Chapter Four: Practice Makes Perfect

 

*It had seemed like the class had gone on for hours. No wonder Serena didn’t exactly love her chemistry class- or it’s teacher for that matter. He was a stern man who believed lectures were the key to everything. And, if by chance a student happened to speak out in class or fail to answer a question when asked, he was even worse to that one student. That student usually seemed to be Serena too. Hiiro mussed over this while in his last class of the day, French.

Somehow he and Serena were once again in the same class. She was right, it was like he had a carbon copy of her schedule. But that was alright with him. At least he thought it was. Why was it again? He had lost the little something known as ‘rational thought’ some where between lunch and that pointless English class. The minute she had left the chem. lab, she had gone back to her bright and cheery self and offered to help him find his next class, which had been hers as well.

Serena listened to the teacher, paying apt attention to what she was saying. Madame Cook was leaving on some tangent about the Eiffel Tower, and Serena thought she knew enough on the subject to sneak a quick glance at Hiiro, who was sitting beside her in the back row of the class room. He had his eyes focused towards the front of the room, but not on the teacher. In fact, he didn’t blink or even move in the entire minute she sat watching him. She knew that look. He was off daydreaming. Of what, she had no idea.

Hiiro Yui was such a mystery to her. He was new, sure. But that wasn’t it. No, there was something else altogether. His silence made her jumpy and put her on edge. But not in a bad way. No, not in a bad way at all. She felt lighthearted when she approached him, yet by the time she had finished speaking to him, or well, interacting with him in some way, shape, or form, she felt very much more subdued and almost at ease. But wait; didn’t he put her on edge? Oh! It was all just too confusing.

Refocusing her eyes, she noticed Hiiro was staring straight at her. Blushing, she gave him a quick smile, then flipped her head back around and once again gave her full and undivided attention towards her teacher, who was now writing on the board a new conjugation for written verbs.

Hiiro had come out of his ‘reverie’ only to find she was staring straight at him. But he could tell, even with her hood up, that her eyes were glazed over and she was more just staring into oblivion. Well, that was fine. Let her do as she pleased. He would just stay away from her. No more of these stupid ‘holes’ in his memory or problems with moving his legs or speaking. Then he vaguely remembered the project for their chem. class. He would have to see her! And more often than just at school during class too! Things were not looking up today. Or were they? Oh! He couldn’t tell anymore. Was this how the Perfect Soldier was going down? A sucker to some girl whom he had only met five hours ago? Since when was he going down at all? And going down where? He knew the answers to his questions, but they were buried under too many battle tactics and weaponry stats that he had lost them over his years as a soldier for Dr. J.

Finally the bell rang. While the rest of the class vacated the room a quickly as possible, Serena and Hiiro stayed out, both completely and utterly lost within their own thoughts.

“Serena? Hiiro?” The teacher asked them in a heavy French accent.

“Hmm?” Asked Serena in her dream-like state.

“Don’t you have squad practice Serena?” She asked her students, obviously amused that both were still quite gone in thought.

“Hmm.” Serena responded. Then she blinked. “Oh! Oh no! Practice! I… hey Hiiro… Hiiro!” She tapped his shoulder. Finally he too blinked and came back to the land of the living.

“Class end?” He asked, more a statement really than a question.

“Yeah, and I’m going to be late for practice if I don’t jam. Did you want to come with me, or what?” She asked him, packing up as quickly as she could.

“Hn.” He answered her question. If he could get away from her now, he might be able to figure out what the hell was wrong with himself.

“Fine then. We do need to speak about that chem. project though. How long are you going to be here at school?”

“Whenever I want to leave.” He answered, figuring it would be the best thing to discuss this now, but if he had too, he would wait for her ‘practice’ or whatever it was to be over to discuss it.

“Well, the girls and I meet after practice every day from four-thirty to six at the library on Fourth Street. Think you could swing by on your way home around then?” She asked him with such professional a tone that he had to look at her face. She was holding a small date book in her arms, pressing it against her chest and hugging it in tightly, as if it would give her some warmth. ‘I could warm her much better than that book…’ he thought. Scratch that. What the hell was he on? He seriously needed a CAT scan- and soon. Maybe he really was a lunatic.

“Fine. What is the latest time you’ll be there?” He asked her, making sure he wouldn’t miss her.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“What time will you parents pick you up from the library?” He said, more slowly so she would better understand him.

“Oh. They don’t… uh. I mean… I’ll be there until six. After that I leave.” She fumbled with her words. Her parents pick her up? Sure, she had seen other students being picked up by their parents, but hers had never done it. Not even when she was in kindergarten. She had walked home as long as she could remember. Pick her up. Ha! That was almost funny.

“Fine then.” He said.

“Oh no! I’m really running late. I’ve got to go! Bye Hiiro, see you!” She exclaimed as she raced out the classroom door and down the hall towards the gym and locker rooms. Hiiro just shook his head and then walked out of the room himself, leaving behind a French teacher who had seen the entire interaction and was grinning from ear to ear.

>>>)(<<<

            “ I know! And Quatre is just as hot as he is!” Mina gushed to Lita as the five girls sat on the mats in the room off the side of the school’s gym. Surrounding them were balance beams, the hoops, parallel bars, uneven bars, and, of course, the floor mats. The ‘squad’ of five girls sat in a circle on the floor and were talking and stretching at the same time. As they all went through the normal routines, they spoke of the five newest additions to their school.

            “Yeah, Quatre’s not bad, but Duo is really hot! He’s even already asked me out! You know, he looks just like my old…”

            “Boyfriend!” Finished the other four girls in unison. They’d heard Lita’s line before, most obviously.

            “So where’s he going to take you Lita?” Rei asked her.

            “He said he wants me to show him the town. We’re going Friday night. Isn’t that great?”

            “Sounds fun Lita, but are you sure he won’t interfere with the squad or your grades?” Ami asked her.

            “You’re not one to talk Ames!” Mina blurted out. “I saw the way you and Trowa were eyeing each other during calculus! Both of you were blushing so hard you looked like ripe tomatoes! Don’t tell Lita off when you’re nearly just as bad!”

            “Mina! We were not!” Ami denied the whole thing.

            “Yup. Sounds like something our Ami might do.” Serena said, finally joining the conversation. She usually preferred stretching without talking, though she loved the gossip she heard with the girls around. She was the only one of them that didn’t have any classes together, and it made her feel slightly left out.

            “I say all three of you should go for it.” Rei added.

            “Three? What about you Rei? You and Wufei stood arguing for nearly a half hour during you free period!” Lita shouted.

            “How would you know that?” Rei countered her.

            “We could hear you all the way in the home-ec classroom!”

            “So? What if we were arguing?” Rei snapped, a red tinge coming over her face.

            “You two were made for each other!” Mina shouted above all the giggling.

            “Get a life! There’s no way that pompous, arrogant creep and I could ever… uhh! We, I, ew!!” Rei finished in a huff. By now, all of the girls who had previously been stretching were breaking apart to their own certain events. Rei made her way to the parallel bars, Mina to the uneven bars, Ami to the balance beam, Lita to the hoops, and Serena staying on the floor mat. Their coach had left on maternity leave, but had left them instructions on what they were supposed to practice while she was away. Beginning a complicated set of twists and spins and twirls on the floor, Serena became oblivious to everything around her, except her posture. And maybe the talking that the other girls were doing. Alright, so she was listening very deeply to what they were saying.

            “…So I invited him to our study session.” Ami finished with a blush.

            “You did? That’s great! Ami’s got a boyfriend, Ami’s got a boyfriend!” Mina teased.

            “Mina! We are really going to study, unlike you when you invite someone to our study sessions. And anyway, I thought Quatre was coming too.” Ami finished, with an almost evil gleam in her eye.

            “Yeah, well, Duo talked him into it, so…”

            “Duo’s coming too?” Lita interrupted Mina.

            “Yeah. And I think Wufei said something about not trusting Duo to go alone, so he was going to come and protect us from him and his injustices…”

            “Wufei’s coming? Oh great! More perverted nonsense form that egotistical chauvinistic pig!” Rei groaned.

            “What about the last one? There are five of them, right? What about him?” Mina asked.

            “I don’t know. Hey, Serena, you showed them around this morning. What was the other guy’s name?”

            “Hiiro. Hiiro Yui.” That was all Serena said before she tuned the girls and their chatter out for the rest of practice. It would not be good to think about Hiiro now. It would throw her concentration. Why, even just the mention of his name and she might not be able to get it out of her head again… too late. She mentally groaned and tried to shove the thoughts out of her head. Soon, she was too hot. She had to pull off the sweater that had given her refuge all day. Since the morning, the eye makeup had worn off, but the concealer still covered the majority of her bruises. All she could do was pray that no one would notice. Or care if they did.

>>>)(<<<

            “So guys, what do think of this new school?” Quatre brought up the subject as the five guys sat around a table in the cafeteria, doing homework and just hanging out in general.

            “They’ve got some babes here! And Lita’s one of the cutest!” Duo raved.

            “It’s not bad.” Trowa agreed.

            “Come on now Trowa! I saw you and that Ami girl talking! And blushing. I didn’t know clown could blush. Hey, I didn’t even know Gundam pilots could blush!” Duo joked.

            “They can. Take Winner for example.” Wufei smirked as he pointed out Quatre’s unhealthy addiction to blushing shades of red.

            “True. So tell us Q-man. Is there a specific shade of red I should blush when I kiss Lita Friday?” Wufei, Trowa, and Duo all broke out laughing deeply. Poor Quatre looked slightly put out, then perked up and smiled, then laughed with them.

            “No Duo. I think the real question is what color you should blush after she punches you for kissing her in Friday.” Quatre’s comeback received an even larger amount of laughter than Duo’s previous joke, and Duo frowned when he saw that even Hiiro had cracked a small smirk. Then he grinned and took things into his own hands.

            “So Hiiro. Serena. What’s the deal there?”  He asked. Hiiro just gave him a blank stare. Damn, when Hiiro wanted to be evil, he could be.

            “Yes Yui. You’ve been awfully quiet since we met that onna. What’s wrong?” Wufei asked with a hint of fake innocence in voice.

            “Hn.” Hiiro grunted, hoping it would please his teasing and prying comrades. No such luck.

            “You know Hiiro. Serena is hot. And I do mean damn hot hot hot! I was thinking of asking her out for next Saturday. What do you think?” Duo taunted him.

            “Hn.”

            “You know, all the girls are meeting later tonight at the library. I’m going, and so are the others. Why don’t you come Hiiro?” Quatre asked him.  

            “I’m already going.” Hiiro answered, not sure he should have said anything at all. The minute he said something, he knew he shouldn’t have.

            “Ohhh! Go Hiiro! When did she ask you?” Duo bugged him.

            “We have a chem. project to work on. She suggested we meet tonight to discuss topics and times.” Hiiro said as monotone as possible.

            “Oh man! Really Hiiro, you need to lighten up!” Duo told him.

            “He’s right. You do need to loosen up Hiiro.” Trowa added.

            “Hn.”

            “Well I’m going to go see Lita now.” Duo said, stretching and standing.

            “How? Isn’t she at squad practice or whatever?” Wufei asked.

            “Yeah. They’re all in the room off the gym. That’s what she told me. Let’s go find out what ‘squad’ is. Lita says she loves it, and that the coach isn’t there now…” Duo said.

            “Then who’s in charge?” Trowa asked as they packed their stuff up and began walking towards the gym, which was only a little farther down the hall.

            “That girl Hiiro likes, Serena is. You know, the one…”

            “We know Maxwell! She did show us around this morning too you know.” Wufei added in.

            “Come on guys, not now. Let’s just go in and watch them.” Quatre said, trying to stop the fight before it began. They all stepped into the room and stood off to the side of the room, watching as the five girls they had met at lunch preformed amazing feats.

 Each boy was blown away by what the girls were accomplishing. While Quatre stared at Mina on the uneven bars, his jaw dropped. Wufei was surprised to see the ‘weak onna’ he had been fighting with earlier performing a handstand on the two parallel bars. Duo was drooling at the sight of Lita in a tight body suit and hanging off of the loops while flipping in circles. Even Trowa lost his cool when he saw Ami on the balance beam flipping in mid air and then landing on the beam without so much as a waver. Sure he could do it but he was a Gundam Pilot. These girls were just… well, girls!

Hiiro briefly glanced at the other four girls in the room, but his gaze landed on Serena. She was standing in the corner of room on a blue mat. She suddenly ran forward and jumped and flipped. Spinning in mid air, she landed solidly, then did a few more flips and hand springs. Forward, backward, up in the air, down on the floor, it had to be the most amazing site he had ever seen. She was amazing- defying gravity with the greatest of ease and still always landing and nailing it every time.  Suddenly a loud bell went off and all of the girls stopped where they were. It was obvious that practice was over. *