Author's Note: Now it's Ben's turn to have his say! Sorry for the delay in the update, Ben's a bit harder to write than Bea. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2

Battle of the Exes

"Good work, everyone!" Coach Leonard called after a blow of his whistle. "You all put in a solid effort, and we have some very talented players here today. We'll contact everyone who made the team, and post the list on the bulletin boards around campus once we have made our decision - by next Monday at the latest. I want to thank you all for coming out. Now, hit the showers, you all reek!"

A few laughs, the drum of running feet, and the squeak of sneakers on laminate filled the gym. The noise was nearly as loud as the obnoxious yellow and red paint job.

"Yo, DiPadua, Florentino, wait up!" I turned around to face Pete Donaldson, captain of the Messina U Knights, and a friend of mine from High School.

"What's up?" I asked as we pounded fists.

"You two were awesome today. You're both shoe ins for the team." he said as he walked with us to the locker room.

"Seriously?" Claude said, obviously surprised. "But he hasn't made his decision yet."

"Well, not officially." Pete admitted. "But you both were the best out there, hands down." All Claude could say was;

"Wow."

"Yeah, well, you done good, Newbie." Pete told him. "Freshman can't usually hold their own." Claude scuffed his foot abashedly against the floor.

"Well, you know, I helped him practice." I cut in before the 'newbie' could say anything.

"You better watch yourself DiPadua, or this one's gonna have you beat. I'm telling you, Coach was really impressed."

I wasn't so convinced.

"Did he say anything to you? Cause I didn't think he'd be too, um...thrilled with me after..."

"After you broke his niece's heart?" Pete smirked at me as he jammed open the door of the locker room.

"That assumes Bea Evans actually has a heart to break." I responded dryly. Claude looked at me, surprised.

"You dated the Coach's niece?" he sputtered.

"I wouldn't say dated."

"She would." Pete snapped back."But anyway, just be grateful he isn't holding it against you. On the court at least. " Pete grabbed a towel off a hook in the locker room wall (whose paint, by the way, was just as bad as the gym's itself) and snapped it at me in a less painful variety of rattail before walking off. Claude's face swam with confusion.

See, I've only known him for what, like, 2 weeks? I bumped into him – literally, while he was wandering lost around campus, and it turned out he's in the same hall as I am, only a few doors down actually. We both planned on trying out for the basketball team, he's a freshman, I just transferred, so I kinda took him under my wing. Long story short, he doesn't know about me and Beatrice. So I filled him in while we waited to get into the showers.

"See Claude, Bea Evans and I had debate together back in High School. We started talking and...after a while, flirting and hanging out and all. Next thing I know, the whole school's saying crap that we're dating, but it was never anything official. We were going to actually go out on a real date, but then we had this huge Hiroshima style blowout a month or so before Prom. Things were said. Things were thrown (...at me). So, I bailed on our plans, and then took this other girl to Prom. Bea's been a bitch about it ever since."

"Well, that was a bit harsh Ben, but she's still giving you shit about it?"

"The harshness is directly related to the hotness of the prom date. But yeah, still." Then some people finally got out of the showers, and that was the end of our conversation.

But, speak of the devil (literally), as I was drying off after my shower I heard an all-too-familiar laugh filter through the wall, mingled with the drone of other voices. My mouth went dry and and my stomach squirmed in a way that was part guilt, part nausea, and part...something else. What the hell was Bea doing here? I strained to hear what she was saying, but the wall was just thin enough to be able to tell that people were talking in the other room, but thick enough to prevent eavesdropping. How inconvenient! I vented my frustration by drying my hair rather aggressively with a towel. I kept trying to listen as I got myself together, but no luck. A minute or two later Pete turned up again.

"Come on, are you ready?"

"Just have to tie my shoes." We caught up with Claude and followed the crowd out back into the gym.

"There you are Pete!"

"Hey Coach!" Pete called back, joining him. Then he turned to a pretty Asian looking girl standing next to him. "Nice to meet you!" They shook hands, and then Pete looked at Coach. "This must be your daughter." I thought she looked familiar. We hadn't spoken before, though.

"So her mother tells me." As I got closer I began to see the resemblance. Her hair and eyes were dark but aside from that, she had her dad's face.

Feeling the need to cut into the conversation, I asked.

"Did you doubt it, that you asked her?" Coach chuckled. I shook hands with her.

"I'm Ben. I make jokes when I have nothing else to say." She smiled.

"That explains a lot." I heard Bea say, "and by 'jokes' he means saying 'that's what she said' every other second." I wanted to ignore her, but it was impossible.

"Well, if it isn't Little Miss Disdain!" I exclaimed in mock surprise. "You're still alive?"

"Disdain won't be going anywhere while you're around." Bea retorted sharply. I opened my mouth to spit out some fabulously witty comeback, but for a moment, my mind blanked completely. Unfortunately, like most males, I am vulnerable to hot girls. And I had forgotten just how hot Bea was. So the best I could do was;

"Ooh, someone's a little jealous that I'm so popular with the ladies. You don't count, of course." She arched an eyebrow and I saw a dangerous gleam flash in her hazel eyes.

"And who does? Your mom and grandma? Maybe an aunt?" I heard some players laugh behind me and cursed Murphy's law. If someone's gonna roast you, of course everyone in the godforsaken room has to hear it, right? I had to salvage some shred of my reputation...and try to ignore how the teacher-esque skirt she was wearing looked anything but academic on her.

"You know, it's really a nuisance, being fawned over like that. They're all after me, but I'm not tying myself down." Good lord that was awful! I was off my game, but she wasn't.

"Oh thank god! They don't know how lucky they are. They're been spared a terrible boyfriend." More laughter from our 'audience' and she went on. "Aside from that though, I have to agree. The last thing I wanna hear is some jackass 'swearing' he loves me." Ouch would be an understatement. I have to admit though, Bea was good. If she were taking those shots at anyone else I'd be pissing myself laughing. As it was however, it was decidedly not cool. And mature gentleman I am, I returned the favor.

" Well, thank goodness for that! It'll save some poor bastard a severely scratched face."

A collective 'OOOOOH!' echoed throughout the room. Okay, seriously. Was everyone in the entire gym circling around us? It was really hard to think with everyone watching like that, not to mention I was getting distracted by the way the light was shining on her hair.

"Scratching would only improve a face like yours." Oh, come on now, Bea. A good try, but you can do better than that. I rolled my eyes.

"How original! You could teach parrots."

"Better a parrot talking like me than you talking like an ass." DAMN! I heard someone let out a whoop. "Oh, and speaking of original, Robert Downey Jr. called, he wants his goatee back, you can't pull it off." It's official, Beatrice Evans has a comeback for absolutely everything. I stroked my poor maligned goatee (Bea totally doesn't know what she's talking about) while I scrambled for a way to put an end to this conversation. More accurately; confrontation. Right now it was barely a draw, and I was fresh out of ammo. It was time for a tactical retreat.

"God, I wish my car went as fast as your mouth...and ran as long." I finally said. Then with a wave of my hand "But that's it, I'm out of here." Bea looked irritated.

"You stall out worse than your car." she grumbled. "I know all your tricks." But I was already walking away through the dispersing crowd. The show was over.

"Remind me to wear a cup the next time I talk to Bea." I muttered darkly to Claude and Pete when I caught up with them.

"She hit below the belt, huh?"sniggered Pete.

"Figuratively speaking." I replied. Then after a beat, "Though, I would never put the literal past her." Pete and Claude laughed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the coach talking to Pete's brother John. I recognized him immediately. You don't easily forget a face whose expression could curdle milk, even after 3 years. It seemed like they were talking about Pete. I knew Pete and John had gone through a rough patch recently, but they had worked things out now. Well, as much as they can be worked out with John Donaldson involved. He had a quality 4 year old sulk going on through their entire conversation (and by conversation I mean him standing there scowling while Coach talked). Course, by John's standards that's practically open pleasantry.

"I've gotta talk to coach, so you guys go ahead and start back, alright?" Pete said as he walked away. John had already skulked off.

"Did you check out the coach's daughter?" Claude whispered once Pete was out of earshot.

"I saw her." I answered. "but did not 'check her out'?

"Well?" he asked me anxiously. "What did you think of her?"

"Are you asking me as a friend, or as a guy?"

"I'm asking for your opinion." Claude said simply.

"She's very nice, Claude." I trailed off, not having the slightest clue what else to say.

"You don't think she's gorgeous?" Claude sounded flabbergasted. Naturally, me thinking of Hiro any differently than he did was unfathomable.

"I never said that." I ran a hand through my dark hair, forgetting that I had gelled it back. It was tough to act nonchalant when your hand is dangerously close to being stuck to your head. "I guess I just prefer something a little less...obvious?"

"Like what...er...who?" Claude seemed genuinely shocked. I shrugged.

"Well, I mean..." was I seriously gonna say it? "Look at her cousin." I certainly was. She was still standing by her uncle, talking to her cousin. "Bea's ten times hotter than Hiro..." Ho shit, backpedal, man. Quick! "If she wasn't a total psychobitch, I mean." Claude's silence told me he wasn't convinced. "It's a purely objective statement...Like saying you prefer a Lexus to...I dunno, a Mercedes." I threw out there.

"Isn't it a bit sexist, comparing a girl to a car?" I smirked.

"Depends on the car."

"I thought you guys were gonna head back. Instead your standing around, whispering like schoolgirls." said Pete as he came up behind us.

"Claude has a secret!" I chuckled. His eyes went wide and he whispered.

"Please don't say anything."

"A secret?" Pete inquired.

"I can't say anything." I said sternly. "You have to make me." Claude looked over, horrified.

"Do I now?" Pete grabbed my arm, the other, then pinned them behind me. I cried out in feigned pain.

"Ow, ow, ow! See Claude? He made me!" Claude was laughing too much to really care. "The secret is..." I looked from one to the other, then drumrolled overdramatically. Drumrolling must always be overdone. It's like, a law. "Claude has the hots for Hiro!" Peter turned to him.

"Is that true?" Claude was sheepish.

"...Something like that...I've seen her around, but never spoken to her." I had to laugh.

"He doesn't want to admit it!"

"Why not, Claude?" Pete asked, concerned. "She's a great girl." Claude was visibly uncomfortable.

"You both are messing with me." he mumbled.

"I was just telling you what I thought." Pete's sincerity was written plainly on his face.

"As did I." and that was about as serious as I planned to be. Claude sighed heavily and admitted;

"I really do like her."

"I don't see why you shouldn't." Pete tapped him on the shoulder. I rolled my eyes.

"I don't see what you, or anyone else sees in her." Pete laughed.

"You enjoy being obstinate." This couldn't be denied.

"Or he's too stubborn to admit the truth." Claude seemed to be livening up a bit. I was relieved. And of course, I could have denied being stubborn, but arguing the point would only have proved it, never mind the fact that it was true.

"Look, I've got nothing against girls. In fact, I think so highly of them that I refuse to have that good opinion altered by bad experiences. And you see, if I were to go out with someone that's sure to happen. So I won't!" I became even more mock serious. "I will die a bachelor!" They both laughed, but Pete was laughing at me, rather than my joke.

"Oh, you'll fall for someone, Ben. Mark my words. And when you do, we'll be here to laugh at you."

"The moment I go all mushy over a girl, you have not only my permission but my blessing to shoot me."