Chapter 2

Nika

The day came and went, and before he knew it Wednesday had arrived, and he knew what that meant; no school for him. Yep, unlike during his freshmen year he only had school two days a week, and in his spare time he would either be out and about on the town, drawing up new concept art, working on school projects, or at the gym. It felt good to not have to attend every day, and with the day looking rather nice it seemed he would be able to work in peace. Still, before he even thought about touching his sketch book there was one thing he needed to do first.

Well it was that time of week again, time to try and lose that gut of his. It was only eight thirty in the morning so there the building was mostly empty as he approached the door with his I.D tag. Anytime Fitness, the gym where anyone could go at anytime, as the name implied. Yeah it was a pretty nice place to go, especially when he was stressed out, but today he was there to burn himself up. With a warm jacket wrapped around his body, and his jogging pants keeping his legs warm he walked in as the echo of the bell above the door rung throughout the building.

"Ah~perfect." he said as he took a deep breath.

His normal routine was pretty simple, first was the stair climber, then the treadmill, then some arm crunches, then to end it all off a work out with some of the weights. With his mind clear and his Ipod on he stepped up to the stair climber and placed his feet on both foot holes before turning on the machine. Once the verticality had been turned down, and the resistance turned up to ten he was off. At most he could do two miles, but if he wanted to lose the weight he was going to have to push it.

"You can come to crash and burn, just wait your turn. You might have time to speak, but there was a lesson to learn. But barely a lesson learned, cause in return you take it back to me. Surely it tasted oh so sweet, but it was never good enough to me. I bid to never turn to fail, it was never good enough for me." he hummed as he began moving.

Despite him having asthma though he never really got that tired when he worked out. It kind of confused him, but maybe it was because he wasn't running all over the place, but instead taking a little walk instead. That was beside the point though, the place was empty and it felt good to have somepeace and quiet for once, unlike at school where he had people talking his ears out.

"Hm...maybe I should call her after my little work out. She's probably wondering how things are going." he said as he picked up the pace.

Yeah, living on his own was still a new thing, but hey it was better than living with cousins who didn't know how to knock when it came to entering his room. With over half a mile gained he checked his heart rate just to make sure it wasn't going crazy. With his feet still working the peddles he grabbed ahold of the metal bars around the two handle and held on tight.

"One thirty-five, that's not bad." he thought as he continued on.'

As he continued peddling though he heard the door open, but simply brushed it off as just the manager coming by to check up on things. With his eyes closed and mind on the music he focused only on his routine as he passed the mile mark. With sweat dripping from his arms, legs, and forehead he decided to was time for a little breather. After all, he didn't want to get completely burnt out before the hour was up.

"Whew, alright so just one more mile and it's off to the weights." he told himself while he caught his breath.

As he stood there with his water bottle resting beside him he heard someone coming up behind him. Normally he would be cool and calm, but the moment he heard them coming a slight chill ran down his back. Should he look? Did it really matter who it was? Not really, so without much thought he turned to look beside him.

"Oh you've got to be shitting me. She followed me here, really?" he groaned as he saw the same girl from yesterday standing on the stair climber beside him.

Was she stalking him or something, because that was the third time she had appeared where he was. OK well the first and second time could have been just a coincident, but coming to the same gym at the same time as him? He didn't know whether to be flustered, or scared. Even so she was still very beautiful, even in her black and white tank top, and those pants, both of which curved perfectly with her great assets, and her hair was even pulled back in a ponytail.

"Gah get a grip Rich, you have no chance at that. Just don't look her way and everything will be fine." he told himself as he continued peddling.

As much as he wanted to believe that though there was something about her that was alluring, and it wasn't just her looks. Just looking at her filled his body with good vibes, and her smile only added to that. Was it just his imagination? Probably, but the moment he glanced back over at her she simply smiled before turning her gaze towards him, then something amazing happened.

"Hey, uh, are you alright?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"Alright, are you alright?" she asked.

It was strange though, just from her voice he could tell she was nervous, but nervous about what? It couldn't have been him was it?

"Eh yeah I'm alright." he answered back as he tried to keep his own voice from trembling.

"Whew, that's good." she said as she went back to her own business.

Her nervous tone wasn't all that confused him though, her cheeks were turning red as well. Was she blushing because of him? Why was that? Was she hiding something, or was it merely a trick to get him to lower his guard? Well, there was only one way to find out.

"Um, thanks for the tissues yesterday." he told her as he kept his voice in check.

"It's alright, you needed them more than I did anyways." she replied back as her cheeks got even brighter.

"Alright so it isn't my imagination, but what's causing it?" he thought to himself as he turned his focus back to his meter.

With his little session almost complete though he slowed down and grabbed his towel to wipe the sweat from his arms and forehead. Watching her go though it was clear she was in the best of physical conditions. Heck, she even managed to complete the mile in under eight minutes; better than his own which was thirteen.

"Whew, what a machine huh?" she asked as she wiped her own forehead.

"Yeah, can I ask you something though?" he asked back.

"Hm?"

"Yesterday you seemed to had followed me. Was that on purpose or~"

"Huh, are you accusing me of being a stalker?" she asked as her smile vanished.

"Uh no, no I was just wondering was all. I just...crap." he said as his own cheeks lit up.

To his surprise though she didn't slap or even kick him like she did with Phil, but instead giggled again.

"Heheh I'm just teasing you. You've been going there for some time right?"

"Yeah, three years, why?"

"Same."

"So you're a junior as well?"

"Yeppy, only one more year and I can finally graduate."

"Nice, you seem set to do that."

It was strange, the more he talked with her the more his nerves began to settle. It was almost like he was talking with his cousin, but instead he was talking to the prettiest girl he had ever seen.

"Yep, want to come work out with the weights with me?" she offered.

"Hm, well I usually have a routine, but I guess I can break it just for today." he replied with a smile.

"Yahoo, work out partner!" she cheered before guiding him over to the benches.

Though he may had looked weak he was actually fairly strong. He didn't need a ten pound weight, or even a twenty pound weight; nope instead he went straight to the fifty pounders. As for her she took the twenty pounders for herself. With each curl he could feel his muscles tightening, and the same went for her as they sat side by side with nothing but a T.V to keep their minds off the burning sensation in their arms.

"Ugh, so what's your name?" she asked as she sat one down only to curl the other on its own.

"Richard Carizar, and you?" he asked as he worked with his arms.

"Nika, Nika Stine."

At that moment he dropped his weight, almost crushing his foot in the process, before looking back over towards her with a nervous sweat running down his face.

"S~Stine? You mean like Edward Stine?" he asked.

"Yep, the one and only."

"A-And you're his..."

"Bingo."

Crap, if he had known that then he would have known to stay away. Of course he knew the dean of his school had a daughter, but he didn't expect her to have brown hair and hazel eyes; if anything he expected long black hair and blue eyes, with a strict disposition too boot. Was it right for him to be hanging out with her in such a casual way?

"Hey are you alright?" she asked as she sat down her last weight.

"Yeah I just...YOUR FATHER IS EDWARD STINE?!" he yelled out.

"Yeah, but why does that matter?" she asked.

"Uh hello, have you seen how he can treat some of his students. No, no I can't risk it. Nope, nuh uh." he said as his body trembled.

The moment his little rant was over though the mood changed from happy and carefree to pretty depressing as she got up from her seat. No longer was there a smile on her face, but instead a frown as she prepared to leave. It actually soured his mood a bit.

"I understand. You don't have to be friends with me if you don't want to. I'll, just be going then."

What had he done? Yeah sure she may had been his daughter, but she was still a person just like him. Just seeing her sad face kind of made his own heart break in two, but could he really risk it? He had to choose quickly because the moment she stepped out that door it would all be over.

"God dang it Richard. Stupid idiot." he told himself as he grabbed his bag.

With haste he ran towards her, and just before she could even touch the hand bar he grabbed her wrist. With his grip firmly wrapped around her hand he tried to keep her from leaving, at least for the time being. With a gulp of air was ready to speak when she interrupted him.

"Let go please..." she begged as she jerked her arm forward.

"Not before you tell me what this is all about." he said before pulling her back towards him.

"Tell you what? That every time I tried to make a friend they said no because of my family name? Because I'm a Stine I can't make a single friend? There, are you happy now?" she told him straight out before pulling her hand free.

What he said after that though made her stop in her tracks.

"I can kind of see where you're coming from. Through high school I had no friends, nada, zilch, all I had were myself and my books. I guess it was the way I looked that most tended to avoid me, but when I came to MCC I finally found a group that I could relate with." he said as she closed the door.

"What are you saying?" she asked out of curiosity as she combed her bangs back.

"Look, it's not fun being alone, and so I'm not going to do that to you. I'll be your big bad bear friend." he said as he stuck his hand out.

Hearing that name though did manage to make her chuckle a bit as that beautiful smile began appearing again.

"Hehe big bad bear friend? Seriously?" she asked as everything began to clear up.

"OK then just your friend. Is that better?" he asked as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

Instead she proceeded to wrap her arms around him, and gave him a nice big hug; one that actually began hurting his back a bit. Eh, the pain was worth it as he gave her a hug back. Still, it was kind of weird to think someone like her would choose him to be her friend. It kind of made him wonder a bit.

"So want to hang out?" she asked as she let him go.

"Ah I can't, I've got a lot of work to do before tomorrow. But if you're free around one tomorrow then sure we can do something." he told her as he adjusted his glasses.

"Sounds good, but where do you want to meet?" she asked.

"Hm...how about by the fountain?"

"Great, that's pretty close to my next class anyways so that will work. But where are we going?" she said as she swung her bag over her shoulder.

"Don't worry, I've got it all up here." he assured her as he tapped his noggin.

"Uh before you go can I ask you one thing?"

"Shoot."

"Why did you pick me out of all the guys to be your friend?"

"Oh that's easy. I've seen you helping others out, and so I thought you were a nice guy." she replied before winking.

"And that's it?"

"Well there is one more thing..." she said as her cheeks began lighting up again.

"I'm all ears."

As she bit down on her bottom lip she began thinking of how she was to explain it to him.

"You uh...you remind of...of..."

"Of?"

"A panda..." she finished off with as her whole face went red.

Now that was pretty weird. Was she talking purely about his size?

"Panda?"

"Yeah, pandas are coolest, and you just looked so huggable and cuddly just like them. Sorry..."

"Uh no, no it's fine. I guess being a panda is pretty cool, but I still think lions are the best." he teased.

"Oh please, one sit and that lion would be down for the count."

"Sure, just keep telling yourself that." he replied as they both chuckled.

Huh, so it seemed all she wanted was a friend to hang out with, and if things went well maybe it would evolve into something a bit more, but maybe he was just getting ahead of himself. For soon something would happen that would change he and his friends forever.