A/N

Hello and thanks to those who continue to support this story!

By the way, thank you for the faves and comments, it really encourages me to go on with the story. Sorry it took me so long to update. You know, life and everything kind of made me busy but here it is (finally).

OH! And most importantly, I've only noticed recently that the asterisk/star signs (***) I've been putting on the story to signify a turn of events don't show whenever I publish it. So the story suddenly jumps to the next scene without any preamble. Have you guys noticed? I don't know if anyone even noticed so please tell me if you did because I will edit the previous chapters. If it wasn't such a bother, on the other hand, then I won't bother editing it too. (Lazy bastard.) Haha.

Anyway, here it is. :

Disclaimer: I do not own PoT – and the fact pains me. :D

CHAPTER FOUR

Rainbows And Shotgun

And so, Play Month it was. If I weren't too busy being nervous about playing the lead role, it'd probably be fun. All senior students joined together for Alice In Wonderland and I got to meet the students from other classes. Tomoka was even more energetic with Horio-kun around and they were kind of fun to watch – they were a tag team, a comic duo, not one without the other – the naturalness of their togetherness made me envious. Other teachers also gave us an easy time because they agreed that the play was an important tradition. The school was buzzing with activities that were different from most days. We had time and permission to use it as we please - we just had to make sure we get to actually stage the play.

One thing about Play Month I didn't like though (aside from the obvious) was that it took my time away from Ryoma, which sucked because it was the early stage of our couple-dom and we should be together all of the time. But we worked separately. He was the head of props and stage design (which he claimed he had mastered by then) and could usually be found on the school grounds bossing artists and go-to guys to paint whatever needs painting or hammer whatever needs hammering. Meanwhile, I was always inside one of the classroom where peace and quiet was needed so that the actors could memorize their lines and rehearse them properly. Tomo-chan was our director (which she claimed had always been her job since Sensei first surprised them with Play Month and just like Ryoma, she also claimed that she had quite mastered this job already). Tomo-chan wouldn't let anyone who weren't actors inside without any valid reason, and I could say that she was pretty effective. Horio-kun was her right-hand, and also some sort of scriptwriter.

I get to spend some time with Ryoma in the morning (I'm almost always early now!) by the lockers before we need to do whatever we need to do for the day. We'll talk about how everything was going and we'll wish each other goodluck as we part. And then, we spend time when we pass each other by the hallways but we're always in a hurry so mostly, he'd only have time to tousle my hair (which I always tell him to stop doing but he does still). And then we'd eat lunch together but we'd both be so tired and thinking about all that was left to do for the day so we really just rest. And then, we'd go home together and this should be the time where we could enjoy and do whatever fun things we'd like. But still, most of the time, he'd be too exhausted from all the physical work he exerted and he'd still have to go on this training (he didn't have an important match coming though. He's just used to training because he says if he stops playing tennis and only train whenever a match is up, his skills will rust. So it's like part of his routine. "So I only said half a lie to Sensei," he even beamed proudly.) I, on the other hand, would be home busying myself with memorizing my lines.

Half a month passed and the play was half-ready too. One day, Tomo-chan let us have an early break and I immediately went outside the building, into the back, to look for Ryoma. I was used to looking for him by now and could easily spot him anywhere. I found him under a tree painting a tree on a piece of cardboard along with his team. He was concentrating so hard on what he was doing, I decided to just stay on where I was standing and watch him. But after a while of enjoying myself, a girl classmate of ours, who was also painting along with Ryoma, saw me and announced in a moderate voice, 'We have a visitor for Ryoma-kun' and all heads turned towards me. I waved hello to everyone and they smiled and nodded back before resuming their work. Ryoma looked up from what he was doing, poked his tongue out at me, and went back to painting. I walked over to him.

"So, how is the love of my life doing?" I asked sweetly, out of hearing distance from anyone else. We were used to joking with each other by now and our latest conquest was giving each other hideous couple pet names.

"I don't know. How is he?" he said without looking up.

I sat beside him. "But you should know, since you are the lurve of my life."

"Well, you can find someone else because I will never answer if you seriously call me that."

"You're hurting my feelings here, cupcake."

He laughed at that. I'm pretty proud of the fact that I'm one of the people who can easily make him smile and laugh.

"What about you? What is the reason of my existence doing here when I thought she'd be busy being bossed around by Tomo-chan?"

He stopped painting like I knew he would - because by then, I've already noticed how he can't seem to talk properly to someone without focusing on whoever he's talking to. He'd always stop whatever he's doing and just look at you, and I love this about him because it makes you feel like you're the center of his world for that moment.

"The reason of your existence was given an early break and she decided to visit the love of her life." I explained. "Is the reason of your existence being a bother?"

He acted like he was really thinking about it and then said, "Nah, she can stay if she wants, if she promises to help me paint." He handed me a brush. And so, we painted.

Minutes passed and I noticed how awfully quiet he seemed to be (or maybe it's because he was concentrating on the painting) so I asked him if anything was wrong. He shook his head in response and I asked him why he was so quiet and he looked at me like 'What are you talking about? '. So I dropped it and just let him be. After about an hour, I got up and told him I needed to go back. He asked me if I needed him to walk me over and I said no, I could handle it. And we waved each other goodbye.

I was on the stairways when three girls stopped in front of me. By the looks of it, they were younger than I was. I didn't mind them at first but when I tried to walk around them, they blocked me again, and so I had to give them the 'What the hell are you doing?' look.

"So, you're Toru-san?" The girl with the fake blonde hair smirked and the other two snickered. She was obviously their leader. And based on the tone of her voice, I assumed she wasn't trying to be friends.

"Yeah, that's me." I said, trying to walk past them again but again, they blocked my way. I threw my hands in the air in frustration.

"Do you guys need anything?" I sighed.

"Yes," the fake blonde spoke up again, "We want to know why you're with our prince!"

"Prince?" I asked.

"Yes, Prince Ryoma-kun!" the other girl, with the red highlights, said and I had to laugh.

"Prince Ryoma?!" I laughed harder thinking how Ryoma hated the mushy nicknames I made for him.

"What's so funny?!" The fake blonde demanded.

"Nothing." I snickered. "Just can't believe you call him your prince."

"And we can't believe he's with you." The third girl said. Let's refer to her as the girl with blue highlights.

Ow. That hurt. I knew these girls were probably just jealous and I knew a lot of people hated my guts here but this was my first face-to-face encounter with them and hearing the actual words really hurt.

"Better believe it then." I said like a real smartass.

They gave me a couple more smirks before walking around me and I kept wishing for Ryoma to appear and come save me from them like in the movies. But this wasn't a movie and Ryoma wouldn't come save me because he was busy painting a darn tree.

The fake blonde scanned me from head to foot before she left and then said, "Well, have your fun. It's not going to last."

And red highlights also had parting words. She said "I can't believe he'd stoop so low. His heart must've really been broken by Ryuzaki-san. He's just using you to get over her."

And, of course, blue highlights wouldn't let her friends have all the fun. "We all know he's still hung up on her. And we can't blame him. At least she has some class. And she's pretty."

They flicked their multi-colored hairs at me and left. I tried not to let it get to me but failed. So I went back to the classroom, miserable. Sakuno-chan greeted me cheerfully with the costume she was making (she was head of costume design, always had been). I looked at her. She is pretty and I know she is nice. And she's so good at girl stuff like cooking and sewing – so unlike me. She also plays tennis – maybe she and Ryoma used to play together for fun – and I didn't. I told myself it didn't matter. I should stop thinking about it. But the other part of me – the cynical part – wondered what Ryoma ever saw in me.

#

Ryoma and I were at the rooftop for lunch. Ryoma always had big bentos made by his mom and I always bought something from wherever, that day I was having fast-food burger. He noticed this and said,

"You should really stop that."

I took a bite off my burger and said, "What'd you mean?"

"You can't live on fast-food forever."

"I don't always eat fast-food. Sometimes, it's convenience-store food." I joked but he didn't find it funny.

He grabbed my burger and immediately put it in his mouth. This surprised me, of course.

"HEY! Why are you stealing my lunch?!"

He shoved his bento at me. "Exchange." He said, already chewing some of my burger.

"What? But this is yours. Give me my burger back."

"No."

"But your mom made it for you!"

"Just eat it." He sighed dramatically like I was the one being unreasonable.

I picked the lunchbox up and ate a shrimp. It tasted awesome, as I expected. His lunches always look pretty good to me.

"Your mom is amazing." I commented, eating some more. By now, I've learned that his mom is a lawyer but if I hadn't known I would've guessed her as a chef.

He said nothing and just kept eating my burger.

"Say, Ryoma-kun. Why did you choose me?" I suddenly asked. I was trying to be as normal as I possibly could but I couldn't shake the mean girls' comments out of my thoughts. And then, here he was, being all caring - in his own way - for me and I wondered why again.

"What?" he scowled.

"Why me? What'd you see in me? Why not some other girl?"

And he looked at me, suspicious. As if, he were waiting for me to tell him I was joking. But I wasn't joking. And when he realized that, he scowled some more.

"Why are you asking me that?"

"I'm just curious."

"Okay, so out of every other guy, why'd you pick me?"

"Not fair! I asked first!"

"But can you actually answer that question?"

"Yes, I actually could." I immediately replied even if I hadn't thought about it. I just wanted him to answer my question.

"Fine." He sighed and thought about it for a while. Then he asked, "Is this really important? This question. So important to you that you won't allow me to avoid answering forever?"

"Yeah. So you'll have to think of something."

"Fine. You're cute."

"A lot of other girls are cute." I pouted.

"And you're interesting."

"So are a lot of other cute girls."

"Then, I'm never going to win, am I?" He said in an irritated tone.

I didn't say anything. So, for a few seconds, there was this deafening silence between us.

But then he suddenly said,

"Okay, how about this: I like the way you look wearing my hoodie."

I was too caught off-guard to answer immediately.

"And you were really cute when you got scared about my motorbike."

And then, he started counting off his fingers.

"You're also really cute when you're shy but trying hard not to show it. And you make me laugh in a weird way. And I like how you vaguely smell like strawberries. And that you' have just the right amount of weirdness in you. "

He paused, and the started again like he was getting really into it.

"And yeah, your hands are really small. And when you punch my arm, it doesn't hurt at all. I should know because you always do that to me. Do you ever notice that? You hit me when you're laughing at something I said, you hit me when you want my full attention, you hit me even when I have no idea why. You hit me all the time. You love hitting people – or boyfriends. I find it oddly adorable. I swear to God I'm crazy."

He looked at me and of course, I was blushing furiously.

"And you ask me weird questions and blush like a tomato." He said.

I laughed and said in a little voice. "Sorry about that."

He slapped my forehead with his palm. "What's gotten into you?"

I breathed loudly through my nose. Then did it again. He copied what I did and I started chuckling.

"Okay," I conceded, "I met some haters earlier."

"Haters?"

"Well, fans of yours actually."

He raised both his eyebrows and I didn't know if that meant he was surprised or that he was expecting it.

"What'd they look like?"

"One was blonde, fake though. The other had red highlights…"

"Oh. The Rainbow Scouts." He said even before I finished describing.

"They have a name?!" I snickered. The Rainbow Scouts? Really? In high school? How lame is that?

"Well, not really. It was Sakuno who named them that." He explained. Then must've realized he said something quite wrong. I didn't know how I felt about him talking about Sakuno-chan right then but I decided not to let it bother me. I was always asking him about her anyway and wanted them to get along, though I've given up on that thought.

"Really? But the girls said they like her." I shrugged. Seeing that I wasn't upset, he relaxed.

"No way. They hated her."

"But they told me she was pretty and has class."

"They didn't tell her that back when…" But he caught himself again and didn't finish the sentence. And he didn't have to finish it for me to realize that he was going to say 'back when we were together'.

Then he sighed and said, "Look, it doesn't matter who it is. All that matters is that she is somewhat close to me, and then they'll devote themselves into hating her. That's what they do. That's just the way they are, Alice. And you'll only be wasting if you let them get to you. So just let them be and ignore it."

"Is that what Sakuno-chan did? Ignore them?" I asked and he had this brief moment of looking like he'd rather not answer my question. And then, I guess he'd finally accepted that his girlfriend has this complex on his ex so he gave up resisting my probing.

"No. She aimed a spray-paint at them and said that if they ever bother her again or even if she just sees a wrong look from them, she'd spray-paint their hair maroon."

I had to laugh as I imagined that scene. I'd say she handled it well. That's our Sakuno-chan!

"That's brilliant!" I commented.

"They never bothered her again." He replied.

Days after that, Sakuno was fitting me the costume she made and making some adjustments when I decided to catch up with her. We hadn't been able to bond for a while because I always spent my free time with Ryoma-kun and I never sit with them at lunch anymore. Really, I wish they'd make up so we can all have lunch together.

"Sakuno-chan how have you been lately?" I started.

She was on her knees in front of me sewing the hem of my skirt. She kind of chuckled when I said that and replied with

"Why? Been missing me?"

"Of course, I have. I'm sorry I haven't been spending time with you and Tomo-chan lately. It's just, you know…"

She sighed but she had a smile. "It's okay. Girls need to look after their boyfriends." And then she laughed, "Tomo-chan's been spending much of her time with Horio-kun too. I guess, it's the senior blues, you know, with graduation months away. Everyone needs to use the time left to be with their loved ones."

"Momo-senpai's still in town, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but he's leaving next week. He won't even get to watch the play."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Was all I could say because really, was there anything else to say to that?

"That's just how it is with him." She explained.

"How is he, by the way?" I asked.

Sakuno sighed again, deeper than usual. "I don't know really, Alice-chan. He's sort of not speaking to me."

"Oh? But why? Is it because of the fight?" I asked, referring to that stupid fight he had with Ryoma-kun weeks ago.

"Partly, but not entirely. I don't know. I wish he'd talk to me properly before his flight though. What a waste, right? He had a month to spend here and we spend it fighting."

She kind of laughed a sad laugh.

"Oh, don't worry Sakuno-chan. Maybe he just needs time to sort out his thoughts. It'd turn out alright, you'll see." I said.

She looked up and gave me a smile. "You're right. Maybe he's just being a boy, right?"

And we laughed.

"Yeah.' I agreed. "Boys are weird."

#

"Are you nervous yet?" Ryoma asked at lunch break a day before the actual play. We had just finished eating and were just lying around in the grass under a tree.

"Very." I admitted. "I can hardly sleep since last week. I keep thinking about the play."

"Don't worry, you got your lines memorized down to perfection."

It was true. If I could just keep my cool, I might actually pull it off.

"I still can't help worrying." I sat up and skulked.

He sat up too and gave me a slow grin. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why are you smiling like that?"

"Because…" He was smiling too happily.

"Because?"

"I have an idea - a great idea! And my old man lent me his car for today."

"What's that got to do with your great idea?"

"Everything!" He was being overly enthusiastic to the point that it was looking comedic. And I laughed, naturally.

"Okay, spill. What have you got on that head of yours?" I asked.

"Road trip!" He announced, throwing both of his arms on the air.

"Road trip?"

"Yeah. Where do you want to go?"

I stared at him for a moment, trying to decipher if he was joking or not. He didn't look like he was joking though but, well, I just couldn't take it seriously. And so, I said,

"You know we have Calculus later right? And after that we have to attend the final rehearsal for the play."

He sighed and shook his head but he was still smiling.

"Alice…" he started to say, "We've been studying calculus for how many weeks now? I've lost count. And next week, and next month, and the month after that, and all the days until graduation, we'll be attending that class."

"But…"

"And before we were even old enough to tie our shoelaces, we've been attending all sorts of classes. From today, and for many more days to come, we'd be attending more classes. But how many times have you been on a road trip with me?"

"…"

"Calculus can survive a day without us." He finished, and then he grinned from ear to ear again,

"So," he said, "where do you want to go?"

We were laughing in the car, ten minutes away from SeiGaku. I told him about how I rushed upstairs into the classroom to get my bag and told Tomo-chan I had to do something important, and he told me that he went to the performing arts theatre (where the props team were setting up the stage) to get his things and told his crew he was leaving everything up to them. That was it. No other explanations, no apologies. We just left. We knew it wasn't supposed to really be funny because in a way, we sort of abandoned some responsibilities and other people.

But it was funny simply because we were in a car, unsure where to go, when we're supposed to be sitting in Calculus. To me, it felt like, I broke some rules that day because I broke a routine. And I don't mean school rules – to me it felt so much more. I could've spent that day like any other day, but I didn't. We felt like we were totally in control of our lives and reckless at the same time.

"So where to?" he asked on the first crossroad we encountered. We were already caught in traffic but at least it gave me time to think.

"Please don't say the mall." He glanced my way as he said it.

"Of course not. Why will I want to go the mall when I can go anywhere?" I pinched his cheek, grinning.

"Exactly what I wanted to hear. Now where to?" And he revved the engine loudly and we laughed.

"Somewhere pretty but not too far from here."

"Pretty but not too far, huh?" I could tell he was already thinking of places inside is head.

"Anything around here like that?"

"All I can think of is the ocean."

"Perfect! Then, the ocean it is. To the ocean!"

He laughed and turned on the radio.

"The ocean it is!" He declared as the traffic light turned green and Hanson's Penny and Me boomed from the radio.

Who knew sitting in the shotgun seat could give you intense happiness.

#

"Someone's in a good mood." I noted when we were driving along the freeway.

He looked at me and smiled from ear to ear and then said, "Oh? I wonder who that is."

"Why are you so jolly?"

"I'm always jolly."

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

"Uh. No you're not."

And we went on like this for a while until I sighed deeply.

"C'mon, tell me! Why are you so happy today? You're so happy it's almost creepingly weird." I asked, poking his shoulder.

"I'm not even sure it's correct to say 'creepingly'." He replied, changing the topic. But I was determined to get the answers that I want from him.

"Whatever, Grammar Police. Why do you even have your dad's car?" I started my inquisition.

"Mom went to the hospital and my old man's attending something. He told me to pick mom up later since he won't be able to. So he lent me this car and he rode my motorbike instead."

"Oh. Is your mom okay?"

"Yeah. It's just a regular check-up. For work or something." He shrugged.

"Oh. So why are you so happy then?" I persisted and he laughed.

"We're still on to that? Maybe it's just because I get to drive the car and am now going to the ocean."

I wasn't quite convinced.

"What's so special with that? You get to go to all the trendiest places like Australia and Europe."

"Hmm? But maybe it's not the place but the company that makes it special." And he turned to me, stared and gave me this slow crooked smile which made me feel all nervous inside. I wondered if I'll ever get used to this effect he has on me.

"Eyes on the road! I don't want to die in a car accident!" I yelled at him and I reached to turn his face away from me –so that he won't notice me blush- and he just laughed.

#

"Are we there yet? I asked an hour into the drive.

"Have patience, grasshopper. Don't tell me you're already bored." He said.

I decided to open up a topic where he will be able to say a lot – tennis!

"Ne, Ryoma-kun. When you went to Europe, was it because of tennis?" I asked.

He nodded in response and I suddenly remembered Sakuno-chan and Momo-senpai and that they had to live miles away from each other because of tennis. I wondered if that would have to happen to us too.

"Was it because of a tournament?"

"Uh-huh." He nodded again.

"How long did you stay there?"

"Just about a month. Two weeks for the tournament and the first two weeks before that to settle in. Why?"

"Nothing." I shrugged. "Just curious. Did you win?"

"Yeah," he shrugged like it was nothing, "but it was only a friendly junior tournament."

"I can't tell if you're being modest or arrogant right now." I admitted with a laugh.

"Of course, I'm being modest. I'm the best tennis player ever, haven't you heard? I'm, like, the king of the world." He dead-panned and then, he laughed with me after.

After a while, I asked another question.

"So do you plan on going pro? After we graduate, I mean. You'll be eighteen then, you'll be eligible to join the major tournaments."

"Sure." He answered but in a tone that suggested he was not quite sure.

"So when we break up, can I keep your hoodie? I still have it."

He raised his eyebrows in that way he does when he's mildly caught off-guard.

"Depends. Why would we break up?" He asked.

"Because," I started to explain, matter-of-factly, "you'd surely go to a nice university somewhere, maybe in the US, where they'll give you a tennis scholarship. And then, you'd be so busy training for all the major tournaments and then, you'll meet lots of people there and have lots of success. And then, you'll win the Australian Open, then the French Open, then, Wimbledon, and lastly, the US Open. Then, you'll win these Opens many more times for many years. Then, you'll realize you're too good for me. You'll find me boring because I lived in Japan and will stay here all my life. And the, you'll probably get married to a supermodel or something."

What's weird with what I told him was that I really meant it when I said it. I really believed it would turn out like that. Except for the supermodel part, I'm not so sure about that but it's possible. I'm crazy, I must be.

He yawned, not taking me seriously. "Will our break-up be ugly? Like in the movies."

I chuckled at that. "Yeah, yeah it will. It'd be really ugly. I'll slap your face and yell at you and stuff."

"Then, you can keep the hoodie."

"Thanks."

"I still don't see why we have to break up though." He shrugged.

"If you're smart, you'd break up with me eventually and marry a supermodel." My turn to shrug.

"Well, it's great to hear about your positive outlook regarding the future of this relationship." He dead-panned.

I laughed half-heartedly and looked out the window.

That was when the song Wouldn't It Be Nice by the Beach Boys came up from the radio and he started singing along and tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

It started as a whisper and then, he sang louder and louder until he was singing on the top of his lungs and banging his head to a song which was not even metal!

I couldn't help but laugh (and it wasn't half-hearted this time!) It was really funny.

"Make. It. Stop!" I yelled in between laughs, covering my ears.

He ignored me and just continued singing and swaying his head side by side.

Maybe if we think and wish and hope and pray it might come true, rum-rum-ree-roo~

(Yep, he even sang that part!)

Baby, then there wouldn't be a single thing we couldn't doooo~

Oh we could be married,

And then we'd be happy,

And he turned to me and I decided to sing along with him on the top of my lungs too-

Oh, wouldn't it be NICEEEE!

We chorused.

After the song finished, I was still almost in tears because of laughing uncontrollably. I couldn't get over it.

"You're still laughing? I'd get extra points in heaven because of making you too happy." He commented with a chuckle after half an hour.

"That was so… HAHAHA!"

He rolled his eyes at me but he was smiling. It was a different kind of smile- one I don't think I've seen him use before. Even his eyes were smiling, it was a pretty sight.

It made me stop laughing.

"What?" he asked surprised at my abrupt silence.

"You know, you're kind of…" I said slowly with a little smile of my own, "…pretty."

He laughed heartily and said, "I really should make you laugh more often. It makes me pretty all of a sudden."

"I changed my mind," I butt in, "let's never break up."

He just kind of stared at me for a while with a little smile on his face,

"Okay." He said finally. I grinned.

And it was at that time when I felt like I had officially torn out my heart from my chest and handed it to him on a silver platter. There's no getting it back.

I kind of love you, I thought, telling him what I wanted to say –but only in my mind. It was too cheesy to utter and up to this day, I regret the fact that I didn't weave those thoughts into words at that time.

"Look ahead." He told me.

I did and I could see that the horizon was blue – almost as if the ocean were elevated instead of flat. I looked at him and he glanced my way and smiled my favorite smile,

"We're almost there." He declared.

I nodded, "Yes, we are."

I was looking ahead. And whatever lay there, it looked promising.

And we were moving forward, getting closer and closer to it.

We were almost there.

Author:

I love riding shotgun too. I actually more than love it, if that makes sense. And I love that song by the Beach Boys so much. Thanks for the read! :3