"I wonder if it'll be as good..." I muttered to myself as I walked into the parlor behind Micki and Lily.

"Jen! Look out!"

I was taken out of my fantasies of cherry dipped ice cream cones by the sudden shout. I blinked and looked up in time to see a large pole connect with my face. I stumbled back holding my head and immediately tripped backwards over a chair, which I swear was strategically placed there to make me look like a bigger klutz than I already did. For the spectacular finish I landed hard on my butt in a puddle of muddy water.

The first thing to register in my brain was the pain shooting up my back and my now throbbing head. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I quickly wiped them away. But hey, the tears did seem to clear up the stars quite nicely that were dancing in front of my eyes.

A hand appeared in front of my face.

"Are you alright?" a familiar voice asked me.

I took the hand without thinking or looking and let them help me stand. I sighed looking down at my soaking wet clothes.

"Thanks Micki," I said as I looked up.

The red haired, blue eyed man in front of me blinked in confusion. "Micki?" he asked me.

I jumped back in shock. "O-oh my gosh! I'm sorry, I thought you were one of my friends."

He laughed as I tried to fight down a blush. It was then the embarrassment began to sink in. I realized that I had drawn quite a large crowd that was now gawking at me. My heart began to sink. Oh God, why does he always see me in my most idiotic moments? Why do I care? Ugg, My life sucks, I thought.

I sighed and began ringing out my shirt.

"I remember you."

I stopped and looked up to find his eyes studying me. And I thought this couldn't get any worse.

"What?" I managed to squeak out.

"I remember you. You're that girl that ran into me and hurt your ankle."

The mood suddenly changed. I longer was worried about my butt, my clothes, or the crowd. I was worried about the insult he had either knowingly or unknowingly bestowed upon me. Heh heh, I guess before I go any further I suppose I should make one thing clear. One of my major flaws is that I can't stand people insulting me. In really irks me.

"Ahem. I think we'd better get one thing straight here. I do believe it was you who ran into me and I fell wrong on my ankle because of your lack of attention. And further more, I'M NOT A GIRL!"

He pretended to be confused. "What? You're not a girl? What are you then? A guy?"

I pursed my lips together in a frown. I knew he was baiting me, but my anger was really clouding my judgment. Don't say anything, don't say anything, I told myself. Breath and don't say anything...

"You know what I meant. I'm a woman, not a girl. Don't treat me like one."

Tsuke Chiba looked me up and down as if considering this. "You look like a girl to me. Hmm, and since I don't know your name, I'll call you cute little blue haired girl from now on. Chibi for short." He paused as he looked at his watch. "Oops, looks like I have to go. Ja ne, oh chibi one."

With that he waved, stuck his hands in his pockets and walked off through the crowd. I snarled knowing he had bested me in the little fight. I got ready to attack him from behind, but Micki and Lily got to me in time. Micki grabbed my shoulder before I could run off.

"Jen, chill. It's okay. It's just a stupid guy."

I just stood silently glaring at his retreating back. I'll get you yet, I promised myself. I won't let you win again. And then I did the only thing I could think of to do. I stuck my tongue out at him.

Lily rolled her eyes and dragged me inside while Micki took care of the crowd. She sat me firmly in a booth and stood over me like the protective cousin she was.

"What the heck did you think you were doing?? You not only made a fool of yourself, but you just got beat by the most popular guy in the school. Why'd you have to pick a fight with him?" she asked me in an exasperated voice.

I didn't really feel like going into the details. "He started it. I was only setting his story straight." I said as I crossed my arms over my chest.

She sighed and shook her head. "You act just like a little kid, you know that?"

I grinned and flashed a peace sign. "Yep, that's me."

Lily smiled in spite of herself. "You really are hopeless."

My lavender haired cousin then gave up and slid into the booth across from me. Micki then walked in and took a seat next to Lily with a heavy sigh.

"I thought they'd never leave. Hey Jen, you okay? He beat you pretty bad didn't he?"

I gave her a cold look. "I was fine until you brought that up."

She laughed nervously. "Gomen, gomen. I was just messing with you."

I smiled reassuringly at her. "I know. I'm fine. A little wet and soggy, but that never hurt anyone."

Lily cocked an eyebrow. "What about that big knot on your forehead?"

I blinked. "What? A big knot...?"

I carefully reached up and tenderly prodded my forehead. Yep, there sure was a lump on my forehead. Stupid pole, I thought bitterly.

"Is it really that noticeable?" I asked with one hand over the spot.

"Uhh, no, no. It's only a little purple and black and it really isn't all THAT big," Micki replied.

I sighed and leaned back against the cool leather of the seat. "It's noticeable."

"Oh I don't know, it's not too bad," a new voice spoke up.

The three of us looked over and saw our server had arrived. She had shoulder length brown hair with purple streaks and brown eyes. Her uniform was a pink dress with a matching pink apron and a pink and red hat. Her name tag clearly read "Hi, I'm Nikki!" with the exclamation point and everything. I gave her a wary look and mouthed to Micki, "I'm scared now." Micki just nodded her agreement.

Nikki gave us a big smile. "Hi, my name's Nikki and I'll be your server today. Have you decided on what you'd like to eat?"

I smiled back and nodded. "I have. I want a vanilla ice cone dipped in cherry coating please."

Nikki nodded and wrote down the order on the little pad she was carrying.

"I'll have a brownie sundae." Micki said after Nikki had looked up.

"And for you?" she asked Lily.

Lily just shook her head. "Nothing for me, thanks."

The waitress gave my cousin a funny look. "You came to an ice cream parlor but your not going to eat ice cream? Is there something wrong with you? I thought everyone liked sugar!"

I thought Lily was going to snap at Nikki, but she just smiled and laughed. "Oh no, it's not that I don't like sugar, it's just that I'm not hungry."

Nikki raised an eyebrow. "At least have something to drink."

Geez she was persistent. "Alright," Lily conceded. "I'll have a water."

Nikki sighed but wrote it down anyways. "Well, I'll be right back with your orders."

The pink waitress hurried off to get our orders leaving the three of us to our own devices. We just sat there for a few seconds, staring at each other in silence. Then out of the blue I slammed my head against the table and proceeded to scratch my head furiously with my hands. Why does he get under my skin so well?? Why does he have to make an idiot out of me??

"UGGG!!" I shouted rather loudly in frustration. Everything was just really getting to me.

But just as quickly as the 'attack' began, it ended, and I regained control of myself while attempting to regain my composure. Micki was blinking furiously in confusion and my poor cousin was looking at me like I was crazy. Which I admit I probably was pretty close at that point.

"Uh, Jen, dear...please stop making such a big scene." Lily said carefully.

"Yes Jen, chill." Micki agreed. "He's just a guy."

I sighed. Right just a guy. Just a stupid dorky guy, who insults girls and takes them for granted and is so cute...and...

"I DON'T CARE! I HATE..."

But I never got a chance to finish my sentence because right at that moment Nikki walked up and set our orders on the table.

"There you all go." she said as she handed the last order to me.

"Thanks." we all said in unison.

Nikki grinned that smiled of hers and turned to go. That was when she handed me a towel behind her back and continued walking. I paused for a moment looking at the towel in my hands and suddenly I knew Nikki was a cool person. For that instant I forgot about my stressful day and Tsuke and began to wipe myself off with it.

Micki dove right into her sundae and Lily slipped her water as they watched me. Surely, they thought I was overreacting just a little, but being the nice friends they were, they hadn't said anything about it, and they wouldn't say anything about it. I smiled again at the fact that I had such good friends and began eating my cone.

"So, how do you really feel about Tsuke, Jen?" Micki asked me, peering over the towering mound of ice cream to look right at my face.

So much for having good friends...I thought as I began choking on a large piece of the coating.

"What?! What kind of question is that?"

"Well, you really seem like you..." Lily started to say.

But I cut in. "Ug, I hate him! He just parasites off poor, unsuspecting girls who are blindly, and completely hopelessly, in love with the guy. And he makes fun of the rest of us. What? Is there no girl good enough for his pompous ass out there??"

I was stuffing my face while rambling bitterly about some guy. It must have sounded like I had just been dumped by him and I was making a melodramatic performance out of it. All fabrication of image had gone out the window and I felt the stares of people in the parlor that were beginning to gather in our direction. But I was at a point was past caring or paying any attention to what I was doing.

I continued my ranting as I picked up a spoon nearby and began shoving some of Micki's ice cream in my face.

"And further more, he has no common decency at all..."

But I was abruptly cut off by Micki who had finally taken notice of what I was doing. "Stop eating my sundae!" she exclaimed as she hit me over the head.

My face flew forward because of her attack on the back of my head and landed unceremoniously in my cone. When I slowly lifted it out of the now melting mess of what was once a cherry dipped cone, my browned haired best friend began laughing. I really don't blame her. I must have been a sight with ice cream and pieces of the coating dripping down my face and everything. Even Lily was having a hard time controlling herself.

Too resigned and humiliated to do anything else, I wiped my face off with my towel and sighed.

"Geez Micki, why'd you have hit me so hard?" I asked her.

"Guess I don't know my own strength," she replied with a grin. "Besides, you know better to mess with a girl and her dairy products."

"No, just you." I muttered under my breath.

"Besides Jen," my lavender haired cousin interjected, "you wouldn't shut up."

I looked a little sheepish and laughed slightly. "I guess I was going a bit far off the deep end huh? Sorry."

They both nodded. Then suddenly, Micki looked as if she had just been hit with a revelation and she got a sly look in her eyes. I gulped as she turned that gaze towards me.

"Jen..." she started. "You still like him don't you?"

Damn it, I thought to myself. Why did she have to catch on to that right off the bat?? She's just too freaking good! But I managed to keep these thoughts off my face and put on a shocked expression.

"What? No way! Haven't you been listening? I hate the guy!" I protested shrilly.

"Hate is the closest thing to love, Jen-chan. Besides, we've grown up with you, of course we'd be able to tell when you liked someone." Lily said picking up on the whole thing.

Micki nodded her agreement. "That's right Jen. And we can tell that you don't just like him, you're head over heels for him."

"What is this? Pick on Jen Day?" I said standing up. The room went completely silent, all eyes on us. "I've had one of the worst days of my life and you two assume that I like Tsuke Chiba! Well, if you're really going to stick to such a silly notion, I'm leaving."

And I did too. I threw my money on the table and walked out of the parlor. The worst part was I could hear the clapping of the people inside as if it was just some stupid show. I shook my head and began walking off, getting a sinking feeling in my stomach.

It was then I realized just how true they were. I didn't just like the guy, I was head over heels for him. And how true I was. This was one of the worst days of life. What was with all the bad days lately? Am I just cursed, or did I do something to piss someone off somewhere?

I sighed and started on my way home, feeling bad about what I had just done, but knowing I couldn't go back there. Just then something slammed into my shoulder and I stumbled into the wall to the right of me while attempting to regain my lost balance. I turned to see who I had run into this time, but was caught by the arm before I could get fully around and dragged into an alley nearby. Then the person shoved me into a wall backwards.

I now had a full view of my assailant. She was a little taller than I was with blond hair down to her shoulders and blue eyes. The young woman wore the same uniform as I did which indicated she went to same school as me. She was pretty, no doubt about it. But that pretty face was smeared with a hatred that I could only assume was directed at me. And to make things worse I couldn't shake the feeling that I knew her for some other reason than she went to my school, so I couldn't figure out for the life of me what I could have done to piss her off. Behind her was a group of teenage girls about the same age, all with the same expressions on their faces.

I am in for some big trouble, I thought with as that sinking feeling got worse. The blond haired leader opened her mouth to speak but I cut her off.

"Why, I am just so blessed and humbled to be in the presence of such beautiful young ladies, who just happen to go to my school. What can I do for you all?"

"You can start off with shutting up. I didn't come here for a prolonged meeting. I came to warn you." she said with a sneer.

"About...?"

"Against you messing around with Tsuke. He's just trouble for an inexperienced girl like you."

That's when it hit me. I knew I had seen her before. She was the girl that had been trying to get Tsuke's attention earlier. Then she must have seen the confrontation between us and gotten jealous because he had given me more attention than she had gotten from him ever. That little bit of information made me feel a little better about my chances with the guy...not that anything would ever happened, but I had a right to dream right?

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I have no interest in Tsuke Chiba what so ever. He's just a jerk."

The group of girls gasped and the leader raised an eyebrow. "I'm just giving you a friendly warning. You mess around with him anymore, and I'll make sure your school life is a living hell."

"How nice," I replied with the same sneer in my voice.

The two of us just stood there sizing each other up. We locked eyes and for moment we held the gaze until she looked away.

"What's going on here?" I heard my best friend's voice ring out.

The girls turned to see Micki and Lily standing there, glaring at all the girls surrounding me. Blondie gave me another snarl before she shoved past Micki and Lily, her little club following behind her.

"He's not worth it you know. He'll just shovel you to the side..."Micki yelled after the group. "...no offense Jen..." she added as an afterthought.

"Why would I take offense?! I don't like him!" I shouted.

Micki grinned knowingly as I walked over to the two of them. "So what exactly was that about?" she asked me.

Lily thought about it for a second and im mediately figured it out. "Jen was just threatened by the Tsuke Fan Club."

"Tsuke Fan Club?" Micki and I asked at the same time.

Lily nodded seriously and the two of us burst into laughter. "Oh you have got to be kidding me." I exclaimed.

"No, it's all true. They think you're moving in on him."

"Looks like you've got some competition Jen..." Micki said in a teasing voice.

I smiled and shoved her playfully. "Shut up. No one asked you. Besides, they aren't any competition. I'll beat them all out."

Micki and Lily grinned.

"See, see, we were right!" Lily pointed out. "You do like him!"

I blushed and started to walk off quickly. "I was just getting caught up in the moment, that's all!"

"Uh huh," the green eyed girl said disbelievingly as they ran to catch up with me.

"It's true!" I protested.

But they both knew I was lying. But somehow I didn't care anymore if they knew or not. They were my closest friends and deserved to know. Besides I guess in truth I had wanted someone to share it with. Now I didn't have to suffer alone and could go to them for advice. I just hoped I wouldn't need that help.