Right after the game, the small but powerful team went to Ralphie's house for a sleepover. DA's mom drove them there.

DA had remained quiet during the car ride. She had been quite shaken up when Dawnter had grabbed and kissed her forcefully. What a terrible experience! She had never felt worse. She could still taste the popcorn from his nasty tongue. Usually if a guy did that to her, she would have beaten him down. But Dawnter was way too strong. Lucky for her, Carlos had come to the rescue. She owed him, he was such a good friend, was stronger than he looked, and had a heartbreaker smile.

DA's cheeks warmed up slightly

Ralphie on the other hand remained silent as well. He had no absolute clue of what Dawnter had done to his cousin. But by the look of Carlos' arm, it probably wasn't good. He looked over to DA. Her hair was down and gracefully flowed down to her shoulders. He smiled at her. He sure had a pretty cousin. Then Ralphie looked over at Carlos. Carlos had had a small hint of a smile on his face. His tan cheeks were slightly pink. He seemed to be thinking about something. Ralphie wondered what he was thinking about. His injured arm lay in his lap comfortably. His raven black hair swayed slightly.

Boy! with all of those features, he could win cute girls. Especially DA. He had always noticed that Carlos and DA had always got along well. And at times, Carlos had gotten nervous around her too. Well... Ralphie knew that his best friend had a crush on his cousin for quite some time. He couldn't wait to have a discussion with Carlos at his house.

They pulled up in Ralphie's driveway. His house was huge, but not as huge as DA and Carlos'. But it was really big.

"Alright see you guys later! Great job as the soccer game! DA, I will pick you up at 10:00 A.M. tomorrow." said .

" Thanks !" said Ralphie and Carlos in unison.

"Bye mom!" said DA.

She turned her head towards Ralphie and Carlos, and smiled her mischievous smile.

"Race you to the front door!" she said

They all raced happily with laughter and smiles.

At Ralphie's house, there was currently 150 guests. Ralphie and DA's houses were similar. They were usually filled with a lot of people. Both of their families were known for their hospitality.

Time flew by and soon it was nighttime.

"Hey guys! I'm going downstairs to watch the final episode of Chemists in a Whiz." DA said. She had taken a shower, and now smelled like daisies. As soon as she left, Ralphie immediately started talking to Carlos about his love life. Carlos told him the whole story.

" wow! You were a man of steel out there!" Ralphie said with a smirk.

"yea...i guess. But Ralphie...I don't know how to express my feelings to her."

"All ya gotta do is say your feelings to her"

"its not as easy as you think"

"sure it is!"

"says the boy who hasn't expressed his feelings to Keesha"

Ralphie blushed a deep red.

"..well i..uh...well...um you can be a good example for me"

"whatever" Carlos said with a yawn

DA walked in and stretched.

"I'm exhausted. Let's go to bed, its like 1:30."

"yea lets go to bed." Ralphie said

Mrs. Tenelli walked in.

"Ralphie, there is not enough beds to go around. The house is packed. So two of you will have to share a bed."

The three teens looked at each other.

"One thing's for sure I am not sleeping with Carlos. He practically pushes me to the ground." Ralphie said with a scowl.

"I'll sleep with DA, as we always do when she comes over. Carlos you can sleep on the top bunk." Ralphie said.

"Fine! I don't want to sleep with a person with way too much baby fat." Carlos said with a smirk.

"Hey!"

"According to my research Carlos, that is muscle not baby fat."

"whatever"

"Alright kids thats enough. Lights out."

Ralphie crawled in the bottom bunk, and shifted to the end so DA could come in.

DA crawled in. She shivered, and crawled closer to Ralphie. She always thought of him as a big brother, and felt comfortable to sleep with him. Ralphie in return nestled against her, he protectively put his arm around her. He rested his head upon hers, and inhaled the sweet smell of daisies. She moved even closer to him and lay her head on his warm chest. Whenever the two cousins sleeped at each other's house, they couldn't sleep by themselves. Even if there was two beds available, they preferred sleeping with each other. They felt more warm and safe in each other's arms.

"DA?"

"yea?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Carlos told me about Dawnter." Ralphie felt DA's body tremble against his.

"...it was terrible Ralphie."

"Gee I didn't know it was that bad."

DA's body vibrated and shivered with fear against Ralphie's sturdy and muscular one.

"DA? You ok?"

"Yea. I'm fine"

"You're shivering." He pulled the comforter around his cousin, and put his warm arms around her pulling her closer to his warm body

"I doubt that Dawnter will ever hurt you again."

"why do you think so?" DA said. Her glittery blue eyes stared into Ralphie's sea green eyes.

"Because I will stay with you. DA-" He stopped for a moment only to stare intently into his beautiful cousin's gorgeous eyes.

" What?" she asked softly.

"I will always take care of you. I won't let Dawnter or any guy harm you the way that coward did." Ralphie pulled DA's quivering body towards his with his arm

"Thanks Ralphie...Your the best cousin ever...I love you." she said whispered softly with a smile.

" I love you too DA"

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight"

The two cousins slept peacefully in each other's arms. They absorbed each other's body heat. They knew that they would always protect each other and look after each other.