InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Incubus Ambition ❯ Fainting Spells ( Chapter 3 )

ANOTHER DAY OF UNCOMFORTABLE HEADACHE AND nausea. Her brain thudded against the inside of her skull. Kagome honestly did not feel like pushing herself out of bed this morning, but curiosity betrayed her physical feeling and dragged her to school. Alex wasn't in school the day before, if he had been she wouldn't be here.

She laid her head on the desk. The stomach ache wasn't really as bad, and neither was the headache, but the entire scene from the other night dripped into her mind, actually the dripping never ceased, it was the only thing she could think about.

Why was he out walking around in a dark alleyway by himself? That is kind of creepy if you ask me. Yuri interrupted her thoughts when she attempted to quietly ask Samantha a question.

“What's wrong with Kagome, is she sick?” her tone was worried and Kagome sighed when she sensed that Yuri had gotten a shrug from Samantha in response. She was sure that Yuri was going to turn on her next to ask her the question herself. Before she had to deal with a, `loud-mouth to sensitive ear' situation she looked up. She squinted her eyes as the light flooded in from every direction making her eyes water.

“Don't worry I'm fine, I just don't feel well.” She croaked out and then set her head back down on her arms that were folded onto the desk.

Yuri gave Kagome an understanding nod and rubbed her back, “you didn't feel well yesterday either, why didn't you stay home today?” she asked then put her attentions back on Samantha when Kagome didn't answer right away, once again interrupting her book reading.

Kagome shrugged her shoulders and tightened her leg muscles wincing at their soreness and wondering where this soreness had come from in the first place. She sat there, trying to think back to any illness's that had gotten their tenacious hold on her friends because that way it might have clung itself onto her, then she tried to match up the aching symptoms.

This pain is like a mix of hangover, post-major work-out day, and a menstrual period . . . .

Her head hurt in reaction to loud noises (like Sean's annoying interrogating), and her eyes had a hard time handling the light (like when Yuri felt it was necessary for interrogating). Then her legs, arms-slash shoulders hurt as if she just ran three miles and lifted a bunch of weights.

She questioned herself, maybe my, `time of the month', will be coming sooner than I thought?

Kagome sat through a long period of English and started to feel much better by the end of her first few classes. When science came around and her teacher brought out some abnormal specimens Kagome returned to step one. She made a quick excuse to leave class. Saying she could not deal with the threat of her stomach forcing out the little food she could down since her suffering began and then asked the teacher if she could possibly wait in the nurse's office instead. The teacher nodded quickly and slightly waved her hand towards the door leaning over completely absorbed in the presence of a jar that contained some type of alligator fetus. Kagome wrinkled her nose at it and turned around heading out of the room.

After meandering around the hall for a while it finally hit her. She had grabbed a bottle of painkillers from the cupboard before leaving the house earlier that morning. She had been in such a fuss about not feeling well that her mother demanded that she at least take a bottle of drugs to school. Her mom tried to get her to stay home for the day but Kagome persisted over and over again that she could not. Kagome inwardly kicked herself for forgetting such an important thing that her survival depended on at the present.

Kagome would instantly agree to a chance at staying home any other day, but she had to see Alex, he had acted so—friendly. It was weird—to her at least, she hadn't even talked to him before last night. Unless you want to count the almost inviting stare he had given her a few times in first period, or was that just her imagination? Anyway, that does not include as a conversation so it doesn't matter.

Eventually, she made it to her locker. It sat in an empty hallway. She took a few minutes to try and remember the combination. After about ten unsuccessful attempts she sighed and whirled in one last guess: '39, 4, 17'. She closed her eyes and breathed in praying that it might be the one to work, then tugged at the metal lock. It did not budge and in response she let out a `humph' and a kick to the bottom of the locker making it rattle for a good two seconds

“I don't think that's going to do you any good,” mumbled a voice in her ear. She gasped, spinning around to meet the handsome face of Chris Griffith. She took a second to consider his last name, which she never heard of before, at least not until her study hall when their teacher croaked it out.

“Oh, hey Chris, what are you doing wondering the halls?” she asked, breaking herself away from her thoughts.

“Nothing, I didn't feel like going to class,” he gave her a mischievous smile.

“What a trouble maker!” she joked but didn't have much room to talk since she was skipping out on Biology. She got serious when she saw that her lock still had a tenacious hold on itself. Chris noticed her quick change in attitude and followed her heated gaze. He took the stubborn thing in his palm and speedily twisted the knob back and forth. He gave it a tug that made the lock click open with ease. Kagome's eyes widened and then she gawked at him, slightly irritated.

“What the heck . . . how'd you get my locker open?” She said as she pointed an accusing finger at him. He stood there innocently looking down at her and her threatening finger; the lock clasped in his large hand.

Chris reached over and wrapped an ample hand around hers, lowering them both. She blinked, surprised by his touch, thinking too excessively into it.

“What were you coming out here to your locker for anyway?” he asked after a long pause. He looked at her with a warm smile on his face and then turned to peer inside of the metal casket, still holding her hand in his.

“Uh,” she blushed. Why is he so straight forward? The hand thing made her forget what she had come out to get in the first place. He gave her a patient stare waiting for her to continue. “I came out here for my, uh—my medicine,” she finally pushed out.

His facial expression changed from patient to a mix of interest and worry, he dropped her hand; letting his own fall to his side. She frowned inwardly at his action with dissatisfaction, wanting his warm hand to swallow hers once again.

“Really, what's the medicine for?” he asked.

Kagome sputtered a defense. “It's not a prescription, I'm not really sick. I'm just not feeling well at the moment,” she said moving her now free hands in the usual gestures that all girls had to use when explaining anything of importance to them. “My head hurts—well, actually everything hurts,” she whimpered, “and I came out here to get some pain medicine, but then you snuck up and distracted me from achieving my goal,” her face melted into a pout.

Chris laughed aloud at her and she countered it with a glare.

“Kagome, I'm sorry that I stood in the way of you and your pain-relieving drugs,” he expressed stepping aside and directing his hands toward the locker in a butler-like fashion. “It will never happen again,” he looked up at her and grinned as he went to lean up against the neighboring locker. His self-righteous aura was almost contagious.

Kagome smiled at him and shook her head.

“Even though I did open the locker for you, beating the poor thing didn't seem to help you—or it, very much,” he said administering a sympathetic look towards the locker, and leaned over to give it a pat.

She ignored him as she dug around for her pills. Her head was hurting her more than ever now. Her face must have shown it because Chris became bothered again with worry.

“Kagome, maybe you should sit down,” he all but suggested, wrapping a firm but gentle arm around her lower back. Someone then cleared their throat and both Kagome and Chris looked towards the sound. At the end of the hallway stood a beautiful redhead, her hair was in loose curls and not a single strand was out of place. Kagome froze when a memory went off in her head like a siren. It was when the angel-like teen erupted in response to the instigating Alex that stared towards her from the other side of the cafeteria room with his teeth bared. Chris dropped his hand away from Kagome and she looked up at him in worry.

“What do you want Ayame?” Chris asked in an exhausted voice and Ayame shook her head at him. “Funs over,” Chris mumbled to Kagome. She couldn't believe he was making fun of the situation! She by no means needed drama this early in the school year. Ayame was clenching her fist with a pained look on her face.

“I hate you,” she said just loud enough for him and Kagome to hear. She then turned away and disappeared out of their sight. Kagome was a bit shocked, but mostly relieved.

Chris stared at his feet for a few seconds before shrugging off the scene and turning back to lead Kagome to a bench that sat in one of the gaps between the lockers. “Now, tell me where these magical pain-killers are and I'll grab them.” He gave her a nervous glance, “because you're definitely not looking good.”

Kagome smiled, “thanks, that's just what I needed, a `put me down',” she joked with him even though she still felt extremely uncomfortable. Kagome looked up when he did not say anything. He stood there with a bottle of water and a small container of pills, lying side by side in the palm of his large hand. She looked at him questioningly and took them out one at a time. She was not going to attempt to take them both in one as he had done.

She gave him a suspicious look, “that was fast,” she said and then popped three pills into her mouth. She took a swig from the water bottle all while still staring in his direction.

This guy is definitely different. Kagome thought to herself with a feeling that something was not right, her face twisted in thought as she broke her stare to contemplate it. Kagome's train of thought was derailed when Chris gently squeezed her shoulder.

“Hey, aren't you supposed to take two, not three?” he asked cocking a smile, but all of a sudden his friendly manner changed and he turned his head slightly with a disturbed look. Chris dropped his hand away from her shoulder and then took a step away from her.

“Yea, but I really don't feel well.” She mumbled, not looking up at him to notice the sudden change. Her head started spinning and she grabbed hold of the bench for support. Chris knelt down in front of her and started rubbing her arms.

“Hey May, you alright?” he asked distractedly. Kagome put her head in her hands and took a deep breath in.

“Uh, yea, maybe I should have just taken two…” she mumbled. Chris stood up and walked a distance away from her. She lifted her head and watched him. “Where are you going?” She asked. He opened her locker again and threw in the water and Tylenol.

“Don't worry, I'm not guna leave you hangin'” he said and smiled at her, she began to feel considerably better. Chris didn't walk back over but leaned up against her locked locker with his arms crossed. The questions that had been following her around since she first ran into Chris made themselves known that very instant and Kagome couldn't help but blurt out a question.

“Can you please tell me what that was all about just a minute ago,” Kagome asked feeling a bit rude for being so forward. Chris's demeanor hardened and she could tell that he did not want to talk about it.

“I guess I'm obliged to tell you some of the story since you had to see that,” he mumbled before Kagome could tell him to just forget about her even asking. “Ayame and I were meant to be together forever,” he started, “but an occurrence happened some time ago that destroyed our relationship.”

“What happened?”

“I found her in the arms of another man,” he said. Kagome nodded, not knowing what to say, she wished she could console him, but she didn't know how. “She says even to this day that she thought it was me, but I don't know how one can make such a mistake,” Chris's knuckles cracked as he clenched his fist together. He chuckled.

“I don't know Ayame at all, but it does seem as if she is the one at fault here,” Kagome said to him.

“It's hard to forget something like that,” Chris said sadly and then his face hardened again. “Kagome, Ayame is a very jealous person and you need to avoid her at all costs.”

Kagome didn't know what to say to this sudden warning, it took her by surprise and all she could do was nod. “Okay.” She said before standing up. “I don't know what came over me but I feel much better now,” Kagome said through a weak smile. Chris looked her frame up and down and then nodded without saying a word. “But, uh, thanks for helping me out Chris, I really appreciate it.”

“Yeah, no problem, I'm guna go though. So see ya,” he said with a wave of his hand and a smirk. Kagome eyed him up as he walked away. He and Alex might not like one another but they sure do act alike.

A few days passed before Kagome could have the chance to take Chris's warning seriously. The bell rang as Kagome was walking down the hallway and then turned the corner towards the cafeteria. At the same time Ayame turned out of the doors ahead. Kagome slowed her pace and tried not to stare, as the angelic teen walked silently towards her in determination. Kagome remembered Chris's warning and her stomach contracted with the thought of the most precious red gem making its way towards her for some particular reason, and she found herself starting to prepare for whatever was coming.

The beautiful girl wasn't even looking at Kagome. She was instead, looking straight past her as if there was none other than her herself walking in the hall. Before Kagome knew it, the red head was passing right along by, leaving a sweet trail of scent that Kagome had never experienced before.

Kagome deliberately brought herself into a quick pace again. I thought that girl was coming at me for sure. The expression she wore made me want to run in the opposite direction as if I was her prey. A clip played itself in the back of her mind revealing the redhead on all fours ready to pounce; kind of similar to something you would see on the Discovery channel. She shook her head and smiled with the ridiculous assumption.

Then, the angelic female stopped short and abruptly turned as if she had seen Kagome's inner thoughts. Even though her back was facing towards the gorgeous young woman, Kagome could not help all but see the teen's stare dig into her back. She winced as that unsteady feeling that she had experienced days before travel through her body. Kagome stopped dead, hesitating for a split second and then reluctantly rotated around to meet the girl's stare with her own; Kagome's eyes widened in surprise when she looked down the hallway to see that there was no one there.

Chris was not in lunch, and neither was he in Kagome's study hall. Oddly enough Alex had seemed to have also disappeared. She could not remember if he had been in English that morning or not. Her heart sank and she yanked out a chair that was near her group of friends who crowded themselves around one semi-large table.

“Hey, Kagome, are you alright? You're not looking so good,” asked Hojou in an overly worried voice.

Kagome shrugged. “No, I'm fine,” she wasn't lying, she felt so much better compared to how she was feeling the week before. “Why wouldn't I be?”

Hojou smiled at her and then shrugged one of his shoulders in return, giving her a look of deep admiration and Kagome couldn't help but to return it.

The day droned by after her lunch period, she had eaten a couple saltines with the traditional chicken noodle soup, and to her surprise; began to feel even better. Her mood became light and she actually had some interesting conversations with her friends.

Linda had beaten Kagome home by the time Yuri dropped her off at her house. When she entered the kitchen, her mother had already sat herself at the table. She was looking over the zodiac page in the paper. Two plates overflowing with yesterday's take-out sat in front of her and an empty chair at the table. Kagome's mom decided on Indian for the weeks meals since the Chinese lady at the `China Wall restaurant was so hostile.

“Good evening, daughter of mine. How was your day?” her mother asked when she broke away from the paper, and directed Kagome to join her.

“My day was great, thanks.” Kagome sat down at the seat her mother directed her to. Kagome stuffed her mouth full with noodles, she hadn't noticed until now how hungry she had been all day long. Therefore, she had to fill that belly up! Kagome continued to eat until her mother yanked away the empty cardboard containers.

“I'm guessing you need some lunch money?” she asked with a disgusted face, thinking that Kagome had not eaten lunch today for that exact reason. “You devoured all of that Indian food!” Linda said as she threw the containers into the big, brown, paper takeout bag and dropped it into the garbage can. “To think that that was supposed to last the week!”

“Oh—yea, sorry mom,” Kagome said after she swallowed her food, a little embarrassed about how much she'd eaten, she hadn't even recognized how much she downed until her mother gathered all of the box containers up and conspicuously dumped them into the trash. Her mother gave Kagome a weak smile in return.

“Its fine, I will just have to cook tomorrow, and you know how much I hate that,” Linda said with a laugh. Kagome smiled at her.

“You want me to? Because I do not mind and it is my bad for eating all of this week's take-out.” Kagome could not help but to chuckle at herself.

“You know what? That sounds like a good idea, you sure you can handle inventing a dinner for two?” Her mother asked this as if Kagome was going to be testing a science project on her, with a probability of an array of different results and deadly symptoms that were likely to follow.

“Yea mom, I think I can handle it.” Kagome rolled her eyes and then let out a yawn while reaching towards the ceiling in a stretch. “I'm going to watch the tube for a bit—then it's bed time for this girl.”

Linda grabbed the remote and started flicking through the channels one by one. Different faces, pictures and events flickered as each station skipped on by. A newscaster hovered in the screen long enough for the word `investigating', to voice itself through. Kagome sat up straight and pointed at the TV when her mother changed it absentmindedly.

“No, turn it back, turn it back!”

“Okay, okay,” Linda mumbled, not especially interested in the news but obliged anyway.

The newscaster continued, ironically with the same story Sean had been blabbing about early that week:

Officials of the community are frantic about the reoccurring deaths of this last week. Police investigators did suspect that a wild animal had attacked the first two victims that were found dead in a field two days ago, who had appeared to be mauled to death. Moreover, the killings continue, another has been discovered dead in a rural part of the community of Hapsburg. An elderly woman who witnessed the killing from the second floor of her home stated: after seeing a shadow of what looked like a human body come after a teenage girl in the dark of night, she immediately called the authorities. Specialists found no new proof about the killer in the autopsy permitted by the family. The young teen's name was Susie Grant—a seventeen-year old straight 'A' student at Stoven Grove High school. With this witness's report the police are now calling this homicide instead of animal attack. It is only ten miles away from the first two deaths and police officials suspect that it is the same culprit and that he or she will act again very soon on the same premises. I hope that these kids did not loose their lives in vain and the police solve this case quickly. . . .

The woman news reporter switched over to a man news reporter who continued on, friends and family of Susie Grant appeared on the screen, talking about how decent of a person she was and hoping that the murderer will be locked up as soon as possible. Multiple pictures appeared of Susie Grant before her death. Parents of the kids that were friends with the girl exclaim that they are now setting curfew for nine o'clock requesting that all other parents that care at all about their children to do the same. Authorities backed up the parents requests and are going to begin enforcing a new curfew law stating that anyone under the age of eighteen must be inside their homes by nine in the evening until the homicide cases are solved.

Kagome froze as her mind flashed back to the alleyway beside the Chinese restaurant. Her mother then changed the television station to some type of cheesy show about an array of people competing for fame. A person killing but making it seem like an animal attack. What happened in that alleyway!

THE NEXT DAY IN SCHOOL KAGOME COULD NOT keep still; she was anxious and could not help from fidgeting around she was tapping her pencil constantly. She was impatient for the moment Alex would arrive to class. She went all last week without bringing any type of conversation up with Alex about the alleyway. The bell rang and a few students who had taken their sweet time getting to class filed in. Yuri, being one of them, sat herself by Kagome and smiled over. Her heart sank when she realized that Alex was not a part of the group that had just entered the room.

“Hey are you feeling better today?” Yuri asked in a sweet tone. Kagome quickly smiled over at her. She used the excuse of not feeling well that weekend to skip out on hanging with her friends.

“Yea, I am actually, thanks for asking,” her eyes darted back towards the empty exit impatiently. When the teacher started to call the names of the students Kagome began bouncing her legs up and down by the balls of her feet. Alex's name was first on the list and then the teacher slowly droned through the rest of the names that consisted of the twenty or thirty students in her classroom.

Finally, he coughed and announced, `Alex' once again. He sighed and shook his head. Alex likes to miss a lot of school. After a short pause, he repeated himself and looked up, sending a searching glance around the room. A few kids joined in, looking curiously around, most of them were girls who peering hopefully in search for the handsome boy. It hit Kagome then that she wasn't the only one who thought Alex was perfect. She watched the group of girls as they put their heads together and start to gab, looking up at Alex's vacant seat in the corner of the room. She could not help but ask herself inwardly if they felt as strong about him as she did.

She then felt completely belligerent. Kagome had seen this person once or twice a day a few times a week and talked to him a total of one and she was already considering him as a perfect specimen to have a secret crush on like a girl in grade school. Yuri tapped Kagome's shoulder. “Freaking that boy Alex never comes to class!” she hissed but Kagome could see the gleam in her eye. Kagome felt ridiculous, this Alex hay wagon was filled a long time ago.

She then laid her chin on the palm of her hand glancing back and forth between the girls and the exit. When Kagome was about to loose all hope the door of the classroom swung open and Alex walked with a steady, quick pace into the English room.

“I'm here, I'm here,” he said in that low honey covered voice.

“Late again I see,” mumbled the teacher. Kagome shot up, giving a thorough visual examination of the perfect human specimen who had just walked in. She immediately began to process different ways of starting a conversation with him that considered the night of their encounter in that dark alleyway the week before.

Her thoughts always caught her off guard nowadays. What am I thinking? She inwardly asked herself. First, I'm finding out that I'm extremely obsessed about this kid because he makes my heart sing and my breathing cut short even when he gives just a glance in my general direction. Second, he shows up, out of nowhere in a dark alleyway—which is creepy—but alluring in a weird fetish kind of way. Thirdly, i start to get anxious when he doesn't show up to school? C'mon, this is getting a little bit ridiculous; kids are absent every single day!

Kagome shook her thoughts away and reluctantly took a glance back at Alex.

He was staring back at her, Kagome's heart immediately rocketed and she could not escape the high of knowing that maybe he was thinking about her just as profusely as she was about him, thus proving her one, two, three point. The teacher began to speak and Kagome swiftly took in a deep breath to try to set her mind on the matter at hand.

Eh, on the other hand, I'm not going to worry about how I feel—not just yet at least, she smiled and looked toward the board as the teacher gabbed on about vocabulary words and different books that the class will have to read through the first grading period. Kagome gave up on concentrating on his teachings. Soon she lost herself in thought again; thinking of the boy that sat in the back of the room.

The bell rang, ending class. The students gathered their books and hurriedly rushed out of the room, pairing together to gossip about others and to discuss assignments. Kagome was not as quick to jump out the door. She made the excuse of having to talk to the teacher about a new assignment when Yuri and Samantha asked if she was coming. They nodded and walked away together, starting to chat it up about the same subjects everyone else was talking about.

She slowly picked up her books one at a time while Alex rose himself from his seat. Kagome noted this and turned anxiously which made her newly assigned book slip out of her hands and clunk onto the floor.

Ugh, figures, she thought angry with herself for ruining her own plan by dropping a book. Now she can never hope to catch up to the god in disguise. When she leaned over, another book bit the dust, she stomped her foot in frustration and rolled her eyes completely irritated. Fed up with herself she dropped all of her books in defeat.

“Do you need some help?” Alex asked in a mocking tone—then, ruling out his question, he leaned down to pick up her books and handed them to her. Kagome stiffened and then tried to organize them. It clicked in her mind that he must have been watching her little show.

She blushed. “Err, thanks Alex,” she said. He was wearing a black short sleeve T, his hair, once again in that messy style. He was watching her patiently as she checked him out without even realizing it.

“Where's your next class?” he ordered more than asked. Then he turned and looked back at her expectantly.

She stared at him not knowing what to do; she could not believe that she would be walking down the hall with this gorgeous teen at any minute, the perfect moment was for the taking! He gave her a confused look, turned around and then leaned towards her. He slipped the books out of her hands and started to walk away very nonchalant. He glanced back at her with raised eyebrows as if asking if she was coming or not. Kagome blinked and then nodded, still not adjusted to what was going on, she almost asked him, just to make sure, but bit her tongue instead.

“So, how is school going for you--” he asked in a conversational tone but hesitated, “what is your name?” She melted at the sound of his voice. She found herself stumbling over her words again when responding to his simple question.

“I, um—it's . . .” she hesitated, “Kagome,” she breathed out, closing her eyes and tried to get control of the sentence that was falling out of her mouth in little bits and pieces. “It's a lot better than what I could have ever imagined,” she stated with a smile, looking off into space, thinking about Chris, and the wonderful man walking beside her. She would have never met these amazing people if the schools had not decided to merge. She looked up when Alex stopped walking not noticing that they had arrived in front of her locker.

“This is your locker right?” he asked when he noticed that she looked a bit perplexed.

She nodded. “It is, I just have to get out my locker combination . . .” she started for her pocket and yanked out a small scrap of paper with three numbers scribbled onto it. Alex looked at her with an expression heavily implying that she was crazy.

“You have to carry your locker combination around with you?” he asked skeptically. Again, she blushed, but shrugged the question away with a short answer.

“Uh, yea—ha-ha,” She twirled the code into the lock and yanked at it, once again it refused to budge for her and she repetitiously became completely irritated with herself. Kagome was about to reenact the violent fight scene: Kagome verses the locker, that Chris had interrupted the week before, but Alex seemed to notice that this particular show was coming.

Kagome's eyes widened in confusion when she realized the paper had disappeared from in between her fingers. Alex spoke when she began to look around for the thing and then realized that he snagged the small piece of paper out of her small hands.

“Here, I'll just put it in real quick, so you're not late for your next class.” He said this as if he was trying to make her feel better about herself for not being able to handle opening a lock on her own. She was about to protest, but his smile made her words catch in her throat. She ended up just nodding in frustration and taking a step away, as if he was going to have to perform a magic trick to get the item to detach from itself.

“I have government studies,” she mumbled and then shrank a look away when he, just like Chris, slipped the lock loose and opened her locker with extreme ease.

It's not like it is hard to twist the lock thing around and have it click open, I always have to have the worst luck and look the most stupid doing anything, she thought in her head and she went to dig into her already messy locker. By the time she turned her gaze towards her locker Alex had already gotten her notes and book out for her Government class; holding them in a firm grasp. Kagome stared at him uneasily and slowly reached for them.

He shook his head.

“I'll carry them,” he moved the stack behind his back when she tried to snag them from him anyway. She gave up quickly and followed as he walked in the direction of her next subject. He was so at ease, carrying her book and notes around casually in one hand which hung loosely at his side. She could not help but stare, just like every other time he came around. This was a completely new experience; and it is not as if any other teenage boy had not tried to pull a move that resembled this exact situation before; but with Alex, it was somehow completely different. He was entirely cool about it, as if he did not really care about the consequences . . . or maybe it was the opposite, he does care and he is doing all of this because he is expecting some consequences or rumors. Whether or not they will be good or bad she decided that she will just have to sit along for the ride and hope for the best, and hopefully it will be the best thing that will ever happen to her. Kagome's thought raddled around inside with her other already jam packed brain-thoughts.

Why is he being so nice? We are so unfamiliar with one another. Why does he even give me a second glance? Compared to the girl that sits with him at their table—she'd one-upped me a very long time ago; at least when it came to look and dress she has. I can't say I know about the personality part but I have never met the beautiful girl face to face. She tried to consider the female's personality. Like usual her thought process was broken, she did not mind it though, because it was being broken by Alex.

“Hey, quit thinking so much,” he demanded. “Here are your books, and try to pay attention in class,” he said in an exasperated tone. He seemed to know everything about her, as if they had been friends forever. She decided that she must just be oblivious to how obvious she must make her own actions, because Chris also seemed to be semi-aware of her consistencies, as if he could easily see the variety of emotions swimming across her face when she thought. They also had the uncanny ability to always know what she was going to do. . .

Kagome felt wonderful through her class and every one after that, she actually paid attention and answered questions. Her friends bugged her—but it did not exactly annoy her, and she replied to them with ease. He didn't go out of his way to talk to her afterwards but just that few minutes had her high, it was a little bit embarrassing. But then she remembered:

That bastard didn't even know my name!

To her complete surprise he didn't stay away for long. Two days later lunch came around and Kagome perked up, doing her usual scan for Chris and Alex, but she did not know her curious friend watched her actions. Kagome ducked away from an all too much-excited Yuri, who squeaked—rather than whispered in her ear.

“You're looking for Alex. I just know it!”

She hadn't known that Yuri was following her around, but now she did, and she had to be caught looking around for a guy that she was head over heels with and he only started speaking to her for real the other day. She was already regretting telling Yuri everything, but she couldn't have helped it, now that Alex had publically talked to her Yuri brought him up in every subject, and Kagome's truths came out like word vomit.

“No, I'm not—,” she tried to lie.

“Yes you are, c'mon, can't you talk to me anymore?” Yuri asked puffing out her lower lip in a pout, “It's not like no one noticed you two walking down the other day,” she whipped her hand around and around in the air, “he was carrying your stuff and you had that flustered composure you always get when you have a crush on someone—but I don't blame you. He is so, so hot! Definitely go for him before he slips through your fingers.” Kagome sighed when Yuri was finished, her friend was using too abrupt of hand movements and it was distracting her.

“You know all this because I told you,” She mumbled as she took up searching the cafeteria for Alex again but he was nowhere in sight.

“Was he mad about something?” Yuri asked.

Kagome looked over at her friend in confusion, “he didn't seem to be mad about anything, why?

“Oh, I don't know he looked so serious when you were walking down the hall,” Yuri said with a flick of her wrist, Kagome trailed behind her friend.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Yuri said and glanced back at her friend, “that he kind'a looks like he might be a big jerk!” Yuri said this as she wagged her pointer finger.

“No, he wasn't being rude,” Kagome started but then stopped herself when she thought back to their conversations together. He did use a lot of sarcasm, Kagome thought `and he didn't act like he actually wanted to walk with me. Actually, he acted as if he was forced to do it! Like a bet! Kagome hit her head in embarrassment, she felt so pathetic for thinking that Alex would actually talk to her. “I'll be careful,” Kagome said in a low tone to Yuri before they continued walking.

They arrived at their large table together and Hojou glanced up at Kagome. There was a conspicuously empty seat waiting for her beside him, all the other chairs were conveniently taken—except one, but Yuri was a good enough friend to take that it, leaving Kagome to fend for herself. She sat down reluctantly and played around with her food while he went on and on about sports and asking her the usual conversational starters, but they were shot down instead of answered with a more inviting tone, she used a short, `yea, `cool', `no way', and `hmm' in response. She knew he was going to try and wheedle in the question: Hey seasons almost over, want to go to Homecoming together?

So before she could let that happen she escaped, using the excuse to throw away her half-eaten food. Kagome got up and walked away, leaving poor Hojou to laugh it off and finally turn back to his friends.

Alex snuck up on her from behind.

“Hey, Who's your friend?” he said indifferently, looking back at Kgome's table where Hojou sat.

She shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes.

“He seems pretty interested in you.” Alex said raising his eyebrows but still not seeming too interested. Kagome looked back and forth between her table and him. Hojou looked up at her and his smile quickly faded when he saw Alex. Alex did something strange then and moved to take her tray with one hand and put his other gently on the small of her back.