Chapter Six
The second bell rings, marking the start of English. Kaito is already sitting in his seat. Teto was right- the only empty seat was right next to him. As soon as I push the door open, Teto and Miku split up and walk to their desks. Again, just like in my previous classes, the amount of students is small. I saunter to the empty seat. Kaito grasps my attention with a suggestive stare and one of his signature smirks to go along with it. I roll my eyes and sit down. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Miku sighing.
The teacher, who stands with composure at the front of the classroom, seems to catch the whole scene, but he clears his throat and moves on anyway. I slouch further in my seat, hoping he doesn't see me.
"Good afternoon. What is your name?" he asks, eyeing me. I've already had to do this in five other classes, so I'm used to the whole procedure.
"Hi, I'm Madoka Soma," I say, with a cheery smile, despite the past events with Kaito. I watch as the teacher's eyes soften.
"Well, I'm Mr. Nakamura, your English teacher," he introduces himself. He then looks at the other eight students in the room, including Miku, Kaito, and Teto. The other five are ones that I haven't seen before. One has short cropped brown hair and a red outfit that reveals a scandalous amount of skin. The girl sitting next to her has really long shiny blonde hair and a black outfit that exposes even more. I'm sure that's against school conduct. The small boy sitting to the right of her has silvery hair and a white uniform with silver trim. To the right of him is a tall, bulky guy with a black and white outfit with red trim. Around his neck is a necklace with a white skull on it. Sitting next to him, and leaning on his shoulder, is a delicate girl with lengthy strawberry blonde curls that gently fall against her white lace dress. The two girls with the tiny outfits look familiar- I'm almost sure I've seen them hanging around Neru before. They're starting to give me the wrong idea before I've even fully met them.
"Class, have you all had a chance to introduce yourselves to Soma-kun?" asks Mr. Nakamura. Some people mumble and look down, while Miku and Teto nod.
"Alright, for those of you who haven't, now is the time to stand up and introduce yourself. Tell Soma-kun your name, age, and something interesting about yourself," he says. The girl in the red outfit rolls her eyes.
"My name is Meiko. I'm seventeen, and I'd rather be in Dance right now," she says, then sits back down. Next to her, the blonde haired girl stands up.
"I'm Lily. I'm seventeen too, and I'd rather be in Dance right now too," she says. Wow, what an amazing difference, I think sarcastically. Next, the boy with the silvery hair stands up.
"Hi! I'm Piko. I'm sixteen, and I like to read and play piano," he says cheerily. I nod approvingly. He sits down, and the tall guy with the skull necklace stands up. I notice the strange stitches on his neck and forehead as he does so.
"I'm Al, or 'Big Al', as some people like to call me. I'm seventeen," he says. The girl in the beautiful white dress stands up gracefully.
"Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm Ann, but some people call me 'Sweet Ann', after my voice," she says. Her voice is mature, but it has a light and well, sweet edge to it also. Meiko and Lily roll their eyes in sync. Ann seems to ignore this. "I'm sixteen," she adds.
Last to stand up is Kaito. I bite my lip and cross my arms, my smooth wavy brown hair falling over my left shoulder as I do so. Kaito only sneers at this. "You know me already. I'm Kaito. I'm seventeen. I play drums and guitar, and of course, I sing," he says, as if it's the biggest deal in the world. I steal a glance at Miku, who's face looks steaming red, which reminds me of a teapot that's about to boil over.
When everyone is seated again, Mr. Nakamura clears his throat and leans back against the whiteboard. "Alright, now that we have introduced ourselves, because it is the start of the third semester, it's time to move on to a new unit! Since we have wrapped up our work on Huckleberry Finn, let's start writing our own creative stories."
When he says this, some of my classmates sit up a little bit taller, while others (Meiko and Lily, I'm looking at you!) groan and slump further. Miku and I are among the interested ones.
"However, with this project, I've decided to add a creative spin of my own. This will be a partnered assignment. You will work with another partner to write your story," he adds. Meiko and Lily both look at each other. Big Al and Sweet Ann do the same. As I watch their eyes light up with enthusiasm, I can't help but marvel at what a cute and unlikely couple they are.
"I have chosen your partners, however," he adds. He takes a break in his speech to allow the not-so-studious students to roll their eyes and look at each other. "Settle down," he warns, looking up from his glasses.
"Miku, you will be working with Teto; Piko, Meiko, and Lily, you will be a group of three; Al and Ann, you are partners; and that leaves Madoka and Kaito. Any questions?"
My heart almost lurches out of my chest and my eyes almost fly out of their sockets. Excuse me? You have me working with Kaito? I want to ask if I can change my partner, but that will come across as rude. I don't even bother to look at Miku's reaction. She has probably exploded already at this point. I don't even try to look at Kaito, but out of the corner of my eye, I can see him wink and flash that stupid, stupid, stupid signature smirk of his.