Curiosity

Akira wasn't too worried about the backpack in itself; she could find a way to manage at school without it. What she was worried about, however, was what her parents would say when she left in the morning without it. She could say that she just forgot it at Kristie's house, that would be a suitable excuse, but she would be expected to have it by the time she came home. And therein lies the problem.

Akira had been sitting in her room, pondering her situation, for about an hour. At this point in time, it was about 8:00, so she still had time to do...nothing. She couldn't do her homework, because her backpack was gone. She didn't want to go down and talk to her parents, for fear of letting something about her day and Gerard slip. Too much was at stake to take that kind of risk.

Akira then heard a repetitive, annnoying tap on her window. Her head whipped around to find the source of the sound, and she saw Gerard's beautiful, smug face peering in at her. Her eyes widened, and she rushed to her window to let him in. "What are you doing here??" she asked in a hushed tone.

Gerard slid himself in and made himself at home on her bed, throwing her backpack on the floor. "Returning your belongings."

She shushed him. "Be quiet, my parents are downstairs. If they find out you're in here...oh God...how did you even get up here?"

Gerard pointed to the tree outside her window. "Used that tree. It has a lot of sturdy branches, so it was pretty easy. No big deal. You know, you should really be careful about that; anyone could just climb up that tree and let themselves right into your room!" he said, laying back on her bed and folding his arms behind his head.

Akira shook her head. "Gerard, thank you for bringing me my backpack, but you have to go now. My parents could come up here any second!"

"I like your bed. It's comfortable," he hummed, closing his eyes and sighing.

"I'm serious, Gerard."

"Can I sleep here tonight? Mikey's getting on my nerves; he keeps trying to take my Sega, Nintendo, and all my games. Do you have a game system?"

"No, Gerard, I don't, and you can't sleep here tonight. Now go." Akira ordered, stomping her foot and pointing out her window.

Gerard opened his eyes and looked at her. "Have you ever played a video game?"

Akira sighed in annoyance. "Once or twice. Go!"

Gerard's face contorted in confusion. "Once or twice? Well, you should play some with Mikey and me some time...I have to see if you're any good. Maybe one day, you'll be able to beat me at Street Fighter II. Do you have anything to eat? I'm hungry."

Akira was...confused, to say the very least. Here he was, coming out of nowhere to return Akira's backpack, and now he was ignoring everything she was saying, rambling on about meaningless things. "Gerard, why are you here?"

He raised his eyebrows at her and sat up. "To give you your backpack. And to hang out, I got bored at my house. Just chill out, will you? They're not going to come up here, and if they do I'll either jump out the window or hide in your closet or under your bed. Come sit down and relax a litte. Everything is fine."

She narrowed her eyes at him, sighing in defeat. Gerard grinned as she slumped down on her bed next to him.

"You're so uptight, you know that?" Gerard stated, rather than asked. "You need to chill out once in a while, or you're going to give yourself an ulcer."

"I can't help it! I've been this way for as long as I can remember. And this whole...'rebellion' thing is kind of new to me. Oh my God, did that sound stupid? It did, didn't it? Ugh!" she groaned, falling back onto her back and covering her face with her hands.

Gerard laughed. "Don't even worry about it. You didn't sound 'stupid'. I get what you're saying. Just...stop being so afraid."

Akira sat up and looked at Gerard, who smiled at her. She paused. "Do you want to spend the night here?"

Gerard raised his eyebrows in surprise at this sudden turn of events. "Um...are you...sure? I mean, you've been stressing about your parents coming in, and what if they come in during the night? And what about tomorrow morning? They'll probably end up knowing I'm here, and then you'd be in huge trouble, and come to think of it, so would I..."

Akira giggled as he rambled on. Gerard seemed...nervous? Couldn't be. He was used to this kind of thing, right? "Listen, Gerard, don't worry about it. My parents have to go in kind of early all the time, so they're gone before I leave. They never check on me at night unless I'm making a whole lot of noise or something. And you can just...sleep in my bed with me. It won't be inappropriate or awkward, seeing as my bed is kind of big."

Gerard furrowed his eyebrows and studied Akira's face. "Mm," he grunted, neither in agreement nor disagreement. Akira noticed a change come over his face; subtle enough that if she were paying any less attention, she wouldn't have noticed it. Why his demeanor had suddenly hardened, Akira wasn't sure. Maybe he was trying to put up that 'tough act', as Gerard and Akira liked to call it. Making it seem as if this was no big deal; as if he had done it a million times before.

"Sure," he said, shrugging nonchalantly.

"Hm...okay. Are you hungry? I can bring some food up for you, if you wa--"

"Akira!" her father called from downstairs.

Her eyes widened as she heard footsteps ascending the stairs. "Get...under my bed or something and stay quiet!" she whispered harshly, pulling Gerard up and shoving him onto the ground. He grunted and pulled himself under her bed in an army crawl, obscuring himself completely from view.

Akira laid back on her bed and crossed her legs, grabbing a book from her nightstand, just as her father opened the door.

"Akira, didn't you hear me calling you?" her father asked, standing in the doorway.

"Oh...no, I didn't, I guess I got too involved in my book. Sorry...do you need something?"

"No, I was just going to let you know that you should start getting ready for bed soon. You seemed kind of tired today, so your mother and I want you to get a little extra sleep. So, go ahead and take a shower and all your regular things, I expect you to be in bed by 9:30."

Akira furrowed her eyebrows, but didn't question it, and nodded in compliance. Her father closed the door, and Gerard waited until he heard Akira's father descend the stairs to crawl from his hiding place.

"Did I look tired today? Saying someone looks tired is a nice way of saying they look horrible and ugly," Akira stated as soon as Gerard sat on the bed.

Gerard laughed a little. "No, I think you look great. Don't even worry about anything else, you don't look tired. And besides, we need to stay up all night and gossip."

Akira started laughing and shook her head.

"What, isn't that what you females do at 'sleepovers'? Would this even be considered a sleepover? Hm...oh well, we can still stay up all night and talk. If you want, that is," he said, pulling himself up onto the bed fully and laying down on the left side.

Akira simply shrugged. "Well, I have to go take a shower and all that, so...be careful. If you hear someone coming up the stairs, dive under the bed or something. Even if you think it's just me opening the door, hide. Got it?"

Gerard nodded and saluted Akira playfully. " Nothing to worry about, I've got this covered, Sargeant!"

"Mmhm, you had surely better," Akira said as she gathered her clothes up.