Chapter 6 Raimundo was in one of the temple's hallways, heading to his room.
'Damn it!' he thought 'Why the hell did I kiss her?! She must be so mad at me for doing that!'
'Why?' another voice said, this one calmer than the first one 'It was just a kiss on the cheek, nothing unusual.'
'Nothing unusual?! Didn't you see her face?! She was completely surprised and disgusted!'
'Surprised? Yes. Disgusted? No.'
'What the hell do you mean?'
'The look she gave you wasn't one of disgust. It's was mainly of surprise, but hidden behind that surprise… was happiness…'
'That's not true! She totally hates me now! I shouldn't have done that!'
The calmer voice sighed.
'Well, if it makes you feel better, you could apologize next time you see her. but I don't think you need to…'
The argue between the two voices continued, and Rai was so distracted hearing them that he didn't notice someone coming from around the corner.
"May I ask you the reason for being up so late, young monk?" a voice asked, bringing Raimundo back to reality.
It was Master Fung with Dojo wrapped around his shoulders.
"Me?… I… I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk. And now I'm finally sleepy… okaygoingtobednowgoodnight!"
Rai walked faster, passing by them. While he did so, he didn't notice that something fell from his coat.
"Hey, what's this?" Dojo said, picking it up.
The wind dragon stopped and turned aroung, his eyes going wide as they see an envelope in Dojo's hand.
"No!" he yelled "Don't open it!"
But it was too late. Dojo was already reading the little golden card.
"Well, well, well… seems like our friend Raimundo Pedrosa has a girlfriend…" the little dragon said, easily avoiding Raimundo's attempts to grab him and get the card back. "Check it out, master Fung!"
Master Fung shook his head.
"Dojo, you know very well that it is most disrespectful to open an envelope that is not addressed to us."
"C'mon, Master Fung… at least see the day and hour so you can tell if he can go or not." he said, handing it to the old man.
Sighing, Master Fung took it and gave it a quick look. Then he looked back at Raimundo.
"Who is Jacqueline?"
"What do you want, Chase?" Jackie asked.
"I do not require anything from you. I was just passing by and decided to pay you a little… visit." he answered, still approaching the girl.
"Oh, so you're saying that it's just a coincidence… like the one at the mall?" she crossed her arms "Sorry, Chase, but I'm not buying it." Chase stopped right in front of Jackie and gave her a smirk.
"Of course you aren't. You are a genius, after all. You're not easy to fool…"
Spicer narrowed her eyes.
"Quit flattering me, Chase Young, and tell me why have you been giving me these sudden 'surprise visits'!"
The dragonlord's smile vanished in a matter of seconds and he sighed.
"I want to ask you something. Why was Pedrosa here?"
Jackie's eyes widened.
"You… you've been watching us this whole time…"
The smile came back, which scared the girl even more. "Yes."
She started to back away, but before she could even have time to run, Chase grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him.
"No! Let me go! Leave me alone!" she screamed.
Chase covered her mouth with his hand.
"Do not worry. I will not harm you, if you stop screaming…"
The redhead immediately stopped and the Heylin man took his hand away from her mouth. The girl was so scared that tears were already sliding down her cheeks.
"Why… why have you been stalking me?"
"Because you're beautiful. You have no idea how attractive you are to me."
She looked up at him.
"If you like me that much, then why didn't you tell me before?"
"Because I always thought you were a boy. Even though I saw you as a beautiful creature, knowing you as a male didn't attract me, but now…"
"You're too late." Jackie interrupted "I'm sorry, Chase, but I… I'm in love with someone else…"
The man growled, making the teen shiver. "You're in love with Pedrosa, aren't you?…"
He pulled her closer and leaned so he could whisper to her ear while he ran a hand through her red hair.
"You better keep him away from you, because if I catch him near you, or kissing you… or even looking at you, he will have a long, painful death."
Crimson eyes widened once more.
"Understood?" he asked, an evil smirk on his face. Then he kissed her on the cheek and left.
More tears came to her eyes as Chase's words still remained in her head. 'Pedrosa… near you… kissing you… looking at you… long, painful death…'
She went back home, sobing. What could she do now? How could she save Raimundo's life without hurting his feelings?… Why is Chase doing this?
"J-Jacqueline? Well, she's… she's a friend of mine… from America. We were already best friends before I came to the temple." Raimundo said.
"Aww, you hear that, Master Fung?" Dojo started "Two best friends that were separated by destiny, but years later they meet again. Kinda reminds me those soap operas where they end up falling in love, then getting married, having children and living happily forever…" the dragon sighed, imagining the romantic scene.
Master Fung gave Dojo a glare that quickly made him get the message: 'Shut up.'
When he looked at the brazilian boy he had the big urge to smile. He was blushing so violently that the man quickly understood what was going on, even though the boy hadn't realized it yet. He was in love.
Master Fung ignored it and looked back at the little card.
"Young monk, I see that this is an invitation for… well, a most formal event, which must certainly require appropriate and most expensive clothing. Where do you have enough money to acquire it?"
"Her mother said she was gonna help me finding a suit and buy it for me. I was thinking that I could meet her tomorrow afternoon…"
"Without asking my permission?"
"Well, I was gonna ask you, eventually…"
The old man looked seriously at the wind dragon and sighed, closing his eyes.
Raimundo was fearing the worst: that Master Fung wouldn't let him go. He looked at the floor, waiting for the word he didn't want to hear: 'No.'
"I guess I could excuse you from tomorrow's training. What do you think, my friend?" he looked at Dojo.
"Well, why not? Just one day wouldn't hurt."
The brazilian looked up with wide eyes.
"Does that mean I can go?"
"Yes." Fung answered.
Raimundo was so happy he gave Master fung a tight hug.
"Oh, thank you Master Fung! Thankyouthankyouthankyousomu ch!"
After he realized what he was doing, he stood back, cleared his throat and bowed to the older monk.
"I mean, thank you very much, Master…"
"You better go now." the man said, giving back the invitation "I suppose you haven't slept yet. I'm only giving you three hours."
Raimundo took back the envelope, thanked once more and headed to his room.
The pale girl entered the house and was on her way to the stairs, when suddenly the kitchen's door opened. Thinking that Chase Young decided to scare her a little bit more, Jackie grabbed the jar that was next to her and prepared to throw it at whoever was coming out of the kitchen.
Of course that when she saw who it was, she put down the object.
Noticing this Jessica apologized to her daughter.
"Oh sorry, honey. Did I scare you?"
"Hum… no… why are you up so late? Did I wake you?"
"Hum… no…" the blonde woman joked, saying the same sentence the same way her daughter did.
This made Jackie smile. Few were the times her mother was funny, but whenever she tried, it would make the girl feel much better.
"You went to visit your 'friends' again?"
"Yup. I couldn't sleep, and I needed to talk with someone."
"You couldn't sleep? Is something bothering you?"
"No… not really…"
Jessica approached her daughter and looked at her cheeks.
"Jackie… have you been crying?"
The pale girl looked at the mirror that was next to the door and noticed her eyes were still a little bit wet and slightly red.
"It… it's from yawning. You know… when I yawn I start tearing."
"Are you sure? If something happened, you could always tell me…"
Jackie smiled again.
"Thanks, mom. But don't worry, I'm just sleepy. Maybe I should go to bed…"
"Ok, sweetie." Jessica placed a kiss on her daughter's forehead and went back into the kitchen, while Jackie went upstairs.