I'm so glad you liked my last chapter! I've been dying to write the ice cream and the part about Max getting hyper for the longest time. Personally, I loved those parts, but I have to say I liked the part about Max getting hyper the best.
I'm quite surprised that no one mention Shea's phone call in the review! I mean, come on! Don't you wanna know what evil plan she has in store for Zarine? Anyway, that part comes later, but you're going to find out who called her...soon!
Eden: Are you sure you didn't sleepwalk to the computer and reviewed? Lol. It's okay. I did get confuse there, but it's all good.
Cooperstar: Well...the comment about Ray and Zarine. Who knows what one will do for love, right? And about Zarine, she likes Leo, so she doesn't want to think that he's a bad person. She sees him as a good friend after all.
Anime-girl412: I agree...I wasn't going to put the audience there when I first thought of the Pinocchio thing because I didn't think of it, but the crowd makes it more interesting, so I put it there.
India: Are you speaking on behalf of the country, India? Hehe, just kidding. I already have something planned for those two in the library. I'm not going to use your idea because I have something in store for Shea, Leo, Ray and Zarine in later chapters...possibly in the next few chapters.
Sapphire-sword: I dunno about them getting together yet, but when they do, I have this hilarious plan. There are simply too many secrets to keep. Do you know the perfect way to get them together??? Don't suggest Kai eating a candle light dinner with Jewels though, because that's just so...un-Kaiish. Lol.
Now, let's take a look at what Kai and Jewels were doing while the others shopped, shall we? :)
Chapter Twenty-Four - A Pleasant Awakening
Kai and Jewels ran all the way back to Kai's front yard, breathless. They collapsed onto the lawn. "I thought we were going to be stuck there forever," Jewels breathed in relieve.
"When all is lost, run," Kai told her, his voice calm. He was calm on the surface, but beneath it, he was writhing inside with discontent and nervousness. He avoided looking at the red haired girl, because it only made his stomach knot tighter.
"I've always thought that you cared about your pride too much to run away from anything," she commented.
He snorted. "I'm not stupid. I know when I need to stop, unlike Tyson. He believes he can take on anything, I don't." [I don't believe that I can stand looking at you anymore.] he thought. [You're making me someone that I'm not, even though you're not doing anything.]
They were silent for a long while then... "Kai?" Jewels said uncertainly.
Kai grunted to signal that he was listening.
"Why did you kiss me at the mall? And what about that day at the amusement park?" she asked, gazing into his auburn eyes.
He didn't answer her. He didn't even know why! They were on the spur of the moment, and he didn't even realize that he was kissing her. All he remembered was that he was having the time of his life.
He wished she wasn't looking at him so expectantly for an answer. He didn't have one for her. He couldn't even tell her what he felt for her!
Jewels hoped that he wouldn't tell her that he was only fooling around with her. She was ready to admit that she liked kissing him and maybe had feelings for him. After all, if she liked him a year ago, it was possible that she liked him once again. She felt a small spark of hope in her heart. Maybe Kai felt something for her?
'I have no idea what your problem is,' Dranzer told Kai bluntly. 'If you really liked her a year ago, and you had openly admitted to your friends that you did, then why are you so afraid to accept the fact that you like her again?'
'I only admitted it because it was in a game of truth or dare!' he protested. 'Besides, she had changed so much. I barely know her.'
'Stop using that as an excuse!' his bit-beast said sternly. Then his voice softened, 'She's not as different as you think. Carrie taught her how to open up more to other people. It's a good thing. Do you want her to be aloof to everyone that she meets for the rest of her life?'
"Kai, are you going to answer me or what?" Jewels asked crossly, getting impatient.
He just sat there, unable to tell her anything because he was so confused.
She stood up angrily when he didn't answer. "You know what? Just forget it. I don't even know why you kissed me. Or why I kissed you back. Oh, was it because you thought I was convenient, because I was just there, hanging around? Go pick up another girl if you're so desperate. You can pick up some slut on the street anytime you want, but don't waste time on me or waste my time either." She started to walk away when Kai grabbed her wrist in an iron grip. He didn't hurt her, but it was clear that he didn't intend to let her get away.
"Let go," she said coldly, trying to pull her wrist futilely from his grasp.
"Do you honestly think I'm going to sink as low as picking a girl up from the streets?" he demanded, his eyes smoldered with anger.
"Then answer my question, why did you do it?" she questioned.
"I don't know!" he snapped, ran his free hand into his hair.
She asked, "How can you not know why you kissed a girl twice?"
"It's not like you know why you kissed me back either. You could have pushed me away but you didn't," he said, and smirked in triumph when he saw her look away, at loss for a reply.
She jabbed a finger into his chest, but it felt like she was trying to jab a wall. "How do you know that I kissed you back because I think you're a good kisser?"
"Aha, so you are saying that I'm a good kisser?" he questioned, his smirk growing wider.
The violet eyed girl in front of him blushed. "I never said that!" she protested, hoping to cover up the fact that she did thought that he was good at kissing.
"You're lying," he stated simply.
"No, I'm not!" she denied, her blushing deepening every second.
Kai just gazed at her with an amused expression on his face. Finally, even she could not look him in the eye anymore and had to look away.
Jewels cracked under the pressure. "Fine! So what if you are a damn good kisser?"
"I expected you to be impressed. You were the first girl that I had ever laid my lips on," he told her.
"It takes more than that to impress me, Hiwatari," she said haughtily. "Try something else."
He thought about it for a moment, and then he kissed her. This time, he knew exactly what he was doing. Afterwards, he asked, "Are you impressed now?"
"No," she replied. "Don't ever kiss me again without my permission."
"What will impress you then?" he asked exasperatedly. "You're so demanding."
"Wrong, I just have high standards," she retorted. "When you get enough courage to tell me how you really feel about me, then I'll be impressed." She walked off, leaving Kai behind to stare at her back.
"MAXIE!"
The others turned to the speaker and found a certain girl with blue hair and piercing emerald eyes standing in the doorway.
"Mariam!" Zarine cried in surprise. She recovered after a moment and ran to envelop her friend in a hug. "I thought you weren't coming until school is over!"
"Yeah, you certainly surprised us," Hilary said. "But I think Max will be the most surprised of all. He didn't plan on welcoming you by knocking himself out."
"Why did Max knock himself unconscious?" Mariam asked in concern.
"Oh, him, he just got hyper and started crashing into things," Carrie answered, peering curiously at the newcomer.
"Mariam, this is Carrie. And Carrie, this is Mariam," Chief said, introducing the two of them.
"Hi," the red head said brightly.
"Hi," Mariam said coolly, her eyes latched onto Carrie's.
Carrie's eyes could rival hers. They were a shade darker, but just as green as hers were.
Max groaned and touched the lump of his head. "Ow, what happened?" He looked at the wooden swords on him in confusion.
"Max, are you all right?" Mariam asked, rushing to his side.
"Mariam?? Is that really you?" he asked joyfully. "When did you arrive?"
The emerald eyed girl smiled. "Yep, it's me. And I arrived in time to see the swords knock you out."
"Oops!" the blonde said in a happy tone. He wasn't affected by that fact at all. "This is so awesome!" He jumped up like a rack wasn't on him, hugged his girlfriend and gave her a kiss.
"Am I missing something here?" Carrie questioned, puzzled.
"Our dear Max has a girlfriend," Zarine told her.
"Aww...that's so cute!" Carrie exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Then Jewels walked in. "Hey guys!" she said. Spotting Mariam by Max's side, she asked, "Who the hell are you?"
Her twin winced. Whenever Jewels was in a bad mood, she's not too civil to strangers. "Jewels, this is Mariam, Max's girlfriend. Mariam, this is Jewels, my twin sister," Carrie said hurriedly, hoping to patch things up.
"You're her twin?" Mariam asked Jewels, looking from her to Carrie. "But you don't –"
"Yeah, yeah. We don't look alike, we don't sound the same, we aren't the same size," Jewels listed. "Want me to go on?"
"Jewels, what have your boyfriend done now?" Carrie asked, when she spotted Kai in the doorway. She gave him a look that warned him not to say anything.
Tyson snorted, choking on his fifth cup of coke. Zarine shot him a withering look and the desire to laugh diminished immediately.
"What boyfriend?" Jewels said crossly. Her back was turned to Kai so she didn't know that he was there, listening to them.
"Kai!" her sister said. "Hello? Did a practice sword knock you out too?"
"That Hiwatari moron is NOT my boyfriend!" she fumed.
Mariam burst out in laughter. "You're the first person that had ever called him that I'll wager, within his hearing range too.
Jewels looked back and saw Kai standing there, his eyes narrowed. She turned back to Mariam and smiled, "His arrogant attitude certainly does not impress me."
"I bet that kiss did," Tyson remarked, laughing. "You guys were nearly swallowing each other's tongues!"
"Say that again?" Kai and Jewels demanded.
Tyson gulped and tried to hide behind Ray. The black haired boy frowned, "Tyson, you really have to work on your social skills."
Grandpa came in yelling, "INCOMING!" He aimed for Tyson's head, but Tyson dodged. Unfortunately, Ray couldn't get out of the way, and got hit instead.
"You gotta be on guard at all times, dude. Constant vigilance! (Haha, I know that's Moody's line from Harry Potter, but I just wanted to use it here.)," the old man told him.
"Yes, gramps," Ray said.
"Hey, dawg, what are you doing here?" Grandpa asked when he spotted Mariam.
"I decided to come early since I missed Max," Mariam replied.
"So are you homies going to stay here for dinner? You're more than welcome to," he offered.
"But Grandpa! They'll clear out the fridge!" his grandson protested.
"So now food is more important than you than us?" Hilary said, slapping his arm.
"On second thought, no," he said.
Grandpa chuckled. "Are you going to stay?"
"No thanks," Kai said. "Ray, Zarine, are you coming?"
"I am!" Zarine said. Before she ran up to follow Kai, she turned to the others and said, "Bye!"
"Zarine, wait!" Ray called, running after her.
"We should go," Carrie said to Jewels. "Mom is probably expecting us for dinner." That wasn't the real reason that she wanted to go. She didn't want to miss Jason when his phone call comes.
"There's no way I'm staying here to watch him eat!" Hilary said, shuddering at the thought.
"And I think Mariam and I should spend time together tonight," Max told Grandpa, taking Mariam's hand in his.
Kenny also made an excuse about having to catch up his homework and left.
Leo followed the butler to the library, where Zarine was waiting for him to finish their homework together. His eyes went wide as he saw the size of it. It was as large room and the rows of shelves were covered with books.
Zarine was sitting on the ground, making something with beads. Boxes of them surrounded her, and there were beads of every color imaginable in them.
"Hey," she said warmly. "Let me just put the boxes aside then we can start." She began closing the lids of the plastic boxes and stacking them against the wall.
He helped her, but his feet accidentally knocked the last two over. Blue and red beads spilled and rolled everywhere.
"Oh no," Zarine exclaimed, and scrambled after them.
He crawled on the ground, collecting as many of them as he could. Not watching where he was going, his head hit Zarine's, causing her to yelp.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly when she narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll just sit and wait since I'm just a clumsy oaf."
She nodded, but didn't seem angry or annoyed at him.
"So it must be nice living here in this big house," he remarked, looking around the luxurious room.
"Yeah, but it's so big. Only Kai knows it good enough to not get lost in here," she responded.
When she was sure that she hunted down every spilled bead, she suggested, "Let's work on it on the floor."
"Why not the table?" he asked, looking a little disappointed at the squishy chairs.
She grinned, "Because I like sitting on the floor. You can sit in those chairs if you like though."
After two hours, they managed to get everything except for the poster done.
He watched her glue the pictures onto the poster. He had to admit to himself that she was cute and he did like her kind personality. He couldn't help feeling sorry for her. By the time his and Shea's plan was complete, she would be heart broken. Ray would be too, but Leo didn't feel bad or guilty for him.
Then an idea came to him, why wait? He could make his move on Zarine now.
Moving closer to her, he slowly slipped a hand under her shirt and rubbed her back.
"Leo, what are you doing?" Zarine asked, looking anxious.
He whispered in her ear, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." His hand began to move to her stomach, feeling her soft skin. He lowered his head and started kissing her neck.
"No, don't!" she said, trying to push him away, but his other arm encircled her waist tightly, trapping her. "Leo, I'm with Ray! You know that! Now let me go!"
He ignored her command, and continued to kiss her and feel her body. She started to panic, what was he going to do to her? She hoped that Ray would come in and make him stop. Then her heart sank, she had told Ray not to disturb them because she knew that he hated Leo. He wasn't going to come.
Leo felt Zarine trembling and he stopped. She was looking at him wide eyed with fear. Knowing that he had made his move too soon, he let go of her, and sat down onto a chair. "I'm sorry," he said, making his voice sound apologetic. "It's just you know how beautiful you are. I guess I forgot myself. Will you please forgive me?"
Zarine looked into his eyes suspiciously. He seemed sincere, but who knows if he truly was? She nodded, because she was willing to give him another chance. However, she was going to take what Ray had told her into consideration and be more careful around him.
"Friends?" he asked hopefully.
Zarine gave him a small smile and answered, "Friends."
This isn't as exciting as the last one, I know. But I can't make every chapter like that. Next chapter will be about Max and Mariam, if I can get an idea what they can do together! Help anyone?
Poll: Are you...
a girl.
a guy.
Stupid poll, but I'm very curious to see if any guy actually reads this! It's just not a fic I picture a male to be reading. Excuse my sexist POV on this.
