Open Your Eyes

“And then this psycho chick challenged Tro to a duel, but he lost because get this–” Duo swallowed the rest of his food and leaned further across the table nearer to Sister Helen. “This other girl Relena I think her name is? Anyway, she comes waltzing into the gym, screeching out, ‘Heeeeerrrooooo!’ Well, it was enough to put anyone off let alone Mr. Stoic here so Tro looks up distracted, that Catalonia chick grabs the moment and before you know it, our guy’s gotten himself roped into taking out one of the richest girls in school for a date! How funny is that?”

“Duo, it isn’t nice to laugh at another’s misfortune,” Sister Helen scolded him as she passed the potatoes along to Father Maxwell. “Well, Trowa, it sounds like you had something of an eventful day.”

“Hnn,” Trowa said in reply, not looking up from his food. He still wasn’t in the best of moods because he had lost the duel, but now he had to figure out exactly how and where he was going to take Dorothy out on a date that Saturday. Where do you take one of the richest girls on earth for a date? Trowa was tempted to just drag her to the cinema or something. It would be fairly inexpensive and he wouldn’t have to talk with her. It was a possibility…

“So where are you taking Miss Catalonia?” Sister Helen queried. “You have to take her out somewhere nice you know.”

“Yeah, like the zoo!” Duo piped up. “Take her to that zoo you like so much, Tro, then you can shove her in the snake pit or something. Problem solved.”

“They don’t have snake pits at the zoo,” Trowa said softly. “They keep them in the reptile house.”

“Whatever,” Duo replied dismissively. “Look, if you want to get her off your back, take her out to the worst dive you can think of.”

“I can’t do that,” Trowa told him with a sigh. “It wouldn’t be polite.”

“Oh, you’re just saying that because you like her, don’t you?” Duo said with a grin. “You think she’s pretty!”

“Do not,” Trowa mumbled, turning his attention to his food.

“Oh, so you really do like her?” Sister Helen queried. “That’s wonderful! Oh, your first crush. How adorable!”

“Duo was being sarcastic,” Trowa said quickly. “And she isn’t my first crush.”

“Yes, well, only time will tell,” the nun informed him, piling more food onto his plate. “But don’t you listen to Duo now, he’ll never be popular with the ladies if he carries on like he does.”

“You don’t see him at school,” Trowa muttered darkly. They’d only been there one day, but already half the female population of Notre Dame were swooning over the braided boy.

“So did you manage to make any new friends at school, Duo?” Father Maxwell asked, thoughtfully moving the attention away from Trowa.

“Sure did!” Duo announced. “There’s this one guy Quatre Winner who I met and he seems pretty cool. He’s rich too. Honestly, I swear that almost all the kids in that school come from these millionaire families. It’s enough to make you feel sick sometimes. Some people act the part, like that Relena girl. She seems like a snob and she looks down on those who aren’t in her…what do they call it, Tro?”

“Social circle,” Trowa supplied. “Otherwise known as a clique.”

“Anyway, she totally has the hots for Heero Yuy who’s a scary kind of guy. He sort of scowls at you like this…” Duo twisted his face in his imitation of one of Heero’s glares. “And I don’t think he likes anyone other than Trowa.”

“How do you know that he only likes me?” Trowa asked curiously.

“He doesn’t glare at you the same way,” Duo told him with a grin. “He doesn’t mind you talking to him either. Anyone else he either ignored or he just completely brushed them off. He seemed to be pretty chummy with you though. I think he likes you.”

“I thought I was the one who was supposed to be studying Psychology,” Trowa teased, but he was giving some serious thought to what Duo had said. The boy was rather good at reading other people… well, at least when he was paying attention. He did have a point though. Heero didn’t seem to be too fond of anyone, but he didn’t seem to mind him for some reason. Trowa wondered why that was.

“Well, Trowa, it sounds as though your weekend is tied up already,” Father Maxwell commented. Trowa nodded. There was the whole date thing to take care of obviously, but then there was also Sunday mass. Duo sang in the choir and sometimes was allowed to give readings while Trowa usually played the piano. He preferred it that way; he was kept at the back where no one could see him.

“Duo, do you have anything planned for this Saturday?” Father Maxwell added and the boy nodded vigorously.

“Quatre is going to show me around town,” he said. “We might go see a movie too, I’m not sure yet.”

Trowa frowned at the innocent expression on the other boy’s face. He had a sneaking suspicion that Duo was planning on following him on Saturday in order to spy. Trowa shuddered inwardly. It would be bad enough having to entertain Dorothy, but with Duo stalking him as well in order to find out what was going on…now that would be too much.

He had to give this date some though. Well, enough thought as to figure out somewhere to go that Duo would never come near. A library? Trowa bit his lip. He wasn’t exactly an expert on dating, but even he knew that going to the library wouldn’t be much of a good idea.

A fancy show maybe? The opera? That was also a possibility. Duo hated things like that; he despised sitting still for longer than five minutes and claimed that the opera singers gave him a headache with all their shrieking. So, a play or the opera would probably be a good bet, but then he would have to find a way to entertain Dorothy during the day and the tickets would probably clean him out for the rest of the month.

Trowa glanced over at Sister Helen who was smiling indulgently at one of Duo’s anecdotes. Maybe he could ask her for advice. She was a girl after all, she might be able to give him some pointers on what to do. He was still slightly angry that he had to do this in the first place. If only he’d been paying more attention, he wouldn’t have lost the match. If only he’d been more like Duo then he could have talked his way out of it and still managed to be charming.

It was all Relena’s fault! Trowa’s eyes narrowed at the memory. He’d been busy concentrating on keeping Dorothy from maiming him for life and then she came sailing in yelling for Heero. It was then that Dorothy had knocked away his rapier and announced her win. Trowa had graciously acknowledged his defeat while fuming inwardly. Mainly it was over losing the duel and having to go out with Dorothy, but he had also been upset over another reason.

He hadn’t been aware of it at the time, but Heero had slipped into the gym during his match with Dorothy and Trowa was embarrassed to think that Heero had witnessed that pathetic fight.

Trowa also remembered seeing Relena clinging tightly to Heero’s arm. Heero’s expression had been a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance, but Relena looked overjoyed. It was then that Trowa had felt a twinge of something that he couldn’t quite recognise. It had taken him some time to realise that it had been jealousy.

It confused him to no end. Why would he be jealous? And of who? Jealous of Heero for having such a pretty and popular girl draped over him like that?

Or was he jealous of Relena for being so close to Heero?

Trowa shook his head and pushed that thought firmly from his mind. He didn’t even want to think about that. It was true that Heero intrigued him, but there was nothing more to it.

‘Heero is none of your concern. Dorothy is,’ he reminded himself forcefully, but still, he didn’t seem to be drawn to Dorothy like he was to Heero and he wasn’t sure if he ever would.