Fake Fan Fiction ❯ Never Had a Boyfriend ❯ School Day Blues ( Chapter 9 )

Legal Disclaimer - Well…I still do not own FAKE. Would I be writing a FANfiction if I DID own FAKE? NO….

 

 

Author's Note - Okay, I'm finally gonna update. Yessir…I have motivation now. I have…er…what's this story again?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 9 - School Day Blues

 

 

Dee was late to homeroom, but fed Mrs. Lasor-Martin this big-ass lie about how he had gotten his coat stuck in his locker and then the locker jammed and he had to get some kid to go get this other kid to get this teacher to go and find this other person who could find the janitor and tell him to go and look for the keys that would open the stupid piece of crap and by the time that happened, the bell had already rung.

 

She gave him the evil eye and a look that said: if-that-is-a-lie-and-I-find-out-you-are-going-to-be-in-some-serious-shit-yo ung-man-and-don't-think-I-can't-find-out-because-I-can-and-I-will. Therefore, Dee just smiled and nodded, afraid that if he got figured out Mrs. Lasor-Martin would kick his sorry little ass; Ted and Drake snickered at him from their little corner in the room. And when she left the room, Ted and Drake asked Dee what he was really doing.

 

“Well, I was making out with my boyfriend, RYO, of course,” Dee declared loudly, making sure it reached the ears of the eavesdropping Berkley Rose.

 

And the rest of the class (who had either ignored or not heard Dee's statement) was then trying to understand why on earth Berkley had just thrown a desk across the room.

 

 

^_^;;

 

 

In art later that day, as Diana rattled on and on about that really hot senior guy as Ryo and Dee talked quietly on what they were going to do about JJ. They glanced over at him from across the room and noticed that he was sitting silently by himself in the corner, leaning over his project while looking deep in thought.

 

“What are we going to do?” Ryo asked; eyes downcast.

 

“I dunno. Maybe we should give him some space,” Dee suggested.

 

Ryo sighed and looked over at JJ helplessly. JJ looked up for a moment, his blue eyes hollow and empty on his pale face. It was a dead stare; a truly saddening gaze. JJ then looked back down at his project, his hands moving gracefully across his paper yet his eyes seemed distant and far away.

 

“We need to help him,” Ryo said.

 

“But how?” Dee asked, flicking the cap off his purple marker.

 

They looked at each other and then at Diana across from them. Dee shook his head and Ryo nodded in silent agreement. She noticed their actions and appeared confused.

 

“What? Is there something on my face?” Diana asked, touching one of her cheeks with her finger while looking totally clueless.

 

“Yeah, take off the mask. Halloween was over two months ago,” Dee replied dryly.

 

“Only if you take yours off first,” Diana said coldly.

 

“Oh, ouch. I've been burned,” Dee cried sarcastically, holding his chest.

 

By this time, Ryo got up and just walked away, not wishing to hear the pair squabble again. He went over to the materials table and looked like he was doing something that would benefit his project.

 

“Just who do YOU think YOU'RE calling a SEX FIEND?!” Dee shouted, scaring several people into running away from Dee and Diana's table or scooting further and further away from the deranged students.

 

Ryo shook his head and went back to looking through the different materials. He looked up over at JJ a table away. He noticed that JJ's whole project seemed to be many beautiful shades of blue and green. Ryo watched as JJ shook one of the green markers trying to get the ink to come out on to his paper. Ryo found that color on the materials table and grabbed it before walking over to JJ's table.

 

“Here,” Ryo said, handing the cyan-haired boy the marker.

 

“Thanks…” he mumbled, accepting it without looking up.

 

Ryo stood there for a moment, contemplating on what to do.

 

“Um…I like your project; it's coming out really good,” Ryo started again.

 

“I guess…” was the murmured reply.

 

The Japanese-American felt shot down again, wondering how he could approach the subject gently.

 

“Can I sit down?” Ryo asked.

 

“If I said `no' would you go away?” JJ asked, a little bit of spite in his voice this time.

 

“I don't take hints that well,” Ryo replied, with a small grin as he took a seat next to JJ.

 

“I can see that…”JJ said, and went back to his project.

 

Ryo sighed loudly and bowed his head.

 

“Look, JJ…” Ryo began; they both sighed simultaneously.

 

“I'm sorry,” they both blurted out at the same time.

 

Ryo blinked a couple times, staring at the lavender-haired boy in disbelief.

 

“What do you have to be sorry for? It's all my fault,” Ryo said.

 

“Not really. I'm to blame too,” JJ replied, looking down. “I should have realized that Dee and I…well…he's already been taken so…”

 

“You mean…you didn't even know…about me and Dee that is?” Ryo asked, still astounded.

 

“Not until the other day when I heard it in the hall…I didn't believe it…but you both…well…confirmed the rumor this morning,” JJ said, beginning to work on his project again, his cheeks burning.

 

“I'm sorry. I didn't want you to find out that way,” Ryo replied softly, wringing his hands.

 

“I should have known from the start really. The way he looked at you and everything. At first I thought it was just because you are a hell of a lot better looking than I am…but then I realized that you guys had a thing so…” JJ continued, stopping briefly to change colors.

 

“Yeah, well it doesn't really matter anymore. Because I kinda…like someone else now…” JJ finished, bowing his head to hide his blush.

 

“Really? Who?” Ryo asked.

 

“Do you promise not to tell?” JJ inquired, looking up at Ryo with flushed cheeks.

 

“I promise,” Ryo said.

 

From across the room, Dee looked over at JJ's table and noticed that he and Ryo were sitting there. JJ whispered something in Ryo's ear and his eyes widened in disbelief.

 

“Are you serious?!” Ryo cried, beginning to laugh in spite of himself.

 

“Shut up! Don't be so loud!” JJ said, practically crawling under the table to avoid all the curious stares.

 

After Ryo recovered from his little fit, he leaned close to JJ and they both started to whisper frantically to each other as if they had been best friends since grade school. Every now and then he would hear one of them laugh hysterically before going back to their little secret conversation. And by the end of the period, it was as if Ryo and JJ were the best of friends.

 

“Thank god that's over…” Dee thought, grabbing his stuff.

 

“Ooooh…Markie-pooh…” Diana squealed from behind him.

 

Dee looked behind him and saw Diana desperately trying to get through the crowd of students on her crutches.

 

“What is the point of using those things? Really. It's not like you actually hurt yourself,” Dee said to her.

 

“No matter how true that is, the school board doesn't know that. Just as much as they can't tell the difference between my mother's signature and my mother's forged signature. Plus, I get to sit in the office with Mark during all of 8th period….ahhh…good times….” Diana murmured the last part as she “crutched” away.

 

“What people do for love…” Dee thought.

 

 

*-*

 

 

Since the JJ problem was then gone and passed, Ryo felt considerably better. He didn't have to carry a large weight around on his shoulders reminding him that he had just ruined someone's life. But then that brought Ryo back to his previous problem that he had experienced earlier that day. No one remembered (or even knew) that he was turning seventeen that day. He couldn't still quite grasp the fact that no one even recognized his birthday. Ryo felt a little bit of his high fade away.

 

“I'm being selfish,” he told himself, and kept walking.

 

Ryo's aunt and uncle were still in god-knows-where. But they hadn't even called him to wish him a happy birthday.

 

“They could be in a different time zone,” Ryo mused to himself, taking a seat at an empty table in the library.

 

Ryo frowned. Why did he care so much? It was just his birthday…no big deal…right? So what if they forgot? He was only getting another year older, why need to celebrate it? He wasn't a little kid anymore. He didn't need a party or presents…but they still could have called…

 

“You're making too big of a deal about all of this!” Ryo screamed at himself in his head.

 

But he felt so small…so unimportant. It was as if no one even cared about him anymore. Nobody really cared about some lonely little kid with low self-esteem on his birthday. Nobody really cared that Ryo would have to go home to an empty house. Nobody really cared that he worked two jobs, went to school, and did all the chores around his home. Nobody really cared at all. But people were supposed to care on someone's birthday, right?

 

“Hey, Ryo. Are you okay, man? You've been spaced out for like…twenty minutes now,” Dee asked from beside him.

 

Ryo jumped; he hadn't even realized that Dee was there in the first place.

 

“Wha-? Oh, yeah. I'm fine,” Ryo said quietly, looking back down at his math homework.

 

He scolded himself quietly for being so vulnerable in front of Dee. He had to keep up his wall. Ryo knew that he couldn't break down again. He just had to keep going. He just had keep going and not think about it anymore. No more.

 

“Ryo?” Dee asked softly, pulling Ryo out of his stupor.

 

Dee put his hand over Ryo's, giving it a small, warm squeeze of comfort. Ryo felt his lower lip begin to tremble, but he held back the tears. What good was it crying? Was that going to make it all better? Would that stop his pain? No. Crying never solved anything. Ryo straightened his back then forced himself to smile and squeeze Dee's hand back as a sign of reassurance.

 

“Are you okay?” Dee asked; his voice was so gentle and caring.

 

“Yeah. I'm okay. Just a lot to think about right now for me,” Ryo replied.

 

He then realized how his words had been spoken in a strangled sort of voice and that his sentence had been in fragmented, very poor English.

 

“Ryo?” Dee wasn't buying it.

 

“I'm fine. I've just got a lot of stuff on my plate right now,” Ryo answered, his voice steadier, his mind a lot clearer.

 

What's the point of crying anyway? He remembered that when his parents died, he cried a lot. But did it help any? Did it bring them back? Did it bring him solace? Did it make the pain go away? No. Crying did nothing. It was a useless and pointless exercise that took up a lot of energy. They were gone, they were never coming back and no tears could help the situation look any better.

 

“What's wrong?” Dee pried, still a gentle tone in his voice.

 

“Nothing. Please don't worry about it, Dee,” Ryo said, pulling his hand away so that he could continue on with his homework.

 

If he didn't get his homework done then he'd have to wait until after his shift at the restaurant and that was late. It then registered in his mind that it was winter break, so his homework wouldn't be due until they came back in January. But during the break he was working double shifts at the restaurant at night. During the day since the day-care would close, he probably do some odds-n-jobs for people before Christmas.

 

He actually got Christmas Eve and Christmas day off at the restaurant so that he could spend time with his aunt and uncle when they came home. Plus he'd have to decorate, go get stuff to make Christmas dinner, maybe a small Christmas tree…and he'd have to go shopping too! And bake and wrap the presents that he bought. And straighten up the house and…there were so many things to get done!

 

Then he did the math in his head. In order for him to be able to pay bills off double shifts at the restaurant plus the small paycheck that he got from his aunt and uncle every month (though they still didn't realize that in New York, you could not live for only $600 a month) he would have to work another extra shift plus whatever he got from those odd jobs. The presents would be small, not extraordinary, but still pretty nice.

 

Ryo then realized that he had been scribbling down all the figures that had been floating through his mind; Dee was looking at them curiously.

 

“Correct me if I'm wrong, but we are in the same math class right?” Dee said suddenly, turning the paper towards him. “Where'd you get all these weird numbers?”

 

“Nowhere,” Ryo replied, quickly grabbing the paper back from Dee before he got suspicious.

 

The last thing that he wanted was to just break down in front of Dee again or worse, for Dee to find out. He didn't want to be thought of as a sissy who couldn't do anything. He could take care of his own problems without involving anyone else.

 

“So, what are you doing over holidays?” Ryo asked, changing the subject; he hid his emotions deep within himself as Dee answered.

 

“Well, Lynda and Jess want to do the whole traditional thing with the tree and the lights and the tinsel and the fact that you have to wear red and green EVERY day. Then again, maybe it's just Lynda who wants all this,” Dee murmured the last part, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

 

“Yeah, and then there's gonna be that and then they're gone for New Years. Both of them are headed to Time Square to see the ball drop. I'm stayin' home and gettin' jacked up on some cheap champagne and let the good times all roll out!” Dee finished by singing the last line like the Scissor Sisters; Ryo smiled.

 

“What about you? Got anything major happening?” Dee asked curiously.

 

“Oh, you know. My aunt and uncle are coming home and we're going to have a little celebration on Christmas. And then they're going to spend the night and leave first thing in the morning to head to Mongolia,” Ryo replied, detached.

 

“Oh,” Dee said, somewhat down.

 

A moment of silence passed between them.

 

“Hey, on New Years…do you wanna come over? I mean, it'll be boring for you to just sit around and watch the ball drop all by yourself won't it?” Dee suggested.

 

“Um…” Ryo thought hard.

 

He couldn't remember if he had to work or not that night.

 

“We'll see. I don't know what's going on that night,” Ryo answered, going back to his homework.

 

“Whaddaya mean? You just said that your aunt and uncle were gonna jet after Christmas so that means that you'll be all by yourself until we get back from break,” Dee said.

 

“I'm used to it,” Ryo replied, keeping his head lowered.

 

He paused at question five; all the figures on the paper were beginning to blur together. Ryo willed himself not to cry. He didn't want to cry in front of Dee. Not again. Tapping the end of his pencil on the table, Ryo sniffled slightly, hoping that the sound would be drowned out by the tapping noise.

 

“Well you should still come over! Come on! It'll be fun,” Dee said, putting his arm around Ryo's shoulders.

 

That was enough to make Ryo want to break down right there. He wanted to have Dee embrace him and tell him that everything would be okay. He wanted Dee to stroke his hair and tell him that he cared. He wanted Dee to kiss him again and to wipe away his tears. He wanted Dee to make him smile so he could forget about the empty, wistful feelings in his heart.

 

Instead, Ryo closed his eyes and took a deep breath, fighting those longings with all his might so that he wouldn't be turned into a sobbing child. He forced a smile; it was painful, but it was a smile at least.

 

“Yeah. I'll come over,” Ryo said, and went back to his work.

 

“Awesome!” Dee replied happily, giving Ryo a quick kiss on the cheek.

 

For a moment, all those horrible feelings disappeared and Ryo smiled a real smile. It felt good to do something for himself for a change.

 

 

^_-

 

 

After that period, they had lunch and both Ryo and Dee headed over to their table where Ted, Drake, and JJ were waiting for them. They were all whispering feverishly together and smiling somewhat evilly. Obviously, some poor, unsuspecting victim was going to be the guinea pig of some elaborate scheme.

 

“What's going on?” Ryo asked as he and Dee took their seats.

 

“Nothing,” all three of them chimed at the same time.

 

Ryo raised an eyebrow and Dee cocked his head to the side, giving them a questioning glance. Ted raised his eyebrows and made some type of motion with his hand. Dee's brow furrowed and he made a gesture of questioning back at Ted. Drake leaned in and made another motion with his hands that looked like something to do with a pointed hat.

 

“Are we playing Charades?” Ryo asked, clueless at whatever they were doing.

 

Ted, Drake, and JJ looked at Dee and made all sorts of motions with their hands; Dee stared dumbfounded. Ryo scratched his head.

 

“Are you guys trying to be mimes?” Ryo inquired.

 

All three continued to make ridiculous movements with their arms and legs and other people who they grabbed who had been walking by. Dee held his hands up in questioning.

 

“What the Hell is going on? This is seriously scaring the shit out of me,” Ryo said, watching them.

 

“Hey, Ryo. What's that, over there?” Ted asked, pointing across the room.

 

Ryo turned to look. Drake hit Dee over the head with his empty water bottle as Ted leaned over and whispered “party” in his ear. Dee nodded and rubbed his head where a welt was beginning to form from that mighty hard whack that Drake gave him for being a dunce.

 

“What? I don't see anything,” Ryo said, turning back around to look at them.

 

Now, all four boys were smiling and miming to each other. Ryo sighed and got up to leave. He just didn't have the patience to deal with their stupidity at that moment.

 

 

*_*

 

 

Ryo calmly went up to the third floor boy's bathroom to take a moment to relax. He was stressed beyond belief and that was what was making him so vulnerable to crying. Ryo knew that he needed to just take a moment to calm himself, just enough to get through the rest of the day. Then he could go home and clean excessively, which helped him unwind and focus his scattered attention to something constructive instead of persistent worrying.

 

He breathed slowly and deeply, leaning over the sink with his hands on either side of it to balance himself. Ryo then opened his eyes after a moment. Gazing at his reflection drove him back into his mode that he liked to call “freak out mode.” His eyes were dull and outlined by dark circles that had recently decided to make the underneath of his eyes their new home.

 

Turning on the faucet, Ryo cupped his hands and gathered some water, splashing it on his face. When he looked up again, his face was paler and his eyes looked a lot glassier. Ryo looked down and clenched his fists along the sides of the sink. He willed himself not to cry over his appearance. He willed himself not to cry over the fact that no one cared it was his birthday. He willed himself not to cry that he was probably going to be alone on Christmas. He willed himself not to cry at the thought that everything looked so dark and lonely. He willed himself not to cry over the thought of Dee leaving him someday. But his will wasn't strong enough this time.

 

And Ryo began to cry.

 

 

T_T

 

 

After Talk with The Random Queen:

 

Okay, this took me forever. Initially, I had this written, but then forgot about it o_0 and then had to add a couple things here and there. It took a while…almost a year? Ackt…sorry about that everyone. Been so busy recently with work and school and being lazy…yeah…my bad.

 

About the Characters………………………..

 

Yes, JJ is all happy again. I really don't know why he is in this fic, but he is. I seriously hate to write his character because I just suck at it. However, perhaps it will get easier as he…well…you'll see.

 

Oh, dear. I'm picking on Ryo again. It's so much fun though. I think it's just amusing to do it too. You'll all have to understand that I'm a very sadistic person when it comes to writing. It's basically all like the person will suffer a lot and then be very happy. I dunno. I guess it's going from one extreme to another to show change?? Well, I dunno. I'm just…whatever…what the hell am I saying anyways?!

 

Since I forgot about this story, I can't remember what Berkley's plan was nor Diana's. So…I'm just going to have to make it up from whatever I gather from what I've written…and that's bad…so…I'll have to pull all my notes and stuff from this fic and hopefully find something that clues me in on what they were going to do. Unless, of course, I didn't know what they were going to do, which is highly more likely than me actually knowing what I was going to write about. Heh…

 

Parting Words and The Bribe:

 

Okay, I don't know if you all remember, but if you review, I'll give you something nice. Like…candy. Yes, candy! You know you want to review! Please know that all flames will be laughed at and used to roast my Geometry textbook.

 

I will try to update sometime before Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanzaa, whatever. Oh, and I don't remember if I said this before, but please remember I AM NOT BIAS OR ANYTHING, BUT IN THIS STORY, MENTIONS OF THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY ARE MENTIONED—actually, scratch that—WEIGHED HEAVILY UPON AND IF YOU ARE OFFENDED IN ANYWAY, PLEASE—um…eh…--DON'T BE OFFENDED!

 

So, please leave me a nice review!

 

 

~The Random Queen

 

Thanks! And see you soon!