Chapter Two:

"Oh-my-God, you have got to be kidding me!"

Not that Mom and Dad ever noticed, but I do not have time to walk my kid brothers to school every day. They made me walk them to school once again, and these twerps wanted nothing more than to ruin me. The last scene they made was almost laughable compared to what they had put in motion next.

"Hey, Sis!-'thurp!'-What'cha-thurp!-doin'-thurp-over there?" Daniel laughed.

"Ne-ne, Onee-'thurp!'-san!"

"Onee-thurp-san!"

They were blowing raspberries with their tongues. Mid-sentence. Squatting or lifting their legs like they were farting. In the middle of the sidewalk!

I passed by an electricity pole. I was almost tempted to bang my head right into a loose nail sticking out from it. But those Things would've found a way to dishonor my death.

" 'Ano' (Umm), you two, if you need to go to the bathroom, you should've gone before we left, " I said in a sickly sweet voice to throw off the other people listening, "Otherwise, you'll have to hold it until I get you to school."

I saw Daniel smirk for a second before suddenly bursting out, "Uh-oh! I gotta go now!"

Then I saw him proceeding to take off his pants.

"Oh, God, no!"

He didn't have enough time to pull his boxers off his hips once I picked up the two and ran the rest of the way. The people on the sidewalk stared at me. I was just a random teenager to them carrying two small boys under her arms, one of them holding onto their pants along the way. Totally nothing wrong with that...says the girl whose life is practically hell with twin hellions by her side.

I saw a car pass by on the road, and I thought, Darn, I missed my chance for eternal rest. I was just a minute away, too...

At the elementary gate I threw the two into the courtyard and yelled, "Go crap in the school yard, you dumb dogs!"

"See you after school, Sis!"

"M-leh!" I grunted.

What sucked last night was that Mom and Dad hounded my ass for not walking the "precious angels" home from school. Because of that they decided to make me walk them back and forth to and from school every-single-day...Ugh, why don't they try walking their mutts to and from school just once? Then they might get a taste of my bitter medicine...

I was comforted by the fact that I could manage to get to school on time with everyone else. I past through the gates and saw two other people zipped behind a sakura tree. I recognized them as Samantha and Misuzu-chan, so I thought I'd say 'hi'. When I did, this is what I heard:

"Misuzu-san may have been touched on the train!"

"Wait," I said, "like, bump 'touched' or illegally 'touched'?"

"Illegally."

"Misuzu-chan! Who touched you?!"

"N-"

"It's okay, hon'. You can tell us."

Okay, so that was something to jump start my morning. I'd heard stories of perverts preying on innocent girls on trains, but I never thought it'd happen around this old dump.

Then I said, "We'll have to call the police, y'know?"

"Oh, phooey! If this pervert is out there now, then we'll hafta' get 'em ourselves!"

"Nah, who knows who this person is. If it were some wimp, then I'd say, 'hell, yeah, let's get 'em!'. But what if they had a weapon?"

"You're talkin' to a girl who's lived in the US! Where I'm from I've seen my daddy use different guns while deer huntin' so many times that I'd know how to take apart that gun in less than ten seconds!"

"A-no!"

Who was that? Did I just hear a shriek from Misuzu?

I turned to the side and there I saw Misuzu, huffing and nearly red in the face. Both Sam and I stared at her.

"No one touched me. I never even got onto the train this morning...I'm sorry if there was some sort of misunderstanding.."

"Oh, thank the Lord! You had me so worried!"

"Misuzu-chan, don't scare us like that!" I told her.

Just when all of that was settled, the bell rang for first class to start..Aww, damnit! Class!

"I can't be late again!"

Sorry, guys, but it's survival of the fittest. If I'm late, I'll be facing Jabba the Butt again, I apologized in my head.

I sped down the hall hoping that the Big Man wasn't outside the classroom. No one turned up there but me, so I felt confident enough to sneak in.

Just as I had stepped up to the door, something black blocked the entrance and thrusted me to the floor.

"Excuse me, Miss. Are you a student in this classroom?"

I glared at the person above me. Black hair, somehow still young, black suit, green eyes. Who does he think he is? We're not in bloody London, you 'twit'! And you think you're from the UK with all that butler stuff..

"Are you alright, miss?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

I brushed the weirdo aside to get to my seat. He disappeared by the time I sat down, thank God, and the teacher waddled right at the nick of time. From the corner Ryuko sat up straight, completely ignoring everyone else. Just sensing her next to me reminded me of yesterday with that note and what the other girls said about her. I mean, seriously, a nerd like her-spoiled rotten? Everything about her cried out "helpless, dainty animal". A damsel. How could someone like that have so much power that she could manipulate people to get whatever she wanted? Was it because of her name? Is her rich life just so boring that she feels the need to torture people?

What about the stupid note?! What'd she mean by it? Is she intimidating me or WHAT?!

I was determined to settle this for myself once and for all. The constant nagging in my head of not knowing was driving my crazy. I was just sitting in my seat shaking my leg and trying to taking notes! Every time I heard her eraser rubbing on the paper or a scritch of her pencil I grew more agitated. It was like some force from her side of the room was trying to drill a hole in my head. Through that morning I gripped my pencil and thought, I need to talk to this chick! Clear things up. If she's really targeting me like they say she is, she'd down-right say it or try to deny it with some kind of weird, evil face. If not then I guess I just brush it off and let it go.

But right now I just need to know!

I had a plan in the back of my head that seemed golden. At the lunch bell, I would start out with asking her about yesterday, then work up to the note. That was what was supposed to have happened, but then I heard someone say, "Hey, Takemono!"

The three girls from yesterday walked up to me. One of them stepped up.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Mm, nothin'. How's the view from class?"

"Whaddaya mean?"

"Y'know, you sitting next to Ryuko."

Beside me, Ryuko flinched.

"It's fine...I guess."

"Yeah..remember what I said before?'

"Uh.."

"About you-know-who?'

I looked back at Ryuko. In my hand I scrunched the note she left me yesterday thinking that I'd save it for another time. But then I felt the note slide out of my grasp.

"Oh-my-God!"

All three of them squished next to each other to read the open note.

"What a snob!"

"She's totally stuck-up!"

"What a bitch!"

They turned to her with furious expressions. Ryuko looked at me for one moment, her eyes looking desperate, and then stood up and left. The others scoffed in her direction.

"Y'know what? You should tell her to back off! She's totally sadistic!"

"Let's do Takemono a favor and get rid of it."

"Totally!"

The girl in the middle held the note out by the top and ripped it right down the center. I felt a lump in my throat as I watched them shred it. It was like I wanted to stop them, stand up and yell, but I didn't know why. Why should I keep the note anyway? Wasn't it threatening? Weren't they right about her? She left without a word...so wouldn't that mean that she didn't deny it to be a threat?

I balled my hand into a fist. The one that held the letter. But it stung at my palm. I..was bleeding..? How did I cut myself?

Then it hit me: the other girl grabbed it from me a minute ago. It sliced my hand...

"Ouch.." I said a little too late.

"Hey, Takemono, where're you goin'?"

I walked out of the classroom to the nurse's office. I was only focused on the pain. The blood started to form a long, dotted, crimson line along my palm. Yet I was absolutely calm. I've never liked the sight of blood. I am still scared of it to this day. So why am I so calm?

"Hey, Takemono-chan!"

Just what I needed...it was the Bishonen..

"Takemono-chan! Are you headin-Hey, what happened to your hand?"

It made me sick to hear myself say something to him because of my breathy response. That proved that I wasn't calm: I was in shock. Everything inside me began to panic.

"I'm going to-"

Beads of blood were forming across my hand. I felt my stomach churn.

"C'mon! Let's get you to the nurse, Takemono-chan!"

He grabbed my other wrist and ran down the hallway. I could feel other people stare at the two of us, both of us nearly hand in hand in public and running like freaks while the teachers started to poke their heads out of their classroom.

I would be insanely furious if it weren't for him holding my wrist. It felt warm..his hand on me, I mean. Like, I'd never experienced something like that before. I wanted to be mad, but I couldn't. He was comforting to me and I was starting to feel as if I were walking on the clouds. But that's probably because you're still in shock, a voice in my head reminded me.

"Excuse me!" Hazuki pardoned himself as he threw open the nurse's door.

The nurse stood up from her desk, just about to demand an explanation when Hazuki interrupted, "I'm sorry, but my friend was cut. She needs it to be looked at!"

She grumbled as she stepped in front of me. I tried biting my tongue as the nurse gripped my hand with a steel force. I didn't want to puke at the sight of blood in front of the others, but it was hard when she was nearly holding it open. Then nurse pulled me closer to her cabinet so she could bandage my hand. But then she darted some ointment on it. I wanted to scream! It stung so much and there was more blood starting to spread on my palm.

Oh my God, I'm gonna puke! No, I'm gonna puke, and then faint. Which is so much worse!

I swallowed back the burning acid that crawled up my throat. The smell of blood...all metallic and thick..

I reached back for something to grip in my other hand, her desk or the chair, while trying not to move at the same time. There was just air brushing my palm, and I became more anxious. When I was about to retrieve my hand, something warm slowly touched my fingertips. Sneaking a look back I glanced behind my shoulder.

Oh..my..God!

His hand was in mine. His HAND was in mine!

What do I do?! Who do I what?! The damage is already done! The nurse probably saw our hands and she'll throw us out or something! What the hell do I do?!

And then I felt the coarse fabric of his uniform sleeve. He held out his wrist for me. But why?

...Damnit, I don't care at this point! It's better than puking!

Of course, I was stupid enough to try to grab his wrist. I only got a fistful of his sleeve as the nurse glanced up at us. He had tried to conceal our hands that way, and looked at her with a boyish little grin.

Sneaky little punk. Cheeky monkey!

The nurse cautiously glanced back down to my hand and then told me, "Make sure to keep that hand clean when you get home."

"Okay," I mumbled.

I slapped away his wrist and walked right out of that room. Honey Chuckles thanked her, and a moment later I heard his footsteps behind me.

"Takemane-san!"

Then he said in my ear, "Oy, Takemane-san!"

"Takemono...It's Takemono.."

Both of us stopped on the top step to the roof. I pouted at him with my arms folded over my chest, being ginger about my bandaged hand at the same time.

"I-I'm sorry..'Ano', is your hand any better now?"

"Yeah, it's fine, " I said dryly.

"That's good. I was just worried that you were sick. You were pale..."

"...I don't like blood..."

Why did I just say that?! Did he-

"Oh, I see."

Damnit!

"B-But don't you dare tell anybody! Especially about what you did in there!"

"What'd I do?"

"Don't act dumb! You-! You-you..touched my hand!"

I tried my best to keep my voice lowered in case anyone overheard me.

"I'm sorry, I just thought you-"

"It doesn't matter now...J-Just don't tell...please?'

He looked at me with some kind of concerned puppy look. It was because I was weak. Hazuki found my one weakness and had did something that wasn't allowed in public, and I was desperate to keep that between us. If anyone had found out...

"Okay. I promise."

Just like that? He'd promise something so easily to someone he doesn't know?

I didn't believe it at first, but he smiled at me and told me that he'd keep it between us.

His friends opened the door from the opposite side to check on him. Hazuki excused himself and left. Just like that.

He's obviously teasing me. He won't keep any promise with me...

But I felt like that wasn't true. I felt like he was telling the truth, and that I didn't deserve something nice...not after that scared pair of eyes from Ryuko were borring into my memory. Like I had done something wrong...


"Ella-chan!"

Someone grabbed my shoulder.

"You shouldn't stress yourself this much. If something's botherin' you, you can tell me about it."

It dawned on me that I had left school with Samantha after seeing the guys in the hall. Hazuki and his friend.

I then remembered that I caused quite the stir for my friends, storming off without Sam who I dragged out of the classroom to talk to, and even slammed my head into my locker to get Hazuki out of my mind. All that did was make me black out for a minute...

"Hazuki ticks me off."

I mean,..well, yeah. Hazuki does push my buttons and I have no idea why he's always so cheerful and..and-

"Okay...that's a start."

I scoffed. How am I supposed to explain this?

"Okay, that's an understatement. I hate him..but at the same time he's-he's-y'know! How do you say it?"

" 'Kawaii' (cute)?"

"Sure, whatever. So, whenever I see him I feel ticked off and I want to shout at him, but I also feel girly and giddy when he looks..ugh. Does that even make any sense?"

"Yeah, I understand. Do you want me to tell you what I think?"

I shifted my weight on my other foot.

Then she proceeded, "Well, I can say that you're feelin' somethin' complicated. You get goofy around him yet angry, and you want to hide it so you try to ignore him and pass him off...right?

"Technically, that's considered a crush. But so soon into the year...I say don't worry. Take your time to get to know him and then you decide how you feel. Pursue him if you want, or don't bother with him. It's up to you."

"Oh-my-God! 'Like him'? Are you-"

Wait a minute...can it-no-! No! I barely even know him! How can she be so sure if it's love?

I wanted to ask Samantha about it but she was too busy with someone else. It turned out to be Tachibana-kun, the tall and oversize bulky hunk who Hazuki called one of his friends. I'd heard my classmates talk about him. He had a nice smile and greenish-kinda-brown mucky hair, but a pushover of a personality for my taste. I didn't know why he was outside with use until I saw him holding a lime green handkerchief in his hand.

"Ah, Tachibana-kun!"

He stopped and held out the cloth to her.

"You dropped this after you left. I'm glad I was able to catch up to you."

"Goodness, I'm sorry you had to do that for me!"

I watched them awkwardly smile at each other after she bowed in apology. It was so polite and broken up with silence that it hurt to look at them.

"Ei, don't be sorry. I'm not.."

Holy shi-a-a-a-That sounded like a flirt. Flirt alert!

I looked at the back of Samantha's head wondering what she'd do next. I could hear the nervousness in Tachibana's voice as he apologized, "Oh, I'm sorry. I hope I didn't say anything-uh-well-I-"

Then he hightailed it out of there towards the school gate with only a short, "See you tomorrow," to leave behind.

So much for her telling me that I'm love struck! That was some moment they had there.

"Can you feel the aw-kward to-night?" I teased.

"Well, it looks like someone has finally cheered up!"

"Ha! Talk about 'shy couple'. Can I say that you two are just so 'cu-ute' together?"

She laughed, but then she responded like I hit a nerve. Before I could say something else, she said she needed to go home and left.

I think there's something else that made her upset. I must've reminded her...hmm..nah! She'll-She'll be fine.

That night I got another lecture about leaving the Dweebs to walk home by themselves, but what Mom and Dad didn't know was that they kept their uniforms on and walked around in town to go steal candy from one local store. They found me after I left Samantha, and once again, they got me into trouble.

"One more time and we'll take away something from your room!"

Yeah, and yet when the little idiots yacked up their dinner and you found candy wrappers in their pockets, you let them off the hook. Nice parenting there...

I was still ticked off by the next day, more so when Hazuki came up to our group with a club form. I heard him talking about it earlier, but I didn't think he'd actually want to create a new club. He tried convincing me that morning, and I agreed to it because one:) I thought it was a joke, and two:) because I just wanted him to shut up. So I had basically signed myself up for hell.

Everyone but Misuzu and Matsuoka signed up. Matsuoka sat on the sidelines and my other friend said she'd think about it. What was really concerning then was that she grew pale when she heard the word "swim" and the word "club" put together. My guess was that she didn't like to swim, but then I remembered that as kids we played on the beach nearly all the time.

There was that one day when we were kids and my parents and I left..she wouldn't come out of her room to say goodbye.

Whatever the reason, it took her longer than a week to give her answer. We went to the store that Sunday, the entire club and I. Samantha had to come over to my house to get a ride to the stores the guys were going to (for reasons too horrible to describe...work. Like, actually work on the pool since our school was so lazy and country bumpkin that they made us students clean everything for them), and the two little devils were all over her. They even snuck into the backseat with her and me. Oh, was that a sight to behold. I'd never seen them act so innocent like that before. But in that car they were sucking up to her as if they were on a mission.

I was glad that Mom and Dad didn't let the Dweebs in with us. Things got crazy when we went into the department store...Nanase taking off his clothes to dip his feet into a fish tank of water and all. Yeesh...

What would've been funny would be if Misuzu were there and saw him. It's obvious that she likes him with all those times I've caught her staring at him..At least I think she does, anyway...

But if she saw him like that then I'd gladly capture the moment on camera. It'd be hysterical.

We got all of our tools from the store together by lunchtime at school the next day to fix the pool. We got some paint, some cement-like stuff, and whatever else I didn't know what to call. I was just glad I got to do something plain as painting. But I had to be partnered with Honey Dweeb.

There was this one day that I remember spreading cement down on a cracked wall (or was that paint?) and Hazuki was close by while Tachibana and Samantha were clipping weeds from the fence. I heard them talking, and so I looked up and snapped, "Quit slacking and get to work!"

Only, You-Know-Who said the same thing. At the same time.

I tried my best not to gag as he had said something to me. I first said, "Hey, don't steal my words from me!", and then he's like, "O-I didn't mean to!" .

"Aww, Takemono-chan! Please don't be that way!"

"Hmph!"

Then I tried ignoring him for the rest of the day. I don't know why, but my heart was pounding the whole time...Stupid Hazuki! Baka!


By the end of the week we finished the pool. Misuzu and Matsuoka had finally signed up and helped our pathetic cause to make the pool decent. To me it turned out okay, nothing perfect or anything. It just looked like a regular outdoor pool.

The group, along with my senpais' teacher, Ms. Ama, celebrated "our success" with cider. The guys threw in the pool tablets (the tablets smelled funny so I didn't want to touch one), and that was that.

Until Nanase threw off his clothes and dove into the pool.

Everything became chaotic in that moment. I watched Misuzu blush to a point where her face became a cherry red, pressed against the fence, then jump and accidentally slip into the pool. And all the while the most annoying person I'd ever met is cheering on Nanase nearly in my ear. If it weren't for the concern I had for my friend Misuzu I would've punched that guy in his mouth.

I ran over to Samantha on the other side of the pool who held onto an unconscious Misuzu. While she was panicking I heard rustling in the bushes and our teacher slip on a puddle. She held onto her arm.

Damnit, this is all nuts! I thought.

Thank God that Tachibana talked Samantha into calm her down. None of us knew what to do while one of us were KO'd, one with a sprain, and another on their way to hypothermia. He got her on the right track. Samantha told Hazuki to take Ms. Ama to the nurse then Tachibana to fish out Nanase. They took Misuzu to the nurse as the rest of us girls huddled close.

"There's a pervert on the loose with pictures of Misuzu's panties on his phone!" Samantha explained to Matsuoka and I.

"Pervert?!"

"What do ya wanna do, Samantha?"I asked.

"Let's go kill the lil' bastard!"

I was the first on the run. I headed straight out of the gateway and towards the school. If anything, the guy would've tried to throw us off and take different cuts and corners to get to the main gate. And if he managed to run his way there we'd never find him in town.

That was so not cool with me.

The thought of some jerk getting off on pictures of Misuzu was enough drive for me to keep running at top speed. I nearly tore down a couple of people in the hallway like a bowling ball and pins. It wasn't my fault that they were in my way.

After making to the main gate, I could make out a figure in the distance, a male student who had been running slow to a stop and trip. He was looking at something else as he was getting back up. So I took a chance and leapt at him.

"Rot in hell, 'hentai' (pervert)!"

I felt myself collide into his body while everything became a blur. First there was us rolling, and then I was the first to land on the ground. Then everything had became clear again, and I looked up. It was definitely a guy. Red, piecy hair all sweaty from running (he smelled like B.O. from that run, too. Ewwgh) and hazel, frantic eyes. He had guilt written all over his face.

But above all, he was looking at me with red in his cheeks.

And there was the sensation of hands on my chest. On my boobs.

I screamed at the top of my lungs and swung my fist right into his head. Down he went like the ton of wasted space that he was.

"Ella, what did he-" Samantha asked as she came to my rescue.

"He just groped me! Oh my God, he's so dead!"

She laughed (laughed!) and told me, "Don't worry about that now. He's out for good. You punched his lights out, Ella!"

Samantha helped me up and then turned to the guy on the ground. His very existence made me want to gag.

"What do we do now?"

"I dunno...we could throw him into the pool...or bury him six feet under..."

"No-o!"

"No one else would know!"

"It's not the end of the world when he fondled your-"

"Yes it is! I can't get married now..."

There was that, but there was also my status to think about. I'd already managed to be an average student to everyone in the school, but him going around and bragging about groping my...breasts would (or could..) make me look bad. Mostly a victim, but others would find it funny. All in all, it would ruin my reputation!

Sam made a fuss about taking him to the nurse's, so we did,...well, more like Tachibana and Nanase who caught up to us, and got him to get rid of the photos (at the same time he boldly declared his fetish for women's swimsuits...the weirdo. I was just glad to not have used my fist again on his disgusting face). Misuzu also woke up, and after a long chat, we officially became friends (not that we weren't friends before with all that we'd been through, but I was able to get her to say our first names. And that right there is the real deal of friendship)...along with the boys, too (not Bikini Freak, though).

This would've made a perfect ending if Misuzu didn't faint when she saw Nanase shirtless.

"Aww, Nanase! You just made her faint again!" yelled Samantha.

"Wha-"

"You're indecent! Where're your clothes?"

"By the pool."

"Then go get 'em on!"

"Now?"

"It's either you walk out of here or I'll send you flying towards the pool!"

"Ha-ha-ha! Haruka-chan flying...like a flying fish!" Hazuki laughed.

" 'Saba' ?" Nanase said.

"Just go get'cher clothes already!"

Where's my freaking 'keitai' (cellphone) when I needed it?!


A/N: Hey there, readers. I've come back from an unexpected hiatus with a little more free time to work on all five of the Iwatobi series. I'll try to make this short so we can get to the good stuff.

Ella and Nagisa: I see that Ella is very sassy. She has a comment for almost everything, and has this sarcasm that can either be funny or insulting. And Nagisa is nothing but puppies and fluffy unicorns-until he tries to convince others to do something. I think that's when he shows a little more to his personality than just "happy-happy-joy-joy". He's adorable like that, but I find it amusing and relieved to see that his upbeat and her sassiness pretty much balance them out. Yet Ella as a tsundere is getting a bit difficult to describe for me. I'm gonna need to do some more research. *Flint Lockwood voice* To the computer!

But as for them getting together...we'll see. I'm inching my way closer towards fluff and more detailed relations. I'm just gonna do some baby steps. So please bear with me while I'm writing down all of these new ideas to bring them together. I promise I will make it as awesome as I can and get down to the "fluff and stuff".

Also, I'm updating the other second chapters of my stories for translations for Japanese I use in between dialogue and point of view. I hope they're okay in terms of reading them or spelling. Please, please, please, lemme know if I screwed up on something. I'm always looking forward to hearing from others on things like this. The first chapters I'll comb through for spell check. I just checked this one and found itty bitty words that I skipped over that were mis-typed (whoospies! Oh, gosh, that's embarrassing to me!...).

Other than that, I look forward to seeing you in the next chapter. Shoutout to "Juiji" who favorited the story earlier. Thank you so much!