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Disclaimer: I don't own Hamtaro or any of its characters.

Chapter 2

Sandy was picking at her spinach salad. She couldn't believe that she failed the test. Well, actually she could, but it was still a shock to her. She didn't even finish and what made it worse was that every ham-ham thought it was okay. If they had laughed or made fun of her, then she could run off crying and finally be alone. The matter was so serious that Stan even thought it wasn't funny.

"Sandy?"

Sandy grimly looked up to find the same chestnut eyes staring shyly at her. She looked back at her food. Maxwell sat down and cleared his voice.

"Hey, you're sitting alone today. Are you ok?" Maxwell quietly asked.

"Don't you have all the answers?" Sandy said bitterly as she stabbed a spinach leaf.

Maxwell turned away and said, "Well, I thought that you were a little lonely over here, so I decided to come sit with you."

Sandy's heart flew with delight, but it was as if a mini Spat with a pitchfork popped it. She sank closer to the ground with every pounding thought of the amount of trouble that she would get in at home. Stan even wouldn't be there to enjoy the "fun" like he always did when Sandy was in trouble.

"Sandy?" Sandy warped from her own world and into reality. She looked back at Maxwell. He was clutching his book to his side as usual, but instead of a smile, Maxwell gave Sandy a worried look.

"Are you ok?" Maxwell whispered. Sandy gulped and said, "Well, it was that test."

"Oh." Maxwell knew that he didn't want to insult Sandy. She wasn't the best at the school stuff compared to him. He was every teacher's pet with the exception of Spat. He could tell that the teachers hated Sandy because what she did to get attention. Maxwell secretly thought it was cute, but it was always him who escorted her to the principal's office ever since first grade. Sandy must hate me by now, Maxwell thought. He took a deep breath and said, "Well, I think you don't want me to go. I'll be at the library."

"Wait! No, its ok! I'm sorry for being so quiet," Sandy said quickly, but Maxwell shook his head.

"I can see that you want to be alone and think right now," Maxwell pointed out. He then left towards the library.

Darn it. He's always right, Sandy thought. She went back to her half eaten salad just as the bell rang for another test session.

The next test was science, one of Sandy's most hated subjects. She probably failed it anyway because she hadn't studied at all. She barely knew what photosynthesis was. Sandy had always thought it was the blood system of a starfish. But, she remembered that Maxwell said a blood system of a starfish or any echoniderm is the Water Vascular System. Sandy wracked half of what was left of her brain for more information. She finally put her head down and gave up.

That day at gym:

"Go, Sandy! Go, Sandy!" Bijou and Pashmina were cheering in the stands. The gym class were playing dodgeball, a favorite of Sandy's. She could just release the temper in her and throw a heavy dodgeball at someone's fat head and win the entire game. The girls always won with Sandy on their team. She felt like she was number one all the time of course.

"Oi! Maxwell and Hamtaro! Keep your eye on the ball," Boss shouted from the stands whom got out from Sandy knocking a ball to his stomach. Sandy was the only one left on her team and was against Stan, Hamtaro, and Maxwell. She had easily got everyone else out.

"Hey, sis! You would pledge mercy to your twin, right?" Stan pleaded. Sandy had just knocked over Hamtaro with a heavy hit. She had missed Stan by inches. Sandy giggled and said, "Nope, Stan!"

She got her arm ready and hit Stan in the stomach. You could what was a cracking sound all over the gym. It wasn't Stan's rib cage or his spine, but it was the hit that he took when he flew back towards the wall. His neck was angled as the back of his head flew toward the concrete and everyone looked away as he hit. Stan was smiling and said, "Nice throw, sis."

Sandy nodded a thanks and turned to Maxwell. He was clutching the wall in fright by now and weakly smiled at Sandy. The boy's side was quiet as they knew what a terrible dodgeball player he was. Boss groaned and Stan buried his head in his hands. The girls were stomping and yelling that Sandy would get it over with.

Sandy hesitantly picked up a red dodgeball and positioned herself to throw. But, she didn't want to hurt Maxwell who was giving her a thumbs up. How could she?

"Sandy! Now's your chance to throw it, oui?!" Bijou called. Pashmina nodded and Sandy thought, But he doesn't stand a chance against me. How can I hurt him?

Sandy then rolled the red ball towards Maxwell and Maxwell slowly picked it up. Sandy spread her arms out for him to throw. Maxwell found himself frozen and Sandy smiled. Maxwell knew that he couldn't hurt her with the speed that he was about to give and threw the ball at Sandy's feet. It rolled for a while and Sandy picked it up. This was getting silly. She was the only one that could end the game.

"Give him the Sandy Sizzler!" Pashmina yelled with her fist pumped in the air. Sandy thought of it and looked at Maxwell for approval. Sandy positioned herself for her most deadly move. It was supposed to be a huge curve with tremendous speed. It looked like it would be off, but it would curve to the victim. She had never missed before and the last kid that got hit with it lost a tooth.

Sandy finally threw the ball, trying not to make this hurt as much as possible. Maxwell could see her arms moving and, as if in slow motion, Sandy threw it. Maxwell knew what to do. He ran towards the ball and just as he had expected, it curved to the right. He saw that Sandy's face was in pure shock that she had missed, but soon she screamed as the ball bounced off the wall and hit her smack in the face. Maxwell was in a daze as Sandy was on the floor, groaning. It was the first time that she got out. Everything was quiet for a while and soon enough, the boys were cheering as loud as they could. Maxwell felt himself being picked up and being called the conqueror of the Sandy civilization. Maxwell jumped down and ran over to Sandy. Every girl was crowding her and Sandy looked to be unconscious.

"Sandy? Sandy, please wake up!" Bijou's whispers were followed by a dozen "good tries", but Sandy didn't wake up.

"Is she ok?" Maxwell asked. Every girl turned to him and Pashmina said, "I think that she's unconscious. She took a pretty bad hit right there." Maxwell felt a wave of guilt and leaned down towards Sandy.

"Sandy?" Maxwell asked. Sandy only groaned and said, "Just 5 more minutes, Mom."

Maxwell chuckled and Sandy knew that laugh. She popped up, only to hit Maxwell on the chin, sending him backwards and Sandy fell back down in pain.

"Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww," she groaned to hear that Maxwell said the same thing. She slowly sat up and threw a huge amount of apologies and said, "How did you get past that ball?"

Maxwell was still holding his chin and said, "By the properties of gravitational pull and physical science. The force you excerpt to the ball along with the speed, you could get a tremendous curve by gravity and the spin you put. Therefore, you made a curveball at the last nanosecond."

Sandy gaped and said, "In English, please Maxwell."

Maxwell chuckled and explained, "Based on your body movements, and the speed, you could make a big curveball that I could predict."

Sandy slowly nodded and walked to the girl locker rooms as Maxwell went in the boys locker rooms. Sandy was still a little puzzled, but thought, He was worried for me. She smiled and walked out in her usual outfit and Maxwell was waiting for her. She stopped in her tracks and Maxwell smiled. Sandy slowly walked towards Maxwell as he said, "I thought that you wanted to walk home with me."

Sandy nodded quickly and she walked home with Maxwell in silence. She didn't know what to say. The red that crossed her cheeks were growing more and more noticeable and she tried to look away from Maxwell as much as she could.

"So, how do you think that you did with the tests?" Maxwell asked. Sandy gagged at the words and didn't say anything and Maxwell immediately knew that was the wrong question to ask.

"Um, dodgeball was pretty cool today, wasn't it?" Maxwell asked again. Sandy only nodded without a word. Wrong question, Maxwell! What's wrong with you? Can't you say anything to her? Maxwell thought as he wracked his brain for ideas.

"When's your next rhythmic gymnastics competition?" Maxwell and he immediately knew that was the right question. Sandy began to talk rapidly about it and said, "It's tomorrow."

She stopped. Maxwell looked questioningly at her and she squeaked, "Will you come?"
Maxwell grinned and said, "Of course, Sandy. When have I ever missed one of your competitions?"

Sandy grinned back and found herself staring stupidly back at Maxwell. Sandy could feel that her cheeks burn and noticed a pink coming across Maxwell's nose. After Maxwell bid a goodbye to Sandy, she sighed.

He was blushing, she thought in awe.