Hey ppl, I'm back! I know it's been awhile, but Summer is here! Which means more writing! WOOHHOO! Well here's chapter 2, but before we begin I'm just going to show ya'll, the characters' grade level.

Pai-Senior

Kisshu-Senior

Taruto- Sophomore

Ichigo-Junior

Lettuce-Junior

Mint-Junior

Zakuro-Senior

Pudding-Sophomore

Kiechiro- Senior

Ryou- Junior

Masaya-Junior

Chapter 2: New Beginnings

Kiechiro and Masaya walked through the double doors, down the hall of the lively school. Masaya glanced at his friend and saw his eyes move back and forth, scanning the halls. Masaya smirked and rolled his eyes.

"You're making it so obvious you know," Masaya teased.

"What?" Kiechiro asked.

"You're looking for that Zakuro girl," Masaya stated.

"What?" Kiechiro smiled, "That's not completely true!"

"So you don't like her?" Masaya asked as he glanced behind Kiechiro, a smile forming on his face.

"No I don't," Kiechiro declared, confidently.

"Excuse me?"

Kiechiro turned to see Zakuro standing there looking at a sheet of paper. She looked up at Kiechiro, and he was completely mesmerized.

"Could you show me where 306D is?" Zakuro asked him, looking back down at the paper.

"It's uh," Kiechiro choked on his own words, "Uh...306B?"

"No, 306B," Zakuro corrected him, staring at him weirdly, "If you don't know…"

"No! I know its on the second floor in the next building," Kiechiro quickly spat out.

"Don't you mean third floor in this building?" Masaya corrected him.

"Yes! Uh, that's what I meant," Kiechiro looked away.

"Are you trying to get me lost on purpose or something?" Zakuro asked him, coldly.

"No, I'm not!" Kiechiro quickly stated.

"Whatever," Zakuro folded her paper and walked away. Kiechiro stood there, stunned, as he watched Zakuro march away from him her beautiful hair waving behind her.

"Ugh!" Kiechiro said, hitting himself, "Stupid."

"So, you don't like her?" Masaya asked, joking nudging him.

"Even if I did," Kiechiro started, still staring, "I don't think she likes me that much, now."

!&&!

"Ryou, we've been at this for awhile," Taruto complained, "Can we stop now?"

Ryou looked down at his partner, "Why, none of these girls good enough for you?"

"Exactly," Taruto answered.

"That's the point, Taruto," Ryou rolled his eyes, "We're looking for the lame ones," Ryou looked back up just in time to see a slender, green haired girl drop a load of books she was carrying.

A smirk formed across Ryou's face as a group of girls standing near the little nerd laughed and snickered. The girl pushed her glasses further up her nose and quickly knelt down to pick up her books. "Bingo." He whispered.

!&&!

"Hurry up," One of the girls snapped, "You're blocking the hall."

Lettuce felt her cheeks growing red with embarrassment. She tried to scoop up all her books only to drop a couple in the process.

"Who reads that many books anyways," Another one joined in.

"I sure hope nerd isn't contagious!"

"Okay girls. That's enough," Mint stood there, annoyed with her arms crossed, eyeing the small group of girls.

"What's she to you, Mint?" The head girl asked.

Lettuce looked up at Mint. She didn't know how she was going to answer the question. Sure, they had become friends over the course of their tutoring sessions, but their friendship had never been public. They were in two completely different social statuses.

Mint rolled her eyes, "Get over yourself, Claudia, and leave Lettuce alone!"

"Hmph," Claudia crossed her arms, "Let's go girl," she called, turning to leave. The other girls crossed their arms and followed Claudia down the hall.

Mint reached down and picked up the remaining books. Lettuce stood and Mint handed her the books.

"Really, Lettuce, you should get a bigger backpack or something," She said with a smile.

"Thanks, Mint," Lettuce bowed, "But you didn't have to do that." Lettuce looked away.

"C'mon Lettuce," Mint looked her up and down, "We're friends aren't we?"

"Yeah, but…"

"I hope you don't think I'm that shallow, Lettuce," Mint eyed her, "Those girls were out of line, and I'm not going to sit back and watch it happen."

"Thanks, Mint," Lettuce whispered, graciously smiling.

!&&!

The lunch bell rang and students swarmed the halls. Zakuro sighed as she slung her bag over her shoulder and walked into the hall. She looked back down at her schedule, and rolled her eyes. She had been tired of asking people all day where she needed to go. It annoyed her, for some reason to have to be dependent on others. She spotted a pretty nice looking girl walking down the hall holding a book, her braided pigtails bouncing behind her.

"Excuse me," Zakuro called to her. The girl slowly looked behind her, as if she wasn't sure Zakuro was talking to her. Zakuro walked up to her, "Can you show me where the cafeteria is?"

"Sure," she answered, with a small smile, and a light blush on her cheeks, "I'm on my way there. I'm Lettuce by the way."

"Zakuro," Zakuro responded.

Lettuce started down the hall and Zakuro followed. They turned the hall in time to see a trio of cheerleaders walking the opposite direction. The red-headed one studied the duo and smirked. As she walked past them, her shoulder knocked into Lettuce, causing her to drop the book that she was carrying.

"You should watch where you're going, nerd girl," Meimi called behind her.

"Just can't keep anything in your hands today, huh?" Claudia added with a smug look.

Lettuce sighed and reached down to pick up her book when Zakuro stopped her.

"Wait, Lettuce," She said taking a step towards the cheerleaders, "Aren't you going to say excuse me?"

"Zakuro," Lettuce tried to stop her.

"Excuse me?" Ichigo stopped and turned around.

"It's the least you could do," Zakuro continued, "If you're not going to pick up the book you made her drop."

"I'm sure that book would've ended up on the floor someway," Claudia said innocently.

"Yeah, everyone knows Lettuce can't keep a thing in her hand for more than five seconds," Ichigo added with a smirk, her eyes shifting to Lettuce.

"Maybe it's because girls like you, are always bumping into her," Zakuro offered.

"Please," Ichigo waved dismissively, "I barely grazed her."

"Well," Zakuro crossed her arms and smirked, "It might have been all the extra weight then."

"Excuse me?" Ichigo narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah," Zakuro nodded, "to you it might have been just a graze, but I'm sure it felt like a full on shove to Lettuce. But I'm sure its not your fault. You probably don't realize your own strength."

"Are you insinuating that I'm fat?" Ichigo growled.

"Take it how you want it," Zakuro shrugged.

"Come on, girls!" Ichigo called, stomping down the hall. The girls followed.

"You okay?" Zakuro asked Lettuce. Lettuce reached down and picked up her book. She looked up at Zakuro, tears forming in her eyes, which shocked Zakuro. "Why…why are you crying?"

"I'm sorry," Lettuce rubbed her eyes, with her arm, "It's just that this was the second time today someone had to come to my rescue, and it's only lunch time. I guess, I just wish…"

"That they would leave you alone?" Zakuro asked.

"Sort of," Lettuce sighed.

"Don't worry about those girls," Zakuro told her, "They just need someone to knock them off their pedestal."

"I guess," Lettuce whispered, "But let's go, we're missing lunch."

!&&!

"I'm telling you, Taruto," Ryou told him across the table, "That girl in the hall is perfect,"

"You sure about that?" Taruto asked before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Yeah, she's practically the laughing stock of the school," Ryou noted, "Everyone will know something's up when I bring her to homecoming," Ryou grinned.

"I wouldn't say laughing stock, but Glasses is kind of lame," Taruto agreed.

"Now, we just have to find someone for you," Ryou scanned the lunchroom.

"Ryou, I can pick my own date," Taruto sat up and took a look himself. His eyes glanced to the entrance where a girl with short blonde hair walked into the lunchroom. She held a baton and spun it while she walked to a table.

"Are you looking at that band geek?" Ryou inquired.

"She's not in band," Taruto said, turning around.

"Yeah, she's a flag girl, but she's in the same pack as those band geeks."

"How you figure?" Taruto asked.

"Well, she marches with them, so I guess she's the same," Ryou answered, "Anyways is she your girl?"

Taruto looked back at the giggling blonde, "Yeah, she's my girl."

!&&!

"I'm telling you guys," Kisshu announced, "In second period, Ichigo was totally checking me out," Kisshu gave a smug smile.

"Seriously?" Jason asked, "Sure she wasn't just staring at that thing on your face? Oh wait, that is your face!"

The table of jocks burst into a roar of laughter.

"Ha ha, very funny," Kisshu rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Kish, lighten up," Pai took a swig of his milk.

"But, seriously, how am I going to get Ichigo in time for homecoming?"

"Kish, Ichigo isn't even that great," Pai replied.

"Are you crazy? She's a goddess," Kishhu objected, "She's perfect. Her eyes, her hair, her voice, her lips…" Kisshu trailed off.

"Uh, Kisshu?" Paik nudged him.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, but anyways, I just wish she would notice me and not…" Kisshu glanced at Pai before finishing his sentence, "you know, other guys."

"Kisshu," Pai started,

"Pai Yamamoto, please report to the office," The intercom blared over the lunchroom. Pai raised an eyebrow before getting up from the table.

"Catch you later, Pai," Kisshu mumbled. Pai nodded and walked towards the door as everyone in the lunchroom watched. Just as he reached the door, a green haired girl, followed by a purple haired girl walked through the door.

"Excuse me," Pai said not even paying them a second glance.

!&&!

Lettuce stared as Pai walked out the door past her and Zakuro. Zakuro smirked.

"You like him or something?" She asked.

"What?" Lettuce responded, weakly, continuing into the lunch line, "No, he's just nice looking is all."

"Why don't you talk to him?"

"He'd never notice a girl like me," Lettuce sighed, grabbing a tray of food.

"Well I never knew a jock to be, two dimensional," Zakuro noted, "You want a guy who you can talk to, and you know listen."

"Nice description," Lettuce joked.

"You know, what I mean," Zakuro smiled, something she didn't usually do.

"Come on," Lettuce changed the subject while leaving the line. Zakuro followed. "Let's find Mint, I think you'll like her." Lettuce scanned through the lunch room, trying to get the image of Pai out of her mind.

!&&!

"Coach, this isn't even fair!" Pai called, "Me and the team has been working really hard, you can't take me out of the homecoming game!"

"Come on, Principal Tanaka," Coach Itou pleaded, "There's got to be something we can do."

"He has a D in English Literature," Tanaka repeated, "The only way he can play is if he can pull his grade up to a B before homecoming. That's in two weeks!"

"He's a smart boy, Tanaka," Coach stated, "He has straight A's in everything else!"

"I can do it!" Pai promised.

"I'd like to see it, Mr. Yamamoto, not hear it," Tanaka said sternly. "Okay, if he can pull up his grades, before homecoming, he can participate in the game. It's not impossible, but if I was you, Itou, I'd start training another player for the position."

"Yes, sir."

"And you, Mr. Yamamoto," Tanaka continued, "You're going to need a tutor."

Whew! Sawwie it took so long to get up, but the last few months of school are always the busiest! But it's up, and hopefully updates wont take this long cuz no more school! WOO! Also I apologize for some of the OOC-ness but I needed them that way. Also I know I know, Pai's like one of the smartest ppl in the world! But if you think about it his intelligence lies in subjects like technology, and Math, and Science. If he has a weakness, then I bet it's Literature and Artsy stuff like that! lol Well, till next time!