Love - For Real?

Junior Eyes

Bryce's PoV, 20th of March

"...Okay, you did not have to go THAT far," I mutter as I look at the dozens of birthday balloons on the walls. Is that normal?! Like, especially at the age of sixteen?! 'Cause I don't think so! "Of course we had to go that far!" Yuki, who is already tipsy, might I add, exclaims. "I can't believe it, two more years..." And suddenly, she starts tearing up. Awkward. "It's alright, Mom..." Naomi sighs with a roll of her eyes.

"Damn right, it's alright! Let us eat and drink for Bryce and the sixteen springs he has lived through!" So, Naomi gets jealous when she's drunk and Yuki starts to talk like a character from a fantasy MMORPG when she's drunk. Noted.

However, the dangerous side of Yuki's drunk persona shows soon enough... "AND IF YOU BREAK NAOMI'S HEART LIKE I BREAK THIS LOAF OF BREAD, I SHALL HAND YOU A SWORD AND FORCE YOU TO COMMIT SEPPUKU!" "Let's get outta here," Naomi whispers. "You read my damn mind..."

"Is she always that bad...?!" I ask as we are outside. Naomi scoffs. "You don't know the half of it-!" I flinch as a knife gets thrown through the kitchen door! "I WILL GUT YOU IF YOU DARE HURT HER!" "U-Understood!"

"You should be safe now," Naomi says nonchalantly. Yeah, like her mother did not just TRY TO KILL ME! "So she turns into an assassin when she's drunk, great!" I exclaim. "No one ever died because of her, don't worry." And that is supposed to calm me down?! What if I had been the first?!

"Besides, she's right. Two more years until we reach adulthood," Naomi says. "Right. Your birthday is next week, isn't it?" She nods with a smile. "I can't wait..." I chuckle as I see tears of joy welling up in her eyes.

I roll my eyes with a smile and wipe her tears away. "You're such a crybaby, just like your mom and sister," I chuckle, "but I can't exactly blame you though..." I notice her smirking at me. "What?" "I think I see some hair there..." she says as she points at my chin. I shrug. "It is what it is," I say before we both chuckle.

One month later

"Hey, Bryce! Bryce!" I flinch as Naomi calls out for me, the both of us sitting across from each other at the dinner table. "Come on, no time for daydreaming!" Crap, she's right, exams are coming up...

I give her a tense sigh. "I told you a thousand times, I don't need that." Naomi chuckles at me sarcastically. "Yeah, right! Everyone needs to study for an exam, no matter how smart they are!"

As a response, I wave my hand at her dismissively. "I don't need to. Anyway, I'll be in our room, call me if you need help." While I walk back to our room, I hear Naomi scolding me. "DON'T COME CRYING TO ME IF YOU DON'T PASS!" "Yeah, right!"

Two weeks later

Throughout the entire school hall, I hear tons of students complaining. "Fuck, we're getting the history exam results, right?!" "My parents are gonna chop my head off!" "I SWEAR, IF I GET A BAD GRADE, I WILL BECOME A DRUG DEALER!" Sometimes, it seems like this school is full of idiots. "I'm not gonna repeat one more year, that's for sure!" Mikey exclaims. Yup. He can act like an idiot too.

"Kaminari, here's the result of your history exam." Naomi takes the results from the teacher's hand before commenting upon it. "Hm. B+. Not bad, I guess." Then, he hands me my results. "A+. Of course." I say, smiling to myself happily.

Naomi's PoV

I DID NOT JUST HEAR THAT! "WHAT THE-?!" No, no complaining, the others will look at me if I cause a scene! "Is there a problem?" the teacher asks. "N-No, sir..."

Bryce's PoV

As the entire group and I walk out of the classroom, Naomi talks to me calmly. "Bryce?" "Yes?" Suddenly, she grabs me by the collar and pushes me against my locker! "HOW DO YOU DO THAT?!" she yells at me! "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!" Ronnie and Mikey laugh. "Yeah, that's what we ask ourselves too..." Mikey quips.

On the first of June, Yuki shows her excitement in her usual wacky way... "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT, YOU TWO ARE GONNA BECOME JUNIORS AFTER THIS SUMMER, YOU'RE GROWING UP, MY BABIES!!!" "Right, that's exciting and stuff, BUT COULD YOU LET US GO?!" Naomi yells.

"I think you're happy that you're getting to be a junior. Like, there's no doubt about that," Naomi says with a pout as we walk to school. "Oh, come on, your results were pretty good too. Your report card will be amazing." She breathes a sigh of doubt. "Yeah, that's what you think, but what if-?!"

I embrace her in a tight hug before she could end her sentence. "You did amazing. You don't need to worry at all. Don't let anything else let you think otherwise." After letting her go, Naomi smiles at me as I seem to have effectively cheered her up. "You're right. Thanks." I smile back at her as I ruffle her hair. "No problem." "HEY, I JUST COMBED MY HAIR!"

After getting our report cards, Naomi skips ahead of us happily like a child would. That's my girl, I think to myself with a happy smile. "What did I tell you?" She runs back towards me and pecks me on the cheek. "Thanks for giving me that boost of positivity!" "Gross," Ronnie mutters.

"Anyway, you're lucky. I barely got by, as always," the punk of our group says. "Just let Bryce give you private lessons or something," Naomi suggests, making me and Ronnie laugh out loud.

"Yeah, no, he's hopeless!" I answer. "Hey, fuck you, bro!" "I wasn't joking!" Naomi yells in the middle of our banter. "Whatever, I'm off, blondie, lover boy, don't fuck around with your darlings too much!" "Oh, screw off, punk!" Mikey and I yell in unison.

"We're back!" I yell, as usual. "With good news, I hope?" Yuki immediately asks. Naomi and I show our report cards with pride. "There we go." And of course, Yuki squeals out of happiness before crushing us with one of her infamous bear hugs. "I KNEW IT!!!" "C-Can't breathe..." I weakly mutter.

"Well, since summer break is here, guess what your cool mom, or, well, mom-in-law, got for us!" Since when does she talk like that? Just cringeworthy. "Listen, so, I got in touch with one of my old friends in Pismo Beach, she has a beach house over there and is willing to let us stay there!"

"Two months of staying at the beach?! Awesome!" Naomi yells excitedly. I shrug. "Hey, if you're down, I'm down. Besides, I don't wanna be Sakura's birdsitter." Pretty sure Sakura gave me a judging look after I said that.

After that, I'm playing my video games just as passionate as ever... "FUCKING HELL, OF COURSE I GET THE NOOBS ON MY TEAM!" I yell before giving up and throwing my headphones on the desk. "Remind me to get away from here when you're playing CoD," Naomi sighs.

After that, I lie down next to Naomi. "That's way better than bursting my eardrums, right?" she asks jokingly. I smirk. "Yeah." "Looking forward to the beach trip?" "Of course."

I let my fantasies go wild. Seeing her in a swimsui-! "OW!" "Wipe that dumb smirk off your face, I know what you're thinking!" After recovering from the kick in the balls, I smile. "Like you're not excited about seeing me in swimming trunks!"

At my quip, she blushes madly. "Shut up, let's just go to sleep...!" I knew that she'd react like that... "Right, good night, babe."

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WOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH WE'RE HALFWAY THERE WHOAAAAAA-OH LIVING ON A PRAYER- sorry. Ciao.