Ship Hunt!

He stood to his full height and laughed softly. He was native here, most of us weren't. Personally I didn't trust this guy. Staruis Starolin was his name, Star for short. I guess in an odd way, he could be handsome, but who am I to judge? I'm a guy. I know the girls with us drool over him. His hair was so black there's no word for it, darker then jet black, and he has clear icy, sapphire eyes.

Like most people on this planet he was very tall and had long hair, as did the girl beside him. Somehow the two possessed an amazing attraction to other people. I was attracted to the girl myself. She was beautiful. Long purple hair and eyes like emeralds. She had a body to die for. On earth she'd probably be a super model. Her name was Loveantina Lovoqist, Love for short.

"How long do you plan on staying?" Star asked.

"We didn't plan on landing." My friend told them. He's pretty tall with blond hair. He's considered very cool by a lot of people. His name's Duke Arlenton.

"Really?" Love said, batting her pretty eyes. She wrapped her arms around Duke's arm. "I'm really happy you did." She leaned against him.

He smiled. "I have to admit… I am happy about it."

"Good."

Star laughed. It was a rich sound. I'm sure it made all the girls go weak, that is except for Love. For some reason, their attraction didn't effect their own kind.

Tai grinned. This was his first Sci-Fi story ever. His Creative Writing class was helping him. It challenged him to think a little bit differently. Now he knew how Ant could come up with weird stories right off the top of his head.

"Are you writing again?" Mrs. Yagami asked.

He smiled at her. "Yeah. It's for class."

"How nice… do you want your dinner now or later?"

He thought hard. "Later… I really want to finish this."

"Well, keep it up!" She said with a grin. Then she went to the kitchen. Tai smiled and went back to typing.

We were going to a city to get a ship. Since this odd planet is mostly forest and jungle we keep moving. We don't know what kind of creatures are here, and from how we heard it, we don't want to know.

Love suddenly stopped. Her knee length skirt blew in the wind, her hair twisted and twirled. She let Duke go and moved to Star. Star stood perfectly still. His loose shirt and braid flittered slightly in the wind.

"Dai?"

"Hai."

"Din hei tew?"

Love nodded. "Hai."

I don't know much about this language, but I do know some Japanese, and if I translate right 'hai' means yes.

"What's wrong?" Li asked. Sure, Li's usually a guy's name, but she prefers to be called Li. Her real name is Lisa Bell Turner. She's very pretty. Shoulder length, blood colored hair. Sure, she's not the tallest person in the world, but she's the right height for me. She's nearly a tom boy… armed with a laptop and switch blade at all times.

"They're coming." They said together. They reached into the air and pulled out two long swords. Love's has the head of a dragon with orange jewels for eyes for a hilt. The long ears of the dragon wrapped around her arm so she wouldn't lose it during battle. The hilt of Star's was straight, with a sun made of jewels sitting on the top, but the blade was twirled, like a unicorn horn. "Get ready."

Star and Love are warriors from this world. Unlike with Earth you don't just join the armed forces here. You know what you are when you're born. If you can pull a weapon, you're a warrior. I suppose if you can pull out a needle you'll be an acupuncturist. I'd hate to be in that business. Yes… needles terrify me for some reason.

They took their fighting stance. "I hope you can fight." Love told us.

Star nodded. "If any of you can't, you're in trouble. They go for non-fighters… I suppose it's less fight, and not as tough."

Li pulled out her switch blade and gbvc m

Tai started laughing. He couldn't stop. Someone was tickling him. "Stop!" he gasped. He squirmed, and finally fell out of his chair.

She grinned down at him, her dark red ponytail falling to the side of her face. "Hi, Taichi."

He stared at her. "Don't do that Sam." He said, getting to his feet.

"But it was so hard…"

"It couldn't have been that easy." He told her, rolling his eyes.

She sat on the floor by him. "But it was. You were so absorbed in your typing you didn't notice. I've been standing there for nearly five minutes already." She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his chest. "You're really ugly when get that concentrated." She snuggled him looking innocent, staring up to his face.

He pondered that phrase. "Are you trying to say I'm too cute when I concentrate?"

She blinked. "Isn't that what I said?" Her violet eyes sparkled with confusion.

"You said…" He sighed, remembering that she spoke backwards 95% of the time and hardly ever caught herself. "Yes."

She kissed his strong jaw line. "What are you writing about now?"

"People from another planet." He pulled her tight. "You're in it, you know."

"Really?" She grinned. "So surprised."

"Can I get back to writing? I haven't even saved yet."

She nodded. "Would you like to use my laptop again?"

"If you'll let me."

"Sure. It's on your table over there."

"Thank you." He peeled her off gently and got to his knees. "No tickle till after I save, okay?"

She touched his back. "If you say so…" her touch was soft and made his whole body ache for more.

He popped in his disk and hit the save button. "Do you hate me?"

She wrapped her arms around him. "Of course."

He came back to the floor and sat. "You don't want me to write do you?"

She sighed. "I just don't want you to be a writer… you'll lock yourself up and hardly ever come out… of course, if I make it to my job I'll have long hours too."

He pulled her into him. "I do enjoy writing though."

She laughed. "I'll make you a deal."

"Yes?"

"If you become a writer and I become a doctor, you can write all day while I'm at the hospital, but I get you all night." then she kissed his cheek lightly, almost tempting.

"Deal." After kissing her forehead he pulled from her gently. "Now, let me finish writing, okay?"

She sighed and stood. "Okay, and when you sell your first book at 19 or 20 I really want my engagement ring."

"You want to get married-"

"When I'm 17, but I can wait till I'm 19."

"That's awfully… young, isn't it?"

"Yep. I plan on getting married young, getting divorced then either remarrying the same guy, or marrying one rich son of a bitch."

"I hope not. I'm hoping to be marrying you very soon."

"Become very rich and I will never leave you. Now, get back to writing. I'll leave my laptop." After giving him one last grin she left.

He sighed and got back in his chair. "Now… where'd I…"

got into her fighting pose. Duke put one hand out and got into a tae kwan do stance. Nikki put her fists up. She's my cousin and she's a master boxer. I guess the only one that's not a master of something is me… well, master at a professional thing. I'm an awesome street fighter however.

Something rustled up above. All our heads shot up.

"Don't look up!" Star shouted.

"We cant' afford not to!" Love yelled.

The two gave each other a slight glare, then sighed. "You're right." Both said.

"Duke, look up."

"Li, look to the east."

"Nikki, look west."

"Shawn, look to the north."

"Where do you to look?"

"Around." They said in unison. They stared at each other. "You stay and protect."

Love dealt him a glare that would a make skunk feel bad for stinking. "I'm the superior officer. You stay."

Star bared his teeth in obvious displeasure. "Yes, Chief."

"That's what I thought. You watch the south, and most of the surrounding area."

"Yes, Chief."

Can you imagine a tall, slim, and absolutely beautiful, fragile looking woman being much higher then a Latinate? Well, as far as I can tell, Love is about two spots from being overall commander, and Star is four spots under her. There could be some serious jealousy issues there.

She cast her eyes to the rest of us. "You aren't under my authorization, but I recommend if you want to live and the Xyniotes attack listen to Star."

I think the tone of her words took Star by surprise too. This was the first time I heard her say something that wasn't soft and seductive. Her words were hard, unbreakable and demanding. She looked to Duke. "You especially."

She took her sword in both hands and moved silently. We all looked to Star, what choice did we have?

He seemed almost overwhelmed. He gathered himself quickly. "Xyn's are… complex. They aren't the most quiet of creatures, so that gives us the advantage. On the other hand there's a couple of different types of Xyns. There's water Xyn, ground bound, tree swingers, cave dwellers, and volcanic stranded. Thankfully, they're deaf… but there's only two ways to kill them until they die naturally. One, destroy their hearts, two chop up their brains."

"So take off their heads and we win."

He laughed again. "Taking off their heads won't do a thing. They'll just try to kill you without a head… or they'll hunt their head down, stick it under their arm and get you. Either way, take out the brain or heart we win."

"So, aim for the chest and head."

"Chest and head?" he chuckled softly. "Sure, if you wanna hit six inches of solid bone. Their brain is… around where your stomach is, and their heart is in their… heads, you call it?"

"Where our brains are?" Nikki asked. He nodded. "Yeah, head."

The noise came again, louder. "Take your places." He held the blade out and looked forward. "Careful, some of them can go-"

"Help!!!!" Nikki shrieked.

He spun around. "invisible." He leaped to her side, holding both ends of his sword. It met something just above her head. He pulled it tight, until something popped off. A head rolled onto the ground. It's face was surprised and its violet eyes were blinking in surprise. "Some one get it and take out the heart!" He struggled, trying to get the lean body from Nikki.

Li scooped it up. For a fraction of a second she stared into its eyes. Then she threw it down and shoved her knife up its head, where the throat had been. Her hand went deep into it, she looked a little disgusted. Then she yanked out her hand out and the heart was still on it. She took her other hand and sliced it up.

The body in Star's hands went limp. He dropped it and shoved his sword into the ground. He looked at his hands, which were covered in an orange liquid.

Nikki smiled at him. "Thanks."

He looked at her and yanked his sword out of the ground. Pain shot across his face for an instant. "Don't thank me yet." He leaped straight up and landed in the trees. "If anything moves and you don't see Love wearing anything but what she was or silvery pink armor, kill it." He disappeared into the tree. Moments later a head fell down, followed closely by a body.

Li threw her switch blade. Something screamed. "I think we're about to get hit with the ground force." Her voice was slightly shaky. Then human-like creatures surrounded us. What made them almost not human was the fact they were on all fours, more like lean, hairless apes. I saw her smile. It was a smile I had never seen before. She was almost creepy as she reached into the sack around her shoulders. She pulled out five throwing knives. "Remember, aim for the stomach and the head… but don't forget the head is about six inches of solid bone."

She let two of the knives fly. One went straight up. The Xyns stared up at it. The other one hit one straight in the gut. She threw another and hit the same on almost in the same spot. It coughed then fell.

"Well, only about twenty to go."

"Can I borrow one of those?" Duke said, almost shyly. "I'm not into ripping heads off."

"Me either." Nikki said.

"I'm not strong enough to rip a head off." I admitted, though those knives terrified me.

She tossed each of us one gently. She pulled out more throwing knives. She turned back to our opponents. "Remember what we promised each other. My turn on the computer, sport."

Tai stopped typing. "People have got to stop doing that!" He looked at his dad.

"I'm sorry son, but I need to finish something up for work."

"Fine… let me save." He clicked the save button. After it saved he stood. "It's all yours… I'll just use Sammi's laptop." He started towards it.

"Tai."

"Yeah?"

"I'm impressed."

"With what?"

"Your grades. They've really went up since you started that writing class."

"Thanks… we have to keep at least a B average to stay in the class, and I really enjoy it."

"Good."

"Thanks." With a smile he picked up the laptop and went outside. He sat down on the steps, opened the laptop, then a typing program, stuck his disk in, opened his file, deleted the extra sentence and started typing.

We'll stay together, and protect as best we can, because we're best friends."

I remember that promise. We made it after our first adventure together. We all nearly got killed that time. Wow… years ago by now.

"Right." Duke and Nikki said.

Then the creatures jump us. I throw one off me and jump on it. I'm sure it looks wrong. I shove the knife deep in its stomach and split it open. Dear God… It looks awful in there. Their brain is in the middle. Gee, I wonder where their stomachs are.

Ah! No time to think about that! I plunge the knife into the brain, twist it and rip it out. I yank the brain off and stand. Already a lot of them are dead. Quite a few are coming from the trees to. They fall, lifelessly.

Love appears, seemingly from nowhere. She has on a pink chest plate that looks kind of silvery. She's still wearing that flowy skirt though. She also has on pink boots nearly to her knees. Her emeralds eyes are set for battle. She raises her sword high into the sky.

"Ai kness ja kwan ziar

Di Xyn yuz

Wiq ai chis Ryu Punal !" She shoved the sword into the ground. The ground began to shake. I watched as an almost invisible energy spread through the area. All the Xyn's disintegrated as the energy went over them. When they were all gone the energy folded over itself and vanished back into the sword, leaving with one last bang, making everyone fall with a thud.

Love looked around. "Everyone okay?"

Star sat up and held his head. "I would have been better if you hadn't done that and made me fall out of a tree."

"Are you seriously injured?"

"No."

"Good. Duke, Li, Shawn, Nikki, are you okay?"

"Disgusted… but alive." Duke answered.

"Same here." Nikki said.

"I've had better days." I say plainly, dropping the knife to the ground.

"Li?" Love stares away from us. I turn to look, as does the others.

Li's sitting on the ground, holding the head of one of the creatures. Her face was vacant, like the lights were on, but everyone had went out to party. Love moved to her quickly. "Curse the tenth realm of Antpilveus!"

I move to Love and stare down at Li. "What's wrong with her?"

Love yanks the head from Li, who starts to fall back. I kneel down as quick as I can and catch her.

Love sits the head on the ground. "She stared into it's eyes." She held her sword in front of her and it shrunk down to a dagger. She knelt and began to cut into the skin of the head. "You never look into the eyes of a Xyniote. Dead or alive, unless it's properly skinned." She laid the skin out, then took her dagger and dug it into an eye and ripped it out, then she did it to the other. "This one wasn't destroyed, because Li had it… it has her."

"What?"

"By staring into the eyes of a Xyniote you relive things you couldn't, or happy times."

"Isn't that good?"

"Sure, but with each memory, and new way of happening it takes over your mind. Every second you stare into their dead eyes you become their slave, even if it's dead."

"What happens if it's dead?"

"You sit and wait for a command… until you die." She stares into my eyes. "Only a mind so pure and kind, or totally empty can stare into it's eyes with no result."

"You can't have a clear mind."

"A child can look into it, because it doesn't know it's done anything wrong, even if it has done anything wrong. It's pure, with no regrets. If you've done something you know you shouldn't have then it has the power to take you… it also works if you're incredible intelligent."

"They're like this forever?"

"There's something to reverse the effects, but the most we can do right now is change her master. I told you all to listen to Star… just so something like this wouldn't happen." She looked back to Li.

"Star never mentioned that."

She looked up at me. "He didn't?" She turned to Star. "Come here, Commander."

Star followed the order quickly. "Yes, Chief?"

Love stood to her full height. "Commander Staruis Staolin, did you not mention that under any circumstances you are not to look into the eyes of a Xyniote?"

"I thought I had, Chief."

Her eyes took a tone too dark to be described. My skin crawled at just seeing it, I would have passed out if she had directed that look to me. "That's not an excuse. Thanks to your irresponsibility, one of our visitors is under the control of a Xyntiote!"

He put his foot back to take a step backwards, but stopped and stood as straight as he could. "I thought-"

"That's not good enough! Do you not remember your training, do I have to recommend you go back? Remember, I can make you go back to a Newbie. Do you want to have to fight your way back up to the spot you're in now?"

"No, Chief."

"I can't hear you."

"No Chief!"

"So Commander Star, I recommend you get your act together or get ready to fight again."

He stared at the ground. "Yes, Chief."

"Now, go and make sure there are no more Xyntiote. I recommend you do it quickly." He turned and ran. Love sighed and knelt back down. She held the skull up. "Beauty, isn't it? She was a young one." She turned it to her face and stared into its empty eye sockets. "Want it?"

"Won't it…"

Love grinned and moved the skull down. "Hurt anyone? No, it's harmless now." She tossed her dagger into the sky and it disappeared. "You can have it as a souvenir."

I nod. "Okay…" I sigh. "How do we change the master?"

"Someone she loves dearly must speak to her. Her mind will clamp onto the first person to speak with her. If it is not someone she loves, like this she will stay forever."

I stare at her. "Someone she deeply loves has to talk to her! How do we know who that is? What do you want us to do?"

She pushes back her hair. "Don't ever speak in that tone with me." She stares at me with dark eyes. "Have you ever wondered why my power doesn't work on you as well as it does Duke? You already love someone, and she loves you. A love that strong can't be broken by our magic. Talk to her."

I sigh and look to Li. "Fine, but it won't do that good." I put my arms around Li. "Li…." I hug her loosely. "come to me, Li…" I kiss her forehead. "Come on. Remember our promise… I want to protect you… forever. Let me."

She began to blink. "You." She stared at me with very emotional, yet empty eyes. I've never saw, or heard of anything like it.

He nods. "Me." I take her hands and pull her to her feet. "Will you let me? Let me take care of you…please."

She nods and wraps her arms around me. "Take care of me." She kisses my cheek. "I'll let you…"

I wrap my arms around her and look at Love. "I feel like I just stole Li of her soul…"

"You haven't. You're protecting it from Xyntiote. She'll listen and do anything you say for right now. When we get to the city I'll have a mystic lift the curse." she stares at me with serious eyes. "I will be watching you to make sure you don't take advantage of her."

I nod. "Never."

She gives me a strange look. "I'll be watching." Then she turned and went to Duke, her armor disappearing. "Are you okay, Dukey?"

He grins and wraps an arm around her. "I'm fine."

"Good."

"So now what, Tai? Ditching your girlfriend?"

Tai blinks and looks up. "I am not ditching Sammi. She had somewhere she had to go anyway," he tells the tall teen as he deletes his last sentence.

"Yeah, today." He says he blue eyes shinning. "But she's feeling ignored lately. So does Matt and Roma and…everyone else. It's okay to like your class, actually, it's pretty good to like your class, but all you do is write."

Tai sighs. "After I finish with this story I'll go out with her, okay?"

He laughs, his voice ringing. "Good. She's been hanging out with a guy. Real looker too… much 'hotter' then you."

"She what?"

He sits and pushes his hair back. "Been hangin' with a guy."

"Ant…"

He nods. "No joke, dude."

Tai grumbles. "I'll go out with her when I'm finished. She understands… she loves me."

"But she's lonely. Loneliness is a powerful thing. It can sometimes make you do things you don't mean." He grins and stands, pushing his hair back. "I'd watch her close if I were you, but that's just me."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll watch her. I'm almost finished."

We begin to walk again. Li follows close to me, her eyes still emotional and empty. I hold onto her hand to make sure that she doesn't slow down or we don't lose her. Love holds Duke's arm, almost like he was her personal teddy bear. He grins about it. Neither of us ever thought we'd even meet a girl as pretty as her, let alone one liking either of us. Nikki holds Star's hand. He seems half distant about it.

If nothing else this place really is beautiful. It's like a jungle, but these plants are strange even for jungle plants.

Love smiles. "We're almost there."

"What's the city called?"

"Don Lantis Moque. The Dream City."

"Wow…"

Star smiles. "It's an amazing place. The streets are made of… glass, I believe you call it."

Nikki smiles. "It sounds beautiful…"

Love grins. "It is. I can't wait to get back."

"Why? It's beauty couldn't compare to you."

She kisses his cheek gently. "You're sweet… but I want to see my papa. It's my hometown."

Duke blinks. "Papa?"

She nods. "Yep. He's a doc-tor… I think that's how you pronounce it."

He smiles. "You're a quick learner."

"Yes, I am." She takes his hand and pulls him. "We're almost there."

He laughs. "Really?"

"Yes." She pulls back some vines and stands by them, holding them back. "Don Lanta Moque."

We all stand by the vines and look at the city. It sparkles, sometimes pink, sometimes gold, and a little blue, like one big diamond.

After we all had one long sigh we began down the cliff. It wasn't very steep or hilly. It would be great to roll down it. Anyway, after what seemed like an eternity we reached the bottom and walked straight into the city. It was impossible to believe that it was made of pure glass, yet it must have been. When you looked into anything you could see your sparkling reflection. No wonder it's the 'Dream City'.

Li squeezed my hand. I pulled her to my side. "What's wrong?"

She smiles, but it's empty. "Nothing is wrong, Master."

It gives me the shutters and my stomach rolls. "Don't call me Master."

"Then what should I call you?"

I shrug. "Trev, like you always do."

"Trev…" She said the word almost as if it was a new word, like she'd never heard it before in her life. Really creepy. "If that's what you would like to be called."

I sigh. "Yes. Trev. Just, call me Trev."

Love sighs. "Star, you go talk to Peace. See if she might have an extra ship, or ship parts we could get. Nikki, Duke, you go with him. Trev, you and Li come with me. We have to find Kris. Best damn healer in the whole town." She starts off in one way, while Star goes the other. With a shrug we follow as we're told.

Until this moment I never realized how fast Love moved, of course this is clear ground. Clear and slick. I've already nearly fallen twice… but surprisingly Li hasn't. Usually she'd be cursing because she'd fallen at least once already, or at least came very close to it. I run to keep up with Love. She has really long legs…

"Trev…" Li says, distantly. "What are we looking for?"

"Kris… the healer."

She nods. "Okay. I'll watch for it."

Suddenly Love stops. "Kristipher Kristopherson. Healer and musican on the side. Hard to do around here. "She smiles up at a sign that reads '¡Kris!' "Come, follow me. He owes me a favor…" She shoves her hair back and walks in. We follow.

"Kris!!!!" She yells. "Phusa ess da nortra sunuce metron!"

A man appears, his hair white with age and his pale green eyes haunting me. "Aye psyic da."

She nods. "Yelt te poh de Trev o Li. Xyntiote los Li de tonta… ¿Da wup kan?"

What the hell is she talking about? This is worse then Greek. I bet I could understand Greek better then this! It sounds like a bunch of gibberish to me.

He nods and smiles at us. He comes to us and offers his hand. "I am Kris. I think I can help you." His voice is kind, but has a hint of something else.

I smile. "Thank you… de tonta neba… wop ni todun ke." Kris blinks in surprise, and Love begins to laugh, holding her stomach. Oh shit… what did I say?

"I am not that kind of man, boy."

"Trev, do yourself a favor and don't try to speak our langue until you've got a dic-tion-ary first."

I nod. "I'm sorry for whatever I said."

He nods. "I understand." He holds his hand out. "May I take the girl?"

"Can I follow?"

"No."

I sigh. "Go with him, Li. He's going to help you, okay?"

She stares at him with empty eyes, licking her lips hungrily. "Zum tun phonixiw."

He blinks in surprise. "I better work quickly. She's becoming like them rather fast." He grabs her hand and pulls her off.

I look to love. "Am I going to lose her?"

"I hope not." She jumps up onto the counter. "Kris is good, real good."

He came back out, holding an orange jewel. He hands in towards me. "Hold this and say 'Aye pryntc dis seal da pio que notra.'"

I take the jewel. "Will this help Li?"

"Yes."

"Aye pryntc dis seal da pio que notra." I gasp. Something in me stirs and I grasp the jewel tightly. A voilet mist jumps from inside of me and stands next to Kriss. She grins playfully, blue eyes sparkling. "Li?"

She laughs and turns. Her hair waves. It even smells like her. She walks away and through the door.

Kris smiles. "Seems like a nice girl."

I nod. "She is…"

Suddenly there's a scream. Li's scream. I step towards it, but Kris holds me back. "Don't interrupt. This is needed."

"Get away from me! No!!! Stay away! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" I hear something crash and then nothing.

"Now, you may go." Kris says letting me go.

Li walks out, pushing her hair back. "What the hell happened to me?"

I move to her quickly and wrap my arms around her. "Are you okay, Li?"

She pushes me off. This is the Li I know. "I'm fine you stupid excuse for a boy." She wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me softly. "Thank you." She closes her eyes and lays her head on my shoulder.

I smile and stroke her hair. "Anything for you."

Star, Duke and Nikki comes in, Star and Nikki holding hands. Something's up.

Star jumps off the table and stands. "Something wrong, Star?"

"No, Chief. Nothing."

Duke wraps his arms around Love. "We got there and I realized, I don't want to go back. Over the time we've been here you've been flirting with me, and I've fallen for you and your flirting. I want to stay right here with you."

She blinks, her warrior looks vanishing completely. She wraps her arms around him. "Duke… I… You have to go back. Won't your family miss you?"

He shrugs. "Sure, but if I leave I'll regret it forever."

Nikki nods. "And I want to start a relationship with Star. See how far I can take it." She grins.

"You didn't get the ship?" I say, mad and annoyed.

Li wraps an arm around my waist. "Trev… it is nice here." She smiles up at me. "We could start a family… learn the langue maybe… it could be a wonderful life."

I sigh. "Great… you all want to stay? Are you sure?" Everyone nods. I shrug. "Home sweet home then."

I have a feeling that this is just the start of our adventures here. Will I record the rest of them? No, probably not, but they will happen. Nikki, Duke and I have always found them, and the adventures here will be very different then the ones from Earth.

The end

Tai sighs, not satisfied with his rushed ending, but worried that he was losing his Sam. He snaps the laptop closed and runs inside. He looks around quickly, sets the laptop down and runs back out.

He sees Ant practicing on his skateboard. "Yo, Rollerboy, where's my Sammi at?"

He never misses a beat as he does a spin and says "She's at cheerleading practice. I think her new boyfriend is on the soccer team, that's why she became a cheerleader. To see him more."

"What?!" He says as he starts running down the street. He hadn't done soccer try-outs this season. He'd become so engrossed with writing he hadn't remembered to.

Finally he reached the field, where he saw Sam wearing a cheerleading uniform, looking completely bored, sitting and watching everyone else. Sin, of course, was telling everyone else what to do. She did a jump, followed by a cartwheel. Tai went to the inside fence to watch quietly.

Sam stood and tossed her ponytail back. She jumped and followed it up with a cartwheel, which she ended by falling right after she stood. She threw the pom-poms and stood. "I quit! Only one person is worth this!! He's not even on the fucking team!" She turned away from Sin and stared straight at Tai.

Sin was saying something, but Tai couldn't hear it, he didn't want to hear it. Sam didn't hear it, she just stared at Tai. She stepped towards him. He stood straight and went to her. "Sammi, I'm sorry. If I ever start to ignore you again smack me… you deserve better then that." He tells her, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

She nods and wraps her arms around him. "You can count on it."

The End