One book in one year, written about your partner. Game on. Oh wait, they're writing about you too. [SoMa, TsuStar, KidLiz]
Rated M for Mature content
Genre: Romance, Suspense
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x ｆ ｉ ｃ ｔ ｉ ｏ ｎ x
Ｓ ｕ ｎ ｓ ｈ ｉ ｎ ｅ Ｇ ｉ ｒ ｌ ０ ９
Maka
I didn't know how to act around him now. I saw Soul and even though I had only told him a sliver of life, I felt like I was wide open, ready to be stabbed. He didn't even know a lot about me and I felt like I was vulnerable already.
Stupid me.
But then again...on the other side of the table, I knew about Soul. If he tried to expose me to anyone else I'd just expose him. Who was I kidding? I was over thinking this way too much. We were both in the same situation, being in a bad family matter, none of us would betray each other...would we?
"MAKA!"
KABOOM!
Oops. Perhaps those two chemicals don't go together well.
"Are you even paying attention?" Ox demanded, annoyed by the fact we didn't win the prize of best solution at the end of class. "Why would you put those two together? What's going on in your head you-"
"Relax...it was an accident." Soul's smooth voice hovered above us.
I turned around...feeling shaken. Was he standing up for me? But the moment Ox tried to respond, Soul did an eye roll and returned to his seat by Black Star, who had already struck a conversation up with Tsubaki.
I wanted to thank him but there was still a part of me that didn't trust one bit of him. That was terrified of him. I couldn't really understand what I felt for Soul. Hatred mixed with sympathy, mixed with confusion. Not necessarily a good combo.
Were Soul and I a mix or a solution? I didn't know.
Liz
"You're sitting over here and that's final!" I dragged him over to the table where Maka and Tsubaki sat.
Kid had tried to get me to sit with him but I wasn't going to do it. I was going to sit by my friends...well Tsubaki was my friend but I didn't know if Maka liked me or not. Either way, I wasn't going to sit alone with him
So it was either he sits over here...or by himself.
"Who's that guy?" Maka pointed at him but I had a feeling she knew who he was already.
"My partner, Kid."
Kid didn't look entirely pleased to be sitting over here with all of these girls.
I introduced them all to him and he nodded simply.
"If sitting over here is necessary to this project..." Kid announced. "Then I shall sit here as long as I need to."
Great. Just what I needed. I was hoping that one sitting over here would make him lose his mind and force him to go and sit by himself again but I had a feeling now that this suddenly wasn't going to work.
"So anyways Liz," Kid continued our conversation that we were having before all of this. "I'm coming over to your house to-"
"You are not coming to my house!" I argued...this was embarrassing in front of Tsubaki and Maka.
"I must! So we can work on the project privately." He protested.
It's a good thing I knew who he really was or I would've taken that the wrong way. Most guys our age would say that just to secretly get us to have sex. Worst thing is my parents are never home...ever.
"Then we can go to your house!" I said, glad Maka and Tsubaki had started a side conversation, seeing my awkwardness.
Kid and I glared at each other for quite some time. He clearly was just as mad about his house as I was about my house. However, if he stepped foot in the tiny apartment my sis and I shared he'd have a heart attack.
Soul
I couldn't help but look at Maka differently after I had seen her that night. It was so hard to be nice to her because I couldn't deal with her personality. I hated it but also...some parts of her seemed to be like me in such ways it scared me.
Before, I never would've even considered thinking of her as a friend. But now I watched her from a distance, wondering if she was hiding other things than her problems with her father.
As I watched her dump her lunch tray, she grabbed her stomach and I raised an eyebrow while she shook her head and continued to walk away. Something in her eyes stayed in my brain and I remember Black Star's text.
Except even after chemistry, when I tried being nice, I still couldn't try to be friends with her. I hated her. So why was I feeling this way? Why was I feeling like I had to prove something to her? Prove that I wasn't the scumbag she really thought I was? Normally I'm not one to care about what other people think but every insult she throws at me I have a strong urge to counter.
"So about your piano playing..." Maka pried the next day in literature.
I sighed. It's not like I'd tell her much anyway.
"My mom signed me up for lessons when I was four." I explained. "I loved it at first..."
"And then," She pried, leaning in.
I flicked her on the forehead, pushing her back.
"None of your business." I remarked, wishing she wasn't so fucking nosy as always.
"Come on, Soul." She begged angrily.
"Let's just say," I folded my arms. "I had too much competition and I hated it."
She obviously didn't understand. I didn't expect her to. She wasn't in the same situation when it came to siblings. As far as I knew, she didn't have a brother or sister.
I wouldn't lie when I said that sometimes I hated my brother.
"Your turn now dumbass." I informed her, receiving a book to the face.
She obviously didn't like me calling her names. Too fucking bad.
"What do you want to know?" She asked, not alright with the idea of giving away any more information about herself.
I thought about lunch.
"Are you anorexic?"
The sound of her hand striking my face resonated louder than I liked. Everyone in the room stopped talking and they just looked at us in time to see Maka drop her books and sprint out of the class.
Maka
I ran so fast, it felt like my legs were made of rubber by the time I got to the end of the hallway. I ignored Marie-sensei calling after me as I slammed the door shut and sprinted.
He reminded me of it. Ninth grade. I had to get out of there.
I didn't know where I was going. Technically this was cutting class wasn't it? Of course I really didn't care at the time. I was so scared...so terrified of thinking about what happened last year...how dare Soul.
Swallowing, I found my own little sorrowful corner to cry silently in. Being the weak person I was, any mention of something related to what happened seemed to send a rush of emotions through my body, causing me to shudder and cry like a weak child.
Part of me wanted someone, anyone, even Soul, to come run after me and find me but there was also a part of me so disgusted with my outer appearance, that wanted to be left alone.
I shifted uncomfortably in my short skirt, looking at my knobby knees. Those days were behind me now. I thought that to myself, trying to remember my eating the past months being normal but still something haunted me and it killed to think about it.
Inside of me there was a war...a raging war and sometimes I just wished a side would win already so there'd be less contradiction in my thoughts. There was the devil inside of me and the angel. And there were moments where I couldn't tell the difference between the two. Those moments were scary. But not as frightening as the times where I thought the devil was better than the angel.
I couldn't let anyone see the war though. I prayed inside if I out scored everyone on tests, if I was the best, I could go to college and start a new and fresh life, leaving my past behind me.
But the devil wouldn't let me.
Of course now I was thinking oh great because I had to go back into class after that outburst. So instead I decided to return in the next class and just stay out here for now. I stayed in my corner until passing time.
"Oh hey look who it is?" Hana Yumi greeted me by my locker.
God. I can't her enough.
"It's the little bitch who ran out of the classroom in tears!"
Her shrill laugh was loud and I was thankful for the many students talking in the halls to cover up her pitchy voice.
Hana was one of my childhood bullies. Of course as an extremely independent 9 year old girl, I didn't let her bitchiness get to me and I remember one time on her bullying occasions, flipping her off. She always thought that she got through to me with her insults while her little gang of girlfriends stood by her but she was very much wrong and today I wasn't going to take shit from her.
"Please move..." I told her, trying to push past.
"I'm not done embarrassing you yet." She informed me.
I gave her the best fake smile I could manage and brought my books up to my chest.
"Hana...don't try to push me around, especially without your freak bodyguards. We all know you're not shit without your crew."
Then I pushed past her, using my books as a barrier so I didn't actually have to touch her nastiness while I moved her.
That felt good, but I was still severely depressed on the inside.
Tsubaki
It ached, watching Maka dart out of the classroom. She looked so sad but I knew that I had my own problems to worry about. My makeup on my face was starting to wear and Black Star was asking questions.
"Tsubaki what is that?" He wondered.
"N-Nani? Nothing..." I tried to change the topic but he kept asking.
Not much longer after Maka left class, I asked if I could use the bathroom and also departed from class.
Also in the bathroom was Hana Yumi and her incredibly unintelligent friends, gossiping about Maka. I hadn't known Hana for a very long time but in the past month I've gathered that she's not a pleasant girl and she doesn't like Maka very much.
I pulled my makeup out from my purse and started to cover up the purple bruise that was on my face. It stung as I tapped the pad covered with foundation all over it. I had to thickly layer liquid foundation and powder...creating a wall over the bruise. It hurt like hell but I couldn't let anyone see what happened.
I could still feel my brother's knuckles touch the side of my face, impacting with such a force that I was knocked into a table last night. I didn't know how such a kind, loving person, could turn into a monster.
"She thinks her skinny little ass can put on such a fake show..." Hana hissed to Mira.
My eyebrow twitched. I didn't really know Maka that well. I assumed Hana had known her much longer, but Maka was a strong and determined girl who would never try to get attention by putting on a "show".
"That's a lie." I spoke up, turning to the side.
"No one asked you." Hana responded.
I felt my frustration rise.
"And Maka didn't ask you to talk behind her back like this." I countered, raising my voice louder than my normal soft spoken tone.
All she did was scowl at me and motion for her three friends to follow her out of the bathroom and back to class. I just loved how they asked to go to the bathroom just to skip class. And especially loved how all of the teachers knew this and still let them go.
I walked out of the bathroom and shrieked. Black Star was waiting for me at the entrance.
"You followed me you perv?" I demanded, shoving him.
Sorry to Black Star, but that was just creepy how he followed me.
"I was curious- oh! The mark on your face! It's gone!" He exclaimed, jumping up to see.
"It was just some juice from lunch and I washed it off just now." I lied.
And he believed it. I think.
Soul
"Dude..." Black Star nudged me in chemistry and pointed at Maka. "You should really do something."
"It's not my fault that she freaked." I told him.
Black Star rolled his eyes.
"Of course it is! A god like me can tell these things so easily! NOW BE A MAN AND APOLOGIZE!"
Yep. Maka heard that. She flinched.
Great. Thank you Black Star for making everything awkward.
Of course I felt bad. Just a little bit. But I didn't want to admit it. I understood how serious girls were about their eating disorders but I also knew there were tons that tried to gain sympathy from it. If Maka really was anorexic, there was part of me that was happy that she wasn't one of those girls.
I didn't like girls who begged for attention, which was why I completely ignored Hana's bullshit that was spreading like wildfire throughout the school. Literally in two class periods, everyone knew about Maka's freak out. Maka didn't even look at the people who clearly whispered about her.
In that way I respected her.
Then I remember that she slapped me and my feelings turned bitter.
God. If only I had known earlier that writing about this particular girl would ever be so complicated, I never even would've started the story.
Author's Note: Oh my god am I evil or what? Hehe. I love writing intense moments. I WENT THE THE FAIR TODAY! If any of ya'll live in Minnesota you must go to the state fair because it's amazingly stalked with food. So greatly that I'm going tomorrow with my buddies. Yeah. Anyway...I got much of my inspiration for this chapter by listening to Demi Lovato who is so amazing and inspiring it's like daaaamn. I never knew about her complicated and painful life. I only liked one song by her, Don't Forget, and then I heard Skyscrapers and looked her up and realized that people are not always what they seem. Then it reminded me of my story and I had to just write it out:) SO REVIEW CUZ I LOVE YOU! :D