Chapter Five: 11 Things I Hate About You

*“Alright Serena. Tonight you’re supposed to eat two helpings instead of one, so batten down the hatches and open wide.” The nutritionist smiled sadly at the blonde who sat before him at the table.

Serena rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. When she inhaled the steam and scent of the plate of food in front of her, she nearly gagged. She was gaining calories just by smelling this stuff! Looking around, she had to smirk. She was the only one in the small dining room, aside from the nutritionist, but she could hear the others eating in the room next door.

“I’m not all that hungry thanks.” She nodded, standing. The nutritionist let out a low chuckle and grabbed her by her shoulders. He forced her to sit down.

“I’m new here, Serena, but I was warned very thoroughly about you by a paint splattered nurse earlier this afternoon. It seems you liked the color black on her? Well, she might have been a pushover, but I’m not. You need to eat Serena.”

“I’m not hungry. I’m sorry to have wasted your time having you make that wonderful looking… food, but I just don’t feel like it.”

“And I don’t feel like sitting here all night. But I will until every bite of food on that plate is gone.” He smiled. She looked up at him and studied him with her cerulean eyes.

“Sit away, cause it looks like we aren’t going anywhere.”

“Fine.” The man sat back in his chair across the table from her and crossed his arms in front of him. Serena pulled her legs up and sat Indian-style in her chair. A staring contest ensued. Finally she blinked.

The she smiled evilly. “This could go on all night you know.”

“I already told you I was prepared to sit here all night.”

“This is bull. If you’re so bent on making food, why don’t you eat it? You’re not fat.” Now she crossed her arms, looking at him expectantly.

“No, I’m not. But I’m not skinny like you either. I like the way I am.”

“And I like me too. I just needed to get a little thinner.”

“You’re too thin.”

“I’m fine.” She looked him up and down again. “Speaking of which, you are fine too.” She winked, and he grinned.

“You aren’t exactly my type.”

“Oh, I see. You swing that way. Why is it all the good ones are always either gay or taken?”

“No. I just prefer my women plump.” He grinned. Then he dug into his pocket and pulled out a picture. He slid it across the table, and Serena picked it up and looked at it.

“She’s fat. I mean, seriously obese.”

“She’s my girlfriend, and I love her, all one hundred and sixty-three pounds of her. She’s beautiful. Men don’t want sticks Serena, we want someone we can hold and know she won’t break in half. We want a woman who we can cuddle with, not be poked by her bones that are sticking out everywhere because she’s so thin.”

“Well, you aren’t the majority of men.”

“I am as a matter of fact. Haven’t you ever heard the song ‘I Like Big Butts’?”

“Sounds vaguely familiar. But that’s only two men. Back home I had guys falling over themselves for me.”

“Well, that’s not the way the real world works. Now eat up.”

“You know, I don’t get anything if I eat except few extra pounds.”

“Isn’t that motivation enough? As soon as you reach your weight goal, you get out of here right?”

“Yeah, right, I wish! But even if that were true, I want immediate gratification.”

“You want me to bribe you into eating.”

“All I want is for you to convince Big Berga to let me go to the movie tonight. That doesn’t sound hard, does it?”

“I don’t know… I’ve met that woman, and she doesn’t look too easy to convince.”

“Do it and I’ll eat three helpings.” Serena offered generously.

“Three?” He raised his eyebrows. “Deal. Eat three right now, and I’ll get you to the movie.”

“Deal.” And Serena grudgingly picked up a fork and shoved some mashed potatoes into her mouth.

>>>)(<<<

“You know, maybe these dishes aren’t clean. Maybe I should get some soap and a scrub brush and scour them. And is this table clean? Imagine how many germs- bacteria, fungus- did they use sponges to clean it? You know sponges spread bacteria. I wonder if they used a disinfectant. Maybe I should get a roll of paper towels and clean this table. And the silver wear! It needs-”

“Wayne! Shut it! Everything’s clean!”

“How do you know it’s clean Jake? What if it only looks clean? What if-” Hiiro looked at the three boys who had chosen to sit at the table in the cafeteria with him. Originally he had planned to sit alone, but his mind had told him to fit in. This was like an undercover operation. He needed to blend in, become part of the group, so he didn’t stick out among the people when the doctors looked at him. But now he was thinking maybe he should stick out- as a normal human being. At least, as normal as a pilot like himself could get.

I’m sorry new guy. Wayne’s an obsessive compulsive if you couldn’t tell. He’s always worried about cleaning and stuff. Hey, are you going to eat that?” But before Hiiro could answer, the boy was stealing his roll from his plate.

“Yes.” Hiiro responded without thinking.

“Ok, sorry! Look, my name’s Jake. What’s your name?”

“Hnn.”

“Look, I’m sorry I asked about the food. Now what’s your name?” Hiiro looked at him and for a split second, Quatre flashed through his mind. The boy had the same innocence about him.

“Hiiro Yui.”

“Nice to meet you Hiiro. So what’re you in for?”

“Anger management.”

“That’s solid. Me? I’m a kleptomaniac. Yeah. Sorry about your bread by the way. I can’t help it. I’m working on it though. Oh, and across from us is Tom. He doesn’t talk much. He’s a pyromaniac. But he’s been clean of fire for… how long Tom?”

“No fire for three weeks… three weeks, no fire… No orange flames, flicker, flicker, flicker…”

At this point Hiiro felt his spine tingle. Never before had he had to deal with such eccentric people. They were… out of the norm. It seriously was starting to scare him. Him, who had gone through hell training to be a soldier. It was rare that he had any real social contact with people, and he had a hard enough time dealing with them as it was. But now he was being thrown into a place where people were not as understanding of his background as the others had been. These people didn’t know about his life, what he had gone through and seen, and they didn’t know how to put him at ease as much as his old comrades did. These people didn’t know how to hide their flaws- no, they flaunted them. And it scared him, the Perfect, fallen, failure.

“Hey Hiiro, you done?” Jake asked.

“Hnn.”

“Great! The movie starts in a few minutes, let’s go get seats.” The boy reached out to grab Hiiro’s arm, and he pulled it away quickly.

“No contact.” He muttered.

“Right… well, let’s go. I heard Scrawny picked the movie- it’s going to be a good one.”

“Serena picked it.” Hiiro told him without thinking.

“Yeah. We call her Scrawny. It’s because she’s so thin.” Jake told him laughing “She doesn’t like it- she thinks she’s fat and thinks it’s mean that we’re teasing her about being thin. We just think it’s funny.”

“She always smells like soap. I love the smell of soap. I love Serena’s smell.” Wayne added. Hiiro looked at him from the corner of his eye, but said nothing.

“Wayne, you love Serena.”

“She’s always clean. She smells good.” The boy paused. “And she’s pretty.” He tacked on the end.

“Her eyes look like fire. Blue fire.” Tom added.

“They’re so weird.” Jake muttered to Hiiro. “They like the girl. I think she’s mean.”

“She’s mean.” Hiiro agreed unconsciously. They stopped in front of the art room and Tom opened the door for them all. When they took seats in the last row, Hiiro made sure to get the aisle seat so he could after the movie begun. He wasn’t staying with the crazies any longer than he had to.

Soon the lights were dimmed and the movie began. Just as the final credit finished, the door behind them opened and a small figure appeared in the doorway. Hiiro looked to see who it was, then turned around quickly. Hadn’t she been banned from her activities tonight? Obviously she had managed to either sneak in, or to talk her way out of punishment.

“Hi Wayne, hi Tom! Aren’t you two looking cute tonight? Oh, hello there Jake.” She smiled and waved at them, took a moment to glare at Jake, and ignored Hiiro. Then she sat in the row in front of them and made sure to flip her hair over her shoulder in a very innocent but provocative manner. Hiiro decided she had talked her way out of punishment.

As the movie was just ending, Hiiro noticed Jake was moving beside him. He concentrated and focused hard in the dark- to find Jake was stuffing something into his pockets. But why… Hiiro vaguely remembered him saying he was a kleptomaniac… ok, so he was stealing something. Something that looked like a long, thick, clump of golden… hair? He was stealing Serena’s hair! Shoving it into his pockets!

“Stop.” Hiiro whispered to him.

“What? Oh, this? It’s not mine!” Jake flared up, defensively. “You! You were the one who was stealing it! Not me!” And he shoved the clump of hair into Hiiro’s hand- and pulled on Serena’s head as he did it.

“Ouch!” Serena yelped out loud. The nurse that had been standing near the door flipped on the lights, and Serena turned around to find Hiiro with her hair in his hand, and Jake pointing at him.

“He’s stealing your hair Scrawny!”

“Let my hair go! Now!” Serena yelled at Hiiro. He felt like… like he had just been caught doing something very naughty. Her eyes made him feel so guilty. So, so guilty… and it hadn’t even been his fault!

“Sorry.” He mumbled.

“Sorry? You’re sorry? I don’t give a damned whether you’re sorry or not! You pulled my hair! Let it go!” Hiiro automatically dropped the clump of gold-spun locks.

“I didn’t do it!” Jake kept repeating.

“No, Hiiro did.” Serena growled. “I hate you! In fact, I hate you a lot! I hate your hair, your eyes, your nose, your hands, I hate your clothes and your mouth, and I hate your shoes and your personality, and your neck and your ears, and I hate you! You’re a psycho! Freak! Stay away from me!” She was livid. He made her mad.

“I didn’t do it!” Jake stated.

“Is there a problem in here?”

“Big Berga, he…”

“Making trouble again Serena? That’s enough. I let you come because Keith thought you deserved to, but you’re only a troublemaker. Come on Serena, bedtime, now.”

“But I…” Serena’s mouth hung wide open. Then she gave up, knowing it was no use. There was no use in fighting Big Berga. She stood slowly, and began walking to the door. As she passed Hiiro, she frowned and glared darkly.

“I hate you. Watch your back hair thief!”

“I’m innocent.” Hiiro muttered as she was led out. Great. *