Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Always There For You ❯ 3 ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or it's characters.

Author's Notes: Yeah! The next chapter is up! Sorry it took soooo long! My computer was broken for what seemed like fooorreevveerr! Ne-wayz, enjoy the chapter! Don't forget to review!

Always There For You Chapter 3:

Year A.C. 213 at a junior high near the Preventor's headquarters building, Rain was now a pre-teen at the age of 12 and in seventh grade. She was standing next to a wall, away from all of the school windows and doors. Rain was leaning slightly on the wall, patting her hands on it at her sides, and listening to the tap-tap-tap rythym. She was looking down at the ground with a blank expression; she was completely absorbed in her own thoughts. Rain was so much in her own little world; she didn't hear the approaching footsteps.

"What do you think you're doing?" A harsh voice asked.

"Hmm?" Rain murmured, looking up from the ground and stirring out of her thoughts.

"I said what do you think you're doing here, this is our spot." The person repeated. Rain curled her lip slightly in disgust at who she saw in front of her. She saw four eighth graders: Scott, Mike, Joe, and Brandon-the same group of guys who'd ganged up on her in first grade. Rain found it somewhat amusing that Scott still seemed to be the leader of their little "groupie". Rain smirked slightly, then glared at Scott who had been the one to speak.

"Oh I'm sorry, I would move and all, but you see, I was here first." Rain said, continuing to glare at all of them. Scott, the leader of the group gave her a look as if to say 'How dare you!?' Scott turned to look at his buddies.

"Guys can you believe this? This little seventh grader has the nerve to say that? To ME?" Scott said with a haughty laugh. Scott's buddies laughed.

"So Scott, what'cha think we should do?" Mike asked with a wicked grin.

"Teach this little brat a lesson..." Scott answered. His group all shared a laugh and turned back to Rain. She couldn't help but laugh at them all.

"What's so funny?" Brandon, the one with blonde hair, asked harshly.

"You are. Oh please, I'm supposed to be afraid...of you? Gimme a break!" Rain replied and laughed again. The group tensed and glared at Rain who was still laughing lightly.

"Hey Brandon, are you gonna let her get away with that?" Joe asked his buddy with a raised eyebrow.

"No way." Brandon replied.

"Well little princess, now we'll really have to teach you a lesson..." Scott said coldly. He looked at his buddies and then back at Rain. She rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah, prove it." Rain challenged. That was the last straw for the group of bullies. They advanced toward Rain, ready to cause her pain in any way possible. Rain had sensed this, but hadn't even flinched. She was no longer leaning against the wall and had her legs spread apart slightly, with equal weight on both feet. Rain was now standing in fighting stance, awaiting the bullies' move.

Heero had taught Rain self-defense at an early age so that if she ever needed it and he wasn't there to help her, she'd be OK. Because of this, Rain had become very sure of her self and had become somewhat cocky in her pre-teen years.

Scott got to Rain first and grabbed her arm. He pulled his other arm back ready to punch her in the face. Rain grabbed his raised fist with her free hand and quickly twisted free of his grip on her. She twisted his arm around, behind his back causing him to fall to his knees in pain. Rain let go of him and straightened up, getting into stance again for her next attacker.

For only a 12-year-old, she was extremely graceful in movement. Scott stayed on his knees and held his now sprained wrist close to himself and rubbed it trying to ease the pain.

"Get her you idiots!" Scott said to his buddies who were staring down at him in wonderment. They snapped out of it and rushed at Rain. Rain hadn't been counting on them all attacking her at once and was thrown off guard. They quickly had her pinned against the wall with both her arms twisted painfully behind her back. Rain gritted her teeth in pain. Scott stood up and walked towards her with a look that could kill. Rain now wished she had stayed closer to the doors of the school, within the security guards' sight, or that she hadn't been so cocky.

Even with her spirit broken, Rain continued to glare at Scott and his group. Scott nodded toward Joe who grabbed Rain's right arm from behind her back and gripped it tightly.

"Now I want you to feel the same pain you caused my buddy." Joe said holding onto Rain's arm in a way that he could twist it enough to sprain or even break it. Rain clenched her teeth tightly in expectancy of the oncoming pain.

Just as Joe was about to twist Rain's arm beyond the snapping point he heard someone shout from behind him.

"Hey!" The person yelled again. The group of bullies turned around, without loosening their grip on Rain. They saw two ninth graders standing behind them. Rain peered around Scott and his buddies to see the two as well. Rain recognized the one on the right with light brown hair as Jack Wales, the older brother of the girl in her class named Chelsea. The other boy had hair that was a mix between bluish-black and chestnut brown, making it a chocolate brown, and almost violet eyes. Rain had a serious sense of Déjà vu. They had come to her rescue when she'd been in first grade and Scott and his buddies had attacked her. Rain realized that she still didn't know the name of the second guy and he looked even more familiar than ever.

"What are you guys doing?" The boy whose name Rain still didn't know asked. They all shared a look.

"We weren't doing anything, just playing a little game with Stephania here." Scott answered.

"No you weren't..." The guy Rain didn't know said. With a look of disbelief, like he couldn't believe some one would lie about that when the proof was right there.

"Why don't you leave this poor girl alone." The boy Rain didn't know continued. He gave them a harsh look. Scott, who still wasn't gonna give up, looked at the guy defiantly.

"Why should we?" Joe asked, still clutching Rain's arm. The guy Rain didn't know put a hand on Joe's shoulder and dug his fingers into it. Joe winced.

"Because I asked you to." The boy Rain didn't know replied. Scott and his buddies got kinda nervous and looked at each other. They then looked at Jack and the other boy nervously. Jack and the other guy both had hard expressions on their faces.

"Yeah Scott, beat it." Jack added pointing his thumb behind himself, gesturing for Scott's group to leave.

"Hey guys let's go, We've done enough damage here..." Scott lied, trying to sound tough. The group all nodded and quickly let go of Rain. They high-tailed it outta there, glancing at Jack on their way. He was still glaring at them. Jack started cracking up.

"Hooo! Look at 'em run! We sure scared them, eh Ma-" Jack stopped when he realized his friend wasn't listening. Jack's friend was standing next to Rain with a concerned look on his face. He was oblivious to everything except the girl in front of him.

"Are you ok?" He asked. Rain didn't answer, just rubbed her sore wrists where they had been twisted behind her back. She continued to stare at the ground. Having not gotten an answer from her, the boy Rain didn't know decided to say something else.

"So, Stephania...is that your real name or a nick name?" He asked. Rain paused for a moment before answering.

"It's my middle name, they won't let me use my real name, they said it's not a real name..." Rain replied without looking up from the ground.

"Oh, ok. So whatcha want me to call you?" He asked. Rain remained silent for a moment.

"You can just call me Stephania, I don't care." Rain replied. The boy nodded.

"Ok, that's a cool name. I'm Max by the way, or atleast that's what everyone calls me." The boy said with a grin. Rain recognized the name.

'So this is Max...I can see why everyone likes him so much, he's really friendly.' Rain thought to herself. Rain looked up from the ground and turned her gaze up to him. His smile widened when he saw her look up. Rain bowed her head slightly to be polite.

"Nice to meet you." She said politely. Max nodded.

"Oh yeah, and this is my buddy Jack." Max said, remembering his friend. He turned around and gestured towards his friend.

"Hi." Jack said. Rain nodded her head. Rain felt her stomach flutter slightly. She'd always thought Jack was kinda cute.

"I know you, you're Chelsea's brother." Rain said. Jack looked surprised.

"Oh, are you one of Chelsea's friends?" Jack asked. Max turned to look at Jack, then back to Rain.

"No... but she's in my class." Rain answered.

"Oh, I see..." Jack replied, looking down at the ground uncomfortably. Max sensed the obvious discomfort and thought of a way to avoid it.

"Well lunch period's almost over and it's almost time for 5th period, so we'd better get going..." Max said while looking at his watch. Rain nodded in agreement.

"Well maybe we'll see ya around sometime." Jack said with a smile at Rain. Rain's stomach fluttered again. She smiled back.

"Yeah." She replied. Jack turned to leave.

"C'mon Max." He said as his buddy snapped out of a daze. Rain smiled as she realized he'd been staring at her the whole time. Max looked at the ground and grinned, blushing slightly.

"Yeah I'm coming!" He called to Jack. He turned and started after Jack. "Bye Stephania. See ya around."

"See you." Rain replied with a slight smile. She shook her head as she suddenly remembered something.

"Hey wait!" She called after the two. Jack and Max stopped and waited as Rain ran to catch up to them.

"I uh, wanted to thank you..." Rain said uncomfortably. She was somewhat embarrassed for being saved two times by these same two guys.

"Sure any time." Max said with a grin.

"Yeah." Jack said with a warm smile. They both nodded their heads and turned to leave again. Rain nodded too, then turned and ran the other way as the bell rang.

*****

Two days after Rain's incident with Scott and his buddies, Rain was sitting by herself at a lunch table, eating a bagel. She could hear three girls from her class talking at the next table.

"So then what did he say!?" The girl platinum blonde hair named Chelsea asked.

"He said 'Whoa I think I need some sunglasses there's something really bright over there..." Katrina answered her friend. Alisa and Chelsea, the other girl who was there, cracked up.

Rain knew what they were talking about; they were talking about how the chorus teacher had made fun of a girl in the class who had recently bleached her hair. Rain smiled to herself, reliving the moment.

"So how did she get him back?" Chelsea asked.

"Well, she made fun of him when he dyed his hair and it looked a little too red." Alisa, the other girl answered. Chelsea and her friends all laughed. Katrina was suddenly thinking very hard.

"Hey what happened last month that was so hilarious? I can't remember, I just remember something really funny happened during class. Or we saw something..." Katrina said furrowing her brow. Rain remembered exactly what it was.

"He had a hickey...." Rain said before she knew what she was doing. She felt embarrassed for butting in on their conversation Chelsea, Alisa, and Katrina all turned towards where Rain was sitting and cracked up.

"Oh duh! How could I have forgotten that! Wasn't it gross!?" Katrina asked Rain. Rain nodded her head and wrinkled up her nose.

"Ugh yes! He's a teacher! Like he needs to walk around with a hickey on his neck!" Rain answered. Katrina and her friends all nodded and laughed.

"Hey you're Stephania. Right?" Chelsea asked Rain.

"Yeah." Rain replied.

"Hey, why don't you come sit with us?" Katrina said patting the empty seat next to herself. Rain smiled. She was happy to have some people to talk to. Rain picked up her bagel and Snapple and sat down at their table.

"So, Stephania, We don't know much about you besides your name...So why don't you tell us about yourself?" Katrina said smiling warmly at Rain.

"Ok..." Rain began.

Rain, Chelsea, Katrina, and Alisa talked all through the lunch period and found out they had a lot in common. The ringing of the bell found them all cracking up about the strangeness of their math teacher. Rain was very happy, she felt like she was going to be good friends with these people, which was great considering her lack of friends.

"Oh, there's the bell, time for 5th period." Chelsea said, standing up.

"So Stephania, will you sit with us during lunch tomorrow?" Katrina asked. Rain nodded with a smile.

"Sure." Rain replied.

"Ok great! See you sixth period ok?" Alisa said.

"Yeah, see you guys sixth." Rain replied. They had all planned to sit together during sixth period and discuss their crazy math teacher some more. The four girls parted their separate ways.

*****

Three weeks later, Rain was walking home with Chelsea so that they could do their homework together. Once they got inside Chelsea's house they quickly went to the living room and set their book bags down.

On their way to the living room they had passed the kitchen where Chelsea's brother Jack and his friend Max were munching on some nachos. Chelsea had grabbed the extra plate of nachos that her brother had made for her and Rain and said hello. When Max saw that Rain was there he couldn't help but gawk at her. There was something about her that he just couldn't quite put his finger on. Chelsea noticed that both of them were gaping at Rain and almost laughed. She quickly exited the kitchen, dragging Rain after her.

"Hey guys." Rain said with a slight wave as she got dragged into the living room.

"Dude! You didn't tell me Stephania was gonna be here!" Max exclaimed. Jack grabbed another bite of nachos.

"Sorry dude. I guess I forgot." Jack said with a shrug. "Why's it matter anyway?" Jack asked suspiciously.

"Oh um, no reason..." Max replied taking some nachos off the plate.

"Uh huh." Jack said, rolling his eyes.

Meanwhile back in the living room, Rain and Chelsea were sitting on the floor of the living room beside the coffee table. The were starting on their science home work when Chelsea brought something up out of the blue.

"I think they both like you." Chelsea said without looking up from her paper.

"Who?" Rain asked, looking up from her text book.

"Hello! Jack and Max of course!" Chelsea said, now looking up.

"Oh...." Rain said, looking back down at her textbook.

"So do you like either of them?" Chelsea asked. Rain furrowed her brow.

"I dunno..."

"Aww come on! I see that look you and my brother get whenever you two look at each other..."

"What look?"

"I don't know you both stare at each other then look embarrassed as 'you now what'."

"Oh...well..." Rain couldn't think of anything to say.

"So what would you say if he asked you out?" Chelsea asked, totally forgetting her homework.

"I don't know...there's just something that would get in the way of it all..."

"Like what?" Chelsea asked.

"Well I don't know it's just, well...I kinda get this odd feeling whenever I'm around Max..."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure really, but I think I like him too..." Rain said sadly. "Ugh! I can't believe I like two people at once! And they both like me!" Rain said with a groan as she fell back against the bottom of the couch. Chelsea smiled sympathetically.

"Ouch that's really gotta suck..."

"What do you think I should do?"

"I don't know...It's up to you to follow your heart I guess..." Chelsea said with fake mysticism that made Rain want to laugh. Rain sighed.

"Great." Rain muttered.

-End of Chapter 3-

Find out what happens To Rain, Max, and Jack in the next chapter!
Don't forget to review!
-AlyRain
aly_rain_zz@yahoo.com