Chapter 10: Lunch and Practice

Julie scanned the kitchen from corner to corner and spotted what she was looking for: fresh leftovers her mom always keeps on the countertop covered with a spherical plastic screen that keeps flies from touching the food.

She lifted the plastic container and got the plate of food.

Her mother was still washing the dishes when she turned her attention to her daughter. "You're getting the leftovers, dear?"

Julie nodded. "Yup! They haven't had lunch yet, mom."

"We'll, you better not keep them waiting."

"Alright, mom!" Julie said lastly before leaving her mom in the kitchen carrying a plate of their leftovers. Now, in the Yamamoto household, leftovers never look like leftovers. They just look like the same food but only a portion of it was eaten. For today's lunch, they had chicken wings with a bit of gravy left in a small bowl. Luckily, there were still three left, hopefully enough for the two hungry guys.

She entered the living room and declared, "Here are your lunches!"

Ben stood up to welcome her, got the plate she was holding and settled it down on the coffee table in front of the main sofa. He sat down and Julie followed, sitting right down beside him.

The brunette then reached out for one piece of the chicken wing and dipped part of it in the sauce and took a bite. He looked over to his male companion who was staring at him.

"C'mon, Kevin," Ben said with his mouth a bit full. "Eat up! You can't keep on worrying about Gwen like that on an empty stomach!"

Ben didn't mean this sarcastically or as an insult. He was worried, too, but they had to trust Gwen, she was smarter than him and Kevin combined. Fortunately, Kevin saw this and complied grabbing a piece of chicken wing leaving only one more left on the plate. Kevin began eating slowly, taking one bit after another quietly.

"So how'd you like it?" Julie asked Ben, slightly ignoring the silence coming Kevin.

"It's good," Ben replied, taking another bite. "Your mom cooked it?"

"Yup!" Julie said, proud. "She cooks the best chicken! You should really try the sushi she makes for us during dinner."

"Sushi?" Ben asked in a muffled voice. "Sushi's good, too," he continued, nonchalantly.

"You don't like sushi?" Julie questioned, a bit brought back by this question. I guess not all people like sushi.

"Of course I do!"

"I especially love it with wasabi!"

Ben's face cringed a bit. "Wasabi?"

"Yeah, wasabi. I especially love that feeling when the spice goes through your mouth and nose, it's weird, but exciting," Julie said with enthusiasm.

"How could you like that spicy stuff? And that feeling? That's why I don't like it very much," Ben shivered at the thought.

"But you just love chili fries! And that's spicy, too," Julie defended, sorta catching Ben off guard.

"Yeah, well...the chili doesn't go through my nose as the wasabi does," Ben pouted. "I like sushi, it's just that I don't like it as much as I like eating chili fries, that's all."

He grinned at Julie, trying to make Julie at ease.

"Why? Don't you like chili fries?" Ben shot back.

"Of course, I do!"

Julie then chuckled. Ben always made her laugh. More or less, he made her day. Hopefully, she thought, this could last through our whole relationship.

Gwen entered her karate session, in her full karate uniform and her hair tied in a high ponytail. As she walked toward the huge blue mat in the middle of the gym, she glanced at the man sitting on the bleachers as he waves at her. She smiles back at him. He winked a 'do your best' to her and her smile grew wider.

She felt confident in her match today against Jason Carter and Ramirez Peterson. She was first against Jason, the blonde with amber eyes. He was a bit taller than her and had the same built as Michael.

She and her opponent bowed at each other and started their practice session, also a match. She defeated him easily as he ran straight at her. Gwen easily dodged his attack to the left and bounded him down. Now, Jason was straight on his back on the floor.

She helped Jason up to his feet as she always does with her fallen opponent and they both bend for a bow. When she was upright again, she turned to see Michael, still in the bleachers cheering for her.

"Way to go, Gwen," the blonde cheered and clapped. Actually, the whole gym was quiet except him. Usually, karate was practiced with seriousness, the only time you'd hear cheering was when it was a state competition or whenever there was an audience. Gwen smiled at him, despite the huge awkwardness filling the room.

She then turned to her next opponent, Ramirez Peterson. He had thick, dark black hair that reached his shoulders and dark brown eyes that were totally focused on his opponent and how to bring her down. Gwen was just really that good at karate. He had a smaller built than Kevin but taller than her nonetheless.

Both the practioners stood adjacent to each other and bowed before starting their match afterwhich both stiffened in their stance. Gwen prepared herself, right hand stiff facing her opponent and left hand stiff near her chest. Her feet were separated from each other. Her opponent ran in her direction, the same thing as what Jason did.

Gwen smirked to herself, thinking of doing what she did to her last opponent. As anticipated, she dodged his attack, leaning in her left side. Just as she was about to put Ramirez to the ground, he countered her attack, pushing aside her right arm. With that tactic, unfortunately, Ramirez also fell on the floor. Gwen on the other hand wasn't absent-minded, her hand was pushed which made her lose her balance, falling toward her right. In just a knick of time, her right palm pushed hard on the floor, raising Gwen's whole body up and then doing a cartwheel. She groaned a bit in the process then landed safely on the mat, back turned on her fallen opponent.

"Well done, Gwen-san," her instructor commended, applauding her.

She turned around and helped Ramirez up. He was rubbing the back of his neck.

"You're a worthy opponent, Gwen Tennyson," he commended as well in his masculine voice.

"Just keep practicing, you'll get it," Gwen replied with a smile and headed toward the bleachers where Michael was at once again.

She was at the foot of the hill of bleachers when Michael jumped down from the third row down in front of her.

"That was very impressive," Michael said.

"As I've said, I have a tournament next week, so I have to be ready!"

"So...can I come to the tournament as well?" the blonde eagerly anticipated.

"Sure," she responded without hesitation. She has grown used to him now. A free smile formed on her face as they walked out of the gym.

Alright! That's chapter 10 for you, not as epic as what I or anyone else had hoped for but maybe in the next preceeding chapters it might. Just keep on reading!

If you're wondering how I got the name 'Ramirez Peterson' I have a friend whose names coincide with that name, hopefully he saw this chapter!

I think there's gonna be a lot of complaints about this chapter since it's not GwenXKevin but it will lead to that, don't worry! At least there's some BenXJulie stuff.

Please continue reviewing, I appreciate all of you readers and reviewers! Thanks to DanteVirgil09 and MissFanFicLover1011 for reviewing! I will work hard on my next chapter to make it more appealing to you readers.

I think I haven't responded to anonymous reviewers yet, you said a lot of things about Gwen and I'm here to defend her. She's not two-timing Kevin at all since it's still Season 1. Gwen and Kevin weren't exactly on yet. They have mutual feelings toward each other but they don't want to admit it. They don't really have a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship yet. I hope you guys understand. Thanks for expressing your feelings out and I'll try my best for this story to suit your likes.

And thanks to anonymous reviewer Gwevinfor reminding me to do a BenXJulie part. :D

Till next chapter...

~WhiteCatX319

:3