Sorry everyone. I know it's taking me forever to update! But please just stay with me, I'll try harder. I swear!

Chapter 11

Competition Part 1

"Do you think the guys are worried?" Ikezawa Aine asked her teammates.

"Nope, not at all," Kumiko stated, sipping a cup of tea.

The girls had been walking around the beach and met a nice elderly couple. When it started to storm, the girls had followed the old couple to their small beach cabin. The cabin was small, but nice and comfortable. It had a very homey feeling.

"Kawaii!" Koizumi shouted out, glomping Kumiko. "You look exactly like a doll!"

"Get off me!" Kumiko shouted out, laughing.

"So . . ." Miki started. "Did any of you meet the girls' tennis teams for the other schools? Did you meet any of the guys too?"

"Yeah, I met some people," Koizumi answered. "The girls were . . . okay I guess. And the guys were totally rude. Especially some guy named Atobe I think."

Ayumi almost spit out her tea, but she regained her posture and gave Koizumi a serious look. "Don't go near Atobe. He's a serious player, plus, he's also a spoiled brat. He thinks he can get anything he wants, and he—"

"Looks like someone knows Atobe well," Kumiko said.

"Well, yeah," Ayumi admitted, crossing her arms across her chest. "Our families are pretty well known, and our families often have dinner together. I don't like him very much."

"Hey, Tsubaki," Koizumi asked, turning towards the captain. "You've been acting really strange ever since we left the beach house. Is it because of what you accidentally said?"

Tsubaki turned towards her teammates and sighed. "Yeah. You know what will happen if people find out. I might even be kicked out of the school."

The room was silent for a few minutes before Saori shouted out, "It's so boring here! When is the storm going to let up?!"

"Calm down, Saori," Aine said. "We'll be out of here soon. And don't be so rude! We're guests at someone's house."

"I can't help it! It bothers me to just sit still for long periods of time like this!"

Saori then rapidly jumped up and ran outside of the door.

"Saori!" everyone yelled out.

They were all about to go after her, but Kumiko stopped them. The look on her face would be enough to make anyone sit back down. "Just leave her. It's her own fault that she ran out like that. Anyways, I'm pretty sure that nothing is going to happen to her."

"Pretty sure?!" everyone said back to her. "You're so heartless Kumiko! How can you just let one of your friends run away like that?"

"Maybe I can't," Kumiko replied, leaving everyone (except Tsubaki) a bit confused.

"Stop confusing everyone!"

"I'm sorry. That's just how I am." With that Kumiko had a smirk on her face that soon turned into a creepy smile, causing everyone to look away from her.

The storm let up about thirty minutes after Saori ran out of the cabin. Everyone stood up from their positions and stretched a bit. To be honest, they didn't like to sit still and do nothing in a cabin either, it was just that they had more control than Saori did on that kind of stuff. She always was acting on her physical emotions. She couldn't stand still for too long, or else she would feel trapped.

"I wonder if Saori is okay," Aine whispered.

"Of course she is! She's a big girl!" Koizumi gave out a big laugh and slapped Aine on the back.

In the distance, the girls could hear something calling them. But they thought it was just the wind so they ignored it. But the sound came again, except even louder this time. They all turned back to see the guys' tennis team running towards them, and they were soaking wet.

"What idiots," Kumiko whispered under her breath, only to receive an elbow in the stomach from Tsubaki.

"Be polite everyone, they did come looking for us," Tsuabki scolded.

Tezuka was the first to arrive, and he said, "Oguri-san. I hope that everything is under control. We all got very worried about you guys when you didn't come back once the storm started."

Snickers were heard in the background, along with a few "yeah right"s from the girls. They didn't believe the guys would ever go and do something like this to them, especially since they were still in their war. Even if they were forced to be nice to each other, they were still fighting on the inside.

"Really, huh? Worried?" Ayumi questioned.

Ayumi received a glare from Tsubaki, and she immediately shut up.

"Thank you for trying to search for us, Tezuka-san," Tsubaki said.

"It was no problem, truly."

"Ai! How come you girls aren't wet?!" Eiji whined.

"Because we're good like that," Kumiko stated. "Unlike you guys, we were geniuses and went inside before the storm started."

"Um, did any one of you guys see Saori?" Miki asked.

Both of the tennis teams were silent for a moment. The truth was that none of them saw Saori.

"Oi! Now we have to search for her?" Kumiko groaned.

"Stop being mean, Kumiko!" Aine huffed.

"I'm not! I'm just saying . . . I bet we're all tired from the storm. She's probably back at the cabin, being harassed by who knows who."

"Um . . . that's probably true," Momo said.

"What?!" all of the girls (except Tsubaki) screamed out. "What are you talking about."

"Well . . . there is the Rikkai and Hyotei boy and girl teams back at our cabin. They got stuck there when the storm started."

"Oh great! She's stuck with the loser player!" Ayumi groaned.

"Loser player?" the guys questioned.

"Never mind that! We have to get back to the cabin now!"

"What are you afraid that someone is going to make a move on her or something?" Inui asked.

"No! I'm afraid that someone is going to make her angry or something, and she's going to get into a fight with someone!"

No one replied to that comment, instead, they all started running towards the cabin. The sand was making them slower, and they were working a bit harder than if they were running on concrete or dirt.

"Wow! This is good exercise!" Faye stated.

"Of course it is," Fuji replied. "Anything I do with you is good."

Faye groaned internally at Fuji's attempt at trying to make her like him. They weren't even in front of a crowd, there was no reason for him to say that. She could tell from Fuji's aura that he was just kidding about the comment, and that he didn't mean it.

They reached the cabin, and they saw the door hanging open. Indeed, Saori was in the cabin. But she wasn't getting angry at anyone . . . for once. She just stood there looking shocked.

The girls poked their head around the door and whispered, "Saori! Come out here!"

Saori whipped her head around and dragged everyone into the cabin, including the guys.

"I see you all made it back," Atobe said with a flip of his hair.

"Yes, of course we would make it back," Oishi said.

Dot. Dot. Dot. That was how the moment was. It was awkward for everyone and it made them all a bit uncomfortable.

Then, Atobe saw Ayumi and walked up to her, giving her a hug, and said, "Ayumi! I haven't seen you in the longest of times! How have you been?"

Ayumi gagged a bit and pushed away from Atobe. "I see you're still the same as before, and I'm fine. Not that you really care."

"Of course I care!" Atobe then pulled Ayumi to him again and whispered in her ear. "You know what our parents are talking about right? The arrangements?"

"What are you talking about?" Ayumi whispered back.

"I guess you didn't know that our parents are thinking of an arranged marriage. We are part of two of the richest families in Japan."

Ayumi pushed away from Atobe again, except this time, with more force. "You bastard! That's a lie! You're just trying to mess with my mind."

Everyone was staring at Atobe and Ayumi. He didn't even flinch when Ayumi screamed that at him. "It's not a lie. It's the truth. Ask them. I guess we'll be spending a lot more time with each other." Atobe gave Ayumi a wink.

Ayumi almost lunged at Atobe to kick his ass, but Saori was holding her back. "Calm down!"

To change the subject, Tsubaki said, "What are you guys still doing here? The storm has cleared up and I'm pretty sure all of you must be tired and want to go back to your cabin."

"Tsubaki!" Yukimura called, walking up to Tsubaki until they were about 5 inches apart. "I was truly worried about you. I thought there was something wrong." Yukimura then graced Tsubaki with the kindest and gentlest smile anyone had ever seen him give. The Rikkai team was shocked speechless, and so was the Hyotei team.

Koizumi pulled Tsubaki's shoulder and whispered, "Care to tell us what you have going on with the Rikkai captain?! He even used your name without a suffix!"

"There's nothing going on," Tsubaki whispered back.

"I would also like to know what is going on between you and the Rikkai captain, Oguri-san," Tezuka whispered in between their faces.

"Excuse me, Tezuka. This is a burrito, taco conversation. Nachos (Not yours)!" Koizumi said out loud. "Oh wait, did I just say that out loud?"

About everyone in the room was snickering a Koizumi. They were holding back some laughter while they nodded their heads at Koizumi's question.

"How cute," Bunta Marui said bluntly from the Rikkai team. "I think I could like you."

"What are you saying?!" Eiji yelled out loud.

"What? Jealous? You like her and you don't want me to go after her?" Bunta asked.

"That's not it! It's just that you're not allowed to like anyone from the Seigaku tennis team! It's just weird!"

The girls from the Rikkai and Hyotei teams just rolled their eyes at the conversation. They didn't say anything. But the girls from Rikkai were really shocked about their captain, and the some of the girls from Hyotei were angry that Atobe had hugged Ayumi and told her something secret. They were also angry at Ayumi for getting angry at him. Of course, not all of the girls from the Hyotei team felt that.

"This is gay," Kumiko said. "I'm out of here, punks."

"Watch your language!" Oishi called out.

"Shut up! Gay isn't a bad word, moron!" Kumiko called out looking over her shoulder.

"Be more polite!"

"I am polite! Just not around you weirdos!"

Oishi was going to yell something back, but Kumiko was already long gone by then.

"What a strange attitude," Masaharu Niou stated.

"Very strange," Akaya Kirihara agreed. "Her attitude is nothing like how she looks. I now understand what people mean when they say, 'don't judge a book by its cover'. She may look like a doll, but her personality is nothing like that!"

"You gotta love her for that!" Koizumi said, plopping herself in a chair.

While the girls were conversing with the other two tennis teams. The guys were having a secret meeting right outside of the door.

"I don't like what's going on!" Oishi whispered. "The guys from the other teams are practically throwing themselves at the girls. That is not appropriate."

"I agree with you! We should kick their asses!" Eiji said.

"You're only saying that because you like Koizumi!" Momo taunted.

"Not even! And you're only dating that girl from Rikkai because you want to get over Aine for dumping you so harshly!"

"We weren't even dating, idiot!"

The two guys got in an argument and were yelling at each other.

Meanwhile, the girls from the Hyotei team had sneaked out and were discussing things.

"If the guys are just going to trip over themselves and fall for the girls on the Rikkai and Seigaku team, we should also start flirting with the Rikkai and Seigaku teams too! The boys were all flirting with the girls from Rikkai until the girls from Seigaku came along, then, they started flirting with them!" Akari, the vice captain said.

"I don't like how Atobe-sama was acting with that Ayumi chick!" Hibiki whined.

"Will you guys be quiet for a moment?" Kyuri asked. "I know most of you have crushes on the Hyotei guys, but I always did like Fuji from Seigaku."

The girls from Hyotei all agreed to do what the guys were doing. Even if some of them didn't like it.

On the other hand, the girls from Rikkai were discussing the same thing.

"I'm already going on a date with Momoshiro from the Seigaku team," Mei announced.

Everyone looked at her. She just shrugged her shoulders a blushed a bit. She really did kind of like Momoshiro.

"What about Yukimura-sama?!" Kyoko, the youngest girl asked. "He wasn't flirting with anyone, and then when that captain came in, he was tripping over himself for her! What are we going to do?"

"Just do what your instincts tell you to do. Mei already has a date with someone. Go find someone else from Seigaku or Hyotei," Tanaka Nana the captain said.

With that, the competition had started.

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Hey! If you guys want to see what the characters look like, the links to their pictures are up on my profile!