A/N: Finally! It's been a grueling month (and I MEAN a grueling month), but I managed to finish this chapter for your viewing pleasure. I'm very much proud, and surprised, of myself. So hopefully, this will make up for the long wait I put you guys (and gals) through. Read it and let me know how I did. Thanks!

"Regular dialogue"

'Mental thoughts'

"Dialogue said by another"

Flashback

Chapter 4: Getting A Little Closer

"Daddy! Daddy!" A little girl, around five years old, runs up to a man sitting at a riverbank.

The man envelopes the girl in a massive bear hug, swinging her around in happiness. She squeals gleefully as he does so.

"Daddy! I'm getting dizzy!" Despite what she says, the girl is still giggling and waving her arms about.

"Oh really?" the man says with a mischievous tone. "Then I guess I just have to…SWING YOU FASTER!" He spins around faster and elicits more laughter from the child in his arms.

"Hahahah!"

After a minute of spinning them around, the man gently sets the child down on the lush, green grass. She peers through her brunette bangs to peer up at the man with curiosity, twin pigtails swishing back and forth on her shoulders.

"What's the matter, daddy? Did you get tired of spinning?"

"Something like that…" he tells her.

There's something about his smile that seems fake, plastered on for convenience. The girl isn't sure what to make of his smile. And the way he responded to her felt…grim. An aching feeling tugs at her heart. She walks up to his legs to grasp the tan fabric of his pants in her tiny hands. She looks up at him again, unsure of what to say next.

"Daddy?"

He kneels down to her level and pats her head affectionately. For some reason, it makes her want to cry.

"You know,,,that daddy loves you, right?" He has on a smile that doesn't reach his ears. And his eyes don't speak of happiness, slanted downward and glazed over from a pain she can't see.

"Of course I do." she says quietly, holding a look of hurt and confusion on her face. "And I love you a lot, daddy."

He caresses her cheeks and lets his hand linger on her skin a little longer. She can't help but flinch from the cold that penetrates her skin.

His touch was frigid.

"Marta. I'm letting you know that daddy has to go now." He doesn't bother to hide the frown that works its way on his features.

"Go?" She doesn't like where this is going.

"Yes, Marta. Daddy has to leave you."

"But why?" Tears begin to pool at the corners of her eyes. The man sees this and runs a finger under each, letting the liquid drops trail down his finger instead.

"Why do you want to leave me!" she wails loudly. "Did I do something wrong? Was I not a good enough girl?" More tears form and gush out like a river.

"No, no, no. Of course you've been a good girl. And you've done nothing wrong." He stands up straight, looking at her in sadness. "But I have to go now."

"Daddy?"

"Good bye, Marta." He turns around and starts to walk away. Her eyes widen in alarm and she goes into a dash to catch up to his retreating figure.

"Daddy! Daddy!" she yells for him, an outstretched hand desperately tries to reach out for him. "Daddy, please!"

The sky turns grey and a piercing, cold wind violently hits her frail body. But she continues to run after her dad.

"Daddy! Dadd-ah!" She trips over a rock and falls face first into the grass. Her father disappears into the grey distance, leaving her alone and reduced to tears. She looks on in hopelessness.

Her hand reaches out, shaking from the many emotions that wrack her body.

"D-Daddy. Please…please don't leave me."

Tweet, tweet. Tweet, tweet.

"Hm?"

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the sun streaming through my window. I heard the birds chirping outside and cars driving through the neighborhood.

I just laid there on my bed, recalling the dream I experienced moments before. It was a dream I've had many times during the years since my father's leave. You'd think after all this time that I'd have gotten used to it. But with the brush of my fingers under my left eye, I was convinced that the hurt was too deep rooted to get over so quickly.

I slowly rose from my bed and pulled the covers back. I took a second to examine my hands…my empty hands that once held my dad's calloused ones. I shook my head of those fleeting thoughts and went into the bathroom to get ready.

School waits for no one. And apparently, nor does my mom.

I grabbed my toothbrush from inside the pink cup next to the sink and slathered a bit of toothpaste on it. I could feel the gooey paste work its magic as I no longer smelled (and tasted) the after effects of morning breath. I did this for a minute before leaning my head over the sink and depositing the substance inside. I opened the faucet and filled my open palm with some water and stuffed it into my mouth to wash out the excess paste. Afterwards, I squeezed some face wash on my hands and scrubbed my skin clean with it.

It seemed that washing my face made the bruises glow brighter and appear more visible on my face. I couldn't help but run my hands across the patches of green and purple. Some were healing faster than others. But as long as they're less noticeable, than I don't have to worry so much about them being discovered by anyone. And besides, a little make-up helps with this.

Unlike all the other girls at school, I never was much of fan of the stuff. I thought natural beauty was the way to go. But that was before I had a reason for using it.

"Your ass better be up and getting ready!"

Ah, speaking of my reason…

"I mean it!"

I opened a drawer under the sink and rummaged through all the stuff for my make-up kit. When I found the compact, I hurriedly opened the lid and brushed the foam pad across the bruises until they weren't visible anymore. I threw the black compact back inside and made a dash for my closet. In fifteen seconds flat, I had on my school uniform and two flower pins adorning either side of my head. I grabbed my backpack, slung it over my shoulder, and made my way down the stairs (in the usual fashion, of course).

The coast was clear. So I ran down the hall to the door. That was when my mother emerged from the living room with an unopened can of bear in her hand. I immediately stopped in my tracks.

"You're surprisingly early for school today, huh?"

"Y-Yes!" I hope she doesn't hit me as hard today. We're supposed to run the mile today in P.E.

"Why the change? You fucking a guy in school?"

"N-No! I-I would never d-do that kind of stuff."

She grabbed me by my hair and shoved my against the wall. Hard.

"Don't you lie to me, you little bitch. I know you're fucking a couple of dicks there for some attention." She spat in my face as she said all this.

I clenched my eyes shut tightly and turned my head to the side. "No. P-Please let me go." I felt myself shrinking under her, my voice getting lower as she towered over me in her usual intimidating self.

She pulled my head forward before slamming it back against the wall. "You better look me in the eye when I talk to you. Do you know how fuckin' disrespectful that is when you turn your spoiled ass head away?"

"Y-Yes." I looked her square in the eyes like she told me to. They were narrowed and red all over. She must have been drinking not too long ago. But then again, when is she ever not drinking?

"And don't you fuckin' go get pregnant now. You hear?"

"I-I won't."

"I don't want to be taking care of your ass forever. You're so damn lucky I even let you live here. Otherwise, you ass would be in the streets right now."

"O-Of course."

She threw me to the side, my body colliding with the table that had a vase on it. The vase broke and shattered all around my head.

"And what the fuck are you still doing here? Get your ass to school! And you better have this mess cleaned up when you get back!" She walked back to her room and slammed the door shut.

My shoulder and head hurt tremendously. But I guess I got off easy today, since I wasn't sporting a new patch of bruises on my back or anything. I rose from the floor and ran out of the front door to get to school.

I ran all the way up to the nearest park that was five minutes away and knelt down behind a bush. I opened my spare compact to examine my face for any evidence of this morning. I saw that some of the water from the vase smeared the make-up on my left side. So I quickly fixed the problem, threw the compact in my backpack and ran towards the school.

My mornings were as usual.

"Ok class. Today we're going to work on our group projects for the upcoming Literary Scholastics Fair. You can pick your partner that'll you'll be working with. But I advise you to pick wisely if you want a good grade. So take a moment to decide and I'll come around the room to ask you who you partnered with."

The class erupted in loud chatter as students shuffled around the class to pick their partner.

Ratatosk turned around in his seat and gave me his infamous smirk.

"Sooo, 'partner'. Want the privilege of working with me?"

"Not when you have to ask like that, no." Couldn't he ever be sincere and just ask me in a normal fashion? Does he HAVE to sound like a player to get me to say yes?

"You wound me, Marta." he said dramatically, holding his hands to his chest as though in pain. "You really do."

"Will you quit it already?"

"Not until you say yes."

"Heh. Not a chance."

"Come on."

"Nope. No way."

This guy was going to be the death of me. I swear. So why do I like him again?

"Please, Marta?" I could feel my face heat from the drop in tempo in his voice. It sounded…husky.

'Gah! Stupid Jerk! He's not supposed to sound so…so GOOD! Ugh!'

"Please?"

'He just had to be good looking, didn't he?' I sat there, speechless. I didn't know how to answer him when he asked like that.

"Marta?"

"…F-Fine." I grumbled. Darn that charm of his!

He grabbed my hand in his and gave me this look. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it gave me butterflies all of a sudden. He held my hand to his face (I could practically feel the warmth of his breath on my skin) and looked at me intently (with a smirk, I'm sure of).

"You won't regret this."

"I think I just did." I forced out, putting on the best scowl I could muster in the moment.

I was still battling with the butterflies that nearly made me smile at him. Hopefully, He thought the blush was from anger…and most certainly not from that irresistible smile of his (mentally bashing myself over the head for thinking this).

"Oh, you know you like me. So no need to explain."

That was when I ripped my hand from his own and whacked him over the head. Hard too. No one was paying attention, which was good.

"Don't get any ideas now. I said I agreed to work on the project with you. It's not like I said I'd marry you or anything."

He leaned his back against the wall to his left, arms crossed behind him as though he hadn't felt a thing (must be hard-headed), and spoke in confidence (with that stupid, and so not cute, smirk on his face).

"But just like right now, I bet you I could get you to say yes again if I asked you to marry me."

"Why you-!" I was about ready to pummel him when the teacher came by our desks.

"Ms. Lualdi, Mr. Castagnier. I assume you'll be working together?" he asked us.

"Yes we will." Ratatosk answered with a cool attitude before I could interject. He turned back to me and smirked with a victorious look.

"Ok." He checked off our names on his list and gave us an approving smile. "Well, good luck you two."

"Thank you, sir." Ratatosk says to the teacher before he heads on to the next group of kids up in front.

"Any ideas for the project?" I asked him. I was a little irked with his confidence to manipulate things to his liking. Must come with the jerky attitude.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. But we can work it out over lunch. My treat."

"Sounds good." Well, that made things a little better.

The bell rang and students filed out the door in happy chatter. Ratatosk rose from his seat and pulled his black backpack over his shoulders, turning back to me as I watched him in confusion.

"So I guess I'll meet you out at front." he said with a smile/smirk.

"At front? Why at the front of the school?"

"Because, my dear." He pulled me up from my desk and handed me my book bag (and no, I didn't feel a little light-headed when he called me 'dear'). "You just agreed to have a lunch date with me." he said with a wink of his ruby eye.

"Wha! I didn't agree to ditch school with you." I whispered to him as we walked out the classroom. He pulled me over to a corner to finish our discussion.

"Come on, Marta. You gotta live a little."

"Do you even know what you're suggesting? We could get caught if anyone sees a couple of high schoolers outside of school." No way was I going to get in trouble for him!

"We'll come right back if that's what you want."

"T-That's not the point!"

"Just this one time. I promise."

"No. I-we can't do this. It's against the rules. We could get detention. Or worse…SUSPENSION! Is that what you want? For us to get suspension?"

He laid a hand on my shoulder and lowered his head to be at eye level with me. "Then I'll take the blame for it. Easy as that."

He looked, and sounded, so serious that I was taken back for a moment. And to think, he was willing to take the blame for me…

"You can't do that." I said to him, my voice losing all the panic it once held and reduced to wonder and disbelief.

"But I will."

"Why?" I could feel my cheeks flare with our proximity. His gaze was making me feel exposed, naked,…weak.

He stared at me and I wasn't sure how long I was going to last. He gripped my shoulder tighter and it seemed like the space between our faces was shortening.

"Because."

"Because?" I think my heart was close to combusting. It kept pounding hard against my chest and ringing loudly in my ears. I wondered if he was able to hear it.

"Because…" I waited with bated breath for his next words. "Because…it's a secret." he finally said with a smirk, pulling away and leaving me confused and flustered on the spot. He turned around and started walking to our lockers. "Hurry up, bean. I'm feeling up for some pizza and I don't want to be waiting in line for a table."

My heart was still pounding away and the flush was clearly on my face. But I managed to formulate a coherent sentence to reply and will my legs to follow.

"R-Right." Ok, maybe a coherent word. But it was something nonetheless.

I think.

We managed to get to the Pizzeria before noon (after ditching classes) and sat at a table in the back of the building so that we weren't easily discovered (much to my relief).

I'll admit, this is the first time I've ever ditched school. It was really nerve-wracking as we made the trip here, for I was constantly looking all around me in case a familiar teacher walked by. Ratatosk kept assuring me that the chances of a teacher being around the area during classes was zero to none. But that didn't help much in the least. I was still very much nervous and continued to be on the alert as he pulled me along.

But we made it there without any complication, just as Ratatosk said (he didn't waste a second to rub it in my face).

We casually passed the waiters and took our seats. And that's how we got to where we are now.

I'm a little surprised, though, that it was so easy to do. I thought it would be nearly impossible to leave the school unnoticed. But maybe Ratatosk has done this so much that it's practically child's play for him.

And even though I know I did something way out of my behavior and could possibly get in trouble with the school and my mom for, I also gotta admit that this is quite fun. It makes me feel a little adventurous. And I haven't felt like that in a long while…

"So. What do you feel like eating?" he asked from beside me. Yeah, did I also mention that we got a booth seat and that he didn't mind sitting so close to me? Well, now you know.

"Hmm. All of these choices sound so good that I can't decide."

"You're right on that. Say, why don't we get a half and half of two different kinds."

I looked the prices over for such an order. "I don't know. It's kind of pricey. And just for a slice is five bucks."

"Nothing to sweat."

I turned to him in disbelief. "You're telling me that thirty dollars for a half and half pizza isn't 'nothing to sweat' about?"

"Yeeeah." he drawled on. "You think I'm broke or something?"

"I'm not saying you don't have the money for it. Which makes me wonder how much exactly you have on you."

"Enough."

"Ok. But if I'd known that we were going to an expensive restaurant to eat, I would have told you to take us to a simple sandwich shop."

"But I was hungry for pizza. And they serve the best here."

I played with the ends of my skirt in shame. "I-It's just that…I feel guilty that you have to spend so much on me. And I don't mind paying for my half since I agreed to this."

He leaned his head on the hand that was propped up and gave me a serious look. "And what made you think that it was a bother for me to buy you lunch? I've done it before, haven't I?"

Well-…yes." I said, looking down.

"Then let me treat you without the guilt. And besides…" he ruffled the top of my head, catching my attention to his face. "We're supposed to be relaxing and having fun."

"I thought we were going to work over some ideas for the project?"

"Nah. We have lots of time to do that later."

"What? But you said-!"

"AAAND we'll get to that later." He put a finger to my lip to silence me. "I just hating being cooped up in school for so long. So right now, I wanna have fun and relax."

"But-."

"No buts. Just relax. Got it?" I just nodded my head. "Good. Now lets get a waitress here because I'm starving."

A waitress passed by our booth at that moment. She turned to us with a friendly smile and had her pencil on hand, ready to write. "Are you two ready to order?"

"Yup. Just get us a half and half pizza."

"And what two kinds did you want?"

"Hmm." He took a second to think it over. "Make one side pepperoni and the other a supreme."

She scribbled on the notepad and looked back at Ratatosk. "And would that be all for you, sir?"

"Oh. And get us two cokes."

"Half pizza…and two cokes." She mumbled to herself as she wrote. "Alright. So I got you down for a pepperoni and supreme half pizza and two cokes?"

"Yes."

"And would that be all for you two?"

"Yes."

"And that'll be thirty six dollars and forty two cents."

"Ok." He pulled out a large wad of money and handed the waitress the right amount, plus tip.

"Thank you, sir. And your orders will be ready in twelve minutes." She scurried to the front to hand over the ticket and to attend to another table.

He gave me a smirk when he turned his head my way. "See? I told you I had the money for it."

"I guess you did." I was still feeling a little guilty that he had to pay all that money.

I saw that his eyes narrowed playfully, a (cute) pout on his face. "Hey." He said in a warning tone. "You better not be feeling guilty. I already told you that I didn't mind paying."

"I-I never said I was feeling guilty still." I retaliated. But instead of sounding convincing, I think I made it sound like I was on the defense.

"Uh huh. Yeah, definitely." he said sarcastically.

"Fine. Don't believe me."

"Good. Because I don't."

"I wasn't lying."

"You're red like a tomato." He smirked at me.

"S-Stop pointing out the obvious! You stupid jerk!" I landed blow after blow on his arm. But the jerk had the decency to laugh it off like it was nothing.

"Haha. Man, you're weak."

"I said shut it!" I continued to hit his arm. But he didn't so much as flinch.

He caught both my wrists and sat me down. "Geez with you. Aren't you a ball of energy?"

"Hmph! Maybe you shouldn't say such mean things."

"But that's what makes you so interesting." He ruffled my hair again. "You're definitely not like other girls I know."

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" I wasn't sure if he meant it in a good way or not.

"It means that you're not stuck up, all girly and self-centered. Sure you're quiet around others and tend to overreact things. Not to mention that you're loud, weak, too short to reach-."

"Where are we going with this?" I asked him angrily. He looked to content with naming all my flaws. Grr!

"What I'm trying to say is…I don't mind all these things about you. In fact, I'm glad to have met someone who's like you."

I felt my cheeks heat up again and my heart suddenly skip a beat. "R-Really?"

"Yup." he said with a large smile.

"Are you being serious?" I asked with suspicion. With Ratatosk, you could never tell if he was being sincere or a smart aleck.

"Of course."

"Oh…" I looked down and tried to will the blush away. This was quickly becoming awkward on my part, especially since he was being nice about it.

"But you know." He started. "It wouldn't be a bad thing to be more outspoken."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's just that, you always have this far away look to you when by yourself. It usually appears when you're alone at your locker or when you walk out the doors of school at the end of the day. I don't know what it is, but it's that attitude that prevents you from showing others what you're really like."

"And is that a problem?"

"No. But it would give you a boost of confidence."

"I'm not so sure about that…"

"You'll never know unless you try. And besides, what do you got to lose?"

What I got to lose, huh? What he doesn't know is that I can't show people the real me. I would just be a burden. Heck, I'm pretty sure that I cause enough trouble as it is for Ratatosk. Imagine doing the same to a group of other students? No…I can't impose on other people like that. I don't want to drive a wedge between friends because of my own pitiful ways.

But I've always wondered what it would be like to have friends, other than Ratatosk anyways. From time to time, when I'm alone in my room or thinking to myself at the locker in the mornings (when Ratatosk doesn't show up yet), I've entertained the thought of having a social life like all the other teens my age. I'd picture in my mind what it'd be like to go out for pizza or sleep over at other peoples' homes. And I've always wanted to take group pictures in those booths at the mall and talk about embarrassing situations that we've been in.

But my mom…she'd never let me have that kind of life. Ever.

I scratched the back of my head (avoiding the side with the lump from this morning) in nervousness. "I can't."

"Why not? Don't you want people to see the real you? Aren't you tired of being ignored by others?"

"Maybe. But, I-I just can't. I'm certainly not as confident as you are. Everyone likes you."

He leaned back and stared up at the ceiling with a serious expression. "That doesn't mean much. Everyone just likes me for my looks. It was never about my personality that interested them."

"I'm not concerned about how you look."

"Sure, you don't. But with other students, it's a different story entirely. And everyone expects something of me."

"I'm sorry to hear that. But I'm sure that you'll pull through it. You don't look like the type that gives up easily."

"What makes you say that?"

"I don't know. Call it intuition, if you will. But you just strike me as someone who's willing to go the extra mile to make a point."

"You think so?"

"I…I know so."

"Aren't you quite the observant one?"

"Of course. We're, uh, friends…right?"

He didn't say anything for a few seconds, building up my anxieties since I asked. It's one of those fears I had when it came to 'us'. I wasn't sure what he thought of me. Were we friends? Acquaintances? Classmates? We talked in school and ate lunch together. But did it constitute as being friends? He never did specify what he really thought of me. And I just kind of assumed we were friends. But I was afraid. I was deathly afraid of what he'd say. I know it's silly to think like that.

But it's true. I was afraid of losing Ratatosk and amounting to anything less of what I thought we were. I don't want to lose him. Not now…not ever.

So I sat there, waiting for his response. Waiting on baited breath for the words that would either take me or break me. His gaze was still on the ceiling. Mines were on his passive face.

He kept his eyes on the ceiling. I almost thought he hadn't heard what I asked. But then he lifted his head slightly and regarded me with a smile. It was genuine. "I guess we are." I felt my heart swell with those words. So he thought kindly of me. What a relief.

He started to turn in his seat till he was sitting straight towards me, to my confusion. His cheeks were lightly, almost unnoticeably, tainted a red hue. "Actually. To be perfectly honest, I think I-."

"Here's your order." The waitress' voice chimed in, shaking the serious atmosphere that surrounded us. A flicker of something crossed his eyes, something I couldn't distinguish, as he turned around to regard the waitress. She placed the large plate of pizza on the table and handed him the two glasses of soda. He didn't look at me when he placed one of the glasses on front of me. He said a quick thank you to the waitress and began to take a big bite of his slice. We ate in silence after that.

He never did tell me what he was going to say. And I figured it was best not to ask.

"Ugh. I'm sooo full. I don't think I can take another step." I rubbed my stomach in content. We were walking down the street from the Pizzeria.

"Then why don't you roll your way down, you fatty." He smirked as he said that.

"Shut up. You should be thankful that I'm too stuffed to fight back. Or you'd be kissing pavement."

"Should I just lie down on the floor then? Because with those toothpicks you call arms I don't think we'll be getting anywhere with that."

"Zip it." I adjusted the straps of my backpack as we walked. "I can't believe I let you convince me to ditch classes. What was going through my head then?"

"Hey. You had fun. So don't throw all the blame on me. And besides…" He poked my arm. "You didn't have to come along."

I swatted his finger away. "I didn't have to. But you offered a free meal as incentive. How could I possibly pass that up?"

"Anything for food, huh?"

"You know me so well." I said dramatically. This got us to laugh wholeheartedly.

We chatted, playfully shoving each other along the way or pointing out something funny we saw. Before either of us knew it, we arrived at the school.

Suddenly, I wasn't feeling as happy as before.

"Well…" he trailed off.

"Yeah…"

"Today was really fun."

"It was." I tried to put on a convincing smile, even though my elation was quickly deflating with the knowledge that our fun day was over.

"Maybe…if you want…we can do this again next time?"

"I-I guess."

"Cool. Cool. So, uh, I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Sure. Um, see you tomorrow Ratatosk."

"Yeah. See you tomorrow…Marta."

We went our separate ways. He, to his parents. And me, to a lonely home with a constantly drunk mother. But I would be going home with something else today: a fun experience.

I'll dearly treasure this day because …because me and Ratatosk got a little closer. As friends. But that's alright. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

I've been blessed with a wonderful person. And thanks to him, I know what's it's like to care for someone. Today, I gained a little more likeness for him.

A/N: Aaah. Now wasn't that just sweet? I was lacking some serious RataMarta fluff. So this, I hope, quenched your sweet tooths.

Anyways, leave me a review. Thanks!