1Wow, this came up faster than I thought. All other thoughts for my other stories kinda went out the window.
Disclaimer: I feel lazy, it's on the first chapter.
The next morning, Yuffie was sitting on the front porch, tracing shapes in the sand with her sneaker when Riku's bike appeared at the end of the block. She jumped up and checked for the gazillionth time whether her tennis racket was securely fastened to her bike.
"Bye," Zack said from the doorway. One of the pugs, Thorn, squished his face to the door and whined. "Have fun."
"Yeah, right. You're the one who's going to have fun. I wish I could stay home all day, too."
He nodded his head, and looked down at the ground. Mrs. Kisargi came up behind him and swung open the door. Thorn trotted out and nosed Yuffie's ankle.
"Are you wearing enough sunscreen Yuffie? Her mother said anxiously. "Did you bring extra? What about a hat; did you pack the one I gave you?"
'Yes Mom. I'm wearing enough to cover the entire population of Radiant Garden. I think I'll survive the sun; you should be scared about me surviving the humiliation of tennis. "
"Hey Kisargi family," riku said, skidding to a complete stop in their driveway. "Ready to go Yuffie?" she was so, so glad that he didn't make a girlfriend joke in front of her mom. That would be pretty hard to explain.
"Yep," she got on her bike. "Bye Zack."
"Bye," he went back into the house. Mrs. Kisargi stayed on the porch and waved them good-bye until they couldn't see her anymore.
Yuffie had hardly slept the night before What was going to happen? What did being a pretend girlfriend mean? What would she do? Who would Jake tell? What would people think? She had no idea how to act around a boyfriend, never mind a pretend one.
Yuffie could feel Riku glancing over at her, and she wondered if she looked like a sweaty mess already. Ast the paused at the corner, waiting for the cars to go by, he suddenly leaned over and up one hand over her on the handlebars. Yuffie froze.
"Yuffie," he said. She loved the way he said her name.
"Yeah?"
"Are you okay? You look really nervous."
"Well, you know, tennis. Me and sports, a really bad combination." Wow, could i sound like a bigger dork?
"You don't have to do this," he said. "If you don't want to. It's okay. I can find another way to get rid of Naminé."
"Oh that?" she said with a nervous laugh. "I'm not worried about her. Seriously. Um, um, it's tennis. Very nerve wracking." oh and maybe the fact that I'm alone with Riku. No Zack. No Kairi. Just me and Riku.
"If you're sure," he said, taking his hand off hers. Yuffie took a deep breathe.
"Besides, didn't you already e-mail her? We wouldn't want her to think i go rid of you that fast." She tried to smile.
"True," he said with a grin. "Just remember that I really appreciate this." he pedaled ahead, and it took her a minute to follow him.
Summerlodge was down a winding road through lots and lots of trees. The camp had a pool, tennis and basketball courts, sports fields, and a large barn for indoor activities when it rained.
As they made their way into the parking lot, Yuffie spotted a thin, tan figure in white shorts and a fitted whit baby tee leaning against the Summerlodge sign.
"Uh-oh," Riku muttered.
"I thought you told her," Yuffie whispered. "Didn't you e-mail her?"
"I did. She didn't write back. Maybe she didn't get it."
Yuffie felt and anvil of cold dread settle into her already butterflied stomach. She spent some much time thinking about how to be Riku's pretend girlfriend, that she completely forgot about what Naminé might do to her. Stealing Naminé's chosen boyfriend-that definitely didn't qualify as staying under her radar.
"Just ignore her," Riku said.
"Very funny."
They got off their bikes and rolled them into the bike rack. As Yuffie kneeled down to wrap her lock through the wheel, she heard the clip-clop of Naminé's high heels coming closer, like and elegant angel of death was approaching.
"Hey, Riku,"Naminé said in her sultry voice. Yuffie always thought that Naminé was way too skinny to have low voice, but it made her sound like an old movie star. It also made her sound bored. That, or she really was bored all the time
"Hey, Naminé," Riku said. How did he sound so casual? "This is my girlfriend, Yuffie."
Yuffie's hands were shaking so bad, that she could barely clip her lock in place, but she finally snapped it in and stood up. Naminé McKennis was studying her with narrow bright blue eyes. Her hair was a pale, shiny blond, and perfectly straight. It fell down to around her shoulders. She kept pushing it back with one long, tan, manicured hand. Naminé loved to wear white to show off her tan, and she seemed to always be that color all year round. Zack was convinced that it was fake, and that she went to a salon or used some product. Whether that was true or not Yuffie's mom- World's Most Enthusiastic Supplier of Sunscreen- would of been appalled to see it.
"Yuffie Kisargi," Naminé said slowly. "I've seen you before." She narrowed her eyes even more. "I thought you moved away in elementary school."
Nope. I just got quieter and better and staying out of your way.
"Guess not," Riku said when Yuffie didn't respond. "Lucky for me though." He came around his bike and started to help Yuffie unfasten her tennis racket from the back. Naminé leaned against the bike rack, watching like a snake ready to strike. Yuffie could barely breathe, she was so nervous. Could Naminé tell that they were just pretending? What would she do if she found out?
Behind them, a car pulled up.
"Howdy-doo, Yuffie!" a voice called from the car, and Yuffie winced. It was Mrs. Lockheart, her mother's friend. The Lockhearts had moved to town a year before, and Mrs. Lockheart worked with Mrs. Kisargi at the library. At first Yuffie's mom had been convinced that Mrs Lockheart's daughter Tifa would be a perfect new best friend for Yuffie after Kairi left. But Tifa was much too cool to hang out with Yuffie. Naminé had snatched her from day one, so now Tifa was one of the most popular girls in school.
Yuffie waved at Mrs. Lockheart as Tifa got out of the car and bounced her way over to the group. Tifa moved like there was always dance music playing in her head. She had perfect, really long, straight black hair that was now pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing bright, clean tennis whites.
"Hey, Naminé," Tifa said as she came up.
"Tifa," Naminé said with a scandalized disapproval in her voice. "You're wearing white."
"Well, yeah. They're tennis whites. That's the idea."
"White is my color," Naminé said.
Tifa giggled. "Don't worry, Your Highness. My bathing suit is green. By the time I get to the pool, no one will ever know that I was so out of line."
Naminé sniffed. "Tifa, you remember Riku," she said meaningfully. "This is his girlfriend."
Tifa squinted at Yuffie. "No way. I didn't know you guys were dating!"
Yuffie suddenly had the horrible realization that if Tifa knew, Mrs. Lockheart would know, and that meant Yuffie's mom would hear the news before Yuffie even had time to get home. But it was to late to do anything about that now.
"Um, yeah," Yuffie said. "It's new."
"Really?" Naminé said, rolling her r. "When did you guys get together?"
"Last Wednesday," Riku said.
"Friday," Yuffie said at the same time.
Naminé's eyebrows shot up.
"I asked her on Wednesday," Riku said quickly, "but she didn't say yes until Friday."
"Oh, how cute," Naminé said in a tone that sounded more like, "oh, how repulsive."
"How did he ask you?" Tifa asked. She sounded more interested than Naminé. "Was it adorable? Or was it weird?"
Hmmm, let's see. I think I'd go with really weird.
"You know," Riku said, sensing Yuffie's panic. "I just asked her. No big deal. We should go in, shouldn't we?" he started forward and Naminé stopped him with one hand on his chest. Looking straight at Yuffie, she draped herself over his shoulder.
"Oh, boys," she said in a teasing, aren't-we-all-friends-here way. "They never care about the details. To get the real story, you have to ask the girl. Right, Yuffie? So tell us the details. I want to hear every single thing."
"It's totally boring," Riku said. "And we're going to be late."
"We have a few minutes," Naminé said, resting her other hand on him arm so both hands were holding him in place. "Unless there's some reason you don't want her to tell this story, Rikey."
Riku and Yuffie exchanged glances. Hers said, She totally knows we're lying. His said, Help! What do we do?
Yuffie took a deep breath. Well, she had imagined Jake asking her out a thousand times before. She could describe the perfect scene pretty easily.
"Um," she said. "It was Wednesday night. I decided to walk Thorn and Alanna-those are our dogs- to the park around the corner. When I came out the door, Riku was there, on the porch. He looked like he'd been there for a while, and thinking about ringing the doorbell. I thought that was weird, but he asked if he could come to the park, and I said sure. I gave him Alanna's leash."
"Your dogs are named Alanna and Thorn?" Tifa interrupted. Naminé glared at her, but she didn't notice. "Seriously?"
"It's from this series of books that I like," Yuffie said, blushing furiously. "Alanna and Thorn are twins, like me and Zack, so that's why we picked those names." she hadn't thought about her dogs' names being embarrassing before.
"Go on," Naminé said. "So you and Riku walked up to the park."
"Yeah," Yuffie said. "And we let the gods off the leashes in the fenced area, and then we sat on this bench by the fountain."
"I know that fountain!" Tifa interrupted. "Wow, that's so romantic."
"Tifa," Naminé said. "Stop interrupting."
"And then he put something in my hand," Yuffie said. She had imagined this too many times, it was like it was real in her head. She could paretically see the expression on his face, in the moonlight. "I looked down, and it was this little origami whale. On one side, it said, 'Yuffie...' And when I turned it over, the other side said, '...will you be my girlfriend?'"
"Oh my God," Tifa said. "That is the cutest thing I've ever heard."
"How could you read in the moonlight?" Naminé said suspiciously.
"There are, um, lights in the park," Yuffie said, jolted back to reality. She nervously glanced at Riku, but she couldn't figure out the look on his face. Was he freaked out? Did he think it was weird that she had come up with that whole story on the top of her head?"
"Oh," Naminé said. "Well. That's sweet." She shoved Riku away from her. "I don't know why you didn't want to tell us that story, Riku."
"Guys don't like girls to know how romantic they can be," Yuffie said, trying to sound like she had any idea what she was talking about.
"But you waited until Friday to say yes? Why? Naminé asked. Yuffie felt like she was being interrogated. The bright lights and water torture couldn't be far off.
"Um, I guess I was really nervous. I haven't- I mean, Riku's my first-" she faltered. She couldn't do it. She couldn't say, Riku's my first boyfriend.
"The important thing is that she said yes," Riku said smoothly. He put one arm around Yuffie's shoulders and used his other hand to wrap her arm around his waist. "Now that you have all the details you need for an in-depth encyclopedia on the subject, may we please get to camp, Miss McKennis?"
Naminé lifted her chin, so her hair fell back from her face. "Of course," she said linking her arm through Tifa's. "Come on, Tifa." They wept on ahead, down the path leading to the check-in booth.
Yuffie's heart was racing. Riku's whole side was pressed against hers, and his bare arms was resting lightly on her shoulders, and her arm could feel the muscles in his back through his shirt, and it didn't seem possible that she could be so confused and scared and thrilled at the same time.
"Wait," he whispered, curling his hand around her shoulder until Naminé and Tifa were out of earshot. As soon as they were, he nudged her forward, keeping his arm in place. "Yuffie, that was amazing."
"Oh," she said, turning pink. "It wasn't anything special."
"Seriously? I couldn't believe it. I wish I were that cool. You should of been a guy. You'd knock the socks off any girl with a move like that."
Yuffie started to giggle, she couldn't help it. "Knock the socks off? How old are you, fifty?"
"Nice," Riku said. "I give you a compliment, and you make fun of me."
"Sorry. I forgot for a moment that that's really what every girl wants to hear-that she'd make a great boy."
"I mean, that you're much smarter than any boy I've ever heard."
"I'm a girl," Yuffie pointed out. "So that's true by definition."
"Dweeb," he said affectionately.
"Loser."
"Smart aleck."
She started giggling again. "Oldest person ever trapped inside a fifteen-year-old."
He pressed one hand to his forehead. "Alas, how my girlfriend abuses me." They'd reached the check-in counter, so he took his arm from around her shoulders and leaned in to sign in.
Yuffie glanced around and immediately stopped laughing. Naminé was standing halfway down the path to the swimming pool, her arms folded so her elbows were sharp points at her side. Yuffie could feel her freezing glare from there.
This wasn't over. Naminé wanted Riku, and she thought Yuffie was the one standing in her way. The question was, what was Naminé going to do about it?
Wow, this came faster than I expected. A lot faster.
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brisFH28
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SecretAgent99
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Erin