A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews. I didn't realize I had my account set up so anonymous reviews couldn't be submitted. I've changed that, so any helpful suggestions or feedback are always welcome.

---------------------------------------------------------

"...you can't do that!" Kendra argued.

"Yes I can." Liberty replied, "a rare but legal move of opportunity for the pawn."

Kendra, Liberty and Nadia were sitting at a table on the campus grounds deeply involved in their chess match. However, Kendra did notice that Toby was sitting on the bench next to them staring off into space, almost oblivious to his surroundings. The friendship between him and his closest pal, J.T. Yorke, had been strained over the last few weeks. J.T. was spending more and more time with his new friend Paige. It seemed like J.T. had ditched Toby just so he could be part of the in crowd.

"Toby, is everything okay?" Nadia inquired.

"J.T. was supposed to be here." Toby answered.

"Then why is he sitting over there?" Nadia pointed out.

"He probably just forgot today is the inaugural meeting of the Rooks & Knights Society. Hey J.T., over here!" Toby shouted.

The group saw J.T. sitting at the other end of the gathering area with Paige in, what seemed to be, a lively conversation. They also saw him look up but ignore his best friend.

"Yeah, he really forgot." Kendra stated.

"Hope he hasn't forgotten he's staying over at my place tonight." Toby wondered aloud.

With that, Toby got up and quickly walked off. Deep down inside, Kendra didn't feel much sympathy for Toby. Toby had treated her in much the same way that J.T. was treating him now. For some time she had wished that Toby had been around to hear about some of the things that were going on in her life. That summer she had decided to try and find out more about her biological parents. She had run into a ton of brick walls almost immediately. It was hard enough for government officials to get information from the Chinese government. For a teenage girl, without any political connections, it was next to impossible. And since the agency that had arranged her adoption shut down when the British government handed Hong Kong over to China a few years ago, she knew that she might never get the answers she wanted.

She had spent a good portion of the summer in a semi-depression, all the while telling her parents, brother and even her best friend that she was fine. Its not that she hated her home, she loved her family, even her stupid brother. It was that she still felt that part of her was missing and she didn't know how to express that to anybody.

She also remembered last year watching Toby pass out during his wrestling match.  When she learned that Toby had developed an eating disorder, she was angry at him, but she was also scared to death that he wouldn't recover. She went to his house every day after school for a month, to talk to him and reassure him that everything would be okay. She even became friends with his stepsister, Ashley.

They became so close that Ashley had even offered to give Kendra a 'goth' makeover, which Kendra politely and quickly declined.  Kendra had always thought that Ashley was a stuck up princess. But ever since Ashley had gotten high on ecstasy, something had changed within her. Ashley underwent this radical transformation, both physically and, it seemed, spiritually. Ashley had become both emotionally stronger and independent. She was able to help Craig through a rough time in his life and a romance had grown between them. That's what hurt so much about everything that had happened between her and Toby. Kendra could see how other couples supported each other, Emma and Sean, Craig and Ashley, even Spinner and Paige. Kendra wasn't sure if Toby even considered them to be a couple anymore. He didn't seem too concerned about what she might be feeling or going through. She knew at some point she would have to confront Toby, but there was a part of her that was reluctant to do so. Its not like she would be the only teenage girl in the world without a boyfriend. Inside there was some part of her that hoped Toby would suddenly start acting like the old Toby, like when they first started going out. Then, like a punch in the stomach, Kendra realized why she was feeling like such an idiot…

She had completely fallen in love with him.

"Hey Kendra, are you still with us?" Liberty asked.

"Huh, yeah, sure." Kendra said as her thoughts returned to match at hand. "Checkmate!" she exclaimed.

Liberty dropped her head in disappointment.

Earlier that day, Emma had told Kendra that the SITE clean-up had been rescheduled for lunch tomorrow. That was fine with Kendra. All she felt like doing was finishing her school day and going home. That night Kendra lay on her bed trying to sort out her feelings. She considered picking up the phone and calling Toby but what would she say? She could picture it now, "Hi, Toby. Even though you hardly speak to me or recognize my existence in any meaningful way, I just wanted to let you know that I'm madly, deeply in love with you." The thought sounded so desperate and ridiculous that Kendra immediately erased it from her mind. Besides J.T. would probably answer the phone and give her a hard time about "checking up on her man."

The next morning Kendra awoke. She was just as unsure about what she should do as the night before. She decided to sit Toby down and have a serious talk with him, even if it meant putting her heart on the line. She arrived at school and saw Nadia about to enter the school building. "Hey Nadia wait up." she called out.

"So are you feeling better?" Nadia asked.

"What do you mean? I'm not sick or anything."

"Yesterday you just didn't seem like yourself." Nadia continued, "I just figured maybe you were coming down with something. I started to call you last night but I figured you probably needed some rest."

"I guess I did." Kendra answered quickly.

The two girls entered the building side by side, chatting as they moved along. Kendra told Nadia she needed to talk to Toby and they agreed to meet at lunch for the SITE clean-up. Kendra waited by Toby's locker as long as she could, but he didn't show up and she had to hurry to keep from being late to class. She would find him at some point during lunch and have her little talk with him.

The morning flew by in Kendra's anticipation of what she planned to do. When the lunch bell rang, she rushed to the cafeteria and stood by the entrance waiting for Toby. The butterflies in her stomach felt like they were migrating. Finally she saw J.T. coming down the hallway with Paige, Spinner, and Hazel.

"You do know that you go inside the cafeteria." Spinner said as he taunted his sister.

"Yeah, I know." Kendra replied in her 'I don't have time for you voice'. "J.T., have you seen Toby?" She asked.

"No, I haven't seen him since we got to school this morning. Is there something wrong?" J.T. questioned.

"Everything's fine, I just need to tell him something is all." Kendra said as she displayed her best fake smile.

"Okay, I'll pass along the message if I see him." J.T. said as the group passed on their way into the cafeteria.

Kendra stood at the door for another five minutes waiting to see if Toby would appear. She had told Nadia they would meet for SITE clean-up at lunch, but she felt she really needed to talk to Toby first. Finally she saw him coming down the hallway.

"Toby, can I talk to you for a minute? I have something important to tell you." Kendra asked. She had decided she would make her confession short and sweet.

"Sure, but now's not a good time." Toby replied, "J.T. and everybody else are waiting for me."

"This'll only take a second." Kendra pleaded.

"Meet me after school and you can tell me whatever it is." Toby said as he walked past her.

Kendra just stood in place for a couple of minutes with no expression, no movement at all. Inside she was totally wrecked. Regardless of how strong her feelings for Toby might be, she knew now that he definitely didn't see her as a priority anymore. Here she was about to tell him that she loved him, and he acted like he couldn't be bothered. She wanted to cry but told herself that she could do that later. Right now she needed to get to the SITE meeting where she could do something that really made a difference.

As Kendra approached the parking lot, she could see Nadia along with a large group of kids. She decided she would keep what had happened a secret, for now, from Nadia. She first had to decide what her next step was going to be.

"I was beginning to think you had found something better to do." Nadia said jokingly.

"No way…I wouldn't miss it for the world." Kendra replied in her cheeriest voice.

Emma gave everybody copies of a map of the school outlining the area where they were going to clean up today.

"What are we going to do?" Emma asked the group.

"We're going to clean the ravine!" the group answered.

"What's going on up there?" Nadia asked Kendra.

They could see a group of hooligans harassing Emma and Sean. Kendra and Nadia watched as one boy poured out part of his soda on the asphalt. Sean stood in front of them un-phased as the trio walked off laughing. How could Sean, who was so different than Emma, care about her so much that he would stand up for her cause, even if it meant being ridiculed by his peers? That's what a real couple was supposed to be like.

Emma told the group to pair up and said, "let's get started." Kendra and Nadia went along with a few other groups around the school's northeast corridor.

"Kendra I guess one good thing about helping with the clean up is that we get an extra half hour of lunch today." Nadia stated.

"Yeah, and Friday is the grade seven and eight girls soccer tournament. We get out of school for the whole day." Kendra replied.

"Not just you, but the Junior Spirit Squad gets to go also, so get ready for some company." Nadia said excitedly.

The two girls moved down the sidewalk seeing occasional pieces of litter. They heard voices in the wooded area by the ravine. Kendra decided to go down one of the hiking trails and see if there was anything down by the ravine that needed to be picked up. She told Nadia that she would meet her at the other end of the trail. When Kendra got down to the ravine, she didn't see anybody. If anybody was there, they must've moved on by now. She did see an empty soda bottle in the distance and decided to pick it up. As soon as she got it picked up she heard some leaves rustling not too far in front of her. She was shocked to see Emma and Sean lip locked and laying on the ground. They heard Kendra as soon as she approached and were quick to jump up and try to straighten their clothes and hair.

"A lot of garbage, huh?" Kendra replied as she quickly exited.

Kendra felt more embarrassed than Emma and Sean could have been. It had little to do with her finding them in an intimate moment. She felt kind of jealous that she had never been kissed like that before. Kendra was surprised by her self-observations, she hadn't thought of seriously making out with boys before. But now the idea didn't feel so awkward and gross to her anymore.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Next chapter: Kendra comes to a decision, and it's not pretty.