Hey everyone! I am back, and with an update! I won't bore you with details on my hols (it was boring) so I'll just get straight to the point.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade or any or its characters.

Enjoy!

Eye of the Storm

Chapter Twenty Five: Confrontations

"I'm bored," Mirror whined, leaning against the wall and wrapping her arms around her knees.

"I know, you said so thirty seconds ago," I sighed, throwing the tennis ball in my hand against the wall and catching it as it bounced off.

"But…I'm BORED. B-O-R-E-D. Bored. Okay? Got it? BORED!"

"Alright, I got it!" I exclaimed, purely just to stop her continuous claims that she was bored.

Being stuck in a jail cell for two hours straight tends to drive you stir crazy. Being stuck in jail cell for two hours straight with Mirror Chang is just testing your sanity.

I chucked the tennis ball against the wall again, only with too much force as it bounced back over my head and straight through the bars, rolling to where the guard was sitting. The guard happened to look like he was only just about old enough to be allowed to drink alcohol.

"Oi! Guard!" I called, leaning against the bars, "Pass the ball, would ya?"

The guard raised an eyebrow. "I was under the impression that I'm here to make sure you lot don't get up to no good, not run around fetching things like a servant,"

I rolled my eyes.

"Dude, the ball is right next to you. Just chuck it,"

"Look, kid--"

"Hey!" I snapped, "Don't call me kid when you look barely older than me! My name's Willow, use it,"

I seriously don't know why I snapped at him, but I was riled up, tense because of the tedious time I had spent in a damned cell –its five in the fucking morning!- and he won't give me the goddamned ball!

Okay, so I do know why I snapped at him.

That's totally not the point.

I think.

Er…moving on…

"Right, Willow, lets get one thing straight here. You broke the law. You're in a police station. You don't call the shots!" the guard snapped back, snatching up the tennis ball and dumping it on the table in front of him.

I resisted the temptation to just start screaming and swearing at him, him and his bloody policies and his nice sapphire eyes and olive coloured skin and- BAD WILLOW!

"Fucking hell," I wailed, "give me a break!" with that said, I turned around and slid down to the floor, cursing my recent luck.

Suddenly a yellow blur whizzed past me, bouncing off the wall and rolling next to me. I stared in disbelief at the tennis ball, before looking over my shoulder at the guard. He was reading his book, but I saw the smile.

I recognised the fact I was to remain silent, and so I did, giving him little trouble as I continued to bounce the ball against the wall, smiling as I did so.

Finally, footsteps sounded against the hard concrete floor

"About time!" Mirror yelled, jumping to her feet. I turned around, seeing one of the senior police officers that had arrested us standing next to the guard. The book had noticeably disappeared from sight.

"Right kids—"

"Don't call them kids…" the guard tried to warn but Mirror was faster.

"We're NOT kids!"

The police officer muttered something incoherent under his breath before ploughing on.

"—we've decided that obviously you two are just two bored tyrants with nothing better to do than see if you can break into the mall at the three in the morning, so you can leave on bail, although someone who's immediate family and is eighteen or over must pick you up and pay a compensation sum of $250…"

"Can I call my big brother then?" I interrupted, without bothering to listen to whatever else he had to say.

"Yes, you can," the police officer said with a sigh. He turned to the guard who promptly stood up and unlocked the door.

"You stay there," he told Mirror, who threw him an annoyed look in response.

I went over to the telephone sitting on the table, snatched it up and jabbed in a number that was practically drilled into my mind.

Ring ring…

Please have your phone with you Max…

Ring ring…ring ring…

Please don't ignore it just cos its five in the morning…

Ring ri—

"Hello?"

I smiled half-heartedly at the tired and annoyed voice that was my brother's.

"Hey Max," I greeted, my voice slightly duller than usual.

"Willow? Where the hell are you?" Max demanded.

"Hmm…would you kill me if I said I was in a police station with Mirror, having been arrested at three in the morning for breaking into the mall? Cos if you are gonna kill me, then I'll refrain from telling the truth,"

"WHAT?" he spluttered, obviously a helluva lot more awake than he was ten seconds ago.

"Who's that Max?" a fainter, sleepy female voice came from the background. I immediately paled.

"No, don't tell Kara! She'll tear my head off!" I yelped in panic.

"Willow and Mirror got arrested for breaking into the mall at three in the morning," Max told his girlfriend, pointedly ignoring what I had said.

Oh boy.

"What! Is that Will on the phone? Hand it over Max, that girl has had this coming for a long time!"

"What's going on Sandy?" Mirror called from the cell.

"Kara found out…" I muttered, paling even further.

"Oh shit," Mirror exclaimed. Like me, she knows that one should be very afraid of Kara Skylar Hiwatari.

"Right, Willow Tate," Kara started, once she had gotten hold of the phone. "Please explain what happened, and don't skip anything!"

The cold, demanding tone told me to follow orders.

And the unsaid or else was ominous.

So I told her exactly what happened, from the three of us having insomnia to the chase in the park and then the whole breaking into the mall thing.

"So, Mirror and Sky wanted to break into the mall and even though you weren't exactly too thrilled with the prospect, you still went ahead with it,"

"Uh huh," I confirmed uncertainly.

"You were never one to succumb to peer pressure, Willow," she said quietly.

I winced.

"Listen Kara--"

"No, I won't listen as I've done nothing but listen the last ten minutes. Its high time you pulled yourself together Willow Tate, because the excuse of being heart broken is not going to be sufficient enough if this kind of behaviour continues. I'm serious Willow. You've been on a warpath ever since you and Johnny broke up, a warpath that's not only destroying you and every chance of you ever had of graduating from the dump called high school, but also affecting all your friends,"

I blinked, trying to digest all this.

"Kara, I'm not on a warpath…"

"NOT ON A WARPATH?" Kara shrieked, her voice full of anger. "What was that with Fred then, huh? I heard all about it Willow, you didn't even think about Fred's feelings in the matter before jumping him! And you weren't even drunk!"

"What's she saying?" Mirror called as quietly as she could, obviously noticing that I was getting paler and paler with every word that Kara threw at me.

I shook my head, clutching the phone.

"Kara, I--" I tried, but was easily cut off.

"And when you went to Johnny's! That was a ridiculous move on your part, just bursting in and demanding your stuff. Kai told me about that, Johnny was so angry he practically put a hole in his wall!"

But I was upset too.

"And now this! Y'know, I'm not surprised Sky was involved. That girl's been cheering you on all the while, her and James! James, I might remind you, is the reason you broke up with Johnny in the first place!"

It wasn't Jamie's fault…was it?

Now she's the one on a warpath.

"Kara! It wasn't Jamie's fault!" I cried out, but I could feel the uncertainty churning in my stomach. Was it Jamie's fault? What if he deliberately waited til I was drunk and knew I would kiss him if he was so close, knew that Johnny would walk in on us? What if he did it to get me back, so this would happen?

What if he did it so I would be Sandy, like he always wanted? Because, as Sandy, I was his. Always his.

What if?

"Wasn't his fault? God you're deluded! He's practically brainwashed you!" Kara almost screamed.

"Kara, that's enough…" I heard Max say.

"No, it isn't! Your sister has to see sense!"

"What sense! There's no sense to see! You just don't like Jamie, and you never have! Not since the moment he arrived and challenged me to a fight! Jamie's one of my best friends! Get over it!" I screamed, almost near tears at the accusations. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the guard looking pretty stunned and Mirror looking concerned, but none of it registered. No matter what I denied and yelled and screamed, the burning insecurities that Kara had planted were slowly starting to grow and blossom.

"Willow," Kara said, her voice dropping. "Jamie is NOT your best friend. Danny is! Sky is! Mirror is! I thought I was! James is just a guy who turned up at the right time and the right place, being there when you needed him. Aren't I right? You needed someone to rely on, and James was there!"

My sharp intake of breath told her she was right.

How does she know? Does she know about Ryan? Why is it Kara that seems to know me better than anyone, including myself?

"A best friend is someone who will always be there for you, no matter what. Sky proved that by moving here just to help you get over it, although she didn't do a very good job of it. Mirror and Danny proved that by sticking by you, no matter what. Even Fred could be counted as a best friend, as he never took advantage of you even though you were practically offering yourself on a silver platter. One night stand is one thing, to use him as a rebound guy is another. Jamie has never done any of those; he destroyed your relationship with Johnny, he played with your emotions to get closer to you. He changed you back to what he knew and wanted, and never accepted you for who you were!" Kara blurted out, sounding agitated, trying to get her point across.

The worst thing?

It made complete sense.

And I cried.

"So, what? What've you done to prove that you're a best buddy?" I sobbed.

"Me?" she repeated, stunned at the question. "Well, what I'm doing now, innit? I'm not letting you throw everything away for a guy,"

"Right. Right," I impatiently wiped away my tears, "Just tell Max to get over here with $250, I'll pay him back later, and…and…"

"And what?" Kara asked tiredly.

"Thanks, Kara. Thanks a bunch,"

And I slammed down the phone.

Jamie? What do you really want?

Is Kara right?

Is everything crashing around my ears and I've only just realised?

I climbed the staircase wearily. At the top, if I turned right I could just go straight to my bedroom and sleep for the next two and a half hours and get up in time for school. However, if I turned left, I could go to Max's bedroom and Kara would be there, and she would finally be able to tell me everything face to face.

But what exactly did I want?

Did I even think that Kara was right?

She's an excellent judge of character, and knows you better than you know yourself. She's probably right.

Either way, I'd have to face her at some point. The only question was: sooner or later?

Trust Kara Hiwatari to make things a hundred times more complicated.

Fuck this!

I turned and stormed into my bedroom, intent on getting changed into my pyjamas before going to see Kara, but I never got the chance.

She was already sitting on my bed.

There was silence for a couple for seconds.

"So, you broke into the mall huh?"

I stared at her.

"That must've been some insomnia,"

I smiled weakly. She stood up, taking a few steps towards me.

"Sorry I yelled at you,"

"Its okay,"

"Sorry I made you cry,"

"I deserved it,"

"Sorry,"

"Don't be,"

She stared at me.

"Either way, Kara, you were right. About everything. Well, I'm not so sure about Jamie but you definitely brought be me back to reality,"

"That didn't give me the right to scream at you,"

"No, it gave you every right. As my best friend, you deserve that right,"

She grinned weakly.

"We okay?"

"Yeah, we're okay,"

On the 15th December, it started snowing. Hard. Little flakes settled on the ground, trees, houses, everywhere, a white flurry swirling past the windows of the theatre room.

Nick was the first to notice.

"Hey!" he yelled, catching everyone's attention, which was a grand feat seeing as everyone was running around trying to prepare for the Christmas Ball, which was taking place in the theatre room. All the chairs had been removed to leave a huge space in front of the stage, where we would perform our play and the band would play.

"IT'S SNOWING!"

And everyone yelled and ran towards the windows.

Seriously, its like we all entered a time machine and ended up in sixth grade again or something.

"Whoa," said Kurt Richmond, a jock in my year.

"Ooooooh, it looks so pretty!" said a couple of senior girls.

"Alright, guys, we are sort of in the middle of class y'know," Mr. Connors called, his voice sounding amused.

There was a collective groan.

"Aw, c'mon Mr. C.—"

"But it's snowing! D'you know how rare that is?"

"C'mon sir, we've been working our asses off this Ball—"

"Give us a break would ya?"

"Absolutely not!" Mrs. Harriett said shrilly.

Thanks Mrs. H. You swung it for us.

Everyone knows by now that everything Mrs. Harriett says, Mr. Connors contradicts.

"Why not? You have been working hard. Alright, lets go then," Mr. Connors said with a smirk, opening the door. There was a stampede as everyone ran outside.

I grinned as we leapt out into the snow that had already created a thick layer upon the ground. Almost instantly, I was hit by a large snowball.

"What the!" I exclaimed, whirling around. I saw Mirror grinning, flashing me a peace sign, before chucking another snowball towards me. I ducked and grabbed some snow, punching it together into a snowball and lobbing it at the cherry eyed girl. She cursed as it hit her shoulder.

"Argh!" she wailed as another snowball hit her. Only this time, it wasn't from me. "Kai!" she yelled, running after the cackling auburn eyed teenager. I wondered where the hell he had come from; after all, he isn't in our History class. But looking around, I realised most the staff had obviously been feeling the Christmas spirit and had let out their classes early.

"Incoming!"

I let out a squeal as another snowball passed dangerously over my head, spotting Fred waving and grinning. Rolling my eyes, I chucked a snowball at him and ducked at his response, while still managing to get hit by another stray snowball.

"Bombs away!" I yelled, throwing a snowball at Kara. Her eyes widened, and she ducked hurriedly so that the ball sailed over her head and hit the back of head I knew all too well.

Oh…shit…

The redhead turned slowly, violet eyes landing on me looking immensely guilty before narrowing.

"Have it your way!" Johnny yelled, before launching a whole load of snowballs at me, one after the other.

"SHIT!" I cried out, running back and forth to avoid the snowballs that were raining down on me. Where did he get so many!

Several landed on my back and I noticed he was following me even though I was running away from where everyone was having a mass snowball fight. My feet crunched against the snow noisily, but it didn't hide his footfalls either. I suddenly realised there was no more snowballs, and I fell down onto the white substance.

"Ow!" he yelled as he tripped over me, sprawling over me.

I quickly gathered up some snow, rolled it together and lobbed it at the offending redhead.

He shook his head, throwing snow flakes everywhere like a dog shaking off water.

"Oi!" I laughed, almost forgetting who I was with. "You're acting like a dog!"

It wasn't a scathing remark. It was a teasing one…completely innocent.

"Thanks," he said sarcastically, making no desire to move even though he was sprawled across my legs. "Do you say that to all your ex-boyfriends?"

"No, I say that to all my ex-best friends," I said just as sarcastically.

"How many ex-best friends do you have? A hundred?"

"Oh ha ha," I muttered, "One, actually. And that's you,"

There was a pause. Johnny heaved himself onto his elbows.

"Its hard to believe we were best friends for two years,"

"I never would've believed that we ever became more than best friends a year ago. Goes to show, huh?" I paused, sighing, "I was afraid this was going to happen y'know,"

He stared at me.

"When you asked me out, that time in my kitchen. One the only things that was stopping me from kissing you on the spot was that it was risking our friendship. Look what's happened to us, Johnny. I feared it and it happened anyway,"

What was I saying? Stop, Willow, before you get hurt again!

"Willow,"

I turned to look at him upon hearing my name, but my vision was blocked by red hair and amazing violet eyes. Violet eyes that never lost its spell.

Before I knew what was happening, I felt his lips on mine. A gentle, caressing kiss, so unlike the last kiss we had shared, a kiss that was fuelled with anger. My eyes fluttered closed, one hand moving to the fiery mass of hair that was soft to touch. I felt a rough yet gentle hand cupping my cheek, and we simply lay in the snow, kissing softly while pure white snowflakes fell all around us. It was like a perfect snow dome…a perfect moment captured and saved.

And then, like all perfect moments, it was shattered.

"WILLOW!"

Upon hearing my name screamed out, we broke apart like a huge lightning bolt had come crashing between us. Staring at each other for a second, we gathered our senses and scrambled to our feet. Not a moment later, Mirror came dashing around the corner, red cheeks from the cold and running in the snow.

"Willow, you better come!" Mirror yelled, glancing at Johnny but refraining from demanding answers.

"What happened?" I asked, slightly breathlessly.

"I ain't got a clue!" Mirror panted, skidding to a stop in front of us. "All I know is one minute me and Kai are making snowmen and the next we see Ray yelling at Tala and Holly in hysterics!"

No…this isn't happening…

Before Mirror could get another word out I was running as fast as I could, Mirror and Johnny at my heels.

Why now?

What have they done?

I skidded to a stop. A ring of people had formed around Ray and Tala, Holly practically sobbing as she watched the scene unfold.

"Ray, listen, don't do something you'll regret later…" Tala tried, but if the angry glint in Ray's golden eyes was anything to go by, he was only making it worse.

"Don't do anything I might regret?" Ray snorted in disbelief, "You've made a fool of me long enough Volkov, what makes you think I'll listen to you?"

I walked towards Holly, wrapping my arms around her. She sobbed into my shoulder, "Make them stop, please Willow, MAKE THEM STOP!"

I bit my lip, but resigned myself to bad fate. Leaving Holly with Mariah, I stepped uncertainly towards the two teenagers.

"Ray, don't make this any worse than it already is," I said cautiously.

"Are you nuts Willow? This is as bad as it gets! Don't try and fool me, Tate, you were in on this from the beginning!" Ray snapped.

"Actually, she wasn't," Tala muttered, "Not from the beginning at any rate,"

I winced.

"Shut your mouth Volkov!"

Ray took a deep shuddering breath, and I couldn't help but be afraid.

"Shall we get this over with then? Or shall we just let the rumours start? You know what they say, the truth sets you free,"

"No…Ray, don't!" I cried out.

"Should I tell them Volkov?" Ray demanded, ignoring my plea. "Should I let everyone know?"

"Ray, wait--"

"Should I tell everyone that one of my best friends is SHAGGING MY GIRLFRIEND!"

They say the truth sets you free.

But sometimes the truth is overrated.

Well, looks like Ray has finally caught on. And about time too huh? Lol. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and everyone who's still dedicated to this fic, even though I'm starting to feel like its, er, a bit crap. Oh well, never mind. I'll finish this story if its the last thing I do.

Review please!

Ciao dudes and dudettes

Chiya