There are moments during which the cogs of your mind abruptly stop spinning and a little switch in your head flips. Suddenly, something clicks into place and you realize something, you make sense of something. You're left wondering why you didn't figure it out before.
I had a lot of those moments. This was one of them.
"Naoki!" I yelled at him. He chuckled and nodded, stepping away from me.
"That's right," he said.
"Why are you here?"
"I skipped a year," he answered.
"That doesn't mean anything," I mumbled. "Gakupo, you gave this guy my phone number!"
"Huh?" Gakupo frowned. "Yeah, you asked me to give it to Kaito's friend, remember?"
"I asked you to give it to Kaito because you were his friend!" I snapped, covering my mouth with my hands as I realized that Kaito was standing right there. "S-Sorry..."
"It's nothing," Kaito said. "I was stressed out back then, and you were trying to help."
I nodded slowly. Even though Kaito had rejected me, that didn't mean that he wasn't a nice guy. He was very nice, in fact. That was why I couldn't stop liking him.
Bzzz.
I looked down at my pocket, and then up at Naoki. He held his phone in his hands.
"Stop texting me," I said.
"Why?"
"Because we're standing in front of each other."
Naoki grinned and sauntered closer. "Are you suggesting we take this relationship a step further?" He bent down slightly so that we were closer. The minty scent emanating from him was suffocating. I scowled and pushed him away.
"Stop," I said. "Don't do that."
He chuckled, putting his hands in the pockets of his black jeans and looking back at Gakupo and Kaito. "The green flower wants to get physical already."
I blushed and bit my lip, wanting to slap him across the face. He turned to look at me and Kaito stepped forward, smacking Naoki's back, making the pink haired boy cough.
"Stop it," Kaito said. "Sorry about that, Gumi."
"It's fine," I said quickly, watching as Naoki continued to cough, his hands on his knees.
"M-Made me choke on my gum..." Naoki mumbled, getting back to full height.
"Let's get to class," Kaito pulled Naoki along. "Gakupo, get going."
"Right," Gakupo nodded and walked past me.
"Well, I'll see you later, Megpoid," Naoki turned and waved to me, winking. Some part of me wanted to flip him off but I didn't think he was worthy of even that sort of gesture.
"Naoki..." I muttered, turning on my heel and hurrying to get my schedule. I pulled out my phone to take a look at the time.
1 new message.
I grimaced, recalling that Naoki had sent me something while we were standing face to face.
Naoki: it's Yuma, not Naoki.
I didn't reply to him. Instead, I just went on ahead and got my schedule, groaning as soon as I saw it. My day started with Science. I tried to convince myself that this was for the better, as I'd hopefully be more alert if this particular class was the first thing I had in the morning.
"Well, look who's here," someone drawled the moment I crossed the threshold into my class. I grimaced, wishing that he was still just a bunch of words on my phone as opposed to a living, breathing, tactile being.
"You're very unpleasant," I said to the pink haired male, nearly stopping in my tracks as I spotted the person sitting beside him.
"Hey...you're in this class?" Kaito waved nonchalantly and I nodded really, really quickly.
"I guess so," I said, spying the seat in front of Kaito. It was already taken by some boy, and I didn't want to sit in front of Yuma, but at the same time, it'd be close to Kaito.
"Something wrong, sweetheart? Want to grab a seat next to the ever popular blue haired, gorgeous, handsome, hot boy?" Yuma wiggled his eyebrows and I stuck my tongue out at him. He chuckled and looked at me slyly.
"That's right, just come over here and run that nice tongue all over me," he growled seductively, his voice hitting a deep low and making my cheeks flush again.
"I swear, I will smash my backpack into your face," I grabbed the straps of my knapsack. I didn't know where to sit. Kaito and Yuma were sitting in the absolute back of the class and there wasn't any way I could sit next to Kaito.
But I want to sit next to him...
"Hurry up and grab a spot, babe."
"Shut up, dammit!" I pulled my bag off and slung it at Yuma's face. He grabbed it with both hands and grinned at me, his eyes narrowed to slits, eyeing me up and down.
"Gumi, just sit here," Kaito gestured towards the seat in front of Yuma and I huffed, trying not to blush.
"F-Fine," I muttered, getting into the seat. "But if that freak touches me, I'll scream."
"Loud?" Yuma asked.
"Yes," I said.
"And with groans in between?"
I balled my fists. Everything was a dirty joke to this guy. "Yuma," I said his name for the first time, suddenly deciding to try and tease him back. I grinned and turned to face him. "What a name. At least it's not as feminine as 'Naoki.'"
"Naoki's a hot name," he said, leaning back in his chair. "Not saying yours isn't, pumpkin. Actually, I was reading the student list and we've got a lot of nice names around here. Miku and IA and Aoki, and Luka...they all sound so divine..."
"Yuma," Kaito punched Yuma's shoulder and the flirt shot him a momentary glare. "Stop."
"She's one of them, isn't she?" Yuma pointed a thumb in my direction. "One of your worshippers?"
"I'm not...I..." I pursed my lips together.
"She..." Kaito nervously ran a hand through his hair and glanced at me. "She used to..."
"Like him," I finished quickly, lowering my voice to barely a whisper. "I used to like Kaito."
Yuma's eyes widened. "He's the cause of your heartbreak? He's the one you were talking about over the summer?"
"You talked about me over the summer?" Kaito frowned.
"You never told me this gumdrop confessed to you!" Yuma yelled at his friend. "You took her pure little heart and shattered it!"
"N-No, he didn't!" I started defending Kaito. "I didn't know he was..."
Kaito looked at me silently. There was sadness in his eyes. He really didn't want to hurt me, and I could feel that, judging from the way he looked at me. But there wasn't any way he couldn't have hurt me, right? It was a yes or no question, and yes would mean hurting Rin.
I zipped my mouth and quietly sat there, turned to face the front of the class. I could feel the boys' eyes on me, especially Yuma, with his lecherous eyeballing.
"Gumi?" This was Kaito. Slowly, I turned around. Yuma had his head on the desk and his eyes were set on something past me.
"I'm sorry about all that," I said.
"It's nothing," he shook his head and then grabbed a fistful of Yuma's hair, yanking it and making the flirt yelp.
"What the hell, man?" Yuma pushed Kaito away and scowled. Kaito rolled his eyes.
"Gumi, this is my friend, Yuma," he began. "Well, he's...more of an idiot than a friend, really."
"Are you introducing me to this green haired chick?" Yuma picked a pencil off of his desk and used it to poke Kaito's arm. "I can do a better job than this."
"No thanks," I said, my nose wrinkling. "And don't poke Kaito...the girls will kill you if they find out."
He put an elbow on his desk and propped his chin in his palm as he grinned at me. "Sounds like fun. What, they don't want me to ruin him or something?"
"Anyway..." Kaito turned away from his friend. "Yuma here used to go to the same middle school as me. And then he came to this high school, because he really can't do anything on his own..."
"Shut up!" Yuma poked him again, harder this time.
"...and then he skipped a year, last year," Kaito finished, a small smile forming on his face. "And that's the story of my idiot friend Yuma."
"Hmm," I pressed a finger to my chin as I recalled something. "So you must be the chess player...Gakupo flipped a table at you, did he?"
"Huh?" Yuma frowned. "Yeah, that jackass..."
I smiled. "When he told me that story, I yelled at him because I thought it was a horrible thing to do."
"Y'hear that?" He elbowed Kaito, who was doing his best to ignore his friend. "She cares about me."
"I don't think it's so horrible anymore," I said with a huge grin on my face. "Must've hurt, huh? All that glass and blood."
His expression soured for only a moment before he reverted to his usual self. "Clearly, you wanted to be there to see how amazing I looked, even in that state."
"What? No!" I turned to Kaito. "Kaito, please make him stop!"
"Yuma, please stop."
"Whatever..." Yuma rolled his eyes and I faced the front again, pulling out a binder and pencil and trying to focus on doing a good job this semester.
"So, Kaito, dude, tell me...which ones should I keep an eye out for?" Yuma whispered behind me.
"You don't really need me to guide you," Kaito mumbled.
"You're no help. Hey, Gumi."
"Stop," I said. "Class is about to start. The teacher's here, so shut it."
"Thanks for pointing her out," he answered. "She's not bad...we get a nice sight to look at, eh?"
"You're so gross," I said.
"Ooh, more girls! They're all so cute!" I heard Yuma's chair screech and the patter of his footsteps as he approached a petite girl with long, pale blond hair that had a slightly pink hue. I remembered seeing her around, last year.
Wasn't she one of the girls that confessed to Kaito? IA?
"Hey there," Yuma grinned at her, his hands in his pockets.
"Oh...hello," she nodded and smiled. "I've never seen you before."
"I'm one of Kaito's closest friends."
"Oh...I see..." She tilted her head to the side and glanced at me and Kaito. "Are you new?"
"What? Don't you like Kaito? Aren't you going to, like, use me as a stepping stone to get to him or something?"
"Nah, I'm over blue haired guys."
I laughed softly as Yuma's figure slackened. After a few seconds, he offered her his reply.
"Well, I'm not exactly over angels with such amazing hair," he purred the words and IA blushed, the comment being totally unexpected.
"U-Um, well...it's not that great..."
"Are you kidding me? Babe, this is luscious. Divine. Look at mine," he ruffled his mop of pale pink hair. "See? Nobody wants to bury their face in my hair, but yours...I'd gladly do it."
"Aw, it's not so bad!" She giggled as she replied. "I like your hair!"
I groaned and slumped in my seat. Oliver came and sat next to me.
"Oh, hey," he waved, smiling. I tried to smile but I looked pathetic and in pain.
"Hey," I said.
"We're in the same class," he noted the obvious. "That's nice, don't you think? Now we can work hard for the exam together, ahead of time!"
"Uh-huh," I pulled a book out of my bag and opened it, hoping that I could block out Yuma's flirting and IA's giggling. I figured that at least one girl would slap his face for talking like that and I wanted to see it.
"Hey, look who's behind us, Gumi!" Oliver spun around. "Kaito, you're in this class, too? Isn't this great? Me, you and Gumi, all together!"
I nodded slowly, turning to look at Kaito. "D-Dude," I greeted him awkwardly, trying to stay on a friendly level with him. It had been okay so far, but I wasn't sure how long I could survive, being around him and acting like this.
He gave me an amused smile. "Dude," he repeated. I blushed and turned away again. This was so stupid of me. What was I supposed to do? Tell him that I still like him, a whole lot? That wouldn't work at all, obviously.
"So..." I started, twiddling my thumbs, "h-how was your summer?"
He shrugged. "Good, I guess. Sorta what you'd expect."
What I expect is you going out with your girlfriend everyday and cuddling with her and...I stopped myself before things got out of hand.
"Oh," I nodded quickly, "that's...good...I guess. Did Rin have a good time?"
I freaked out after saying that, immediately regretting it. He arched his eyebrows, surprised or maybe offended by my last sentence. I groaned quietly and slumped a little.
"I guess so," he answered cooly. "We went out almost every day. And then, one day, she..."
He cupped a hand over his mouth and stopped abruptly. My eyes widened. He was blushing, and looking even cuter that way. It seemed like he regretted continuing, as well. That left me feeling very awkward and out of place.
"I'm sorry!" I said. He finally removed his hand from his mouth and shook his head.
"N-No, it's not your fault," he said. "I just...can't get that event out of my head. It keeps playing over and over again..."
"...I see," I mumbled, wondering why the hell he was even telling me this. Of course, I was still an idiot, pressing him on, "did you have a good time?"
His face reddened again and he nodded slowly. "A very good time."
"That's good," I swear, I don't know what was wrong with me that day, "a-as long as you had a good time, it's good! Right?"
"R-Right," he stammered and nodded, which was also insanely cute. No surprise there, I guess.
"Psst," Oliver poked my arm, suddenly barging into the very friendly and awkward scene between me and the guy-who-turned-me-down-and-yet-I-still-liked-him. "Do you have an eraser?"
Wordlessly, I spun around and reached into my bag, pulling out an eraser and handing it to the blond boy.
This is going to be a very long year...
Forgive me for making Yuma say such things...he's like that a lot.
Also, please please PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING!!
I'm sorry for the slow update. I said it'd take a long time. I said "months." Let me tell you all, higher education is TOUGH. It's hard, guys. Really. I love writing. I WANT to write.
I just. *smashes head against wall* Don't have enough time anymore. I can't write as quickly.
I'm trying! I really am! I'm working on all the other stories too! I want to publish a one-shot and I need to update my old stuff! I needed a bit of variety, and so I've posted the start of another story titled ACUTE.
I'm sorry...please understand! I love writing! I just...I can't do as much as I'd like anymore! *sobs*
Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. It's kinda sloppy, in my eyes. See you later, and thank you for reading! ^_^