Ami's face contorted into a mask of anger as her foot slammed down on the gas pedal, making her small blue convertible go even faster. Her hands gripped the steering wheel. She was so mad she could rip the steering wheel out of the car and throw it out the window. Needless to say, 19-year old Ami Mizuno was pissed off.
How dare he tie with me? ME! Ami Mizuno, the smartest student in school? Being the top of the class has been the only thing that was exclusively mine and mine alone. It is my defining characteristic, my privilege, and my right. Oh, he will pay. That...that...blue-haired punk! Ami thought as she drove home. There was one and only person she could be thinking about: Rowen Hashiba.
The incredibly smart, snobbish, 19-year old...asshole who's now tied for top of the class with me. The blue-haired punk with the outlandish attitude and...the most gorgeous blue eyes on the face of the planet...no, Ami, bad Ami. Rowen is bad. He is the enemy.
"If I could, I'd freeze him using my Aqua Rhapsody," Ami said, a small evil smile appearing on her face at the thought of her freezing Rowen using her Scout powers. She shook her head to clear out that fantasy, as much as she wanted to go through with it.
No, I can't do that. That would be abusing my powers. I wouldn't mind doing it though, Ami thought with an evil laugh. Ami slowed the car down as she neared her house. She pulled into the driveway and rushed out of the car, grabbing her purse and slamming her car door shut. She wished she'd never even left the house that night.
At Serena's insistence, Ami had gone back to Tokyo University to find out where she stood in the class. Obviously, Rowen had the same plan and both were unpleasantly surprised to find the other one at the dean's office.
Both of them were favorites with the dean and for 6 months, the two college freshmen had been competing intellectually, trying to best each other. Well, as it turned out, neither had won, despite the countless extra credit assignments they had done for all of their classes, which they both had the same schedule.
Fishing through her purse for her keys, she pulled them out and unlocked the door. Waiting for her behind the door were all of her fellow Sailor Scouts: Serena, Raye, Lita, Mina, Alex, Michelle, and Celia, all waiting to congratulate her on being the top of the class. Serena rushed forward and gave Ami a hug.
"Congratulations Ami on being top of the class!" Serena said. Ami pushed Serena away, still very pissed off at that moment.
"Actually, I only tied for top of the class." Ami had never seen so many astonished faces in one place.
"What do you mean tied?" Mina asked.
"I mean I tied. I didn't get it. Someone else has the same GPA and percentage as I do."
"Who? Who is it? I'll crush his bones into flour," Lita said.
"Yeah, I'll help," Alex said. They had asked who he was and Ami was going to tell them.
Through gritted teeth, Ami said, "His name is Rowen Hashiba. He's in all of my classes and he is the most annoying, arrogant, egotistical, brown-nosing, snobbish...blue-haired punk who deserves to burn in the fiery pits of hell!" Raye and Serena gave each other a look. Out of the whole group, they had known Ami the longest.
"Blue-haired?" Raye and Serena chimed. Everyone knew that Ami never got this outraged unless something had really got to her and guys never got to her unless she really, really liked them. Serena crossed her arms in front of her chest and, while feeling sorry for her friend, couldn't keep in the words that came out of her mouth.
"I think our Ami's in love," Serena said in a taunting tone of voice. At that remark, Ami dropped her purse on the ground and looked Serena in the eye.
"I am not and will never be in love with that jerk. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some studying to do." Ami pushed past Serena and Raye and stormed upstairs. The last thing the Scouts heard from Ami was the slamming of her door being shut. Mina only shook her head.
"Yep," Mina said, "She's definitely gone for this guy."
***
"That bitch!" Rowen yelled, slamming his fists down on the dining room table. Surrounding him were all of his friends: Ryo, Sage, Kento, Cye, and Mia. Rowen had gone to find out where he stood in his class only to learn that he had tied with Ami Mizuno, his now sworn enemy. Sure, when he first met her, he thought she was cute, but now, it was all different. Now, they were bitter enemies.
Rowen had come home extremely pissed off. He was just about ready to go into one of his moods and sulk all night when Cye, being the sensitive person that he is, picked up that something was bothering him.
He pulled Rowen into the dining room and sat him down, where everyone else was getting ready for dinner. He asked Rowen what was wrong and everyone else settled down to listen. Rowen, who couldn't keep it in any more, exploded, yelling about Ami.
"Who's a bitch?" Sage asked.
"Ami, that prissy slut who thinks she's so great. She thinks that she can just waltz in here and automatically be top of the class. Well, she has another thing coming." Mia looked very thoughtful.
"Ami Mizuno?" she asked Rowen.
"Yeah, how did you know?" Rowen asked bitterly.
"Well, when we moved to Tokyo 7 months ago, I was looking for a doctor and I got her mother. Her mother is my doctor. She talks about Ami all the time. From what I understand, Ami has lived in Tokyo her whole life and didn't have many friends until she reached 8th grade. She has been the top of her class since the 4th grade. So, she's probably as mad about this as you are. You too are used to being the top of the class," Mia said with a smirk on her face.
"Well, so what if she never had any friends or she's been top of the class since the 4th grade," Rowen said, "She's still not going to win this time."
"Well, among her friends are Alexandra Ten'ou, the famous race car driver and the expert pianist who plays with Michelle Kaiou, the expert violinist and famous artist, also one of Ami's friends, and Celia Meiou, the famous fashion designer," Mia said. All the guys were astounded. This girl knew three of the most famous people ever?
Rowen was not amused.
"Well, so what if she had friends who are world famous. That doesn't change anything."
"Well, Rowen, from what I hear, Ami is not the type of person you need to be messing with. I've met her and all of her friends when they stopped by the hospital to visit Ami's mother. They're a team, I know it. The way they hold themselves is almost scary it's so together. And she has this one friend, Lita Kino, who looks like she could hit you into the next century," Mia continued. Rowen only growled.
So she's perfect. Has the perfect future, has the perfect friends. I'll show her. I'll show that stubborn, arrogant bitch...who is positively the most beautiful girl I've ever met...no, bad Rowen, bad. Stop thinking about her like that. She's not who you need to be falling in love with right now. Right now, you need to be studying so you can beat her at her own game. I'll show her that you can't always be first in everything.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Rowen said, "I'm going upstairs, I need to study." With that, Rowen stormed out of the room and made a beeline for his bedroom, slamming his door shut. The sound resonated throughout the house and the other Ronin Warriors cringed as they heard the slam.
"Wow, Rowen must really be in love with her," Cye said.
"What do you mean? He hates her!" Kento said.
"Kento, if Rowen didn't like her so much, he wouldn't make it into such a big deal, now would he?"
"I don't suppose so," Kento said. Cye only smiled.
"Yeah, he's definitely head over heels for her," Cye said, thinking about his friend's reaction to something as simple as grades.
***
A few days later, Ami was sitting in a café, sipping a cup of tea.
Oh, I've studied so hard in the last three days that my brain hurts. But, if I end up beating Rowen, it's all worth it. Let's just hope I don't kill my brain in the process. She noticed that the area she was sitting in was starting to get a little crowded.
Not wanting to deal with the noise of people, she picked up her cup of tea and her purse, stood, and began to walk to a less crowded part of the café. She was searching for a table to sit at when she felt something ram into her. In her shock, her cup of tea slipped from her fingers and ended up on the floor, tea pooling on the ground, mixing with what looked like coffee.
"Oh my god, please, let me help you. I'm so sorry," a male voice said. Ami turned to look and saw a boy about her age with auburn colored hair. Ami grabbed a large pile of napkins and knelt down on the ground, beginning to wipe up the mess. The boy did the same and together, they managed to wipe up the coffee and tea. They both stood up right and looked at each other.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," he said in one of the most beautiful English accents she had ever heard.
"It's alright," Ami said.
"No, let me make it up to you. Let me buy you another cup of tea. Please? I'll feel really bad if you don't let me." Ami looked at the sincere look on his face.
"Ok," she said, "You can buy me another cup of tea."
"Great, wait here while I get your tea and two more cups of coffee."
"No, I'll go help you. I don't think that you can carry three cups at the same time," Ami said. The boy smiled at her.
"Thanks," he said. They walked over to the counter, where Ami bought her tea and the boy bought two cups of coffee.
"Would you like to join me and my friend?" Ami looked at him again and decided that it couldn't hurt to make more friends.
"Yeah, I'd like that." Ami followed him to a table in the back of the café where she saw a boy with blond hair sitting, waiting impatiently.
"I was wondering when you were going to get back, Cye. What took you so long?" He wasn't annoyed, just curious.
"Sorry Sage. I ran into this girl and ended up spilling coffee everywhere. I had to pay for more."
Cye turned to Ami as they sat down and said, "This is my friend Sage Date and my name is Cye Mouri."
Ami smiled at him and said, "Well, it's nice to meet you both. My name is Ami Mizuno." Sage, who was taking a sip of his coffee, nearly choked when she said her name. He started to cough as the coffee went down too fast and Cye, who had the same surprised expression, pat Sage on the back.
"Hey Sage, you ok?"
"Yeah, just went down to fast." Turning to Ami, Sage said, "So, you're Ami Mizuno. I hear you're Tokyo's resident genius." Ami turned several shades of red.
"No, really, I'm not that smart." Sage's eyebrows shot up with surprise.
Rowen was wrong, Sage thought; She doesn't think she's that great at all. In fact, I think she thinks the opposite. But, Ami stilled smiled all the same.
"Thanks for the compliment though." Cye couldn't believe what he was seeing.
So, this is the girl that has Rowen going crazy, huh? Well, they look like they belong together. I mean, come on. The blue hair is the first giveaway. She's also really nice. Rowen has it all wrong.
"So, you go to Tokyo University, right?" Cye asked.
"Yeah, how did you know?" Ami asked.
"I've seen you around campus before," Cye said.
"Oh, so you go there too," Ami said.
"Yeah, we both do," Sage said.
"Well, that's too bad that I haven't seen you around campus before. Maybe I should lift my head out of my books every now and then to look around. Maybe I'll catch one of you next time I'm on campus," Ami said with a smile.
"Ami, what are you doing here?" Ami looked away from Cye and Sage to see Alex and Michelle approaching you.
"Oh, hi Alex. Hi Michelle. I was just here, drinking some tea, when I ran into two people I go to school with. I'd like you to meet Sage and Cye."
"It's nice to meet you," Michelle said, bowing her head, "I'm Michelle and this is Alex."
"Michelle?" Cye asked, "You mean like Michelle Kaiou?" Michelle nodded. "I have one of your paintings in my bedroom. I must say that you do fantastic work," Cye said, continuing.
"Why, thank you," Michelle said.
"If you think her paintings are good," Ami said, "Then you have to hear the two of them play together sometime when they next perform. They are really good." Alex blushed an unusual shade of red.
"Aw, come on Ami, stop embarrassing us." Michelle only laughed at Alex's red expression and kissed her cheek.
"Alex, honey, you need to learn to not quite be so embarrassed when you're complimented." Ami was used to the displays of affection between Michelle and Alex, but it turns out the guys didn't know.
"You mean...you two are..." Cye said, spluttering. Michelle caught on quick and saved Cye from further embarrassment.
"Yes, the two of us are involved, if that's what you're wondering. Just don't go telling anyone, ok?" Michelle said with a wink.
"Oh, we promise, we won't. Right Sage?" Cye asked his friend.
"Of course. We won't." Ami took a sip of her tea after smiling and then looked down at her watch.
"Well, I hate to be the killjoy, but I have to go meet two of my friends," she told Cye and Sage.
"Who?" Alex asked.
"I'm meeting Raye and Mina. I'm supposed to tutor them in world history." Rising, she picked up her purse and looked down at Cye and Sage. "Well, it was nice meeting you," Ami said before rushing off. Alex only sighed and shook her head.
"What's wrong?" Sage asked the famous racecar driver.
"Ami. She's just too giving."
"And that's a bad thing?" Cye said.
"It is when she doesn't have anything to call her own. With her smarts, she keeps giving those to other people by trying to help them. What she needs is something that she can call her own. She used to have that when she was top of the class, but that was taken away from her. It hit her really hard."
"Why?" Sage asked, wanting to know more about Ami.
"Well," Michelle said, "Ami's father left her and her mother when she was a little girl and her own mother was always too busy to spend time with her daughter. Her intelligence was all she had for many years until she met Serena, who's now one of her best friends. But, still, Ami feels at times that the only thing she can do is study."
"What she needs is someone in her life who can show her how to live. She needs someone to love her," Alex said. Cye raised an eyebrow and smiled. He knew just the person.
***
Later that day, Cye and Sage were walking into the house, still talking about Ami.
"I don't see what his problem is. She's a really nice girl," Cye said.
"Who's a really nice girl?" Rowen asked, walking out of the kitchen with a glass of water.
Not able to keep his mouth shut, Sage blurted out, "Ami." Rowen's face froze. Were they crazy?
"Are you crazy?" he asked them, "She is not nice. She's a brat."
"Rowen, you don't even know her," Cye said, thinking about what Alex and Michelle had told them about Ami's past. He was getting a little annoyed with Rowen's closed-minded, bratty attitude.
"You're right and I don't want to know her. I'll only find out how much of a bitch she is. Excuse me," Rowen said, going back upstairs and closing his door. Cye and Sage exchanged looks.
"We really need to hook those two up," Sage said.
"Agreed," Cye said.
How dare he tie with me? ME! Ami Mizuno, the smartest student in school? Being the top of the class has been the only thing that was exclusively mine and mine alone. It is my defining characteristic, my privilege, and my right. Oh, he will pay. That...that...blue-haired punk! Ami thought as she drove home. There was one and only person she could be thinking about: Rowen Hashiba.
The incredibly smart, snobbish, 19-year old...asshole who's now tied for top of the class with me. The blue-haired punk with the outlandish attitude and...the most gorgeous blue eyes on the face of the planet...no, Ami, bad Ami. Rowen is bad. He is the enemy.
"If I could, I'd freeze him using my Aqua Rhapsody," Ami said, a small evil smile appearing on her face at the thought of her freezing Rowen using her Scout powers. She shook her head to clear out that fantasy, as much as she wanted to go through with it.
No, I can't do that. That would be abusing my powers. I wouldn't mind doing it though, Ami thought with an evil laugh. Ami slowed the car down as she neared her house. She pulled into the driveway and rushed out of the car, grabbing her purse and slamming her car door shut. She wished she'd never even left the house that night.
At Serena's insistence, Ami had gone back to Tokyo University to find out where she stood in the class. Obviously, Rowen had the same plan and both were unpleasantly surprised to find the other one at the dean's office.
Both of them were favorites with the dean and for 6 months, the two college freshmen had been competing intellectually, trying to best each other. Well, as it turned out, neither had won, despite the countless extra credit assignments they had done for all of their classes, which they both had the same schedule.
Fishing through her purse for her keys, she pulled them out and unlocked the door. Waiting for her behind the door were all of her fellow Sailor Scouts: Serena, Raye, Lita, Mina, Alex, Michelle, and Celia, all waiting to congratulate her on being the top of the class. Serena rushed forward and gave Ami a hug.
"Congratulations Ami on being top of the class!" Serena said. Ami pushed Serena away, still very pissed off at that moment.
"Actually, I only tied for top of the class." Ami had never seen so many astonished faces in one place.
"What do you mean tied?" Mina asked.
"I mean I tied. I didn't get it. Someone else has the same GPA and percentage as I do."
"Who? Who is it? I'll crush his bones into flour," Lita said.
"Yeah, I'll help," Alex said. They had asked who he was and Ami was going to tell them.
Through gritted teeth, Ami said, "His name is Rowen Hashiba. He's in all of my classes and he is the most annoying, arrogant, egotistical, brown-nosing, snobbish...blue-haired punk who deserves to burn in the fiery pits of hell!" Raye and Serena gave each other a look. Out of the whole group, they had known Ami the longest.
"Blue-haired?" Raye and Serena chimed. Everyone knew that Ami never got this outraged unless something had really got to her and guys never got to her unless she really, really liked them. Serena crossed her arms in front of her chest and, while feeling sorry for her friend, couldn't keep in the words that came out of her mouth.
"I think our Ami's in love," Serena said in a taunting tone of voice. At that remark, Ami dropped her purse on the ground and looked Serena in the eye.
"I am not and will never be in love with that jerk. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some studying to do." Ami pushed past Serena and Raye and stormed upstairs. The last thing the Scouts heard from Ami was the slamming of her door being shut. Mina only shook her head.
"Yep," Mina said, "She's definitely gone for this guy."
***
"That bitch!" Rowen yelled, slamming his fists down on the dining room table. Surrounding him were all of his friends: Ryo, Sage, Kento, Cye, and Mia. Rowen had gone to find out where he stood in his class only to learn that he had tied with Ami Mizuno, his now sworn enemy. Sure, when he first met her, he thought she was cute, but now, it was all different. Now, they were bitter enemies.
Rowen had come home extremely pissed off. He was just about ready to go into one of his moods and sulk all night when Cye, being the sensitive person that he is, picked up that something was bothering him.
He pulled Rowen into the dining room and sat him down, where everyone else was getting ready for dinner. He asked Rowen what was wrong and everyone else settled down to listen. Rowen, who couldn't keep it in any more, exploded, yelling about Ami.
"Who's a bitch?" Sage asked.
"Ami, that prissy slut who thinks she's so great. She thinks that she can just waltz in here and automatically be top of the class. Well, she has another thing coming." Mia looked very thoughtful.
"Ami Mizuno?" she asked Rowen.
"Yeah, how did you know?" Rowen asked bitterly.
"Well, when we moved to Tokyo 7 months ago, I was looking for a doctor and I got her mother. Her mother is my doctor. She talks about Ami all the time. From what I understand, Ami has lived in Tokyo her whole life and didn't have many friends until she reached 8th grade. She has been the top of her class since the 4th grade. So, she's probably as mad about this as you are. You too are used to being the top of the class," Mia said with a smirk on her face.
"Well, so what if she never had any friends or she's been top of the class since the 4th grade," Rowen said, "She's still not going to win this time."
"Well, among her friends are Alexandra Ten'ou, the famous race car driver and the expert pianist who plays with Michelle Kaiou, the expert violinist and famous artist, also one of Ami's friends, and Celia Meiou, the famous fashion designer," Mia said. All the guys were astounded. This girl knew three of the most famous people ever?
Rowen was not amused.
"Well, so what if she had friends who are world famous. That doesn't change anything."
"Well, Rowen, from what I hear, Ami is not the type of person you need to be messing with. I've met her and all of her friends when they stopped by the hospital to visit Ami's mother. They're a team, I know it. The way they hold themselves is almost scary it's so together. And she has this one friend, Lita Kino, who looks like she could hit you into the next century," Mia continued. Rowen only growled.
So she's perfect. Has the perfect future, has the perfect friends. I'll show her. I'll show that stubborn, arrogant bitch...who is positively the most beautiful girl I've ever met...no, bad Rowen, bad. Stop thinking about her like that. She's not who you need to be falling in love with right now. Right now, you need to be studying so you can beat her at her own game. I'll show her that you can't always be first in everything.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Rowen said, "I'm going upstairs, I need to study." With that, Rowen stormed out of the room and made a beeline for his bedroom, slamming his door shut. The sound resonated throughout the house and the other Ronin Warriors cringed as they heard the slam.
"Wow, Rowen must really be in love with her," Cye said.
"What do you mean? He hates her!" Kento said.
"Kento, if Rowen didn't like her so much, he wouldn't make it into such a big deal, now would he?"
"I don't suppose so," Kento said. Cye only smiled.
"Yeah, he's definitely head over heels for her," Cye said, thinking about his friend's reaction to something as simple as grades.
***
A few days later, Ami was sitting in a café, sipping a cup of tea.
Oh, I've studied so hard in the last three days that my brain hurts. But, if I end up beating Rowen, it's all worth it. Let's just hope I don't kill my brain in the process. She noticed that the area she was sitting in was starting to get a little crowded.
Not wanting to deal with the noise of people, she picked up her cup of tea and her purse, stood, and began to walk to a less crowded part of the café. She was searching for a table to sit at when she felt something ram into her. In her shock, her cup of tea slipped from her fingers and ended up on the floor, tea pooling on the ground, mixing with what looked like coffee.
"Oh my god, please, let me help you. I'm so sorry," a male voice said. Ami turned to look and saw a boy about her age with auburn colored hair. Ami grabbed a large pile of napkins and knelt down on the ground, beginning to wipe up the mess. The boy did the same and together, they managed to wipe up the coffee and tea. They both stood up right and looked at each other.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," he said in one of the most beautiful English accents she had ever heard.
"It's alright," Ami said.
"No, let me make it up to you. Let me buy you another cup of tea. Please? I'll feel really bad if you don't let me." Ami looked at the sincere look on his face.
"Ok," she said, "You can buy me another cup of tea."
"Great, wait here while I get your tea and two more cups of coffee."
"No, I'll go help you. I don't think that you can carry three cups at the same time," Ami said. The boy smiled at her.
"Thanks," he said. They walked over to the counter, where Ami bought her tea and the boy bought two cups of coffee.
"Would you like to join me and my friend?" Ami looked at him again and decided that it couldn't hurt to make more friends.
"Yeah, I'd like that." Ami followed him to a table in the back of the café where she saw a boy with blond hair sitting, waiting impatiently.
"I was wondering when you were going to get back, Cye. What took you so long?" He wasn't annoyed, just curious.
"Sorry Sage. I ran into this girl and ended up spilling coffee everywhere. I had to pay for more."
Cye turned to Ami as they sat down and said, "This is my friend Sage Date and my name is Cye Mouri."
Ami smiled at him and said, "Well, it's nice to meet you both. My name is Ami Mizuno." Sage, who was taking a sip of his coffee, nearly choked when she said her name. He started to cough as the coffee went down too fast and Cye, who had the same surprised expression, pat Sage on the back.
"Hey Sage, you ok?"
"Yeah, just went down to fast." Turning to Ami, Sage said, "So, you're Ami Mizuno. I hear you're Tokyo's resident genius." Ami turned several shades of red.
"No, really, I'm not that smart." Sage's eyebrows shot up with surprise.
Rowen was wrong, Sage thought; She doesn't think she's that great at all. In fact, I think she thinks the opposite. But, Ami stilled smiled all the same.
"Thanks for the compliment though." Cye couldn't believe what he was seeing.
So, this is the girl that has Rowen going crazy, huh? Well, they look like they belong together. I mean, come on. The blue hair is the first giveaway. She's also really nice. Rowen has it all wrong.
"So, you go to Tokyo University, right?" Cye asked.
"Yeah, how did you know?" Ami asked.
"I've seen you around campus before," Cye said.
"Oh, so you go there too," Ami said.
"Yeah, we both do," Sage said.
"Well, that's too bad that I haven't seen you around campus before. Maybe I should lift my head out of my books every now and then to look around. Maybe I'll catch one of you next time I'm on campus," Ami said with a smile.
"Ami, what are you doing here?" Ami looked away from Cye and Sage to see Alex and Michelle approaching you.
"Oh, hi Alex. Hi Michelle. I was just here, drinking some tea, when I ran into two people I go to school with. I'd like you to meet Sage and Cye."
"It's nice to meet you," Michelle said, bowing her head, "I'm Michelle and this is Alex."
"Michelle?" Cye asked, "You mean like Michelle Kaiou?" Michelle nodded. "I have one of your paintings in my bedroom. I must say that you do fantastic work," Cye said, continuing.
"Why, thank you," Michelle said.
"If you think her paintings are good," Ami said, "Then you have to hear the two of them play together sometime when they next perform. They are really good." Alex blushed an unusual shade of red.
"Aw, come on Ami, stop embarrassing us." Michelle only laughed at Alex's red expression and kissed her cheek.
"Alex, honey, you need to learn to not quite be so embarrassed when you're complimented." Ami was used to the displays of affection between Michelle and Alex, but it turns out the guys didn't know.
"You mean...you two are..." Cye said, spluttering. Michelle caught on quick and saved Cye from further embarrassment.
"Yes, the two of us are involved, if that's what you're wondering. Just don't go telling anyone, ok?" Michelle said with a wink.
"Oh, we promise, we won't. Right Sage?" Cye asked his friend.
"Of course. We won't." Ami took a sip of her tea after smiling and then looked down at her watch.
"Well, I hate to be the killjoy, but I have to go meet two of my friends," she told Cye and Sage.
"Who?" Alex asked.
"I'm meeting Raye and Mina. I'm supposed to tutor them in world history." Rising, she picked up her purse and looked down at Cye and Sage. "Well, it was nice meeting you," Ami said before rushing off. Alex only sighed and shook her head.
"What's wrong?" Sage asked the famous racecar driver.
"Ami. She's just too giving."
"And that's a bad thing?" Cye said.
"It is when she doesn't have anything to call her own. With her smarts, she keeps giving those to other people by trying to help them. What she needs is something that she can call her own. She used to have that when she was top of the class, but that was taken away from her. It hit her really hard."
"Why?" Sage asked, wanting to know more about Ami.
"Well," Michelle said, "Ami's father left her and her mother when she was a little girl and her own mother was always too busy to spend time with her daughter. Her intelligence was all she had for many years until she met Serena, who's now one of her best friends. But, still, Ami feels at times that the only thing she can do is study."
"What she needs is someone in her life who can show her how to live. She needs someone to love her," Alex said. Cye raised an eyebrow and smiled. He knew just the person.
***
Later that day, Cye and Sage were walking into the house, still talking about Ami.
"I don't see what his problem is. She's a really nice girl," Cye said.
"Who's a really nice girl?" Rowen asked, walking out of the kitchen with a glass of water.
Not able to keep his mouth shut, Sage blurted out, "Ami." Rowen's face froze. Were they crazy?
"Are you crazy?" he asked them, "She is not nice. She's a brat."
"Rowen, you don't even know her," Cye said, thinking about what Alex and Michelle had told them about Ami's past. He was getting a little annoyed with Rowen's closed-minded, bratty attitude.
"You're right and I don't want to know her. I'll only find out how much of a bitch she is. Excuse me," Rowen said, going back upstairs and closing his door. Cye and Sage exchanged looks.
"We really need to hook those two up," Sage said.
"Agreed," Cye said.