Rain
"Oi Aliena," a feminine voice called.
She paused and turned, a slight etch appearing between her eyebrows. "Natalie," Aliena answered unenthusiastically.
"You wouldn't have an umbrella would you? I need to get home and I can't afford to have my hair ruined," Natalie stated, flicking her strawberry blonde hair.
Her pale lips pressed together disdainfully as she observed Natalie silently. "You already look wet though," she pointed out.
Natalie flapped her hand dismissively, "Yea, I only let my clothes get wet... because they tend to stick, you know? And Danny was in my last class," she fluttered on.
Aliena gave an absent nod, barely registering the name Natalie mentioned. She had given up trying to remember which boy was which, since Natalie had a crush on almost every second guy.
"-Though he wasn't even looking at me, though I was flaunting in front of him," Natalie finished crossly.
"Uh-huh..." Aliena answered dully. "Well I got an umbrella but I need to walk home as well..." she trailed off.
Natalie crossed her arms over her chest in impatience. "Yea, but your hair only took five seconds to you, mine took me over half an hour," she scowled.
Aliena winced at that statement, trying not to take too much offense. "It isn't that hard to tie your hair up. I mean plenty of people tie their hair up all the time and it looks quite nice," she offered weakly.
"Doesn't your cousin go to this school?" Natalie asked, not even listening to Aliena. "Why don't you walk home with him? I am sure he has an umbrella, so then I can borrow yours," she decided.
"That's true...but..." her voice died off as Natalie had already unzipped her bag and took out her umbrella.
"Thanks Aliena," Natalie muttered as she hurried off.
Aliena sighed as she shrugged one strap off her shoulder so she could swing her bag to her front to zip it back up. Damn that Natalie. Her cousin no doubt was going to walk his girlfriend home... and she wasn't keen to hang around those two whilst they were together. She turned to look gloomily at the rain that was like a reflection of her current mood.
She was going to get wet.
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Aliena sighed once again, not even bothering to keep count of her sighs anymore, as she wrung her jumper to get out some of the water. This was not good.
"For someone that gets such high marks, I'm surprise you didn't have the sense to bring an umbrella, Aliena," a unfamiliar voice commented, at the same time the water stopped falling on her head.
She turned her head slightly to see who the speaker was, but apart from recognizing the uniform she did not know the dark haired male… but he had used her name meaning… she was meant to know him?
"Ah… um… yea…" she agreed absently, half trying to remember who he was, half trying to think of a way to get away from him. "My friend has it," she hastily added when she realized her previous answer seemed rude.
She glanced at his face, to see whether or not he looked annoyed by the rudeness of her previous answer when she caught the slight flicker of a smile on his face. Her gaze dropped quickly when his eyes met hers and noticed his tie.
He looked like a senior, but that tie was a junior tie, which gave him a higher possibility of being a year ten just like her, or either that or a very tall year nine. Her mind dismissed that thought quickly as she still didn't recognize him and the idea of walking with a stranger did not please her.
"That's nice of you to lend your umbrella to your friend, whilst you yourself get soaked," he spoke, probably to break the silence.
"Um… not really. Natalie taking the umbrella wasn't really my decision," Aliena answered, the gears in her mind spinning quickly in an attempt to at least keep up her part in the conversation.
Despite the fact she was no longer looking at him, she could hear the grimace in his voice, "You know that blonde siren?" he said appalled.
Now she looked at him in him in confusion. His words sounded like he was one of the types that found Natalie attractive but the tone of his voice clearly stated the opposite. He stared back at her blankly, before realization dawned on his face.
Hastily, ever so hastily he added in, "I don't mean a dangerous alluring women, but a device that makes a loud wailing noise as a warning."
Her lips twitched into a smile and she ducked her head to hide it. "Warning for what?" she couldn't help but ask, but kept her tone as nonchalant as possible.
"A warning for me to get away from her ASAP," he answered seriously, as they continued walking.
"I see..." she answered hesitantly, edging away from him after bumping into him several times.
"Still, you aren't so smart to let your umbrella get taken away if you were going to walk home," he frowned.
Aliena shrugged, "I never said I was smart. Anyways you must be one of the current males Natalie is infatuated with," she remarked.
"What gave you that idea?" he questioned.
"Well Natalie only acts-" she paused for a moment to find the word, "-siren-ish to guys if she has a crush on them and she takes a fancy to any half good looking guy," she answered.
"Are you referring to me as a good looking guy," he asked in a slightly amused manner.
"A half good looking guy I said and that basically means you aren't ugly," she stated defensively, all willingness to talk gone. Figures. All males Natalie liked were no good ones. All were self obsessed ones.
He gave a slight smile but changed the subject, asking her which way to head.
"It's okay, I can walk home myself," she said, her tone somewhat cold. After all, her house was a mere ten minutes from where she was and she didn't want him knowing where she lived. She turned to step out of the cover when a hand gripped the sleeve of her damp jumper.
"Did I do something to offend you?" he asked, his tone neutral.
Several replies sprung to mind but only after a long moment of thought, she spoke in equally neutral tones. "I was taught to not converse or walk with strangers."
He stared at her blankly for too long a moment, and she began to feel awkward. "I'm in your maths class," he finally said.
"Oh…" she could feel her cheeks turn warm with embarrassment. "Sorry."
He gave a shrug. "You sit at the front and you spend your time working, so I wouldn't blame you for not noticing someone who sits in the back," he said nonchalantly.
"Yea…" she agreed vaguely, trying to ignore the fact that the way he said the sentence made her sound like a nerd. It wasn't like she had anything better to do in class after all, all her friends were in different classes from her.
"Well I won't stop you from walking to your house alone but," he paused as his cold hand contacted her own.
She flinched at the coldness before looking at him curiously, almost warily. She couldn't read his expression, which remained unchanged whilst he passed the umbrella to her.
"Ah no I can't take it, you'll get wet," she protested.
He gave a shrug. "I live only two minutes from here," he shrugged before stepping out of the cover of the umbrella and walking across the road.
"But-" she began in protest but he merely raised his hand in farewell before disappearing down another road.
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"I saw you walking home with some dark haired boy," her younger sister stated, tucking stray strands of her hair behind her ear.
"Hm?" Aliena said absently as she capped the water bottle and placed it back on the table.
"Is he your boyfriend?" her sister asked interested.
"Who is your boyfriend?" her cousin cut in.
"No," she answered sister's question. At their disbelieving looks, she decided to explain. "Today it was raining, and Natalie borrowed my umbrella and I met with him on my way home and he shared his umbrella with me. That simple," Aliena hastily said, hoping the two wouldn't absorb anything she had just said.
"Is he hot?"
"Did he try anything on you?"
Both her relatives asked, almost at the same time.
"No he didn't try anything on me," Aliena answered, appalled that her cousin would ask something like that.
Two pair of similar brown eyes exchanged a glance before turning back to her.
"Is he hot?" her sister repeated whilst her cousin remained silent.
"Well he's not exactly ugly," she answered, cringing slightly.
"I want to meet him," her cousin decided, acting like a brooding mother.
"I don't even know his name," Aliena sighed.
"You didn't ask?" her sister asked curiously.
"He said he was in my class but I didn't recognize him," Aliena answered uncomfortably.
"Probably lying." said her cousin.
She rolled her eyes, "Stop worrying to much," she insisted.
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"Aliena!" a high pitch voice shrilled, despite the fact she was only one seat away.
"Ah Natalie, have you come to return my umbrella?" Aliena asked politely.
Natalie shifted over in her seat, narrowed green eyes in a glare. "Someone told me they saw you walking home with Danny," she accused.
"Not you as well-" she began automatically, still remembering her relatives interrogation, "Wait. Danny as in Daniel Lee?" Aliena asked in surprise.
"No duh," Natalie exclaimed sarcastically.
"Um… but isn't that the one with really short spiky hair?" she asked quizzically, recalling that Danny didn't have that short a hairstyle.
Natalie looked appalled. "How could you confuse them? That's like comparing a god to a lowly peasant," Natalie screeched on.
"Oh... right..." Aliena said vaguely.
"That doesn't explain why you were walking with my man," Natalie shrilled.
"It was raining," she said simply, resisting the urge to cover her ears unlike many who had already resorted to that option. "If you remember, you borrowed my umbrella and he happened to be walking along the same route as me so he offered to share."
"Still, how could you agree when you know he's mine," Natalie glared.
"I didn't know it was him," Aliena sighed, getting tired of this conversation.
"How could you not? He's in our class," Natalie said disbelievingly.
"He's in our class?" Aliena echoed, remember he said he was in her maths class but none of the others.
She turned around in her seat to look around in the class and located him in the back, sitting next to the person she had thought was Daniel. By the amusement dancing in his eyes despite the straight face, she knew he had heard the conversation between Natalie and her.
Who could not? Well more likely they could only hear a one-sided conversation... but... He silently mouthed a single word before turning to listen to his friend speak. She turned back to Natalie, attempting to keep her face neutral. Siren. That definitely suited Natalie.
She waited until the end of the English lesson, letting Natalie rush to the bathroom to check on her hair, and instead she waited outside the classroom to wait for Daniel to walk out.
"You should have told me you were in my English class," she accused sharply, as soon as he stepped out.
He gave a shrug. "It never occurred to me that you were that blind," he shrugged.
She felt a swell of indignation "My vision is perfectly fine," she said defensively as she turned to glare at him.
"Of course it is," he agreed patiently, taking her arm and tugging her out of the way of another student. "What do we have next session?" he questioned.
She took a moment to think about it "Maths," she said somewhat begrudgingly.
Danny gave a slight nod in response, and still holding onto her arm although his grip has transferred to hold onto the fabric only, tugged her through the crowd and up the stairs. The grip didn't release as he walked into the maths room and moved to the back row before he let go of her jumper to sit down.
"Sit," he said absently, taking his book and pencil case out of his bag.
She sat down, not regretting not sitting in her usual sit. She never did liked sitting at the front as the teacher would ask questions on those at the front, but before she never had anyone she could sit next to in the further rows. Again she blamed her friends for doing bad in the previous tests and dropping down a class or so.
"Oh yea," she remembered, reaching into her bag and taking out an umbrella, "Here."
He glanced at it for a moment before taking it and putting it away. "Did Natalie give you your umbrella back?" he questioned.
"Not yet. I'll have to ask her when I see her," she answered.
"If she doesn't return it just let her keep it," he shrugged, flipping open his book.
She stared blankly at him as he continued flipping until he reached the right page. "Why?" she finally asked.
His dark gaze met hers, "Because when it rains, I get to walk with you," he answered.
She stared at him in confusion.
He sighed. "Seriously, for someone who gets so high in tests, you sure lack common sense," he muttered.
Realization was something that was not willing to dawn on her yet, and that was something he realized.
"Did you realize how long I waited for it to rain and for you to actually forget your umbrella?" he questioned.
"Oh."
A/N: If this seems familiar it is because this is based on a fanfic I wrote that was based on this story, except I decided to rewrite this story into the other story, so then I finally decided to rewrite the story that I rewrote in the first place to make this. Did that make sense? Doubt it.
-Demeterr