As the bells rang for the end of final block, the men of the Battlefront marched onto the soccer field. Their faces were set with cast-iron determination, every footstep shook. Emm spat, the sunlight glistened off of Jake's halberd.

As they approached, they made out a figure standing at the opposite end of the field. They tensed. Then, they stumbled, as they made out the familiar painfully-pink hair of the opponent.

"Julie?" Emm growled. "What the hell's going on?"

"Ha!" came the cry from their diminutive opponent. "So you wimps showed up after all! Prepare to have your butts kissed!" And at that, Julie began dribbling forward, her clumsy feet struggling to direct the ball.

"I get it…" Mike hissed. "She's the one who sent that note! She thinks we're wimps! And look, she'd dribbling towards our goal!" He pumped his fist. "As men, we must defend our honor! We must stop her!"

Mike's friends exchanged glances. 'I have no idea what's going on," Jake confessed, scratching his head. Then he grinned. "But she ain't beat'en me! Let's go!"

Mike whooped as they ran onto the field. Honestly, he had no clue how that worked. "Right! Harry, you go guard the goal. The rest of us will take her down!"

Jake was the first manly defender Julie faced. She raced down the field, more toe-ing the ball forward then dribbling. Jake grinned.

"Ha! You loser, you're all open!" Jake moved to steal the ball. "I'll just-"

Jake stumbled out of Julie's path, rubbing his cheek vigorously as he groaned. "Hey… something hit me!"

"Jake, what are doing on the ground!" Emm yelled as Julie came up to face him. "Now I have to take out this little punk. Eat dirt, little-"

His motion to kick the ball away was interrupted by Julie's motion, namely her ramming herself into his side.

"THAT WAS A FOUL!" Emm roared, as Julie ran on, giggling.

TK and Mike sprung forward.

"Um, stop right there!" Mike yelled.

"Eye of the Tiger, man" TK sallied.

Exhibiting extreme skill, Julie dribbled straight for them. Mike saw TK turn, and reach out. He was going to get the ball.

"-Don't worry TK, I got this! I-oof!" Mike grunted as he rammed into TK, both heading for Julie. They both fell over backward, groaning, as Julie zipped in between.

Julie came to a stop in front of the goal. She leered at Harry's shaking figure. "And now, for my trademark shoot!" She lifted her leg up dramatically. The other's watched her incredulously. "Prepare yourself… FOR MY SPINNING DEATH GUILLOTINE!"

Harry's eyes widened to overtake the rest of his head as the ball headed right for him.

Moron, you shot it right for his head, Mike thought. It'll smash his skull in, but you won't make the-

There was a twang, and the ball abruptly was flung into the far corner of the goal. Harry collapsed.

Julie's mouth made a perfect "O". "I… I did it! I did it!"

"I can't believe it…." Jake muttered weakly as he, TK, and Emmanuel made their way forward. "She beat us… though something did hit me, I'm telling you!"

TK kicked at the grass.

"It's all right," Emm comforted, patting Jake's back as the trio slumped off. "Let's never… speak about this, all right? Never."

Sighing with relief, Mike threw a thumbs up to the side of the field.

Nestled at the top of a tree, Emily put down her demonic crab-hand-turned-sling-shot, and let her pebbles drop. Then, she slowly returned the gesture.

Mike grinned ruefully. Julie'd done it. She'd almost lost control of the ball, and had violated more than several rules of soccer, but she'd done it.

He smiled uneasily as Harry stamped up.

Harry grimaced. "Okay man, what's cooking?"

"…What do you mean?"

Harry gave him a knowing look. "Angel would never sign her name as Angel. What are you up to? You don't have to hide from me, I'm your friend."

Mike hesitated. Darn it, why'd Harry have to be so intuitive. He couldn't lie to Harry, but Harry had been fighting Angel for years, he had to be careful.

"Well... it's just… I just thought I'd help Julie out a bit. Try to help her do what she never got to."

Harry's eyes widened. "What, did you lose a bet?"

"Kinda."

Harry grinned. "Tough, dude." His gaze wandered over to Julie, still doing her victory dance in the goal. His smile turned wistful. "Man, she's so ridiculous."

"So, you tried to help her "win" at soccer? What's next?"

"Baseball," Mike admitted sheepishly.

"Hey, that's my sport!" Harry declared. "Why don't I come and help?"

Mike choked. "W-what?" He had thought Harry despised Julie. But then again, in his life he'd never been good at understanding people. Maybe even now, he had more to learn.

"It can't be that bad. Just toss her an easy pitch, let her run a circle around us," Harry continued. "Done by dinner!"

"You want to hit a homerun?" Harry groaned. Mike patted his shoulder.

"Yup!" Julie declared. "Right over that fence. All the really impressive baseball players hit homeruns."

"You goofball! You hitting a homerun is like Garfield running a marathon. It isn't going to happen." Harry and Julie glared for a moment, until Harry coughed.

"Ok, whatever. Go get a bat, a helmet, and a bucket of balls. This could take a while."

The sky had reached a purple shade of dusk when Harry finally stopped pitching. He gasped, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Whew… we better turn in, it's curfew. Angel might show up."

"So?" Julie argued. "That big bully can't harm me!"

Harry smiled at her. "I think you'd have a hard time hitting a homerun with your head over by second base. I'm surprised you kept it up this long, you're pretty tough."

"It's all right. We can start again tomorrow," Mike promised as he approached, dropping all the field balls into the bucket.

"Yay! Thank you!"

Like a series of Christmas lights, the campus's lamps blinked to life, raining light down on the path as Harry and Mike strolled back to the dorm. Mike could feel the night's chill begin to nip at his dirt-covered skull. Man, he needed a shower.

"Man, she's so ridiculous," Harry said suddenly, facing forward. "The way she acts, you'd think she… well, she's really confident. And irritating!"

Mike sighed a neutral reply as he brushed some dust off his shirt.

Harry glanced at Mike. "The dream of most girls I knew was to have a summer home in the Caribbean. I wonder where the hell she got her drams from. Hey, Mike? What do you think Julie's like was like?"

Mike frowned, caught off guard with the question. "Her… life? I'm not quite sure. I doubt it could have been that bad, considering how cheerful she is." But that can't be right, Mike suddenly realized. Now he knew what this afterlife was. To be here, Julie's life must have been…

Harry laughed. "Yeah. Silly little goofball." They reached the dorm. "I'll catch you later. Make sure that you don't use up all the hot water again, all right? I'm going to stay out for a bit."

Mike watched, confused, as Harry walked off, down to the moonlit river.