CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 7

“Open the door, Megumi, I got you some yakisoba!”

After about five minutes or so, the door opened slowly and Sango saw the bags underneath Megumi’s eyes.

“Yakisoba?”

“Yes, I made you yakisoba, fool. Let me in,” Sango pushed through the door, accidentally knocking Megumi over. She didn’t seem to care as she charged into the room unloading her bag, school books, plates, utensils, soda cans, dress, and papers all onto the middle of Megumi’s room. “You didn’t come to school today, so I brought you some food.”

“Thanks, Sango,” she whispered and sat on the ground trying to sort out the mess that Sango had just made. “How was school today?” Megumi said hoarsely even though they both knew she didn’t want to know.

“Well,” Sango breathed. “I was thinking about being nice to Hanawa but I decided since he was being so mean to me, I’m keeping this dress. Do you want to see? It’s so pretty!” She grinned taking out the dress and showing Megumi. Megumi didn’t reply, leaving Sango to realize that Yuki’s name was something she didn’t want to hear. She frowned and repeated herself. “I’m not asking you about Yuki yet, but this dress is really nice isn’t it? I think I saw it in a magazine somewhere (1),” Sango spoke in awe. “That makes my collection of high fashion brands go up to two now!”

“Sango, what happened today?” Megumi interrupted. Silence fell upon the two and the Anna Sui girl stared at the dress then at Megumi and sat on the ground with her. She hadn’t seen Megumi look this withdrawn for the longest time. It made her a little bit scared that Megumi was so serious about this, letting a first-year boy get to both of them. “You look like you made it back in one piece.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t hard. Yuki said he liked me but I don’t believe him.” Sango began to divide the yakisoba between them. “Arata and Ayumi were together. They’re going to eat lunch,” Sango rolled her eyes. “I’m happy for Ayumi I guess but she’s being lead on too easily. Anyway, Arata told me that stuff happened on Saturday that I don’t know about and he implied you and Ayumi are trying to cover it up.” Megumi didn’t answer and stared at the yakisoba instead. “As far as I know, Megumi, I passed out. I doubt Hanawa would rape me in my sleep then give me his mom’s dress...” she paused. “Actually, that’s sick. That’s really sick—”

“No, you don’t need to worry about that,” Megumi dropped her head and curled her arms around her lower stomach. “I’m sorry, I should’ve known that you wouldn’t have done anything. I don’t know why I thought...”

“Thought what?”

She took a deep breath and mumbled almost too quickly for Sango to catch her words. “...I slept with him after you passed out, because I thought you slept with him.”

Sango froze and waited to absorb the meaning of her words. Seriously? Seriously? Seriously? She asked herself, dumbfounded by Megumi’s revelation. “Why? Why would you do that? Hanawa is a first-year. Do you think I would’ve done anything with a first-year? Did you think I would’ve done anything with anyone even if they gave me a dress?”

“I was drunk too, okay?” Megumi glared defensively. “I was upset that you probably slept with him. Now that he says he likes you though, what the hell,” she slammed her fists against the floor. “Get me some chocolate over there, Sango.” Once Sango tossed over the box of chocolates over to her, she waited for Megumi to continue. “I didn’t think you two would’ve known each other. I’m so sorry we left you and didn’t talk to you about it. I was just so angry at the thought of him liking you and now I think he might.”

“Why, are you interested in him?” Sango gasped incredulously. “Oh my gosh, Megumi, you can have him even though I think you could aim higher...” she murmured towards her last few words.

“Just don’t talk to him, OK?” Megumi asked. Sango blinked in surprise as Megumi gulfed down three large pieces of chocolate. “I just like him, alright? It’s bad enough most of those first-year whores want him.”

“How do you know him?” Sango asked, recalling that she had never seen Yuki or Megumi speak a word to each other in front of her before. Megumi thought about this as Sango realized Hanawa was a touchy subject for her. She wondered what it was like, sleeping with another boy but tried not to think of it since Megumi seemed to come in the picture whenever she thought of Hanawa now.

“He and I...same middle school,” she stammered, shoving another piece of chocolate down her throat. “I don’t care really. I’m trying not to. We’re friends, right, Sango? You wouldn’t get in the way, right?”

“Megumi, I just said I don’t want him. You know what? Take this. I don’t need it,” she snapped handing over the dress. “I told you I wanted to find true love, not someone else’s.”

“I’m sorry, Sango, but I can’t help it. Girls are pretty mean, don’t you think?”

“What makes you say that?”

“Jealousy is the easiest thing. Like, I’m your friend and all, and girls should be friends before guys come into the equation, right? That’s how it’s supposed to be like?” she asked. Sango slightly nodded carefully. “For the sake of our friendship then, promise me you won’t ever talk to Yuki again.”

Sango didn’t go home immediately. She knew her teacher was already going to lecture her tomorrow about showing up to his office when she was called to, but she wasn’t in the mood now to go back and straighten things up. At least the load she was carrying around was much lighter. No dress, no yakisoba, and no papers for Megumi that she might have missed that day.

She never had a boyfriend before nor had she had anyone that she truly liked. That’s what bothered her as she felt she was unable to relate to Megumi and Ayumi anymore on why they were so easily willing to place their relationships ahead of their trio. She stopped to wonder what Sachiko and Sakura, her haters, would think about this but she knew she that was out of the question.

How awkward would it be eventually be, she imagined, if Yuki were to eat lunch with them along with Arata and Ayumi and Megumi? She would be the one girl left out of the bunch or what if the two girls had to go eat with their boyfriends? Where and who would she eat with?

She sighed and headed slowly to the most expensive stores on the street, hoping that staring at expensive handbags, jewelry, and clothing would deter her attention on greed more than helplessness. It had to be evening because more people were wandering down the sidewalks, couples holding hands, friends with friends, and she found herself the only one strolling on her own.

‘I should ask mom and dad for a pet,’ she thought. ‘Then I can pretend to be a socialite walking her dog around here.’ Before she could think about what pet she should consider, she stopped and gazed into the one of the largest buildings on the street where the mannequins gazed aimlessly at the streets before them. The gigantic letters, CHANEL, stretched across the wall in the store and she sighed staring further into the story. Sango tried to formulate a plan that in the case that she couldn’t eat with Ayumi and Megumi, she would find time to come here and calm herself down. Nothing felt better than staring into the Chanel building, knowing that once she became a rich orthodontist, she’d wear what the mannequins were wearing. Her mom would be able to wear the clothing too.

“Hey you, Hori?” An unfamiliar voice snapped her out of her daydream. She spun around and had to shake her head before she could register who it was.

Heaven sent an angel to her and his name was...oh shit, she thought. She forgot his name. And what was that he was carrying in his hand? She almost gasped.

“Hi...hello!” Sango grinned. “What’re you doing here? Where’s Hitomi?” Immediately, the glimmer of pleasant surprise on his face vanished and his face seemed to become more pale than it did before. “Did something happen? Is she OK?”

“Yeah, she’s fine,” he seemed to have muttered those words. Sango couldn’t tell since he spoke too quietly in the noisy streets. She finally saw what was in his hands as he brought it up to his mouth and breathed out a soft wave of white smoke. “Do you come here often?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“For some reason, I can see that,” he said, or that’s what she thought he said. He spoke too quietly, which almost annoyed her if she wasn’t so distracted by his clothes or his appearance. From the mellow-looking handsome boy that never really even looked at her, his clean school slacks, white shirt, and school-logo vest was exchanged with a dark sweater with a hood that draped over his head, dark blue skinny jeans and grungy, dirty skater shoes. His eyes were lined with black liner and his black hair swept over his right eye carelessly.

Sure, she knew he definitely wasn’t a good boy, but she wasn’t expecting a satanic transformation. She quickly thought to herself that there were other boys in life she could meet now that she could smell the smoke he breathed from his mouth.

“You’re staring at me...”

“Sorry! I just wanted to make sure I was talking to...Sei...ka?” she cringed mentally saying his first name so soon but she had forgotten his last name really. She barely knew this guy much less heard him ever really speak. And now her dream boyfriend smokes? He smiled faintly but it was enough to nearly send her into a coma of a high school girl’s many romantic fantasies.

“You want to go inside?” He looked around before tossing the cigarette on the ground.

“Will they kick us out?” Sango’s eyes flew straight to his clothes. He let out a small laugh and rolled his eyes, all of his facial expressions so subtle yet full of emotion. Sango suddenly felt extremely clumsy especially when she suddenly remembered the way she would have to yell orders to the chef.

“Why would they? You don’t want them coming up to you, right?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. He opened and held the door for her as she felt her heart explode from joy. He liked me enough to hold the door open for me! She cheered mentally. Wait a second, he likes Hitomi though, she sighed. What was she doing hanging out alone with someone’s boyfriend anyway? But it’s Chanel, she convinced herself. Chanel brings people together.

And as she expected and hoped, the sales associate greeted them but didn’t approach them. She had never felt so calm in her life despite not saying a word to Seika the entire time.

And as she expected, the two left the store about an hour later without buying anything. Sango found it strange how he followed her the whole time without saying anything. She didn’t mind as she wanted to think that she had the likelihood of being pretty enough to have someone that handsome follow her around Chanel.

She immediately promised herself she will come back on the weekend and buy the cheapest item in this store...probably a keychain to thank them for giving her this opportunity of feeling beautiful.

“Do you do this often?” Seika asked. Sango nodded quickly unsure of what to say. “I can see why. It’s relaxing, wandering around this place. It’s so quiet.” He looked at her with his piercing blue eyes that were obviously from well-chosen colored contacts. “You’re the one with the Anna Sui bag that people talked about, right?”

“Yeah, my parents gave it to me as a reward.”

“For what?”

“Being in the top ten of my class,” she smiled weakly. She wished she came up with a different lie instead. “Being smart does pay off!” What a dork, she told herself. Seika seemed to have noticed her insecurity but he gave a soulful smile anyway.

“I better get going. I’ll see you tomorrow, Anna Sui?” He extended his arm and punched her arm lightly. Before she could smile in return, he headed off leaving her, standing dumbfounded, awestruck, and completely head over heels, all in front of the Chanel mannequins.

“Bye, Mister...Lagerfeld (2),” she whispered awkwardly. Where’s her cellphone, she fumbled around. She had to tell Ayumi or Megumi this. At least Megumi would cheer up the least bit knowing that her eyes were on someone else, right? Whatever her frustrations were during the day, this last hour had eliminated them temporarily. She could die right in front of this beautiful building and she would be happy. It really was too bad, she sighed. It must be bad luck that this perfect moment was foiled by the fact he belonged to someone else.

Sango rubbed the spot on her arm where he tapped. If that wasn’t magic, then she wouldn’t know what that was. It’s OK, she told herself. It’s OK to like him as long as I keep it to myself.

With that, she skipped back home replaying the moments in her head over and over again.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Anna Sui,” he had said.

This must be what love is like, she giggled to herself. That you can be happy over something so small. There was absolutely no way she’d be able to sleep tonight. She was going to call Megumi for sure.

--

OMG, that took a while. Sorry that the plot this time seemed to move a bit slowly. There’s some hints that I wanted to drop here and there about Sango and Megumi’s relationship. I wanted to cover the fragile bonds between friendships especially when guys are involved since I’ve seen great friendships between girls collapse because of a guy. Not sure if I did what I wanted to do, but I just did whatever seemed right.

I’ll be throwing in subscripts and stuff when the characters are making a reference and I feel like you may not know what they’re referring to. I’ll keep this to a minimum so you won’t need to be confused on why I decided that they say these things.

(1) Sango was referring to Ralph Lauren Spring-Summer Ready-To-Wear 2008 dress worn in a Vogue Russia editorial when she talked about seeing this dress somewhere in a magazine. In the past chapters, I talked a lot about this dress because it captures Sango’s personality and spirit. Her blunt personality got hushed a bit because she’s being pushed out of her comfort zone.

(2) When Sango said “Bye, Mr. Lagerfeld”, she was making a reference to Chanel’s head designer, Karl Lagerfeld. This was right after Seika called her “Anna Sui” so I thought it’d be lame for her to call him Chanel or Mr. Chanel although I doubt Seika would understand her.