The Three-Way
Chapter 8
By KellyQ
V snapped out of his thoughts when IV walked into the living room with a pink book in his hand. V glanced up from the book he was reading and eyed him for a moment. The look on IV's face told him that something was going on.
The large spacious living room gave off a homey feeling. It was carpeted with a light tan rug, one soft gray couch, a tea table the right side of the couch. On the left wall was a portrait of the family. Facing the couch was a large window overlooking their back yard. The right side of the room was fireplace, and a chandelier hanged from the ceiling.
III came in a second later, looking embarrassed as he tried to take the book back from his brother. IV made sure that his back was turned as he shifted back and forth so III couldn't reach it. "Can I have my diary back, please?"
A playful look made its way to IV's face as he turned around and dangled it over his brother's head in a teasing gesture. More embarrassment flashed across III's face, knowing that his brother was not going to get his diary soon.
V sighed. "IV, just give the book back before you damage it." An amused expression appeared on IV's face as his brother continued. "You wouldn't like it if I snatched something of great importance of yours and broke it, would you?"
"You're the one to talk. What about what happened between you and Kaito? What happened then is no different from what's going on right now," IV taunted, turning to face his brother, unaware that he just hit a touchy subject and what he said made no sense.
III watched with anxiously. V closed his eyes, knowing better to confront his brother, because IV would counter back with some bit of nonsense. "IV, just give your brother his book back."
IV scoffed, turned and thrust the pink book back to his brother before walking out. III clutched his diary before he glanced where his brother sat. V had just rose to his feet and walked over to the window. Not too long ago, the weather shifted from being partly cloudy to the rain coming down hard.
"Uh … V … are you okay?" III asked timidly.
"Yes." V paused for a moment. "III …?" his brother 'hmm'ed in response. "Next time, keep your diary hidden from IV, okay?"
III nodded his head and left before watching his brother sigh. V stood there for a moment. He had hoped that he had forgotten that incident he had a couple of years ago with Kaito.
The rain hadn't let up for two weeks. Yuma continued to look for Ryoga, but he had no such luck, and Kaito still hadn't come back to school. Yuma groaned as he and his cousin walked into the health classroom one day to see Kaito sitting there in his usual spot.
"Kaito!" Yuma quickly went over to him with a big grin on his face. "Hey, buddy. Where have you been?"
"I've been taking care of Haruto; he had been really sick, and some friends of mine have been visiting," Kaito answered, making quick eye contact before the door opened.
They turned their heads to see V walk in, and the tension in the room spiked up. Yuma was the first to notice the flicker of emotion in both Kaito and V's eyes. He and Astral sat down just as the teacher walked in. The bell rang as the rest of the students made their way in and took their seats.
The lesson began when the health teacher rose to her feet. "Today, I'm going to have you pair up like you did three weeks ago. I'm going to have Yuma and Astral pair up with Kaito and V." she continued to ramble who were going to pair with the up-coming project. "The project is going to be a presentation about the mitochondrial disease—what the symptoms are, how you get diagnosed, and what you can do to improve their quality of life. Now get with your partners, the project is due in three weeks."
Kaito was the first to get up and walk up to the teacher with a peach colored folder, when she sat down. The sounds of chairs and desks scrap along the cold-checkered floor reached his ears. He looked over his shoulder to see the rest of the students moving the chairs and desks around.
"Yes?" the teacher questioned, looking up. Kaito returned his attention back to the teacher and handed her the folder. The health teacher opened it up to see that it his homework all done and professionally organized. "Thank you. You may take your seat."
Kaito nodded his head. He turned around and walked over to where his group was. Astral, Yuma, and V had arranged their chairs in a circle. Astral had a notebook on his lap and a green pen in his right hand. V had pad of paper on his lap and a blue pen in his right hand.
"How should we do the project? Should we demonstrate it with a slide show?" Astral asked, glancing around the group.
"I suppose we do that," V spoke up. "We could meet up at the library after school—"
"That won't work," Kaito cut in hastily. He wasn't ready to interact with V and he could do the whole project himself.
"Why not?" Yuma asked confused, glancing at Kaito.
"What about before school?" Astral suggested, reading the vibes from Kaito that he had a lot to do after school.
"Huh?" Yuma turned toward his cousin with a scowl on his face. "You know I hate getting up early, Astral!"
Kaito sighed. "Fine. We can meet at the library in the morning."
"What time should we meet?" V asked.
"How about 7 in the morning," Astral answered.
The bell ran before Yuma could protest. The rest of the students started to put the chairs and desks back in order before they started to walk out.
"We should have each other's phone numbers, just in-case one can't make it, we'll know what do," Astral said, pushing his own desk and chair in its right position.
"Great idea!" Yuma said. He paused and pulled out his D-Gazer and put the earpiece over his earlobe.
V, Kaito and Astral pushed their chairs and desks in their right position. They pulled out their D-Gazers and exchanged numbers.
To Be Continued …