This chapter is for snowfun... thanks for reviewing, and I hope you like it!
Karai juggled her lunch tray in one hand and her backpack in the other. She paid for lunch, using one of her father's shiny little credit cards, and strutted through the lunchroom. She kept her head held high, ignoring the staring and gaping from her peers as she walked on by.
"Wow!"
"Who is she?"
"Dude, she's so your type!"
"She's that new student! What's her name again?"
"How am I supposed to know? I'd let her kick my ass, though, I can tell you that much!"
Karai rolled her eyes and kept on walking. She didn't have time to have someone else drooling all over her.
"Hey Karai! Wait up!" Karai felt a hitch in her step, but kept on walking, ignoring April's call. However, a loud crash did get her attention, and she turned around.
April was sprawled out amidst a splatter of spaghetti and salad on the lunchroom floor. Karai noticed someone swiftly tuck their foot back under the table - that annoying looking girl in her math class who shot them glares the whole period. The girl, whoever she was, pushed her glasses up her nose and laughed. April's face was bright red with embarrassment, and she sat up, trying to wipe sauce off her face and only successfully smearing it more. The entire lunchroom had grown quiet at the fall, but it immediately erupted in laughter.
Karai turned back around. April wasn't her friend; she didn't have friends. So why did she feel so guilty? She hesitated and turned back to look at April. April was gathering her tray up, face turning purple now, and lower lip trembling. Karai groaned to herself, knowing she would never be able to live this down. She stormed over to April and put her hands on her hips, facing the girl who tripped her.
"Why would you do that?" she sneered, and April looked up, seemingly surprised to see Karai standing over her. "Only cowards wouldn't fight. Do you have no honor?"
The girl tried to sneer back, but the slight widening of her eyes told Karai all she needed to know. She was scared of her, and oh, that was going to make Karai's day that much better. "April has no real friends," she said, sticking her nose in the air. The rest of the girls at the table giggled, and April's shoulders slumped.
Karai planted one hand on the lunch table and leaned in close to her ear. "I'm her friend," she whispered, wishing she could see her face change. "If you mess with her, you'll have to answer to me. And I really, really, am not a coward." Karai leaned back, watching in satisfaction as the girl shrank back in fear, eyes the size of dinner plates.
Karai turned around towards April, seeming like she was done, but then whirled around and slapped the girl. Her glasses flew across the floor and skittered to a stop. The lunchroom grew quiet again, watching with wide eyes.
"Who's next?" Karai snarled. When nobody dared breath a word, she finally walked back over to April.
"Wh-" April started, but Karai cut her off.
"Get up," she snapped, probably a bit meaner than necessary, but April scrambled to her feet, eyes wide and watching Karai with newfound curiosity. "Let's go." Karai walked out of the lunchroom, nose in the air, with April by her side. She herded her in the bathroom and pushed her towards the sinks, leaning against the wall. She examined her nails, trying to avoid April's attempts to make eye contact with her in the mirror.
She did look up when she heard a small sob. April ducked her head, but Karai did get a glimpse of tears.
Oh no, she groaned internally. She wasn't good with tears. Her father hadn't tolerated them, and now neither did she.
"Irma's right," April said, sniffing a little. She dotted at her shirt with some paper towels, trying to get rid of the red stains. "I don't have any human... er, any other friends." April ducked her head again, mentally beating herself up for her slip. Hopefully Karai wouldn't notice.
Karai really didn't know what to do. She'd never been good with other girls and feelings in general, and... wait, human? She filed that away for later.
"Uh... I guess I'm your friend now," Karai said, finally meeting her gaze in the mirror.
April raised an eyebrow. "You're only saying that because I'm covered in pasta and crying," she said sarcastically.
Karai snorted. "Do I look like the type of person who would slap a random girl in the lunchroom for no reason?"
April remained suspiciously silent. Yes, she was silently screaming. Karai rolled her eyes.
"Fine." Karai hesitated, wondering just how much she should tell April. "No, I've never really had friends. My father is... incredibly overbearing, to say the least. I was isolated as a child and focused on my... studies. I just moved to New York. You're probably the second friend I've made her, probably had ever." Karai cringed, hating every moment of this heart to heart.
April blinked, eyes wide, but hey, she was no longer crying. "Second?" she said. "Who was the first?"
Karai waved her hand dismissively. "They don't go here, if that's what you're wondering she said." April blinked, waiting for her to continue, and she sighed. "It's a... guy I met."
April's eyes lit up. "A guy? Tell me all about him!"
Karai groaned audibly this time. "Seriously? I tell you that I have no friends and you focus on the one guy I mention?" April giggled a little, shrugging her shoulders. Karai rolled her eyes. "He had really pretty blue eyes," she admitted, and April grinned at her. "Don't get too cocky there, Red," Karai said, crossing her arms. The light tone in the bathroom shrunk a little. "It'll never work out."
"But-"
"No, I mean never."
April looked back down at the sink and turned off the water, the conversation officially over. Karai stood there awkwardly.
"Well," April said, looking down at her shirt. "I guess this is good enough."
Karai looked at her in disdain. "I don't think you got any of it off," she said.
April rolled her eyes. "I don't have time to stand her and scrub it off," she said. "I have history next period. Mrs. Ryan is nice, but not that nice." She looked at Karai with a softer expression. "I just wanted to say thanks. For you know. Telling Irma off. Even though you're probably going to get expelled now and I'll never see you again."
Irma, Karai mentally filed that name away. She shook her head. "Don't thank me. That was a one time deal," she warned. "And I won't get expelled. Believe me." No, her father would pull some strings, but she would definitely be in for it when she got home.
April grinned at her. "I told you that maybe you were nicer than you try to appear." She walked closer and brushed her shoulder. "And if it makes you feel better, I like a guy, too," she confessed. "It also isn't going to work out, so you're not alone." Karai's mind started to race.
The bell rang, making them both jump.
"I'll see you later?" April asked. Karai nodded, and they both walked their separate ways.
No human friends... a guy she likes but it'll never work out... Karai ignored the frightened glances thrown her way from the other kids and hummed a little in thought. Maybe there's more to this April O'Neil than meets the eye...
Uh oh, Karai's starting to figure it out! R&R!
