Chapter 7

"Ugh...Dammit, stupid alarm..."

Jerry was unpleasantly jarred from his dream by his obnoxious alarm. Gazing at it with
bleary eyes, he muttered, "6:30?! WHY the heck did I set it this early? Oh yeah, training..."
Yawning, he flopped back on his side. "Mmm...give it...another ten minutes," he murmured
sleepily, and promptly began to snore.

Aelis in the meantime had been up since 5:30. Humming to herself as she brushed her long
light brown hair, she raised an eyebrow at the sudden swear word in the room across from her.
"Huh, it's Jerry. Why am I not surprised?" she sighed, reaching for a hair tie. "Really, just
what does Reena see in him?" she mused as she mentally counted off his various faults. "Rude,
annoying, loud, horrible hair, annoying, stupid, thinks he's smart, annoying..." After about
five more minutes, she studied her reflection in the mirror. "There!" she said, satisfied.
Though she hardly used any makeup, unlike her sister, she was still concerned with her looks.
Aelis Merquise certainly wasn't a ugly girl; on the contrary, she was quite pretty. Tall and
slim with long brown hair and shining blue eyes, the taciturn girl could turn many heads;
however, she thought spending too much time on looks was frivolous, and was constantly
lecturing Reena on how impractical she was.

"Just like how she pesters me on being too quiet," she smiled, and left the room. Once
in the hall, she stopped and smiled faintly when she heard the sound of snoring. "He's so
predictable," she chuckled, and continued down the hall to knock on her cousin's door.

"Riko? You up?"

*Yawn* "Aelis?"

"Of course. Can I come in?"

*SHUFFLE SHUFFLE...CRASH!* "OW!"

Outside, Aelis winced. "You okay in there?"

"Right right...sure, come in (stupid chair!)."

Aelis smiled at the mental picture that popped in her head, and let herself in.

Mariko Yuy was fully dressed, but judging from her tangled hair, she had gotten out of bed,
got dressed...then fell back asleep. Right now, she was shifting her weight from her right to
her left, wincing and glaring at a chair in a style very much like her father's. Aelis
laughed. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead! We had planned to eat breakfast early today, remember?"

"Of course I remember! I just...got sidetracked..."

"I'll say! Just when did you go to sleep last night, young lady?" she said with
mock seriousness. Riko wrinkled her nose. "You are FOUR years older than me. Don't you
'young lady' me now!" but then she smiled. "I went to sleep at around three..."

"Oh shame on you."

"Hey, I couldn't help it! I guess, seeing the gundams..." and she trailed off.

Aelis nodded solemnly, understanding. Out of all the pilots, Heero and Relena were the only
one who didn't have children selected to pilot mobile suits, and it was good that they
didn't. Riko was much too kind hearted, and besides that, detested war vehemently like her
mother. Also, Relena Peacecraft Darlian Yuy had taken special precautions to make sure that her
daughter grew up with as little exposure to weapons and fighting as possible. The end result was
Mariko Yuy: a nineteen year old diplomat and pacifist, who probably didn't know one end of a gun
from the other. No, Aelis thought, I take that back. There was no way Heero would have his
daughter be that isolated, and Aelis smiled at the thought. There was a good chance that Riko
knew much more about her weapons than her mother knew.

But regardless, Riko still was very unaccustomed to war and weapons. Aelis could understand
how seeing the gundams and knowing that they would be used would affect her.

"So what time did you get up?" Riko asked, trying to change the subject.

"Er...5:30."

Riko sighed. "Some people..." she muttered to herself.

"Hey!"

"Sorry sorry," she grinned, and the two continued on to breakfast.

thirty minutes later...

"Ready for a really awesome day?" Thomas grinned as he asked the rest of the group
enthusiastically. Thomas, Eva, Giselle, Rayan, Clare, Wuten, Wuli, Reena, and Geoffry had come
in about ten minutes after Riko and Aelis had entered the cafeteria, and so the two had waited
for the rest to finish breakfast. Geoffry muttered something incomprehensible under his
breath as he munched on an apple. "What's that?" Thomas asked cheerfully.

"You...probably don't want to know," Clare muttered. She had been sitting next to
Geoffry and had barely managed to discern the words, "Immature freak."

Eva frowned at her cereal. "Will you and Jerry be okay?" she asked worridly, fixing her
brother in her gaze with her two big blue eyes.

"Sure sure," Thomas said airily, patting his little sister on the head. "But," he
said gleefully. "Geoffry had better watch out, 'cause today is the day that I show him who's
the better of the two us! I'll show you exactly who the 'immature freak' is!"

"You heard?" Clare asked, surprised. Thomas smiled smugly. "When you've known Geoffry
long enough, you'll know how limited his vocabulary really is-Hey!"

During Thomas' speech, Geoffry had been carefully finishing his apple, trying to figure out
exactly how to fling the core at his annoying friend. Thomas was unable to duck the thrown
projectile, and it hit him squarely in the head. Now it was Geoffry's turn to smile. "My
friend, with reflexes like that, you won't last three seconds against me."

Eva giggled at the antics of the two older boys, and went back to her cereal. Over her head,
the two boys exchanged glances. "Thanks," Thomas mouthed to his friend. Geoffry nodded,
understanding. Both were fully aware of the fact that they may not survive the war, and they
hadn't wanted Eva to think too much about it.

After some more eating, Wuten looked up. "You know, it's been pleasantly quiet," he mused,
then he snapped his fingers. "Of course! Where's that annoying rat tailed fool?"

"Probably sleeping," Thomas and Eva said at the same time. Aelis confirmed their
suspicions. "I was...pleasantly...serenaded with his snoring while I was brushing my hair this
morning," she said placidly. "Last I checked, he was still doing the same, the idiot."

"He's not an idiot!" Reena said plaintively. Aelis and Wuten rolled their eyes.
"Sure sure, Sis, whatever you say," Aelis muttered, not in the mood to argue with her sister.

During breakfast, Giselle had been very quiet. Rayan nudged her. "You okay there?"

"Huh?" she said, surprised, looking up. Then she smiled. "Of course I am. I'm going
to get to learn how to pilot a thing I have no idea how it works, and then I'm going to
fight with it. I'm just peachy."

"...Peachy?"

"Haha, not my word, eh?" she said ruefully.

Rayan smiled thinly and squeezed her hand under the table. "You'll be fine," he said quietly.
"I have faith in you."

"Arigato..."

Finally, after about ten more minutes, Wuli glanced at his watch. "You know, we've got about
ten minutes till the designated time." Then he grinned. "Anyone else here interested in
waking up Jerry and seeing the expression on his face when he finds out that he has ten
minutes to eat and get dressed?"

There was a stampede for the door.

later...

Jerry franctically dashed around room, trying to pull on his shirt and jump into his pants at
the same time, and swearing under his breath as he listened to his friends all laugh
hysterically outside in the hall. "Enjoy it while you can," he muttered, barely avoiding
crashing into the wall. "Wait till you see what Deathscythe and I can do..."

Lady Une hid a smile when she saw seven of the eight pilots to be standing perfectly in a line,
fighting smiles and trying to hide their sideways glances at the odd one out, Jerry, who was
glaring at them sullenly while trying to cram a bagel into his mouth. "Well, I see that...
MOST...of you have made it here well prepared..."

Jerry muttered something under his breath.

Lady Une continued, trying not to laugh. "Today, we will allow you to test out your gundams.
In fact, we will even allow some GENTLE fighting between you all, for you to be able to learn
how to control your suits. Giselle, I will work with you a little in the beginning
individually, but I'm sure you'll be able to get the hang of it in no time," she said,
smiling. Giselle returned a weak smile.

"Don't worry Lady!" Thomas said cheerfully. "We won't fight...too hard..."

"You'd better not," Duo called over to his son. "Because if you bring back Wing with
one too many scratches, your Jiisan Heero is NOT going to be...happy," he finished
ominously, and smiling with satisfaction when Thomas shot an uneasy glance at the stoic
Heero.

"The same goes with you two," Wufei said wryly to his sons. "Aunt Reiming is not going
to be pleased if you bring back her precious Phoenix with so much as a scratch...the same
goes with me with Altron." Then he winked, an action he usually did not do. "Your aunt will be
much more than not pleased. Take it from me."

"Very funny Wufei."

"As always, eh, Niichan?"

Finishing his bagel, Jerry muttered, "Well, they had all better watch out, because I don't
plan on showing them much mercy out there today," he said with a mock threat.

Duo raised an eyebrow. "Hey now, if Deathscythe needs a new paint job by the end of today, it
comes out of YOUR pocket. Do you have any idea on how much a few hundred gallons of paint
costs?"

"Um..."

"I thought so."

Lady Une sighed. It was impossible to keep the attention of teenagers...or their parents that
still acted like teenagers. "Well then, since you obviously aren't listening-"

"Sorry..."

Lady Une smiled. "-you may all enter your gundams and meet me outside."

"Yay!" Thomas bellowed, just to see how the others would react, and he laughed at
their grimaces. "Thomas...grow up..." Clare muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN: Ahh!!! I like the story...so far, but I have feeling major writer's block is coming up
soon! PLEASE...send me your ideas! Maybe by the time this is posted, I will have hacked my
way through writer's block...or maybe not. Anyway, feel free to send me any and all ideas
anytime during this fic, especially concerning Thomas/Clare and the Neo-Rommefeller (ew...what
a horrible name...any ideas for a different idea?). Email me...please! Thank you and have a
nice day:)

Chapter 8

"AAAHHH!!!"

"NANI?! Really, could you POSSIBLY scream ANY LOUDER?!?!"

"Shut up Wuten."

As Giselle had discovered, piloting a mobile suit was not easy. However, it was worse when
her irate cousin, who was not having much more luck with his own suit, kept on popping up on
her monitor when she least wanted him to. "Come on Giselle. This isn't THAT scary!" he
snapped irritably, annoyed that his cousin had forgotten to turn off the microphone that was
connected to his suit, thereby subjecting his poor ears to her high pitched shriek...Then again,
that wouldn't have happened if he hadn't established the link in the first place to taunt her...

Giselle grit her teeth and tightened her grip on the controllers. "Okay, left, right, left,
right," she muttered to herself, trying to follow Lady Une's directions. She hadn't had much
trouble earlier that day piloting Leos and Tauruses, but Seraphim was a completely different
ball game.

"Left, right-NO! Stupid machine! I told you to go RIGHT, not left!"

"Having fun, Giselle?"

This time, it was Wuli who popped up. Phoenix had been extremely uncooperative earlier, but
now, he was very skilled in piloting it. He flew in next to him frustrated cousin and caught
the suit as it was about to take a course of its own. "They're kinda hard to control, aren't
they?" he said consolingly.

His only response was a string of muttered curses.

Wuli laughed, and said, "Well, keep at it Younger Cousin. Remember, if the computers in the
suit don't think you're doing the right thing, it won't listen to you-"

"No duh!"

"-but eventually, it will learn to 'trust' you," he finished, ignoring his cousin's
sarcastic interjection, and then flew off to join the others. Wuten followed fifteen minutes
later, having finally mastered his own suit, partly because it annoyed him that his younger
brother had controlled his own suit first.

Giselle sighed, and went back to her drills.

Meanwhile...

"WHOO HOO!"

Thomas gleefully tore through the air, his brother hot on his heels in Deathscythe. He
spun around to face him, and the two exchanged blows for a bit. "Wow! This is so awesome!" he
cheered loudly, ecstatic. "Beats second hand Tauruses, eh Jerry!"

"Oh yes," Jerry responded happily. It had been a good day for he and his brother; due
to their experience, they had learned to pilot and control their own suits before anyone else.
Wuli wasn't far behind, with Wuten lagging a little, him not having enough patience to truly
settle down and try to figure out his suit. Giselle, of course, had the most trouble due to
her inexperience; however, she was not much worse than Rayan, Aelis, and Geoffry, who had not
had that much more practice.

The two siblings fought some more, and then Wuten and Wuli flew in. "The two of us against
you two!" Wuten challenged, brandishing his trident. The Maxwell brothers were all too glad to
comply. "Better watch it!" Jerry hooted. "We're gonna pulverize you two!"

"We'll see about that!" and they started to fight.

Aelis and Geoffry had in the meantime been carefully running through their drills: walking,
flying, fighting, etc. Though both had become adept in doing so at least an hour ago, neither
was in the mood to actually fight until they were sure that they were skilled. Finally,
however, as Thomas glanced down at the two, he couldn't take it any more. Putting on a burst
of speed, he rushed towards Geoffry's back.

He was met with a hail of bullets.

"WHAT THE?!?! Hey, watch it!" he yelped as Geoffry fired away. "Geez man, take it
easy!"

His only response was a laugh. "Thought you could sneak up on me, huh?" Geoffry taunted. "I
haven't been practicing all day for nothing! While you went off fighting with almost no
practice, I'VE become skilled in all aspects of piloting...including how to watch my back."

"Yeah yeah," Thomas grumbled, frustrated that his sneak attack hadn't gone so well.
And it certainly didn't help that their relatives were all watching from the command tower. In
fact, at that moment, Heero's face popped up.

"Hn...think I should be worried about my suit's condition?" he asked drolly. Thomas
sighed. "Gomen, Jiisan. I won't bring Wing back riddled with bulle-Hey!"

During his conversation, Geoffry had taken the opportunity to mount a sneak attack of his own,
and with considerably more success than Thomas'. Thomas tore off through the sky, Geoffry at
his heels.

Aelis watched them tear off through the sky, and sighed. "They will never grow up," she
muttered, then smiled to herself. Blasting off into the sky, she went to join the fray with
her brother and friends. "You can't fight alone!" she called to her brother. "Let's show them
what the Merquise siblings can do versus the Maxwells and Changs!" and she started to fight.

Rayan looked amusedly at the battle in the sky, then sighed. Along with Giselle, he had not had
very much success piloting his suit, mainly because he didn't want to. He was no pacifist;
however, he still disliked fighting immensely. As he thought about that, he smiled; that
probably explained why Giselle always won their arguments. Then he turned to Giselle. "How's
it going?" he called.

"Better actually," she said, satisfied that Seraphim was finally obeying her. "Let's
practice a bit on each other," she suggested, and they started a small skirmish of their own.

As the day progressed, all eight became more and more skilled with piloting their suits.
Finally, Lady Une called them in for lunch.

"I'm very pleased with your progress," she said, and smiled at the eight red faced
pilots. "You've all caught on extremely quickly, especially you, Giselle," and the girl
smiled shyly.

"Though some have had to learn the hard way," Eva muttered to herself, winking at her
brother. Thomas glared at her, and she glared right back. "It was so funny watching you
take off like that, when Geoffry started shooting at you."

"Shut up."

"Make me!"

"I will!" and an all out battle would have started if Jerry hadn't, with a bored
expression on his face, grabbed his brother with one hand and his sister with the other. "And
I can take you both anyday," he remarked, "so you two just cool it."

"Awww...you always ruin my fun," Thomas whined.

"It isn't polite to fight with ladies, even if she IS our annoying little sister."

"Hey!"

"Settle down you three. Now, I can take all three of YOU anyday, so can it," Duo
spoke up.

Relena regarded their antics and smiled. "Yet another typical day with the Maxwells," she
murmured. After the last conflict fifteen years ago, her family had been sure to maintain
contact with the Maxwells, and she was glad that they did. Duo's presence had warmed up Heero
a little more, and Hilde had served as Riko's second mother when Relena was away at meetings
or business trips. By now, Relena was accustomed to the eventfullness that came along with a
meal with Duo and his family.

Next to her, Hilde rolled her eyes. "They will never grow up, especially not Duo," she
whispered to Relena. "Eva is doing quite nicely," Relena replied. "As are her brothers. You
worry too much," she teased, well aware of the fact that Hilde usually participated quite
enthusiastically in these brawls.

"You would worry too if Duo was your husband," Hilde responded, purposely raising her
voice so Duo would hear.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" he said, putting on an injured air. Hilde sighed.
"After 23 years of marriage, you haven't figured out yet that that look of your doesn't
work?"

"Oh but it does," he said, grinning devilishly and putting an arm around his wife.
"See?" he said triumphantly, when Hilde subsided, somewhat relunctantly. "Oh, I'll make you
pay later," she muttered, smiling at the thought. "You get sofa bed tonight."

"WHAT?!"

"One more word, and it's the floor," she threatened smilingly. Duo subsided, pretending
to be hurt. He knew he would be able to convince his wife otherwise later that evening.

Meanwhile, Quatre was talking to his son. "So, I see you've finally managed to control
Sandrock?"

"Yeah...finally," he sighed, and glanced at his silent sister. Dorothy followed her
son's gaze and sighed. "I'll have to talk to her later," she mused.

Clare still hadn't completely come to terms with the fact that her brother and best friend were
going to be mobile suit pilots. It hadn't helped when she had seen how, earlier that day,
both were having so much trouble. In fact, after watching for the first few minutes, she
had turned away and pointedly ignored watching them practice for the rest of the day.

"They aren't supposed to fight..." she thought, viciously stabbing her fork into her
salad. "This...is...wrong," she muttered, punctuating each word with a jab.

"Hey, you gonna eat that or kill it?"

Clare looked up and saw two blue eyes peering into her own. "Um...haven't decided," she said
somewhat sheepishly.

Thomas grinned. "Well then, can I have it?"

"Hey! It's MY salad!" she said furiously, her usual temperment coming back.

"Aww...come on! Put it to good use! You obviously aren't going to eat it-"

"Who says I'm not?! In fact, I'm going to start eating it right now!" and she began
to stuff it into her mouth furiously.

Thomas smiled and settled back, satisfied, his goal accomplished: to get Clare to eat. "She
hasn't really eaten anything all day," he thought to himself. "At least, now she'll have
something in her stomach."

At the same time, as she was eating, Clare suddenly realized how she had been manipulated, and
she narrowed her eyes at Thomas, who was smiling smugly then stopped abruptly when he saw
Clare's glare. "Er...what did I do?" he asked nervously.

"Twisted my mind around, that's what!"

"Give it a rest, Sis. You usually do the manipulating," Rayan jumped in.

"Keep out of this!"

"Sheesh! Okay okay! Meow," Rayan muttered under his breath. "Aren't we touchy?"
However, he leaned over to Thomas. "Thanks," he muttered. "There's no way I would have thought
of that."

Thomas grinned. "Of course not! That's why I'm here. My scheming and insidious brain will
compensate for your pure and innocent one."

"Har har."

Giselle, who had been watching this exchange, along with Geoffry, exchanged glances with him.
"Huh, do you think?" she murmured. Geoffry merely smiled. "Oh, of course. I've known for
a while-"

"NANI?!"

Geoffry smiled smugly, and leaned over to whisper to Giselle. "Thomas himself doesn't even
know it yet, but he definitely has feelings for her. I can tell."

"How the heck did you find out? Clare hasn't said anything to me..."

"That's the thing. I don't know if Clare has feelings for him."

"Oh...that's not good..." Giselle frowned, but Geoffry brushed it off. "Don't worry,"
he said airily. "I'm sure, once Thomas finally realizes and admits it to himself that he
likes her, he'll win her over (though it might take awhile for the idea to sink through his
thick skull)."

"You'd be surprised...Clare is not easily 'won over...'"

"Yeah, well, Thomas doesn't give up easily."

Giselle pondered that for awhile, then nodded. "You're probably right. They'd make a cute
couple...provided that we make it out of this alive," she added silently to herself. And
then, as she glanced at Geoffry, she could tell he was thinking the same.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writer's block is STILL here...help! The last thing I want is for this to become some
rambling plot-less fic that puts everyone to sleep...including myself. Comments please! (but
easy on the flames, okay?^_^) arigato!

Chapter 9

"You like her."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"NO, I don't!"

"Yes."

"NO!" Thomas exploded, turning bright red as he glared at his friend. Geoffry was
calmly leaning against the wall, his bland expression not changing even as his indignant
friend scattered saliva in his face. Casually fishing out a kleenex, he wiped his face off and
said, once again, "You like her."

Thomas glared some more, and threw up his hands. "Really, WHAT is up with this?! Aren't we
fighting a war right now? I'd expect YOU, of all people, to know that war is not a place to
be attracted to the opposite sex!"

"Is that right?"

"Yes!"

"Well then, look at Riko's parents, your parents, Giselle's parents, Clare's parents, the
twins' parents, and my parents. Hmm..."

"Shut up," he grumbled, angry at the fact that he knew Geoffry had won that argument,
and at the fact that his face was flaming. "Do I have feelings for her...?" he wondered.

elsewhere

"What is this, 'confront Clare day?!'" Clare said furiously, glaring at Giselle. Much
like Geoffry, Giselle was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, a habit she had
picked up from her father. "I mean, first there's my mom, telling me that Rayan HAS to fight
in this stupid war, and now there's you, saying that I'd be oh so perfect with Thomas! Really!
He's a loud, stupid, immature jerk who manipulates people!"

"In other words, he's just like you."

"Nani?! How the heck are we alike in the least bit?"

"Well, would you like me to start with the loud part, the stupid part, the immature
part, or the manipulating part?"

"Really Giselle! What's up with this sudden matchmaking spiel?! Neither of your
parents act like this!"

"Well...my mother set up my aunt and uncle, and as for where I get this from, why, I
get it from you!"

"I don't match make!"

"Hey, who was the one who set me up with Rayan?"

"Grr..."

Giselle laughed, and, with exaggerated movements, took out a piece of paper and a pen. "What
are you doing?" Clare asked. Giselle smiled and showed her: on it was: Giselle-1; Clare-0.
Clare turned bright red. "Why you!" she shrieked, and chased a hysterically laughing
Giselle out of her room.

elsewhere...

"Okay, that's it! Out, out, out!" Thomas said furiously, shoving a smirking Geoffry
out of the room. Geoffry laughed. "What, afraid to give in to your feelings?" he taunted.

"ARG!!!" and Thomas chased him out of the room.

in the hallway...

"OW! BAKA, get OFF of me!"

The four teenagers had crashed into each other in the hallway, and were scattered in various
positions in the hallway...unfortunately for Clare and Thomas, that meant on top of each
other, and it didn't help that Giselle and Geoffry, who had regained their balance first,
were laughing so hard tears were coming out of their eyes.

"Just what is-Oh," Riko finished lamely as she stared at the scene in front of her.
She had been working in her room, planning the next press conference, when she had heard a very
loud clunk outside, followed by swearing and laughter. Now she was staring at a very
embarrassed Thomas and Clare, and it didn't help that Clare was the one on bottom. "Er...what
were you two doing, or do I not want to know?"

"NOTHING!" they both shouted at the same time, franctically trying to dislodge
themselves without much success, which caused the other two to laugh even harder.

"What the heck is going on?" Rayan demanded, sticking his head into the hallway, then
staring at his sister and friend. "...Clare?!" he sputtered, then slowly turned to glare at
Thomas. "Thomas...what are you doing to Clare?" he asked in a low voice that clearly implied
that he was about to explode.

"It's not what it looks like! Really!" Thomas pleaded. Rayan may have disliked war,
but that certainly didn't make him a lousy fighter. Though he took after his father more in
the looks department, he had inherited his mother's glare (minus the eyebrows) and, when he
was exceedingly angry, his mother's temper and aggressiveness. Thomas did not even want to
think about what a fight with Rayan would end up like, especially not if his little sister was
involved.

By this time, a small crowd had congregated in the hallway, and all were staring at the two
red faced teenagers on the floor. Duo and Hilde sighed, and turned around. "Thomas...
couldn't you have picked somewhere a little more private?" Duo called over his shoulder
teasingly as they walked away. However, Quatre and Dorothy had a very different reaction.
Quatre was turning bright red, and Dorothy was laughing hysterically. "Clare...I*gasp* didn't
think that*wheeze* you had THAT in you!" she choked out.

"Kaasan...please! It's not what it looks like," Clare pleaded, finally shoving Thomas
off of her and standing up, straightening her clothes.

Thomas also stood up. "Gomen nasai Rayan," he said sheepishly. "It's just...we kinda crashed
into each other in the hallway. You can...ask...them," he finished weakly, quailing under
Rayan's glare.

Giselle, having finally regained her composure, went and stood next to Rayan. "He's telling the
truth," she said, "though I have a feeling that he were wishing he could have run into Clare
under different circumstances..."

"Giselle!" Thomas said furiously, turning even redder if that were possible, and
turned back to Rayan. "Really, I'm really really really really REALLY-"

"I get the point."

Cringing, Thomas studied the blond half-arab in front of him, and breathed an audible sigh of
relief when he saw the laughter in his eyes.

Rayan, seeing that Thomas had finally figured out that he had been bluffing, also started to
laugh. "Hahahahaha! You fell for it!" he said gleefully. Thomas stared, aghast. "What...
the..." he sputtered.

Clare did more than glare. Stomping furiously over to her brother, she smacked him hard on
the head. "You idiot!" she howled. "How could you?!"

"How could I lead you on, how could I lead him on, or how could I possibly lead on your
precious Thomas in front of you and embarrass you in the process?" he teased, putting an
arm around Giselle.

"Precious?!" she choked, but Rayan and Giselle had already turned around and were
walking down the hall, still laughing. "Great timing, Geoffry!" Giselle called over her
shoulder. "Let's pull that again sometime!"

Thomas stared at his friend. "Don't tell me...you two did that on purpose..."

Geoffry laughed at his friend's dumbstruck expression. "No, don't worry, we didn't, though it
worked out very now, ne?" then quickly ran off as Thomas furiously chased him down the hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writer's block is still here...help please! =P