Sweet Naivety

Chapter 14: Excuses

Chapter 14: Excuses

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Eventually, I had managed to finish getting ready for school and the four of us had rushed off together. I hadn't even had a chance to eat breakfast... and we were still late. But Rukia gave Mrs. Ochi her best puppy dog eyes and some BS story and we had managed to escape her wrath.

The first half of school just dragged by, so I was happy when the bell finally rang for lunch. Since Chizuru hadn't had a chance to grope me before class, she tackled me just as soon as I sat down. Tatsuki was nice enough to pull her off though, and then she moved on to Orihime. I shook my head, partly because of her weirdness and partly because I was getting used to it.

I sat with everyone and barely paid attention to what they were saying. I finished my lunch quickly and snuck out my phone so that I could check the missed notifications that I hadn't had a chance to before. I ignored the harassing messages, calls, and voicemails from Rukia and Yumichika, since I had already spoken to them, so besides the call and voicemail from my uncle, all that was left were some text messages and a missed call from Grimmjow. And some of the messages had been sent while Grimmjow still had my phone, and I had just never gotten around to checking them...

FROM RENJI: Hey Pink. Make it home alright?

FROM RANGIKU: Soooo, how are things going with Grimmjow? ;) ;)

FROM RANGIKU: Come on! I want all of the juicy details!

FROM RENJI: Call me when you have some time, K?

FROM GRIMMJOW: Sweet dreams, babe.

FROM GRIMMJOW: Good morning, gorgeous. Did ya dream of me?

FROM RANGIKU: I'll be getting everything out of you at school today!

FROM GRIMMJOW: Hey babe, if you're running late I can give you a ride.

I sighed exasperatedly at my phone before tucking it away. Luckily, Rangiku was distracted by Orihime, so I didn't have to deal with her right now. I scooted over to Renji and managed to get his attention.

"Hey." I gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry I didn't answer you yesterday... my phone died and I didn't realize it until this morning... when Rukia started banging on my front door."

He gave a light laugh. "That's alright. And it sorta explains the real reason why you guys were late this morning."

I scratched the back of my head, laughing nervously. "Yeah..."

"So what are you doing after school today?" He tilted his head inquisitively.

I shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I'll probably figure it out whenever school is over."

"Well do you wanna go to the mall? We can play some games in the arcade." He smiled as he made the suggestion.

I actually had to think about it... I wondered what Grimmjow would be doing... Would he want spend time with me after school? Or just show up randomly again? And if he did... what then? "Um, sure, Renji. That sounds fun."

He grinned happily. "Great!"

I bit my lip, an idea occurring to me. "Now I need to go and apologize to Rangiku."

He chuckled at me. "Alright. Good luck."

"Thanks." I smiled at him before sliding over to Rangiku.

"Juna!" She squealed as soon as she saw me, then grabbed my arm and dragged me to a secluded area. "Why didn't you answer my messages?!"