Chapter 3

"J-John? Who was that?" I asked, once we got into the cold winter air, "I'm cold. What's going on?" It was pretty cold out, and I was only in my pajamas. And it was winter.

"J..." I was cut off by John pressing his hand on my mouth. I pushed him away and curled up under a bare cherry tree. When I finally looked back over, he was walking back to the house, with his shoulders shaking with laughter.

"John?" I started, confused as to what just happened. When I turned around his face was suddenly serious. "J-John?" But once again, he didn't say anything. Instead, he put his finger to his lips.

"John, you know you can't pull off the mysterious thing." I said, annoyed. With that, he started laughing again. Then, the door opened.

"Mai, you must be freezing. And why did you kick Naru, John. He only wanted to know what all the noise in the hall was. I swear he was bleeding for like, 5 minutes. So you two stop flirting and go back to sleep. Inside." Monk sounded so serious when he said that. I didn't know why, but I was blushing, and when I looked at John, he was blushing too. So, without another thought, we walked inside.

Monk was giving me a really weird look, too. Lucky me, he didn't say anything. Now I just have to hope he won't say anything to anybody else.

So I fell back asleep, feeling quite annoyed with the nights events.

When I woke up, I felt something papery on the back of my hand. It was a note. "Mai, we went out shopping for food. Nao and Sadoko won't supply us. Old couples these days, eh? Well, John was still asleep, too, so we left him for you. Happy? ;) From, Monk + the SPR crew" I turned to my left, to see John wasn't there. Where could he be?

So, I looked behind me, to see John scribbling in some sort of notebook. I silently padded over to him, in order to look over his shoulder. It was a scrapbook! Did John make the scrapbook of me?

"KYAAAAA!!!" I shouted, "John, you DO make scrapbooks!" John blushed a deep shade of red. He turned to face me, and nodded.

"And I made yours." he replied. My heart skipped a beat. My eyes widened. I blushed even deeper then him. He blushed as deep as me, too. It must have taken courage to let that out. I was paralysed, standing in front of him, both of us turned away and blushing. We stood like that for a while, until he stood up and went towards his bag, grabbed a camera, and took a picture. After that I watched him closely.

He took out a glue stick, pasted it onto the page, and wrote a few sentences.

"Wow, John, I didn't know you were such a stalker." Naru's voice echoed through the room. We both turned to look at him, along with Monk and Lin, too. "I wrote that scrapbook, and you know it." Wow, Naru sounds so serious.

"Are you kidding me?" Lin shouted, "Mai is the only one of you Japanese folks I trust. I've been in love with her since the first time I saw you." Naru glared at him.

"No, Mai, I love you." He said.

"Mai, no!" John pleated. Then I noticed that Monk hadn't said anything.

"What's your say in this?" I asked turning to Monk.

"Nothing. I don't know anything about this scrapbook." he said, but it didn't sound convincing. His eyes looked sad, and I knew it was him, but I couldn't confront him just yet.

"Mai, who do you chose?" Naru asked. Lin frowned. But when I turned to John, he was almost crying, holding his camera and scrapbook to his chest. I knew what I had to do.

I walked over to Naru, looked him straight in the eyes, only to see him flinch. Then I walked over to Lin, who tried to hug me, but I got away to soon. Then I went to Monk. He smiled, and shook his head. Last was John. I examined him, wrapped my arms around him, and hugged him. He hugged me back with love. At the same time, we tilted our heads to each other and kissed.

"I love you," he whispered in my ear. When I turned to the others, Naru and Lin were staring with their mouths wide open, and Monk was nowhere to be found. That's when I knew I made the wrong choice. It was Monk, and I should have believed it with my heart. But with this morning, the scrapbook, the first one who confessed to me... I only saw John.

Now tears were building up in my eyes, and I knew John would ask why. What would I say? What would I say? What would I s-

"Mai?" John asked, "What's wrong? You're crying." He sounded genuinely worried.

"Uh..." I couldn't think of what to say. "Uh..." Oh no! He's going to wonder why I'm just saying 'uh...' "It's just because I love you so much, baby." That was good. It sounded like something out of a movie. John hugged me closer, and I knew he believed me. We stayed like that until I heard two very familiar words.

"Mai, tea." It was Naru. Of course. When I turned Naru and Lin were at the computers. That's when I realized that John and I were the only ones who weren't dressed. I put a kettle on a portable stove (I didn't even know they existed, where do you GET these??!) and grabbed my favourite outfit - a blue sweatshirt and brown capris. I hesitated, and put them back. That's the outfit I wore when I was possessed by Kenji on Christmas Eve. Instead, I grabbed a black t-shirt and jeans. Then I headed to the bathroom.

When I got there, I found out it didn't lock. Of course, someone's going to walk in on me. Just in case, I wrapped a towel around me while I got dressed. Just as I suspected, someone walked in. It was Lin.

"Lin, get away. You can wait until I'm done." I sounded surprisingly calm. But he didn't leave. Instead, he kept walking towards me. "Lin, I swear I will hurt you badly if ou don't get away. That only made him chuckle, knowing he was stronger then me. "LIN! GET AWAY!" I didn't hesitate to grab Sadoko's hair spray and point it to his eyes. When I did that, he just kept walking. He really thought that I wouldn't do it. He seriously did. But I knew I would. I knew what I had to do. I closed my eyes, and pressed the top down. All I heard, was Lin's scream. I didn't want to see him, eyes all red, so I kept my eyes closed.

I kept them closed when I heard the footsteps come running. When I heard the cry of surprise, and when I felt the slap on my cheek. I knelt down, tears building up, and didn't open my eyes again until I felt someone hugging me. Naru.

"Sorry about Lin," he whispered, "He can be quite rude sometimes." My eyes widened.

"Can you get off of me?" I asked, while pushing Naru away. I was still in just a towel. When I looked up at him, he looked hurt, and walked out the door. Then I heard more footsteps come. It was John. But he just stood at the door. "Would everyone just stop coming while I'm in a towel?" I screamed at him, harsh, but I was annoyed. Then I slammed the door in his face. I could tell he didn't leave. He was guarding the door. I smiled to myself and got dressed, pausing only to make sure I didn't have a bruise on my cheek.

I didn't want to face John now, though, so I escaped through the window. But, I was outside, I knew it was a mistake. There, standing in front of me, were Masako and Ayako. And it didn't look like they were going to save me. Masako stepped forward, looking stiff.

"You IDIOT! You can't just steal Naru away from me!" she screamed, and slapped me. That cheek really would be bruised now. I winced. Ayako was now stepping closer. She slapped me even harder then Masako could ever do.

"Mai, I can't belive you! All I've done is try to be your friend, and you just waltz in here and take all the men. Who do you think you are? Try to date someone even close to your age!" Ayako's words stung. I never asked for this to happen! I wanted to shout. I don't love them! Tears were welling up in my eyes.

"John..." I moaned. Did I love him? Do I know who really wrote the scrapbook? Do I even want to know who would be stalker-ish enough to take all of those pictures? Do I even know who to trust anymore? "John..." I kept weakly calling his name over and over again until I heard the bathroom door open and see him look out the window. He cursed under his breath, ran over to me, and carried me inside. "I'm sorry," I said.

"For what?" he asked, with a confused look on his face. I reached out to hug him, but he pulled away. "For what?" He repeated, and I swallowed hard.

"Running away." I answered, then reached out to him again. This time he let me hug him and cry. "I'm sorry..." I felt weak. And thirsty.

That's when I saw Monk. With Hot tea.

"Monk, give me that tea." I demanded.

"No, Mai, I can't!"

"Monk, now." John and I said it at the same time. He hesitated, then gave it to me. I swallowed it in one mouthful, and smiled. I sat there for a few minutes.

Then everything went black.