chapter six

jurassic park

"Guys, this is Sakura. My best friend entire the entire fucking universe." Yasushi proclaimed proudly, throwing his arm around my shoulders while my face heated up. Everybody was now paying too much attention to me. I wanted to be included in conversations, not the center of them. Although I could talk about myself for days.

"Oi, Sakura!" The noisy one in the middle, the one in the garish white and black shirt, stated. "Aren't you wearing one of Yasushi's jackets? That makes y'all a little more than friends, if you ask me."

I had literally no idea if I should be offended or not, but my Anxiety Defense System- patent pending- kicked into overdrive. "First of all, fuck you. Second of all, I paid for this jacket, it's mine, it stays in my closet. Yasushi just thinks it's funny to go around stealing all of my clothes."

"Sakura, cool it. "Yasushi warned. "You're safe, Fujio's just being a jackass." He narrowed his eyes at the boy who had spoke. "Like always."

So that was the famous Fujio Hanoaka. With his shit-eating gin and horrible fashion taste, he was almost exactly how I had pictured him.

The one with the pastel pink braids laughed, extending his hand for a fist bump, which I awkwardly gave. "Tsuji Morita." He said, introducing himself. "If any of these cockwombles give you trouble, just give me a shout and I'll kick Fujio into next week for you."

"Excuse me!" Fujio balked. "Who are you calling a cockwomble?"

At the sound of that word, the entire group collapsed into laughter, me included. It was nice to fit in this easily with a new group of people, especially of the opposite sex. You don;t get many quality interactions like these when you go to an all girls school.

"Hold up, hold up." Nakagoshi said through fits of laughter, holding his hands in the air. "Tsuji, what the fuck is a cockwomble?"

"No idea." Tsuji laughed. "I read it in a book."

After everybody was finished laughing at Tsuji's liberal use of the word 'cockwomble', the introductions concluded with a few stragglers who had come over to join the group, Toya Shiratori skillfully whipping a plastic beer pong ball at the back of Fujio's head, thus creating another uproar.

"What are we all doing sitting around?" A boy named Nakaoka, who didn't look like he was even old enough to be drinking himself shouted. "Somebody get the lady a drink!"

"I'll take a pass, thanks. I don't trust whatever was in that keg." I was right not to trust it. Who knows how much saliva was on the nozzle following the numerous keg stands performed in the forty-five minutes since I had been on the premises.

"That's probably a good judgement call" A soft voice speaks from behind me. I turn around, coming face to to face with the most beautiful teenage boy in the entirety of the Oya Township.

Tsukasa Takajo is like a living, breathing Greek god. His hair is so blonde that it's clearly bleached, some of the dark color showing through at the roots. His brown eyes were soft, and they had a way of making me feel seen in this hellhole. His smile lit up his entire face, a feeling of warmth spreading though my chest when I realized his smile was directed at me.

He passed me a glass beer bottle. "Take one of these, tamper free, I assure you. And if that's not your thing, I'm eighty percent sure there's a three-liter bottle of Sprite around here somewhere. Nakaoka couldn't even carry it inside properly."

"Oi!" Nakaoka shouts from behind Tsuji "What o you mean I could barely carry it?"

"Because you're short." Yasushi answered matter-of-factly

Shibaman raises his plastic cup towards me, messily clearing his throat before talking. "So what does a girl like you do to end up somewhere like this? Don't you go to that fancy ass-girl's school in Hope Hills?"

I rolled my eyes, taking a seat on the surface of a worn out, spray paint-covered wooden picnic table, resting my Vans-clad feet on the bench before taking a looong swig of beer. Of course, that was a shitty idea seeing as how I've never had anything stronger than convenience store Sprite, which is more syrup than water. Choking back a cough, I answered with this: "I smashed a couple of garden gnomes and got myself grounded. My mom is dating one of the part-timers, and here we are. This is punishment."

Kiyoshi burst out laughing. "You're the one who did Old Man Kubota's garden gnomes? Mad respect, man. Mad respect."

"Thanks," I said shortly. "I think."

Tsukasa moved to sit next to me on the picnic table. There was no pressure to hold a conversation, just comfortable silence as the other full-timers nattered on behind us. Shibaman offered up his phone, queued up with a video of Yasushi and Fujio marching down graffiti-covered, partially destroyed hallway with their arms around each other, screaming out the words to a Bon Jovi song. I hollered with laughter, setting everybody else of on either a trip down laughter lane, or in Fujio and 'Sushi's case, disgruntled mumbling and whining.

As the minutes moved along, some of the guys attempted to make small-talk, filling me in with stories of the kind of chaos one can imagine happens somewhere like Oyaokou, and Tsukasa seemed to specifically take an interest in me, asking me little things about my life. Of course, none of my stories were even half as interesting as the ones the full-timers were telling.

"What the fuck is this!?" Shibaman shouted abruptly and at the top of his lungs as a heavy metal song began to play over the speaker system, Midori Yamada grinning like crazy as she and her boyfriend began to dissolve into a fit of laughter

"My ears are bleeding!" One of Tsukasa's friends, a literal Micheal Jackson look-alike, screamed covering his ears with his hands as I burst out laughing.

"Still you can cry if you need there's just one more thing" I began to sing along quietly, not wanting to give all of my cards away jsut yet. Even though I seemed to be melding okay with the group, I was still a little bit worried that they'd judge me.

Conversation was beginning to get back on track, albeit some of the faction leaders being drunker, and the added fact that some people had resorted to screaming in order to be heard over the music.

Nakaoka gagged, pointing over at Midori and Murayama. ""Dear god, mom and dad are making out again!"

Midori didn't even look up as she sat in the gang leader's lap, his hands roughly gripping her body as they practically devoured each other, throwing her middle finger in the air.

Tsukasa tapped me on the shoulder, leaning in close to whisper something to me. He smelt nice. A Bath and Body Works scent, if I wasn't mistaken. Ocean. It was a scent I could definitely get used to smelling, and it was perfect on him. "You wouldn't happen to know how to play beer pong, would you."

I raised my eyebrows. "Do I look like I know how to play beer pong, Takajo?"

Tsukasa laughed. It was a beautiful sound, not exactly manly but not boyish either (although his charm and good looks could be described as such), and it made my stomach lurch. Part of me wanted to always be the one that made him laugh like that.

Be quiet, Sakura. Not only is he out of your league, you swore off Hope hills boys after Takahide!

I didn't want to listen to the devil on my shoulder, but she had a point. I turned to look for Yasushi, only to find him laughing an joking with a squadron of YasuKiyo kids. So much for being here to support my anxious self.

I turned back to Tsukasa, a slightly uneasy feeling in my bones. "I'm a quick learner, though."

Tsukasa grinned, reaching for my hand. His fingertips were soft, softer than I imagined for someone who went to school where fights broke out amongst everybody, pretty much daily. His hands were warm, seeping into my bones and warming my bloodstream. "Junji!" HE shouted, getting the attention of the Micheal Jackson look alike. "Grab Nakaoka, I'm teaching Sakura how to play beer pong!"

Turning to me, he lowered his voice. "Junji and Nakaoka are two of the worst beer pong players here. With a little bit of practice, we'll have you kicking Fujio's ass in no time."

I grinned, giggling slightly and then internally cursing myself for that sound. Did I seem too desperate? My hand was still encased in his, but neither of us made any move to separate as we moved towards the beer pong table.

We spent what felt like forever practicing. The cups were filled with water and placed at both ends of the table, Tsukasa guiding my movements, gently holding on to my waist and my wrist as he taught me how to through the weightless neon plastic ball down the metal table. I took my first throw, watching the orange ball ping off the table, bouncing right back up into one of the red cups, sinking into the water with a plunking sound.

I cheered, childishly jumping up and down as I clapped for myself, turning to see Tsukasa smiling fondly.

I wanted somebody to look at me like that all the time.

We kept going, some of the other full-timers swinging by to offer their suggestion, even Fujio-king-of-beer-pong-Hanoaka himself offering a few pointers here and there before standing on a picnic table and whistling with his fingers in his mouth.

"Hey Midori!" He shouted "Remember how I said that I'd challenge you when I wasn't half dead and hungover? That time is now!"

I turned to Yasushi. "This is going to be good, isn't it?"

"Sushi grinned eviliy. "She's gonna kick his ass."

And kick his ass she did.

NOTES!!

MY LOVES HAVE MET EACH OTHER