Another chapter, another day. Or, I guess that you could say that. Yeah, putting up a new chapter for a story every night after staying up really late to write is slightly taxing, but it is unbelievably worth it. Anyway, I guess that we should continue, right? But, first, allow me to say this. I thank all of you for your OC submissions, and I fully intend to use them. Obviously, when I do use them, you shall be credited, so don't worry about that. Now, on with the chapter.

Do I Even Deserve to Date Her?

"Please." Mei pleaded, sitting next to me on my couch. "I promise that you'll have fun."

I threw my head back, sighing, and said, "I just don't see why I should go. I mean, I'm a fucking morph, and I'll be going out in public. That doesn't exactly scream 'fun' for me. Only for the random people on the sidewalk who just so happen to be carrying something to throw at me."

"C'mon, man," Skyler said, "I seriously doubt that people would throw shit at you."

I laughed, and said, "You'd think that people would have that much decency, wouldn't you? Sadly, you are wrong." He looked at me, confused, so I said, "To put it simply, I was the best dodge ball player at my old school, and not by choice."

He shrugged, and said, "Fair enough."

Mei sighed, and said, "Please. You'll enjoy it, I know you will."

"No, I won't." I retorted. "And neither will you three, once you're seen with me."

Mei sighed again, and said, "Y'know, Mackenzie, you could be helping with this, as well."

The girl just shrugged in response, from her position next to Skyler. Which happened to be, against my wishes, but I kept silent, on the kitchen counter.

"Well, it is his choice, technically." She replied. "Do I think that he'd enjoy it? Yes. Do I think that the day would be better if the whole group was there, rather than just the three of us? Absolutely. But, as I said, it's his choice, and if he doesn't want to go, than he doesn't want to go. And, besides, we all know that he's speaking the truth."

Mei glared at her, and said, "Thanks for the support." She once again turned to me, and said, "Please. I promise that if you don't enjoy it, I'll never make you go again."

I sighed, prepared to shoot her down again, but I made the mistake of looking down at her. I was suddenly struck helpless by her wide puppy dog eyes, the ones that she somehow managed to make look exactly like an anime character, slight teary shine and all.

"Why do you have to know my weakness so well?" I sighed, out. "Fine, I'll go to the town with you guys tomorrow."

"Awesome." Mei said, wrapping her arms around me.

"Just be prepared to dodge things being thrown at us." I said. "Trust me, no matter how harmless you think that a tomato is, it hurts like hell when it's thrown at you from the passenger window of a truck that's going ninety."

"Yeah, we'll watch out for that." Skyler said.

"That's reassuring." I replied. "I'd hate for any of you to get hurt because of me."

Mackenzie pulled out her phone, and said, "Hey, I need to get going. If not, I'll be locked out again. And I'm pretty sure that no one will let me in this time."

"Yeah, I should get going, as well." Skyler said. "My roommate gets pissed whenever I get back late."

"C'mon, do you really give a fuck about what he thinks, though?" I asked.

Skyler shrugged, and said, "No, not really. But I don't want to have to listen to him rant tonight, so there is that."

"True, true." I replied, nodding. "See you guys."

"Bye." Mei said, as they left.

They waved to us, as the door shut behind them.

I looked down at Mei, and said, "So, I assume that you're staying here tonight."

She nodded, and said, "Yep."

"Alright then." I said, pulling her into a hug. "Shall we go to the bed, or will we fall asleep on the couch tonight?"

She pushed me down onto the couch, before getting on top of me, and lying down, saying, "Right here sounds nice."

"No complaints." I said, pulling her tighter against me.

I woke up to my alarm blaring next to my head. Mei groaned lightly, raising her head off of my chest some.

"Does that thing have to be so annoying?" She asked me.

I shrugged, and said, "If you want it to wake us up, than yes."

She sighed, and said, "I guess that it'd be good for it to wake us up."

She rolled off of me, landing on her feet on the floor. I followed her, my boots hitting the carpet with a muffled thud.

I stretched, and said, "So, what do you want for breakfast?"

"I don't really know." Mei replied. "Honestly, I'm not too hungry. You?"

"No, not really." I agreed. "I mean, we did eat a large dinner last night."

"We both showered last night, so do you wanna just grab Skyler, go and get the coffee, and then swing by mine and Mackenzie's dorm and grab her?" She asked me.

"Sure." I replied. "It'll give me a chance to see your dorm, as well."

"Yeah, you haven't visited yet, have you?" She said, as we started for the door.

"Nope." I replied. "Is it any different from mine?"

She suddenly seemed to grow slightly embarrassed, and she said, "Well, you could say that, yes."

I just shrugged off the slight change in her attitude, as I opened the door. I held it open for Mei as she walked through, before following her, grabbing my jacket from the counter as I went. I quickly locked the door, and we started down the hallway.

"So, where exactly did you say Skyler's place is?" I asked.

"Just downstairs." She replied. "A-10, actually."

"Alright then." I said, as we went down the stairs. "I bet meeting his jock roommate will be an amazing experience."

"Trust me, it's rather underwhelming." She said.

"Oh?" I asked, as I put my jacket on and zipped it up. "Have you met him?"

"Unfortunately, yes." She said, sounding annoyed. "And he is just like all the other guys here. An asshole who loves hitting on me, and thanks that I should get on my knees immediately for them, just because they come from a rich family and have muscles."

"Well, that's rather descriptive." I said, as we hit the ground floor and started down the hallway. "But, don't you come from a rich family, as well."

She once again became extremely embarrassed, and just said, "I guess. Let's not talk about that right now, huh?"

"Um, okay." I replied. "If you say so."

She really doesn't enjoy talking about that stuff. I wonder why? At this point, we reached room A-10, and Mei went up to the door, while I stood back a foot or so and just leaned up against the wall.

"If it's all the same with you," I said, flipping my hood onto my head, "I'll just chill over here while you get him."

"That's fine." Mei replied, as I put my head down, staring at the floor. "It'd probably make the conversation much less odd if his roommate answers."

She knocked on the door and, within seconds, it was answered by a guy who appeared to be a few inches shorter than me, about Mei's height. He was wearing only a pair of gym shorts, allowing the whole world to see his obvious muscle definition, and he appeared to be sweating slightly, indicating that he had been working out. This fuck has absolutely been waiting for her.

"Oh, hey Mei." The guy greeted. "Didn't know that you were coming over this morning."

Bullshit, kid. I could feel my anger rising as I watched the asshole's eyes drop lower on Mei's body.

Mei sighed, and said, "Hello, Josh. Could you tell Skyler that I'm here? I came to pick him up."

Josh scoffed, and said, "I don't know why you hang out with that loser. He's such a worthless person."

"Would you just tell him that I'm here?" Mei asked again, starting to sound agitated.

"Woah, calm down there, girl." Josh said, causing me to flick my tail angrily. "He's just getting out of the shower. Anyway, enough about him. So, how about you and I go on a little date soon, eh?"

Mei sighed, and said, "C'mon, you ass, you know that I'm taken already."

"Still dating the freak, then?" He said, seeming to not notice me. "I'm telling you, just ditch the fucker and get with me. I don't care that you've been hanging out with the freak of nature. All I'll want is a little apology." He winked at her, motioning downwards, and said, "And I know the perfect way to apologize."

And now would be when I intervene. I left the wall and stalked over to the duo, standing behind Mei.

"Now, what exactly were you saying to my girlfriend?" I growled, towering over the shorter person.

Josh's eyes traveled up from Mei's chest, to my face. His eyes widened slightly, and a small look of fear seemed to creep into them.

"Oh, um, nothing." He said, slowly backing up. "I wasn't saying anything to her, sir."

"That's what I thought." I growled in response. "Now, how about you go and tell Skyler that we're here."

Josh nodded, and shut the door, before we heard his feet leave the door quickly. I let out a small sigh, before backing away from the door and leaning against the wall. Mei just stood there, looking at me, slightly shocked, as the door reopened, revealing Skyler, his slightly damn hair hidden under a black beanie, and a jacket only half on.

"Dude, what the fuck did you do?" He asked me, stepping out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. "Fucking Josh came to get me, and he looked like he saw a ghost, or some shit."

I just shrugged, and said, "I just used his own poor observance, as well as my natural odd appearance, to teach him to pay more attention. Well, that, and I taught him how to speak to a woman, especially when her boyfriend's around."

"And, how exactly did you do that?" Skyler asked.

I shrugged, and Mei said, "He just startled him, really. Granted, I imagine that they height difference, as well as the fact that you're a morph helped."

Skyler sighed, and said, "Yeah, I guess. Anyway, are we going to go and meet up with Mackenzie?"

"Yeah, let's go." Mei said, nodding.

We started down the hall, heading for the door. We left the dorm, out into the steady rainfall that had started.

Mei groaned, and said, "Seriously? Does it have to rain everyday here?"

"It pretty much has." I replied. I took off my jacket, draping it over her, saying, "Here."

"Thanks." She replied. "Remind me that I need to get my jacket when we get to the dorm."

I nodded, and we continued across the grounds, the rain starting to soak my fur.

"Hey, I'll go and grab the coffee, while you two get Mackenzie." Skyler said. "We can meet back up at the gate."

"Alright." Mei said. "See you then."

Skyler split away from us, and we continued to the female dorm. We entered the building, and I shook my head lightly, knocking some of the rain droplets off of my fur.

"So, which floor is your guys' room on?" I asked.

"Floor C, the top one." She replied. "C'mon."

We started up the stairs, heading for the top floor.

"So, is your room actually different than mine?" I asked.

"Well, some." She said, once again getting embarrassed. "Not too much, really."

We reached the top floor, and I immediately noticed a difference. The doors appeared to be much fewer, and they were a longer distance away from each other. We eventually reached room C-5, and Mei stopped in front of it.

"Here it is." She said, her voice sounding the same as before. "So, if you'll just wait here, then I'll go and grab Mackenzie, and we can get on our way."

"What?" I asked, confused. "Why do you want me to wait here?"

"Because, um," she said, obviously thinking of some excuse, "well, the room's a mess. I wouldn't want you to see it in its current state."

"C'mon, Mei," I said, sighing, "you and I both know that that's bullshit. C'mon, just let me see your dorm."

She sighed, and said, "Fine, you can see it."

She pulled her key from her pocket. She slid the key in the lock, and turned it. There was a small clicking sound, and she opened the door. We stepped in, and I was shocked at what I saw. We were standing in the living room, only that it appeared to be the size of both my living room, and my bedroom combined. In it, were three different couches, with a giant, almost movie theatre-esque screen on the opposite wall. To my left, was a complete, full sized kitchen, more than doubling the size of my own. I looked at Mei, and she was staring at me, an embarrassed look on her face.

"What is with this place?" I asked.

She shrugged, and said, "Well, this is our dorm."

"Why is it this fucking big?" I asked her.

Mei sighed, before saying, "How about I go and tell Mackenzie that we're here; then I'll explain it while she gets ready."

I nodded, and she went into the bedroom. As she opened the door, I could see into the room, and I saw a queen size bed on the far wall. Mei shut the door, and returned a few minutes later.

"Okay, she's getting dressed." Mei said. "So, you were wondering why this place looks different?" I nodded, and she sighed, before saying, "Well, the reason is because this is the highest tier room."

"Highest tier room?" I asked. "There are tiers?"

"Yes." She said, nodding. "The three tiers are A, B, and C. They are labeled by price and quality. Now, normally, you'd think that it'd go from A to C, but they actually messed up when designing the female dorm, so they just made the male one to match."

"So, essentially, the C room is the most expensive and best, while the B rooms are the least expensive and worst." I said.

"Well, I wouldn't say that it's the worst." She said. "Just, the lesser of the three."

"If you say so." I replied.

"Trust me," she said, putting her hand on my chest, "it's not that bad of a room." I just sighed, and she said, "Listen, I'm going to go and grab my jacket, then I'll be back."

I nodded, and she went into the bedroom again. I just sighed, dropping down onto one of the stools at the counter. Seriously? Does money speak that much? I started running through the past few weeks in my head, doubt starting to slip into my mind. Fuck, do I even deserve to date Mei? I mean, I'm a poor, scrawny, freak. Why would she want me, rather than one of the more rich and built guys that go here? I shook my head, trying to clear it of those toxic thoughts. Shut the hell up, damn it. She must like me, or else we wouldn't be together to begin with. But, why does she like me? I wasn't able to dwell on the thought for long, before Mei and Mackenzie left the bedroom, both of them with jackets on, and mine in Mei's hand.

"Alright, let's go." Mackenzie said, handing me my jacket.

I nodded, and stood up. We left the room, heading for the stairs. We hurried down the stairs, and outside, into the rain. We saw Skyler already waiting at the gate, and we rushed towards him.

"It took you guys long enough." He said, when we reached him. "I've been standing here waiting for, like, ten minutes."

"Sorry." Mackenzie said. "I had to change clothes."

"C'mon, let's go." Mei said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "We're all here now, so let's get going."

Skyler passed out the drinks, and we left the school grounds, starting down the road.

"So," I asked, "where exactly are we planned to go on this trip?"

Mei just shrugged, and said, "We haven't actually planned anything, really. We're mostly just going to wander around, and see what happens."

"Sounds good to me." I replied.

We reached the city limits within twenty minutes. By the time that we reached the city, the rain had all but stopped, so we dropped our hoods and started walking on the sidewalk. The city didn't appear to be too big, really. It just seemed to have a few restaurants, a movie theatre, and a mall.

"So, where to first?" Mackenzie asked.

"The mall?" Mei suggested.

We all agreed, and we started off for the mall. As we got deeper into the city, I flipped my hood up and wrapped my tail closer to my body, bringing the tip into the bottom of one of the legs of my jeans, hiding the yellow ring.

"What are you doing?" Mei asked me, moving closer to me.

"Hiding." I answered.

"Hiding?" She asked, confused. "Why for, exactly?"

"I'd prefer to not be noticed." I said. "Y'know, trying to keep any hatred and drama down."

"Oh, c'mon." She said. "You don't have to hide. I doubt that people will notice you."

I chuckled, and said, "Oh, you'd be surprised. I'd still just prefer to not risk it."

Mei sighed, and said, "Whatever. I guess that it doesn't really matter."

We reached the mall and entered through the front door. The mall seemed to be fairly crowded, but not too badly. We started roaming through the mall, my hood staying up and my tail wrapped around my body.

We stepped out of the movie theatre that was in the mall, leaving through the one that led outside, causing us to be bathed in the rising moonlight. We had been watching some horror movie. It was like every single other horror movie of this generation, relying on nothing but shitty jump scares and dark corridors, causing every single "frightening" part of the movie to be horridly predictable. Hell, in the end, it was so much like every other damn horror movie out there, that I honestly couldn't remember what the hell it's name was.

"Well, that movie was…. a thing." Skyler commented.

"It was alright." Mackenzie said. "I mean, it was some cheap entertainment."

"It was shitty entertainment." Mei said, from her position where she was walking next to me, my arm around her.

"Yeah, not the best." I said. "But, look at it this way, it can help get us hyped for anything stupid that people pull in two weeks."

"Oh, yeah." Skyler said, adjusting his beanie. "Halloween isn't too far off."

"That also means that the annual Halloween costume dance isn't too far off, either." Mei pointed out.

"Oh, I can't wait." Mackenzie said, almost squealing in excitement.

I chuckled, and said, "Big fan of dances?"

She shrugged, and said, "Mostly just Halloween dances. I love seeing people in costumes either moshing or raving."

"So, we are all going to it, right?" Mei asked.

We all said our forms of agreement.

Skyler chuckled, and said, "Hey, Cloud, I wonder what your costume will be."

I thought for a second, before saying, "I think I'll go as an Espeon. You know, go as an anthropomorphic Pokemon, something that you don't see every day."

We all started laughing, as we continued down the street. Suddenly, we were interrupted by a figure dashing between Skyler and Mackenzie, almost knocking them off of their feet, and grabbing Skyler's hat from his head in the process.

As the figure took off down the street, Skyler yelled out, "Hey, asshole, that's my hat!"

Without thinking, I released Mei and took off sprinting after the figure. He looked behind him and, upon seeing me, he put on an extra burst of speed. How the hell can that kid go so fast? I quickly used Extreme Speed to catch up to him, just in time to watch him turn down a dark alley. I followed him, until I saw the kid, stopped, staring at a tall wire fence.

"Hey, kid!" I yelled out, causing the figure to turn around. "Give me my friends hat back!"

As the kid stood there, seemingly in shock, I examined him. He appeared to be wearing a pair of jeans, as well as two jackets. One was hooded, with the hood on his head, similar to my own, with the second on being topped with a white fluff collar. The oddest part about the kid, though, was his eyes. His right one was a deep crimson, while the left one appeared to be a sky blue color.

The kid scoffed, before saying, "Whatever. I was just joking, anyway. Besides, I can't stand hats."

The kid threw Skyler's hat towards me, but it fell short, landing on the ground. I picked it up, noticing that it was, thankfully, dry and clean. I looked back up to the kid, just to see him climbing the fence with ease. As he leapt from the top, one more thing caught my attention. His jacket ruffled slightly in the back as he dropped, causing me to be able to see his body some. I saw what appeared to be a fairly long blade sticking out of the back of his jeans, the light reflecting off of it.

And, just like that, he was gone. I stood there for a few more moments, just watching where he disappeared to, wondering if he would come back. After I decided that he wouldn't, I turned around, starting to walk back to where I left the others. As I was walking, I allowed my mind to wander. That was weird. He seemed much too fast for a human, yet he obviously wasn't a morph. And then there's always the long blade. I was interrupted from my thoughts, by feeling arms wrapped around me. I came back to Earth, to find that Mei had rushed up to me and was currently hugging me, while Mackenzie and Skyler were a few steps behind her.

When Skyler reached me, I held his hat out, and said, "Here. I got it back."

"Thanks." He said, accepting his hat.

He put it back on, as Mei said, "So, you actually chased him down?"

I nodded, and said, "Yeah. I mean, he stole Skyler's hat. Was I meant to leave him alone?"

She shrugged, and said, "No, not really."

With that, we started the walk home, trying to get back before the gates were closed.

So, good chapter? Yeah, I know, I ended it with a minor cliff hanger, but you shall have to get over it. And, to the one person who knows what the cliff hanger actually is: don't you dare tell anyone, or I will kill you... yeah, I'm nice. So, this chapter is actually fairly long, in my opinion. Or, at least, for this story. Anyway, how was getting to see a new side of Cloud for a minute amount of time? Was it fun? I don't know. Anyway, guys, thanks for reading, and don't forget about the poll on my profile if you want to help decided what my next story is. Goodbye.