I'm really sorry if any of you have similar chapter or stories written, but I promise I haven't copied them!
I'll try not to make anyone too OOC, since people probably don't like that.
Disclaimer: I don't own POT and there certainly won't be any crack involved.
Chapter 2:
xxx
Rikkai Dai Fuzoku
Ruka and Rinko had left the house early in order to reach Rikkai on time for the opening ceremony. During the whole time, Rinko kept consulting her daughter and telling her what any mother would say to their child on their first day of school. Fortunately, Ruka was too excited to care whether or not she'd make friends et cetera, et cetera.
When Rinko finally pulled up to the front gates, she quickly hopped out of the car to grab the wheelchair and place Ruka in it. "Now remember, don't worry too much about anything else, just have fun." She says.
"Of course I will kaa-san. I'm not the one worrying, you are! Just focus on your work, mum." Ruka laughed at how flustered her mum was.
She waved good bye to her mother as she drove off and turned back to face the gates of the school. "It's so big!" she couldn't help but murmur.
She slowly wheeled herself into the school grounds, following the trail of students around her. A few sophomores and seniors were handing out flyers for clubs to the freshman, but seemed to purposely avoid her as she came past. Although this happened, she payed them no mind and just smiled.
She remembered that she was asked to go to the office before the entrance ceremony to collect a few things including her timetable, so she started to make her way over there when, "WATCH OUT!"
Ruka looked around for the source of warning, but realized it was coming for up above when she saw a slight shadow growing larger on the ground. She didn't dare to look up in case she ended up with a bruise or something on her face. Oyaji wouldn't be too happy about that.
The impact itself didn't hurt, but she could hear the splat as it went everywhere, her hair, down her neck and into her shirt, and all over the wheelchair. She didn't mind that her clothes or hair were now covered in red goo, but she was worried for her wheelchair, as it would be hard to clean and would remain sticky for a while. Not to mention it was quite expensive and her parents had cashed out a bit to buy it.
She looked around to see who had thrown it, but obviously the prankster had already run away, laughing probably. Many students had seen what had happened, and looked away awkwardly, as if either not sure what to do, or not wanting to ruin their reputation by helping the disabled girl, or just, simply, not wanting to get goo all over themselves.
Ruka's smile did not falter and she kept her head down. She just wheeled herself around and asked the nearest person where the nurse's office was. When the second year student had finally recovered from his shock, he gave her directions in hopes he really wouldn't have to wheel her there himself. Lucky for him, she just wheeled away after he told her how to get there.
Ruka wasn't annoyed, just a tad put off from the unpleasant feeling of the goo slowly rolling down her back as she made her way to the nurse's office. On her way there, she passed the tennis courts and could see the club members already training, despite it being the first day. She would have liked to stop and watch, but at a time like this, cleaning herself up was more important. Ah, well, she would just have to get her time table later, wouldn't she?
xxx
Going to clean herself up had made her late. In fact, she had missed the opening ceremony and home room, so she'd also missed the chance to possibly make a few friends. Although she highly doubted that probability.
So now, here she was, standing, (or rather, sitting) in front of the classroom door that leaded to the third year's English class she had been placed into. She took a deep breath and made to knock on the door, when it suddenly opened and the teachers head popped out.
"Ah, you must be that lucky freshman who came to do senior level English," the man continued the next part in English, "My name is Mr Konori, everyone just calls me 'sensei'... Just introduce yourself in English to see how much they can understand." He stood back and opened the door wider to let me in, then closed the door behind him after I was through. Not many people seemed to notice me but the teacher walked back up to the middle of the classroom (where his podium thing was sitting.) and gestured for me to follow him.
All the students stopped their conversations to turn and get a good look of Ruka; many of the girls looked at her up and down, criticizing her. A few of the guys let out low whistles, paying no mind that she was in a wheelchair. This earned a few glares from the girls. One guy who wore glasses and sported freckles, held his nose, trying to stop a nose bleed.
"Class," the teacher started, "we have a new student today. She is from the freshman year level, but her standards exceed her year. Please welcome her nicely into the class."He reverted back into Japanese for the last part, in case some people didn't understand.
A murmur went throughout the room.
"Ah, my name is Ruka Echizen; I will be joining your class for English. It's nice to meet you all." Ruka bowed as best as she could in her wheelchair, but it also didn't help the fact that the nurse's had given her a slightly larger uniform so she didn't have to wear the dirty ones, making the collar of her shirt lower a little.
"Good job," the teacher said, "everyone understand that?" The whole class nodded in response. "Alright, any questions for Ruka?" He pointed to an innocent looking girl with her hand up.
"Do you have any pets?"
"Ah, yes, I have a cat named Karupin."
A boy with bright red hair put his hand up and asked, "Do you like sweets?"
"Well, unless you don't count the 2.5kg bag of gummy bears I have at home, the stash of pocky and the peach flavoured gum in my pocket, then, actually, no. I'm more of a savoury lover. Go potato chips!" Ruka fist pumped the air, causing a few people to laugh and a few girls talking about how much they think Ruka weighed, "Probably as much as an elephant." Giggles echoed the room.
Next was a boy with dark hair. "Have you been to other countries?"
"Yes," Ruka said, "I've been to Spain and Australia. I used to live in America as well."
Gasps were heard around the room, and Ruka distinctly heard a comment of, "She's been to so many places, yet she's in a wheelchair?"
A boy with silver hair, looking much like a sea urchin spoke up, a slight smirk on his face, "So, why are you in a wheelchair?" The whole class became silent and the teacher cleared his throat.
"Well, I think that's enough questions for now." he says, "Let's start class, shall we?"
"You can sit next to the silver haired boy, it the only spare seat we've got. Niou, can you please move the chair so Ruka can park her own there?"
The silver haired boy stood up and moved the chair as Ruka slowly wheeled herself down the aisle. "Puri." Was all he said as Ruka took out her books.
Unfortunately, her pencil case was unzipped and everything tumbled out on to the floor as she took it out of her bag. Being in a wheelchair, she couldn't bend down to pick it up like a normal person would. Luckily, Niou had noticed and took pity on her, so he bent down and picked up what had been dropped, then handing them back to her.
"Thank you… Niou-senpai. Was it?" She asked, as if not sure if it was right or not. He gave a small nod before turning his attention back to the window, it was so much more fascinating than English. It was too much effort anyway. As he turned away, Niou noticed a bit of red goo stuck to Ruka's hair that probably hadn't been cleaned off properly. Whoops. Guilt trip much?
"Marui Bunta, could you please stand up and translate the following paragraph into English?" The teacher caught the red head spacing out.
"Ummm," Marui stood from his seat, racking his brain for the English words to say what was written on the board, "Ah… A young boy is very sick, but he is better after going to the d-doctors? The boy is little weak because he has sick, but now he can play sports. The boy's dad is a e… e… electrician? and his mum stays at home to clean and cook. The boy has a pet dog and he loves his family very much."
The students in the class looked at him wide eyed, surprised he could even translate that much. The teacher clapped and said "Well done, but you weren't paying attention, so you missed out on correcting the 'a' to an 'an', and you missed out on a few past tense things like I have been explaining all lesson. Ruka, could you please correct his mistakes?"
"A young boy was very sick, but he got better after going to the doctors. The boy was a little weak because he had a sickness, but now he can play sports. The boy's dad is an electrician, and his mum stays at home to clean and cook. The boy has a pet dog, and he loves his family very much." Ruka translated the paragraph pretty much word for word without pausing, let alone look at the board. It was fluent and well spoken, with the right accent.
Everyone just sat there in shock, even the teacher. The bell went and everyone quickly packed up their things to leave. The red headed boy went up to Ruka, earning a few unnerving glares from his fan girls.
"Yo, I'm Marui Bunta. You're really good at English you know." Marui stuck his has out for Ruka to shake, which she politely took.
"Ah, Marui-senpai, nice to meet you. Ummm thanks?" Ruka chuckled slightly at how straight forward the boy was.
"No problem, I guess I'll see ya around, since I have gym now and, well," he looked at her legs, "you probably don't…"
Ruka laughed, "Yeah, you won't be seeing me around the gym this year I'm afraid. Bye, it was nice talking to you." She waved as the red head headed off with the rats-tail guy.
Sighing, she looked at her time table and her mood lightened slightly. "Just Home Ec., break and Music. Then I've got Chemistry next!" She whispered to herself excitedly.
Ruka quickly gathered her things and left the room so she wouldn't be late.
xxx
Home Economics had passed quite uneventfully, minus the fact that she had saved a girl from setting her hair on fire, which the girl was very grateful for.
They hadn't cooked anything interesting, just a basic stir fry. It was something simple enough for any first year to cook. It was the first day of school after all.
Ruka was at the taps refreshing herself in between the short 15 minute break they had between second and third period, before heading to the music room… somewhere…
After turning into a large but empty corridor, Ruka heard a collection off voices singing quite off key and realised it was the music room she might possibly have been looking for, for the last half an hour.
Subtly knocking on the door a teacher stuck her head out. "Sorry I'm late; the school is so big that I somehow got lost…" Ruka tried to explain. "It's fine, just come in and join us, you'll know the song." The teacher beckoned her to come in before walking off, slightly 'jiggling' to the music. Ugh. Teachers that try too hard.
Most of the students just gave her a look as she came into the room, but went back to singing – trying to show off possibly. Just as the teacher had said, Ruka did know the song once she had heard it. It was a classic after all. She didn't join in though, unfortunately, she was not gifted with a musical talent (or so she thinks). Although she'd never sung before, she knew she was horrible at playing the guitar, piano or even just the cymbals or maracas. (Is that how you say it? I think it is…)
Ruka, hoping not to get called on, just sat there, clapping her hands along with the beat. Unfortunately, luck was not on her side that day and the teacher noticed and silenced everyone, all the while turning off the music blasting from the CD player.
"Ruka, dear, since you won't join in as a group, perhaps you'd like a solo?" The teacher slyly suggested. The teacher didn't really like Ruka. In her point of view, Ruka was probably just a smart ass who thought she was too good for everything, that's why she was put into the upperclassmen's courses.
Ruka violently shook her head, hoping to avoid unwanted attention. "Ah, it's ok, I'll sing with the group." "No, I think it's a good idea, someone as sweet looking as you should have a good voice." A boy – not helping – chipped in.
"D-demo… I've never sung before." Ruka tried her best to wiggle out of the currently forming situation. "Well, now is a great time to start!" The teacher forced her to sing in front of everyone by pushing her wheelchair to the front of the room and restarting the music.
The sweet notes of a piano started playing, and the lyrics started, leaving Ruka just sitting there, not sure whether she should really sing or not.
Imagine there's no heaven.
Ruka still sat there, not sure what to do, then, slowly, but painfully quietly she started to sing.
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people,
Living for tod-
"Stop, stop!" The teacher reached over to stop the music, causing Ruka to look up and cut short too. "You aren't loud enough, we can't hear you!" the teacher continued, then restarted the music for a second time.
This time, Ruka didn't miss a beat and sang as loud as possible, she could be made fun of later for her singing, but that didn't mean others weren't bad either.
IMAGINE THERE'S NO HEAVEN,
IT'S EASY IF YOU TRY,
NO HELL BELOW US,
ABOVE US ONLY SKY,
IMAGINE ALL THE PEOPLE,
LIVING FOR TODAY.
Ruka stopped and looked at the teacher expectantly. The teacher nodded and turned off the music. "Not bad," she commented, "we can work on that later."
xxx
Ruka quickly left the room in hopes of not getting lost finding her way to the chemistry lab. It seems luck was on her side for just this moment since the first left she took happened to be the corridor where all the science classes were held. Ruka quickly slipped in in hopes of not having to introduce herself for a third time that day, since she would probably have to in math anyway.
She quickly spotted an empty bench and wheeled herself towards it, but not before someone else had slipped into the seat beside her. "Ah, looks like we'll be lab partners starting today. Probability you are good at Chemistry is 86% and it is 97.3% you're a freshman. Am I right?" A boy with brown hair and closed eyes looked at Ruka.
She slowly nodded, "Chemistry is my favourite subject, and yes, I am a freshman. Echizen Ruka." She introduced herself, only to see that the brunette was not really paying attention, but scribbling in a small notebook, mumbling to himself.
The teacher came in and rapped on his desk, signalling the start of class. "Starting from today, a freshman shall be studying with us, please welcome her nicely." The teacher waved a hand in her general direction and turned to start writing on the board. "Copy these notes down. In your own words!" the teacher instructed, still facing the board.
Atomic Theory
There are about 9 groups of elements and a group of what you could call 'outcasts'
The first group are called alkali metals, the second alkaline earth metals….
"Echizen-san… Echi-" "Eh? Gomen, gomen, senpai. I spaced out there." Ruka realized she still didn't know the brunette's name. "Well, the teacher is calling you." "Eh? Hai, sensei?" Ruka looked up to the front of the room, where the teacher had disappeared and was now standing next to her, looking over her shoulder and reading her notes.
Small laughter went around the room, "See, told you she was dumb, maybe her parents paid the school for her to move up into this class." Another snigger could be heard.
The teacher by now had finished reading her own version of the notes written on the board and grunted approvingly. "Well then, Wakamo-san, care to tell me what you've written?" "Eh? Ah well sensei, you see, I don't have a pencil." The student who had made to rude comment tried to make up an excuse. "Borrow one from you lab partner, because this is how your notes should be written. May I borrow this?" the teacher asked in a quieter voice. Ruka nodded as her notebook was taken from her, and her own notes were copied onto the board next to the teachers.
As her notebook was handed back to her, she heard frantic scribbling coming from her lab partner and saw him writing in his notebook again. Not wanting to invade his privacy, she let it go as extra notes for the subject, since his own were already sitting atop the desk, open for anyone to see.
They boy next to Ruka closed his notebook as the bell went, surprising her. She quickly gathered her things, only to find that her mysterious lab partner had already left the room, along with most of the other students.
She sighed and went out of the class, through the corridor and out into the afternoon sunshine. 'Well, this shall be an… interesting lunch?' she thought, taking out her bento. Little did she know about the conversations being held across the campus.