scare you~?" Justine said nothing as she continued to look back at him, her eyes beginning to darken as her surprise was replaced with passive aggressive anger.
"Why would I not be? You just suddenly snuck up behind me." She said calmly, despite her now full on glaring at the still smirking boy. This response actually made his grin even wider, his green eyes lighting up with glee. She then decided to not give him the time of day by turning around and walking back inside the school building, only to feel his arms wrap around her waist. She immediately stiffened and began to struggle to free herself, noting that his grip was surprisingly strong. She could hear his insufferable chuckling once again from behind her, knowing that seeing her almost going into a panic attack must have been highly amusing for him. She decided to stop struggling, calming down so that she would no longer give the reaction he wanted. Clearing her throat, she calmly began to speak.
"Look, if you're doing this because of what I saw yesterday, you're wasting your time. I've decided not to say anything, because I don't know you and I honestly don't really care about what you do with your time. Speaking of time, you happen to be wasting mine." She felt his arms around her loosen, taking the chance to free herself from his grasp. She turned around to face him once again, a look of annoyance etched onto her face. Strangely, the look on his face showed no emotion at all, as if trying to figure out how he felt about her response. But as quickly as his smirk left, it came back with a vengeance. He threw is head up in full blown laughter, as if she had told him the funniest joke he had ever heard. Justine definitely did not appreciate being laughed at, and turned away to leave. She then felt his cold arm drape itself around her shoulders, holding her close to his side. His strong grip hurt her shoulder a bit which caused her to wince. She looked up at him with angry in her eyes, while he simply smiled down at her.
"You really are too adorable, Darling. That defiant look in your eyes is simply lovely~." he said, using his arm to lead her back into the building. She tried to move away from him, but his strength forced her to walk down the hall with him in full view of the other students. Most conveyed a look of shock and disbelief, while others seemed like they now wanted nothing more in life than to see her head explode into a million bloody pieces. Justine looked up at Laito again, wondering what he thought he was gaining from this bizarre display. He noticed her staring, and responded with a flirtatious wink, which only served to anger her further.
They eventually came upon their classroom, with Laito wasting no time in sliding the door open as loudly and dramatically as possible. The students who were already there stopped whatever they were doing to stare at the two of them, Laito grinning like he didn't have a care in the world, while Justine wished that the earth could open up and swallow her whole right that instant, not helped by the fact that she was growing increasingly agitated by the fact that he was still making physical contact with her. Freeing herself from him once again, she quickly went to her seat, ignoring all of the eyes staring at her in either confusion or anger. She naïvely assumed that he would take his own seat, seeing as the girls who always sat on the desks left and right to here where already seated. However, as soon as she was settled, she heard the student to her right yelp as Laito came face to face with her.
"You wouldn't mind terribly if I sat here today, would you?" he asked, almost as if he was going to give her a choice. He added in a wink for good measure, because of course he did. The girl, much to Justine's dismay, fell for it hook, line and sinker and got out of her chair, her cheeks as red as a beet. Laito then took the now empty seat for himself, making sure to give Justine a triumphant smile/smirk as she was wracking her brain trying to figure out what he wanted. The door then opened again to reveal Mrs. Namikawa, who took one look at the new seating arrangement and began to glare daggers at them. Justine looked at Laito with a knowing anger, as if saying to him, 'you planned for all of this, didn't you?' His smirk grew even wider in response. Mrs. Namikawa loudly cleared her throat, which meant they all had to shut up and pay attention.
Justine found herself rather surprised. Her teacher was acting as though nothing was out of the ordinary. She didn't pick on Justine especially today like she thought she would, and just seemed direct her scorn and anger to all of the students as usual. Though this didn't mean that Justine was able to pay attention like she usually did, not with "Mr. Nuisance" next to her. It would be the small things he would do that really annoyed her, like him playing with her hair or touching her leg underneath the desk. She would flinch reflexively every single time, which only seemed to amuse him more. She already knew why the teacher wasn't calling him out on it, but that didn't explain why the other students were acting as if nothing was going on. All of these elements put together made her school day feel like it was ten times longer than it actually was. Really, Justine didn't know how she managed to make it to the lunch break with what remained of her sanity intact. However, to her utter despair, Laito followed her out of the classroom and into the hallway once again.
Justine wasn't sure if it was all of the harassment she had faced, or if it was just his smug grin, but when she felt him oddly cold hand brazenly grab her ass, she snapped. Enough was enough. Seeing red, she turned around to face him and screamed at the top of her lungs,
"Leave me alone!"
The sound of shattering glass snapped her out of her rage, as the lightbulbs in the hanging ceiling lights seemed to burst all at once, plunging the entire hallway into darkness. The other students began to scream in confusion and terror, not at all knowing what had caused the sudden blackout. All anger left Justine's body and was quickly replaced with dread as she subconsciously took a step back, feeling the glass crunch underneath her shoe. She was close enough to Laito to see that his grin had finally gone away, showing that he seemed to be just as shocked and confused as everyone else. Without another word, she ran away from the terrible scene, pushing her way past her frightened, screaming classmates. When she finally made it to the front entrance, she burst through the door and ran down the street.
It had taken her hours to get to her house on foot, and by the time she made it her legs ached terribly and her chest burned, but she didn't care, she just wanted to get as far away from the school and that bastard as possible. As she made her way to her front door and let herself into her house, she felt completely drained, both physically and emotionally. She shut the door behind her and trudged her way upstairs to her room. She locked her bedroom door and miserably sank to the floor.
Her room was always her sanctuary, a place she could go to and unwind. In this place, there was no one to judge her, no one to disappoint. She could simply be. But when she was feeling particularly awful, not even the usually serene solitude of her bedroom could lift her spirits. Now, it seemed, was such a time.
"It happened again…" she muttered to herself as she could hear Akira begin to knock on her door, no doubt having heard her come home.
"Justine? What are you doing home so early? Justine?" he called to her from the other side, his voice panicked as he furiously jiggled the door knob. She was far too tired to answer, and just continued to mutter to herself, feeling smaller and more hopeless than ever as she felt a lone tear roll down her cheek.
"I'm sorry, it happened again, I'm so sorry…"
Well, that was the second chapter. I hope you enjoyed it!