"Be nice to her."
"I am nice to her."
"You're an ass, and when you're not an ass, you're mean," Hilary rolled her eyes as she munched on an apple. "Just don't be yourself, and we'll have a perfectly nice day."
Kai didn't bother to answer and focused on his beyblade, clearly giving Hilary the hint that he was no longer interested in their conversation. However, she ignored it and continued watching Kai critically as he practiced with the prototype Anastasia had made for him last week. So far, he had adjusted to it quite well, but Anastasia had told him that until it fell apart, he had to keep using it. She was coming over to the dojo in a few hours to check out his progress and watch his match with Tala, and Hilary had opted to stay behind with Kai and Tala to meet her while the rest of the team had gone to the BBA to take advantage of the slow traffic in the practice rooms and have a full day of training.
"Thanks for that, Hilary," said Kai sarcastically.
"Anytime," the brunette shrugged and hopped off her perch on the railing, heading inside to throw away her apple core. Kai had never been fond of Hilary, but the past year he had grown to grudgingly like her, probably because she spent a ridiculous amount of time with Tala and his gruffness merely made her roll her eyes. He was interested to see how she would react to Anastasia, though. In many ways, they were both alike, but they were polar opposites as well.
He hadn't seen her since the day he'd dropped her off at her building and realized that he may have a tiny crush on her. Even now, the thought made him wince. He had a crush on Anastasia? The girl was a walking, talking definition of everything Kai avoided in girls, the primary quality being that she was too smart for him to play with. And a serious relationship was something he had never been interested in, and probably never would be. So why was he daydreaming about her instead of focusing on his beyblade?
"Look who stopped by!" it was Tala. He strode into the garden casually, his arm slung around Anastasia's shoulders, who was looking around the dojo curiously. She saw Kai and gave him a large grin, bigger than the ones she gave Tala if he ever stopped by the BBA office to annoy them. The thought made Kai oddly smug, so he smirked and, for good measure, threw a wink her way. He wasn't a flirt, but he had discovered that he seemed to have an effect on her. Sure enough, her cheeks turned the lightest shade of pink he had ever seen a girl blush. His smirk widened. She was dressed in a pair of skinny jeans that made her legs look like they went on forever, a baggy shirt that slipped off one shoulder messily, and scuffed sneakers. She had ditched her bag full of tinkling metal objects for a casual satchel, and it dangled from her covered shoulder, fortunately making no noise. Her hair was loose and fell into her eyes slightly. She pushed it away as she neared him.
"Hey," he said casually as she came to stand by him, ducking out from under Tala's arm to do so. He saw the redhead roll his eyes, but smile anyway as he went inside, probably to find Hilary.
"Hi," Anastasia smiled and poked his arm with her index finger lightly. "Missed me?"
"So much," deadpanned Kai. Her teasing had stopped annoying him, but he never retaliated.
Anastasia laughed freely, sensing his sarcasm and not seeming offended in the slightest. "You know you did," she teased. "And nice work," she gestured to the beyblade, and Kai silently summoned Dranzer back, catching it in his right hand as it swerved up. "I had a feeling it wouldn't take you long to get the hang of it."
"It's been a week," muttered Kai. It had annoyed him how much he had struggled with it initially, though of course she would never know that.
"I expected two weeks, but then again I've been told never to underestimate a Bladebreaker," Anastasia rolled her eyes and pulled her hair into a ponytail on top of her head. She was still speaking, but Kai wasn't listening. She had never tied her hair in front of him, and suddenly he was struck by how breath-taking she looked. Her eyes were wider, her lips looked fuller, and her jaw was sharp and defined, all things he was sure he was only noticing now because the words stupidly beautiful kept springing to mind every time he so much as glanced at her.
"Kai?" she snapped her fingers in front of his face, showing off her perfect teeth in a grin when he finally came out of his reverie. "I knew you weren't gay."
"What?"
"You were staring at me. Again."
Kai snorted, the haze of admiration quickly fading. "You need –"
"Hi!" Hilary's bubbly voice interrupted him, and Anastasia threw him one last, amused look before peering around his frame to see the brunette jogging towards them. She smiled, but it was clearly fake.
"Hello," she said politely. Kai was surprised to see that she glanced between him and Hilary, almost deliberately, her eyes lingering as they met his, as if asking him something. Before he could negate the idea he was sure she was getting, Hilary had started speaking.
"You must be Anastasia, Kai hasn't shut up about you for weeks," she chattered, coming to stand next to them and ignoring the two boys completely. She stopped a few feet away and looked at Anastasia up and down, smirking slightly. "And he called you pretty. I didn't think he even knew what that word meant."
The obvious lack of physical familiarity between the two seemed to ease Anastasia a bit, but the more Hilary spoke the more real her smile became. When the brunette was done, she gave Kai a sly look. "Pretty, eh?"
"She's exaggerating," said Kai, as if it were obvious. And it was. The only reason Hilary knew as much as she did was because she and Tala gossiped like a pair of old women. Specially about his love life.
"Judging by the way you've been staring at me today, I don't think she is," Anastasia winked. If he blushed, Kai was sure he would be red by now. Fortunately, Tala and Hilary hadn't heard her. They had wandered over to the beydish and were standing there expectantly, waiting for the other two to approach so they could begin the match. Anastasia threw him one last, amused look before joining them.
They practiced for hours. Anastasia wasn't a beyblader herself, but she was ruthless when it came to training and her prototypes. Twice she had battled Tala herself using Kai's beyblade, with her own Bitbeast, and both times she had come closer to winning than Kai had, though all the matches had ended in a draw. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with his technique, or his attacks, but whatever he did was clearly not good enough. Finally, just as it was getting dark, she agreed to let them stop.
"That was a bust," groaned Tala, stretching out on the grass.
"Nope," said Anastasia, leaning against Kai's bent leg casually. His back was stretched on the ground, which meant she didn't see his eyes widen slightly at her gesture. Hilary did, though, but she only smirked. "I didn't expect you to beat him anyway."
Tala paused. "Should I be offended at that?"
Anastasia shrugged. "You shouldn't be. Even you know he's better."
Tala rolled his eyes and muttered something Kai couldn't hear, but it made Anastasia giggle. Hilary snorted. "Way to be a sore loser, Tala."
"What did he say?" asked Kai curiously, the same time as Tala spat out "I didn't lose!". The two girls ignored them both.
"If Kai had been battling with a beyblade that worked exactly how he wanted it to, the match would have ended ages ago," Anastasia rolled her eyes.
"You're saying that because you're being paid to fix his beyblade," grumbled Tala.
Anastasia laughed. "Hey, I worked months to be able to get this job, I earned whatever money the BBA pays me."
Tala grumbled again, but Hilary smacked his arm and ordered him to go inside and change so they could go meet the rest of the team for dinner. Anastasia watched in amusement as the normally arrogant redhead stood up and obediently followed the tiny brunette into the dojo.
However, Kai hadn't left. Her statement had piqued his curiosity again. "What did you mean?" he asked. He was sitting up now, his arm draped lazily over his bent leg so his fingers brushed against her bare shoulder. They were sitting very close, but most of her weight was on his leg so he was trapped, and she clearly didn't feel uncomfortable with their closeness.
Anastasia leaned her head back against his knee and looked up at him, his face upside down, and grinned. "What do I mean by what?"
Kai didn't bother to move his face. If she was trying to make him uncomfortable, he wouldn't let her win, and anyway, it was nice to be able to be this close to her without her blushing and stammering like last time. Their noses were barely inches apart; he could smell her strawberry scented lipstick. "You said you worked months for this job."
"Oh, yeah," she blinked, and her eyelashes almost brushed against his cheek. He resisted the urge to lean closer. She didn't seem bothered at all. "Dickinson had four technicians in mind to fix your 'blade. He picked me because I amped up my workload as soon as I found out I was being considered so I had the better qualifications by the time he had to make a decision."
Kai raised his eyebrows. "And you did that because…?"
"Because I think you're a really good beyblader," said Anastasia simply. Kai stared at her. Heknew he was good, but it was another thing for someone he hadn't let in, at all, to say it so casually. She smiled at him, still upside down. It was a slow, kind smile, not the smirks or grins or flirty looks she normally threw his way. She only smiled at him in this way when no one else was watching. "I know that look. You are really good, Kai, and I knew nobody could help you better than I could. So I did what I had to do." No wonder he thought he liked her. She was annoying and loud and happy, yes, but she was also considerate and she seemed to understand him in a few months on a level he was sure his team-mates were only just reaching. It was… nice.
She straightened up then, and her nose brushed against his cheek as she turned around and got to her feet. She offered him a hand, but he automatically didn't take it and stood up himself. She clicked her tongue, but didn't seem too bothered by his dismissal. Instead, she grabbed her bag off the floor and gestured for him to lead the way into the house. "Do I get an invitation to dinner as well?" she asked cheekily.
Kai rolled his eyes, their moment clearly in the past now. "We're having dinner because of you. Hilary's idea."
"So I take it she likes me?"
"She has no friends."
Anastasia laughed. "Is that your way of saying she wants to hang out with me because I'm another girl in this male-dominated sport?"
Kai's lips twitched at the sound of her easy laughter. "Maybe."
"Use more words next time, hotshot. You won't always get lucky with a girl who can read your mind," she poked his arm again as she overtook him and made her way towards the kitchen, where Hilary was yelling at Tala, probably for missing his turn at doing the dishes again. She hopped up onto the counter and threw a wet dish-cloth at Tala's head, causing him to yell and Hilary's rant to turn into laughter. Kai paused in the doorway and looked at the three in slight confusion, but he couldn't help the grin that threatened to take over his face. Their stupid antics had never made him smile before, but between the shouts and giggles, Anastasia caught his eye and threw him a wink, and he knew why it was amusing him now.
