Chapter 3- excitement

Its Monday now and there’s a festival coming up. I’m really excited about that. The only thing is that every year I go alone. I don’t mean to or want to but no one ever asks me.
“Class is over, dismissed.” Said the teacher in a relieved voice we only have one class left before school lets out for the day. I’ve heard tons about who’s going with whom to the festival. But the weirdest part is that Tsume hadn’t talked to me almost all day. Only a couple of times and he never once mentioned the festival. I was in my next class, Tsume beside me.
“So are you going to the festival?” I asked while our teacher called roll.
“Umm… I don’t know yet.” he said staring at me, “Why were you thinking of going?” I stared at my hands,
“Yes, I’m going.” I said nodding. He tilted his head so he could see my face,
“Well has anyone asked you yet?” he asked. I blushed turning my face a light pink, embarrassed about it.
“N-no not yet but I’m still going.” He nodded then turned his attention back to the class. The teacher was assigning partners for a Japanese project.
“… Ann and Maya. Lastly Tsume and Kira.” She explained, “Now get in your groups and start.” She sat down at her desk. Tsume got up and kicked his desk to face mine. He pulled a piece of paper out of his notebook and sat down,
“So what are we going to do that has to do with Japan?” he asked, pen tip on the paper. I thought for a moment,
“We could cook something like rice balls or some kind of cake.” I explained. He jotted it down,
“Sounds good to me, then we’ll feed it to the class.” he said. I nodded, “So do you want to go to the festival with me?” he asked out of the blue. I stared at him skeptically,
“Sure but aren’t you in high demand because of all your so called fans?” I asked him, he stared at me almost glaring.
“Why should I care, I didn’t ask them to like me. Besides if they bug us I’ll just glare at them until they go away.” I laughed softly,
“Your so cold to everyone. I’m surprised they even like you.” I said in a teasing tone. He just stared at me a moment, “If I were like that nobody would like me.” I smiled a strangely sad smile, he laughed a little. Then he leaned so close that his arm touched mine, he brushed my bangs out of my eyes,
“I don’t know about that, in the beginning you were cold to me too, but I stuck around.” I was blushing like mad but my sense came back,
“You only stuck around because I know your secret- that you’re a w-o-l-f.” I whispered very quietly. He went back to sitting straight again. He looked me in the eyes,
“I’ll pick you up tonight okay?” I nodded slowly. We went over a few other things in class and then the bell rang. I went to my locker and shoved my books inside my bag and turned toward the door. As I headed to the door I kept alert so that in case I ran into Tsume I wouldn’t be surprised. But the halls were empty except a few students every once in a while. I reached the door and stepped outside. It was raining steadily; I realized that I didn’t even bring my umbrella. I groaned, ‘Now I have to get all wet.’ I complained to myself. I took a deep breath and started walking out in the rain, pulling my sweater over my hands and crossed my arms to stay warmer. I was looking at my feet and when I came to the edge of the sidewalk, I stopped. I didn’t walk because I heard a car coming. When it drove by it splashed some puddle water on me. I screamed, now even wetter then before. My hair plastered to my face. I stood there letting the rain water drip over my face, wishing I had an umbrella. Then the rain was no longer raining on me, but it was still pouring down around me. I turned around and Tsume was holding an umbrella.
“I thought you might need an umbrella, you should have waited for me.” he explained with a frown, he looked me up and down, “You look wetter than from far away.” He took off his jacket and slung it on my shoulders. I put it on and buttoned it up. He started walking and I fallowed. I didn’t look at the road or the sky; I just stared at my feet. We came to a stop and I glanced around, we were at my house. I lead us up to the front door.
“No ones home but I have a key, hang on.” I said, taking the umbrella from his hands, leaving him under the porch. I walked to a bush and moved some twigs to the side. On one branch, there was a key hanging there. I grabbed it and then came back; I gave him the umbrella and opened the door. We came in, my house was painted in a pattern: every other wall was light lavender and the others were dark purple. It was a taller house but still not very big. I took off the coat and returned it to Tsume.
“Thank you very much for walking me home.” I said nicely. He smiled,
“no problem. I’ll just be going now. I’ll see you later.” he said, then walked out the door.
I took a shower and dried my hair. I stood at my closet looking into it. I picked out a small dress; at the bottom it was dark purple and as it came up it got lighter. It was a spaghetti strap dress and it came down to my knees. It had a couple of bluish violet colored flowers at the bottom. I pulled my silky light purple hair into a ponytail with two strands of hair to lie on each side of my face. I slipped some high heel flip-flops on and looked out my window. It had stopped raining and a figure was standing in my driveway, I realized the figure was Tsume. I took a deep breath and carefully walked down the stairs. When I opened the door he turned his head to me and smiled,
“Hi.” he greeted me. “You look nice, different then from that same ol’ thing you always wear in school.” I smirked,
“Well if you’re talking about my school uniform then yes I guess I do. And I see that you look different then from school too.” Tsume was wearing a white T-shirt with a black hooded shirt, unbuttoned. And some nice black pants. He looked more like the Tsume I saw on the Saturday we went out. I was grumbling under my breath.
“Come on, let’s go, the festival will start soon.” He said grabbing my hand to pull me. I came to his side; let go of his hand, stopped walking, and put my arm around him in a half hug.
“Thanks for bringing me.” Then I let go, letting him hold my hand again. I thought I saw him blush but he turned his head away, so I couldn’t be sure.
When we reached the middle of town where the festival was to be held, my excitement had bubbled up and was threatening to overflow. My adrenaline was rushing through me.

-------------- End-------------------