"Straight legs Amanda! And jump with your hips, it gives you more distance!" An older woman barked to the girl. A contretemps later and she was off in the other direction. Tombé, pas de bourrée, glissade, grandee jeté. The landing was a bit shaky and she had to hop out of it to make room for the next girl right on her heels.
"Better!" the teacher called out to Arrow before turning to advise the next girl about pointing her toes all the way.
Arrow leaned against the barre, panting and tired. She had started dancing only a year ago, but she was already one of the best dancers in her beginners class. Though she was far from being in the advanced class, her teacher had talked to her about moving her up soon.
It hadn't taken Arrow very long to learn that ballet was her passion. It also hadn't taken Mello very long to realize the same thing and he was quick to tease her for it. Every time she came back to the orphanage, wearing those tights and that leotard, he was the first to mock her.
Eventually, however, he became the only one to mock her as more and more of the children got bored of it. Mello was the only one who persisted, calling her fat and telling her that ballerinas were supposed to be skinny and how they weren't supposed to have boobs. When Arrow pointed out that she was fourteen and any normal girl her age has boobs as well, Mello insisted that ballerinas didn't have them and therefore she was fat, at least too fat to be a ballerina.
Arrow had gotten used to Mello's taunts years ago, however, and only rolled her eyes, muttering about how pathetic he was for continuing to try and make her feel bad about herself.
Today, however, when Arrow returned to the orphanage, Mello was not waiting to make fun of her. He was no where to be found, actually. The other children were playing and Arrow looked around for any sign of Mello, or Matt for that matter.
What she did see, however, was a newspaper on a nearby table, which she picked up and flipped through boredly. She had been looking for the crossword puzzle (if it hadn't been done already by someone else), when she saw something that made her heart stop.
"Arrow's probably almost home." Matt said, looking up at Mello from his gameboy. Mello shrugged. "Aren't you going to go make fun of her?"
"It doesn't bug her like it used to." He said flatly.
"Something's bugging you." Matt said, turning off his gameboy all together. They had been hanging out in Mello's room all day, doing pretty much nothing together as they seemed to do quite often recently.
"No it's not." Mello denied, staring out a window. Matt shook his head and stared at him. He knew something was wrong, but if he asked, he knew Mello wouldn't talk, not even to him. So instead he just sat there, watching his friend for several minutes, waiting for him to talk.
"Matt, have you ever kissed a girl?" Mello finally said, not looking at him. His voice was calm and level and his face showed not even so much as a blush. Matt blinked a few times, taken aback by the sudden question.
"No. Why?" He asked.
"Nothing." Mello said, falling silent again. Matt knew that wasn't all and continued watching him, not saying anything until Mello spoke again.
"Have you ever wondered what it was like?" He asked. Matt sighed.
"You want to kiss a girl." He said, looking at the wall to the left of Mello's head. Mello curled his lip up and shook his head.
"Ugh, no!" He said, sounding thoroughly disgusted by the idea. "Girls are nasty."
"You're eleven, shouldn't you be over that by now?" Matt said, shrugging and looking down at his gameboy again, debating turning it on.
"No, girls are nasty. They're so weird about shallow stuff like clothes and shoes and crap. They smell funny all the time and always call themselves fat even when they're not and they wear makeup and still insist that they're ugly! I mean, if they think that they're so ugly wearing make up, why do they wear it?! It pisses me off!" By now, Mello had stood up and was pacing, making many gestures with his hands. Matt couldn't help but laugh at him. "And what is so funny?"
"You." Matt said, laughing out loud.
"What about me?!" Mello demanded, crossing his arms.
"You're just funny…" Matt said, his laughing subsiding as he caught his breath. "Acting like this…" Mello crossed his arms and looked back out the window.
"All I'm saying is that girls always have been and always will be idiotic. Boys are so much better." He said calmly, trying to contain himself. Matt smiled a little and, in the back of his mind, felt a small sense of relief.
Suddenly, a knock came at the door, very soft. If the two hadn't just stopped talking, they wouldn't have heard it.
"Who is it?" Mello spat, glaring at the door.
"Me…" Came Arrow's timid voice. Mello rolled his eyes.
"What?" He asked, turning to face the door now. Arrow let herself in, but stared at the floor. She shivered a little, the newspaper clutched in her hand. The boys looked at it curiously, wondering what could have her so shaken up.
"What's that?" Matt asked, eyeing the paper. She twitched a little and sat down on the bed next to Matt, unfolding the paper. Mello made his way over as well and looked over Arrow's shoulder at the article she had opened to.
The headline said something about an arrest for a major drug bust and next to the article was the mug shot of a woman, dingy and dirty, but even so, bearing a striking resemblance to Arrow. The article told the details of the drug bust, including the woman's full name: Christina Rose.
"So what?" Mello said, raising an eyebrow skeptically.
"So look at her! She looks kinda like me and she's got the same last name as me." Arrow said, pointing at the picture of the woman.
"That doesn't prove anything." Mello retorted, rolling his eyes.
"I know, I know, that's why I asked Watari." Arrow said.
"And?" Matt asked expectantly. Arrow shivered a little.
"He said that this woman gave me to this orphanage fourteen years ago, claiming she couldn't take care of a baby. Apparently, she thought this place was just a regular orphanage." She said with a sigh. "She's my mom."
"Good thing she did bring you here then." Matt said simply, turning on his gameboy, not caring how rude it might seem.
"I guess…" Arrow said, giving a side glare at Matt. "If you want to think of it so bluntly."
"You would've been caught in the middle of that." Mello pointed out -- quite literally, as he placed his index finger on the article -- with a shrug. "Would that have really made you happy?"
"Well… no…" Arrow admitted, looking down.
"Then why are you so down about it?" He asked.
"Because my mother is a terrible person!" Arrow snapped, glaring at him. "I could have pretended she was dead or just devastatingly poor or something, but no! She's a criminal!"
"Stop whining. You're lucky. Some kids are actually raised by people like her. You weren't." Mello told her, giving her a dark look. She shivered. He had a point.
"Besides, at least you know who your mom is now. That's more than most of the kids here can say." Matt said quietly, tilting his gameboy as if that might help the Tetris block he was currently controlling go to that side faster.
Finally Arrow stood up. She looked at the two and sighed.
"I'm sorry. I thought I'd just tell my closest friends how I felt about my mother being a drug dealer. Didn't know they'd give me a lecture." And with that she turned around and stomped out of the room.
"God, she bugs me!" Mello said, once he was sure she was gone. "I've been putting up with her since I got here, why won't she leave me the hell alone?"
"She just called us her friends." Matt said with a shrug. "I'll bet you she didn't tell anyone else about this."
"She's a loner, everyone knows that." Mello answered. "She hangs out with girls from that ballet school, but she stays around us most of the time."
"She acts like she's your big sister or something too have you ever noticed that?" Matt said with a smirk. Mello scowled and nodded.
"Oh I've noticed. Trust me." He said before making his voice sound high-pitched and exaggerated. "'Mello, did you finish your vegetables at dinner? Mello, clean your room, it's a mess! Mello, don't eat that, you'll rot your teeth! Mello, I'm gonna call you Mihael because I think we're related for some reason so I can!' GOD, she bothers me!"
"You're reacting so harshly to nothing." Matt said with a smirk. "Maybe you do want to kiss her."
"I'd sooner kiss you." Mello said, shivering slightly.
Short chapter guys… hope you enjoyed it anyway! (also, reviews are nice…)