I forced out this chapter after not have written anything in a while. With finals coming up I've been distracted. Mostly, reviews would be really nice, and questions or suggestions on where this fanfic could lead. I'm losing ideas here, and going off of personal situations.

VII

Sleeping in class was much easier then Pepper had hoped. All she had to do was cross her arms over the desk and put her head down between the two. Perfect darkness. The temptation of it was astounding. But all she wanted was to rest her eyes a little bit, and so resisted the urge to give in. Pepper must have dozed off; for when she came to, she could here two guys extremely close to her muttering to each other. One on each side of her desk, talking. She concentrated, starting to realize that something serious was going on.

"Go sit down." One was saying calmly, but his tone was deep and sounded a tad threatening.

"I will if you will, why don't you sit down?" the other leaned forward, pressing against her desk and almost pushing it downward. Finally she left the comfort of the darkness and sat up straight in her seat, rubbing her eyes before eyeing the two that stared each other down. On her left was Ben, a blonde haired blue eyed cutey. On her right was a guy she didn't know by name, but he had brown curly hair formed into an afro and brown eyes; one of the Yu-Gi-Oh nerds that would carry their cards around and battle during lunch.

"Go sit down." The afro guy repeated, his tone exactly the same.

"Why are you getting involved anyway? I always mess with Boljit. When did you become his friend?" Pepper frowned, glancing at the guy that sat in front of her. Wearing a blue hoodie the Indian guy didn't seem to be paying attention to either of them. She could recall Ben punching and choke holding the guy all the time. Boljit was a jerk so she never really considered getting involved.

"I just think that you shouldn't do that to him."

"You think you can take me you ugly faggot?"

"Go sit down."

"You're just a piece of shit."

"And you're being a dick."

The two stared each other down as Pepper got irritated and nervous, not liking them talking this way and her desk the only barrier between them launching at each other's throats she waved at them almost in dismissal.

"Both of you go back to your seat, you're blocking my view of the board." They ignored her and she looked around trying to find the teacher as they continued to threaten each other, talking on who could take who and she knew that talk. That talk ends with punches and police. Where was the teacher! Kumiko-sensei finally caught her eye. The Japanese teacher stood in the distance, watching but the other students told her to stay out of it and let them talk it out between themselves. No, no, stupid teacher, stop them! Instead Sensei watched as did the other students as the two got closer against her desk, the barrier getting shorter as they mouthed off to each other in quiet tones. Kumiko-sensei probably couldn't even hear what they were saying to each other.

Suddenly Ben made a move to jump over her desk and suddenly Chris stood up from his seat, the force of it pushed the desk over and he lunged and Pepper screamed as she moved out of the way as her desk was shoved roughly aside, almost up off the ground and Chris stood ominously over Ben who seemed to lose his courage. Chris was a large boy. He was six foot something and his was nothing but bone and muscle. Nothing seemed to hurt him but if it did he never showed it.

"Dame, dame!" The teacher cried, rushing forward. "Chris-kun, Ben-kun, go back to your seat please." They did so unwillingly as Chris walked back to his desk, picking it up and placing it where it belonged. Pepper was still on the ground, very bothered by what just happened before she slowly stands up and drags her desk back to where it belonged and stood it up right. She sighed, letting out her fear through that breathe as she sat back down. For the rest of the period she had to listen to Chris and his friend talk on how they would have beaten up Ben and all that nonsense. To think, it was only the beginning of the day.

Luckily Pepper was able to get to ceramics class in one piece. She rushed down the stairs, dropping her things against the pillar by her table before going to the bake room. Against the walls were metal shelves with labels on them. One shelf was meant for unfinished projects, another for bisque items and another for glaze. She hummed to herself, going to the bisque shelf where all the clay projects had gotten fired or were about to be and were ready to be painted with glaze. She got on her tip toes, peeking over other people's projects before finding hers. Their project for the last two weeks was a teapot five inches in height and width and based off of their favorite artist.

Pepper's happened to be CLAMP. And her teapot was an amateur replica of Mokona. A small teapot, the spout was the creatures arm and its foot got in the way slightly. She was proud of her work even if the ears were standing up instead of drooping down; even if the real Mokona had a tail and she hadn't taken the time to do proper research until afterward. And even if the teapot wouldn't even function properly; she hated tea anyway. Pepper smiled at the happy little Mokona and took it to her table. The top was removed, it cut halfway into the Mokona's jewel on its forehead and she placed it aside so she didn't accidentally break it.

Keith followed her when she passed his table. She skipped to the large metal container where the paint and paintbrushes were kept and he came up behind her as she hummed and found the right size brush.

"Who are Ben and Chris?" The question made Pepper pause as she searched for red paint.

"Ah!" She cried out happily, grabbing the red paint before turning toward Keith. "Ben and Chris? They're guys in my Japanese class. Why?" she frowned to see the worried look on his face.

"You're okay?"

"Uh…yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she laughed, walking back to her seat and he followed, seeming to hover around her.

"It's been circling around the school, Pepper," he began as she sat back in her seat, shaking up the container of paint before taking the teapot and adjusting it in her lap for the perfect angle. "That they were fighting over you."

"I can see where they get that." Pepper considered this, dipping the paint brush and carefully beginning to paint the jewel on Mokona's forehead. "But no, it was about something completely different. My desk was just conveniently placed in between them…apparently."

"Uh huh…" Keith still seemed unhappy but she was too busy concentrating on painting as he went and carried a stool by her. "You want to go somewhere after school?"

"Oh yes." She responded with a huge sigh. "With the school finals just around the corner…I'm getting so stressed…let's go to the park." Pepper smiled at him before putting the teapot back on the table and grabbing the top. He watched her for a moment and his staring was making her blush. They were silent for a moment as Keith watched her.

"Emily has already sent the word out that I've slept with you." Pepper blanched, dropping the paintbrush on the floor as she turned on him.

"How dare that—that…I'll beat her up!" He laughed as she leaned down and picked up the brush and quickly went back to work.

"Yeah, sure you will." Keith smirked, placing an elbow on the table. "Rumors go by fast in this place, you know that. And they are usually always misinterpreted. Of course it would still be easier if you stay away from Chris and Ben; don't want you getting involved."

"Pfff…of course I'm going to get involved." Pepper grinned dipping the paintbrush in the under-glaze. "I always get involved." Keith opened his mouth, about to add something in when a hand and a spray bottle blocked his view of Pepper. She yelped as water was sprayed onto her face and behind her Cody laughed hysterically. She let out a cry of anger as she snatched the bottle from him and left her seat to spray him around the class room. "You could have ruined my teapot!" she screamed, throwing the spray bottle at him when he was too far away for her to spray at. He only continued to laugh as he went and picked it up. After a few more revengeful punches to Cody's side the anger finally died down.

"So you and Keith, huh?" Cody suddenly asked, glancing toward the man who was hovering a few feet away. Pepper glanced at him too and couldn't hide the blush that appeared on her cheeks. She smiled shyly at Cody.

"Yeah, well…"

"They say you slept with—"

"I did not sleep with him!" Cody stared at her for a long moment and Pepper defiantly glared back at him. Cody was a senior who was going to soon graduate; the annoyance of him never doing his work kept her from actually being friendly with him. Soon he shrugged, his eyes catching another student that walked by and he quickly went to follow. Pepper was glad he found someone else to bug, and could only roll her eyes at his antics. She turned around to go back to Keith and was shocked to find him right beside her.

"I don't like him."

"You don't like a lot of people."

"True…doesn't mean anything."