Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any songs or "you being in love" (E.E Cummings owns it. Duh.) Or Erin or Yaten, they belong to hanmajoerin (I need to remember to add that to the disclaimer from now on. This is my reminder)
So, for this chapter I needed to find a good poem for Kagome & Co to decipher and then I realized that I would also have to decipher a poem and that just wasn't happening (I am glad I'm not in English this semester). So I was going to go with a pretty straight forward poem, but I really liked this poem, and there weren't any actual poem analysis of this online that I could find, so this is just how I saw the poem. Sorry if my interpretation is somehow way out there in left field, but I honestly only understood the ending.
For this chapter, I had to make Yoko's presence known since she is Kagome's rival for Dai's heart and the girl does sit right behind Kagome. Just to make it clear though, we like Yoko—she's a good person.
Walking Tightropes
Chapter 8: Guilt
I only have one thing to say: keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
-x-
"Alright, we're going to start our poetry unit earlier than usual this year because I couldn't wait any longer," Mr. Vyke started as soon as the bell rang, signaling the beginning of class. "To jump start the unit, we're going to work in groups that I have picked out"—the class instantly began to groan—"and you're going to be analyzing a poem for the basic parts, such as the theme, and then your group is going to come up with your own poem that has the same theme as the one you just analyzed and present it to the class. It's going to be written on a big sheet of paper and hung up around the classroom, so I want you to actually decorate your paper." Mr. Vyke then started grouping people together (which was actually him just pairing you up with the people around you). "Kagome, Inuyasha, Yoko, and Ayumi, the four of you will be a group."
In just ten seconds Mr. Vyke had gone from being top on the favorite teachers list to the bottom. One, he started the poetry unit early, and I hate the poetry unit because, although I love writing, I suck at writing poems. Two, he's making us decorate our poems (which nobody likes to do); it's time consuming and we're in high school now, coloring was supposed to be left behind in elementary. And three, Mr. Vyke had the nerve to pair me up with Yoko. What was he thinking?
"Hey, are you okay?" Inuyasha asked, pausing the action of turning his desk around so we could form a table with Yoko and Ayumi. "You look… uh, annoyed."
"Of course she's annoyed," Yoko started before I could say anything. "Who in the hell likes analyzing poems?"
"Not me," Ayumi said, pushing her desk next to Yoko's and Inuyasha turned so his desk was he was facing Ayumi, leaving me to sit across from Yoko.
Sell out.
"It completely takes away the reason the writer wrote the poem; for it to be enjoyed," Yoko continued as she dragged her ginormous tan tote towards her and pulled out a pen. "I believe Lit classes are the reasons a lot of people don't like poetry."
"Are you one of those people?" Inuyasha asked.
"Sorry if I offended you," Yoko shrugged. "Knowing you're a music nerd, you probably write your own lyrics and that's basically poetry, right?"
"Pretty much." Inuyasha smiled and I secretly hated him for it. How could he be getting all chummy with my enemy when he's supposed to be my friend! "I might use the poem we make together as a song."
"I wouldn't suggest it," Yoko laughed, her eyes sparkling. "My boyfriend, Dai, he writes some poetry and he read over a poem I wrote for him for his birthday and he told me, with no shame, that it sucked."
Good old Dai, always honest. You know, because he's just real in that way. That… perfect, admirable way.
Ayumi and Inuyasha both laughed and I forced myself to smile. Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that I was holding a secret grudge against her for dating Dai, Yoko could probably be one of my best friends. Although she's a cheerleader, she's not a stuck up bitch kind of cheerleader. Yoko is nice, fun, and so charismatic that you have to try really, really hard to hate her. I'm trying, but I'm failing. The best I can do is be jealous of her and not just because she has Dai all to herself. She has amazing grades, she has amazing style, she is flexible (I've always wanted to do a backflip, but I'm not willing to break my back trying), she's fucking gorgeous (I would kill to have her hair. But seriously, with midnight, perfectly coiffed curls like hers, who wouldn't?), she's ridiculously nice (she volunteers at the animal center three days a week), and she's so down to earth for a cheerleader, it makes me want to vomit.
As much as I hate admitting it, I can see why Dai is dating Yoko. I am pretty much wasting my time, waiting for Dai to see through the "bull" that Yoko is, since she gives it to you straight forward. But things like true love take time. Maybe Dai will realize he and Yoko are better off as friends and then he'll come to me.
Somehow it feels wrong to be thinking this with Yoko sitting across from me. And Inuyasha sitting right beside me, his elbow just barely touching my arm.
I looked up from my notebook to catch a glance at Yoko and she caught my eye and smiled at me.
Holy shit, she's on to me.
"Alright," Mr. Vyke stated as he approached our group, flipping through the stack of poems he had in his hand, "you guys get to pull apart a poem done by E.E Cummings." I was honestly praying to the gods that I would somehow get Shell Silverstein. Mr. Vyke dropped two copies of the poem on our table. "I hope you find this poem to your liking."
I slid one of the pieces of paper over so it was between me and Inuyasha and I read the title.
"You Being in Love"
Well isn't this just peachy? The poem has to deal with my biggest failure in life—love.
"Do you guys want to read it out loud or read it silently and then converse," Ayumi asked.
"Silently," I answered. "It's easier for me to digest if I'm looking at the words and not just listening. I don't understand a thing if you read it out loud."
"My thoughts exactly," Yoko agreed.
Yoko and Ayumi hunched over their sheet of paper and began reading as Inuyasha and I moved closer together to share. I could feel his breath on the side of my face every time he exhaled. It was going to be hard to concentrate on this poem even without reading it out loud.
You being in love
Will tell who softly asks in love,
Am I separated from your body smile brain hands merely
To become the jumping puppets of a dream? oh i mean:
Entirely having in my careful how
Careful arms created this at length
Inexcusable, this inexplicable pleasure-you go from several
Persons: believe me that strangers arrive
When I have kissed you into a memory
Slowly, oh seriously
-That since and if you disappear
Solemnly
Myselves
Ask "life, the question how do I drink dream smile
And how do I prefer this face to another and
why do I weep eat sleep-what does the whole intend"
They wonder. Oh and they cry "to be, being, that I am alive
This absurd fraction in its lowest terms
With everything cancelled
But shadows
-What does it all come down to? Love? Love
If you like and I like, for the reason that I
Hate people and lean out of this window is love, love
And the reason that I laugh and breathe is oh love and the reason
That I do not fall into this street is love."
I didn't understand much of the poem besides bits and pieces, but what I could understand was good. Honest. Pretty much exactly how I view the concept of love. Of course, E.E Cummings does drive me insane with his unconventional writing style and I had to stop myself from inserting commas where they were very much needed, but the meaning of this poem (what I understood, at least) is something I can make a connection to. I date a lot of guys to try to replace the memory of Dai and in the end I always prefer Dai. Even though I keep getting let down and sometimes even depressed (but not often), I still keep searching because, you know, love is kind of amazing. Well, in my case, dating is pretty fun. Which makes me sound like a slut…
"Hmm," Inuyasha hummed as he sat back in his seat, tapping his pencil against his lips as they formed a small, half smile. "I like it."
"I don't understand it," Ayumi mumbled, massaging her temples. "Stupid poetry…"
"I get, like, two lines before the end," Yoko said. "I completely understand that he's saying love can be heartbreaking and make you miserable—to the point where you want to jump out of a window—, but love is also… amazing." Yoko smiled down at her sheet. "And because you're so madly in love you can't bring it to yourself to end your life and miss out on feeling love again."
"I think that what he means by 'I have kissed you face into a memory', is that he sleeps with—or dates, other women to forget her." I looked down at the poem again and tilted my head. "At least, I think that's what he means. Now I'm just confused again. Yeah, just disregard what I just said." This is why I don't prefer poetry; it is so confusing!
"I was hoping for some simple poetry," Yoko sighed, resting her cheek in her hand. "You know, like Shell Silverstein. Or at least Emily Dickinson where I can guess that somehow the poem relates to death."
"I know!" I sympathized with Yoko before I remembered that she was supposed to be my rival. "I know we're in high school, but the only poetry I can really grasp is Silverstein."
Yoko snorted. "We should definitely not be in AP Lit for our lack of skills in poetry. God, on those Lit tests we get and they give us a poem with questions?" She shook her head. "I get every single one of those wrong."
"Oh, there was one on last year's test that I didn't get at all. I honestly just guessed on every single question using eenie-meenie-miny-moe."
Yoko threw her head back and laughed. "I am so glad Mr. Vyke moved me," Yoko said with a genuine smile when she stopped laughing. "It's good to find someone in this class to relate to. Where I used to sit," she tilted her head in the direction of her old seat, "I was surrounded by nothing but geniuses and they find no shame in flaunting their grades. It really makes you feel stupid to fail a pop-quiz when they all scored hundreds."
"We idiots tend to make others feel smart," Ayumi joked and we all laughed.
"Glad to make you feel welcomed," I said with a smile. What the hell am I doing? We're supposed to be enemies!
"Because of y'all this is now one of favorite classes." Yoko nodded her head once as if to mentally confirm that statement. "Yeah, definitely near the top of the list."
Oh yeah, she definitely knows I have the biggest crush on her boyfriend. She is just showing me how great she is on purpose so I will start feeling guilty about thinking—praying about the day the two of them break-up. And even though everything she has said and done seemed completely genuine, for all I know, she could be one hell of an actor.
"Now that female bonding is over," Inuyasha decided, waving the poem in the air a bit, "let's finish analyzing the poem."
"Oh, that's right," Ayumi grinned at Inuyasha, "what was your take on the poem?"
"I don't really know," Inuyasha shrugged. "I just know I liked what he was saying at the end. Of course, I've never been in love so I can't really relate, but it sounds like what I imagine love to be."
"Never been in love?" Yoko's jaw dropped as if it was a shock. Considering Inuyasha is a teenage boy it shouldn't come as a shock, but even I was expecting Inuyasha to have made a deep connection with somebody since he does seem like a deep person. Kind of. I mean, I could just be stereotyping him because he's a musician and writes his own music. But then again, Kouga is a musician (no offense to him).
"Not romantically. I'm seventeen; you all shouldn't be so shocked." But Inuyasha shrunk a bit in his seat as if he didn't feel as comfortable as he did a second ago. "Have all of you been in love?"
"No," Ayumi confessed, "But you make it sound as if you're not really into falling in love as a teenager and that's when love is the best. It's reckless and passionate and just… there are no limits, no worries, no cares." Ayumi shrugged. "It just seems that falling in love as an adult is when you calculate everything which takes away from the experience."
"I just think that high school relationships don't last," Inuyasha mumbled. "What's the point if the relationship is going to come to an end by the time graduation rolls around?"
"If you really love someone you make it work," Yoko said, determination in her eyes and I had an awful thought of her and Dai actually going off to get married. Then I had an awful feeling for thinking that the two of them getting married and finding happiness is awful.
Inuyasha's words ran through my head and I actually digested what he meant. He doesn't believe in high school romance, basically. He believes in love, but not in love as a teenager so including Inuyasha in my search for true love would be a waste. There it was—the answer to my dilemma; I would not date Inuyasha and he would fall into the category of a life-long friend. Problem solved, huge decision averted.
Wrong.
Why? Because I'm not happy with that answer which basically solves my first problem—I should definitely try to date Inuyasha—but now another problem presents itself; Inuyasha might not want to waste his time dating me. Or say he does date me and I get to spend our entire relationship thinking that he's going to break this off as soon as graduation day comes around (if we even last that long) and that would basically be sentencing myself to massive heartbreak. To Inuyasha, I would just be someone that helps past the time.
But Inuyasha wouldn't do that to somebody, right?
I looked at him as he argued his point with Ayumi, saying something about just because it's reckless doesn't make it true love. No, Inuyasha definitely wouldn't date somebody just to help pass the time, but that would mean he hasn't dated anybody and I just know that's not the case.
And there is always that person who changes your outlook on life. I could be the person that makes Inuyasha realize that you can fall in love and it can actually last. He and I could go on to be more than just high school sweethearts. Yeah, I'll just be that girl who changes Inuyasha's life.
I couldn't help but smile at that thought.
And now I feel a huge amount of guilt in my gut because I'm supposed to be thinking about changing Dai's life, not Inuyasha's.
"You know what your problem is?" Yoko asked, joining the conversation. "You're afraid of getting your heart broken. You're afraid you're going to meet your soul mate in high school and then have to let her go when you go away to college and to just avoid losing her, you're not even going to try finding her."
Aha! Inuyasha could just be shielding himself from heartbreak and really does believe in finding the love of your life in high school, but he's afraid of losing them. I guess my chances aren't as low as I feared.
"All of you girls are hopeless romantics," Inuyasha sighed, shaking his head.
"But you didn't deny Yoko's statement," I pointed out. "Do you date girls?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Inuyasha asked, turning red.
"Do you?" I pressed. I needed to know this before I went through the trouble of dating Inuyasha.
"Yeah, but—"
"So you believe that there is a chance that you will fall in love, otherwise you wouldn't date girls at all."
"I didn't say it was impossible," Inuyasha defended himself. "I just think that with high school, it's really unlikely for you to find the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with. You can fall in love in high school, but I have doubts about whether or not it's going to last."
"My parents were high school sweethearts," Ayumi said. "And they're still together and they're happy."
"So it's not impossible," Yoko concluded, looking relieved. Holy hell, she probably is thinking about growing up and marrying Dai. Just my crappy luck.
"I guess not." I turned to see what Inuyasha's reaction would be to being proved wrong, only to find him looking at me.
Holy. Shit.
"So, what's the theme of the poem?" I asked, my voice an octave too high. I was trying to erase all the thoughts of just what that look Inuyasha gave me could mean.
"Since we all only understand one part of the poem I think we should go with love screws with your feelings," Inuyasha said, not at all effected by the moment we just shared. Or the moment I thought we shared. "It makes you feel heartbroken and miserable and sometimes it's the reason that you keep living."
"We should Google this poem for a meaning," Ayumi sighed. "I keep rereading it and I just keep getting more thrown off than before."
"Poetry is supposed to be about how we interpret it, so there can't be a wrong answer as long as we're not talking about something completely out there like monkeys on crack."
"Monkeys on crack?" I repeated, laughing. "Of all the out there topics you come up with that?"
"It's pretty out there, right?" Yoko asked, grinning. "But back on topic; love is the death of us, but the reason we live. Now we just have to come up with our own poem." Ayumi, Yoko, and I all looked to Inuyasha.
"What?"
"Well, you are the songwriter," I answered. "We just figured that you might have some ideas for the poem."
"You want me to write the poem?" Inuyasha asked, lifting a brow.
"We'll add a few things in too, of course," Yoko assured him. "You know, a few suggestions here and there."
"Exactly." I looked back at Inuyasha and gave him my most charming smile. "We're just letting you take the lead on this one."
"You guys are a bunch of slackers," Inuyasha grumbled, but he slid my notebook over to him anyway, flipping to a clean sheet of paper. "You're going to owe me for this one, Kagome. I want a whole box of French toast tomorrow, just for me."
"It's your turn to bring breakfast tomorrow," I reminded him. This morning I brought bagels and orange juice from home, which he didn't even eat since he was too busy showing me all his CDs and playing pieces of his favorite songs and telling me what movie scene he would play that part with. Inuyasha's back up if Midnight Blues doesn't make it (which, he seriously doubts) is to be a music supervisor. A music supervisor is the guy in movies who puts together the music in the movie, but Inuyasha also said he wouldn't mind being the composer, which is the guy who writes the musical scores for the film.
"As long as it deals with music and movies I'm fine," is what he said this morning. "I love them both so combing them together would be my absolute dream job."
"Alright then, on Thursday I want French toast. And homemade bacon and sliced fruit," Inuyasha added as an afterthought and I scoffed.
"That's not going to happen."
"Then I want some coffee. I'll bring you strawberries and you'll get me coffee."
It would make more sense if I just brought my strawberries and Inuyasha got his own coffee (since he does know how he likes it), than us bringing it for each other, but I didn't protest because I like that we get each other's food.
"Okay," I agreed, smiling. "Now just write the poem."
"Whatever." Inuyasha started writing immediately and I had a thought that he knew exactly what he was going to write from the beginning and just wanted to con me out of some more free food. Pig.
When I looked back at Yoko and Ayumi they were both giving me knowing looks with funny grins plastered on their faces.
"What?"
"Nothing," Yoko said, but the way she was trying not to smile told me there was definitely something.
"Seriously, what is it?"
"It's just…" Yoko trailed off and looked at Ayumi who was writing something down on her notebook. When she finished writing she checked to make sure Inuyasha wasn't looking before she flipped it over so I could see what she wrote.
You two would make a great couple.
Good God, this is one of the few classes Sango isn't in; I'm not supposed to get pestered about this stuff!
"We're not," I tell them out loud, so Inuyasha doesn't get suspicious of the silence.
"We know," Ayumi shrugged. "But you guys would."
"Yeah?" I looked at Inuyasha out the corner of my eye. "I get that a lot."
I don't really, but I sure do think about it a lot.
-x-
"Kagome, it was your turn to get the snack, how could you forget?"
"Sorry, Ayame," I apologized as I slid my t-shirt over my head. "It must have slipped my mind."
"You're always hungry before Weight Management, how could you forget?"
Ayame and I have Weight Management 3rd block and that is the lunch block. Meaning the cafeteria is open for people with first lunch at the beginning of 3rd block. I can slip in and buy chips, a muffin, fries, whatever, and then slip right out and continue on my way to the locker rooms. In the locker rooms I always share what I get with Ayame while we get dressed. We bring food in every two days and switch off on whose turn it is to get the food. It's a system we have developed over the years.
"Damnit Kagome, I am starving." Ayame frowned and looked down at her stomach. "My stomach has been growling all day."
"You should have had a bigger breakfast." I peeled my jeans off and reached for my sweats. It was getting a little too cold outside to run around the track in shorts.
"It's hard to accomplish that when I am so clearly not a morning person." Ayame sat down on the bench and crossed her arms. "What in the world could have distracted you from getting the food?"
Well, today I walked with Inuyasha to the gym and he had to stop by his locker as usual, but instead of going to the cafeteria to grab some fries like I normally do, I stayed behind and talked to Inuyasha because I can actually hold really good conversations with him. And I was determined to win the debate we were having about zombies versus unicorns (in a fight, a Resident Evil zombie will completely annihilate a unicorn). Of course, I didn't want to tell Ayame that because she would immediately accuse me of flirting which I wasn't doing.
"I got held up talking to Kikyo," I answered which is partially true. I talked to her for about ten seconds. We talked about placing flyers in the bathroom stalls after class before we went our separate ways. "In a battle, who would win—zombie or a unicorn?"
"Where the hell did that come from?"
"I had a debate with Inuyasha earlier," I explained while pulling my gym shirt over my head and gathering my hair to put into a ponytail. "Can I borrow a ponytail holder?"
"Unicorn," Ayame answered as she pulled the ponytail holder off her wrist and tossed it to me. "Zombies are slow."
"Resident Evil zombies are not slow," I argued. "They will eat a unicorn alive before the unicorn can even make a move. And seriously? Unicorns are all about rainbows and happiness—they're too nice to kill anybody."
"Honestly Kagome, I really don't care." Ayame grabbed her water bottle out of her locker and her jacket in case we went running outside again. "So Kouga hasn't mentioned anything about the band performing at the carnival, which makes me assume that you haven't told Erin about it yet?"
"Nope. And I told Inuyasha not to mention it at all before I get the chance to bring it up. You know how difficult Erin can be about participating in school events." Erin has a problem with extracurricular activities because they interfere with her free time after school. "I really don't want to have to do this," I groaned.
"Well, as editor of the newspaper, it is your duty."
Funny how I have to take responsibility for Kikyo's idea. It just doesn't seem fair to me.
"This isn't fair."
"Life's not fair, Kagome." Ayame headed out of the row of lockers we were sitting between and I jammed my feet into my sneakers and hurried after her. "You just have to use the right approach and everything will work out fine."
-x-
"Eeerrriiinnn."
Erin turned around and glared at me. "No."
Singing: definitely not the right approach.
"I didn't even ask for anything!" Yet.
"Kagome, Kagome, Kagome," Erin started, shaking her head. "You sang my name; you're looking pretty damn suspicious."
"You're just being paranoid," I huffed, rounding the counter and tossing my bag underneath it. "But since you reminded me, I do have a tiny request for you."
"No."
"You haven't even heard it yet!" Erin turned to me and raised her brows; not believing what I had to say was worth her while. I should have picked a day when she was in a slightly better mood before throwing the whole carnival thing in her face. I should have at least brought her a smoothie or something. "It's for a good cause."
"I don't believe in good causes."
I rolled my eyes. "It's a gig."
She tilted her head just a bit in my direction and I smiled, knowing I now had her attention. Erin's weak spot was her band. She listened to everybody who offered Midnight Blues a chance to make themselves well known.
"So, you see, Monday the newspaper staff put up posters to advertise the Odd-Ball Olympics, but then Kikyo told me that it was a complete advertisement failure since no one stopped to read them and then she said I would have to ask The Morning Ribbet for help so we could get a segment on the morning announcements to "properly" advertise, but, you know, we hate The Morning Ribbet." Erin let out a long sigh and stared at me as if she couldn't believe I was telling her the entire background story. Erin is not a fan of long, drawn out stories that hold little meaning to her and I usually never told long, drawn out stories, but I'm buying myself time to come up with the perfect way to convince Erin to let Midnight Blues perform at the carnival.
"But, because I knew how much the paper meant to everyone," I continued, ignoring the pained look she gave me, "I sucked up my pride and went to ask Yura for a segment. Well, she was a complete bitch so I ended up screwing up and telling her off, so Sango was out for my head and I needed to think of a plan to save—"
"Is this going anywhere?" Erin cut me off, finally having enough. "Where do I and Midnight Blues fit into the story?"
"I'm getting to there," I assured her, waving her off with my hand as I reached down to grab the trivia cards and passed half the stack to her. "So, I decided I was going to just get the megaphone from the gym teacher and—"
"Kagome! Please," Erin begged me, "get to the point."
"Okay, well, when we were battling for the crowd's attention, Kikyo made up this plan to have a carnival at the end of the week and she said there would be games, food… live music…" I eased out, just barely above whisper.
"Abso-lutely. Not," Erin instantly declined, shaking her head.
"Why not?" I whined, though I already knew the answer.
"Because, considering that you're most likely going to have this right after school it would be interfering with my naptime and my naptime is crucial for my health," She said and I rolled my eyes.
"Okay, but for just one day, can't you just abandon your five hour nap after school?"
"No!" Erin shouted in horror as if I asked her to go and murder somebody. "Kagome, you don't get it; I need my naptime in order to properly function at night. Without those few precious hours of sleep after school and before my mom comes home I'm a complete mess. I wouldn't be able to do my nightly routine of searching for gigs or checking out the local competition if I don't take my nap. If it weren't for the fact that my mom is incapable of remembering to pay the bills, I wouldn't even be working this job three days a week. I'm already losing way too much sleep a week because of this job."
"Erin…"
"My laziness has a strong influence over my actions," Erin shrugged, flipping through the stack of trivia cards I handed her. "I swear we have done every single one of these questions."
"Please, just for one day."
"Kagome, you just don't get it," Erin sighed, shaking her head again. "You're so busy all the time you don't understand how addictive naps can be. You're working here, you're the editor of the newspaper, you're always dating somebody which has to consume a lot of your time, and in your free time you're writing," she emphasized as if she couldn't believe out of all the things I could do, I choose to write. "And now you're planning a fucking carnival!"
"Ms. Chiba," T.J hissed, having past the counter at that exact moment. "Language."
"Sorry," Erin grumbled with a roll of her eyes. She waited until T.J was out of hearing range to continue our conversation. "Honestly Kagome, I don't think you even have a lazy bone."
"I do just sit and watch movies sometimes," I defended myself. "And I held an Office marathon one week and didn't get off the couch at all."
"But you never nap. I can't get you to understand how important my naps are since you probably haven't taken a nap since kindergarten."
"We're getting off topic," I muttered, changing the subject. Was it really that odd that I don't take naps? Naps are supposed to be for little kids and old people for crying out loud! "If Midnight Blues performs at the carnival a lot of people will hear their music and since the majority of the audience is going to be teens Midnight Blues will be popping up all over the internet via Twitter and Facebook. The band is going to blow up over night!"
"The reason we play at bars and clubs is because there are adults there who may have a connection with the music business that can give us the chance we need to become huge," Erin explained to me. "Teenagers don't have that connection."
"But we influence the music scene!" Erin just shook her head, not falling for it. "Inuyasha didn't seem to have a problem with it," I mumbled, crossing my arms and scanning over the store to see if any customers were close to checking out.
"Because he's trying to court you, or whatever," Erin said with a wave of her hand and I blushed. "Yeah, I know about your little breakfast thing. And Inuyasha doesn't take naps either, so he wouldn't get it if I told him."
"I'll let you sleep in my car until… for as long as you want."
"A car is not the same as a bed."
"Erin, a lot of people are sacrificing for this event," I started, grasping for words that would somehow convince her. "I have to sit on the dunking booth all day just to raise money for the paper, but you don't see me complaining about getting soaked."
Erin seemed to give what I said some thought. "You're going to be on the dunking booth all day?"
"Courtesy of Sango and her big mouth."
"I'm there," She decided with a nod of her head. "How could I miss out on something as big as you in a wet t-shirt?"
"Erin!" I shouted, hitting her in her arm. "I swear, you are just unbelievable sometimes." Of all things I had to do to convince her, she just wants to see me on the plank.
"Ms. Higurashi and Ms. Chiba," T.J came by again, crossing his arms as he looked both of us up and down. "You are not being paid to just sit there and talk, you are being paid to work. It is now five minutes past the hour and there has still been no announcement of a trivia question."
"Sorry T-man," Erin apologized holding up a random trivia question. "We'll get right to work on that."
T.J only grunted and turned around to go back to asking the customers if they needed help with anything.
"He's just too uptight," Erin sighed, shaking her head. "So," she started, glancing down at the trivia card in her hand, "Who does General Shang's voice in Mulan?"
"Does anybody pay attention to that stuff?"
"Donny Osmond." Erin sounded disappointed as she handed me the card and grabbed the rest of the questions, stacking them up in a neat pile as I adjusted the mike. "What a disappointment. I was expecting somebody better looking."
"Life is full of disappointments."
An unlady like snort came from her mouth. "Yeah, no kidding."
Realizing I had probably just reminded Erin of everything in her life that was a disappointment (the list isn't a short one), I quickly switched subjects.
"So, Yoko and I actually talked to each other today."
"Am I supposed to remember who Yoko is?"
"She's Dai's girlfriend," I reminded her. "Considering I talk about Dai so much I thought you would remember the name of his girlfriend."
"You talk about Dai, not his girlfriend."
"I mention her sometimes. Anyway, I am actually almost feeling—" T.J walked by again, shooting me an impatient look and I grabbed the mike. "Hello Shoe Carnival shoppers and good evening!" I should so be an announcer when I grow up. Or a TV host. "It is time for some Shoe Carnival trivia! If you are able to get the correct answer to our trivia question, you get to come up here and spin the wheel and win yourself a discount on today's purchase. Today's question is," I paused like they do on game shows and Erin snickered, "In Disney's Mulan, who did the voice over for General Shang? The first person to come up with an answer will get to spin the wheel. This will only be available for the next half hour, so think fast!"
The store immediately burst into conversation like it always did after we gave the trivia question. Some people really enjoy trying to figure out the answers to these questions.
"So, back to what I was saying, she was in my group for this Lit assignment and we actually started talking and I realized that she is really a great person. And not even a great person for a cheerleader, but an actually legit great person."
"Did you really think the guy you think is absolutely perfect is going to spend two and a half years dating a complete airhead?"
"The point is, was that I was actually feeling guilty. You know, every time she would bring him up she'd get this giant smile on her face and I'll feel guilty because I just think about the day he's finally going to break her heart and date me."
"All is fair in love and war."
"Erin!" She looked at me wide-eyed, silently asking me why I was yelling her name. "I need real thoughts and advice, not quotes."
"Real thoughts: it's completely natural to feel guilty since you do think about stealing her boyfriend every time you don't have a boyfriend. Real advice: you're going to have to figure out if you can handle the guilt if Dai ever decides to dump her for you."
"And if I can't get over the guilt?"
"Give up on Dai."
Well it looks like my decision has been made for me. I am going to have to suck it up and become ruthless. Who cares how happy Yoko is when she mentions Dai or that she was ready to have a long debate with Inuyasha, defending the fact that you can find your soul mate in high school? Really, I'm just going to have to be selfish.
Eh, I'll worry about that when the time comes.
"But since you're thinking about Dai so much lately, can I take it as a sign that you're not going to date Inuyasha? Because I told you that I won't sit by in silence if you choose to use Inuyasha as just a replacement for Dai."
No, I definitely don't want to talk about that right now.
"Who would you bet on to win in a fight—zombie or unicorn?"
"Unicorn," Erin answered, but she gave me a suspicious look before shrugging and letting the topic slide. "A unicorn is going to pierce right though a zombie's chest. Unless you're not talking about the cliché, slow and groaning zombies, then I might put my money on either one of 'em."
"You see," I said, "this is why you're one of my best friends."
-x-
Guilt, guilt, go away, come again another day. Wait, no, that's wrong. Guilt should definitely stay away; it makes me feel uneasy.
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I had to add the zombies vs unicorn argument in here because I got this book, Zombies vs Unicorns, from the library and I had a long drawn out conversation with my sister at the library that carried all the way over until we got home. To my dismay, just about everyone I talked to picked unicorn. Zombies are just nasty so people pick unicorn, but if there was a war with zombies vs unicorns a zombie is going to kicked horned horse ass. I'm just saying.
It was hanmajo's idea to have Erin love her naptimes and since hanmajo created Erin, I had to include it. I know there wasn't much Inuyasha and Kagome interaction this chapter but I'll make up for it later. Anyway, please review!
~Kimiko888~
School, school go away come again another day. Wait, no, that's wrong.
~hanmajoerin