"Tenoh Puroko, Shinnotomo Kono!" she said irritably. "Perhaps you two can save this conversation until afterschool, when you will be serving detention. Right now I would appreciate it if you stopped disturbing the rest of the class."
If possible, Puroko's face turned even redder. She had never gotten in trouble at school before. What was she going to tell her parents?!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
As the bell rang for lunch, Puroko stormed out of the classroom without as much as a glance in Kono's direction.
"Puroko-chan!" he called after her as he tried to catch up with her. "Ne, Puroko-chan!"
She stopped and whirled around to face him. He was instantly sorry that he had pursued her. He had never seen her so angry. Her face was still red, now from fury rather than embarrassment, and her eyes were on fire.
"I have never EVER been yelled at by a teacher before!" she admonished him.
"Puroko-chan," he started weakly.
"Don't talk to me! What?! You couldn't wait 'til lunch? You just had to find out right then?"
"Yes," he looked at the ground. "I couldn't wait. I needed- I wanted to know if you�," his voice grew more and more hushed until it was barely above a whisper, "if you maybe liked me."
She blinked in surprise. But her eyes narrowed immediately after the initial shock. Miss One-Track-Mind wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily. She was still plenty ticked off at him. No, it was totally unforgivable, what he had done, no matter what his motive! And while she rarely got angry, when she did, she took a page from her papa, and was slow to get over it.
"Baka, I hate you! You don't understand! Tenshi's never been in trouble at school. Ever!" Tears began to fall down her cheeks. "I'm gonna hafta tell my family that I got in trouble and they're gonna hate me. They'll think that I'm bad, and Tenshi'll be disappointed in me, and� and�," she sniffed and wiped some of her tears away. "I'll never forgive you," she said before pushing past him and running off.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Puroko was upset and confused on so many levels that she didn't know what to do.
She had never thought about the prospect of dating before. Naturally, she assumed she would date and had watched with interest as Tenshi courted Neko, but she never had really considered the logistics of it - who she'd prefer, boys or girls. And certainly, she was unsure how she felt about whether Kono liked her or not. He had been her best friend forever!
Puroko sniffed and leaned against the side of the stall. It wasn't fair! She hadn't done anything wrong! But she still felt guilty for getting in trouble.
She began to cry again. Tenshi would never have gotten in trouble. She could charm her way out of anything. All Puroko wanted was to be cool and mature like her big sister. But that was such an unreachable goal. Tenshi was calm and elegant. The best Puroko could hope to be described as would be bouncy and cute. She was nothing like her.
Now she was going to be the bad sister as well.
She didn't hear the bathroom door open, but soon she was aware that someone was out there. "Hello?" the other girl called.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Amber followed Crystal's directions and teleported herself into the west ninth floor girls' bathroom. She looked around but didn't see the young girl - Puroko, she reminded herself - anywhere.
*'Kay, Crystal. Where the hell is she?*
From behind one of the stall doors she heard someone sniffing. "Hello?" she called. "Are you okay in there?" The girl continued sobbing without answering. "Hey, are you okay?!"
"�be fine." The answer was so mumbled, it was hard to hear.
Amber hated it when kids cried. And this had to be Puroko. "Hey, don't cry. It'll be okay," she promised.
Something she said must have helped - or maybe Puroko had just cried herself out of tears - because before too long, Puroko quieted down and emerged from the stall. Her eyes widened when she saw who she was talking to. "America-san!" she cried, unable to recall the girl's name at the moment.
"You're the girl from recess," Amber said as if she had just now recognized it was her. "Puroko, was it?" Puroko nodded. "What happened? Why are you crying?"
Puroko wiped her red eyes and tried to look happier in front of the exotic new girl. "It's dumb," she said softly. "Forget it."
"As long as you're sure." Amber smiled at her sympathetically. "Have you had lunch? I'm starved!"
Puroko brightened at the idea of getting to hang with the older girl. "Me too!" she exclaimed. She couldn't eat with Kono and her normal group of friends, but if Amber wanted to be her friend, that'd be awesome!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The two ate by themselves in the busy cafeteria. Puroko's lunch had been prepared for her, but Amber had had to buy the special du jour. She didn't mind much, she just wanted to get through her assignment. "Hey, Puroko? Why don't you come over after school today?" Amber asked, hoping that it could be over this quickly, not to mention that she'd get to spend more time with the cute nine-year-old.
"Honto?!" Puroko looked so excited at the prospect, but her enthusiasm seemed to disappear almost as quickly. "I can't. I have detention." Amber couldn't help but notice how embarrassed the young girl seemed at this confession, but the truth was that Amber didn't actually know what detention was. "And then I have to go to my flute lessons."
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