Well, I'm back with this chapter! Sorry it took so long, I got tied up in "Daycare Days".
DolphinGoddess 17: God, I'd be lost without her... Thanks for your awesome review, you really didn't have to! I THINK I got the lyrics right, but... ACK, I DON'T KNOW ANYMORE! Anyway, I'm making a promise to re-read these chapters out loud, thanks for again for your review and critiquing!
CFB: I decided to shorten it, I'm sorry. Awesome review, it makes me want to cry. Maybe this story would get better if I don't ruin it with my crazy mind. XD
Duckie P.O.V: I promise you some plot twists in this story and I'm switching it up a bit. And in the future, you'll see why she went to Colorado. Oh, I forgot to tell you, in that oneshot "Pashmina Lies", Pashmina dies of child abuse. I'm sorry that I didn't make that clearer. But thank you SO much for your reveiw and critiquing, I really need it!
MJN: ... You scared me a little there, kiddo. You know why? Because I'm definately not the best writer on this site, there are a lot more in the Hamtaro section that are better than me. Either way, I'm so happy that you've read through RoC and now you're reading this story! Not only that, you reviewed! Gosh, thanks so much!
Maxwell-Sandy-shrine123: ~sigh~ Isn't her penname so perfect? Ugh, I can't get over it! Thanks for your review and kind words!
Chapter 1:
Falling
"Noppo! If you don't climb to the top, I'm going to make you listen to my music!"
"Oh, Stan, I'm shaking right now."
As Maxwell barked his retort to an overconfident Stan, he lost his grip on the gym rope and slid two feet down, hands burning as the rope ripped through his fingers. Grunting with determination to not fall to the mats below him, he twisted his ankles around the rope. Looking up with gritted teeth, he first saw Stan laughing about five feet up above him on a different rope.
"Having trouble up there, boys?" the gym teacher called from down below, a bemused expression on his face.
"No, sir!" Maxwell and Stan replied quickly, glaring at each other. Maxwell scurried up the rope for about another foot before letting himself hang there while Stan returned his focus on making it to the top of the rope.
"You know Max, I wasn't kidding about the listening to my music thing," Stan huffed, looking down through his arms and grinned at his friend.
"You weren't?" Maxwell chuckled dryly. He inched his way up as their teacher told them to hurry. Stan copied his movements, the muscles in his arms twitching from exhaustion. Sighing, Maxwell continued, "Stan, I've heard much worse music than your Latin beats."
"Oh, please, Maxwell," Stan said, throwing his hand to his forehead in dramatic effect to show his distress. "Everyone's ears, like, pop from listening to your classical music crap or whatever."
"I like your music, Maxy!" a frighteningly familiar girl announced snobbishly as she made her way up the gym rope. She batted her eyelashes at Maxwell, who grimaced while she wasn't looking.
"Uh, hi, Mandy." He scowled faintly, worming farther up the rope. He was so desperate to get away from her that he had climbed at least five feet up by that point. Tilting his head to the side, he looked up to calculate how much farther he had to go. It took him about two or three minutes to get to this checkpoint with less than five feet to go. Ignoring Mandy's bragging of her straight A's in Biology, he scrambled up the rope, passing Stan by about a foot. Stan was too bothered by Mandy to ever catch up to him.
"Dude, I think I'm going to be sick," Stan gagged, peeping up at Maxwell. Losing all of his concentration, Maxwell found himself slipping again, clenching his teeth in a struggle to remain on the rope.
"And Stan, don't startle Maxwell like that. He was concentrating on the rope!" Mandy snarled.
"Stan," Maxwell said to his friend, eyes burning with worry and harassment. Stan nodded, as if knowing what Maxwell wanted to do. He trapped all of his saliva in his mouth and got a good look at his target. A sad smile hit his face before he knew it, but this was for the good of things. Gathering all of ammo, he fired his spit at Mandy's hair.
"GAH! Stanley, what did you do to me?" Mandy screamed. She grabbed a fistful of her brown hair and her eyes enlarged to the size of saucepans.
"Stanley Torahamu! I'm going to hunt you down and-"
Stan rolled his eyes and shot another ball of spit onto her forehead. Half of Maxwell felt bad for Mandy, but the other half felt like bursting out into laughter. Shrugging it off, he neared the top of the rope, almost ready to slap the ceiling and get this drill over with. While Stan tried to regain his composure, the coach yelled up to the three of them.
"Oi, you three! Off the gym ropes! You guys just landed a date with the principal! That means you too Torahamu!" he screamed, cupping his hands around his mouth and then blowing his whistle.
"Wait, wha-" As Maxwell looked down to protest, he felt his fingers loosen around his rope and the next moment, he was falling. Shutting his eyes, he braced for the plummet and it was a good reason too. He landed onto the blue mats, his head smashing near the coaches feet.
"Maxy!" Mandy cried out as she slid down the rope and ran over to Maxwell, half blinded by tears.
"Oh, dude! Nice wipeout!" Stan laughed, running up to the scene. All of the other students crowded around Maxwell, snickering and throwing insults at the fall.
"Go away, Stan…" Maxwell groaned, lifting his disoriented head. It was hard to tell the gym teacher from Stan, everything was too blurry and foggy to see anything.
"Um, let me rephrase that," the gym teacher said shakily while Stan hoisted Maxwell up. Mandy tried to help, but a young boy named Stucky "accidently" tripped her. Maxwell held his throbbing skull, wiping his face with his t-shirt while Stan turned red from trying not to laugh. The teacher then directed, "Torahamu and Chennel, principal. Noppo, nurse then principal. Now."
Each kid nodded their head and set off towards the designated course, Maxwell leaning against the gym doorway once they exited the sweaty room. It was that moment that Stan finally could let out what he felt. Closing his eyes peacefully, Maxwell tried to block out his friend's hysterics, but gave up, pressing his hand to his forehead.
"Oh, dude! Like, that was so friggn' funny. Never knew that you could be so clumsy!" Stan sniggered, wiping an invisible tear.
"Stanley! Maxy could be really hurt!" Mandy scolded, backing up to a little corner in the hall while Maxwell and Stan hung out at the lockers. The addressed bookworm couldn't have cared less.
"Oh, Maxy could be hurt!" Stan mimicked in a high-pitched voice. He spat on the floor and Mandy cringed at the memories from earlier. Wiping his mouth, he mumbled loud enough for the two to hear, "I think Maxy could be sick."
"Well, Maxy has to go to the nurse. See you later, Stan." Maxwell dismissed himself kindly, bowing his head a little and brushing past a waving Mandy. With surprising reflexes and willpower, he flew down the stairs towards the nurse's office without sending back a glance over his shoulder.
"Dang it," Mandy whispered in a disgruntled tone and walked the other direction, crossing her arms and muttering thoughts without bothering to take notice of Stan. His face looked to be as if he was comprehending some serious algebra equation in his head until it lit up brightly.
"Oh, dang, I just realized that Maxwell called himself 'Maxy'! So his name has been "Maxywell" this entire time! Score one for Stan! That's my new nickname for the guy!" He laughed, turning his heel and trotted, almost skipped, to the principal's office.
***
"Hi, Maxwell. What seems to be the problem?" the nurse asked professionally, a warm smile etched onto her face. Maxwell smiled back, straightening up a little.
Running his hands through his hair, he answered, "I just need some ice, Nurse Flora."
"Please, call me Flora," she said sweetly, getting out of her chair. Maxwell nodded his head and looked around the nurse's room. She was new, just coming to Ham Ham High School about a month ago when the old nurse had to leave for her sick mother in America. And she was young, not yet out of college to Maxwell and every student's surprise. After grabbing a plastic bag and some ice, she wrapped the package in paper towel to make sure that Maxwell's skin wouldn't get frostbitten.
"Here you are, Maxwell," Flora said gently, giving the boy the paper towel package as he finished signing in to the nurse's office. Gladly, he placed it onto the bump on his head, the cold startling his mind for a moment until he finally got used to it.
"Did you hit your head on the history section's shelf in the library, Maxwell?" Flora laughed shyly, knowing Maxwell's antics of reading. Smiling, Maxwell shook his head.
"Surprisingly no," Maxwell replied, flashing another smile. "I actually fell from the ropes in gym."
Flora nodded stiffly. "There's always one kid who reaches the top and then falls."
Bashfully, a reddening Maxwell said quietly "In reality, I got in trouble and was kind of distressed when the coach called me down, so I fell."
"Isn't that totally obvious from that huge bump on, like, your head, Maxy?"
A little surprised at the newcomer, Maxwell whipped around to see a certain honey blonde girl standing in the doorway with a huge smirk on her face. She looked amused at hearing of Maxwell's fall, surveying the bump on his head and the darkening bruise near his eye. Despite the sarcasm, she had that warm look in her emerald eyes as she gazed at the bookworm in the room. After looking over Maxwell's gaping expression for a few moments, she smiled, rubbing the back of her neck and dropping her gaze a little, waiting for him to say something.
"Sandy!" Maxwell called out, tossing his ice pack towards the sink causing Flora to duck so as to avoid the ice potentially landing on her own head. He threw his arms up in the air, a bright smile lighting his face, and rushed over to Sandy for a bone-crushing hug.
"I thought you weren't going to be here until Christmas Eve!" Maxwell said gleefully, arms still tightly wrapped around her.
"My trainer told me to leave early, since I already caught up on some moves," Sandy said, referring to her trainer back in Colorado Springs with her training for the Olympics. She had earned a shot in a rhythmic gymnastics competition to compete in the games to her surprise and her rival's jealously. Mandy, who had seized first in the competition and should have been the winner if it hadn't been her bad sportsmanship, hadn't talked to Sandy since.
"But I thought that you said your trainer wasn't very nice to you," Maxwell teased lightly.
"She just wanted to, like, get rid of me earlier or something," Sandy giggled.
"So do you want to go out to lunch during free period for a celebration of your return?" Maxwell asked, ruffling her hair a little bit. Sandy nodded and leaned in to kiss him when Flora coughed purposefully.
"I'm sure you two will have time to catch up a little later," she let out a hearty laugh. She had a twinkle in her eye as she continued, "And not in my office."
"Oh!" Sandy broke free from Maxwell's grasp and jumped back a little, red in the face and hooking her hands behind her back. Maxwell looked at the posters of the circulatory system to avoid being seen with the ruby color on his nose. Flora giggled silently to herself and walked up to Sandy.
"Hello there, Sandy, I'm Flora. I'm pretty sure that we've never met before, I'm the new nurse at this school," the nurse announced just as Sandy starting shaking her hand.
"Flora?" Sandy repeated, dropping her right hand to her side. Her eyebrows furrowed in thought and said, "Like, I think my brother mentioned you once or twice before."
"Really?" Flora asked, curious to hear about her brother. "What's his name?"
"Stan. Stan Torahamu," Sandy answered. A puzzled look crossed the nurse's face.
"We're twins. So, like, he looks just like me," Sandy prolonged, shoving her hands into her jeans pockets. Flora shook her head, still not knowing whom this person was.
Maxwell, still staring at the posters hanging on the wall, interrupted, "The kid who ran into that pick-up truck last Thanksgiving on his skateboard when he was trying to escape the cops."
"Oh," Flora hummed, backing up a couple of steps. "Oh, dear, yes, I remember him. That poor boy had a concussion, he needed stitches, and he still had to go to court."
"What was Stan arrested for again?" Sandy asked timidly. Maxwell pressed his finger to his forehead and thought for a while before answering her question.
"Streaking. In daylight."
"Good God," Sandy and Flora murmured in unison. Maxwell found his ice pack and started walking to the door, screeching to a stop as he put his hand on the handle. He took a swift glance at Sandy and tossed his chin to the hallway, signaling her that it was time to leave.
"All right, well, it was nice to meet your girlfriend, Maxwell!" Flora dismissed, walking Sandy to the door. The honey blonde smiled at the light brunette girl and looked at the floor, nodding.
"Like, it was nice to meetcha too!" Sandy said cheerfully, meekly taking hold of Maxwell's hand to show that they were together. The bookworm blushed and had to hold his ice pack on his head tighter before he would let it fall due to his then dazed state. Sandy and Maxwell both bid goodbye to Flora and disappeared out of the door, walking hand in hand to the gym. The nurse leaned on the doorway a little, smiling a little bit.
"Oh, they make the cutest couple!" she squealed, biting her lip a little after she said this. She sighed, closing her eyes. Maybe she'd get a nice boy that would treat her like that. Her eyes snapped open as she thought of one name.
Stan Torahamu
"And after I tossed in some of that blue powder into the chemicals or whatever, it blew up in Dexter's face!" Howdy laughed, slapping the freshman, Cappy, on the back. "And… and… Dexter had to take his medicine, he was so dang scared, he thought he was going to blow up too!"
"That's nice, Howdy," Cappy said, looking over his lunch tray into space. All he wanted was for Howdy to stop talking especially since he was telling another one of his horrid stories. Really, he heard Hamtaro tell of better events even though he kept forgetting what happened.
"Oh, did I tell you the one about Boss and Oxnard in flag football?" Howdy realized, opening his squinty eyes as far as they would go. "They completely collided into each other!"
"That's nice, Howdy," Cappy repeated, leaning on his chin with a balled up hand. He nearly closed his eyes to start daydreaming, but remembered that Howdy was sitting next to him as they waited for the others to join them at their usual table.
"Can't you just imagine that though?" Howdy hooted, bending over as he laughed. "Boss was knocked down by Oxnard because that fella is so… fat that he can knock down Boss as fast as a my Aunt Molly catch a two footed ferret!"
"That's nice, dear- I mean Howdy!" Cappy bolted up in his chair, gripping the edge of the table as he corrected himself. Fiddling with his green cap, he thought, Oh, cats! I've been thinking about her too much now!
Howdy blinked and, to Cappy's revelation, he grinned. Laughing again, he knocked his knuckles on Cappy's head, saying, "Howdy! Ain't anyone in there? I was worried there for a second, Cappy. I thought you were gonna ask me out!"
"Heh, yeah right!" Cappy joked half-heartily, shoving Howdy aside. "You wish!"
"No way!" Howdy chuckled and was about to send Cappy flying off of his chair when Hamtaro, Bijou, Oxnard, Boss, Panda, and Jingle waltzed over, each carrying either lunch from home or a purchased school lunch.
"Ham-ha, everyone!" Hamtaro called out, setting his paper bag containing his lunch next to Howdy. Throwing his backpack on the ground, he unzipped a pocket and shoved a crumpled piece of paper into Howdy's eyes.
"Look, Howdy! I got a B plus on my math report!" Hamtaro squealed, shaking the paper into Howdy's hair.
"Hamtaro, that's your English paper," Pashmina pointed out as she took a vacant seat next to Bijou. A few of the ham-hams waved a hello, mostly from Howdy, while others were too caught up with what was going to happen next.
"Ah, cats!" Hamtaro snapped his fingers to show his disappointment and scratched the back of his head. "But if that was my English paper, what did I get on my math report…?"
Fiddling with the other stuff jammed into his giant, overstuffed backpack, he whipped out a ripped up note card. In red, a big "F" was planted onto the top of the paper. Shocked, Hamtaro jerked back, jaw dropping as his eyes sped through the content.
"Is it really that bad?" Oxnard asked nervously as he took a bite out of a Granny Smith apple. Hamtaro didn't answer, but continued to focus on the paper in front of him, eyes wide and mouth still hanging open.
"Hamtaro, please close your mouth," Pashmina mumbled, putting her hands over her eyes. She was always the one to use manners whenever she could. Hamtaro let out a "Huh?" and then a "Oh, right!" before clamping his mouth shut and weakly handing his grade over to Boss.
"So what?" Boss sneered. He turned the paper around as if some hidden code was written on Hamtaro's math report and comprehended the grade quickly. "It's just an F, kid, you get those all of the time and it didn't affect you much. But I still wonder how you made it past the fifth grade."
"Look what it says in the back though!" Hamtaro gasped, poking the paper repeatedly. Boss sighed, rolling his eyes, and turned the paper over. With a bored look on his face, he quickly read what the teacher had jotted down and cracked a smile. Shutting his eyes tight, he slowly handed over the paper, but midway, he started laughing.
"Oh, that's a new low, Hamtaro!" Boss cried through his laughs. Howdy made a grab for the note card to Hamtaro's distress, not caring of the boy's protests.
"Could not read content. See Mrs. Jones for handwriting courses," Howdy read aloud and swatted his lap, almost crying as he let out a laugh himself. He passed it on to Cappy, who passed to Oxnard, and so on and so on.
"Vhat eez so funny?" Bijou scolded as she received the paper from Pashmina. Her scarf-loving friend just shut her eyes tight and set her head onto the table, letting out a stifled giggle. While Bijou had to admit that it was pretty funny, she knew that she had to stand up for Hamtaro if their other friends wouldn't. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hamtaro beaming at her, making Bijou's heart soar. She began blushing and biting her lip to not show her overjoyed smile. Ripping up the note card, causing everyone to let out a small gasp, she smiled brilliantly and continued her lecture. "I zhink zhat eet eez silly to say zhat a leettle math grade eez somezhing to laugh about, non?"
Hamtaro's eyes softened as he watched Bijou get up to throw away his even more ruined math report, face flushing and heart racing. He tried to swallow, but he couldn't. After catching sight of Bijou's face while defending him, her pigtails bobbing up and down as she walked to the trash can, her legs strutting down the lunchroom as she walked back- Hamtaro shook his head vigrorously, orange and white hair waving everywhere. Tossing his head away from Bijou, he shut his eyes tight, hands balled into fists. 'W-What's wrong with me? I've… I've never felt like this around Bijou before,' he thought, 'She's my best friend. What's happening to me?'
"Uh, Hamtaro, you're about to fall out of your chair," Oxnard pointed iyt, Panda nodding beside him as he sipped his orange juice.
"What did you sa-" Hamtaro started, but lost his balance and starting falling out of his chair, toppling onto the ground. To his dismay, everyone at the table laughed, even Bijou managed to splutter out a giggle.
Laughing himself, Hamtaro heaved himself off of the ground and jumped to his feet, looking to have made a full recovery. Once the hysterics had died down, he brushed himself off just as the bell for class to begin went off. Many of the students in the lunchroom groaned and reluctantly grabbed their belongings when teachers and staff members approached them. The majority of the ham hams had already departed, leaving Hamtaro and Bijou alone at the lunch table.
Bijou gathered up all of her binders, hugging them closely to her chest. Pulling a strand of her white hair behind her right ear, she smiled crookedly at Hamtaro. The boy couldn't help but gawk.
"À bientôt, 'Amtaro! I vill see you een Algebra, oui?" she giggled. Hamtaro nodded meekly as he got his own backpack onto his shoulders. Bijou sighed. Hamtaro was being extremely cute and shy to her today, something rare and she wanted to treasure it. But the moment didn't last too long when one of the teachers butted into their business.
"Ribon! Haruna! Get to class now, you're going to be late!" the staff member yelled, pointing her arm to the clock. Two minutes until class began and Bijou figured that she didn't want to be late today, not right before the holidays started.
"Uh, ou- I mean yes, ma'am!" Bijou corrected herself (The last time she said something in French to this teacher, she was tossed into detention for supposedly being a smart aleck) and ran off in the direction of her next class, beckoning Hamtaro to follow her when she stopped in the middle of the lunchroom.
"I-I'm coming!" Hamtaro called out, tripping over his words a little. With a brilliant rush of excitement, he sprinted after the French girl, lungs gasping for air and his heart falling to the pit of his stomach. The only problem with this falling or sinking feeling was that Hamtaro had no idea why he had it in the first place whenever he looked at Bijou.
"Thanks for, like, taking me out to lunch, Maxwell, it was real sweet of you," Sandy said as Maxwell dropped her off at her old house with her stepfather waiting for her. Maxwell playfully saluted her as they walked onto the porch.
"And I'll see you at the Christmas party next week?" Sandy asked, out of breath as she scooted up a little closer to him. Her cheeks burned as the cold winter air grabbed a hold of her lungs and her words came out with puffs of steam.
"Of course, Sandy. Why wouldn't you?" Maxwell teased, taking Sandy's hands, surprised of how cold they were.
"And at the Olympics this summer?" Sandy squeaked. Maxwell was reluctant with his reply though, but kissed her forehead.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," he whispered into her ear and kissed her softly on the lips. Sandy was ready to throw her arms around his neck, but Maxwell parted and jogged to his car, his hand covering his right pocket the entire time. He threw the door open and quickly got inside. Beeping the horn to grab her attention, he waved at Sandy before driving off. The girl barely had enough time to wave goodbye.
Tilting her head to the side, she theorized, "Maybe he was just cold."
As Maxwell drove through this street, he let his hand feel the lump in his right pocket. He took a quick peek at the piece of paper in it, feeling the lump in his throat grow bigger. Shaking his head, he thought, Sandy's not going to like this.
SxMFan: Sorry, CFB, I'm stealing your idea of the whole "author talking to audience" thing. I have nothing to say besides the fact that this chapter was really BORING. It'll be more fun the next couple of chappies! R&R!