I Gave You Twelve Roses

I Gave You Twelve Roses.

Chapter 3: Love Is An Irresistible Desire

The Kisaragi Academy spring formal was next week. Besides Arnold and Ayumi, everyone else probably already got dates. So, what was Ayumi going to do? Take Arnold? Go alone? Not go at all? Only two words to answer those three questions: NO WAY!

As she, Mayu, and Naomi were walking to school on a cool spring morning, Ayumi had a lot of things on her mind. While her friends were in deep conversation with each other, she tried to figure out what was going on lately.

That was the second secret admirer note that she found in her locker. It was the second love quote she read that made her feel loved. And it was the hundredth time she was pissed at Arnold. He knew she wasn't into him, or maybe he didn't know at all. Yeah, maybe he didn't get the hint at all. Like, sorry, she's taken, back off, right?

But, what if the note wasn't from Arnold? Who else would send her secret admirer notes? She knew no one that was into her. Also, why doesn't the secret admirer just ask her to the spring formal? She didn't mind about the cute love quotes, but if Arnold sent that, he sure has a way with women, even if they weren't into him.

It seemed to Ayumi that Arnold would never give up winning a girl's heart. Well, except for last year. Once she, Yoshiki, Mayu, Morishige, Naomi, and Satoshi became freshmen at Kisaragi Academy, they met Arnold. When they first saw him, he enthralled by how hot Princess was. And when I say hot, I mean stuck-up. After Princess' boyfriend Harito Yuto threw Arnold into a locker, he gave up hope. It was then that he found Ayumi and began crushing on her.

Ayumi didn't want to go alone to the spring formal, but she didn't want to go with Arnold either. The thought of her clutching his sweaty hands just gave her the creeps. She cringed and tried to get rid of the thought. At least there was one person that she would take a chance in asking. She thought it was wrong at first, but she changed her mind.

She, Mayu, and Naomi entered Kisaragi Academy, with ten minutes to spare until they were to report to their homeroom. They walked down the hallways in silence. It wasn't long until Naomi found Satoshi talking with his friends. Further down their third hallway, Mayu followed Morishige into the art room.

All alone, Ayumi continued down the hallway. She climbed up some stairs and walked down another hallway. Soon, she reached a corner. As she was about to turn it, a bunch of thumping sounds were heard, one after another. Just to be sure it wasn't Arnold who dropped his ruler, protractor, and scientific calculator on the floor again, Ayumi peered around the corner.

Yoshiki was by his locker, rubbing his head. His locker door was open. His textbooks were scattered across the tile floor, along with some of his study notes. She hurried around the corner to help him if he wanted to go to the spring formal with her.

She knelt by his side. "Hey, Yoshiki." She began gathering his study notes and putting them back in order. "Need a hand?"

"Yeah, thanks," Yoshiki answered, gratefully. He began gathering his textbooks in his arms and placing them in his locker. Ayumi handed him his study notes and he placed them on a shelf in his locker. She watched Yoshiki organize his belongings. As he did, she noticed something in the back of his locker. Red roses!?

Yoshiki must have realized she was staring into his locker. He automatically closed it and locked it. She pretended to act as if she was waiting for him to finish organizing.

"Ask him now!" her conscience said to her. She then remember the other reason for beginning a conversation with Yoshiki in the first place.

She cleared her throat. "Uh, Yoshiki?"

He turned towards her. "Yeah?"

She started to fidget. "I was, um, wondering if I could, you know, ask you something?"

"I was about to ask you something too," Yoshiki replied. "You go first."

"Um, okay," Ayumi answered, unsure of what to say what to say next. Uh, I wanted to, um, ask you if . . ."

"Yoshiki!"

Ayumi stopped talking, Yoshiki stopped listening. They both looked behind Yoshiki. Princess was walking up to them, strutting around as if she won the Miss Universe pageant. She was dressed in a magenta, spaghetti-strap sundress and matching magenta sandals. Her curly red hair was in one fluffy bun at the back of her head.

She walked up to Yoshiki and placed her right hand on his right shoulder, as if she owned him. "Hi, Yoshiki." She turned to Ayumi. "Hey, um, uh . . ."

"Ayumi," Ayumi filled in, annoyed. She knew Princess was trying to annoy her, like she always did. "What brings you here?"

"Would you mind if I talk to Yoshiki in private for a moment?" Princess asked. Ayumi could see Princess' smirk behind her fake million dollar smile. "Just for a minute."

Ayumi faked a smile at her. "Go ahead. I have to get to class or I'll be late." She turned to Yoshiki, smiling. "We'll talk after school in the chemistry classroom, since I cant make it for lunch because of my student council duties."

Yoshiki nodded. "Okay, catch you later, babe." Ayumi turned around and walked down the hallway. She blushed at the pet name Yoshiki always loved to call her. She turned around that same corner she came around and leaned against the wall. She wasn't really going to class yet. She was going to eavesdrop on Princess and Yoshiki.

Ayumi may be oblivious, but she's not stupid. She knew that if Princess was going to talk in private with a guy. It was about love. She bet that Princess was going to ask Yoshiki to the spring formal. Ayumi sighed quietly to herself. Why didn't she ask Yoshiki instead of fidgeting?

"Well, what do you need to talk to me about Princess?" Yoshiki asked.

"Well, I needed to ask you something," she said.

"Okay, go for it," he replied.

"I was wondering if you would do me the honr in being . . ."

The warning bell rang. Ayumi could tell Yoshiki was in a hurry because he then said:

"Oh, well look at the time!" he exclaimed, with the air of one commenting on the weather. "I can't be late for class! Let's chat later!"

Ayumi heard Yoshiki run down the other hallway to his class. Once he was gone, she heard Princess huff and walk down the same hallway as well. Wow, good thing Princess didn't have a chance to ask Yoshiki to the spring formal. Talk about being saved by the bell!

Wait! The bell! The warning bell just rang!

If Ayumi didn't get to class in two minutes, she would get thrown in detention and an honor student star student could never get detention. Besides, she heard enough of their conversation.

Running as fast as her legs can carry her, Ayumi sprinted down the hall for homeroom.

She was alsomst there when she heard male voices coming from around a corner. She wasn't sure who the first voice belonged to, but the second one! It was Arnold! Quickly observing her surroundings, she ducked behind a soda machine (I wished I had that in my school XD).

She heard Arnold and another guy walking down the hallway, talking. Trying to keep as quiet as possible, Ayumi cupped her right hand and listened to their conversation. Wow, she's been doing a lot of eavesdropping that day, hasn't she?

"Arnold, why are you so obsessed with Ayumi?" the guy asked. "As they say, there are many other fish in the sea."

"I know, but Ayumi is really special," Arnold answered. "She's smart, pretty, and brave. I would give up all my protractors and pocket protectors to have her as my girlfriend."

"Well, dude, people have seen her around the school," the guy stated. "I don't understand why you cant find her."

"I don't know either," Arnold replied. Their footsteps were dying away, which meant they were moving farther away from Ayumi. "It's like she has tracker me to make sure and is tracking me to make sure I don't run into her. Well, as soon as I run into her, I'm asking her to the spring formal."

Once the two guys disappeared, Ayumi came out of hiding. "Wow, no wonder he's a nerd. It's like he follows me around." She laughed and continued to homeroom.

After school, everyone rushed out the front entrance and out of the school. Everyone was on their way home, well, except Ayumi and Yoshiki.

Yoshiki was in the chemistry classroom, cleaning the tops of the desks and tabletops. Since the chemistry competition was next week, the same day of the spring formal, there was hardly any time for cleaning that day. Besides, after the competition, he had to go home, shower, change, and go to the spring formal.

Ayumi was supposed to meet him here at three o'clock. Yoshiki glanced at the clock on the wall. It read quarter after three. Ayumi was never late. So, what was the hold-up causing her to be halping Yoshiki?

Just as Yoshiki was pondering the question, the chemistry classroom door flung open and Ayumi ran in. He watched her, curiously as Ayumi slammed the door closed, locked it, and pulled down the blinds on the door's window.

"Nice of you to join me," Yoshiki said. "What's up?"

Ayumi turned towards Yoshiki. "Sorry, I was late. I stayed behind in the math classroom to clean the chalkboard. Arnold must have memorized my schedule or something because as soon as the bell rang, Arnold was outside the closed classroom door, playing his guitar badly, and singing random stuff about me."

"So, what did you do?" Yoshiki asked, apparently engrossed in the story.

"I saw the doorknob of the door moving, so I opened the window," explained Ayumi. "I climbed out, shut it, and headed for the front entrance to the school. From there, I found my here, without Arnold having a clue about my disappearance." (Just to make sure you guys understand, Ayumi was on the first floor, I can't think Ayumi can go down the 2nd floor window without dying)

"Wow, you're smart," Yoshiki commented.

Ayumi blushed a bit. "Come on, let's get cleaning."

Yoshiki nodded. "Okay."

While Yoshiki finished scrubbing the tabletops and desk tops, Ayumi organized the beakers and other tools needed for the chemistry competition. Every now and then, she would cast small glances at Yoshiki. He would look up and smile at her.

Wait, they were alone! Finally, no one to barge in on them! She can finally ask him to the spring formal! But she still wasn't sure about what his response would be like. Still, it couldn't hurt to try.

Before she could speak, Yoshiki said, "Ayumi about that thing I wanted to ask you earlier . . ." She looked up at him. "Well, would you mind going on a triple date with our friends?"

"What?" she asked, just to make sure she heard him correctly.

"It's just that Morishige and Satoshi can cause mayhem when they're alone. I mean, you would the same thing for Naomi and Mayu, right?"

Ayumi nodded. "Yeah, you can never trust them alone."

Yoshiki smiled. "So, would you like to go?"

Ayumi thought for a moment. Did Yoshiki just ask her out on a date? Maybe he did. But she couldn't cheat on the secret admirer. Then again, she and the secret admirer weren't together yet, so it wasn't really cheating. Besides, the secret admirer will never know anyway.

"Sure," she answered, grinning. "What's the plan?"

"How about Friday night at six o' clock then?" Yoshiki asked. "We could go see that new movie in town. It's called, 'The Simpsons Movie.' I heard it's hilarious!"

"Sounds great!" Ayumi exclaimed.

"Great, Friday at six o' clock then," Yoshiki confirmed. He looked around the room. It looked cleaner than before. "I think we're done here. Thanks for the help."

"Oh, anytime," Ayumi replied. She headed for the door. "I got to leave and get a textbook from my locker. See you tomorrow."

Yoshiki waved as she left the classroom. "Bye, Ayumi!"

She closed the chemistry classroom door and hurried down the hallway. She made right turn, and ended up at her locker. She entered the combination in her lock. There was a small click and the locker door swung open.

As she reached for her math textbooks, a folded piece of paper fell out. She grabbed her textbook, closed and locked her locker, and bent down to pick up the note. She began making her way out of the school. As she did, she unfolded her note.

It said:

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. As in, I desired to have someone as cute and kind as you for my girlfriend.

Love,

Your Secret Admirer

I hope you enjoyed Chapter 3, and most of you guys said to pace myself, so that's what I will do. Who do you guys think the secret admirer is?

Please R&R.

CorpsePartyAyushikiFan