Connect

3: Fire Away, Fangirl

Gakupo unzipped his bag and pulled out his notebooks. "Actually, that's not true."

"Hmm?"

He took his pencil out and started rapping it against his notebook. "There's this one guy who could beat me..."

"Do I know him?"

"Nah," Gakupo smiled, "He sort of left."

"Moved?"

"No, he just...," Gakupo furrowed his brow, "He sorta disappeared. I think he's skipping a year of school or something."

"Sounds like an idiot," I grinned, watching the doorway as our teacher bumbled in, "Speaking of idiots..."

Gakupo laughed. "He was an idiot, all right. A sharp idiot. Used to play with the tennis team..."

Gakupo's voice trailed off and his mention of the tennis team reminded me of Kaito. I was relieved at first, because Kaito hadn't been on my mind all this time. However, as soon as I started thinking about him, my face started to grow hot.

"S-Say," I began, trying to compose myself, "You're on the tennis team, right?"

"I was," Gakupo said, "The season's over."

"You know Kaito, then," I stumbled on his name. Gakupo grinned slyly.

"Of course I know Kaito," he smirked, "The question is, what do you want to know about him?"

My face flushed and I inhaled sharply. "Nothing!" I said, "I was just asking! How...how'd the last game go?"

Gakupo shrugged. "Meh. Same as usual. We won."

"Okay...," I glanced towards our teacher as he started lecturing, then I looked back at Gakupo, "I have another question."

"Fire away, fangirl," he pressed a hand against his mouth, concealing his amused smile. I huffed.

"Why didn't any of the girls know about this?" I asked, "That he's on the team, I mean."

"Well, we, the males," Gakupo crossed his arms and acted all pompous, "While it is true that many of us are jealous of Kaito being a chick magnet, we also understand his pain. You ladies adore him way too much! I'd bet that some of you even go so far as to find out what shampoo he's been using!"

I giggled a little. "That's exactly what Neru was doing this morning."

Later that day, I was hanging around with the girls, as usual. I was flipping through a novel and chewing on a carrot. Neru was texting back and forth nonstop; the clicking of her painted nails against her phone was nearly maddening, but I had learned to block it out.

"Hey, Gumi, do you think Kaito's going to pop in and say hello to you again?" Miku giggled. I glanced up at her, grimacing, before focusing on my book again.

I had been fine till she mentioned Kaito. I was actually not thinking about him, but then she had to go and bring him up, because he was really all these girls cared about.

Teto giggled and I knew that whatever she was going to say, it was going to be about him.

"Maybe he'll look at us this time!" She chirped. I slammed my book shut and put it in my bag before tossing my bag over my shoulder.

"What?" Neru looked up from her phone, her eyes following me as I briskly walked out of the classroom.

"I need to go," I mumbled before finishing off my carrot and swallowing it down. I didn't turn around; I just kept walking.

For once, I was actually angry with my friends. They kept bringing that damn Kaito up, and now I was becoming like them.

I heard their distant squeals and knew that Kaito must have passed by. I left the school building and walked out onto the field.