Chapter 5

A/N: Special thanks to Izumi Rules for catching an error made in the previous chapter.

The breeze was swaying through the heated argument between my friends and Aiko's friends. I could feel Kouji's ponytail on my face. I took a step back. Oh great another ridiculous fight. I'm getting real sick of this. All I want is to just learn and be with my friends, not creating some drama theater for everyone to watch. Plus I always have my best friends protecting me. I'm going to do it. I will. I will punch Oda Hayaki. I walked up from behind Kouji but Junpei stood in front of me. I saw Kouji from the corner of my eye. He had this look of "What are you doing? Stay behind me!" on his face. But I had to pluck the courage out and not depend on Kouji and Takuya to save the day for me. It was time I learned.

"What are you talking about? She never went out with you!" Junpei said, standing on guard and pointing at Hayaki.

"Stay out of it, Tubsy," Mayumi scoffed.

"Excuse me?" I spoke out firmly and resolutely. "He's my friend. You will not call him that."

"I can call him whatever I want," Mayumi said, arms crossed.

"You're only calling him that for the insecurities of your own fatness." I could hear the movement of Kouji and Takuya behind me, signaling that I shouldn't have said that.

"What!" the three of Aiko's crowd said at the same time. Mayumi was exasperated and her lips outstretched like a balloon.

I was impressed by my mouth. I couldn't stop. I knew being nice was the best policy but sometimes certain people deserve what's coming to them. Aiko, Mayumi, and Keiko are people too… but they must be shown the truth in a harsh manner.

"I'm not you but you three should find something better to do than just nitpick at random people for your cruel amusement. It's a clear sign you're just bored." I was about to raise my fist to Hayaki, who was cowering behind Mayumi after saying that vexing sentence of me being his girlfriend.

It wasn't right to hurt someone. I stopped and lowered my fist. With that, Kouji and Takuya grabbed my arms and ran off dragging me like a rag doll. I'm glad they did. Aiko and her group would have pounded me to a pulp by then if I had stayed there any longer. All four of us ran to the back of the school.

"What are you, crazy?" Takuya panted out at me.

"Hey, at least she spoke for herself," Junpei panted, guzzling down a bottle of water.

Kouji didn't say anything, only looking down on the asphalt.

We learned against the wall, out of breath like a motley crew of people running away from the law. We were too tired to talk. We all walked home. Takuya followed me, like he said he would. Junpei also. Kouji was the last and stayed with me until our paths diverged away from each other. I was finally home. Home was my only solace. I planned to keep it that way. I had horrible paranoia that Aiko and her gang would magically appear in my house and ruin it and scream at me. I shook my head. It's just a thought and nothing more…

The next day I went to school again. School, school… I'm so sick of school. I walked by myself. Of course, now I'm friendless. I'm not really friendless; just I don't have friends that I can relate to in every way possible. It makes me depressed at the thought. But I've tried. I really tried. Besides, Sayoko and Mai… I only knew them this year. Kouji caught up with me from behind.

"I think we'd better get into school a different way. Aiko and Hayaki are at the front gate," he murmured to me.

"So? Now they're going to control how I go to school?"

"Izumi, after yesterday they want to… you know…"

"What?"

"…beat you up."

"What!"

"Well I don't know but it's best to not cross paths with them. I did tell you to be careful on the way home."

"And I listened to your advice."

"Well, remember what I said. If you can shatter Aiko, the rest is broken."

"Ugh, Kouji! This is no time to be giving me clues as if we were playing some video game. Why can't you just tell me plainly?"

"Well I don't know everything! C'mon we have to go to school through the back entrance." He grabbed my hand

He led me through like a guide, holding my hand all the way through. I felt like we were partners in crime skulking around. We walked through the gate that's only crowded when the bell rings and all the late kids squish through. I just waited around in front of the classroom until the bell rang. Finally. I sat in the front. I gave up trying to get my so-called friends back. Why bother if they don't want anything to do with me? I tried and its better knowing what happened than wishing what could have happened. There's point when I've gotta stop. While I was writing class notes, I noticed Kouji next to me. He's been hanging around me an awful lot lately. I looked at him. The lecture was long and mind-numbing. After a long twenty minutes, he threw another paper wad on my desk while the teacher wasn't looking. It said:

"New problem. Everyone thinks you hurt Hayaki's feelings."

I wrote back.

"Oh please. Give me a break. What the hell is his problem now? I didn't hurt him. It was his bright idea to go along with Aiko and embarrass me in the courtyard and make the whole world think I dumped him when I never went with him. Ever"

"Well, I heard the girls talking behind me. They're gossiping that you dumped Hayaki and are actually mad that you "broke" his heart. God, I don't see what girls see in him. He's a downright jerk wad. I see him the basketball courts. He's wooed every girl that cheers him on the court. But for some reason, he has a liking towards you and you alone."

I was about to write back until the teacher confiscated the paper wad from my hands. I didn't even notice she was behind me.

"Minamoto Kouji, Orimoto Izumi, detention!" she said, throwing the paper into the waste bin.

Oh great, again? And this time it was to clean the chalkboard instead of just sitting in the detention hall.

"If you exceed past three detentions, I will contact both your parents. Now I want this board spotless, you understand?" our teacher bellowed as she walked outside the classroom, leaving Kouji and I by ourselves. He said nothing and scrubbed the green board with a sponge. I got the erasers and stood by the window to clap them.

I coughed and sneezed. Kouji saw me and threw the sponge on the ground. He approached me.

"You're doing it the hard way. If you keep just mashing them together, the chalk dust won't go away and will just keep making you sneeze. Here," he said. He took the erasers from my hands and rubbed them together. "At least this way the dust goes in one direction and not everywhere."

"Thanks, Kouji," I said, sniffing. He went back to wiping the board with soap and water.

"Why do I get the hard part? Why don't we switch?" I asked.

"No thanks. Stay with what you have. Izumi…"

"What?"

"Look, I know you're going through a hard time but you've got to become a bit more firm. I won't always be there to help you out of a situation."

The two of us were silent. I spoke out. "Kouji, I want to thank you for everything you've done… but…"

Kouji kept wiping the already-clean board with the rag and didn't look anywhere else but the board.

"Why are you protecting me more than anyone else? I'm just Izumi. Some girl in school. The girl in the Digital World. I may have been weak but I was there to help you and everyone else. It's just weird, is all."

He said nothing and threw the dirty rag into the pail.

"I'm just returning the favor… Izumi…" he said, with his backpack slung on his shoulder. He smirked and walked off. That was something I haven't seen him do to anyone at all. Then the bell rang.

I sighed and put all the cleaning materials in the class closet and went to the next class. I thought about what Kouji said. At least he cared about my best interest. But he was right, I've only got myself. After all, he did get injured because of me. I did my best to avoid all trivial issues. Aiko was the least of my worries. What is some stupid girl going to do to me? She may be an upperclassman but that doesn't give her the right to torment others for her pleasure and shortcomings, whatever they were. What a bully.

I still had a deep longing for my friends. The ones that ditched me just because of some insignificant rumor and because they were so fixated on Oda Hayaki and not wanting to fall in the same hole as me. Friends should stick together. So far the only friends who have been by my side are the ones I met in the Digital World. I should stop whining since they're the ones who have been there for me. I remembered that fight with Hayaki. Kouji and his wound, Junpei, Kouichi, and Takuya. And now, it's science class.

I went to lunch but only found Takuya by the tree. He was playing with a hand-held videogame device. I always see a lot of guys playing with them. I just sat with him. I was glad to just find one friend. I pulled sandwiches out of its plastic wrapping.

"Can I have one?" Takuya muttered, mashing buttons at the same time.

"Didn't you bring your own lunch?"

"No. I ate it this morning. Can I have the other half? C'mon girls starve themselves anyway. Always caring about their weight."

"I don't care about my weight. Next time bring your own lunch."

I handed the sandwich to him. We sat together, the wind flowing gently. I looked up into the sky. I was grateful there was one friend by my side. Some older girls strolled by and scowled at me. I heard something along the lines of: "Ugh, look at her, thinks she can get all the guys she wants. First Hayaki now that soccer boy. What's next? The tennis team?"

I looked down on the pavement. As childish as it was to say, I wanted to blame everything on Hayaki. Everything did start when all of a sudden he appeared in my dad's office and just magically knew things about me. And he's working with Aiko and insisting he likes me. I've got to know him well enough and I've had enough of him and his stupid actions. But then again, why blame him? It's just mixed misunderstandings and bad timing. I never asked Hayaki to follow me or have Aiko track me three thousand times a day. I tried to think positive that what doesn't kill me only makes me stronger.

I just simply smiled. I was so grateful for the friends I had. It doesn't matter what gender they are. Girls can be friends with guys if they wanted to without having make a huge deal about it. It mattered that they accepted me for who I was. A person.

"What are you smiling about?" Takuya asked me, devouring the last remains of the sandwich.

"Oh nothing… I'm just… glad…"

"Well that's good. Haven't seen a smile on your face for a while. Always crying every time I see you."

"It's not like I purposely cry for your or anyone else's attention. It's just been a rough week."

"I know, Izumi," Takuya said, turning off his video games. He put his hand on my shoulder. Just then, Kouji and Junpei appeared.

"Hey you guys," Junpei said quietly. "We were waiting for you two at the usual spot. It's been fifteen minutes. Did you guys forget?"

"Nah, I didn't. Izumi probably did," Takuya said back, swiping Junpei's lunch and digging through it to find crumbs to munch on.

"I did not, you did," I said back. Takuya stood up with Junpei played their video games.

Kouji sat down next to me, just brooding.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked.

"Nothing much," he replied back sourly.

"What's eating you?" I thought.

Right after that, the bell rang. I went to the last class. Apparently the group was busy so I went home. I remembered Kouji's advise to be careful and wary. I made it home with no troubles. I was relieved that it was the last day of the school week. The days off are to myself and not dedicated to avoiding people and seeing old memories that no longer want to see me.

The weekend passed and it was a new week. Now I can start off fresh, hopefully, and all the chatter has died down and slipped out of other people's minds. I left home into the early morning and to the temporarily deserted school. But when I arrived, there were posters along the school walls. It featured some annual autumn school dance. Like I would go. Maybe if all this hadn't happened then I'd be in better spirits and go with Sayoko and Mai. But since I have no accompaniment, I won't bother.

The day was normal. Aiko didn't pester me, surprisingly. Oddly, I hadn't seen Hayaki all day either. But my friends were all busy. Takuya and all of them. The only bad part was having to pass by Mai and Sayoko laughing in the usual spot we used to sit in for lunch and ignoring me. I was tempted to walk up to them. But real friends don't just leave for silly, vague reasons. So I sat by myself again. I thought the day would end up usual and bland.

But I arrived home with three invitations to that stupid dance.

They were from Takuya, Junpei, and the gross Oda Hayaki.

End Chapter 5.