Chapter 8

After Luka left, Lily's body relaxed. She turned to me and smiled, sitting down beside me.

"So, how do you feel?" she asked, gently placing her hand on mine.

I shrugged. Lily's eyes narrowed and she grabbed my chin, forcing me to look up at her. "Shrugging isn't an answer," she said sternly.

I was shocked. She actually wanted an answer out of me? I can remember when Kaiko went into relapse at eight, I broke my leg about a week after. Sure, Mom and Dad took me to the hospital and I was taken care of, but I wasn't actually taken care of. I learned, at eight, that whatever position I was in, Kaiko always had it worse. I figured people never really cared and asked out of sheer politeness. So I always shrugged. The response was usual a sigh and then they left me alone.

"W-Well... I guess I feel better now," I said slowly, still not quite used to the attention I was being given. Lily gestured for me to continue. "My head was pretty messed up and I threw up behind the wall, but it's cleared up now and my stomach has settled down..."

Lily nodded and placed her hand back on her lap. "Good. Next time I ask you how you feel, I want a full answer, not just a shrug of the shoulders!"

I nodded again. Lily smiled and began to fiddle with the end of her, um, skirt. "I came here for a few reasons..." she began. She took a deep breath before continuing. "One was to ask how you were feeling. Second was to tell you that Yuma wants to talk to you tomorrow. I don't know why, he wouldn't tell me. And the last..."

"Yeah..?" I prompted. If she just dropped it, I'd be very annoyed.

"Well, there's a disco on this Saturday... There's a dancing competition, a slow dance and then just dancing. And I was wondering... You know, if you wanna..."

I let out an audible sigh and rested my head on my arm that was resting on my leg. "Do you wanna go to this disco thingy with me, Lily?" I asked.

Lily looked over at me and squealed. "Yes, yes, yes!" She jumped up and planted a quick peck on my lips. Grinning, she waved and ran off. I lifted a hand and gently felt my own lips before grinning and walking back to the dorms.

I reached out to open the door, only to have it opened before me. I looked up to see who was on the other side. It was Meiko. Her eyes widened when she saw me and her mouth fell. I prepared myself for another slap across the face. If there was one thing I learned about Meiko, it was that she was very protective of Luka.

Meiko broke out into a huge grin and wrapped her arms around my chest and lifting me up and spinning me around. I wiggled out of her grip. "H-Hey! Let me down fool! You're not supposed to lift me up!"

Meiko shrugged. "S'not my fault your unusually light." She grinned again, giving me another hug.

"What's with all the love and affection?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I dunno what you did, but Luka came back into the dorm happy and joyful. She's teaching the guys how to waltz for that disco thing on Saturday." She gestured over her shoulder. Luka was holding Gakupo's hand and teaching him where to put the other one. She nodded to Miku to turn on the music. She did so and they started dancing. If you can call it that. Gakupo is a horrible dancer and, standing next to Luka, he looked even worse.

"Who's Gacky going with?" I asked. Meiko stept back inside the dorm and I followed her. She closed the door and leant against and I stood next to her.

"Well, as far as I know, he wants to ask Gumi to go but is too nervous. He was spouting some jibberish about how 'knowing how to dance will give him courage'. Just a whole load of bull really. He's just trying to cover up the fact that he's a coward."

I snickered and noticed Len and Piko sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall, watching the failure that was Gakupo dance. "Who're Len and Piko going with?"

"Len asked Rin and she said yes but then she added that if he don't know how to waltz, she will kill him. I guess Piko asked Miki in his... own little way. I dunno, she seems happy though."

I nodded absentmindedly and looked back at Luka. Gakupo said something and she threw her head back, her shoulders shaking and a huge smile across her face. The music started again and they began dancing again. In fact, it looked like Gakupo was getting the hang of it.

"Who's Luka going with?" I asked, before I could stop myself.

Meiko gave me a sad look and looked back at Luka, smiling bitterly. "Me and Miku," she answered simply. I gave her a look of confusion, waiting for her to elaborate. When she didn't, I tried to prompt her in the right direction.

"Don't you and Miku have guys you'd liked to go with? Why are you going with Luka?"

Meiko let a small smile pass over her features as Luka held her arm out and twirled Gakupo under it. He let out a laugh and caught her in a hug, ruffling her hair at the same time.

"Because if I don't, who will? Luka doesn't have many friends; people judge her too fast. If Miku and I don't look out for her, she'll be all alone. I'd love to go with this guy called Meito and Miku has a huge crush on someone called Mikuo but if we don't look after Luka, no one will..."

I looked back at the happy, smiling girl. All she had was her friends in dorm V-03, no one else wanted to talk to her. It was a lot like the Kaiko situation. I was all Kaiko had. I practically gave up my social life making sure she was happy. I smiled sadly as Luka pushed Gakupo down the hallway to where Gumi was. She grabbed Len's hand and began to begin teaching him the dance. I remembered I didn't know how to waltz either.

I patted Meiko on the shoulder. "I want to help," I said.

She raised an eyebrow, confused. "Help with what? My maths homework? Cause I could use some..."

I rolled my eyes at her. "No, dumbass. I want to help with Luka. I want to be her friend too, someone she can rely on, someone to protect her and make her smile." Didn't realise how gay that sounded until after I said it. Oops.

A grin spread across Meiko's face. she went to twirl me around again but I stopped her. She settled for an ordinary hug, which I accepted half-heartedly. She let go, gave me one last grin and walked down the hallway to her cubicle. I made my way to the wall and slid down it, waiting for her to be done with Piko. Len had been easy for her to teach and Piko looked like he wasn't going to be much harder.

When Luka finished dancing with Piko, she looked around quickly. Her eyes landed on me and they widened. I grinned sheepishly, standing to my feet.

"You don't mind teaching me, do you?"

Thank you to reviewers:

-RageKaze
-Kegi Springfield
-karenanzora 90
-Ambokiko
-A Crazy Moron
-DoniLALALALALALALovesssssYOU