"Ah come on, Hilary, do I have to?"
"Yes, you do, Tyson, you promised!"
"You did promise, you know, Tyson." She barked.
Tyson Granger was engaged in yet another argument with his "best friend", Hilary, over a bet he had had with her; that he would get better grades than her in all subjects after she nagged him about diverting his mind of studies. He lost spectacularly. To keep his end of the bargain, he had to be Hilary's slave for the next whole day, that just happened to be February 14th, Valentines day. Of course, Tyson, being Tyson, had no idea of the significance of the day, and he didn't have any idea of what Hilary would make him do, but he expected it involved a lot of shopping bags. Her half of the deal was that she'd have to endure Tyson's company and assistance that day.
"All right, it looks like I have no choice. I'll come," Tyson conceded, admitting defeat, and Hilary jumped with joy.
"Okay then! We've gotta get going, we've got a lot to do!" she chirped happily, and Tyson smiled at this.
"At least she'll enjoy this," he thought, and for some, unknown reason, that made him happy. He was taken by surprise, however, when Hilary grabbed his hand a moment later, and pulled him along.
"See you guys later!" he called to Kenny, Ray, Kai and Max.
"Bye, Tyson! Bye Hilary!" they all called back. Once the pair were out of sight, the four, well three of them burst out in laughter.
"He's so dense!" Max chuckled, and Kenny agreed.
"Do you think Hilary will tell him?" Ray asked.
"Who knows. But one thing that I think we can all agree on, is that Tyson is going to have one heck of a day," Kenny answered.
Meanwhile, strolling on the streets…
"So…what's first?" Tyson asked in dread.
"Lets see…" Hilary said, and fetched a list out of her pocket. "First thing is…to hit the mall!" She beamed perkily, and Tyson groaned.
"WHAT!" she screamed at him, threatening him with a tightened fist, causing him to cower.
"No-nothing," he whispered, and Hilary returned to her normal self, and the veins in her hand receded.
"Good!" she cooed sweetly, and she walked off, with Tyson's hand still in hers.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at the mall.
"Why do people keep on looking at us, Hilary?" Tyson asked, as anyone and everyone they passed was looking at them cutely.
"I dunno. Anyway, here's the first store we're going to, Tyson," Hilary informed, stopping, and Tyson looked up at the store; it was a perfume store.
"Oh, do we have-" Tyson started, but stopped after a death glare from Hilary, and they entered.
They spent the next two hours in what Tyson had once thought would be the amount of girls shops in the whole world. It was really a big mall. And for once in his life, Tyson was right; he did have to spend the day carrying shopping bags. What he didn't anticipate was him having to pay for their contents. The two of them were now in yet another clothes shop.
"Ooh! What do you think of this one, Tyson?" Hilary asked, holding up a pink t-shirt with a kitten's face on it.
"Why does it matter, Hilary?" he asked back, drearily.
"I just wanted to know your opinion," she told him.
"No, I meant why does it matter what you wear?" he asked as though explaining the obvious.
"Because, I have to look the best I can!" she argued, dreamily entering one of her "princess" fantasies.
"Well you look fine in whatever you wear, Hilary," he told her truthfully, and she slightly blushed.
"Thanks, Tyson," she flustered, and gave him a smile, but then said in a slightly business like manner "But fines not good enough! I'll take it!" and dragged Tyson off to pay for it.
Five minutes later, once the shirt had been paid for, and the pair had left the shop, Tyson started complaining.
"Oh, come on, Hilary, I'm hungry!" he moaned, and his stomach was growling extremely loudly, and passers-by were giving him a funny stare.
"Oh, just one more shop, then I promise we'll get something to eat," she pleaded.
"You said that six shops ago!" he whined, but Hilary countered with an even more powerful weapon than her fist; the puppy-dog eyes.
"Please, Tyson?" she asked, and made her lip quiver. Tyson had never been able to resist puppy-dog eyes, even from Max.
"Fine," he sighed, and Hilary jumped with joy, and grabbed his hand to direct him, but she shortly stopped, and Tyson could hear why; her stomach was now grumbling.
"Okay, lets get something to eat, I guess I am pretty hungry," she chuckled, and Tyson sighed.
"So, what can I get the happy couple?" a waitress asked ten minutes later, approaching Tyson and Hilary's table, and Tyson gagged on his drink.
"What! We're not a-" he started, but Hilary cut him off.
"I'll just a have a salad, please," she said, and gave a sweet smile to Tyson, who in return was giving her an angry glare.
"And, for the gentleman?" the waitress asked, and Tyson grumbled as he looked down the menu.
"I'll have…a hamburger and some french-fries, please," he drawled grumpily, and once the waitress had walked off did he speak to Hilary.
"Why'd you let her go off thinking that we were dating?" he hissed, but Hilary merely smiled and winked mischievously. Tyson sat pondering why she'd done so for several minutes, until the food arrived, at which point all things that had happened before it arrived were driven out of his head by thoughts about his one, true love; absolutely anything edible. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Tyson, Hilary was watching him, thinking about a certain secret.
"Should I tell him, or not?" she thought to herself, but didn't get any further, as Tyson interrupted her.
"Hey, Hilary, pass the ketchup," he spat over a mouthful of hamburger. Actually, he spat quite literally, covering Hilary with bits of it.
"Maybe later," she thought to herself, flicking a bit of lettuce off her hand.
Tyson and Hilary spent the rest of the day doing all sorts of things she chose, which became less and less like chores for Tyson, and more and more like fun for both of them. Just as the sun was starting to set, they were to be found leaving the cinema after watching a romance/action film that had appealed to both of them, amongst lots of couples.
"…and then the bit where he just beat the crud out of those guys! That was great! So what's next? Or is that finally it?" he asked, snapping Hilary back to reality. She had been thinking about how the main characters reminded her greatly of herself and Tyson.
"Huh? What? Oh sorry. Lets see…" she replied, and checked her list again. "Only thing left is to go watch the sunset," she sang softly, and entered her fantasy world again.
"You're really taking advantage of my slavery, you know," Tyson scowled sarcastically, but Hilary didn't hear him, as she was still fantasising. Tyson followed Hilary to the hillside. Once they arrived, Hilary returned to reality, and began to get extremely anxious.
"Oh boy! This is it! Its now or never! Do I tell him or not?" she thought desperately, biting her lip.
Tyson noticed this, and could tell she was worried about something, so he grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. Hilary took this as a positive sign, and it made her feel braver, so she decided she would tell him.
"Tyson?" she said, still quite nervous.
"Uh-huh?" he hummed, and he nodded his head.
"Um - I-I wanted to tell you that I-I like you!" she cried, and crammed her eyes shut in fear. After a minute of not hearing anything, she opened her eyes, and saw Tyson just sitting there, still nodding.
"Tyson, did you hear what I said?" she asked, and Tyson continued nodding.
"And - uh - I mean as in I like, like you," she repeated, and Tyson still nodded, but only for a moment.
"Wait, what!" he asked in alarm, and Hilary exasperated.
"Weren't you even paying attention to what I was saying!" she asked, and Tyson just scratched his head and chuckled nervously.
"Well I said that I - that I like you," she repeated, and Tyson turned to face her with mild confusion.
"I like you too, Hilary," he admitted plainly, and Hilary's heart stopped.
"You - do!" she asked.
"Well of course I do Hilary. You're my best friend, after Kai, Chief, Ray, Max…"
"I get it, Tyson. But that's not what I meant," Hilary sighed.
"Then what did you mean?" Tyson asked in confusion, still not understanding.
"You know," she said, and leant in closer, and Tyson followed suit.
"I like, like you," she whispered, and Tyson finally understood, and he jumped up quickly, which caused Hilary to look panicky. Tyson thought over the time he had spent with Hilary.
He thought about when he had first met Hilary, his first impression had been that she was a horrible demon, but those thoughts were lost once he had spent a small amount of time with her, seeing how she hadn't been exactly "nice". He remembered numerous occasions when Hilary had let her hair down, or worn a nice costume, and those thoughts had come flooding back to him. He remembered after numerous losses, when he had been sulking over his loss, and Hilary had tried to cheer him up, but he had just acted like a big baby. He remembered the pain he had caused her when he was trapped inside the collapsing building. He remembered how thrilled she was when he saved them from a crushing death on that ship. He remembered how she showed up everyday at his house, so that they could walk to school together and then she would participate in their blading discussion. He remembered how troubled she was when he sprained his foot, and how she applied a wet cloth on it. He remembered every tear, every laugh, every win, every loss, every fight, and…a lot of other things besides.
He looked over to Hilary, only to see that she had gotten up, and was now walking back to town, a tear clearly visible in her eye, that made Tyson feel angry, and he wanted to do whatever he could to make it stop, and to make it go away. It was at that moment that Tyson realised how he felt about Hilary.
"Hilary! Wait!" he called, and she stopped, but she didn't turn around.
"Its okay, Tyson," he heard her sob. "Why would you like me anyway? What have I ever done that was so special, or nice for you to make you like me? What's so great about me? I'm just a scrawny, annoying little runt!" she yelled, and kicked at the ground. Tyson grabbed her and span her around.
"Don't say that!" he yelled, and Hilary almost looked scared, which Tyson noticed so he calmed down.
"Hilary. You are the most beautiful, special, wonderful girl I've ever met, and I cant think of anything not to like about you," he said, and Hilary brightened up immediately.
"Really?" she sniffed.
"Yeah. Hilary, I-I like you too," he said, and then got nervous; he knew what was supposed to happen next. And by the looks of things, so did Hilary, as she had closed her eyes and was nervously leaning in, puckering her lips. Tyson decided he should follow suit, and lent in too. A moment later, the two of them experienced their very first kisses, only quick, plain old kisses mind you, but in there eyes, it was perfect. Afterwards, Hilary gave a giggle.
"Happy Valentine's day, Tyson," she grinned, and Tyson looked at her in alarm.
"Oh so that's what today was…"