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*_* MARMALADE MERCURY *_*EP 3a: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS! WHAT WILL PEOPLE THINK? |
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Ami pulled a sandwich from her lunch box and began nibbling on it. Thursday had passed pretty much without incident, and it was finally the end of the week.
'And what now…' mused Ami. She still wasn't sure if she should ask Minako about Greg or not… she certainly couldn't ask Greg. But she also couldn't deny Urawa an answer forever; she had almost sensed Urawa watching her, waiting for her to approach him, but it may have been her imagination.
As she flipped the page of a textbook in front of her, a shadow fell over it. Ami looked up.
"Feeling better today, Ami?" Usagi asked, taking a seat next to her on the grass.
"I suppose," Ami answered absently.
"Glad to hear it!" Usagi replied. "Don't let Urawa's arrival get you down… or Greg's for that matter. Remember you have friends who'll be behind you all the way," she said with a wink.
Ami smiled back. "I know. Thanks," she said.
Ami paused to take another bite of her sandwich as Usagi took her lunch and a radio out of her book bag.
"Usagi… have you and Mamoru… kissed?" Ami inquired tentatively. That was the other thing on her mind… what Greg's intentions were towards her.
Usagi shrugged. "Well, yes, I suppose…," she answered. "Nothing major but a peck now and then as a way of showing our affection… why?"
Ami shook her head. "No reason, really," she hedged. "Just… curious."
She supposed that her… kiss… hadn't been too prolonged either. Actually she was starting to wonder if she'd just dreamed the whole event.
"Don't be getting too far ahead of yourself now, Ami," Usagi interrupted her thoughts with a grin.
Ami blinked and nodded, looking back at her sandwich. She disliked involving her friends with things that were really just her personal problems… they had enough to deal with themselves. But this whole situation was really having repercussions for her…
What would they say? Could they really help anyway? Maybe if she just told Usagi about her living situation… doubtless Usagi or her other friends would find out sooner or later if they dropped by.
"Usagi…" Ami began.
"Hold on… Umino's show's about to start," Usagi said, fiddling with her radio.
"What?" Ami said, puzzled.
"Don't you remember? Umino got approval a few weeks ago to have some airtime for a local school talk show or something… to be broadcasted over lunch. They've been setting up stuff in that abandoned room for the past while and today's his first programme," Usagi reminded her.
"Oh, right," Ami nodded, recalling. She remembered the name had been a bit unimaginative… Time for News… Views over Lunch… Lunchtime Views, that was it.
"He's on!" Usagi said, turning up the volume a bit.
"Hello Juuban Jr. High," came the slightly static-filled voice from the radio. "Umino Gurio here with an amazing first edition of Lunchtime Views for you! With any luck, we'll do so well we'll go into syndication! Ha, ha! But anyway… <a slight shuffling of papers could be heard> Today's first ever guest sharing his views with us will be that of the most popular transfer student since Ginga Seijuurou - all the way from Canada, Greg Anderson!"
Ami began choking violently on her milk. He wouldn't… would he?
"You've probably seen him around the school… fairly tall, brown hair and a confused look as he adjusts to life in our school and in Japan," Umino's voice droned on. "Greg, glad to have you with us."
"Thanks, Gurio… or is it Umino?" came Greg's reply.
"Everyone calls me Umino, run with it," he replied. "So what brings you to Japan?"
"Oh, just expanding my horizons, trying to develop good cultural relations… while brushing up on my Japanese. I guess you could say I have a bit of a thirst for knowledge at times…"
"Mmm hmmm, mmm hmmm… well thought out answer. Actually, speaking of such, it's been reported to me that you've been seen arriving at the school a few times with Juuban's brightest young student, Mizuno Ami. If you're looking for knowledge, you certainly lucked out! How did you happen to meet her? Is she helping you in your studies?"
"Well… actually…"
"N-no, I-I'm not associated with him in any way," a third voice interrupted, gasping for breath. Usagi's gaze shifted from her radio to the empty place where Ami had been sitting a few moments ago. She blinked in shock.
"Ami… this… this is an unexpected surprise," commented Umino.
"We… we just met because we practically live next door to each other," Ami continued. "So I was helping him find the school. But there's nothing else going on!"
"Hm, was I going to say that?" came Greg's bemused voice.
"Greg…! I don't want ---" Ami's voice trailed off into a mutter. There was a minute or so of quiet murmuring in the broadcast studio.
"Well, it seems like we could have the beginnings of a relationship here," Umino's voice suddenly rang out.
"No!" came Ami's protestation. "You newspeople always overdo things!"
There was abruptly a loud <WHAP> followed by a <CLUNK> and a strangled noise from Umino.
"Eep! G-gomen nasai!" Ami gasped. There was a long pause. "A-are we still on?" Ami's nervous voice sounded. Another pause.
"Er… I think that's our time," Umino's voice finally returned, though somewhat unsteady. "Be sure to tune in next week when we'll have Osaka Naru giving us her views about the usage and overusage of batteries and power cells… Until then, this is Umino saying… er, enjoy your lunch…"
The air went dead and Usagi switched off the radio. She paused, then picked up some of the things Ami had left behind and headed for the broadcasting centre. Was it just her, or had Ami been behaving somewhat oddly of late?
*****
Ami slipped out of the broadcast booth and ran down the hall. She almost ran into Makoto, who was coming the other direction. "Ami! You okay?" Makoto asked. "I… heard the broadcast. What happened?"
Ami looked up, sorrowfully. "I've never been so embarrassed in all my life," Ami whispered to her friend. "The whole school probably heard me… what on earth was I thinking…"
"Ami! Ami, don't worry about it!" Makoto said in surprise. The poor girl was almost in tears! She grasped Ami by the shoulders. "This was just one of those crazy things that happens and then gets forgotten, I'm sure of it. And if anyone teases you, you just tell them they have to deal with me first," she added with a wink.
Ami found herself unable to avoid smiling a bit as she looked up at Makoto's face. She sighed and gave a slight nod, eyes falling back down to the floor.
"Ami!" came another voice. Oh no…
Ami bit her lip, as Greg come up behind her. Not now, she didn't want to talk now…
"Just thought I'd let you know Umino will be fine," she heard him say. "You just surprised him, that's all. He actually thinks he might get good ratings from this…"
"What went on in there?" Makoto asked, looking over at him.
Greg shrugged. "Ami clocked Umino with a textbook," he revealed.
"I… I was gesturing and… forgot that I was holding it…" Ami admitted quietly, clutching the aforementioned text to her chest, squeezing her downcast eyes shut.
Makoto looked back at Ami then around the hall. Some other students were starting to gather.
"Maybe we should move off until classes resume," Makoto suggested to Ami. Ami gave a slight nod.
Makoto looked back up at Greg. "Somehow I don't think you can be of help here," she hinted. It was hard to tell exactly how Greg was mixed up in this, but his presence had seemed to make Ami retreat even further.
"Sure, you two go on, I'm going to go back and help them at the broadcast centre," Greg said airily, moving back the way he came.
Makoto watched him go for a minute. It was interesting, she realized… despite his popularity, they didn't really know that much about him. And last time that had happened with a transfer student, he'd turned out to be Ail…
Well, best not to go there for the moment. She led Ami away from the growing number of curious Juuban students and towards Usagi, who had appeared at the end of the hall.
*****
Greg flipped through the pages of a book with a sigh. That lunchtime report had been a terrible fiasco… he'd never dreamed that Ami would charge in like that. She was really serious about not letting anyone know he was living with her.
Not that he would have told without her permission anyway, but she apparently didn't know that. If only he had… could have… no, that was the wrong way to approach things. Wrong. All wrong.
Greg slammed the book shut. This wasn't what he was looking for. He replaced it on the shelf.
"Don't like that one?" came a voice.
Greg turned to see a guy standing at the end of the aisle of books in the library. "No, none of these seem right," Greg replied with a shrug.
"What are you looking for?" the guy prompted.
"Books on writing. There don't seem to be a great deal that are of use to me here."
"True, the selection isn't too broad on that subject," the stranger agreed. "Though I do have a fair number of books on that subject back at my place… if you want to come by…," he added with a smile.
Greg blinked. Was this guy… who the… "Uhhhh, no, thanks, it's just a passing interest," he said, backing off slightly.
The guy gave him a bemused look and another grin.
"And you know, I think I have class now," Greg continued quickly. "I'll have to see you around." He hurried to the library door. Well, better safe than sorry. That had been a bit too weird…
*****
Ami ran a hand through her hair as she got home that evening. The weekend, finally. It had seemed so far away, especially that afternoon.
Makoto and Usagi had helped her feel a bit better, but she still could have sworn everyone was looking at her afterwards. Then Urawa had cornered her after class, asking about Greg and if he had been bothering her. Of course, she'd seen THAT coming.
Ami had had to convince him that she was fine, and that there was nothing going on he had to worry about. She hated not telling him the whole truth. Despite the fact that Urawa had left her those months ago, he obviously genuinely cared about her. But how would he react to… everything?
Especially given the fact Ami had been avoiding talk about their relationship… she just didn't want to lead Urawa on until she was sure that she really only loved him. He deserved that much.
Ami shook her head. Urawa and Greg. Greg and Urawa. One was kind, open and caring. The other was teasing, detached and enigmatic. If it weren't for that kiss… but was that all? Was that the only thing that made her pause?
Ami closed the front door behind her and slipped off her shoes. She could hear her mother and Greg talking in the living room so she peeked her head around the corner.
"Ami!" her mother said with a smile. "We were just talking about you."
"Oh?" Ami asked, proceeding into the room uncertainly.
Her mother nodded. "Dr. Tavolite had two tickets to that new amusement park - good only for this Sunday. But it turned out he couldn't use them, so I convinced him to give them to me. Of course, I can't go since I'll be on call, but I thought maybe you would enjoy going. You shouldn't spend ALL your time on the weekends studying, after all dear… and since there's two tickets, perhaps Greg could go along too."
Ami opened her mouth then closed it again, searching for her voice. She HAD hoped to just stay at home… even though she hadn't really gone out much in the past three weeks, now that she thought about it. But if she went out now… after today… and with GREG… what if she met someone she knew? What would she do?
"I'm game if you are," Greg said noncommittally from his position on the couch. Her mother looked at her in anticipation.
"I… er… sure…," Ami managed to get out.
She didn't want to turn down her mother's offer after the trouble she seemed to have gone through to get the tickets… but really, what had she gotten herself into now?
<commercial break; Minako, Urawa and Sewaya skating, they trip over Ami's computer>
