You're the beast. But I'm not the beauty.

Safe, In Your Arms

Chapter 8: Felicia and Aurora

"I didn't do homework!" she suddenly exclaimed as she went to her friends. Her black-blue hair was messy because she just changed from her performing clothes to the outfit that Mariah prepared for her.

"Hey. It's Friday," Ray said chuckling.

Forrest blushed. Right, I thought that it was Tuesday, she thought as she nibbled her straw. She had an apple cider, she was too young to drink alcohol and she was sure that the others were too but only God knew what they were drinking.

"Great job, you know," Ray said, looking at her. She grinned and nodded.

"I didn't know that Tala had such a nice cousin. He's a prick but she's half angelic," she replied.

To her words, Kai gave a loud 'hn'. Forrest and Ray turned their heads.

"What? Don't tell me that you dated her too," Forrest teased.

He rolled his eyes and gave a disgusted look.

"Oh my God, you're kidding me. You and her? But she's so much older," Forrest said in disgust.

Kai simply shrugged. She's getting the wrong idea, I never dated her, but who cares, he thought as he avoided looks from Forrest. The green-eyed girl caught a glance of Shayna, who was previously on stage with her, and waved to the girl.

"Guys. Let me introduce you guys to Shayna Tanaka," she said as she gestured to the jet-black haired girl. "Shayna, Ray, and that's Kai."

Shayna shrugged and sat down beside Forrest with her earphones on.

"Don't you think that the music is loud enough in here?" Forrest asked, putting her hands on her ears.

"You wanna listen?" Shayna asked as she placed her earphones on Forrest's ears for a second.

Forrest jumped and looked at Shayna weirdly. The music was blasting.

"I'm surprised that you're not deaf yet."

Shayna smirked and said jockingly, "What did you say? Sorry, didn't hear you." At that Ray grinned.

"Looks like maybe you didn't need Mariah, but still. You look gorgeous, you should show off your skin a little bit more," Ray whispered to Forrest's ears. Forrest laughed slightly and gave an annoyed look to Ray. The rest of the night was passed with some rare conversations between Forrest, Shayna and Ray. Kai, who sat a few feet away from them, just stared half of the time into the crowds, the other half; he looked like he was sleeping. He didn't care. He wished that he was beyblading instead.

Forrest shivered at the cold wind that just blew, feeling goose bumps rising on her skin beneath her thin jacket. She took her keys out of her pockets and opened the door to the Hiwatari house. Kai leaned against the wall with his mouth slightly opened and his eyes closed. Forrest pulled on his arm and dragged him into the room. She was disappointed that James had to park the car and all the maids were asleep.

She groaned and dragged the boy into the room and went for the stairs. He wasn't fat or anything but he was incredibly heavy for her to drag mainly because Kai refused to go in his room. And he mumbled a bunch of rubbish in Japanese that Forrest didn't understand. He was bugging the hell out of her.

"Fe—" he hiccoughed, "—cia."

"Fecia?" Forrest asked. "My name's Forrest, stupid jerk. How could you get yourself drink? You're not even 18 for God's sake!"

"Licia," he mumbled. Forrest could smell the alcohol in his breath and she grimaced in disgust. She hated alcohol, even more than cigarettes.

"Wait. Felicia, your girlfriend?" Forrest asked, frowning as she dragged him up the first step of the staircase.

"You're Feliciaaaa," he said before he clasped his hand on his mouth to hide a hiccough but it was no use. Forrest didn't even look at him; she just wanted to drag that Kai Hiwatari into his room so that she could sleep. Her first date with Ray wasn't like she planned because they couldn't keep a conversation running very well with the stares that some of the girls were sending the Chinese boy. And the music was too loud anyway.

Just then, Forrest felt a hard grip on her shoulder and she spun around.

"God, that hurts, you son of a—!"

She felt so bad as she said those words; she could see a slight change of expression on Kai's face. "Sorry," she mumbled as she dragged him up one more step.

"I want to see Feliiiicia," he groaned, annoyed.

"Alright, alright. I am Felicia just follow me up to your room," Forrest said. This better work. Ew.

Kai stood there with his head tilted and looked at Forrest. She had to admit that he still looked handsome but clueless even though he was drunk and he thought that she was his girlfriend. Kai observed Forrest for a few seconds; her hair was blue like Felicia's, she was slightly shorter than Felicia but because Forrest was standing on a staircase, she looked taller.

"Hey Felicia," Kai said, smirking slightly.

"Er, come on. One more step, lazy butt," she muttered.

She felt a hard grip on her shoulder again so she practically spun around and hissed at him but just as she spun around she tasted alcohol against her lips. She grimaced at first but with the only light that was peering through a window on the first floor, she could see Kai's eyes closed and his silver and blue hair in a messy but … in a mesmerizing way. She was awestruck, paralyzed. She wasn't relaxed either. She felt like this feeling was so natural and desired and that she has waited so long for this. His lips felt softer than Ray's—if it was possible.

She blinked to herself.

No, she thought to herself. It's probably the affect of the alcohol. I get drunk from drinking wine. She had no tolerance against anything.

But his kiss was pushing for her to respond, she didn't. She just stood there, her back against the hard sides of the staircase. She groaned and confusion roamed through her brain. She was frozen at the place, her body felt numb and she could still feel the goose bumps rising on her arms and legs. She felt the bare touch of his fingers tracing over her exposed thigh. This is going way too far.

She broke off and turned her head around, she felt like her head was going to explode with questions but she knew that Kai wasn't going to answer them. After all, he was drunk.

So she just stood there, flushed and breathless.

She hoped for some rescuer and to her delight, he came. James entered the first floor from the back door and she saw his keys glimmering in the dark.

"James! Could you carry Hiwatari to his room? Apparently he drank a bit too much," she said, panting. James walked towards the two and put his hands on Kai's shoulders.

"Leave him to me, Miss Folest. Just go to your room and have a great rest of the night. Don't expect to see Master Kai at breakfast today," he said. Forrest noticed a light hint of humor in his voice. She smiled in the dark and made her way to her room.

That was… stupid, she thought as she collapsed on her bed and fell asleep immediately although the confusion in her head gave her a terrible migraine.

The sun shone lazily through the velvet curtains and Forrest gave a yawn as she heard her alarm clock go off.

"Crap. I forgot to turn it off," she groaned as she smashed the snooze button lazily with her hand. She rubbed her eyes and stretched like a cat. She eyed her clock and turned it off.

6:30.

Forrest looked at her horrible state in the mirror and sighed. She had slept with Mariah's outfit on and the gel that Mariah put in Forrest's hair was almost all gone. Her black-and-blue hair looked messy; most of them were uncurled while some few strands were wavy at the ends. She groaned and shrugged. Then with her instincts, she grabbed her swimming bag and decided to go for a swim. There was no use of sleeping anyway.

She opened the door to the single changing room and a face was in sight five inches from her own. She jumped and took a step back.

"Oh sorry! You scared me," Forrest said, looking at the person.

It was Kai and he looked horrible. His red-brown eyes were bloodshot and there was a dark loop hung below his eyes. But nevertheless, Forrest couldn't help but to let her eyes wander on his naked chest for a second. His only obvious muscles were at the arms, obviously from practicing beyblade launching too much. Otherwise, his abdomen was flat and untonned. She hated to admit it, but she didn't like muscular guys anyway. She rolled her eyes at herself before he noticed anything.

"You swimming?" she asked casually.

He gave half a 'hn', nodded as he made his way to the pool and dived in. He resurfaced and ran his fingers through his wet hair. His two-toned hair wasn't stuck up anymore, it was down and Forrest had to admit that he looked rather weird without the stuck-up hair. She was glad that he didn't gel his hair down normally, he would look like a slate-and-blue haired homosexual hobo.

"Good luck with that hangover," she shot as she closed the door of the changing room behind her.

She opened her bag and took off her outfit. A rustle of cloth could be heard and Forrest stepped into her swimsuit swiftly. She tied her hair in a ponytail but didn't wear a swimming cap. It was annoying to wear it. But she did take her goggles out of her bag and then she stepped out of the changing room. By then, Kai was floating on his back with his eyes closed in the middle of the pool. He looked rather relaxed for once.

She sighed and dropped her bag near the changing room and dived into the deeper end of the outdoor pool. The water was heated, luckily, and Forrest could feel its pressure against her head. She resurfaced and grabbed the edge of the pool. She readjusted her goggles and prepared into her position. Her foot touched the wall of the pool and she grabbed the wall with her left arm. She counted to three mentally and launched into the water. She swam freestyle until she saw Kai approaching, so she gave a kick with her legs and swam past him from underwater.

Kai could feel a force pass him from under so he opened one eye. Forrest, he figured as he went back to floating again. As he was sure that Forrest passed, he flipped around and began to swim in slow breaststrokes to the side of the pool. As he arrived at the side, he noticed that Forrest also came to the shallow end of the pool.

Forrest felt her toes touch the floor and her head popped out of the water. She took a second to catch her breath again and sighed. She leaned against the wall and looked at her feet. She noticed that she still had a bruise on her lower leg from Dranzer from two days before and she laughed at herself.

Well, it's practically gone now, she told herself. I just wish that Starlet would be as strong as Dranzer. But that'll never happen because my passion for beyblade will never beat his.

"What happened…?" Kai started as he groaned. His eyes were still closed and it looked like he was thinking.

"Nothing much. You got yourself drunk. I guess that it happens often to you, heh?" Forrest said, not looking at him.

"No."

The boy gave a casual 'hn' and opened his eyes. He rubbed his forehead and sank into the water. Twenty seconds passed and Forrest was still not looking at him but she felt that something was wrong. As she turned her head to Kai, he disappeared. But there was a dark figure sinking in the pool. She shrieked and launched herself into the water and swam to Kai. She drew and big breath and sank in with him. With effort, Forrest stretched both of her arms and grabbed him forcefully.

Then with one mighty kick, they both floated to the surface

"What do you think that you're doing?" she yelled at him, angry. "You could have just drowned!"

"I wanted to think in quietness away from your voice," he spat between some coughs. "Why do you care!"

"Well if you don't know how to swim, then don't swim, you moron!"

"I don't need you to protect me, just get away from me, you bitch!" he hollered as he got out of the poll swiftly and walked away with fury. "And I do know how to swim!"

"But…," her voice softened as she caught her breath. "But I'll still be here, whether you want my help or not, because I promised you a friendship, Kai, and I'll keep that promise," she mumbled as she closed her eyes and floated on her back. She bit her bottom lip in perplexity.

The sun was now higher in the sky and Forrest could feel its rays shinning on her.

It's getting a bit too warm, she thought as she gave one kick and let the water guide her to the side of the pool. She took her towel, wrapped it around her and went to her room with her bag hanging on her shoulder. A trail of water formed after her but this time she didn't cared. She was so tired. Closing her eyes, she made her way up the stairs; she felt like she was sleepwalking but the feeling of the soft carpet under her feet felt too real to be dreamlike.

"Ah, Miss Forrest. Breakfast is served," James called from the first floor. Forrest gave a nod and opened the wooden doors that led to her room. She strolled to the bathroom and as soon as she felt the cold tiles under her feet, she opened her eyes and gave a slow and deep sigh.

I wonder how I'm going to keep the job if I get so tired after every performance, she asked herself. But it was the first night, there were lots more people and I had to help around.

It was true. The night before, Forrest had to help the bartenders because of the amount of people who came that night. It was quite hectic but she was glad because she had fun. She knew that she had another performance on Monday and there will be a lot less people because it would be on a school and work day. The thing that she loved around weekday performances is that the singers themselves had the choice to choose their own songs rather than singing requests.

She stepped into the shower and let the scent of her shampoo relax her. She conditioned her hair and rinsed it off quickly. Her stomach grumbled so she dried herself roughly and went to breakfast. But as she was on her way to the dinning table, she felt her cell phone vibrate in her Capri's pockets. She picked it up.

"Hey, Ray. What's up?" she said after she looked at the caller ID.

"Forrest… Forrest. Guess what?" he sounded extremely happy. So happy that he was almost out of breath.

"Yes, Ray?"

"She's here! Here! Can you believe it? Aurora…," he said dreamily.

She frowned as she figured that that was the end for Ray and her, but she wasn't surprised either. It was so quick and memorable but she knew that it would happen.

She smiled for him; she liked Ray but not enough to grief over her lost.

"Congrats! I want to meet her now!" Forrest exclaimed happily. From what Ray described, Aurora was almost like a princess out of a fairy tale. Her name, too, was too pretty to be true.

"You got your wish granted!" the Chinese boy said.

Just then, the doorbell rang and Forrest grinned. It must be Ray, she thought/

She was right. The raven haired boy stepped into the mansion along with a very feminine figure. Forrest practically dashed to the entrance door and put a smile on her face.

"So honored to meet you," Forrest beamed as she saw Aurora.

It was true; Ray's girlfriend was practically like a princess. Her hair was a dark shade of honey brown and it sparkled under the sun. Her eyes were a yellow-green that was the color of fresh new grown spring leaves. Her smile was almost priceless, there were two dimples on the right side of her cheek that made her look proud and giddy. Her lips were thin and there was a thin layer of lip-gloss on it. Forrest couldn't see any other hint of make up on her face. Aurora was like a mirage.

The girl smiled kindly and nodded.

"Aurora Lyn," she said with a warm voice.

Forrest noticed that Ray's arm crept around Aurora's waist, making the brown haired girl blush slightly.

"Well, come on in! I don't think that Kai will mind anyway," Forrest said as she stepped out of the way.

The Chinese couple entered the room and a maid closed the heavy doors behind them.

"We're about to have breakfast," Forrest said as she gestured towards the dinning table. "Come on, join us," she said. She couldn't help to feel like a piece of walking meat beside Aurora. The Chinese girl was practically a gift from heaven and she was very graceful, too.

"Oh, I'm sorry. We don't want to interrupt your breakfast. We'll just wait for you here," she said politely with her Chinese accented voice.

"Don't be kidding. Kai won't mind," Forrest said as he looked at the two-toned haired boy. Kai was eating silently and pocked an eyebrow at Forrest as he heard his name.

Forrest took a seat across from Kai, Ray was beside Kai and Aurora was beside Forrest.

"Hiwatari, you either talk or get out of here. Stop playing with your food," Forrest muttered to him as she munched on a piece of buttered toast.

He scowled and got up then to Forrest's surprise; he went to her and grabbed her by the arm.

"What the hell?" she asked as she trotted behind him, wincing at his hard grip.

"They want time alone. They'll end up kissing each other and you don't want to see that," he stated.

Forrest narrowed her eyes and groaned.

"What do you mean I don't want to see that? I don't care if people snog, I've seen lots. At least Ray's not like you," she said harshly.

"… You looked hurt," he said casually as he opened the door to the study room and released her arm. "I need help on French."

Forrest nodded at once and made her way in the room.

"Yes?" she asked as she kicked a chair to the desk.

"Proofread that; it's my part of the project," he said. Forrest was actually quite taken back by that. She had completely forgotten about the project and she hasn't done anything yet.

"Right. So you owe me a Japanese lesson."

Kai gave a groan and nodded. Then he turned his attention to the computer screen as if Forrest wasn't there. The green-eyed girl checked the essay that Kai did on the social life of people from Belgium, he even included a small part of beyblade. Forrest went quickly through the essay because she knew that Oliver could correct it better, after all, he was a native French speaker while she just learned it as a second/third/forth/whatever language. She wasn't that good anyway.

"I rented a movie," he said casually, his attention still on the screen.

"Mhm. Mhm. That's wrong grammar. Yeah, change that to the imperfect tense and that… mmhmm. Wait, what?" she asked, half of her mind on the essay and half of her interested in what Kai just said.

"I rented a movie," he repeated, this time with a colder voice, clearly impatient.

"Oh. Right," and she went back to correct things.

After several minutes, Forrest finished proofreading Kai's three-page long essay and she noticed him glare at her as he saw the red marks on them.

"What? You wanted me to proofread," she said innocently.

He groaned and closed his eyes. Then he leaned back on his chair and yawned. Suddenly he grabbed a videocassette from his desk and walked to the TV. He bent down, which, unfortunately, gave Forrest a perfect view of his ass, and inserted the cassette into the VCR. Forrest strolled over to the couch and sat down. The boy leaned back and collapsed into the leather couch with the remote control in his hand. Bored, his index finger stroked over the keys softly, just like he did last night. But instead of that remote control, it was her thigh. Forrest looked away. Oh God.

The movie started with a slow introduction to Japanese and the narrator spoke slowly and Forrest was grateful for that. Throughout the movie, Forrest learned many things on daily life, useful phrases (even the most... interesting ones) and she often smirked at the corny parts. At the end of the short movie, which lasted half an hour, Kai closed the TV without a word and walked out of the room.

She was relieved at this because she could feel the tensions between them. At least she did. Kai didn't seem to care. Maybe he was used to this stuff.

During the weekend, Forrest got to know Aurora more and they became not-very-good friends. In many situations, Forrest was very different from Aurora. The Chinese girl was very conservative and talked only a lot with Ray so around Forrest, Aurora made as much noise as a fly. Forrest could only hear her saying 'uh huh' several times in a row in agreement so most of the time, their conversations were one-way. Forrest felt like she was talking to herself.

But nevertheless, Aurora had a kind personality and was a very curious girl even though she never showed it. Aurora wasn't the smartest in any subject but if beauty was taught at school, she would be the top student in the whole school. Her smiles and warm voice even earned some less cold glares from Kai. Speaking of him, he didn't really liked Aurora because Aurora and Ray decided to stay at his place for a while, so Forrest was always either alone or with him. It's not that he minded Forrest's company, he didn't mind anyone's company but he felt awkward towards her because he knew that something happened on that Friday night. But he wasn't sure exactly what. For several times that question was in his head and for every time he just shrugged it off. He knew that she wouldn't tell him anyway.

Monday came and Forrest rushed to school again early in the morning because of swim practice—she had practices on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. This time, she was early by five minutes so she had a bit more time to get prepared. She changed in the bathroom and locked her stuff in the locker rooms. Slowly, she made her way to the pool. About three-fourths of the people arrived; the other fourth of the team was in the changing, almost done. Forrest walked to the pool, dropped her towel on the side and jumped straight in. The water felt great against her skin.

"Alright. Warm up lap, any stroke. I want you guys back here under 2 minutes and 30," the coach started as he saw that everyone arrived.

A whistle was blown and Forrest launched herself once again into the water. As she arrived finished her lap, she saw that she arrived 5th. Felicia, Kai's girlfriend with the dark blue hair, was grinning widely and Forrest stared at her from the corner of her eye.

This is going to be a long week, she thought as she relaxed in the warm water, letting her gaze drift to the cloudless autumn sky. A leaf fell from the air and landed near Forrest's arm, she saw it as a bad sign. It was a dead, crumbled leaf.