Chapter 3

'This school is truly horrid.' Mint thought wiping off the remains of her, now running, mascara, 'I've never had detention in my life and in the second hour of being in this pit I get a week's worth.' She scowled at her red and blotchy face in the bathroom mirror, 'And now everyone probably thinks I'm a crybaby and totally uncool. This really stinks.'

She sighed, 'Well at least that Zakuro girl from earlier wasn't in my class. Or him.' She blushed as her thoughts strayed to Keiichiro. His handsome almost beautiful face, those deep brown eyes that captured and held her own pools of sapphire, not to mention his stunning-

She shook her head, 'I probably don't have much of a chance with him after today. And I have a perfectly good and rich boy friend back at home. He's almost certainly taken anyway. I'd better get to class. My day's been bad enough without getting another detention.'

Little did Mint know, she was going to be going to gym. The proven worst class at the entire school.

The girls' gym teacher was a drill sergeant in all but looks and seduction skills. She could've been a highly paid model… She certainly was popular enough with most of the boys at the school to be one. There were several rumors going around (More true than not) that she'd seduced several students only to deny it the next time she'd spoken with the young teenagers. However during gym class the only thing she seemed to concentrate on was deriving as much suffering as possible from each and every student. And the more you protested, the more laps you run after school. The detentions she gave out were not held in classrooms, but outside on the football field. Yes, it was proven; gym class was hell on earth.

She got changed and walked out of the locker room and took her place in the line of girls waiting for class to start.

"Alright you bunch of lazy wimps, listen up! Today we're going to play volleyball." The gym teacher walked up and down the line, "We'll be playing a tournament of sorts and the best team will be playing the boys class. We- or should I say you, are going to run ten laps to warm up. Then I'll split you up into teams of six. And if I catch any of you cutting corners it'll be detention. Go!"

Everyone groaned and started the run.

'This is so stupid. If we run ten laps where will we get the energy to play?' But Mint knew better than to put her thoughts into words.

Finally, the running was over and she assigned teams, "Alright! Aizawa, Momomiya, Tsugiri, Takanaka, Kurosawa, and Fujiwara you will be team one! Hustle over to the far court. I said HUSTLE!" (1)

'Oh no I'm not good at sports! I'll embarrass myself in front of Zakuro! And why'd I get stuck with that girl again?' she scowled, 'I hate gym.'

It shocked and displeased her however that team one was the team to compete with the boys… and she wasn't bad at playing setter. (2) Of course Zakuro's amazing athleticism helped significantly. She would've been happy to reach the final round had their team not be playing against the team Keiichiro was on.

She grimaced as she wiped the sweat trickling down her forehead with her arm. She was tired.

"We have to win this one." Zakuro growled at the rest of her team.

"Why this one more than the others?" Mint questioned, confused at the girl's sudden intensity.

She stared at her a moment, "My boyfriend is over there."

"Oh. Then yes we have to win." She agreed. 'Although I bet her boyfriend isn't any cuter or more charming than mine is!'

The taller girl raised an eyebrow at her.

They went into position on the court.

"Good luck hon. You'll need it." Keiichro grinned good-naturedly at her.

"We'll see Keiichiro." She let a slight smile play at her lips, "What are you staring at Aizawa?"

"Ah, nothing! Just trying to telepathically give you some of my energy 'cause I've got tons! Not that you need it or anything!" Her flush was one of embarrassment as well as irritation.

Zakuro of course had stopped listening after the first sentence.

'Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr no fair! He's her boyfriend? Well she's right we definitely have to win this! I have to make an impression!' Mint clenched her fist, sapphire orbs glittering intensely.

Ryou smashed the first serve over. Ichigo charged forward. The ball bounced off her arms and hit a classmate.

"Ryou you jerk! That hurt!" She cried rubbing her arm which now had an imprint from the ball. (3)

He shrugged and served another rocket to the same spot. This time however Ichigo was shoved out of the way by Zakuro who made a very exact pass to Mint and as it was passed back, proceeded to spike it over.

"Hello! I'm on your team!" Ichigo shouted indignantly as they scored the point.

"Yeah but you suck." The other girl responded casually, getting back into position.

Mint served the ball over and bolted up to her position at the net. Unsurprisingly, the ball was returned. Takanaka completely missed it.

"Daydream in your own time!" Zakuro shouted at the poor girl, "Every point counts!"

"O-okay!" She squeaked, "I'll try harder Miss Fujiwara! I promise!"

She rolled her eyes in response.

The game was an intense one and the lead continued to move back and forth from one team to the other.

"Come on kids let's wrap this up. Whoever scores the next point wins!" the boys' gym teacher shouted.

Unfortunately for the girls, it was Masaya who had the serve. This was bad because he was freakishly athletic and he was the most worshipped boy in the school leaving only Mint and Zakuro in full concentration.

Zakuro sighed, "Aizawa you'd better be ready."

"I am!" she responded.

As predicted, the serve was fast deep and hard.

'Crap I'm going to have to hit this.' Mint thought swiftly taking it.

"Hit it!" Zakuro commanded making a perfect pass for her to hit.

Everything seemed to slow as Mint rushed forward, leapt in the air, and spiked the ball.

She gaped as it hit the court floor loudly. And then smirked her usual self absorbed smirk.

Ichigo squealed, "Yeah we did it!"

"Nice." Zakuro had the grace to bestow upon her a small smile.

"Oh thank you! But I'm sure any of you could've done it!"

"Probably just me." The raven haired girl responded quietly before walking over to Keiichiro smirking.

"Hey that was rude!" Ichigo shouted after her, "Come-!" she stopped as she caught sight of her boyfriend, "Ow Masaya my arm huuurts!"

"I'm sorry." He responded good naturedly.

Mint rolled her eyes, 'What an idiot. Any decent boy would've told her to just suck it up.'

"That was a beautiful hit, Miss Aizawa."

Mint whirled around to face Keiichiro and Zakuro, "Why thank you!" She blushed and put on her most dazzling smile, "But I'm sure Zakuro could've done it too."

"True." He grinned at his girl friend who merely shrugged in response, "I'll be seeing you later."

"OK bye!"

She bit her tongue to keep from squealing and walked to the locker room.

1. Tsugiri and Takanaka I don't know where those names came from. Kurosawa I stole from Azu Manga Daioh. Which does not belong to me. Please don't pay any attention to these characters. I just stuck them in because I am lacking the last names of Lettuce and Pudding…

2. For those of you who aren't familiar with volleyball the setter is the player who is supposed to receive the first pass. They then set the ball up for the player who will be spiking/hitting it. They always play in the front row.

3. No I'm not exaggerating. Hard serves do tend to do that. :)

I'm sorry for the slow updates. But odds are they're not gonna get any faster so you'll have to bear with me! Not that any of you have been complaining or anything... Any way, thanks for your patience and reviews! (2 more days of school left! WOOT:D)