HEYYY :D Shout-outs to: Allie1299, andysixxrules, CrazyCreator33, .papayova, SnowTamashi Ai, Bunnylover98, Artistic-Resonance, 1rocker-chic, TurtleDovesRule, Angel of deaths darkness, some random guest, Depyriouse, TaeDextri, and FruityUnicorn01. NOW. The moment we've all been waiting for...the winner of the OC contest thingy is...(drumroll please) FruityUnicorn01! :DD It was so hard to pick from all the awesome submissions I had! :OO But out of all of them, I liked this one the best. :3 THANK YOUS FOR SUBMITTING AND I LOVE YOU ALL. Now read. o3o
The tall, dark figure stalked towards the table of boys and Maka. He smirked at her at took his seat at her side, looking directly at Soul. "Is this the girl?" he asked, grinning. Soul nodded and looked to Maka. All attention was on her, so naturally, she blushed.
"Nice to meet you, Ms. Albarn," he said, reaching to shake her hand. Maka took his hand and smiled. "My name Is Markus." There was a short exchange of glances between everybody before they all settled down and started eating. Maka wasn't exactly sure why Soul had let her sit with him and his friends. Hell, he didn't even let her when they were together. Maka looked down at the book that was all lonely under the table. It looked sorrowful...almost as if it were...begging her...to-NO MAKA! STAY FOCUSED! She pleaded with herself to focus on all these boys that were now talking to her, and about her-something that never happened a couple of hours ago.
"Maka? You alright?" Markus asked, the rest of the table sadly entertained by Matt balancing a carrot on his nose. Maka looked over to him and nodded, taking a small bite from a French fry off of Soul's tray. Soul laughed and leaned over to meet her gaze, but she never turned. She focused all of her attention on Markus, making Soul scowl and feel weird.
W-Why is she-how could she-who is she...trying to...Hmm...What am I feeling right now...? Soul wondered, turned back to Matt and the guys. A feeling of anxiety rose in his stomach and he felt the random need to get up and run some laps around the cafeteria. Maka and Markus chatted some more while Soul and his anxiety tried not to keel over. The rest of the guys continued to be stupid and funny and popular and stuff, just like dorky teenage boys were meant to.
Meanwhile, the rest of the cafeteria was watching in awe as Maka was being turned into one of the populars. It was quite obvious that Markus and his nose ring BOTH had a fancy for Maka, and Soul was not happy with it. Sure, they were broken up and currently mending the shattered remains of their friendship, but that didn't mean he was unable to have jealousy rights! He still had boyfriend on the brain whenever he was around her, and it made him sick. It made him want to shrivel up and tell himself that it was over and he ended it himself, but he just couldn't. What snapped him out of these horrid thoughts was a statement made by Markus.
"So, tonight at eight? Cool," he said, smiling at her warmly. Soul snapped his head in their direction.
"Maka, we're doing the project together tonight, remember?" he said between clenched teeth. Maka shrugged.
"We can do it later; the project isn't due for a whole two weeks!" she said cheerily, making Soul's cheeks flame. Markus smiled at them both, making his dimples show. The bell rang right after that, and Markus picked Maka's book up off the floor and handed it to her, sending her face ablaze with blushes. She walked off to her next class with Soul, while Markus was headed the opposite direction.
"What the hell was that?" Soul asked, really regretting invading her table. Maka cocked her head towards him.
"Hm? What do you mean?" she asked, not even fazed by his rudeness. Soul cursed his bluntness and looked up at her through his bangs.
"Why were you shamelessly flirting with him..." he sighed, all the courage drained from his voice unintentionally. The hilarity in Maka's was gone, and was replaced by question and wonder.
"I wasn't; he just invited me over to his house to..." her voice trailed off as she realized that there was no specific plans mentioned and she could be in danger by just agreeing to meet up at his house.
"Do you see now why I'm concerned?" Soul asked, looking deeply into her eyes.
"No, not really," Maka chuckled stubbornly. Soul sighed and shook his head as he continued to walk down the hallway to his locker.
"I can't believe this," he mumbled.
"Someone is solicitous?" Maka asked, sticking her tongue out at him. He threw a puzzled look back at her.
"Jealous," she said, "it means jealous." He looked down at the floor and sighed again.
"I can't imagine why," he said, and turned the dial on the lock of his locker until it hit the first number. Maka grabbed her books for her last class and darted off, her mind spinning with complex thoughts and feelings that sprouted from one initial thought: Does he still love me? Some examples of these branched thoughts include: Does he miss me? Does he want to get back together? Is our friendship torturing him? Is our friendship torturing ME? Does Markus like me too? Does Soul dislike Markus? Am I worrying for nothing?
She knew that the last one was kind of a ridiculous question.
Of COURSE she was worrying for something.
If she wasn't, then why could she feel a random piece of paper in her pocket that wasn't there a few minutes ago?
Maka pulled the paper out of her pocket and inspected it. No doubt it was from Soul; his abnormally perfect handwriting was on the front, saying: Maka. She opened it up carefully, making sure that no one saw it for fear that they might swipe it and read it before she even had a chance to.
However, she couldn't read that note because once she stepped foot into her last hour class, all eyes were on her, and before she knew it, she was being bombarded with questions. One girl with luminous eyes asked her how she got to sit with the guys. Maka assumed that the girl's implication was about Soul, Markus, and the others. A boy asked her how she met Markus and if she was really going to hang out with him later that day. Maka nodded in reply; then pushed her way through the people and sat at her desk, blowing at her bangs as if this WASN'T what she had wished for as a child.
Now fractious and an easy target to piss off, Maka scowled at her textbook and pulled out the note again, seeing as the teacher was now taking roll and everybody shut up partially.
You used to be so calm and quiet, was all that was written. Maka thought for a moment. Sure, her austerity had definitely not increased, but she still did not consider herself as part of the bodacious crowd.
"Maka Albarn?" the teacher recited, making Maka jump in her seat.
"H-Here," she said, raising her hand a little. The teacher scoffed and went on to the next student. Maka stared at Soul across the room. He was so involved in staring out the window that she wondered what he was thinking about that was so enthralling.
She chuckled to herself as she remembered a day when they were still dating and Maka was having a serious addiction to language class.
"Soul, you wanna interdigitate with me?!" she exclaimed, hugging his arm. He chuckled and patted her head.
"Sure, as long as it doesn't get you pregnant," he laughed. Maka smiled up at him and giggled, weaving her fingers through his.
She always thought him to be so cool, so undoubtedly phlegmatic that he was just the target for all the girls. Of course, dating a nerdy girl such as Maka demoted him from "Super Awesome Amazing Hot Albino" to "Moderately Cool Would-Be-Hotter-If-Single- Albino." Maka sighed at this thought and decided it was best to just go with Markus to his house after school and try not to freak out over such miniscule things.
Once the bell finally rang for the last time that day, Maka gathered her things and walked to the doors to wait for Markus, who was jogging to catch up to her.
"Hey, Little Piggy," he chuckled. Maka giggled and thanked the heavens that he didn't call her "Pigtails." She followed him to his car, which wasn't excruciatingly yellow, but a calm blue-a color that was said to represent calmness. It soothed her to know that the car didn't stand out so much and that the cops wouldn't be all over their asses for going a mere five miles over the speed limit.
"So how was your day, Maka?" he asked, not looking away from the road. Maka smiled at him.
"It was alright. I should probably text my father to let him know I'm heading to your house..." she said, taking out her phone and scrolling through her contacts.
"Ah. If you haven't noticed already, your ex takes a fancy to ya," he chuckled. Maka looked up at him.
"He does?" she asked, perplexed.
"Of course!" he answered. "You haven't noticed? He talks about you all the time. Finally, I decided that the table needed to meet the wonderful Maka Albarn who he's just so desperate to get back with." Maka's mouth fell open as a wave of realization crashed over her.
"Really?!" she exclaimed. He laughed at this.
"Yep. He was heartbroken when you two broke up. He said that he had to, though, because of May. Apparently she made him break up with you because she wanted him for herself and you were the only in her way, or so she thought. Soul always hated that bitch though-and so did the rest of us-but of course we had to let her stay there because her crazy brother owns a gun and all this shit, and-well, you get the jist of it," he said. Maka let all of the information sink in before replying.
"So he still loved me when he broke up with me...?" she asked. He nodded.
"But he's not the only one who takes a fancy to ya. Lots of guys do, but they're all too sissy to say anything because they're scared of their friend's reactions. Like me, for example-" he was interrupted.
"Wait, you?!" she asked, looking back up at him. He chuckled softly and nodded.
"Yep. Me. But I couldn't ever say anything because of Soul, and let's just say I owe the guy a lot," he said, blushing a little.
"F-For what? You didn't murder a guy, did you?!" she gasped. He laughed really hard at this.
"No, well, almost. I got in a huge gang fight with this...gang...and Soul basically ripped the guys off of me and bailed me out of jail..." he shook his head. "But I'm not that kind of guy anymore. I don't do that stuff anymore, and I never will again. I don't want to be that abysmal guy who's notorious for beating guys up in alleyways." Maka giggled a little and looked out the window. A lot of information was just handed to her, and she was still trying to let it all sink in.
"So...who...who else likes me?" Maka dared to question. Markus thought for a moment.
"Well, I know that that didactic guy that wears khakis and glasses in our biology class does. And that guy with the dyed red hair and gauges does. I know Soul's kind of insolent, so you would probably like Andrew, the guy who's agnostic and let's everyone know it. There's also Michael Kale, George Michaels, Drake Kalvin, and Henry Simmons." Maka shrunk back in the seat as she let all the images of these guys flutter across her mind. How could she be so oblivious? But even more of a question: how did he know?
"H-How do you know that these guys...like me...?" she asked, shaking her head in disbelief of her own idolization. Markus smirked in the rearview mirror.
"People tell me shit," he laughed, "and they don't even care what I do with the information. I'm used to spread crap and start stuff; I enjoy it more than I should." Maka nodded and eyed the house whose driveway they were pulling into.
"Well here we are. You ready for the madness?" he asked, opening her door for her and leading her to the front step. Maka tilted her head.
"Madness...?" she asked, kind of confused. She understood what he meant the second she took a step into the abode.
MWAHAHAHAAA! CLIFFHANGER! Kinda. Anwhore, review, follow, or favourite for a shout-out in my next chapter! THANK YOU FOR READING I LOVE YOU GOODBYEEE~!