Chapter 3. I don't care.
Growing up, Misao Makamachi has never been first in anything. Did she care?
"Being first doesn't mean anything." She'd huff and cross her arms across her chest, acting like she didn't care for ranking. In fact, you know what? Misao didn't care about anything.
She didn't worry about getting straight A's-why stay up all night and kill yourself over an A when a C allows you to pass the class anyway?
She didn't spend half an hour trying to decide on what to wear or put on make-up-what's the point when the guys you like clearly are already taken? If anything, it'd be more discouraging to see that you aren't pretty enough even with make-up and hair done.
She didn't think that she'd ever care about anything-what's there to care when your parents don't care about you?
Ever since Misao could remember, her parents had been fighting-fighting about the utility bills being too high, fighting about the car driving too slow in the snow, fighting about the weather being too cold…they didn't care that Misao needed to be fed at least three times a day, or that she had the flu and was running an extremely high fever, or the fact that she might need a thicker coat for the cold weather in Indianapolis, Indiana.
So it came as no surprise that they didn't care when Misao announced she was accepted to University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
"You never listen," Her mother was screaming to her dad in the study room when Misao found the package in the mail," All you do is play chess, play chess, and play chess! Fuck you and your chess pieces!"
"That's because this is the only thing that's keeping me sane!"
"So…I got into U of Mich." Misao stood in the doorway, holding her letter of acceptance.
"So now you're saying I'm driving you crazy? Is that what you're implying?"
"You know perfectly well you blow things out of proportion." Her dad snapped back.
"What do you mean I blow things out of proportion?"
"I'll be packing upstairs." With a cheerful smile, Misao left her parents and their arguments. Over the next few days, Misao kept on reading her acceptance letter over and over again, memorizing every word and every comma, and fearing it'd be dream if she lost the letter.
It wasn't that she's excited to go for more schooling, oh no, Misao was ready to quit any time, she was just so ready to get out of her home and away from her parents.
Going to a university, for Misao, was her way of escaping.
"Hey honey, do you have a ride up to Ann Arbor tomorrow?" One day, out of the blue, her mom came in to her room.
"Yeah, one of the girls I'll be rooming with is also from Indy, so we're going up together." Misao replied, not knowing why her mom cared so sudden.
"What about your tuition money? You've turned in your FASFA already, right?" Surprisingly, her dad appeared by the doorway as well.
"Yeah, and I've took out a few student loans." Misao put down the t-shirt she was packing, and narrowed her aquamarine eyes," Is there something you two are keeping away from me?"
"Of course not," Clearing his throat, her dad smiled, "Since you're leaving tomorrow, your mom and I thought it'd be nice to get dinner together. We've booked at the Old Spaghetti Factory downtown."
"That'd be really great!" Misao was genuinely touched. She couldn't believe it! Were they actually caring about her? She had never remembered her parents behaving so well and having so much fun together, as though they had put all their hatred and arguments behind.
That night, as Misao donned her pajamas on, she suddenly felt a little sad-she was leaving her home, the place she had grew up in the last eighteen years of her place, and she won't be able to see it as often.
Secretly, she was going to miss her parents as well. They were finally turning for the better, and she'd have to miss it.
The next morning flew by, with boxes being lifted, loaded, and shifted around in the little truck they had rented.
"So, you're Kaoru, right?" Her mom asked.
"Yep, that'd be me." Tucking a stray black hair, Kaoru Kamiya smiled broadly.
"You take care of my little girl." Her dad came over and shook her hands," Who's your other roommate? Misao mentioned something about the three of you staying together?"
"Yep, the other girl is Megumi Takani. She's a first-year grad student and went to U of Mich for her undergraduate. She's really nice."
"I'm ready, Kaoru. This is the last of my luggage." Misao bounced out of the door with her duffel bag and threw it in the backseat.
"Okay, I'll be ready when you are. It was nice meeting you, Mr. and ." Kaoru waved politely before climbing into the driver's seat, giving Misao some privacy with her parents.
"So…I'll come back winter break and I'll see you then?" Misao didn't really know how to say goodbye, and shifted around a little.
"Of course," Her mom hugged her briefly and said," I'll be at your granny's, so just drop by whenever."
"Granny?" Misao was confused," Why?" If she remembered correctly, her mom didn't exactly have the greatest daughter-mother relationship with her granny.
"Your dad and I are getting a divorce and we've decided that you are to come visit me for Christmas and then see your dad during the summer. Next year, we'd switch, so you'd be at your dad's for Christmas and mine during the summer."
"It was the most rational plan." Her dad chimed in.
Misao took a step back, trying to make sense of everything and trying to hold back all the raging emotions inside her.
"You're getting a divorce?" Misao blinked, disbelieved at what she was hearing," Why didn't you tell me earlier? Was last night just an act then? Why did you give me hope when there wasn't any?" She took another step back," And why are you two deciding whom I go see? I'm not a thing that you two can just pass back and forth!" Stomping her feet, she screamed," I hate you two!"
With that, she flung herself in the car, slammed the door, and sobbed," Let's go, Kaoru. I don't ever want to come back."
Smart enough to know not to ask any questions, Kaoru obligated and left Misao's parents standing in front of the yard with shocked expressions on their faces.
It was then and there that Misao decided she wasn't going to care-it'd be safer, better, and she was never going to get hurt again.
She didn't want to get hurt again.
Misao hated French. She had taken it almost seven years, all through middle school and high school years, but she hated it. She did not enjoy memorizing vocabularies, which was one of the reasons she scored so low in her verbal SAT, nor did she like memorizing grammatical rules.
Let's face it. Misao just hated memorizations in general.
Another reason she hated French was because there's a random guy in class who enjoys staring at her.
He's staring again. Misao could feel the hot gaze trailing on her back. She turned, her black braid whipping around, hoping to catch him in action, but only saw him staring at his book.
"Is something the matter, Misao?" Her professor raised an eyebrow. He knew his class was interesting, but he didn't think it was enough to send people into jerking motions.
"No, nothing." She slid further in her seat and wrote repeatedly in her notebook Stupid kid.
As soon as class ended, she got up and walked over to the source of her trouble.
"Hey you, stop staring at me in class…"Her threats would have sounded a little more menacing if he didn't meet her eyes and made her trail off.
Now, Misao has met many boys in her life. She was the yearbook photographer for four years, and she has seen many pairs of blue eyes. In fact, her roommate Kaoru has some amazing blue eyes…but nothing, nothing Misao has seen in the last eighteen years of her life matched up to the ice blue hues of this dude who stared at her in class.
"I'm sorry?" He asked, gathering his books.
"I'm…I'm Misao," For some reason, Misao felt she lost her supply of oxygen," You…you were looking at me in class."
"I'm sorry," Misao could just listen to his voice all day long. She wondered if she could discreetly reach into her jacket, grab her iPod, and record his voice down," You were sitting in the middle aisle."
"Ye-yes?"
Unexpectedly, the mysterious stranger with amazing blue eyes placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around, facing toward the board.
"You see," He bent down and half-whispered to her ear, sending shivers down her spine," If I wanted to look at the board, my gaze would travel through the middle aisle and thus, look at you."
"I," Swallowing, Misao managed to squeak," I see."
"Good." He patted her shoulder before walking past her.
"What's your name?" Misao found her voice back and shouted.
He turned, a small smile appearing on his face, making his blue eyes even blue-r if that was possible," I'm Aoshi, Aoshi Shinomori."
For some reason, after that, French became Misao's favorite class and to make it better, it was four times a week!
