CHAPTER THREE

As Suzume filled in the worksheet quickly, she saw Kise struggling with his own out of the corner of her eye. She had stayed up late last night reviewing this Chemistry stuff, so this was no problem.

The blonde nudged her. "Suzu-cchi, help me?" He whispered urgently.

She let out a huff of annoyance. "Go ask your fangirls or something."

"B-but..." Kise whimpered. "They are all really dumb..."

She snorted. "Now you're being mean to them? Pfft."

"Suzu-cchi..."

A sigh escaped out of her mouth. "Jeez... You have to fill in these - a metal mixed with a acid equals a salt and hydrogen..."

"Hey! Come watch my basketball training in the third gym!" Kise said excitedly.

"No." Suzume said plainly. She had known that he played basketball from the screams of the fangirls (and there were a lot).

"Haaaah?" He grabbed her arm and swung it back and forth. "Pleeeeeaaasse?"

"No."

He pouted and thought for a while. Then he grinned and started making his way towards the gym, dragging her by the arm.

"Oi! Let go of me, Banana-Head! Hey, I've got stuff to do!" She struggled, but he was a very strong guy, so it was useless.

Kise stopped for a second, never loosening his grip on her. "What stuff?"

"Homework!"

"Oh." He kept walking. "That doesn't matter."

"Argh..."

~A While Later~

"Kasamatsu-senpai! Can Suzu-cchi watch our practice today?" All Kasamatsu saw was Kise dragging in a poor girl by her arm, and he immediately ducked his head and turned away.

Moriyama had hearts in his eyes.

Hayakawa was randomly screaming, "I (will) ge(t) all (re)bounds!"

And the others stopped what they were doing and stared at the pair at the door.

"Can she?" He repeated excitedly. Said girl turned to look at Kasamatsu, scowling slightly.

He went red and stuttered, "W-well, girls aren't r-really sup-pposed to unless th-they have business with the club..."

"But I invited her!"

"Th-then I guess it's okay..."

"Yay!"

Suzume groaned. She never wanted to watch their practice in the first place; what's so exciting about watching a bunch of annoying, sweaty guys running around chasing a stupid ball? Plus, what's with their weird and super-shy captain?

As if reading her mind, Kise bent down to her and whispered, "Don't mind him, he's just scared of girls." She leaned away from him.

"I'M NOT SCARED OF GIRLS! SENPAIS ARE TO BE RESPECTED!" The captain yelled, sideways kicking him in the head.

"Nice kick." She commented.

"E-er..." He went into tomato mode again.

Jesus, Suzume thought, is this going to happen every time I talk to him? What a cowardly guy.

"Suzu-cchi! This is Kasamatsu Yukio, our captain, Moriyama Yoshitaka, Hayakawa Mitsuhiro, Kobori Kouji, and Nakamura Shinya. We're the First String Boys' Basketball Team of Kaijo!"

"Okay." She said boredly and tried to edge her way to the exit of the gym.

Kise immediately came and blocked her way when he noticed what she was trying to do. "Nuh-uh, you stay right here and watch us practice."

She sighed and silently got out her phone, sending Sora a text to tell her she'll be late home today.

There were books scattered messily on the benches and pens everywhere as Suzume finished her English homework and is working on the next chapter in the book, trying to get ahead again so she can keep up.

"Crap...What does documentary mean again?" She absentmindedly ruffled her hair as she flicked through the English-Japanese dictionary. "Oh right..."

"Why aren't you watching us practice?" A sudden voice next to her ear made her jump.

"OI! Did you want to scare me to death?!" Suzume almost shouted, gaining the attention of the other basketball players who were also taking a rest.

"Noooooo, don't die, Suzu-cchi!"

"First you try to kill me, then you tell me not to die? What?" This guy was so confusing, she didn't understand what was going on in his head. But then again she wasn't exactly what you would call social, and didn't really know what goes on in anyone's her except for her own.

The girl lowered her head and started reading the English essay in the textbook again and Kise got back to practise.

After about 40 minutes she had managed to read through the whole three pages and understand most of it. Note: most. There were still some things that she didn't understand but she was way too tired. English was so hard to learn; the grammar was different, the spelling was hard, and there was way too many words.

Suzume stretched and looked up towards the basketball players, not having anything else to do. She saw Kasamatsu jumping up to shoot and Moriyama blocking, then he unexpectedly passed the ball back towards Kise, who dribbled up to the net and dunked forcefully, hanging onto the hoop for a little longer.

"..." The light hazel haired girl had to admit that they were good. Not that she knew anything about basketball, heck, she barely knew the rules.

"Eh?" Kise realised that she was finally watching them. "SUZU-CCHI!"

That earned him another kick to the head. "GET BACK TO PRACTISE YOU IDIOT!"

It was a few days later (where Kise would continuously follow the girl around )in PE that the first 'accident' happened...

~Suzume's Point Of View~First Person~

I was tired after doing so much running - what even was the point in it? I mean, yes I could run fast if there was a purpose for it, but when there was no reason to run I hate it.

The girls now had to run up and down the stairs twice more, and I was just relaxing at the top when I felt a hand on my small back and suddenly I was tumbling into open air. I skidded on the steps before finally landing on the second ledge.

"Ooowwww..." I muttered under my breath, sitting up to examine my arms and legs. There was just a few small scratches on my arms and legs, but the scrape on my right knee was really bad. Blood was oozing out fast and there was some dirt in the wound.

And the blonde model just happened to come by at that time.

"Suzu-cchi! What happened?!" He exclaimed, rushing down and taking a look at her knee. "Ouchie..."

"Well," said a voice which belonged to a girl at the top of the steps, "She wasn't watching and fell, bumping into me in the process."

I was pretty sure someone pushed me though, because I was just standing there taking a breath... It must've been her.

"You should say sorry, you know." She smirked. Said girl had cropped ash-blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes. "By the way, my name's Hitomi." She aimed her last sentence at Kise, flipping her hair and smiling disgustingly.

He just stood there looking confused. Then he finally spoke again. "Let's go to the infirmary to get your knee bandaged, Suzu-cchi."

I wordlessly held up my hand and he pulled me up.

On the way to the health centre it was silent and I didn't bother saying anything, just watching the blood trickling down my leg. When we got there the nurse had to scrub the wound to clean it (that hurt a lot and I was internally screaming my head off), but otherwise it didn't really hurt. I didn't cry, unlike some other girls might, and it was all good except that I didn't know what I did to make that Hitomi girl so mad that she decided to push me down the stairs.

~A Day Later~In Chemistry~

~Normal Point Of View~Third Person~

Suzume striked a match, holding it above the Bunsen burner, while with the other hand turning on the gas tap. Her partner, Akira, just stood and watched. She turned away to grab something, unaware that Hitomi was making frantic gestures at Akira, and she slowly moved the blue flamed-equipment just next to Suzume.

When she turned back, the fire, a few hundred degrees Celsius hot, burnt a little bit of her left hand. There was a sharp intake of breath and the girl ran to the tap, running her hand under the cold water. Then she just sat down on the ground hard, biting her lip and trying hard not to cry.

Kise saw her and immediately rushed over. By now, tears were spilling out of her pretty aquamarine eyes and pouring down her cheeks.

"Suzu-cchi...your hand...are you okay...? No, dumb question..." His voice was gentler than usual.

"I'm fine." Suzume mumbled, the words a contrast to her expression. "I'm...fine."

Then she was sent to the nurse's office for the second time that week. Why does bad things keep happening? First she acquired a blonde stalker who doesn't seem to be able to leave her alone, then her dad told her that she would be working with that stalker, then she 'fell' down the stairs and now her hand is burnt and hurts like hell.

What is wrong with her life?

Please review for more updates! I don't mind some constructive criticism too. Btw underlined is English.

The incident of the knee was very loosely based on a true thing that happened to me. Except of course no one pushed me, and I wasn't on the stairs.