Sharon hung up the phone with a half puzzled, half amused look on her face. She knew she was out of breath when she finally answered the phone, but she was doing Para Para dances while awaiting Gina's call. Honestly, she didn't think Gina would pull through with it at all, and was very surprised to hear that they were indeed coming along. Well, this certainly would be interesting. First their college, now their regular hangout Rivertown Mall was going to be exposed to the impossibility of these interesting "fictional" characters.

Cutting off the Velfarre 2000 video in Windows Media, Sharon picked up her trusty bottle of Aquafina water that had been refilled so many times at the tap since the first time she bought it, the label was beginning to wear off. She had to cool her body heat down before she even tried to step outside, or the harsh cold would threaten her immune system with a possible cold. Taking a long swig, she stepped towards the big picture window on the wall that lined the feet of both beds and took in the scene. She may not seem like one, but Sharon was somewhat of a nature lover as long as she didn't have to be outside in it too long. She could find herself staring for hours out of that same window, watching the seasons change. It calmed her, no matter what the weather happened to be.

Speaking of calming, Gina needed something to get her unwound after being surprised by a GQ cover Squall straight out of the shower, and nearly sitting through an unintentional striptease from Zell. Sharon laughed to herself when she ran the previous phone conversation through her head. She cracked up back then, too, because Gina sounded so panicked and in dire need of sedation until Sharon somehow managed to talk her out of her nervousness. That girl is a mess, I swear.

Sharon took a glance at the clock and walked to the sink to refill her bottle and stash it in the tiny fridge she and her roommate shared. As she put up an away message to the many people on her AIM buddy list, she grabbed her brush and comb and began straightening out the twin pigtails she had on either side of her head. She was glad she didn't have to worry about disturbing Anne; mostly because she was never there, especially on a weekend. Sharon didn't know how she got so lucky in having a roommate that was cool as Anne, and also one that wasn't around much except on pit stops in between classes, and of course at night to crash. Mostly, it was as if Sharon had the room to herself, which was fine with her. She didn't mind living with Anne at all, since they were almost surprisingly similar despite their evident differences, so even when they were around each other they had no problems. But it was good that at least one of them had a life to be out and about; if both of them just sat around the dorm all day doing nothing, then it would drive even the best-matched people to insanity.

Pulling a thick red fleece over her short white baby tee, she wrapped up in her matching red scarf as best as she could to brave the cold winter air. Her mom would certainly kill her if she knew she was still wearing her Lisa Frank jackets through the winter, but try as she might, Sharon couldn't put them down. Sure, they were the cause of her almost freezing to death on certain occasions of standing outside in the cold for longer than expected, but they were her trademark, and anything that attributed to Sharon being unique from the rest of the people around her was fine anytime.

She quickly put the familiar string of keys around her neck after pulling on her thick black gloves and red earmuffs, and rushed out of the room and out of the building. She walked at her usual pace, which was a lot faster than what most college students walked, but suited her perfectly. Sharon prayed that she wouldn't get to the bus stop at Mackinac Hall just in time to see the bus drive off without her, because it would be hell trying to get to Kirkoff in time to catch it in that weather. She trudged through the familiar path past the other freshman complexes and up the hill to Campus Drive, letting her thoughts wander to keep them off the bitter cold. Unfortunately, they wandered to a certain individual that she had been trying to forget about for the longest time, but to no avail.

She couldn't understand why Irvine was such an arrogant asshat. She couldn't understand just why he continued to push her buttons even after all of the comebacks that could make the toughest soldier flinch. But more than anything, she couldn't understand why he continued to flood her thoughts when she thought she had enough. Sharon was better than this; she didn't really want him to leave thinking that she was just a short-tempered violent bitch from Detroit. As if Detroit needed any more bad reputation. But then again, something about him just automatically triggered that response in her, almost as if it was a defense mechanism to protect herself from... Sharon stopped abruptly in the middle of the parking lot, shaking her head. Hell no, don't even fix your half a brain to comprehend that you are getting attached to someone like him in the LEAST. Sure, he certainly had the looks, and the accent wasn't too shabby either, but...

The short beep of a car horn jump-started her to keep moving to her destination and get the hell out of the middle of the parking lot. Now Sharon was getting annoyed at herself. Don't think about him. He's just one confusing ass character that came out of a video game, and exists only to make your college life a living hell. Ignore him, and before you know it, he'll fade away with the rest of his fictional friends and life will be back to normal... or as normal as it can get. Sharon crossed the street to the bus stop sign and looked up from the sidewalk to see that Gina, Squall, and Zell were already there.

"Hey, Sharii, what took you so long?" Gina asked, giving her friend the customary hug. "We saw you stop dead in the middle of that parking lot as if there was a brick wall in front of you or something."

She shook her head. "Oh, nothing important. Just thinking." Before Gina could inquire just exactly what she was thinking about, she turned her attention towards the two males. "OH MY GOD!" She exclaimed in false shock, putting her gloved hands to her face. "Is that Zell? Wearing a coat? And Squall? Wearing a slightly longer rendition of his usual fur-lined leather jacket?"

Squall blinked at the sense of humor coming from the girl, since he didn't really know how else to respond to something like that. Zell, however, cheesed and turned around slowly, modeling his heavy lined down jacket.

"Yeah, I do own stuff to keep warm," Zell said, stuffing his hands in the deep pockets. "If I'm not moving constantly, that's when I start feeling this wicked cold. Gina was kind enough to instruct us on wearing this before we left, since we didn't know we'd be standing here waiting for this bus for long."

Gina nodded, then glanced at her watch. "Well, it's supposed to be here by now. Do you think we missed it?"

Sharon pursed her lips, the winter wind whipping her ponytails into her face. "Unless they're really evil and decided to come more than 15 minutes early today. But that would just be plain..." She stopped upon looking up and catching the sight of the bus pulling around the bend. They all grabbed their school IDs out of their pockets to show to the driver in order to ride for free, and piled onto the toasty warm Grand Rapids city bus.

"Ooooh, this feels GREAT!" Sharon openly expressed, pulling off her earmuffs and loosening the scarf around her neck. "No more cold winds for a good 25 minutes!"

Gina plopped down in the seat next to Sharon, while Squall and Zell took the pair of seats directly in front of them, both equally glad to let their bodies thaw out.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Zell turned around in his seat to stare at Sharon and Gina, as the bus motored its way towards the Kirkoff Center before finally heading off towards the mall. "Besides checking out that arcade, that is."

"Leave it all to me!" Sharon spoke up, a grin spreading across her face. "Da Hypaa will be your designated tour guide to all of the sights and sounds of Grand Rapids' own, Rivertown Mall!" She looked at Gina for confirmation, and Gina added her own smile and a nod. Squall sat forward, but was internally wondering just what he had got himself in for when he was dragged into this whole outing.

Paper rustled. "Shouldn't you be studying for your classes rather than spending your parents' money going mall hopping?"

Gina and Sharon exchanged glances, and even Squall turned around with a lifted eyebrow. Everyone came to face a lifted Grand Rapids newspaper a row behind the group, as if the person who obviously said the comment hadn't paused reading an article to share it with them. None of them were really for questioning an elder, even if the comment wasn't really called for.

"Heh," Gina laughed half heartedly, not knowing what to do.

"Well, if you're going to spend all of that energy doing that, might as well let someone like me join the party." The newspaper lowered, and a pair of mischievous eyes out from under the brim of a cowboy hat sparkled.

Gina immediately cheesed when she saw who it was, then glanced up at Sharon and winced at her best friend's expression change. "Shit..."

Squall sighed and turned back around, putting a hand to his forehead because he knew what was probably going to follow this little trick the cowboy had pulled on all of them.

"Hey, Irv, what's up!" Zell bounced like a little kid, still turned around in his seat. "Yeah, c'mon and join us! Sharii's gonna be our tour guide!"

"Ooh. Sounds entertaining," Irvine replied, adding a grin to the flirty glint in his eyes.

Sharon was going to have a good day today. She really, really was. In fact, didn't she tell herself that she wasn't going to let him bug her anymore? She was going to ignore the first little comment, but the second one set something off in her that probably needed the sound effect of a twig snapping inside of her head. She got out of her seat and walked around, not caring about the other people boarding the bus, and snatched the newspaper out of his hands and leaned over his chair as menacingly as a girl in a Lisa Frank jacket with pigtails could manage.

"The only thing that's going to be entertaining for you today is having your very first 100% recycled newspaper enema," Sharon growled, crumpling up the newspaper slowly in one fist as if she was contemplating every inch of pain she was going to deal to the guy in front of her. Irvine, however, just sat there and smiled unconcernedly, as if everything was fine and there was not lady death standing over him.

Suddenly, the bus chose that moment to close the doors and start off abruptly, startling Zell to turn around the right way in his seat and get settled. Sharon, however, wasn't as prepared, as her footing was lost and she found herself tripping right into the cowboy's lap. Irvine instinctively reached up and steadied her balance by placing his hands on her hips, and left the final position to look... once again, wrong.

"Well. You sure do know how to fall for a guy, now don't you?" Irvine winked.

She was going to kill him. She just needed a weapon. She wondered if a sturdy weapon could be made out of a crumpled handful of newspaper. If someone could kill by stabbing with a spoon, then certainly it was possible. Gina saw her best friend clenching her teeth, and took it upon herself to whip out of her seat and grab Sharon's arm before she saw blood and possibly murdered almost every living being on the bus in a frenzy.

"C'mon Sharii-chan, let's go back to our seats," Gina said as if trying to coax a child to leave a display full of sweets. Sharon obeyed, but not without shooting death glares at him. Gina further tried to calm her rage by putting her own headphones over the girl's ears, and pressing play. Of course, it wasn't Happy Hardcore, but Linkin Park did the trick and Sharon was soon lost in the melodies of Meteora.

Irvine adjusted his black cowboy hat and relaxed against the seats, enjoying the ride. Escaped the claws of death again, eh boy? He knew he should really stop provoking her, but he just couldn't stop. He liked walking up and kissing danger in the face - quite literally. Not to mention she looked quite cute whenever she got angry. Tilting his head, he studied the back of Sharon's head thoughtfully. Just what's behind that bitchy exterior, I wonder? Of course, he would have to start being a bit nicer in order for him to ever find out in this lifetime, because if he slipped up when Gina wasn't around to save his ass then he wouldn't be surprised if she was capable of inflicting great bodily harm.

Ah, whatever. Irvine switched his gaze to the passing scenery. It's too late to make amends now. If he tried, then Sharon would just hate him more out of suspicion. And with a right she should. She wasn't entirely sure of what the cowboy's purpose of continuing the whole dangerous game between them was. And to come to think of it, neither did he.