Chapter Two: Hints

The following morning, the fifteenth, a few minutes before first period was due to start, I opened my locker to put away the stuff I brought for my club—since it was Friday. Right as I was about to set down my plastic bag full of stuff, I caught sight of the small, white envelope in there. I reached my hand in to pull it out before shutting my things away and securing my locker.

The front still said:

To: Riku

The back was sealed and had a different sticker in place. The sticker: a red rose. I felt tempted to open the letter then and there but knew that I had better to get to Economics before the late bell rang. Luckily, the room was nearby.

Upon entering, I discovered that most people were already in their seats, waiting for class to begin. I scurried to my seat, giving a brief nod in greeting to Sora (across the way, clearly visible due to the fact that the overhead was not in between us at the moment) as I set the envelope on the surface of my desk. I then sat and began digging through my backpack for my much-needed binder. The late bell rang while I was doing this.

As soon as I had my notes from the day before open, I casually lifted the end of my binder that my letter was under and slid the envelope into my lap. Again, very conscientiously, I pried the back open, leaving everything intact.

This love note was quite different from the declaration from the day before. First of all, it was on notebook (college-ruled) paper that was folded into a rectangle small enough to fit into the envelope. However, it was written in the same black ink—from what appeared to be a high-quality pen. On the front, just like the front of the envelope, it said:

To: Riku

There was an unadorned heart drawn below this. After peeking slightly to the right and discovering that my teacher was busy on the classroom phone in the back of the room, I decided that I would unfold it and read the message.

Dear Riku,

Quite frankly, I am surprised that you even put the sticker on your locker door. (You don't have to keep it there, if you don't want to; in fact, it might be better to take it down before it gets vandalized. Eep!)

I scrutinized this intro and came to the decision that the author of this note was definitely intelligent—otherwise, the semi-colon would have been, most likely, a misplaced comma. (Since most people like to put commas instead of semi-colons.) Keeping this notion in mind, I continued reading, noticing that the guy did not waste space by skipping lines between paragraphs. I also noticed that, because of the size of his writing, his message took up pretty much the entire page.

I was so sure that you would toss my card aside like all the ones you received before. I honestly don't know what to say now that you are at least curious about me.

Let's see… Well, I am not going to reveal my identity to you (for obvious reasons); however, if you would like, I can give you my likes and dislikes… and, I suppose, in doing so, give you hints about who I am. I only ask that, should you figure out who I am, and should you not be… umm… interested… that you leave me be. You seem like a decent enough guy to abide by that simple rule. Hehe. : )

Anyway, if yes to wanting to get to know me, please put the enclosed sticker on your locker door.

If no… well, that obviously means that you're not interested in what I have to say. So you won't have to do anything, if you're not interested. I'll let you be, in that case.

Have a nice day!

I grinned down at the note. I thought it was adorable in its frankness. His use of the word "abide" confirmed my suspicion of intelligence. I couldn't think of anyone I knew that had used that word recently in conversation.

I set the note on the side of my desk, grabbing its original container so that I could see what the sticker looked like. I grinned anew at the sight of it.

It was a black, vinyl sticker, oval in shape. It had white stars on it, along with the following words done in white:

AW, LET
PLUTO
BE A PLANET

"PLUTO" was very decorative, making it stand out amongst the other words. I chuckled lightly at the sticker, thinking to myself that it was definitely a "keeper". My head jerked to the right as I heard my teacher hang up the phone. This translated as: put the love note away, or face the consequences! (I was pretty sure that Mrs. Green would just tell me to put it away, but I didn't want to tempt fate.)

I was in such a hurry to slip the sticker back in there that, on my way to grabbing the envelope, I knocked the letter off my desk. And, as fate would have it, the door opened, admitting a gust of air as well as a tardy student. The wind blew my note along the floor. I cursed my carelessness—the letter was open! And, to make matters worse, the breeze blew it as far as Sora's left foot.

My heart thudded anxiously in my chest as Sora immediately bent down to scoop it up. He smiled as he actually got up from his seat and handed it to me, his beautiful blue eyes seeming to shine with a special light just for me. It made my stomach get that dropping sensation. Clearing my throat and blushing like a madman, I timidly accepted it back with a quiet, "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Sparkle sparkle went his eyes… and thump-thump-thump went my heart. Sora casually made his way back to his seat.

I quickly ducked my head, folding up the letter before shoving it back into the envelope, which I hurriedly put away in that same compartment in my backpack from the day before. I could not rid myself of the heat in my face; nor could I rid myself of the giddy feeling I received when Sora smiled at me like that, which caused me to consistently smile. Oh, those eyes! They had definitely enchanted me!

From that moment on, I had a very good day at school simply because Sora had smiled at me so beautifully.

On Monday, I got to my locker ten minutes before the bell to get to class was due to ring. It had been quite difficult disentangling myself from my group of friends, but I had managed it. And now, I was free to get this morning's letter. My heart rate picked up, and I grinned in anticipation, as I saw the familiar envelope—the same as the day before, which would become customary. So, after delicately peeling back the red rose enough and opening the flap, I wiggled the contents out of the envelope. There was a folded up piece of notebook paper and an index card (cut in half) with its back facing me. I decided to look at the note first.

Dear Riku,

I was very glad to see the sticker on your locker. It did my heart good and encouraged me. This is why I must ask of you: if you're encouraging me just so that you can find out who I am and make a fool of me… please stop now before I get my hopes up. I really don't think you'd be that type of person, but you never know.

Anyway, assuming that you are not just out to humiliate me, I am here to tell you that each clue about my likes and dislikes will be on the enclosed index card(s), which you shall receive daily. I will give you TEN clues ONLY! And they'll be vague ones, at that!

: P

Have a nice day!

This got my adrenaline rushing. I set the letter down in my locker and pulled out the index card, flipping it over. Its message:

CLUE # 1: I'm right-handed!

The author was definitely accurate when he said that the clues would be vague. Most people in the world are right-handed; this did not narrow things down much. Heaving a sigh, I decided that I would compile all of these letters, inside their corresponding envelopes and with their attachments (stickers and/or index cards), and put them in a shoebox. For the time being, I simply put this day's letter in my backpack.

Sora and I did not have much opportunity to talk to each other—even during AP Japanese, during which we were doing more reading. In AP Lit, we were, of course, isolated—that, and we were busy listening to Mrs. Murphy talk about Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, continuing from where she had left off on Friday while we all read from the class sets.

Despite the fact that it was only around seventy pages in length, the reading was slow going. This meant that, as our teacher combed through each paragraph, giving us aid for future reference, we would spend the entire period just dealing with a small chunk of the story, taking notes along the way. And we had only just started on it—not to mention the fact that Mrs. Murphy had already handed out a sheet detailing our humongous project due near the end of March. The assignment was to write twenty-five to thirty pages of analysis on a nearly seventy-page novella. Sure, there was a lot to analyze but… still! Ugh! Luckily, though, it gave Sora and me something to talk about during passing period before splitting up for our respective sixth periods. It made me think that, maybe, Sora and I could find an excuse to talk for long hours, helping each other with this horrendous assignment. It seemed much nicer to imagine us helping each other, critiquing each other, than writing thirty pages of bullshit on my own. ...And we could talk about the rest of our projects until the end of the year, too. That would be nice.

Once I finished my homework, I did what was starting to become customary: I took out the day's letter and re-read it. This time around, though, I began speculating on what other hints he might give me.

Already, just from the way Sora had smiled at me on Friday, I was hoping that he was the author of the notes. I began hoping that one of the hints would be that the author was in one (or more) of my classes. I started wishing that each clue would point to Sora, and that the final result would be that he and I would meet… and then… I didn't know after that. I had a mental block when it came to my crush; I was quite incapable of imaging the two of us doing anything even remotely intimate. I couldn't even imagine touching his hand or kissing him! It was quite pathetic, really.

At the same time, I was trying desperately not to get my hopes up. After all, what if this guy was someone else—not Sora? How would I handle that?

For the rest of the period, I pondered this scenario. Say that I figured out—definitively—that Sora was not the author of the love notes; this meant that it had to be someone else. However, how would I even discover the author's true identity unless I knew them somehow?

It seemed to me that this person was counting on the fact that I would have some form of contact with him, thereby giving me the opportunity to find out his likes and dislikes, and making it easier to guess his identity. At the same time, though, what if this weren't true? What if the author wanted to just list off things that they liked/ disliked to make me feel like I was getting to know them? But, wait! That didn't make any sense! Surely, the whole point of sending me these notes was to eventually come clean in some way. Ahh… but the whole point of being anonymous is not to reveal one's identity!

I was quickly growing frustrated with this line of thought… so I just decided that I would not worry about it until I got more clues; and, in the meantime… I would let myself hope just a tiny bit that each clue would point to Sora.

During first period on Tuesday, Sora came in late and handed a note to Mrs. Green. I discreetly watched him maneuver his way through the space between the overhead and my desk; I blushed as I noticed that his butt, clad in dark jeans, rubbed accidentally against my desk. The white hoodie he wore appeared very soft, making me want to reach out and touch it (but I didn't). He was so close to me in this moment that I caught a whiff of him—a clean sort of smell that I assumed could be attributed to body wash or soap, meaning that he must be the type of person to shower in the morning (perhaps as a way of waking himself up).

After class, as Sora stood and slung his satchel onto his shoulder, I admired the front of his hoodie: there was the rising sun logo, which looked especially red against the white; and then there was the word "PARAMORE" stretched across it in black letters. It made me wonder what the word "PARAMORE" meant. So, hoping that I sounded casual, I asked him about it on our way to second period.

He laughed at me. "'What does Paramore mean?' Well, it's actually the name of one of my favorite bands. They based it off of a friend's mother's maiden name; but, supposedly, they liked that it sounded like the word 'paramour,' which means 'secret lover' in English… I think—like one in an adulterous relationship. But, if you split it up so that it is 'par' space 'amour'—then it's French for 'out of love'—like doing something out of love—not like you have no love or anything. …But I don't think they thought of that."

I wondered, "Do you speak French?"

He laughed again. "Nope! Not really. I only know a couple of things. My friend, Kairi, is actually taking French; anything I know of it, I know from her."

"Ah. I see."

Sora asked me if I spoke French; I shook my head, replying, "Not a word." He grinned, chuckling lightly at the way I phrased my answer. God, he looked adorable like that.

Unfortunately, our first period was very close by to our second, which meant that we were soon inside our math classroom, getting into our respective seats (which were nowhere near each other, because of Mr. Turner's stupid seating chart).

In what was becoming a pattern, Sora and I walked together toward our respective third periods (as far as we could). This walk was longer, giving us more opportunity to talk. We mainly commented on how terrible a teacher Mr. Turner was. Upon reaching our junction, we offered each other smiles and "See you in fourth!" I walked the rest of the way to third alone but happy, thinking that today was a good day so far. And it only got better.

While we were standing around, the bell having just rung, waiting for our teacher to arrive, Sora introduced me to Kairi as his "friend, Riku". Warm and fuzzy feelings abounded, causing me to grin profusely at his friend as I nodded in greeting. "Hey! Nice to meet you." The girl blushed, smiling lightly as she hugged the book in her arms to her chest. I guess she thought that smile was meant for her. Oops.

Sora stated to Kairi, "Riku asked me, 'What's Paramore?'"

Her attention now on her friend, Kairi giggled, exclaiming, "Uh-oh! Looks like you'll have to enlighten him!" Sora grinned, waving goodbye as Kairi excused herself in order to have enough time to get to class.

To my great surprise, Sora produced an iPod nano (in protective casing) from his pocket, held up its corresponding headphones, and cheerily asked, "Want to hear what Paramore sounds like?" I eagerly nodded.

Much to my delight, Sora was such a big fan of Paramore (and still is) that he couldn't stand not listening to it—meaning: I had one earbud in; he had the other. We stood very close together, one finger to the ear without the earbud in order to shut out the sound around us, our faces inclined toward each other as we listened to the track labeled: "Misery Business (Single Version)".

I smiled fondly as Sora mouthed along to it, grinning the whole time (but especially hard on the phrase "biggest smile!"). I nearly giggled when he bobbed his head along to the beat, throwing a whole bunch of emotion as he lip-synced to his apparently-favorite song. He was almost too adorable to handle. Of course, it didn't help matters when he decided to lock eyes with me and, smirking, mouthed, "…It just feels so good!" at the very end of the song. I admittedly blushed from seeing his mouth move to form those words.

As soon as I handed him back the earbud I'd been using, he wrapped the headphones around his iPod and put the device away—and not a minute too soon, since Naegino-sensei was approaching. Once inside, she paused at her desk, asking Sora, "Paramore wa nan desu ka?"'What's Paramore?'

"Boku no suki na bando desu." 'It's my favorite band.'

Naegino-sensei murmured, "Ah, sou desu ka?" 'Ah, is that so?'

"Hai!" Sora grinned. I beamed, getting all giddy at hearing him speak Japanese.

On the way to fifth, Sora happily asked, "So, what do you think of Paramore?" He grinned, obviously hopeful that my answer would be positive.

I smiled at him. "They're pretty good. I think I'll reserve judgement until I hear more by them."

"I really think you'll like them! I mean, they're totally awesome live, which shows that they've got great talent. And, frankly, their songs just rock!"

I laughed lightly at him. "I'm sure they do to some people; and, to others, they're just kind-of okay. So, like I said, I think I'll reserve judgement until I hear more by them."

Obviously excited by the mere thought of his favorite band, Sora pretty much ordered, "You should listen to more of them when you get home! Let's see… which ones should you listen to first? Umm… oh! 'For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic,' 'crushcrushcrush,' 'Born For This!' 'That's What You Get,' 'Fences,' 'Let The Flames Begin,'—!"

I interrupted him, requesting, "Could you write all these down for me? I'm never going to remember them all."

Immediately, Sora pretty much clammed up. His grin fell as he quickly responded, "You can just Google the band's name and look at their discography. They have two different albums. You should listen to both, but, really, I like their newest one better."

"I'll look into it."

A smile tugged at his lips, and he nodded. "Good." We spent the rest of time walking in silence. For once, Mrs. Murphy had finished her lunch (and finished socializing), so the door was open. The two of us paused to read the quote before heading to the back of the room to grab the red tomes containing Heart of Darkness. I shot Sora a smile before taking my seat. Not long after, my friends came in, consumed in a discussion about… Naminé, of all people.

Zexion vehemently declared, "She's not interested in you, Demyx! She was just being nice!"

"Oh? Like she's interested in you?"

Running his hand through his silver hair, the bibliophile grinned and cried, "Yeah! I think she is!"

I snorted, drawing attention to myself. The two frowned at me. I calmly uttered, "She's interested in Roxas."

The two are horrified by this. They both pretty much choke out, "Roxas?!"

I nodded. My heart skipped a beat as Sora called, "She is. She's always asking me about him."

This made me smirk. "Same here, guys. …You know, you could always try Larxene!"

They both crinkled their faces in disgust before shuffling to the back of the room to pick up their books. After earning an exuberant grin from Sora at the fact that he and I just educated my friends, I busied myself with getting my notes open and patiently waited for class to begin.

Before we started reading, Mrs. Murphy passed back our essays on The Importance of Being Earnest. I waited with bated breath for mine to be returned. When I finally got it, my reaction was that of disappointment, and I wrinkled my nose. I knew that my essay had sucked… but I still didn't like getting a C plus. At least it wasn't a D or anything.

After class, Sora asked me what I'd gotten on the essay. I almost didn't want to tell him but ended up doing so. He shrugged one shoulder, offering a sympathetic smile and the words: "Murphy's a hard grader. At least it wasn't a D or anything."

I grinned at the fact that his words echoed my thoughts on the matter. Feeling better, I asked him what he got.

Looking away from me, he mumbled, "I got a B minus…." He grinned at me and explained, "It's probably only because I sacrificed an hour of sleep to memorize some good quotes."

I shook my head. "How did you even think to do that?"

He laughed. "I was bored… and I actually kind-of liked the play. So I re-read it for the fun of it."

My eyebrows went up. "That does it: you are officially insane."

"Aww! The play wasn't that bad! I thought it was amusing!"

I snorted, "I thought it was mostly boring."

It was at this point that we ran out of time and had to separate. Sora clapped his hand on my shoulder, grinning as he told me that I'd do better next time—and, even if I didn't, a C was pretty good for Murphy's class. He squeezed my shoulder, his eyes sparkling as he bid me goodbye and took off. I felt much better about the matter and spent my time in the library grinning to myself, recalling the comforting feel of Sora's hand on my shoulder.

Over the rest of the school week, I received letters from my admirer. His letters mainly consisted of greeting me, announcing the presence of the index card, then wishing me a nice day. During this time, I was also talking more with Sora. We never got around to asking each other for our numbers (or any contact information, for that matter), but our friendship was definitely evolving—even if we only talked during class and on our way to the next ones.

By the end of the week, I had these five clues:

Clue # 1: I am right-handed

Clue # 2: I hate math! XO (I thought that the little angry emoticon was cute!)

Clue # 3: I love pizza (but who doesn't? Most people love pizza!)

Clue # 4: I actually enjoy eating vegetables (provided that they are yummy)

Clue # 5: I love to swim, but I am not really all that into sports (unlike you, since you seem to be very active! Hehe)

I adored the parenthetical statements attached to the clues, because it gave me more insight (but not much) on this person. Truthfully, I was already beginning to refer to my secret admirer as Sora… which was probably bad, since my hope was steadily building each day. But, oh, how I wanted the author of the notes to be Sora! I wanted it to be so more than anything in my life!

A/N: End of chapter two!

: D

Just to let you all know: this story will be rather short—much like smaerD fo dlroW—except probably even shorter. Hehehe.

Please review!

Kagome-chan