DRAWN (8 page)

“Err, hi?”

“Let’s just talk here,
senpai
.” A downward pressure on my shoulders forces me back to my seat.

Yuki takes the seat in front me, deftly turning it around so that we are facing each other. When he sits, our knees touch.

My eyes widen.

Oh, shite.

This, I didn’t count.

“I thought I was perfectly clear with you,
senpai
,” Yuki says between clenched teeth as he hunches close.

I can’t concentrate on what he’s saying. My whole being is focused on the sensation of our knees touching. I can’t help stop thinking that we both don’t have our underwear on.

          Yeeeaaaargh.

          This is all his fault!

          “I told you, it’s only going to be a matter of time---” Yuki stops talking. I think he’s finally noticed I’m not in, umm, my right state of mind.

          “Are you okay?”

          No, I’m not.

          In fact, I feel very weird.

          Yuki frowns, moving closer, and our knees bump harder.

          I bolt upright, my eyes widening in fearful realization because I finally understand exactly what this weird sensation means.

          I’m about to have my first orgasm.

          In public.

          Again, in public, and it’s all because of Yuki!

          “What’s wrong?” Yuki demands.

          I glare at him even though I’m almost in tears because I don’t know how long I can hold---

          I let out a strangled gasp when Yuki moves closer, his knees bumping into me again as he clasps my wrist.

          “I think I’m going to come!” I force myself to say.

          “Come where?” He moves closer, and our knees bump harder just as a wind blows into the room, tickling my bare skin.

          I do my best to bite back a moan.

          Yuki gazes at me in horror.

          I alternately glare and beg him with my eyes.

          I’ve never seen Yuki move so fast after that. “Clinic,” he half shouts as he jumps out of his seat. “Ms. Chambers, I need to take
senpai
to the clinic for a nosebleed.” He hits my face with a handkerchief, strong enough that my nose actually starts to bleed.

          The weird sensation stops.

          Ms. Chambers’ lips part in shock. “Oh, dear, of course.”

          Yuki turns to me and his own eyes widen when he sees me clutching his handkerchief, which is fast turning from white to pink to red. “Y-you’re bleeding.”

          “Like you said,” I say. My nose hurts like hell, but I can’t stop my lips from trembling. Yuki’s face is almost comical in its shock. I guess gods like Yuki aren’t used to making mistakes.

          Yuki practically carries me into the clinic, shouldering its door open.

          A row of red high-backed seats is lined up against the wall, facing the nurse’s desk and an industrial scale that’s huge enough to weigh bodybuilding Siamese twins.

Yuki drops me on the first vacant chair he reaches. “Nurse,” he bellows even though Nurse Simmons is just across the desk.

          “I hear you perfectly fine, boy,” Nurse Simmons grouches. She gives me a passing glance. “You just need to stop the bleeding and you’ll be fine.”

“She’s not fine,” Yuki snaps at her even though he doesn’t take his horrified gaze off me.

          “It’s okay, Yuki,” I try to assure him.

          “It’s
not
okay!” Yuki looks like he wants to glare and grimace at the same time.

When Nurse Simmons comes to my side with cotton balls, Yuki squats down and carefully takes the handkerchief from my hands. He whitens when he bares my nose to his gaze.

          “It’s just a nosebleed,” I say between unmoving lips. I’ve always had a sensitive nose so this isn’t new to me. I know that if I speak too much or sniff too hard I might end up snorting everything back, and the blood would travel past my tonsils and arrive at my taste buds. And yes, it’s as yucky as it sounds. More so, actually.

Yuki swats Nurse Simmons’ hands away when she reaches for my face. He grabs a cotton ball from her tray so he can tend to me personally.

Must not laugh,
I remind myself even as my lips twitch.

          “Well, I’ll never!” Nurse Simmons drops her medical tray on the seat next to me with a bang.

          We both ignore her.

          “Are you okay?” he asks again.

          I take over pressing the cotton ball to my nose. “I’m good.”

          Yuki keeps staring at me and I start to feel self-conscious. Having a cotton ball jammed into one of my nostrils doesn’t exactly paint a pretty picture.

          “Stop staring at me. I know I look gross.”

          He doesn’t seem to have heard me. “I’m so sorry.” It’s my first time to hear him speak English with such a strong accent. Apparently, his Japanese side comes out when he’s nervous.

          “It’s really okay, Yuki.” I try to think of a way to lighten his mood. He looks like he’s about to commit
hara-kiri
any moment. “You make a good nurse.”

          Nurse Simmons, who’s counting plasters a few feet away from us, snorts.

          We both ignore her again.

          “I’ve had practice.”

          I blink. He has practice hitting women?

          “No, not like that,” Yuki says hastily when he sees my look. “I mean, I’ve practice doing this stuff. I’ve always taken care of myself when I get sick.”

          “Because your parents are away most of the time?”

          “Something like that.”

          I smile at him teasingly. “Or maybe you just don’t want to admit to me that you were born smug. I bet you never even let your parents help you out. You could probably start dressing yourself before your first birthday.” The image of a
chibi
Yuki doing everything on his own is so cute I know I’m going to draw it the moment I get home.

He shakes his head. “
Senpai?”

“Yes?” Blast it. I think I’m about to get another nosebleed, which – in the world of
manga
– is something you have either because you’re totally turned on or you’re absolutely whipped. It feels like it’s been ages since I last heard him call me that.

          Yuki smiles at me, but for the first time it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Let’s just not go down that road, mm? Ever.”

A bizarre outbreak has broken out in school as female students one by one suffer from everything between nosebleeds and dizzy spells – anything to get
the knight
Yuki to sweep
the damsel
the girl in his arms and take her to the
dungeon
school clinic, where
the dragon
Nurse Simmons bellows about her impending resignation if things don’t get back to normal soon.

          Am I the only one who sees the storyline here?

          And am I the only one who’s noticed how much Yuki’s been glaring at me every time he walks past me? I think he’s blaming me for this epidemic, which is really unfair. I’m not the
carrier
of this disease.

          “Want me to punch her for you?” Lace asks as she comes to stand next to me, joining the throng of students at a standstill in the hallway. Normally, the ten-minute interval before the last class of the day is chaotic, with most of us using it to make plans for the rest of the day. But today’s different, with most of us just waiting around and see who’s going to faint, bleed, or cry out next.

Personally, I just like seeing how Yuki’s well-defined biceps make his sleeves look like it’s going to Hulk-burst as he carries a girl in his arms. Seriously, those muscles are built to be seen naked. Long sleeves are an
aberration
for those biceps! I can just imagine Yuki and me alone in an exercise gym, and we’re totally getting our freak on. He lifts me up, muscles tautening just before my back slams against the wall and my legs go around him as he---

“KC?”

Oh, shite.

I fantasized again, and with Lace at my side to boot.

“Did you hear me? I asked if you want me to give that girl a well-deserved kick on her---”

“I’m fine, Lace,” I say immediately because she usually means what she says. It’s just another reason we’re best friends, even if most times she just sticks to the truth because she likes using it to shock people.

“Are you sure? And what’s up with your guy anyway? Doesn’t he know it’s not cool to spend that much time with other girls when he’s
exclusively
dating someone?”

          My phone beeps.
Let’s meet at the back of the school later, senpai.

         
I show Lace the message. “See? We’re cool.”

          She snorts. “But why do you have to meet at the back? I mean, what if it’s just his way of making sure every girl here still thinks he’s single? What if---”

          I touch Lace’s arm to calm her down a bit. “Stop it. You’re just saying that because you like passing off your man-hating ways as fighting for women’s lib.”

          She grins. “But admit it. I have a point.”

          I grin back. “No, you don’t, so stop it. Go to your gym class, Lace. I know you hate being late for that.”

          “You’re really sure you’re okay seeing that?” she asks, but I can see half her mind’s already stolen by basketball.

          I nod very firmly. “Yes, so go!”

          When she’s gone, I text Yuki back:
No, just meet me across the diner.

         
Yuki comes out of the school clinic, typing on his phone and wearing a frown that tells me he’s going to arguing the matter.

         
Senpai, you do know we’ve got a storm coming, right? How can you even think of walking in this weather?

         
While debating with myself about the merits of typing “
with an umbrella?
” as my answer, I absently watch Amelia block Yuki’s way like a bulldozer with a purpose. A couple of cheerleaders are at her tail, and they giggle as Amelia dramatically places a hand on her forehead and moan.

          You have got to be kidding me.

While typing a more responsible reply to Yuki –
Be reasonable. They’re going to follow you around. They’ll see you drive me. -
I shake my head, a bit taken aback at the lengths she’s taking to snag him.

          “I’m feeling so…hot…and feverish…”

          This is seriously not happening, is it?

          She bends back halfway. “Oh, I feel faint.” Then she starts to fall, inch by inch so Yuki has enough time to get her before she really ends up cracking her head on the floor.

          Yuki, his face inscrutable, reaches toward Amelia just as his phone beeps. Yuki stops in his track and reaches for his phone instead.

          Amelia gawks.

          One of her cheerleading slaves tries to approach her, but Amelia waves her away furiously.

          Yuki is still typing. Since he’s used to typing in Japanese, he’s slower than the average texter when he’s typing his message in English. And he doesn’t do shortcuts, too. When I messaged him with LOL one time, he actually had to Google it.

          “I don’t think I can hold on any longer!” she says loudly.

          I bite my lip very hard because I don’t think she really can, not when her body’s almost forming an inverted U and her head just a foot away from the ground. Still, I have to say I’m impressed with how limber she is. Someone who can twist her body like a pretzel definitely deserves to be Head Cheerleader.

          My phone beeps.
Fine – but not as far as the diner. Just wait for me at the bus stop at Thomson Street.

          Fair enough
, I text back just as Yuki returns his phone to pocket and gape at Amelia’s twisted form.

          “Help?” she squeaks out. I think she’s really broken her back this time.

          Over an hour later, Yuki’s car slides to a stop in front of me, the window of the passenger side already rolled down.

          “Don’t bother coming out,” I yell over the rain as I dive into the car, dripping wet. The weather seems to have upgraded to a Category 4 since I walked out of school just ten minutes ago.

“I feel like I’m going to have re-think our situation,
senpai
,” Yuki says, frowning from the driver’s seat as I shake my hair dry.           

In the act of placing my umbrella on the floor, my head jerks up at his words, hitting his dashboard compartment from below. “Owww.”

          Yuki’s eyes are wide in alarm. “Are you okay,
senpai
?”