"Teehee~ I'm getting so excited my feet won't stop tingling!" Ella bit her lip. It was last period, and only a few minutes left until the bell rings. She glanced at her best friend; Kristina was completely focused on their lesson. "Oh yeah," she thought. "Midterms are coming. Shoot I totally forgot. Phooey. No doubt Tina's gonna rank first again. I'm so proud of her!" 

  Ella then looked at Daniel, who, as usual, wasn't paying attention to the lesson at all. He was obviously reading a thick comic book--too obvious that it's such a surprise that nobody (except Kristina) scolded him yet. She grinned. Ella had been planning a little scheme for the two of them ever since this morning. Later they were gonna go shopping, and she asked Daniel to accompany them.

    "My clueless and dense little best friend deserves a break, and Daniel will know what to do! Leave it to him to pick something outrageous for Tina to wear! Hmm. Come to think of it," Ella glanced at Kristina again, who was seriously scribbling down notes.

     "I've never seen Tina wear a swimsuit before. HIHIHI~ This is gonna be so much fun!" she happily hummed to herself. She looked at her friend with loving eyes and sighed, "What am I gonna do with you? You really have no idea? Or are you just ignoring your own feelings? Silly girl. Another player joined the game. What are you gonna do, Tina?" 

  This time, Ella sneaked a peek at the new student sitting a few chairs behind Kristina and Daniel's desk. She noticed him staring blankly at the teacher with his mouth slightly open. She giggled to herself. This guy wasn's used to this, maybe? After all, he's been home-schooled ever since. "He's Daniel's rival. This is gonna be so much fun!"

  Two seconds later, she looked at the clock. Four... Three... Two... One...

RRRRRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGG!!!!!

    "FINALLY!" Ella stood up and a few heads turned to look at her. "What?" She said. Her classmates just laughed and continued fixing their things, getting ready to go home. Ella grabbed her bag and dashed towards Kristina's desk. "TINAAAA!"

    "Well aren't you energetic today," she laughed. "Daniel, get your butt off that chair. You said you were coming with us today didn't you?" Kristina shot him a dirty look.

    "Un." He nodded, not taking his eyes off his comic book.

    "Alert," Ella whispered. "Hot weirdo approaching."

  Kristina snorted, then she saw Kristopher headed straight towards her, wearing a wide smile on his face. "TINZ!"

  Daniel heard his voice and casually put down his comic book. "So loud." He said.

    "TINZ! Hey!"

    "Call me that stupid name again and I'll rip your throat off!" Kristina barked.

  The young celebrity held his neck in mock horror. "Oh spare me! You're sooo adorable when you're mad TINZ!"

    "Tsk!" She scoffed.

    "So cute!" Ella laughed. Then she looked at Daniel's direction. He was staring outside the door. "Very cute!" she emphasized.

  Daniel got what Ella meant by that; he ignored her and then flipped the pages of his comic book out of annoyance. The same comic book that he ordered Kristina to fetch for him, Dark Magician. Kristopher noticed the cover and looked at Daniel. "Is that the first saga?" He asked. Daniel replied without looking at Kristopher, "Yeah."

    "That's rare. Where'd you get that?" He never took his eyes off the comic book on Daniel's hands. Kristina and Ella stared at him. Kristina remembered how they first met; Kristopher bumped in to her and she accidentally dropped the comic books. When he helped her pick them up, he was persistent on asking where she got those, or if those comic books belonged to her boyfriend. "Guys really like those type of books huh?" she thought.

    "I asked where you got that?" Kristopher repeated himself with a serious look in his eyes. Daniel sighed and closed the comic book, put it inside his bag and faced the guy.

    "I had a friend back at Europe. He lent me these books. I didn't have the chance to return it to him though. He was too busy making a girl to try and notice him," the seriousness in his tone made Ella and Kristina grow suspicious. 

  Kristopher looked a bit surprised. He made a small laugh. "I see. Then that friend of yours must be a big fool." Ella looked at the young celebrity's face. If what she saw was real, she saw a bit of pain in his eyes.

  "Yes," Daniel scoffed. "A big fool."

  The tension was rising and the time was running, so Ella had no choice but to jump in in their little conversation. "Oh look at the time! Tina, we really need to get going!"

    "Y-Yeah!" she said. "Daniel?"

  Daniel stood up and left the classroom before they could. Kristopher watched every single, silent step Daniel made. "Well um, Kristopher," Kristina cleared her throat. "We're going ahead."

  He nodded, then he quickly changed his expression once again. "I see! Then we'll hang out next time! You promised, kay?"

   _____________

  Ella and Kristina were walking outside the parking lot. A lot of things stirred Kristina's mind. "That brat. He was obviously hiding something back there. And Daniel? They were both from Europe, liked the same comic book--do they know each other? Aish. I shouldn't care about this. It doesn't have anything to do with me."

  Her friend probably noticed her getting a bit confused so she patted Kristina's back.

    "Huh?" Kristina looked at her.

    "Woo! I'm so excited! Say, where's Daniel? Isn't he coming with us today?" she smiled.

    "His car should be around here somewhere..." Kristina searched the large and vacant parking lot.

    "He has a car?!" Ella's eyes sparkled.

    "Well, yeah. He drives me to school everyday--"

    "That's so sweet!!!'

    "EW!"

  Ella laughed. "Haha! Tina, you're so cute whenever you deny your relationship with him!" Kristina had this horrified look on her face. "We--"

  But before she could say anything, Daniel arrived driving his silver-grey Mercedes. He pulled over in front of them and waited for them to come in.

    "Ooh!" Ella squealed and grabbed Kristina's arm. "He's here! C'mon!"

  They entered the car and Daniel drove them to the mall. Along the way, he looked at Kristina in the rear view mirror and found himself laughing for no reason at all.

    "What's up?" Ella grinned. She and Kristina were sitting on the backseat and she'd been observing Daniel for a while. He's been stealing glances at Kristina the whole time.

    "Nothing," he coughed. "She's knocked out."

    "Huh?" Ella looked stirred. She looked beside her and found her best friend asleep. She silently laughed and glanced at Daniel in the rear view mirror as well. "She's probably tired. Since Tina's the pres, she has more work compared to the other students." Ella stroked Kristina's hair.

    "Hey Daniel," she started. "I'm gonna ask you a little favor."

    "What?" he replied.

  Ella had a smug look and her face. She glanced at Kristina again and made sure she was asleep so she wouldn't hear what she was gonna ask Daniel to do.

    "Here's what you gotta do."

_____________________

  It was 5:30 in the afternoon and Daniel pulled over the car and parked right in to a vacant area in front of the mall. "We're here," he took his seat belt off. Ella took a deep breath and...

    "TIIIIINAAAA!!!! WE'RE HERE!!! WAKE UP!!!"

    "CHICKEN!" Kristina stood up from the shock and bumped her head. "Ow!"

    "Did you forget you were inside a car?" Daniel grinned. She just held her head and stuck her tongue out and jumped outside the car. Ella linked arms with her and marched towards towards the entrance. She gave a little wink to Daniel before stepping inside.

  Daniel sighed. "Sheesh. Her best friend is really something. To ask me to do something like that. I wonder how she'll react? I can't wait." He silently laughed.

    "Over here! Tina! This one's cute!" Ella took a tiny black bikini from the hangers. Kristina just laughed at her. "There's no way I'm wearing that. That exposes a bit... Too much skin."

    "How about this one then?" Ella pulled out another pair. This time, it was a bright red bikini with a little red bow on it's top. "I-I think I'll pick my own swimsuit Ella..." she nervously laughed.

    "Oh no you won't!" Ella said. "You have terrible taste! I'll be the one picking your swimsuit today!"

    "But..."

    "Ooh here! This one will definitely look great on you!" she shoved a navy blue tube and shorts to Kristina's face. "Hold these!" Ella kept digging for more cute pairs and threw them all to Kristina.

  She sighed. "Ella what about you?"

  Ella couldn't face Kristina properly because there was a pile of swimsuits on her arms that actually covered half her face. "Don't worry! We'll both try on those swimsuits together! It'll be fun! And the best part is..." she turned to look at Daniel, who was idly staring at the weird-looking mannequin who had a smiling monkey for a head.

    "...Daniel will be the judge."

    "WHAT?!" Kristina instantly dropped all the swimsuits she was holding. Her face turned red and she yelled at her best friend. "Ella! You mean he's gonna see us wearing these kinds of outfits?!"

    "Why not?" She laughed. "He's seen you with no outfit before."

    "Ellaaa!" Kristina stomped her feet like a little girl.

    "Oh Daniel!" Ella called him. "Come here for a sec!"

  He put his hands inside his pockets and took a last glance at the mutated monkey-human mannequin. Daniel walked towards their direction and Kristina groaned, picking up the swimsuits she dropped on her feet.

  Ella held out two pairs of swimsuits. The one on her left hand had a clean white color with slight frills on the chest. On her right hand was a cyan colored one, with a lot of ribbons. "For Tina. Which one do you prefer?"

    "Ella I said--" Kristina tried to distract her.

    "None," Daniel shook his head. Ella threw the two pairs away and started to search for more cute pieces.

    "Then what type of swimsuit do you think Tina looks best in?" she asked.

    "A transparent see-through please," Daniel replied.

    "GAAAA WOULD YOU JUST STOP IT?!" Kristina yelled. Daniel stuck his tongue out and teased her again. Ella laughed and after a while, she finally finished picking. She pulled Kristina's arm, "C'mon let's go change!"

    "HAAA?!" Kristina quickened her steps while trying to balance the pile of swimsuits on her arms. Ella was walking way too fast.

    "Hurry up! There's a vacant dressing room over there!"

    "Slow down!"

    "Daniel! Come here too! You decide what pair Tina looks best in!"

    "ELLAAAA!!!"

Author's Note: Sorry this one's a bit fast and off-topic. Wahahaha. I just write whatever pops out of my mind. Did it have a few errors? Don't mind that. I'll edit it when I get the time. And, I finally have a plan. Muhahahaha.

Stay tuned~

^^