The school had soon grown accustomed to Clarice's habit of dancing in the halls, so when she tapped her way down the hall, most students just moved aside, though a few yelled comments about her needing to take lessons, or at least look where she was going.

"If I were a rich man," she sang in a low voice. "Yidle deedle deedle didle—"

"Would you please shut up?" asked a boy in red, scowling at her.

"But I like this song."

"No one else in the world does."

"Fine," Clarice sighed, then took up her dance again. "The hills are alive… with the sound of music!"

"It's the sound of garbage!" the boy yelled. "You can't sing!"

Clarice smiled at him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were being a little rude to me."

Kagome appeared at her side, followed by Sango, Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi. She looked from the scowling boy to the smiling Clarice and shook her head.

"InuYasha, do you have to be so rude all the time?"

"Feh," he muttered and walked off.

"Kagome has a crush on him for some unfathomable reason," Eri said.

"No, I don't…" Kagome protested weakly.

Yuka rolled her eyes in unison with Eri. "I will never get it. She could have Kouga or Houjo, two of the most charming people, and she wants the biggest loser in the school."

"He's probably just misunderstood," piped in Ayumi.

Sango grabbed Kagome's shoulder protectively. "She can like whoever she wants."

"I'm entitled to my opinion," Eri said, meeting Sango's glare, "and my opinion is that any relationship with him will end in tears!"

"But I don't like him!" said Kagome. "Clarice, back me up. Clarice? Now look, you've driven her away!"

-----

"And so," the instructor concluded, "you will present to the class in two weeks. This will be your only in-class workday, so use it wisely."

Clarice leaned over to Kikyou, who was busy listing project ideas. "Hey, wanna be partners?" Kikyou simply stared at her; Clarice scratched the back of her head nervously.

"I know you don't know me that well, but I got all A's at my old school. Well, except in math. And I could present the project so you wouldn't have to talk to people, because I know you don't like that, and… um… I've been told that I'm fun to be around by quite a few—by some people, and…"

Kikyou smiled at her. "I should like to focus on the poetry of Alfred Lord Tennyson; he's one of my favorites."

"Oh, really? I like Byron, for all that he's a narcissistic little loser sometimes. Pretty stuff. Okay, Tennyson it is!"

"Perhaps…" Kikyou hesitated.

"Yes?"

"Perhaps we could meet in the Honors Botany garden to work more over lunch. Unless, of course, you have a previous engagement."

"Nope. Oh, boy, this is gonna be fun!"

-----

Sango stared blankly at the laptop screen, puzzling over the major religions of Guyana, and then down at her notebook, headed "World Cultures, Period 2." The rest of the page was horribly, horribly empty.

"Compare and contrast spiritual beliefs, discuss various government structures, hypothesize over whatever…" She sighed, and tentatively wrote a few notes. Beside her, Ayumi was busily scribbling away in a notebook that, Sango was rather amused to see, had a fluffy kitten on the front.

"Already writing your essay?" she asked.

"Oh, no," Ayumi said, smiling. "I'm doing mine at home. This is my story."

"Story?"

"Uh huh. She's a strong-willed young heiress and he's a handsome aristocrat and they fall in love at first sight but—"

Sango scowled at the tiny lines of writing covering her screen. "Yeah, I think I get it."

"Why don't you like romance novels?"

"Because life doesn't happen like that. Nobody falls in love at first sight, and most people don't get happy endings."

Sango was expecting some sort of naïve, idealistic protest from Ayumi, and so was rather surprised when the girl replied, "Of course not. That's why I read them."

"What?"

"Of course no one's going to sweep you away to a perfect happily-ever-after. But it's nice to read about. What color should her ball gown be?"

"Um. Green?"

Ayumi stared critically at the page. "Dusty mauve it is."

Sango laughed in spite of herself. "What good's reading about it? If I really wanted to be swept away, I'd go get swept away."

"But I thought people didn't get swept away in the first place."

"Well, I would if I wanted. But I don't. I guess I'm just not girly."

"Hmm…" Ayumi examined Sango's no-frills ponytail and green sweats. "Maybe not. But it doesn't matter if you're happy."

-----

"It's because she's younger than me, isn't it?" Ayame quietly fumed as she watched Kouga talking with Kagome a ways ahead of them. "Or maybe it's the hair. Do you think he'd like me better if I wore it down?"

"I think… it's cute…" Ayumi panted. Ayame turned back to scowl at her.

"Keep up already. I want to rant at someone who can hear me."

"Some of us… don't run… very fast."

"You lack willpower. Oh, look at his stupid, lovesick eyes. I should be on the receiving end of that brainless expression!"

The whistle blew, and Ayame grabbed Ayumi's arm and dragged the girl over to the pile of belts for flag football. Cinching a red belt around her waist to best show it off, she handed one to Ayumi, and then headed for Kouga with a determined expression. When he caught sight of her, the boy practically dove for a yellow belt, which he tied with breakneck speed.

"Oh, sorry, Ayame, looks like we're on different teams," he said.

"There's no problem," she replied through gritted teeth. "I'll just switch teams, then."

"Too late for that," Kouga said, pushing the last yellow belt into Kagome's hands. "Too bad."

"You'll pay for this, Kagome," Ayame muttered before storming off.

Kagome, for her part, tied the belt with a frown. "Thanks a lot for putting me in the middle, Kouga."

Sango tied her own red belt; it had been shoved into her hands with the message that it wasn't fair for she and Kouga to be on the same team. "If you don't like it, tell her where to get off. Sometimes I don't understand you people."

Kouga shook his head. "Telling Ayame anything has about as much effect as kicking a skyscraper. You need a few blows to the head to even get her to listen to you." At Kagome and Sango's shocked expressions, he added, "Not that I would ever hit a woman or anything."

"You'd better not, or I'd come back here and pound you myself," Sango said, walking off to join the red team.