Disclaimer: Yup, don't own. Would love to though D

Part 2: Perfection

With shaking hands Amy pulled out her cell phone. She sat in an empty train compartment. Rush hour was over and everyone was at home, leaving Amy with her choice of seating. So she sat in a corner not too close or too far from the light, hunched over. She ran her thumb over the cover, hooking it under the cover. Hesitantly she flipped it open. She dialed Liz's number.

"Hey Amy, when are you coming back for the cat?" Liz said loudly. Amy heard her mumbling something about Luca being annoying. She smiled weakly.

"Liz," Amy whispered, her voice seemed to have left her too.

"Amy? Is something wrong? Where are you?" Liz's voice started to rise in concern. Amy could see the worry of her friend in her mind's eye.

"Where are you," Midfielder asked. She started to feel uncomfortable in her seat.

"At the gym. Where are you?" Liz asked again. She was worried. Amy never sounded this down before. Even Luca could sense that something was amiss.

"I'll be there in about ten minutes."

"Are you sure? Want me to come pick you up?"

"No, its too much trouble."

"If you say so…"

"Yea, later."

"Amy,"

"Yea, Liz?"

"Cheer up. Its not like you to be this down."

Amy smiled slightly, a small and sad smile. She nodded though Liz couldn't see. "I'll try." She closed the phone, The young girl scooted closer to the window, her head resting on the cold glass. It felt good, contrasting the heat from her face. She would try to cheer up. She really wanted to hold Luca at that moment.

Cunningham took his time getting on the train. He made sure that she wasn't in the compartment before getting on. He walked onto the train, it was practically empty besides a few business men getting off work late. He took a seat closest to the door.

The ride was silent only the feint sound of the moving train kept it from being deafening. Cunningham rested his head on the wall behind him. The scene from the Ferris wheel kept replaying in his mind. If only something else happened, but he knew it was inevitable. He groaned silently, sliding down his seat a bit.

This was way too complicated. He wished they had left on good terms, because he knew that the next time he would see her, she couldn't be Amy Stapleton, the girl with a beautiful smile and plays the violin expertly, but Amy Stapleton, the Midfielder of Team Satomi. Come to thing of it, he never really thought of her when Team Satomi was racing, of course he'll note some of the more daring moves, but he usually focused on Takeshi. On the track, Takeshi was the only one with enough potential to become his rival.

His phone rang. He pulled it out and opened on the fourth ring.

"Hello," Cunningham muttered. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.

"Hey, when you comin'?" Dew asked sluggishly. "We're parytin' befo' old man Hamgra makes us," There was a loud thud and Cunningham heard Jan's frantic speech as he tried to help Dew up. The Defender was laughing and shouting for more wine. He heard the phone being picked up.

"Cunningham?" It was Jan.

"Yea, I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Are you ok, man?"

"Uhn,"

"Ok, see you then." Without bothering to say bye he closed his phone.

Amy arrived in the gym to see Liz rush up to her.

"What's wrong?" Liz's tone made it clear that she had to answer. Amy walked over to the stationary bike. Liz followed her and sat on the one next to her's. Silently they both began to work out.

"I shouldn't of said anything." Amy said. Luca meowed and sat in front of her.

"To who? You mean you boyfriend?" Liz questioned, only glancing at the younger girl.

After the second time of cat sitting, Liz demanded to know where she went. Amy being somewhat shy on the subject was speechless. Liz stopped by to drop off Luca on her way home.

They were in Amy's kitchen. Liz was sitting on a stool at the marble counter. Amy was cooking away, making dinner for the both of them.

"Seriously Amy, the semi-finals are coming up and we're against Sledge Mama! Can't you tell your friend that you need to focus on racing?" Liz said exasperated. She scowled as Amy gave her an apologetic smile and placed the two plates on the counter. She took a seat next to the red head as she continued to rant. "Hey Amy," the midfielder nodded as she took a bit form her dinner. "Who's your friend anyways?"

Amy's cheeks turned red and she continued to eat. "I think you know of him."

"Him?" Liz's eyebrows rose. She grinned. "You have a boyfriend now? I know it had to be something like that! Who's he?"

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"Riiiiiight. Who is he though?"

"…I don't think…he'll want you to know…"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"We're not exactly dating.."

Liz quirked an eyebrow. "I say taking time off from our schedule and going out together is dating." Her stomach turned. She didn't feel well. When amy said 'him', everything after felt so forced that it seemed fake. Liz's stomach turned again. She couldn't blame the food; Amy was a really good cook. It felt like someone was pulling her along like a puppet. They moved her mouth and spoke with her voice. Though she hated how she was acting now, she was thankful that she was speaking and acting so animatedly. All the while a voice in the back of her head was screaming her jealousy.

Amy smiled. "We can't… It's just weird right now."

The strings snapped. Her stomach seemed to settle. The spell was over. Everything came back to Liz right then. She blinked twice.

"Liz are you ok?" Amy asked uncertainly.

"Amy get it together."

"What do you mean?"

The defender sighed and ran a hand through her short hair. "If you like him, tell him. Just get everything straightened out before the finals, so you can focus."

Amy sat there speechless.

"Just promise me you'll get it together before then, ok?"

"Sure Liz."

The two ate the rest of their dinner, chatting about whatever came in mind.

"He's not my boyfriend. We were never dating." Amy finally said.

"Then why're so miserable? Did he break up with you? I swear, just tell me his name and I'll beat the living shit out of that no good asshole!" Liz shouted getting worked up. She peddled faster on the machine.

Amy smiled as tears welded up in her eyes, she only nodded. Liz's enthusiasm quickly deflated as she saw Amy's face.

'I'm gonna slug that bastard for making her cry.' Liz thought angrily to herself. She quickly gained her resolve as the two of them exercised till they were exhausted.

Cunningham entered the hotel room and saw Dew laying on the couch and drinking wine out of the bottle.

"Hey my man!" the drunk shouted waving the arm with the bottle, he hiccupped and laughed.

Jan returned from the bathroom and shook his head at his teammate's action. "Hey Cunningham! What've you been doing the entire day?" he walked over to the minibar and mixed himself a drink.

The man in question just shrugged and took a seat in the large easy chair near the windows.

"He's been out wit'," Dew said sluggishly6 and hiccupped. "his girlfriend."

Jan blinked and quietly excused himself back to the bedroom, leaving his drink at the bar. He didn't want to pry into Cunningham's personal life.

Cunningham thanked the younger man silently as he watched him walk away. But he somewhat glared at Dew. He still had no idea how Dew figured that out, but at first it was a relief.

The blue eyed man finished the day's training with a smile, though not really a smile, but the corners of his lips turned slightly upward.

"You seem happy," Dew commented as they both left the building.

"Really?" he answered, though he knew he was.

"From the looks of it, I'll say…" the defender took his time scrutinizing the forward, a huge grin broke out on his tanned face. "That you got yourself a girl."

"What makes you say that?"

"You're a lot more energetic lately and you've been sneaking off." Dew paused, he thought carefully before saying what he truly meant. "And I saw your arm. It looked like the girl was a bit clingy…"

Cunningham's cheeks slightly colored before shrugging it off. He didn't mind too much with Dew knowing. As a matter of fact he felt somewhat relieved, that he didn't need to hide it from the defender. He knew if he tried, Dew would start stalking him to see what he was up to.

"So who's the lucky girl?"

Cunningham shrugged and didn't answer. He liked to see Dew hurt himself by thinking too much of trivial things.

"Don't tell me it's one of those Skylark chicks."

Cunningham flinched. He never expected that.

"Wha' chu broke up wit' 'er or she broke up wit' chu?"

"We didn't break up," the forward said firmly, his gaze never leaving the drunk on the couch. "Besides we were never going out in the first place." He suppressed a shudder. He never wanted to say that aloud again.

Dew suddenly pushed himself up in a slouched position, his elbows resting on his knees. He tried to focus his gaze on his teammate. "No, you were. I'll even say you're in love with her too."

Cunningham's heart clutched after hearing Dew's words. "No I wasn't."

"Yes you are. You still love her."

Cunningham only sighed and leaned back. He broke off their staring contest and looked out of the window. He slumped more into his chair when he saw that Amy's house didn't have any lights on. He damned Dew; sometimes that drunk was right.

Amy walked into her over bearingly quiet home. Luca quickly slipped in. She took a shower and changed into her pajamas. Luca was somewhere in the huge house. She thanked the cat for giving her some space.

Amy sat on the carpeted floor of her room. She didn't bother turning on the lights, she just let the street lamps outside filter their meager light in. It felt strange now. She never minded her large room before, but at that moment, she felt like a stranger stranded in an abandoned mansion.

Her green eyes glanced around for some object that belonged only to her, but she found none. Her heart began to race and her body trembled. She tried to stand but her body wouldn't respond. Her breath began to hitch and shallow out, soon she was hyper-venalating. The tears finally came. She turned her head this way and that trying to find some solace in her processions, but couldn't.

And finally her voice came. First she cried aloud and buried her face into her knees. She had always been the good girl. She followed all the rules, did what was expected from her and always strived to be better. So why was it always her that has to be punished?

Amy sat on the uncomfortable chair and listened carefully when her teacher started to explain how to achieve the best sound on all string instruments. Her teacher began to have her place the major scales for each instrument.

Her teacher stepped out of the room to get some sheet music for the five year old girl to take home.

Amy played the cello for a few minutes before loosing interest. She glanced over to the piano often, thinking about last night. Her parents took her to a piano concert featuring the best pianist around. After his performance her parents talked personally with him. Amy stayed quiet and stood in a corner, her mouth set in a deep frown.

She had performed a really difficult piece by Mozart on the piano, but they only told her she did a good job and petted her. They bought her a new grand piano, thinking she wanted one. But all she wanted was their attention and to spend more time with her.

Her parents gushed their praise for the pianist once more totally ignoring her.

Amy glared at the piano hopping it would burst into flame. But after a failed attempt, she moved over to the large basses. She wasn't big enough to support playing it, so she just plucked the strings in a random tune.

But the little girl kept thinking about last night, she didn't know what made her do it then, but she knew it was out of spite and anger. She tipped the large bass over, and it fell onto the piano's keys. It didn't break it, but it snapped the neck of the bass as well as the strings. For a moment she was disappointed that the piano wasn't broken, but a second later she was frantic about getting into trouble.

Her teacher rushed back in after hearing the loud sound. She found her student standing over the broken bass with tears in her eyes.

No matter how good she was or became, they only noticed for a little while before going back to their lives that she wasn't apart of. Her parents had forgotten her birthday more than once and when they do they just take her on their business trip. For those rare occasions she only enjoyed the trip with them, but after arriving she was left alone with a babysitter in a place far from home.

Amy suddenly stood up, fueled by anger and crying hysterically. She saw herself in her vanity when she did. The teen grabbed the nearest object and wanted to throw it at the mirror, but she couldn't She wiped her head around, intending to destroy her perfectly neat and empty room, but she found out she couldn't She held different and expensive items intending to smash them against the wall, but she could only drop them. Finally she fell onto the ground her hair messed up and in her tear stricken face.

"Damn them. Damn you! I don't need anyone of you!" Amy screamed louder than she thought she could and cried herself to sleep.

She woke up with the sun. She spend most of the sunrise just laying there with her dropped objects. She didn't' want tot think, she didn't want to be, Amy Stapleton. She just wanted to exist, only to breath and exist, not live.

Her home phone rang, but she didn't give it any thought. She didn't want to be awake.

"Hey Amy!" Liz shouted as she got the voice mail. "You're supposed to be here an hour ago! Remember its training day! Well… just be here by nine at the latest ok?" Liz closed the connection.

Luca meowed and sat next to Amy. He had never seen his owner have such a bad breakdown. After the accident with the bass and piano, Amy forced herself to stop caring and become a little bit more reserved each day. It wasn't a good thing considering she was a really sensitive person. The only time before last night that the green eyed girl had a breakdown was on the seventh birthday; the day he became her pet.

Amy cuddled the kitten smiling. She had just been dropped off home by her mom.

"Luca are you hungry?" Amy asked going into the kitchen. The kitten meowed in response. She opened a can of cat food for him. While they were out, her parents had people set everything up for the kitten.

"I know you can understand me, but you might not remember it later… But I'm only going to say this once. I don't need anyone else, but I want you to be with me."

The kitten cocked his head to a side and meowed. Amy smiled. "My parents don't need me nor do anyone else. So I'll learn to not need them. That way when I leave things would be easier for all of us." The kitten meowed again.

That night Amy threw a tantrum. She locked Luca out of her room and screamed. She even managed to break her window. A day later she developed a very bad cold.

"Damn them." Amy muttered and got up. She swayed slightly and had to hold onto the desk. She slowly made her way to the bathroom. After taking a showers and changing she and Luca left.

"Amy," Luca meowed beside her. Amy only nodded. "You haven't eaten much lately."

"I only skipped dinner and breakfast. And besides, I'm not really hungry right now."

"But every time you do eat, you don't' eat enough."

"Luca, not right now." Amy continued to walk, not looking at her worried cat.

"You're starting to look a bit yellow." The cat observed.

Amy said nothing. She felt a bit off for a while now, but she couldn't care at the moment.

They reached the Satomi headquarter in silence. Amy stumbled inside and held onto the wall.

"You ok, Amy?" Takeshi asked. He came from the hallway leading to the garage.

Amy nodded but didn't speak. She stopped for a moment to clear her head of the dull buzzing noise. Takeshi just silently accompanied her to the training room.

"Are you sure you can train today? You look a bit yellow." The forward asked. Luca meowed in agreement, but he couldn't understand the cat.

"I'm fine," Amy snapped glaring at the boy. Takeshi stood there dumbfounded as Amy quickly went off. It was the first time he heard Amy use that tone.

Amy was moody the entire time, but when asked what's wrong she would just look down and not say. Liz knew what the problem was, but she wouldn't say anything either.

Finally their training was over for the day. The only thing left was a last minute press conference.

They arrived to a lot of noise and reporters shouting their questions. The interview thankfully wasn't too long and Amy didn't fall asleep. The rest of the team seemed really energized.

"We feel that we've made a great accomplishment by being where we are now. But we are doing our best to prepare to win the title. Our team needs their rest for tomorrow's training, now if you'll excuse us…" Ms. Satomi got up along with everyone else.

The reporters shouted to get one more statement, but they didn't respond. The cameras kept flashing and it started to make Amy dizzy. She was tired when she woke up, but after training and the conference she was exhausted and hungry.

The midfielder walked off the stage with her team. Amy felt her cheeks grow warm form the heat, but that didn't explain why she felt dizzy and nauseous. She stumbled slightly, but no one noticed. Luca meowed worriedly when he saw Amy's face. She really did start to look yellow. Amy tried to take a deep breath to calm herself, but she couldn't Her breath was shallow and fast.

She tugged on Takeshi's sleeve. He looked over his shoulder at her. "Something wrong?" He muttered to her. The noise from the press made it so no one else heard. Amy looked horrible and yellow.

"I think I might be sick." She muttered as she collapsed. Takeshi caught her.

The press roared with the new development and practically attacked Team Satomi, shouting for statements. But the Team was shouting for an ambulance.

"Amy," Liz shouted shaking the younger girl, but it did nothing. The rest of th time before the ambulance arrived was spent protecting the team and Amy from getting harassed.

Jan rushed toward Hamgra's office. He knew he was really late to the meeting. He entered the room bent over and breathing hard.

"Jan, you're twenty minutes late," their coach said glaring at the midfielder.

"I know, but turn on to the news." Jan huffed.

Dew turned on the TV in the office. The rest of the team was still annoyed at Jan, but it quickly disappeared.

On the news was a clip of Amy collapsing into Takeshi's arms and then being put into an ambulance.

Cunningham's heart plummeted. He wanted to be the one Amy fell into, but more importantly he was worried. He wanted to be with her then. She looked so small and helpless being carried away on the stretcher. But he knew he couldn't go to her, he stood in the office with the rest of his team as the announcer began to talk.

"Amy Stapleton of Team Satomi had been taken to the hospital. The team's owner only had this to say…" the scene changed to a close up of Ms. Satomi.

"This was unexpected, but this doesn't mean we'll be out of the finals. Until we have a diagnosis, and have reviewed all of our options, the race will still take place at the scheduled time." The scene changed again to the announcer.

"Right afterwards the team left to the hospital. And we have just received word that Ms. Stapleton has a minor case of anemia."

The TV shut off. The men looked at their coach who had a smug expression.

"This doesn't mean that any of you can slack off. It just means that our victory is almost guaranteed." Hamgra said looking the young men in the eyes. And for a moment he thought he saw a bit of hurt and worry in Cunningham's eyes.

End ch: 2

Well, I'm sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes. I'm leaving for tomorrow and wanted this up before then. So review!