Wow… So yeah it's been a while since I've posted anything and I really wanted to get this chapter up before I left for China but looks like you get it FROM China. I'm hoping that the next chapters aren't so long in coming next time. Please enjoy and as always feedback is appreciated! Also I've had a lot of trouble with FF.N because my internet here in China is a little wacky. But FINALLY YOU GET IT!

xxx

Ian shoved a couple of his textbooks into his locker and grabbed some others. It was only the end of the second day of school and he was already pissed off. Tala was a great guy… okay scratch the great part but still he wasn't always that bad. It was just that recently he had been pissing him off. Only one more year and then I'll be on my own Ian thought happily.

"I've got an idea for you!"

Ian looked up to see a plum haired girl leaning against the locker beside his.

"And what would this idea be Koi?" Ian asked as he shoved the last of his assignments into his backpack.

"Well see, I've got an idea to piss Liika and Tala off at the same time. If we work together on this we might just be able to pull it off." Koi said with mischief in her eyes.

Ian laughed, "Why do I not like the sound of this? Last thing I want is Tala shoving his foot up my ass and I have the feeling that this little idea of yours is going to lead me straight to that ending."

Koi giggled. "That is very true, but think of the adventure! It could be fun!" She winked.

"Well how about you tell me what exactly this little plan is before I agree to anything." Ian said as he shut his locker.

"Alright. How about you drive me home while I explain this little plan to you!" Koi said slipping her arm around Ian's.

"Why doesn't Michael drive you home? Or why can't you just take the bus?" Ian asked, looking down at the arm that was now encircling his, his eyebrow arched.

"Michael has baseball practice tonight and could you see me taking a bus? It would be terrible Ian!" Koi tried to talk with a straight face.

Ian rolled his eyes and groaned. "Fine but only this once and it's just because now I want to know what this stupid plan of yours is!"

Koi cheered. "Sweet!"

"Wait a damn minute! You're brother has a car! Why the hell isn't he driving you around!" Ian asked suddenly remembering about Robert's car.

"You're not going to take back your word now that you've already promised me a ride! Besides Robert is going over to Mariah and Lee's so it would be out of his way to take me home first." Koi pouted.

"Not like me taking you home isn't out of my way!" Ian muttered.

"Get over it! Now where did you park?" Koi asked.

"How does Parker put up with you?" Ian asked and Koi glared at him. "I'm parked out front."

The two teens walked out to Ian's car and got in. As Ian pulled out of the student parking he looked over at Koi.

"So are you going to tell me what this little idea that I'm wasting gas for is?" he asked.

"Okay, today in drama Liika said that she would never be caught dead on student council. So I thought it would be a great plan to nominate her for elections!" Koi said happily. "It's not like it's going to hurt her or anything, it's just a little fun. She'd get over it in no time."

"Right, so what does that have to do with me?" Ian asked skeptically.

"Tala is running for grade 12 isn't he?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Ian you are the only grade 11 in his group so that makes you the one he'll want running for representative. What I think would make this even more fun is that you DON'T run and then Liika would be the one who would automatically be in your place. Everyone else that is running will have grade 11 reps that they will want in if they win. Liika would die if she ever had to be on student council but think how much worse it would be if she was on student council with Tala!" Koi giggled.

"Girls are evil. You know I've heard it before but now I'm really starting to believe it… Liika's not the only one who would freak out if she were on council with Tala. I think Tala would rather die than have to be involved in something with Tomoda. You know he would kick my ass for doing something like this to him." Ian said shaking his head.

"Oh come on Ian! I'm sure you're sick of being pushed around by Ivanov. Just for this once do something that you know will truly piss him off." Koi pleaded.

"How do you expect to do this though? To nominate someone you need one person to nominate, five people's signatures to make it valid and then the signature of the person you are nominating. First how will you get Liika's signature without her knowing about it and even if you somehow did get her signature on the form, all the people who sign the sheet will know that you're nominating her. How do you know it won't get back to her?" Ian asked.

"That is where you come in my dear friend. I will get a nomination sheet and go around getting five people to sign it, saying that it's a nomination for you. Once I have enough we forge Liika's sig and hand it in. Come on it could be a lot of fun!" Koi giggled.

"So basically I just shut my mouth about the whole thing and pretend that you're nominating me?" Ian asked.

Koi nodded "Yes my friend, that is all I need you to do."

Ian shook his head and laughed. "You know I'm going to regret this later…. But sure I'm in!"

xxx

"Did you hear that announcement this morning? I'm bloody pissed!" Liika fumed. She was over at her friend Mariah's house that Friday night for some Chinese 'hot pot' and the two girls were chattering in Mariah's room as they waited for Lee and Robert to come back from picking up the food.

Mariah laughed. "Liika it's not like it's the end of the world. It's just some stupid practical joke and I'm sure that you can guess who did it."

Liika's eyes darkened as she hugged the pillow she had in her arms close. "I know that's just the point. It's so like Koi to do something like this. I don't know why I didn't see it coming. But who would have signed a nomination sheet for me? I mean the only grade eleven people that Koi hangs out with are you, Matilda and her boyfriend… that blonde guy… ugh what's his name again?"

"Miguel?" Mariah suggested.

"Yeah, that's it Miguel. But Miguel got elected so he wouldn't be out nominate someone else, same with Matilda because she'd be rooting for Miguel right?" Liika said as she thought on the subject.

"This is very true." Mariah said trying not to laugh at Liika's distress over such a silly thing.

"And you. You wouldn't betray me would you? You're best friend? Mariah don't tell me you signed that nomination sheet!" Liika said now holding the pillow menacingly just waiting for a reason to throw it at the pink haired girl.

Mariah just rolled her eyes. "Liika if it makes you feel any better I didn't even know that Koi was nominating someone. She may have just gotten some random kids in her class to sign it. Knowing Koi it was probably boys that she flirted with just to get them to sign the sheet."

"Typical…" Liika muttered.

"Yes but about four years ago you would have been scheming those plans with her yourself." Mariah said nostalgically, nudging Liika.

Liika's body tensed at the thought and she quickly changed the subject. "Is Hilary coming over tonight at well?"

"I think so. She said that she was going to be helping Tyson with some of his homework and then come over. She wants us to save some food for her if she's late." Mariah winked.

"Are those two going out yet?" Liika laughed.

Mariah shook her head. "Tyson is too dense to realize that Hilary likes him and Hilary is way too stubborn to make the first move. She wants Tyson to ask her out, not for her to ask Tyson out."

Liika rolled her eyes. "If Hilary would have just asked him out last year when she started to like him I'm sure that they would be happily celebrating their one year mark shortly. But alas she didn't and so she ends up over at his house on weekends doing his homework for him."

"Maybe he'll get the idea by graduation?" Mariah shrugged.

"Highly doubtful!" Liika smiled.

xxx

Koi sighed as she dipped her brush in the stain once more and then started to apply it to the fence in front of her. It was Saturday morning and here she was outside in her backyard with her older brother painting the fence.

"You know Robert, mom and dad could afford to pay someone to paint the fence! Why the hell do they have us doing it? I'm getting stain all over me! Are they just being cheap?" Koi pouted as she looked over at her brother.

Robert looked so preppy. He was in an old polo shirt and had some nice khaki colored shorts that he had worn a couple summers ago. Even if they were old clothes he still seemed to look really professional in them. As well it seemed that the stain he was painting the fence with was actually staying on the brush because there wasn't a spot of stain on him at all. Koi looked down at herself. She had decided to take the day to work on her tan one last time before winter closed in and so she was in a spaghetti strap tank top and very short jean shorts. Her tank top now had spots of stain all over it and she was glad that she had decided to wear the gloves that her father had given her because they were now covered in stain.

"I don't think that they are making us do this because they don't want to pay for it. It's more that they want us to learn how to work, which you obviously haven't learned. It's not like painting a fence is all that hard anyways Koi, at least they don't have you scrubbing toilets. Be thankful." Roberts said as he continued to work on his half of the fence.

"Why are you always being so stuck up towards me?" Koi shot back.

"Well if you didn't act like a stupid little girl throwing herself at boys all the time I might not. You never used to be like that." Robert said.

"I don't know what you're talking about! I haven't had some miraculous personality makeover that you seem to think I've gone though." She shot him a dirty look, "How is it that you don't have a drop of stain on you?" Koi asked.

"Maybe try to be more careful with your brush?" Robert suggested.

Just then "Toxic" by Brittany Spears started to go off in some strange midi like format.

"Ooh! Cell phone!" Koi smiled as she dropped her brush and tore off her gloves and reached into the back pocked of her shorts.

"You brought your cell phone outside while you are paining?" Robert asked, amused.

Koi rolled her eyes, "Of course I did silly! What if I got a really important call while I was out here and didn't have my phone?"

"I highly doubt that you'd ever get an important phone call on your cell phone…" Robert muttered to himself as he continued to paint.

"Matilda!" Koi said into her phone, "What's up?"

There was silence as Koi was listening to the other end of the phone.

"Oh I know! I thought that Liika was going to freak out when she heard her name on the announcements yesterday! What I would have given for a camera at that moment. Her eyes looked like they were going to bug out!... I couldn't believe it either! And did you see how mad Tala was when he found out that Ian wasn't running! Ohmigod! I thought he was going to blow a blood vessel!... Oh yeah I know, but Liika doesn't even want to run so there is no way she'd get in!... Well who do you think will get in?... Very true, Julia did win last year but I dunno if Ming can make it all the way with Tala and Brooklyn being her competition… Yeah, last night Ming was really pushing us hard at drill team but it is good practice for everyone. I think we all need to get into better shape after the summer…. Oh I know! Did you see some of the girls on the jr. drill team? Oh man, please don't tell me that any of us were that bad when we first started… No, I can't do anything right now 'cause I have to paint a fence…. Yeah I know it kinda sucks… 7:00? Yeah that sounds good… Okay so I'll see you guys there… No, I think I can convince Robert to drop me off… Johnny lives near Mariah so he'll probably be going over there anyways… Yes I am sure okay? Alright I'll talk to you later!" Koi then hung up the cell phone and placed it back into her pocket and pulled her stain-covered gloves back on.

"So am I right in guessing that you are expecting me to drive you somewhere tonight?" Robert asked.

Koi looked up to see her brother already on her side of the fence.

"What are you doing over here? Why aren't you over painting your half?" Koi asked shocked that her brother was now beside her.

Robert laughed, "I'm done. See if you didn't spend all your time getting paint all over yourself, complaining or talking on the phone it really wouldn't take that long."

"Oh so now you're over here gloating that I still have like halfway to go?" Koi nudged her brother with her elbow.

"Actually, I came to help you finish up your half seeing as this is such laborious work for you, but if I'm not wanted I'll just leave." Robert said and he picked up his paintbrush.

Koi tackled her older brother, wrapping her arms around him "Aw Robert, you'd do that for me? You're the best big brother!"

"You just got stain on my shirt!" Robert said, annoyed.

"Uh…" Koi looked down and sure enough the stain that was all over her gloves had wiped itself nicely into streaks on Robert's shirt. "Well it's not like you wear that shirt anymore anyways. That's why you wore it to paint right?" she smiled meekly.

"True, I suppose. I rather think of it as the principle."

xxx

Tala flipped through the channels on the TV, not paying any attention to the programs that he was skipping though. It was Saturday night and they were still waiting for Ian and Spencer to show up before they did much of anything, though it was unlikely that Ian would be showing up at all that night.

"Can you please either pick one station to watch or turn the TV off?" the red headed girl beside him said with a laugh.

"Jade is right, it's kind of annoying." Kai added.

Tala pressed the power button on the remote and placed it down on the end table beside the couch he was sitting on and turned towards his girlfriend.

Jade had long light red hair that she usually pulled up into two even buns. Her crystal blue eyes sparkled with laughter.

"It really can't be as bad as you make it seem. So what if Ian isn't running for student council with you. Did you even ask him if he wanted to run?" Jade asked as she ran a hand through her boyfriends blood red hair.

"Jade has a point Tala, you can't make Ian do something that he's not interested in."

Tala looked over at the girl beside his best friend. Kai was dating Lucy who went to the same private Catholic girls school that Jade attended. It was through Jade that Kai and Lucy had met.

Lucy had sea-green hair reached to her ankles which she often wore braided and peridot green eyes.

"It's not so much that he isn't running for council as that the little bastard didn't tell me that he wasn't going to run. And the way he laughed as Tomoda's name was being read was a dead give away that he knew what was going on. Ian knows he's screwed me over too because he decided not to grace us with his presence." Tala said.

Kai chuckled. "That's just because he knows he's in for an ass kicking. It's actually funny though. Did you see Tomoda's face after school?"

Bryan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you may think it's funny but you didn't have to listen to her bitch for hours about it. I feel sorry for whoever nominated her. Liika'll try to kick some trash when she finds out."

Tala chuckled, "Yeah and she'd be the one to get her ass kicked in the end. Unless you or Rick step in to help her out. Tomoda's so little I don't think she'd stand a chance against many."

"I really don't think that Liika can be as bad as you make her out to be." Lucy spoke up, "Bryan hangs out with her all the time and Spencer never joins in when the rest of you go off about her."

Jade smiled. "Lucy's got a point. Don't you think that you could put your differences aside just this once? You'd still have a chance at student president then."

Bryan laughed, "Fat chance you'd get Liika to put her differences aside even if you somehow convince Tala to. She's a stubborn one."

Lucy rolled her eyes at how stupid they all were being over the whole thing.

xxx

Koi rolled her eyes. It was that time of the year again, the first day of the student council campaign had come and the senior drill team was decked out in full uniform and at the high school early that morning.

"All right girls! Just how we practiced last Friday!" MingMing said excitedly.

Mariah flipped a pink pigtail over her shoulder. "So who is on our student council line up for this year? I wasn't really paying attention to the announcements on Friday…"

"MingMing is running for grade twelve. Migi's going for our grade and then some girl on the tennis team, Emily I think her name was… anyways she's grade ten and some no-name boy on the jr. volleyball team for grade nine. I honestly don't remember his name." Matilda said shrugging.

Koi nudged the two girls. "I think that Mingie wants us to start," she said motioning to their captain.

The senior drill team was in the front courtyard of East High School, which was now starting to fill with students arriving for their first classes.

MingMing lead the squad though a fast paced routine, very similar to the one that they had used last year when Julia, the drill team captain the year before, had been running for student council. It seemed to be a tradition of sorts at East High.

Koi really couldn't believe that MingMing was using the drill team as her propaganda machine for the elections. True it had worked for Julia last year but it seemed dumb for them to be out in the courtyard that morning just because MingMing was running for president.

Their routine ended with a simplistic pyramid with MingMing on the top.

"Vote for MingMing to be on Student Council!" MingMing shouted from the top of the pyramid.

The girls received a large amount of catcalls from the general male population and MingMing smiled blowing kissed in several directions and then dismounted from the formation.

MingMing smiled. "Well, I'd say that, that went really well! Now, I've got to run to bio so I'll just meet you girls in Math?" MingMing said to Matilda and Koi, ignoring the rest of the drill team who were now dispersing in different directions.

Koi nodded and then circled her arm around Matilda's and led her best friend in the direction of the front doors of the school

"Don't you think it's pointless that we are supporting MingMing? I mean only the grade twelve's can vote for her anyway. Shouldn't we be focusing on Miguel? He's the one that's going to be representing us." Koi said as they made their way down the front hall to their lockers.

Matlida thought on that for a moment. "That's a very good point, but Miguel has his teammates from the basketball team to support him. And we're Ming's friends so that's why we're helping her. It doesn't matter if we can vote for her or not, it's more us getting the rest of the twelfth grade to vote for her."

Koi shrugged. "Okay. Ugh! I really don't want to go to chemistry this morning. We are doing our first lab and so today we find out our lab partners. Last year I had Enrique Williams. Now I may not be the best at science but at least though grade nine I got all my labs done correctly. In grade ten with Enrique we were lucky if we passed a lab. He used to always mess around with our labs, playing with the chemicals and things, and then we'd never get anything done on time. If I have another partner like him, I'm never taking science again!" Koi pouted.

Matilda smiled as she patted Koi on the shoulder. "Don't worry hon! I'm sure that your luck with be better this year. I'll see you in Math?"

Koi nodded. "Yeah. Have fun in English with Miguel!" Koi winked.

Matilda giggled. "It's not like English is all that much fun. Right now we are just reading a bunch of poems and analyzing them. Soon we'll probably have to write some. I hate writing poetry."

The two girls opened their lockers and grabbed their books as the bell rang.

Matilda sighed. "Okay, see ya later! Good luck with your lab partner."

The two girls hugged quickly, and Koi smiled. "Good luck with poetry!"

Koi walked off towards the stairwell at the front doors and fought her way through the massive population of students traveling the stairs as she climbed to the third floor.

Making her way to her chemistry classroom Koi said down and waited for her teacher, Mr. Bell, to start class. A few more students drifted into the classroom. Koi didn't even bother to open her textbooks because she knew that they would be going to the labs soon enough.

"Okay class, I hope that you're all ready to do some titrations today. I've got all your lab partners listed on the board and since we're in one of the smaller labs, we've got the usual pairs as well as four groups of three so I hope you don't mind. Just get into your lab groups, grab your textbooks, paper and pens and then we'll head over to the lab." Mr. Bell said. He was a medium sized man, with short grayish-white hair and glasses. To Koi he was the epitome of a science nerd.

Koi glanced at the blackboard; she hadn't even looked at it when she had walked in the room. Scanning for her name she read her partner's name. Make that partners' plural. She was in a group of three.

"Tyson Kinomiya and Max Tate…" she read aloud under her breath and Koi smiled to herself. Max's mom was a science teacher so this could prove very advantageous to her chemistry marks. She didn't know much about Tyson, other than the fact that he was Max's navy haired friend in their drama class who got cast in a female role.

"Don't bother bringing any of your books. Max here has us covered." Tyson said as he and Max walked up to her desk.

Koi pointed her finger at Max and she glared at him playfully. "You know, I have a boyfriend so if your stalking me you might as well give up right here and now!" Koi's face then broke into a smile as she giggled playfully and watched as a very faint flush painted his cheeks.

"We seem to be spending a lot of time together this semester don't we?" Max laughed.

"Okay, let's get out of here. I'm ready to play with some chemicals!" Tyson said winking. He then ran out the door of the classroom, following their classmates.

"Is he always this hyper in the morning? I'd love to know what kind of coffee he's drinking…" Koi asked puzzled as she and Max followed Tyson's lead into the hallway.

Max smiled. "Nah, he just gets excited in the prospect of blowing things up with chemicals. I think the only reason Tyson took chemistry was for the labs because he's been asleep for all the other classes so far."

Koi looked Max up and down. "You're not one for blowing things up are you?"

Max shook his head. "Nope, no dice. I actually like to get the labs done. Why are you?"

"NEVER! Ugh, I had Enrique Williams as my lab partner in science ten and it was horrible! He had more fun stabbing the frog than actually doing the dissection so we failed that lab. After the bio unit we did the chem labs and they were horrible. Everything was around the amount it was supposed to be. I don't think Enrique knew how to measure anything! Arg, it drove me crazy!" Koi giggled.

"Well don't worry, we'll keep Tyson in line!" Max winked.