Chapter dedicated to AnimeGirl329, my partner in crime & co-write on the story called Chaos of the Bey. Go check it out!

Pride. Ego. Selfish. They're all the same.

Safe, In Your Arms

Chapter 14: Article and Medal

She was walking to her first class, English. The hallways were almost empty because she was very early. The rare morning students walking all glanced at her weirdly, she felt really uncomfortable. Forrest Fan was not nearly used of being the subject of gossip.

What's wrong with living in Kai's house? she asked herself. Her arms were on the sides, her right hand clutching on a Japanese novel. She mounted the stairs to the second floor but almost slipped down. But with her instincts, she caught the sides of stairways.

"Watch out, miss!" a man cried in Japanese.

"Sorry…," she mumbled. I must be too early, even the janitor's still here.

The floor had just been swiped early in the morning; it was still wet so Forrest tried to walk carefully. She finally made herself up to the second floor and saw the man who spoke to her. He was a rather old man, his face was wrinkled in many places, a dark ring hung under his eyes but nevertheless he looked happy. He was humming a song under his breath while he mopped the floor, stopping to rinse his mop every half a minute or so. Then he took a handkerchief out of his pockets and cleaned his sweat-covered forehead. He turned around as he heard someone approaching.

"Ah, you," he said, simply.

"Me? Do I know you?" she responded, unsure.

"You shouldn't. I'm just a janitor."

"A nice and humble janitor," Forrest replied, smiling slightly. The old man chuckled.

"Raula (Laura) Fan, right?" he asked.

"Forrest. Please call me Forrest, and you are…?"

"You need not to know my name, miss."

"And why is that?" she inquired.

"You're famous, I'm just a janitor."

"I'm not famous," she said, confused.

"Look for yourself," he said, his arm pointing to a trashcan.

Forrest tried to hide her confused look but she failed as she looked at an item in the trashcan. It was a magazine. A beyblade magazine and in the front page was the picture of a new team named Dreams of Eden and in the lower right corner it said: "Laura Fan, worthy? Page 12." She frowned as she picked up the magazine, not caring if it was dirty or not. She immediately flipped to page 12, at the top were several snapshots of her at school and at the tryouts; she sighed and started reading the article.

The new teammate of the Bladebreakers, the team who had won the world championship, is named Laura Fan is originated from Salt Lake City, United States. She currently resides with the team captain, Kai Hiwatari, and works in a club named TV owned by an ex-Demolition Boys, Tala Valkov. How will she do in the tournament? We had the privileges to ask that question to several of Laura's school mates.

"She's a decent blader. I've met her before in the U.S.. I've once taught her some tricks of mine and she masterered them well. We will definitely meet in the tournament and I'll be glad to battle against my old friend," said a young lady named Satomi Greenfield, part of the new team called The Slayers captained by Pierce Kata.

Speaking of Kata, we have also interviewed him: "I've beaten her. She looks tough and she has some tricks up her sleeve but I'm sure that my team will lead the way to victory. And we'll squash her and the Bladebreakers."

Then we came across the captain of the swim team, which Forrest is also part of. The captain told us that her name was Felicia. "She's not the best swimmer but a good one. I don't take interest in beyblading but I do know that if she's in swimming and beyblading in the same time, she'll fail either one, or most likely both. Nevertheless, she is a strong individual."

"She has an amazing voice. I auditioned her along with many other people. She made the role as lead singer. I never knew that she was into beyblading," said a man nicknamed Chris, who managed the club in which Fan performed in.

According to these statements made by these people, Fan seemed rather like a weak player. But why would the Bladebreakers allow her to join the world-champ team? Her focuses include becoming a translator, performing well in both a swimming relay race and on stage in a club. Will she have enough to take beyblading too?

Forrest stopped reading. Her expression was a mix of horror and amusement.

They wrote an article about me? She always laughed but her eyes glanced over the paper and a name caught her.

A known actress, Jacqueline Fan, is the cousin of the new Bladebreaker, Laura Fan. She told us: "Our family has always been into arts. My mother paints, I act and etc. Forrest, or so called Laura, has been singing since the age of 7. Her mother has always been encouraging her to sing. I'm rather surprised that she turned to beyblading but nevertheless I believe that my cousin will succeed. I wish good luck to her."

Forrest sighed and grinned. Thanks, Jacqueline, she thought as she sighed and threw the magazine back into the garbage bin. She didn't want to keep reading.

"Thanks for telling me that. I never knew," she said to the janitor, who was now at the end of the hallway.

"You're welcome."

She bit on her bottom lip and wondered on her new miseries. I have gossipers against me now. I just love my life, she thought as she leaned against the wall, near room 201. She had no intentions of going in because she knew that Janet wasn't in there yet. To see Miss Akiyo's emotional face was not what she needed at the moment. Her gaze wandered to her watch, 7:47. She sighed as she opened the book that she had in her hands and started reading. It was a dull book but Miss Akiyo had assigned them to read it and write summaries of the chapters. Forrest had to read it several times over because she couldn't catch half of the things that were written. I want to go back after this tournament… after Jacqueline wants me leave. Staying here will only make everything worse, she told herself, rereading over a paragraph three times.

"Forrest? Hey, Forrest, hello?" Ray asked as he waved his hand in front of her face.

"Mhmm, hi Ray," she said, yawning.

"We're paired up to do an oral activity… do you want me to start?" he asked.

"Sure," she mumbled, looking at nothing in particular.

"You know what, drop it," Ray said, sighing. "You're not paying attention."

Forrest didn't hear him, her gaze wandered around the room and unconsciously, it landed on a blue-and-slate haired boy sitting near the window. But she wasn't exactly looking at him, she was staring in to the void, at least, she felt like it. Sentences flashed in her brain. …worthy?

"I am worthy…," she mumbled.

"What?" Ray asked, facing her.

Silence.

"I read the magazine," she admitted as she looked at the Chinese boy in front of her.

"Which one?"

"You mean there's more than one?" she exclaimed, snapping back from her own little world.

"Well yes, if you're speaking of beyblading magazines… and articles about you. I've wondered when you were going to read them. They've been all over the place."

"Then why didn't I know earlier?" she asked, slightly angry.

"Because Kai doesn't subscribe to any of them and neither do we. We've all agreed to stay away from interviewers and magazines and such. Gossip doesn't do good with us," he replied, sighing.

"This sucks."

"What sucks?"

"To be known. To want to do something with one's life and others trying to screw up every one of your attempts," she spat coldly as she instinctively gave a sharp look to Kai. The Russian boy turned around and heard her.

So she was searching for fame. I was right, he thought as he looked over the piece of paper and his partner, Tyson. They're all the same.

"Vous avez fini votre activite? (Did you finish your activity?)" Mr. LeBoeuf asked with a low voice. Several people nodded and others shook their heads. "Deux minutes." (Two minutes.)

Forrest sighed and stood up. She felt glances directed towards her as she walked to the front of the room.

"Restroom," she told him in Japanese as she walked away without him telling her anything. She opened the door and closed it behind her with a rather loud slam. The air was cold; it was January 19th, one day before the swim contest. The lawn was covered with a small layer of ice, which was snow first but melted and froze. Forrest almost slipped several times so she gripped the trunks of the trees and made herself to a fat trunk. She recognized that place. She was there, several months ago, scared in a new school with nowhere to go. She collapsed against the trunks and slid down to the frozen ground. Several months before, there was no ice there, there was a dirty pile of dried up leaves. She felt her lower part of her legs touch the icy element. She shivered but sat down anyway. It woke her up from her daydream.

In the winter, the school still required the girls to wear skirts. They had long woolen socks that reached their knees for warmth and a jacket with the school badge. Luckily for her, the skirt was heavily knitted and warm.

She looked up at the skies and sighed. It was cloudless and it would have been a perfect day if only she didn't see that article. But I had to, sooner or later, she thought. I can't let my thoughts down. The swim race is tomorrow.

For a month, her thoughts were always concentrated on beyblading and swimming. Her grades dropped and her reputation did too. She received several detentions for being careless, for not doing homework and being late because she often tried to encourage her teammates to practice swimming before school.

The only happy thing that happened was that an old friend of hers, Satomi Greenfield had come to the school several days before. Forrest was delighted even though they only shared English and music together (Satomi was fluent in Japanese).

"Hey there," a voice called, in English. Forrest jerked her head up to see a girl that she's seen around sometimes. "Oh sorry, I spoke in English again. Bad habit of mine."

"Hey, it's okay, I like English better anyway. Don't you have class?" she asked but her voice kind of faded away. I sound rude, she told herself.

"Sorry. I have a free period."

Forrest pocked an eyebrow. "I don't believe that this school gives free second periods."

"Alright, I have physical education and I'm skipping it," the newcomer replied, rolling her eyes.

The girl standing in front of her was about her age with a slender silhouette and a small but delicate smile hung on her face. Her eyes were a color several shades lighter than Forrest's and her hair was a mix of a brilliant brown and red.

"Forrest Fan."

"Namiko Hunter." Forrest noticed that girl had a British accent.

Namiko crouched down beside Forrest on the grass and stared at the ground.

"Your skirt's all muddy," Namiko said, randomly.

"Mhmm?" Forrest groaned as she looked at her piece of clothing. She let out a grunt and stood up. She tried to clean her skirt. "Oh well."

"At least you didn't say yuck," Namiko chuckled.

"Why would I do that?" Forrest asked.

"It's just for the while that I've been in this school, I've always been around guys and around guys comes the cheerleaders, whom I detest 'cause many are… slores."

"Slores?"

"Cross between slut and whore, but not all of them are."

"Agreed."

"So who do you hang out with?"

She doesn't read beyblade magazines, does she? Well that's good, Forrest thought.

"Mostly guys too and several girls," Forrest replied.

"So what are you doing here?"

"I'm supposed to be going to the bathroom."

Namiko chuckled a light-weighted laughter.

"They'll think that you're stuck there."

"Oh darn," Forrest said sarcastically. "Well I'd better go. See you around sometimes."

"Yeah… I think that I've seen you in English before."

"That's great. See you after lunch then." With that, Forrest left, she zipped down her jacket and kicked off some mud from her shoes as she entered the fully heated hallways of the first floor. She gave a deep sigh and opened the door.

Several pairs of eyes stared at her in amusement. The class was almost finished and she'd been gone for thirty minutes to the bathroom. Forrest didn't bother answering Mr. LeBoeuf's question of "where she was". She just sat back into her chair and was glad to be saved by the bell.

"Welcome to the annual swim contest! This year, the event is relay races in groups of 4's!"

Forrest grinned to herself as she put on her swimming cap, which she had to write a "14" on because her relay team was number 14. Felicia's team was number 6.

"Teams 1 through 10 please step to the pool!" the announcer yelled into a megaphone.

Forrest saw Felicia lead her team with a proud grin to the pool, each one of them wearing a cap with the number 6 on it. They went in order that they were going to swim. A girl with the hot pink swimsuit was to go first, then followed by the silver eyed girl. Third was Shizu, the slowest of the team, and last was Felicia, the fastest, who hoped to catch up with the time that Shizu would lose to her team. The lineup was practically perfect. Forrest sighed.

Ten teams lined up on the edge of the big pool. The first swimmers all dived in one after another.

"You are going to swim to the other edge and back. You must touch the other side or else you'll be disqualified. While the person in front of you is swimming, you may jump into the pool. When that person comes back and touch the edge of this side of pool, you can start swimming right away. Now, on the count of 10," the swimmers were all in their positions. "10, 9, 8, 7," Forrest felt her beat several times between each count even though it wasn't her time to swim yet. "6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1," a loud whistle was heard across room.

Immediately, splashes of water was heard and seen. Ten swimmers were almost head to head at first but then the competition became greater and several lagged behind while others in lead. Forrest noticed the girl with the flashy colored swim suit with the big number 6 on her head; she was in the middle, not too fast or too slow. Forrest bit her bottom lip. Even though Felicia's team was their enemy, she still wanted them to make the top three groups so that she could race with them in the second round.

Who says that you'll make top three? her mind asked her.

Of course we will. We will own them.

Forrest watched the girls come back. Three teams were already on their second swimmers. Then she saw the silver eyed girl with the dark blue swimsuit launch herself speedily into the water, trying to gain back the time that her teammate lost.

They're all definitely quick, Forrest thought as she watched them swim. It was hard to tell who were in lead because all of the swimmers were only about a meter apart from each other. One swimmer in lead would lose their first place in a matter of a second. It was a very close race.

Then the third racers started launching themselves in the water. Forrest watched Felicia's team starting to trail behind. Shizu wasn't exactly slow but the others were just too fast. She watched the poor girl trying to swim like she was being chased by a zombie; Forrest could see that Shizu was having difficulty keeping up. But nevertheless, the girl made back and Felicia kicked off a little bit before Shizu reached the wall. The fastest swimmer launched herself like a rocket into the water. In a matter of mere seconds, she passed two teams and she wasn't slowing down. Forrest was definitely impressed by Felicia's pace. Forrest had never seen the girl swim that fast before. She had underestimated her challenge. Forrest sighed and blew some hair away from her face. She watched the race with anticipation.

"First, team number 6!" the man yelled into the megaphone. "Then number 2… and 9! Congratulations. Let's have a pause of two minutes before the next race starts."

Forrest felt her chest jumping up and down, sideways and diagonally; in other words, she felt disorientated. It was worse than stage fright, and the beyblade tryouts put together.

They came first out of 10 teams… they came first! I'm screwed, we're screwed, Forrest thought.

"Come on, Folest!" Amira exclaimed. "We can be first too."

"Right," Forrest replied, gaining a little confidence. "Look. I think that they're still pretty tired so you guys swim fast, but not too fast or else you'll be too tired in the second round and if we don't win the second round, the first round doesn't even count, all right?" They nodded. "Let's kick arse." Forrest grinned.

"Teams 10 through 20!"

Forrest almost flinched but she breathed slowly and marched to the pool. The scent of chlorine filled her nose. She bit her bottom lip. Gloria was first to go because she was the slowest. Forrest saw the girl sigh as she jumped into the pool.

"Come on, Gloria. We have faith in you," Forrest told her as she grinned. Gloria simply nodded in reply and smiled back.

"Now, the same rules apply! So on the count of 10…," the announcer said. "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, go!" Once again, a whistle was heard through the big stadium. Forrest was fidgeting and she closed her eyes, scared to watch her teammate swim.

"You're losing faith in her," Amira said. "Don't close your eyes. Cheer for her."

She's right, Forrest thought. I was the one who told her to have faith. Forrest opened the eyes. Gloria was behind but not last. Forrest wasn't completely relieved but she was less nervous.

"Besides, if we don't make top 3, it's not like we're going to die," Izuki piped in.

"Yeah. You guys are right… thanks," she said as she looked at her teammate in the water. Gloria was making herself back so Amira jumped in the water.

"Good luck," Forrest and Izuki told her at the same time. Amira winked back.

"I'll do my best."

Forrest knew that Amira was a fast and capable swimmer and with effort, Amira was probably faster than her.

"Don't overwhelm yourself, there's still round 2," Forrest added. Amira just nodded back as she positioned herself.

At the same moment that Gloria touched the wall, Amira launched into the water like a dolphin.

"You did great!" Izuki told Gloria as the girl got out of the water.

"Yes, you did," Forrest said, smiling sincerely. Gloria just smiled proudly and grabbed her towel from the side of the pool.

Izuki took the time to jump in the pool; Amira was more than half-way back. The girl put on her goggles swiftly and placed herself in position. As Amira was a quart of a meter away from the wall, Izuki kicked off. Forrest watched her teammate go quickly in the water. Their team was currently 4th place.

"How did I do?" Amira asked as she pulled on the edge of the pool and got out.

"Great, you passed four teams!" Forrest said, grinning.

"Well, you better jump in the pool now. We need you to win, start warming up early," Amira recommended.

Forrest did. She felt the warm water around her and she sighed. Izuki just touched the wall on the other side. Forrest breathed slowly and closed her eyes. For a while, it looked like she was meditating. Then, she opened her eyes. Izuki was half-way back. She bit her bottom lip and readjusted her goggles. She positioned herself and saw Izuki approach her inch by inch, like in slow motion. She wasn't sure if Izuki had touched the wall before she launched off but she was sure that the judges could not see.

The pressure pressed against her whole body but her legs kicked the water rapidly and she only drew breath every forty seconds or so, trying to save time.

Breathe faster, come on, she told herself. She took a fast glance around her; she was about 5th because Izuki had been passed by several people. Forrest managed to pass two people when she arrived on the other side of the wall.

I can't pass 3 more, can I? she told herself. I have to.

From the point of view of others, Forrest's team stood a slight chance of winning because the last group of swimmers was all very fast. But she kicked hard and swam like a shark was chasing her; it was easy for her to picture a shark behind her because of all the scary movies that she saw involving them. She felt her heart beat faster as she passed a person. She was head to head with another swimmer. They were going to tie third.

I'm not going to tie with anyone! Her head screamed.

So she kicked with a mighty force and did not breathe for one minute straight. When her fingers grasped the edge of the pool, she wasn't sure in what place they came in.

"Team number 11 is first! And then teams 14 and 20 tied in second!"

Forrest sighed in relief. She was tired but not exhausted. She still had lots of energy left for the second round—which, luckily for her, was also the last round.

"We will have a fifteen minutes break."

Forrest got out of the pool and her teammates congratulated her.

"Good job!"

"Thanks. It's gonna be hard next round," Forrest said.

"Duh," Gloria replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Don't worry. Even if we don't make first. We're still top six in the region! And we live in a big one," Amira said.

Izuki didn't say anything; she just hugged Forrest quickly and gestured for them to go in the resting area. They sat on the benches. There weren't many spectators; there were only the coaches and some parents. Since it was a Friday and they had school, they were no students other than the ones in the contest.

"Forrest!" Felicia called in English. For the first time, Forrest noticed that Felicia actually had a very good English accent.

"Hey," she replied.

"Up for the challenge?"

"Of course," Forrest grinned. Felicia nodded curtly. "Just relax yourselves," she told her teammates in Japanese as she turned around.

"Sure, boss," Amira replied, giggling. Forrest chuckled.

Felicia and Kai… apart. But she seems happy about it now, I wonder…

Those fifteen minutes passed so fast that when a whistle blew, Forrest jumped in surprise.

"Teams 2, 6, 9 11, 14 and 20 please make yourselves to the pool for the final round!"

Forrest once again felt her heart beat out of control. They all walked back to the pool and one by one, the first swimmers all jumped back into the pool.

"Same rules apply here, and we don't want to see cheating! Alright, then. To the count of 10… 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1!"

It was like a stampede, only in the water. They were all very competitive. Gloria was swimming as fast as she could, putting all her energy and concentration to her arms, legs and breathing.

"Team number 2 currently in lead!"

Gloria was fifth while the girl with the hot pink swimsuit was fourth.

"Team 11 in lead!"

Several splashes of water were heard, many swimmers began to jump in the water. Gloria and the other girl were tied forth when they finished their round. Amira and the silver eyed girl both kicked off at the same time.

"Shizu, jump in, now," Felicia said, rather coolly. The girl just nodded and obeyed.

"You can jump in later, Izuki, it doesn't matter, and good job Gloria," Forrest told her teammates, trying to keep the spirit up. "Amira will do great." They all grinned.

Amira was swimming faster than in the first round, her tactics weren't the best she nevertheless she was very fast. In fact, she passed one or two people along the way. She was pretty sure that she was about tied to second with the other swimmer from her school. But almost at the end, she was tired so her strokes became slower. She landed third. Izuki launched herself into the water.

"I looove you!" Forrest exclaimed as she hugged her teammate. "You passed two people. This is great. This leaves Izuki and I more time."

"I know I'm great," Amira replied as she winked and went to grab her towel.

"Well, it's us now," Forrest said as she turned her head to Felicia.

"Sure," the blue haired girl replied as she jumped in the water. Forrest followed the girl's lead and jumped in too.

Shizu and Izuki were both on their way back by then. The tension was in the air.

"Team 20 is in lead and it seems that team 6 is last!"

They're last… but still Felicia is probably the fastest swimmer in this whole stadium and Izuki is tied fourth, she thought, panicking. Izuki was approaching quickly so Forrest steadied herself. She saw the girl coming closer… and closer and finally she kicked the wall and began swimming quickly. She wished that she had fins instead and that she had stronger legs. She swam quickly and passed one swimmer. She gave several hard kicks and breathed less as she passed another swimmer. It was becoming harder to even not drown in that pool. The pressure was so high and everyone was swimming like there was no tomorrow, each one of them had strong legs and arms and they all had great techniques. It grew almost impossible to pass the third person but as Forrest saw a girl come head in head with her, she stole a quick glance. It was Felicia.

I am not going to lose to her… she thought. They were already on their ways back, rushing and feeling the pressure against their bodies. Felicia was very quick; she was practically gliding through the water like sliding on ice. Forrest sighed to herself as she tried harder to swim. She was out of breath but she didn't want to breathe, it would slow her down. She took a quick peak out of the water and took in a small amount of air. She continued swimming. The two were almost equal; Felicia was half a meter of Forrest. And both of them swam past the others. Stop looking… close your eyes, she told herself and she did. She felt more relaxed that way so she moved her exhausted legs faster. Before she knew it, her fingers touched the wall and she resurfaced. Felicia resurfaced too. Who was first?

"Good job, Forrest!" her teammates exclaimed as they made themselves to the pool.

Forrest looked back and saw that other teams arrived too.

"And the winners are… team 6, 14 then 11!"

Forrest felt a disappointed feeling run through her. They came in second. Second, not first. She sighed. She looked at nothing in particular as she got out of the pool but she felt a tap on her shoulder. She whirled around to see a girl with blue locks smiling at her.

"You were good competition," Felicia said, sincerely, offering her hand.

"So were you…," Forrest replied, giving a true smile and shook Felicia's hand. She's a nice girl. I was wrong about Kai's choices. She's just extremely competitive, she thought.

"I heard that you were quitting."

"Unfortunately, yes," she replied with a small hint of sadness.

"You can always join again when the tournament's over. We need someone like you. I haven't been nice to you recently and that's my fault. I had to deal with a new feeling called jealousy." Felicia gave Forrest a significant look. "I've been spoiled for a long time."

The two girls were practically enemies in and out of the pool, what made them friends, Forrest did not know. But they both were glad. Forrest got to see the nice side of Felicia, which she found quite enjoyable. And Felicia was still content about her breakup with Kai; it was the time anyway.

She admitted that Forrest was a decent swimmer and individual.

"Sure, captain," Forrest replied.

"I'm not the captain," Felicia said, chuckling.

"Unofficially. You should be the captain though," Forrest said. Felicia grinned back.

Their coach was literally hopping up and down; he was so delighted.

"Good job! Good job! My teams won first and second, this is definitely my day!" he exclaimed. Forrest laughed at the man to herself. She looked at her teammates and gave a quick grin.

It was time to give them prizes. Each member of Felicia's team got a gold medal while Forrest's team got silver ones. Team 11 got bronze ones and others got certificates.

"Is it real?" Felicia asked, weighing the medal in her hands.

"I wish," Forrest said. "It's just metallic. Not precious metals though." But nevertheless, she wore her medal with pride.

The teams changed, all the anticipation was gone. People were just congratulating each other in the changing rooms. Forrest was one of the first ones to step out of the changing rooms. She stretched herself slightly and sighed. Today's a good day, she told herself as she stepped out of the building and onto the streets. It was cold and she was dressed in her uniforms, she didn't bring any other spare clothes because she still had school in the morning. She looked at her watch, 16:37, it read. Several other people stepped out of the building and Forrest waved to them. They shared a small conversation. As the conversation ended, Forrest spotted a cab, she grinned. Perfect, she thought as she waved her arm in midair. The taxi driver made a rough turn and stopped near Forrest.

"Can you take me to the corner of Bakuten and Idako Street," she told him. The cab driver nodded and gestured her to get in. It took half an hour to get to her home, or what she could call home.

The radio was on and Forrest couldn't understand anything they were talking about other than 'konichiwa' and the time. The taxi stopped abruptly and she felt herself being thrown backwards.

"Right, here's the money," she told him slowly in Japanese as she counted the exactly amount. "Arigatou and goodbye."

Her gaze came upon the place, or so-called mansion. It was big and spacious but it wasn't that big once she began to know the place. But it was nice, definitely nice. Her lips curled into a silly smile as she felt warmer.

"Home sweet home," she said to herself. "This is my home now… at least for now."

She rang the doorbell and waited for a few seconds. A familiar maid appeared and she smiled to her.

"Welcome back, miss."

"No need to call me that! Just call me Forrest!" the girl exclaimed happily. "Where's Kai?"

"Outside with the others."

"The others are here?"

But the question was left unanswered as she dropped her swimming things in the laundry room and made herself outside, to where they usually were, to the beyblading dish.

"Ooyyy! I'm back!" she exclaimed. Several heads turned towards her, not including Kai's.

"Hey," Tyson called. "How did you do?"

Forrest showed them her medal proudly.

"Silver! Not bad, heh?" she grinned childishly. "Felicia's team got first," she added, looking specifically at Kai. But he didn't budge, he just half-shrugged. His eyes were on his beyblade.

"Good job!" Max exclaimed.

"You better train yourself now, Kai's rather grumpy today," Kenny told her softly. She giggled slightly and looked at the Russian boy.

"What should I do, captain?" she asked turning to the boy.

"Nothing," he replied. She looked at him quizzically. Tyson and Max pouted. "You go rest."

"Um… I'm fine you know. I don't need to rest," Forrest replied, insisting. "I wouldn't want to miss a practice."

"You're pale," he stated. "You look tired. But I do expect you to practice tomorrow instead of today."

Tyson's complaining stopped.

"Poor you. Tomorrow's Saturday, he might keep you busy for the whole day with endurance practice," Tyson said.

Forrest gave a laugh. "Oh well. I have nothing to do anyway. Now I'm focused on beyblading."

"Good," Kai said simply.

Forrest smiled quickly before making herself to her room. Suddenly she heard a ring and fondled in her backpack. Her hand grabbed on her cell phone and she opened it.

"Yes?"

"Hey, Forrest! It's Jacqueline."

"What's up?"

"I should be asking that to you!" the young woman exclaimed. A giggle was heard through the line.

"What do you mean?"

"Your swimming competition!"

"Oh, got silver, I'm delighted. And I read your 'interview' with that Beyblading Today."

"Oh," Jacqueline's voice dropped a little. "I wasn't very happy with the result of that article. They made you sound like an incapable person. But I know that my cousin will always succeed."

"Thanks. So um, why are you calling?"

"Well, if you want to know. I'm planning another get-together with the family. Probably the last one 'cause the others can't stay that long. It's on Febuary the fifth, which is about two weeks from today. Is that alright with you? This one is casual because it's sort of sudden. Your cousin Scott has to leave early so I changed the date for it."

"I'm free, I think. I will cancel whatever is in the way. I'll see you there then."

"Sure. I don't recommend bringing anyone but you could, if you want to."

"It's alright. I won't bring anyone."

"Perfect then. I'll send you an email of the place and time tonight. Rest a little, all right?"

"Mhm, okay, thanks."

"You're welcome, bye."

"Bye."

I have family meetings planned. Now the only things that I'll need to go through is the tournament. Then I'll be back to my normal life, back in America, she thought as she collapsed onto her bed with her eyes closed and her cell phone was dropped carelessly beside her. One more month… then it's goodbye Kai. But I'll still remember you. I'll still care about you. You'll just never know.

Author's Notes: That was long... Review!