Chapter the third, up and running. To anyone who wonders, I spelled Brackston like that on purpose…I like the way it looks. ;p

Chapter 3: The Gym Class Hero

"Uniforms" is a four letter word. Not eight. Four. Because when the six monks walked into the main building on Monday, they were dressed in clothes that instantly labeled them as outsiders. Now, at MIYA, the uniform was optional, but almost everyone wore it. Not only did these outsiders walk down their halls making noise and wearing garish street clothes, but they sat down, with backpacks and notebooks, in a homeroom that their presence instantly doubled the population of.

"Schedules…" Kirsten murmured, distributing a sheaf of papers to each of her varied companions. "Classes are mixed, we won't be together for anything, hardly…wait a sec here." Kirsten dropped her own papers on her desk. "They have gym here," she spat in a low, venomous tone. Clay laughed.

"You can't be serious. You? Don't like gym? You're in top shape, I'd think you'd love it!"

"But she doesn't," Maya supplied. "I dunno why, she doesn't mind going out and working out at a gym, she doesn't mind sprints or training…just not gym."

"Speaking of classes…I have drum line with you, amor(love)," Rai smirked, holding up his folded schedule at Maya. Her eyes darted around the room, but it was obvious no one understood Portuguese here but her, Rai, and Kirsten.

"Escute, menino. Eu nao sou seu amor(listen, boy. I am not your love)," she hissed. Rai chuckled.

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say. I drive you crazy." He then bolted up, because Maya was after him like a cat on a mouse. During the stir, Clay calmly looked at his schedule.

"I have mixed chorus with you, Ki, look." Kirsten nodded.

"Great! Now, I'll stop mine if you catch yours while it's still running." They shared a grin and launched into the fray with their two friends, and managed to get them both settled down just before the teacher arrived. Rai did have to be hit several times over the head during the course of the period, however, to keep him from grinning smugly at Maya from across the room.

--

Gym came in a blur after four periods of other classes; poetry, photography, creative writing, and drum line. Maya had seen an interesting individual in photography and was anxious to see him again, and found, just after she changed, that it was her luck he was in her gym class along with Ki.

"Hey Kiki!" she yelled, dropping her books along the side of the gym and running to hug the taller girl. "How's your day been?"

"Wonderful…" Kirsten replied, the dreamy look on her face still in place. "There was this guy in my pottery class…his name is Myles and he's wonderful, he's got a face like an angel and he's completely into me." Maya grinned.

"That does sound wonderful. Does that mean I can have…that?" Maya pointed a mischievous finger behind Kirsten.

The boy was tall, somewhere very near six feet, wearing a pair of silver-white basketball shorts and a tight black shirt that hugged his sides and showed off his runner's physique. He was white, but he had a tan, muddy blond hair and straight, dancing brown eyes. He dribbled a basketball in a relaxed manner while grinning at a friend. Kirsten's jaw slowly dropped.

"Hel-lo beautiful. I'd pledge allegiance to that." she murmured, putting her right hand over her heart like saluting the flag.

"I know. He's minez," Maya whispered back. "He was just wearing jeans and a shirt earlier, and I about died then."

"What is he?"

"By all accounts, human! His name is Brackston Rivers and just about every girl in this school wants him so bad. I even caught a Gothic Queen of Darkness looking him over." As the two girls stood there and watched him, another group of about five came out of the locker room. The leader's eyes were on Maya in a second. It was Candace Johnson, the queen of the school, and the whole school knew she had marked Brackston for her own the second she laid eyes on him. However, Brackston remained so stubbornly single, waiting for "the right girl".

So sweet little Candace almost clawed someone's face off like the cat she was when Brackston caught sight of the two new girls and strolled over. He surely noticed that the two were staring, but he was either used to it, or too polite to say anything.

"Hey," he greeted them, the orange ball stilling in his hands.

"Hi," they chorused.

"You two new here?" At their nod, he grinned and nodded. "I thought so. I'm Brackston, and you," he gestured to Maya. "Are in my photography class."

"I know. Anyone ever tell you how tall you are?"

"All the time. Five-eleven kinda draws attention like that. Are you…?"

"Brazilian."

"I was going to guess that. I heard we got two Brazilian honors students, but I haven't met the guy yet. You know him?"

"Yeah, his name's Raimundo. I'm Maya."

"And I'm Kirsten," Ki put in. Brackston turned to acknowledge her.

"I've never seen you before."

"I don't have any classes with you so far. I'm from Texas."

"Yeah? I'm from Manhattan." There was a pause and Brackston looked down. "Look, this might sound kinda…stereotypy, but…can you dance?"His face lit in a slow Chessie smile and his eyes took on a very different light from jacking around with his friends.

"Can birds fly?" Maya flirted back. "I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for my feet." Brackston dropped to his knees and looked at her feet.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. You have no idea…" He was interrupted by a shrill whistle and jumped up quickly. "That's the coach. Let's go. Maybe you can show me some steps sometime, huh, shorty?" He shot her a quicker grin and loped off, leaving a sweet, heady scent in his wake.

"Whoa," the two girls breathed together.

"Whatcha s'pose he wears for cologne?" Maya asked, eyes still glazed slightly.

"I thought you hated being called short," Kirsten teased, and Maya turned to look at her.

"Would you hate being called short by that?" she challenged.

"No," Kirsten blushed, her eyes hitting the floor.

"And you ain't even short. Let's run, I need to sweat off some energy before I explode."

They ran laps and played basketball all period, and Kirsten and Maya tailed Brackston closely. He seemed more than pleased to pull strings with friends…it seemed that he and Maya, at least, were always on the same team. The two shone as ladies in an art school gym class and drew massive attention. After changing out of their issued gym uniforms, they found a nice

surprise. Brackston leaned against the far wall, eyes half closed and changed into a pair of torn-kneed jeans and a navy shirt with light blue and white accents-a Hurley tee.

"Hey. I gotta question for you, Maya," he told her, slinking forward. Girls around stilled as Candace's smiling face became a frown. "You. Me. Tonight in the dance hall. Show me some street moves from down south?"

"'Pends on how well you can dance yourself," she replied.

"Pretty well, for a white guy."

"Then I guess it's…a date."

"Six o clock."

"Six."

"See ya round, shorty."

"Any time, Yankee." He gave a laugh over his shoulder as he and the posse he seemed to attract strode off to lunch. Kirsten pretended to tear up.

"Oh…my little Brazi, all grown up and dating on her own," she moaned. "I fell so…old." Maya grinned.

"Shut up, Kirsten. You haven't even dated anybody yet." Kirsten straightened and wiped the feigned sadness off her face with comic speed.

"I know. I'm asking Myles out tomorrow. Your boldness has inspired me."

"Her boldness is going to get her killed," a cold female voice spoke. They whirled to see an unfamiliar girl. "I'm going to warn you once…" her sky blue eyes trailed down Maya's ruddy street clothes and dark complexion, and Maya became uncomfortable for the first time with the fact that she and Rai were few and far between at this school. "Latino." The girl finished her sentence like the phrase was a dirty piece of muck stuck to her shoe. "Because you're new. Brackston is mine, and if you think you're going to steal him with some dirty dance moves from crack-fueled clubs on the streets of wherever you came from, you've got another thing coming to you. He's got class. You're some street urchin playing artistic." Maya bristled.

"Which totally explains why I'm showing him my "dirty dance moves" while you're stuck pirouetting all by yourself. Totally and completely, vanilla bean." The two started to walk away, but Maya turned smoothly on her heel once more. "By the way…I don't think you get this…guys like a little chocolate every now and again, too. Keep you chin up, vanilla. Maybe a more acceptable guy will float on down the river for you someday."

Candace opened her mouth and started to yell something back, but the sound of footsteps sounded behind her and she turned, sliding a sweet grin onto her model's face. It was Brackston, tapping his toe on the ground enough to get her attention. His arms were crossed and he didn't look happy at all.

"Brackston! Hi!"

"Nice try, Candy," he spat at her. "I never pegged you as racist, but…" he took a step forward. "I think you better leave Maya and her friends alone. A little color never did anything to anyone. Sides, I think the right thing for me might be something totally different for once." Brackston strode off and Candace began to hate Maya. Maya earned herself an enemy, a boyfriend, and a free ride into the school's spotlight for the trouble of the both of them.

--

At lunch, both girls were thoroughly dazed about their new loves, which put the Clay and Rai, who, as I'm sure you've noticed, harbored soft spots for the two, on high alert. Kimi watched in amusement, and Omi was just trying to understand his friends' flustered states.

"So…this Myles," Clay began, at the same time Rai started, "About this Brackston guy…" They looked at each other and played mental rock-paper-scissors.

"As I was saying," continued victorious Clay. "Myles. Who is this guy?" Kirsten looked out over the crowd until she spotted the boy she was looking for.

"Him." The group followed a pointed finger across the lunchroom, where a group of upperclassmen were walking by, books and notes in hand.

"Which one?"

"The one with black hair."

"That one?"

"No, that's brown. The one with black hair."

"Oh! Him?"

"Yeah."

"I hate him."

"Why!"

"He looks like a gothic half-dead…thing." Kirsten was indignant.

"He does not. He's just got individual style. Maya?"

"What?"

"Does he look gothic and/or half dead?"

"Ki…" she tipped back in her plastic orange chair. "You know our taste in men is totally different. I don't think he's all that attractive, but he does not either look half dead. And only slightly gothic." Kirsten grinned triumphantly. "I'm asking him out tomorrow." She was tremendously pleased with herself. Clay's mouth fell open and his eyes slid to Maya, who gave him a slight nod of sympathy.

"You can't be serious."

"I can, and I am. Besides, why don't you ask Maya about her little encounter with Brackston Rivers?" Maya blushed deeply over her dark skin and bowed her head.

"shut up before…" Too late, because Rai had already prickled.

"Some…some menino e branco is steppin' in on my girl!"

"I never was your girl," Maya pointed out softly.

"Yeah…well…that doesn't mean you can go off dating any guy you want just because!" he threw a hand out as if to point out the many dangers of the guys in the cafeteria. "I'm off. See you guys later."

"Rai!" Kirsten, Kimi, and Maya all raised their voices against his retreat but he kept walking. Maya slumped and sighed.

"Hhhhh…what was that all about?" She looked around the table, but Omi and Clay didn't seem fazed, and Kimi would not meet her eyes. In fact, she looked angry with her as well.

"Not much," Clay reassured her. "He can get touchy when he hasn't had much sleep and been doing a lotta work. It'll pass. He's just worried about you."

"Suit yourself," Kimi huffed, standing up. "I'm going to go see what's wrong." They watched her leave in slight disbelief, and then Clay shook his head as if to rid himself of the strange incident.

"Okay, what's up with you and Brackston?"

"What, do you know him?"

"Yeah, he's in my physics class."

"Physics?" Kirsten put in. "Really?" Clay turned to her drily.

"Yeah. I though it'd be useful to know how hard to push boulders at people who want to kill me."

"But you can already do that!"

"Whatever you say. Anyway, he's in my physics class." Maya shrugged

"He just asked me out, is all. It's not even really 'out'. He asked me to meet him tonight in the dance hall, wanted me to teach him some dancing that I learned at home." The cowboy looked concerned for her.

"Are you sure? There's not many people around at night…"

"Yes," Maya replied forcefully. "Come on, he's an upper class white guy at a performing arts school. What could he possibly do? Besides, I'm a Dragon. If he pulls any funny stuff, which I'm not saying he will, I can hold my own against a kid."

"A really tall kid," Kirsten added.

"Yes, a really tall kid."

"Alright, fine by me." Clay put his hands up in a manner that said, 'if you trust him, I trust him'. "Let's go get some lunch before we waste the whole period." The remaining tablemates got up and went to get lunch, and Omi discreetly asked the question he'd had since the conversation started.

"Clay?"

"yeah little buddy?"

"Why is it so important that the girls be 'asked out' by a guy found suitable by you and Raimundo?"

"It's just a thing, Omi. You'll get it when you're sixteen."

"Oh."

--

Kimiko found Raimundo sitting on a a flight of steps leading out into the courtyard, drinking an energy drink from a vending machine nearby.

"Rai?" He whipped his head around at the sound of his name, ready, she could see, to walk away, but he relaxed.

"Oh. Hey, Kim." She sat down on the steps with him.

"What was that, back there?" She asked, leaning forward to look at his face. He groaned and rubbed the heels of his hands against his eyes.

"Nothin'. I'm just…frustrated with Maya, a little."

"Why?"

"I thought it was a sign, you know?" He tilted his head back and rested it on the wall he sat against, staring up at the blue sky. "I thought that, after three years of having no other people around, a pair of girls showing up was a sign that things were looking up. And, fancy that, one of them is Brazilian. It seems like such a sign, and then we go off to America to go to school…and she starts dating another guy." He paused to let the hand he'd been raising fall back with a thump, and looked at Kimi. "Sorry, does hearing this bug you?" She shook her head. "I dunno, Kim, I just dunno. Guess I'll have to try harder."

At hearing this, Kimi, who had always suffered a tender spot for the boy before her, felt a mixture of pity, sadness, and frustration. Pity for him-he could never have what made him happy without working so hard for it and sadness that it was ever more likely she wouldn't be the one he loved. Frustration because she had always been there and now he was taking off after the new girl.

"You got this Rai," she told him softly. If she couldn't make him happy herself, she could try to help him get what would. "You're a fighter, you got this in the bag." He grinned, eyes fixed on some distant point she couldn't see.

"Thanks, Kim."

"Any time."

Oh! What's this, you ask? Kim/Rai flame? Yes, my little sheep, yes. All in due time. In the mean time, review. I'm sorry for the long gap, I just got my new computer on track with this fic, so hopefully things will be faster now, but doing two in-progress fics is harder than I thought it would be. And please, if you see any inconsistencies with the character's schedules (i.e, someone having two different science classes or being in a class they weren't in before) point it out! That's a weak spot for me. Thanx.

tIGRE(ess)