Chapter 12: How the Tomboy Became Friends with the Nerd
"Aya... Aya? AYAMI, get your ass in here and help me unpack!"
"Yes, mom!" I called back, placing the box already in my arms onto the bed.
I was 12, and it was my first year in middle school. We had just moved into a new apartment building. The reason for this move was so that my mother could be closer to her new job, plus it was closer to my new middle school. She had just gotten a gig working at some bar, although I don't know what kind of bar is okay with hiring a lady that's seven months pregnant.
'Wait, pregnant!'
"Ah! Mom, don't try to lift anything too heavy!" I called to her.
"Eh!" she called back, "What did you say!"
I went to my door and screamed down the hall, "I said, 'don't try to lift anything too heavy!'"
"Why would I try that when I'm already carrying something the size of one of these boxes! Besides, that's what you, Hero, and Kotomi are for," I heard her giggle.
"AH! Mom, let go of me!" I heard Hero groan. I laughed under my breath as I walked down the hall.
"Mama," I heard Kotomi say as I rounded the corner to the living room. "Whose is this?" Kotomi asked, holding a box in her little four-year-old arms.
"Ah, that's mom's," I said as I walked forward to take it from her.
"Thank you," she said, giving it to me. "That's so heavy, what do you have in there, Mama?" Mom looked up from her rummaging through some random box of stuff.
"Just some shoes and purses," she said, going back to the box in front of her. "Aya, could you take that to my room, then come back out here?"
"Sure thing," I said, heading back down the hall.
I placed the box on the floor in her room and stretched my arms. I looked out her window.
From our apartment, there was a great view overlooking some sort of kiddie park and recreation area. I walked to the window and looked down at the playground.
'I sure hope we still live here when the triplets get older, that playground looks like a lot of fun.'
I remembered when the doctor told us it was triplets, I think all of us went so far into shock that we didn't move for hours, but my mother was happy. She had always wanted to have twins that she could dress in the same clothes, getting triplets was like an extra bonus.
When the doctor told us that they were all girls, Hero was a little upset, outnumbered for life, but I have the feeling that he'll warm up to them when they arrive.
I walked back to the living room and helped with the unpacking. I started in the kitchen and ended in the living room. My mother helped Kotomi and Hero unpack. Kotomi and I were going to be sharing a room, and Hero had his own. The last room was for the triplets when they came.
After helping in the triplets' room, I went to my room and unpacked the last thing in the box on my bed (or really Kotomi's bed we had a bunk bed, and she had the bottom bunk) it was Yoshiro's favorite hat. I placed it in its coveted space on my desk.
When the unpacking was over, we all went out for dinner at a ramen shop that wasn't too far from our house.
We spent the next week getting ready for the first day of school, and when it came, it was like everything that could go wrong did.
"Kotomi, where's your backpack? Hero, go get dressed, we're going to be late if we don't hurry! Plus, we need to drop off Kotomi at daycare on the way." I scrambled around the kitchen, putting together their lunches.
"Sissy, I can't find my other shoe," Kotomi said. I sighed and helped with the search.
Once the shoe had been found, I dropped them off and rushed to school.
"Hello, I'm Ayami Sohma, the new kid," I said to the lady at the front desk, and all the teachers there looked at me strangely. I wasn't wearing my uniform; I was dressed in a pair of camo jeans, a black T-shirt, and a baggy maroon jacket. My hair was cut short, and I had it covered with a beanie hat. The desk worker looked up from her computer and gave me a once over.
"Where's your uniform?" she asked, already judging me.
"My family just moved into a new apartment, and it got lost in the move." I lied cooly. Actually, I had decided that the girls' uniform was stupid, so I "accidentally" lost it; the truth was that it was stuffed into the back of my closet somewhere.
"Well, find it and wear it tomorrow. This is your first warning, earn two more, and you'll earn yourself detention." She said unbelievingly, "and no hats," she pointed to the beanie. I sighed, rolled my eyes, and removed it, shoving it into my jacket pocket.
My classes went by smoothly but awkwardly. All the girls would get excited when I'd enter the classroom; I guess they thought I was a guy. Then the teacher would introduce me, and they would realize that I was a chick.
On the second day, all the girls would whisper behind me calling me names but I had heard all of it before.
Our first week was very hectic, but the second week was manageable. I met some of the people from the bar where my mother had started working. It was a trans bar, but they hired my mother temporarily because they were short-staffed. Plus, she had begged them for the job.
Rumors got around the school quickly about the strange girl from class 4C. Mostly, people avoided me, a few got enough guts to tease me, but I took care of them.
School was going how it was supposed to until...
"Hey, who do you think you are?" I heard a boy say.
I looked towards the voice, expecting someone to be picking a fight with me. There was no one there, just the corner of the back of the school, so I walked over to see who was getting roughed up. I glanced around the corner only to see three guys who had a girl backed up against a wall.
One of the boys had close-shaved black hair and appeared to be on the soccer team, another was really short and had brown hair which I recognized from the baseball team, and the last was a bit overweight and slightly taller than the first probably on the wrestling team from the looks of him.
The girl had long dark brown hair and brown eyes, she was cute. I realized that I knew her. She had been in a class of mine before, the nerdy one I believe, and immediately I felt as though I needed to help her.
"What's the big deal? Why are you so upset?" She asked, seemingly unaware of the issue.
"The big deal is that you think you're so much better than everybody else!" The short one said.
"No, I don't."
"Then what's with your pompous attitude, huh? What, none of us good enough for you?" The chubby one asked the others, nodding in agreement.
'Ahhhhhh, I see... They must have confessed to her, and she turned all of them down. Well, sucks to be them or really, with how this looks right now, her... This is really none of my business, but it looks like this is going to take a bad turn...'
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said flatly, which only angered them more
"Why you!" the short one spoke, and the chubby one reached out and grabbed her arm. I sighed.
'She is so not any good at this. Well, I guess I'll have to help her out.' I looked on the ground and noted the baseball player's bag, his bat hanging out. I picked up the bat and slung it onto my shoulder then took a deep breath.
"Hey punks," I said, stepping towards them, and they all looked my way. The girl appeared very surprised to see me intervening. The truth was I felt the same way. I usually didn't involve myself in other people's biffs with each other, but this time, I felt compassion for her. After all, this was a very unfair fight for her alone. I'm just evening out the odds.
"Stay out of this new kid." The one with the buzz-cut said scowling at me.
"Unfortunately for you, I'm too nice of a person to just stand by and let you guys hurt a helpless girl," I said, pointing the bat at them, "so I'm gonna have to butt-in here."
"Hey! That's my bat!" the short one yelled. I smirked.
"Then come and take it from me," I teased, taking a batter's stance. This angered him, and he rushed at me thoughtlessly. I dodged his attempt to grab the bat easily. Then I swung it around quickly to give him a hit to the back, which knocked him to the ground face first.
I was going to swing again and give him a hit to his side, but someone grabbed the bat from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see the big guy reaching to catch me. I turned on my heel to my right, shifting my body so that the bat twisted around in his hand. He released the bat, and I darted around him swiftly to give him a kick in the ass. He grunted in pain and irritation; I laughed at him. That irritated him even more, and he turned around and started swinging at me mindlessly. I dodged his shots with ease, my feet not resting in one place for more than a second.
"What's wrong, big guy?" I teased, "Can't you even hit someone who's standing right in front of you?" He stepped back out of breath, his expression livid.
"Why don't you hold still for a second and fight me!" He shouted angrily. Just then, he glanced at something over my shoulder and grinned slightly. I jumped quickly to my right as the guy from the soccer team took a shot at me from behind.
"Tsk-tsk," I said, shaking my finger, both of them startled by my quick movements, "Now, where's the fun in that?" The baseball player was up off the ground now and looked at me, then the other two.
"Let's get her all at once," he said, and all three grinned.
"Hey," I said, and they all turned towards me, "That's cheating."
"You picked this fight with us, remember," the big one said, his smirk growing.
"Yeah," I said uneasy, trying to figure a way out of this. They all surrounded me as I kept my eyes darting between them to see who would charge first.
"NOW!"
"After I have a talk with your parents, I'll see to it that you're suspended!" the lady yelled at me, then she turned towards the girl with the glasses.
"I can not believe that you were involved in this Fujioka," she said to her, "You're not one to be known for getting into trouble."
"Actually, I was the one in trouble, and she came to my rescue," Fujioka-san corrected the woman.
"What?" She said disbelievingly.
"Those boys were picking on me, and she told them to stop. When she tried to stop them, they attacked her," she said. The lady did not expect me to be the one who had done the saving. I think she may have assumed that I was picking on Fujioka, and the boys came to help.
"That's- Then, you're saying that it's the boys who started the fight?" she asked, and Fujioka nodded.
"Then, I guess..." she said, turning towards me. I had a massive grin on my face. "I apologize for my mistake," she said, irritated that she was apologizing to a kid like me. "But I'm still going to call your parents and don't expect anything less than a week's worth of detention. You were still involved in a fight on school grounds." I smiled at her, and she left the room looking irritated that she had to apologize to me. I then turned to Fujioka with a grin.
"Thanks," I said, "You may have just saved me from suspension."
"I should be the one thanking you," she said, "I'm the reason you now have a black eye." She looked at my swollen eye.
"It's all good," I said with a large grin, "It's really not that bad." She looked at it, doubting. "Really, I'm fine," I said, jumping off the bed.
"Yo!" I called to Fujioka on our way to school the next morning.
"Oh, Sohma-san," she said, turning towards me. Her expression changed to a little bug-eyed. I looked at her, confused.
"What?" I asked.
"Your eye looks worse," she said flat-out.
"Does it," I said with a giggle, touching it. She nodded her head, then looked as if she remembered something.
"By the way, what happened after school yesterday? Did you get in trouble?"
"Yeah, I ended up with after-school detention for a week," I replied.
"Sorry," she apologized again.
"Really, it's no biggy, but next time you get cornered in a back alley, just run," I joked, and she half-smiled. We walked the rest of the way to our lockers, then separated off to our own classes.
The rest of the day went by normally. I caught my teachers and several students staring at me. I would send every student a glare, and they would turn away quickly. After school, I walked through the halls to a classroom that was marked for detention. When I entered the door, the teacher looked up at me.
"Take a seat," she ordered, motioning towards the empty desks. "So long as you sit with a desk's distance between you and the other students."
It was all the typical drill, so I nodded and walked towards a desk near the back of the room. The other students stared at me as I took my seat. I saw one toss a piece of paper at the boy who sat closest to me. He had his head down and looked like he was taking a nap.
"What?" he asked, sounding irritated as he looked up at the other student. The other student pointed at me, and he turned.
The boy had jet black hair, with long bangs that reached out over his eyes. His eyes were just as black as his hair, and his facial features were somewhat angular. He had multiple piercings and what looked like part of a tattoo on the back of his neck. Overall he gave off the I'm a badass don't eff with me vibe.
As I was studying him, he was also studying me. Neither one of us was wearing a uniform, he was in all black, baggy clothing, and I was in my normal thrown-together look. We stared at each other for a bit, gauging each other's expressions and attitudes. After a bit, a small grin graced his lips.
"Hey there," he said casually. I looked at him curiously and a bit confused.
"No talking," the teacher said, and both he and I glared at the teacher. She quietly backed down, and he turned back to me, sliding into the desk next to mine.
"So you're the new kid, eh? I'm Rei," he greeted politely.
'What's up with this guy? What does he want?' I thought but did not give him a reply.
"There's no need to be so guarded," he said. "I just want to talk a bit." I took a glance around the room; all eyes were plastered on us, except for the nervous teacher. "What can I call you?" he asked, drawing my attention back to him.
"Sohma," I answered him, and his smile grew.
"Going by last names isn't really my thing, but I suppose it'll do for now," he said, shifting in his chair. "So, Sohma, why are you in detention?" he asked, tilting his head so that it laid on his hand. I gave him a sarcastic look. Turning my head so that he could get a full-on view of my black eye, he chuckled. "I'm just kidding, so what was the fight about?"
"They pissed me off," I answered, and he chuckled a bit more.
"Wait, 'they?' How many were there?"
"Three," I answered flatly.
"Male or female?"
"They were guys." I rolled my eyes.
"Interesting, what did they do that got you worked up enough to fight them?" I sighed.
"They were picking on a girl who had no chance of fighting them off. I hate jerks like that."
"I see," he said, rubbing his chin. He glanced towards the teacher, who was now talking to a male teacher at the door. "Well, I guess you and I will have to talk later," he said with a grin and a wink. I looked at him, confused as he crossed the aisle and slid back into his seat.
After detention was over, I was heading to my locker when I saw Fujioka there too.
"Ah, Fujioka?" I said, and she looked up at me.
"Oh, good afternoon, Sohma," she said with a smile.
"I just got out of detention," I said, "Why are you still here?"
"I was just doing some after school studying in the library," she replied.
"How about we walk home together, we live in the same direction, right?" I asked.
"I think so," she answered.
We began our walk and neither of us talked much along the way. We reached Haruhi's home first, and, to my surprise, it was an apartment building not too far from my own.
"Wow," I said, and she looked up at me, "I don't live too far from here. My apartment is about a half-block up and around the corner."
"Really? In that case, why don't you come in for some tea," she offered.
"Sure," I said, walking with her into her apartment.
"Go ahead and take a seat," she said as she walked into the kitchen. I smiled at her and walked into the living room. I took a seat and looked around; my eyes landed on a small shrine. There sat a picture of a young lady who looked quite similar to Haruhi.
"Alight," Haruhi said, walking into the room. "Here you go," she said as she set a teacup in front of me.
"Thank you," I replied, taking a sip. "Hey, Haruhi," she looked up at me, "Is that your mother?" I asked, pointing to the shrine with the picture.
"Yes," she answered with a smile.
"I see," I said, thinking a bit to myself. 'She was very beautiful. Haruhi resembles her a lot. I wonder how she died...' I thought, wondering if I should get the courage to ask her. "How-" I started, but Haruhi beat me to it.
"She got sick when I was little," she said, sipping on her tea.
"I see, I'm sorry," I said, and she smiled at me. "I know how you feel," I said, looking into my teacup. "My older brother died when I was ten. Fire."
We sat there quietly; our conversation had taken a decidedly depressing turn until a man burst through the door.
"Haruhi!" He shouted, "Look at this cute dress I just bought for you!"
"Welcome home, dad," Fujioka replied, my jaw dropped.
"Ranka?" I exclaimed perplexed. He looked at me and put a hand on his cheek in surprise.
"Why Ayami, I didn't know you and Haruhi had become friends."
"Sohma-san, how you know my father?" Fujioka asked.
"Why, Ayami, here is the daughter of our most recent employee." He said, wrapping his arms around my neck.
"Really?"
"Yeah," I answered, "My mom just started working at the bar."
"Really now, Haruhi, I told you all about it days ago, don't you remember?" He asked as he took a seat next to her, and she poured him a cup of tea.
"I must not have been listening," she replied flatly.
"Oh, Haruhi, that hurts my feelings!" He complained. I watched them talk for a bit before deciding to leave.
"I should get going," I said, standing up, "My mom's going to be wondering where I am."
"Aww, that's too bad," Ranka said with a frown. "YOu should stay for dinner some time."
"Next time," I promised with a smile as headed for the door. "I'll see you at school tomorrow Fujioka-san," I said as I opened the door and exited.
"Tomorrow then," she said as she waved goodbye.
"Please come back for a play date with Haruhi anytime!" Ranka called after me.
"Well, I wasn't expecting that," I said to myself after I was a bit of a distance away from their house. "But I will say this, they are an exciting family."
The next week went by smoothly, and I served my sentence. Fujioka and I started walking to school together in the mornings. She met my siblings, Kotomi seems to like her a lot, and I think Hero has a crush on her. We even started calling each other by our first names so I felt things were going great for a change.
"Morning, Haruhi," I greeted as I came upon her house. Haruhi was standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Good morning," she replied with a smile. "Did you study for the tests we have today?" she asked me, giving me the eye.
"Uh," I said, looking away, "some... well, no, not really." She sighed.
"You are not going to get anywhere like that," she said as we started walking towards the school. "Do you want to repeat the sixth grade? How do you plan to get into a good high school?"
"You're right; I should study more," I said.
As we walked, Haruhi began asking me questions, going over things I was supposed to have learned by now.
I was miserable throughout the day, crash-studying between classes for the test I would be having in a few minutes.
Surprisingly, I made it through without too many hiccups.
By the end of the day, I was pretty wiped out, but even so, Haruhi and I went out to shop for a bit. Today was Hero's birthday, and Haruhi and her father were going to come over and celebrate with us.
Once we had both found a gift, we were headed over to Haruhi's house for a quick break and homework session before the party when...
"Hey, Sohma," I heard a boy's voice call from behind us. I turned towards the voice only to find Rei the Badass (what I had unofficially started calling him) standing in the mouth of an alleyway.
"Can I help you?" I asked.
"Perhaps," he said, taking a few steps towards us. I looked at Haruhi; she seemed concerned. "How's your week of detention been?"
"Fine," I answered a bit annoyed.
"Do you know this guy?" Haruhi asked.
"No, well, sort of. We talked once before, but other than that, no."
"I'm wounded," he said, placing his hand on his chest, "Did I make that little of an impression on you?" I rolled my eyes.
"What do you want, Rei?" I asked, "I have somewhere to be, so can we hurry this up."
"I'm glad you remembered my name," he said with a grin. I now took notice of two boys standing behind him.
"You still haven't answered my question," I said, facing him and the two boys. "What do you want?"
"Well, seeing as how today is test day, I just want to give you another little test," he said, giving a short glance to the two boys. "You said you took on three guys, correct, and you only got away with a black eye and a few bruises? Then two should be easy for you, right?" He laughed. The boys smiled at him and began walking toward us. 'This is a gang initiation.' I thought to myself as I stepped in front of Haruhi, handed her my gift bag, and took a fighting stance.
"Wait," Haruhi said, "Now is not the time for this, couldn't you do this another day?" I snickered at her logic.
"I don't think they're going to wait," I said, watching the boys' movements, trying to discern which would attack first. I removed my jacket and tossed it to Haruhi. "Don't worry, Haruhi," I said, preparing to attack. "I'm not going to be late for my little brother's birthday party!" I exclaimed as I launched myself forward.
"You're an idiot," Haruhi said as we walked up the stairs to her apartment, me leaning on her for strength. I had twisted my knee, and it was a bit painful to walk on.
"Shut up!" I said, holding my bloody nose. "They started it anyways." She sighed, and we entered her apartment.
"Haruhi, we're going to be late for the party if we don't hurry," we heard Ranka say as he came out from the back.
"Goodness me!" he exclaimed when he saw us, "What happened?"
"Some bozos thought they could take me on," I said, slipping out of my jacket and wincing when I felt a sting of pain in my arm. I looked down; there were some small cuts on my left forearm, wrists, and a few on my hands. "Darn, now I probably have bloodstains on my jacket, and I really like that one too," I mumbled, and Haruhi sighed again.
"I'll get the first aid kit," Haruhi said, and she left me leaning against the kitchen counter.
"My word, what on Earth were you thinking?" Ranka said, grabbing something to wipe my forehead with.
"Ouch!" I said when it stung.
"You have a cut over your eyebrow, hold still." He ordered roughly, trying to press a towel to my cut.
"It's not that bad, it probably won't even leave a scar," I said.
"And the cuts on your hands and arm? How about those?" He asked, sarcastically.
"The one guy cheated; he had a pair of spiked knuckles," I replied.
"One guy! How many were there?" He exclaimed, handing me another towel.
"Just two," I answered, putting the towel to my nose to help stop the bleeding. Just then, Haruhi returned with a first-aid kit under one arm and a chair under the other.
"Here, sit down and let us treat your wounds," she ordered. I didn't argue. Her expression was one of annoyance.
They treated my wounds as quickly as they could. Disinfecting and bandaging my forehead, hands, and injured arm. Ranka kept mumbling something about going to the emergency room, but every time I heard him, I refused.
"I'm not going to a hospital! We'll be late for the party if we waste time sitting in a waiting room." Ranka backed down quietly as he rinsed out the bloody towel I had had on my nose.
"There, I think that's it," Haruhi said, putting a final plaster on my hand. "Is the anything else that hurts?" she asked as she started putting the first-aid kit away.
"I have a small headache," I said, standing up, "But that's nothing a pain pill or two can't fix."
"You could have a concussion!" Ranka exclaimed.
"Ranka," I shouted back, "If you don't shut up about this, I'm gonna pin you down, tie you up, and leave you here while Haruhi and I go to the party! You got that!"
"Oh yeah, I'd like to see you try in the condition you're in right now!" He challenged back.
"I can take you on old man, injured or not."
"Stop it!" Haruhi shouted, and we turned towards her. "We're never gonna make it if we don't leave right now."
I turned towards the clock. Sure enough, the party had probably started by now.
"Damn it all!" I cursed as I grabbed my jacket and gift bag and headed out the door.
I tried to hurry, but my sore leg wasn't helping. I guess I must have been running somehow because I could hear Haruhi and her father a ways behind me, though it felt like I was hardly moving. It was already dark, and the street lights were the only light on the dark road between Haruhi's house and mine.
By the time I had reached the apartment building, my leg was burning, and it was challenging to climb the stairs.
I reached the door and burst into our apartment.
"Sissy!" Kotomi exclaimed from the other room.
"Where have you been!" My mother yelled at me from the kitchen, "We were about to have the cake without you!" I leaned on the wall, out of breath. I straighten up as Kotomi and Hero came into the front hall.
"What took you so long?" Hero said, scowling.
"Sorry," I said, holding out his gift, "I had to fight off a couple of bulldogs on the way." He raised his eyebrow and looked over my battle wounds.
"Whatever," he said, taking his gift and walking off, "Don't think you're forgiven just because you're hurt." After he had entered the kitchen, I fell back against the wall and to the floor, tired. Kotomi rushed to my side.
"Sissy, are you alright?" she asked, worried.
"I'm fine," I said with a smile, and I ruffled her hair a little bit. "Did you do the party poppers yet?" I asked, and she smiled.
"Not yet," she replied.
"Good, I get dibs on the red one," I said, trying to stand up. The pain in my knee was more than I expected, and I grunted as I fell back down again. Kotomi looked at me, worried, and I smiled at her. "Oh right," I said, removing my shoes. Then I yelled down the hall, "Haruhi and Ranka are on their way."
"What?!" Hero exclaimed.
"Yeah, I was just with them, and they'll be here any minute now."
"Why didn't you tell me?!" Hero yelled, running out of the kitchen and down the hall to his room. He was probably going to change his clothes, not that there was anything wrong with what he was wearing, he just had to be sure he looked "cool" for his crush. Kotomi and I laughed together.
"Hero's being silly again," Kotomi said. I nodded and ruffled her hair again as I tried to stand once more, this time using the table for support.
"Great, now we have to wait even longer," I heard my mother complain. I rolled my eyes, and I walked into the living room as Kotomi shut the front door and followed me. I took a seat at the table, and Kotomi sat beside me.
"You're going to have to answer the door when Haruhi gets here unless Hero wants to answer it, okay?" I said, and Kotomi nodded. This was the time my mother, of course, entered the room and saw me with all my injuries.
"Aya, what the hell?!"
"I'm fine, mom," I said.
"I can see that! You're all bandaged, did you go to the ER?"
"No, Haruhi and Ranka patched me up."
"Am I gonna get another call from the school? Am I going to have to go to another meeting with your teachers?"
"No, this happened off of school grounds, they probably won't even know that there was a fight until school tomorrow."
"REALLY," she asked, giving me the eye.
"Really," I replied, just then we heard a knock at the door and the doorbell ring. Kotomi stood up to answer it, and we heard Hero stir in the back.
"I'll get it!" He yelled. We all laughed together as he rushed down the hall to the door. "Hello," Hero said, trying to make his voice sound deeper.
"Sorry we're late, Hero. Happy birthday," Haruhi said.
"No, it's no biggy," He said with a laugh. "We were just about to have the cake!" They walked into the living room together; Hero had Haruhi's gift in his hands.
"Took you long enough," I teased.
"Yeah, well, we knew our clock was a bit fast, so we knew we didn't have to run." Haruhi sniffed.
"What? What didn't you tell me that?!"
"Well, you were running very fast," Ranka said, "Plus, I thought it was adorable, how you were running so hard out of love for your brother. Even with your injured leg." Hero looked at me a bit surprised. I blushed slightly and looked away.
"Of course, I wouldn't miss my little brother's birthday for anything," I mumbled, and Kotomi smiled at me.
"Now, where's the cake?" I said, adverting the attention off of me.
"Right," my mother said, and she turned towards the kitchen, "Please take a seat I'll get the cake and tea. Kotomi, the party poppers." Kotomi nodded and stood up. Haruhi and Ranka took a seat, and Hero sat next to Haruhi, talking about some random thing he had done at school today.
My mother brought out the cake, and Kotomi handed out the party poppers. We sang Happy Birthday and popped the poppers as Hero blew out his candles.
The party was great overall.
The next month went by quickly, except for Rei's gang members showing up every so often to fight me. With my new reputation of having smacked Rei the Badass onto his badass, knocked out, of course, his gang members found me really irritating but, seeing as how I was a girl, they didn't know how to approach me.
I would love to brag and say I won every fight, but I wasn't so lucky. Coming home once with a dislocated shoulder and bruises twice every week wasn't exactly my version of winning. Twice I was hit hard enough that I blacked out. Even though I didn't stay out for long, they, of course, took the chance to kick me until I was a third black and blue.
My mother was getting calls every time I came to school with a new injury, so she was always yelling at me about that.
The school had marked me as a troubled student, and the teachers would intently watch my every move at school.
I had also managed to make an enemy of the soccer, baseball, and wrestling teams who all made my school life a difficult one, always playing pranks on me every chance they got.
My life had turned into a drama series, and every drama needs a climax, right?
October 9th, a stormy Thursday.
Like any other day, I dropped off Hero and Kotomi then I walked to school with Haruhi.
School was the same as always... that was until a little bit after lunch.
"Ayami Sohma," my teacher said, "Please report to the front office immediately." I stood confused, grabbed my things as quickly as I could, and left for the front office. 'I wonder what's up,' I thought to myself just as I rounded a corner only to find Haruhi there.
"Haruhi, what are you doing here?" I said as I walked up alongside her.
"The teacher told me that my father was waiting for me in the front office," she replied.
"I'm headed there too. I wonder what's going on," I said, and we both gave each other this look like we both had the same thought at the same time.
We hurried down the hall to the front office and found Ranka there with Kotomi.
"Dad, what's going on?" Haruhi asked.
"Sissy!" Kotomi yelled with excitement and hugged me around my middle. "Mommy's having the babies."
"Seriously!" I exclaimed.
"Yes, she went into labor a little over an hour ago," Ranka said with a smile.
"But she's not due for another few weeks," I said, still a bit shocked.
"Don't worry, I already took her to the hospital, and she asked me if I could come to pick you and your brother and sister up from school. She called ahead to let them know I was going to be taking you out early today." He started turning to leave. "We've still got to go pick up Hero, though."
"Well let's hurry, we don't want to miss the birth," I said, my adrenaline kicking in at full force.
We rushed over to Hero's school and picked him up then headed over to the hospital. It took us a bit to get back there, but soon, we were standing outside of the room where my mother was giving birth to triplets.
"Are we too late?" I asked a nurse.
"Nope just in time," she said with a smile. "Family only in the room, please," she said and entered the room. I turned to Ranka and Haruhi.
"I'm gonna go see how things are going and ask a few questions, can you guys stay out here with Kotomi and Hero."
"Sure thing," Ranka replied. Haruhi smiled.
"Thanks," I said, walking through the doors.
The room was filled with four or five nurses, all of them talking at the same time; triplets were a pretty big thing, I guess. My mother was lying on the bed, and they were doing an ultrasound.
"All looks good, you're doing great," the nurse affirmed to my mother.
"You're at full dilation, so any time you feel ready to start pushing," another said.
"Hey, mom, how ya doing?" I asked cautiously.
"How am I doing?! I'm giving birth to three things the size of footballs, and you're asking me how I'm doing! How the hell do you think I'm doing?!" She screamed at me, grabbing my shirt.
"Okay, more pain meds please," I said sarcastically, and a nurse giggled. "You want me to stick around, or do you want me back out in the hall?" I asked.
"I don't give a damn!" she yelled, releasing my shirt.
"Okay, I just wait here then," I said, trying to de-wrinkle my shirt that she had scrunched into a wad.
"The first one is crowning," a nurse said, then she turned to my mother. "Now's the time to push." My mother grabbed my left arm with both hands and gripped it tightly as she strained.
"She's out," the nurse said. My mother relaxed a bit, and I looked up, only to get a short view of a slimy pink body, then it was taken off to the side to be cleaned.
"She's breathing and her heart's beating strong," the nurse said.
"Mimi," my mother said, "Her name's Mimi." The nurse smiled and nodded. She then turned around and wrote her name on a tiny wristband, and she placed it around the little screaming baby's wrist.
"Um, mom," I said, and she looked at me, "I'm going to go tell the others, so I'm going to need my hand back."
"Oh," she said with a short laugh, and she released my hand. I shook it around a bit to get the blood pumping back through it as I headed for the doors.
"The next one won't be far behind," the nurse told me.
"Okay," I replied as I exited.
Ranka was pacing the floor nervously, and Haruhi was sitting with Kotomi and Hero on a bench.
"First one's out, and she's just fine," I said with a large grin. Ranka gave a sigh of relief, and Haruhi returned my smile. Kotomi bounced up and down, and Hero seemed like he was trying to play it cool but was actually very excited.
"The second is crowning," I heard a nurse say behind me, and I hurried back inside.
Soon three of the tiniest blonde-haired, blue-eyed babies were born and bundled in little pink blankets. In order of birth, Mimi, Meme, and Momo.
"They're so tiny!" Kotomi shouted excitedly when she saw them.
"Yeah, itty-bitty," Hero stated simply, though we could all tell he was really just as hyped as Kotomi.
"They're two-and-a-half weeks premature; it's very common for twins and triplets to be born prematurely." A nurse said to my mother.
"When will they be able to come home?" my mother asked.
"We'll have them stay at the hospital in the NICU until we're sure they'll be fine on their own, but everything is looking really good so far." She replied; my mother nodded.
"Can I hold one?" Kotomi asked.
"They're not puppies, Kotomi, and use their names," I said.
"Can I hold one of my new sisters, Meme, Momo, or Mimi?" she asked our mother, who, in turn, looked at the nurse.
"So long as you don't go walking around with her, it should be fine," the nurse said.
"Yay," Kotomi said, and she ran and sat in a chair. The nurse grinned and carefully picked up Mimi.
"Hold her carefully so that you support her head," the nurse said as she placed Mimi in Kotomi's arms. Kotomi's eyes widened as she stared into the face of her new little sister.
"Smile," Ranka said as he took a picture.
The nurse then picked up Meme and turned towards Hero.
"Take a seat," she told him. He sat in the chair next to Kotomi and blushed as the nurse placed baby Meme in his arms. Hero's face lit up, and he smiled at the little person in his arms. Ranka was going berserk with the camera. Then the nurse turned to me.
"Here," she said, handing me Momo. I blushed as I took her tiny figure into my arms. I guess Ranka was taking pictures of me because I could hear the clicking, but I wasn't looking at him. I was looking at her. She really was tiny, tiny fingers, tiny nose, tiny mouth, all so tiny. She stirred a bit and let out a little cry.
"Shh," I hushed her. "Everything's fine," I whispered lightly, brushing her hair.
"They really are so small!" Haruhi said, sounding fascinated.
"Do you want to hold her?" Hero asked quickly.
"Is it okay?" she asked. Both the nurse and my mother nodded. The nurse took the baby from Hero, Hero got up and Haruhi sat in his chair. Haruhi put out her hands, and the nurse placed Meme in her arms.
"Be sure to cradle her head like this," the nurse said, positioning Haruhi's hands. Haruhi nodded. She looked at little Meme, eyes large with fascination. I realized now that I had been smiling this entire time, and I looked back down into the face of my new little sister.
"Happy Birthday. Welcome to the world, little one," I whispered to her.
Suddenly, I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock ringing.
I sat up in bed and looked around.
I was in my room at my father's mini-mansion.
I blinked a few times, and I turned off the alarm and reached for my glasses.
'A dream,' I thought, and I put my glasses on only to find that tears were streaming down my cheeks. 'Why am I crying?' I asked myself as I heard a knock on the door.
"Miss, are you awake? Today is your first day back at school." I heard Hinata say from the other side of the door. I didn't reply.
'School? That's right. I was suspended for a week," I thought, getting out of bed and heading over to check my calendar, "so that makes today Monday...' I froze and realized why I was crying.
October 9th
"Miss?" I heard Hinata say, as a few tears hit the floor.
~Thank you for reading!~
~MiraCarpathia