SxMFan: This is definitely going to be a humor chapter. And it just might be my favorite.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hamtaro. But I do own the British English dictionary that helped me write this chapter. There's some funny stuff in there, everyone, they call "cotton candy" "candy floss". LOL

BTW, Werewolves of London is a song. It's a weird one, but I got used to it and it's pretty funny if you get it.

This chapter is dedicated to the song Hey, Soul Sister by Train. And Tik Tok by Ke$ha.

Chapter 2: Werewolves of London

Today was surprisingly less overcast and you could see hints of blue up in the sky. It made me a little happier and I had a skip in my step as I walked to these soccer fields that Maxwell and the others had described to me. It was south of downtown London and getting through all of the crowds in the early morning traffic was exhausting. I had arrived out of breath and red in the face.

"Oi! Yankee Sandy Dandy is here, mates!" Peter called once he had looked up. He had set himself on the bleachers, picking at a blade of grass. Maxwell and Collin were talking by the goal post while Connor juggled a soccer ball. I smiled and put my head down a little. Really, I wasn't the shy type, but I just felt a little different around these folks. Everyone had heard Peter's yell and quickly hustled over to me, forming some sort of semi-circle around me. They were all pretty tall, Collin being the shortest and Maxwell being the tallest, and if you were an average girl like me, it was a pretty intimidating sight. Connor held the soccer ball on his head, waiting for instructions.

"Alright, let's play a little bit of football before we get lunch," Maxwell announced, clapping his hands together. I couldn't help but wonder if he acted like the leader for these guys. He turned around to me and smirked. "It'll give you a taste of our sport. Remember, football is England's specialty, so you better be scared." He gave me a broad smile in a joking way.

I was downright confused. Football was created in America, right? And even if we were going to play, they brought the wrong ball. I didn't want to be rude so I said, "Okay. Like, are we playing flag or two hand touch?"

Now they were the ones who were downright confused. I flushed and tried to wave it off, but before I could back out of their stupid football game, Peter laughed. "Oh, right, I forgot that you're from America," he chortled. "Here, we call soccer football. We're not going to tackle each other to the ground, thank you very much. Ready to learn a few other things?"

I slowly nodded and Peter dragged me over to the bleachers. He pointed his right index finger at them. "Terraces or stands. They're not called bleachers." Everyone left behind didn't follow a word that he said. It made me feel smart, which I usually wasn't.

"The entire field is a called a pitch," Peter said, walking me back over the group. He smiled a full grin at me. "I'll teach you more phrases later."

"Thanks," I replied and we soon set up our teams. I didn't actually want to play, but since I told them I joined a soccer league back in fourth and fifth grade, I was positioned as goalie. Maxwell didn't play, which I thought was kind of weird since he was the one bragging about England's awesome soccer team, but he explained to me that being referee was a better idea when playing soc- football with these "chaps". At that, I was even more worried than before, wondering how these guys settled arguments without a referee. So anyway, Peter was partnered with me while Connor and Collin were a team of two. I wondered how only two people running on the field would make the game fun, but it turned out to be something different. While Collin and I stood on the opposite ends of the field (Pitch, I mean. Man, I'm never going to get used to this!), Peter and Connor punched and kicked each other for the ball. Maxwell had already called two fouls on Peter for rough play. Connor had this smirk on his face when the blond had started arguing and I could now see why Maxwell was the ref. He was really good at getting his way and the tallness of his stature made someone want to back down in an instant. I was so thankful that I stood out by post and wasn't out on the field.

I had stopped paying attention to the game after Peter kicked the ball in between Connor's legs and made a breakthrough, charging at Collin with his arms pumping up and down. Figuring that it was going to be an easy goal, my eyes wandered off. I couldn't help but stare at Maxwell. His hair was a mystery to me as he spiked it up and let it fall onto his eyes, yet he could still see. I thought about my own bangs and they swooped over my left side. I pondered the differences between us. For one, I was blonde and he was a brunette. But the way he dressed and acted amazed me. He wore an unbuttoned collar shirt and a plain white long sleeve under it with regular brown pants and dress shoes. I was wearing a tank top with "USA Approved" on it and denim shorts with red Converse. Cleary, we were very different, but that couldn't stop the blush from rising to my cheeks. Shaking my head, I didn't even want to think of us dating. I barely knew the guy after all and-

"Sandy! Oi, watch out for Connor!" a voice yelled from the other side of the field. (I'm just going to call it a field now.) It was Peter's voice and my fantasy bubble popped as I turned away and saw Connor right in front of me, winding up his leg for a kick. But it was too late and he drove the ball right into the goal, the sphere rolling by my left foot. Dang it, I should've had that, it was so easy!

"Hail Britannia!" Connor yelped, throwing his arms in the air and putting his head up to the sky. I grabbed the ball and was tempted to throw it at his head for no particular reason. Okay, so I'm a little bit of a violent person. I blame Stan's boxing tournaments that I used to attend.

Maxwell put his arms up to signal a goal and the rest of the morning continued like that. After Connor's goal, Peter and I switched positions and I had gotten two goals by lunchtime. On the way to a café for a meal, everyone complimented me on my soccer skills, pointing out the way I run like Usain Bolt. I let them all talk, excited about how I impressed them.

In New York, I had been known as the softball, hockey, football, soccer, track, and basketball star. Even though the streets were polluted with the waste the buildings spewed out of their chimneys, I had managed to practice at some sort of field everyday. My mom hated it whenever I went out to play, shaking her head and scolding, "Either you have strong lungs or you're really dedicated." In Central Park, I remember playing catch with Stan and we would later go boulder climbing there. It was all great fun and after a race to the top of the rocks, Stan and I would walk to Junior's and get a strawberry cheesecake for us to share. If I had to rate their cheesecakes on a scale of one to ten, they would get a twenty-seven. It just makes me want to do a cheesecake dance. I licked my lips involuntarily as we neared the café. Maybe I could get a taste of something like that at this eatery we were heading to.

Once we had arrived, the five of us sat a booth, with Maxwell and Collin on one side, and Peter, Connor, and me on the other. My eyes whizzed around the eatery. The décor was red, with some plants found in the corners. A family sat at a table while a man stood at the front desk, paying the bill. It was a small room, but the aura seemed to glow with quaint happiness. The bored looking waitress cleaning a spotless table looked up at us and her eyes lit up with excitement. I didn't blame her, this wasn't lunch hour. It was only 10:30 AM, but I was still hungry. I had decided to skip breakfast to make sure that I was on time to play soccer.

Hustling to our table while pulling out a pen and writing pad, she wiped a lock of blonde hair away and beamed. "What can I get for you-" She counted us by flicking her pen to each person. "Five today?"

"Fish and chips for all of us," Maxwell said and then looked at me. He smiled and turned his head to the waitress. "And a toad in the hole."

British book guy say wha…? I watched with blank eyes as our server wrote down the orders.

"Tea to go around?"

"Yes, please."

The waitress nodded her head and skipped off to the kitchen. My eyes still followed her and Peter had to shake me to get me back into reality.

"Are you alright?" he asked while Connor sniggered beside him.

"M-Make sure that the toad is dead, okay?" I weakly said. Collin and Maxwell looked at each other at the same time and covered their mouths to hide their laughter. Connor and Peter went ahead and guffawed.

Squeezing the bridge of his nose, Maxwell explained, "A toad in the hole is dish where there are sausages in Yorkshire pudding. There's no amphibian in there, Sandy."

"Oh." I smiled at my dumbness and suddenly, the topic changed to places we've been after Collin had asked how Peter knew so many American phrases.

"Let me think… My dad was on a business trip to New York and he brought my mum, my sister, and me," Peter recalled, staring out into space as he told his story. "He told us we should go see a baseball game- It's like cricket, Connor, don't give me that look- and we saw some team called the Yankees or whatever. I remember everyone calling the pitch a field and beefburgers, hamburgers. It was all very confusing. Not to mention that the game lasted for over three hours, my goodness. After that, I guess I learned a couple more phrases. Did you know they call an aeroplane, an airplane?"

I poked my fork with my index finger. "So you're saying," I told him slowly. "That you got to see a real, live Yankees game."

"Yes. What about it?"

"What about it?!" I nearly screamed. Grabbing his collar, I spat, "Like, do you know how much it costs to get to even the top seats?! Clubhouse seats cost at least five hundred dollars! I've never been to a Yankees game, it was too expensive! Dude, you're so lucky! Did you go into Yankees stadium?"

Flabbergasted, Peter stammered, "W-Well, I went when I was ten-"

I gasped, clapping my head on my forehead in dismay. "So you went inside Yankee Stadium before it was torn down! Aw, man, you are, like, the luckiest guy in the world!"

"But don't you live in New York?" Collin pointed out. "I mean, if you lived there, you could have gotten a ticket to one of those baseball games."

I sat straight up, the conversation going where I wanted. Towards me, of course. "Yeah, but only the totally rich kids could go. My family used to live in an apartment above this restaurant in Chinatown. But my dad went and he said it was almost magical."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Collin flushed. I couldn't see why he acted all sorry for me. I mean, I was happy in New York and it seemed that they didn't think that I was.

"Hey, hey, it's all right," I replied, smiling. "I didn't live in the totally crowded places of the city, so it was fun to live in Chinatown. Not to mention I got egg rolls all the time."

As we talked, I learned that Connor and Collin's parents were business people who ran a chain of tailor shops. Connor was the oldest, though he acted the most childish. They lived in a manor in Scotland on a private estate with their grandpa and grandma, with four dogs in the place. Their home in England was just a small apartment for the time being. Peter's dad was divorced and he worked as a Tower of London guard, Peter having one little sister and living in a house. His soon-to-be stepmother resided in Wales and Peter and his sister visited her often. Maxwell was the only son of a bookstore owner whom owned a ton of different houses around Europe whenever they needed to go on a vacation. His father was the owner of the bookstore while his mother worked for the London Times.

Finally, our food came, the waitress balancing five baskets of fish sticks and French fries on her arm and finally heaving a giant plate of what looked to be like mac and cheese. Then, she came back a second later with teacups and a kettle, placing tea pack into one cup each. After she poured the steaming water, the waitress said, "Just come to the front when you're ready to pay."

Again, the person didn't say "Enjoy!" or anything like that, but I was too hungry to ever notice. I took a bite of the fish stick and smiled. It was exactly like the fish fillets at Country Buffet when I went to visit my aunt out in Tennessee. I quickly devoured a French fry and once I was done with the entire basket of fish sticks and fries, I shoved it to the side a little. Wiping my fingers on a napkin, I took my fork and looked up at Collin. "Think I should eat this?" I asked him, pointing to the toad in the hole.

Collin smiled. "Triple dog dare you."

Beaming back, I took a mouthful of the content and chewed slowly, only thinking about the taste. It didn't taste anything like a toad, thank God. I took another bite, my stomach finally full after I swallowed.

"That fish and chips thing was like, awesome," I said quickly. I really didn't know how to describe the toad in the hole. "But I didn't see any chips. We were supposed to get Lays or something like that?"

Peter patted me on my shoulder. "We're gonna take this slow now. Chips mean French fries. You know what bangs mean?"

Everyone snickered except for Maxwell, whom seemed to scold Peter with his eyes. Collin elbowed him and Maxwell stuck his nose up in the air. No, it wasn't like I was staring at him, even though it was kind of funny to see that tinge of pink rise up to his face when he made eye contact with me… Oh, wait, what was I doing?

"Sure I know what bangs mean," I giggled. I pulled my bangs behind my ear. "They swoop over my left eye. My mom let me have them in first grade. Well, because she would always pull them back."

At this, everyone laughed out loud, slapping their hands against the table. Maxwell managed to hold back a chuckle, but I could see that he was fighting a smile. "Come now, you lot," he scolded, looking as if he was going to smash Connor's face into the window for laughing the hardest. "You all are better than that."

"Well, if you're so smart, Maxwell," Connor said, his eyebrow raising. "You can tell her what it means. I'm sure you're mature enough to tell her."

Maxwell blushed and remained quiet while Peter whispered to me what it meant. "Bangs in the US mean the front of your hair," he said. "But in the UK, they are a reflection of your sex life."

Crap. Didn't see that coming. Did I really say that I got my bangs in first grade?

"Y-You're all a bunch of perverts," I stammered, trying to smile. I thought for a moment. "You should meet my brother then."

Most of them gave me a "Why?" look and I had to wave it off. I really didn't want to get into the little details of what Stan says just about every day. After a really awkward silence, the topic switched from… bangs… to the differences between American and British English. Maxwell told us that there were 4,000 different words between the two. Holy fish and chips, that's a lot. I really was freaking out about how I could remember them. First off, a derby wasn't a derby; it was a bowler hat. The trunk of a car is the boot, the front is the bonnet. Apparently, when someone says Holy cow! in the US, someone in the UK would say Stone the crows!. I'm worried on a number of levels now.

"The only thing I don't get," Connor said slowly, sipping a bit of tea. "Is why the trash bin is called a trashcan. Does it even look like a can?"

"Yeah," I intervened, smiling. "It's all circular and stuff so therefore, it's a trashcan. Plus, you put trash in it."

Connor's face soured like a lemon. "But it's not trash, it's rubbish. And it's a bin."

"Well, why do you all, like, call the sidewalk a pavement?" I argued lightly. "It's called a sidewalk because you walk on the side of the road. Get it?"

Connor managed a tight smile. "Yeah, but-"

"And I just realized-"

Connor pointed at me and yelled, "Aha! You can't even spell realised correctly. Really, I cannot believe your love affair with the letter Z."

"Hey, you all, calm down," Maxwell said, calmly picking up a biscuit that the waitress had placed on our table after Connor's outburst. Collin nodded in agreement. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Peter looked bemused and I continued with my argument.

"Oh, yeah?" I giggled, standing up on my seat. I didn't care if everyone stared, it was just funny to watch their horrified faces. "I don't get why you add a U to color. It makes it sound all French and you don't even need it. O does fine on his own, thank you very much."

"That letter belongs in the word colour!"

"O!"

"U!"

"O!"

"U!"

"Spank me harder!" Peter yelled and Maxwell kicked him the shin to shut him up. He succeeded rather well.

Connor and I glared at each other, narrowing our eyes as I sat back down, Peter under the ground as he held his bruising leg. I must have won the staring contest because Connor lowered his eyes and said softly, "That O is a bloody slut."

I nodded. "I bet U calls out O's name in bed."

"We're done with this!" Maxwell announced, hastily going to his tea and shaking his head in disgust. At this, Connor and I laughed a little, high fived each other, and helped Peter up, positioning himself in his original seat. I could have sworn that Maxwell had chuckled when Peter glared up at him.

Once everyone was finished with their meal, we paid the cashier and I left a tip for the waitress. She looked a little confused with how much it was, but I left before she could protest. When Maxwell held the door open for everyone, I felt rain patter on my head again. What was with this country and rain? Quickly, I threw my hood onto my head while the others fought over Collin's umbrella that he had brought with him. Gosh, that guy was prepared. Connor and Peter immediately charged at each other, shoving and kicking while cursing. Collin and Maxwell were positioned under the shield and their eyes widened in fright when Peter was knocked down in the street. I must have gasped because Connor glanced at me, grinning. Peter let out a war cry and tackled Connor to the ground and he made a breakthrough towards the safety of the umbrella, only to be brought down again. Civilians tossed their heads over their shoulders to watch the brawl and then kept walking. But when two cops down the street met our eyes, Collin kicked Connor to stop. The red head glanced up and hastily got up, slipping a little on the wet ground as he nodded. They nodded and Peter shoved Connor's shoulder, still bitter about the fight. Maxwell sighed and stepped out from the protection of the umbrella and the cold rain beat down on his hair. Wow, he didn't even care that he was wearing a T-shirt. And I didn't really expect to come up right next to me. I smiled at him, teeth chattering as I wasn't used to so much rain and cold at the same time. It seemed that the iciness of the downpour didn't bother him and he smiled back. It was just one corner of his mouth going up, so he still looked severe as ever, but it just made the blush creep up to my face. Collin stared in amazement as I involuntarily clung to Maxwell's left and we walked down the sidewalk. I could have sworn for a second that Peter glared at us, but Maxwell looked curiously at me when I turned my head back like an owl so I twisted my neck around. But the glower that Peter had given me stabbed into my heart and I let go of Maxwell's arm, feeling even colder as the rain intensified and the warmth I just felt burning out.

Hi, hi sandy!

i just wanted to see if u got ur b-day present. penelope is doing fine, thanks for asking. school's finally out and i can't believe we're juniors now! i hope you go to a cool high school, but don't replace me with the new friends u meet, okay? BTW did u meet any cute boys in london? don't hate me 'cuz i said that, i'm just curious you know.

missing you,

Pashmina ;)

I giggled at the last sentence that Pashmina had typed. Even if she was an ocean away, she still had the patience and compassion to write me an e-mail. I re-read it twice and frowned when she asked me about my birthday present. I never got anything and since I was staying in a hotel, she couldn't have given me a present-

Just as I was thinking this, a knock on the door was heard and I looked through the peeky hole in it to see who it was. It was one of the hotel bellboys. Dang it. If it was Stan, I would have locked him out. I unlocked the door and swung it open so I could see him face to face.

"Uh, this came to the front desk, ma'am," he said in a shaky voice. "Are you Sandy?" Once I nodded, he held out the package he was holding to me. "From NYC, ma'am."

"Thanks," I said in a monotone, eyeing what the package was. He made a little bow and loped down the stairs. Confused, I ripped off the tape on the little box and lifted out what was inside. What I revealed was a bracelet that had "Best" stitched onto it. There was a card that said "Happy Birthday!" on the front in bold, red letters. I opened the card to reveal a message from Pashmina, saying how this was a friendship bracelet and she had the other one. Overwhelmed with joy, I swiftly ran back to my laptop and rapidly punched in letters.

Pashy!

I totally cant believe u got this for me! (my bday present) Let me guess… U have a bracelet that says friends, right? thanks so much!

yea, i cant believe how fast time goes by. next year, we're seniors, girl! i feel really bad that i cant watch dexter blow up another science experiment though. man, i really wish that i could be with you until the end of high school. totally not fair

NO I WILL NEVER REPALCE YOU HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT. DON'T YOU EVER THINK ABOUT THAT!

nah, I didn't meet any cute boys

I stopped typing right here. I stared at the word "nah" and automatically thought about Maxwell and how he looked when water beat down on his face. His cute, wonderful fac-

Shaking my head, I continued with my email.

but i did meet some boys who were nice to me. that's about it though, i have to go now, pashy, ill talk to u later. bff's forever!

missing u even more

Sandy :D

Sighing, I closed my laptop and propped my face up with my hands . I jumped when I felt my phone vibrate and I hurriedly picked it up. Caller: Maxwell, it read.

Ah, crap.

SxMfan: Yeah, this was kinda rushed. I noticed that when I FINALLY post a new chapter, it gets BURIED in other people's stories. So not cool.

Uh-oh, Sandy whatcha gonna do? Are you crushing on Maxy? And is Peter jealous? Why am I listing questions that I'm gonna address in the next chapter? Why won't you review? Why does banana taste yucky? WHY DON'T YOU PRESS THAT REVIEW BUTTON RIGHT THERE?!