Chapter 2: School Day
A/N: I introduce my first OC in this chapter: Jenna. I'm worried that this chapter might be a little bit choppy.
T.K. Takashi sat there, next to the girl who had just turned him down in a way that thrilled him. She DID like him. She'd told him "Next time." Sure, he'd have to wait a few more months. He'd already waited a few years, though, so a few more months would be nothing… Well, not NOTHING, but he could handle it.
Meanwhile, Kari Kamiya wasn't so thrilled. She'd turned the boy of her dreams down because she'd promised another boy that she'd be there. She kept having to tell herself that no, she would not cancel on Davis.
Neither of them was concentrating on the class… They were thinking about one another, even though T.K wasn't looking at Kari because he was lost in his reveling, and Kari wasn't looking at T.K, because she was too afraid to see if she'd hurt his feelings.
************************************************************************
Davis wasn't sure what to think. He knew she didn't like him and that she had only said 'yes' because T.K hadn't asked her yet… and he knew it was only a matter of time before he did ask. And what would she say if he did ask?
He hoped she wouldn't tell him 'yes.'… After all, she was dating him. But if she said 'no', it would hurt her, both directly in turning T.K down, and indirectly through that it would hurt T.K, and… Davis loved Kari. He didn't want her hurt, not even for him.
But… She'd said YES! The pure and total exhilaration of this nearly pushed the gloomy shroud of 'only a matter of time' out of his mind entirely. As he sat down in his first class, honors bio-chem, he was totally unable to pay any attention to his least favorite subject.
************************************************************************
Kari had P.E. next period. P.E, also known as 'harassment 101'. Because that was all kids ever learned in P.E… How to harass one another. Both the behavior typically referred to as 'bullying' and also sexual harassment were common in P.E.
As she changed into the P.E. uniforms (which weren't half as awful as everyone pretended… They were fine, although they were ugly), she felt lucky that today the teacher would be introducing a new unit. Tennis.
The teacher would describe the normally moderately interesting game in great, boring detail, and then tell them that the school would provide rackets (the students would almost all bring their own, the school rackets were AWFUL.)
Since she knew every word the teacher would say, she would be able to daydream instead of pay attention, which was good. As she lined up with the other kids so that the teacher could take roll simply by walking down the line and checking the names on their P.E. shirts, one of the boys walked up to her.
"Do you want to go to the dance with me?" He asked sarcastically, "I mean, normally I don't ask ugly girls, but I pity you."
Some of the other boys in line laughed at this, and Kari just barely managed to keep her temper under control, "Sorry, but I've already got a date", she said coldly.
"Who is she?" The boy asked mockingly.
"Alright, you know perfectly well this isn't funny." Ken Ichi-Joji told the boy who was teasing her, "Leave her alone."
"Is she dating YOU, nerd?" The boy asked.
"No, you know who I'm dating."
"Oh, that's right… You're dating the psycho, Jenna."
"She's not a psycho, she's ADHD… And you know that, seeing as how, when she's medicated, she acts like anyone else." Ken said.
Luckily for Ken and Kari, the gym teacher finally left the locker room to take role. From here, class was much as Kari had predicted: Dull. She was glad it was dull, though. It gave her a chance to think.
By the end of the class period, though, she didn't really want dull anymore. She was starting to dread the dance, not because of who she would be dancing with, but rather because of who she WOULDN'T be dancing with.
************************************************************************
Takeru exited his math class, bored out of his mind by his teachers senseless droning, and trying not to think of what the dance would be like. He would show up, otherwise Kari would think that he hadn't shown up on her account (She'd be right, too). But… he was jealous even now, thinking about the fact that Davis would be with Kari. Davis, and not him.
He could only imagine how jealous he would be having to watch it… or even know that it was going on.
Well, he thought, if I'm going to be jealous, then so is she.
It was a silly plan. It wasn't her fault that she had told Davis 'yes'… Well, it was her fault, but she hadn't done anything wrong, per say. Still, it was somehow fulfilling in his head, getting vengeance… ridiculous as getting said vengeance might be.
He'd dance with someone else, every time there was a slow song… It would make her just as jealous to watch him dancing with whoever else as it would make him watching Kari dance with Davis.
************************************************************************
The rest of the school day passed mostly uneventfully, much to Kari's dismay. As she finally began her walk home, she realized that she would have four more hours of boredom at home before she got to leave for the dance.
Four more hours. She thought then I get to get it over with… Just one more depressing, boring dance. Just one more.
Somehow, this way of thinking about it made it easier to bare. Sure, she'd have to put up with her first high school dance being just like all of her junior high dances had been: Boring, jealousy filled, and actually slightly depressing, but the rest wouldn't.
************************************************************************
Davis knew that this was the time he'd ever get to go with Kari to almost anything. If T.K hadn't already asked her, he'd ask her to something after this. He knew that he would have to move on.
Move on. The thing he'd tried to do so many times. The thing he'd always failed at. Still, he knew he would have to. But for today, he didn't have to try. A single days respite from hundreds of days of toil and pain.
