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
It was already December. I shivered under my blanket, pulling my knees to my chest. My story was still being written. It was really going nowhere. I couldn't come up with a point for the whole thing. That was my problem when it came to writing things that were fictional. So unreal.
Black Star and Tsubaki had been going out for a month. At first I found it extremely weird but now I find it adorable and can't help but stare in awe whenever the two are together. It's nothing forced either. They're so natural with each other and can finish each others sentences. I'd admit I was a bit jealous. Not the fact that she was dating Black Star, but just the fact that she was dating. I wasn't desperate for boyfriend or anything but it seemed nice knowing someone else cared about you.
I sighed, glancing over at the clock that resided by my bed stand. 6:45 AM. I probably should've gotten up earlier.
My feet rolled over the side of the bed as I yawned, feeling the coldness touch the tips of my toes. The feeling of dread came upon me as I imagined going to school in the freezing weather. Ignoring all my reluctant thoughts, I gathered my backpack together and quickly slipped into my school uniform.
In the bathroom I looked at the mess of my hair and tried to force a stubborn brush through it. Of course my hair didn't agree with that at all so I just put it into a sloppy bun, forgetting about my normal, tight, neat pigtails that were on the top of my head usually.
I walked into the kitchen glancing into my dads bedroom, not surprised to find him passed out there. However, there were no girls with him so that was a first. In the kitchen I then drummed my fingers on the island while I contemplated food I could walk with.
Settling with a bag of cereal, I put my shoes on and headed out the door.
I shuffled along the frozen road, hugging myself with my tiny bag of cereal, attempting to eat it at the same time. Then something wet dripped on my forehead. It was snowing. Beautiful, big snowflakes fell from the sky and surrounded me and for a second I forgot about school, memorized by the beauty as the sun was just rising.
I sat at the bus stop, not wanting to walk all the way to school despite the cold. It was a public bus which meant I had to pay, exactly the reason I normally didn't ride it.
When the bus came, I climbed on and picked a seat in the middle. I sat down and pressed my forehead against the cool window, watching all the snowflakes flutter from the sky.
The school was freezing but I was used to that by now. It wasn't anything new. That was why I had a thick sweater in my locker to put over my uniform. I slipped it over my head and glanced to the side, seeing Black Star coming down the hallway with his arm around Tsubaki's waist. They were pretty cute. I thought it'd be awkward because he was shorter than she was but they pulled it off.
"Cute sweater, Maka!" Tsubaki greeted.
I nodded in response smiling. It was pretty cute.
"Thanks."
I yanked the stubborn books from my locker, slamming it shut.
"Geez.." I groaned at the effort I had to display just getting books from my damn locker.
"Sup Worm!" A familiar voice called.
"Sup Asshole!" I returned, spinning around and hi-fiving Soul then doing a fist bump. It was kinda signature now to do that. He had told me a few weeks ago that I was really uncool because I didn't know how to handshake or fist bump in a cool way. So he taught me the 'cool' way.
Black Star and Tsubaki just chuckled to themselves. It kinda seemed like they were in their own world but at the same time paying close attention.
"We should hurry so we're not late," Tsubaki suggested.
"A GOD LIKE ME COULD HAVE 3 SECONDS TO GET TO CLASS A MILE AWAY AND MAKE IT!" Black Star announced loudly for the hallway to hear.
I rolled my eyes, situating my books for Japanese lit. Tsubaki had a point though. The classroom was on the other side of the school and standing here wasn't moving it any closer to our lockers. Besides, Marie-sensei's class was our 'favorite'.
"MAKA! IF YOU'RE LATE YOUR ABSENCE WILL DROP YOUR GRADE!" Ox called from the end of the hallway, disappearing around the corner, eager to beat me to class. I wasn't so eager but frankly I didn't care because whatever the hell he just said wasn't true anyway.
"Bastard..." I mumbled.
Soul
I can't fucking deal with sentence structure. Or altered syntax. I thought that crap was only in English but it can apparently be applied to Japanese also. Even worse was reading a translated version of Romeo and Juliet. I heard it was hard in English so how the hell was anyone supposed to understand it in Japanese where the sentence structure was even more messed up?
Marie called it easy. I called it torture. So of course instead of paying attention I settled for throwing paper at Maka's head and watching her twitch dramatically every time it hit her. Of course her angered expression didn't stop me from continuing to throw things at her.
"Hey Maka!" I whispered.
Finally she turned around.
"What?" She hissed.
"Wanna hear a joke?" I questioned, my pencil poised as if I was actually writing down what Marie sensei was telling us to write.
"What?" She repeated, annoyed and probably just trying to get me to shut up.
"Women's rights." I smirked, knowing that pushed her buttons. Any sexist comment. It's not that I actually thought that way. But watching her snap her pencil in half over tiny, small comments from me was hilarious. She was such a little hothead and I was just too good at pissing her off.
She didn't respond anymore and turned back around pretending to ignore me.
"Yah! Soul!" Marie called. "You paying attention?"
"Of course," I remarked. "It's Maka I'm worried about. She seems to be struggling a bit over there." I motioned towards my blond hair partner, shaking with fury.
"Do you honestly think she's gonna believe you?" Maka demanded, folding her arms, still refusing to look at me and my huge smirk.
Ox leaned over, sitting next to Maka, probably intrigued that she was struggling with something (even though she really wasn't).
"Oy Maka?" He inquired. "Struggling? Don't let your grades drop so I beat you." He taunted.
Maka fiercely turned to look at him.
"Ox, my grades could probably drop and I would still beat you!" She retorted.
Everyone in the classroom got a hoot out of Maka's comeback and I sat in my seat in admiration. I didn't know someone could be as mad as her and still come up with a coherent comeback that made perfect sense and seemed to hit the point of the whole joke.
"Alright everyone be quiet and let's get back to Iambic Pentameter." Marie said clapping her hands a few times to gather everyone's attention.
While we were still doing the lesson, Marie tapped her pencil to the poem to try to symbolize the iambic pentameter. I considered tapping my pencil to a completely irrelevant beat just to make Maka even more mad but I figured she'd had enough harassment for the day.
Or class.
It was like a game that we played. It was pretty damn hard to not mess with her. Like a daily routine that was like us relaxing.
Liz
Marie told us to get in our story groups. She gave us ten minutes at the end of class each day to brainstorm and write with our partners. It's not like I needed it considering I lived with my partner. I wouldn't lie, within the first month I tried walking out of Kid's mansion several times, planning on not coming back but at least a few days later I returned. And it took a while to realize that the place was growing on me.
"Liz you cannot write like that!" Kid complained. "I don't really look like that! I really don't!"
I rolled my eyes at the damn baby who was peeking at my paper.
"You're not supposed to look." I argued. "It's bad luck I think."
My threat made him sit in his seat calmly.
"Fine Liz." Kid agreed. "I'll just add some extra fat to your belly." He informed me, taking out his pencil to erase and fill in this extra description in his story.
"NO!" I cried, the thought agonizing. "Don't do it Kid!"
He smirked knowing he had sovereignty over me. Damn that kid. Pun intended.
"Well I won't make you symmetrical food for dinner." I protested.
Kid's eye twitched as he tried to not let his OCD take over but it was becoming increasingly difficult especially with my grin on my face and the fact that I totally would do something like that despite all of his protests. But I would end up having to comfort him later anyway though so maybe there really was not point.
"That's horrible, Liz!" Kid cried flinging his arms in the air. "Damn you smart woman! I won't change the description of you just please make the shape of the peas on my plate symmetrical! The thought disgusts me! Absolutely horrible! I cannot deal with it!"
I sighed. Who's the winner now?
Maka
"Maka, that doesn't even make sense..." Soul informed me.
"Yes it does." I said, writing down the sentence on a piece of paper.
"You've got no idea what you're talking about." He mumbled.
"God...you're such an-"
"Arrogant bastard?" Soul suggested, finishing my sentence for the umpteenth time.
"I was going to say jerk but that's right on target." I answered, leaning on the desk putting my head down, tired. The cold weather often did this to me. I felt like such a mess right now. The only time I enjoyed myself was when I was with my friends. But I already dreaded having to go back home today. I'd probably spend Christmas alone too. My head didn't go back up for five minutes until Soul poked it.
"Oy...don't die..." He said in all seriousness but even with my head in my arms I knew he was smirking. This is what I got for spending so much time with him.
My head rolled up and suddenly I was looking at Soul's face and he wasn't grinning at all.
"Your eyes..." He said to me.
And I realized they were watering a lot. Immediately I wiped them.
"Ahh sorry allergies." I mumbled. "Such a pain."
"Maka it's winter." Soul countered.
Shit.
"I knew that.." I answered, shaking my head, waking up from my five minute nap. Such troublesome stuff.
Before Soul could interrogate me further, Death the Kid stood in the front of the room, addressing the class.
"Attention students." He said. "I have a special announcement regarding highly important issues."
Everyone froze, waiting for some bad news to sink in.
"There is a Christmas party."
And everyone fell on their desks in surprise.
"OY! YOU REALLY HAD ME WORRIED THERE!" Someone complained.
"The date is on the 25th of December and-"
"Really?" Another obnoxious person called out from the back.
Kid cleared his throat, obviously annoyed.
"At my house. Food is provided but you may bring a dish if it is desired." He continued while Marie-sensei rolled her eyes at him, mockingly.
Watching him give his little speech actually was rather funny and amusing considering he was so serious while the crowd was just laughing at him. Of course we were all going to go though. The moment he mentioned food it seemed the attention in the room piqued.
Soul annoyingly started to drum his fingers on my desk. He knew this pissed me off. Actually, he could right an entire book with descriptive chapters on how to piss me off. Honestly. In depth detail on how much each thing made me cringe.
I suddenly laughed to myself at the thought of him writing a book about me. Already in the process. But that was okay because I also knew what pissed him off.
Tsubaki
That weekend I was surprised I had gotten Maka and Liz to both come shopping with me. They both found it extremely unnecessary to have to buy dresses for one party, a Christmas party at that. I just wanted an excuse to go shopping and bond. Neither Maka and I knew Liz too well. I knew her better than Maka did though.
"Isn't it a bad idea to eat right before you try on dresses?" Liz suggested. Maka and I both shrugged. Food came first on our list.
We stepped up to a Chinese place in the food court of the Death City mall. So much food. Maka and I treated it like a war. You had to have on your game face. It was a battle to eat all the food, to win. Or at least that's what she said. You became a warrior the moment you picked those chopsticks up.
"Guys I can't eat all this." Liz complained, looking at the mountain of the sodium soaked, delicious and savory Chinese food that was piled high in the middle of our table.
"That's what they all say at first." Maka informed her, breaking apart her chopsticks. "ITADAKIMASU!"
And then she devoured all the food in front of her, so fast I felt like I was losing. My quiet personality almost restrained me from eating like a pig in public but being the nerdy girl I was. I had a desire to win no matter what contest.
And by the end, Liz ate the most.
"Ughh...I feel fat.." She groaned. "Now I wish I let Patty come along. She would've eat some of that.."
Liz bent over but restrained from puking in public.
"Time to shop." Maka sighed, probably still not understanding why we were shopping for one party.
We searched for dresses that were Christmas related but there weren't very many, even though there was a week until Christmas. Such a shame.
"Hey guys look at this." I said, touching a red silk dress.
It was strapless, silky red and had a ribbon around the waist with a rose. Then the dress poofed out into ruffles as it went down. Absolutely gorgeous.
"Mind matching?" Maka questioned, feeling the silk.
We hi-fived each other.
"It'll be like we're bridesmaids!"
Liz rolled her eyes but she looked like she kind of wanted the dress.
"But I don't like the ruffles-" she started to protest then trailed off, her head leaning back. She spotted something. It was the exact same dress except no ruffles and it was shorter, more like a mini skirt length.
Liz bounded over, hugging it with her might.
We couldn't afford to buy them...at all. But we could afford to rent them. I didn't like the idea of wearing it once and then having to return but that was life.
Maka
Now what was left was buying presents. We wanted to stick together but that would required allowing others to see what we were buying each other. And that could not happen.
The girls were pretty easy to get things for. Tsubaki was always wearing makeup. She never wore it extremely heavy but I could tell she liked it so I bought her an eyeshadow kit that was pretty inexpensive but there were a hundred colors that came with the set. As for her boyfriend, I purchased, for Black Star, a sweat band that had a star on it. It was a pretty lucky find because the other ones had hearts and crap on them. Liz was tougher because I didn't know her as much but I had caught her drawing in the library once so I bought her a sketchbook and set of pencils.
Now Kid was a new story. What the heck was I supposed to get him? I knew he had an OCD with symmetry and that was about it. But the stripes on his forehead...the fuck...and that's when it came to me. Black hair dye. Just in case he felt self conscious the hair dye would surely make the stripes go away for a little while. My plan for him was surely not flawless and it could start a temper tantrum.
Soul was even harder. I knew things he liked and hated. However if I bought him something piano related I figured heads would roll so...what was I supposed to do? I ended up buying him a $15 gift card to a music shop in the mall. Surely I wouldn't get beaten for that.
But then I started to wonder around looking for Tsubaki and Liz. Tsubaki wasn't answering her cell phone, which was annoying because she always yelled at me for not answering my phone and here she was not answering her own phone.
It was getting late and I figured the heck with it why don't I just go home? But I remembered Tsubaki and Liz. It wasn't that big of a mall so I didn't think they would get lost. Or maybe they were looking for me while I was looking for them? Or maybe they weren't even together and we were all looking for each other...real smart.
The more I wandered though, the more tired I got. It was almost 10 pm and the mall closed at eleven. I would have to leave. But what if they weren't even here? Ugh. That would've probably brought out the Maka chop.
Exhausted, I took a seat on the bench around the corner of the ice cream shop, secluded from the rest of the shops.
"Hey there little lady." A voice greeted, but it was unfamiliar.
A man I had never met sat by me on the bench.
Instinctively, I scooted a little farther away from him, wanting my personal space because he was a stranger.
"Awww come on." He complained. "That's not very polite."
"I'm sorry sir but do I know you?" I was trying to keep my manners but felt very disturbed.
He scooted closer to me. I was near the edge of the bench and my only option was to get up. So I slid my feet forward, ready to get out of the seat but he pulled me back down. I tried to shake off his unwelcome grip from my shoulder.
"Stay with me a little, babe."
I was now ready to bring out my inner karate moves I had acquired from last year because this was matching my flashbacks too much for my liking. There was no need for the past to be repeated.
"I have to go now." I told him, trying to free myself from his clutch.
"Nahh. You're gonna stay with me."
My chest rose rapidly in panic. He was too old to be connected with anyone from ninth grade...so why? He acted so...
"Please just-"
I was interrupted by a third person taking a seat in between us. A familiar scent filled my nose.
Soul.
A smile was brought to my face. Savior.
He sat between us comfortably.
"Well hello Maka," he said. "Have you introduced me to your friend?" Soul didn't wait for the unknown man to respond. "No? Well sorry sir, it's too late, she needs to get home."
Soul stood up from the bench, his signature smirk on his face, that toothy grin. He grabbed my elbow as we strutted away.
"Maka..." he mumbled. "Why are you walking around the mall by yourself?"
I sniffled my nose, feeling a cold come along. Great.
"Well I was shopping for gifts... how'd you know I was here?" I remarked as we walked at a swift pace.
"Tsubaki didn't have her cell phone so she gave Liz my number and they called for an extra person to search for you." Soul responded, turning a corner to another brightly lit part of the mall where streams of lights hung from the ceiling like diamonds.
"And you willingly came?" I inquired.
"Just...shut the hell up." Soul growled.
I raised my eyebrows, interest piqued. Someone was worried.
"Don't be so mad." I told him. "Because I got you a present!"
Soul's toothy smirk returned to his face at that thought.
Author's Note: What's this? A QUICK update. It shouldn't happen but it did. And an extra long chapter. Why am I like this? I don't know..so bipolar. Had a dance competition today. I'm inspired to write because I was looking back at my old stories with all the long chapters...over the summer I would update every day with chapters as long as this. It was pretty epic;) can't wait for the summer when school will be out...no AP homework. So yes. Its farther into the year and Maka and Soul are becoming great friends. I might update again this week because I'm feeling pretty spiffy XD But yeah I go to chicago not this wednesday but next one for school. Gonna be epic. Sooo yeah. Review. This doesn't happen often. Two chapters within two days and one is super long...:D