Chapter 26
Cold Hands, Warm Heart
“Katsumi, what about your relationship with Mason? You’ve told me up to December and your relationship with him is pretty much nonexistent,” I said getting to the point.
She gave me a bittersweet smile. It still hadn’t been all that long since she found out he was still alive. “That’s because it was,” her words fell hard in the nearly empty room. “I saw him everyday in class, but hardly spoke to him because we didn’t sit near each other. My free time was filled with my friends, Shane, chores, Juno and the others. Aside from that kiss and the project I hadn’t spent any time at all with him until the dance…”
“Which…?”
“The Winter Dance, that was the first domino to fall,” Kat sighed.
********
“Two more days! Count ‘em! One! Two!” Harper cheered, energetic as ever, as she pranced around in the school court yard on a Wednesday morning. “Christmas break in just two days!”
“Winter break, you have to be political correct,” Tuesday said without looking up from her book.
“Stop being a Grinch, Tuesday. No one’s feelings are gonna get hurt by saying Christmas,” Shane took the book from her, she had been reading it nonstop the last few days.
“Yeeaah! I’m not running for governor,” Harper said.
“Kat, do you celebrate Christmas?” Tuesday asked me catching me off guard. I hadn’t really been paying all that much attention to what the had been saying.
“Hai, Merii Kurisumasu...I like Christmas. I don’t care too much for the movies though,” my English still wasn’t as good as it should be. I had to thinking before I spoke.
“So are you Christian or…”
“I grew up with both Christianity and Buddhism. My father was an German American that came to Japan. We didn’t really practice either religion. Just on New Year’s we would go to shrines, egg coloring for Easter, attend some festivals during the year, and presents on Christmas,” I said briefly.
“You’ve never talked about your parents before,” Shane said while twirling strands of my hair. He was what I would guess many would call the perfect boyfriend. He always found some way to be close to me, always trying to get to know me better, and always showing me how much he cared. But something in me just wouldn’t let me do the same for him.
“Well there isn’t that much to say, they’re just parents,” I didn’t want to get into my family, so I continued with the holiday talk. “Did you know Christmas is celebrated a little differently in Japan?”
“Really?” Harper asked taking the bait.
“It’s more than just a day for family, it’s a really popular couple’s date night,” I remember one year when Nyomi and Haku went out leaving Renji and I at the house. We played in the snow until our hands went numb then drank our fill of Kirin Poppo Cha, a warm ginger drink.
The bell rang pulling me out of my memories. “Since you won’t be with your family this year, why don’t you spend Christmas with me,” Shane asked. Tuesday shook her head, but there was a tickled smile on her face.
“What about your own family?”
“I don’t think they’ll mind if I ditch them one year, but if you want you could come over.”
“I’d like that.”
*******
Mrs. Perry was in the classroom when class first started which wasn’t normal. She was either in her office, the dark room, or running around the art department. But today she was waiting in class like a normal teacher.
“Today we’re gonna to be in the gym helping out with the winter break assembly decorations and also setting up some of the winter dance stuff,” Mrs. Perry was straight to get to the point.
“What about my film? It’s still in the dryer,” one of the girls called out.
“I’ll get it out while your helping out in the gym, okay. You all can leave your stuff in here, I’m going to lock the door. So go on and head to the gym.”
We went to the gym more in the shape of a mob than a single file line. There were multiple conversations going on, but none of them were really interesting enough for me to join in on or even listen too. I was just mindlessly following the crowd until someone took my hand. The hand was ice cold against my warm skin. I had always heard a saying about people with cold hands, ‘a reserved, cool exterior may disguise a kind heart’.
“You looked lost,” was all Mason said and gave my hand a squeeze. I wonder if he really had a kind heart.
In the gym one of the coaches told everyone what needed to be worked on and let us choose what we wanted to do. The drama students had fallen behind with all the showcases and trips they’ve had recently.
Mason chose for me and pulled me along to where the paints were. No one else was over there, but I guess no one wanted to risk ruining their clothes. Others were decorating a large spruce tree, some hanging tinsel and stringing lights. The biggest group who was also making the biggest mess was the snowflake markers. The Snowflakes were going to be posted all over the school.
“Kat?”
“Huh?”
“Did you want to make snowflakes?” he placed his hand over mine.
“Oh no. It’s just that they’re making such a mess. It’s more like confetti over there,” I nodded over to them. It did look fun though, like they were playing in real snow.
Mason picked up a paint brush. “We get to make the sign for Santa’s Secret Factory in the North Pole,” he said with a fake enthusiasm.
“What makes it so secret if everyone knows about it,” I mumbled causing Mason let out a boyish laugh. He had a heart warming boyish smile, too. I couldn’t help, but compare his to Shane’s. Shane’s so prefect and angelic, it could make you stare. Mason’s lopsided and goofy, but made you smile back.
“Are you going to this thing?”
“Huh?”
“The Winter Dance, are you going?”
Shane and I hadn’t talked about going. I don’t know if we are. He didn’t ask me, but I guess he just assumed I would be going with him. But why would Mason want to know. “Why?”
“It’s just that you’ve been hangin’ around Juno a lot. So I figured you’d be with her.”
I stopped painting and stared at him. “No…um, do other people know?”
“That you sometimes hang out with the blood sisters,” he smirked. “I didn’t tell anyone and I don’t think anyone else knows. So it can be a secret between us.”
I held out my pinky. “It’s a secret,” we linked pinkies and locked eyes, but there was something in the way he looked at me. I couldn’t brush off the awkward feeling his ocean eyes were giving me. “But I think Shane and I are going,” I said breaking eye contact.
Mason let out an almost inaudible sigh. “Do you love him?”
“Wha…I-I don’t know. Why?”
“A lot of girls toss that word around. I just wanted to know what you would say,” he smiled, but it seemed forced.
“Love and hate are very strong feelings. Hate being the easier one to realize. While love can become complicated and difficult to understand.”
“Have you ever loved anyone before?”
“I thought I did. I even confessed to him,” I could feel my face flush already.
“Really?” Mason teased.
I nodded my head. “Hmm, really.”
“What happen?”
“I was a first year in high school and Misaki Takashi, he was a third year. Taka-sempai was really smart, but he was also really cool. Sempai could fit right in with any J-pop band,” I smiled thinking back.
“Of course being as amazing as he was and claiming that he wouldn’t get a girlfriend until he finished high school…girls were confessing their undying love all the time to see if their love would be enough to shake him.
I wanted to too, but wasn’t brave enough to face a direct rejection. So I went with a classic. I wrote a love letter to place in his locker and thinking that it would make me stand out I wrote it in English,” I smiled at myself for how foolish I had been.
“What?”
“At the time, I had only been studying English for two years and wasn’t really good at it. Hardly ever spoke it and almost never had wrote it.”
“But…”
I nodded my head now that he understood. “The next week, before the morning ceremony, Taka-Sempai went to the front of the room with my letter in hand. It made me happy just to know that he read it. My heart fluttered when he called my name. He walked up to me after others pointed me out and then read my letter aloud. Some started to laugh, but I stood my ground thinking there was still hope.
‘Overall D-, but I graded it on a curve,’ Taka-Sempai said and handed me the letter. It was riddled with red ink that corrected my bad grammar and spelling, with a big D- at the top. Then he said something in English I didn’t know until I looked it up. ‘I wouldn’t date a stupid girl’. Instead of crying like many may have expected me to. I bowed, said thank you and went to class. I still have that letter.”
“What about you?” I asked.
“Me? I don’t believe in love,” he leaned back and looked to the ceiling. “Love, loyalty, and faith the one that is most important isn’t love, but loyalty. No matter how strong the feeling over time it will fade away like it was never there. My parents loved each other once, but they had no sense of loyalty. Not for each other or me and my sister.”
“Is Juno…”
“I don’t know what she is,” his words were bitter and I felt bad for bringing it up.
“I’ll swear it,” I blurted out.
He looked taken aback, but also happy. “You want to swear your loyalty with me?”
**********************
Hello, Hello!
It’s May 16th and I’m finally updated after forever!
The next update should be with in the week!
“Hai, Merii Kurisumasu” is ‘Yes, Merry Christmas” just with a Japanese accent. There is no word for that in the Japanese language. So that is what is said. It sounds pretty much the same.
The song is Korean and I love the man who sings it! He is an actor, model, and is in a band. I’m waiting for the next episode of his new drama (Love Rain) to come out now. He is such an awesome actor!
The Winter dance will be the next chapter!
So are we feeling the Kat-son love?
So it’s really Shan-sumi vs. Kat-son!
Love vs. Loyalty!
Which is your favorite?
~ October <3