My dad got a Snuggie for his birthday. It is that camel brown color that is actually really ugly, so it looks like a monk robe. My mom argued with him about it all night. It was kind of funny, except for the fact that they were loud and I had to get up early for work. XP

Anyway, this is the seventh chapter. Half of this fic is now public and readable, while the other half... well, it is still being edited. Ah well, it will be done later today, probably. I have the time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bionicle.

Fourteen Days

by luv addict

Seventh

In Which Shasa Is Suspicious

"And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am..."
—Goo Goo Dolls, "Iris"

"So?" Macku Windsnap asked excitedly.

"So... what?" I asked back.

The twins had found me before school and would not leave me alone. I knew what they wanted and I was not telling them. Much.

"The date!" Kotu said, just as excited as her twin.

"Shush!" Macku scolded. "How was it?"

"Like I said last night, fine. And," I slammed my locker shut, "it was not a date."

"You keep telling yourself that."

"I was not!" I walked away.

"Fine! We will talk to Tahu!"

I hesitated then kept going to my first class. I would not let them get to me.

"Strange company you keep nowadays, Gali." Shasa commented as I entered the classroom. I took my seat next to her.

"Huh?" I asked.

"First, you started hang out with Tahu and his dweeby friends, and now you were spotted talking to the Windsnap twins."

"They are delusional."

"As if we did not already know that. So, what did they want?"

I shrugged. "Mainly to see how I was doing, really. We have not talked in years and they wanted to see how things were going with me."

"We do not hang out with freaks of nature, Gali-kins."

"'Gali-kins?'" a boy snickered. Shasa glared at him and he immediately shut up. I looked at him and blinked, surprised. It was Kalama. I did not know he was in our class.

It was not until after class and Shasa had left me that Kalama approached me again.

"By day," he said, "you are amongst the school's elite students in their pretty-in-pink popularity and editor of Tamale's papers. But, by night, you are a his leading lady and pop star that everyone can not stop talking about."

"I am not Tahu's leading lady. We are just friends who happen to be spending a lot of time getting to know each other." I replied. "Kailani said I should watch out for you, what with you being a troublemaker and all."

"Ah, Kailani, a dark beauty who sends many-a-good men's hearts aflutter and plays puppeteer to them."

"You like her."

"What? Oh, hell no! She is a bitch! Oh, uh, hi Kailani."

I smirked. Yeah, he totally liked her.

"Troublemaker, leave Girlie-girl alone. She is nice and I want her to stay that way. She needs to be in one piece for the Masquerade."

"Shit!" I groaned. "I completely forgot about the Masquerade on Halloween. I am so screwed."

"Why?"

"Shasa wants at least some competition for Pumpkin Queen and I have not signed up yet!"

"How about this, I get you all nominated and you get our votes, that way Shasa will get what she wants."

"Thank you so much, Kailani! I would hug you but it is kind of against all rules of being an infielder."

"No problem, Girlie-girl." Kailani said with a smile. "We got your back."

With ten days to go before the Masquerade, student council was gathering their supplies they needed. Since I was not a part of the student council, I did not have to stay after. Shasa, who was president, tried to make sure that I could make the meetings but it ended up that I had a conflicting schedule. Of course, this was when I had a job as a bagger at the Food 4 Less down the block from me before it closed.

So, I headed for the Pizza Hut three blocks from the school, where I would be meeting Kailani, Takua, Jaller, and Tahu. Nuhrii, Aft, and Amaya all had to work, so they would not be there. And no one was sure about Kalama. If he was there, he was there; if not, then not.

Takua needed help with his homework, so I sat between him and Kailani, in the back corner of our rounded booth. Tahu got up to get me my food from the all-you-can-eat pizza bar. In kind of wished he had sat next to me so that we could talk. We really have not had a chance to talk where our conversation was interrupted or about his paper (which he turned in today, with my approval).

"Okay, so you divide the diameter with the radius." I said.

"What is the diameter and what is the radius?" Takua asked, confused.

"The diameter goes from one side, through the center and to the other. The radius goes from the center to one side."

"Huh?"

"The diameter splits the circle in half."

"Oh, and the radius is half of that?"

"Yep."

"Cool. So, if the diameter is ten, then the radius is five."

"You got it."

"Thanks, Gali!" Takua cried, tackling me with a surprise hug and sending me into Kailani, who bumped into the others.

"Hey!" she cried, shoving us off playfully.

"Here's your pizza." Tahu said, setting my plate in front of me, reaching over several others to do so.

"Thanks." I said, grabbing a slice before it was down.

"Piggy." Takua said, poking my stomach.

"I am not fat." I said, swatting at his hand, mouth full of pizza. "Just ask Tahu."

"Tahu, is Gali a piggy?"

"No, she is not a piggy." Tahu said before taking a bite of a pepperoni slice.

Kailani laughed at that, sending the others and myself into fits of laughter.

My phone decided to buzz at that time. Everyone shushed as I answered it.

"Hello?" I asked, trying to calm myself from laughing again.

"Gali?" It was Shasa. She was crying. I quickly shushed even the smallest conversation at the table. "I... Where are you?"

"Is something wrong?"

"It... it... Pohatu..."

I frowned. She has had a crush on Pohatu for as long as I could remember. I wonder what happened.

I motioned for them to let me out as I gathered my things.

"Where are you at?" I asked her.

"School. The bathroom, our bathroom."

"I will be there as fast as I can."

"What is it? What is wrong?" Tahu asked.

"Shasa. Something happened. She... I am not sure exactly. I have to leave." I explained. "Bye guys!"

"Bye!" they called.

I ran to the high school. Breathless, I showed the security guard my I.D. and I was let in. I made my way to our bathroom. It was not really our bathroom, we just called it that because we used it the most.

"Shasa?" I called in nervously. I heard flip flops patter softly on the floor, a stall door unlock, and then she appeared. Her eyes were red, her make up was running, and her face was blotchy.

She only cried in private, never in a school bathroom. She hated the way she looked when she cried. "I do not cry pretty," she had told me one time in the sixth grade. It was true, but as a good friend, I had reassured her.

"He rejected me." she said in a small voice and dropped her head on my shoulder. I patted her back sympathetically.

"Pohatu?" I asked. Pohatu, as far as I knew, was single and never turned down Shasa whenever she asked him to take her to a dance.

"He... he said that he already had a date. Gali, who in this school would he take to that dance other than me?"

"Maybe she is not from this school?"

"You are not helping." she said flatly, looking up at my face.

"There are better guys out there?" I suggested. He body shook, whether from crying or laughing I do not know. "Uh, how about, there are more fish in the sea? Shasa, we both knew from the start he was not worth it. How about Onua? I was just talking to him last hour. He was rejected by several flattered girls. Want me to text him and see is he wants to go with you? Or how about Lewa?"

Shasa snorted.

"I asked them both before I asked Pohatu."

"Oh..."

"Hey, do you think you could set me up with an outfielder, to, you know, gain more votes from them? How about Tahu? You talk to him everyday, right? Do you think you could set me up with him?"

"I... He said he already had a girl in mind." I lied. I was actually kind of mad that she would suggest asking Tahu. "You would have to ask him."

"He asked you, right?" she asked quietly.

"No... He... He likes somebody else."

I could be true. He was under the influence of the love potion. He really could have deep feelings for Kailani for all I know. And that was the thing that sent a lump in my throat.

We saw a weak Shasa. See? She is not all bad. She is human too... sort of. And she is suspicious of Tahu and Gali's relationship— dun, dun, dun!