Cerise's awesome, stealthy Ninja techniques:
1.) Strip no Jutsu - where one can easily steal - uh, borrow a BBC student's uniform.
2.) Bribe no Jutsu - were one can easily find opponents weakness.
3.) Disappear no Jutsu - where one can easily run away.
4.) Remember: It is never illegal if nobody knows!
"What the hell are you guys doing."
Flinching from the foreign, cautious voice I immediately dropped the bag and spun around. Crap, did I just get caught? School ended for the day and the girls and I congregated at Aldenbury's entrance gates, eager to leave.
"Ah, Yasmin!" I mentally breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't a teacher. Trying not to be conspicuous, I kicked the bag behind the bushes. "W-what do you want?"
"What's wrong with you?" Yasmin gave Sarah, Julia, Lee-Min and me a suspicious look. "Whatever you guys are doing looks ridiculous. Stop it."
Sarah folded her arms. Her freckled face scrunched in disgust. "No, it's not! We're not doing anything bad! Dangerous, yes, but bad, no."
Lee-Min sighed and shook her head, muttering something I couldn't quite get.
Yasmin blinked back at Sarah, taking a few moments to respond. "That sounds bad. That is bad."
"Hmph! At least we're not bad as you look!" Sarah countered.
I sighed. Right, because Yasmin and I have this childhood rivalry, Sarah also decided she disliked Yasmin. Sure, that fed my ego, but since Sarah was never afraid to show her distaste for Yasmin, the two were always at it. Amusing as it was watching the two bicker, sometimes it got right down annoying.
"You're right," Yasmin smirked, "you're as bad as you look."
Sarah frowned and bit her lip. From her dark expression, I knew she had nothing to retort. Crap. I knew that look. She wasn't going to resort to violence, was she? But before Sarah could jump on Yasmin and maul her to death, Julia intervened. "Hey, hey Sarah, let's not start a fight. We have better things to do."
"Anyway, what business do you have with us?" Lee-Min asked Yasmin.
Yasmin looked disgusted as she gave me an agonisingly slow once over. "What the hell are you wearing and where the hell are you going? Do you even know what time it is?"
My entire face heated up as I shuffled my feet. I tried to cross-dress. Keyword: tried. Do I look ridiculous? Probably. Lee-Min applied my make-up and Sarah coordinated my outfit. Did Yasmin think I would seriously wear this over the top baggy sports shorts, with a matching old oversized basketball jersey-looking uniform with collars popped up (against my will, mind you—Sarah insisted) and gelled slicked back hair propped with a terrible cheap mullet wig with eyebrows drawn so thick it would make a caterpillar jealous? Yes. Clearly, Yasmin doesn't think too highly of me. This was embarrassing and infuriating. If I was seriously cross-dressing, I would've picked a better outfit and a proper mullet wig that matched my eyebrows.
"Shut up," I grumbled and quickly looked away, feeling my ears begin to heat up. "And stop us nagging us. What are you, my wife?"
Yasmin scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Right, like I would marry you."
"Yasmin can't be your wife," Lee-Min drawled, "she's not pretty enough. Besides, no one likes people with red hair."
"Hey!" Sarah cried, sounding offended.
"Besides you, Sarah," Lee-Min amended. "And everyone other than her. We like all red heads, especially natural red heads."
Yasmin threw an evil glare at Lee-Min as she self-consciously ran her hand through her newly dyed red hair. "Sh-shut up! Who'd be shameless enough to choose to be stuck with that?"
Instead of taking offence of being referred as 'that' I was secretly envying Yasmin. Like me, Yasmin was a blonde. Unlike me, she was allowed to dye her hair, dammit. That gave me another reason why I didn't like her. Also, the fact that I had always liked and envied red hair gave me a reason to dislike her even more. The fact that she kind of looked good with red hair gave me a reason to hate her. Sort of. Life wasn't fair.
"We just have business to take care of, here and there, geez!" Sarah huffed, crossing her arms.
Yasmin ignored Sarah and turned to me, making a face. "It's not like I actually care or whatever, but I was told to remind you and Julia that there's a Student Council meeting on—"
"Yeah, yeah. They know already." Sarah droned as she waved a dismissive hand at Yasmin. Sarah turned to me and pulled my hand. "Cerise let's go now, or we'll be late! The after-school activities finish by six.."
Yasmin rolled her eyes as she walked back to school. "They're reorganising the Student Council members because of the whole co-ed business. Not my fault if you don't make the cut. I try to be nice."
"What?" I turned around. "Why?"
"Ugh, don't you ever read your e-mails?" Yasmin continued walking ahead. "It's because they're combining the Student Council with Brookfield. They cut Avani from being the secretary. Something about making it fair for both schools. Who knows who else will get cut."
My stomach hardened. Oh, my god. They're cutting members to make room for those Brookfield Boys?! The knot in my stomach twisted and I clenched my fist. That wasn't right.
"Cerise..." Julia nudged me, disrupting my chaotic thoughts. "Should we read our secret mission?"
I shook my head. Right. Our mission. Somehow, I managed to convince my friends to accompany me on this mission. Sarah was enthusiastic, Julia was curious, and Lee-Min was pressured. Reaching into my pocket, I retrieved my note and glanced at my scrawling.
Secret Mission: Operation Break in.
Status: Classified.
Plan: To sneak into Brookfield Boys College, investigate scene, know the enemy, find their weakness and record it.
Mission Start/Mission End: Straight after school; One hour max.
Assigned Agent/s: Agent Rise, Agent Reallywhyarewedoingthis, Agent Rock Lee, Agent Red
Redeeming Qualities: Everything, duh.
Mission Code word: Boys suck.
"Wow," Sarah wheezed as she looked around, leaning on Lee-Min for support. It was someone's great idea to run all the way to Brookfield instead of hitching a ride. Now we were tired, sweaty and behind schedule.
"Is this really BBC?!" Julia gasped as she stared ahead. She touched her wig. "Oh no, my hair is going to get frizzy now from all that running."
"You look great," I said, patting Julia on her shoulder, "unlike this place."
Julia shrugged and continued to adjust her wig. Due to her untameable curls, she opted to wear the massive pirate wig over her hair. Whereas Lee-Min chose the bowl cut wig for 'convenience sake' and Sarah picked the other mullet. Lee-Min drew thick eyebrows on each of us, going as far as drawing stubble on Sarah and sticking a fake beard onto Julia. I bit my lip. On second glance I lost my confidence in our disguises. We were too enthusiastic to notice and it was too late to quit.
Standing at the school gates of Brookfield Boys College, I surveyed the scene. Despite Brookfield being our brother school, we had never been here before. According to its brochures, Brookfield once boasted of its majestic brick buildings and architecture similar to a modern-day castle, accompanied with lush lawns and accented with dozens of beautiful fountains and statues.
"It looks like more of a prison," Lee-Min observed as she touched one of the rusting entrance gates.
I snorted. The former esteemed academy was now in ruins, losing its once imposing nature. It now felt eerily similar to a haunted castle. Still unwelcoming. "Of course it would. They only accept delinquents in these places."
Julia did a double take on me. "W-what?"
I exasperatedly sighed. "Don't you know they're the reason why we need to learn self-defence?"
Julia shivered and Sarah leaned forward. "Really?"
"Honestly," I groaned as I squatted, unimpressed with what laid before us, "I don't get this uniting of schools! I bet you, those Brookfield students can't even read!"
Lee-Min frowned at me. "Cerise, enough bitching. Be nice. We might as well do what we came here for."
I nodded and got up. Right, our mission. We needed to find their weakness and record it. Our sole reason for being here dressed in ridiculous outfits.
"Look!" Sarah grabbed my arm and pointed forward. "A lead! Follow him!"
Julia blinked and turned to the guy Sarah was pointing at. "Do you know him?"
I studied the guy. He looked like any other random school guy to me. The burgundy Brookfield blazer complimented his dark brown skin, and despite his obvious uniform misconduct, he looked semi-presentable. I bet it's because of his height. "How is he a lead?"
This time Sarah exasperatedly sighed and shook her head at us. As if in disappointment. "Don't you know? Every sensible person knows that a hot person must lead you to somewhere important."
"Ohhh," Julia and I chorused. I didn't really get it, but hey, I accepted it anyway.
Lee-Min didn't look impressed and turned to Julia and me. "Really? You two believe her? You know she's bullshitting, right? She just wants his number, you know."
"Okay!" Ignoring Lee-Min, I raised my fist in the air. "Let's follow that hot guy!"
"Yeah!" Julia nodded and followed me.
"The only place they would lead you to is trouble," Lee-Min groaned as she dawdled behind, "I'm surrounded by fools who follow other fools..."
"How are we going to find their weakness?" Julia whispered as we flitted from post to post, conspicuously following our lead. Or Sarah's code name: The Hot Guy. Every now and then the Hot Guy would stop walking, look around him, confirm no one was there then shiver and mumble to himself.
I shrugged. Like I knew anything about guys (Sarah says blood relations like my brothers and bald father don't count). "Subtly ask him his weakness?"
Lee-Min groaned. "How the hell will that work? You can't do that!"
I sniffed defiantly. "Of course I can - I'll show you!" I ran up to the Hot Guy.
"Hey!" Lee-Min hissed at me but I pretended I couldn't hear her.
"Excuse me!" I called to the Hot Guy, "I'm doing a special survey and I'd like to ask you a question. What's your weakness?"
"Really?!" Lee-Min grumbled in the bushes behind me.
The guy turned around. "Huh? Me?" I nodded. I noticed he flinched when he saw me. "Um, well," the Hot Guy looked away, as if trying to not hold eye contact, "I-I do have a soft spot for my mum's roast turkey..."
"I see... Thank-you for your co-operation. Here, have a fortune cookie." I handed him one of Julia's trademark fortune cookies. I quickly ran back to the girls. "See! We found their soft spot!"
Lee-Min slapped the back of my head. "What's wrong with you?! The only soft spot is the thing in your head! What are you going to do? Poison him? That answer is too vague!"
"That was a fail," Julia said, "sorry, Cerise."
Sarah nodded. "I'll do it." She then quickly surveyed the area, looking for a new lead. After spotting one, she grinned and confidently walked up to the different guy. "Excuse me, where is your soft spot?"
Lee-Min slapped her forehead and muttered something in Korean.
The guy looked at Sarah. "W-what?!"
I groaned. I was getting frustrated, partly because I was surrounded by Brookfield boys and partly because I was surrounded by my silly friends. The plan was going wrong and no one was doing anything right! I just wanted to do the mission and leave straight away! I sighed as I got up. I could hear Lee-Min hiss at me to not go to Sarah. I ignored her anyway.
"You fool!" I said as I made my way to Sarah and the guy. "Everyone knows where a guy's soft spot is! It's here!" And to emphasise my point, I even kicked him to demonstrate.
"Ugh!" The guy made a face and immediately clutched his groin as he collapsed to the ground. I watched him as he cradled himself and continue to curse me.
Wait. That was not a good idea. "Shit!"
"No, no, wrong!" Lee-Min hissed as she and Julia rushed their way to Sarah and me.
Julia knelt down, checking the guy was still alive. "Not that kind of soft spot!"
"What the hell are you guys doing?"
"Eek!" Julia yelped as we turned around.
Crap. Two burly guys approached us. One had his arms crossed, the other looked unimpressed. I'm guessing the guy I kicked was one of their friends. Oops.
"Are you trying to start a fight?!" growled the bigger guy. With a subtle lift of his chin, he appeared bigger and more dangerous despite sporting what looked like a poor choice of a buzz cut. Or an attempt. I'm not quite so sure what happened there.
"Uh, o-of course not! No!" Sarah mumbled, looking away. "But this guy is!" She then pushed me forward.
My mouth dropped and I stared at Sarah in horror. "Hey! What? M-me?" I saw Sarah, Julia and Lee-Min nod and subtly inch away. Some friends! "How can you do this to me?! Oi!"
Julia whispered to me, "You're good at improv, so find their weakness. We'll be waiting for you at the Aldenbury school gates."
I looked at her in disbelief. Although I've known Lee-Min the longest, I've known Julia since kindergarten. How could she abandon me? "W-wait, basically you're saying you're ditching me to do all the work while you run away to safety?!"
Julia blushed as she fished for something in her pocket. "I noticed you gave away the fortune cookie I gave you. But I have another - here, take it," she handed me an old half eaten fortune cookie. I stared at the crumby fortune cookie.
"Good luck! We believe in you!" Julia whispered as she ran off.
"Good team work!" Sarah called as she ran ahead.
I watched my so-called 'friends' ditch me. "Hey! This isn't teamwork if I'm doing all the work! Hey!" They didn't even look back. "How the hell is this good luck? Hey? Hey!"
They were long gone. The low chuckles behind me oozed condescension. Dread filled me as I turned around. Great. What am I going to do now? I'm pretty good at wrestling but I've only tried that on my brothers.
The second guy sneered at me. Despite being a good few inches shorter than the buzz-cut guy, he still held an intimidating nature. Also, he was bald. I decided I disliked him. "Oi, punk. You've got guts starting a fight with the BB Brothers." He thumped his chest, exaggerating the words BB Brothers. Above the infamous Brookfield lion insignia, a golden pin glinted against the light. Shit. He's not part of the Student Council, was he?
I made a face. "What? 'BB Brothers'? Is that a confectionary brand or something?"
Poor buzz cut boy growled at me. "You messin' with us?! You wanna fight?!"
A rush of adrenaline flowed through my veins. I puffed out my chest. I could take them on. "You wanna take this outside?"
Junior baldy blinked at me. "We are outside!"
I did my best impression of a fighting stance. "Then I can take you right here, right now!"
Junior baldy condescendingly laughed at me. "Fine, bring it on, you little—"
It was that moment I lost all my confidence. The adrenaline inside me dwindled into nausea and bitter realisation. Oh shit. This was nothing like fighting with my brothers. Junior baldy darted towards me. What the fuck am I doing? The knotting in my stomach tightened. I scanned the scene for an escape.
A force pulled me to the left, and in slow motion I watched a large clenched fist swing, narrowly brushing past my face.
Huh?
"Sam, that's enough."
My heart leapt into my throat as I stumbled forward, trying to find my balance. The throbbing of my heart drummed in my ears. I turned to face the voice, expecting to see a pissed off teacher. It wasn't. Instead, that damn burgundy blazer made another appearance! I flinched, shuffling back so fast, I fell over.
I watched a hand with sleeves folded up to its solid tanned forearm reach towards me. I stared at the guy as he leaned forward, taking my hand and pulling me back to my feet. I couldn't take my eyes off him.
"N-Nikko!" The buzz cut boy stuttered, suddenly stiffening his posture. "You stay outta this! This punk wants a fight and—"
"Then I guess you want an expulsion?" The guy coolly interrupted, finally breaking eye contact with me. He gave a pointed look to the two guys.
I examined this Nikko character. He certainly didn't look like a weakling, being slightly taller than average and possessing a good figure, but I wasn't sure if this guy could take on junior baldy or buzz cut guy. It would be an unfair match of two against one. Although, you never can never be sure.
"B-but..."
"I will personally deal with this... punk," he reassured as he emphasised the word 'punk'. He dropped my hand and glanced towards my general direction.
A bead of sweat bead trickled down my cheek. He witnessed our exchanges.
Junior baldy turned to me and sneered, "Sucks to be you. You're finished when Nikko's through with you."
I frowned, half-expecting the two to resist, to put up a fight - something - but no. The two turned and left. Just like that.
The new guy—Nikko—turned to me and said, "You, come with me."
"So troublesome..." Nikko said as he briefly tidied an office desk. He had led me into a room that sort of looked like a student office.
I surveyed the room. Scattered chairs and desks, a shattered glass window, and a massive obscene phallic symbol graffitied on the centre of the whiteboard. I had no expectations for Brookfield, yet I was severely disappointed. I shouldn't be surprised at the state of this school, look at its students. Feeling my heart pound with each beat, I fidgeted, tugging at the hem of the stolen sport shirt. Why did he lead me to this secluded room?
"This is the third time this week. And to be honest, I'm tired of this shit."
"What?" I blurted out, my eyes snapping back to the guy.
He turned to me and casually leaned on the office desk. "Stop messing around. Just go back to St. Hilda's and to your little girlies where you'll laugh and giggle over the fact that you came to BBC."
My mouth flopped open and I blankly stared at him. He folded his arms. "I'm sick of doing shitty paperwork, so I'm telling you to leave before I have to report you."
What? This guy already knew that I was a girl—what he didn't know was that I was from Aldenbury!
"You mean others had actually done... something like this before?" I asked slowly.
He retrieved a phone from his pocket and began texting. "No shit, Sherlock."
Honestly, I was shocked. I never knew what to expect from a boys school—let alone boys, but this guy was unbelievable! I huffed and crossed my arms. "It wasn't like I wanted to be here, you know."
"That makes two of us. Now run along to your girlfriends and tell them you did the dare."
"Oi Nikko!" The door swung open with a loud bang. I flinched and spun around. A guy who looked strangely familiar with messy blond hair strode past me and rummaged through a box labelled 'lost property' next to the front desk Nikko leaned on. "Have you seen my sports uniform? I swear I put..."
A quiet gasp escaped my lips and I looked away. I knew this guy. Not personally, but I recognised him. He was the guy whom Sarah and I 'borrowed' our uniform from. He glanced at me. "Another one, eh?"
That Nikko guy grunted in response and returned his phone back into his pocket. "Maybe she and her friends know where your missing uniform is."
Maybe she and her friends are wearing it. Right now. Crap. I felt strangely uncomfortable as I felt the blond stare at me. He grinned. "I wouldn't mind her wearing mine."
"How do you know I'm not a boy?" I defended weakly as I tried to subtly edge away.
The blond guy chuckled and turned to Nikko. "This is probably the most pathetic disguise I've seen so far."
I took a step back from the sting in his words. My disguise wasn't run-way worthy but surely I wasn't a walking tragedy?
Nikko nodded. "Crap wig, oversized uniform—possibly stolen, poorly drawn eyebrows..."
The blond guy leaned in and whispered to me, "Yeah that, and I can see the shape of your boobs."
My mouth probably hit the floor. This guy was unbelievable! Harassment! "I am a guy!" I defended, "So what if I lacked in the testosterone department?! You shouldn't discriminate! I'm still a guy!" As if I would let my identity be discovered - I haven't even found their weakness yet!
"Hold on." Nikko frowned, rubbing his jaw. "Firstly, 'if'? That gave it away. You're not a student here. You're trespassing. You're lying. You're here to trespass for a dare."
Crap. Wasn't this Nikko character telling me to leave? I quickly averted my eyes. "N-no I'm not! W-what are you talking about? I have no idea what you're talking about..."
"Quit lying. You suck at it."
Damn it, these guys won't leave me alone, would they?! Desperate times called for desperate measures, right? I never believed in fate or destiny, but as of today, I decided I did. I bit my lip and silently prayed for a miracle as I secretly opened the fortune cookie Julia gave me. Julia said that these fortune cookies were the 'Special Girls Help Edition'. Surely this fortune cookie could give me some help, some advice in this situation!
I mentally prepared myself as I quietly opened the fortune cookie. Great wisdom and distant knowledge was what this Great Fortune Cookie held. At least, that's what Julia said. I exhaled deeply. I was ready for this. Come what may. I read the holy message:
"Show him your tits."
My face burned as I threw the cookie down. What the hell is this?! What kind of advice was that?! Really? Julia? What is this?! Who gives out these kinds of advices?! When would I need that sort of advice?! What kind of cookies are these for, anyway? I began stamping on the shameless fortune cookie. Ugh!
Nikko blinked at me. "Are... are you all right?"
"Hah?! What the hell do you want, punk?!" I growled. Dammit, I was too embarrassed to think properly. Crap. I was getting all self-conscious and flustered. I needed to find their weakness so I could leave this damn place!
The blond guy began to slowly make his way to me.
"G-get away from me, you guys..." I warned as I backed away.
"Hey, now..." he cooed. I immediately shuddered. This guy possessed murderer potential. I didn't like him and I didn't like how he was invading my personal space.
Instinctively, I pushed the blond away. I must have suddenly received my share of testosterone because he stumbled back further than I had expected. Nikko noticed, and ran forward, trying to stabilise his friend. Instead, I watched as the blond grab Nikko, pulling him as he lost footing, resulting in the two becoming entangled. The blond fell forward pretty hard. I watched intently. This was happening in slow motion.
Thud!
Nikko was pinned down on the floor by his inept friend.
I stared at them. The boys stared at me.
We remained motionless, allowing our brains to slowly register what on earth had just happened. Seeing them land in a compromising position, an evil thought slowly dawned on me. I decided to, as Sarah would say, 'Carpe Diem' before the two could awkwardly untangle themselves from each other. I quickly snapped a candid shot of the two in the compromising position before running away.
Carpe Diem, bitches.
Operation Break in accomplished. Proceed to Phase Two.
Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think.
Sorry, another long chapter.
.___.