Chapter Three: More Hints
My shoebox was now filling up: envelopes with their letters, index cards, and stickers occupied more space than one would think. I spent the whole weekend poring over each word—each punctuation mark—even though I knew that it was pathetic. I wanted something that would definitively point directly at Sora. That was why, on Monday, I was ecstatic to find that the day's letter was two-sided and filled with juicy details.
Dear Riku,
I take it that you are not out to make a fool out of me, and, because I trust you… I am going to confide in you.
When I first saw you, my heart skipped a beat. You smiled at me so shyly that I thought my heart was going to burst from an overload of 'OhmyGod!He'ssocute!' It's been very interesting watching you change these past four years. You seem to have found your groove, and I admire that about you. Not to say that I haven't found my own groove (because I have), but some people end up just drifting through high school, not enjoying it, not really taking anything from it. To me, you seem like a very ambitious, hard-working student, and I like that about you. (Now, granted, I could just be taking this from the fact that you have been and still are in Honors and AP courses, but it seems like a pretty fair assumption given the workload in these classes and the dedication they require.) I like that you seem intent upon going places in this world. I, too, want to get out of here and see what there is to see.
I apologize if I sound creepy (and repetitive) in this letter. Looking back over the above section makes me think that I sound somewhat stalker-ish (I swear I'm not! XD); but… even if it does, I feel like I need to tell it to you.
Just seeing you brightens my day. I don't even have to talk to you (although that will always be considered a plus). If I had more courage, I would ask for your contact info.
I flipped the page over and continued reading. At the very top, there was a doodle covering the entire blank strip. It was like a mini comic strip. There were two (presumably male) characters; they were very tiny yet surprisingly detailed for their size.
One complained, 'You're such a pain in the ass!'
The other retorted, 'Do you mean that literally or figuratively?' This anonymous guy grinned deviously.
The first guy deadpanned. 'You're an idiot!'
I chuckled in amusement at the random doodle before continuing with the actual letter.
Before you even ask about it… I don't know what possessed me to draw that. I guess it's 'cause I was listening to that STUPID song (which cannot even be considered a song) on YouTube—"What What (In the Butt)". A friend of mine showed it to me; about a minute in, I started hitting her over the head with a pillow. For your own sanity, DON'T watch it! T.T
I know that entreating you not to will only make you want to watch it, but PLEASE DON'T WATCH IT!! (I'll cry, if you do! That would be almost 4 minutes of your life that you will never get back!)
So, anyway! Back to something else a little less disturbing!
I started off this year determined to talk to you; and yet, I did not. Come second semester, I decided that I would at least confess via Valentine's Day. (Granted, I was still a coward about it.) This terrifies me to write but…
"Confuse everyone" sticker if you think you could ever be involved with another guy
"On the other hand…" sticker if you're not okay with this but still want to hear from me (for some odd reason)
Nothing if I've freaked you out and you want the madness to stop.
(Let it be known that no one even knows about me giving you these notes; whatever you do in reply will only be between us, I swear!)
This was where the note ended—because the author ran out of room or didn't feel like continuing on another page. I looked at the stickers. One was white with the words: On the other hand, you have different fingers. The other was black with white letters suggesting, "Confuse everyone". My heart raced; my throat felt like it was closing up on me. I decided to put the sticker of my choice up before I could have a chance to change my mind; this way I knew that it came from my heart—honest and true—not calculated or mixed with doubt. It was as I stared at the sticker that I realized that I forgot to see what the index card said.
CLUE # 6:
I am taking a foreign
language class
My hands shook as I shoved everything into its usual spot, secured my locker, then speed-walked to the door of my first period.
Inside, there was zero period going on—some sort of work experience class. Zero period was the period before period one—and I believe it started at seven? I wouldn't know, because I never once took a zero period during my high school career. The admins were crazy to label it "zero" period, but that was probably because zero period was optional. Most of the people taking a zero period were Honors or AP kids—well, except for these work experience kids, who didn't even have this class every day. I believed that they only had it a couple of times a week, but I usually got here at the door at the time when they'd already cleared out.
Out of nowhere, a voice cried, "Boo!" causing me to startle and put a hand over my racing heart.
"Jesus!" I swore. "You scared the shit out of me, Sora!"
He grinningly apologized, looking so adorable that I just had to forgive him in that instant.
"So what's up?" he wanted to know.
I shrugged. "Nothing. I just figured that I'd wait around here since the bell's gonna ring soon anyway."
"Cool, cool." He nodded a few times for no real reason. "So did you listen to more of Paramore over the weekend?" He got this gleam of excitement and hope in his eyes.
I smirked, shrugging lightly. "Yeah. They're okay."
He gaped in horror. "Just okay? Aw, man! I was so sure that you would like them!"
This made me laugh. "People have different taste in music, you know."
"Yeah, I know…" he mumbled. "I was just hoping that you would like them as much as I do. Guess this means that I'll never be hanging out with you at one of their concerts—if I were ever to be lucky enough to score tickets to one!" He gave off a small, "Heh!"
Trying to sound nonchalant, I replied, "I don't know. I might go to one if tickets were available. They might endear themselves to me live." And I would get to see you get all excited and adorable….
The bell rang. We stood off the side to let the students in the room exit. When I sat down in my seat, I found that it was warm. This kind-of grossed me out; I prefer to warm my own seat. Of course, if Sora had been the one to warm my seat, I probably wouldn't have minded. Hehe.
On the way out of Economics, I realized that I forgot my math book in my locker. I nervously announced this to Sora, who shrugged in response, saying, "We have time." And so, we both went to my locker.
Before I even opened my locker, Sora laughed aloud. When I questioned him as to what was so funny, he happily replied, "I really like that sticker…." He smiled like he was so happy that he could not even express the joy welling up inside him.
I stared at the "Confuse everyone" sticker and just smiled while twirling the knob on my combination lock.
Sora and I were silent on our way to second period, but it was a good silence, I think. We both wore identical smiles while glancing at the other when we thought that they wouldn't notice.
For the rest of the day, the two of us were higher than a kite.
I arrived to school early the next day in order to retrieve my next letter. I was not disappointed.
Dear Riku,
You have no idea how happy I am that you put that specific sticker on your locker door. I thought I might have a heart attack; I was just so ecstatic that I thought my heart might burst! (And yes, I do realize that I just mentioned my heart doing two different things. Hehe.)
In celebration of this fact, I am giving you a more specific clue today.
Polishing off the message was a smiley face consisting of a pair of dots for eyes and a toothless grin. I thought the little faces that he added were adorable. They made me smile fondly.
After fishing around for a bit, I managed to pull out the index card.
CLUE # 7:
I am in some classes with you
I nearly started screaming with excitement; it was precisely the type of clue I'd been hoping to get, after all. He said "some classes," which meant more than one. Sora was in more than one class with me. And, as proof that he was the author, I could just narrow down the suspect pool by figuring out which guys were in multiple classes with me.
Once I had my stuff dealt with, I headed to the library, thinking through who the potential authors might be.
None of the guys in my AP Japanese class were in any of my others (except for Sora). One of the guys in my Economics class was in my Prob & Stats class, but he had a girlfriend. He was a good, funny guy, too. His name was Scott, and he was in theater. We cheated off each other in Prob & Stats since Mr. Turner never seemed to notice (or, if he did, he didn't seem to care as long as we learned something while cheating off each other… and did it stealthily). I really doubted that the author was Scott, though. There was this guy in my Prob & Stats that sat a couple of seats behind me—I think his name was Michael. He was in Honors Anatomy with me. But we never talked. …Then again, that guy Ryan in Anatomy was also in Mrs. Green's class first semester—but he transferred out, because he took AP Economics zero period, with a different teacher.
All in all, the main suspects were: Sora, Michael, and Scott. Out of the three, I sincerely believed (perhaps "wished with all my heart" would be the better expression) that Sora was the one writing me love notes. I mean, I didn't even speak to Michael; he was just in my classes. And Scott… he just seemed like a nice guy that I spoke to amicably. We weren't even friends—more like friendly acquaintances. (Of course, the same could be said about Sora at this point in time… but I liked to believe that he and I were now friends—that we'd moved beyond acquaintances.)
So, really, this clue just screamed Sora's name.
Immediately upon entering the reference room of the library, I was glad I had come in. Trying to act completely cool about it, I casually sat in the swivel chair in front of the computer that was next to Sora's. He looked at me and beamed. I softly greeted, "Hey."
He grinned at me. "Hey."
I opened up the Internet browser and typed in the URL. I wanted to check my mail (even though we were not supposed to do recreational surfing on the school computers). My head turned as Sora wondered, "How come you're here so early? Do you usually come here this early?"
I laughed a little. "Well, I usually get here just before the bell rings, actually. I walk to school; Naminé gives me rides home after. I came here early today, because… I don't know, really. I woke up before my alarm went off; and, oddly enough, I wasn't really tired. That's why I decided to take a shower, eat breakfast as I walked, and get here early."
Sora bemoaned, "Oh, man! I don't think I could ever be like that! The only reason I come here at this time is because I want to find good parking!"
"You drive? What do you drive?"
He quite proudly responded, "A gold two thousand Mitsubishi mirage—two-door. It's my honey car."
I chuckled at how adorable I thought this was. I meant to say, "Cool," in response, but the word, "Cute," slipped out in its stead, revealing my true thoughts on the matter. Sora just grinned and turned back to whatever he was doing. Peeking discreetly at his page, I discovered that he was on Wikipedia, looking up information on the band Eisley.
"You like Eisley?"
He turned his head, grinned from ear to ear, and cried, "Yeah! …Do you?"
"I have them on my iPod." My expression mirrored his.
Sora seemed almost secretive when he whispered, "Wanna listen to them right now, then?"
Glancing over my shoulder in the direction of the librarian sitting at her desk, I discovered that she was not looking at us; she was not even facing us—she faced the reference books to our right. I decided that I didn't care if we got scolded, because the woman probably wouldn't even care as long as we kept the volume to a respectable level.
The librarians at our school were only bitchy to those students who were boisterous and rebellious, for the most part. The only thing that they were extremely stern about was cell phones: absolutely NO talking on your cell phone in the library (and, for the most part, not even on-campus).
I handed Sora one earbud, asking, "Which song do you want to hear?"
The earbud was poised to go into his ear, sandwiched between his thumb and index finger. "Umm… I don't know. Something from Room Noises. I like that album better than Combinations, anyway."
I smiled, concurring, "Me, too." Scrolling through my playlist, I informed my fellow Eisley fan, "I'll put 'My Lovely' on then let it go randomly."
"Okay. Sounds good."
While I checked my mail, Sora perused the Wiki article about the band we were listening to. Whenever he found something interesting, he would mention it to me. My stock answer: "Cool!"
Half an hour passed like this. It came as a shock to both of us when the bell rang, causing us to quickly pack up, close up, and book it to class. We happily conversed about Eisley—their music, our favorite songs (and why), and the facts gleaned from Sora's research—until we had to take our seats, soon to be separated by the overhead.
It's a little scary to think that I have already sent you SEVEN letters—and that this is the eighth.
I bet you've already started to wonder who I am. I probably shouldn't have been SO specific in that last clue, but, well… too late now! Hehehe. I guess I was a bit excited about… you know… from last time. Oops!
Only three more clues to go. (Well, really, TWO once you've read the clue enclosed in this envelope.) I'm starting to get nervous that you'll actually figure out who I am and confront me. XD
If you do figure out who I am, could you please be… umm… discreet? As in: pick a time and place where no one is around. If I were you, though, I'd be pretty damn sure before approaching some poor fool with this. (It would suck to embarrass yourself in front of some classmate who might not even care for you beyond, 'Oh, hey! That guy's in such-and-such class!') And, okay… I'll admit it: I would hate for you to say something off the top of your head, from your heart, to someone else other than me. (That's assuming that you have something positive say to a guy who's been crushing on you for about four years. Eep!)
God! This letter just got embarrassing! But… I made a pact with myself that as soon as the words leave my pen they will stay on the paper—and that I must give you whatever I write. This prevents me from crumpling up the paper and eventually losing my nerve, which would result in you not getting any letters. Hehe!
Have a nice day!
He punctuated it with a simple smiley that made me want to giggle. I loved how friendly and cheerful these letters were.
This note made my heart race more than any of the others. It concurred with how I was feeling. I wanted to be sure that the author was Sora before approaching him. I would hate to embarrass myself. The letter also stoked my desire to talk to Sora outside of our little bubble known as high school. It made me want to talk with him in the "real world," but I was also afraid of this. The very thought terrified me and made me sick to my stomach with nervousness. I was not ready to confront him. In fact, I was pretty sure that I'd never be able to confront him.
My hand began shaking as I pulled out the index card, flipped it over, and read the day's clue.
CLUE # 8:
I have an oral fixation
(meaning: I like to stick things
in or around my mouth—usually
while I'm writing)
PLEASE DON'T TAKE THIS
PERVERTEDLY OR I'LL DIE! XD
I laughed quite a bit at the last part. It was adorable. After putting my things away, I shut my eyes and tried to imagine Sora physically saying that. This put a grin on my face. I could quite easily picture him saying something like that.
My grin fell as something new crossed my mind. All of a sudden, I recalled multiple incidents where I'd seen Sora with some writing utensil near his mouth (usually when he was deep in thought): writing essays, taking tests, taking notes, working on homework—anytime he had a writing utensil in hand with the intent of using it, he would tend to stick it in or around his mouth. If the utensil were a pencil, he would usually clamp down on it with his teeth, not quite gnawing it; if it were a pen, he usually just tapped it against his lips or chin—or he let it rest on his bottom lip. I struggled to recall if any of the aforementioned potential authors had this habit as well (since it was a pretty common habit). I could not remember, but I was pretty sure that they didn't.
Having already developed the habit of waking up early (thereby arriving earlier at school), I made a beeline for the library, where I was hoping Sora would be. Just like the day before, he sat at the computer. When I got closer, I could see the cap that was situated on top of his pen resting against his bottom lip as he stared at the screen thoughtfully. I watched as he moved the pen in order to make note of something on a sheet of (currently blank) lined paper. I noticed that the notebook paper he used was college-ruled. I wanted so desperately to peek at his writing before he could figure out that I was there, in the same room, but I felt like… that would be unfair, somehow—that it would be like cheating, in a way. This was why I made sure to look away from the page before he actually started writing.
And so, just like the day before, I sat next to him, keeping my eyes focused on his face instead of his paper. We greeted each other the same way but added on the nicety of asking each other how we were. It did not escape my notice that Sora nonchalantly put his paper out of my line of vision, slipping it into a pocket in his binder, which he put in his satchel. Despite this, heartfelt smiles abounded. I felt like I was on cloud nine. Sora was definitely worth sacrificing sleep for.
Another habit that developed the first day after it happened: leaving my math book in my locker so that Sora and I would swing by it (and so, he would see each day's sticker in place). It made me feel very giddy to stand by him as he viewed the various stickers. He always commented on them; his stock comment: "I like that sticker." Sometimes, he would grin while saying it; sometimes, he would just smile a little, saying nothing; but, either way, I enjoyed the interaction.
The stickers themselves were highly interesting—not particularly colorful (most were black and white), but definitely amusing with their slogans.
A black one with white writing said:
WHO SAYS I HAVE TO BE NORMAL?
Another sticker (similar to the aforementioned one) said:
I Chose The Road Less Traveled. Now, Where The Hell Am I?
Also similar, there was one that proclaimed:
TACT IS FOR
PEOPLE WHO AREN'T
WITTY ENOUGH
TO BE SARCASTIC
This one made me think of Mrs. Murphy, because the woman was the frank, sarcastic type who only believed in using tact when it came to certain, important cases (like lying or being kind so as not to hurt someone's feelings).
A sticker with two different shades of dark blue and white lettering said:
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
(I chuckled at that one, despite the gruesome imagery it inspired.)
One of my favorites (I still can't figure out why): a yellow sticker with green writing. The message proclaimed:
Don't Curse the Darkness
LIGHT A FART
I giggled like a five-year-old at this one while cursing my immaturity.
They were all similar to this—not very decorative but amusing. Each sticker that I put on my locker door (to be removed the next morning) managed to put at least a smile on my face. Of course, it didn't hurt that I wholeheartedly believed that Sora was my secret admirer.
A/N: Thus concludes chapter three.
For anyone who is curious about either Paramore or Eisley, I recommend going on YouTube and checking out their songs.
I shall show you the KH vids that got me into the bands in the first place (because, yes, that is how I got interested in them). Lol.
A vid to the song "Misery Business" (by Paramore):
http/www. youtube. com/ watch?vlLDvvXlmyEY
A vid to the song "My Lovely" (by Eisley):
http/www. youtube. com/ watch?vhjYD75wkRu8
Please remove the spaces and enjoy.
Both bands are awesome, which is why I recommend watching videos of the bands themselves on YouTube.
For Paramore, I recommend starting with any of the following: "Pressure," "Misery Business," "crushcrushcrush," or "Emergency". Anything else is either live (which is still AWESOME to watch, because they ROCK live! XD) or fan-made vids with pictures of the band—both of which are enjoyable to see.
For Eisley, my personal favorite of their vids is "Telescope Eyes," except that I think it doesn't really fit with the meaning of the lyrics… but that's okay. Another favorite is "Marvelous Things," even though the girls have different hair colors in that vid. Hehehe.
: P
Please review!
Kagome-chan