Chapter 2: Uncertainties
It was a peaceful morning in the the city of Orb with the sun just peaking over the hills, illuminating the soft green grass. Birds were singing happily and the owls were just about go to sleep when a voice shouted, “I WANNA GO!”
“No! LET GO KIRA!” I yelled as I struggled to my bedroom door, fully dressed and with my backpack on my back.
Kira grabbed the handle of my backpack and pulled along with holding onto my bedpost. “But you promised! I'm all lonely up here!” he whined.
I struggled to make Kira release his grip but to no avail. For a ghost, his strength was human-like. “I didn't promise anything! I only said that if everything was fine, you would be able to come along!” I argued back while looking at the clock.
“Then that means that everything wasn't fine! That makes me even more suspicious! Why can't I come?! It's not like anyone can see me! You used to let me come everyday!” Kira whined, sounding like his 6 year old self.
I grunted. “But you distract me way too much! I won't be able to concen-!” I said loudly before being interrupted.
Suddenly there was a knock on my bedroom door. “Um Cagalli?” my mother's voice said in concern.
The door opened slowly and my mother looked around the room. “Why are you shouting so early in the morning? I thought I heard you talking to someone..” she said in wonder.
I shot Kira a very quick look that clearly said now-look-at-what-you've-done. “Uh.. well... you see...” I was unable to find an excuse but fortunately or unfortuantely, (I didn't know which is better) my mother came to a conclusion.
“Cagalli, honey, don't tell me you still have imaginary friends,” she said in concern.
I sweatdropped as my face burned with embarassment and Kira hooting with glee isn't helping at all. “Er..” my mouth went dry at the loss of words.
Mother sighed. “You really must make more friends, and speaking of that, school is starting very soon; you better get going if you don't want to be late,” she said.
I nodded quietly and broke out of Kira's strong grip with the attack of surprise. “Yes, mom! I'll be leaving right now!” I said as I ran out of my room and slammed it before heading out the door, leaving my mother with a very surprised look.
I ran down the street quickly thinking, I'm sorry Kira.. but I still get this strange feeling about that new guy, Athrun... so until I find out why I'm feeling this wierd sensation, I can't risk bringing you with me..
But Kira didn't know that. He floated around the room, angrily. “How could she? She's my best friend for crying out loud! Not only that, but I sort of feel this responsiblity for looking after her... maybe I should sneak off to school with her, but not letting her see me..” he decided as he opened the windows and climbed out.
If anyone had saw, they would be suspicious to find a window opening by itself, but there really was no one who had time to look, because they were all on their busy schedules and of course, no one saw Kira as he floated on the way to school.
-----
The bell rang as soon as I reached class and I sighed in relief for not being late. You see, being late meant detention and their ways of detention is to make it as boring as possible so that sitting there and doing countless of extra work is torture. I dumped my books on my desk and looked out the window as class resumed.
I didn't really pay attention to Ms. Ramius as I as a pretty good student without needing to pay too much attention and Ms. Ramius was a pretty cool teacher. She didn't mind if you even slept in her class, but as long as you're doing quite well in her class like getting 80 or higher, she won't make you listen to her directly. Class was quite normal as it usually was, but for some reason, I kept shooting secret glances at the boy beside me who seemed to be paying more attention than the rest of us. When Meer caught my eye, she scowled darkly as if to say, 'stay-away-from-my-new-toy'.
I rolled my eyes and class ended shortly after that. Gym was next and as we got changed into white t-shirts and red shorts, the teacher, Ms. Baguriel announced, “Okay listen up! This year will be a little different than usual; we'll be sharing our gym period with the boy's gym class every Wednesday. So I expect you to behave yourselves and not act like a bunch of hooligans!” she said loudly.
“Yes, m'am,” we all chorused, but I noticed that Meer Campbell and some other Athrun Zala fan girls were giggling madly because it seemed that Athrun would be sharing the same time as us.
I found that I was right as I recognized his mid-night hair and emerald orbs. But it had seemed that he had made some friends because he was talking to the school's most popular guys. They included, Yzak, Dearka, Heine and Shinn. I didn't really like Yzak or Shinn that much since they both really hot-headed, but Heine and Dearka are okay though Mirillia said that Dearka was a flirt. “Ugh, look at him!” Mirillia whispered angrily as she stood next to me on the bench.
“Mhm?” I looked over to where she was pointing and saw Dearka making some girls laugh with probably some corny jokes. “Just ignore him, he's the same as Zala,” I muttered.
The spoken boy was being dragged by Meer and her friends as they giggled like silly-brain-dead girls. I hated those types of girls. Ms. Baguirel blew the whistle loudly to catch everyone's attention. “Girls' class will go over to the tennis courts,” she said while Mr. La Flaga, the boy's teacher said, “Alright guys, let's head on over to the basketball court and shoot some hoops,”
The two classes split up but the two areas were quite close to each other. The girls' gym class was said to be playing doubles against each other and I was paired up with Meer, much to my horror. “So Campbell, you actually going to do anything this year?” I demanded as I picked up a racket as stood on the right side of our court.
Meer looked at me distastefully. “Why would I do that?” she spat as she looked at her perfectly done fingernails.
I rolled my eyes and sighed. I hated this girl so much! But I had no choice, “Look, I know you hate me and I hate you as well, but can we at least work together for once and not try and strangle each other?” I said, knowing the answer already.
“I don't care about school or my grades. I'm only here for the hot guys, so I don't care if you lose,” she hissed as she walked away.
I grunted. I really didn't care about her either. Oh well, she would probably screw up anyway. “You sure you can play 2 against 1?” Mirillia called from behind the net as she was my opponent.
I nodded. “Well, I don't know until I try.. go ahead and serve, Mir,” I replied as Mirillia began her serve.
Going two against one was harder than I expected. As the ball came over in my direction, I had to run back and forth on my side, whereas on Mir's side, she had Shiho. They didn't really need to move as much. “Game, Mir-Shiho! 3 games to 2!” called out the score keeper that was keeping track on our court.
By that time even, I was already panting quite a bit. Mirillia was pretty good, but Shiho was awesome. If this was singles, I would probably do a bit better. But by then, I also noticed that the boy's basketball game was already over and they came over to the tennis courts to watch our class play. Some girls got distracted and waved happily, but I didn't. Eventually it was 5 games to 4, my favor. I was extremely out of breath. I faulted a few times when serving and accidentally gave them the point. Okay... doing good..
-----
Someplace else... “Cagalli should have gym period by now... but I can't find her anywhere!” complained a certain someone as he ruffled his chocolate brown hair in annoyance.
As he floated around, he accidentally 'floated' into someone. Kira stepped back in surprise. “S-sorry...” he mumbled, but then as he looked up to meet emerald orbs.
The boy gasped. A ghost? Why here of all places? Athrun thought as he looked at the ghost boy who seemed to be around his age. Kira gasped as well as he realised that he didn't go through the boy he bumped into. Why? For normal humans, I'm supposed to go through them... with Cagalli being an exception of course...
Uh oh... Kira thought as he swallowed audibly. Cagalli's going to get really mad if she found out not only I got out of the house despite her orders, but I ran into someone who I couldn't go through either. “G-gotta go!” he said quickly as he zoomed back home, changing his mind about visiting the school.
Athrun blinked several times. “Why is a ghost here..? Unless someone died here? But he didn't seem like he was being tied to this place.. strange,” he muttered to himself as a voice called him over, “C'mon Athrun! Watch the girls' matches too!”
“Coming!” Athrun yelled back as he quickly washed his face at the wash station outside and decided that he would think more about it later.
-----
was serving. I stopped for a moment to breathe a little. This was quite hard. I swallowed and served with all the remaining strength I had and watched the ball sail over the net. “Mir! I got it!” Shiho called as she rushed towards the ball and whacked it back over to my side.
I was just able to get it when I met a pair of emerald orbs. He had a smirk on his face as he watched me go back and forth. I scowled. He must have thought I was some sort of weakling like Meer or something.. well buster, I'm going to show you my true side! As Mirillia returned the ball, I hit it and gained another point.
It was 30-15 with me being the 30. For games, it was also 5-4 in my favor. I only needed 2 more points and that is if there wasn't a deuce or anything. But unfortunately, Ms Baguirel sounded the whistle, indicating that the gym period was over and had us walk back to the gym. The boys got up as well. As I exited the courts, Athrun went past me and whispered, “Not bad, but you still have a long way to go,”
I clenched my fists around the racket and ignored him as I returned to the changeroom to get changed before lunch.
School ended some time later and instead of walking back to my house, I decided to go to Central Point Avenue, which had some really good cafes there. As I took a shortcut and crossed a grassy plain field, I noticed a boy peering intently over the bridge, looking at the river. The first thought that came to me was that he was about to jump and commit suicide! “WAIT!!” I screamed as I ran for the boy.
But unfortuantely, I surprised the boy and as he yelled out out in surprise, I tripped and resulting in both of us landing in the river. Spluttering, I was able to make it to the other side of the land where the bridge ended and then got a closer look at the boy who had midnight blue hair. “What did you do that for?!” he demanded as his emerald orbs flashed in annoyance.
I just stared at him. “S-sorry... I thought you were going to commit suicide..” I said quietly.
Athrun cooled off. “I wasn't going to do that, I was just thinking. But I guess I should thank you for your concern. Here,” he held out his hand to me.
I blinked as I took his hand and he helped me up. “It's Athha, right?” he spoke, surprising me.
His tone was pretty cool, and his attitude was different from the day before during school. I nodded. “Y-yeah... that's me,” I said dumbly as I smoothed out my uneven hair.
But then, just then, my stomach complained of its emptiness. I blushed as I saw Athrun laugh. It was the first time I've ever seen him laugh. “So what? I'm human too! Humans get hungry,” I mumbled in embarassment.
“Yeah okay, so going to Central Point for food right? Mind if I join you? I'm a little hungry as well,” Athrun said as his laughter died.
I shrugged. “Doesn't matter to me,” I said as I began walking to the street.
Our clothes were more or less dry by the time we reached the Yoko Café (A/N: There really is a cafe called Yoko that mostly serves teenagers with popular drinks like Bubble tea etc.) A waitress came to our table and waited for our orders. “Um... I'll have Mountain Mixed Fruit Shaved Ice along with some kebabs,” I said as I looked at the menu.
Shaved Ice was my favorite type of dessert but here at Yoko's, their shaved ice was the best! “I'll be right back, I'm going to the bathroom,” I said to Athrun as I headed off.
I looked at the mirror as I washed my hands and my thoughts were starting to direct to Athrun. He's a lot nicer than yesterday... I had thought he was like another playboy and a flirt, but maybe I judged him too quickly.. anyway, better be getting back. I had thought as I returned to our table.
As soon as I arrived at the scene, my fists clenched noticeably as I saw that Athrun was flirting with the waitress. “Can I have an order of you? I'm positive that you must be the best thing that this cafe has,” Athrun said seducively.
The waitress smiled like a cat. “Sure thing, how about now..? I'm sure I can get off from work.. besides, we could do something, more interesting together..” she purred.
I went back to the table and grabbed my backpack. “Actually Miss, please cancel my orders. Something came up,” I said as I looked at her with distaste.
Athrun looked at me in surprise. “Huh? I thought you said you were hungry,” he said.
I shook my head. “No, not anymore, see you tomorrow,” I said as I rushed out the doors and back home.
That bastard! I had turned my back on him for one instance and he's flirting again! Argh.. I thought I had him figured. Maybe not, but I'm never going to try ever again to be nice to this guy! I stormed.
But something I didn't realizse what that several pairs of eyes had seen me go the the cafe with a certain blue-haired guy. “See, I told you! That Athha is stalking Athrun! How could she?!” a female voice hissed. (A/N: Aren't they stalking Athrun as well? Lol)
“She's getting too cozy with him, we better get rid of her before she thinks she's all high and mighty,” another one said.
“Yes... we'll take action tomorrow,” said the last one as a wicked grin crossed her pale face.
I stormed over the bridge and walked along the river. I stopped for a moment and picked up a stone. With all my might I chucked it as far as I could, using my anger as well. Then I picked up more. “ZALA!YOU-OVER-EGOISTICAL-DUMB-SMART-ASS-WITH-A-PRIDE-THAT-NEEDS-DEFLATING! AUGH!” I screamed every word as I threw each stone.
I watched as almost every stone sunk beneath the cool waters before running home. “Hi honey, how was school today?” my mother asked as she saw me take off my shoes and storm upstairs.
“Horrible,” I grumbled as I continued up to my bedroom.
As soon as I opened the door, Kira twitched noticeably. “H-hey Cagalli... what's up?” he stammered.
I threw my backpack to the corner of my room and collasped on my bed, face-first. “Stupid Zala,” I murmured into the pillow.
It seemed that I was wrong to believe that he might have been a good person. But back then when he helped me up, he didn't seem so bad. I rolled over so that I laid on my back and looked at my hand. His hand was so big and so warm... I had thought before realizing that I had given Zala a compliment. I immediately shook my head and my head turned to Kira. “Kira, why do you look paler than usual?” I asked as his translucent body became nearly transparent.
Kira gave me a dry chuckle. “Eh.hehe.. maybe I've been inside for too long,” he lied as his forehead was dripping with perspiration.
I felt a little guilty that I had left him here inside for the whole day for the past two days. “Oh, well, to make up for shutting you up this morning and yesterday... how about you come with me to class tomorrow?” I offered as I notice Kira swallowed.
“Um... s-sure...” he said nervously as he floated around the room.
Just outside the house... a midnight-haired boy was to be seen standing on my driveway. “Hmm.. too late, I didn't catch up to her in time.. but there's something unusual about that girl, Athha... I would like to find out what she's hiding,” he whispered with a small smirk. “After all, I'm also a little unusual in a way,” he added before walking away.
