Meanwhile, in Brooklyn
Taurus
"-AND GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, YOU DISGRACES!" My friends' father shut the door loudly just as they got all their stuff out.
"Sheesh, Cap, what's up with your dad?" I asked.
My friend Capricorn sighed. "He's always like this. I think the loss of our mum changed him."
"He hates you both a lot." I noted.
"Well spotted, Taurus." Capricorn's brother Aquarius ruffled his own platinum blonde hair. "It really isn't our fault that Mum died."
"How did your mother die?" Judging from the looks on Capricorn and Aquarius' faces, I probably shouldn't have asked.
Capricorn bit his lip. "We were around 10. Mum was crossing the street with us. There was a car that didn't see the red light. It drove forward just as we were crossing the street. We didn't see the car, but Mum did. She jumped in front of the car to shield us, and she-" He lowered his head. "The nurses and doctors at the hospital couldn't save her."
"I'm sorry." I stared at the ground, then at our luggages that were sitting on the sidewalk. "We should get going if we're going to get to Virgo's on time. You know how much she hates us being late."
"Yeah, we should get going." My sister Libra agreed. "I can't wait to see Gemini again after the summer holidays! Oh, and I missed you too, Aqua!"
Libra ran over to where Aquarius was standing and gave him a bone-crushing hug.
"Ow!" He complained.
"Oh come on." She gave him a friendly smile as she let go of him. "Didn't you miss me?"
"Of course I did." Aquarius replied sharply. "Let's go before Virgo murders us for being non-punctual."
~~~
"You're late." Virgo eyed us with her stern green eyes.
"S-sorry." I panted. "W-we t-took a w-wrong t-turn."
Virgo's smile instantly replaced the tone she had spoken in. Then, she laughed. "I have idiots for friends."
"Hey!" I protested.
"Just kidding." She smiled again, and directed her attention to Capricorn. "Did you get lost too?"
"We- we came here together." Capricorn replied nervously. "I guess it was the peer pressure. Follow the crowd, I guess?"
"Yeah, I guess." Virgo stroked her fingers through her long, brown hair, half of which was tied in two braided bun.
As she spoke, a short, blonde haired girl made her way to the front with her bags. When she saw my sister, she froze.
"LIBRA!" She squealed, running to hug Libra.
"Gemini! How are you?" Libra exclaimed, Gemini hugging her so tight that I thought that Libra's bones might explode. Fortunately for her, Libra is immune to tight hugs. I guess that's because she gives out so many tight hugs herself.
"I haven't seen you in so long!" Gemini squealed again. I covered my ears.
Virgo must've sensed my discomfort. "She does that a lot." She rolled her eyes at her sister.
Gemini didn't notice the eye roll. She let go of Libra and walked up to Aquarius. Even though Aquarius was the sixth tallest of our 'squad', as my frenemy Leo liked to call it, Gemini was way shorter. She was the shortest of the so-called 'squad', but even I knew to fear her when someone called her short.
"Aqua! I missed you too!" Gemini wrapped her arms in another bone-crushing hug. This time, Aquarius didn't bother to complain, but he just winced a little bit. I guess he got used to it, hanging out with these girls.
"We should probably get going." Virgo said, picking up her backpack.
We all turned to leave. As we did, the door of Virgo and Gemini's house opened. A middle aged woman ran down the steps of the house, holding two paper bags in her two hands.
"Gemini! Virgo! Come here, my dears." She called.
"Yes, mother!" Gemini skipped back to the house. Virgo handed Capricorn her luggages before following her sister. Their mother handed them the two paper bags and said something to them that I couldn't make out. When she finished talking, she hugged them both goodbye and shut the door.
Virgo sighed. "I'm going to miss Midtown Manhattan."
"Cheer up." Libra put a hand on Virgo's shoulder gently. "We'll be back in Christmas."
"I guess." Virgo responded. Capricorn handed her luggages back to her, then we all set off to our new school.
~~~
Our trip to school was more or less normal. Libra, Gemini, Aquarius and Virgo started a conversation, leaving Capricorn and I at the back to chat.
"You seemed pretty flustered when you talked to Virgo earlier." I pointed out.
"I honestly wouldn't call it 'flustered'." Capricorn responded, not daring to make eye contact with me.
"When are you going to tell her that you like her?" I asked.
He frowned. "That's none of your business."
"Come on! If you like her, you'll have to tell her how you feel! That's how this whole love thing works."
"I mean, I guess."
"What do you mean?"
"What if she doesn't like me back?" Capricorn fidgeted with his fingers.
I made a mental note to ask someone to help Capricorn later. "You won't know unless you try. For all I know, you and Virgo have the same interests, and you're both really nice. We'll just have to wait a while to see if she starts developing feelings for you. Love takes time, after all. Besides, you're pretty much one of the nicest guys in the world. Virgo would be crazy to refuse you."
"Did someone say my name?" Virgo turned around, her brown hair swaying as she did so.
"Uh, no." Capricorn started blushing heavily.
"Are you okay, Capricorn? Your face is really red." Virgo tilted her head slightly, looking confused.
"You probably need to get into an air-conditioned place fast." I responded as fast as I could to save my friend from the embarrassment. "It must be hot out here."
"Thanks for the save." Capricorn whispered in my ear.
"No problem." I whispered back.
"Ooh, maybe Capricorn just saw someone that he was crushing on!" Gemini piped up. Capricorn face-palmed immediately.
"I'm not crushing on anyone." He said. "Taurus is right. It's just really hot in here."
"Speaking of crushes, do any of you have a crush?" Libra asked.
"I don't care about anybody else besides my brother, so no." Aquarius replied swiftly.
Gemini whistled. "Looks like someone here's cold hearted."
"That's right." Aquarius stared up at the sky. "The sky's beautiful today."
"Try as you might, you can never escape the might of love." Gemini said, winking at him. Aquarius rolled his eyes in disgust.
"I do actually have a crush." Libra interjected.
"Really? On who?" Gemini asked eagerly.
"I may or may not have developed a crush on Aries." Libra admitted. She was starting to blush hard, and it wasn't because of the makeup she put on this morning.
"What?" Gemini's face looked like it had 'shocked' written on it with a red permanent marker.
I honestly had pretty much no idea what was going on at this point, but I still listened because everyone else was.
My sister continued to smile in the same sweet way as always. "I mean, he's a mix of cute and hot, which is exactly my type. He might seem really aggressive on the outside, but he's actually really sweet on the inside, I mean, he stands up for his friends. That act's got 'hero' written all over it."
"Lovesick." Aquarius commented as he rolled his eyes again.
"Stop it with the philophobia." Gemini shot back.
Aquarius put his hood on and started walking faster to avoid us. I noticed that Capricorn had a concerned look on his face. I decided not to ask about it.
Virgo coughed politely. "While we're on the topic of 'hotness', it sure is hot in here."
"Is it hot in here, or is it just me?" A voice said abruptly from above.
I paused. I looked up and discovered that we were all standing under a huge tree. Not only that, but the voice from above had come from a brown haired girl who was swinging upside down from a long, thick tree branch.
"Saggi!" Gemini exclaimed.
Sagittarius swung down from the tree and landed gracefully with two feet on the ground, like a cat.
"So," Her voice rang loud and clear. "Who here participated in the bet of who would arrive at school first?"
I raised my hand, along with Libra and Gemini. I looked at Capricorn and Virgo who didn't put their hands up.
"I was smart enough not to participate." Capricorn responded, seeing the confused look on my face. Virgo nodded in agreement.
"I got to school first, along with my sister." Sagittarius declared proudly. "Aries and Leo already handed me my five bucks."
Gemini groaned and took five dollars out of her wallet. I did the same, as did Libra, but without the disappointed groaning.
"Come on, y'all." Sagittarius beckoned us forward. "School's this way."
~~~
The school was so massive, I didn't know how people didn't get lost in here.
The ground floor was basically a parking lot, and the first floor was where the cafeteria was. There were hundreds and maybe even thousands of students outside the cafeteria, lining up to get their dorm keys from a few teachers. Everyone else somehow squeezed themselves into the line, leaving me out here, confused.
I was going to walk into the line when I bumped into a short, brown haired boy with turquoise eyes. I recognised him immediately.
"Cancer!" I exclaimed.
"Hi Taurus!" He hugged me.
"Well aren't you clingy today?" I joked. I probably shouldn't have said that, but Cancer didn't seem to mind.
"I got you the key." Cancer handed me a bronze coloured key with a tag that read 'Room 12B12'. "And here's a copy of the handbook. The teachers say that the locker keys are in the dorms waiting for us."
"Cool." I said, taking the handbook and leading Cancer up one of the staircases. "Who else is sharing the dorm with us?"
"There's six people per dorm." He informed me. "We're sharing a dorm with Aries, Leo, Capricorn and Aquarius."
"So that's the rest of the guys in our so-called 'squad'." I noted.
He giggled. "You sound a bit like Leo."
I liked how he giggled. I thought it was really cute, just like everything else about him.
I brushed my hair back. "I know, mon amour."
Cancer hastily put his finger over my mouth to shut me up. "Other people might know French too." He was blushing hard.
"I only know a bit." I kept leading him up the stairs. "You taught me some last year, remember?"
"Yes, yes." Cancer followed me. We stopped at the fourth floor, which according to the handbook, was a designated floor for the foreign language classes. He pulled me aside. "Nobody knows that we're dating."
"I know." I walked with him towards another staircase at a different part of the building, somewhere where we could have our discussions in peace. "If word got to Gemini, she'd tell the whole school."
"When are we going to tell everyone though?" Cancer looked up at me, and I pulled him closer in a hug. It didn't matter that I was 5'7" and he was 5'3". He fit perfectly in my arms.
I held him close. "I don't know. I'd honestly rather keep it this way."
He rested his head on my shoulder. "Je t'aime."
I kissed him on the top of his head. "Je t'aime aussi."
~~~
Taurus x Cancer is officially canon and it's only the second chapter. Honestly, I think that the ship is really cute.
Also, will Aries x Libra become canon as well? Hmmm, the world will never know... (DUN DUN DUUUUUN)
Here are more translations for the French words in this chapter.
mon amour - my love
Je t'aime - I love you
Je t'aime aussi - I love you too
Enjoy reading this (badly written) chapter!