CHAPTER FOUR

A glass of milk was already set on the table. Now all she had to do was find some cookies. With the clock hitting four in the morning, Dylan tried to be as quiet as possible as she checked in and every cupboard in the kitchen. She finally came across something that looked like chocolate chip cookies. Unable to read anything on the packaging, she curiously took one out and took the tiniest nibble. Well it tasted like chocolate chip cookies. Shrugging at no one in particular, she picked out a few more cookies – the ones with the most chocolate chips – before shoving the packet back in the cupboard she'd found them in.

Dipping the cookie into the milk, she savoured the familiar taste as much as she could. The flavour of both the milk and the cookie was a little off, but it was good enough.

Better than blood.

Hearing footsteps behind her, she instantly whirled around. She smirked however, when she realized it was only Kai. With some shorts and a wife beater on, he most certainly looked better with less clothes. Arms crossed in what seemed to be all seriousness, he approached her, and in an exasperated tone, he asked what he had come here to ask her, "Was that picture deleted off Tala's phone after it was taken?"

She grinned, "Was that picture deleted off your phone after it was sent?"

The aggravation he felt was evident on his features. She didn't seem to mind however as she proceeded to eye rape him while taking a bite out of her chocolate chip cookie. Feeling rather violated and slightly riled up by her assertive conduct, he turned to leave. Entering his room and shutting the door behind him, he crawled back into bed and pulled the covers over him wondering why Tala never let him know beforehand that his sister was a spoiled, slutty, blonde bitch who had probably been around the block.

Twice.

x x x

With a box of cereal, a carton of milk, and two bowls and spoons, the redhead pulled out a chair and sat down. As he began his breakfast, he glanced at the time displayed on his Blackberry, "Dylan! You're gonna be late for school! You can walk then!"

Rolling her eyes, she strolled into the kitchen dressed in her school uniform and grabbed a seat across from him. There was nothing new about her: the same unenthusiastic trait about school, hair parted in the side and let down, a little liner and mascara, and that signature Californian tan that occurred from sunbathing all day long. What Tala did notice, however, was the letter 'M' on the heart locket attached to a chain around her neck. She'd always had the necklace, but it was only now he became aware of the alphabet.

"What's M?" He pointed.

She looked down at herself and touched the locket, "Mallory,"

Tala couldn't help but roll his eyes. That was a flat out 10 on his really-fucking-corny meter. Apart from that, he had other concerns, "Why do you even like her?"

"Um hello? BFFs for life and the afterlife,"

"She's not even a good friend,"

Dylan poured herself some cereal indifferently, "She's still not interested,"

The urge to toss his bowl of cereal at her was a strong one. Too bad his conscious was getting in the way, "I'm not interested in your ho,"

"Calling her a ho isn't gonna magically make her want to sleep with you, sorry,"

"Remember that Turkish guy you liked? Faisal?"

"What about him?"

"You really liked him,"

"So?"

"And then she made out with him at your birthday?"

"Okay, Mallory didn't even know I liked him. I mean it's not like I went around telling everyone. Besides, I didn't really like him or whatever. It was just a mini crush,"

"A mini crush that lasted for all of seventh grade?" When she remained unresponsive at the statement, the redhead smirked as he got up, "By the way," He began as he grabbed his car keys and put on his coat, "Mallory and I hooked up last time I was in L.A.,"

The repulsive look on her face was invaluable but she quickly regained her composure, "You were in California two years ago," When he nodded, she continued, "You were seventeen and she was fifteen. She was a virgin back then. And she was seeing that guy who moved from Anaheim,"

He patted her on the head, "I'm gonna let you do the math on this one. Don't fry your brain; it doesn't work that well to begin with,"

"I don't need to do any heinous math here," She triumphantly crossed her arms, "You just got caught in your own lie. And FYI, retard, M and I are like this," She crossed her fingers to emphasize the closeness of their relationship, "I know her enough to know she'd never go after your disgusting, hairy, gross, wrinkly, horrid behind," She chuckled and went back to her cereal, "So next time don't use my friend to boost your lame ego,"

At that moment, Bryan entered the kitchen, letting out a yawn, "Ready for school?"

"Obviously not,"

"Here," The lilac haired blader walked over to the fridge and pulled out a paper bag, "I made you your lunch,"

As Tala stood there, both his arms raised in a 'what-the-hell' manner at his teammate, Dylan was clearly pleased with the generosity of her brother's friend. Accepting the lunch, she tucked it into her school bag, "Thanks!" Standing up, she quickly put on her jacket and swung her bag over her shoulders and right before she stepped out of the kitchen, the redhead pushed her back towards the table.

"Bowl in the sink," He ordered.

"Why?"

"Because, moron," Tala sighed, "When normal people finish eating, they put their stuff in the sink. So go put yours' away,"

"Why do I have to do it?"

Instead of providing a reply for the absurd enquiry, he rummaged through his wallet, "You get five dollars for doing it,"

"I want my iPod,"

"Fine, you can get your iPod," Once the deed was done, he reunited the blonde with her possession and then it was off to school.

During the car ride, which was mostly silent anyway, Dylan decided to pry into the lives of her brother and his teammates, "So what did Ian mean when he said that Julia girl was trying to call dibs on the place?"

"There's a BBA tournament coming up and it's going to be in Moscow. No one wants to pay for a hotel so they wanna stay at our place,"

"How many people?"

"Julia's team, F-Dynasty, has three people,"

The blonde snorted, "What does the 'F' stand for? Fuck?"

"I don't know, why don't you fucking ask them?" Tala rolled his eyes before glancing over at the blonde, "Don't you know anything about the tournaments and the teams?"

"Better question: do I care about the stupid tournaments and teams?"

"You didn't even hear about what happened to me two years ago?"

She laughed, "I couldn't give one-fourth of a shit what happened to you, hun," And with that she hopped out of the Toyota and skipped off to her school. Throwing her jacket and lunch into the locker, she tried to remember her way around the building to where her calculus class was located. Walking into the room, she sat down at the seat she was assigned from her first day of being here.

While most students had gotten used to her, some still continued to gawk at her as if she was an alien. She knew they were talking about her and because she didn't speak the language, there was no reason for them to be quiet about it; they said whatever they needed to loud and clear. Whether they were admiring her or talking shit about her, she'd never know.

As she waited for the teacher, she got out a notebook and a pen like most students around her. She didn't understand the logic behind taking notes though – she didn't understand anything. Oh well, it would be Tala's fault if she failed, not hers'. Then maybe her parents would see how stupid he was and take her back to Los Angeles. Just thinking about home upset her; she missed her own room, she missed Mallory, she missed her other friends, or her entourage, rather, she missed the weather and being able to parade around in a bikini top and a mini skirt, she missed the cheer squad, but most of all, she missed her Skyline. Sighing, she absentmindedly doodled at the corner of the page; a flower, a star, and all things girly and pointless.

"Dee-lan?"

Dylan frowned at the pronunciation of her name before turning around to face the girl who had called her from the seat behind her. She decided against saying 'Yes?' or 'Yeah?'. She didn't know how to respond to someone calling her, really.

The girl, a giddy brunette, smiled, "Dee-lan, is it true? Your brother is the boy from team?"

The blonde smiled, "Yeah, why? Were you interested in him?"

Right away the girl nodded in excitement, her hands clasped together, "Yes! Very much!"

"Aw, isn't that cute?" Dylan tilted her head, "Let me give you a super quick rundown of what he likes. Tala's interested in pretty girls, you know, someone with very nice hair that he can touch, someone with nice lips so he doesn't feel like he's kissing a goat, a girl that's proportionate in the upper area and the lower area, and someone who isn't completely obese. Unfortunately you just don't seem to fit that description," She provided the girl with a bogus sympathetic beam, "My sincerest condolences," Having said that, she faced the chalkboard once again with a slight eye roll relieved for the first time in her life by the teacher's presence.

x x x

With a calendar laid out on the kitchen table, Kai and Tala looked over it intently. It was full of markings and writing and little notes of all kinds.

"This training schedule works," The redhead finally said, "We're all free on weekends. We'll just have to work around weekdays,"

"Hn," The slate haired blader dropped his marker on the table, essentially agreeing with his team captain.

"We'll just run this over with Bryan, Spencer, and Ian during dinner,"

Kai nodded before getting up, "I'll be in working in the garage if you need me,"

"Alright. I'm gonna go pick up Dylan from school then,"

The two companions parted ways from there. Pulling up to the blonde's school, the redhead was surprised to find that she wasn't waiting there today. Maybe she'd gotten into trouble in class. Maybe she was getting extra help. Maybe she'd finally made some friends and was talking to them by her locker. He waited for a good ten to fifteen minutes before Dylan emerged from the school.

"What the hell took so long?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She pulled on the seatbelt, "And if you don't like waiting then maybe you should let me have the car," She reasoned, "I can drive to school and come home myself,"

"Nice try, Dill Pickle,"

She let out a deep breath and fiddled with the pigtails of her toque; thank God it was Friday.

x x x

Staring under the hood of his car, Kai grimaced. Five hours in and he still couldn't pinpoint the problem. Wiping some sweat off his forehead, he turned around...

...only to be startled by the blonde sitting on a nearby chair watching him, staring him down, stalking him.

She had that smile on her face. Yes, that smile, the one that told Kai she was having incessant dirty thoughts about him. Suspending the break he planned on taking, he whirled around and decided to go back to work. In the midst of examining various parts, he felt the girl pace towards him and his car. He continued to ignore her completely, going about as if she wasn't even there.

"Tala said it's stalling in gear but running in park," She peeked at the contents under the hood.

"Hn,"

"So is it a fast car?"

Kai couldn't help but find the need to say something, "It goes from zero to 100 in 5.7 seconds,"

"Oh," She nodded before situating her behind on the headlights of his car, "Are you a fast car?" But when he disregarded her enquiry and turned his attention back to what he was doing originally, she chuckled and moved away from the car, "You like look really good with engine grease all over yourself," And right before she left, she told him what she had actually come here to say: "By the way, Bryan said dinner's ready."

As hungry as he was, Kai wasn't sure if he wanted to be in the same room as the nightmare. Nonetheless, he found himself in the kitchen within a few minutes with the rest of his team.

"So Kai and I have made the training schedule," The captain said as he pointed to the fridge where the calendar was stuck on with some magnets, "I need to know if everyone is okay with it,"

Bryan nodded in approval, "Looks good to me,"

"I'll book us that training center for tomorrow then," Ian added.

"So," Spencer started, "Who's staying over? Julia's team or Tyson's team?"

Dylan raised a brow, "Who's Tyson?"

"You don't know Tyson? Come on, the whole world knows Tyson Granger,"

The blonde made a face before looking back at Bryan, "Guy with the hat? Navy hair?"

"Yeah, that one. The world champion; they've won the tournament for the past four years,"

The younger Ivanov smiled and nodded, "That guy is fucking sexy. Wow, he wants to stay here? What's the problem? I'd love to get my hands on his -"

Tala slapped a hand over his sister's mouth, "Don't finish that sentence or I will be forever disturbed..."

Bryan sighed, "Has anyone even thought about what's going to happen if we have either team stay with us? F-Dynasty has three people and the BBA Revolution have four. Six of us already live here. There are four bedrooms in this house where Spencer and Ian are sharing one, so is Dylan and Tala, my room's tiny as hell and I know Kai doesn't want anyone in his room. So where will they sleep? On top of that, we've only got two washrooms,"

With the facts laid out crystal clear, it made a lot of sense.

"Um, speaking of washrooms," Dylan raised a hand to attract attention, "I don't think that I should have to share a washroom with everyone else in this house,"

The redhead raised a brow, "Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'? I'm a girl. I don't think I should be sharing a washroom with five guys; that's unsanitary and disgusting,"

"Women complain about equal rights and when we give it to them, they're still not happy; what the fuck?"

The blonde rolled her eyes, and having finished her meal, she rose from her chair.

"Dylan, plate in the sink,"

"I already put my bowl in the sink this morning, I'm not doing it again,"

"You're supposed to put all your dishes in the sink,"

"Oh so now I have to put my stuff in the sink after breakfast, and then after lunch, and after dinner, and even after I have a snack?" She looked at the redhead as if he was insane, "I don't have time for all that,"

Tala laid some cash out on the table, "Here's five for doing it,"

It didn't make much sense to her. Why did she have to do it? Why couldn't he do it? Why couldn't the others do it? They seemed to like doing housework anyway. She never had to do this kind of strenuous work before. Scraping things into the garbage and then putting things in the sink...how exhausting and ridiculous.


I think I'm getting my period tonight...FML.

Anyways.

Thanks to these lovely ladies (I don't know if any of you are guys!) who reviewed the last chapter:

Oliveover

Phoenixfyre101

Native-kitten

Peroxxide Priincess – LMAO! We were both on couches when it happened! Haha! I know EXACTLY what you mean with the couch moving, holy shit lmao.

Master of Hobos lmao! Hope you don't panhandle! :P

PWN3D

StunningGhost

Ninja2k

AND SOMEONE REVIEWED FROM NOVA SCOTIA! It didn't give me your name! I don't know who you are! So I will call you The Nova Scotia person :s Lol.