Chapter 2

The moment the bell rang, Kuki pushed herself out of her desk and left the classroom. As the tears welled in her light eyes, she could hear Fanny behind her telling her to wait up.

"Kuki!" a deep voice called. The girl stopped and turned, willing the tears not to spill from her eyes. "What was that all about?"

Kuki shook her head and ignored the Wally's question. However, her pause had given Fanny the time to catch up. The redhead looked apologetically up at the boy. "Sorry," she grimaced, "we're turning here." And she pushed her friend into the woman's bathroom.

Once safe inside, Fanny pulled Kuki into a bone-crushing hug and the tears finally came. "Smith is such a dick," Fanny murmured, patting the other girl's back. "You really don't say things like that to people." The freckled girl let go of her friend who hopped up onto the counter, pulling her thin legs to her chest. "Heartless bastard."

"Fan, I feel awful," Kuki moaned.

"Just don't get sick on me," Fanny chimed, trying to lighten the mood. "Sorry, that was dumb. Want me to call your mom? I'm going to call your mom." Without waiting for any reply, the girl began typing 'Kuki Home' on her phone's keyboard. She pressed send. "Hello, Mrs. Sanban. Kuki's here in the bathroom with me and she doesn't feel well. It's been a rough day. OK, sounds good. Bye!"

Fanny turned to her friend. "Want me to walk you to the front? She'll be here soon."

Kuki shook her head and hopped off the counter. "Thanks, Fanny. You should head to class though. I'll see you later."

Kuki watched as her redheaded friend left the bathroom. She turned toward the sink and threw a couple handfuls of cold water on her face. She hated this. Hated being the girl with the dead sister; hated having to deal with stupid, ignorant people every day. When she too exited the room, she was immediately greeted by the form of Wally leaning casually up against the wall outside.

Not wanting to talk to him about this, right now or ever, Kuki walked briskly past the boy. She could hear his footsteps hitting the floor alongside hers. "Are you OK, Kuki?"

The ebony haired girl nodded her head tightly, a quick little jerk.

The boy shook his head sadly. "Sorry, I don't believe that," he said. Kuki was afraid to meet his eyes because, as much as she didn't want to admit it, she had had hope for Wally. And she was afraid that his opinion on her now would be written across his face like an advertisement. Kuki couldn't imagine his opinion would be a good one. Still, Kuki didn't say anything to Wally. She watched her feet shuffle along the linoleum. Wally sighed, lightly grabbing her shoulder and turning her to face him. "Kuki, I think I know what you are going through. Well, not exactly, but, the point is I had to leave my last school because of people like Smith. I know that sometimes it is so hard to handle. But, I get the feeling that you are strong enough to handle it."

The littlest things could set Kuki off, which was why Abby and Fanny remained her only friends. She hated when people pitied her, she hated when people sympathized with her, and she hated when people were jerks to her. All the Asian girl could say she really wanted was a friend. Finally, Kuki met Wally's eyes, furious. "What did people call you? Did they say that your sister killed herself? That she had been some weird, little goth girl who just up and decided to kill herself? Doubtful. Did they stare at you with that look? That look that says 'I pity you', the worst look in the world? I don't think so."

There were a few things Kuki expected when she finished her rant, almost in tears. She expected that Wally would either walk away, figuring she was much too crazy to be worth his time, or that he would give her that look. It would be safe to say that Kuki did not expect what she got. "Don't think I pity you. Because I don't alright? And maybe people didn't go around making false accusations about my sister, but they did make them about me. You want to know what people called me? Daddy. Because I made one mistake with some crazy girl at a bar and nine months later there's this baby on my doorstep," Wally slowed, looking at Kuki like he had known her for years and not mere hours. "I think I know what it's like to be around assholes like Smith."

Kuki felt her eyebrows thread together as she stood in silence. She had to be mistaken. There was no way Wally had said that he had a baby. "A baby?" she whispered.

The blonde boy nodded, obviously embarrassed by his outburst as he ran a hand over his neck. "Yeah. Her name's Lucy. Like the Beatles song," Wally explained.

Her first instinct was to give him that look. The look she hated more than anything else on Earth, she could feel it, threatening to spread across her face. "I didn't know," she murmured. "I have to go, but if you ever need anything just let me know." Kuki backed away from Wally, giving him a slight wave. She knew it was wrong to walk away from him, to not tell him about Mushi, to not make sure he knew that she would still be his friend.

Kuki walked down the front steps of the school, heading towards her mom's dark car. She and her mother hadn't always had the best relationship, but things had changed a lot in the last year or so. "Hi, sweetie," her mother smiled as Kuki climbed into the car, "how are you feeling?"

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, pretending she could still hear Mushi whining in the back seat. "Well, are you going to tell me what was so urgent that Fanny had to call me?"

Kuki let her head hit the window with a thud. "It was stupid really. Coach Smith read a note that the new kid wrote to me in front of the class and then he said something about Mushi. I try not to let it bother me, mom. But sometimes I can't. I guess I feel better now, it's just that sometimes I like to see you or daddy," she explained.

Her mother leaned over and ran a hand down Kuki's ebony hair. "I'm sorry, Kuki. And I know exactly how you feel. Now, I want you to go back into school and finish out the day. You know why? Because even if what people say hurts you, you can't let them know. Because you are a sweet, strong, smart girl, Kuki. What those people say doesn't matter," Mrs. Sanban said. "And, besides, you want to cheer tonight, right?"

The girl nodded, leaning in to her mother's touch. Hesitantly, Kuki opened the car door and climbed out. "Thanks, mom," she said quietly. Kuki climbed back up the stairs of the school and she stopped as she reached the door, taking a deep breath and shaking her head a bit as if that would rid the morning from her memory. Her mom was right, she had to beat this.

Kuki finished the school day with a smile on her face. After the bell, she headed to the gym to meet up with the other cheerleaders. The moment she opened the door to the smelly gym, Fanny turned around. "Hey, you!" the red head called, grinning at her friend.

As she went over to sit with her friend, Kuki replied, "Are you ready for the game?" She began lacing up her purely white gym shoes.

"Well, duh," Fanny laughed. "I love the games. Hot guys jumping around and sweating?"

Kuki laughed in response. She pulled her long hair into a ponytail and tied a red and gold ribbon around it. After the ribbon was secure, she patted her hair to make sure it was neat and centered. "Not to mention the McClintock Cougars are actually winning this year. Who saw that one coming?"

Fanny glanced around as if just noticing they were the only people in the gym. "I'm going to go hurry up the other girls," she told her friend. Kuki stayed sitting when Fanny disappeared into the locker room. She wanted to tell Fanny about her conversation with Wally earlier in the day, but she didn't know if it was her place to tell anyone. Maybe Wally wanted to keep his baby a secret. Kuki didn't exactly blame him.

When Fanny reappeared with most of the team, Kuki was still mulling over these thoughts. Fanny was impatiently waving Kuki to join them; the team only had a half hour before the basketball boys would show up to practice.

The cheerleaders started to stretch together and only a few moments later the basketball team walked out of their locker room. Kuki saw Fanny's face turn a light shade of red and immediately the girl was on her feet. "This is our practice time? What are you boys doing here?" she spat.

Patton separated himself from the crowd and approached Fanny, placing his large hands on her thin shoulders. "Fanny, you wouldn't mind if we started a couple minutes early, right? This game is big for us."

Kuki could see her temperamental friend soften under Patton's words. "Sure," she said, "we'll just split the gym in half." Patton nodded at Fanny's decision and the girl turned back to join the team, sliding into the splits.

Moments later, the door of the gym opened and Rachel McKenzie walked in. Kuki sighed, hoping that Fanny would not notice. The redhead didn't like Rachel, mostly because Rachel had known Patton for longer than her and was his best friend. Fanny enjoyed being the only important girl in the life of her boyfriend's, but Patton didn't seem to have gotten the memo. However, what annoyed Fanny the most was that Rachel wasn't really competition. Patton's feelings for the girl were completely platonic and Fanny felt uncharacteristically bad asking him to stop talking to the blonde girl. And, despite being a major nerd, in Fanny's opinion, and just nice, in Kuki's, she had a boyfriend.

"Oh great," Kuki heard an accented voice mutter. She turned her head to see Fanny glaring across the gym at Rachel.

"Leave her alone, Fan," Kuki warned. "She did help you with Trig earlier in the year and she obviously isn't trying to steal Patton, so just leave the poor girl alone."

Fanny stood up and twisted her skirt to center it. "Whatever you say, Kooks."

A/N: I don't think there's every been a time where I didn't have anything to say here... :D Hope you liked it!