A/N- Okay, so I'm really sorry I didn't update this sooner. You'd think that in summer, I would have more time to work on this, but I had EXTREME WRITER'S BLOCK. I couldn't write more than one sentence at a time! For those of you waiting on "The Dancing Ninja", I'm currently writing the new chapter for that. I'm about 1/2 to 2/3 done with it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for Mayumi.

CHAPTER 2

Mayumi raced to the skateboard ramp, holding her skateboard. "Damn, I'm gonna be late!" Track practice had just ended, but it ended late, so Mayumi was going to be late to her skateboard competition. She made it to the stand just in time. The person running it blinked.

"Here to sign up for the skateboard competition?" he asked.

"Yes," Mayumi said, nodding, "Erizawa Mayumi."

The person signed her in, and then said "Go over there, it'll start soon."

"Kay!" she exclaimed cheerfully. Mayumi went to the place the person had pointed to, and sat down with her skateboard. Around her were more people in the competition. Mayumi recognized some of them because she had seen them in previous competitions. One girl, _-san, won first when Mayumi had gotten 3rd place. Another boy got third when Mayumi won first. One was a silver medalist when Mayumi hadn't even placed. Some she didn't recognize, but she never underestimated her opponents, even in track. That was one of the good things about her that most people did.? Mayumi leaned back in the chair, waiting for the competition to start.

SHISHIDO POV

"Yeah, I know." agreed Shishido. He and Choutarou were walking back from tennis practice, since their houses were close to each other. Shishido just had to go a little further than Choutarou's house to get to his. From Choutarou's house, Shishido only had to pass a skateboard park and a few stores.

"Bye Shishido-san!" said Choutarou as he went up the steps to his house, waving.

"Bye." Said Shishido, waving back. He walked past the skateboard park, thinking about that stupid math homework. Doesn't that teacher give them enough homework already? Then she just has to assign even more homework. Honestly. While he was silently cursing the teacher in his head, he noticed a really cool skateboard move. Shishido stopped to watch. It seemed like there was a competition today. He watched a girl get down from her skateboard, wave at the crowd, and disappear somewhere. Another girl took her place. Wait a minute…didn't he see her somewhere before? He saw her orangeish hair in a ponytail, her face—Oh, she was that girl he ran into before. Shishido watched her, interested. Didn't she do track? She got onto the ramp, started off, and did a few spins. Once, she flipped over in the air.

"Ooh, that was risky…this girl is definitely not the safe type! Which could give her an advantage…" the commenator was saying. Shishido watched as she did a few more risky things, and then she was done. "The one, the only…ERIZAWA MAYUMI, PEOPLE!" yelled the commentator.

"Don't they announce who they are in the beginning? Huh, I guessed I missed that…geki dasa daze…" thought Shishido. Finally, the awards were announced. Third place was some boy, and they had some difficulty deciding on the winner.

Then, "Second place goes to…ERIZAWA MAYUMI! THE WINNER IS SUZUKI MIKO!" announced the commentator. Mayumi accepted the silver medal and left soon after. Shishido waited for her to come out. When she did, Shishido walked up to her.

"Hey, you." He said.

"Um…why are you here?" she asked.

"I live close by." He answered, "Don't you do track?"

"I do, and we have practice every day after school. But every other day, I practice skateboarding, sometimes doing competitions." She replied, "Why?" He shrugged.

"I just don't really agree with that system."

"Why not? It works!" she said, raising her voice a little.

"You shouldn't do something without doing it seriously, that's all." He said.
"Oh, so now it's 'Shishido knows everything'? Don't tell me what to do!" she exclaimed, poking him hard in the chest, "I can do both having done so for 2 years and doing both well. I have fun doing them, that's why I do them! Isn't that the point? To have fun? You're not supposed to do something you hate or things you have to force yourself to do!" she yelled, "It's not about winning or losing!" she stalked away, mad, to her house. Shishido blinked.

"And I said being sarcastic and tomboyish was good…did I say that? Well, it is, just…she speaks her mind, doesn't she?"

LATER

Shishido lay in bed, thinking. He couldn't get to sleep. The memory of that afternoon kept running through his head.

"Isn't that the point? To have fun? You're not supposed to do something you hate or things you have to force yourself to do! It's not about winning or losing!"

Shishido sighed. Maybe…just maybe…she was right. It wasn't every day that Shishido admitted that someone else was right. He wasn't saying that he was wrong, of course. It's just that…he had been getting so caught up in the matches, who he won against and who he lost against…practicing and practicing so he would get better…that was good, yes, but he might have been doing all of that so much that he forgot about why he started tennis in the first place. He had fun when he played tennis. That's why he did it. He just forgot that in the mess of matches and practice. All he cared about was winning and getting better. That was good, but he needed to remember that tennis was fun…and it took a girl to make him see that.

"Why did it have to be a girl who made me see that?" he thought as he turned around.

THE NEXT DAY

Shishido was walking down the hallway unhappily. It was not in his nature to apologize; much less to a girl. It was degrading. He hoped no one would see him. He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't notice someone walking towards him until they bumped into each other.

"Sorry." they both said at the same time. Then Shishido looked up and realized who it was. "Hey, aren't you…?" he said. The girl looked up, startled.

"Oh!" she exclaimed.

"Uh…" started Shishido, cursing how lame he sounded in his head. "Sorry about yesterday. I thought about what you said, and I realized that I had just been trying to get better at tennis and I never enjoyed it like I did when I started. I guess I forgot to have fun."

"That's alright. After all, you learned." said Mayumi. "Sorry about yelling at you."

"It's been a while since anyone has yelled at me anyway. Atobe doesn't count. Anyway, you give good advice when you yell." said Shishido. Mayumi pouted.

"Are you saying that I don't give good advice when I'm not yelling?" she asked. Shishido smirked.

"Yes." And he walked away, leaving her there with a half smile, half frown on her face.

A/N: How'd you like it? Drop a review, everyone! :D I feel like my writing skill has improved ever since I started RP-ing.
School is starting in a few weeks for me, so I'll try to get a new chapter up by that time. When school starts, don't expect a new chapter in the first week. Same goes for my other stories. :D