Jaheira1000: OMG! I am soooooo sorry mina! I didn't realize how long it's been since I updated this fic. This story has nearly come to its end, so I hope you'll be sticking around for the finale!

Disclaimer: Not mine. Never has been never will be.

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CHAPTER NINE: THE LETTER

Ray winced at the fury he saw on the red-heads face. He hastily thought it was time to intervene.

"Maybe this was some kind of mis…under…standing…" Ray's voice died in his throat at the look on Tala's face. It clearly said 'WHO are you trying to kid?' Tala looked down at the letter again and read it a second time as if to see if what he had read was still there.

Kia

You might be wondering why I decided to write you this letter.

The truth is that I decided to put an end to this game. Bryan and I had a bet going about how long it would take to get you to fall in love with me.

Since I finally managed to get this done, there's no reason for me to string you along any longer. I felt it was a pity I had to stop before I got you into bed, but I don't want a female hanging around my neck.

I don't want to tell you this to your face because I really don't think you deserve even that. Better luck next time.

Tala

They were disgusted, but had no idea who would try something this low. Both boys quickly thought about the situation before coming to the same conclusion. They voiced their suspicion at the same moment.

"Mariah and Emily!" They looked at each other. The now realized the cause of the problem, but what they had to try and figure out now was how to repair the situation.

A little revenge also wouldn't come amiss.

The two sat down with their heads together, plotting of ways to get the two girls to confess…

After about two hours, Tala and Ray had figured out boy why the two girls were doing this and how to get them to confess. Once they reviewed the events of the past few days they had managed to figure it out. Mariah was trying to help Ray, while Emily was trying to get Tala for herself.

Personally Tala was kinda grossed out by this revelation, but managed to restrain himself from thinking too much about it. While Mariah's reasons were reasonable, it was still no excuse for interfering, while Emily's reasons were purely selfish.

They had decided that Ray would talk to Emily and Tala would talk to Mariah. After their plans were made they left to get everything ready…

That evening, Tala made his way over to the White Tigers lodging. He asked to speak to Mariah. When she saw who was looking for her, she paled slightly and stammered slightly when she asked what he wanted.

"I just want to talk to you. Don't worry, it's nothing bad. I just thought you might not want to talk with your whole team around."

"Um…well…I don't suppose it'll be a problem. Where do you want to go?" Tala smirked inwardly.

"Let's just go for a walk. Or maybe one of the conference rooms." Mariah nodded her agreement and they made their way towards one of the unused conference rooms…

Meanwhile, Ray was talking to Emily while suggesting the same thing. After showing her consent, they made their way to the conference rooms where, unknowingly to the two girls, the other two were headed.

They all arrived at the same time. While the two girls stared at each other in shock, the two boys closed and locked the doors, silently slipping the keys into their pockets.

They smirked at each other and turned to face the two conspirators. The guilty party looked at each other apprehensively. Ray opened the conversation.

"You're both probably wondering why we brought you here. First of all we would like to say that we know what you two did. We saw the letter you gave to Kia, and we also saw the contents." The two girls looked at them fearfully. Tala smirked inwardly and forced his face into a kind look.

"Don't worry; we're not blaming you or anything. We just wanted to bring you here so we could thank you properly for helping." Mariah eyed him warily.

"Thank us for what?" Ray also faked a kind look.

"Well, now that Kia and Tala broke up I can ask her out."

"Yeah, and I was gonna break up with her anyway so you guys saved me some trouble." Emily broke in happily here.

"Of course! We could see that neither of you wanted things as they were and we tried to help. I was the one who wrote the letter. Mariah didn't really want to do it, but I knew it was for the best." Emily was wearing a bright smile, but Mariah was frowning. Ray frowned slightly and directed a question at her.

"Mariah…did you even read what was written in the letter?" She shook her head slightly.

"No. I did ask Emily what it said, but all she said was that it was a way to make everybody happy." The two boys glanced at each other. They could see that Mariah was being sincere, so they couldn't really blame her.

From what they could tell, Emily had been using Mariah to get what she wanted. They both turned to face the carrot-top as she started talking again.

"Of course all this was my idea! I thought you would appreciate it!" Both boys dropped their smiling faces at the same time. Ray's amber eyes flickered with anger.

"Did it ever occur to you to just leave things alone and not stick your nose into other peoples business? How do you think she felt when she read that letter?" Emily backed up quickly seeing the rage in Ray's eyes and turned desperately to Tala only to see the anger in his eyes.

"Did you really think that by breaking me up with Kia was going to get me to ask you out? All you've managed to do here was turning my best friend against me! If you think that's going to endear you to me, you are sadly mistaken. I don't know how you planned to get away with this, but at least now we'll be able to fix things." Both girls looked up simultaneously. Emily frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"What he means you red-haired freak, is that we've recorded this entire conversation!" Both girls paled considerably. That's why they had been taken here! Emily lowered her head in defeat, but Mariah lifted her head bravely.

"I'll take the tape to her myself." Both boys looked at her in disbelief. Ray snapped impatiently.

"Why would YOU do that now?"

"Because Ray…I feel I owe her an apology. Even though the letter was Emily's idea, I never should have gone along with it. Beside, with the mood Kia's in right now, I doubt either of you would be able to get within ten feet of her." They looked at each other, ruefully admitting the truth in her words.

They also knew that she meant what she had said. She would never have gone along with it if she had known the contents of that letter.

They did however make a copy of the tape…just in case.

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Jaheira1000: There you go my peeps! I hope you enjoyed it! Sorry it was so short, but I didn't want to do the part where she forgives them too soon. . Ja ne:P