Hello peoples! How are you all? Sorry it's taken me a while to update, but erm… well… my SAT's are coming up and erm… no… I don't revise for anything, what am I on about? Nothing that's what. Well, I'd just like to say a very special hello to Vampyre Neko, Emerald Skies, and Dudems. On with the reviewers thank you's!

Dudems: Thank you x 6. Yay! You read this! *glomps* EVERYBODY!! Very cool person off TnK that I'm saying thank-you to here! ^_^ Thanx hun! I shall pass the message onto Reiko.

Artemis: Hmmm, Tala's being a bit naughty, isn't he? *drools* I'll go and spank him now, eh? Lol. Well, I updated as fast as I could be bothered. ^_^ Fanx.

Fateamber Emberz: Hullo hun! Ya'll right? Well, if you haven't read this then… uh…. Why am I… gahh. I was never any good at math.

Emerald Skies: Who? Who are you, eh? Lol. *hugs* I will beat them up if you want me to you know, I'm tough, I go to Rocky *puffs out chest and smirks* See? I'll crrrrrrrush 'em like a woooooorrrrrm. Be careful with those Voodoo dolls, they hurt ya know! Lol. Thanx hun!

Gothic-Kix: Yes, I killed a girl. Yes, the Last Samurai kicks ass. Yes, this is an update. Yes, this is a thank you. ^_^ When are you updating again? Or have you *goes and checks again* Hmmm…

Serena-loves-anime: Erm… I'm glad you find my stuff funny. But you do realise that the murder was real? Lol, I like it when people find my humour funny… thanx hun! YAY! I have a fan! ^____^ *glomps*

VAMPYRE NEKO: ^_^ There, is that clear enough for ya? My most loyal reviewer… I'm ashamed of myself. Sorry hun! ^______^ Why couldn't I kill Sara? Hmmm… Good question, and if Emerald Skies is reading this then she will be laughing her ass off. Well, thanx for the review!

ON WITH THE CHAPPIE!!!!!! Oh, and anything with '/' surrounding it should be in italics… just in case ff.net doesn't work again.

Chapter Eight; Stares

"On a sadder note, Grassville High has been closed temporarily due to a murder of one of the pupils that took place on Monday evening. The school pupil, Betty Lockwood, was known as Woody amongst her friends. Police are investigating all the possibilities of what could have happened that night, and are urging any witnesses to come forward if they have any information. The school is very distressed, and the head teacher, Mr. Newman, offers his condolences to the family and friends of-"

Jenny clenched her teeth together and flicked through the channels, tears threatening to spill over her eyes at any moment. It seemed that everything was reminding her of Woody's murder. She couldn't believe that one of her bests friends were gone. Forever. And it was all her fault. She closed her eyes and images filled her head.

/"Why did you have to do it? Why?" she screamed at the top of her lungs and flailed her fists at him. Her throat was raw from crying and screaming. He blocked her attacks with ease and watched her as more tears spilt over her already red and puffy eyes. She had bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. If she closed her eyes at all, she would see Woody's face smiling at her.

"I had to."

"NO YOU DIDN'T!" She didn't care who heard her. She had gone way past caring by now. Anger was boiling inside her for being so stupid. For being so naïve and easily manipulated into doing things for him. It was all her fault; she led him to Kai. She led him to Woody. She led him to her friends.

It was all her fault./

She felt even more tears trickle down her cheeks. She didn't bother to wipe them away.

All this for a stupid bit-beast.

Jenny got up from her chair in the lounge and searched for her blade. She eventually found it stuffed away in one of the draws in the kitchen. Letting her feet lead her back into the lounge where the television was playing another news report on Woody's murder, she sat back down in her chair. For a while she sat, just looking at Etherealea, taking in everything about it. Drinking in as much as she could before she was going to give her up.

She'd decided to give up the beast as soon as she heard what happened. She didn't want to work for Tala and his stupid top-secret group that he worked for. If he had any sense he'd leave too and never look back. Fisting her hands, she looked back up at the screen. A picture of Woody was being shown and Jenny bit her lip, her form shaking slightly.

She was glad that she didn't find Woody's body. Jenny knew that she would have thrown up on the spot and collapsed, not knowing what to do. In fact, Jenny did that when had she first heard the news. Everyone had been in a state, not knowing who to talk to or who to turn to. The school offered some counselling and closed for the rest of the day. Everyone was so quiet; it was like someone had pressed a mute button on the entire school. The pupils were jumpy, and any noise would startle them. The Head decided it was best for the school to close for the rest of the week, and Kai was called in for questioning.

He took it the worst. He'd only been in this town for a little while, and now he had to put up with this. On the Tuesday morning no one knew what had happened, and Rei, Tyson, Jenny, Sara Kenny and Max were all worried as to why he had huge bags under his eyes and why he looked pale. Then the head called all seven of them to his office to break the news to them first. That's how they found out about Kai finding her body. Poor soul, he'd gone through a lot.

Jenny switched the television off and wiped her face before breathing in deeply. It was going to be hard to give up Etherealea, but she had to. For her sake. For Woody.    

She got up and put her black chunky coat on, checking what time it was with the clock that was on the wall. Two o'clock. She was supposed to be meeting Tala right now outside her school gates.

Putting Etherealea the pocket of her black combats, she sniffed once more before shouting upstairs to her mum that she would be back in half an hour. Jenny slammed the door behind her and walked at a brisk pace towards where she was meeting up with Tala. Her face was set into a determined snarl the moment she caught sight of his flaming red hair. He looked at her in the eye and a shiver went up and down her spine at the frosty stare he was giving her.

"You're late," he smirked and leaned against the gates of the school.

Jenny growled low in her throat. "I don't care."

Tala sneered and looked around his surroundings. Everything was so quiet.

"Well, why did you want to meet up with me?" he asked, cutting straight to the chase. He had a tight schedule to keep, and he wasn't about to let Jenny ruin it.

"I… look, can we go somewhere where no one will be able to see us?" Jenny was getting uncomfortable at the stillness of the school.

Tala shrugged and led her to the fields at the back of the school. They got walked up to an ageing oak tree that stood alone at the edge of the field.

Tala turned at looked at Jenny, his gaze unfaltering. "What is this about?" he asked her again.

Jenny shifted her feet, slightly nervous. She had planned what she was going to say to him this morning when she asked him to meet up with her. But now she was here, and was facing him in person, he seemed a whole lot scarier.

Tala sighed, getting slightly impatient.

"I didn't kill her," he said, ignoring the look that Jenny was giving him.

She glared at him with fury. At first, words failed her, but she soon found them again. "How… how DARE you deny that? How DARE YOU? I-"

He cut her off from saying anything else by shouting over her. "I DIDN'T kill her!"

Jenny couldn't speak; she was shaking with rage that she had never felt before.

"Oh, so she just happened to strangle herself, did she?" the voice that Jenny spoke in was so calm it even unnerved herself.

Tala snarled. "I did not kill her. I just sent some information to Bo---" he widened his eyes and cut himself off before he blabbed anymore secrets.

Jenny narrowed her eyes into slits. "So. You just toddled off to you big FAT boss and told him… told him what? What exactly did you tell him Tala?" she was walking towards him, and with each step she took she grew angrier. "Because I don't think getting another henchman to murder Woody has anything to do with SPYING ON KAI HIWATARI-"

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID GIRL!" Tala shouted down at Jenny, wanting the whole neighbourhood to find out what was going on. Jenny stood, stunned for a moment. "I can't tell you why. I just can't, trust me, okay?"

Jenny halted. She had to tell him now; she had to tell him that she was leaving. She had to tell him that she never wanted to do anything or see him ever again.

"Well, don't rely on me in the future to tell you anything Tala, I'm leaving. Here, have your stupid bit-beast," she said bitterly, and she shoved Etherealea into his hand, walking away.

Before she knew it Tala grabbed her and threw her into the tree, winding her. He grabbed her by the neck and held her up against the oak tree. She couldn't breathe, and she tried to pry his hands away from her neck, but his grip was too strong. She was struggling for air.

"Now, listen now because I wont tell you again, got it?" Tala looked at her, waiting for her response. She nodded as best as she could. "Good," he still didn't let go of her neck, and she was beginning to see black dots dance in front of her eyes. "You cannot leave. Once you're in, you're in. Believe me, I know," Jenny's eyes widened. "You know too much to leave. You walk away from us; you might end up in the same state as Woody. You don't want that do you?"

Jenny shook her head and he let go of her neck, leaving her on the floor gasping for precious air and rubbing her neck tenderly.

"Oh, you can have this back," Tala dropped her blade onto the ground in front of her. "I'm sure you'll find it useful." He turned around and walked away. "Oh, and one last thing," he looked at her from over his shoulder. "If you tell anyone about this, then you will end up dead. Do I make myself clear?"

Jenny nodded slowly, pocketing the blade. "Inescapably clear."

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Rei ran his hands through his tangled hair and looked across his sofa to see if Sara was still sleeping. He couldn't believe the past two-day's events. The whole thing had happened so fast, it all seemed like it was just a very convincing dream. At first all he felt was nothing- numbness washed throughout his whole body. When the Head told him that Woody had been murdered his mind couldn't digest the information. Everything just went blank and then crashed around him. That's when he felt tears prick the back of his eyes. That's when Jenny collapsed. That was when everyone sobbed. Kai and himself were the only ones that didn't cry. Kai stared into space, his face blank and ashen, his eyes telling everything. Rei had felt sick and weak. It was so weird not having Woody around now.

Rei looked back towards Sara again. She had taken it pretty badly. Soon exhaustion from all the crying set and she had to get to sleep. Rei offered for her to go to his house and she'd agreed.

He sighed. Who would do such an awful thing like murder? Rei shook his head and decided that maybe having a nap was a good idea.  

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"Hiwatari! Pay attention!"

Kai's head jerked up and he blinked a few times before focusing on what the teacher was saying to him. Why was he falling asleep all of a sudden? Maybe a week with only a few hours of sleep was finally catching up to him. He stifled a yawn.   

"What would be the answer if N was seven?" the stern-looking female teacher was looking down at him, her squared glasses perched on the end of her pointed nose.

Kai blinked, and beside him he heard Rei mutter a number. He didn't quite catch it though, and me swallowed before answering. "Uh… twenty-five?"

The class tittered and looked at him. The teacher's expression hardened and she walked up to his desk, the sound of her heels clicking on the floor echoed throughout the now silent classroom. Kai looked up at her from his rather slouched position on his chair and blinked. 

"No, Mr. Hiwatari. But I would like to know how you worked the equation out to get that answer," Mrs. Thatcher asked, pushing her glasses up her nose with her index finger. Her eyes narrowed.

"Well, I didn't work it out. Rei told me the answer," Kai pointed his thumb to his right, where Rei was quickly pretending to scribble the equations out that were currently written on the blackboard in curly handwriting.

The teacher looked at Kai, and sighed, turning back to the front of the desk where she wrote something down on a red piece of paper. When she had finished, she handed the note to Kai and continued to teach whilst Kai red the note.

It was a permission slip to get out of lesson… to see the school nurse.

/What…?/

Kai looked around him and got up out of his chair, putting his things into his bag, trying to ignore the weird looks that the students were giving him. He left the room, slamming the mahogany door behind him and walked down the corridor where the school nurse's office was. He knocked on the door three times before going inside the room.

Kai's eyebrows rose. The room was decorated in a warm peach colour and had a soft, thick, terracotta carpet down on the floor. Large windows let the autumn sunlight filter into the room, creating an even more welcoming look, and he could see the school fields from where he was standing. He gazed at the solemn looking oak tree at the back of the fields, it's russet and red leaves were scattered on the ground around it, and the last few leaves on the branches were swaying feebly in the light breeze. Kai saw another leaf fall of the tree, and his stare turned to the school nurse sitting at a large wooden desk in front of one of the large windows. 

The school nurse looked up at him and smiled warmly, pushing some greying, short blond hair out of her cheery blue eyes that were surrounded by laughter lines. She motioned for him to sit down in a chair that was set out in front of the desk.

"You must be Kai Hiwatari," she said kindly, glancing at her notes quickly before shutting the brown file and placing it in a draw. She looked back at him again, and clasped her hands together on the table.

"Yeah… uh… why am I here?" Kai took another fleeting look about the room.

"Well, the school have noticed a slight… how should I put this? Well, we've noticed that your work is going downhill slightly. You behaviour has also deteriorated. I'm actually quite glad your teacher has sent you to me."

Kai rose an eyebrow.         

"Now, is there anything that you would like to tell me?" the nurse said, smiling encouragingly. Kai's bloodshot eyes closed briefly, before he opened them again.

"No."

The woman's smile faltered a little before she continued. "Kai, I know how hard it must be for you. Woody's funeral was last week… but you have to try and talk to someone about what happened-"

"You have no idea what I'm going through," the tone in Kai's voice had left an uneasy silence in the room. "You have no idea what it's like, going to so many police interviews, being asked what happened, having that one moment resurface every time you close your eyes. Seeing her eyes. You have no idea what hell I am going through at the moment."

Kai stood up out of his seat so violently that the chair was knocked onto the floor, but he didn't care.

"Kai, we're here to help," the nurse offered weakly.

"Well, you can't," he muttered, before turning around and leaving the room, fury and anguish embedded in his eyes, the dark rings surrounding them making the look even darker. He just needed to get out of there. He needed to get away from the pitying glances and stares everybody he walked past gave him. He just wanted to get things back to normal again- to forget Woody.

But to forget her would be like murdering her all over again.

The police still hadn't found the culprit. There had been a struggle, but no DNA was discovered on Woody's or in the area that she was found in.

Kai ground his teeth and his pupils contracted into tiny dots. He knew perfectly well whom it was that did it though. It was just the case of convincing the police, but they wouldn't listen.

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Jenny winced and adjusted the scarf around her neck that was covering the yellowing bruises that were on her neck. She open and closed her eyes slowly and ran some cold water from the tap in the girl's school toilet. Splashing some of the running liquid on her face, she studies herself in the mirror with hatred. She was such a coward. Why couldn't she just leave and tell the police everything? It didn't matter what happened to her, it was for Woody. But when she had stood outside the large foreboding brick building of the police station, she found that she couldn't do it. She couldn't help her friend.

"Hello? Jenny, are you even listening to me?"

Jenny started and her heart rate went through the roof.

Fingers clicked in front of her eyes.

"I said, Jenny, don't do that- you'll ruin your make-up."

Jenny nodded and asked Sara for a tissue to dab her eyes with. Sara frowned down at Jenny as she watched Jenny's movements.

"I still don't know why you wear that stupid scarf," Sara commented, looking back to the mirror and adjusting her hair so that it didn't stick out as much.

Jenny snorted and shrugged; still making sure that the fading bruises couldn't be seen on her neck.

"JENNY!"

Jenny blinked again and turned to Sara.

"Wha…?"

"Jen, I've just been talking to you for the past five minutes and you've just been spaced out, ya fruit! Are you sure you're okay?" Sara looked on at her friend with concern. She'd taken Woody's death pretty badly.

"Yeah… I'm fine, honestly…" Jenny trailed off and she couldn't bear to meet Sara's eyes. "Look, why don't you just walk on ahead; I'll be fine."

Sara choked in surprise, and she gasped. "Jenny, what the hell is wrong with you lately? You never walk on your own! First it's spacing out, then it's not eating my cake, then it's-"

"Just go!" Jenny glared at Sara and Sara nodded silently and made her way past Jenny, glancing over her shoulder one last time before leaving the toilets. Her eyes filled up with worried tears. What was happening to them? She missed Woody too, but after the funeral, Sara thought it was time to move on. It's what Woody would have wanted. Well, at least she thought so. She sniffed and straightened up before searching for a familiar face in the corridor that she was in.

No one that would understand her problem was anywhere near her.

She looked down at her polished black shoes and decided that maybe Jenny would never get over Woody's death. Maybe nobody would.  

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Rei sighed and looked around the drama studio that he was standing in. The school rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet were a shambles. With the fact that Woody was Juliet, the drama teacher was currently trying to decide who was going to take over Woody's part.

"The show must go on!" he had shouted, though Rei was able to see the corners of his eyes glistening slightly.

His part of Benvolio had been unaffected by Woody's death. Rei looked at the ground and shook his head. Max had given up the part as Romeo as well; leaving the two main roles open for Mr. Drater to pick two other people to play them. Max said that he felt weird playing the part or Romeo when Juliet had been murdered.

"Hey Rei," a female voice spoke softly from besides him, making him jump slightly. Rei smiled when he saw who it was.

"Oh, hi Sara. What are you doing all the way over here?"

Sara looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "You make it sound like the studio is the size of America. I just saw that you looked a bit down, that's all."

Rei nodded and Sara stood, waiting for him to say something. When Sara realised that Rei wasn't going to speak, she decided that she would make the first move.

"So… did you realise that your name rhymes with 'hey'? So when people say a casual hello to you, it sounds like a rhyme."

Rei blinked and then laughed. "Only you would tell someone that. And yes- I did realise."

"Oh…" Sara said, fidgeting slightly at the silence that fell between the two again. 

"LADY MONTAGUE! BENVOLIO! You are needed on stage!" Mr. Drater waved his script around and pointed to the stage where Sara was needed. She sighed.

"Well, we gotta go, our carriage awaits," she smirked and looked at the carriage that was set up on stage. Rei smiled and walked with Sara to do his scene.

The door to the drama studio slammed open and a tall boy strutted inside confidently with a sneer planted on his pale face. The drama teacher motioned for everyone to be silent as he introduced the new student.

"Everybody, I want you to take a good look at our new Tybalt!" Mr. Drater spread his arms as if waiting for applause.

"But I thought I was Tybalt," came a voice from the back of the studio. Kai stepped forwards and openly glared at the tall teen.

"No, no, no, no. You are Romeo," Kai's face paled considerably.

"Wha…what?" Kai stood with his mouth agape. No WAY was he going to be Romeo. There was no chance in hell.

"Yes. Meet your new Juliet," the teacher motioned for someone out of Kai's eye line to walk advance into the light of the studio.

"Romeo, Kai Hiwatari, Juliet, Jenny O'Hare and Tybalt… Tala Valkov."

Erm… That's about it. Yup. So, will you review and be nice for me? ^_____^

Bye for now! Oh… and sorry if it was crap.