CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

From the other end of the school gymnasium, Mathilda scanned for an empty space on the bleachers as she paced closer to them. She found a good seat, the beyblading plain visible from her spot. It was different than the BBA in that instead of a dish laden with strange obstacles, it was using the flat surface of the gym floors as the battling field, the boundaries marked off by duct tape forming a 10 foot by 10 foot square. The objectives, however, were the same: if your beyblade stopped spinning or if it could not be contained within the duct taped area, you lost.

The pinkette waved her hand in the air as four high schoolers in their matching red jerseys and shorts emerged from one side of the gym. The blonde had reciprocated the gesture from the floor, her other hand occupied by a launcher with Wolborg attached to it.

High school bey battles, Mathilda observed, were a lot tamer than the ones in the BBA tournaments. They were shorter too because after a total of twenty minutes, all the matches were complete, Dylan's school victorious. As the spectators – comprised mostly of parents and other family members of the beyblading participants – dispersed, the hedgehog also departed from the bleachers.

With IVANOV #12 plastered in white on the back of her red jersey, the cheerleader was not hard to find. Except today, she was not a cheerleading. She found their roles reversed as she jumped into a congratulatory embrace with the blonde, "You guys won!"

"Obvs," Dylan's arrogant smirk was visible as the two pulled apart. Her hair had been done up in a French braid, but it was in the process of being de-styled back to her usual letting down of the hair, and finally, after changing back into her regular school uniform, it was time to head home.

The duo entered the Blitzkrieg Boys' house, the shorter beyblader having been invited over for dinner. It seemed to be a common occurrence these days and she found herself less and less intimidated by them overtime. Upstairs, they had briefly split up, the blonde heading to the washroom and Mathilda waiting for Dylan in her room.

At least that was the plan.

Mathilda turned the knob only to be startled by a girly scream from the oddly dark bedroom. It originated from Tala's side of the room and as she looked towards that direction, her eyes slowly adjusted onto a completely topless Julia, her tits in full view. The Latina dived under the covers, taking the entire material for herself and exposing Tala.

Fear not – except for hair a little dishevelled from whatever activity they were up to, the redhead remained clothed.

The pink haired girl was traumatized and frozen, though as Tala grabbed something off his bedside table and chucked it at her accompanied with a 'GET OUT!', she came to her senses. She quickly pulled on the knob, bringing the door to a close, leaving herself stranded in the corridors.

Hearing the sound of another door opening from the end of the hall, her gaze moved to Kai. He raised a brow at the commotion, those striking amethyst orbs moving from Tala's door to her in silent question.

"They were...he was...I saw, I mean I -"

"Relax!" The captain exploded out of his room, Julia in tow and no longer nude from the waist up, "We weren't doing anything!" Yeah right.

"Hn," The phoenix moved past the crowd, disappearing down the stairs.

"Bryan should almost be done with dinner," Tala announced as he, too, headed to the main floor.

"K!" And as Julia turned to look at the Barthez Battalion blader, she recoiled.

"I didn't see anything,"

Julia rolled her eyes, "You could have knocked. Anyways, what are you doing at the Blitzkrieg Boys' house?"

"Ian called me over for dinner,"

"What?" The Spanish blader's face twisted in various angles, "Ian asked you over for dinner?"

Speak of the devil.

Ian stepped out of his room and Mathilda instantly began sweating bullets. She prayed the goggle-headed Blitzkrieg Boy would just go away or that Julia wouldn't mention what was just said. Alas, things hardly ever went the way one would hope for things to go.

"I can't believe you asked Mathilda to come over!" Julia exclaimed, evidently excited of the false news of Ian and Mathilda potentially getting together romantically.

"Huh?" While he looked painfully confused, the pinkette was in pain, her eyes squeezed shut as she awaited her lie to fall apart, "Oh yeah, I did," Her eyes opened in surprise, the surprise multiplying as Ian strolled closer and draped an arm around her to further play along with the story.

"Oh my God," The half blonde-brunette chuckled, "I never expected this. Tala and I are going for a movie after dinner, you guys should come,"

As she left, scurrying to the main floor, Mathilda exhaled out loudly in relief. She glanced over at Ian, "Thanks for not telling Julia you didn't actually call me over for dinner,"

"I can keep a secret," Suddenly he smirked, "But can you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Dinner at 7 tomorrow, I'll pick you up," Say what? "Don't tell Dylan,"

Speak of the devil. Again.

The cheerleader joined them in the hallway and Ian withdrew into his room in haste. The blonde gave his retreating back a repulsive look, "Why was that freak talking to you?"

"He just covered for me. I had to tell Julia he invited me over for dinner," But Mathilda hardly had time to process what the hell had actually just happened. She had walked in on Tala and Julia fooling around, she had lied to Julia, and then...Ian asked her out? In real life? And requested she keep it private? Dafuq?

"Good one,"

"Yeah..." Mathilda was itching to disclose the events in their entirety, but after he had just saved her ass, she couldn't bring herself to throw Ian under the bus, "Anyways, Julia is over,"

"I know. I saw her shoes when we came in," Ah, one step ahead of the game. Classic.

"Well Tala and her are going out after dinner,"

She beamed, her arms crossed over her chest, "Yeah, they're not going anywhere, Mattie."

Everyone had regrouped in the kitchen, Dylan doing the honours of serving food. Kai watched as she even filled up glasses with Coke, inclusive of ice and garnished with a wedge of lime. The beach babe was being remarkably pleasant. This couldn't be right. The slate haired athlete hit the nail on the head with his belief as he watched the budding conspiracy unfold. Some kind of powdery substance was dropped into two out of the eight bowls and mixed in well, all this done so discreetly the others had failed to notice.

What was it this time? More sleeping pills? He had confiscated those from her long ago, but perhaps she had purchased some more. If so, it would be a dangerous move – after all, Tala had to drive. How brainless could she be? The consumption of supper began, Tala and Julia digging into their contaminated servings of the hot Russian soup.

Ugh, the foul bitch.

Kai cast the blonde a subtle glare as if to say he knew what she had done, but found that she had been gawking at him all along. Not at his face though; he followed her line of vision, the trail ending at the faint scar on his left wrist. She had seen it. He removed his hand from the table instantly, the action causing her to make eye contact with him.

Void of any perverted-ness for once, those turquoises stared at him intently, questioningly, and, if his mathematics were correct, tinged with angst.

He forfeited from the staring contest, irritated by her prying. His life – past, present, and future – was none of her business, and though he had conveyed that to her many times, it seemed she was not taking the hint. Little did he know, she already knew.

The phoenix emptied the contents of his bowl, walking over to the trash can to dump any residuals. And that's when he saw it, buried under some carrot and beet peels...

An empty box of laxatives.

x x x

It had been only ten minutes into the movie and already Julia had excused herself three times. Tala was unable to complain, having left his seat about the same number of times himself. Neither admitted to feeling sick or having the runs – no way were they going to admit to each other the disgusting horrors they were unleashing into the public toilets! So gross! They had opted to lie to each other instead, using excuses like 'someone's calling me' or 'I have to get a drink'.

"Hey," It was Julia that succumbed to her upset stomach first as she leaned closer to the redhead, "I know we just got here, but I completely forgot I had a really important training session with Raul and Romero tonight, so I have to leave right now."

x x x

With Spencer and Bryan on dishwashing duty, the remainder of the team – plus Mathilda and Dylan – lounged in the living room. Ian flipped the channels from one of the couches, the others all scattered somewhere in the room. He dwelled on an episode of the Simpsons, but having seen the particular episode plenty of times he continued with the flipping.

A screech of tires was heard outside, the vehicle nearing until it stopped in their driveway. How absurd. Kai was home, his car parked in the garage, so of course it wasn't him. And Tala had taken Julia out not even thirty minutes ago, so it definitely couldn't have been him.

The indigo haired blader mildly jumped in his seat as their team captain had in fact come home, bursting through the front door. He raced up the stairs at extraordinary speed holding his ass in the process, his ultimate destination indicated by the sound of the washroom door slamming shut.

From her laying position on the couch with her head resting on Dylan's lap, Mathilda snickered resulting in Ian to look her way suspiciously. She had straightened out too quickly for him to catch her, appearing to have learned from the best in the game as the cheerleader herself took a sip of her orange juice, her features concealed behind the glass.

Ian scrunched up his face, "What's with him?"

Kai hadn't bothered taking his eyes off the television, "When you gotta go, you gotta go," Though he had left out the part that in this case the 'going' had been medically induced. Nonetheless, a comment like that coming out of someone like him had the pinkette cracking up while the blonde bit her bottom lip to prevent any sign of hilarity.

Another date with Julia, down the drain. Quite literally this time.

By 2 in the morning, the house was silent. Everyone was in their rooms, either in bed or still YouTubing at this hour which was the case for Kai. He was undoubtedly a night owl, engaging in slumber at the wee hours of the morning. But tonight was unlike most nights; typically Voltaire did not cross his mind. The only difference was today he had been bluntly reminded of him, ridding him of any fatigue.

Or at least that's what he made himself believe.

"Kai?"

The unsettling feeling he was experiencing would follow him into his sleep and haunt his dreams.

"Hey,"

The best way to deal with this, he thought, would be to just let it pass.

"Kai,"

Lavender eyes broke open promptly and he awoke with a start. Blinking and taking in his atmosphere, he came to the realization he had indeed dozed off, Boris and his grandfather having starred in his horrid nightmares. The laptop had fallen halfway off his lap, sitting tilted awkwardly with the screensaver running, the lamp on his bedside table hadn't been turned off, his curtains remained open gifting his perverted neighbour with a spectacular view of him, and there seemed to be another presence in his room.

"You're sweating," Dylan swiped a hand across his forehead, only for him to push her hand back and eye her threateningly.

"What are you doing in my room?"

"I saw a light from under your door and thought you were still up," She continued kneeling next to his bed with her arms folded over on his mattress, "So," She bit her bottom lip evocatively, "Were you having a wet dream?"

The blonde had expected him to point to his door and tell her to leave, which was usually how it went. Instead, he shoved the laptop further away and turned to his side. He could hear her move around his room, first cracking his bedroom window open and drawing the curtains closed then putting his laptop away on his table. A cold breeze filled the room, the ventilation drying the sweat off his skin.

And then, just like that, she was gone. Kai glanced over his shoulders; he had anticipated a little more out of her than just an open window. Ah well, he was not complaining. He closed his eyes and tucked his head under the pillow, mainly as a distraction method from the earlier dream, but it did no such thing to ease his discomfort. The pillow was suddenly hauled away, making him roll over on his back to find that she had returned, parking herself on the edge of his bed. He propped himself up on his elbows as she held a cup towards him, "Warm milk with sugar,"

He hardly had an appetite at this hour, "I'm not hungry,"

"You'll sleep better," But as he continued peering into the contents of the cup, she rolled her eyes, "Um hello? My hand's getting tired,"

The phoenix reluctantly made a grab for the mug, sitting up against the headboard before gulping some down. Halfway through he rested it on his legs, looking in her direction as she reached for a book off his bedside table. Her baffled reaction, subsequent to the reading of a few lines, was not surprising, "What the hell is a multiverse?"

"An infinite number of universes,"

"What the fuck?" The cheerlead chuckled, "You can't have more than one universe,"

"You don't know that,"

She gave him a strange look, "You believe this?"

"It is solely a theory, such as aliens,"

"You believe in aliens?"

"Level of intelligence and sentience not factored in, the chances are high for our universe to harbour life of some kind, somewhere,"

"What about..." She muttered, tapping the side of her face in thought of the next question, "God?"

He raised the cup, taking another drink while pondering, "I don't know," She looked dumbfounded by his response – after all, Kai Hiwatari was a man of answers. One way or another, he always knew. However, this was not something he always thought about, "I like to think," Appropriate words were trying to formulate in his mind, "that there is rationale, not behind my existence, but in regards to the sheer size of objects, why they've come to be, and the way things work in space," The deep discussion came to a close at the sound of her laughter, the tip of her thumbnail between her teeth sheepishly, "What is so amusing?"

"You're cute when you think so hard and talk so much about something,"

"Hn," And as he finished the remainder of his drink, she took the empty cup, setting it aside on the table.

"My mom used to make that for me in California," Kai watched from the corner of his eyes, her gaze subconsciously fixed on his table ahead, "Sometimes on weekends when I woke up, I would find her sleeping next to me. Then she'd make me French toast. It was the best ever, made with Nutella and strawberries. She always wrote my name on the plate in chocolate syrup and the 'A' would be a heart,"

"You miss your mother,"

Her head bobbed up and down at his inference, "Never really realized how important a mom could be,"

He wouldn't know.

"She has red hair – that's where Tala gets it from,"

"And your father?"

"Like me," She motioned to her head of flaxen hair, "Anyway, did you put the moves on Hilary the other night? I heard you all went out,"

"Your assistance or enquiries pertaining to Hilary are not required," Kai sunk down the headboard and under the blanket whereas her hand automatically moved to graze through his strands. He nearly objected the contact, but was overcome with intense satisfaction when her nails raked through the side of scalp, lightly pulling at the ends of his hair when her fingers moved up. A few more of those, and he was out like a light.

So was she, apparently.

Only when he rolled around to have his face smush into her cold thigh did he lift his head with a 'WTF' expression. Her right hand remained extended, her fingers buried in his hair, her other hand placed on his book that was still open on her lap. She was still sitting against the wooden board behind her, though rather slouched, her head tipped to one side. Boy was her neck going to be sore in the morning.

He checked his phone, the elapsed time indicating it had been over an hour since he'd fallen asleep the second time around. He removed the book off her lap before lazily and half asleep-ily pulling her down by her leg, her body sliding into the space next to him with her hands falling into place on either side of her head lifelessly. And where her tank top rode up in the manoeuvring process, flaunting her navel, those tiny barely-covering-the-bum shorts stayed put around waist.

Definitely a heavy sleeper, Kai deduced. He pulled at her top, bringing it down and pausing as his fingers briefly connected with her skin. His thumb stroked the bare area, her skin replicating the sensation of silk against his touch and although he was bordering into 'creepy' territory, it could not be helped. In any case, he disregarded it as his right since she had practically molested him countless times and entirely against his wishes – tit for tat, right?

The cheer captain stirred when he hit her ticklish spot, reflexively pushing his hand away, mumbling something partially incoherent in her sleep, "Tala's trying on mom's bra again, dad,"

Kai rolled his eyes, not even wanting to decipher the nonsensical sleep-talk. He gave her top one final tug and after placing a pillow between them as a separating mechanism, he went back to sleep himself.

x x x

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Tala surfaced from his covers, shutting off the alarm on his phone, "Dylan," He sat up and yawned, looking around for something to throw at her, "Time to wa -" But as his watch landed on her vacant bed, he scrunched up his face in utter confusion.

She couldn't have gotten up before him, could she? No! Impossible! He retreated from his bed and walked over to hers' and pulled the stripy pink duvet aside regardless of the fact that it was obvious there was no occupant.

"Dill Pickle?" He called out loud as he stepped out of his room, expecting her to reply from the living room or kitchen. Nothing. Weirded out by the circumstance, the redhead began his investigation. He found Bryan in the kitchen, "Where's my sister?"

The other Blitzkrieg Boy shrugged, "Dunno. It's only 7:30," He read the clock off the wall, "Wouldn't she still be in bed?"

"You'd think," Tala furrowed his brows as he departed the kitchen, desperation taking hold of him – and fear, because if something happened to Dylan while under his care, his parents would bury him alive – he entered Spencer and Ian's room without thinking or knocking. Perhaps, for whatever reason, she was hanging out with them.

"Bro," Ian was not pleased to be walked in on in his briefs, feeling up his own chest in front of a mirror.

Tala made a face, "What the fuck?"

"Just seeing if my abs were even,"

The captain sneered, "You mean your ribs?"

"Get outta here, man!"

The captain rolled his eyes, averting his gaze to something more tasteful than Ian's nipples, like the floor, "Did you see Dylan?"

"Why would I see Dylan?" It was a good question to his question. The redhead moved away from his teammate's doorframe, passing by Bryan's room on the left, his shared room with the missing Ivanov on his right, the washroom, and finally to the last room in the hallway.

He turned the knob to Kai's room and pushed it open.


LENGTH OF STORY – Exiled will be a very long story, so sorry if anyone is getting bored. The reasons behind this are A) this story serves as a journal for me and I wish for it to continue for as long as possible since I am drawing from old experiences and even things I am currently going through, B) character development is imperative and I want to offer readers a sense of realism with situations and characters, make you really open a "door" when you click on this story and let you step into it as if you are one of the characters, and C) the story is very dimensional in that there are multiple events occurring all at once (friendships, romances [and romances within romances], family trouble, and life in general).

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS! I AM SO SURPRISED YOU ARE STILL READING THIS! YOUR REVIEWS MEAN A LOT TO ME! PS: There is more...intereting events :P...up ahead.

Guest

Senie

Xxz0eyxx – I can't believe you are still on here! PS: Your predictions, especially of Tala and Mariah, are beginning to creep me out! You'll see why soon :P

Amber birch

Rabiosarabiosa

PREACH – Who does Dylan remind you of?

Zeratheliger – I'm surprised to still see you on here! How have you been?

Ahrden – Some of the writing for the last chapter was already written (the very beginning where they are playing pool). The rest I had to write recently. I feel that I am a little rusty with my writing! Thank you, though!

Mistress of the Arts – It means so much to know you can "feel" Mariah and Alden's feelings! That is exactly what I am going for!

BeybladeLover339