Being In Love Is Never Easy!

By: Sailorjj07

9. You can't!!

A/n: THANK YOU TO ALL WHO REVIEWED! I really wanna finish this before I graduate so I'll be updating as OFTEN AS POSSIBLE! I promise you guys. Now, on with the chappy that you've all been waiting for!

Disclaimer: I do not own!

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Actions

(Me!)

As the entire group stood there staring at the boy that was supposed to be dead, three things happened. First, the dead boy started laughing madly at the looks on all the faces in front of him. Second, Tory handed Natalie to Maylu, who just took the girl mutely, staring straight ahead. And finally, the entire group's eyes to widen in surprise, because Tory went charging forward, raising his fist in the air and throwing a punch strong enough to knock his ex-friend flying at least three feet.

The only problem is...Tory's hand went right through him.

As Tory stood staring wide eyed at his fist floating through what would be Dex's stomach, the dead boy laughed again, and Lan ran forward, hoping to give his friend some sort of back up.

"Tory, you really are a fool. First, you take my slut of an ex-girlfriend, and try to make her feel like a real person. And now you want to hit me? Idiot."

"Shut up, Dex! Natalie is a real person, and a better one then you ever were!" Tory told him, pissed off beyond all reason. Everyone could tell that the usually shy and quiet boy was mad. If looks could kill, Dex would be dead...again.

"Stupid boy." Came the only reply before Tory was electrocuted and he fell to the ground. Lan and Chaud ran forward and helped Tory up, before jumping backwards together, away from the threat that was Dex.

"Dex, why are you here? How did you survive? We saw you...We saw what happened." Maylu cried out, clinging to Natalie so that she didn't hit her head on the floor or something.

"Does it matter? I'm here and I'm back with a vengeance. Natalie is mine, this whole city will be mine soon enough."

"You can't!" Nadalia exclaimed from her PET, hearing the voice of the one person she hated for her entire life.

"Natalie doesn't want to be with you! And we won't let you take this city without a fight!" Lan yelled, trying to keep his anger in check. Chaud was doing the same, but he still seemed to remain extremely cool on the outside.

"Oh? So you want a fight? Then a fight you can have..." Dex began to fade away and his voice echoed hauntingly throughout the church before the altar began to sink into the ground and a huge fan rose up and took its place. The fan began to blow at full blast, forcing the whole group out the doors and onto the sidewalk. Mr. Match grimaced as his back slammed into Chaud's limo door, but he held on tightly to Maddy so that she wouldn't feel any of it.

"Is everyone ok?" Yai questioned, rubbing her head and back, before she stood up. The pile of three boys got up, but only two of them nodded...Tory was out cold. Natalie, who Maylu was holding, was very still also.

"Those two aren't."

"Apparently. Natalie was so afraid that she fainted...Poor girl." Maylu said, ignoring the way her arms were stinging from holding onto Natalie so tightly. Yai nodded, and they all got into Chaud's limo, heading directly for the hospital. They tried to lay the couple out, each on their own bench, but because there were too many people in the car, they allowed them to sit up, leaning against the seats.

"Hurry." Was all Chaud had to tell the driver before they went speeding off to the hospital.

At the Hospital

"She just fainted. Here use this bottle and wake her up. As for the young man, he has several burns. Once we put some ointment on these, he should be fine as well. Make sure the both of them get lots of rest though." A nurse told the group, handing them a bottle to place under Natalie's nose. She had laid the girl in a hospital bed anyways, since they were in the ER.

"Of course." Yai answered, taking the bottle and opening it. She plugged her nose, and ran it under Natalie's, making sure it was close enough for the girl to get a couple of huge whiffs. The result, of course, was Natalie bolting up and coughing loudly, before looked around her at all the worried faces.

"Where are we?" Natalie asked, looking around at the clean, white room.

"At the hospital."

"Why?"

"You fainted Natalie." Maylu told her, sitting on the edge of the bed with Yai.

"Oh...OH!" Natalie then remembered what happened and turned with a scared look on her face, "Where is he? What happened to him?"

"Who?" Yai questioned, not sure if Natalie was talking about Dex or Tory.

"Tory! Where is Tory? And Dex! Was he really there?"

"Well, Tory...Tory is...-" Lan started to say, but a sound at the doorway stopped him from speaking.

"I'm right here." Tory smiled at Natalie from the doorway, even though there were bandages on his arms and legs. Natalie pushed the covers away and jumped out of the bed, running to Tory and hugging him tightly without pressuring his wounds. As soon as he put his arms around her to hug her back, Natalie burst into tears and hugged Tory tighter.

"Should we leave them alone?" Mr. Match whispered to the group that was watching the two.

"No, we should get the girl off of Tory before she makes him collapse from pain!" Maddy cried, worrying that Tory would indeed collapse from pain. However, he didn't do anything but smile more and hug Natalie, allowing her to cry on him until she felt like stopping.

After five straight minutes, Natalie stopped and together she and Tory sat on the hospital bed. The rest of the group just watched them in silence, wondering what to do about this new problem.

"So how did we get out of there?" Tory asked quietly, after a few more silent minutes had passed.

"Dex forced us out with a fan the size of Chaud's limo, only fatter." Lan said, grimacing as he remembered hitting the pavement. Oh what a joyful experience! NOT.

"Wow...He's certainly creative..." Tory decided that his simple half-joking comment would suffice; he didn't want to say what was really on his mind. Beside him, Natalie had fallen asleep, and was currently laid out across the bed, her feet hanging over the side.

"What are we going to do?" Yai inquired, looking around at the large group in the room.

Her answer came from the only person she called an old woman, Maddy. "We have to prepare, of course."

"For what?"

"To fight, duh. What else would we prepare for? A ball in his honor? I don't think the rest of the world would like to see the kid who blew his brains out, do you?"

"Well of course not, old woman. But that doesn't change what you're asking of us. You want us to fight."

"Yes. All of us."

"How?"

"He's going to use Gutsman. You all know that. And with the DA's out nowadays...I'm quite sure that's what he's going to do."

"How do you know?"

"He's an ex World Three. Just like girly over there. They use their navis; it's what we all do." Maddy stated, matter of factly, with Match nodding his head behind her in agreement.

"We just don't know when he's gonna strike." Chaud added on, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Yeah." Maddy replied, nodding with Match this time.

"So now what?" Lan asked, not knowing what all of it meant.

"We wait."

Four Days Later

It was a normal day again. The birds were chirping and singing, the sun was shining brightly. And our favorite group was watching it all through the very clean windows of their classroom. What a day. A student came in and handed a small slip of paper to Ms. Mari, who got up and walked into the sea of desks. The student gave a bow to the class and walked out of the door, quietly.

"Tory, please go to the office right now." Ms. Mari walked to Tory's desk and handed him the pass, causing a few of the students to look at her oddly. Tory had never gotten into trouble before, so they knew that wasn't it...Why was he going to the office?

Natalie just smiled as Tory got up, and when Tory smiled back, she knew he wasn't in trouble. She, too, was wondering why Tory was going to the office, but she was sure he'd tell her as soon as he got back.

Ms. Mari went back to the front of the classroom, continuing on with her lesson while Natalie watched the clock. Ten minutes passed by, with Natalie watching, and Tory still wasn't back.

Twenty minutes...

Thirty...

Forty-five minutes and still no Tory.

Natalie was beginning to worry. She glanced at the clock again as finally an hour went by, and then, thirty minutes later, the bell for school to be over rang crystal clear throughout the school.

Was Tory still in the office?

"Nat, Tory's still in the office?" Maylu questioned, saying out loud what Natalie had been thinking in her head.

"I guess so."

"Maybe we should go by the office and make sure he's there." Lan interjected, and Maylu nodded, taking Natalie's arm and walking out of the classroom, to the office. Yai, Lan, and Chaud trailed behind the two girls, glancing around the hallway for anything suspicious. However, there wasn't anything in the hallway that wasn't normal.

That is, until the walked pass Tory's locker and saw the lock missing.

"Whoa, where's Tory's lock?" Lan asked, blinking at the spot where his lock should be.

"I don't...know." Now Natalie was starting to worry. She walked up to the locker and opened it...only to find it dead empty. There was NOTHING in the locker, not even dust.

What was going on?

"Oh my gosh..." Maylu covered her mouth as she realized what was happening. Yai suddenly came to the realization too and then Chaud.

"The only time a locker is this empty and clean is when...a student moves away from this school." Yai stated, trying to keep Natalie calm.

"No, he isn't." Natalie said, not believing her ears. Tory couldn't be moving! He would've told her.

"Yes, he is. That's the only reason why ALL his books are gone, and why his locker is this clean. When a student moves, they have to take all of their stuff out of their locker and clean it."

"He would've told me."

"Nat, maybe he didn't even know...Some parents do that to make it easier on their children."

"But what about our project? What about the baby?"

"The babies were sent in for their weekly check-ups yesterday, remember? We won't get them back until tomorrow."

"...I have to know for myself." Natalie said, and then she took off at a dead run to Tory's house, stopping only to get her bike, so that she would get there faster. She made it to his house in less than 3 minutes and sure enough, right there, in front of Tory's house was a moving truck.

"TORY!!" Natalie shouted, from the sidewalk. She dropped her bike and ran up the steps to Tory's house, where the door opened and there stood Tory, with an extremely sad look on his face. Natalie hugged him, before saying anything and he hugged her back, not speaking. "You can't!"

"Natalie, I just found out today. I'm so sorry."

"Tory, you...can't! We need you here! What if Dex comes? What if-?!"

Tory shook his head and placed his finger on Natalie's lips, hushing her immediately, "If he comes, then I'll come back."

"Well, where are you moving to? Why are you moving? Can't you just live with me?!" Natalie was feeling desperate...She needed Tory there with her! He was the only one who made her feel safe...

"Natalie, you know I can't. That wouldn't look right at all."

"Who cares?! Tory, I don't want you to leave..."

"I know, Natalie and I don't want to leave."

"Then why?"

"My dad's company is expanding, so we have to move to Yumland."

"Yumland?! That's sooo far away!" Natalie was close to crying now. Tory was really leaving her! What was she supposed to do now?

End Chapter 9