Chapter 1

Liz and Patti looked up to see Maka storm into the otherwise empty store, "Screw Prince Charming, I'll take the damn frog!" she yelled. Liz smiled at the only customer in the store as she made her way to her angry friend and pulled her into the back of the store, "Maka, what's wrong?" she asked her in concern Maka looked at her murder clear in her eyes, Liz had never seen her like this before " THAT STUPID, SELF CENTERED, ASSHOLE I CALLED A BOYFRIEND IS A FUCKING CHEATER!" she screamed her face turning red as she huffed at the end, Liz shook her head trying to get her hearing back, "What do you mean?" she asked furrowing her eyebrows " I wanted to go surprise Alex for lunch, so I went to his office and I walked in on him and his secretary having sex on his desk!" Maka exclaimed "WHAT THE HELL?!" Liz yelled "Yea" Maka replied looking at the floor willing the tears not to come pouring out. "What did you do? I hope you beat both their asses!" Liz looked at her friend feeling her body heat up in anger, this wasn't fair! Maka didn't deserve this! she watched as her co-worker shook her head "No, I did the first thing I could think of I walked back out before they could see me and told the secretary that he had requested an emergency meeting in his office, you should have seen his reaction and how he scrambled about trying to pull up his pants!" Maka burst out laughing at the memory, Liz laughed until her eyes watered and held her sides " Wow Maka! Your still as crazy as ever!" she put her arms around her friend and squeezed her "Come on, don't let that dumb-ass bring you down" Maka smiled "Yea your right, fuck him" they walked back out into the front of the store.

Maka headed to the closet with the cleaning supplies and took out the broom and dust pan. She set to sweeping the aisles, headphones in her ears, she was so lost in her own little world she bumped into someone's back, startled she looked up to see a tall, lightly tanned man maybe a year or two older than her, their eyes connected and she stared in wonder at the deep ruby red color of his eyes. Maka took out a headphone and blushing bright red stuttered out an apology, the guy smirked in amusement "It's ok" he said in a husky voice " No harm no foul" Maka nodded and smiled, her eyes straying back to his eyes, they were interesting it was the first time she had ever seen eyes that color "It's not polite to stare!" Patti came up beside Maka and whispered into her ear she snapped her head in Patti's direction and glared at her " I was NOT staring!" she hissed defensively causing Patti to scramble away laughing, the guy chucked and bent down to whisper in her ear "Yes you were" which caused her to blush a deeper shade of red before she glared at him as well and turned on her heel with a hpmh! and walked away. Idiot! she mentally slapped herself.

Soul watched as she walked away his eyes raking her up and down without permission Not Bad he thought to himself. He shook his head and smirked turning back to the shelf in front of him Now what would Ivoney (eye-ve-nee) like? he asked himself his niece's birthday was coming up and he didn't know what to give his 5 year old niece he was torn between a 50 piece tea set and a Princess castle, maybe he should just buy both? Oh well he thought picking both toys up and walking to the front of the cash register. The same girl that had bumped him earlier sat at the cash register looking off into the distance She sure likes to day dream, he cleared his throat to grab her attention she turned in his direction and he pointed to the toys "I'd like to purchase these please" he said handing her his credit card, she smiled " Of course" she replied in a soft voice she scanned the items and swiped his card, she handed it back to him and waited for the receipt to print. The door chimed behind him and she heard the girl curse under her breath scowling at the new comers, he looked behind him and saw 3 girls blocking the door one had purple hair, a tight black dress and a tattoo of a cat paw print on her right shoulder, another had black hair reaching the middle of her back, a spider necklace around her neck and a tattoo of a black widow on her left shoulder, the last girl had blond hair the front twisted in a braid under her chin, a snake tattoo on her wrist like a bracelet. He looked back at the girl and she was standing defensively arms crossed over her chest the tension was palpable in the air " Well, well, well, if it ain't the one and only Maka Albarn" sneered one of the girls, Maka, Soul presumed, looked ready to spit " What do you want?" she hissed venom dripping from her words. " This kitty has claws" laughed another one Maka's hands fell to her sides and clenched. She must clearly not like them Soul thought looking between Maka and the 3 girls "We just came to see how our favorite geek was doing" said the one with the snake tattoo in a sweet voice, the girl behind the counter snorted "Yea right" she rolled her eyes and glared at them "You need to leave, I'm working if it's a fight you want it can wait" Soul's eyebrow raised at this, this was clearly more than just unfriendly banter, he watched as the purple haired girl laughed " You know us too well" smirking she turned to the display next to her and kicked it over, before Soul could react Maka leaped over the counter and knocked the purple haired girl to the floor smacking her head into the floor, the other two girls shrieked and ran out. Soul stood stunned for a moment as she watched the petite blonde punch the other girl in the face and slam her head again and again on the floor, the other two girls came dashing out of the back "MAKA! Let her go!" the tall one yelled; Soul snapped out it and ran over to Maka he grabbed her by the waist and hefted her up as the other two girls tried to pull the purple haired girl out of her grasp, Maka squirmed and wriggled in his arms "Let me go!" she hissed "I'ma kill that bitch!" Soul put her over his shoulder but she kept wiggling around " I said let me go!" "Take her into the back please" Liz said " Get the hell out of here Blair!" she pushed the beaten girl out the door.

Maka wriggled and beat the back of the guy's back "Put me down" she growled " I wasn't done with that obnoxious, stuck up whore!" she heard him chuckle at her words and that only increased her rage. After she saw how futile it was to keep trying to squirm out of his grasp she slumped in defeat as she let him take her to the back where he dumped her unceremoniously on a chair. Maka looked at the floor grumbling under her breath, good thing Sid, the manager, hadn't been there or he would have given her the speech of a life time. She looked up to see the red eyed customer looking at her curiously "What?!" She snapped at him he put his hands up in defense "Nothing, Nothing" he replied Hmph! she turned her head like petulant child her forehead creasing. "What was that about?" she heard him ask, she looked in his direction and contemplated answering his question with a sigh she explained " They were the three most popular girls in high school, they were always picking on me and trying to make my life miserable, we can't stand each other" "Hmm" he replied in return he opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted by Liz and Patti walking in " Maka! What the hell was that about?!" Liz asked "They started it" Maka pouted "I tried to hold back but I snapped ok? It hasn't exactly been my day" she looked back at the floor Liz sighed and then smiled " Too bad we couldn't be there, I would have LOVED to give you a hand, were the other 2 whores with her too?" Maka nodded "Damn it! We still owe those 2 boyfriend stealing bitches!" Liz said angrily.

Soul watched them silently there was something about all this that made it interesting, these 3 girls sure had a colorful past. He cleared his throat making them jump "I'm sorry to interrupt" he started "But could I please get my purchases?" Maka jumped up "I'm sorry sir" she led the way back to the front and finished making the sale. The guy walked out and she took the chance to check him out from head to toe as he walked out the door, tall, taller than her own 5'4" stature, tanned, and had a mop of messy white hair on his head. He was handsome, Hell screw handsome! He was gorgeous! just the type of guy she always fell for No! Bad Maka! He's probably just like the rest! You have to remember FROGS ONLY! She sighed dejectedly as she walked over to the display that Liz and Patti were trying to restore, she bent down and began to help them set it up once more, the 3 talking and laughing at the days events. Maka loved being here with her best friends she looked at them and smiled she had the best friends anyone could ever have!

Maka walked to the parking lot towards her car after work, she honked at Liz and Patti as they made their way to their own car, they waved and she drove to her apartment she couldn't wait to take a warm bath and relax. She reached her destination and parked her car in her usual spot, she got out and headed to the mail box outside of the building, she opened her box and reached in pulling out the envelopes waiting for her. She headed into the brick building that housed her apartment and walked to the elevator she pushed the button to go up and walked in as soon as the doors open "Hold the door!" someone shouted at her, she quickly stuck her hand out to stop the sliding doors from closing "Thank you" the person said "Your welcome" she mumbled sorting through her mail cell phone bill, cable offer, and other junk mail. "Hey aren't you Maka Albarn?" her head snapped up if she hadn't been standing against the wall she probably would have toppled over in surprise, standing next to her was the red eyed, white haired guy from the store. "What are you doing here?" she squeaked out in surprise " I live here" he stated nonchalantly.