Peach Girl Fan Fiction ❯ The Beating of Sae ❯ Kiley's discovery... ( Chapter 9 )

Chapter 9 - Kiley's discovery…

 

“Yo, Kiley! You coming with us to play basketball?” his friend Ryosuke called out to him as he walked down the hall after school.

He shook his head and smiled half-heartedly. “Nah, I got stuff to do.”

Ryosuke shrugged and waved, then wandered off into the crowd.

Kiley ran a hand through his dark hair. What was I thinking? I should've known the second Toji got back from the hospital Momo would be with him. And now… He sighed heavily. Now that Sae's been exposed, they'll… argh! He shook his head to clear his unpleasant thoughts. Momo's feelings came first. So what if she liked Toji instead of him. He couldn't do anything about it. He could only be there for her when she was down, help her out when she felt like she didn't have a friend in the world, love her from afar… He sighed again. Why is life so freaking complicated? I would do anything for her, yet everything I do do ends up blowing up in my face… or driving her closer to him…

He suddenly found himself spinning and falling to the floor. Someone had just dashed by and crashed into him and was now scrambling to get up. As soon as they were on their feet, they took off again. He put a hand to his head to stop the stars and looked up but the person was already halfway down the hall. They were a girl and looked almost like… “Sae?” he asked aloud in a whisper. What the hell? Wonder what's up with her.

“Hey, need some help?” a silky female voice asked him. He turned and saw Momo's friend Rinshai extending her hand to him. He nodded and smiled and gave her his hand. She helped him stand and shook her head. “What happened to you? A truck hit you or something?”

“Nah, a short haired girl, about…” he indicated with his hand a little under his chin, “…yay high, with two feet, legs… you know… unusual.”

Rinshai lifted an eyebrow and made a face. “Sure.”

Her redheaded cousin Miraki walked over to them and smiled at Rinshai. “Oh ho! I catch you flirting with Momo's guy now, do I?”

Rinshai rolled her eyes and Kiley blushed slightly. He grinned and dusted off his pants. “Yeah, yeah, the ladies can't keep their hands offa me. It's sad really.”

The dark haired girl lifted an eyebrow at him and the redhead just started laughing.

“Well, thanks for the help Houshin-san.”

“Please, call me Rin or Rinshai if you must, but not Houshin-san… it's too formal,” Rinshai said, shaking her head and putting up a hand.

He nodded and smiled. “Sure, okay. If that's what you want.” He scratched the back of his head and turned to the side, catching sight of Momo's blonde hair a few feet away from them. His eyes darted around quickly and fell on his friend Kikaio Mamoru. She was standing talking to some other girls and he rushed over and hugged her from behind. She gave a surprised squeak and whapped at him. “Oh god, Kiley! You scared me!!” She began to giggle as he started to tickle her.

He whispered something in her ear and she started laughing. He turned his head slightly and caught a glimpse of Momo walking by. She stopped a moment to look in his direction and he turned back quickly. He removed his hands and leaned up against a locker, flirting with Kikaio and her friends. When he looked up again, Momo was gone and Rinshai and Miraki were looking at him strangely. They looked off toward the direction Momo had left and looked at each other curiously before walking off after her. Apparently Momo hadn't even stopped by them to say hi.

Kiley wondered for a moment if maybe what he had just done had upset Momo. He shook his head and said goodbye to his friend. She blushed pink and waved. Jeez, I can be a real idiot when it comes down to it…and after… argh! What am I doing? Have I really gotten this pathetic? He sighed and walked down the stairs toward his locker. Gee, I'll just make her jealous… yeah… Moron! “Crap.” He ran his hand down his face and opened the locker to trade books with it. He had a test the next day and knew he wasn't going to get a bit of studying done that night. He would be thinking about Momo the whole time. “Damn.” He shoved his head in his locker and leaned his forehead on his stack of books. I'm an idiot.

“Hey… hear… Momo… bathroom…. ley… more…” Part of a conversation floated over to him and he strained to hear what they were saying. He didn't want to take his head out of the locker for fear of the people spotting him.

“No way! They… bathroom?!… kissi… sex?!… Kiley?!… about… Toji? Isn't…”

What the hell! Someone saw us in the bathroom? How… but the janitor… The voices drifted off and he pulled his head out slowly. He looked toward the direction that the voices had gone and saw two girls walking away laughing. He stuffed his books in his locker, didn't bother to pull out any and slammed the door shut. He ran in the direction of the janitor's office hoping with all his heart that Mrs. Kidiochi hadn't said anything to anyone. It was bad enough there were already rumors about Momo and him kissing a while back ago. If anyone found out they were in the bathroom together, no matter how innocently… Oh shit… this is really bad.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, Momo!” Miraki called out to the blonde as Rinshai and her were walking toward the bus stop. They had caught sight of her right after school but she had brushed by them on the second floor and they had lost her in the crowded hall. She had looked troubled then and when she turned now, the cousins could tell that she had something on her mind.

They weaved their way through the throng of students waiting for the bus and were finally able to get close to her.

“What's wrong?” Rinshai asked when they were within earshot.

“Yeah, you just ignored us in the hall back there.”

Momo turned a bit red, shook her head and plastered a smile on her face. “Oh, it's nothing, don't worry about it. And I'm sorry. I didn't even see you guys in the hall.”

Miraki made a fist and shook it. “If it was that Sae again, I'll do a number on her. She'll regret the day she picked on one of my friends.”

Rinshai sighed and rolled her eyes. She turned to Momo. “Well, at least she got the name right this time.”

The blonde nodded and her face relaxed a bit, a small smile forming on her lips. “Thanks, Mira. I appreciate you trying to cheer me up.”

The redhead struck a bodybuilder pose-arms in the air with both fists closed. “Hmph. That… is what I am here for.” She struck another pose (generally called the “thinking man” pose-one closed fist on the forehead and the other arm stretched to the side, fist closed as well… it's weird but try it out… it works).

The other two stared at her, giant sweat drops sliding down their foreheads. Rinshai pulled out a giant paper fan and whapped her cousin across the head with it, knocking her on the floor with swirly eyes.

Momo couldn't help but giggle. She had forgotten how much fun the cousins were, for a few seconds her problems didn't seem so heavy.

“Hey! What'cha do that for?!” Miraki screeched when she got up.

Rinshai's eye twitched. “People were starting to stare, you moron.”

“And? I'm supposed to care what people think?? It got Momo to laugh didn't it?!”

Momo's eyes widened as the cousins continued to argue. Her eyes became misty. She was so lucky to have such loving and caring people around her. Miraki and Rinshai were always trying to help her out by making her laugh or by talking with her about her problems… and Kiley… She swallowed back the lump in her throat. No, I'm not going to cry… not going to cry… Why do I want to cry? What was it that made her think of Kiley all the time? Why was she having this problem choosing between Kiley and Toji? There shouldn't be a problem. She shouldn't have to choose. She loved Toji… she'd loved him ever since junior high. And now… now he had actually gotten out of Sae's trap and was finally seeing the truth… Then why did she feel so… torn?

“…mo… hello, Momo?” Miraki's voice invaded her thoughts. “H-huh? What?” she stuttered while shaking her head. She had time to think things over later, and she had promised the cousins to talk to them after school. She decided to invite them over to her house. “I'm sorry, what were you saying?”

Miraki raised an eyebrow. “Oh, nothing much… we just had an entire conversation thinking you were paying attention but now I see you were daydreaming about Kiley again.”

Momo's face flamed red and she quickly glanced in every direction to see if anyone was paying attention to what they were saying. She shook her head violently from side to side and whispered fiercely, “No! No! I wasn't…shh. Don't say things like that out loud… people can hear you.” She was right you know, her brain whispered to her. Shut up.

The cousins laughed at Momo's red face and then all three turned as the bus arrived.

As they climbed in, Momo asked if they would like to come to her house. They nodded and said they had nothing better to do… except homework.