Love isn't perfect

Chapter 14.

"I'm sorry for spacing out" I placed the ice over my hurt cheek and flinched again. So cold. "It's okay Mina. Oh, your cheek is bleeding" Hikari-chan said taking a band-aid from her bag. "Besides you were deep in thought, so I didn't want to interrupt anything" After Hikari-chan had placed the band-aid over my cheek, I put the ice against it again. "Can we start so that this will be done soon?" Akira-kun finally said breaking the silence. "Yeah sure. So Mina, we have 4 other projects to do and they are: hobbies, future plans, family and fears. We already have some ideas how to make them but, sensei told as to do the final decisions with you. So, which one do you want to start with?" I looked up from the table to sew excited Hikari-chan, annoyed but calm Akira-kun and spaced out Kazuki-kun. I wonder what made him so troubled. He probably is too troubled to talk about family right now and I'm not ready to tell about mine so maybe... "Would 'hobbies' be okay?" "Yeah sure. We thought that a portfolio would be good. We'd put our names in it and tell our hobbies with pictures. Is that okay with you?" While Hikari-chan was talking about the day as 'we', it made me think if they all really did decide to make it a portfolio or was it Hikari-chan's idea and because she's an A student, they agreed. At the 'friendship' project Akira-kun wanted to just get it over with as soon as possible, I wonder if it's like that now. "Sure, sounds good" "Great, Akira-kun, Kazuki-kun there's a room next to the bathroom over there where is a computer and a printer. You can go look for the pictures for your hobbies, since you've already done that. I'll interview Mina, okay?" Both of them nodded and walked out of the living room to the direction Hikari-chan had pointed. "Okay, I need to ask few questions of your hobbies. You can only aply maximum 3 hobbies. If you don't have hobbies you can tell what you want to do on your spare time. Are you ready?" Hikari-chan asked. Just then I realized that all this time while my school life has been terrible, Hikari-chan has been there for me. She was always with me smiling and being happy. She even defended me when Megumi-san came to bully me. "Mina?" She even got worried about me when I dashed out of school and didn't come for the rest of the week. And she defended me again when Akira-kun was being mean to me. I felt that feeling on the first day of school and thought I'd leave it be but now I want it. "Please be my friend" "Eh?" More than anything I wanted that. No, it's not that if Hikari-chan would be friends with me I'd have a shield. It's because I feel a bit myself around her. She isn't pushing me away. She hasn't said any bad things about me, it's been the exact opposite. "I thought we already are" Hikari-chan said smiling, patting my head. "Okay" Finally I was able to smile freely since I came in Japan. "So, back to the project: do you have hobbies?" "Well, I don't have official hobbies but, on my free time I like to draw, write and sing" I said shyly looking at my hands. I felt so embarrassed to admit that. "Okay, do you want to aply all of them or just one?" "Maybe just drawing" If the whole class would find out that I sing, they'd start laughing at me. "How long have you been drawing?" "I guess whole my life. I have always like it and it calms me down" Hikari-chan nodding writing it down. "Okay, now we only need a picture of your drawing and your part is done" Hikari-chan said happily placing the pencil down. "I draw a picture today after lunch break. It's not very good because I didn't really put much effort in it, but..." I looked over at my bag for the picture and when I found it, I placed it on the table. "Will this do?" I looked nervously at Hikari-chan who was looking at my drawing amazed. "Are you kidding me? You really drew this? It's amazing. You're very talented. This will surely do" I couldn't help but smile happily at the compliment. "How's things in here" Akira-kun said coming to the living room with Kazuki-kun. "We just finished Mina's part. Look this drawing she drew. It's so amazing" Hikari-chan said showing my drawing to Kazuki-kun and Akira-kun. It wasn't actually that amazing. It was a picture of kitten playing with ribbon in her basket. "It's good, nice work ginger" Akira-kun said and it surprised me. Akira-kun was actually able to compliment something. "We need to talk about that nickname they use on you" Hikari-chan said whispering in my ear. Don't tell me you found out. "Anyway, I need to print pictures of my hobbies so I'll be back in a minute" After Hikari-chan left it came quiet for a second. "So, what hobbies do you have?" I asked looking at Kazuki-kun and Akira-kun. The point in these projects were to get to know each other better. "I play football in the school's football team and I play the piano" Kazuki-kun said while gluing the pictures on the portfolio. "I'm in the same football team as Kazuki and I take morning runs. Basically I love sport" Akira-kun said rubbing the back of his neck while looking away. Wow, that's interesting. "So, your hobbie is drawing? That's a really great drawing. I can only draw stick men" Kazuki-kun said, which made me laugh a bit. "Yeah, I love to draw. I've always liked it and it calms me down. I also write on my spare time" Somehow I wasn't feeling so nervous around Kazuki-kun and Akira-kun. Maybe that was because we weren't at school. As weird as it sounded, it felt like they were starting to be nicer towards me. Wow, Kazuki-kun plays the piano? I wonder if Megumi-san know that? Then Kazuki kun took my drawing in his hands, looking at it few seconds before gluing it one the portfolio and then handing the portfolio to me. "I bet Hikari-chan wrote down your answers, right? Glue them under your drawing" I took the portfolio from Kazuki-kun and I notices that they hadn't glued their answers under their pictures. Kazuki-kun had a picture of a football next to a piano and Akira-kun had a picture of a football shirt next to a pair of running shoes. "But, you haven't glued your answers under your pictures" "We figured out that you don't like to be the center of attention after your running scene. So, we'll tell our answers freely to everyone, which means we'll read your answer and tell it to everyone" Akira-kun said calmly. "Basically we'll try our best to avoid you coming to tell your answers by yourself to the whole class" Kazuki-kun said. I was so speechless that I didn't know  should I be happy or scared. The hottest guys in my school and my bullies, were 'protecting'. Did Hikari-chan tell them to say that. Still I couldn't hide the fact that my heart was feeling relived and happy. And hearing those kind of words from Kazuki-kun, made me blush a bit. "Oh....t-thanks" While I was gluing my answers, which Hikari-chan wrote for me, she came back. "I'm back, were they mean while I was gone? Did Akira-kun make fun of you again?" "Oi, I complimented her drawing" Akira-kun answered annoyed and..... a bit pink on his cheeks. "Yeah, right. One compliment doesn't make any big changes to the fact how much you've been mean to her. You throw her clothes to a mud pool on her first day of school. And you two throw red paint all over her on her second day..." She.... she knows? How is that possible?! "...Not even talking about how you two call her 'Ginger' all the time. So, one compliment is meaningless. So, I will kick your ass when the projects are done" Hikari-chan said starting to glue the pictures. It was starting to get awkward so, I decided to open my mouth. "Actually, it's not that bad if you call me 'ginger'. Yeah, it did hurt at start but I kind of like it now. Even though I know my school life is horrible, it's fine now. We should let those things be and focus on doing the projects together as a group. Weren't the whole idea of them to get to know us better?" What the hell are you talking about. You're still hurt of those two's bulling. You're not fine at all. Yeah, but my heart is feeling okay now. While I was having an argument with my mind and heart, I didn't notice that Akira-kun and Kazuki-kun were both looking at each other with a little bit of guilt in their eyes."Aww, Mina you're so sweet" Hikari-chan's sudden words and hug, woke me up from my thoughts. "Yeah, you're right, sorry" "Lets just finish the projects" Kazuki-kun and Akira-kun said. "So, what's your hobbies Hikari-chan?" "Oh, yeah. I like to make bracelets and necklaces and I love to make clothes" Hikari-chan said showing the portfolio, where she had glued a picture of pearls and a sewing machine. "Isn't this ready?" I asked placing the portfolio on the table to everyone to see. "Yeah, just our names are missing" So, we all wrote our names on the right. "Should we finish another one, so we'd only have two for tomorrow?" Hikari-chan asked. "Sure, which one do you want to do..." Akira-kun stopped looking at Hikari-chan before continuing: "...ginger?" He then looked at me, questioningly if it was okay for him to call me that so I showed him a small smile. "Fears?" "Sure" Kazuki-kun said putting the finished portfolio on the floor next to him to make more room to the next project. It would have been hard to believe a week ago that all of us would be calmly getting along while making projects together. Akira-kun was bit by bit more open and not so pissed, Kazuki-kun was working peacefully and Hikari-chan wasn't so hard on Akira-kun. Our team seemed to be glued together for a while...