Chapter fourteen: Secrets.

It was eleven 'o'clock when Isis finally arrived back at the cabin. Her eyes were slightly puffy from crying, she expected everyone to be asleep. How wrong she was.

"Isis?" Mariam asked. Everyone was still up, dressed in their nightwear in a circle. Mariah was passing around hot chocolate from the machine they had found in the corner. Hilary was mixing a green paste up, face-mask.

"Where have you been?" Hilary asked, "We had Ray and Tyson and the rest but no-one could find you or Kai anywhere."

"I... I suppose I'd better tell you..." She sighed, another tear rolled softly down her face.

"Omigod! You weren't raped were you?" Mariam asked horrified, Mariah choked on her hot chocolate, nasty visions in her mind.

"No! I'm still a virgin!" She replied indignantly. They all breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll tell you once I've got my pyjamas on." She dug out her nightclothes and disappeared into the bathroom to get changed.

Mariam made more hot chocolate and Hilary more face-mask mix. Mariah was quiet, not knowing what she could do.

Isis finally emerged out of the bathroom. She looked like she had been crying in the bathroom. Hilary hugged her sympathetically, she burst into tears again.

"Omigod! Isis what's wrong?" Mariam asked; they all led her down onto the mass of pillows, handing her hot chocolate and marshmallows. "Come on, we don't have ice cream so this will have to do." Hilary tried to cheer her up, Isis smiled weakly.

"How did you know?" She asked, trying to joke on with them.

"Please Isis, your in tears, we haven't seen you since nine 'o'clock and then you were boogying away like there's no tomorrow." Mariam giggled, taking a sip out of her mug. Isis sighed; if she couldn't tell them then she couldn't tell anyone.

"It's... okay, I..." She trailed off, not knowing how to put it.

"Is it about who you were kissing during the dance?" Mariah asked in a small voice.

Isis paled. "How did you know?" She asked faintly. Mariah seemed close to tears.

"Me and Ray saw you... we didn't mean to! We were talking and... I'm sorry." She whispered.

Mariam and Hilary didn't know what to say, they didn't have a clue what the other two girls were going on about.

"It's okay..." Isis whispered. She felt something roll off her shoulders. "Do you... how long?" She asked. Isis went to tell her but Mariam interrupted.

"Not how long! Who?" She asked.

Isis took a deep breath before telling them.

"Kai." She whispered.

Hilary screamed.

"Omigosh! No way! But! But... oh..." She giggled. Mariam smiled quietly to herself and sipped her tea.

"How long?" She asked. Noticing the dreamy look in Isis' eyes.

"After... You know the incident at the pizzeria Hilary?" She said quietly.

"But you'd only known each other for like, heck! You didn't!" Hilary squealed.

"We'd kept... I dunno; we'd met up the night after my welcome home party, then after my try outs with the Espanola Angeles." Isis mumbled; her face was scarlet.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Mariam demanded.

Isis shrugged her shoulders.

"It was mutual..." She murmured, sipping her hot chocolate. "I guess... I dunno." She admitted.

"Do you want us to keep it secret?" Hilary offered. Isis blushed even more and nodded.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"So." Mariam crossed her legs and started putting on the almost forgotten face-masks.

"I have an important question." She added; beginning to paint Hilary's face with the green mixture. "Is he a good kisser?"

"Mariam!" Hilary and Mariah spluttered. Mariam grinned; a wicked glint in her eye.

"Well? Is he?" She asked, "And why were you crying?" She added as an afterthought.

Isis was quiet, not knowing how to put it.

"It was getting to be too much." She whispered. "We had to keep it secret and you have no idea how hard that is." She admitted.

"Aw, bless you. So where were you and Kai?" Mariah asked.

Isis sighed, a dreamy expression covering her face.

"He... He took me on top of the deck and to the front of the ship, you know, that bit." She trailed off abstractedly.

"And?" They all asked, hoping to get more.

"He told me he loved me..." She sighed. "Then he kissed me and I kissed him back and... He's an exceptional kisser." She giggled, blushing furiously.

Everyone sighed dreamily.

"That is so romantic! I wish Tyson did something like that to me." Hilary sighed.

"You do look good together mind." Mariam agreed. "You know I never saw Kai being the romantic type. I always saw him as the loner who's gonna live and die by himself." She mused to them.

"He told me it was a way of life..." She told them distractedly.

"What did you say?"

"I told him it was a pain in the backside more like." She giggled in spite of herself.

"What did he say to that?"

"What? Oh, nothing. He just kinda stared at me like he'd never seen it like that before." She blushed, remembering his grey eyes. "I'm glad I told you guys, it was killing me keeping it secret."

"It's funny how you two never seemed that close when anyone was around." Hilary mused. "It's like you... I dunno," She grinned.

"You two never seemed to talk to each other. You always seemed so distant from him." Mariah added; she hadn't spoken for a while.

"Yeah, well. It's Kai doing his thing." Hilary grinned; Mariam had finished painting her face and finishing Mariah's, beginning to start on Isis.

"I like Kai's thing." Isis said indignantly; then blushed.

"We know you do!" Hilary giggled.

"He's... Oh I dunno..." Isis chortled quietly. "It's just how I'm going to tell Tyson, that's the problem." She sighed.

"You two are so close, why is he so protective?" Hilary asked quietly.

Isis was quiet for a while.

"When I was little, I used to live with my dad, in England. My mum had left with me, she was Japanese; they split up. I was young when it happened. My mum took me in with this group in Japan. Mainly women, and introduced me to beyblading"Isis paused, hoping they'd understood. "I was taken to this place, I think it was in Russia I can't remember to well...anyway it sort of blew up and my father found me and took me to Grandpa's. Me and Tyson grew close." Isis trailed off.

"Explains the closeness, now explain the protective bit?" Mariam asked.

"Oh he's always like that, especially since both my parents used me for their own purposes." Bitterness clouded her voice.

Everyone was shocked.

"I then devoted my life to training and became the European champion." She stuttered the rest of it; tears began spilling down her cheeks; the others were to stunned to move.

Hilary finally spoke.

"Isis... I'm so sorry." She whispered. Everyone gave her sympathy hugs and offered to get Kai. She shook her head.

"He doesn't know. Don't tell him... I don't want too many people knowing about my past." She asked them and they nodded.

They all started taking off their face masks.

"Who wants to raid the boys' cabin and play spin the bottle?" Mariah asked; a mischievous glint in her eye.

"No thanks, I'm tired. I think I'll just go to sleep. I've not been sleeping to well." Isis told them. Hilary nodded.

"She's got a point. Tomorrow's a big day." Isis started getting the beds ready.

"Night."

"Night Isis."