Whew, updated, thanx to school that is. My computer's dead right now so I updated it in school, that's the only good thing, lol! Anyways, I should be updating regularly, even with my "screwed" computer, but if I'm set for an update during the weekend, I might not be able to get to it, until Monday, just to tell you all in advance!

Wow, thanx a ton everyone, I got 200 reviews!!!! I didn't think I'd reach that point by the time I post up this chappie, but I did and I'm awfully pleased (despite the fact that my computer's dead). Thanx again!!!! Luv you all! ^_^

Black Iris's Sis: Why do you keep on giving me Willow's appearance? I'm confused.

Beyblader-grl: My computer died not me, lol! What rules? They're slowly getting there, huh? Hmm...I had better mess things around then, lol! Yay, thanx, my 200th review!!!

Keri: ^_^U Really evil laugh, lol! I didn't think that the Beybattle was all that great, it was kinda boring...in my opinion.

guest: Thanx! You really think that it wasn't that bad?

Mii-chan: Thanx!!! ^_^

White Whisper: You have medical insurance?? Umm...can I borrow that? I've got the flu and it's really starting to bug me, lol!

Dark Ness: Yay, celebration! ^_^ What does Heke mean?

Platinum Rei: Sure, I'll surprise you, just don't surprise me, I hate surprises, ugh.

~*~Prodigious girl*~*: Well, no literacy test for me, but you only have no friends in your science class. The only class I have friends in is English and Socials, everything else is nada! I have one week off in October too. I hate Tyson, so I don't really miss him, :P

Reicu: Cheerleaders?? O_O Wow...lol! Oooh, baseball, reminds me of Michael whom I have to include soon.

Kai Hiwatari: Okay, yeah, I was like what?? My name?? Lol! I love mine too, if only I could change my Neopets username I'd be happy happy!!!

Unicolyon * Gurl: Don't worry, I'm not offended at all, if everyone liked what I did, I'd be perfect, lol, and that's a hard life to live! Yeah, Enrique, lol, I luv him!! ^_^ Then you wouldn't like me either ^_^U, cuz I'm like Carly, sarcasm-wise, but I'm not as bold or as loud, lol!

Sessy's (maliks) Girl: Here ya go!

dreamer_gurl: No cliffie now, can't cliffhang their normal life, that's too hard. O_o

Just-some-girl1: I will, thanx!

whisper*2*imaginary: Home far away from home, lol! I like to interact between their home and the Dream Realm, that way, it isn't all intense battling all the way. ^_^ I'd feel weird too, actually I wouldn't wanna go home, lol!

bey-girl-nicky: Well, I want Kai and Johnny and Enrique, lol! Well...maybe I don't want Enrique THAT much, but whatever! Thanx! ^_^

~kai~: Yeah!! I reached 200!!!! ^_^ Yeah, Hru's very complexed, isn't she, cuz I don't think I'll ever figure out how to write her. -_- If Tala can't figure her out, then he's never gonna like her, then I can't match them up. I didn't make Hru weak, I made her a bit reckless and when you're too reckless you often get into trouble, at least that's the way I see it, that's way Tala had to finish things up. It's not like Hru LIKED being saved, she still doesn't like him that much. Besides, Hru saved Tala before and he just did it to even up the score. What does 3-D and 2-D mean in character-like way? They do sound perfect, that's because my descriptions that I got of Holly and Willow sound perfect to me! Mmm-hmm, I know Willow seems very attached to Ray. It wouldn't be much of a story if all the characters were all alike, I need variety. Also, Max - I have absolutely NO inspiration for him, I like him well enough, but...I dunno, I'm trying and it's not working that well. Wow, this is longer than your review, lol!

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Chapter 16: Who's Courtney?

"I can't believe we're back," Tala said, looking around, "I felt like I just left."

"Are you kidding???" Kailee cried, "It felt like millions of years!!!"

"It's still raining!!!" Willow said, covering her head, "Ugh, I'm going to get soaked."

"Here," Ray said, handing her his umbrella, "You use it, I brought it just in case."

"Thanks," Willow blushed, accepting it.

"OH MY GOSH!" Carly gasped.

"What's wrong?" Johnny demanded, "You'll give someone a heart attack with that kind of voice!"

"It's 7:12!" Carly squealed, "Oh no!"

"Do you have to be somewhere?" Hru asked in concern.
"Do I ever! Michael's championship league game is starting at 8:00!!! I was supposed to take the bus at 7:30 to the stadium!!!!" Carly wailed, "I'll never catch the bus now, it's a 20 minute walk from here!!! Oh great, I promised him!"

"I'll get my butler to take you there," Enrique offered, "I'll call him right now."

"Oh thanks, Enrique, you're the best!" Carly said happily.

"Let's go home Kai," Kailee said, tugging her brother's arm.
"Okay, okay," Kai said, "You coming Holly?"

"Sure," Holly ran after Kai, "Bye guys, see you later!"

"Let's go," Johnny said Tala, "We're going to soak up rain like a sponge if we stay out here."

"Yeah," Tala agreed, following Johnny.

So, they all went their separate ways...for now.

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After a restful weekend, they were ready for another week of school. ^_^ Who am I kidding? No one's ever ready for school! -_-U

... All student council members please meet in the large gym today after school for a meeting regarding the Valentine's Day dance. The basketball team is playing their first game of the season today after school as well, come out and support our school! That concludes today's announcements.

"Ugh," Carly muttered, "Ugh, ugh, ugh."

"Troubles?" Johnny teased.

"Stupid council meeting," Carly mumbled, "Joy, all Mariah and Willow do is argue."

"And I thought that was your specialty," a voice chimed in.

Carly looked up from her lunch and grinned, "Hey Tala, what's up?"

"Nothing much, you mind if I sit down?" Tala asked, his blue eyes sparkling mischievously.

"No," Carly replied, "Go ahead, just don't disturb me."

Tala looked confused, "Disturb you? You're eating lunch."

"Yeah, but I'm studying for my chemistry test as well," Carly said, waving her hand in the air, "Besides, I can do a lot of things at a times, it's good to be spontaneous you know."

Tala hid a smile as Johnny snickered in the background, "I have a game after school today, can you come and watch?"

"I wish!!!!!!!" Carly exclaimed, "But I'm stuck with a stupid council meeting this afternoon so I'm trapped, it's dumb anyways, but I have to live with it! HMPH!!! But good luck though, with Hru, Ray, and Cassie, you can't lose!"

"There's something weird with Ray," Tala remarked, sipping his Coke, "He's acting sort of distant and spacey."

"He's Ray, what did you expect?" Carly said ironically, "I think he just has the case of two problems, that's all."

"He has problems?" Johnny asked blankly as Kai and Hru came over and sat down across from them.

"Where's Holly?" Carly asked.

"She's talking with Willow, she seemed upset about something," Kai replied, opening his lunch.

"Who? Willow or Holly?" Carly asked again.

"Willow," Hru responded, "You'll see at your meeting."

Carly groaned inwardly as Johnny pressed her for details, "What do you mean Ray has problems?"

Carly glared at Johnny, "You never give it a rest do you? I told you I was studying for Chem! Fine, fine, I meant that Ray's in over his head. He has a Kingdom to rule now, that's headache #1. And he also likes Willow, but he's too shy to tell her, that's major migraine headache #2!"

//Tell me about,//Johnny thought, sighing, //It's a headache already, I can relate.//

"It's a good thing that Enrique never has that problem," Carly said, grinning as she watched Enrique talking with Aquana, "I can't decided if that's sweet or repulsive."

Kai, Tala, and Johnny shuddered as Enrique and Aquana kissed, long and sweet, by the entrance of the cafeteria, "UGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

Hru laughed, "You boys are SO immature."

"That - is disgusting," Tala remarked, putting his lunch back in his bag, "I lost my appetite, disgusting. Can't they get a room or something?"

"I know," Johnny said, "It's repulsive, doing it in front of us all."

"They could at least not put on a show for us," Kai muttered.

"Grow up, you'd think you'd never saw some mouth action before," Carly said, shrugging, "That is nothing, believe me, or maybe I'm just too used to Enrique. You haven't seen the way Courtney hung on to him. Don't worry guys, Enrique just hit puberty before you did, pretty soon, you'll all have girlfriends too."

Kai, Tala, and Johnny stared at Carly, "YEAH RIGHT!!!"

"Who's Courtney?" Hru asked curiously.

"The most snobbiest girl in the whole school!" Holly exclaimed, sitting down with Willow, "She used to go out with Enrique until he broke up with her. Now all she does is pick on Aquana. She doesn't need to show her jealousy THAT well. Gosh, why doesn't she just grab another guy and be done with it? We all know she's good with that."

"She can grab Kai…" Hru said with a wicked grin, "Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Shut up Hru," Kai snapped, "That's not fun at all, she's so snooty and flirty, she's Enrique's type, not MINE!!!"

"And Lord knows what you mean by 'Enrique's' type," Carly retorted, "She is NOT his type, nor will she ever be."

"What's the matter Willow," Hru remarked, "You pretty quiet today."

"Where's Ray?" Hru said, "We need to go over the basketball game this afternoon and make sure we've all got our positions right."

"He's over there," Willow mumbled, looking angry.

Ray was lounging by the vending machine and talking with Mariah. They watched as Mariah giggled at something Ray said and touched his arm.

"She touched his arm!!!!!" Willow hissed, looking furious.

"Wow..." Carly said in mock awe. She slapped Tala on the back, nearly choking him, and said in the most sarcastic voice she could muster, "Look, does that mean anything? Michael does that to me ALL the time, last time I sprayed Coke all over him, his fault really."

"Ow..." Tala grimaced, giving Carly a wounded look, " That HURT."

"Willow, it doesn't mean anything when she touches his arm," Holly said, "It's not like she kissed his arm or something."

"EW!" Carly spat, "EW!"

"Now who's immature?' Johnny teased.

"I am not," Carly said crossly, "Why would anyone kiss someone else's arm?????"

"Let's drop it," Hru said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

Willow looked away as Ray and Mariah approached their table, "Hmph…"

"Hi guys," Ray said, "Hru, who's playing the last forward in our game today? I've center forward and there's Cassie…"

"I am," Hru said, "Remember? You appointed me?"

"No, I am," Tala corrected.

"What???!!!!!!!" Hru said, looking angry, "I always play forward and I'm darn good at it too!"

"If I recall correctly, the coach said that I could play forward," Tala said calmly.

Carly and Holly sweatdropped, //So much for liking each other...//

"But Ray said I was playing forward," Hru snapped, "And he's team captain!"

Sparks flew between Tala and Hru (and I don't mean the good kind of sparks ^_^).

Ray sweatdropped as well, "Um...you two are both good, but we can only have three forwards."

Both Tala and Hru refused to budge, glaring at each other so much, it was enough to cause a storm.

"I know, who's your other forward?" Holly asked, praying that it wasn't someone impossible.

"Cassandra," Ray said.

"Ask if Cassie would mind playing a different position, I'm sure she wouldn't. She's in a good mood cuz she beat Tyson yesterday. They were gulping down a feast and Cassie finished in record time," Holly said.

"That's right!" Cassandra chimed in happily, "That's one more loss for Tyson here."

"You still can't rival my appetite!" Tyson bragged, "I was just…uhh…not feeling that well last night…next time I'll be up for my game!"

"I could play guard for this game," Cassandra told Ray, "Since I'm feeling generous today. Besides, you look like you'll lose both of our best players if I don't do so." She sweatdropped when she looked at Tala and Hru.

Holly smiled, "That would solve the problem."

Ray nodded, "It would, but..."

"But what?" Mariah asked, tugging Ray's sleeve, "We've got to go. Please???" She flashed Ray a sweet smile.

"In a minute," Ray promised.

Willow turned red in fury, clenching and unclenching her fists angrily.

"If I make both of you forwards, will you be able to work together?" Ray asked Hru and Tala, "I don't want your feud to mess it up for the team!"

Tala looked away, "Fine, as long as I'm a forward, I don't care."

"Fine with me," Hru snapped, sticking out her tongue at Tala's back.

"Fine?" Ray raised his eyebrow, "Really? So you two will work together and pass to one another during the game and not snipe at each other's mistakes?"

Tala and Hru growled at Ray, but Ray, as team captain, didn't bat an eye.

"Deal or not?" Ray asked calmly, "I could always pick another forward."

"Deal," Hru snarled, packing her lunch and moving as far away from Tala as possible.

Tala nodded calmly and picked up his lunch and left the table.

"Mr. Know-It-All," Hru snapped after he left, "I'll show him a thing or two!"

"Hru, I thought you were getting along with him," Holly remarked.

"Yeah right, getting along with Mr. Obnoxious!" Hru tossed her hair, "As if!"

"Get out Hru," Carly said, tossing her a piece of gum, "Here, before you start choking in anger. You like Tala, you just don't wanna admit it."

"And why would I like that good for nothing jerk?" Hru demanded, popping the bubble gum in her mouth.

Carly caught Michael's eye across the cafeteria and winked at him, "I'll going to go." She stood up and grinned wickedly at Hru, "Because he saved your life...twice. And I wonder how many times more it'll happen, later!"

Hru fumed as Carly sprinted off, "THAT WAS PURELY ACCIDENTAL!!!!!! CARLY!!!!!!!!!" She slumped back down angrily, "Save my life, he will! Hmph! I'll show that jerk a thing or two."

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"I'll get the chips and the pop and the cake and the cookies and whatever else I can think of," Cassandra chirped.

Holly looked at her as if she was crazy, "And what do I get?"

"I don't know," Cassandra said thoughtfully, "But I've got to get to my game now, I'll see you later!"

Holly sighed as Cassandra ran off, feeling bored, since the Food Committee was all set, she decided to move on to evaluate the Design Committee.

"I got all the decorations so I get to decide where to put them!!!!" Willow shrieked.

"And who made you the boss of the whole dance????" Mariah shouted back.

Holly sweatdropped as she looked around for Carly, "Um...Willow, where's Carly? She's supposed to be here right? Don't tell me she skipped off!!! With Enrique or Michael or someone!"

"I don't know," Willow said, "I haven't seen her here yet, maybe she's late or something."

"You have absolutely NO design sense," Mariah declared, "Your plan of the dance floor is absolutely ridiculous!!!"

"Excuse me??? Well, you're SO much better, aren't you???" Willow snapped.

"Besides, you didn't even get the decorations, Ray did. I met him at the store, he said he was doing a 'favor' for you, why don't you quit ordering him around?" Mariah said.

Willow gasped at the accusation, "Ordering him around??? I'd never! He said he could do it along the way, I never told him he had to."

"Yeah right," Mariah scoffed, "You're just trying keep him away from me, well it won't work-"

"Can you two please get back on topic?" Holly said firmly, "This isn't related at all to how the decorations will look. Ray isn't a big part of the scenery, you know."

"It'll look horrible, I can tell you that much," an annoyed voice said.

"Carly!" Holly exclaimed, "Doesn't it ever occur to you to get here on time?"

Carly had a bunch of posters in one hand and Enrique trailing behind her, "Okay Holly, keep your shirt on girl."

Holly glared at her.

Carly shoved her posters into Enrique's hands, "Hold, thank you!" She grinned at him and then turned to Holly, "Okay, sorry, didn't mean to offend, but I wasn't really late. I was in the computer lab, printing out the poster that I designed at home." She took one and showed Holly, "See? Talented, ain't I? Enrique thinks so."

Holly laughed, "Enrique admires everything you do. But you're right, it looks awesome."

Carly sighed, "I may not like Valentine's Day, but I like designing posters, especially if it's computer graphical stuff. Enrique's going to help me put these around the school so I won't have to suffer listening to Willow and Mariah."

"Haven't you got better things to do than to follow her around? Oh Enrique, you're so naive, she's pointing you all in the wrong directions, sugar (A/N: Ugh, I hate that word, but whatever)" a snooty voice piped up. They looked up to see a very fashion-oriented girl. She had long, blond hair and blue eyes. Her face was heavily done with makeup and she had an aurora of strong perfume around her. She was wearing a yellow cheerleading top and a hot pink mini-skirt.

"What do YOU want?" Carly demanded, looking at her as if she was something foul, "Get lost Courtney and I don't point Enrique in the wrong directions. If I hadn't broken him up with up, he'd be going exactly the same way you're going - right smack into a wall."

Courtney tossed her blond hair, "Why is Enrique still going out that reject girl anyways?"

Carly's eyes glinted angrily, "What did you say about Aquana?"

"We all know that Enrique still likes me," Courtney said as if she was always right, "You know that perfectly well Carly."

"Says you," Carly retorted.

Enrique said nothing, he kept his eyes firmly on the ground.

"I'm simply irresistible," Courtney said haughtily, "Every guy would die for a chance to go out with me."

//Then I'm sure Johnny and Kai are all dying right now...// Holly thought sarcastically to herself.

Carly laughed out loud, "HA! Good one Courtney, really, first real laugh I had today."

"Enrique," Courtney said sweetly, brushing in close to him, "How about you and I go-"

"Forget it," Carly said, shoving her way in between them, "Enrique's helping me put up my posters, then we're going to go to the basketball game and then he's going to Aquana's house."

"Aquana?" Courtney said in disgust.

"My girlfriend," Enrique finally said, looking up and sounding firm, even though his eyes were still wavering at his choices.

"You'd still be dating me if that bratty girl over there didn't meddle with our business!" Courtney snarled.

"Excuse me? You wanna see bratty? Look in the mirror, you couldn't find a more perfect match anywhere else!" Carly snapped.

Enrique glared defiantly at Courtney this time without any uncertainty, "Carly is my friend, my best friend, so don't you dare call her names. I told you before, we're over."

"And we're outta here. Later Holly, good luck with Willow and Mariah!" Carly winked and left with Enrique and the posters.

Courtney smiled flirtatiously, "Of course Enrique. Anything you say, sugar."

"Courtney, get back to work," Holly ordered as the other girl flounced off. When Holly returned to the table, Willow and Mariah were STILL arguing.

"Okay okay," Holly said, sighing heavily, "You're not getting anywhere! How about if you two each laid out a plan of your designs and between me and Carly, we'll choose the best features of each of your plans and put them into one."

"Good idea," Willow muttered.

"It's still screwed," Mariah mumbled, pulling out some loose-leaf paper.

"Well, the sooner you two get this done, the sooner you get to go to the gym to watch the basketball team's first game," Holly reminded them, grinning as both of them shot down to work.

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That's it, gotta go, not much to say, Courtney's just there for spice, she'll add in for Enrique's part, don't worry, you'll see, nothing much happened here, but laterz! Gotta run and fixed my computer! You know the deal, read and review and enjoy of course!