I AM HERE.

[Mai]

"I haven't seen anyone since gym," Mai had said innocently in reply to the group of boy's inquiry when they came into the locker room, feeling very uncomfortable standing in front of the gang as a dressed girl pretending to be a naked girl pretending to be a dumb girl just so they wouldn't beat up a guy that she herself had just stuffed into a locker.

She thought to herself that maybe she would be able to send them another way - maybe to the men's change room which she would have expected to be the first place that they would have looked anyway since they were chasing a guy. >_O;; When they called Ian wimpy and then began talking about getting back to eating their subs though, Mai knew that they were already on their way out anyway. And that's when Ian did thee most idiotic thing EVER!

He came out of cover and said: "I am not wimpy!!"

And then I guess he had realized how much of a moron he was and what he had just done, which is why his face kind of froze up in that awkward kind of way and he didn't say anything several long seconds.[/i]

"Aww s--t..." Mai groaned, and no longer did the gang wait before charging the blond-haired boy with anger fueling their every mood. There was nowhere for him to run in here, besides to the showers further back which would be a bad area for anyone to try and outrun a person, the only exit was behind them so they had the upper hand here. Mai felt like friggin' strangling Ian herself though!

She took off the towel and slid her arms back into her polo and then prepared to fight back herself, only there was one thing she had forgotten although it sort of came back to her when she nearly slipped on the wet tile floor...

Aww crap... I took off my shoes didn't I?[/i]

If there was ever a time when the blue-haired girl felt like wringing somebody's neck so hard that it would come off, that time was definitely now.

[Mercado]

Ian contemplated whether or not the boys would simply let him off the hook if he simply went back into the locker.

~Probably not...damn....Where's a teacher when you need one!?~

The boys didn't even wait before charging the two. Ian quickly looked around his environment for some sort of way out. Fighting several guys while in a girl's locker room didn't exactly help one's reputation, so exiting as quickly as possible was something he really wanted to do along with avoiding the four fighters.

"Uh um...Wait! Hey look guys behind you, there's an um... a girl! Ya, that’s it! A girl is behind you!"

That, of course, didn't slow the aggressive boys' rush in the slightest.

~Why did I even think 'THAT' was even going to work?~ Thought Ian with a sigh as turned around to quickly look at Mai.

"Look, just run past these guys when they take their eyes off you. I'll deal with em in a minute. Here-" Ian said while tossing the girl his wallet. "- just hold onto that for me. Go grab a drink from one of the vending machines outside and I’ll catch up, okay?"

Ian expected to get his wallet back from the girl and was only, and I cannot stress this enough, lending it to her. Was he trying to play the hero? Psh, ya right. He wasn't the type to really get into any senseless violence yet, if these guys really wanted to fight him so badly, no sense in getting the lady involved right?

[Mai]

So the guys charged them, well mostly Ian. Mai was pretty much left to sneak out while they were in action or do the alternative and stay to help out Ian. He was trying to take attention away from himself but nothing was working, he would surely be beaten into a pulp if Mai didn't help out. But how could she? The floor was slippery as ever and she was barefoot.

Maybe I should just leave him be. He knew what was gonna happen if he stepped out of that locker, it's his fault in actuality.[/i]

"Look, just run past these guys when they take their eyes off you. I'll deal with em in a minute. Here- just hold onto that for me. Go grab a drink from one of the vending machines outside and I’ll catch up, okay?"

Oh, now isn't that a change of heart? First you're too sissy to even pretend you wanted to help out those two guys back in the hallway and now you're all "hero, save the day, blah blah"? I'm really started to dislike this guy. He could have kicked down the closet door sooner then he did and now he could have thought about fighting these guys a hell of a lot sooner making my day just a little less irritating, man is he a slower thinker![/i]

"OK. I'll come over to sign your castes!" Promised the cerulean haired girl, what had she been referring to? Well there was obviously no way that a skinny guy like Ian was going to come out on top of four guys just as big. She would expect for him to be visiting the hospital. As soon as the gang got close enough to Ian, Mai quickly ran for the exit. - Oh yea, did I mention the part about his wallet? No, well, that's exactly what Mai had in her hand.

I'll get myself a lot more then just a drink...[/i]

[Mercado]

Ian grinned as soon as he saw the girl he had been accompanying slip past the guys.

~Well now that that’s taken care of....I guess I can handle these guys now.~ Ian said while rotating his right wrist.

"What are you smiling for punk!!!" Screamed the first thug who had reached Ian. As he yelled toward the blond freshmen, the senior threw a hard right punch aimed squarely at Ian's mug. As released a sigh as he calmly sidestepped to his right easily avoiding the boy's punch.

"Woah, you almost got me there!"

Sure, in terms of strength, he was clearly outmatched, but who said they would be able to actually touch him. Ranked among most of the freshmen, Ian was one of the fastest around. Not many people even came close to rivaling his speed. Yet, given that he severely lacked in the strength department, it often put him at a disadvantage when dealing with people head on.

But back to the battle!

The boy who had missed Ian, stumbled wildly past Ian while trying to regain his balance. "Do you think you can f--king take us lightly!?" Screamed the second guy as he swung his right leg in a horizontal motion toward Ian's left cheek. Ian who hadn't even put any effort in avoiding the first boy's attack, simply ducked slightly, allowing the kick to fly harmlessly overhead, while slipping past the boy.

"Hey, next time, actually try and hit me. Understand?"

"You bastard!" Yelled the last two in unison as they rushed toward their spiky haired opponent. One, who apparently was a lefty, threw a left uppercut posed to hit Ian's stomach, and the other moved in to block Ian's evade just in case he attempted to do one.

~Oh comon....~

Instead of sidestepping, the freshmen simply took two steps back, which caused the punch to hit nothing but air, and then proceeded to charge toward the boy who had threw the punch. Apparently both figured Ian was going to put a major hurting on them since he was rushing toward them, so both crouched down in a sort of defensive stance.

As Ian approached the two, he hopped over his two crouching opponents and quickly ran down to the end of the aisle. "Hey guys, I'd love to hang out with you more, but I'm kind of in a hurry. See ya!" Ian said with a two finger wave before jetting toward the exit of salvation.

~Wow! I actually got out of that practically unscathed!~ Thought Ian as he pushed open the door leading to gym. However, as soon as he opened the door, Ian suddenly stopped in his tracks as he stood in front two slightly shorter girls who just so happened to be standing in his way.

~...Crap.....~

"Um....Hi?" Ian said with a slight wave a small smile.

"PERVERT!!!!!!" The two girls screamed in unison at the sight of Ian standing in the doorway to the girl's changing room.

~Geez....the nerve of those girls! Just because I was standing inside the girl's locker room!~ Ian thought as he quickly ran past the two girls who had wrongfully accused him of being a pervert. Ya....being called a pervert, more like screamed, definitely wouldn't attract any attention...would it?

~Naw!!!!~

~Now where's Mai...?~

[Mai]

What had Mai been up to?

Well the first thing she did when she left the girl's change room was find a pair of young ladies who had been standing in the gym practicing their basketball skills up to now, she paid them each twenty bucks out of Ian's wallet to go check out what was happening in the locker room. Possibly they would witness the entire fight scene or whatever and call a teacher. But even if they didn't they had been nice enough to accept whether it had just been for the twenty or not, so Mai didn't actually care whatever they did.

After that she found a bench outside in the hall and sat down for a couple of minutes, she had basically been running all day so she felt quite relieved to have had the luxury to find a seat. While she was there she also brought it upon herself to look through Ian's wallet for anything that could come in handy later... y'know, she had seen a pretty colored pair of flip flops in this catalog at one time or another at her Aunt's place once. ( Nah, she wouldn't possibly waste good money on flip flops! ) Well she found ten more dollars and a couple of coins, those went into her pocket, and then she found a couple of pieces of ID and a student card. Only the student card didn't say "Ian" or whatever, it said "Yzal" something.

Why the heck is that name so familiar? Because I ate yams for dinner yesterday? .. no, that can't be it.[/i]

Because she was positive that she had heard the name before somewhere, Mai too kept the student card, she put it into the front pocket of her jeans and then closed the wallet leaving Ian's other invaluable ID pieces safely in all the compartments. She wondered if Ian was bleeding by now? Maybe she should have gone and gotten the nurse ahead of time just in case...

Nah... I'll just wait and see,[/i]

[Mercado]

As Ian jogged toward the vending machines he had told Mai about, the freshmen took a quick long around in an attempt to find the elusive newcomer.

~Now where did she wander off too...?~ Pondered Ian as he scanned the perimeter for some sort of clue to the girl's whereabouts. Normally a sequence of convenient occurrences would proceed to play out which would predominantly lead people to what they would be seeking. However, for people like Ian, they had no such luck. So Ian decided to do the next best thing.

"Pardon me..." Ian said putting on his best charming smile while approaching a ring of freshman girls. Three to be exact who were no taller then Mai. They were hanging near the vending machines so Ian figured that the chances of them seeing a girl with a bright blue hairdo would be at least slightly moderate. "..But I'm looking for a friend. About Nay high, has blood soaked eyes, and ocean blue hair. Have ya seen her?" Ian said while accentuating the features with his hands.

"Oh her? Yea, she left the gym through there awhile ago." Spoke one of the more outgoing girls while indicting with a finger the door Mai had left through. The other two girls apparently wanted nothing to do with blond haired boy.

"Thanks!" Ian said while proceeding out the double doors which led to the gym. Upon exiting the gym, Ian immediately spotted what he had been looking for. Yes! You've guessed it.

"My wallet!" Ian said passionately while running to embrace something that was oh so close to his heart. "Oh ya! What’s up Mai? What are you doing out here?"

[Mai]

OOC: Sorry for the delay.

"Oh ya! What’s up Mai? What are you doing out here?"

"Waiting for a certain dumbass. O, miracles! He just showed up." Said Mai as she handed Ian his wallet carelessly. She had already taken whatever contents it had that interested or benefited her anyway, so she didn't care much for anymore of the cheap fake leather wallet's qualities. She willingly gave it away and then brought both her feet onto the bench and bit on her lip hard.

"Well today has been fun... that meaning it so totally has not. I think I'm going to try and spend the rest of it trying to get into a class, find my locker, maybe have a belated lunch and then get home quickly enough to enjoy a half decent meal at my aunt's place instead of all of it being thrown into the garbage. What are you going to do? O wait, don't tell me, let me guess: make my life even more miserable then it already is?"

Mai was obviously pissed off at Ian because of his crazy stunt back in the locker room. Not that anyone was hurt but still, what he did was like... so gay. X_O

[Mercado]

Ian smiled softly as he quickly grabbed his wallet from Mai before she could let it drop to the ground. At first, he didn't take what she said too seriously, which is generally always the case since he never takes what people says too seriously. However his typically care free mood was soon lost as Mai's rebuke was anything but over.

"Woah! Why don'tcha cool it for a sec? Can you really say this day was really all that bad?" Ian began with a energetic grin. "I can say that I honestly enjoyed it for the most part."

"Anyway, why not just feign sick today? It'd be better then trying to explain to your teachers where you'd been the entire day, and telling them you were stuck in a closet with a guy probably isn't the best excuse. Yet, i don't see how this day has been all that bad for ya." Ian said while still holding the same smile. "You seem perfectly fine to me."

"But ya...how about we go find your locker and after that maybe grab a bite to eat? I know I'm practically starving right now!" Spoke Ian while laughing slightly and holding his stomach. "So uh...do you know where it is?"

[Mai]

"Woah! Why don'tcha cool it for a sec? Can you really say this day was really all that bad?"

"Yes. Second worst day of my life... the worst day was when I got drunk at a Valentine's party and made a total ass of myself in front of my boyfriend. Actually that day wasn't so bad, I did get to have a moonlit picnic in the park..." Mai explained as she began to reminisce past occurrences. Almost every bad day that she used to have would turn out good... even with Jackie gone.

But of course her thoughts were soon interrupted when Ian began speaking about ... something about sick and how saying you were stuck in a closet with a guy all day wasn't a good excuse. Then he said, "You seem perfectly fine to me." And something hit her.

Well I never expected you of all people to say something like that. You're being awfully... nice? -- !! -- mortals behold, this guy is just being like that wuss guy that I knew in New York.. . what was his name? Yamen?... Yuton?[/i] She tried to remember but she wasn't so hot with long-term memory, only things that she found important deep, deep, deep down inside stayed with her for more then a couple of months. Obviously this she didn't find too important though.

"But ya...how about we go find your locker and after that maybe grab a bite to eat? I know I'm practically starving right now! So uh...do you know where it is?"

"Men and your stomachs..." the blue-haired girl was muttering, that was until her stomach itself began to growl rather quietly and she remembered that she had hardly had any breakfast that day. Waitaminute... did she even have breakfast today? Mai shook her head innocently. It wasn't her fault either for not knowing where locker was, this jock was supposed to be the guide, NOT HER!

"I've not a clue but I could really go for a nice, sweet, hot drink right about now," Mai said, her gaze not once leaving Ian, "As long as you pay, and take the blame if anyone catches me leaving the school during class."

[Mercado]

"Ah, details details." Ian said as he waved his hand lightly as he started down the hall toward the nearest exit. "But, yea sure. If anything happens, I’ll take responsibility for it, okay?

Ian generally thought that this girl seriously needed to loosen up a bit. Though he didn't really mind, since he had met and dealt with people kind of like herself, he thought that if she took an easy every once in awhile she might be able to enjoy herself a bit more. Thought he contemplated wandering around the school a bit more, he figured it'd be better for the both of them if they just went out for the drink. She didn't look like she was in the best of moods and considering the boys they had ditched would probably come looking for them, leaving the school right now would have been the best plan.

"You know...you should really look at the brighter sides of any given situation. All things considered, I think today went pretty well. You didn't get hurt, I didn't get hurt, no one got hurt, and I'm even treating on a couple of drinks. How is that so bad huh?" Ian said with a short laugh.

[Mai]

"But, yea sure. If anything happens, I’ll take responsibility for it, okay?

"Didn't I just say that?"

Mai rolled her eyes. She began walking with Ian toward the exit. She was glad he agreed to everything she had said, she liked easy people like that. Y'know, the ones who were quicker to oblige then others. Even though she was practically a stranger. Her roommate was like that, he was strangely innocent and did basically everything she said, the two seemed not too different from each other ( him and Ian ) but Mai was just being crazy now. Ian seemed much less of a sissy-type. Seemed that is.

"Well, I don't know... I think the problem with you is you don't look to the darker side of the bright side, Ian. I mean, having to worry about anyone getting hurt to begin with is the start of a bad day in itself! I don't like trouble, like, trouble is my worst enemy! I did have somewhat of a workout but... I dunno. I think the reason I didn't enjoy myself like you so obviously did is because I couldn't exactly have fun when I was concentrating at the more important matter at hand."

Yea. Mai was being her typical, boring, serious self. You don't to see what will happen if you make a joke while she's in one of these moods. Just to clear the air though, Mai very softly and innocently said to herself out loud, "I wish I had my cat."