Hatemance - CH. 1

One

ヘイト·ロマンス！

“Alright! Lunch is over! Everyone settle down! Take your seats!” The teacher exclaimed over the explosion of noise in his classroom. After the teacher had to repeat himself at least three times, all but two students settled into their desks and got out their notepapers. The two students that had not settled were in a heated argument, neither student knowing how the topic got started or reason for it by this time.

“No, Kai! I’m right!!” a slender fifteen-year old girl at a height around five-foot-seven, with kinky ‘dirty blonde’ just past shoulder-length hair and intense green eyes, exclaimed once everyone else had settled down.

“Nuh-uh, Kara, you’re wrong!” argued a rather well-built fifteen-year old guy at a height around five-foot-zero with free-style reddish blonde hair and slightly dark blue-green eyes.

The two were constantly arguing, and if they weren’t arguing, Kai would mock Kara and pretend to check her out, making the occasional dirty remark when the teacher was preoccupied with other chatty students. Kara was a rather impatient person and was not afraid to show that side of her to Kai. However, in the classroom, she had to tolerate at least fifteen minutes of mockery until either Kai lost interest or the teacher told him to pay attention to whatever they wrote up on the board.

Kara managed to get straight “B” grades, the occasional “A” if she was strong in the subject and the tests were rather easy, but if she stressed out she was prone to “C” grades. Kai got solid “B” grades in all of his classes (if he paid a little more attention in class and did his five-point classwork, his grades would be “A‘s”).

“You two,” the teacher warned, but to no avail. Kara glared down at Kai, who cocked an eyebrow back up at her.

“Kai,” Kara said, trying to be reasonable and calm, “admit I was right.”

“Why?” Kai folded his arms.

“Because I was!”

“Um, no you weren’t--”

“Kara! Kai! Sit down now!” the teacher interrupted the two and stepped in-between them. “Don’t make me call your parents.”

“What?! You--” Kara started.

“Take. Your. Seats.” the teacher spoke slowly, sharply, cutting Kara off. Kara knew that she couldn’t afford to have the teacher call her parents, not if she wanted to keep her grade up. Kai felt rather victorious, but he also knew that if the teacher was to call his home to complain about his constant arguing, he’d probably be punished. The two backed away and took their seats.

“Thank you for wasting five minutes,” the teacher grumbled coldly, looking at his wristwatch then looking at his talkative class. He settled everyone down, talking over them in an irritated tone, “Anyway, class, take out your notes from yesterday! Review them for a few minutes, then we’ll start the next section in the book.”

Kai sat a couple of seats behind and one seat to the left of Kara’s seat. Kara sat in the very front of the middle row, three rows from the door (to her left,) four rows from the teacher’s desk (to her right,) and three feet from the white board which had the agenda, homework for the day, and a few vocabulary words to write down and define after reviewing notes. Kara wrote down the vocabulary words, the agenda, and what the homework was first, then looked over her notes from the day before. Kai copied down the homework and only a couple of the vocabulary words, deciding to wait to write the other words down when the teacher gave the definitions to the class (which occurred around ten minutes into the class.)

The current day was Friday, about one-and-a-half weeks into November. The weather outside was finally turning to the cold, and it began to slush sporadically outside. Tiny amounts of slush stuck to the roads outside, and the weather promised to grow colder. Snow was predicted to fall around the evening time and early morning of Saturday. In two days, Veterans Day was to come around, giving the students a three-day weekend.

“Now, students, pop-quiz,” the teacher announced after about five minutes into the review of yesterday’s notes. “Who can tell me what Uranium-235 is?”

At once about five hands shot up.

“Kara, the answer,” the teacher pointed to Kara, who had apparently raised her hand first. Kara recited the definition from pure memory, without even glancing at her notes, “Uranium-235 is the only naturally occurring non-renewable element used for Nuclear Fission.”

“Correct,” the teacher nodded, sounding less cold and irritated and more impressed and proud now. Kara smirked proudly. She had only glanced at the definition of Uranium-235 yesterday and could remember every word. She could only do that with select few definitions, sadly.

“Cheater, you had your notes...” Kai muttered, leering at Kara. Kara started to turn around, but decided to not let a person of lower intelligence ruin her day.

“Now, everyone, as you write down the vocabulary words, I will give you the definitions.” the teacher said, “for those who wrote down the vocab beforehand, you only need to define the words. For those who wrote and defined the vocabulary words already, you’re pretty much done until we move on.”

Kara was already done defining the vocab, so she got out spare paper and began sketching a drawing. Kai, like most of the class, scrawled down the vocab as the teacher started slowly giving each definition.

By the time the vocabulary words had been finished off, the class was getting antsy and talkative. Kai started pretending to check out Kara, and he started making nasty remarks. The teacher was too preoccupied hushing the rest of the class to pay attention to what Kai was saying.

“...Hey, Kara,” Kai smirked at Kara, knowing he was getting on her nerves.

“Shut up, Kai,” Kara growled in a melodic tone.

“Quiet, class! Or I-I’ll send you to the office!!” the teacher snapped. The class quieted down a bit, but the teacher ended up giving two people detentions before the class went quiet enough for the lesson to continue.


After the class had ended, Kara and Kai were herded into a thick after-school crowd, and they kept getting bumped into each other. Another argument flared up again, starting with Kai’s, “Hey, watch it, you giraffe!”

“Hey!” Kara scowled, “Don’t call me that, you little shrimp!”

“Hey!!” Kai glared back.

“You’re so immature all the time, Kai!” Kara snapped.

“I’m plenty mature!” Kai shoved Kara away. Kara had not expected to be shoved, and she nearly tripped over her own feet. She bumped into one of the popular kids in school, one who was just taller than she was, looking ‘fabu’ as always.

“Ew! Hey, bitch, watch where you’re going!” the popular quite forcefully shoved Kara back towards Kai. This time, Kara did trip over her own feet, dropped her large folder which she was carrying (she forgot her backpack today, yet she hadn’t forgotten her all-important folder) and slammed into Kai. Kai flinched and fell over. He tried to catch himself by grabbing onto Kara, but that only brought them both to the ground.

Kai was crushed between his backpack and Kara, who was laying right on top of him. Kai was winded, but Kara simply had a good shock. Kara tried to get up, but Kai was holding her down.

“Ew!” someone in the crowd called, “You guys can’t do that on campus! Get a room, you two!!”

Kai recovered his breath and looked up at Kara, who stared back down at him. They were both quiet for a while, their faces starting to flare a crimson red. Kara’s chest was practically right in Kai’s face, and Kai, being the boy he was, focused on that and nothing else.

“L-l-let go of me, Kai..!” Kara tried to push herself off the ground and Kai, but Kai was still holding her tight. Had he not heard her? “K-Kai..!”

Kai was biting his lip and grinning stupidly, his face altogether crimson.

“Let go of me, you shrimpy pervert!” Kara started swatting at Kai, who this time let go of her. Kara quickly backed away and rose to her feet.

“Well...” Kai’s expression became blankly bewildered, “Um...that was one way to make an...impression on me...”

Kara glared and folded her arms. She found her folder and retrieved it, then stood towering over Kai.

“You, sir,” Kara said in a tight voice, trying to stay composed. She was blushing furiously. She continued, “You are a shrimpy, idiotic, immature pervert. Leave me alone!” With that, Kara walked off, vanishing into the crowd. She felt the palms of her hands sting deeply. They were bright red and starting to bleed. She ignored it, nonetheless, and headed for her bus home.

Kai got to his feet, dusting himself off a bit. That ‘encounter’ was a bit...uncalled for. Kai never wanted to be that close to Kara. He was looking for anything he could use against her, though, and that ‘close encounter’ would most definitely do him wonders. Just about the whole school saw that ‘close encounter’ between him and Kara, which would be both great and terrible.

Kai decided to back off for a while, then he’d start again when he next saw her. To Kai, the most enjoyable activity to do would be annoying the heck out of Kara. Kai headed through the crowd to his bus home, which followed the basic route of Kara’s bus with some stop changes.


Since seventh grade, the grade the two had met, people constantly made fun of them and told everyone that they were a ‘Hatemance’ couple, a ‘love-hate relationship’ couple. The mash-up word, ‘Hatemance,’ has been used time and time again throughout the grades. It drove both Kara and Kai insane when they were teased and bothered about it. The topic of argument between the two usually had something to do with the taunts and mockery the other students were bullying them with.

In some ways, Kara actually understands Kai’s immaturity and stupidity; that behavior is how he survives the school days. Kai just doesn’t quite understand why Kara’s always so short-tempered with him. She acts like goofing off is the worst possible thing in the world! Girls make no sense to him.


The next day, snow fell from the dark gray sky in light clumps that lasted for a short time. The outside temperature was cold enough for people dressed in sweaters, jeans and semi-thick jackets to see their own breath and to make them quiver from the cold within two minutes.

Kara awoke at around seven-thirty in the morning. Her room was cold enough to practically hang meat from the ceiling and not have to worry about it going bad. Icicles could hang from the popcorn ceiling of her room if she had left her bedside window open all night.

Kai awoke near seven-o’-clock in the morning. He had fallen asleep on his living room couch with the fireplace ablaze; now it was nothing but dying embers. The morning was cold and damp outside, but it left Kai somewhat unaffected, due to being in the warmest room in the house.

Little did they know it, but Kara and Kai lived just three houses apart from each other. They basically had the same panoramic view out their front windows. They both got on their buses at the same stop, but at different times because Kai’s bus was different from Kara’s bus. (Kai’s bus got to the stop shortly after Kara’s bus. The reason that there are two buses going to the same stop is because there were too many students pouring into the stops at once.)

Kai lived with his mother and his older sister at home while his dad was working somewhere off in the army. Kai never knew his dad all that well, (his dad left home to join the army when Kai was a young child,) but he would get so excited when he would hear that his dad would be coming home from work. Unfortunately, just about every time it would be said that his dad would return home, there would later be ‘unexpected change of plans’ or some other excuse to keep his dad away from home. Kai would feel down for a while after hearing that same excuse; if his dad was to ever come home, Kai wouldn’t have to constantly be around girls, he could have some guy time for once! Girls were a pain in the neck with or without Kara being around. Something about Kara, though, made Kai feel a bit less like he was with some girly girl.


Kara lives with her parents as an only child. Her father is a fireman and her mother is an ambulance driver and a nurse assistant, so Kara ends up home alone most of the time. She doesn’t know what it’s like to have any siblings, but she has two best friends who live right around the block from her house named Max and Angel, who are like family to Kara.

Max is a wild child with very curly whitish blonde hair and a face full of freckles. Her eyes are an electric blue and she always tends to wear ‘torn-style’ clothes and steel-toed dock martins. She’s incredibly enthusiastic and dramatic, and very often acts high on sugar. She’s very outgoing and loud, very rarely shy about anything. She can’t keep a secret to save her life, she’d practically burst under any sort of pressure. She is most definitely ‘one of the guys.’

Angel, very much unlike Max, has a serene, benign nature. She has very long midnight black hair, pale skin, and dark gray eyes. She is a fashion perfectionist, always on top of what’s hot by clothing standards. From the coolest sunglasses to the cutest hand purses, she’ll just show up one day with whatever is ‘in.’ She can do just about any sort of makeup quite skillfully, and always has a stash of ‘emergency makeup’ in her backpack. Just about every guy in school has tried and tried again to ask her out or impress her in some way, even the populars themselves, yet somehow, despite her fashion craze, despite her fanclub of boys, she does not consider herself a popular. She thinks lowly of the populars. She is highly trustworthy, and is fantastic under pressure. She is pretty much the opposite of Max, (they get along like north and south most of the time,) but Kara somehow manages to bring them all together.


Kara decided to take advantage of the light dusting of snow this Saturday morning. The large, flat, grassy park about a block from her house looked fascinating when frosted. The pond in the center of the park would turn gray and cold, and sometimes small fish and other aquatic animals could be seen near the surface of the water. Kara dressed herself in appropriate clothing for the cold weather, reported to her mother (whom had not left for work yet) that she was going out for a walk to the park, and headed down the southwest road towards the park. The sun was already up in the sky, but much of the sun’s light was blocked out by the thick layers of various gray clouds overhead. Kara could see her breath as she made her way to the park.

Much to Kara’s surprise, when she arrived at the park, she saw a lone silhouette standing under an old, gnarled oak tree looking up at the falling snow about twenty feet away. The silhouette seemed to be wearing a jacket, jeans, and boots. The hood hid the face of whoever stood under the tree. As Kara further approached, she saw the silhouette turn enough for her to catch their facial features. The person admiring the falling snow, oblivious to anyone or anything else, was none other than the other half of the ‘Hatemance,’ Kai.

Kai had been dressed in a zipped-up hoodie with the hood covering his hair except for a bit of his all-too-familiar free-style bangs, jeans that appeared to be at least one size too large, and combat boots, the top half of which vanished under his jeans. Kai didn’t notice Kara’s oncoming presence until she was about five feet away.

“Hey,” Kara greeted Kai, “didn’t expect you to show up here. What are you doin’ here, anyway?”

“Huh--oh, hey,” Kai seemed to be in a slight daze as he spoke, “I dunno, I don’t come here often. Apparently you do, though?”

“Yeah,” said Kara, “I come here all the time.”

“Oh, I see...”

Kara and Kai were absolutely alone; not a soul was stirring at this ungodly hour on a weekend. Kara found it very peculiar that Kai was to just show up at the park, a place where she had been going for quite a long time now, when he normally never showed up at such a place. She asked him about it.

“I’m not stalking you or anything, first of all,” Kai assured, afterwards grimacing and making a disgusted face for a moment, “Eugh, why the heck would I even do that?”

“Well, you’ve never showed up here before,” Kara pointed out, folding her arms (mostly to keep her hands warm.)

“Maybe it was the snow. You see, I’m writ--” Kai stopped himself in mid sentence as he started looking around at the snow, which started to fall harder and thicker. “--n-never mind, never mind.” Kai avoided Kara’s eyes, focusing on the snow as an excuse not to look at her.

“What?” Kara asked, then after a moment of no response, she tried figuring the word out for herself. “...‘Wri--’...‘wri--’...writing?” Kai reacted to the word in a way that told Kara that was exactly what he almost said.

“You’re writing? Writing what?” Kara prodded, curious.

“No-nothing.” Kai’s face started to color. The truth was, Kai secretly aspired to become an author, and was inspired by the snow outside. He went to the park because it looked interesting enough to be a source of inspiration. He couldn’t possibly tell Kara that, though, because she’d make fun of him for being nerdy at heart.

“...Okay, I won’t prod.” Kara gave up in prodding in an untroubled manner, shrugging a bit. She didn’t necessarily care about what went on in Kai’s personal life, anyway.

Kai was actually surprised that Kara wasn’t trying to pry the information out of him. Usually when they were around each other at school, Kara would be hounding him and he’d retaliate, usually pushing everything too far and just ending up making both of them look like true ‘Hatemance’ idiots. Kara seemed more aloof and relaxed than usual now. Maybe it was the snow or something.

For a long while of silence, the two started staring off at the falling snow.. Kai was waiting for Kara to start some stupid argument or something. Kara simply didn’t feel like arguing about any sort of dumb topic, however she wondered why Kai wasn’t stirring anything up. After a few moments, due to the apparent decrease in temperature and the numbing of ears, Kara pointed out, “...Y’know, we aren’t arguing or fighting or anything...” She did not break her gaze on the fluffy snowflakes as she spoke.

“...Yeah,” Kai agreed slowly, “it’s weird...”

“I know, right?” Kara finally broke her gaze and looked at Kai, “We’re always at each other’s throats over some stupid thing by this time.”

“Yeah,” Kai didn’t look directly at Kara’s face, just in her general direction, as he broke his dazed stare at the snow. He had forgotten what had driven him to come to the frosted park by now.
Another moment of silence passed between the two; the silence grew more and more awkward with each passing minute.
Kara relaxed her somewhat stiff shoulders and started talking, to at least fill the empty space that so desperately needed to be filled. “You know, this whole ‘Hatemance’ thing is stupid.”
Kai looked directly at Kara now. He nodded and replied, “Yeah. I mean, what the heck was with that?”

“It all started as some rumor between us, I think,” Kara recalled, “way back in seventh grade...”

“Oh, yeah, I remember that.” Kai recalled the rumor too.

“I think, wasn’t it the first day we met?” Kara asked, trying to remember the event exactly.

“Um, yeah, some kids kept shoving us towards each other, I think. And at Lunch, we were locked in the girls’ bathroom in the 100 Hall somehow.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember that,” Kara snapped her fingers and nodded. “It all started during Break, sometime during...what was it, August? Something like that. We ran into each other, I think, in ‘popular’ territory? Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I think we exchanged some rude comments and then headed our own separate ways. Though, not even half a minute went by before we were suddenly turned back around and ended up facing each other again. The populars kept poking us and edging us over to each other, giggling like the snotty weirdos they are. We met again rather awkwardly a couple of times before we could get out of that weird...whatever. Then the rest of the day up until Lunch went fine. About a quarter into Lunch, I got dragged into the bathroom by Max, and to my shock and confusion, you happened to be there as well. I turned around to ask Max what the heck she was doing, but she had closed the door and somehow jammed it so it wouldn’t open again. I don’t know how the security guards or the teachers failed to notice, but...oh well, at least we got home, I suppose.”

Kai was gaping at Kara. He had never heard Kara talk so much in the four or so years he’s known her. Kara looked at him confusedly, then realized that it was Kai she was talking to. Her face started to flush with embarrassment, and she apologized for letting her mouth run like that.

“U-uh, nah,” Kai recovered himself. Had he actually caught a glimpse of the real Kara? She seemed so relaxed when she started talking. She sounded like she was talking to her best friends about a quarter into the recollection. “It-it’s okay, I just...I never heard you talk so much before...”

“Ah, yeah, eh-heh-heh...” Kara straightened a sleeve and smiled awkwardly, “Must’ve forgotten I was talking to you.”

“Yeah, you started talking to me as if I were Max or Angel or something.”

“Yeah, sorry,”

“Nah, it’s alright.”

Silence passed once more between Kara and Kai. Kara had lost her school persona and got more into her true character. Kai was much more calm and laid back than he usually acted, which, Kara guessed, was part of his true personality.

“...Well,” Kai couldn’t stand too long a moment of silence, so he broke it with small-talk, “I guess I can shed my persona as well and start telling you about some kid who takes the whole ‘Hatemance’ crap and tosses it out the window during the weekends.”

Kara started feeling chills running up and down her spine, and shivered a bit. She listened intently, wondering just what kind of guy Kai really was outside of school. So he did have multiple persona’s, like her?

“I nearly told you earlier, but now that you’ve already guessed, I will confirm; I am writing something. A book, actually.” Kai started explaining. “That’s why I came to the park in the first place. I needed inspiration for a scene in my book, and the park, well...it just seemed intriguing enough to be a source of inspiration, you know?”

Now it was Kara’s turn to be surprised. Kai? Writing a book? He hardly ever reads! Who was this person failing utterly to impersonate Kai?

Kai continued, ignoring Kara’s mildly surprised facial expression, “My book is nearly ten pages long; I’ve only just started it. I didn’t really like reading or writing before recently, but now that I’ve started, I really do like writing...” Kai paused, looking at Kara and breaking into a goofy grin, “...I bet you’re wondering who the heck I suddenly became?”

“Kinda, yeah,” Kara nodded, slightly bewildered.

“Join the club,” Kai folded his arms and kept his grin for a moment longer.

“...Hey, y’know, our true personalities,” Kara said after a moment, “they’re much different than what we’re used to.”

“You’ve basically said that three times now,” Kai was starting to get annoyed by her repetitiveness.

“O-oh, sorry,” Kara knew she was repeating herself in different words each time, but what else was there to really talk about?

“So,” Kai decided to just change the subject, “you say you always come to the park. Why come this time and since when did you start coming to the park?”

“Why?” Kara repeated, “I guess it’s become a habit...I’ve come to the park since, like, the first day of seventh grade, I think? Something like that.”

“By yourself?”

“All the time. Coming here...it helps me think and relax. It’s like my h-hangout, y’know?” Kara stammered a little. Kai nodded, relating to her.

Kai asked away for quite a while until he noticed that Kara was shivering. Her voice was slightly shaky; she stammered over very few words here and there. Kai was so busy asking and learning, he didn’t notice that it was growing colder. Kara wasn’t dressed as heavily as he, either.

“You cold?” Kai asked, taking his hood off. It was colder than he’d thought.

“N-nah, I’m alright.”

“You’re shivering,” Kai pointed out, “you sure?”

“Staying put in a cold place decreases body temperature,” Kara stated in a matter-of-fact manner, “and I didn’t dress as thickly as you, either.”

“Well,” Kai said slowly, “we could go for a walk...or something...”

Kara shifted stiffly and looked at the snow. Now it looked to be a good inch or two thick on the ground. The sun cast dark shadows leaning heavily towards the west, contrasting against the snow. The few trees in the park looked like frail, hollow, lifeless figures. If any trees had leaves on their branches left, they were covered in icy snow. It seemed sort of depressing. Even the lake was a slush pond; the surface was not quite frozen.

“Sure,” Kara thought in a meek, tiny voice, “we could walk around, but...where to? It’s cold all around. Unless we’re going inside...” Kara suddenly realized something. How long had she been out? She was usually only gone from home for only about an hour.

“What’s wrong?” Kai noticed the sudden shock in Kara’s eyes, which were transmitting information but a moment ago.

“H-how long have we been t-ta-talking?” Kara asked concernedly, stammering a little. Befuddled, Kai had to think about it before replying, “Doesn’t seem to have been long, but...maybe an hour or so?” He glanced at the sun through the tree and the clouds as he spoke.

“O-oh,” Kara furrowed her brow. She was freezing, and she needed to get home anyway. “I need to get back home. Gotta go see my parents off to their work.”

“Oh,” Kai was surprised, “okay, then. What do they do?”

Kara shifted from one leg to the other, shivering as she spoke, “D-d-d-dad’s a fireman n’ mom’s an-n-n ambulance driver...”

“That’s cool,” Kai nodded.

“G-gotta go,” Kara started backing away, her feet hesitantly sinking into the snow behind her.

“H-...hey, uh,” Kai stopped her, “you’re really cold, aren’cha?”

“Uh...y-yeah,” Kara admitted.

“And the roads are pretty icy already, too...”

“G-get to the point, please,” Kara felt anxious to get back home so she could see her parents off.

“I’ll t-take you home,” Kai offered, then quickly added, “I-if it’s okay with you, of course.”

Kara was surprised, but didn’t try to show it much. She didn’t trust herself with roads this time of year much. From the park to her house, it was an uphill journey. A slippery, wet, cold journey at that.

“Um...” Kara’s face colored a bit, and she couldn’t find words to say. “If...i-if, um...O-okay,” She finally found one word to say. Kai nodded, and Kara turned and started heading towards the road. A wind picked up, and the snow fell harder and colder. Kai flipped his hood up and followed Kara. Kai wished that he could do something about Kara’s being cold, but he had but one jacket, and he needed to stay warm, too.


The wind had only gotten harsher about halfway up the road. Slush and ice had broken at the top of the hill, where the street both Kara and Kai lived on was, and rushed down in large clumps all over the black, soaked road. Kara had goosebumps and was obviously freezing. Her face and her hands were turning a bright red, her arms were held close to her torso, and her breathing, though she hid it admirably, was shaky. Kai thought she’d surely turn into a Kara-sicle before they made it three quarters up the hill.

“M-m-my-my house is,” Kara shivered, unable to control the shakiness in her voice, and looked at Kai, who was right beside her, “ri-r-right up ther--AAEEEH!!” Suddenly, she tripped and slid very quickly down the slushy slope. She slid about twenty feet down before being able to slow to a halt.

“Ka-K-Kara!” Kai ceased his movement at once and went back for Kara. His feet skidded over the slippery slush a few times, but he kept his awkward footing. He reached a very soggy, slush-covered Kara on her hands and knees. Her light jacket was not necessarily waterproof, merely meant for going outside for a short amount of time, sticking to her front. Kara looked spooked and miserably cold.

“Gosh, you alright?” Kai lent his hand. Kara recovered herself and got up on a knee and took his hand. She started getting up, but slipped again and pulled them both down with a grunt.

“Oof,” Kai had landed on his back, but was not fazed. He had not slid down the slope much at all.

Kara was flat on her stomach, quickly getting to her knees, her left hand latched onto Kai’s, and breathed with much shakiness. Her hands felt frostbitten, Kai’s hand felt like it was on fire.

“Y-y-you...” Kara’s voice was too shaky, she couldn’t form words fast enough. She just stopped talking altogether and shivered, squeezing Kai’s hand.

Kai got to his feet quickly and carefully, noticing how incredibly cold Kara was. She looked absolutely miserable. Meanwhile, Kai was nice and (relatively) warm and dry, thanks to his waterproof jacket meant for going outside for hours in snow.

“Here, c’mon,” Kai tried once more to help Kara up. Kara got to her feet this time and nodded her thanks, unable to stop her teeth from chattering behind her closed mouth.

“Y-you okay?” Kai asked.

“C-c-c-c-cold...” Kara stammered, upset and soaking wet and numb with cold, “...my k-kn-knees hurt, t-too...”

“Well, that’s what you get for sledding down a road with no sled, you silly person you,” Kai tried to act humorous, tried to cheer Kara up a little. He took his hand away from hers, and after a brief pause, the two continued trudging up the slushy slope. The sidewalk on either side of the empty street was an option, but it wasn’t any better than the simple open road. More snow and ice, if anything.


The two made it three quarters up the slope, then the gusting, snowy wind increased in ferocity, nearing the force of a blizzard. The sun had vanished behind the now thick snow clouds. Kara was freezing and unable to control her shaky breathing. Her hands were starting to turn a very faint blue now, along with the tip of her nose.

“God, you’re frostbitten, Kara,” Kai was highly concerned about his newfound friend. He had never gotten along with Kara so well, nor had he ever known so much about her. He knew she’d surely get sick if she stayed out in the cold any longer, especially with her soggy, frosted clothes. She had put her hood up, but it didn’t seem to help any. “Here, give me your hands.”

Kara blinked at Kai, but let Kai take her left hand into his hands. His hands were cold, but hers were like ice compared to his.

“Holy whoa,” Kai was shocked. The condition her hands were in was...well, not a good one, to put it as lightly as possible. Kai held Kara’s hand tightly in both of his hands and brought it close to his face. He breathed warmly into her palm and held her hand close. He moved himself right next to Kara, to the point where they were nearly pressed together, and repeated the process. Kara watched Kai as they made their way to the top of the hill, finally. His hands and breath felt as if they were fire. Kara hid her right hand in her jacket sleeve and shivered violently. The snowfall made it hard to see the way forward.

“You’re on the edge of hypothermia,” Kai muttered concernedly, “good thing we’re almost at the top of the road...”

Kara could barely see, and she felt so numb, she couldn’t even tell how much progress they were making. Kai kept trying to warm Kara’s hand for several minutes. Kara could feel her hand beginning to defrost.

Finally, the two reached flat ground. The gushing wind had started to settle down and the snowfall was lighter than it was not too long ago. A large red truck with flaring red lights was starting to pull out of a driveway off to the right. Kara recognized the lights. Her dad was just leaving home. His lights didn’t flare like that unless it was some sort of emergency, though it made Kara wonder, who the heck could have a fire in this kind of weather?

“That your dad?”

“U-uh-uh-huh, y-yeah...” Kara stammered quietly. She felt weak and numb from the cold.

“Th-this hand’s warmed up alright, I-I think. Gimme your other one.” Kai eased Kara to one side of the road and got on her other side, letting go of her left hand and taking her right. Kara was blushing, but she couldn’t tell whether or not it was from the cold or from having Kai hold her hands like this. Mainly, Kai just used this as an excuse to distract himself from the freezing cold.

“Y-y-y’know, Kai,” Kai said, sheepish as she watched her dad’s truck quickly turn down the road, vanishing into the snow. “you...you’re really--” The firetruck’s siren flared, cutting Kara off and spooking her. She cringed at the noise and squeezed Kai’s hands. Kai wasn’t fazed as much by the siren.

“Yeah?” Kai asked, smiling a bit at the scaredy-cat Kara was being.

Kara recovered herself quickly and loosened her grip on Kai. Kai was right up against her, and he was still relatively warm. Kara had lost her train of thought for a moment, but then recovered it and resumed talking.

“Y-you’re really nice. I n-never would’ve g-g-guessed, h-he-heh...” Kara smiled and chuckled.

“R-really?” Kai looked up at Kara in the middle of warming her hand. He grinned back.

For a little while longer, the two kept walking closely together. Kara thanked Kai for walking her home and pointed out her house. Kai replied with a slight shiver, “N-no problem, Kara. You stay warm, okay?”

Kara smiled back at him and joked around, shoving her hands deep into her sleeves, “G-gosh, why don’t we get along like th-this at school? I would’ve t-ta-taken a liking to you.”

“Ah, that, my newfound friend, might be too drastic a change of school our school personas for our fellow dimwit classmates to comprehend.” Kai kept the humor going, and they both grinned and giggled.

“Y-yeah...well, thanks again. See you later?” Kara asked, then adding, “The real you, not the ‘Hatemance’ persona you, of course?”

“Heh, s-sure,” Kai smiled back with a nod. He started on his way towards his house, then realized something before taking five steps. “Oh, hey!”

Kara had started to go up to her porch, and turned around at Kai’s call. “Huh?”

“I live only three houses down the street from here of all places! Who knew, huh?” Kai pointed down the street in the opposite direction they had come. Kara was surprised, and replied, “Huh, that I di-didn’t know about you!”

“Well, now ya know! See you later!” Kai waved.

“Yeah, s-see ya!” Kara nodded back.

Kai tucked his hands into his jean pockets and walked casually down the sidewalk. After a moment of watching him go down the sidewalk, Kara shivered and went inside. Her mom was waiting for her to return so she could get to work.

“So, had fun down at the park today? I see you went belly-sledding.” Kara’s mom, whose name was Ciera, joked around at her daughter’s entry.

“Y-yeah. I met this c-cool kid who lives on our street, and we became f-fr-friends.” Kara said, starting to head through the house towards her room to change into something warm and dry.

“Really? That’s nice, dear. What was their name?” Ciera asked. Kara, having told her mom about her ‘Hatemance’ between her and Kai, thought about it for a brief moment. Her mom wouldn’t believe her if she told her it was Kai, would she?

“I...I d-didn’t quite catch their name,” Kara said slowly, “but they were really cool.”

“That’s good to hear,” Ciera sounded as if she wasn’t even listening from the living room couch, where she was neatly seated, sewing a pair of pants patiently. “I’d love to hear more about this friend of yours, but I have to go in like...five minutes. My boss has ordered me to train a rookie in the hospital for a few days. Your dad will also be gone for a few days, too.”

Kara had closed the door to her room, “Oh, okay,” she replied somewhat loudly.
“You’ll be alright here by yourself for a few days, right? You’re responsible,” her mom asked.

“Yeah, I should be okay,” Kara called back.

“Okay, good. Well then, I’m off to work. No snow days for me...”

“Okay, bye-bye!” Kara called, opening her drawers and un-zipping her jacket.


Kai had reached his home feeling somewhat chilly. He felt warmer when he was with Kara.

“Hey,” Kai called, ringing the doorbell to his house, “it’s cold, lemme in!”

“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” an annoyed, young female voice called after a moment. The dialect of the female voice that answered was somewhat Japanese. Kai had developed an American dialect, with only a very slight hint of Japanese in his voice that came out the most when he was with his family.

Kai’s older sister, Touko, two grades and seven inches above him, answered the door and let her little brother in.

“Where have you been, Kai?” Touko asked in an irritated manner, “You nearly missed out on hot chocolate.”

“Oh, I was down at the park. I met this...really cool person there, and--”

“Yeah, yeah, have chocolate.” Touko closed the door behind him without listening to what her li’l bro was saying, cutting him off entirely. Touko left the main room and went and got a cup of steaming hot chocolate with whipped cream on top. Kai nodded his thanks and carefully took the cup, which seemed to be ablaze in his hands.

Kai started drinking his chocolate and wondered if Kara would like any. Kai left the main room and walked into the kitchen. He got a travel cup with a lid and put water and hot chocolate mix in it. He stirred the cup swiftly and gently, then put the cup in the microwave.

“What are you fixing the travel cup for? You haven’t even finished your own cup.”

“I want to give some to this really cool girl I just met--” Kar replied quickly, grabbing his cup and drinking from it carefully.

“Girl?” Touko batted an eyebrow at her li’l bro. Kai froze at once and slowly put his cup down on the counter.

“Yeah, a girl.” Kai said coolly.

“A girlfriend?” Of course Touko had to instantly go there. Kai rolled his eyes at her.

“...A girl. Friend.” Kai widely spaced out the words ‘girl’ and ‘friend.’

“Yeah, sure,” Touko rolled her eyes playfully and grinned, “call her whatever, at least you might actually be growing up.”

What Touko said reminded Kai of Kara’s school persona. He wondered if Kara truly felt that way about him. Then he thought to himself, “Dude, ew, why the heck are you even thinking about her?” But he didn’t even try to keep Kara out of his mind after that one lonely thought died off. He wondered about Kara for several moments while drinking his hot chocolate before the microwave oven went off.

“Careful, Kai, the cup gets hot,” Touko warned.

“I’ll be alright,” Kai finished off his cup, put it in the relatively empty sink, and very carefully retrieved the cup of hot chocolate from the microwave. He put the lid on and set the cup down on the counter, shutting the microwave and locating a napkin to prevent his hands from burning when he’d touch the cup.

“You like this girl, don’t you?” Touko suddenly appeared between Kai and the cup of hot chocolate he made for Kara with an impish grin plastered on her face.

“I’m not into her, sis, I can assure you of that. Gimme the cup,” Kai tried getting past his sister, but Touko didn’t let him.

“Then why are you taking this to her?” Touko prodded.

“Why can’t you girls just let a guy do something nice for a friend without butting in?” Kai was irritated now.

“Because that’s what us girls do, little brother.” Touko ruffled Kai’s hair, and he glared up at her. “Besides,” Touko still didn’t let Kai take the cup. “it’s not like she needs it.”

“C’mon, sis,” Kai whined, “and she actually does. She was about to freeze over when I got her home, and I don’t want the poor girl to get sick, either. Gimme!” Kai tried getting at the cup once more, but Touko refused to budge.

“Ah, she’ll be fine. Stop worrying about your girlfriend--”

“--she’s NOT my girlfriend--”

“--and just leave her be. She has heating at her house, too, doesn’t she? C’mon, boy, let’s not smother the poor girl...”

Suddenly, the whole house went dark. There was a powering down sound made by everything. The lights flickered off in every room they were turned on, and the microwave lights died. It was a blackout. The only visible light filtered into the rooms through the thick, drawn curtains over the windows. Touko was spooked a bit by it and stopped speaking. In that narrow window of opportunity, Kai reached around his sister, grabbed the travel cup, and took off.

“Wh-hey!” Touko exclaimed.

“Hush, Touko! It’s my cup of hot chocolate, I get to do whatever I want with it!” Kai hissed, opening the front door swiftly and silently and making his way outside.

“Kai’s got a girlfriend~!” Touko called after her little brother teasingly, sticking only her head out the door.

“Shaddup, Touko!” Kai hollered, not turning to face her.

“Aw, but it’s kawaii!” Touko called back.

“Shaddup, Touko!!” Kai repeated. Touko smiled and sighed, retreating back inside.
Touko quietly closed the door and chuckled to herself as she went back into the kitchen, “Ah, young love...kawaii.”

“Hush, Touko-san!” a tired half-Japanese lady, who happened to be Kai and Touko's mother, shushed Touko from her bedroom; Kai and Touko's mom's name was Kiera.

“Uh--y-yes, mom! Sorry!” Touko exclaimed, hushing her tone.


Kai noticed that the whole block had gone black in the heavy snow. Not even half the houses down the street had their fireplaces going. Mostly everyone was asleep, still. The snow outside was falling in small, light, feathery flakes. Everyone’s yards had at least some snow. The block looked very still and quiet, asleep in the snow. Very quickly, Kai found Kara’s house, also affected by the blackout, and he made his way to her front porch and knocked on the door. He then realized, doing this, maybe Kara would get the wrong idea.

“One moment, please!” called a familiar voice. Kara answered the door, and was surprised to see Kai in the doorway. She was dressed in a warm sweater and sweat pants and boots. She still looked a bit cold, and her hair was still soaked.

“Oh, uh, hey.” Kara was confused, but she smiled politely anyway, “Didn’t expect to see you again...so soon.”

“Hey, uh, yeah,” Kai smiled awkwardly, starting to blush a bit, “sorry for the intrusion, but I wanted to give you this.” He offered Kara the cup of hot chocolate. Kara was even more surprised. She took it with a nod and a thank-you.

“Y-you can come on in, if you’d like,” Kara offered, feeling very awkward and trying to fill the empty space, “It’s pitch-black in here, the heater’s died, and I haven’t started a fire up yet, but, uh...it’s warmer than standing out there in the snow, I guess.”

“Sure,” Kai tapped the snow off of his boots and stepped inside. He felt like taking them off, but since Kara was wearing shoes indoors, he supposed it was alright for him to as well.

“Ah, hot chocolate,” Kara smiled at the cup. She felt the steam flowing up and out of the cup with a bare hand before taking a tentative sip. It was hot, but it was also quite nice, so she carefully drank more of it. “Thank you very much, Kai.”

“A-ah, no problem,” Kai was still blushing as Kara closed the door. She set the cup of hot chocolate down somewhere and started letting light flow into the room through the windows. Kara kicked off her boots in between a couple of windows, putting them away somewhere in the house.

“Might want to see, right?” Kara needed to figure out some way to fill the empty space between her and Kai.

“Yeah, that’d be helpful,” Kai replied, feeling just as awkward.

“I’ll try to start a fire, then.” Kara got her cup from somewhere and took another drink. “Mm, this is so warm...”

“Glad you like it,” Kai said shyly, watching Kara move from one window to another, to the fireplace and into another room, and back again. She sat down and started breaking kindling on her knees and putting it into the small square metal wood stove fireplace. Kai wandered over to Kara and watched her work diligently on the wood stove. She put a small log in the middle of the stove, tore up an old newspaper, and put the shredded newspaper pieces around and on the log and kindling. She snapped one more kindling piece of wood and accidentally sliced her right palm on the sharp splintered edge of wood. She cringed and winced, tossing the kindling into the wood stove quickly and biting her lip, trying not to cry out in pain.

“Y-you alright?” Kai asked concernedly. Kara gritted her teeth and nodded. Her palm was starting to bleed. “I c-cut myself on that kindling.”

“Your hand’s bleeding,” Kai sat down beside her and took her hand, “Gimme.” He looked at it carefully. It wasn’t too bad a cut, but it was bleeding a lot and it looked like could get infected easily. Kai let her hand go and got up quickly. “I’ll go get something...”

“There’s a white first-aid box right there,” Kara gestured towards a small white box almost right next to her, just out of her arm’s reach.

“O-okay,” Kai retrieved the box, opened it up, found and took out a small bandage wrap. He sat down next to Kara and took her hand again. He bandaged the wound up nicely, and Kara was impressed.

“Th-thanks, Kai...” Kara smiled gratefully.

“Be careful, Kara.” Kai pressed the bandage wrap gently over her palm and smiled back at her. Her hands were still cold.

Kara found a match box, took a match out, struck it against the box with her left hand, and put it into the kindling. She struck another one just in case and tossed it in as well.” She waited a moment or so, then closed the small glass door and locked it with a turn of the handle. The fire greedily grew larger, eating away at the kindling and paper before attacking the log.

“Hey, I actually made a working fire,” Kara sighed, grinning. She picked up the travel cup and took another drink from it.

“Congrats, you just cleared level one of ‘Survival of The Cold in a House with No Electricity!’ Ha ha ha!” Kai joked around and laughed. Kara grinned and drank her hot chocolate. She was feeling much warmer now.

Kara and Kai sat together in front of the fire about three feet away for several minutes, watching the fire eat away at it’s surroundings, warming the room gradually. Kara was nearly out of her hot chocolate by the time either of them found a topic of conversation.

“Y’know,” Kara said quietly, watching the fire and putting the cup down a good two feet away next to her after putting the cap on, “for the past four years I’ve known you, you’ve been immature, annoying, and perverted. Suddenly, we meet each other outside of school for the very first time, and you’re this completely different person. You’re actually a nice, goofy...” Kara started getting carried away again. She trailed off.

“...and?” Kai asked, feeling sleepy and warm in front of the nice fire.

“...you’re a real sweet guy, too...” Kara felt her face flaring. Her voice was barely audible. She was realizing these attributes about Kai as she spoke. Kai really was a nice guy.

Kai felt kind of awkward and freaked out. But, it was true. He had acted rather immature towards Kara for the longest time. When he showed his true colors to her, she had taken an immediate liking to him. Kai worried that Kara was starting to fancy him.

“...Of course, t-that doesn’t mean I ‘like’ you,” Kara said defensively, her tone still quiet. The warmth of the fire was soothing her to a state of tiredness. “it just means that we could actually get along. Could. Maybe.”

Kai was relieved. Of course Kara didn’t ‘like’ him, ew, that’d be weird. And he was also surprised at the Kara he had just met today. He agreed that he and she could get along alright.
“...so you think I’m a pretty good guy, eh?” Kai smiled softly.

“Pretty good, yeah...” Kara replied with a blank expression, lost in the fire.

“Hey, Kara,” Kai said after a moment of watching the fire and growing even more tired. The power had not been regained yet. The house was still dark. Kai was tired and comfy.

“Yeah?” Kara mumbled, feeling tired as well.

“You’ve always been argumentative and irritating at school. However, I knew very well how book-smart you were, and...” Kai shifted and sat upright, cross-legged. He was starting to feel too warm in front of the fire now. He continued, “...Y’know the reason I tease you all the time? It’s not just because you’re taller than a pine tree. You’re really smart. I averaged ‘C’ and ‘B’ grades at best. You got straight ‘A’ grades in all of your classes for the longest time. I was...I guess I’m jealous of how freakin’ smart you are...”
Why the heck Kai was admitting to this, he didn’t know. He felt woozy and too warm.

“...So, all these years...” Kara murmured, looking at Kai with surprise in her eyes, “...you teased me...because I was more intelligent than you?”

“Jealousy’s a funny thing.” Kai smiled awkwardly.

“No,” Kara disagreed sarcastically, “a funny thing is you, sir.” She grinned at Kai. Kai laughed and grinned back.

“You know what a truly funny thing is?” Kai asked, “This whole ‘Hatemance’ rumor that started so long ago. It’s amazing that everyone’s kept it up for this long.”

“I know, right?”

“Yeah,” Kai uncrossed his legs and stood up. Kara stood also, towering over him a little. Kai seemed somewhat annoyed by Kara’s height, but shrugged it off and continued talking, moving away from the fire a bit and strolling around the not-so-dark-anymore room.

“I’ve also noticed, none of my friends seem to get as picked on as me. And I hang out with just about all the guys. Even the nerds. They get talked about sometimes, but they’re not a huge source of rumors.”

“These rumors...” Kara was really annoyed by the rumors at school. She wanted to do something about them, but when the whole school believed them, it was one against a thousand. It was hopeless to try to convince them they’re all lies. “They’re getting worse with the years...”

“Worse...worse how?”

Kara hesitated before telling him. She had been talking and acting without thought all day, she noticed. It must be the temperature that’s making her act so...normal around Kai.

“Well, rather recently, I’ve been asked...very specific, personal questions...in P.E., and...well, the ‘Hatemance’ has turned into ‘nasty romance’ and other crap like that.”

“Ew! What the heck are they asking you in that class!?” Kai exclaimed. Kara’s face flared red and she gritted her teeth, remaining quiet for a moment. She tried to figure out how to answer the question, and the more she tried to figure out how, the more awkward and sheepish she felt.

“Er...well, let’s just say they were very...personal questions...” She muttered, looking down and mindlessly strolling around the open rooms. She could remember the questions exactly, and immediately shut them out before they would spill out of her mouth.

“...It has something to do with--” Kai began.

“Don’t guess!!” Kara exclaimed, cutting Kai off. Her face was bright red.

“...and you haven’t told the teacher anything?” Kai was staring at Kara wryly.

“No,” Kara admitted bluntly, her face starting to turn sad. Her blush faded as she spoke, “I don’t know what the teacher could possibly do about what the whole class believes...”

Kai was quiet for a moment.

“What are they asking you?” Kara shifted the focus of the conversation.

“In class?”

“At school in general.”

Kai thought for a moment. He had been asked several questions rather recently. Ninety percent of which were about him and Kara’s nonexistent love-hate relationship.

“Rather simply,” Kai started quoting random questions he’d get from some stranger once in a while in pathetic girlie imitations, “questions like, ‘Omigosh, Kai, is it true!?’ and--”

“--Is what true?” Kara asked, cutting him off.

“That’s what I reply!” Kai exclaimed, “They never tell me!”

“And your girl voice sucks, just so you know,” Kara said with a catlike smile.
“That’s one thing that makes me the opposite of your species,” Kai replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Another thing is, your lack of--”

“SHHH!” Kai clasped his hands over Kara’s mouth, blushing furiously. Kara had no idea what gutter Kai had just tossed his mind into. She took his hands off of her face and simply said, “--intelligence. Get your brain out of the gutter for once.”

Kai looked at Kara blankly, then felt flat-out embarrassed. He slumped his shoulders back and put his face in his hands.

“Hey, I’m not as perverted as you are,” Kara folded her arms and leered down at Kai.

“I’m not all that perverted,” Kai folded his arms and leered up at Kara.
Suddenly, the two both realized that the ‘Hatemance’ between them had sparked up again. They were already returning to their school personas.

“...What are we doing?” Kara unfolded her arms and shook her head sadly, “We’re acting like our school selves again.”

Kai unfolded his arms and relaxed his face.

Suddenly, the power came back on. The whole house flooded with lights.

“Ah! Th-the light!” Kara and Kai were both trying to get used to the light again. Kara recovered first and quickly went to turn off some of the lights. Kai rubbed the light out of his eyes and remembered just where he stood. He suddenly felt like an unwelcome guest.

“Uh, thanks for inviting me inside,” Kai felt like he had to leave suddenly. It was growing awkward in the room, anyway.

“O-oh, you’re leaving? Okay,” Kara left only a few lights on. She looked out the nearest window, facing the empty street and the slope that led to the park about a block or two downhill.

“I-I’ll see you later.” Kai flipped his hood up and headed for the door.

“Okay,” Kara nodded, following him to the door.

Kai nodded at Kara and smiled a bit, then he went on his way back towards his house. He felt like he forgot something, but shrugged the feeling off and kept walking. He was pretty sure he didn’t forget anything.

Kara watched him go, shut the door after a moment, then looked over towards the fire. A shiny object caught Kara’s eye, and at once she realized that Kai had left his hot chocolate cup in her house. Kara quickly retrieved the cup, grabbed the nearest shoes, and bolted out the door.

“Hey! Kai! You forgot somethi-i-i-” Kara nearly slipped and fell on the surprisingly icy sidewalk. Kai was about twenty steps away, already two houses down the road.

“Hey!! Kai!!” Kara quickly made her way after Kai. She slid over invisible icy patches, somehow barely managing to keep her footing, and almost reached Kai when she slipped and fell hard on her knees.

“K-Kai..!” Kara called, trying to get up without slipping. Kai had been lost in thought and had not noticed Kara approaching and calling until just now. He turned around at once and saw Kara trying to steady herself on an icy patch, holding none other object than his travel cup in her hands.

“Y-you forgot this,” Kara held out the cup and steadied herself.

“Oh, thanks,” Kai took the cup.

“No,” Kara smiled, “thank you for giving me the hot chocolate. I appreciate it.”

“O-okay,” Kai nodded and smiled back. He turned away and started back on his journey back home. “Bye.” he called over his shoulder.

“Yeah, see ya,” Kara nodded. Then she turned around and started heading home. She slipped and nearly fell three times in ten steps. Slip-on shoes were not meant for icy sidewalk walking.

“Heave..!” Kara’s next-door neighbor was up and at’em, shoveling snow off of his lawn like there was no tomorrow. Her neighbor was tuned into his music playing through his ear buds. Kara uneasily made her way right in front of her neighbor’s house when another sudden, “Heave..!” sounded. Kara looked to her right quickly, just quickly enough to start to move before she got mauled by a giant lump of ice and snow that was half as large as she was. Kara’s head and shoulders were the first things to get hit, and within an instant, she had slipped sideways on an icy patch and started falling to her left. What fantastic luck she has.