What a Life This Is - A Collection of Short Stories

WAR! - Part 2

Later that day at lunch, Kadence and Cameron were sitting at a lunch table and scrolling through more of Aiza's social media, fawning over the photos of expensive clothes and luxury vacations.

"Oh my gosh," Kadence gasped as they scrolled to another photo on Cameron's phone, "Is that three Fendi purses in the background?!" She exclaimed, "My Dad won't even let me get ONE!"

"Pays to have a politician Dad," Cameron replied as he swiped to the next photo, when suddenly Kadence smacked his phone into his lap, "Ohmygod there she is."

Cameron's head snapped up, and they both stared (along with what seemed like everybody else) as Aiza walked down the stairs and into the cafeteria. She walked with a confidence in her step that Kadence had only ever seen on the mega-rich and uber-famous, like the world was her oyster and she deserved everything it gave her.

"I'm gonna go introduce myself to her," Kadence immediately said, standing up and pushing a lock of green hair over her shoulder confidently.

"Uhm- are you sure..?" Cameron asked wearily, "She seems kinda.. out of our league."

"Hah! Cam, you do remember that I practically run this school, right?" Kadence told him, and he nodded slowly, "Well-.. I mean yeah, but-"

"Then there's nothing to worry about!" The green-haired girl interrupted him, "She ought to be thankful I even wanna talk to her."

With that, Kadence smoothed out the non-existent wrinkles in her skirt and walked (more like sashayed) over to Aiza, "Hey there!"

Aiza looked up from her phone and arched an azure eyebrow, "Uhm-.. Hi?"

"I'm Kadence Nanjo, although you probably already knew that," Kadence said with her practiced-to-perfection smile, "I was wondering if you wanted to sit with us!"

Aiza sighed, putting her phone in her skirt pocket and folding her arms as she asked, "You and who?"

"Oh, just me and my friend Cam," Kadence replied, gesturing to their table, where Cam waved at them a bit.

"Uhhh-.." Aiza looked over her shoulder at Cam, then back at Kadence, "No thanks."

. . .

HUH?!

"I- Uhm-.." Kadence stammered, taken aback by her refusal, "Haha!" Kadence chuckled nervously, "I-I'm sorry, I do-.. I don't think you understand what's happening here."

"Really?" Aiza said in a mocking voice, and Kadence folded her own arms, "Really."

"Well then, please enlighten me," The blue-haired girl replied, and Kadence breathed heavily out her nose, "I, the most infuential girl at this school, am inviting you, a new girl with absolutely no friends whatsoever, to sit with me."

"Yeaaah," Aiza mused, tilting her head and giving Kadence an almost disgusted look, "I'm not really that interested in sitting with the Queen of Superficiality, thanks."

She turned and walked away with that same sway in her step, and Kadence's eyes widened in shock and anger.

QUEEN OF SUPERFICIALLY!?

Okay, Kadence knew that she was a lot of things: Confident, beautiful, talented, and pretty-much-perfect to name a few, but superficial?

No. No way. Not in a million years was she superficial..

. . .

Was she..?

———

That superficial comment stayed with Kadence for the rest of the day, and she went through her next two class periods in a strange daze..

Was she superficial? If so, why hadn't anybody told her?

She was still brooding over this when her last class dismissed and school ended, and it was only when her brother's voice broke through her gaze did she snap back to reality.

"KADENCE."

"Wha- HUH!?" She shook her head quickly, looking around to see that she was standing outside the school at the pick-up area, her brothers and dad staring at her with confusion as Miya asked, "Uhm- are you okay?"

"Uh- Yes," Kadence replied, and her Dad arched an eyebrow, "Are you sure? You were staring at the ground and looking-"

"Nanjo! It's been so long!" A loud and very dramatic sounding voice cut him off in Japanese, and Kadence watched as her Dad turned to the owner of said voice, and his eyes narrowed to slits, "You."

Kadence and her siblings turned to the voice's owner, a tall man with azure hair, bright piercing red eyes, and-.. very strange-looking eyebrows..

There was someone standing next to him, and Kadence looked over and came face to face with Aiza, who looked just as horrified to see her at Kadence felt.

"I-IT'S YOU!" Aiza exclaimed in terror, pointing a sharp red nail in her face, and Kadence folded her arms narrowed her eyes at the girl, "Terrible to see you too, Aiza."

"What're you doing here?" Kadence's Dad suddenly growled, and she turned back to see the dark scowl on his face as the man replied, "I live here, same as you- and Nanjo," the man tilted his head, his voice taking on a sort of pouting tone, "Is that any way to greet an old friend?"

"Is someone gonna tell us what's going on?" Miya suddenly exclaimed next to his Dad, and everyone went quiet and stared at him.

"What?" The kid asked, "I'm confused."

Kadence's Dad rubbed his temples and sighed, "Uhm, yeah-.. kids," he said glumly, "This is Ainosuke Shindo-"

"Actually it's Kikuchi-Shindo now, for your information, Nanjo," The man- Mr. Shindo, replied quickly, and Kojiro made a face, "Well then, for your information, it's Sakurayashiki-Nanjo now."

"Sakurayshiki?" Mr. Shindo arched an oddly-shaped eyebrow, "Well well, isn't that interesting.."

"Yeah, but back to my first question," Kadence's Dad continued, growling lowly, "What are you doing here?"

"What, you didn't hear?" Mr. Shindo replied with a smile, and Kadence couldn't help but notice how sharp his canines wee, "I moved here with my family, it was on the news."

"I meant HERE, at THIS SCHOOL." Kojiro groaned in annoyance, and Mr. Shindo tilted his head, "My daughter attends this school," he put an arm over Aiza's shoulder, who folded her arms and made a face at Kadence as her father went on, "Same as yours, apparently."

"Oh god," Kojiro rubbed his temples, "This is gonna be a long school year.."