Straying into my heart - Chapter One
Chapter One : Curses
“May I borrow your eraser for a second, Chinen?”
The polite question startled me from my note-taking. I froze, immediately recognizing his gentle voice.
“S-Sure,” I managed to whisper back as soon as I regained control of my surprised self.
Daiki Arioka smiled, his sweet, lovable smile, and my heart skipped a beat. The thudding in my chest grew only louder still, as he swiftly reached over to my desk, grabbed my eraser before the teacher could notice, and secretly nodded me his thanks.
I felt so… special.
Daiki knew my name. He actually knew I existed. And moreover, he had asked me, over everyone else around him. He asked me. He spoke to me. For what felt like the first time in my life, blissful happiness overwhelmed my senses. Glancing over to my best friend, Yuto Nakajima, sitting across the room from me, I spotted a devious grin spread wide across his face as he noticed my cheeks were blushing pink due to my brief encounter with my crush. He knew, of course, that my heart was pounding, my thoughts were racing, but he only smiled.
At that point, I couldn’t do anything but smile back.
~~
“I saw that,” Yuto had yet to wipe the smile off his face as we walked together on our way to our next class.
I giggled, like a stupid school girl. But I couldn’t help it. I wanted to shush him, but I couldn’t. I was just way too happy.
But Yuto didn’t let me off so easily “So what’d Daiki say to you?” he probed curiously. “Does he even know your name?”
“H-He does!” I insisted immediately, so very proud of the truth. “He definitely knows my name.” I answered defiantly, with a nod.
“Well, that’s an important first step,” Yuto laughed lightly. “So what did Daiki say to you, Chii? You still haven’t told me yet!” he grinned excitedly, his eyes glowing. Call it Yuto’s childishness, his supportiveness, his friendliness, whatever, but he really was just very curious.
And out of my kindness, of course, I decided to submit to his request. “He asked me if he could borrow my eraser,” I replied smugly. The second I spoke, however, a badly-concealed snicker sounded from behind us. Annoyed, I turned around, ready to yell at whoever it was that had been listening in to our conversation.
“Oh, it’s you, Keito,” I rolled my eyes, welcoming my friend with a not-so-welcoming grimace.
“And a good morning to you too, Chinen,” Keito Okamoto smiled, waving hello to Yuto as well. “So I’m guessing you really did have a good morning then, ironically enough. Right, Chinen?”
I smiled back arrogantly at his words, not bothering to hide my immodesty. He was a realistic one, this Keito. So naturally, he wasn’t as ardently supportive of my heart-fluttering admiration for Daiki as perhaps Yuto was. But somehow, everything still always worked out among us, and Keito and Yuto had been my two best friends for years now.
“You bet,” I nodded happily.
Keito laughed and Yuto joined in soon after. “So what have you been up to this morning, Keito?” Yuto asked once their laughter had subsided.
“Not much. But I heard that we’re starting a partner project in Biology today. It’s something about making a poster and presenting it to the class. You want to be my partner, Yuto? I would ask you, Chinen, but since you’re in a different class period…” Keito shrugged offhandedly, but a slight smile couldn’t be hidden from his face.
I smirked. Something was up between him and Yuto, and as much as Keito, Mr. Having-Crushes-On-Guys-Is-Dumb, tried to hide it, I was determined to uncover his secret.
“Sure,” Yuto replied cheerfully. He didn’t seem to notice Keito acting all different around him, but that definitely was not because Keito was any good at hiding his emotions. Instead, it was probably just because Yuto was a little too naïve for his own good. Just a little. But that’s what we all liked about him anyway, so usually I was willing to forgive him for not noticing some minor details here and there. When it came to Keito, however, it only made me want to laugh harder at how bad Yuto was at noticing something strange about one of his best friends. Yuto was just such an innocent kid. (Even though he was practically two heads taller than me… )
Keito smiled broadly at Yuto’s agreement, and they immediately launched into a discussion about what topic to choose for their project. I, on the other hand, slipped away, and headed over to my next classroom. Oh wait, that was Biology. Wracking my brain for any memories of what friends I had in my class, I tried my best not to lose hope when all I could think of was Daiki.
Daiki was in my Biology class, but I had to face it, there was no way he’d just so happen to be partner-less. Daiki was such a friendly, fun, nice, caring guy, I’m sure someone out there will have grabbed him first, like Keito did Yuto. I sighed.
The rest of my class soon began to pour in, and as soon as Daiki walked in, I straightened in my seat at my desk, trying my best to smile in his direction. He wasn’t looking though. Instead, he was talking to two of his friends, Ryosuke Yamada and Kei Inoo. I sighed again. I knew I had been thinking too much, rejoicing in Daiki’s speaking to me. I hated to admit it when Keito was right, because it usually just meant he was crushing my dreams with reality. But at that point, I admitted, Keito was right. Daiki probably didn’t really think much of me at all.
Soon, the teacher, Mr. Inohara, began to start class, and he came across the topic of the new project we were being assigned. The topic was to be related to Ecology, and the groups were to be divided into two people in each. As soon as he said this, the class roused into chaos, with friends trying to grab each other before their prospective partners were claimed. I merely sat at my desk, not really knowing who I could grab onto. I knew who I wanted to be partners with, but I couldn’t actually tell Daiki that.
Patiently, I waited, praying silently that by some miracle, Daiki would end up alone, and I could be his partner. Before long, Mr. Inohara called our attention back to the front of the classroom, and he surveyed the results of our partnering to see who had been left behind. First, there was me…. And then there was….. “Ryosuke,” Mr. Inohara stated in a satisfied tone. “Good, so since we have an even number of students, that means, Chinen, you can work with Ryosuke. Now everyone, I want you all to go sit with your partners so you can begin discussing your project ideas.”
Why? I wanted to ask in denial. I was just so close to getting Daiki, but why did I have to end up getting landed with one of his closest friends? I cursed under my breath, but luckily, Ryosuke didn’t notice as he sat down in his new seat, beside me.
“Hi,” I tried smiling kindly.
He didn’t answer. I saw his eyes glance over at me, and his chest heave up and down with a silent sigh as his eyes then drew away, as if disappointed by what he saw.
Wow thanks. I wanted to kick him. This was going well, I thought sarcastically to myself. First, I don’t have a partner. Second, I didn’t get partnered with Daiki. Third, I got stuck with this jerk. Great.
“I’m Chinen, Chinen Yuri,” I tried again.
He scoffed. “Isn’t that a girl’s name?”
I frowned. The first words he says to me - an insult. I was seriously getting irritated by him, so much so that I wanted to just demand Mr. Inohara to let me change partners. But my pride wouldn’t let me.
“No. What, is yours?” I attempted to counter. Of course, that was a really weak counter, though, but I couldn’t think of anything better, so I braced myself for further attack.
His only answer came in the form of rolling his eyes at me. He probably thought I was being childish. Which, although was true, annoyed me even more.
“Do you want to work on this project or what?” he finally sighed, turning towards me with a displeased expression on his countenance. “Hurry up and choose a topic already.”
“You choose then,” I couldn’t believe this was happening. Why was he being so uncooperative?
He rolled his eyes again. “I don’t care.”
“Me neither,” I retorted defiantly.
“Fine, then we’ll just do whatever Mr. Inohara assigns us. Happy?” he asked, with no intention for me to answer.
No. I wanted to scream at him, but I knew that then, Daiki would notice. I had to remember I had to be nice to Ryosuke; he was friends with Daiki.
After a few minutes then passed in still, torturous, silence. “What’s your problem?” I couldn’t help but blurt out my demand. “What do you have against me?”
“What? Nothing. What are you talking about?” he seemed to snap out of a daze as he tore his eyes away from Daiki and back over to me.
“Mad that you got abandoned by your friends?” I guessed.
“What, no, I told Daiki and Kei they could be partners,” Ryosuke frowned. “I’m not angry at them. Or you.”
“Right…” I didn’t believe him at all. “Would you rather be with Kei?” I waited to test his reaction before I added, “Or with Daiki?” But at the mention of Daiki’s name, Ryosuke’s eyes glared threateningly over at me, as if warning me to stop.
I gulped. Curses escaped inaudibly from my lips. No, not Daiki… Why did he have to like Daiki…?
~~~
A/N: Oh gosh, it has really been a while since I've embarked on a JUMP multichap fic... o.o Hopefully it'll turn out all right! xD Right now, I've pretty much introduced all the characters I'm planning on including, except for maybe one... but otherwise, I won't be adding any more HSJ members into the story (for sake of keeping things less complicated? xD) The best part about this fic, I wasn't even planning on writing it today, but then I got inspired. Yup, inspired. By yamachii. LOL! I never thought magazine scans would make me want to write yamachii so much, but if you've seen the October Wink Up scans from this year, you probably can understand why. so much yamachii... x3 hahahaha but of course, I couldn't just leave it at that, so if you couldn't guess already, I will be throwing in some Okajima and Inoodai into the mix, and a possible secondary pairing for Inoo, which may or may not be included later. (I'm not making any promises yet, because I have to properly weave him into the plotline before I can know for sure I will be adding him into the fic... but I'm working on it, so planning should hopefully be finished soon!) And regardless of how much time passes, comments are always love! <3