Chapter 5: The First Day of School

-A month later, September 7th, 1998

Queen Metallia sat on her throne, deep in the heart of the Negaverse.  Her head was propped up by her left hand and in her right hand, she swirled a glass of red wine, watching the small whirlpool created in the glass.  She had a look of nonchalance and boredom on her face.  She wanted some action; things were getting a little boring around the Negaverse and in general. 

She pushed an errant strand of golden hair out of her face as she continued to bore her blue eyes into the glass.  She almost willed the glass to break, but decided against it.  She had gone great troubles to get the wine that was being gently swirled in the glass to break it now.  She was sitting almost peacefully until a voice broke her out of her reverie.  "My Queen, is there something wrong?" a throaty, female voice said.  She lifted her head to see her 5 generals standing in front of her, ready to please and eager to kill.

"No, nothing is wrong Labradorite, just bored, that's all," Queen Metallia sighed. 

Labradorite ran a hand through her white hair that was littered with orange streaks, her blue-violet eyes searching for what could be the problem with her Queen.  She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Heliodore spoke up instead.  "My Queen, if there is something bothering you, we'd be happy to take care of it."  Labradorite looked at the blonde-haired, green-eyed girl in disgust.  Well, what do you expect from a brown-nosing bitch?  Labradorite thought bitterly. 

It was true, those two had always been at odds with each other.  Heliodore had wanted desperately to be the leader, but turned bitter when that position had been given to Labradorite, who threw it in Heliodore's face that she was leader and not her.  The other two generals, Cairngorm and Almandine, tried to stay out of the line of fire.  Cairngorm helped in anyway that he could; he knew that even though Labradorite was very cold-hearted, a kiss from him in the right situation could make her very tender and caring.  Almandine was Heliodore's best friend and she knew what could calm Heliodore down.  With the help of Cairngorm and Almandine, Labradorite and Heliodore managed to avoid killing each other. 

The last general, who was the late Emperor Talpa of the Evil Dynasty, usually distanced himself from the rest of the group, his black eyes displaying no trust for the group.  Now, Talpa watched as the 4 other generals tried to play favorites with Queen Metallia.  "Yes, we'd take care of it right away," Almandine said, continuing what Heliodore was saying, her burgundy eyes with black dots looking sincere and her reddish-black hair falling into her eyes as she bowed in front of the queen. 

When the queen failed to speak up, Cairngorm did instead.  "My Queen, why don't you answer?"  Out of all of the generals, Cairngorm was the most concerned with the well being of Queen Metallia, his gray eyes filling with worry, his silver-black hair also falling into his eyes as he bowed to his queen.  "You fools," Talpa said, tossing his own black hair out of his face and looking down at the four generals disgustingly.  "Can't you see that the queen doesn't want to talk to you?"

"No, Talpa, they are right, something is bothering me.  It's those damn Mystical Warriors and their new allies, the Ronin Warriors.  I need to get rid of them."  The other four generals rushed to offer their services while Talpa's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing in bitter rage.  "My Queen, did you say the Ronin Warriors?" he asked.  Ignoring the other generals, Queen Metallia said, "Why, yes, I did.  Why do you ask?"

"Because I have a history with those warriors.  Those are the warriors that defeated me not two years ago," Talpa said, clenching his hand into a tight fist at the memory of that last battle where the Ronin Warriors defeated him.  In that last battle, Ryo of the Wildfire, wearing the White Inferno armor, had gone into his body and held him in place as the other Ronin Warriors defeated him.  They thought that he was dead, but his spirit wasn't.  Queen Metallia sensed his spirit, recognized it, and brought him back to life, but as one of her generals.  She promised him that he would get the chance to destroy the people who had hurt him if he would help her. 

"Ah, so, do you request permission to fight them yourself?" Queen Metallia asked.

"Not right now, but I request permission to plan and orchestrate attacks against them and those Mystical Warriors that you are so fond of getting rid of."  Queen Metallia smiled.  She knew that if anyone could do it, then Talpa could get rid of them.

"Permission granted."

***
Celia, Alex, Michelle, Darien, and Mia looked on amused as 11 bustling teenagers rushed in and out of the kitchen.  "Where are my shoes?"

"Has anyone seen my bookbag?"

"Do I look stupid?"

"No, you look fine."

"Are you sure?  I don't like this tie."

"Shut up, I said you look fine.  Quit worrying about it.  Now, how do I look?"

"Like you're wearing a school uniform."  *WHACK*

"I know that!  That's not what I meant."

"Ow, that hurt, and you look fine."

"Thank you."

"You know, if we don't leave soon, we're going to be late."

"Do we have enough time for breakfast?"

"There's always enough time for breakfast."

"I wonder what my classes will be this year?"

"I know, me too.  I hope I get the ones I wanted."

"I'm sure you will."

"Well, I'm sure you will too."

"I said, where are my shoes?"  Darien looked at his girlfriend, slowly sipping his coffee. 

"Serena," he said, "You shoes?" he said, pointing down to the floor by his feet.  Serena blushed lightly and said, "Thanks."  She walked over and picked up her black school shoes, slipping them on.  Lita stood in the kitchen, ready to announce that breakfast was ready and that they did have enough time to eat breakfast.  School wasn't for another hour and it only took 20 minutes to walk there from Celia's house.  That left 40 minutes for breakfast.  She just had to wait until everyone assembled into the kitchen so she could announce it to everyone. 

Once everyone was in the huge kitchen, she yelled, "Ok, nobody move."  All eyes shifted to look at Lita.  "I'd just like to announce that breakfast is ready and if you'd all get out to the table, then I'll serve it."  All of the sudden, there was a sudden rush to the dining room.  The only people who weren't in a big hurry were Michelle, Celia, Cye, and Ami.  Cye and Ami only exchanged looks before walking out to the dining room.  Cye took a place across from Mina and Ami sat down next to Rowen.  Eventually, Michelle and Celia joined them, but they first helped bring the food out to the table. 

Once Lita sat down, everyone started serving themselves.  This had become a regular routine for all of them.  The Ronin Warriors had been living with the Mystical Warriors for a little over two months now and had fallen into the routines of the house nicely, especially since none of them had to clean the house.  Celia had a number of housecleaners who mainly concentrated on the first floor.  To Celia, your own room was your own responsibility and you kept it clean yourself; you didn't have anyone to clean it for you. 

After a nice breakfast (of course it was nice, Lita cooked it) that consisted of eggs, fruit salad, and hash browns, the group was ready to go to school.  Heather was the only one going off to a different school that was all the way across town; so, Celia was going to drive her to school.  The rest of them left the house to walk to school.  The group of 10 was going to start their sophomore year of high school.  About halfway to school, Serena decided to speak up.  "I hate this uniform.  I hate it.  Why do we have wear it?"

"Well, it beats having to pick out our clothes before school," Cye pointed out.

"Yeah, well, I just wish that for once, we could wear our own clothes to school," Serena said.

"So do I," Mina said, "But, it's not going to happen.  And you know it, Serena."

"I know," Serena whined.  Serena continued to complain about going back to school and everyone sighed.  Although, most of the group didn't want to return to school.  The only people who did were Ami and Rowen, but that was because they loved going to school and learning in general.  Everyone was getting a little tired of Serena's whining and at the same time, Ami and Rowen said, "Come on Serena, it's not that bad."  Everyone only sighed again and Serena said, "I was afraid you'd say that."

***
Later that morning, the principal of the school was going around and addressing all of the individual classes of the high school.  The principal reached the sophomore class, which consisted of about 80 students, and stepped up in front of the large group of children. 

Clearing her throat, the principal said, "Well, welcome to a new school year everyone.  I don't have many things to say besides I wish you all a good year and good luck.  You're almost halfway through high school, so, keep it up.  I have one other thing to say.  I'd like to introduce the new students."  Immediately, all of the Ronin Warriors blushed.  None of them wanted to go up in front of their new class.  But, the principal continued to speak.  "Would Ryo Sanada, Kento Fuan, Cye Mouri, Rowen Hashiba, and Sage Date please come forward and introduce yourselves?"  The guys froze for a moment and Kento said, "We're not the only new students in school, are we?"

"Well, it seems like you're the only new kids in our grade," Raye said, giving Sage a push forward.  "Go on, get your rear into gear."  The girls all gave the guys hearty shoves forward, which started them walking towards the front.  The crowd of students parted to let them through and once they got to the front of the group, they turned around and faced everybody.  One by one, they introduced themselves.  "Hello, I'm Cye."

"I'm Rowen."

"Hey, I'm Kento."

"My name is Sage."

"And I'm Ryo."  The five of them kept their eyes locked on the only 5 people they knew: Raye, Mina, Lita, Ami, and Serena.  They were ignoring all the other girls who were staring at them.  Through the crowd, one could hear the whispers of other girls.  "Wow, look them.  Aren't they gorgeous?"

"Look at that blond hair.  It makes me wanna faint."

"Look at those blue eyes.  They're the most beautiful things I've ever seen."

"I want the one with the auburn hair.  I think he's really cute."  As the whispers reached the ears of the Ronin Warriors and the Mystical Warriors, the Ronin Warriors could feel themselves feeling sorry for those girls.  They all had one collective thought:  I will never go out with any of those girls.  I'm already in love with some one else.   

The Mystical Warriors, except for Serena, who found the whole situation rather funny, were jealous.  They wanted all these girls to leave their guys alone.  They never knew that they could be so possessive of something that didn't even belong to them.  But, they didn't care.  "They will never get Sage," Raye said.

"I will not allow them to touch Cye," Mina said through gritted teeth.  Serena picked up on this and said, "Don't you think you guys are being a tad too possessive?"

"Serena, how would you react if Darien was being stared at 40 girls who only wanted to date him because they thought he was cute?" Lita asked.

"I'd be pissed off," Serena said.

"Well, then think about how we feel, Serena," Ami said.  Serena thought about that for a moment before saying, "Ok, I understand.  I can see where you jealously is coming from."  The guys walked back to the Mystical Warriors, ignoring the hellos of the girls that they passed. 

All the girls in the sophomore class were jealous of the 5 Mystical Warriors.  To them, why should those 5 girls get all the attention from the 5 new guys?  Little did they know that those 5 guys had been living with those 5 girls for 2 months and they were the only people the guys knew at their new school.  "Did you have to subject us to that torture?" Cye asked.

"Yeah, I agree with Cye," Kento said.  The girls looked at each other, one eyebrow raised, before looking back at the guys and smiling.  "Yes," they said at the same time.  The guys just scowled.  "Oh, don't be such a poor sport," Mina said, "We have to get to homeroom."

"Are we in the same homeroom?" Sage asked.

"By a miracle, yes we are," Serena said, "I checked while you guys were up there.  The list is right behind me.  Now, let's go!  Don't want to be late, now do we?"  The group of 10 made their way to homeroom, the girls constantly teasing the guys about getting up in front of the school and making the girls all fall for them, all the while, hiding the jealousy that they felt that all the girls in the sophomore class wanted to go out with at least one of the guys.

***

"Did the girls say where they were going to be?" Ryo asked as they looked through the school campus.  They were supposed to meet the girls for lunch, but they couldn't find them anywhere.

"Yeah, but they never told us where exactly.  I think they forgot that we don't quite know our way around the school yet," Sage said.

"Well, still, finding them should be easy.  All we have to do is look for Serena's hairstyle and Ami's hair color.  I haven't seen anyone else with Serena and Ami's hair type," Cye said.

"That's a good point," Rowen said, his eyes scanning the area outside of the school, where most of the students went to eat lunch.  The guys continued to search through the campus, looking for their friends, when they heard a female voice calling out to them.  "Hey Ryo, Sage, Rowen, Kento, Cye, over here!"  They all turned their heads to see Serena, waving at them, already sitting underneath the large branches of a humungous oak tree.  With her were Raye, Lita, Ami, Mina, and a few other people that the guys hadn't met yet.  They walked over to them and sat down on the ground.  "Hey," Ryo said.  Rowen turned to Ami and said, "You disappeared after Pre-Calc.  Where'd you go?"

"I went to the library.  I thought I told you that I was going there."

"Well, if you did, I didn't hear it.  It's ok, though.  I just didn't know where you went and was just wondering," Rowen said.  Serena turned to the guys and said, "I don't think you've met our other friends.  You guys, this is Molly and Melvin.  They're old friends of ours."  Serena turned to her four other friends and said, "This is Ryo, Rowen, Sage, Kento, and Cye."  Molly looked at them and said, "Well, it's nice to meet you guys.  Is it true that you guys have been living with them for 2 months?"

"Yeah, it's true," Ryo said.

"Why have you been living with them," Melvin asked, really curious.  He had heard that they were old family friends of the person who owned the house the 5 girls lived in and he wanted to know if it was true.  The Ronin and Mystical Warriors panicked.  They hadn't thought of a plausible story to go with that question.  So, Serena made it up.  "Well, you see, um, these guys are friends that we met over the summer.  They come from Toyama and when we heard that they were moving to Tokyo to go to school here, we offered to let them stay at our house.  Celia accepted and now, they live at our house." 

The others sweatdropped at Serena's lame story.  "Oh, so why do you live at their house instead of your parents?" Melvin continued to ask.  He also heard that they ran away from home. 

"Well," Ryo said, taking the reins from Serena, "It was alright with our parents for us to go to school in Tokyo, but our parents couldn't move to Tokyo.  Since they knew that Tokyo has better schools than Toyama, they let us live with Celia and the others."  The others sighed silently in relief.  At least Ryo was better at cover-up stories than Serena was.

"Oh," Melvin said, "That answers my questions."  The 12 students settled easily into lunch, unaware that they were being watched.  "Hmph, what do they have that I don't have?" Abby Simpson asked, folding her arms over her chest.

"I don't know," Rachael Thomas said.

"I don't see why they hang around those girls.  They don't even give anyone else a chance," Abby said.  Needless to say, Abby and Rachael were attracted to the members of the Ronin Warriors.  Abby crushed after Sage and Rachael really liked Rowen.  "You know," another girl named Ashley said, who had the biggest crush on Cye, "I heard that those guys are living with Serena and her friends."

"Really?" Abby said, "No fair.  They get to see them all day.  At least they could share them with the rest of us."
"You know, I would just give up if I would you."  The three girls turned around to see Kevin, one of their guy friends.

"Why do you say that?" Rachael said.

"You mean you haven't noticed?" Kevin asked; he was beginning to wonder why they were even friends of his.

"Noticed what?" Ashley said.

"You don't have a chance with any of the new guys.  Just look."  The four gazes turned to look at the group.  They watched as Ami and Rowen stood up and, after saying their good-byes, walked away, talking to each other.  "Look at those two.  Don't you see how Rowen is looking at Ami and how attentive he is to whatever she says?  It's a clear as day that he really likes her and that she feels the same.  And then there's Raye and Sage." 

They all looked at Raye and Sage.  "Sage isn't taking his eyes off of her; he's practically staring at her and whenever she looks at him, he quickly looks away and blushes.  And Raye is staring at him as well.  And then there's Mina and Cye.  Do you see the way his attention is focused only on her?  It's like there's nothing else that's more important to him. 

"And Kento and Lita.  I mean he's all over her.  It's written all over their faces that they like each other.  I don't know about Ryo, but I know that Serena already has a boyfriend.  But, Ryo hasn't looked at any girl, save those 5, all day.  He's obviously not attracted to anyone here.  He probably has a crush on someone else."  Kevin had hit the nail on the head.  And the girls didn't like it one bit.  "Ooh, what do you know?" Abby said, extremely frustrated.  By god, Sage was going to be hers.

"I know plenty.  As a fellow guy, I can just tell.  I'm only telling you this for your own safety.  You can chase after them if you want to, but you won't get anywhere and you'll only end up getting hurt.  Later."  Kevin walked off, leaving Abby, Rachael, and Ashley very upset and pissed off.  "I'm going to go over there and talk to them," Abby said.  She stood up, brushed off her skirt, and got about two steps in the direction of the group of now ten when a loud crash was heard.  Abby turned her head to look to the left and she screamed.

***
Somewhere in the Negaverse, Talpa watched as a small army of hybrids (AN: those are Metallia's youma mixed with Talpa's Dynasty soldiers.  Basically, monsters with armor) wreaked havoc on the earth.  He had sent them to earth with a purpose, to find the Ronin and Mystical Warriors.  It seemed to have work.  This was just so he could find them and be able to recognize the Mystical Warriors.  But, there was no bad in spreading evil and taking prisoners.  He chuckled lightly, the only sign of his self-determined victory.

***
Back on earth, the small army of hybrids trampled through the school campus.  Ami and Rowen were the only people were able to get away and transform; the others were still underneath the tree and in full view.  They couldn't reveal their identities, so they had to stay as human until they could sneak away and the only way that that was going to be possible was for Ami and Rowen to transform in an out of the way place. 

Ami pulled Rowen behind a building and said, "We're the only ones who can do this right now.  We have to transform and create a distraction so the others can get away because we can't defeat all of them on our own.  Are you ready?"

"Are you kidding?  Of course I am."  Nodding at each other, the two transformed into their sub-armor.  "Armor of Strata!"

"Power of the Artic!"  Within seconds, the two were standing there, wearing their sub-armor.  Rushing out to the scene, Rowen surprise-attacked them by kicking one of them in the back.  The hybrids turned around to see Ami and Rowen in their sub-armor, standing back to back with their arms across their chest.  With a smile on her face, Ami said, "How dare you interrupt school?" Ami asked, "Don't you know that it's a time of learning?  You will pay for interrupting school hours."

"Ditto!" Rowen said.  He and Ami looked at each other before calling out their transformation lines.  "ARMOR OF STRATA!  DAO INOCHI!"

"I call upon the armor of the Artic.  Armor of the Artic, TO ARMS!"  Seconds later, two fully armored warriors were standing there, ready to fight.  By now, everybody was staring at the two warriors, wondering who they were.  Ami closed her eyes and concentrated her power.  "RAGING ICE STORM FREEZE!"  As shards of ice and swirls of snow hit two out of about 30 hybrids, who were busy trying to attack Ami and Rowen, Rowen managed to motion to the others to sneak away and transform using only his eyes.  The group got the hint and snuck away to transform. 

While Ami and Rowen fought against the hybrids, the other 8 ducked behind the same building that Ami and Rowen had transformed behind.  "Ok, we have to help them.  It doesn't matter what you do, just kill them, ok?" Serena said.

"Right!" everyone else said.  Serena nodded.

"Alright, let's do it.  Power of the Moonlight!  I call upon the armor of the Moonlight!  Armor of the Moonlight, TO ARMS!"

"Power of the Phoenix!  I call upon the armor of the Phoenix!  Armor of the Phoenix, TO ARMS!"

"Power of Lightning!  I call upon the armor of Lightning!  Armor of Lightning, TO ARMS!"

"Power of the Heavens!  I call upon the armor of the Heavens!  Armor of the Heavens, TO ARMS!"

"Armor of Wildfire!  ARMOR OF WILDFIRE!  DAO JIN!"

"Armor of Torrent!  ARMOR OF TORRENT!  DAO SHIN!"

"Armor of Halo!  ARMOR OF HALO!  DAO CHI!"

"Armor of Hardrock!  ARMOR OF HARDROCK!  DAO GI!"  8 armored warriors replaced the 8 students.  The Mystical and Ronin Warriors moved out to help their comrades and friends. 

Meanwhile, Rowen was trying to ward off the attacks of one of the hybrids with his bow.  He looked to his right to see Ami holding her own against a hybrid.  By checking up on Ami, he failed to see the hybrid sneak up on his left.  He didn't know until he hit the ground after being whacked in the back of the head with the spear that the hybrid was carrying.  "Hey ugly!  Why don't you leave my friend alone and try one of us on for size?" 

Rowen and Ami turned their heads to see the Mystical and other Ronin Warriors standing there, looking like they wanted to kick some ass.  Serena, who had yelled to the hybrid when it knocked Rowen to the ground, was standing in the middle of the 8 warriors.  "You've messed with the wrong warriors, buddy," she continued before taking her staff and yelling, "MOONLIGHT VANQUISH!"  She held her staff in her left hand as she swung it through the air, creating a bolt of light the shape of a crescent moon that hurled through the air towards a few of the hybrids, killing them immediately.  The rest of the warriors took on knowing smiles and the hybrids, who could feel fear, knew that they were done for.  "LIGHTNING SWORD STRIKE!"

"FIREBIRD FLARE!"

"BEAUTY SHOCKWAVE!"

"FLARE UP NOW!"

"SUPER WAVE SMASHER!"

"IRON ROCK CRUSHER!"
"THUNDERBOLT CUT!"

"ARROW SHOCKWAVE!"  The rest of the hybrids were killed almost immediately, incinerating quickly.  The Mystical Warriors and the Ronin Warriors were exhausted and a little miserable about that fact.  They still had to finish their first day of school.  Serena ignored her exhaustion and went over to Ami and Rowen, who were still separated from the group.  "Are you guys ok?" Serena asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Rowen said.

"What a first day of school," Ami said, "Huh?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Serena said understandingly.  This had to be the weirdest first day of school ever in history.  Serena turned around and was about to inquire after the others when she heard a noise behind her that sounded like applause.  She turned back around to face the entire school and every student was applauding the 10 warriors.  Serena only looked at all of them and smiled.

***
I like water.  Cool, refreshing, and absolutely heavenly after that battle.  I'm amazed that we were able to sneak away after that battle, Raye thought as she got a drink of water later that same afternoon.  After the battle, they had been swamped by students from their school, asking them what they were doing and if they were related to the Sailor Scouts and other questions like that.  By a miracle, they were able to escape the crowd and find somewhere safe to detransform.  Raye finished up her business at the water fountain and was walking back to her literature class when she heard two familiar voices. 

Hiding behind a row of lockers, she looked on with interest and jealousy as Sage talked to Abby Simpson.   Ooh, that little slut!  How dare she!  Wait, Raye, he's not actually yours.  You can't control his actions, though I wish I could.  She strained her ears to hear what they were saying.  "You mean you didn't see them?  They were amazing.  I mean, the way they fought against those monsters was amazing," Abby said, referring to the Mystical and Ronin Warriors. 

"Um-hmm," Sage muttered.  Raye smiled a little; that was Sage's way of indicating that he didn't really like talking to the person he was talking to or he wasn't interested in what that person was saying. 

"So," Abby said, not beating around the bush anymore, "I was wondering, if you're not busy Friday night, would you like to go out?"  Raye's fist clench as she heard those words.  She was praying that he wouldn't say yes.  Raye and Sage had plans for Friday night; Raye, Sage, Mina, and Cye were all going out on Friday night to the park and then Raye and Mina were going to drag Sage and Cye to the arcade to play video games and relax, even if it killed the two girls. 

Raye, who was anticipating Sage's response, felt her heart soar with joy with Sage's next words.  "I'm sorry.  I'm busy that night.  It was nice talking to you."  With that Sage started to walk away and Raye pushed herself off of the locker she was leaning on and walked out into the hallway, acting like she had heard nothing.  Suddenly, she heard a voice call her name.  She turned to see Sage, approaching her.  "Hey Sage, what's up?" Raye said, still acting like she'd heard nothing.

"Oh, nothing.  Some girl, Abby I think her name was, just tried to ask me out for Friday, but I said no because, one, I don't want to go out with her and two, I already have plans.  We're still going out that night, right?"

"Yep, sure are, buster."

"So, where you headed?  I thought you had class," Sage asked.

"I do.  I'm heading there right now.  I just needed water.  Want to walk me back?"
"Sure.  What class do you have?"

"Literature.  You don't have class now?"

"Nah, I have a free.  I was on my way to the library to get some of my homework done when I ran into that Abby girl.  Needless to say, I got a little set off my course."

"Oh, well, you can walk me to class and then you can head over to the library."

"Sounds like a plan."  The two walked back to Raye's classroom, talking about how their first day went.  They weren't as lucky as Ami and Rowen to have the same schedule, but that was Ami and Rowen, the school's top geniuses.  There was only one honors program for sophomores and Ami and Rowen were in it.  Sage and Raye reached Raye's class and before Raye opened the door to go back inside, she said, "So, I'll see you after school?"
"Yeah, out front, right?"
"You got it," Raye said before waving to Sage and walking inside her classroom.

***

"Are we all here?" Serena asked as they all gathered outside the school.

"No, not quite," Lita said, "Mina said she had to go to the bathroom and told us to wait for her."

"Like we could forget her," Raye said.

"So, is this a routine for you guys?" Kento asked.

"What's a routine?" Lita asked.

"Walking home together," Kento finished up.

"Yeah, actually, it is," Serena said, "Ever since we started going to high school together, we've been walking home together.  It's become kind of a tradition."

"Oh," Sage said.  Looking over to his right, he found Ami and Rowen discussing something. 

"What are you guys doing?" Cye asked.  Ami and Rowen only held up their Pre-Calc books in explanation before lowering them again so they could read them.  "Ahh, getting an early start on their homework.  That sounds like our Ami," Raye said.

"No, that sounds like our Rowen," Ryo said.  Ryo and Raye only smiled at each other knowingly. 

"Ok, you guys, we can go home now," the group heard Mina call out to them as she approached them.

"Great, home, here we come.  Ami, Rowen, put your books away.  We're walking now," Serena said. 

Ami and Rowen looked startled for a moment before closing their books.  Rowen put his back in his book bag and Ami held her in her arms as the two rushed to catch up with the rest of the group.  "So," Serena said, "How was everyone's day?"  Serena listened as she got many answers, most of them good.  She later turned to Ami and said, "Hey Ami, I don't have any classes with you this year."

"Yeah, that's too bad," Ami said, "But, I'm in the honors program at school, so that explains it.  That doesn't mean, however, that I won't be able to help you, Serena."

"Oh, no, I wasn't asking for help.  I just think it's kind of sad."

"Yeah, I know," Ami said, sympathizing.

"So, what classes are you taking, Ami?" Mina asked.  Everybody knew everyone else's schedule because for the most part, they were all taking the same classes, but in different orders.  All except Ami and Rowen, who were in the honors program.  "Um, I'm taking Ancient Literature, Pre-calculus, European History Honors, Chemistry, and Spanish 4.  There's a study period in there somewhere and it's always at a different time."  Mina nodded and then turned to Rowen.  "What about you, Rowen?"

"Well, I'm taking the same classes as Ami, in the same order, except for when she's taking Spanish, I'm taking French 4.  And Ami, we can either have that study hall period or we can go to computer tutorial."

"I know, but I already took that.  I've already learned everything that they teach in that class."

"Ah, gotcha.  That's why you didn't mention it.  I probably know most of that stuff.  I'm not an expert in computers, but I'm not the worst either," Rowen said.  Moving away from the topic of classes, Kento said, "Who is not looking forward to doing their homework tonight?"

"ME!" 9 other people said.  Each of them began complaining about their homework load as they reached Celia's mansion.  As they walked through the front door, Serena said, "Ah, home sweet home.  I get a snack, then I go upstairs and hole myself up in my bedroom until my homework is done.  With any luck, I'll be done by dinner."  As Serena stopped talking, everyone could hear the sounds of two people laughing, a male and a female.  Serena immediately recognized the male who was laughing.  "Darien, are you here?" she said, walking into the living room, where Mia and Darien were talking.

"Serena, how was school?" he asked as she leaned down to give him a kiss.

"It was school.  How was your day?"

"A little boring.  I missed you, though."  Serena smiled and gave Darien another kiss.  Everyone else had either gone upstairs, to the kitchen, or anywhere else but the front hall, where Ryo looked like he was going to explode.  Even though he knew that Darien was incredibly in love with Serena, he couldn't help but be jealous of the connection he had with Mia. 

He didn't understand what it was and it bothered him.  He hated how Darien could be so close to Mia when he couldn't at the moment.  He and Mia had been working on pulling their friendship back to where it was pre-kiss.  But, lately, Mia had been spending a lot of time with Darien, an action that made Ryo incredibly jealous.  Ryo, who had been standing outside the living room doorway, moved away, feeling dejected, right when Serena looked towards the doorway.  "Is something wrong, Serena?" Darien asked.

"I thought I saw someone standing in the doorway," Serena said, lying.  She knew who she saw.  It was Ryo and he looked jealous.  She was just going to have to talk to him later.  But, now, Darien was asking her a question and it would be rude of her not to answer him.  She looked down at Darien and answered his question, smiling, all thoughts of Ryo fleeing her mind. 

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Ok, now, this is the last chapter tonight.  Feel lucky, you got three (two, technically) very long chapters.  But now, DestinyBabe must go read her Education readings and finish her pre-lab for Geology class tomorrow.  Review and tell us what you think, as always.  Thanks a ton!  ~DestinyBabe! : P