A/N: Yay! Thanks for the reviews! You guys rock as always! Enjoy.
Chapter 2
"Can't Hide"
First period class has ended. Dr. Oliver's students began packing up at the sound of the bell as others stayed glued to their seats to finish up the test. Ethan and Kira both finished in time as they handed their test in. "Boy, that was easy." Ethan blurted out.
Dr. O smiles, "Glad to hear that. So what did you think of it, Kira?"
She gives him an uncertain impression of what she thought of it. "It was okay, although I could have done more studying on the material if it weren't for Ethan and Conner."
"Don't forget Trent."
Kira shot him an evil glance when suddenly Conner turned his paper in to Dr. Oliver shortly after. He rubbed his fatigue eyes and grunted. "Dude, that was hard. I only wrote like two paragraphs on the essay question."
"It's better than leaving it blank, Conner. You still get credit for what you've written, but not full credit."
"Whatever. All I know is that I bombed that test."
"A little more studying wouldn't hurt."
"Yeah, Conner." Kira couldn't agree more with Ethan. "If you'd just kept your hormones out the door, I'm sure you could have done much better."
Dr. Oliver quickly turns away. "Okay, I sure didn't need to hear that. Get out of here." They laughed.
"Later, Dr. O."
"Take it easy, guys."
"Bye."
The three stood outside the hallway, as students begin rushing to get to their second period class. Conner, Ethan, and Kira exchange looks before parting ways. "See ya."
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"Hey, Dustin." Tori found him sitting on a rock after another day's worth of teaching at the Wind Ninja Academy. He looks up and forced a smile as he moves over to leave room for Tori to sit on. She took a seat right next to him as they view the lovely scenery of Blue Bay Harbor from the top of a hill. "So..." Tori looks at him from the corner of her eyes after a moment of awkward silence. "How was class?"
Dustin weakly shrugged his shoulders, obviously not in the mood for a small talk, but knowing Tori, he wasn't going to get away with it. "Same as always, Tor."
She nodded her head bewilderedly and noticed his eyes were fixated on something down below the hill. Tori smiles mischievously when she figured he was looking down at Marah and Kapri, doing some extra training in their ninja uniforms and pulling off a few great moves they learned that day. "Uh huh." She moved her head back, grinning. "So I'm guessing from your moody behavior that you haven't told her yet."
Dustin groans while taking his eyes off of them for a moment to look directly at Tori. "What is there to tell?"
"It's been a year, Dustin. I think it's about time that you and Marah come clean with your feelings for each other."
"Yeah, but what if she doesn't feel the same way about me?"
"You kidding?" Tori places a hand on his shoulder for reassurance. "Dustin, trust me on this. There's not a time where I never caught Marah staring at you whenever you walk by. She feels bad enough for betraying your trust."
He chuckles, thinking back on the incident. "Oh that. Dude, I put that stuff way behind me a long time ago."
"Then let her know, Dustin."
He sincerely smiles her way. "Alright, enough about me. What about you?"
Tori's eyebrows furrowed. "What about me?"
"Well, I want to see you happy too."
She was taken by surprise. "I am happy, Dustin and stop changing the subject."
"I know, but I mean I want you to be happily in love with someone." Tori chuckled at the thought. "I'm serious. I always thought something was going to happen between you and Blake."
"But it didn't."
Dustin looks down shamefully. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up."
"It's fine. I'm completely over it."
"Are you sure?" She nods her head reassuringly. "Okay, in that case we need to get you a boyfriend."
Tori scoffs. "What?! You did not just say that."
"Hey, it's that or we set you up on a date with..." He trails off with a scratch to the head. "Let's say...Kyle or Eric."
Tori raises an eyebrow. "Those two?" She says in disgust. "Why?"
Dustin plasters a bewildered look. "What? When was the last time you dated? Besides, they happen to find you highly attractive, you know." He adds with a playful smirk that Tori knew all too well. "But who doesn't?"
She nods disapprovingly. "I don't think so. They remind me too much of you and Shane." Tori adds with a shudder. Dustin glares at her for the crude comment when suddenly Shane comes walking up the hill towards their direction. The two look up and welcomed him.
He smiles. "What's up, guys?"
"Dude, did you know what Tori said?" Dustin gets his attention while keeping his eyes glared to her. "We remind her so much of Kyle and Eric."
"What?!" Shane shrieks offensively as he turns his gaze over to the blonde.
"Back then, yeah! But you've guys changed. We all have."
Dustin nods while scratching the top of his head. "Well...she does have a point. I mean, we were kind of dumb back then."
Tori rolls her eyes. "Speak for yourself, Dustin."
"Dude."
Shane chuckles. "Whatever. I could use a drink by now. What do you guys say?"
"Can't argue with that." They face Tori as she winks at them with an idea in mind.
"I know just the place."
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"Is anyone worried that Mesogog and his alien freaks haven't attacked the city for weeks now?" Kira questions as she, Conner, Ethan, and Trent made their way inside Hayley's Cyberspace Cafe, which has become a daily routine for them whenever class ended.
Ethan chuckles. "Yeah, and that's a bad thing?" He stated in sarcasm.
"Dude, I agree. I can use the break from getting my butt kicked." Conner blurts out.
"But that's not the case here. What if he and Elsa are planning something big?"
"Yeah, but Dr.O and Hayley would let us know if something was wrong." Trent reassures her.
"Look, as long as they're not attacking the city, don't asks anymore questions."
Kira sighs. "Alright. Whatever you say." They all sat down at a table in silence when Ethan immediately excused himself to use the laptops. Bored as usual, Conner begins roaming his eyes around the room to find something active to do besides tossing a red soccer ball in midair when suddenly he spotted three people sitting on the couch they use to occupy. To his surprise, it was nonetheless their ninja friends Shane, Dustin, and Tori.
"Guys, look." Trent and Kira were force to pause with their own discussion to look his way. "It's them!"
Kira grunts quite irritably due to his mere excitement. "Gee, that's great. Two days in a row." She responds out of sarcasm. "Today is definitely your lucky day." Trent looked at her. "Why don't you stop being a wuss and go up to her this time?"
"Okay, maybe I will and for you information, I am not a wuss."
Trent stares awkwardly between the two.
"Go for it."
"Indeed, I will." Conner rises up from his seat and started heading casually to their direction. "Like now." With her back turned to Trent, Kira watches on intently. "You seem a bit jealous." He whispers with a teasing smirk. She turns around to face him.
"Jealous?! Me?" Kira blurts out in disbelief. "Right. Uh huh. Yeah. Sure."
"You sound like it too."
"Trent, I am not jealous." She groans offensively. "I mean, why would I be?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, you tell me."
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"Dude, I can't believe you guys are here." Conner exclaims after exchanging a quick handshake with Shane. Without making his actions seem obvious, he sits down on a small table in front of them and steals a quick glance of the blonde beauty. She smiles at him in return.
"Well Tori insist that we come here, and I have to admit, this place is so awesome!" Dustin comments enthusiastically.
"Oh yeah." Shane couldn't agree with him more as he takes another sip of his drink and a big bite off his cheeseburger. "Great food too."
Tori chuckles. "See I told you. We gotta bring Hunter and Cam next time.
"Oh, how are those guys by the way?" Conner asks curiously.
"They're doing fine; busy as usual." She answers.
"And Blake?"
Tori shrugged her shoulders. "Pretty much winning motorcross championships around the globe."
"Wow."
"Oh yeah." She looked at her watch as soon as the alarm went off. All eyes turn to her. "Oh perfect! I still have time to hit the water before sunset."
Conner raised an eyebrow. "Hit the water?"
"Yeah, to go surfing. Haven't done that in awhile."
"You surf?" He asks surprisingly.
She nods with a smile. "Uh huh."
"And she rocks at it." Dustin added when suddenly Trent, Kira, and Ethan joins them. The former wind rangers all greeted them with friendly handshakes while getting up from the couch. "Ah, you guys decide to join us right when we were about to leave."
"What? Already?" Ethan frowns. "But we just got here."
"Yeah, sorry.We have a lot of work to get done at Storm Chargers anyway."
"Storm Chargers?" Kira questions.
"Yeah, it's an action sports store. I don't work there." Tori responded. "But it's a nice hang out spot."
"Oh. Cool." Awkward silence suddenly took its course as they exchange bewildered looks.
"Well, it was nice seeing you guys." Shane, Dustin, and Tori began heading out.
"Will you guys be stopping by again tomorrow?" Conner asks hopefully.
They shrugged while looking over their shoulder. "Maybe. We'll have to convince Cam and Hunter to come along first."
"Cool. Um...tell them I said hi."
"We will. See you guys, later."
"Yeah, bye." Ethan, Trent, and Kira waved off in unison as they watch them walk out the door. All eyes then shift over to the guy in red as he stares off into space like a love struck little boy.
"So what did you guys talk about?" Ethan asks, as Conner remains transfixed to their direction, even though they were already gone."Um hello?" He waves a hand in front of him to grab his attention as the others chuckled. "Conner!"
"Huh?" He finally snaps out of it and turns to him. "What?"
"Well?"
Conner shook his head. "Oh. Not much...we just talked about life in general." He grins. "Did you know that Tori surfs?"
"No." Ethan was taken by surprise. "So she's athletic and cute?"
"Oh yeah and sweet too."
Kira rolls her eyes, completely annoyed with their constant rambling about Tori as if they could go on and on for hours, and even days with the same things all over again. Not that she has anything against the blonde, it just gets tiring after awhile when it is all they could ever talk about. 'What happened to soccer and boring computer games?' She thought, hoping that Conner and Ethan would somehow jump to a different topic they seem to enjoy the most, aside from chicks.
"Are you okay?" Trent asks worriedly due to her ill at ease gesture.
She turns to him and forced a smile. "Yeah. I'm fine."
"Are you sure? Because I'm not entirely convince that you are alright."
"What do you mean?"
"I think you know." Puzzled, Kira searches his eyes carefully. "Anyway, Hayley needs my help. Let me know if you need anything."
"But Trent--"
She noticed that he could barely even look at her as he tries to avoid her gaze. "We'll talk later."
Kira sighs as she turns back around where Conner was standing. "What was that all about?" He asks once Trent started taking orders nearby. She nodded her head in dismay, refusing to discuss anything personal with Conner.
"It's nothing."
A/N: Review please.
