O-o-okay. I'm working on Xiaolin School again. I actually kind of enjoy it a lot, because it's free and mostly I get to decide what happens, etc. 'Cause it's school, so I make up my characters. At first I thought it was terribly chaotic, but now I think I won't give it up, especially since there are so many readers and people who like it. Besides, I've gone pretty far with it, so why stop here?

Anyways, enjoy your reading of chapter 7, 'Ai Shiteru'. You'll find out what Ai Shiteru means in the chapter.

--

On Friday morning, very nearly every girl was jumping with hysteria. Kimiko was laughing at them with Raimundo, pointing out how immature it was to be jumping around and prancing because you have a date to the dance.

Azva had decided to go with Omi because on Thursday he seemed extremely upset and lonely. At first she had decided to go alone, even though 2 boys (idiots, according to Azva's information) asked her out. But then she saw Omi, who appeared very lonely as he was standing by an oak tree. She had asked what was wrong and he had told her that he didn't have a date, so she told him she'd go with him even if he was a little weird. By that time, Omi practically fainted from happiness and it was a funny experience for her.

"Hey, Azva," Clay said. "Look at Omi!"

Omi was doing complicated martial arts leaps and movements all over the place, making everyone stare at the strange acrobatics.

Then the door flew open and everyone retreated to silence. "Class, I'm back from my detour," Mr. Young said coldly.

"Blah, blah, blah. Even if he is a good person fighting Chase, he doesn't have to be all big wordish and all." Raimundo exchanged bored glances with Clay and Kimiko nodded in agreement.

"Now, may I start the morning with something different? As you all know, of course, today is the Friday of the first school dance. There will be five dances positioned throughout the year. I have been assured that everyone in this class is going. Now, do any of you have questions about this event?" Mr. Young paused, waiting.

Azva raised her hand. "Um, so what kind of music are we talking about? You should get some good teen music from popular bands."

"Oh, that," Mr. Young said dismissively. "It's rock and pop, if you need to know."

"Yes!" Kimiko said, making an excited hand gesture. She nodded, smiling, to Raimundo and he returned the look. Omi, however, looked confused. "We are listening to popping rocks? What a most horrible sound in my ears."

"It's okay, little fella, it'll be all right." Clay slapped Omi's back reassuringly.

They had a slightly more fun morning. They did spelling practice, which was always tedious and boring, but the good thing was that they got candy 'for the weekend' as Mr. Young had said. Every time someone spelled a word right, they got a candy from Mr. Young's huge bucket. Eventually, everyone had hordes of candy and were all smiling.

They headed out towards lunch after receiving bags to put their candies in.

"What is this strange substance?" Omi asked, curious. He poked the candy suspiciously, and then said, "Will this poison me?"

"Oh, don't be a retard," Keith stepped out and said. "It's candy, for God's sake."

"Yes, but still… what is candy?" Omi asked, not noticing the insult Keith had just said to him. Kimiko, on the other hand, raised a threatening hand and glared at him for a while, fuming that he would insult her friend.

"Oh, Kim, don't give me that look," Keith said, smiling.

"Don't call me Kim!" Kimiko yelled, outraged.

"Why can't I call you 'Kim'? I've heard your boyfriend call you that every day and you don't seem to get mad at threaten to hurt him, now do you, Kim?" Keith said with mock derisiveness.

"Well, that's 'cause he's my friend. Only friends get to call me Kim, and you're definitely not my friend, you big loser," Kimiko said angrily. "So lay off and shut up."

"I love a girl with flare," Keith said, admiring Kimiko's temper.

"I hate a guy who's a jerk," Kimiko retorted, stomping away quickly.

At lunch time the usual bumble became deafening. Many people were talking about the dance, shouting and squealing. Usually, people sat around and talked, but the day of the dance was very different. People who didn't have dates yet were blushing and chatting, wandering around, asking people out.

Kimiko decided to sit at an all-girl table with her many friends. From the first day, Kimiko had been popular because of her outgoing personality. There were seven girls at the table, all of which were talking about the special event that night.

"Hey, Kim!" Azva welcomed her. She offered a seat to Kimiko, and Kimiko next to her, between Azva and another girl named Kira.

"This cafeteria food really sucks," Sana complained, looking disgusted. "The food in Texas was a whole lot better."

"Figures. It's school food." Kimiko took a bite of the roast beef and grimaced. The other girls laughed appreciatively. Kimiko smiled.

Soon after, they had to go back to class. They spent the rest of the day on social studies and math, which was more boring than usual. The hours seemed so much longer when you were waiting for something important to happen.

--

Kimiko looked at her watch. The school dance started at exactly 7:30, and it was already 6:52. She hurried to the bathroom to take a nice, 10-minute shower. She felt fresh after she got her clothes on- she had chosen them carefully. She was going to wear a white tank top with a blue khaki skirt. She also decided to tie her hair in one ponytail instead of her usual two, and dyed it hot pink for effect. After that, she applied some finishing touches (light blue eyeshadow, lip gloss) and hurried to look at her watch again. It was already 7:21! If she didn't hurry to school, she would be late for the dance.

She ran as fast as she could, her feet covering space like a wildfire. She ran to the doors and heard a blast of music from Green Day. The dance had just begun.

She scoured the area for Raimundo. She wondered what he would be wearing and what he'd look like. She hoped that he wouldn't wear a suit; men wore suits and it seemed too formal. But Rai didn't strike her as that type of person anyways.

Instead of just standing and waiting for Rai to show up, she ran over to Sana and Clay, who were dancing to the music together. "Hey, Sana! Hi Clay!"

"Oh, hi Kim!" Sana said, looking flushed. She had been holding hands with Clay, but at the sight of Kimiko she hastily let go. "So how're you doin', Kim? I love this song, it's so well-sung."

"Yeah, me too," Kimiko said. "I'm still waiting for Rai, though, he has a tendency to be a little late. But that's no problem, I'll just dance for a while with you guys. Is that okay with you, Clay?"

"Oh, sure," Clay said, barely concealing the brightness on his face.

Suddenly, the doors flew open with a sickening bang. "Yo, dudes, watch the Keith do da moves, everyone!" Keith presented himself.

"Oh, my God," Kimiko said, cursing under her breath. What had Keith done with his ugly self this time?

Keith was wearing 2 earrings on one ear. He had small, semi-circle sunglasses and had a smug grin on his face. He looked to have just recently pierced his nose, as there was a small silver dot on it. He was wearing a leather jacket with extremely baggy jeans and shoes that looked as if it were bloody. His black hair had been dyed red and blue, and looked very poorly done. He was even uglier than ever, and he looked more like the poser he was than ever.

But in his arms was a blonde girl with faded blue eyes that had exactly the same costume as him, if not even more formidable. Tara Rarris smiled smugly, looking quite pleased with herself. She had pierced both her ears and had two enormous hoops sticking out of both, so large that Kimiko could have stuck both her hands through one of them. She was wearing a black leather jacket with a dark violet mini-skirt and red and black boots. Her blonde hair was also highlighted a sickly green color, and it didn't look right at all.

"Wow." Azva had just come in with a blonde boy that Kimiko recognized as Joe Kirst, who was all right in her opinion, although not the best choice for a date. Azva seemed oblivious to this and smiled demurely.

Jack was also floating in, smiling proudly. He had brought for his date… a robot girl. Kimiko couldn't help but laugh at Jack's pathetic desperation. This time he was actually going out with an android!

After 5 minutes, Kimiko felt lonely. Where was Raimundo? Why was he taking so long?

Suddenly, she saw someone appear at the door. Her heart's beating quickened by a thousand paces. "R-Rai?"

Raimundo smiled smugly. He had put his spiky hair up even further, although it looked very nice with his air. He was wearing his usual casual outfit, although it looked so much cleaner. He had gotten new sneakers, and to Kimiko it looked very cool. Raimundo walked out to Kimiko and reached for her hand. "Let's dance," he declared.

Kimiko blushed deeply. Oh, Rai, she thought, you're so hopelessly sweet.

Their first song they danced to was very slow and romantic. Raimundo and Kimiko immediately got ahold of it and were the best dancers in the entire group. Mr. Young was watching everyone. He was going to stop any trouble that could be caused, and at the end would declare then 'Best Dancers' award winners, and he smiled at Kimiko and Raimundo, who were dancing away.

Kimiko enjoyed herself a lot during the dancing, and loved nearly all the songs. Raimundo seemed to be having a good time too, and they were doing great. Dancing was very fun for both of them.

Kimiko gave a glance at Sana and Clay, who were smiling at each other. She was happy for her two good friends, and also for Azva and Omi and her other friends. Raimundo laughed at Jack with her, and she realized that she felt great because of him.

During the last song, Kimiko's favorite song, she went wild with Raimundo. Every person was looking at them because of their great dancing. Kimiko felt a tinge of pleasure that Keith looked as if he were going to throw up.

After the last song was over, both Kimiko and Raimundo felt great and in high spirits. Before their parents could arrive, Kimiko whispered, "Ai shiteru."

"What's that mean?" Raimundo asked, smiling. "It's in Japanese, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Kimiko said. "How'd you guess?"

"Because you are Japanese. Of course I know you," Raimundo said, hugging her tightly.

"It means 'I love you'," Kimiko said, hugging him back.

"Ai shiteru," Raimundo said, shrugging. Then he gave Kimiko a short kiss, almost in a questioning way. Kimiko gave him a bolder one, making it last long in answer. They smiled at each other, holding one another's gaze, and walked hand in hand in the moonlit night, waiting for their parents to come for them.

--

Yay, I finally did it! It took a while for me to get to this part, but oh well. I hope you guys like it!