CHAPTER 17
“Happy birthday Takahashi-san!” Koharu wails, she the first to give Ai a hug
She always seems happy and hyper in the mornings. Where does she get it? I would normally smack someone who came yelling to me all cheery. The yelling doesn’t bother Ai, but she does has on a scowl at the mention of her birthday again. She really hates it I guess. But it’ll change when she sees the party tonight. I’m a little excited myself. I hope school goes by quick. Risa gives Ai a kiss instead of a hug, but it’s not one of those “quick” kind of kisses. They’re really going at it and they don’t seem to want to stop either. I clear my throat. They break apart smiling, sheepishly.
“Happy birthday Ai-chan.” Eri says next and gives her a quick hug.
Sayu even gives her a hug and I’m surprised she didn’t grab her butt when she hugged her. Maybe she’s scared of what Risa might do to you if she sees. I don’t blame her though. Risa looks like she’ll kill you if you look at Ai the wrong way. It’s best to get on her good side I think. I’m the last one to give her a hug and it’s very brief.
“Cheer up. Birthday’s aren’t that bad you know.” I say to her after I hug her.
The bell rings and everyone scatters for class. I can’t wait until after school. Things are really going to get fun.
***
During my math class I got a text. It was a good thing I had it the volume down and put it on vibrate. I would have been in so much trouble if the teacher heard it. I wonder who could it be? No one text me during classes, it must be important. I check to see if the teacher isn’t looking and I pull my cell out of my backpack and flip it open. It's Risa.
-Come to my place at six-
I go to reply.
-I don’t know where you live-
I wait for her to reply. It didn’t take long for her to respond.
-Walk to my place with Eri. She knows where it is-
That works for me.
-Ok-
There are no replies after that. I’ll have to catch Eri before I leave. I’ll have to get my gift first too before I leave with her. I close my phone and put it back into my book bag. Can math go ANY slower and get anymore boring?! The damn bell should just ring already.
***
By the time it was last period, I was practically bouncing in my seat. The bell was going to ring in about a minute and even that felt like one hour. I couldn’t wait to get out of here! I stare at the clock intensely, watching each second go by. Since when were clocks really slow?! I rapidly tap my fingers against the table waiting and watching. Come on! Come on! Then it rings. YES! I grab my bag and run out. Finally! Now all I need to do is put all my books in my locker and I’m out of here.
“Hey Reina.”
I continue to put my books in my locker.
“Hey, Eri. You’re just the person I wanted to see.”
I close the door and face her. She has on this big goofy smile after I said that. She still looks cute with that look on her.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know where Risa’s place is so I was hoping we could walk there together. She told me to be at her place by six. I’ll need to get my gift and change first.”
“I can take you there. No problem!” She does a salute.
I laugh. She’s a little bit of a dork, but it’s still very cute.
“Ok meet me at my house at six. I’ll see you.” I smile and walk out the building.
I’ll just have to tell my uncle about the party so he won’t wonder where I am for a few hours. I’m not going to stay out too late. It’s a school day still.
***
Everything is set. My uncle agreed to let me go to the party and it took me a while to settle with an outfit, but I finally made up my mind. I decided to go for a black long sleeved shirt that leaves my shoulders exposed at the neck opening, blue denim shorts, and black heels that go up to my knees. My hair is up in pigtails still. I look myself over one more time in the mirror and go out my room to put my present in a gift bag. I really hope she likes it. There’s a knock at my door when I’m done. That’s Eri. I grab my coat and open the door.
“Hey, you’re ready to go?” She smiles
“Yeah, I’m all set. Let’s hurry before we’re too late.”
I step out and lock the door. As we walk down the hall, she suddenly grabs my hand. I’m a little surprised at the action. Are we going out? Or is this just a friend thing? None of this has ever been confirmed. I think we should talk about it later. I close my hand around hers and keep walking. Holding her hand like this makes me feel so happy inside. It’s hard to describe. It’s not that type of happy you get when you hug a friend or your parents, this is…special.
***
“I’m glad you could make it! I was wondering where you two went. Come inside.” Risa smiles and steps aside to let us in. She takes our coats and hangs them into a near by closet.
Inside, the place is packed and music is blaring and everyone dancing or chatting. I turn around to Risa and point to my present.
“Just put that on the back table over here.” She points behind the crowd.
I squint. It’s pretty dim in here to see. I squeeze Eri’s hand to get her attention. I motion for her to walk with me toward the back table. She holds on to my hand and we squeeze through the crowd to get at the end. I’m careful to not lose the grip on my bag. If it broke I would be so pissed. We finally reach the table and I put it down with the other pile of gifts Ai has. I wonder when she’ll come.
“Hey you both came!” Sayu greets us. Koharu is next to her. “You’re looking good Reina.” She looks me up and down. I blush and look away. She still likes to embarrass me I see.
“You both look pretty. This’ll be so fun! I can’t wait to surprise Takahashi-san.” Koharu adds in, changing the subject.
“When will she come?”
Koharu scratches her head and thinks it over. Then she shrugs.
“I’m not sure, but I think she will be here soon.”
“Come get a drink with me!” Sayu yells to me
And she suddenly grabs me by the hand and pulls me. I lose the grip around Eri’s hand as I go stumbling forward. She’s pretty strong. I look back to Eri for help. She only looks at me lost. She looks a little…sad. I try to break free from Sayu’s grip, but she’s just too damn strong. Damn it! I didn’t want to worry about not be groped 24/7! But I’m stuck with her, until I get the chance to run away that is. So I stop fighting her and go with her. I have a feeling though she’s not going to leave me alone and something bad is going to happen the more I stay around her. She stops at the snack table and pours a drink. I look around for anyone to save me. They’re all too busy doing something. Crap!
“Here, try some, it’s good.” She offers me a different cup.
I take it and eye her wearily. Did she do something to the punch? She just gives me one of her sweet smiles and bats her eyes lashes. She’s starting to creep me out. I shrug and take a sip from the cup anyway. It isn’t so bad. I guess she didn’t spike it then. I drink the whole thing. She then clings to my arm and grins at me. I go stiff.
“Uh…can I…go now?” I ask, being blunt
She pouts.
“You don’t want to talk with me?”
“Um…it’s not that it’s just…I kind of um…”
Ok I have no lie to say to save my ass. I’m stuck with her. Anything saving me right about now would do! I begin to look around franticly.
“Hey Reina I didn’t know you were here!”
I sigh. It was Yossie. Thank god, I can always count on her to save me. I think…
I smile and pull her towards me. She looks at me a little surprise. I plead to her with my eyes to get me away from Sayu. She smiles and chuckles. I think she got the message.
“Umm…I think Risa needs your help with the cake. Come on I’ll show you the way.”
I thank her silently and quickly follow her away from Sayu. I owe her big time! When we get through the crowd she turns around.
“Thank you! I thought I would never get away from her!” I cry
Yossie laughs. I frown at her. It isn’t so funny! I thought I would never get out of that hellhole. She just keeps laughing.
“Next time try and stay away from her if you don’t want to be around Sayu.”
“Hey she was the one that pulled me with her! She’s surprisingly strong.” I protest
“Reina, you’ve beat up three guys by yourself and you can’t get away from a girl?”
I’m glare at her.
“Whatever.” I mumble and walk away.
I can go back to Eri now. If only I could find her that is. It’s hard to see anything in here. Where could she have gone? Maybe I should check the kitchen. I turn back around and head towards the kitchen door. When I reach the door I can hear voices, but I can’t tell who’s they are. I push the door back and walk through. Risa and Eri are on the island table trying to add the final touches to Ai’s cake.
“There you are. I was looking for you.” Risa says
She puts the last candle on the cake and stops messing around with it.
“I needed help with the cake, but Eri helped me. It’s fine now. This is the last time I get a cake at the last minute. It wasn’t really a smart idea. Where were you?”
“Trying to get away from Sayu.” I grumble
She laughs.
“She seems to really like you. She isn’t normally this persistent to get the girl she wants.”
I shake my head.
“She’s not my type.” I answer quickly.
“Well you’re the first to reject her. I wonder how she’ll take that.” Risa frowns, worried
Ok now Sayu worries me even more. I’m definitely staying away from her! Then Risa’s cell starts to ring. She takes out her cell from her pocket and reads the caller ID screen.
“It’s Ai.” She announces
Maybe she’ll be coming over soon! Then we can get the party going. I motion for Eri to follow me out the kitchen so we can give Risa privacy. She quickly comes to my side and holds my hand again. It feels so much better having her hold my hand than Sayu. As we walk to the couch to take a seat we bump into Rika.
“Reina, Eri, it’s good to see you again. How are you two, better I hope?” She looks at us concern
“We’re fine. Thank you for saving us.”
She smiles.
“I’m glad you’re both ok. I have to go. You haven’t seen Yossie anywhere have you?”
“No, sorry.” Eri answers for me
Rika smiles and walks away, searching for Yossie. I got back to going for the couch to sit on. When will Ai get here already? Just as we sit down, the music is turned down and it’s silent. The living room lights flicker on and all eyes are on Risa, who’s standing in the middle of the room.
“Ai will be here any minute. Everyone go hide!” She yells
And everyone goes ducking for cover. I take Eri with me and hide behind the couch. Risa then shuts off the lights and hides. So we’re all waiting for Ai to just come in here and then we surprise her. I can’t wait. The lock clicks and the doorknob starts jingling. She opens the door, turns on the lights, and everyone jumps out yelling “Surprise.” She kind of reacts differently; she ends up screaming this man-ish kind of scream. I look at Eri and she laughs. I didn’t think she would have such a deep scream like that? I look back at Ai. She looks angry. This wasn’t what I had in mind. Risa comes over and gives her a kiss on the cheek then a hug. That calms her down a little.
“Uh…thank you everyone. It’s nice of you to throw a party for me.” Ai says. The crowd shouts and cheers.
Risa goes back to turning on the music and everything is back to normal. I go over to Ai to greet her. Eri comes with me. I hope she isn’t mad about us scaring the hell out of her.
“Happy birthday Ai. I hope you don’t mind the surprise party.” I tell her
She smiles and pulls me into a hug.
“I’m not…too mad. Thank you for the party.” She smiles
“I hope you’ll like our presents.” Eri adds in
“I’m sure I will.”
Eri gets happy when she says that. She’s too cute sometimes.
***
I spend the rest of the night avoiding Sayu and talking to Yossie and the others for a while. I meet another new friend when I was talking to them. Her name’s Matsuura Aya. I think Miki has some type of crush on her, she was actually acting nice when she was around. But Aya wasn’t being so nice, to Miki that is. I think she likes Miki, but she’s just playing hard to get. Those two are pretty funny together too. After a while I excused myself for a drink. All this talking is making me thirsty. I went to the snack table and get a cup and fill it with juice. Things are turning out great tonight.
“Reinaaaa!”
Or not. I slowly turn around. It’s Sayu again. In a second she’s holding my arm in a death grip again. I back up the most I could with her still holding on to my arm. This is not going to turn out good. I have no one to help me out of this again either.
“Uh…hi. Is there something you want?”
I shouldn’t have said that. She has on this evil smirk. Did I mention she scares me? I’m sure I have a bunch of times. Just count the times I’ve said that and times it by ten. THAT’S how scare I am right now! She nods at me. I tug to get my arm free, but it doesn’t budge. In fact, she pulls me closer to her. She has this weird glow in her eyes. I really need to get out of here. But she’s not letting me. Oh crap.
“I need to talk to you.” She grins
“Um…ok. What it…”
And in a second she kisses me. My eyes open wide. Holy freaking crap! This wasn’t what I had in mind! I freeze in shock. This was not what I expected nor something I wanted! She pulls away and I look at her freaked. I rub the back of my head and look down. I really don’t know what to say. Then someone comes running and bumps into me. I turn around. But I knew who it was and I begin to panic. It was Eri. Damn it! I go after her to the door, but when I step outside she’s already gone. This is not good. I have to talk to her. I have to tell her it’s not what she thinks it is. As old as that sounds it’s the truth. Why is she even acting like that anyway? It’s not like we’re dating. But I still feel that I have to tell her. She’s probably out somewhere crying. I feel so bad inside when I think that. I have to talk to her!
Topic: This Thing Called Love(UPDATED 11/26/14) [COMPLETE] (Read 177827 times)