2. Pounce:

The first day of actual classes passed smoothly with plenty of note taking and little class chatter. Peyton discovered that she had seen the Café twins before; they were in her grade and in her home room, in class B Sophomores. Originally she was supposed to go to the Café for lessons on how to use the coffee-making-machinery, but she caught the twins and told them that she had a volleyball practice scheduled right after classes, so now she was out in the hot sun heading for the sand volleyball pits wishing she had thought to purchase some sunscreen lotion.

There were two girls at the sand pit already, they were chatting and stretching and Peyton hoped they were on her team; she had heard that there were two teams at the academy and didn't know if they met at the same time or if they were big on completing with each other.

"Hey," Peyton spoke as she approached, and got a nasty look from one girl who gave her a once over and a curious yet shy glance from the other. "Are you with team Cobra?" she asked and shielded her eyes from the sun to get a better look at the two.

"Yeah, you the newbie?" said the one who had looked at her nastily and was wearing the shortest shorts she had ever seen. "Coming in as a sophomore right?" she straightened and shielded her own eyes to better look at the new guy.

"Yeah, I hear I got really lucky," Peyton smiled and proffered her hand. "I'm Peyton."

"Maggie," she shook Peyton's hand then gestured at the other girl. "This is Tessa, she's a sophomore too, and I'm a junior."

"Really? What class are you in?" Peyton asked, wondering if she had somehow overlooked a face.

"Class C," Tessa spoke softly as she shook Peyton's hand.

"Well," Maggie cut in before Peyton could comment. "I'm glad to see that we have at least one guy with manners on this team now…" she kept talking, but Peyton was caught on something she had said, was everyone at this school gender confused? Or was it just Peyton?

Peyton was quite certain it wasn't her who was confused, the last she had checked, which would've been not too long ago when she had changed out of her nicest clothes into this comfortable athletic wear, she was in fact a girl. It had to be everyone else. But, it didn't really matter, did it? Let them think what they want, plus, being a guy on the team sounded like it could have some advantages, guys always considered girls inferior when it came to sports, this way she could have a fair trial. She started stretching with Tessa and Maggie, talking about their first experiences with their teachers and Maggie giving advice about the classes she had gone through.

It was hot, just stretching was causing Peyton to sweat, so eventually she gave it up and just sat down taking her water bottle out of her backpack, she had had to lug all the way out here, and guzzling a good amount of it. She looked around and noticed that not far off were the soccer fields and she spotted a bronze-haired head with a red bandana that looked familiar. So the café was full of athletes, the twins were soccer players, and that made her wonder again what they were doing working in that dinky café.

"Hey, Maggie," Peyton asked from her spot on the grass.

"Yeah?" Maggie replied from where she was laying, her shirt pulled up so she could tan her tummy.

"You seem to know a lot about campus and stuff, do you happen to know anything about the café in the campus's downtown area?" Peyton squinted over at Maggie who was considering her question with puckered lips.

"The one that all those really hot guys work at?" she asked and Peyton nodded. "Yeah, all I know about it is that some of the most popular, wealthiest boys own it, run it and work it. They do a lot of fun stuff and almost all of the girls have been there at least once or twice if not hundreds of times. Oh, and Kyle, he's the son of headmaster of this school, so he can get away with a lot, if you know what I mean," she winked at Peyton. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I've sort of been hired, I guess, but I don't know anything about them, or the café, so I was just wondering," she started picking at the grass.

"Hired?" Tessa asked, curious.

"Well, it's a work study sort of thing, to help pay for my tuition," her first outright lie, unless you call her not informing anyone she had met of her true gender a lie.

She was saved from the awkward silence that was sure to follow by the braying laughter of an oncoming group of volleyball guys. There were four of them, one bulging, another not much smaller, one really thin guy and one that looked almost normal by athlete standards. None of them were wow-factors in the looks department, at least, that's what she though from this distance with the sun nearly blinding her, however, on closer observation she found she was wrong.

The big one, had a kind face, and was in no way unattractive, but also was in no way able to compare to the gods of the café, the one that was a bit smaller, but not by much, looked a bit fiercer, but that was offset by his goofy grin that he couldn't seem to wipe off his face, and still could not compare to those gods, and the thin one reminded Peyton of a turtle somehow, she supposed it was his thin neck and Adam's Apple's fault. Then there was the well-built, but not huge, guy, and she couldn't believe he could compare.

His eyes were dark chocolate, piercing and had a bitter-sweet look about them; his hair was a common medium brown, but when the sun hit it just right the fire in it was revealed. His features were strong; he had a strong jaw and a Greek nose, big hands and bulging calves, a smile that scrunched up his eyes and revealed one dimple on his right cheek. "So, this is the new kid? Dude, I thought you were getting us someone who would actually make a difference," and had a sharp tongue, obviously.

"Shut up Seb," this came from Maggie who had stood up and was now adjusting her shirt. "Coach Grierson wouldn't have allowed us to take on anyone but the best… which is why I question exactly why you're on the team," the last bit was a bit quieter.

Seb smirked, maybe he also had an attitude problem, "You wouldn't be questioning anything about me Mags, if I hadn't said no to sleeping with your slutty ass," Maggie turned red, and the guys laughed outright.

"Ok, ok, everyone shut up and listen to me," this came from the second-to-biggest one. "Alright, introductions, I'm Tim, the captain and head of this teams activities," he then pointed at the biggest one. "That's Mike, our strong-side hitter, he can't play back row for shit," everyone gave a chuckle, then Tim pointed at the scrawny one. "That's Drew, our back row expert and the crappiest designated setter I've ever seen," again there were chuckles, and Drew turned a bit pink, then Tim pointed at Seb. "That's Sebastian, our jack of all traits and most aggressive player," Tessa squeaked and covered her mouth as she laughed at the obvious pun, then Tim gestured at the girls. "And I'm sure you've already met Maggie and Tessa, our lebaras and back row girls, and everyone, this is Peyton, our new setter right?" he asked, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I can be setter, but I can be anywhere," she spoke, hoping she didn't sound cocky.

"Oh," this came from Sebastian. "A bit conceited, aren't we," he eyed Peyton smugly.

"No, Seb, that's you," Maggie spoke as she took the sack of balls from Tim and took one out.

"Shut up Maggie, everyone knows you're just bitter," he spoke harshly as he too took out a ball.

"Enough, kids, lets serve!" Tim said as he ran out into the sand to the other side of the court and got down and ready.

Figuring that hanging out on the side with this Sebastian person and Maggie would be hazardous Peyton raced to the other side and took the spot of setter. Mike wasn't far behind Peyton, then a volley of serves from the other four rained down on them, they would bump the served balls back over the net to the other side so the servers could have another go. After each of the four had had ten goes at it Tim stood up from the ready.

"How many out of ten?" he called.

"Ten!" Seb shouted back, smiling broadly.

"Seven," Drew's head hung low.

"Crap, Drew, I thought I told you to practice over the summer!" Tim yelled.

"I did!" Drew yelled back, but anyone could see him mumbling something else, and then Seb burst out laughing.

"Eight!" Tessa waved, smiling.

"Good work!" Tim shouted.

"Same here," Maggie called and then tossed her ball to Mike.

"Alright, Peyton, let's see what you're made of," Tim smiled at her and the three of them lined up for the serves. "Oh!" Tim shouted again. "Remember your numbers! I have to write them down to report!" that made Drew slump a little bit more. "So Peyton, jump or grounded?" Tim asked.

"I can do either," Peyton said after a moment's pause.

"Where have you been all my life?" Mike asked, and then grunted as he served.

"Ok," Tim thought for a moment. "We'll do five grounded and five jump, sound good to you guys?"

"Yep," both Mike and Peyton replied.

Peyton took aim, aiming right at Seb who at the moment wasn't paying attention but saying something that was making Maggie's face go red and Tessa's eyes go wide, the ball barely missed the top of the net and WHAM!

"Damn!" Mike laughed. "Nice head shot!"

"Ok! Who the hell did that?" Seb yelled with his hand on his cheek.

"I don't know," Tim said. "Weren't you paying attention?"

"Damn you Tim!" Seb shook his fist comically at Tim, and then got in the ready.

Peyton aimed for the back left corner and hit the mark squarely, causing Tessa to dive and still miss the ball. Five serves without mistakes for the three servers. The jump serves would be more difficult, but Peyton wasn't too worried, after all, this was her first time with this team, if she missed one it wouldn't be that big of a deal. She took aim at Seb, threw the ball high and took three steps, down, and spring and hit. Seb got it, but he looked angry, and Peyton figured he had finally realized that the person to hit him in the face was her. She aimed at Seb for the rest of her serves.

"Damn," Tim said. "We have a new designated server!" he called.

"What?" Seb looked shocked.

"Woo! Way to go Peyton!" Maggie cheered, and Tessa clapped.

"Ok, so tell me the numbers again so I can start the stupid chart," Tim said, and everyone called off their numbers. "What do you say we do hitting next? I need to chart that and blocking too before the week is out," everyone agreed that that sounded good.

"Can I stretch before this?" Peyton asked, feeling the tightness in her shoulders that she was all too familiar with.

"Sure, everyone else grab a ball!" And the team hit the sand again.

Peyton began stretching, not noticing that she still had company. "So," she turned and saw Sebastian standing not too far from her. "Where the hell did you come from?" he asked, no humor about it.

"What do you mean?" Peyton asked, wincing involuntarily.

"Is your family powerful or influential or something?" something in his face changed, but not by much.

"No," Peyton laughed. "Not by a long shot."

"Then what?"

"What, what?"

"Who the heck are you and how did you get on my team? You're a sophomore right? How did you get in this school anyway?" he was scowling.

"I'm one of those people who got really lucky, I'm Peyton Eerie," she held out her hand, her lips pressed together in a thin line, wishing this teammate wasn't such an angry person.

He looked at her hand, then back at her face, then back at her hand. And then he did something Peyton really hadn't expected, neither had he. He was a pretty impulsive person sometimes and never really considered the consequences until they were inevitable. His parents thought he was a problem child that was just attention hungry, which they didn't understand was their fault, which is why they had sent him to this prestigious school. They had thought – and Sebastian knew this from the time he had accidently broken a window and had walked in on their conversation without them noticing, intending to tell them what he had done, but hadn't made it past the doorway – that sending him to this school would, obviously, rid them of his presence, and not only look good for their social standing but might also teach Sebastian to be less of a troublemaker. Seb was going to make sure that didn't happen.

So, he tackled Peyton, knocking the breath momentarily from her lungs, but once he had done that, all fight left him, which wasn't like him. Peyton, with little trouble, untangled herself from him, and they both sat on the ground, Seb looking a bit dazed and Peyton looking murderous. He looked over at Peyton, an embarrassed blush tingeing his cheeks, and Peyton looked at him, her dark blue eyes squinted in anger.

"Look," Seb started. "I didn't actually mean to tackle you."

"Yeah, you have anger management issues don't you," she spoke bluntly, not caring if she made him mad again.

"Yeah, and you have shoulder problems don't you," he returned, his mind racing a bit.

"Yeah, and falling on them doesn't actually help any," she said snidely.

"Yeah, yeah well…" he paused. "You serve like a girl," just to see what response he would get, and was surprised to see Peyton get angry at those childish words.

"I do not!" she threw herself at Seb, pounding her fists into his chest, knowing it probably wouldn't hurt him, and wondering what exactly had possessed her to do such a thing.

"Yeah, yeah! You do! And you punch like one too!" he positioned his foot on Peyton's gut and kicked her up and over his head.

Peyton flipped and landed on her back, and couldn't suppress her laughter after that.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Tim bellowed. "Get your butts over here and hit some ball!"

"Come on," Seb offered Peyton his hand, and she took it, but also hooked a foot behind his ankle. She pulled at his arm at an odd angle and kicked his foot out from under him. She looked over at him and smiled triumphantly.

"You know Peyton," he said, a grin slowly finding its way across his lips. "You're alright."

"Yeah, I know," and they got up and joined their teammates.

She ran her fingers through her wet hair again and stared at the sheet of paper with the list of workouts to do for the remainder of the week. They would all be butt-kickers and she sighed before finally tossing it on her bed and then covering her head with the towel and vigorously trying to dry her hair. Next she had to decide what to wear and fast, she had noticed that the soccer team had gone their separate ways long before her team had finished up and predicted that the twins would be waiting for her. She certainly wasn't in any hurry to hang out with them, they had nearly scared the pee out of her the night before, but Kyle didn't seem like the type who would let tardiness fly. She decided on a navy t-shirt and a pair of baggy jeans, not sure if they were girl or guy jeans, but figured with the way things were going it didn't matter, and looking at herself in the full-length mirror on her closet door she sighed again, she really did look like a guy.

Having next to no curves and boobs the size 'nonexistent', she couldn't deny it, she looked like a guy. She ran her fingers through her hair again, managing to stand most of it on end. Why had she decided on this haircut again? Oh yeah, she snidely thought to herself, I am currently going through my rebel slash punk stage, aren't I? I might as well play it up. She went to her dresser and opened the top drawer, where she kept a bunch of random, cheap accessories that she had somehow convinced herself that she needed.

She buckled on her studded belt, that was floppy and worn and missing a dozen or so studs, went to the mirror and poked the only hoop earring she owned through her cartilage, and tied a white bandana on her head, fixing her hair around it so it looked messy, knowing that when it dried it would be soft and wispy, and tied on her red, falling-apart, Chuck Taylors. I make a rather attractive boy, if I do say so myself. And she laughed at herself then left, heading for the café, a bit more confident.

The bell jingled as she entered, and the café was already crowded. The couches were taken over by giggling girls surrounding a smiling Billy and a frowning, pensive appearing giant. Kyle was currently occupied showing what looked like a scrapbook of pictures to a group of beaming girls. Danny was standing near a cluster of girls occupying the multicolored beanbags, apparently explaining something that required much movement of the arms. Then Peyton spotted the twins, behind the counter, one laughing at something one of the two girls ordering had said and the other busy at the coffee machinery.

Peyton took another glance around and wondered what kind of café this place really was, and what exactly had she agreed to, and as she did this, things started to quiet down. Until, finally, there was complete silence and Peyton became very aware of a hot blush racing up her neck. Another question popped up in her mind, why were the customers only girls?

"Ah," one of the twins broke the thickening quietness, a smirk on his mouth.

"Looks like our trainee finally decided to show up," said the other and leaned on the counter, eyes glinting with mischief.

"Get over here, it's about time we got started," said the first as the girls started whispering things to each other, and as Peyton started to head over to the counter she could hear Kyle explaining some things about her presence.

"Hey Jason," the twin leaning on the counter spoke, nodding his head in Peyton's direction, "I told you I liked him," giving Peyton a once over, making the girls gasp and put their hands over their mouths, as if they had seen something very surprising.

"Damien," Jason put the two cups of coffee on the counter and picked up the whipped cream bottle. "Don't try to make me jealous," he said while shaking the bottle and gripping his brother's shoulder, turning Damien so that he was now leaning backward on the counter, facing his fierce looking brother. "You know it just makes me…" his hand walked up his brother's torso and neck to Damien's lips, which he gently traced for a moment then he abruptly hooked his finger into his brother's mouth, prying it gently open. "Play naughty," and he stopped shaking the bottle and squirted some into Damien's mouth, making the two girls squeal and swoon a bit. "Whipped cream?" he then offered to the still partially swooning girls.

"Yes please!" they both squeaked and Jason smugly obliged.

After the two girls had left, the twins turned to Peyton who was still staring at them, one eye twitching, stunned. Damien licked his lips, but missed a stray glob of cream so Jason thumbed it then proceeded to lick his thumb.

"You need to work on your aim," Damien mused.

"Well, it was the first time to perform that one, we'll get it down," Jason returned.

"I get to squirt next time," Damien said, putting an arm around Jason's shoulders.

"So," Jason crossed his arms and looked Peyton up and down as she shook her head, trying to clear it of the incestuous images it was coming up with.

"Yes," Damien replied. "I'm Jason," he said, holding out it his hand and Peyton took it, looking confused.

"Damien," Jason didn't offer his hand, just nodded at Peyton, who nodded back, still appearing confused. "Let's get down to business."

So the twins began teaching Peyton the basics of making the café's coffees, lattes, cappuccinos, mochas, espressos, chai teas and various other drinks. Lucky for them, Peyton was a fast learner, making minimal mistakes. The twins would never admit it, but they were rather impressed with their pupil's progress, it had taken them days to master the machines in their summer home, but of course, they hadn't had help.

While Peyton was busy frothing up a latte, Damien pulled Jason off to the side and started acting like he was searching for a certain flavoring, Jason followed his example immediately. "What do you think?" Damien asked.

"I like his cartilage piercing," Jason smiled.

"He seems nice," Damien observed.

"Yeah, he should be fun," Jason grinned, and Damien grinned in return.

"Pounce?" Damien asked, grinning even wider as Jason nodded.

The twins approached Peyton, sneakily, Jason on the left side and Damien taking the right. Damien slinked his arm around Peyton's shoulders, and Jason did the same, his arm resting gently on his brother's, then they both leaned in toward Peyton in unison, breathing on her ears. She shivered and was unable to suppress a squeaky sound that her throat was able to produce on only rare occasions such as this. The twins grinned and Jason playfully licked Peyton's earring, which was what brought the tragic end to the latte Peyton was now holding.

"Now you've done it," Damien whined, placing his hand strategically over his mouth so that Peyton wouldn't see his satisfied smirk.

"It wasn't my fault! He licked me!" Peyton yelled wildly, and the twins could just imagine what he'd look like as a cat in this moment, with the hair on its back raised and its tail ramrod in the air behind it in the same situation.

"Well it's your fault you dropped the latte," Jason spoke with his arms crossed, appearing bored, but he was anything but. The twins loved nothing better than stirring up trouble.

"It is so your fault! You nearly scared the pee out of me!" Peyton squeezed her eyes shut in agitation.

"Nice choice of words," Damien smirked openly now.

The three of them kept tossing the blame around, none of them noticing that they were drawing quite a crowd around the counter. The twins were having far too much fun with there clearly 'touchy' pupil, teasing and playing like two yellow-eyed devils. As for Peyton, she was obviously riled up and wasn't about to calm down. Which is where Danny stepped into the equation, intending to rid the three of the tension and set everything back to rights, but Danny wasn't always good at making bad situations better, making them worse was his forte, which he was inclined to forget.

Danny strolled leisurely to the other side of the counter, then stopped, placing his hands on his hips and stared at the three troublemakers.

"What is going on here!" Danny spoke as he indicated the three boys with an outstretched hand.

"Peyton spilled a latte," the twins spoke in unison, pointing at the wet floor.

"It's their fault, they were being creepy perverts!" Peyton whined, not knowing just how much the twins enjoyed hearing their squirt of a pupil loose it.

"Oh!" Danny quickly took this opportunity to play savior and hugged Peyton about the shoulders pulling the 'poor boy' close. "Darling boy," he spoke soothingly to Peyton, very aware of his fan-girls nearly drooling over the spectacle he was creating. "You may depend on me! Though no one else believes me, I've always known that those two were trouble!" he glared at the twins, who only looked at each other and shrugged.

"Oh come on Boss, we were just beginning the initiation process," Damien spoke, and when everyone looked sufficiently confused, except for Kyle who appeared more than sufficiently bored with the whole ordeal, Damien winked at Jason who returned it with an added smirk.

"Initiation? Process?" Danny asked, more than a bit curious and the twins new they could have their way.

"Yeah Boss, every new member has to pass the test," Jason spoke matter-of-factly.

"I don't remember any test?" Danny said, letting Peyton free of the hug.

"Well, none of us had to take it 'cause we all were the founding members of the café, so there was no point in us taking a test that we made, you know," Damien explained.

"I guess that does make sense," Danny agreed, appearing to be deep in thought. "But I don't remember making a test either…"

Kyle was happy to supply the reason for Danny's 'forgetfulness', "Well, Danny, that's because there was no officially written test. We assumed that there would never be any other members in our café, but Damien and Jason did decide that if there ever was a new member that he'd have to pass an initiation test, which, I'm assuming, they're making up on the spot," Kyle seemed to think that he had adequately provided the whole of the café with enough information so he returned to his lonely chair and opened his laptop and began typing.

"Well," Danny thought a moment, and nobody seemed to notice Peyton backing away toward the doorway of the kitchen. "I don't think you two should get to decide everything about this initiation test," then his blue eyes seemed to light up. "Every café club member will decide one thing for Peyton to do or answer! That way it's fair and fun for everyone! The café members can discuss ideas with their guests! BEGIN!" Danny called out; throwing his arms in the air, then looked around. Peyton was nowhere to be found. "W-where's Peyton?" Danny asked no one in particular.

At the moment Peyton was hiding in one of the cabinets in the kitchen, the cabinet under the leaky sink, hoping that they'd give up on her and close the café so she could get back to her dorm and breathe easy. That didn't seem to be the way things would go, however.

"I think I saw him sneaking into the kitchen," Peyton moaned when the girl's voice reached her ears.

"Alright men! The first to find the little guy gets to pose the first act on the test!" Danny proclaimed and there was a raucous as the twins and Danny tried to fit through the kitchen door all at once.

Peyton held her breath and covered her eyes with her hands as a figure blocked the light coming in through the crack in the cabinet. "Where can a guy hide in a kitchen?" it was Damien.

"Where would I hide in a kitchen?" asked Jason, and the squeaky sound of the oven door opening reached Peyton's ears and nearly made her laugh.

"You idiot, what if someone turned that on," Damien spoke to his brother.

"Hmm… in here?" Danny asked of no one as he opened the ice-maker, which also nearly made Peyton loose her cool.

"Oh come on you guys, be reasonable," Damien opened the pantry, then a whole wall of cabinets. Then Peyton sneezed and the three pairs of feet scrambled to her hiding place. They fought to open the cabinet and when they finally did, Peyton wasted no time sitting there, she sprung out and sent all four of them tumbling backward.

"I found him!" Danny yelled, grabbing one of her arms.

"No! that cabinet was the last one I had to open!" Damien yelled as he grabbed her other arm.

"Forget it! I beat you to it Damien, I was the one who opened it!" Jason yelled as he wrapped his arms around Peyton's waist.

They all began tugging in different directions, and the strain put on her shoulders nearly made her cry, but instead she screamed: "Someone help me!" and a big giant came rushing through the kitchen door, his eyes fierce dark orbs of molten rock and his nostrils flaring like a racing horse. He assessed the situation for less than a moment then entered the fray and snatched Peyton away from the easily broken grips. He held her in a bear hug, looking down into her face, she was blushing furiously, and his breathing had calmed and something softened in his dark chocolate eyes as he looked down into her sapphire blue ones.

"Uh…" this came from the mass of tangled forms on the kitchen floor. "You can put him down now Stanley," Danny stood up, something like protectiveness adorning his features, which made next to no sense to Peyton.

"Tommy will put Peyton down when the three of you calm down," this came from Billy, who all had failed to notice until that moment. The short and fierce boy stood with his legs apart and his fists on his hips, behind him, staring in through the doorway, were all the girls, their eyes wide and faces full of admiration.

"Ah come on," this came from the twins who were still on the floor tangled together, making no move to right themselves. "We're calm now," they spoke together, their eyes like that of two sleepy kittens.

"Tommy," Billy spoke to his giant. "Let's bring Peypey out to our couch, he looks like he needs some rest after what those three put him through," Billy spoke with more authority than Peyton thought was possible of someone with his boyish features.

"Yeah," the giant replied curtly and followed Billy out of the kitchen, still holding Peyton firmly yet gently against himself.

"Come on girls," Billy spoke to the adoring girls, parting so that Billy and his giant could get to their couch. "I think our Peypey needs some comfort, look how scared he is!" Billy hugged one of the girls abruptly, and she hugged him back and nodded in agreement.

"You're so right Billy, Danny and the twins were far too rough on his first day," she said, hugging Billy closer.

"Yeah, I think so too, Millie," another girl said and somehow weaseled her way into Billy and Millie's hug.

At a glance from Billy, the giant proceeded to the couch and set Peyton gently down on it, then sat next to her. Billy ran up to them and sat on Peyton's other side, the girls began flooding into the empty chairs and squeezed in next to Billy, and for the most part left the giant alone, they did steal glances at him however, and when he looked back at them, they turned pink.

Pretty soon though, some of the girls left Billy's bubbly presence for the three guys exiting the kitchen, looking defeated. Most of them surrounded Danny who immediately came out of his down mood and was as cheesy as ever. The twins grinned and wasted no time pouncing on the opportunity to be their creepy selves.

"Hey Peypey," she turned to the smiling Billy, she hadn't realized that she had been watching the three come out of the kitchen. "Do you want a cookie?" the sweet boy offered.

"No, I better not," she replied and was surprised to see Billy's bottom lip poke out in sadness. "Never mind, I'd love one," and she snatched the cookie and took a big bite, the chocolate chips were gooey and cookie itself was soft and perfect. "I'm glad I changed my mind," and she hummed with pleasure and closed her eyes, it was the best cookie she had ever eaten.

"You want to hold Mister Shnookums?" Billy asked next, holding up a raggedy looking stuffed animal kitty cat, its gray fur, which had once felt as soft as a cloud, was now a bit matted with use, one of its button eyes was missing and it no longer had a mouth, but its black nose was still intact, its head was floppy and so were its legs and tail, its body, which had once been very fat, was now somewhat flattened, but it was still cute, in a morbid sort of way – and was something Peyton absolutely couldn't resist.

She squealed a bit at the sight of the morbidly adorable kitty and snatched it from Billy, cuddling it close, "It's so freaking cute!" she screamed into its face, so her voice was a bit muffled. All the girls still present cooed at how cute Peyton looked holding Mister Shnookums, and Billy stared, completely surprised. Billy looked up at Tommy, a question in his eyes, and Tommy nodded.

"I'm glad you like him!" Billy smiled, back to his normal self.

"Oh," Peyton pulled away from the stuffed cat, and looked at Billy and smiled, embarrassed by her own behavior. "Sorry, I didn't mean to just snatch him away from you like that… that was rude," she hesitantly offered the cat back to Billy, who just stared at her smiling face, shocked into silence again.

He shook his head, smiling, "It's ok Peypey! You can hold him," and she did.

"So, you like stuffed animal's Peyton?" one of the girls asked, and Peyton nodded.

"What else do you like, and are you really going to work here now?" another girl asked.

"I, uh…" she glanced nervously around at the attentive girls. "I like all kinds of stuff," and she laughed nervously, not sure how to proceed. "And yeah, I will be working here…"

"Yeah! He'll be taking the twins' place as barista, it's to help pay for his tuition, I think," Billy smiled and began eating a cookie.

"Oh, so your parents aren't paying your way?" another asked.

"No," Peyton scratched the back of her neck nervously. "I'm really lucky to be here."

"Why do you say that?" asked the same girl.

"Well, if it weren't for the scholarships, there's no way I'd be able to pay for the tuition," she explained, messing with the stuffed kitty's fluffy ears.

"What scholarships do you have Peyton?" asked a different girl.

"Well, I'm on the volleyball team, so I got an athletic scholarship and one for academics," she laughed nervously again, which the girls found very charming.

"The volleyball team?" Billy asked excitedly. "Tommy! We have to go to Peypey's games!"

"Yeah," the giant spoke.

The twins and Danny watched from afar as Peyton was fawned over by the girls for the rest of the café's hours, and Kyle did nothing to upset the peace that had somehow found its way into the café for the afternoon. Everything relaxed, as if the 'initiation test' ordeal had never even happened, and then it was closing time. The members of the café said goodbye to their customers and began cleaning. They swept and mopped and Peyton was assigned to bathroom duty, cups and plates were either thrown away or, if they were china, washed by Billy and Tommy. Peyton and Damien took out the trash.

"So…" Peyton began, and continued when Damien glanced at her. "Is the big guy Tommy or Stanley?"

Damien smirked, "The only one who calls him Tommy is Billy, it's kind of like an unsaid rule with him," when Peyton looked confused, Damien explained further. "Only the people closest to him call him Tommy, unless he gives you the ok, you call him Stan, or Stanley, that's his last name."

"Oh, ok, thanks for telling me," Peyton said and threw the last of the bags in the dumpster.

"No problem, um…" he began and continued when Peyton glanced at him. "I'm sorry about what happened today, you know…" they started walking back to the front of the café. "The three of us fighting over you or whatever, it was really childish, I'm sorry," he stepped in front of Peyton so she stopped and looked up at him; he wasn't so bad when he was alone. "Call it friends?" he offered his hand.

"Yeah," Peyton agreed and took his hand, smiling.

"Cool, let's get back before Jason gets worried or something stupid," he laughed and they continued their walk around the corner of the building, only to be surprised by the flying body of Jason.

"Damien!" he squealed girlishly. "I missed you so hard!"

"Told you," Damien sighed, and the three of them continued into the closing down café.

Billy waved at Peyton as she turned and began running toward the dorms, she had said she had some reading to do before the morning. Billy waited for Tommy to finish locking up then they began the trek up to their dorm rooms together. Neither one spoke at first, they were enjoying the silence of the oncoming evening and the peacefulness of the sunset colors. But silence could only last for so long, and Billy had some questions.

"So, Peyton's a girl?" he began.

"Yeah," Tommy answered.

"Do you think the others know?" Billy looked over at his life-long friend, who gave him a half grin and shook his head. "Should we tell them?" Billy asked.

"Nah," Tommy shoved his hands in his pockets, still grinning.

"That's what I thought too, I want to see what happens," Billy smiled and began skipping.

"Me too," Tommy agreed, not breaking his pace, enjoying the setting suns warmth on his broad back.