Chapter 13:The Calm before the Storm

"Ohayo," Angel greeted her friends as she entered the classroom.

"Angel!"

Friends ran over to the door to pull Angel in for a group hug.

"Angel! I really missed you during the summer!" Bia squealed.

"Me too," Angel laughed.

"What have you been up to this summer?" Clara asked.

Angel was released from her friend's hug to answer. "I um, well, I just went to the beach for some fresh air."

"Awww, and you didn't invite us?" Bia pouted.

"Wa li," she smiled.

Clara chuckled. "Well , at least you had fun, right?"

Angel nodded but yelped when Jane suddenly came up from behind and slapped her hard on the back. "Jane! What was that for?"

Jane smiled at her short friend. "For not bringing me along with you. Did you go all by yourself?"

Angel smiled sweetly at her friends. "Kind of. I actually visited someone I know that lives by the beach," she told them the perfected lie she mastered the day before.

"Angel!"

The said girl turned around smiled widely at seeing the familiar red hair. "Justin!"

Justin came up and pulled his old friend in for a big bear hug. "Hey, how was your break?"

Angel hugged back before pulling herself out of his grasp. "Good, yours?"

Justin shrugged. "Not bad, though it would have been better if we hung out."

"This kid here still did pretty well at the tournament," Jane commented as she threw an arm around Justin's shoulder, "My karate tournament took place in the same place as the kendo tournament so I watched all his matches."

Justin smirked as he also threw an arm around the tomboy's shoulder. "And we both got first place!"

"That's nice to hear but you guys better go back to your seats before I decide to give you detention."

The two friends turned around to come face-to-face with their orange-haired homeroom teacher.

Jane scowled. "Jeez, Ichigo, what's wrong with celebrating a little?"

Ichigo glared. "How many times do I have to tell you to call me 'Walker-sensei' during school? And I don't give a shit if you guys won the noble peace prize. Go back to your seat; class already started."

Justin released his friend and pulled Angel along with him to their seats by the window.

Jane stayed in her spot and placed her hands on her hips. "Jeez, what's up with you and your fucking attitude? Did a girl dump you over the summer or something?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes before gently smacked Jane on the head with a folder he was holding. "Don't be an idiot. I just didn't get enough sleep because I had too many papers to grade. Now go sit down before I get even more annoyed." Jane glared at him before going to her seat. Ichigo quickly went to the front of the class and started attendance.

Angel kept her eyes down on her desk even when Ichigo called out her name. "Hai," she responded, and Ichigo quickly continued down the list. She didn't think there would be a problem, but her face became really warm the moment she saw Ichigo standing close to her when he first entered the room. She couldn't stop thinking about what's been going on the past week before break was over.

Ichigo, too, kept his gaze off of Angel during the entire class. When he first called out her name, he had to clear his throat from constricting and had to call out the next student right away. She had it easier since she just had to lower her head to hide her blush, but it wasn't so easy for him since he was the center of attention everyday in class. Lucky bitch, he thought to himself.

For almost the entire time last week the two did nothing but fight and make out. It became a routine that they soon started sleeping in the same bed since most of their heavy make out session lasted until late at night.

Fight during the day and make out at night.

It was the perfect system for them.

Of course that was until break was over and they now had to face each other while in school.

"Ne, Walker-sensei, did you finish grading our midterms yet?" a student asked.

Ichigo pulled out a stack of paper and waved it in the air. "I did get it finished and I have to say at least half of you guys did well while the others just bombed the test. Those of you who got lower than 50% should really meet up with me to figure out how to bring up your grades. You guys are in your third-year which means you won't be able to graduate this spring if this keeps up."

Most of the people in the classroom let out a groan.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Shut up and just come up here when I call your name. First up, Tan Justin," he called out.

One by one student stood up from their seat and came to the front of the classroom to get back their midterms. There were groans of disappointment and squeals of joy coming left and right as each student looked at their grade.

"Bushū Angel."

"Hai," she replied before getting up and going up to the front.

Ichigo handed her her paper and smirked. "Not bad," he whispered.

Angel raised a brow before turning around and going back to her seat. The moment she sat down she looked at her grade and smiled. There as a red 96% on top of her paper.

Ichigo never allow her to grade her own paper so she finds out her grades the same time as all the other students. And they were mostly a full 100-percent which was enough to keep her position as the class-rep.

Angel flipped through the pages of writing when a small note at the corner of the third page caught her eyes.

Oi, midget,

Next time remember to actually read the books before the test. I saw you cramming this all in the night before using the internet as a reading guide. I won't be so nice next time.

—Ichigo

Angel couldn't stop a smirk from breaking out as she folded the paper and shoved it into her bag, making sure nobody saw anything.

"Alright, if anyone of you guys needs to complain, email me or wait until tomorrow. I'm going to be busy with preparations for the festival, so don't bother me," Ichigo told the class before looking at the class rep., "And come to my office during lunch, Bushū."

Angel looked up and nodded, "Hai, sensei."

Ichigo nodded back before turning around and writing on the board. "Okay, starting this new trimester, we're going to study tragic stories. Now…"

A small moan came from Angel's lips as she ran her fingers through the orange tresses, getting a low growl in return.

She forced her eyes to open and look towards the door. "We really should stop," she huffed, "Somebody might come in—"

"The door's locked," Ichigo replied as he continued harassing her creamy neck.

Angel lightly pouted. "Still, I don't want to take any chances."

Ichigo stopped his exploration on her neck and came back up to glare at her. "You sure do know how to ruin the moment."

Angel smiled. "I just love making your life miserable," she teased before leaning down to slowly kiss his lips.

It was lunch time, which meant Angel was supposed to be in Ichigo's office to discuss about the upcoming festival.

Note the key word: suppose.

The moment Angel entered his office Ichigo immediately closed it and locked the door. She would have been shocked by his sudden action, but decided it wasn't necessary since deep down she was kind of hoping for something like this to happen.

He turned her around to kiss her on the lips. It continued for several minutes before they finally pulled away since they really needed to work. He led them to his desk and he sat down on his seat. But the moment Angel sat on top of his desk Ichigo couldn't stop the hunger that grew from within him and so he claimed her lips again.

And thus leads them back to where they were now. Angel was still sitting on his desk while he was still in his seat. The two were slowly kissing, not as passionately as other times but more sweet and caring; weak enough that they can pull away from each other without feeling too flushed but strong enough to make them want to continue as long as possible.

Finally, Ichigo pulled away but not before gently sucking on her lower lip one more time. "We could just wait to finish this planning thing at home. It's not like it's going to make much of a difference."

Angel laughed. "No way. When we're home we just do one of three things: one, we go do our separate work: me and my homework and you and your grading; two, we start bickering with each other until we're about ready to rip each other's heads off; or three—" she paused for a moment to lightly brush her lips against his lips, "—we make out to the extent we don't give a shit about anything else."

"Che, why are you making it sound like it's a bad thing?" Ichigo asked.

"Who said anything about it being 'bad'?" Angel answered, "I enjoy it just as much as you do."

Ichigo smirked as he unwrapped his tight grip around her waist and sat back on his chair. He looked up and peered at the clock. "Well, we only go ten minutes left before breaks over. What do you want to discuss about during then?"

Angel jumped off the desk and this time just leaned back against it. "Well, I guess we can discuss about the finances for the festival."

Ichigo nodded as he reached over to one side of his desk and pulled out a paper. "Andrew gave me an updated list of how much we are allowed to use. And there's some stuff the school still has from last year so you shouldn't buy something we already have. Take a look," he handed her the paper.

"This looks good," Angel nodded, "I guess our class can set up the café without too munc difficulty."

"Yeah about that," Ichigo scowled, "I heard from some staff members that you and the student council already discussed about it before break started?"

Angel nodded. "Yeah, why?"

Ichigo closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. "And I heard Jonny proposed the idea."

Angel suddenly figured out where he was going with this. Her expression became something similar to his. "Yeah," she groaned.

"And the others agreed to have your class go with it?" he asked, hoping beyond hope it wasn't true.

But Angel just couldn't lie. "Yeah, Jonny's idea was accepted."

Ichigo groaned as he limbs fell to his sides and his body sagged on the chair. "I'm going to kill that bastard."

Angel looked at him and giggled. "You really don't like the idea, do you?"

Ichigo shook his head before pulling up a heavy arm up. Angel pushed herself off the desk and went to sit on Ichigo's lap as his extended arm came around and tightened around her waist. Angel buried her head on top of his hair as she ran one of her hands through it. Ichigo held onto her and took in her sweet scent with each breath. "You do know what he's going to do, right?"

"I know," she whispered, kissing him on the forehead, "Don't worry. I'll try and talk to Fernandez-sensei about it."

"Too late," Ichigo groaned, "That pansy already made all the important stuff."

This time Angel groaned as she buried her nose deeper in his hair. "Then looks like there is something to worry about."

Ichigo chuckled as he pushed his head back to look directly into her violet irises. "I'll just kill Jonny later."

Angel smiled as she came down to gently claim his lips. The two moved softly with smoothing kisses that made them moan softly in affection. The two smiled as Angel began to place butterfly kisses on his face.

Just as Ichigo wanted to make the kiss deeper, Angel suddenly pulled away. He looked to see her suddenly distressed. "What's wrong?"

Angel stared at him before looking away. "I suddenly remembered something…"

"What?" he asked again as he took the opportunity to place small kisses along her neck.

Angel tried to shrug him off. "About Reyes-sensei."

Ichigo immediately stiffened and his lips stopped moving. For a few seconds the two were silent before he pulled his head back to glare at her. "What about Kyla?"

"…I was just wondering if you talked to her yet," Angel mumbled.

Ichigo stared at her before releasing a deep sigh. "No, at least not really," he told her as he brought her body closer to his, "This morning she came up to me to ask why I didn't call her."

"And what did you tell her?" Angel asked as her hand stroked his hair.

Ichigo frowned as he thought back to what happened after the morning staff meeting.

Flashback

"Walker-kun! Fernandez-kun!"

Ichigo froze in his spot when Kyla suddenly approached him. He stopped a groan from coming out. Andrew, who was walking with him, stopped as well.

"Ohayo, Reyes-san," Andrew greeted her.

"Ohayo," she greeted back as she stopped in front of them.

"Hey Kyla, how was your break?" Ichigo asked.

Kyla smiled sweetly. "It was fine. I visited some of my friends in Kyoto."

Ichigo frowned. "Kyoto? Didn't you say you were planning on going to Okinawa with Zander and Fernandez?"

"Excuse me?" Andrew raised an eyebrow.

"Ah!" Kyla quickly shook her head and waved her arms around, "N-no, I was, um…well, I was planning on calling them for the trip b-but—eh, my friends suddenly called me and I went to Kyoto instead!" she nervously chuckled, "So I guess it was a good thing you said 'no.'"

Ichigo stared at her for a few seconds before nodding. "I guess so."

Andrew eyed him suspiciously but Ichigo only shrugged his shoulders, a silent message of 'I'll tell you later' being sent out to him.

Kyla's laugh slowly ceased. "How was your vacation, Walker-kun?"

Ichigo had to stop a smile from coming on his face. "It was good. I met up with my family and we went to the beach."

"It must have been fun!" she smiled, "Next time you should invite us too!"

Ichigo cringed. "Yeah, maybe."

An uncomfortable silence surrounded the three friends.

Andrew looked between Ichigo and Kyla several times. He let out a sigh. "Is there something you need, Reyes-san? Walker and I were on our way to talk with the student council right now."

"Oh! I didn't know. I'll make this quick," she nodded at Andrew before looking back up at Ichigo, who was trying to ignore her gaze. "Ano, Walker-kun? Did you get my message last week?"

Ichigo's eyebrows furrowed. Not only did he get it, he was forced to stop his heavy make out sessions with Angel every time Kyla called. And it was almost every day! "Yeah, sorry for not calling back. I actually came back from my trip a bit late and I had a lot of stuff to do. I didn't check my messages until last night," he lied to her, feeling a bit bad for being so mean to his friend.

But he had to draw a line somewhere.

Kyla looked down. "Oh, I see. Um, well, can we—"

"Sorry Reyes-san, but can you discuss about this later?" Andrew suddenly interrupted, "We really need to get going."

Kyla looked between her two friends before smiling. "Of course. Sorry for holding you two up. I'll talk to you later, Walker-kun!" she said before turning around and heading to her office.

Ichigo finally released the breath he didn't know he was holding.

"If I didn't come in when I did you might have never gotten out of this situation," Andrew said.

Ichigo nodded. "Thanks man, I owe you one."

"Whatever," Andrew shrugged before asking, "What was that all about anyways?"

Ichigo ran a hand through his hair as the two walked the opposite way of Kyla. "She's been coming over to my place a lot the last week of break. And she left about ten messages on my answering machine, blabbering about how she needed to talk to me."

Andrew sighed. "Looks like she wants to confess again. What are you going to do about it? You can't push it off forever."

"I know," Ichigo groaned, "But I'd rather not deal with it at all. I thought she said she got over her crush on me."

"She did," Andrew frowned, "She just fell in love with you instead."

Ichigo froze in his step as he stared at his friend. "You serious?"

Andrew nodded. "She talked to me before break and told me how she was ready to become a serious person for you. I think she was trying to get you to go somewhere with her to try and confess…or tempt."

Ichigo groaned. "So that's why she asked me to go with her."

"Go where?" Andrew asked.

Ichigo frowned. "She called me the first week of break, asking if I wanted to join her for a trip to Okinawa. When I didn't say anything, she quickly added on that she was going to invite you and Zander. I guess when I said I couldn't go, she decided to cancel the trip altogether."

Andrew nodded as they continued their walk. "So that's what you meant a little while ago."

"Yeah, and she's really starting to bother me," Ichigo groaned.

Andrew smirked. "I still don't know what she sees in you."

"Geez, thanks," Ichigo glared.

"Whatever, Andrew shrugged his shoulders, "Just remember that she is your friend first. When you turn her down, be nice."

Ichigo nodded. "I know."

Andrew smirked. "And don't forget you still owe me. I've been eyeing the latest sewing machine that just came out. It's several hundred-thousand yens" (A/N: around thousand dollars).

"Fuck you," Ichigo glared at his so-called friend.

End of Flashback

Angel chuckled. "Looks like you're really having a hard time getting through her."

"Tell me about it. Kyla is a good friend and I don't want to jeopardize my relationship with her because of her feelings. Hopefully I can figure something out quick," he said as he looked into her eyes. "But let's stop talking about her now. I want to focus only on you," he told her, causing her to blush as he tried to kiss her again.

Ding Ding Ding!

And of course all good things must come to an end.

Ichigo groaned as Angel pulled away and jumped off his lap. "You leaving already? There are still few more minutes before class officially starts," he pouted.

Angel laughed before quickly pecking his lips. "I know but I need this passing period to tell the class about the festival. I'll see you at home."

"Oh, about that," Ichigo stopped her before she reached the door, "There's a late staff meeting today so I'm going to be late."

Angel nodded. "'kay. I'll just make dinner and leave it out for you."

Ichigo smirked. "You really getting into cooking now aren't you?"

Angel smiled back. "Only because I don't want to do the dishes," she said before quickly leaving the room. Ichigo only stared at the door as it slammed shut.

"Fucking bitch," he cursed, but still keeping his smile.

Angel ran to her classroom to see most of the students already there. "Okay guys! I have some announcements!" Everyone looked at her as she went to the front of the class. They stayed quiet as they waited for their class rep. to speak up. Angel looked around the classroom until her eyes fell on a specific person. "Lopez-kun, I would like it if you can help me."

"Why, of course Bushū-san!" Jonny practically flew towards Angel with his eyes shaped into hearts. "What does my dainty flower need me to help her with?"

The dumbass was literally on his knees like a dog waiting for his owner to throw a stick.

Angel smiled, though there was clearly a vein on her forehead. "I would like to announce to the class about the festival."

"Ah!" Jonny's eyes widened along with his smile as he jumped onto his feet and faced his fellow classmates. "MY DEAR THIRD-YEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS! THE TIME HAS COME TO FOR US TO SHOW OFF TO THE WORLD AS HEALTHY AND HOT YOUTHS!"

"What the fuck are you blabbering about now?" Justin glared.

Jonny chuckled as he placed a hand on his forehead and the other on his waist, taking a dramatic pose as he shook his head. "My dear Tan-kun, just how dimwitted are you?" he chuckled, avoiding eye contact with the enraged red head who was being held back by his friends from bashing at the idiot's head. "Of course I'm talking about the school festival next month!"

"The festival?" Jane asked.

"Yup," Jonny grinned, "It's finally our time to shine! And I already got the student council's permission for our theme!"

"Already?"

"Yup! I just wanted to do this before anyone else asked," Jonny replied.

Justin shrugged his shoulders to push his friends' grips off of him. "Okay then, what are we doing?" he asked, keeping his anger at bay.

"Why, I'm glad you asked!" Jonny jumped on top of someone's desk and pulled out a rolled up poster. "Fellow classmates of Class 3-2! I unveil to you…" He undid the small string in the middle and let it unroll itself before the class, "—The Maid Café of Class 3-2!"

"YEAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

The two different reactions came from the class from the two gender groups in the classroom. Guys were all excited while the girls were shocked beyond belief.

"W-wait a second," Justin stuttered, "The student council actually approved of this?"

Jonny nodded with a silly grin.

The tomboy looked at her petite friend with wide eyes. "Angel! Do something!"

Angel looked at her friend and sadly shook her head. "I tried but it was already decided. I was outnumbered at the meeting."

Bia looked at the poster Justin was holding up. On the poster were hand-drawn pictures of high school girls wearing very skimpy looking maid outfits. "We don't actually have to wear something like that, right?" she asked.

Jonny only replied with a wide grin.

"No fucking way!" Jane screamed before landing a hard punch on Jonny, "We won't wear that!"

"Sorry but apparently Fernandez-sensei and the handicraft club already made all the outfits," Angel sighed, "Lopez-kun was able to give them our measurements before break."

"How can you possibly know all of our measurements?" Bia asked with a suspicious look.

Jonny was immediately back on his feet and grinned smugly. "Why do you think I hug all you ladies so much? I can easily tell one's figure by simply touching them!" he announced with his nose held high.

Jane groaned in disgust. "That's not a gift you idiot; it's something only fucked up perverts can do."

"Yes, enough to get you arrested," Justin snarled.

Angel bit her lower lip to stop herself from laughing. Lopez-kun sounds just like Walker-san, she thought to herself as she remembered how Jacob was able to get her the perfect yukata for the summer festival last month, I wonder if they're related.

"Anyways, we need to get things ready for the festival. So please come and talk to me if you have any suggestion or questions," Angel announced and got a collected 'hai' just in time before the bell rung and their next teacher entered the room.

Angel stifled a yawn as she stretched on the couch. The sun was starting to set just beyond the window and she could feel exhaustion taking over. First day of school after summer and she was already tired, mostly because almost everyone wanted to talk to her about the festival.

Sometimes it didn't pay off to be the smartest in class.

She was suddenly pulled out of her daze when she heard the door opening. "Ichigo?" she called out.

"Yeah," he groaned as he came from the genkan and dragged his body to the couch.

Angel looked at his exhausted form and raised a brow. "What's up your ass?" she asked.

Ichigo looked at her and glared. "How many times have I told you to work on your people skills? I'm still your teacher so act respectful or something. I know you're good at that."

Immediately Angel put on her fake, sweet expression. "Walker-sensei how was your day today? Would you like to have some dinner or just straight up put your hands up my skirt again?"

Ichigo looked at her with annoyance and let out a snort. "You're really something, you know that midget?"

Angel smirked. "I know," she replied with her normal voice again.

With a long sigh Ichigo plopped down on the couch Angel was sitting on, resting his head on her lap as he stretched his long limbs.

Angel raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"Resting," he replied, "It was a long staff meeting and Andrew wouldn't stop bothering me." He leaned his head closer to her abdomen, inhaling her lovely scent.

Angel rolled her eyes as she rested her head back against the couch and looked up. Unconsciously one of her hands came up and started to play with Ichigo's hair. The owner of the orange hair let out a small chuckle before nestling closer to her. His hand slowly came up and softly stroked her lower back with his fingers.

Once again, everything was peaceful.