Part 3: Food Fights and First Impressions

-September 24th, 1999-

"We're sure that the house is still the same, right?" Margot asked as she and Julie got the bottom of the stairs.

"Well, there's only one way to find out, right?" Julie said as they turned right, heading towards the dining room.  They walked through the large house, marveling at its sheer size.  "I don't think I imagined Celia's house being this big," Margot said in awe, her voice no louder than a whisper.

"Neither did I," Julie said with her voice equally as soft. 

They finally reached the dining room and when they did, they found the table practically full; everyone was there except for Lita and Mia, who was helping Lita finish up dinner.  At the heads of the table sat Darien and Celia.  On Darien's left sat Serena, who was totally engaged in a conversation with Darien.  The seat on Serena's other side was empty, which was the seat that Margot chose, and on the other side of the empty chair sat Ami.  Ami was talking to Rowen, who was sitting on her left, and to Ryo, who was sitting across from her.  In between Ryo and Darien sat two empty chairs, one of them meant for Mia.  Julie sat down across from Margot, next to Ryo, which left the seat on the end, on Darien's right, for Mia. 

On the other side of Ryo was Sage, who was listening to the three-way conversation between Ami, Rowen, and Ryo, who were talking about birthdays.  Sage sat in between Ryo and Raye, the latter who was engaged in a conversation with Mina, who was sitting across from her, about what a creep Craig Goldsmith was for asking her out earlier that day and how much the two of them didn't like him.  The seat on Raye's right was empty, but the seat on Mina's left sat Cye, who sat next to Kento, who had saved a seat across from him for Lita.  Cye and Kento were talking about the skill that was required to work at McDonald's; only God knew why. 

The seat on the other side of Kento was empty, but one more seat over was where Heather was sitting.  Heather was sitting on Celia's right and sitting across from Heather was Alex.  Michelle sat on Alex's left and on the right where Lita would be sitting. 

All in all, the scene was lively and sorta noisy.  No one really noticed Margot and Julie walk into the room.  The only people who really noticed were Serena, Darien, and Ryo.  Almost as soon as Margot and Julie sat down, Lita and Mia came out of the kitchen, their arms laden with dishes. 

It took a couple of trips before all the food was on the table and when it was, Lita, who was in the process of sitting down, announced the dishes.  "Ok, you guys, I felt like doing an American dinner tonight.  We have steak, peas, carrots, salad, two kinds of mashed potatoes, regular and garlic, and gravy.  For dessert, I went healthy and made a fruit salad.  Is that ok with everyone?"  No one objected to the choice of foods that Lita had picked for dinner; whatever she made would be delicious as it was. 

Once everyone was settled in around the table, people began serving themselves, most of them continuing on in their original conversations that were going on before dinner had been served.  As dinner wore on, Julie and Margot became bored, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but in this case, it was.  When Julie and Margot got bored, they relieved their boredom in not always the best things when no better alternative was presented. 

Since no one was paying attention to the two new girls at the moment, Julie and Margot were free to carry on as they were at the moment: flicking peas back and forth.  They watched with glee as the tiny trajectories flew across the table, usually hitting Margot or Julie, depending on which side of the table they were launched from.  Both of them feeling rather adventurous, they each scooped up a forkful of mashed potatoes.  Each of them wearing mischievous smiles on their faces, Margot and Julie flung the forkfuls of mashed potatoes at each other. 

But, flinging mashed potatoes takes more skill and aim than flinging peas.  The two girls missed each other completely, hitting other people instead.  Not prepared for what happened, Margot and Julie watched with shock as mashed potatoes hit Serena and Ryo in the face.  As it had turned out, Margot had hit Ryo in the face with the mashed potatoes and Julie had hit Serena.  Serena and Ryo froze as Mia and Darien chuckled slightly. 

Margot and Julie looked utterly terrified; they were scared that Ryo and Serena were going to exact punishment and that it was going to be something awful.  Serena was the first to react.  Scooping up a small handful of mashed potatoes, she aimed for Julie, but hit Ryo instead.  Ryo, who was mad at being hit twice in the face with mashed potatoes, lobbed the same back at Serena, his aim on the mark.  The two cousins started throwing food back and forth, the attentions of everyone on the table on them.  What had started as innocent fun was slowly turning into an all-out food fight. 

Eventually, most everyone joined in, with the exception of Celia, Darien, Kento, Margot, and Julie.  Celia and Darien tried their best to stay out of the line of fire by ducking, Kento tried to stop the food fight, arguing that it was a waste of food, and Margot and Julie hid under the table, wanting to stay out of it as much as possible.  "You guys, stop it," Kento said, "You're wasting all this food, food that would be better off being eaten."  Cye, who was sitting next to Kento, said, "Kento, shut up," before smearing a handful of mashed potatoes in his face. 

Once Cye, who was laughing hysterically, pulled his hand away, Kento looked at him with death in his eyes.  Licking off the mashed potatoes from around his lips, he nodded in approval.  "Hmm, very good mashed potatoes."  Looking at Cye, he said, "You are so dead," before beginning to fling food at his best friend. 

Over on the other side of the table, Serena glanced over at Darien, who was essentially untouched.  Serena, who was covered in mashed potatoes, decided to take action.  Darien didn't expect what happened next.  One minute he was sitting in his chair and the next he was on the floor.  When he looked up to see what had happened, he saw Serena standing on his chair, hiding something behind her back.  Standing up and brushing off his pants, he said, "Serena, what was that for?"  Serena only smiled before pulling the gravy boat out from behind her back and pouring its contents on Darien's head. 

Within seconds, Darien was dripping with gravy.  It was all over his hair, coated his clothes, and ran down his face slowly.  Completely shocked, he wiped the gravy away from his eyes and opened them to look up at Serena.  "Why'd you do that?"  Serena smiled down at him.  "Darien, honey, you were just too clean."  Leaning over, she gave him a kiss on the lips, which tasted heavily of gravy.  She pulled back so she could look him in the eye and said, "I love you, muffin."  Darien only grunted in suspicion. 

The food fight continued on; all of the members of the household were involved, except for Celia, Margot, and Julie.  Celia watched as food was thrown around, finding that she didn't mind.  The area around the table was all marble floor, so anything that landed on the floor wasn't going to stain.  Besides, they all needed to relax and let loose.  They had all been too tense during the last three months with the girls' capture and their recovery from being captured.  Celia, who was looking at Alex and Michelle as they each tried to smear food in each other's hair, wasn't prepared for the attack of food that hit her in the face.  Celia froze, and everyone fell silent, food all over them, as Celia was hit in the side of the face with mashed potatoes. 

Everyone watched in silence, even Margot and Julie, who were still under the table, as Celia picked up her napkin and wiped the food off of her face.  They were all in trouble now, they knew it.  Celia turned her head to look around the table and found Cye standing there with a guilty look on his face.  Celia immediately knew that he had hit her in the face and that it had been by accident.  The look on his face told her that he expected to be kicked out of the house at the least.  Celia stood up, making her presence known totally and looked down at her plate speculatively. 

Grinning slightly, Celia picked up a handful of food and threw it at a guilty looking Cye, who was totally shocked at Celia's rowdy, well, rowdy for her, behavior.  Within seconds, the food fight had resumed, all of the Mystical and Ronin Warriors now involved.  And still under the table were Julie and Margot, trying to keep clear of all food that was being thrown around.  They knew that for the moment, the others had forgotten about them, but they really didn't mind; they didn't want to be remembered at that moment in time. 

"Alright, if they know that we're totally clean and that we were the ones that started this whole fiasco, they're going to cream us with food," Margot said, just loud enough so Julie could hear.

"Yeah, let's sneak out of here and go upstairs," Julie said.

"Right, Julie, easier said than done."

"We have to try," Julie stated, leaving no other options.  The two literally crawled out of there, rising to their feet and breaking out into a run as soon as they got out of the dining room, but it wouldn't have mattered how they got from the hallway to their rooms; no one was paying attention to them.  They got up to Margot's room and immediately shut her door behind them. 

Julie sagged against Margot's door in relief as Margot moved over to her bed and collapsed.  "Well, at least we escaped for the moment," Margot said, her arm over her eyes as she lay on her back.  Julie pushed herself off of the door and said, "Well, I'm going back to my room and I'm going to sleep for a little.  I think it'll be a while before we hear anything from them.  I mean they have to get cleaned up before they do anything else.  So, before I get punished for starting this food fight, I want a nap.  I'll see you later, Margot."

"Yeah, see you later."  Julie walked through the bathroom and into her room.  The last that Margot heard from Julie for a while was the sound Julie's bathroom door closing behind her as she went into her own room to rest.  Margot sighed as she reached for her backpack, her hand disappearing inside of it as she searched for a book to read. 

Finding the one that she wanted, she pulled it out of the bottom of her backpack, with much effort, and stood up, walking to the door.  She opened her bedroom door and stepped out of her room; she was going to find somewhere else to read.  Book in hand, she wandered her way to the stairs before jauntily walking down them.  She went over to the living room and flopped down on one of the huge couches that Celia had strategically placed in there.  Making herself comfortable, Margot opened her book in one hand and calmly began to read.

***
About an hour later, Julie opened her eyes and found herself wondering where she was for the briefest moment.  She had fallen asleep a little while earlier and now didn't remember where she was.  Sitting up in her bed, rubbing the sleep out of one eye, she looked around the room when realization suddenly hit her.  "Oh, so it wasn't a dream," she muttered, "And here I thought it was all in my head."  Sighing, she was just about lay back down on her bed and try to fall asleep again when she heard someone knock on her door.  Well, it's a good thing someone is here.  I'm not tired enough to go back to sleep, Julie thought as she got off of her bed and moved over to the door. 

She put her hand on the doorknob and twisted it, pulling the door open to reveal all 5 of the Ronin Warriors standing in the hallway, waiting for Julie to answer the door.  Her eyes widened in fear as she saw the 5 guys standing there.  Had they come to make her pay for starting the food fight?  Her eyes took in the calm, friendly looks on their faces and she relaxed slightly, thinking that maybe they would be nice and forgiving.  "What do you guys want?" Julie asked apprehensively.

"We just wanted to say hi," Ryo said, "Do you mind if we come in?"  Ryo indicated the empty room behind Julie with a movement of his hand.

"What?" Julie blinked, still a little out of it.  Almost immediately, she continued.  "Oh, right, yeah, sure.  Come in," she said, moving aside to let them enter the room.  When they had all filed into the room, Julie closed the door and turned around to see all of the Ronin Warriors now on her bed.  She sighed.  "You guys sure don't waste anytime making yourself at home in other people's rooms, do you?"  The guys all looked at each other before turning to Julie with smiles on their faces.  "Nope," they said, all at once. 

Julie just chuckled a little bit before moving towards the center of the room, reaching her bed and sitting on the head of her bed.  The guys, too, were sitting on her bed, forming a circle with Julie at the head.  Julie drew in a breath and said, "So, why are you guys in here again?"

"We wanted to say hi and get to know you," Cye said, "It's not everyday that we meet someone one from a different universe, you know."

"Yeah, we just wanted to make you feel a little more comfortable also," Rowen added on, "We know how it feels to have to get used to a different house when you've been living in a certain house for a while."  Julie smiled at the thought.  "Well, isn't that nice of you guys?"

"Don't mention it," Sage said right as Kento said, "So, what's home like?"

"Home?  You mean California?"  Julie looked at Kento as he nodded.  "Sunny," Julie said in a simple statement.  Kento only rolled his eyes.  "No, that's not what I meant," he said with a sigh of exasperation, "I mean, what's your family like?  What's school like for you?  Stuff like that."

"Oh, I get it now."  Julie smiled and pointed to her head.  "I'm quick," she said with a smirk on her face. 

Turning serious, she said, "Well, I have two parents and I'm the oldest of three."

"Yeah, oldest children unite!" Kento said, holding out his hand to Julie so she could high-five him.  Julie smiled and gave Kento a high-five.  "That's right, I forgot that you're the oldest of 5," Julie said.

"How did you know that?" Kento asked, pulling his hand away from the high-five.

"I know everything about you guys.  I know your family background, your armor names, the whole battle with Talpa, and your experiences here.  Including the people you all have crushes on." 

Julie watched with dim satisfaction as 5 faces each turned a shade of pink.  "You won't tell them, will you?" Sage asked, nervousness in his voice.  Julie looked at Sage sympathetically.

"No, I won't tell them.  That would be cruel and I don't want to be cruel to you guys.  I like you guys too much."  That seemed to catch their attentions.

"You don't have a crush on any of us, do you?" Rowen asked; her last statement had alarmed them.  Julie looked at them, wide-eyed, with shock on her face. 

She just stared at all of them for a few minutes before saying, "No, of course I don't.  If I did, I would have to withdraw my support of you guys getting together with your crushes and I don't want to do that."

"Ok, good," Ryo said, "Because so many of the girls at school had crushes on us when we first started going there."

"I know," Julie said, "Remember?  I know everything about you guys."  Suddenly, Kento's eyes lit up.

"Can you tell us our future, since you know everything about us?" Kento asked.  Julie cringed.  She knew parts of their future, but she couldn't tell them.  "Sorry, I don't know your future.  I think that your future is something that has to be decided by you, so, even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you," Julie said, half-telling the truth; she was being truthful that she wouldn't tell them their future even if she knew, which she kinda did.

"Oh, rats," Kento said with a snap of his fingers.

"Yeah, I know, life sucks.  I'm sorry," Julie said, apologizing once more.

"It's not your fault," Cye said, "We don't expect you to know."

"Thanks," Julie said gratefully; that would get them off of her back in regards to their future.

"So, how long have you known Margot?" Sage asked.

"Since the beginning of freshman year of high school, so about, 2 years or so."

"And she's your best friend?" Ryo asked.

"Yeah, she and another girl named Kateri," Julie said, leaning back against her pillows.

"Is Kateri at home?" Rowen asked.

"Yeah, she's still there.  God, if she were here…" Julie said, giggling slightly.

"If she were here what?" Cye said.

"If she were here, she'd absolutely freak out.  Sailor Moon is, like, her favorite show in the whole universe.  She'd be giddy beyond belief," Julie said, thinking about her friend.  I wonder how Kateri will deal with us being gone? Julie thought sadly. 

From there, the topic moved on.  The 6 of them talked for about 45 minutes or so, talking about lots of different things, mainly things about Julie and her home.  Julie asked them a whole bunch of questions about the routines of the household and just general, everyday things that she didn't know about them. 

Julie wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes as she calmed down.  Kento and Cye had been making fun of each other, getting into an insult war, which the others all found hilarious.  "You guys are great," Julie said, "I love you guys."  Pausing, she looked around at the 5 of them and said seriously, "You guys are my sexy bitches."  All of them looked at her, confused looks on their faces.  "What's that supposed to mean?" Rowen asked.

"Oh, nothing really.  It's what I call all my guys friends.   When I get together with all of them, it's me and then my sexy bitches.  It's just something I do.  I'm weird like that.  No one quite knows why."

"Well, we like it," Kento said, "You're just weird enough to fit into our circle of friends."

"Let me guess," Julie said with laughter in her voice, "I'm going to become one of the guys, aren't I?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Cye said, "You're already halfway there and we've only known you for a few hours."

"We're warning you though, once you become one of our friends, you won't be able to get rid of us," Ryo said. 

Julie smiled widely at Ryo.  "Don't worry," she said, "I don't think I could even if I wanted to."  The other guys only smiled back.

***
Margot smiled as she finished her book, giggling slightly at the cuteness of the ending.  The two main characters in the book that she had been reading ended up together.  As they should be, Margot thought.  Her mind drifted to the happy ending of the book and she giggled again.  Uh-oh, here I go into giggle mode.   Once Margot went into giggle mode, it was hard to get her out of it and people tended to be a little scared of her when she went into giggle mode. 

She was still reveling in the cuteness of her book when she heard a voice call out, "There you are!"  Her head swiveled to see Serena, Raye, Lita, Ami, and Mina walking towards her.  Margot was suddenly speechless.  Were they coming to yell at her or hurt her for starting the food fight earlier?  "Yes, here I am.  I've been here for a while," Margot said, getting her lack of speech.

"We've been looking for you," Raye said, "We need to talk to you."  Margot's eyes widened.  Uh-oh, they're mad at me.  I'm going to get it now, Margot thought with fear.

"What about?" she asked slowly.  The 5 girls looked at each other, Serena with a look of encouragement on her face and the others with looks of nervousness.  They all moved to sit down on the couches in the living room, all of them sitting close together, and were silent. 

After a few minutes of silence, Mina was the first to speak up.  "Um, you don't…have a crush on Cye, do you?  Or any of the other guys?"  Margot's mouth dropped in shock.  She hadn't seen that question coming.  Margot sat there gaping at Mina for a few moments before saying, "Where did you get that idea?"

"Well, most of the girls we know seem to have crushes on the guys and we thought that you, and Julie, might have a crush on one of them."  Margot nodded in understanding as she considered Mina's question.

"I don't have a crush on Cye.  Cye is…Cye.  There's no better way to describe him.  I like him and all, but I don't have a crush on him.  Or any of the other guys for that matter."

"What about Julie?" Raye asked.  Margot shook her head violently.

"No way," Margot said, "Sure, the Ronin Warriors may be on her favorite TV show, but she doesn't have crushes on any of them.  I don't think the thought has even entered her head."  Margot suddenly heard sighs of relief from 4 girls.  "Well, that's a relief," Lita said.

"See?  I told you guys you had nothing to worry about," Serena said.

"I guess you were right," Ami said, "I think we were just being a little paranoid."

"You guys were worried that I was going to try and steal the guys from you, weren't you?" Margot asked bluntly.  All of the girls turned bright pink except for Serena, who grinned broadly.  "That's exactly what they were worried about, Margot," Serena said, "But, now, they have nothing to worry about." 

The look on Serena's face suddenly sobered a little as what Margot just said finally hit her.  "Wait, how did you know about that?  About them liking the guys?"  Margot smirked.

"I know everything."  She paused as they looked at her incredulously.  "Well, not "everything" everything," she continued, "But I know a lot.  Like, your past and things like that."

"That's a little scary," Lita said, "Some of us have things that we'd like to keep in the past."

"I know that," Margot said, "And I'm not going to tell anybody any of those things that I know you guys are going to want to keep secret."

"Um, thanks, I guess," Mina said.

"No problem," Margot said.

"So," Raye said, drawing the topic away from the guys and her past, "What's your home like?"

"Well, I live in California with my family.  I go to school, I do normal teenage things."

"What's your family like?" Mina asked.

"I have two parents, three older brothers and one younger sister."

"So you're 4 out of 5?" Ami asked.

"Yeah and it gets annoying sometimes.  I mean, imagine being one kid out of 5, clambering for your mother's attention.  It gets annoying and really hectic."

"I can see how that kinda sucks sometimes," Raye said.

"Yeah, but I love my family…most of the time."

"What's school like for you?" Ami asked.  Margot smiled.  That was such an Ami question, Margot thought before saying, "Well, I go to an all-girls catholic school, so, no boys.  Which can suck, but it can be really cool.  Everyone at my school is so open, especially in the hallways.  Only at my school can you find girls who change in the locker hall.  We really don't care because there's no one there to see it.  Of course, I don't change in the locker hall, but others do.  And we tend to be a little loud, so, be prepared.  Julie and I can be really loud when we want to be." 

Margot smiled even wider and continued with, "I'm just warning you."

"Oh, don't worry," Raye said, a smirk on her face, "We deal with Serena's loudness every day."

"Yeah, we deal with my…HEY!!  Raye, that's not fair!" Serena cried out.  Ami, Mina, and Lita sighed as the two of them started squabbling.  Moments like this were far and in between, thank god, but still really annoying. 

Margot laughed as she watched Serena and Raye trade insults.  Mina turned to Margot and said, "Why are you laughing?"  Margot calmed down her laughter to small giggles as she explained.  "I've always thought that watching Raye and Serena fight was funny; it absolutely amazes me that no matter how many times it happens, Raye can still get Serena on almost anything and vice versa."

"Hey, you stay out of this!" Raye and Serena growled at Margot, who was now cowering in the corner of the couch.  "Heh, heh, sorry," Margot said quickly.  Raye and Serena backed off and Margot settled back down. 

Quickly, her eyes flickered to the clock and she cringed slightly.  It was 5 minutes to 10 o'clock.  "Ooh, I should probably go upstairs and start getting ready for bed."  Margot stood up, making sure that her book was in her hand, and started to walk out of the room.  A thought suddenly occurring to her, she turned around.  "Hey, do you guys want to walk up with me?  I'm sure that it's time for you guys to start getting ready to go to sleep," Margot said politely.  The girls all agreed.  "Sure, we'll go up with you," Lita said, "And you're right, it is time for us to be getting ready for bed." 

Together, the 6 girls left the living room and made their way up the stairs to the 2nd floor.  They began walking down the hallway and were about to enter Margot's room when they heard the sounds of loud talking coming from Julie's room next door.  Her face taking on a look of confusion, Margot walked over to Julie's door. 

She opened it wide to reveal the Ronin Warriors and Julie, sitting on her bed, just laughing and talking.  "Well, looks like I missed a party," Margot said, entering the room with the girls following close behind.  Julie, the first one to notice that the door had opened, turned to see Margot and the girls behind her.  "Oh, hey guys, come on it.  The more the merrier."  The 6 girls entered the room and neared the bed.  "So, what have you been up to, Julie?" Serena asked.

"Well, the guys and I have been talking for a while."

"About?" Serena prompted.

"Oh, everything," Julie said enthusiastically.  The guys, who had turned to look at the newcomers, agreed with Julie about "everything".  Rowen turned to Margot and said, "Hey, Margot, is Julie usually this loud and excited about everything?"

"Most of the time," Margot said, "It really all depends on the subject.  She's usually very excited about everything except for the things that she doesn't like."

"Hey, will you stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Julie whined.

"Don't worry, I don't think we could forget that you're here," Ryo said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Well, thanks for making me feel wanted," Julie said, pouting, not being sincere. 

The pout soon turned into a smile as she looked at Margot.  "So, Margot, what have you been up to?"

"Well, I was down in the living room reading for a while when the girls came in and we talked for a while.  Then we decided that it was time to come back upstairs and get ready for bed."

"Oh really?  What did you guys talk about?" Julie asked.

"Margot and her home life," Mina said hurriedly, wanting to keep Margot from saying that they had been talking about the guys when the guys were right in front of them.  Julie caught the hurried tone of voice and said, "Ahh, I see," right before she yawned loudly.  "Well," Julie said, "If you guys will excuse me, I'm going to get ready for bed.  I'm sleepy."

"Oh, ok Julie.  I guess we'll see you tomorrow," Cye said as he and the other Ronin Warriors got off the bed and started moving out of Julie's room.

"Yeah, good night," Sage said as the guys finally departed and moved down the hallway to their respective rooms, leaving Margot, Julie and the girls in Julie's room.

"Well, that takes care of them," Margot said, "But, I'm going to go get ready for be myself."

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I'm tired too," Raye said, "We've all had a long day."

"I agree; the idea of going to sleep sounds really good right about now," Ami said.

"Well, we'll all go up to bed and leave you two to get ready.  Good night," Lita said as the girls started leaving the room as well.  Margot followed them to the door and she and Julie, who was still sitting on her bed, said, "Good night."  Margot closed the door as the girls left and turned back to Julie.  "Well, we've had a very eventful day and I, for one, am exhausted.  I'm going to go to sleep.  I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."

"Yeah, 'night Margot," Julie said as Margot moved through the bathroom and into her own room.

"Good night, Julie," Margot called out before she closed the bathroom door.  Julie smiled as she too got up and closed the bathroom door before moving over to her backpack and beginning to get ready for bed.

*******

Another part!  Finally, I have had time to update for you all.  Well, I hope you enjoyed.  This is one of my favorite parts just because of the food fight.  Not that I personally know what a food fight is like, but sometimes I think it would be awfully fun.  Look for another update later this week! : ) ~DestinyBabe