BP: Geez, I can't believe this! We waited for the teacher for half an hour, and when we went and look for him, he was eating lunch in the canteen! Turns out, he thought our lesson is at 12.30 when it is actually 11.30! This is my new story, My Secret Love, inspired form a story summary I read from a book (I forgot which book, though)

"Hey, Ryoma!" Darlene greeted, as she and Todd drifted into the bookstore Ryoma was working at. Well, technically, only Todd drifted. Darlene barreled. Darleen actually swung up on to the counter and helped herself to a Lindt truffle from the candy display.

"You eat that and you owe me 50 yen." said Ryoma.

Darlene dug 62 yen out of her pocket and slapped it down on the counter. Then she plucked another Lindt from the display jar and tossed it to Todd. Todd, who was examining the jewelry rack, was so startled to see this Lindt chocolate come flying at him out of nowhere, he didn't think to catch it, so it smacked him in the collarbone, fell to the floor and rolled it under the display cabinet. "Pathetic." Darlene muttered, as Todd scrambled around on the A-B-C alphabet carpet, trying to find the lost truffle and going "Hey, they're quite a lot of dust mice in here. When's the last time you vacuumed in this area?" Ryoma sighed. Darlene turned to him. "You should talk more often, you know." She remarked.

Ryoma merely shook his head. He liked being invisible or at the bottom of the popularity charts, in other words, a social reject. The only reason why some may recognize him was because he was captain of both archery and taekwondo. His specialty was weapons and hand-to-hand combat. He doesn't talk to his teammates. The only time he speaks is when to give an order, or instruction. If he was captain for two teams, why people don't know him, you may ask. This is because people rarely watch the school sports anymore. Everybody goes out shopping, drinking, get guys and girls to go on a date with or hang out, rather than watching a school sport. He's fine with that, because he hates fame and attention. Besides, he likes doing his part-time job at the bookstore during the holidays. Ryoma shunned people away from him. He acts extremely cold and quiet. And he keeps his tone icy. No one would want a friend like that, well, maybe except for Darlene and Todd Golding, who are actually twins.

"Now you owe me 38 yen." Ryoma finally said, as Todd finally found the lost Lindt at last and came up, plucking dust mice from his brown hair.

"Yeah, sure." said Darlene.

"If you break that display glass." Ryoma warned Darlene, because he was still sitting on the counter, swinging his feet in front of the glass display case beneath it, "I'm making you take those entire dolls home with you." Because beneath the glass are about thirty Madame Alexander dolls, most of which are based on fictional characters form books, like Marmee and Jo from Little Women and Heidi form Heidi.

Did Ryoma mention it was his idea to put the dolls behind glass, after Ryoma figured it out his uncle's bookstore has been losing a doll a week to doll collectors, who are notoriously light-handed when it comes to Madame Alexander and who carry very roomy tote bags into shops like his uncle's for the sole purpose of adding into their collection without the pesky burden of having to pay for it? Darlene once mentioned she hated dolls. The way they stare into your eyes is just plain creepy.

Darlene stopped swinging her feet. "Want to go to the Coffee Pot after work?"

Ryoma nodded. "Sure." He checked the clock. "I'm going to knock off in a few minutes."

When the minute hand reached 12 and the hour hand reached 9 at night, Ryoma called to his uncle, "I'm leaving with my friends!" he hollered.

"My goodness. I didn't realize it had got so late." Ryoma's uncle came out of the back office.

"Hi, Mr. Echizen." said the twins.

"Hey, Darlene, Todd." said Ryoma's uncle. "So where are you all going?"

"Oh, we're going to the Coffee Pot." said Darlene. While they were talking, Ryoma counted his day's earnings, lifted the cash drawer out of the register, and then walked to the back of the store to lock it up in the safe of his uncle's office overnight. He didn't mention to his uncle that they were 100 dollars shy of last year's total- he knew his uncle would have freaked out, because there's nothing in his mind but money. In fact, his motto was, "Money makes the world go round." He returned to the trio, and said, "Let's go, Darlene, Todd." Ignoring his uncle's protests, they pushed open the door, and walked out of the shop.

At the Coffee Pot, while waiting for their coffees to arrive, Todd looked down and said, "Hey, look, Ryoma, it's your boyfriend." Ryoma followed Todd's gaze down, and found Tezuka Kunimitsu, the school's number one heartthrob. He has brown eyes with oval shaped specs. He has brown hair. He is rich because he is the heir of Tezuka Corporations. He is stoic and poker faced 24/7, and is the captain of the tennis team. Ryoma bit his lip. Only Darlene and Todd knew he was gay, and they accepted him for it. He highly doubt Tezuka would go for boys. Darlene's words interrupted his thoughts. "I can't believe Ryoma has already found his soulmate already."

"Don't be ridiculous, Darlene." Ryoma muttered, blushing.

"Why? What's wrong of finding your soulmate in high school?" Darlene wanted to know. "I mean, that may be the only chance you find your soulmate. If you blow it off just because you don't want to meet your soulmate in high school, you may never meet your soulmate, and you'll be lonely forever."

"I don't believe we HAVE only one soulmate." Todd replied. "I bet we're given multiple chances to meet them. Sure, you could meet a soulmate in high school. But that doesn't mean if you don't act on it, you'll never meet anyone else. You will, just at a time that's more convenient for you."

Darlene frowned. "What's so inconvenient about meeting your soulmate in high school, though?"

"Let me see, sister." said Todd, rubbing his chin as if to think about it. "How about…you still live with your parents? Where are you and your soulmate supposed to we,, get it on?"

"Er…..car?"

"See, that's B.S" said Todd. Only he didn't just say the initials. "What's so romantic about that? Forget about it."

"So, you're trying to say no one should date in high school?"

"Sure, you can date." said Todd. "Go to the movies and hang out and stuff. But don't, you know, fall in love."

Ryoma rolled his eyes while Darlene said, "What? Don't fall in love, ever, brother?"

"Not with somebody you go to school with. I mean, you don't want to spit where you eat, do you?"

Only he didn't say spit.

"Ugh…" Darlene muttered.

"I'm serious, sis. You date someone in school, and then break up, you still have to see them in school. That's like super tense. Who needs all this, when you already have school to make your life a chaos?"

'Ring! Ring!'

Ryoma, who had his head on his arms, jerked awake. His cellphone rang and without looking at the caller ID, he knew who the caller was. It was his uncle. Ryoma yawned, too lazy to answer his phone. Darlene and Todd watched him, frowning. The ringtone kept playing until the line was cut off. Then, the ringtone played again and again. It seemed to play forever. "Get this over with." Ryoma muttered. His finger hit the pick-up button.

Pressing the cellphone against his ears, he mumbled, "Hello?"

"I have called you many times but you did not pick up, Ryoma."

"What is it, uncle?" said Ryoma.

"Oh, you just forgot your wallet. I am at the entrance of the Coffee Pot now." Ryoma got up, and went down to meet his uncle, who handed him his wallet. "You don't want your friends to help you pay for your coffee, do you, Ryoma?" His uncle smiled. Just then, the shop next door's shop door tinkled, and Tezuka stepped out. "Who's that?" said his uncle.

"Oh that's Tezuka Kunimitsu, the most popular guy in our school. He's the heir to the Tezuka Corporations. I got to go back now." Ryoma went back to the Coffee Pot.

Unbeknownst to him, his uncle had a glint in his eye. "The heir, huh? Now I know how to make quick money….using that boy, of course…."

BP: I know, it is quite short. Please review, although I know is bad (because I only had 10 minutes and what's more, I was watching Crayon Shin-chan).