Disclaimer: She's the Man characters were for entertainment purposes in this story only, and they don't belong to me in any way. I do own the storyline though.

"Olivia, darling!" greeted a loud voice on the other side of the room. Looking up as she entered the room, Olivia saw that the voice belonged to the hairdresser, Paul Antonio, who was now approaching the intimidated girl with open arms. When he saw that Olivia didn't look as thrilled as he was, Paul immediately dropped his arms as he stopped in front of her, scrutinizing the girl before him.

"What is wrong?" he asked.

It took a while for Olivia to answer since she was a little hesitant at first, but before a word had fully formed from Olivia, Paul cut her off by snapping at his colleagues.

"Nikki, all my other appointments are canceled for today." A girl with dirty shaggy blonde hair and a piercing on the right side of her nose muttered her reply from behind the counter. "Hans, could you help Maria finish off Mrs. Walkerman's hair curls, Jonsey I need you to clean up after Blake's buzz cut later on, Jules and Craig, come over here and help me." The salon was then busy with movements and Olivia had to wonder if Paul was now running the place.

"The big boss is out today," explained Paul as he read Olivia's expression, he then brought Olivia to the other side of the salon, "I'd figured someone needed to run the place while he's out."

"Yeah, and we are all just mindless sheep following orders around here." said a girl in a low and husky voice as she came up beside Olivia with her wavy dark chocolate hair flowing behind her, "I'm Jules." She then offered a hand towards Olivia, smiling. The blonde girl took it and gave a small shake. As soon as Olivia sat down in her seat, a guy with healthy shoulder length hair fit for a hair commercial came up beside her. "Not to mention Paul just loves bossing people around." He stated, chuckling. He then introduced himself as Craig.

"And I almost forgot you both still have a sarcastic sense of humor." Replied Paul as he ran his fingers through Olivia's hair; studying the texture of her hair. "Olivia, you have been thinking too much, girl." said Paul, changing the subject immediately.

Olivia cringed slightly in her seat, "Is it that obvious?" she asked in a small voice as she looked at Paul through the mirror, "How do you know?"

"Stress not only can be shown on the face, it shows in the hair too." said Craig smugly, proudly knowing his facts. This only made Olivia sink lower in her seat, to which Jules noticed. "Hey smart ass," said Jules as she strongly nudged Craig sideways, "perhaps you could use your smarts to find the right conditioner, then?" She then clicked her tongue and raised an eyebrow at Craig, to which he replied with a small glare. He then made his way to the back storeroom but not before replying, "Alright, Juliet!"

The next second Jules ran after him, growling.

"So would you mind sharing the thoughts or are you gonna just let it eat you up inside?" asked Paul over the small sound of ruckus which now came from the store. Olivia turned her attention to him, "What?" she replied distractedly.

"Olivia," began Paul as he placed his hand on her shoulders and stared squarely at her "I don't need to order another hair expert here to tell you that you're stressed just by looking at your hair, because I can already sense it the moment you stepped in here." Olivia bit the corner of her bottom lip and glanced away as Paul continued. "And I know you didn't come in here just to have your hair washed-"

"Although it's a good thing that you did, Olivia, we can help make you more beautiful than ever before!" chimed Craig as he popped back beside Paul setting the conditioner on the table. "Leave the girl alone, Craig!" barked Jules as she came back tying her wavy hair into a ponytail. "She's already beautiful as she is."

Olivia felt herself blush slightly at that comment and she was glad that everyone around her was too busy with something else to notice.

"Sometimes I wonder how you would get a boyfriend like Clive." wondered Jules as she shook her head slightly. Craig then tilted his head slightly towards Jules. "Well, I could show you in bed-" Jules then grimaced obviously as Craig continued, "but then I remember you're not into that sorta thing!" Craig then laughed as Jules still had the same expression her face. "You're sick!" exclaimed Jules.

Before the two could continue any further into their conversation, Paul interrupted them curtly, "I think both of you are done for the day – thanks for the help." Craig gladly turned around to pack for the day but Jules stayed back. "Yeah, but I haven't offered my services yet." She said cracking her knuckles slightly, "You might wanna need a little bit of relaxing, your shoulders look a little tense." Jules then looked at Olivia in the mirror, winked and smiled at her, showing her dimples.

"Maybe another time, Jules, I need to talk to her first about this one." replied Paul. "Problems, eh?" asked Jules as she dropped her hands to her side and raised her eyebrow once more, "Who is it, the ex boyfriend?"

"Actually," began Paul tentatively, "it's the soon to be girlfriend."

Olivia then caught a second in the reflection when Jules looked a little put down, but as soon as it came it was gone and Jules was smiling again. "Okay cool," she said clapping Paul on the back, "catch you later, Paul." Jules caught Olivia's eyes for a second before looking away and saying "It was nice to meet you, Olivia." The blonde then watched Jules's reflection in the mirror as she walked away from the saloon. "They're cousins, the both of them." said Paul as he watched Olivia through the mirror. Olivia gave a small nod in reply.

"You know, we call her our very own Faith." said Paul amusedly. When Olivia didn't get it, Paul continued, "You know, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"

Olivia's face then lit up slightly as she caught on, "Oh yeah," she replied. Olivia remembered catching a few of the famous cult series when she did. Olivia could then see the resemblance between the fictional character and Jules, and the more she compared both of them, the more she realized there was very little difference between them. A short silence then fell between the two and Olivia used that time to take a look around the saloon. By now, almost everyone had gone back, but there was another elderly customer on her far left. And Olivia knew it had to be Mrs. Walkerman with her hair curls.

"So Olivia," began Paul catching her attention, "are you going to tell me what happened, or would you rather have me guess what's going on?"

Hesitant at first, Olivia Lennox slowly but surely recounted the event that took place between Viola and herself two days ago.

After Olivia was done telling her story, Paul was also done washing her hair. "So why did you leave?" he asked as he washed the remaining shampoo off her hair in the sink. Olivia's brow creased slightly as she stared up at the ceiling above her. "I guess I was scared." She answered softly, Paul observed her, letting her continue. "I was scared that Viola might hurt me again by lying to me," she softly continued, "and I thought she was just saying all those stuff to make me feel better. I was also scared of what might happen between us; will it just be some sort of…experiment to her, what will the school think?" she wondered. "I just didn't want to get hurt by her again…I was terrified that all of it was only a dream." Olivia finished in a whisper.

By now, the only occupants left in the saloon were Paul and Olivia.

Paul led her back to her seat and dried her hair with a towel. "Olivia," began Paul, "I've known Viola Hastings for years now, and I know that the last thing she'd want to do is hurt anyone – especially you of all people." He stated firmly. "I also know that she does feel the same way about you, believe me," chuckled Paul, "you're not the only one who comes looking for me after school asking for advice after they've had a certain encounter with a girl they like!"

Paul then reached for the hairdryer as Olivia began to laugh at his ironic sarcasm.

"And hey," Paul continued over Olivia's laughter, "If I'm wrong and things don't work out between both of you, I'll be glad to tell Jules that you'd be looking forward to that massage!"

Olivia half mocked a look of surprise and before she could come up with a quick reply, Paul had already turned on the loud hairdryer and emphasized that he can no longer hear her over the noise.

----

"Hastings!" yelled a booming voice on the side of the football field, Viola continued kicking the multiple balls lined up on the field into the soccer net. "Hastings, that enough, practices were done an hour ago, go back and rest." Advised the coach.

Viola scored another hard goal into the net. "I'm almost done coach," she replied breathlessly, "Just give me five more minutes."

Coach Dinklage watched as the only girl in the field relentlessly scored goal after goal into the net, each kick becoming harder and more forceful, he wondered where she even had the rest of her energy to kick the ball the way she is now. The sun had already set, leaving a dark hue of orange around the field, and the darkness was soon settling in. Though still concerned for the female soccer player, Dinklage left knowing that there'd be no more use in reminding her to stop; he could only hope that she'd stop soon.

Viola kicked another ball into the net and using the last of her remaining energy; she let out a frustrated yell and kicked the final ball. It missed the post by inches and was now rolling far onto the track and further into the darkness. Irritated by her miss, Viola placed both of her arms behind her head and breathed heavily as beads of sweat continued to roll down the sides of her face. Her legs gave out beneath her, and Viola was soon on the grass trying to steady her breathing.

--Two days-- Thought Viola as she stared at the field that now had footballs strewn all over. Two days since that incident between Olivia and herself, two days since they haven't been talking, two days since Viola has seen Olivia around school even with their shared classes. Viola was beginning to think if she waited for no apparent reason. --Olivia probably wouldn't even want to see me anymore and could've moved on by now.-- Viola then remembered what Duke had said earlier when she voiced her opinion: 'Just give her time, Viola.' He said. She then couldn't help but scoff slightly.

By sheer exhaustion and the feeling of defeat, Viola harshly lied down on the grass and covered her eyes with her arm.

Before sleep could quickly overcome the dark haired girl, Viola heard the grass shift slightly in the distance.

Afraid that it might be the school janitor or Headmaster telling her that she'd been caught in the field after-hours, Viola immediately opened her eyes and quickly sat up to look at her intruder. The first thing that greeted her eyes was the darkness that fell over the entire compound, Viola could then slightly make out a figure as it came to a stop a feet away from her.

"Hey," greeted a gentle voice that Viola recognized all too well but hasn't heard recently, she didn't even know that she missed that voice until now.

Suddenly, bright lights illuminated the entire field and even though it blinded her for a moment, Viola Hastings knew that although she missed the voice, she missed the person that voice belonged to more. And right now, that very person stood before her smiling softly, making her look more radiant as the bright lights shone at her in every angle. Viola's breath then got caught in her throat as a smile tugged at her own lips.

"Olivia."

First, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Let me just say that that little bit of Jules was my veneration for Faith the Vampire Slayer… hahaha. Must've been reading too many BTVS fics lately! Anyways, it took a while to come up with this chapter since I had to figure out how Viola and Olivia would meet…I had a lot of possibilities going in my head and it was kinda hard to pick one scenario. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Till then,

--FlexibleFish--