Sorry it's late! I have been trying to post this for DAYS but there's a glitch that has been really annoying.

Enjoy!

So, I wasn't sure what to expect the rest of the day after my meeting with Atobe in the Student Council room. Especially after my whole 'are you gay?' thing but I was prepared to defend myself. As long as it did not actually involve physical defending because then I'd be pummelled.

With that in mind, the day was pretty much a letdown. I was completely ready for a (verbal) confrontation that never came. It went on normally, I had lunch with my friends, Yuushi left to go find his tennis friends and Taki pretended that nothing happened between me and his captain even though it felt as if he was suffering through an unasked question the whole day. The thing about Yuushi was, though, that when he came back after break he had such a big smirk on that I thought it would split his face. I was afraid to ask why but I guessed Atobe told him about our...conversation this morning.

I immediately regretted my previous disappointed train of thought when Yuushi promptly walked up to me just as the last bell rang. As usual, my friends parted like the Red Sea as he passed. The tennis club regulars were some kind of royalty at this school. I sighed inwardly, preparing myself to face the music.

"Atobe wants me to make sure you go to practice." He said, his face-splitting smirk from earlier was on his face again.

I grimaced. I liked my day ordinary. I take it all back! "Why?" The angle we were standing hid my less than happy face at my boyfriend inviting me to practice.

"He said," Yuushi started. "And this is straight from the horse's mouth – "

"More like the horse's ass," I grumbled just loud enough for Yuushi to hear. He bit back a laugh.

"He refuses to be associated with anyone that knows nothing about tennis. Thus, he decreed that you must learn." He finished with a haughty tilt of the head just as Atobe would. I chuckled curtly.

Looking at him, I smiled. "Or he could just break up with me." I said quietly. From the corner of my eye, I could see my friends leaning in to hear our conversation.

My glasses wearing companion smiled and moved to take my bag which was hanging on my seat. "Unlikely," he stated. I placed my hand on top of his to stop him. He looked up at me, questioning.

"I'll follow you there in a few minutes, Yuu. I just have some things to do." I was being completely honest. I would follow and I did have something to do. I wasn't eager to go at all but I figured Atobe would send someone to actually look for me if I stayed on campus and wansn't at practice which he so kindly invited me to. My 'something to do' involved Sakaki-sensei, after all, the coach of the club. He'd understand.

Yuushi shook his head with a suspicious smile. "It's not that I don't trust you, Mai-hime, but I'll be taking your bag hostage if you don't need it." Saying that, he hoisted my book bag over his shoulder along with his own and took his tennis bag in his free arm. "You won't be needing it, right?"

Rolling my eyes at him playfully, I shook my head.

"Good, I'll be seeing you in a few minutes." He turned into the hallway and left.

I turned around to see my friends grinning like crazy people. Before they could interrogate me, I shielded myself with my hands comically. "I'm going to tennis practice."

I let the news sink in and the gushing and fangirling began. In the midst of it all, I took my leave and headed to where Sakaki-sensei was.

The practice rush emptied the hallways as usual. I saw Sakaki-sensei just as he exited the faculty room. Running, I stumbled to a stop in front of him.

"I'm sorry I'm late, sensei! I got held up in the classroom." I explained myself and he simply nodded. "What did you call me for, sensei?"

He reached into his coat pocket and handed me an envelope. I looked up at him for an explanation. "I thought you might be interested. It's an application form for a music competition that will take place in two months. I remembered you play the piano." He elaborated with a small smile. Of course you remember I play the piano, you taught me how to play, I thought amusedly. It was a long time ago and he wasn't my tutor anymore but he got me started.

"Thank you very much, sensei." I said sincerely. It'd been a while since I'd joined a competition but I'd never slacked off on practicing.

"One more thing," Sakaki-sensei added. "The winner gets to perform in London, England."

At his words, my mouth broke out into a face-splitting grin to rival Yuushi's smirk from earlier. I looked at him and then at the envelope in my hands. He returned my grin with a small smile of his own. Did I forget to mention that he had a small soft spot for me?

"I'll work hard, sensei." I said, determined.

He nodded. "I expect you to." He turned and walked towards the tennis courts. Sheepishly, I followed as well. After all, I did tell Yuushi I'd follow.

He took one look at me and I could've sworn that renowned tennis club smirk showed up on his face, if only for a second. "Is there anything else?"

I shook my head and stated the obvious, for lack of anything better to say. "I'm just going in the same direction."

"Have you joined the tennis club?" He asked coolly.

Grimace. "Not at all, sensei. Atobe just commanded me to watch the team practice."

"Because you're dating, right?" My head snapped up towards him and I was sure that that face he used back when he taught me piano(he and my dad were classmates) made a reappearance.

"Has it reached even you?" I asked wearily.

He pulled on the lapels of his coat and I wondered if teachers subscribed to student gossip as well. "Word gets around. On a similar note, try to keep from injuring my team's captain."

My eyes widened. "You heard about that, too?" I asked, tentatively. I didn't know what I'd do if he actually didn't know what happened between us and was just giving me a precursory warning.

"Atobe's drawl carries." He said, his voice laced with amusement. That sent me into a fit of chuckles as he explained how he heard Atobe talking to Yuushi the other day and when he finished with that, went on to tell me the details of my competition.

I'd never actually been to a Hyotei tennis club practice in my life so the sheer size of the crowd spread out around the courts was shocking. I lost sight of Sakaki-sensei when we neared the courts as I was dragged, mauled and trampled on. How am I supposed to watch from a mile away, I thought wryly.

A few minutes into being carried away by the crowd, a hand clasped onto my forearm and pulled, keeping me from being taken further. It allowed me to catch my breath before I faced my saviour.

"Thanks," I said. Looking up, I saw a familiar blue baseball cap. "Shishido."

He shrugged and started walking, hand still grasping my arm. "Atobe told me to get you."

I groaned as he started weaving through the crowd with me in tow, pulling me next to him to avoid the crush of people. "What's with you people and harassment," I noted with an exasperated smile. He simply glared at me from under his cap and kept walking. "Are there always this many people?"

He shook his head slightly and I breathed a sigh of relief. "They'll thin out in few weeks...few months tops."

I looked at the people crushing us and groaned. "Welcome to the tennis club," He said deprecatingly as we entered the courts. I could see that even he didn't quite appreciate the people grabbing at him every five seconds. I always thought the tennis guys revelled in the attention they were given. New information, I thought.

He led me into the main area where the courts were and I noticed that the only ones around the area were the tennis club members. Taki waved at me from across the court. I smiled at him before Shishido pulled me towards a bench and told me to sit. Once I did, he sat next to me and grabbed his tennis bag from under the bench. Pulling of his cap, he looked at me.

"So, you're the girlfriend." He stated matter-of-factly, suddenly pulling his shirt over his head. Abs. But I was not to be distracted.

I shrugged, looking at him coolly and suppressed the urge to give a flat-out 'no'. "So, you're the teammate." He got a shirt from his bag and threw it on.

He replaced his cap and laughed. "In some twisted way I think you two are meant for each other."

I nudged him as hard as I could, he smiled. "He'll be around in a few minutes. Until then, you're stuck with me. He seems to think that you might just run off or something when no one's watching you."

Unable to keep it in anymore, I grimaced. Shishido laughed harder. "Yeah, I know about your thing with him. I was just playing with you."

At the rate this was going, I wondered if the entire school knew that I wasn't really dating him. "It makes me wonder where this fake-relationship is going if everyone of you guys seem to know that we're not really dating."

"It's just me and Oshitari. 'Cause I ended up getting his ice pack the other day, Oshitari...had his hands full. Nice one, by the way." I smirked at his compliment, looks like I could count on the regulars on not ostracizing me once they knew I hit Atobe. Eight down, the rest of the school population to go.

That was the first time Shishido had ever been so chatty with me. The longest thing he'd ever said to me before this went, "Takashina, can you get your chair off my foot?" He may have found a kindred spirit in me. I chuckled inwardly. He seemed to immediately revert to a happier disposition once away from all the people and on his home court, literally.

"Where is he anyway? Atobe I mean." I asked, looking around the courts and seeing all the regulars except Atobe and Yuushi.

"Probably talking to Sakaki-sensei." He responded, absently testing the tension of his racquet. "What's up with you and Haginosuke?"

"Huh?" What about Taki?

He tilted his racquet to the left. "He's been looking at us this whole time. Even the other members stopped staring at 'the buchou's girlfriend' ten minutes ago. What's up with him?"

I knew for a fact that Taki was over me...well, probably. "Well, we're friends, I guess. And he knows me enough to wonder why I'd go for Atobe." I tried for a rational answer and it was most likely true. But... "Hold on a second, Shishido." I stood and walked over to where Taki was.

"Why are you staring at us?" I asked bluntly.

Taki gave me a small smile. "You're not the type to end up dating Atobe Keigo." As an afterthought, he added, "And it was out of pure curiosity, you dating him was the last thing I'd thought would happen when he asked me to bring you there...I mean, seriously, I fully expected the rumours to be completely false."

"I know." I said monotonously and sighed. From the tone of voice, I could confirm that he was over me and was generally just in complete shock at the situation. I left him and sat back down next to Shishido.

"He can't believe it." I synthesized.

He snorted and stood up. "Even I wouldn't believe it. I'm getting back to practice. You're escort's here."

I glared at him as he walked towards that really tall second year. The glaring didn't last long, though, because Atobe placed himself in my line of vision. I looked up to glare at him but was inadvertently blinded by the sun directly behind him. I winced.

"Ore-sama no bigi ni yoi na." He drawled, smirking...as usual.

"Yep, being blinded by your prowess over here so could you step to your left a little. Thanks." I said sardonically.

He sat down next to me in the spot Shishido just occupied. "Despite your complete lack of athletic ability, you apparently do quite well in everything else. As you can see you can't leave until you learn something."

"I've already learned something." I smiled.

His eyes narrowed. "Really?"

"Does learning you have an ego the size of a supernova count or is that a little too obvious?" I drawled, smile still in place.

Atobe left me alone on that bench to 'pay attention' as he put it and I was starting to get it a bit. As in a little more than 'they're supposed to be hitting the ball across the net in the center.'

For a while, while Yuushi was taking a break, he sat next to me and did a run-through of the basic rules so I pretty much got that. Surprisingly, tennis practice was a lot more interesting than I expected but there was still no way they could get me to touch a racquet.

Before I knew it practice was over and Atobe was collecting me from my very comfortable bench. "Is it over yet?"

Atobe sighed. "Yes, if you haven't noticed, which ore-sama is sure you have. Didn't think you'd enjoy it so much, did you?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Atobe."

With another sigh, he motioned for me to stand up. "Ore-sama is simply stating a fact. Nevermind that, though, have you considered it?"

I tilted my head at him, picking up my bag which Yuushi so kindly returned to me a before he left to get dressed. "Considered what, Atobe?"

"Keigo."

Piecing things together in my mind, I shook my head. "Didn't think there was much to consider. Why is it so important anyway?"

"It sells our situation a little better." He shrugged before he pulled open the wire gate to the court. He was a lot mellower after practice.

It initially escaped my mind that we were walking out into a den of waiting wolves – wolves with a lot make-up, that is – until I felt the familiar sensation of burning glares into my back. I looked around to see some of the fangirls still waiting around for the regulars. Atobe glanced around as I did and suddenly slung his arm around my shoulders, balancing his bags on his other arm. I looked up at him and grimaced.

"Look happy," He muttered under his breath.

"Pretend we're having a fight." I suggested, finding it difficult to muster a smile.

He glared at nothing in particular before he answered, "If anyone asks, it's your responsibility."

"Yes, sir."

The second we were out of sight and earshot, I peeled his arm off my shoulders. "Your arm's heavy." I whined.

He shrugged. "Are you free tomorrow afternoon?"

Taken aback, I didn't respond immediately. I racked my brain for my schedule and remembered a few things that Sakaki-sensei told me about the competition. "No, I have to go someplace. What's up?'

"Ore-sama was going to take you out." He stated coolly.

Raising my eyebrow, I folded my arms across my chest. "As in a date?"

He nodded vaguely. "If you say so."

"No, not if I say so. Why do we actually need to date? It's not as if people from school are actually going to verify what we do together. And if they do, we could always just make something up...you know, like our relationship."

Atobe grimaced. "The dates are for my parents. They want proof, receipts, pictures, and the like. They seem to think ore-sama is going to spend the rest of ore-sama's life married to ore-sama's tennis racquet."

I laughed outright. "Well, can't you do just that?" He scowled at me in response.

"When are you free?" He persisted. His parents must be terrors about this.

Thinking about my schedule again, I answered, conceding. "You can have me for all of Sunday, if you're free."

He seemed to think about it for a second. "Sunday, then. Ore-sama will meet you at the train station at eight' o'clock."

"Alright." I sighed, defeated. "I'll see you around, Atobe." Before he could say anything, I raised my hand. "I'll consider it."

He raised his eyebrow at me and proceeded to walk away. "See you around."

I shook my head and started on my way home. Here we go.

Good? Bad? Tell me what you think.

I'm really sorry that it took so long but every time I tried to post this it came up as an error. The next chapter will be up next week if there are no glitches. :)

Read and Review, please!