"So, all the girls in Ms. Vasquez's class?" asked Roxas in wonder.
"Yeah, every last one of 'em," sighed Hayner dissipatedly, "To them, I'm nothing more than a face-breaking masochist pig."
It had been a full week since the dodgeball incident with Fuu, and news had spread about (from the boys' point of view) Hayner's epic comeback win and (from the girls' point of view) his barbaric crimes against women on the dodgeball court.
Hayner was now with his friends Pence, Roxas, and Olette in the usual spot, which had taken a couple days to dry after the rainy weather. It was the first time they had met up after school since the rainy day and Hayner was telling them his worries about the girls' opinion about him.
"Oh, come on, it can't be that bad," reassured Olette, practically the mother of the group of boys, "Wait, you didn't actually break Fuu's face, did you?"
"Of course not," smirked Hayner, "I checked in with the school nurse right after the match and she said Fuu just had some swelling, and it'd be gone by tomorrow. I haven't actually seen Fuu since then, though."
"Wait," said Olette, "You checked to see if Fuu was all right?"
Hayner didn't seem to pay attention to Olette's question, because he went on, "But what does it matter? My chances at the ladies this school year are already zero, and school's barely started!"
"You don't know that," replied Pence, "Only the girls in Ms. Vasquez you don't have a chance with."
"Actually, girls are real rumor spreaders,," inquired Roxas, "News of Fuu would've been spread throughout the whole school by…yesterday."
Hayner hung his head in low spirits, replying halfheartedly, "Then that must mean all the girls hate me now, too!"
"Excuse me!" interrupted Olette, "I was asking you something, Hayner."
Hayner replied, head still hung, "Unless you wanna tell me a miracle way to get the girls at school to like me again, I'm not interested."
Ignoring this, Olette asked, "After the dodgeball match, you said you went to the school nurse to check on Fuu, right?"
Hayner looked at Olette and answered in a dragging tone, "Yeeaaah…so?"
"So…why did you?" asked Olette, "You hate Seifer, so that should mean you hate his friends, too, including Fuu."
Hayner answered, "Well, yeah, I should, but it only seemed like the right thing to do to make sure I didn't, y'know, hurt her. I was actually kinda worried I did."
Roxas stood up from his seat on the couch, putting his hands together, "Awww, Hayner was worried about Fuu."
Hearing this, Hayner's face turned pink and replied shakily, "N-no, I don't mean it like that! It's just, sure, I hate Fuu's guts, but she's still a girl, and-"
"You said you were worried you messed up your chances with all the girls at school, didn't you?" interrupted Pence, joining in on Roxas' fun
Hayner pointed a finger at Pence and raised his voice, "Don't you twist my words around like idiot Roxas did!"
Olette stood up from her seat, too, asking Hayner, "Actually, why are you acting so weird when we mention Fuu like this?"
Hayner looked away from them. Why was he acting so weird? Fuu meant nothing to him. And yeah, he checked in on Fuu's condition through the school nurse only to make sure she was okay and he didn't look like such a bad guy, but…it actually did kinda worry him if something serious were to happen to her because of him.
He then reflected on the thoughts he had last week on that rainy day. About Fuu. Snapping at Pence for calling her cute, unknowingly checking her out and rating her a 10, always being distracted by her looks during the game…
Realizing he was lost in thought, Hayner snapped back to reality only to find his three friends staring at him coyly.
"Whatcha so lost in thought about?" asked Roxas mischievously, "Your crush?"
With that, Hayner's cheeks went red as he tried to act ignorant, "I-I don't know what yer talkin' about! What crush?"
Olette answered this time, tone dragging with mischief in it, "You knoow…Fuu."
Pence added, "It's obvious you at least think about her often, right?"
"That means nothing!" replied Hayner sharply, "And all of you better shut up about this or I'll make you!"
The three teasers burst into laughter, leaving Hayner slightly confused.
"We're only joking, Hayner!" laughed Roxas, "We know you too well to think you could actually fall for someone as cold as Fuu."
"Yeah," added Olette, "Besides, you have better taste in girls, don't you?"
Hayner couldn't believe it. This whole time, these dumbasses were just pulling his leg. If he had a heavy object, he'd hit all of them with it. Very hard.
He answered shakily, "Y-yeah, you guys got me good. No way I'd ever feel anything for Fuu, right?"
"Exactly," replied Pence with a smile on his face, "Cuz just like you said, she's bitter, rude, awkward, and totally soulless."
He didn't say soulless, he said isolated! And hearing Pence say those awful words now, Hayner couldn't help but want to punch him in the jaw. He didn't know why exactly.
He didn't want to know.
Olette looked down at her watch, then back at the three boys, "Gee, it's already 5. I'd better get home to do my homework."
Roxas replied, "Yeah, me too."
Pence chimed in, "Homework, yeah."
Olette rolled her eyes at them, "You're not gonna do it, aren't you?"
"You know us too well, don't you?" said Roxas, smiling.
The three started to walk out the gate of the usual spot, Olette replying, "Well, I'm not letting either of you copy Mr. Lugbill's math homework! If you don't do it, you won't learn it and you'll fail anyways…"
The conversation trailed off as they left the usual spot and started walking toward their houses. Hayner was left inside the usual spot, alone. He sat back onto the couch, thinking.
Fuu, bitter, rude, awkward, and totally isolated (or in Pence's terms, soulless.) Sure, she was bitter, but she was friends with Seifer, so that was inevitable. Rude? Come to think of it, any rude thing Fuu had said to Hayner, Seifer was around. She said mean things to him when Seifer wasn't around, but she sounded a bit less cold and more…friendly? No, that wasn't the word…sociable. And awkward? With that weird one word sentence thing she had, she was very awkward socially, but she still moved with the grace of…someone with a lot of grace, Hayner didn't have a way with words. All he knew is that his judgment of Fuu had been flawed and too early. He didn't even know who she really was underneath her dense, dense shell.
Well, from this day forth, Hayner vowed that by the end of the school year, he'd know who Fuu really was as a person, not the cold bitter hater she was around Seifer.
Merry Christmas, Christians, Happy Hanukkah, Jews, and Happy Kwanzaa, brothas!
Yep, that was racist, but I don't really care :P It's Christmas Day and I feel like writing, so here's my half-assed chapter. Next time, we go to the beach :D
R&R