Akuma Hanbun - Melissa Kay Nguyen (nonfiction book recommendations .TXT) 📗

stuck in my teeth?” I smacked him. If this is what older brothers were like, then I’m glad I don’t have one.
He rubbed his arm and laughed, “My names Santino, but I really hate that name so call me Mikey or Mike,” finally he burst into a fit of laughter. I gave him my worst scowl. Some guy.
“Don’t laugh! It’s embarrassing!” I joked, “Oh and in case you haven’t already heard, I’m the crazy girl whose name is Alizza. I go crazy when people call me that so everybody now calls Liz.” Maybe I went a little too far. Mikey gave me a strange look and then he smiled. It was a really cute smile.
“Ah-liz-zzzzz-aaaahhhhhh,” he said. I punched him twice. Once in the arm, and the other in his side. He jumped and I crossed my arms. His eyes widened, almost as if he expected something BIG to happen. Yeah. Right. In his dreams. I made a big show of moving my hips side to side and cupped my hands around my mouth.
“Id-io-oooootttttt,” I giggled. That’s when I remembered the envelope. He recovered from shocked, some disappointed, and stared at the envelope with some sort of new found hope. Or curiosity.
How am I supposed to ask this guy to let me take myself to his house to give this to his parent without giving him the wrong idea? Finally, I decided to look up into the most gorgeous eyes I have ever seen. His eyes were green with golden specks, they somehow manage to glitter like stars, and they made me feel faint. Now I’m in trouble.
Mikey was taller than I was, and let me say, I am pretty tall. His eyes were breath-taking, he had beautiful dark honey colored hair, his olive skin set off the gold in his eyes, and I hate to say it, but he made my heart flutter. But only for a second! I finally manage to get my brain to work once more.
“Umm, so can I uhh, go over to your house?” I asked, “To give this to the people you live with,” I added quickly. He laughed again and I took that for a yes. He held out his hand and I didn’t know whether he wanted the envelope, or my hand. So I just there, waited for him to go. Apparently Mikey wasn’t good with rejection. He grabbed my hand and led me to his house.
It was a short walk to his house, but it felt so much faster, like we came too soon. We had talked about nothing important on our way. I had told him how I had no father because he died from protecting my mother and me from an assassin. Mikey told me his dad supposedly died from an unknown sickness (he wasn’t sure). It was nice to know that there was someone else to talk, who understood, but it was also sad that we both had lost someone important to us. We comforted each other and then he asked about the envelope.
“What’s in it?”He asked
“I’m not sure,” I answered truthfully.
“C’mon! You should know what’s in it!” he persisted. I grew annoyed and kept silent.
“Is it a party invite?”
“…”
“Is it a dinner invite?”
“…”
“Is it an invite from you to me? If it is I’ll accept no matter what,” I looked at him. He wasn’t giving up was he? I kept a straight face or at least tried to. It was kinda hard because he had this little hopeful puppy dog look in his eyes. No! Nuh-uh. Nope. Not falling for it. Sadly, I smile and maybe even gave a small giggle. In an attempt to save myself, I rolled my eyes and prayed that that did the trick. I started to day dream that I saw Mikey kneeling down and taking my hand, asking me to go out with him. Only no, I wasn’t dreaming, it was happening! Whoa.
“Huh? What!” I was really confused. I’d just met the guy.
“Well, if I don’t ask you to go with me now, then some other lucky freak will get to!” he explained. Oh. I see. Thankfully his house was in view and we raced for it. Another problem somewhat subside. Nice job. I mentally patted myself on the back.
We reached his place and I rang the doorbell. I somehow knew Mickey was going to speak up and say something pointless.
“Wow! You’re already meeting my Mom. This is going fast. Wow,” he murmured. I could sense that he was enjoying today. Was he always like this? So easy-going, so happy, so …cute? Mickey’s mom, I suppose, stepped out and gave us a menacing glare. I hadn’t done anything but looked at her and already I could tell she doesn’t want me here. To keep her from hating me, I tried to keep my face as emotionless as possible.
“Mikey, hon, I gave you money to leave the house and you come back home with this… girl?” the woman’s voice ran smooth like honey; Mickey grinned as I flinched when she said girl. This girl. She irked me.
“Mom she was the one who ran into ME, on the way to somewhere,” he laughed. Shocked, I looked at him and open my mouth to comment, but I remembered his mom didn’t really like me so I shut my mouth. The lady was staring at me and I could imagine everything she saw. She saw my beautiful, long strawberry honey hair, my blue eyes with green specks, my curved nose, long eyelashes, and athletic body, to my rather large feet. I wasn’t wearing anything fancy either, just a t-shirt, Capri’s, and flip-flops. The lady stopped looking at me and then she saw the envelope.
“Well my family wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood and my mom wanted me to give you this,” I handed her the envelope. She gave me a suspicious glance and opened it. After reading it, she nodded.
“We’ll be there,” she looked at Mikey and me, “Now get out of the house so I can clean.” Mikey rolled his eyes and we left the house.
“She likes you,” he said.
“I’m sure she does Mikey,” I liked saying his name. It was just the feeling I got when I did, I hoped that didn’t mean we were seriously dating though. Well I haven’t really answered him either. Hmm. He held out his hand and I took it. This was nice. I liked it. This could be something Jay would never think to give me. Mikey told me more about him and I told him more about me.
“Where do you want to go?” he asked.
“How ‘bout the mall?” I answered. He shrugged and we set off. It wasn’t very long to the mall but we were walking and…taking our time. I asked Mikey why we should call him Mikey and he said he was called that since forever, plus he dreadfully hated the name Santino. He said it reminded him of something bad, but he didn’t know what. I told Mikey about Jay and me and how he was so immature. Mikey frowned and tsked me so I punched him.
“Oww! I’m not your personal punching bag you know,” he cried, rubbing his arm. I laughed and ran towards the mall entrance. He tried to chase me but an elderly lady on an electric wheelchair nearly ran over him. He gave me the ‘look-at-what-you-did!’ stare. I awkwardly hugged him so he couldn’t stay mad at me. Pushing past random people, we trudge toward Pizza Plazo.
We ordered some pizza and fries and I would glance every now and then to see if San-Mikey would stuff his face full of pizza. Thank God he didn’t. I went to get more soda, when I suddenly thought of Jay.
The pain that had disappeared when I was with Mikey returned when thought of Jay. Think of Mikey. Mikey. Mikey. Mikey. Oh no. I can’t feel this way. I mean I just met him! I excused myself to get more soda and after I got it I saw, my one and only, Jay. No, nonononononono! Not now. Why are you so mean to me God? Hmm? I sighed and tried my best to disappear into the crowd. I heard him call my name but I ignored it. I squirmed in and out of the crowd to where I was sitting. Mikey left a note saying he went to the bathroom. Typical. Then Jay sat where Mikey was sitting. Crap.
“Hey Lizzle,” he said, “Liz?” I turned towards him and made my eyes grow wide. Innocent. I smiled, “Hey Jay!” Crap! This was NOT good. Not at all. The pain came back and that got me mad. Why the crap does this stupid pain keep coming back, especially when I thought of Jay and when he was nearby? This time I forced my mind to fight the pain and I manage to convince myself that the pain was gone for good. Only somewhere deep in my stubborn mind, I knew, it wasn’t gone.
“Oh hey Jay,” I smiled weakly. He smiled a big smile, something full of friendliness. That made me feel very guilty about yesterday.
“Are you alright Lizzle? ‘Cause you were a little…off yesterday,” he asked. It took me all I had not to rip his hair out of his head. “A little off” Hahaha. Yeah. Right. Just a little.
“Yeah fine. How’s your hand…sorry,” I replied calmly, not wanting Jay to know I wanted to kill him then.
“Oh it has a whooper of a bruise… uh how can I help you?” He said. What? Help me? Did he think I was crazy? Some friend he was! Wait, I sorta thought I was crazy too so I can’t really blame him, can I?
That’s when I realized he was looking behind my shoulder. I turned to look, but I already knew who it was.
“Liz is this guy bother you?” Mikey said. They both turned to me. Mikey was acting like my dad would’ve. All authoritive like. Wow, I really miss dad and so now a new pain came, a pain of sadness and loss.
“Ehhh? Um no. Mikey this is Jay. Jay, Mikey” They didn’t shake hands or anything and there was definitely a bad vibe going on between the two. Shoot. I wanted them to be friends. Great. I mentally sighed and worked up a big smile.
“Umm Lizzle?”
“Hmmm?”
“Is this guy your boyfriend?” God I wanted to strangle him. Didn’t he know I was trying to not answer that? Well, actually no, he didn’t, but still!
“I-I-I” I really didn’t know. My headache was back and hurting worse than ever. Now both pairs of eyes were on me. My head was throbbing and the boys kept pushing me over the edge. Rolling my eyes to the back of my head, I passed out.

Chapter 3-Jay’s view
“Here you call 9-1-1,” I shouted to the guy who had stood behind Liz. What an imbecile! He stared at me for a minute and then he whipped out his phone. I ached to stroke Liz’s hair and whisper reassuring thoughts to her. I looked into her face. She was beautiful even in her sleep. Was this guy her boyfriend? I hope not. This guy and I may have some talking to do.
“Mikey?” I snarled.
“What?” he growled back. Joy he wasn’t happy either.
“I don’t like you,”
“I don’t like you either,”
“We need to talk,” I said. Yeah we do. Seriously.
“We already are smart one,” he replied. I glanced over my shoulders to where he was sitting. Yeah people were staring but I really didn’t care.
“Nice socks,” he looked down and I laughed. He gave me a big scowl. Oh!