New Challenges

Chapter Two: Chauv-elry

When I arrived the next day I noticed that Sunohara wasn't at homeroom, and I made a mental note to visit him; if he really had been injured by his fight with the new guy, I wanted to be able to see him and make fun of him.

I fell into my seat and dropped my bag next to my desk, then sighed and retrieved my bag to pull out the book for first period; I wanted to at least look like I was participating in class. Satisfied that I could fool the teacher for at least a few minutes I crossed my arms on my desk and rested my head on them to work on making up for lost sleep.

I was abruptly awakened, however, by the thump of a bag on the desk next to me. "Morning," I grunted as I looked over to Sunohara...

Only it wasn't Sunohara. "Why're you sleepin' at school?" Zachary asked as he settled into Sunohara's chair. Or was it his seat now? "Rough night last night?"

I blinked in surprise; considering how rude and violent he'd been just yesterday, the last thing I expected was for him to show any kind of compassion. "You could say that," I mumbled, not really wanting to talk to him; I figured that if I said the wrong thing, I could end up in the hospital myself, unable to do anything but eat and...sleep? Maybe that wouldn't be so bad. "I hate my dad, so I try to stay out until he goes to bed. I end up getting to bed pretty late."

He grunted in what sounded like acknowledgment. "Well, at least your dad's around for you to hate."

"Huh?" Had I heard him correctly? Had he just told me something about himself?

"Never mind," he said with a scoff as he started to dig around in his bag, leaving me feeling unusually puzzled; even Sunohara had never told me anything too personal about himself – and I'd known him since our first year of high school – but it sounded like Zachary had done just that. "It doesn't matter."

"If you say so," I said, not really wanting to press the issue.

Other than the usual frequent and furtive glances from Fujibayashi, class was as normal as it could be.

***

I woke to the sound of the lunch alarm and quickly slid my first-period book back into my bag; apparently my ruse had worked, as I'd been left alone the whole morning.

I looked up in time to see Zachary hurrying out the door, shoving his way past several other students in the process, and I snorted at the thought that he was at least acting more the way I had come to expect him to.

I headed out into the crowded hallway and made my way to the cafeteria; I figured that anpan would be better than nothing, though sometimes I wondered...

"Okazaki-san!"

I cringed at the sudden and cheerful voice and turned to find a somewhat familiar face hurrying toward me with a sandwich package in each hand. "Hey, Furukawa," I greeted, hoping that I remembered her name correctly; I had met her at the bottom of the hill leading to the school shortly after the start of the school year and had talked with her for a bit, but that didn't mean that I knew her.

She skidded to a stop before me, panting. "Just...a minute...please..." she gasped. So I waited, and she quickly recovered and held out one of the packages toward me. "Here; this is for you."

"For me?" I couldn't think of any reason for her to give me a sandwich. "What for?"

"You gave me a push," she replied with a cute sm-er, with a smile. I must have looked confused because she giggled. "Remember? I was trying to find a reason to go to school, and you gave me one." She stood up a little straighter. "I'm restarting the Theater Club! I'm going to try to get as many people to join as I can!"