CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

It was past 2 AM and although everyone else was in bed, Kenny was still up. After adding some finishing touches to Tyson and Daichi's beyblades for their next match, the brunette leaned back in his chair and sighed in relief and success. He yawned and just as he was about to call it a night and head to bed himself, his eyes fell on the piece of paper beside his laptop. Pulling it close, he re-examined the paper covered in rough sketches and brief descriptions in pink ink.

The idea was very complex, one that would take more than just a day's worth of work to put in place...and absolutely brilliant. Grabbing a pen off the table, he added in some estimations to aid him later in which these modifications would be put in place for the beyblade in question. Putting the paper aside, he decided to give the creator of the idea an update. Logging onto Facebook, he navigated to her profile, hit 'Send Message' and typed up the composition.

Hi Dylan,

I would like to let you know that your proposal is attainable. However, in order to achieve a flawless result there will be a few obstacles that we will need to overcome. First, it will take me some time to come up with accurate calculations (which I have already started working on). I am not familiar with cars and their functionality so you will have to be in charge of possible materials that can be used. Your presence will also be required when we build this because I have never done something like this before for a beyblade.

I will keep you updated.

-Kenny

PS: For the sake of both of our valuable lives, I highly recommend making a prototype before we go messing around with his beyblade...

x x x

Following their Sunday morning training, the White Tigers headed back to their hotel suite for lunch. While Ray quickly cleaned the kitchen counter with a cloth, Mariah got a few items out of the fridge. Filling up a pot with water, the raven haired blader watched the pinkette with the corner of her eyes as she chopped up the bok choy, "So what crawled up your ass and died? Or what's crawling out of your womanly parts..."

"Ray!" The whine was followed by an eye roll, "That's gross. And I'm not on my period,"

The ex-Bladebreaker shrugged, "You seem...meh,"

"I'm not meh,"

"You're meh,"

"Stop saying meh,"

"...meh,"

Placing a hand on her hip, Mariah gave her childhood friend and teammate and pathetic look, "I'm holding a knife,"

"Alright, alright, tell me what's up,"

"I don't know," She sighed, "I guess I'm still shocked by the whole Julia and Miriam thing. They're my friends, Ray, and I know I told you to tell me, but I wish I didn't know. I just don't know what to think, I don't know how to feel about this, I just don't know,"

"What's done is done, let it go,"

"And," She looked over her shoulder to check if the coast was clear of everyone else, especially Lee, "Tala's been ignoring me; I don't know why,"

"That's impossible," Ray declined, "I don't know Tala that well, but I know that no guy randomly stops talking to a girl unless she did something really shitty," Having said that, he gave her a quizzical look.

"We had an argument," She confessed, "But it wasn't even that bad,"

"Anytime in that argument did you make fun of his manhood?"

"No!" She exclaimed, after all, if anything, she would praise him for that.

"Good, never do that, it kills a man's self esteem," He clarified before moving onto the next prompt, "Did you insult something that's important to him? Maybe his beyblading skills?"

"No, nothing. I mean we both said things that we probably didn't mean, but like I said, it wasn't that bad of a fight. I even said sorry,"

"And?"

"He ignored it,"

"Give him space then,"

"I gave him enough space. I don't get it, he's never ignored me like this, especially after I've apologized. He's not that kind of guy,"

Ray set the pot on the stove, "Is he important to you?"

"Well not like that, I mean obviously he's still someone I talk to and he's a friendso in that sense he's important, but not in any other -"

"Okay stop," He cut her off, "Stop," He repeated and looked at her seriously, "Just answer the question: is he important to you? Don't analyze it, don't give him a label, just yes or no,"

"Yeah, he is,"

"Then talk to him,"

Mariah wrinkled her nose, "What?"

"Look, obviously you're bothered by the fact that he's ignoring you and since you don't have any idea why he's doing it and since he's important to you, find out what's going on,"

"Really?"

"Trust me, I'm a guy, I know what I'm talking about. Confront him, but don't annoy him,"

"How would I do that? He won't reply to my texts and he's not picking up my calls,"

"Something, I don't know what, but something tells me you know where Tala lives," Ray noted sarcastically as he dumped a few cups of rice into the boiling water.

x x x

Mathilda couldn't remember the last time she'd been so bored on a weekend. She checked her cell phone for what seemed to be the hundredth time; still nothing from 'Tala'. It was unusual behaviour. Calls and texts from Dylan were very frequent and coming over on the weekend was something Mathilda – and the rest of Barthez Battalion for that matter – had gotten used to.

She lazily reached for Aaron's laptop, logging into Facebook casually, soon finding herself creeping the Queen Bee's profile. She didn't know why she did it. She hadn't even done it consciously. She just did it. There was a really stupid status again, courtesy of Tala, and on top of that, it appeared that many people were aware of account being hacked, the situation waging war on her Facebook wall between her friends and the imposter.

Michael Parker tala likes cock

Tala Ivanov r u offering

Michael Parker wtf

Hayden Ivanov Is this true?

Eddie Wheeler ^LOLOLOL

Dylan Ivanov i makeout with my pillow and hump it like an animal

Mallory Parsons lol

Sarah Elizabeth PEOPLE DONT BELIEVE THIS IS DYLAN! HER DUMB BRO HACKED HER ACCOUNT!

Kyrone Bell foreal her bro has her password? hahaha

Who knew Tala could be so juvenile? Mathilda rolled her eyes, absentmindedly clicking on the pictures from the night they had gone out with the All Stars. The photos ranged from Michael and Eddie chopping some chicks, Rick chugging a beer, Max on his phone, pics of just the girls, and finally, one of herself and Dylan.

It was right in the middle of the dance floor with strobe lights shining down on them, the smoke from peoples' cigarettes giving the picture a slightly hazy effect. Their heads leaned in towards each other, touching practically, one of their arms casually around each other, their free hand clutching on their cell phones and drinks – a cranberry vodka for the blonde and a rum and coke for Mathilda – and a smile plastered on both their faces made the picture literally picture perfect.

Mathilda would never forget that night. Well actually, given the number of drinks she'd had that night, that wasn't entirely true, but she knew for sure the amount of fun from that night could never compare to anything else. How did she even get home again? Oh well, who cares, that wasn't important.

Her shoulders slumped as she stared at the picture, specifically at the blonde, and then looked over at her dormant phone. Taking a deep breath, she picked up the cell, and, for the first time, decided to make the first move. Finding the desired name in her phone book, she hit the call button: "Um, hi, can I speak to Dylan?"

x x x

Sitting on one of the couches with his feet up on the coffee table, Ian was doing something on his laptop while Bryan watched from beside him. From the other couch, Spencer flipped the channels on TV, the remote gripped into his hand pretty much lifelessly, Kai had occupied himself with a 'brain game' on his iPhone, the only female in the house sat filing her nails, and the redheaded team captain was practically falling asleep from boredom, his head drooping forward every now and then. The ring of his Blackberry had woke him up for good, however, and he quickly reached for the phone on the coffee table. He'd expected his parents or Julia to be calling. What he didn't expect was Mattie calling.

He'd accepted the call but handed the phone over to the blonde right away, "It's for you,"

"Hello? Oh. Hi. Yeah, I'm kinda busy. I'm doing homework. Yup. K. I'll call you later. Bye," And just like that, the call ended as fast as it started.

Tala was amused, "Is Dill Pickle mad at Mathilda?"

"Why would I be mad at her? Like, I don't even know her,"

The redhead shrugged at no one in particular before letting out a yawn and stretching, "What are we having for dinner tonight?"

"You tell me," Bryan glared at the captain and then the rest of his teammates, "No one did the groceries,"

Crickets chirped as everyone played a staring game in the living room, Tala eyeing Ian, Ian eyeing Spencer, Spencer eyeing Kai, Kai not being able to care less.

"Not it!" Tala shouted first, with an arm enthusiastically in the air.

"Not it," Ian was quick to follow.

"Hn," ...AKA, don't count on Kai either.

"Not it," Spencer added.

"Well," Bryan sighed, "Either someone gets them right now or you all starve. You take your pick,"

"I ain't going to bed without food, fuck that," Tala decided immediately, "Ian, you're in charge of groceries. Go get 'em, we hungry,"

"What the hell? I'm always doing something, make Spencer go,"

"Me?" Scoffed the huge blonde, "Make Kai go, he never does shit except take a shit,"

"Yeah," Dylan smirked, "I think Kai should go,"

"I pick Kai, too, then," And in an intelligent move, Ian's input had already made it three against one.

"Fine by me," Tala eyed the bluenette, "Go get the groceries, bitch,"

And any threatening looks from Kai were diffused by Bryan, "The vote doesn't lie,"

Needless to say, the phoenix had lost this battle. Quickly pulling a hoodie over his head and putting his jacket on, he grabbed his phone and car keys and was out the door.

To a surprise.

Well, knowing Dylan, it probably shouldn't have been a surprise. She stood by his car, apparently ready to go with him.

"You're not coming," He stated.

"Oh, believe me, hun, I don't want to," She rolled her eyes, "But if you want to get into Hilary's pants before Tyson does, you'll have to let me help you. Look at this as another practice; I'm just going to assess your interaction skills with a girl and at the end of the night I'll tell you how you did and if there's anything you need to work on,"

"You're still not coming,"

"Tyson -"

Annoyed, he came up real close to her, "Is there any part of me that physically resembles Tyson to you?"

"Not really,"

"Thought so,"

"I mean he's kinda cute, so..."

OOOOHHH! DAMN! He raised a sceptical brow as if to say 'really, bitch?' before unwillingly pulling the passenger door open, "Get in,"

"Chivalry," She grinned, "Nice. You get a point for that,"

"Likewise," He closed the door and walked around to get to the driver's seat, "For using such a big word," The insult was subtle and clever and his way of getting her back for the Tyson-comment.

"So," She began and Kai could only wonder what topic of conversation would arise this time, "Who is Mariah?"

"You've met her,"

"I know who she is, but I don't, like, know who she is," She elaborated, though the bluenette had difficulty understanding the dialogue of Girl World, "What's her deal with Devil Horns?"

"Don't know, don't care,"

"Were they dating?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because Tala's my bro and I have a lot of love for him," She'd placed a hand over her chest.

"Right..." Kai would never buy the false affection whether it was from Dylan or Tala. What the siblings had for each other was definitely far from love. They didn't get along and probably didn't care all that much about each other either. And when Michael had coined the nickname 'Tala Junior' for her, he had reason to. Nah, they didn't look that much alike, except for a few things here and there, but their personality was similar.

Their destination finally came into view and after parking the car, Kai took the key out of the ignition and leaned into his seat, "Go get the groceries," The look on her face was more priceless than a MasterCard commercial, "You insisted on coming so I was put under the impression that you want to get the things. Here's the list and here's the money. Go,"

"Kai, sweetheart, no," She let out a deep breath and shook her head, "That's not how you treat a lady. This is an asshole move,"

"I guess I'm an asshole then," He didn't bother looking at her, missing out on the pathetic look and eye roll she was giving him as she got out of the car. Nonetheless, he waited a few minutes before strolling into the grocery store himself and after going through a few aisles, he found her.

And her shopping cart full of errors.

Where she should have gotten beets, she got plums. Where she was told to get sour cream, she'd picked up yogurt. And a lettuce head was mistaken for cabbage.

"So you decided to come,"

Uh, thank God Kai decided to come, "This is all wrong," He noted as he took over the cart, quickly trading everything for the right ones before looking at the grocery list. Mentally checking off all the things, he concluded that he'd pretty much gotten all the items. Well almost everything. He eyed the blonde, "Go find those cookies you eat,"

"The chocolate chip ones?"

"Whatever you have at night with your milk, I don't care,"

The groceries were finally paid for and then dumped into the trunk of the BMW and it was off to home. Or so she'd thought. She wasn't entirely familiar with the streets but she did manage to pick up that he'd taken a completely different route, "Aren't we going home?"

"No,"

"Then?" But her enquiry went without a reply and she didn't bother with further questions. She assumed they were going to a gas station to fill the tank or maybe he needed to see Tyson or one of his old teammates for something. Neither guesses were correct as she watched him pull into a random parking lot, a few other vehicles present. The door opened from his side as he left the car and she instinctively did the same, locking and shutting the door behind her and following him to Lord knew where. They strolled across the parking lot which led them into a vast open area. It was lit up quite well, an entire building covered in white lights, another structure off in the distance resembling what she could only describe as the house made of candy from Hansel and Gretel. Nonetheless, it was a spectacular sight and definitely different. There were others walking around as well, some couples, some families, and tourists. American tourists. There were others, but obviously for her, her kind had naturally stood our more. With that came a great level of comfort and seeing a guy with an L.A. Dodgers hoodie made her feel that much closer to home. After a couple of more minutes fantasizing of the land of her birth, she snapped back to reality, "Where are we?"

"Red Square,"

"What's Red Square?"

"Where you are," Sigh; only Kai could ever get away with smart ass answers that always seemed have a sarcastic and slightly demeaning undertone. He paused abruptly and pointed out a building, "Just as the President of the Unites States lives in the White House, the President of Russia lives in there,"

"Oh yeah?" Her eyes shifted to the life size gingerbread house look alike, "What's that one?"

"St. Basil's Cathedral. When you Google California, the first images you'll see is the Golden Gate Bridge and the Hollywood sign. If you do that with Russia, this is what you'll see. It's the country's landmark," He watched her nod in understanding, her mouth slightly and unconsciously open while she took in her surroundings.

"This is..."

This is the start of a stupid comment, he was sure. Everything that came out of her mouth seemed to be anyway. At least unlike others, Kai was always ready for foolish remarks from fools. Tyson had prepared him well.

"...actually pretty cool,"

The bluenette raised a brow in surprise; what was this? A stamp of approval from Dylan? Not that he was fishing for it in the first place, but to see her truly impressed by something was completely new to him. He had never seen this side of her before and it was just really interesting to get such a natural and honest reaction out of her. It was nice for a change.

"Hn," Kai smirked, his arms crossed in accomplishment along with that signature close-eyed look, "Don't say I don't take you out."

SEXUAL ASSAULT. Some serious fuckery happened to me at school this Thursday (I started school this May). I was sitting on a bench after class, calling my mom to pick me up. Meanwhile, a man of about 36/37 randomly sits beside me (even though there were other benches available). He was new to Canada and started asking me weird questions: "In this culture, people shake hands a lot, right?" I didn't know what he was getting at but I said "Yeah" and went back to playing on my Blackberry to avoid him. But he continued: "And hugging is also normal?" And I just mumbled a "Yeah, normal with friends and stuff," and from there he concludes the following: "So hugging and kissing is normal in this culture". I didn't really say anything and there was silence for a few seconds when suddenly he gets up and stands right in front of me and sticks out his hand. I was kinda like oookay but shook hands anyway and as I did, he pulled me up and grabbed me. It was uncomfortable, awkward, and really scary considering I'm only 5'5 and weigh 97 pounds. His legs were spread open and he was squeezing me, like my boobs up against his chest. At that point I was just like WTFWTFWTF but it got worse. He tried to kiss me and I turned my face to the side and he kissed my cheek and he wasn't letting go and he kept saying "Kiss me, kiss me!" and trying to force me.

There was an elevator to my left and just when the guy got physical, a professor walked by and waited for the elevator and watched us. The prof didn't do anything at the time b/c I didn't scream or anything like that, all I did was tell the guy "Um okay...okay..." like okay stop, that's enough, and finally I pushed away, grabbed my purse, and ran into the elevator. The prof came in with me and kept smiling at me b/c my face was completely red, I was so embarrassed an shocked and just like wtf happened. The prof then goes "Your boyfriend?" and I say "No! I don't even know him!" and the prof is like "Wtf?". I tell him what happened and he told the chairman of the school or something and apparently this was sexual assault. I had to give a statement, the prof was my witness, the camera had picked up the whole thing, and they were asking if I wanted to take it to court, and all this stuff. The guy ran off but they found him a few hours later.

...

I really don't know what to say. I don't know why weird shit always happens to me. And I didn't really handle it that well to be honest; I didn't scream or make a scene or anything, I was just too shocked to do anything, like so unprepared. Like even when he was kissing me, I just moved my head back and kept saying "Okay...okay" like, okay that's enough. I just didn't know what to do.

Annnnyways...thanks to:

PhoenixxLament – LOL! I read fanfic on my phone too but I just got rid of my data plan (internet) on my phone this week b/c I can't afford it! :( I'll get it back in a few weeks. And if you think the Max and Julia thing was OMG...wait for the shit that's about to come :P

LovelyKitsune – LMAO I think ANYONE fighting with Kai would be hilarious. He just pwns with his comments lmao haha. And about Boris...who knows? Maybe he'll make a surprise visit...LOL! I'm keeping my lips sealed :P And your review made me feel so good, I love you!

Smiffyizdabest – Your review wasn't lame! Xoxo

Peroxxide Priincess – I love how you analyzed Mathilda lol. And I will try with DLS! I actually did write the next chapter but its only 8 pages long so... :S

Freekiellie – Don't worry! I wear glasses and I'm still blind! LOL. And there will be a LOT of drama (A LOOOOT!)!

Xxz0eyxx – Your guess is really good! But I'm not gonna say anything! :P

JuneCharm – First of all, THANK YOU! I'm so glad at least someone reads my comments at the end of chapters haha. And thanks so much for your review!

SouthernDragon – HilaryxKaixDylan...I will say that girls can be very catty when it comes to guys :P Trust me I know :|

50525 – No, not King City (I don't even know what/where that is!). King as in RH King Academy and I also went to Winston Churchill for a year...and I almost got kicked out of there for skips too lol. What do you do now? What part of Toronto are you from? And your guess about Dylan is a really good one!

Zeratheliger – The guys in Canada and the US are pretty much like the guys in this story. I portray the Blitzkrieg Boys, Tyson, Max, Johnny, and all the guys as real guys! Some guys are really perverted and gross and just wanna do you, some are really, really, really stupid, and some are just ugly. There doesn't seem to be any other category! I haven't found a 'good guy' yet, like an actual GOOD GUY. And it's sooo frustrating. About chapters, I have no idea how many it will have! LOL!

R AND R!