Bourn on White Wings
Chapter 5
Long Days at School
By: Miguela
Mia coasted till lunch, avoiding Jack at all costs. She sat between Heero and Duo, looking away every time Jack tried to catch her eye and give her a wink or something. Heero noticed her sullen mood, and glared at Jack every time he tried to catch her eye; he even went so far as to growl at him when he tried to come over and talk to her again in math about the lunch date.
It was a long period of staring off into space for Mia, who remembered why she hated school so much. Its not that it's difficult work, no, it was because it was easy that it was pissing her off, being unable to advance to the more difficult part of the course until she completed some key work.
She got a good chunk of the assignments done with Quatre and Wufei, who seemed the only ones willing to work. Quatre did it so that he could help Mia with any problems she had and Wufei so that he could beat Heero in math scores on their first test, even if it didn't really matter for all that much. An advanced math course was a breeze when it came in comparison to piloting a Gundam, with all the math needed to plug in coordinates to be on track and not hit anything, the minor calculations it took to repair the massive machines when they broke down… This was a snap.
After math, the six of them met at the front entrance, each carrying their jacket. They decided that they would go sit out under the autumn sun and catch some fresh air instead of sitting in doors today. There were a few picnic tables set up on the southern end of the school at which they sat and ate what had been packed and brought from the farm house that morning. A few sandwiches, a couple of cans of pop, and a large bag of chips was all they had to share between the six of them. Mia had packed herself a thermos of green tea, saying that the stuff brought from home was always better than what the school had to offer.
Jack swaggered up to the group, and sat down beside Mia, much to the annoyance of Heero who glared at the cocky youth with all his might, the grip on his crutches tightening until his knuckles turned white from the force. How dare he sit next to his Mia without permission? He stopped, amazed with himself. Had he actually called her his Mia? He shook his head and turned his attention back to the conversation at hand, storing the thought away for further contemplation at a later time.
Jack had slipped an arm around Mia's shoulders, making her shift uncomfortably and make Heero and Duo's blood boil. How dare he touch my Mia, Heero thought and didn't stop himself this time. He was to enraged to really care that he thought of her as his.
Jack swaggered up to the group, and sat down beside Mia, much to the annoyance of Heero who glared at the cocky youth with all his might, the grip on his crutches tightening until his knuckles turned white from the force. How dare he sit next to his Mia without permission? He stopped, amazed with himself. Had he actually called her his Mia? He shook his head and turned his attention back to the conversation at hand, storing the thought away for further contemplation at a later time.
Jack had slipped an arm around Mia's shoulders, making her shift uncomfortably and make Heero and Duo's blood boil. How dare he touch my Mia, Heero thought and didn't stop himself this time. He was far too furious to really care that he thought of her as his.
"Is that all you guys had to share between the six of you?" Jack asked incredulously, bordering on sounding snobbish and stuck up.
Wufei sniffed indigently. "Some of us make do with what we have and don't whine and lament until we get more," he replied angrily.
Jack snorted. "You guys really are the misfits of this school," he said, picking at the paint on the old table. "Everyone in this school is filthy rich, everyone, and if you settle for less than the best in life, you'll be walked on all over the place."
Mia finally lost her temper and shoved Jack's arm from around her shoulders. The movements were so sudden to the unsuspecting Jack that he fell backwards off the bench with a thump. Mia glared down at him while all five of her friends burst into laughter, even Heero chuckled a bit in appreciation and Wufei smiled in pride.
"Touch me again and I'll take your arm off," she snarled, got up and walked away, the guys following behind her once they had gotten control of themselves. Heero was the first one to find her sitting on one of the cinder blocks close to the student parking lot. She had her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her shins, hands clasped.
He went over to her and sat down carefully next to her, placing his crutches on the ground beside his feet, and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She flinched slightly, but relaxed slightly when she saw that it was only he.
She sniffed, wiping away tears that had leaked from her eyes. "Heero, I don't like it here," she whispered. He felt his heart pound painfully at seeing her crying, saying that she was unhappy. He tried to give her a little encouragement, but that wasn't his strong point, and just settled for snaking his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close, letting her smaller form rest against his. She was shaking something awful, probably from the cold wind that had sprung up around them.
"Why don't we go inside?" Heero suggested and nudged her. She nodded.
From afar, Jack and his little group watched the two interact. Jack got a very evil plan on his part, and decided that at the end of the day would be the best time to set it in motion.
"Just you wait Heero Yuy," he muttered to himself as he watched the two head back inside the school together, "You and that whore will regret ever crossing me."
Mia and Heero went to their fourth period class where they found the rest of the gang waiting. Wufei and Trowa were talking quietly to each other while Quatre got ahead on the assignments that he had missed, giving an occasional remark or comment to Trowa and Wufei.
Mia sat down next to Duo, who had kicked his feet up on the desk and was dosing slightly in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. Heero sat next to her, taking his laptop out of its case and plugging it into the wall behind him. He passed the portable computer to Mia once he had gotten passed the security firewalls, saying that she could surf on the Internet or she could play games, whatever she wanted to do. This was the first time in his recollection that he had let someone else touch his precious laptop with his permission.
Mia pulled the notebook towards her, careful with Heero's prized possession, and began to play solitaire, one of the only games on the mini processor. She played all during English class, enjoying the stress relieving game; she challenged herself over and over again. Heero let her download a couple of new games so that she wouldn't get bored, enjoying the look of appreciation in her eyes when he had given her permission. She played a couple of Mah-jong games by herself, and then invited Heero to play a game with her.
"Heero, you stole the match that I wanted," she whined during their fourth game playing together. "I thought that you were going to let me win."
"Never assume that your opponent will let you win," he told her coyly. "Looks like I'm going to win."
"Keep dreaming," she said, "I win!" A flashing 'Player 1 wins!" sign came up on screen, and Heero scowled in annoyance, but in truth he was trying to hide his amusement at how happy a simple game made her. She really was just as he remembered, easy to cheer up and full of energy.
He also noticed that Jack was constantly watching her, eyeing her until she would look at him, when he would promptly lower his eyes and continue his work until she looked away. Heero had the sneaking suspicion that Jack hadn't given up on trying to get Mia, and that he would have to watch his back from now on.
In last class, computer applications, the six of them sat together at a table near the back of the class. Heero stole an Internet connection from the computer he was supposed to be using for the class and began to hack into the top-secret areas in the Oz website where classified information was stored so he could find out what was going on right now in terms of the missing project. He found that they had started testing all over again using the blueprints that they had used for the original project. It was a young boy around the age of ten. He sighed; it looked like they would have to go into another base and release that young boy before any major testing was done.
Heero logged out of the site and shut his laptop off, stuffing it back into it's carrying case.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully for the Gundam Pilots and Mia. They returned to the safe house after school and assembled in the living room to talk, something that they did whenever they got the chance.
Quatre and Trowa were sitting on the couch, talking amiably about the day's classes. Mia and Duo were seated on the floor, playing a game of chess, with cries of outrage coming from Duo every once in a while as Mia made a good play and captured some of his pieces. Wufei lurked around the entrance to the kitchen, looking over the small gathering of Gundam pilots with disinterest. Heero sat in the recliner yet again, crutches on the floor nearby with his feet up on the foot rest, eyes closed as he listened to the goings on.
"Damn it," Duo exclaimed in frustration as he knocked over his king to signal that he was defeated. "There was no way to win!"
Mia chuckled. "Sure there was, and I left myself wide open to your queen's attack, but you didn't act on it. Instead, you took out my rook, over here." She pointed to a spot on the board. "If you would've attacked me here," she pointed to a spot near her king, "I wouldn't have been able to defend."
Duo scratched his head. "Well, want to have another game?" he asked. "There's nothing better to do at the moment."
They continued to play, Mia continuously winning, until dinner time.
"Heero?" Mia asked quietly after the other pilots had gone into the dinning room to eat.
"Hm?" Heero replied quietly, eyes still closed.
Mia's eyes were downcast as she stood. "I can't stay here with your friends," she said lowly.
Heero opened his eyes slightly. "Why not?"
"Because, I would just be a bother," she said. "I can't pilot a Gundam, I can't defend myself… I would just be a weakness to you."
Heero's eyes widened as he remembered her saying something like that when they were younger.
"Heero!" Mia yelled as she chased him through the resource satellite in which Doctor J had decided to start making his prized mobile suits. "Heero, wait up!"
The Japanese boy ran through the base at brake neck speed, pushing off of walls when his feet no longer touched the ground due to the low gravity. He hurtled towards the main control room where Doctor J had asked them to meet him. "Hurry up, Mia!" Heero yelled back to her. "You know that Doctor J doesn't like us to be late!"
"I know, but wait up a minute!" the young girl yelled.
Heero collided with a wall as he tried to stop himself from floating out into the mobile suit bay. "What?" he asked impatiently.
Mia halted more gracefully than he did nearby, fiddling with the hem of her shirt nervously. "Heero, I want to ask you something," she said.
Heero sighed impatiently, "What? Spit it out, already."
She ignored the impatience in his tone and said quietly. "Do you think that I'm a good pilot?" she asked quietly.
"What are you talking about?" he asked her.
"When we're doing the simulations, do you think that I'm good?" she bit her bottom lip nervously.
"What do you mean?" He saw how nervous she was and, as Doctor J had instructed him to do countless times, he tried to consider how she felt at the moment so he could give her his opinion.
"Do you think that I'm useless?" she asked quietly. "Am I nothing but a hindrance to you?"
"Why do you think that?" he asked. He had a feeling this had something to do with Doctor J scolding her for making so many mistakes in the last simulated battle that they'd had.
"Because Doctor J said that I was useless as a pilot," she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "He said that I would never be able to defend the colonies, let alone my own life." She started to cry.
Heero sighed, taking her shoulders gently as he forced her to look at him. "Mia, you have strong tactical skills that I don't have," he said honestly. "You just need to work harder at your piloting."
She nodded, wiping away her tears. "Thanks Heero," she said.
"Now, come on," he said. "Doctor J is waiting."
"Heero!"
Heero was jolted out of his memories as he looked up to find a scowling Mia. "That's just like you," she fumed. "I try to ask you a serious question and you space out."
Heero frowned at her, grabbing his crutches. "I don't think that you're bother, Mia," he said seriously. "I like having you around again."
She smiled, and tears welled up in her eyes. "Thank you, Heero," she said quietly. "I promise that I won't slow you down."
"Come here," Heero instructed her. As she came closer, he took her hand gently, pulling back her sleeve to look at the cuts on her wrist. "You should have Trowa take a look at those," he said. "He's good at taking care of cuts and stuff like that."
She nodded, "Alright," she said. "I will after dinner."
I find that this chapter was harder to write, but write it I did. Please review! I have plans for the ending of the story now, all I need is to type them. Fingers, don't fail me now! Review please!