This is the last chapter. Finally.

Rin walked into the school with a drag in her step. She had hardly got any sleep the night before, her dreams were plagued with Ryoma and her wild thoughts had kept her from getting any rest. She made it to her shoe locker without running into anyone and she wearily opened the small door. With the speed of a slug, she replaced her indoor shoes with her outdoor ones and clicked the locker shut.

"What's wrong with you?" A voice asked in concern at her side.

"Nana," she turned to regard the other girl with tired, half-mast eyes.

"You look terrible," her friend commented as she took in Rin's unusually messy appearance.

"I didn't get a lot of sleep last night," she explained as she started down the hall.

"Was it a nightmare?" Nana asked, following her friend.

Rin paused and thought about her answer. "Yeah," she lied lamely. "I normally don't have nightmares this bad; I think it was because I watched a horror movie before going to bed." She winced as she lied to her friend. She didn't want to, but she didn't want to say she was having problems figuring out her feelings over a boy. She felt pathetic.

The other girl didn't seem to notice her friend's distress and nodded in sympathy. "You're scared to death of ghosts, aren't you? You shouldn't be watching that stuff."

With relief, Rin nodded and laughed weakly, "Yeah, it was really stupid of me. I'll see you later," she waved to her friend as she headed up the stairs and Nana continued down the corridor.

"See you at practice!" Nana called after her friend. As she watched Rin take the stairs two at a time she had a contemplative look on her face. She knew right away that Rin had been lying about watching a horror movie. She knew that there was no way she would even go near the movie case, let alone watch one.

She wandered down the hall; trying to rack her brain to figure out what could possible by bothering the foreigner. She came to her classroom and she still hadn't found an answer. "Should I confront her about it?" She wondered as she walked in.

"Confront who about what?" Kakaeru asked.

Nana shook her head, "Oh, nothing, just some girl problems."

"Oh, boring," Kakeru snickered and she glared at him.

…

"Hey, Rin, can you come here for a minute?" Nana called to the striker as she jogged around the field.

"What is it?" Rin asked as she jogged over and picked up her water bottle. She unscrewed the top and took a long, satisfying drink.

"Not here, come with me," Nana pulled her around the corner of the building where they could barely hear the boys practicing.

"Is something wrong?" Rin asked, curious and a little frightened. She had never seen Nana this serious before.

Nana shook her head, "No nothing is wrong with me, but what about you?" She noticed Rin flinch when she said this. "You look terrible and you didn't even trap that perfect pass Araki sent you. You didn't really watch a horror movie, did you?" She crossed her arms, signaling that she wouldn't let Rin get away until she spilled the beans.

"I'm just tired. I had a nightmare, remember? Besides, who said I didn't watch a scary show last night?" Rin muttered, not looking at her.

"I highly doubt you had a nightmare and if you watched a scary movie, then you wouldn't have come to school and you'd be looking over your shoulder every other second. What is bothering you? You can tell me, I'm your friend," Nana reminded her.

Rin sighed and looked at her with tired, confused eyes. "I don't know what I should do. I've never felt this way before and it's scaring me."

"What do you mean?" Nana asked, concerned.

"R-uh, Ryo-him," Rin flapped her hand in the direction of the boys practice. She couldn't say his name.

"Ryo-ma?" Rin nodded and Nana breathed out in relief; she had thought it was something life-threatening. "What happened with Ryoma?" Her inner-fangirl was coming out, and she tried to squash the giggle in her voice. Rin would not appreciate it.

"I don't know! I-I feel all weird whenever I look at him or he looks at me and it sends shivers up my spine!" Rin groaned in distress.

"You like him." It was a statement, not a guess and Nana smiled when Rin went red up to her ears. "See?! I told you before that you guys are so adorable together!"

"But he's my friend and I've never dated anyone before and he might not even like me back! And I thought you were crazy before!" Rin flailed her arms around her head as she ranted about her concerns.

"Well, he definitely doesn't dislike you," Nana offered.

"I know he doesn't right now, but what if I tell him and then he doesn't feel the same way and then-aslkjhfrlkasjdladhfla!" Rin threw her hands up and then collapsed against the fence.

"I think he likes you." Rin stared at her incredulously.

"I think you're crazy."

Nana shook her head. "Nope, I think it's real. Call it a woman's intuition." She smirked.

"Then why don't I have a woman's intuition?! I'm a girl!" Rin wailed. "Just promise me you won't say anything to anyone!" Rin pleaded as she stared pleadingly at her friend and Nana crossed her heart.

"Promise."

…

"Nana, Rin! Want to get some ice cream with us?" Araki yelled across the field.

Both girls lifted their heads from the clipboard they were looking at and looked at the small group of boys gathered at the edge of the field, ready to head off. They looked at each other and then Nana put the clipboard in her bag.

"Yeah!" Rin yelled as she and Nana jogged across the field to join the boys.

"What made you guys want ice cream?" Nana asked as the group walked away from the school.

"We've been busy training like crazy lately and I thought it would do us some good to relax and get ice cream!" Araki explained.

Rin smirked and elbowed the genius in the side. "Are you sure you didn't just want to stuff your face?"

Araki glared at her and swatted her arm away. "I'm insulted you think so little of me," he did a fabulous hair toss and Rin snickered.

Nana watched the pair bicker back and forth and then glanced at Ryoma out of the corner of her eye. He was looking at the pair with a sour look on his face. His eyebrows were scrunched together and his eyes were narrowed as he glared at them. With a slight cough covering up her giggle, she shook her head. Those two are hopeless; she began humming to herself as they walked down the street.

…

"Can I get vanilla, please?" Rin asked the lady in the ice cream shop.

"Sure thing, sweetie," the woman smiled and set about making the group's orders. Behind the counter, with the woman, was a college student. He followed Rin with his eyes as she walked away to the table where her friends were sitting.

"Eyes on your work," his coworker snapped, jolting him out of his daze. He looked guiltily at her and then started filling orders again. "She is a beauty, though, isn't she? Both of them are," she whispered to the boy.

He snuck a look at the two girls of the party and nodded his agreement, both girls were quite the lookers, but he preferred the black-haired girl. "Yeah," he muttered.

A few minutes later, all the ice cream orders were done and the woman handed the tray with the dishes on it to the boy. "Here, you can take them." She smiled with a knowing look and the boy blushed.

He grabbed the tray and carefully walked it out to the table. "Your orders," he said quietly.

"Yay! Ice cream!" Mako yelled. He plucked his dish right off the tray and began eating it.

"Hey! Don't be so rude," Nana scolded her blonde friend. Mako shrugged and kept eating.

"Here is yours," the college boy gave out all of the orders, saving Rin's for last. "Here," he said. She took it from her hand and their fingers brushed.

"Thank you," she smiled at him and he felt his face heat up. He wuickly snatched his hand away and straightened.

"Y-you're welcome," he muttered. The boy felt a heated glare piercing the side of his head and he glanced to the right. He paled when he saw the glower Ryoma was giving him. He must like her, too! He realized and he sighed in despair. He had thought that he would have a chance with this girl; however, not if she already had this guy.

"Yo, Ryoma, are you going to eat or let it melt all over the place?" Rin called both male's attention back to the melting ice cream in front of the midfielder.

"I'm eating, I'm eating," he muttered, glancing away from the boy. The boy quickly excused himself and hurried back to his anxiously waiting coworker.

"So…?" The woman looked at him with expectant eyes.

"She has a guard dog," the boy muttered in defeat.

The woman frowned. "Too bad. She's a real beauty, I tell you. What about the other one?" Both employees looked at the brown-haired girl and saw her wipe Kakeru's face with a napkin and laugh. They turned back to each other.

"You tried."

…

"That was refreshing. I haven't had ice cream in forever!" Rin let out a loud yawn as she stretched.

Araki snorted, "By the amount you ate, I wouldn't have noticed." She swiftly tried to trip him, but he dodged her foot. "Ha!" He snickered. Rin rolled her eyes.

"I love ice cream!" Kakeru piped up. He had a very satisfied look on his face. "I haven't had it for a long time either."

"How long?" Rin asked, twirling one ear bud of her iPod around her finger.

"Oh, about a couple weeks," the striker answered.

"My last ice cream was about six months ago. I don't eat it unless I get a really strong craving," she said casually, unwinding and rewinding the earphone around her index finger.

Several faces gawked at her, "SIX MONTHS?!" Araki cried in shock.

"How have you survived?" Mako demanded.

Rin shrugged, "I just don't really like it all that much."

The boys looked at her like she was an alien. "Weird one."

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Yes, not eating ice cream makes me weird. That makes total sense."

Several heads nodded solemnly. "It does."

She threw her hands up in defeat, the earphone swinging from her other ear. "I give up! I have to go home; I still have tons of homework!" She waved to the group as she walked away.

"See you tomorrow!" Nana called. She elbowed Ryoma and he looked at her in confusion. "Say good-bye," she ordered discretely.

"Uh, see ya, Rin!" He yelled after the striker.

Rin grinned, "Bye Ryoma!"

The midfielder flushed all the way to his ears and he turned to Nana. "What was that for?" He questioned.

Nana cleared her throat and caught up with Kakeru. "Nothing," she said, "it's only polite, after all." She didn't look back as she walked, leaving the midfielder confused.

What did she mean by that? He wondered.

"We'll leave you behind!" Araki yelled to the befuddled soccer player. Ryoma shook himself out of his bewilderment and ran to catch up with his friends.

…

The next evening, Rin skipped practice and took the time to wander around town, since she had not had a chance to really relax and look at all the shops and walk down all the streets around her apartment. She had gone out once to buy more workout clothes, but that had been the only store she had gone into.

Now, she strolled casually along the main street in town, the one with all of the stores and restaurants. She had one ear bud plugged into her ear as she walked, singing the words to herself. There were a few other people out on the road, mostly families with small kids and a few couples.

Passing a trio of teenage boys who were smoking, she gave them an exasperated glare out of the corner of her eye. She held her breath as she passed, not wanting to poison her lungs.

One noticed her glare and pushed off the railing he was lounging against, starting towards her.

Just great! She grumbled to herself. She quickened her pace to get away, but the boy grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.

"Wha're you glarin' at, eh?" He flicked a couple of ashes off his cigarette and glared down at her.

Rin held her tongue as she stared back at the taller boy; his lisp was terrible. "Nothing, I'm going to the store. See you," she tried to go around him, but he blocked her way with his arm.

"Not so fast, girlie. You can't just walk by 'nd glare at us like we're some kinda scum 'r some'in. You gotta pay for that." He smirked as he delivered his hideous threat.

Rin resisted in letting out a snort and quickly coughed to cover it up. "I'm sorry for glaring at you, what else do you want?" She was getting tired of this little shit's shit.

The boy and his friends sneered at her apology and the second kid said, "Why don't you buy us some booze? I haven't had a drink for a long time!"

Rin looked at him like he was crazy. "Excuse me? I'm not buying alcohol for a bunch of idiots! I can't even buy it myself! How old do you think I am?!" She put her hands on her hips and glared at the trio.

"Well what're you gonna do?" The third, a stick-thin fellow with sunken eyes, demanded. He twiddled with the burned out cigarette stub between his finger before flicking it onto the ground at her feet.

Rin didn't try to hide her snort of laughter. "What a bunch of jokers. I'm leaving." She turned and brushed aside the boy in front of her. "Move."

The boy tried to stop her, but she grabbed his wrist and twisted his hand back at a painful angle. "YEOWCH!" He screamed in an extremely un-manly manner. His knees buckled as he tried to get out of Rin's grip; his fac paper white and lips twisted in a pained grimace.

His two lackeys sprang forward to help, but Rin shifted so the boy she was holding captive was between her and his friends. "Leave me alone." With a final wrench, she pushed the guy into his friends and walked away.

"We'll get you for this!" The skinny kid squealed after her as he tried to console his injured friend. She held up her fingers in a peace sign and kept walking.

What a bunch of idiots. They actually think they're all badass just because they skip school and smoke. That's not badass, that's just plain stupidity, she get out a mocking bark of laughter. I've seen kittens look more threatening than those three fools. She looked down at the iPod and changed the song. When she looked up, her eyes widened and a grin slowly spread across her face. She saw just right remedy to lift her dark spirits.

"Is that a…a fast food restaurant?" She asked herself as she looked at the small store tucked in between a kids' toy store and a bank. She quickened her pace as she approached the restaurant and pulled open the door. The smell of French fries, grease, burgers, ketchup and other condiments hit her nose as she opened the door and she gave a contented sigh.

With a bounce in her step, she got into line, surveying the menu above the ordering counter as she waited. The door opened and a few people got into line behind her. "This is going to be a good night," she muttered to herself as the line shifted forward and she came up the counter.

So, I tried to make it longer, but I don't think the ending was very good. I suck at endings anyway. Sigh.

I apologize for the downhill tumble this story took. I am taking a break from writing seeing as Regents and finals are in two weeks and my grades suck in most of my classes.

Anyway, thanks for reading this far, if you got to here.