CHAPTER 4

Gou spent her Saturday the same way she always did. She managed the Iwatobi Swim Club, trying her best to avoid the Samezuka captain(it was a joint meeting, after all), then she finished her homework that night. Sunday was spent with Hana at the mall, which was a pastime of theirs.

Randy wasn't there.

When Monday came around, Gou ACTUALLY wanted to go to school, believe it or not. She wanted to see her new friend, whom she was thankful for expanding her small social group.

"I'm leaving!," Gou called out, waiting for her mother's reply. But then she remembered that her mother left earlier than her on weekdays, and she bit her lip to keep it from trembling. She was used to being alone in the house, but that didn't mean she didn't feel hurt.

Walking down the street, she hummed the tune to 'What Makes You Beautiful'. She never stayed in a bad mood for long, and her naturally upbeat(and angry) nature served to help her more than once.

Nearing the school, Gou was caught by surprise when her equally sized guy friend came up from behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"GOU-CHAAAAAN!," Nagisa shouted, causing students to look in their direction.

"N-Nagisa-kun! People are staring!"

Choosing to ignore her, he intwined his arm with hers and skipped beside her.

"Gou-CHAAAN! It's been too long since I've last seen you!"

"Eh?! It's only been a day!"

"A day-and-a-HALF! I really missed my Gou-"

"-it's KOU!"

"-chan!," he shouted so exuberantly, you could just hear the exclaimation marks in his voice.

At this point, Gou didn't even care about the onlookers. She guessed that people stopped caring about Nagisa's prescence, anyways. Looking up, she noticed that they did. Nagisa then started to ramble about who-knows-what, when Gou realized someone was missing. Growing concerned, she interuppted Nagisa's rant about said who-knows-what.

"Neh, Nagisa-kun?"

"Hm?"

"Where's Rei-kun?"

"He sent me a text saying he wanted to jog instead of taking the train with me." Nagisa's eyes drooped dramatically, a pout now on his face.

"Aw, poor Nagisa-kun," Gou empathaized with the boy. She knew they were close friends(or secret lovers).

"Aw, well! I still have Gou-chan with me! Rei's probably at the school by now, anyhow! He sent me the text early so that's why I think…" Nagisa trailed off, looking into the distance. He stopped skipping, and looked ahead with an expression Gou had NEVER seen on Nagisa before.

He was angry.

Gou wanted to call him out for not calling her 'Kou' yet again, but his face made her think twice.

Gou looked on ahead, trying to see what the boy was looking at, when her eyes fell upon the source of Nagisa's rage. All color drained from Gou's face as she determined the direness of the situation.

GOOD LORD.

"Wait, Nagisa-kun! She's my friend, don't do anything drastic!," Gou tried pulling Nagisa's shirt, but he actually worked out, so he was stronger than her.

Ahead of the two was a flustered Rei chatting with none other than Iwatobi's own Lace-Panties-chan. Randy wasn't just chatting though. She was full on FLIRTING with Rei, causing an uncomfortable Rei to blush multiple shades of red. Randy circled her index finger on Rei's chest, and puckered her lips at him. Of COURSE she had to do this to REI, Nagisa's potential LOVER of ALL PEOPLE.

"Oi! What are you doing to Rei-chan?!"

Randy turned around, her eyes dilating at the sight of Nagisa. Gou just rolled her eyes at her horny friend. She was happy to see her, no doubt, but this wasn't the way she was expecting to greet her friend this morning.

"Well, hell-O!," she greeted, rolling a strand of hair around her finger.

"You're not gonna seduce ME, Sedusa-Chan! I'm onto you, and you better BACK OFF OF REI-CHAN!," Nagisa seethed, shouting at Randy's face. He didn't even care that he was causing a scene, or that Rei was trying to calm him down since he didn't mind at all, or the fact that he was practically shouting at a girl's face. All he cared about was keeping Rei to himself like the possesive bestfriend(-COUGH BOYFRIEND-) that he was.

"Nagisa-kun…," Gou said, glancing at Randy to make sure she wasn't hurt.

Randy stood with her arms crossed, giving Nagisa a stone-faced look.

Then she started laughing.

Gou, Rei, and Nagisa all had their mouths agape. They were surprised to say the least at Randy's unexpected outburst, and Nagisa couldn't help but chuckle at how silly he was acting.

"Geez," she said, turning back to Rei, "why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend?"

"EH?!," Nagisa and Rei shouted, blushing furiously at her accusation. Gou wasn't surprised at all. Everyone could tell the two were lovers, except for the lovebirds themselves.

"W-w-w-WHAT?!"

"N-no, we're not like that! I just go too excited is all!," Nagisa defended the boy who couldn't speak for himself, waving his arms around frantically.

Randy rolled her eyes at Nagisa's defense, but once she realized that he was being honest, her eyes widened and she turned to Gou with a shocked face. Man, that girl could win an award for being so freaking expressive.

"Are they for real?! Kou, tell me they are lying to my face right now!," she grabbed Gou's sholders dramatically, causing Gou to shout, "they're telling the truth!," while laughing at the situation.

Nagisa and Rei just stood there blushing, avoiding eye contact with each other. How these two didn't start dating yet, Gou would never understand.

"Now, now, what's all the commotion about?," Makoto walked over noticing the loud group of first-years. Haruka was by Mako's side, and though he didn't show it, he was curious about all of the noise too. He noticed that people were staring and pointing at his friends, and he wanted to know why. His eyes widened once he saw the one person he never thought he would ever need to talk to. Makoto didn't notice Haru's expression before noticing the girl talking with the others. His eyes began to enlarge as well.

"Ah, you must be…," Mako started, not wanting to call the girl 'Lace-Panties-chan.'

But Randy just stared at Makoto with sparkling eyes. Then she looked at Haruka with the same expression. Then back to Rei and Nagisa, who were still avoiding eye contact with each other. Then she turned around to the one person she did know, and that person was holding biting her tongue to stop herself from laughing.

"Kou. Are these...your friends?"

"Y-yeah."

Randy seemed to inflate with a surge of energy that had risen out of pure lust. Gou never knew anyone who was as animated as Nagisa-kun. Before anyone could say anything, Randy shouted the one phrase she knew by heart in Japanese that she couldn't hold back.

"DAAAAAYUM, THEY'RE HOT!"

Only the wind could be heard after her outburst. All members of the swim team(and Gou) stood still, not really knowing what to do next.

Then Nagisa burst out laughing, followed by Gou, Mako, Rei, and even Haru smiled(with his eyes)at the randomness that was this girl.

"Oh, oh man! Oh man, I think we're going to be really good friends!," Nagisa said between fits of laughter, his arm swung around the shoulders of the short foreigner.

"My, that was a surprise! But thank you for your kind words, we're very flattered!," Makoto gave the girl his trademark soft smile, and Randy felt like melting on the spot.

"No, but Kou, seriously!," Randy escaped from Nagisa's shoulder-hug. "These boys are so freaking hot! Where did you find them?!"

At this point, the laughter had died down and the boys were feeling uncomfortable by Randy's indirect and horny attitude towards them.

"We go to school here," a sharp voice cut in. Only Randy turned to the speaker. Everyone else was looking at their shoes, trying to fix up the situation at hand but not really knowing how.

Haru stared into Randy's eyes, his gaze piercing her soul. She stared back, not one to back down from a challenge. After a little while, Haru started walking away from the group, Makoto following him.

"Eh?! Haru, wait for me!" Turning back to Randy, he hurriedly said, "Ah, it was nice meeting you! I hope we can talk again soon!," he gave her a smile and walked up to Haru.

"You have beautiful eyes."

Kou gaped at Randy, disbeliving how direct Randy could be. Man, this girl had CONFIDENCE!

Haru stopped mid-walk. He stood with his back turned to her, Mako beside him with his jaw slack and eyebrows shot up.

Haru didn't say anything and continued walking to the assembly line. Makoto beamed once more at Randy, then he joined Haru. Looking down at his best friend, Makoto wanted to see Haru's expression to the foreigner's comment, but Haru faced the other way.

What Makoto didn't know was that Haru was trying not to blush.

Hey guys! How'd you like the chapter?! Remember, all speech spoken in English is signaled(if that's the word) with a * sign. Also, did anyone get that PPG reference?! When Nagisa called Randy Sedusa? Like the villain? GET IT?! Hehe...anyway, Nagisa's yelling was just his regular shouting. It wasn't even a big deal, Gou just gets sensitive for her friends. Randy was totes cool with it though~