Hi!

Kidishcaresh: I'm doing two alternate storylines. That's why chapter 37 and 38 doesn't connect to chapter 36, because it's not suppose to. Maybe I wasn't clear enough...oh well, hopefully you get it now.

Kai Rei's Gurl Forever: What can I say? Here's your next chapter!

YamikaiemiBlackAngelMaritamai: Thanks!

Nise-angel: You really have to consume less sugar...

0bss3ssi0n: I know! It's so awesome that Ray's getting Zarine something too! You'll know what it is by the end of this chapter.

Pyro Inu: I can't really make it green. So sorry! You'll see. It's just not something that should be green.

Kagome-wannabe-2009: You'll love Ray by the end of this story! (Hopefully)
Chapter Thirty-Eight - A Reason to Stay

"Where's Ray?" Tyson wondered during breakfast.

"No clue," Kenny replied.

Tyson turned to Will, "Do you know?"

"Don't know. He can go to hell for all I care," Will answered coldly. He was still VERY mad at Ray.

Sensing that this was a touchy subject, Max quickly asked the others, "What should we do today?"

"Well, we've gone swimming, we went to the karaoke, you guys went go- carting yesterday..." Zarine listed.

Tyson suggested, "I guess we could go golfing..."

Will made a face. "Golf is boring."

"Kai, you have any ideas?' Kenny asked.

The team captain thought for a moment, then replied, "We can go to Ocean Park." (Ocean Park really exists and is located in Hong Kong. There's a bunch of rides, water park, and dolphin/seals shows.)

Zarine exclaimed, "I love Ocean Park! I haven't been there for ages!"

"I guess we're going then," Max said, smiling.

They went on the bus since it wasn't too far away. Several guys on the bus were checking the silver headed girl out. But then Will glared at them and they soon lost interest.

"Where should we go first?" asked Kenny.

"Ice cream?" Zarine said hopefully.

"Later, maybe at lunch," Will said. "How about we go to the rollercoaster?"

When Tyson saw the huge lineup for the rollercoaster, he groaned, "Man, this line is going to take forever!"

"Patience," Zarine reminded him with a smile.

After, they went to the dolphin show.

"They're so cute," Zarine said, watching the dolphins doing different kinds of tricks.

Her brother looked at her, at least her mind was on something other than Ray at the moment.
Ray's POV

I looked at my work. It was as good as I could make it.

"Nice piece of work," Rosaline remarked, taking it into her hands and admired it. "And you even carved a picture of it on the front of a wooden box. I suppose you're going to put it in there."

Putting it back onto the table, she asked curiously, "So who's the girl?"

I tried not to blush, but failed. I replied, "Zarine. She's the girl on my team."

"Oh, her! I've watched your matches on TV. That one's a real beauty," she said.

"Yes, she's really pretty," I agreed. "Do you have a gold necklace that I can put this on?'

She gestured for me to follow her. She led me to a big cabinet filled with different kinds of necklaces. "Take whichever one you like."

I stared. There were so many different lengths, thickness and designs.

"I want it to hang just below her neck," I told the motherly woman. "But I don't know how long it should be."

"How tall is she?' she questioned.

"She just comes up to my shoulder," I answered.

She commented, "She's small." She looked thoughtfully at the necklaces. "Probably these. They have adjustable lengths, so it'll probably fit," she replied, pointing to the third row.

I looked at them, trying to decide the perfect one for her. They were all so exquisite. Then one of them caught his eye. It had stars spaced evenly along the chain. It will be perfect for her.

"I'll take this one. Thank you so much," I said, smiling.

"Since you're finished, why don't you come up and have something to eat? You haven't had anything since the morning," Rosaline said.

I wouldn't even have noticed his hunger if she didn't mention food to me. I gratefully followed her into the kitchen.

As soon as I was finished with his noodles, I said, "I better go now. My teammates are probably wondering where I am."

"Come back soon!" she said, giving him a hug.

"I will," I promised.

I walked to the subway, clutching the box in his hand. I hoped that Zarine will like it. I planned on apologizing to her that night.

I wonder what I should say. Better plan my apology first. I'll have to get her to talk to me alone somehow. There was no chance of me doing that if Will was by her side all the time. What was I going to say?

Should I just say, "I'm really sorry I slapped you. I shouldn't have. I made this for you, I hope you'd like it."

I shook my head. Too plain and thoughtless. I really need to make it good.

Maybe I'll hug her and say, "I'm so sorry I slapped you. I'm sorry I hurt you. I was the one who was wrong. I was really jealous, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I was jealous because I wanted you all to myself, but you were always hanging around Will...

Driger's voice cracked through my mind, 'Stop doing this."

'Why?' I asked.

'Because the more you think about it, the more you'll elaborate. It'll probably end up with a few things you added to make it sound better, but you don't actually mean. Just be yourself when you apologize, say exactly how you feel. She wants the truth, not some polished up script,' Driger explained.
Normal POV

Max and Tyson were involved in a car race when Ray came in. "Hey guys!" he greeted. He looked around the room. Kai was standing against the wall as usual. Kenny, Will and Zarine were missing. He wondered where they were.

Not taking his eyes off the TV, Tyson asked Ray, "Where have you been? Max, watch it! You nearly crash into my car!"

"I was just visiting some friends," Ray replied. "What did you do?"

"We went to Ocean Park! It was so fun!" Max answered brightly.

"Cool!"

"I know! My day just kept on getting better. Mariam came over. She's still here, she said she wanted to talk to Zarine, but we're probably going to see a movie later," the blonde haired boy told Ray excitedly.

"Max! I was going to win, but no, you just had to crash into me, didn't you?" Tyson said crossly.

"Oops! Sorry, bud. I got a little excited here," Max said.

"Ray, whose house do you want to stay at in Japan?" asked Tyson. He was now starting another race against Max.

"Well, you're definitely not staying at my place. Zarine's going to be there," Kai said.

"I thought—" Tyson began.

"She changed her mind. She's going to Japan with us," Kai said, cutting Tyson off.

"Sweet!" Max exclaimed. "The whole gang is going to be there!"

Ray's heart leapt at this news. She's going to be there, and he was going to see her everyday!

"I'll just stay at Tyson's dojo then," he said. "I'm going back to my room."

"All right," Max said vaguely. He and Tyson had abandoned the race. They were simply trying to slam into each other's cars.

Ray decided he better go and talk to Zarine now, when Ray wasn't around her, glaring daggers at him. Mariam will probably leave them alone.

Ray's heart began to pound. Picking up the present from his room, he slowly walked to Zarine's room. He figured that she would most likely be there. His mouth was dry and his stomach was in knots. He saw that the door was opened a few inches. Moving closer to it, he could hear Zarine's light voice. He caught his name in the conversation. Frowning, he stepped closer to the door, wondering what they could be talking about.

"I hate Ray..." he heard Zarine saying. Not wanting to eavesdrop anymore, he stopped away.

He thought. [I should have expected it. She has reasons to hate me.]

He found himself walking. Where to? He didn't know. He felt numb. The one person he loved hated him. He glanced at a group of kids laughing and playing as if they didn't have a care in the world. He wished he could be one of them. Then he wouldn't have to deal with the problems in his love life.
Zarine and Mariam's conversation

"Max told me what happened," Mariam said. She gave Zarine a hug, feeling sorry for her friend.

"It's okay," Zarine said.

Mariam snorted. "Ya right, as if I'll believe that. Maybe you should talk about it. It'll be better than keeping everything inside"

Zarine nodded. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

The emerald eyed girl thought for a second. "Everything you felt after he smacked you."

"Right after he did that, I felt hurt and heart broken. Later, I thought maybe if I had done things differently, then I wouldn't have screwed up and made Ray hate me. When I woke up this morning, I thought since he hates me, it wouldn't make much of a difference if I hated him too. The whole day, I kept on thinking, 'I hate him, I hate him...' but who was I trying to kid? I can't hate him, ever," her younger friend told her.

"Why not?" she asked softly.

Zarine swallowed hard. "Because I love him." Tears were threatening to surface again, but she wouldn't let them flow. She turned her eyes to the window. "I hate it! I hate myself, for feeling so hurt, for loving the one person I can't have. I hate Ray for all the pain he had caused me. But most of all, I am tired and sick of being miserable! I'm so tired of it!" she said.

Mariam's heart ached when she saw Zarine's sadness. She hugged the small girl.

"I just want to be happy like I used to!" the silver haired girl wept.

Mariam wished there was something she could do to cheer Zarine up. Ray was the only one who could do that. He was the only one who could heal her broken heart.
During dinner...

"Zarine, you should eat something," Will urged.

His little sister shook her head. "Will, I already told you I don't feel like eating."

"Is there nothing you'd eat?" he asked.

She thought for a moment. "Actually, I kind of want to eat chocolate..."

"Chocolate isn't something you eat for dinner," Kenny remarked.

"Whatever," she said, brushing his remark off. "I will eat anything chocolaty."

"Just get her chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream," Kai said. "It's no use arguing with her anyways."

"Sounds like a great dinner for me," she exclaimed.

Will frowned. Normally, Zarine ate proper food, but when she was really depressed or worried, she would 1. Not eat or 2. Eat a lot of sweet things.

It was all because of that good-for-nothing person in front of him. He had to restrain himself from launching onto Ray and throttling him. Why hasn't that jerk apologized yet? Did he think it was right to just hit Zarine?
Zarine's POV

Ray looked as dejected as I felt. What was wrong with him? Why would he look so sad? I felt a tiny spark of hope. Maybe he felt bad about what happened. Maybe he doesn't hate me. No, it couldn't be. I really needed to stop fooling myself.

A waiter put my chocolate cake and ice cream down. I took a bite of the cake. It tasted so sweet. I steadily put forkfuls of cake into my mouth I felt like I needed chocolate to make me feel better. (That's me!) Chocolate helped to mellow down my emotions.

"That was good," I said, putting my fork down.

"Zarine, you got a bit of ice cream on the corner of your mouth," Will told me.

I took a napkin and wiped my mouth with it. "Is it gone now?" I asked.

"Yep," Kenny replied.

On the way back, I wondered if Max and Mariam were having a good time. They probably were. They were so perfect for each other. Unlike Ray and me, they were meant to be together.

The next morning, Xeora suddenly yelled in my head, "Zarine, you have to wake up! Ray is leaving, you HAVE to go after him!"

My eyes snapped open. That sure got my attention. "How do you know?" I asked.

"Just go! He left you a note. It's either in the kitchen or outside the door. Hurry!" she said urgently.

I got up quietly to avoid waking my brother up. I snatched some shorts and a top on, not even bothering to see if it'll look weird. I opened the door, there it was. A wooden box was under it. I opened the letter.

It said,

Dear Zarine,

I am really sorry for everything. I'm sorry I slapped you. I'm sorry I hurt you like that. I'm sorry for being upset and took it out on you. I know you hate me now, and you have every right and reason to. I am going home. I know you are going to Japan. I figured you probably wouldn't want to see me or have anything to d with me.

I wish I can spend every moment with you. I love the way you smile, I love your eyes, I love your voice, I love your patience, I love everything about you.

I hope you will like the present I made it just for you.

I will miss you a lot and will think of you often. I really hope you'll forgive me. Maybe we can be friends again when we see each other again at the World Championships.

Love,
Ray

I looked at the box. There was a rose carved on it. It looked so real, every detail was on it. I opened it, and gasped. It was the same rose from the cover. I carefully took it out. The petals were a soft pink, and the stem and leaf were gold. On the leaf, there were initials engraved into it. It was R. a heart, then Z.

I stared at it. Ray loves Zarine? He loved me? But I thought he hated me! I sank to the ground. Oh man, I really screwed up, big time. Now, it was too late.

'No, it's not. You can still catch up if you go now," Xeora said.

I sprang up to my feet and started running. He told me that he lived somewhere on the mainland, so the place he would go to will be the ferry terminal. It was good that it was still early. The street would have been so crowded if it was later when everyone was going to work. I was suddenly glad of the training I received at the blading school. At least I could keep up a fairly decent pace for a long time.

I finally reached my destination in half an hour. Breathing fast, I said, "A ticket please."

"Where to?" the man in the counter asked.

"Damn it! I don't care! Just give me a freaking ticket so I can get in!" I said, throwing some money on the counter.

The man looked startled, but did what I said. I quickly grabbed it, and started to go down to the waiting area for the ferry going to the mainland. I saw people filtering through the door, and going aboard. I started running, looking desperately for Ray. There! I spotted his long ponytail.

"Ray! Don't go!" I cried, still running. He couldn't hear me over the babble of the crowd.

A guard stopped me. "You can't go there, you aren't going to the mainland."

"Let me go!" I said, trying to free it from his grasp.

"Ray!" I yelled. "You can't go! You can't! Ray!"

Ray heard me finally, and turned around. "Zarine, I have to go. The ferry isn't going to wait for me."

"No, you can't!" I said, tears streaming freely down my face. He was going to leave me, and I was going to lose him. "You promised! You promised you wouldn't leave!"

The guard was pulling me, trying to drag me out of there. "Come on," he said. "You've made quite a scene already."

"No!" I said hysterically. "I can't leave. I won't leave until Ray comes with me!"

Ray looked at me with a strange look. It was a mixture of hope, surprise and doubt.

I finally twisted my arm free from that stupid guard. I ran to Ray and threw my arms around him. "You can't leave." I said. "I don't want you to."

"You don't?" he asked uncertainly, as if he couldn't believe it. "I thought...Yesterday, I overheard you and Mariam talking. You said that you hate me."

I denied, "I don't! It was something else. I can't hate you. Because...because I love you!"

"You really mean that?" he asked.

"Do you mean what you said in the letter?" I asked.

He smiled, and wiped the tears off my face. "Don't cry. I don't like to see you sad," he said, wrapped his arms around me.

"Are you still going to leave?" I asked fearfully.

He answered me with a kiss. "What do you think?"

"I guess you won't be going on to the ferry," the guard said.

Ray smiled at me. "I guess I won't, because now I have a reason not to."
So that's the end! There's going to be an epilogue, though. I'm going to do a sequel. I'll tell you more about it next chapter.