I saw Ted watching me show Brie up. I owned her ass all the way to England and back. I don't know why, but he followed me to the fields. Maybe he knows Maria likes him. Hmph. She does make it super obvious.

After beating Brie, I headed off home. Only to find Nikki blocking the gates.

"Come on, Kelly! You have to join!" She whined.

"No. I only did that for fun." I dodged past her, and went straight into Ted.

Ted smiled down at me, "We must stop meeting like this... Err..."

Nikki shot glances at Ted then at me. She was going to say something to Brie. That's the way their sisterhood worked. I looked meaningfully at Ted, but didn't satisfy him with the answer and give him my name.

Nikki dithered into life again, unfortunately, "Her names Kelly. She just rocked tryouts but she won't join."

Ted joined in, "Why not? I saw you out there, you're really good. Very athletic."

I was relieved to see my BFF Randy on the other side of the road. "Sorry, must dash. Bye." I ran to catch up with Randy. I linked up arms with him.

Randy smiled, "Hey, Kellz. I thought you'd be at home by now, doing your homework."

"Yeah, I thought so too... I got held up..." I looked back to Ted and Nikki. Randy looked too.

"Ah... I see. Is that your fancy man?" He joked.

"Eww. Randy, who says that? And no he's not. Ted Dibiase is one of the most arrogant, stuck-up, boneheaded guys I have ever met."

Randy looked at me, "You don't like him then?"

When I got home, I realised something wasn't quite right. My mother wasn't home. I checked the clock. 6pm. She's normally home by 4. I tried calling her, but there was no answer. I prayed she hadn't done a runner already.

I checked up on my sister. She was happily dancing around in her room... Maybe she didn't notice mum go out because she certainly didn't notice me come in. I slipped out the back door and climbed over the gate. Maria was there, as she normally is, sitting in her back garden doing her art work. I watched her for a moment. Her face so concentrated, her tongue was sticking out a little bit. Her red hair fallen over her face. Her brush strokes on the paper were so gentle. Watching her paint was the most boring thing to most people, but to me it was fascinating. She was normally so involved with the world, but as soon as someone put a piece of paper and some paints in front of her, she zoned out and just got on with it. She went into her own little world. It was like a whole different side of Maria. I always wondered if it went deeper... And if she painted what she felt. I watched carefully now, really wanting to explore my theory of her painting feelings and if that's how she kept so calm about everything. Right now she was painting a detailed blade of grass. I don't see how she can feel like a blade of grass? Maybe that she feels so small, as small as a blade of grass, when Ted's around... The way he steps on her like people step on a blade of grass. How people don't notice the true beauty of a small blade of grass...

Maria's POV:

Its funny how someone can mean so much to you, but you mean nothing to them. I need to show Ted that I love him, in a simple way. I want him to notice me like he noticed Kelly today after school. Kelly's never done anything for him, like give him the answers in algebra or photo copy my homework so he doesn't get detention and can make the latest basketball game. Why does he notice her when she does nothing? And he doesn't as so know my name and I do everything I can for him?