Chapter 3

A whistle broke the silence. Then the sound of a flesh hitting the volleyball emitted into the gym. Breathe in, breathe out. Watch carefully and set perfectly for Kira. With a bump of the ball it headed straight for her and with a graceful move to the right she set the ball. It went up and slightly to the left until Kira smacked it over the net. The volley between the 'main' players kept going until Kira hit the ball. It was nearly to the ground! It was saved just barely by the other team and a free ball came over. "Chandra, get that!" Kira said quickly since the ball went over her head and headed towards the back. Excitement was obviously there for Chandra because it was her first game of the season and her first hit. It wasn't even the last game of the night either! Krystine smiled slightly as the ball came to her again and she set it up high for Jane to hit. With a swack the ball finally hit the ground of the gym. It had taken them a bit longer than they liked but they ended one more game. "Yes!" They cheered before heading to the back of the court. Winning made everyone feel good for that moment. The two teams switched sides before talking to their coaches and drinking some sort of liquid.

"Alright team-I know you are all excited about this win but we still have two more games to win. We won't be going to five games tonight. Go get'em," Their coach smiled slightly before sitting back down at the bench while the girls did a small pep cheer.

"Kick-Butt!" They then proceeded to kick their own and giggle. The feeling of awesome filled them all even if they sat on the bench. The starters were tense and ready for anything. Jane was up for the serve and waited for the blow of the whistle. Tweet!

"That was amazing!" Chandra said. The happiness ensnared her greatly shown by how bouncy her curls were. The natural curls made her seem like a doll but she was nothing like that. She would get down and dirty if she had to. Which made her one of the favorite players even though Chandra wasn't as good as every other Varsity players. "What should we do to celebrate this amazing win?" It never occurred to the girl that they still had plenty of games to celebrate. Some of the girls laughed while some thought about it. Krystine grabbed her purple hand towel from her locker and wiped her face before heading over to the sink. She scrubbed with face wash and the debate on what they all should do continued. Walking back she noted how they were still in there gear and only a few even opened their lockers yet.

"Why don't we wait until a big game or against our toughest rival?" She suggested while slipping off her jersey and running a bit of deodorant on before changing her clothes- sweats, many colorful tank tops and flip flops. She placed her puffy brown hair into a bun and hopped up to sit on the lockers.

The team debated this until Coach Howel came in. "You girls should probably hurry out before you get locked in with no lights on." They all looked up at the clock; it was late to be blunt. Krystine headed out of the locker room to be enclosed in a hug. It was obviously J.P. which made her laugh. He had waited for her even though it was getting late and his parents were likely to get angry at him.

"You did great tonight. You'll have to teach me someday."

"And you say that every time," Krystine continued to laugh and pushed away from him lightly. Looking up at him they smiled to each other. Their eyes holding a glued gaze. Snickers from the girls' locker room came and Krystine looked over her shoulder. Rolling her eyes she pulled him along with her to the gym. "They are so weird. Always snooping." The two walked over to where Krystine's father was and waited for him to stop talking with one of the many people he knew. Such a social butterfly he was! "-so I told him he was a complete dumb-ass and fixed the cabinet myself." He looked over at his daughter and J.P. before continuing.

"Hey shortcake; you did great tonight!" He took her up into his arms and hugged her. After a few moments he placed her down and waited for her to continue. His eyes twinkled in happiness to see his daughter. Recently his work schedule was a bit wack and long. Being a finish carpenter at the ship yard was sometimes very stressful for the two of them but they made it through.

"Thanks dad. I'm happy you made it. I was sure that you would have to work late but it makes me happy to see you here. I'm going to head out if you don't mind. I got to make some sugary treats for tomorrow's sleep over. I hope you didn't forget that I was going over to the Pulmunn's." She hinted and batted her eyelashes. His memory wasn't the greatest and she was constantly reminding him of things. Like sleep overs. He scratched his head and thought about it.

"Yeah...I remember." His eyes lingered on the boy until continuing, "Is Jay going to give you a ride home tonight? I saw you didn't take the truck to school today..." Krystine nodded. There was nothing for her to hide from her father. She got rides from J.P. randomly during the school year and he got random rides from Krystine. It was becoming a bit of a normal thing for the two of them. Her father and noticed how close they were and would occasionally ask her about their relationship. Which would normally end up her saying he has a girlfriend and that their relationship was a friendship only; nothing more and nothing less. Allan rolled his eyes after Krystine nodded. The girl was practically blind, physically and mentally.

"Yeah. It's kinda like a ritual or something by now-just like those sleep overs," Krystine laughed and yanked her arm up in a pirate like way. The awkward silence bothered her a bit so she coughed slightly before continuing."So...I think we'll be going now. Gotta go make some sugary treats for the party-Peace out cub scout!" Krystine saluted her father and headed off to one of the many doors leading outside. Allan shook his head and laughed. His daughter really was clueless. Maybe he should talk to her a bit more; even though they talked nearly everyday. Oh well, let the story unfold. He watched carefully until Jay sighed but smiled at the girl and then to him. Nodded his head showing that he would take good care of Allan's 'Shortcake' J.P. headed right after her before pulling her in a different direction. A puzzled expression was plastered on Krystine's face.

Allan watched the two teens react to each other and smiled slightly. His little girl was growing up before his eyes. What was he to do? All that was known was that the small school was definitely going to have another interesting year before them. Casually walking he opened the door to the outside and headed off to his own truck and headed to the store to gather supplies that he knew Krystine would need.

"Your school stuff and also mine," he continued to pull her until she regained her thought process and her mouth turned into an 'O' shape. A laugh escaped her while she headed in the opposite direction of him to her own locker. Humming along with a random tune in her head while digging through the mess of a locker to find everything she needed. On the other end J.P. was already shutting his locker door nicely with all his organized goodies. "Are you still going through that mess? You seriously need to sanitize that thing Kryssi." He walked up and sat next to on the ground. The bottom locker looked as though it was about to over flow and burry someone!

The girl stuck her pink tongue out at him before picking up her Advanced Algebra book. Nothing was wrong with it in her eyes but everything except a few things of hers wasn't messy. "It's perfectly fine silly boy," Krystine sighed before checking over everything that she had. Something seemed to be missing. Jay then grabbed a few pens and pencils and stuffed them into her backpack's pocket. He knew she was missing that; like she always did. The girl glared at him playfully and then smacked him before closing the door to the locker. Always a violent person she was. That habit was likely to never cease but it was a nice thought. Rolling his stoic blue/grey eyes he got up and pulled Krystine along with him. She was so tiny compared to him which made it seem as though she was a fragile thing. But really a lethal weapon just waiting to be used by someone. Casually walking the two teens continued their way out and around the school to find plenty of the team still there hanging out with various people.

"Hey hey! Are you two coming to the party tonight?"Asked one of the football players that sauntered over to them. It was annoying to say the least. He was one of the people that never thought about anything else but girls, football, sex, food, girls, parties, alcohol, sex, and the other stereo-typical things that punks like him think. Krystine sniffed a bit and glowered at the senior boy. What was it with people like him? He casually draped an arm over the two of them. He already smell a bit of nastiness so the party already started out here. A waste of talent and a horrid way to represent their school. Krystine shoved him off and crossed her arms over her chest. The other people looked at the three and gawked a bit and whispered.

"A party that you all are just going to get drunk and high at? Yeah right-I'd rather walk home if you are going to join in Jay," She spoke roughly and began to walk away. Before she could get a few feet a away J.P. caught up to her and nudged her. Laughter emitted from the people that watched from behind. Cat-calls that would be forgotten once they started to party and everything would go back to normal. The next day at school no one would care about the two friends. Everyone would be sober or not at school saying that they were sick and it would be signed off by their uncaring parents. Well, some people that is. Not all the people at the party would be doing that but still-the reality of it all was that type of crap happened in life. "You're such a party pooper you know that Anvolk. What type of cheerleader are you?" The boy had crossed a line.

Something that still bothered her. She had really no idea why she had agreed to become a cheerleader, it was probably the fact that the coach was someone dear. But she was not a bimbo, anorexic, stuck up bitch cheerleader. Krystine was a good student that had anger issues and once the uniform was on it was all smiles and yelling. "I'm the kind that is right," a cold chill was felt within all the people that heard the scary statement. The voice didn't match the cute, tiny doll that spoke it. Well, it fit if you knew her and her personality. "Let's go," a simple statement that made her and Jay continue on to his car. The peanut gallery was quiet until the two were out of ear shot and then the others began to trickle to their own vehicles to head to someone's house to party it up.

"You didn't need to be so scary back there you know," Jason said as he put his car into gear. Krystine was quiet and looking out the window. The boy had deserved much more than her 'being scary'. He had no right to be on the football team since he was more than dabbling in drugs and alcohol. A shrug was all that he received and he shook his head. Hard eyes stared out the windows; the two of them were on different sides this time. "He's just a jock that's having some fun." She snorted and glared at him. If looks could kill. His heart seemed to stop momentarily and could feel the coldness of her feelings.

"Fun you call it? He's one of your teammates and you're going to let him do such things?" The cold feeling was emitted through her voice. Jay turned up the heater and placed a hand up to the vent. They reached her house and he stopped the car but locked the doors before she could get out. Throwing him a look; her eyes said 'what the hell?' Her father was home and was waiting for her. She needed to get into the house before things got suspicious. Well-more since he locked the doors; kinda creepy. "What? Are you going to do something, keep me captive until I agree with you?" Krystine's personality did a one-eighty on him, which was a rare thing but did happen. He smiled slightly and unlocked the door. He could never do something like that to her. She was one of the closest people to him.

"I would never do something like that to you. You should know that," he spoke with a smile in his voice. He wanted to ruffle her hair but refused to do that; anyone could be watching the two and that would spread like wildfire. A small smile was place on his tanned face that would melt any girls heart but hers. Krystine blinked and smacked him. In her language it meant that she forgave him but should never do that again. The relationship between them was strong.

"I'll be over for tomorrow after the game. I gotta go bake some stuff as you know...see you," Krystine said to him while her eyes began to soften. He smiled a bit more and raised his hand to ruffle her hair but just patted her shoulder.

"See you. Don't forget to do your homework and get some sleep."

"I won't." The girl got out of the car and slammed the door. Before she went inside she waved to him and he left the circle driveway. Sighing she went inside and placed her bag in her room. She wandered around the kitchen, making sure everything was there and then checked her father. His door was wide open and the sound of his soft snoring could be heard. A smile graced her lips before poking her head in. He was spread across the bed with the covers and pillows asqued and with his glasses still on his face. She giggled slightly before trudging over to take the glasses off his face and placing them on the night stand. Then turned off the T.V. before giving him a slight hug before leaving the room. "Night dad." A murmur that was lost in the breeze of her breathing. The kitchen was then turned into a bakers paradise until about midnight and homework was left forgotten in the bedroom.