And, on to the next chapter...and the introduction of two new characters. Thanks to Aberrant Bliss and x-EmoElleh-x for coping with my ridiculousness!

Chapter 4: The Invite

It had been three days since Kay's little "Playdate" with the Gorillaz. A Tuesday afternoon, lunchtime, and a temporary escape from the hell that some called "school". She had just sat down at her usual seat in the cafeteria, when two of her friends approached her, Meghan and Elly.

"Hey, Kayla," they both greeted her as they sat across from her at the table.

"Hey, guys," she greeted them back. She then reached into her lunchbag and pulled out a bag of potato chips.

"I think I'm gonna die," Elly groaned, her head cradled in her hands. "That math teacher is gonna fail me, I know it."

Elly had shoulder-length black hair, with blue tips (about one inch), and bangs that covered her blue eyes. She constantly wore either black or red, with plenty of eyeliner,and almost always wore her black Vans.

"You never were good in math, were you, Elly?" Meghan asked her with a laugh, patting her on the shoulder.

Meghan had dark hair that went past her shoulders, and light brown eyes. She wore glasses (on occasion, contact lenses), and loved to wear black, but then again, she liked other colors, too. Just not as much as black.

"Look who's talking, Miss I-Get-Straight-A's-In-Everything-'Cuz'-I'm-Such-A-Smarty." Elly sighed. "God, I need a more exciting life than this one." The top half of her body slumped on the table surface.

"For the love of God, I'll help you, for the thousandth time, Miss I-Can-Do-It-On-My-Own," Meghan told her.

"Or I can," said Kay. "What don't you understand about it?"

"How the letters correspond with the numbers." She managed to get a laugh out of both of her friends.

"Elly, you never make any sense."

"Can't wait to see what I grow up to be."

"Well, as Dennis Leary says-"

Meghan covered her ears. "Kayla, don't you dare say it."

Seeing this, Kay smirked, and started singing.

"Life's gonna suck when you grow up,

It sucks pretty bad right now."

"Nice using that song as your philosophy on life," Elly said.

"But it's true. So, enjoy your high school days; when you're twenty, you'll be-"

"I get it, I get it! I know; I'm only fourteen and a freshman. Life couldn't possibly get any worse."

"Hey, guys!"

"I stand corrected."

Cris walked over to the table where the three were sitting and sat down right beside Kay. "So, what's up, guys?"

"Elly's gonna fail math," Meg replied, "unless someone helps her."

"I don't need help," Elly argued. "I just need a new teacher."

"Yeah, Mrs. Manning's a hard-knock teacher," Cris laughed. "But you can't transfer out; you already did that with Mrs. Nowicki."

"And unfortunately, both of 'em share the same room."

"Aw, poor Elly can't catch a break." Meghan put her arm around Elly and half-hugged her.

"Shut up, Meg. We can't all be geniuses like you."

Everyone started laughing. Elly wasn't ever that enthusiastic about a lot of stuff, especially school, but when it came to making her friends laugh with simple rude remarks, she was the queen.

"Oh, by the way," Cris reached into her FullMetal Alchemist messenger bag and pulled out a letter, "Kay," she smirked in an "I-have-a-secret" way, "Alphonse wanted me to give this to you."

"Look," Meg teased, "Kay's blushing!"

"Shut up, you two." Kay snatched the note away from Cris. "And, what's the occasion?"

"Probably an invite to a date," Cris joked, elbowing her friend several times in the arm. "He says he likes you!"

"Someone has a crush." Meg laughed. "Our Kaykay's a dude magnet."

"No, I'm not!"

"Call him."

"I will, eventually."

School was now over, and like always, at the Gorillaz were at her house. This time, while 2D and Murdoc were downstairs fighting over who was going on the computer, and while Russel was watching TVand trying his hardest not to get up from the couch and beat the crap out of both of them, Noodle was up in Kay's room, trying to eventually get her to call Al's cellphone.

"I cannot believe he actually asked you out on a date," Noodle said, excited. "You are so lucky; he is adorable!"

"Yeah, I know." Kay did think that Al was cute, but she didn't really know him personally. As she held the note with his number on it in one hand and her cordless phone in the other, she finally stopped arguing with herself and started to dial the number. She then held the phone to her ear and waited for the phone to stop with its dial tone.

"What do I say?" Kay whispered to Noodle.

"Just say that you will go out with him, and talk with him for a little while, simple as that."

"Okay."

Finally, after six rings, the voice message box picked up. "Hi," it said. "You've reached Al's cell. Sorry I can't pick up right now, but if you just leave you number and message, I'll be happy to call you back- Jake, you stupid dog, stop sniffing me!"

Kay remembered that Cris's dalmation puppy's name was Jake.

"Anyway-sorry about that-just another little note: Mustang, if this is you, if you can't reach my brother and you're trying to get to him through me, go to hell."

Finally, the recording ended, and the phone beeped loudly. Taking a deep breath, Kay started to talk.

"Um, hey, Al. It's Kay...Listen,...I got your note, and I'd love to go out with you on Saturday. My family won't be home on Friday 'til six, so why don't you come over and hang out for a while after I go to school, around two-ish maybe. If you want, you can call me anytime; Cris has my number. Guess I'll talk with ya later. Bye!" Pressing the "OFF" button on the phone, Kay exhaled heavily and fell back onto her bed.

"Nice first try," Noodle giggled.

"Yeah, I guess. Still, I'm frickin' embarrassed; I've never been asked out on a date before, and you know how it is when guys talk to me."

"NOODS! KAYLA! 'ELP ME!"

"That 2D?"

"Yes it is."

And, speak of the devil, 2D ran up the stairs and into Kay's room, closing the door and locking the door behind him.

"What's wrong, 'D?" Kay asked laughing.

"Give it a minute and you will figure it out," said Noodle.

Finally, the door started vibrating from a loud banging on it by a rather pissed-off person outside.

"Face-ache, ya can't 'ide from me for long!" Murdoc's voice yelled. "Now open the bloody door!"

"Muds, what did he do?" Kay asked him.

"That li'l blue-'eaded ponce deleted my download on ya computer!"

"What were you downloading?"

"Um...nothin'!"

"Were you downloading porn again?"

"Hehe...maaaybe."

"I already told you that you can't download that kind of stuff on my computer, Muds. The last time you did, you put a virus on my computer!"

"Yeah...but still, lemme in; I wanna kill 'im anyway!"

"I'll come out there and kill you!"

"Ya wanna go?"

"Bring it on, man-whore!" She opened the door and ran out.

Five minutes later...

"I hate him. I hate him. I hate him."

"Maybe, you should not challenge him to a fight, Kayla-san. Maybe then, you would not have a bruise on your right shin."

"Shut up, Noods." Kay lightly touched her bruise, but pulled away at the pain. "Ow, damn! I thought he'd be easy on me!"

"Because you are younger, smaller, and weaker?"

"I'm not small!"

"Whatever. Anyway, if he gets a challenge, he will not go easy on you, no matter what your disadvantage is."

"I noticed. Ow! Still, I'm a fuckin' girl!"

"As if he cares. Besides, giving you that bruise was an accident."

"Yeah, still, he bruised me, I'm a kid, and that, my good friend Noodle, is called 'child abuse'!"

"If you send him off to jail, Kayla-san, we will not have any concerts anymore, and you will never get to see us live."

"Good point; I give."

The phone rang. Reaching for it where it lay, on the floor, she picked it up, pressed the "TALK" button, and put it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Kayla? That you?"

Kay's eyes widened. "Alphonse?"

Noodle covered her mouth with her hands at the mention of the caller's name and squealed.

"Wait. What was that?"

Kay laughed. "That was Noodle squeaking like a mouse. Hold on a sec." She covere the speaker part of the phone and whispered "go" to Noodle, who nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"So, what's up?" she continued.

"I got your message. Thanks for agreeing to go out with me."

"I'd love to go out with you; you're a pretty cool guy."

"Yeah, I know."

Kay laughed. "Don't get cocky there, stud."

"Heh, sorry."

"It's okay. Oh, I have a question."

"Sure. Ask away."

"Out of all the girls in New York, why me?"

"I knew that was coming! Well, for a few reasons, actually. When I met you at the park, you seemed like a cool girl, plus...I thought you were cute."

"...You're kidding me. I ain't cute."

"Shut up. Course, you are."

"Wow...a guy calling me cute...That's a first."

"I'm sure it won't be a first."

"Aw, you're sweet. So, on Saturday, what do you wanna do?"

"Wanna go see a movie?"

"What movie? SAW II?"

"Hell yeah! I love those types of movies. But wait, have you seen the first?"

"Nope. Have you?"

"Uh-uh. Wish I did. Oh, and I can't come over to your house on Friday."

"Oh, why not?"

"Me and Ed are kinda busy."

"Okay, no big deal. Well, I gotta go. Talk with you later, okay?"

"Yup. See ya, Kayla."

"Bye." Kay turned the phone off, sighed dreamily, and fell back onto her bed.

Kayla Hamiltonand Alphonse Elric...what a cute couple. Wait 'til my parents find out I'm dating a hot guy. They're gonna flip out.