Sorry that it took longer than last week guys, but I'm back in school cuz I was sick last week. So I am again submerged under homework, club soccer, conditioning, Key Club, and high school try-outs. I hope you enjoy it!
Kel lay peacefully on her bed till she felt the wet nose of Jump being shoved into her face. She pushed the nose away from her face and sleepily pulled the covers over her head to try and get a couple more minutes of rest. Jump seemed to have other plans as he jumped onto the bed and shoved his nose under the covers where Kel's ears and face was. He began to lick them till Kel let out a shriek of defeat and got out of bed. (I go through this routine everyday with my sweet lil chocolate lab :D)
Kel walked through the house not quite realizing where she was going and let Jump into the laundry room and shut the door behind him. She trudged back to the comforts of her bed then heard Jump whimpering and barking till she relented enough to get out of bed to properly let him outside. By the time Kel had fed Jump her alarm was going off in her room and she had to get ready for another day of school.
Kel sleepily turned on the shower in her bathroom, and remembered how she used to be the last one to take showers in their family since she was the youngest. At their house in Mindelan it had only two bathrooms, and Kel's parents had one while the other was used by Kel and her other five siblings. Since Kel had been the youngest she had been the last to take showers, so Kel got used to taking cold showers since after Oranie and Adie used it the hot water was all gone.
Kel jumped in surprise as warm water hit her back and quickly turned it cooler. She washed her hair and skin, and then jumped out of the shower to wrap a pale blue towel around her body. She brushed her shoulder length hair that had summer highlights from playing outside with the neighborhood boys into a messy bun and walked into her room to pick out her clothes. She pulled on a pair of denim jeans and tossed clothes around in her drawer till she found a red shirt that had printed on it, 'Girl's Back Alley Racing.' (heh that's one of my favorite shirts I have)
She collected her homework from the previous night and quickly put it into her binder. She shoved her binder into her school backpack and grabbed all her football gear. Her mom had again made breakfast, but this time she had made waffles with blueberries. Kel quickly stuffed her mouth with a couple and waited for Neal to come to her door. To pass the time by she grabbed her hand strengtheners that were generally used for arthritis and stress.
A couple minutes passed by and Kel finally heard a weak knock at the door that was greeted by Jump's enthusiastic barks. Kel peeked the side window and saw Neal looking tired and worn out. He wore a tight forming black shirt and light blue jeans. He had bags under his eyes and it looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep the previous night. His hair was bedraggled and messy, which was out of character for his usually meticulous self.
Kel swung the door open to and saw her friend almost fall through the door. He had a sleepy frown set on his face like it was being pulled down by weights and his shoulders sagged down from melancholy making him appear cowardly and shorter than he really was.
"Neal what's happened to you?" Kel asked worry and confusion set into the grooves of her face.
"Oh nothing I'm just not much of a morning person." Neal said distractedly.
"But then why are you so tired?"
"Uh….insomnia?"
"C'mon Neal you can tell me."
"Oh alright since you pried it out of me. I was out all night with Yuki. We kind of snuck out with each other and went romping through Center Park." Neal said his eyes getting glazed over when he started talking wistfully about the two of them." We snuck out around midnight and went in her car to Center Park. We found a nice pile of leaves and-"
"Neal I don't mean to interrupt but would you like some blueberry waffles?"
"Blueberries? I love blueberries! As much as I would like to eat some food we do need to get to school before the fruits of our education are squandered." Kel laughed and followed him out the door.
"Neal, did you do any of your homework?" Kel asked as they got into Neal's car.
"Uh no, no I didn't. I was uh busy last night."
"Well do you want to copy my homework for math?"
"Yes dear Keladry that would be most appreciated. You look out for me so much. I would fail to a man at mathematics if it weren't for you." Kel smiled at his giddiness.
As Neal and Kel got to the junior parking lot they heard the loud bell ring. Neal had scribbled down Kel's answers at every stoplight they got and Kel watched the passing scenery with mild interest in the new place she lived at.
She no longer saw fields upon fields, but concrete and cement. It was louder and somehow less inviting. She saw children playing hopscotch and hacky-sack. The only plants she were tall trees that were set up in front of small buildings that were squished together. It seemed the farther into the hub of the city you got to, the farther you go from nature.
Kel came back to reality as they walked through the doors of algebra 2 and ran right into a desk and said excuse me. She made her way to the back of the room and plopped down into her seat behind Neal.
Kel passed her homework up with the rest of the class, and listened to Mr. Ivor's monotone voice as he droned on and on about how important theorems were for your life.
Neal leaned backwards casually and said, "What he's trying to say is that you'll never use this in your life, but you still have to learn how to do it." Kel stifled a chuckle as Mr. Ivor turned around to see if everyone was taking notes.
"Nealan? Would you please be so kind as to join us and actually take out a paper?" Neal snapped forward.
"Actually sir I was just explaining to Kel what a great teacher you are, and how much my father respects you." Neal grinned cheekily.
"Well then please tell the whole class how wonderful I am." Neal who had not expected this looked somewhat confused but relaxed his face to show no panic. He stood up and took out a paper that was entirely blank.
"Dear Neal I am sorry to say that I can't come home for your birthday, Mr. Conte won't allow me to have the day off. But in better news I am enthusiastic to hear that you got Mr. Ivor! He is an extraordinary teacher who should be given a higher promotion since it is obvious he knows what he is talking about. I hope you have a good week. Love, Father." Neal said reading off the blank paper in a theatrical voice.
"Well Mr. Queenscove I will give you credit for creativity and thinking on your feet, but don't let it happen again." Neal nodded his head beaming.
"Well since we got that interruption over on with theorems-" Mr. Ivor was interrupted with the ring signaling the end of the classes. He shouted over the hullabaloo (haha u gotta laugh when you see that word or at least smile), "Do page twenty three numbers one through twenty all."
Kel and Neal shuffled out of class behind everyone else. "So Neal are you going to be able to keep your hands off Yuki if you're in the same room together?" Kel said teasingly.
Neal answered cheekily, "I don't know dear Keladry, after last night with the moonlit walk and the…" Kel blurred out the rest of his wistful talking and walked right into him as he stopped.
"How was your world history class? I've heard that Mr. Olau is very fair and good. Owen is in that class with his cousins, but I doubt you would know him. He is a short boy who you'll find hopping around crying jolly all the time."
Kel stifled a chortle and said, "His cousins and him sit right next to me, yesterday they said jolly so much I thought my head would drown in jolliness."
"Yes that's Owen. Who else would I know that's in your class?"
"Well I have Garvey Runnerspring in my class, and he sits right behind me." Neal winced in sympathy.
"What did he do to you?" Kel looked at him questioningly
"Well he basically hits on every girl that he comes across. Vinson and him always have been like that, they see a girl and it's their "project" for a while. They usually don't give up, get what they want from the girl, and dump the girl in a matter of days."
"Well you don't have to worry about me. He was a total bastard and I eventually gave him a bloody nose." Neal's eyes widened in shock.
"How did you do that?"
"I knocked him out of his desk and his fragile nose hit something I guess. He's just lucky he didn't do it when nobody else was around."
"Why?"
"My mother teaches a fighting style from the Yamani Islands, and I've learned finger holds and numerous other things that could help me against an ass like him."
"That's brilliant, I can't wait till you fight him."
"Neal I only learned it for self-defense and protecting others. I would never pick a fight with him. I can't take advantage of someone just because they are weaker than me, then that would make me a bully."
"There is a fine line between being a bully and putting an ass in his place though Keladry. See you later at lunch, I'll meet you at the front of the lunch line." He waved his hand and hurried off to his class.
Kel shook her head at Neal's antics and thought about what he had said. 'It would be nice to put Garvey in his place, but that would be me taking advantage of him when he doesn't have any type of training. Of course Garvey would hurt people in an instant if he had fighting skills, but that's the difference between Garvey and me.'
Kel entered her world history class and was greeted merrily by Mr. Olau and greeted by Garvey's death glare. She quietly took her seat and as she sat down she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head. She turned around into Garvey's innocent eyes, but Kel looked to Garvey's hand and saw a large handful of rubber bands.
As Mr. Olau began to speak about the problems in the Bazhir deserts Kel turned her head around and began to take notes. Kel felt sharp pains in the back of her neck for the rest of the class, until Mr. Olau finally saw that she winced every couple minutes. He sent Garvey out of the room like a spoiled child, and shut the door on his face.
"Now that we have the distraction out of the way lets continue to discuss about the Bazhir's life style." The rest of his discussion went through one ear and out the other for Kel. She mindlessly scrawled notes down and didn't register anything she wrote. As the bell rang Kel simultaneously put everything away like her peers and walked out the door.
Kel walked over to the lunch area and waited under a tree that was painted red and decided to hide from the sun under the canopy of the tree. As Kel got ready to sit down she was pulled up from her spot and pushed to the ground.
"What do you think you're doing?" the tall boy asked.
"I was just going to sit down and eat lunch." Kel said looking into the tall boy's dark brown eyes. The boy was broad shouldered and looked strong, but it could have been how his body was structured. His brown hair was wavy and wisped into his face to cover most of his forehead. He was tanned and his brown eyes went well with his complexion.
"No I don't think you are, in case you haven't noticed this is the senior tree. Notice the red paint on it." He said rolling his eyes." Now go back with all your little friends." He added nudging Kel backwards, but Kel fell to her back with all the weight that was behind her from her backpack.
She hid her humiliation behind her calm face and walked to the end of the lunch line where she had said she would meet Neal. He was waiting with Yuki attached to his arm. He saw her calm and emotionless face and asked her what was wrong.
Ignoring the question she instead asked, " Neal what's up with that tree? Why can't I sit under there?"
"Oh that's the senior tree. The red color is their class color just like ours is orange. Anyways only seniors can sit under the senior tree, well there was one junior but…" Neal talked on and on about a person Kel didn't know. Yuki had a bored expression on her face, but she pretended to listen animatedly to Neal.
Neal led Kel and Yuki to where there was a tree that had Owen from her history class, Faleron and Cleon from biology were under the tree. There were also other boys that she hadn't met. Neal seemed to have forgotten what he was talking about and introduced everyone.
"Guys this is Keladry Mindelan. Kel the guys are Cleon Kennan, Owen Jesslaw, Seaver Tasride, Merric Hollyrose, and Esmond Nicoline." They all nodded their heads and kissed her hand giddily. They all seemed friendly enough, but Kel was wary.
They all ate their food in silence except for the occasional thrown food at Neal when he tried to recite poetry for Yuki. Yuki would profusely giggle nonstop till Neal kissed to stop her giggling.
After they had all eaten they had walked around a little and stopped sporadically for Yuki to reapply her makeup. As the bell rang Neal, Kel, and Yuki walked to their classes and Yuki and Neal parted with a kiss.
Neal and Kel made it barely into the classroom as the bell rang. Kel pulled her pants since they had run down from running to the class.' I need to get a belt,' she thought as she saw some suggestive glances her way. Kel rolled her eyes in response to the glances while Neal glared at them. Kel and Neal took their pottery wheels and listened idly to Mr. Oakbridge talk about spinning the wheel to fast.
Behind Kel sat Joren and Garvey. Both stared longingly when they saw Kel walk into the room. Her jeans were already a low cut, but they seemed lower than humanly possible. The only thing that seemed to keep them up was her shapely hips. The low jeans showed off her tanned stomach. Joren watched as she hiked up pants, and leaned back into his seat,' Bad hormones, bad. I shouldn't think of that shit like that. She's an athlete.'
'But she looks so innocent, not like the girls I've dated. They were sluts and whores. I bet that girl hasn't even kissed anyone before.'
'Why the hell do I care if she looks innocent? She wouldn't give me the time of day and neither would I.'
Garvey interrupted his thoughts by nudging him in the ribs. Joren barely felt it due to the muscles, but turned when he felt the vibration. He saw Garvey with a piece of gum in his hand and a straw. He saw as Garvey put the gum into the straw and aimed it at the girl's hair. Joren watched with utter disbelief as the gum flew through the air and hit the girl's shirt instead of head.
"Nice going Garvey you missed the girl's hair." Joren whispered feigning exasperation.
"I'm sorry that my aim is so bad sir." He replied saluting smartly. Neal turned around to the sound of the two talking behind him and saw where their glances went. He quickly pulled the wet gum off Kel's shirt before she saw what had happened. He threw the gum back at Garvey's head and hit him directly in the middle of his forehead.
Garvey tried in vain to get the bit of gum off his forehead, but only pulled off skin. His head resulted in being a little bloody from pulling the skin off so hard. The bell rang and Garvey let out a yelp as he pulled off an extra big piece of skin off.
Kel turned around to see Garvey in pain and grinned outright." Garvey you do know that gum is supposed to go in your mouth right?"
Garvey muttered something, but Kel had already walked away." Gods that bitch is aggravating!"
"Yeah really aggravating." Joren said off handedly. Joren tugged on his earring thoughtfully and watched as the girl walked out the door. Her hips rolled in motion to her swaying legs and she turned her the corner and was lost from his vision.
Joren went through a boring class of biology with Garvey making snide remarks the entire time and Zahir chortling along to whatever he said. Zahir seemed to actually listen to what Mr. Lindhall said about the lizard bird, but Joren thought he was delusional. He always seemed to refer to the bird as Bonedancer.' Why the hell would you name something that is dead?'
Kel ignored Mr. Lindhall abstractedly and looked inside one of the cages that held a small box turtle and another held an assortment of birds in it. Kel heard the bell ring and trudged her way to the girl's locked room. She dialed her locker's lock and closed her ears to Yuki's constant chatter that sounded like a chipmunk.
Kel slid on her powder blue jersey that was bordered with gold. On the back was her lucky number eight. She pulled on her Mindelan helmet and lastly pulled on the blue pants. Kel strapped on her boots and took her football out of her bag and marched towards the field.
She found all her friends huddled together and they all decided to pass to each other. Neal occasionally ran long for Kel and she would throw it perfectly to him. As Kel stretched her arms Coach Wyldon walked out with Joren and his friends at his flank.
"Everyone take a lap." All the boys followed his command and jogged steadily around the track that surrounded the football field. Merric and Kel ran easily by each other as Neal ran to the very front with Cleon right behind him.
Neal stretched together and went into drills. They had people stand with small cushions in front of them, and people would tackle those people. And of course Coach Wyldon put Kel as the dummy for the seniors. Kel was hit repeatedly till she thought she would fall, but never faltered a step in fear that Coach Wyldon would punish her.
Joren made it his duty to go into the senior section and hit Kel as hard as he could. Every time he made contact with Kel's body his own body quivered in ecstasy. He tried to control the joy that swept through him, but his hormones seemed to be out of control around her. He took his anger out on her instead, but the anger vanished when he came in contact with her.
"Everyone switch up!" Coach Wyldon bellowed over the din," Mindelan you keep going where you are."
"Yessir." They continued the drill, but with some boys with fresh legs that were able to go harder at Kel's pitiful shield. They continued the same drill till there was twenty minutes left and Wyldon called them in.
"Lads we're going to do some conditioning now. Break up into groups of two. We're doing intervals," he said grinning evilly.
"What are intervals?" Kel asked as a first set of boys sprinted off from the track.
"Intervals are punishment work sent down by the gods to punish those that are insolent to their superiors, or to get into condition." He said shrugging." I prefer the idea of the Stump punishing us though."
"The Stump?"
"Yes its what I call Coach Wyldon, have you ever anyone so stiff."
"I guess not…" Kel's voice trailed off as she found that her and Neal had reached the front of the line and watched as Neal took a stance to start off quickly.
In the distance she could hear Yuki rooting Neal on," Go Neal! You can do it honey!"
Before Kel was ready Coach Wyldon shouted," Go!" and Kel found herself pushed from the back by non other than Joren. Kel scrambled to get up to catch up with the fading Neal.
When she finally caught up to Neal he was at a fast paced jog. He had sprinted a fourth of the lap and started jogging.
"Why did you stop sprinting?"
"Because intervals are where you do a fourth a lap the jog a fourth then jog a fourth again. By that time you are done with a lap." They got to the point where they had to sprint again and took off. Kel tried to keep up with Neal's long legs in vain.
As they got to where they had to jog again Neal continued his explanation," Next we sprint a half a lap then jog a half. Then after that we sprint a full lap then jog a full lap. It gradually goes down the opposite way. So don't spend all your energy on the first half. You got to dig deep in the end."
"Dig deep for what?" Kel asked confusedly. Her question was unanswered as they started their half and Kel kept up with Neal's long strides the farther they got into the run.
"For- ener- gy- of- course." Neal said with ragged breath.
Kel just did an affirmative nod and continued her jog. Neal and Kel continued on their way around the track Kel gradually gaining the upper hand on the runs till the end when she was ahead of him by a couple strides.
Coach Wyldon dismissed the tired boys and girl and they all trudged their way to the separate locker rooms.' Gods I hope Yuki isn't riding with Neal today, because I feel like I could punch somebody today.'
Kel didn't bother with changing out of her jersey and walked to where Neal's car was. Yuki and Neal both came out with each other hand in hand. The lovers sat in the front seat and Kel hopped into the back.
Kel fell asleep to the melancholic voice in the music that Neal had put on. She didn't wake up when Neal slammed on the breaks to avoid hitting a cat or when he shouted goodbye to Yuki. She woke up only when Neal stood beside her and shook her awake. Kel groggily sat up and grabbed her parcels. She went into her house and passed out for a couple hours only to be woken to do her homework and training.
Well guys that's the laziest I have ever been 2 weeks! I am so sorry! I'm not even supposed to be typing right now, but studying for a history test about the Philosophers of the Industrialization.
Well its been a hectic week and it all came out good in the end for soccer because I made JV!!!! My school soccer team is really good and I would have been lucky to just make the team. And only two freshmen made the JV! Wow okay I will stop bragging now, but I felt I should tell you guys why I had been gone.
Well next week is Thanksgiving and I will have four and a half days off from school so maybe I will be able to update sooner. Thanks so much to all you ppl that reviewed you guys are so awesome! Sorry if this chapter is off, it doesn't feel really coordinated or together, but hope you enjoyed it. Now all you special people are:
Alannas Modern Day Twin- you were lazy, but still reviewed I feel so loved, I hope you enjoy this chapter even though its prolly one of my worst chapters. Thanks for the review!
daughter of the moon- I am so happy you like it! Hopefully you aren't let down by the chapter but I will try to see this fic through to the end. Thanks for the review!
oceanspike- the queen of short reviews…but at least you do review, thanks for the review!
Tarian-Kai- I know what you mean, but this is just a fun fic where I get to put out a lot of steam from my school and crap. I lot of the things in here have actually happened to me so I'm just expressing myself and putting it on paper. I tried to avoid stereotyping Yuki so I might do that for a while, then go and trash her in one chapter :D. Thanks for the comments and I will work on it!
perturbedpercy- interesting name, thanks for the review!
S- sorry that it wasn't very soon, but here ya are. Sorry for the crappy chapter, but my mind has been distracted lately. Thanks for the review!
warrior of tortall- hooray someone who doesn't care how often I update! Well here it is a week later than I wanted it to be, thanks for the encouragement.
ossini- your welcome for the happy booster, I hope this gives you one (crosses fingers) would you mind if I used yur name for my Bazhir fic? Cuz I really like the name, but I wanted your consent first,. Thanks for the review!
Alenor- what're you talking about the aussie accent is even better! They are surfers and accents! Heh anyways to yur question we also have thirteen years and then college after that. I have met plenty of guys who are shallow asses like errr…Garvey yeah never Joren lol. As you can see he still likes her, but tries to blame it on hormones, how cute. Thanks for review!
Yuna of Pirates' Cove- ack! Don't die (gets Joren to do CPR on you) that should get you to come back ;D. Well someone for Yuki bashing hooray! Thanks for the review!
msmightypen- lol its fun having different sides to characters, thanks for the review!
Parcheezie- (hands a basket of oatmeal cookies) hooray you didn't die! Cuz I would die without yur stories! Thanks for the review!
Ti-Ti- sorry but I was sick when I was updating and now I am somewhat healthy and have tons of homework and soccer. I was going to have Yuki break up with Neal, but then Gwen and me decided it would be going to fast. So thanks for the review!
Imperfectionist ;D- lol I was sick for the three days, but it did just pour here. It snowed seven feet in the mountains, which is three hours away. We should definitely switch for a week cuz that would be awesome! (sigh and thinks of British guys and rain) Thanks for the review and update Gods Pugna!
alianne of conte- lol his ego will be deflated soon lol, thanks for sticking with my fics. Thanks for the review!
Well thanks everybody for weathering the storm, I'm going to do Gwen's challenge in my next chapter so it should be very funny. Lol. Please review people, I would appreciate it very much. Oh and if you do happen to review can you put what your favorite accent is please. Any questions about the story don't be afraid to email or write a review!Till next time…