Truly Madly Deeply
Chapter 5; After School Fun

*Ok, this chapter was written in fun, cause I needed a break from all the seriousness. So come on, have some fun with us. We don't bite.....much.*


The tears of joy for all the pleasure in the certainty
That we're surrounded by the comfort and protection
of The highest powers
In lonely hours
The tears devour you

"Mei-Ling, I'm going to the store." Sarah Mioko called from the doorway "Behave yourself while I'm gone."

"Mom!" Mei-Ling appeared at the top of the stairs "I'm 14 now, you don't have to tell me to behave myself anymore."

"I'm just making sure." her mother smiled up at her "No wild parties, ok?"

"Awww man!" Mei-Ling mock pouted "And I was gonna call all the kids from school too."

"Ha ha, very funny." Sarah laughed "I'll be back in about an hour."

Mei-Ling watched as her mothers blue station wagon pulled out of the driveway, and disappeared down the street. As soon as she was a safe distance away, Mei-Ling picked up the phone. It rang several times before a girls voice answered.

"Vanderhause residence, Emily speaking."

"Hi Emily."Mei-Ling said "Its Mei-Ling."

"Oh hey Mei-Ling." Emily replied "Whats up?"

"Not much. My mom just left for about an hour. Can you get the car today?"

"You know I don't have my license." Emily said.

"I know, but you have a permit."

"But I can't drive with out a licensed driver in the car. My dad would kill me."

"So have your brother come with us."

"Uh, hold on." Emily told her. Mei-Ling could hear her friend shouting something to her older brother. A moment later Emily got back on. "You still there?" she asked.

"Uh huh." Mei-Ling replied "So will the dork take us?"

"Yeah. He said we owe him though."

"Ok, I'll see ya in a little bit then. Bye Emily."

"Bye."

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Mei-Ling hung the phone up then went down stairs to wait for Emily and her brother. It wasn't long before a little red car pulled into the driveway and honked. Mei-Ling grabbed her purse and darted out the door.

Emily waved from the drivers seat, while her brother got out to give Mei-Ling the front seat. "Hey Richie." Mei-Ling smiled "You're looking as dumb as ever."

"Hiya toad." Richie returned the smile "And you're looking as ugly as ever."

The two of them stuck their tounges out at each other as they climbed in the car.

"So where we going?" Emily asked as she pulled out of the driveway.

"I don't know." Mei-Ling shrugged "Lets just drive."

"I hope you don't plan to be out too long." Richie said from the backseat "I've got a date tonight."

Mei-Ling turned around in her seat and made a face at the older boy. "A date with who?" she asked "You're left hand?"

"For your information miss priss" Richie smirked "I'm going out with Millissa Harper."

"Oooooh wow!" Mei-Ling teased "I heard shes a real catch. So why is she going out with you?"

"I told her I had a car." Richie replied.

"Figures." Mei-Ling laughed as she turned back around "I knew it couldn't have been cause of your looks."

"Shutup!" Richie cried, smacking the back of her head "I don't see you getting any dates. Oh wait, I forgot your stupid boyfriend Shin."

Mie-Ling glared at him in the rearview mirror. "I've kicked your ass before for calling him stupid" she said "And I'll gladly do it again."

"So are you admitting that he is your boyfriend?" Richie asked.

"No!"

"Awwww." Richie made a cutsey face "Mei-Ling has a crush, how sweet. You're growing up so fast toad."

"Bite me Richie!" Mei-Ling yelled.

"If you say so." Richie leaned forward and bit Mei-Lings arm.

"Owwww!! Brat!!"

"Toad!!"

"Will you knock it off!!" Emily cried "You guys are so gross!"

"Whats that supposed to mean?" Mei-Ling asked.

"Its totally obvious you like each other." Emily replied "But I don't want to see it."

"Ewwww!!! Grossness!!" Mei-Ling gaged "Me, like him? Not in this life time."

"Oh you know you want me." Richie smiled proudly "They all want me, but they can't all have me."

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The three of them drove around for about 30 minutes before Richie said he needed to get home. So they dropped Mei-Ling off, said good bye, and left. When she got home, Mei-Ling found she had a couple visitors. Shin was sitting on the front steps, waiting for her, with another man.

"Hello Mei-Ling." Shin smiled as he stood up "This is my good friend Kibito."

Mei-Ling glanced at the other man. He was a hell of a lot taller than Shin, with white hair and pink skin. "Uh....hi there." Mei-Ling smiled.

Kibito nodded.

"I thought since I've met some of your friends, you'd like to meet one of mine." Shin told her "Kibito has been bugging me about meeting the girl I'm so....ahem...intersted in."

"Is that so?" Mei-Ling raised an eyebrow at the taller man "Well, here I am. Mei-Ling Mioko, sweetness is my specialty."

"I'm afriad we can't stay long." Shin said "I just wanted you to meet each other."

"Oh..." Mei-Ling lowered her eyes "Well can you at least stay long enough to help me make some cookies for my mom?"

"Yes." Shin smiled "We can stay that long."

"Great!" Mei-Ling clapped her hands "Lets go make some cookies."

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"Hey!" Mei-Ling cried "You're getting flour everywhere!"

"Sorry." Shin smiled innocently.

"Ok, what else does the book say?" Mei-Ling asked. She glanced at Kibito, who was reading over the cook book.

"Seperate 3 eegs." he replied.

"Hmmmm...." Mei-Ling smiled slyly "And how far does it say to seperate them?" She began to laugh.

Shin and Kibito just stared at her blankly.

"Oh come on guys." Mei-Ling sighed "That was funny. Lighten up and laugh a little bit."

"Did anyone remember to preheat the oven?" Shin asked.

They all exchanged glances.

"I'll do it." Mei-Ling replied "Shin, start putting those cookies on a cookie sheet."

Shin glanced down at the bowl of cookie dough. "Those are the strangest cookies I've ever seen." he said.

Mei-Ling rolled her eyes. "Thats cause they're not cooked yet silly."

Once the cookies were in the oven, the three of them sat down to wait. "How long do they have to bake?" Shin asked.

"25 minutes." Mei-Ling replied "So, you guys wanna play a card game while we wait?"

"I'm afraid neither one of us knows how to play any card games." Shin told her.

"Well then we'll play the easiest card game in the world." Mei-Ling replied "Go fish."

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"What is the object of this game?" Kibito asked as Mei-Ling dealt out the cards.

"Simple." The girl replied "Make matching pairs. For example," she pulled a pair of Kings out of her hand and laid them on the table "It doesn't matter what color they are, just as long as the mumbers or whatever match. If you don't have a match, you can ask someone else if they have the card you need. If they don't they tell you to go fish, and you take a card from the pile. Who ever gets rid of all their cards first wins."

"Sounds simple enough." Shin said "Whos turn is it?"

"Well I usually go counter clockwise." Mei-Ling said "So I guess it would be your turn."

"Alright." Shin looked down at his cards "Mei-Ling do you have any 3's?" he asked.

"Go fish."

(15 minutes later)

"Ah ha!" Mei-Ling smiled as she laid two 6's on the table "I think I'm gonna win. Kibito, ya got any Jacks?"

"Go fish."

"Well darn!" Mei-Ling sighed as she pulled a card from the pile "And its not even the card I needed."

"Hey, I won." Shin smiled proudly as he placed his last two cards on the table.

Mei-Ling blinked, then leaned over to Kibito. "I think he cheated." she whispered.

"Shouldn't you check on the cookies?" Shin asked as he helped pick up the cards.

"Oh yeah!" Mei-Ling ran back to the kitchen "I think they're done!" she called "But we have to let them cool for a while."

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"Who wants to be the Guinea pig?" Mei-Ling asked as she sat a batch of cookies on the table.

"Why don't you try them first?" Shin suggested.

"No way!" Mei-Ling cried "I know how I cook. And neither one of you look like chefs."

"Fine, I'll test them." Shin picked up one of the cookies "Well they look like chocolate chip cookies, and they smell like them, but do they taste like them?" He took a small bite and nearly gaged. "I think we have a problem." he said.

"What?" Mei-Ling stuffed a cookie in her mouth "Ahhh!" she quickly spat it out and glared at Shin "Someone got the sugar and salt mixed up."

"Why are you looking at me?" Shin asked "You were the one mixing everything together."

"Yeah, but you were the one handing me the ingredients, Mr. Two and a half cups of salt." Mei-Ling dumped the cookies into the trash. "Oh well, at least we tried."

"We need to be going anyway." Shin said "Maybe we can try our luck at baking some other time."

"Oh no!" Mei-Ling shook her head "I'm not letting you near a kitchen ever again."

"I'll come see you again soon." Shin smiled as he hugged the girl.

"Ok." Mei-Ling replied "It was nice meeting you Kibito. Don't worry, I'm not always this crazy."

"It was very nice to meet you too Mei-Ling" Kibito nodded.

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"So what did you do while I was gone?" Sarah asked as she sat down on the couch beside her daughter.

"Oh nothing." Mei-Ling replied "Played cards with a friend, thats about it."

"Well I hope you had fun." Sarah smiled as she got up "I'm gonna go get dinmer started." She walked off towards the kitchen.

Mei-Lings eyes widened in shock. They forgot to clean up the kitchen. "Mom, don't go in...."

"Mei-Ling!!!" her mothers voice echoed through the house "What in Gods name happened in here?!?!"

"Uh oh!!"