Chapter Four- New Friends

Book Series: The Chosen of Hina Book Title: Hina's Tears Chapter: Four

Chapter Four

New Friends

After class ended, Angel hurriedly packed her bag and left the room before Kai could catch up to her.  After half running around the corner, she pulled out her schedule and read her next class: Science.  

“Great,” She finally found her next class after asking other students.  As she walked into the room, she sighed and smiled.

Thank goodness.  Kai's not in this class.

She did the same routine and took a seat.  The class went by fast as the lunch bell finally went off.  She followed students to the cafeteria but stopped before she went in.  Her eyes caught a glimpse of black hair outside in the courtyard.  She quickly ran to the counter in the cafeteria, bought two sandwiches and two juices, and ran out the room.

As she left the school building to the courtyard, she smiled when she saw Ryo sitting on a bench.  

“Ryo!”  He looked up and tilted his head as she ran to him and sat down next to him.  “I’m glad I saw you.  Want to eat lunch together?”  She asked while holding out a sandwich to him.  

He looked down at the sandwich then back at her face and nodded slowly.  She smiled and handed the sandwich to him.   They sat in silence as they ate their lunches.  As she finished, she gave him a juice box and took a sip of her own.  

After a few moments, Angel looked down at her hands and felt her throat tighten.  “You know, you were right.”

He instantly glanced at her and swallowed the juice.  

“You told me not to trust anyone, and you were right.  I’m so naïve when it comes to people.”  The tears started before she could stop them.  “I’m sorry.  I don’t know why I’m crying.”

He silently watched her with parted lips.  

Understanding what his look meant, Angel tried to wipe the tears and answer the question written across his face.

“I met someone in my homeroom.  I thought we could be friends, and he was kind to me.  I’ve never had a real friend before, so I was excited.  However, he turned out to be friends with the guys from before.  Do I pretend that never happened?”   “Don’t.”  Ryo’s whispered. Angel glanced at him suddenly.  

“Don’t?”

“Don’t.”  He stated as the wind blew their hair around.  The bell rang for the five-minute warning for the next class.  

With a sniffle, Angel stood up and straightened her bag.   “Would it be alright if you showed me to my next class?”  Ryo stood and nodded.  She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and followed him back inside.  

“I have P.E next.”  She said, and he started walking up towards the Auditorium.  “They do P.E.  in the Auditorium?”

He nodded again.  As they walked, Angel caught a glimpse of Kai ahead of them.  She grabbed Ryo’s arm and pulled him down a hallway.  

With raised eyebrows, he looked at her when they came to a stop.  

“I’m sorry.  I just…” Angel smiled and then felt the warmth as laughter came out.  “That was odd to me.  I’m sorry.”  She finished her laugh and sighed.  

“Don’t be, I like your laugh,”  Ryo said causing her heart to skip a beat.  

My first compliment!  

“Thank you.  Shall we get to class now?”  Angel asked as they started walking again.  However, as they walked through the doorway of the Auditorium, Kai was sitting on the floor stretching his legs.  He glanced up at her and smiled before his eyes traveled to Ryo.  His face froze and slowly went into a frown when Angel subconsciously took a step closer to Ryo.  

“Thanks Ryo for taking me to class.  Can we have lunch together again tomorrow?”  Angel mumbled as Ryo nodded while not taking his eyes off Kai.  She gave the room a good look in awe before gulping and walking inside.

The Auditorium could convert into a gym with ease.  The teacher, Ms. Ahona, was standing in the center and directing some students.  Angel walked over to her, showed her the schedule.

“Well, I don’t have fitness clothes for you, so for today go ahead and sit in the stands.  Tomorrow I will have something for you.  Be sure to bring shoes.”  She waved her hand towards the stands and preceded giving orders to the other students coming out of the locker rooms.  “Let’s begin the warm-ups!”

Angel sat down in the stands and watched silently.  

Despite him being in this class, I’m excited to be in my first P.E.  class.  Though, I’m not a sports person.  I’ll just try my best. 

As she sat there, her eyes wandered over to Kai and watched him laughing with a group of boys.  The boys were not the same as the boys from before, so Angel continued to watch until Kai glanced her way and smiled.  

Quickly, she jerked her head away and watched the rest of the class.  The teacher called for a run around the gym and basketball.  

After class, Angel grabbed her bag and stood up.  She started for the door and stopped when Kai stood in her way with his arms crossed.  

“Excuse me.  I need to get to my next class.”  She started to walk past him when he took a step and blocked her path again.

“I’m not moving until you tell me what happened?”  he crossed his arms and tilted his head.  His dark eyes watched her silently as his hair fell around them.  

“I don’t know what you mean.  Please move.”  Angel bit her lip and tried to push past.  Kai took another step and smirked.  

“Kai, is there a problem?”  Ms. Ahona was walking towards them.  

“No, I suppose there isn’t.”  Kai took a step aside, and Angel pushed past him with her head down.  She rushed back to the main building and stood at the main doors to take deep breaths.  Her heart felt like it was about to burst through her rib cage as she swallowed hard and pulled out her schedule.  

History, Art, and Study Hall are my last classes.

A teacher directed to her next class.  Barely arriving on time, she walked in and looked around.  Mr.  Johnson was the teacher.  He was a senior man with short white hair and hazel eyes.  He smiled, and Angel took her seat.  

Kai isn’t in this class either.  I’m glad.  

“Hey, new girl.”  

Angel looked over at the girl sitting next to her.  “Yes?”  The girl was short with brown eyes.  She had her shoulder length blond hair drawn into a ponytail with strands hanging down.

“Hi, I’m Anna.  I was new here at the beginning of the school year.  Want to be friends?”  she smiled when Angel smiled.

“Sure.  I’m Angel.”  

Finally, I made another friend.

The class went by rather fast as Anna shared her notes on the topics.  When the bell rang, Angel and Anna stood up.

“What class do you have next?”  Anna asked while putting her book back into her bag.  

“Art.”  Angle replied while doing the same.

“Me too!  Though, you do know that Art has options, right?”  They started walking out of the classroom and down the hall.

“Options?”  

“Right, you can do real art, music, chorus, dance, or theater.  I do the chorus.”  They turned down another hallway and turned to walk up a set of stairs.  

“I don’t think I’m good at any of those,”  Angel replied with a frown.  

“Have you tried?”  Anna asked as they reached the landing and headed for the classrooms.  A large sign overhead read: Art department.  

“Well no.”  she blushed and looked around at the passing students.  “Maybe I would be good at theater.”  

“Then go for it!”  Anna slapped her on the back and laughed.  “No day like today right?   Besides, I think you would look great on stage!”  

Angel laughed and nodded.  “Yea.”  

“Well, this is the chorus room.  If you go to the end of this hallway, that’s the theater room.  Do your best!”  Anna laughed again and walked into her classroom.

“Thanks!”  Angel felt her smile reach ear to ear as she walked to the end of the hallway and opened the theater door.   The classroom was full of talking students as the teacher, a short larger woman with curly red hair wrote notes on the dry erase board.  

Angel walked over the teacher, Mrs. Aska, and cleared her throat.  

“Oh, you must be a new student.  I was wondering which art class you were going to take.  I’m glad you chose theater.  We were getting ready to discuss the play for the spring festival, so please find a seat, and we will begin shortly.”

Angel took a seat just as Mrs. Aska turned and raised a hand.  The class instantly went silent.  

“All right students, first let me introduce our new student.”  She pointed over at Angel and smiled.  Angel stood for a moment, stated her name, and returned to her seat.  

“Now, I know it's spring and, as the theater department, we have to work on our spring play for the festival now.  Does anyone have suggestions?”  Mrs. Aska asked looking at the group of students who shot their hands up.  “Yes, Kimberly?”  

“How about we perform a love story where they are separated and fight to be with each other?”  she blushed when the guys shook their heads.

“That’s a possibility.  Mick?”  

“What about a story where a brave warrior fights this great battle and gets the woman in the end?”  he smirked with the other guys nodding.

“Another good choice,  Erin?”

“Can we do a story where it’s a comedy about a family that has issues and has to work together despite that to overcome some major problem?”  

“Hmm, that wouldn’t be a bad idea.  Monica?”

“Let’s do a love and fighting story about a girl chased by a villain for her powers, and she meets a boy who tries to protect her.  In the end, they defeat the main bad guy but only after the girl sacrifice herself.  So the boy vows never to give up until they can be together again?”  Everyone in the room was nodding, and Angel stared at Monica, a dark skinned girl with long black hair.

That story is familiar.  Where have I heard it?  

“That’s an excellent idea.  Are there any objection?”  Mrs. Aska asked.  No one said anything, so she nodded and wrote the concept on the board.  “Alright, so now that we have the idea, I have to write the script.  For now, I want everyone to work on their monologs and have them done on Friday.  Feel free to work on them now.”  

Everyone opened up books and began chatting in a quieter tone.  

Angel got up and walked over to the theater.  “Mrs. Aska, what are monologs?”  

“Oh that’s right, you were homeschooled before now.  A monolog is a short story that you narrate yourself.  It can be about anything and, for this project, needs to be about two minutes long and from your own words.”

“Okay,”  Angel sat back down and pulled out her notebook.  

A monolog is a story I tell.  Okay, so what type of story do I want to tell?   I’ve never told a story before.  How should I start?   Does it have to rhythm?   I don’t think so since she didn’t mention that.  I should ask Anna about this.

As an hour went by, the bell rang.  Angel, who hadn't written any ideas on her notebook, got up and put everything away.  Anna was waiting for her by the door when she exited the class.  

“How did it go?”  she asked as they walked down the hallway towards the stairs.  

“Anna, please help me with theater.”  Angel bit her lip again and looked over at Anna.  

“That bad huh?”  Anna laughed as Angel walked with her down the stairs and reached the landing.  “Theater isn’t my area, but I’ll certainly try.”  She smiled and patted Angel on the head.  

“I have study hall next.  Where is that?”  

“That is back in your homeroom,”  Anna replied and looked over at Angel when she stopped in mid step.

“Study hall is in my homeroom?”  she sighed and started walking again.  “Well I do have some homework to do, and I need to work on this monolog.”

“Why do you look so depressed about going to homeroom? Who’s your teacher?”  They turned down a hallway and continued walking.  

“Mr.  Rohan is my teacher, but he isn’t the reason why I don’t want to go back there.”

“I’d say.  You got lucky with the best teacher here.  Let’s go back to the other topic.  Why don’t you want to go back?”  

“Well…”  Angel gulped and looked around.  “…you see, there’s this boy…”

“Oh, is this a boy you like?”

“What?   No!”  Angel blurted out as her cheeks grew hot instantly.  “No, he just wasn’t what I thought he was.  A group of boys picked on me, and he’s friends with them.  So, I didn’t want to have to deal with him or the boys.”  

“Oh, want me to go tell him off?   I will, you know.”  Anna asked raising a fist.  

Angel giggled and smiled at Anna’s attempt to make her feel better.  “No, I just won’t talk to him.  Thank you.”  

“Of course, we should walk to the train and ride home together.  I’m the third stop on the island.”

“I’m the first.”  

“Well, that’s okay then.  I can, at least, ride with you home.”  Anna stopped in front of a door and smiled.  “I’ll come grab you after class, okay?”

“Okay.”  Angel smiled and walked to her homeroom class down the hall.

Kai was already sitting at his desk and looked up when she entered.  She walked straight to her desk and sat down.   Immediately, Kai turned around and stared at her.  

Angel bluntly ignored him and got out her notebook to work on her monolog.  Kai sighed and cleared his throat.  When she didn’t even look up at him, he sighed again even louder.  After she had ignored him again, he took a deep breath when she slammed her pencil on the desk and glared up at him.  

“Do you know how hard it is to work on something when someone is being obscene and staring you down?”  She asked in a harsh whisper.  

“I wouldn’t know, but I imagine it would be as annoying when someone blames me for something I don't think I did.”  He stated with raised eyebrows.

“Please, just leave me alone.”  

“Did I do something wrong?”  He asked directly.

“Well, no,”  

“Then why are you suddenly ignoring me?”  He asked a little louder and caused some of the students to glance at them.  Angel’s face grew warm and turned a dark shade of red as she hid her face in her book.  

“Well?”  He asked back in a whisper ignoring the other student’s glances.  

“I don’t like your friends.”  She muttered as Kai leaned in to hear her.  

“My friends?”  he leaned back and thought for a moment.  “You mean those boys from before in the hallway?  Cameron?”   Angel nodded and felt her hands shake.  

Kai looked at her hands and frowned.  “What happened?”

“Nothing.”  She replied as she buried her face into her notebook.  “I need to work on this now, alone.”  

Kai nodded and turned back around to face his desk.  After a while, the bell rang for the end of the day.  Angel gathered her books and shoved them in her bag.  As she started leaving, Kai got up and turned to her as a voice called from the doorway.

“Angel, you ready?”  Anna asked while leaning on the doorway.

“Yep!”  Angel walked past Kai and straight to Anna.  They walked out of the classroom and down the hall.  “You are a life saver.”  She stated quietly.

“So, which guy was it that was harassing you?”  Anna asked just as quietly.  

“Kai, he was the dark haired boy that was sitting in front of me,”  Angel replied as Anna glanced over their shoulders.  “Also, he wasn’t the one harassing me.  It was his friends that were.”

“He’s walking behind us. He’s not bad looking if I do say so myself.”

“You can keep that to yourself.  Kai's rather frustrating to be around.”  Angel heavily sighed as they walked out of the main building and towards the main gate.  

“If you say so.”

“I do though!  Oh, Ryo!”  Angel raised an arm in the air as Ryo, who was walking ahead of them, stopped and turned his head towards them.

“Who’s that?”  Anna asked in a whisper as they walked over to him.  

“Ryo's a friend of mine.  He helped me out a lot with those harassing boys and is nice.  He’s reserved though, but I think he’ll open up to me some day.”  

“Oh,”  Anna smirked as they reached Ryo.  He looked at Anna for a moment then back at Angel.  

“Ryo, this is my friend, Anna,”  Angel explained.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you!”  Anna smiled and stated confidently.

Ryo nodded when he glanced at Anna before looking back at Angel.

“Well, shall we get on the train?”  Angel asked.  

“Sure, come on Ryo!”  Anna slapped his back and charged off towards the station.  Angel giggled as Ryo raised an eyebrow and followed Anna.  They walked over to the station and got onto the train.  Kai got on and tried to watch Angel from a couple of seats back.  

“He wants to get to you.”  Anna pointed out with a frown.  

“I suppose, but I have you guys with me.  I’ll manage somehow.”  Angel replied with a laugh.  Ryo looked at Kai and narrowed his eyes.  The first stop came, and Angel waved goodbye to Ryo and Anna.  “I’ll see you guys tomorrow!”  she shouted back as she jumped off the train and began walking home.  

I guess today wasn’t bad after all.  

“Angel,”  Angel froze, gulped, and sighed.  

Oh right, never mind.