Unfortunately, I don't any of the characters in this story except for Kia and Crystal : ( So sad, so sad

Well, this is the next chapter so I hope you like it and remember to R+R at the end!!!!!!

~*CHAPTER SIX*~

"Wow, can't believe we're third years already!" cried Kia to her friends Nealan of Queenscove and Prince Roald.

"Yeh, you're third years but I'm a squire now," said Roald a bit sadly.

"What's the matter Roald? Don't you like you're knight master?" drawled Neal

"Of course I like my father!" cried out Roald, " I can't believe you just said that!"

"Well, you can't blame him if his tongue gets the better of him," Kia told Roald.

"Hey!" cried Neal as he attempted to hit Kia over the head missing it completely. She stuck her tongue out at him. Roald was laughing.

They were sitting in the mess hall for lunch but were the one of the only groups that were sitting on a table as everyone else was waiting in line to get some food.

"What's taking them so long?" said Neal in frustration.

"Aww, poor Nealan can't control his patience and be a good little boy," said Kia sweetly.

"I am not a 'little boy' as you call me. I'm five years older than you, which makes me a man and you a mere little girl," retorted Neal.

"Well, why don't you say that at the courts and I'll show you little girl," shot back Kia as Merric, Esmond, Cleon and Faleron sat down.

"Who's going to fight at the courts?" asked Merric, confused.

"No-one," growled Neal. Kia grinned while everyone else laughed.

"Shh," whispered Faleron as Lord Wyldon and King Jonathan entered the hall.

King Jonathan said a nice and cheery speech followed by Lord Wyldon whose speech was a reminder to everyone that they would have to train very hard and never be tardy.

"Why can't he just be normal?" cried Merric.

"And what do you define as 'normal', Merric? Normal as in he'd leave the palace seeing as none of us like him or normal as in being nice?" asked Neal, his voice teasing.

"Both," said Merric sadly which gave everyone a grin on their face.

"Well, one more year for the rest of us and where stuck with knight masters," said Kia, "do you rather prefer that?"

"If we pass the test and if we get chosen," said Esmond.

"Of course we will!," said Kia brightly," think of the good things!"

"Easy for you to say!" replied Neal.

"I'm trying to make every one happy and you just do the opposite!" cried Kia as she stomped off out of the hall.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

They were riding on their horses when Neal suddenly came beside her.

"Look, Kia, I'm sorry," said Neal

Kia just glared at him.

"Kia! C'mon! It was just a little something! Kia! Please, answer me! I'm telling you, I'm really sorry! I really am!" cried Neal. The look of worry on Neal's face did the trick.

Kia burst out laughing.

"You should see your face!" cried out Kia in between giggles.

Neal glared at her.

"I can't believe you," said Neal in disbelief.

Kia looked at him in mock horror and pretended to cry. She told Crystal to catch up to Shadow.

"So, how's it going, Roald?" asked Kia.

"Huh? Oh, it's going OK, I guess. I see you're not angry at Neal anymore," smirked Roald.

Kia raised an eyebrow. "See? Or heard? Or even better, eavesdropped?"

"Aww, c'mon Kia," said Roald, "cut me some slack, OK?"

"Whatever."

"Good, now why don't you say we call our good friend Nealan here and race back?" challenged Roald.

"Sure," replied Kia, and to Neal, "Queenscove! We're racing so you better hurry up!" And all three raced back to the stables with Kia leading.

She poked her tongue out at them, groomed Crystal and told the others that she was going to have a bath.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Mmm," said Kia as she lay in her hot, soapy bath, "this is the life."

"You talking to yourself again?" said a familiar voice at the door.

"Aagh!" cried Kia, " shut up, Neal! I'm having a bath. Come back later!"

"I can't! Merric and them are out to get me! Please Kia! I'll just come in and stare at the closed door!"

"No!"

"Please! It's not like I'm going to tell anyone! It'd ruin my reputation as well as yours!"

"Reputation? You don't have one!"

"Please!!!!"

Kia thought for a moment. "Oh, alright, but no telling and if thy come knocking at the door, not one word from your mouth! Got it?"

"Yes, yes and thankyou!"

She heard the opening and closing of her door. So much for a bath, she thought. I guess I better change.

She dried herself behind the screen that prevented Neal from seeing her and put on a white shirt that slightly flared out at the sleeves and a pair of dark blue breeches that also flared out at the bottom.

She stepped out form behind the screen and glared at Neal.

"I was having a nice hot bath before you came!" cried Kia.

"Ouch, hard words. But you didn't have to come out. You could've stayed in there!" retorted Neal.

"Stayed in there? With you in my room? No way!"

"Ouch. Anyways, you could've fallen asleep and I woke you up so you wouldn't be late!" said Neal triumphly.

"I'm not as stupid as you! I don't fall asleep in a bath when dinner is coming up in less than half an hour!" cried Kia.

"I'm not stupid! At least I'm not as tense as some people!"

"Oh, really? Well, obviously you don't know yourself very well! Besides, I think they're gone, so you can go now!"

"Huh? Who's gone? Oh!" Neal said as he realised why he was in Kia's room in the first place apart from arguing with her.

She pushed him out the door and said, "Next time, go into someone else's room and save yourself from trouble!" and she slammed the door in his face.

"Touchy," muttered Neal to himself and went back into his rooms to change.

Halfway back, Neal glimpsed a bit of red hair. "Aargh!"

"There he is! Come back Neal!" cried Merric as he, Esmond and Cleon chased after him.

Neal raced back and passed Kia's door when she opened the door and stepped out.

"Kia!" shouted Merric and stopped himself just in time from charging into her.

"What did Neal do this time?" she teasingly asked.

"He tricked us into stepping in horse dung!" cried Merric in despair.

Kia laughed. "He - he - he made you step in horse shit!" she couldn't stop laughing.

"Shut up! You're not helping!" retorted Merric but he and the rest of them couldn't help but grin.

"Why don't you get him at the mess hall?" suggested Kia.

"Hey, that's a good idea! Wanna help us plan a revenge?" asked Merric.

"You know what? I think I will," said Kia as she grinned to herself.

"Hey guys, I gotta go. Make sure you get him for me! Bye!" cried Cleon as he left in the opposite direction.

"Now, what do you say about some revenge on Neal?" asked Kia.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," said Esmond.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Thanks Kia, from stopping them chasing me," said Neal at dinner.

"Oh, it was nothing. After all, what are friends for?" she winked at Merric who was silently laughing like a madman.

"What do you say we get some roast potatoes?" asked Kia.

"OK, sure," replied Neal.

"Hang on, I'll get them for you. You can go and sit down."

"OK. But why are you so nice all of a sudden?"

"Are you saying I can't be nice?"

"No."

"Well, then sit down."

She watched Neal pick a seat on one of the tables. Merric came rushing towards her.

"Here, you don't know how much they smell," snickered Merric.

"I'll use my gift on them so he can't smell anything and I'll change their colour a bit," nodded Kia.

"Yeh, Ok, you do that. After all, none of the potatoes are as brown as these ones," and with that, Merric left to get his own dinner.

Kia grinned. She, Merric and Esmond had decided to put horse dung on Neal's dinner plate and say that they were some other food.

"Here you go Neal," said Kia sweetly.

"Wow, these potatoes smell so nice!" said Neal. Merric sniggered. "You guys don't mind if I eat first?"

"Oh, no, you go ahead," said Kia. She couldn't help but grin. Luckily, Neal was too interested in his potatoes to notice her grin.

"Mmm, these taste so - Uurgh! What are these?!?!" cried Neal as he spat the food out.

Everyone burst out laughing. Kia's spell had especially been made so that when Neal took the first bite, they would go back to normal.

"You- you- you put dung on my plate! How could you?" he continued spitting.

Merric and Esmond were rolling on the floor, howling. Kia was shaking tremendously which was causing her stomach to hurt. Even Roald, who had not known what was going on, was in tears.

"What's going on down there?" bellowed Lord Wyldon, standing up to get a better look. He was trembling with anger.

"Pages Kiara, Nealan, Merric, Esmond and Squire Roald, report to me immediately," spat out Lord Wyldon.

They all tried to keep a straight face and not look at Neal. "Sorry Roald," whispered Kia, in between small giggles.

"Don't worry," replied Roald, still grinning, "I would've joined you anyway, just to see the face on Neal."

"What is the meaning of this?" said Lord Wyldon, angrily.

None of them said anything.

"Queenscove?"

"Uhh.," he looked at each of them with loath, yet trying to look for answers, "I.. uhh. fell down." He looked at his feet, not daring to look up.

"You fell down? And does this cause all of you to laugh and be idiots?" Lord Wyldon looked at each of them.

"No, milord," they all replied at the same time.

"All of you are to clean the stables for two weeks and each write a two- page essay on good manners. You are dismissed."

"Yes, milord," they all replied and left.

"I can't believe you did that me!" shouted Neal once they were out of the mess hall.

"Revenge is sweet," said Kia sweetly. And they all laughed. Neal boiled with anger.

"C'mon, Neal. You have to admit it though, you did deserve it," said Merric, full of innocence.

"Oh, and being chased for an hour doesn't cover it?" retorted Neal.

"Being chased? Being chased is nothing! We could've gotten one of milord's bloodhounds to do that!"

Neal glared at them. "If I may go to my room without being attacked by wild animals!" and he stomped off.

"That's not fair. We're not wild animals," said Kia softly.

"Do you think we went too far?" whispered Merric.

"I don't know, I hope we didn't. I've never seen him so angry before."

"Yeh, neither have I. The only thing I've seen him do is to be too happy."

"Well, I guess we'd better get going. Neal will probably cool off and be back to normal in the morning," suggested Kia.

"Yeh, I guess you're right. 'Night Kia."

"'Night."

Kia lay in her bed, thinking. Maybe what we did was too harsh, but he deserved it. She stared at the ceiling and drifted off to sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kia woke to a knock at her door. "Who is it?" she said grumpily.

"Me," came the reply.

"Neal?" she whispered and whipped out of bed to open the door. "I knew you'd be OK! Ha! Didn't have to worry about you, after all!"

Neal looked at her gravely. There was no look of glee, happiness or even concern in his eyes. There was only anger and hatred.

"Neal?" Kia whispered.

Neal spat the words out, " I hate you."



Well! I'm done! That was pretty long, especially for me as all my other chapters are pretty short. Hoped you like it! Please R+R and tell me who do you think Kia should be with. Neal or Roald? THANX HEAPS!!!!!