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"Hold still!"

The boy struggled, trying everything he could to get away; shifting his weight, pulling, pushing, jerking. Nothing worked. He was a head taller than the girl and yet nothing worked.

"Stop struggling," She huffed, squeezing her right arm against his neck a little to try and quell him.

He gurgled, desperately trying to get away, working up lots of heat and friction. He tried tugging his left arm from her grasp; if he kept this up he was going to pull something.

Her lips brushed against his ear and she spoke very softly, with an inflection almost like a question; "Please relax."

Whether she had an enchanting voice, or he finally just wore himself out, his movements slowed, and then he stopped moving altogether. He panted heavily, the skin beneath his fur warm and flush from exertion. He felt the arm about his neck loosen a little, as if to make sure he could breathe. "Da hegg a'ya do-i'g?" He asked through a gurgle.

"I'm not trying to hurt you," she assured, releasing his left wrist at last. "How exactly did Goren have you?" She asked to herself. Against her arm, she felt the cords in his neck tense as he turned his head to the left. "I said to relax." She admonished. "First rule is relax."

"How do I relags with you choging me?"

"I'm not trying to choke you, you're just tense so it's uncomfortable. If you'd just," she took in a deep breath, and released it slowly as she spoke, "Re-lax..."

After a moment of her slow breaths, he began to imitate her. His heart started to slow to a normal rhythm. The uncomfortable heat began to subside. The throbbing in his temples quieted to just over a murmur. "Now what?"

"Now you get out." She replied flatly.

"I don't know how," he protested, his voice equally flat and irritated.

"Then figure it out. I had to."

His right arm was free, beginning to get pins and needles from being hoisted in an awkward position from her hold. He tried to reach around to the back of her head and pull her hair.

She giggled as he tugged futilely; "Okay, that's fine; you do that. I'll do this..." She raised her elbow up and prevented his arm from reaching that far. The air rumbled as he growled. "Ah-ah. First rule, remember?"

He returned to doing the only thing he could do, and tugged at the arm around his neck. He tried to move it directly opposite of her squeeze.

"Close but that's not gonna do it. You're just going against my force." She leaned over to his other side, so that she was by his right cheek. "Here's a tip: instead of going against my force, use my force against me. You got two choices: up and down. Which do you think?"

His hand rested on hers, and after a moment he applied some downward pressure.

"At least I'm not the only one that picked that first," she muttered to herself.

"So...I picked wrong," He stated grimly.

"Kind of. Think about it. If you push down you're going over you whole body. It's easier just slip your head through--path of least-resistance. Especially if I was big like Goren or Ritzer. Make sense?"

"...I guess..." He compensated for balance as she moved, pulling him back a little bit. "What are you doing?"

"Teaching you how to get out. You listening?"

He nodded.

"Kay. You're off-balance, the bully's are gonna try to do that. You need to regain it and throw them off-balance. You can do that by leaning forward and pushing your butt back."

He hesitated at first, but then slowly leaned forward. "Like this?"

"Yup, but really push your butt--I know, it's silly and embarrassing. But, you'll have to get over that, cuz in a real-deal headlock there's no time to be polite." She pulled back, repositioning him so that he was off-balance again. "Think like you're trying to toss a big garbage bag over yourself."

He did so, and felt her weight leaning against him.

"There you go." She wiggled the arm around his neck, "Now it's kinda hard for me to get a really good hold, because I'm having to reach farther. So now what you do is put your right hand on top of mine--just like that. Now turn your chin to the right--good. Now, this'll feel a little weird; but, when I say to, you're going to pull my arm up and slip your head out."

He did as she coached, but she still didn't make it easy for him to move her arm; he really had to squeeze his head out. That sort of made sense to him though. If it was Ritzer, it would probably be a lot more difficult.

"Keep my hand," she warned. "If you let me go now," she turned, pretending to throw a fist, "I'll just turn around get you some other way." She returned to face away from him, her arm angled back in a painful-looking way. "Cool. From here you can do a lot of different things. But, for now, just force my wrist to bend." She felt the pressure in her carpal-tunnel as he timidly bent her wrist. "Now I'm under your control, so you can do something like kick the back of my knee to bring me down, or turn my arm into a chicken-wing, hyper-extend it--whatever."

He let go as she listed things he didn't really understand. "They actually teach that in Ju-Jitsu?"

The tigress huffed as she straightened her hair, "It's not Judo, it's Ju--" She paused, and bit her lip. "I mean--yeah. Well, that's actually stuff I picked up from watching the adult class," she smiled proudly.

"So why'd you tell me?"

She fell back down onto the couch. "Day before, the chin-up contest. I saw Goren grab you like that." She reached out and put her hand on his side, where Ritzer ground sand into his wound. "I don't want to see that happen again."

"But...that's not what you wanted to tell me."

Her fingers went cold. "W...whaddaya mean?" She swallowed.

"I dunno...I can just tell you're hiding something else. It's all over your face." He took her hand in his, sitting beside her. "And I think I know what it is."

Her heart thundered, a terrible excitement and numbing anxiety seeped down her spine from the back of her skull. She tried to focus on him but everything moved in circles. Her tongue felt like sandpaper and the butterflies in her stomach came up and tickled her throat.

"I'm sorry I left and didn't finish the Insta-Mac. It was good... I just..."

A high-pitched chirp shot through the air, and Emeral visibly jolted up to her feet with a little scream, as if snapped out of a nightmare. Ket stared awkwardly at her reaction. The chirp sounded again, and again.

"Oh jeez!" Emeral gathered her pieces together and ran toward her backpack, where her watch was strapped onto the shoulder-band. "I need to make a call, can I...use your phone?"

Ket looked at the stair and closed his lips, shrugging. "Yeah, it's downstairs, c'mon."

They trotted down to the first floor, which had been shrouded in darkness. The tigress was surprised at how dark the house was, even in the middle of the afternoon. Twilight was still hours away, and yet before Ket turned on the light, it was like dusk was kept in this very home before it was released unto the world.

"It's over there," he pointed to the opposite end of the kitchen, "on the box."

"Thanks," she said, and went down the long pathway. She glanced back at the halfway point, to see him clearing a place on the kitchen table.

The box in question had junk on it, just like every other surface of the kitchen. She finally found the phone hidden amidst pop-tart boxes used as mail-organizers. It was a nightmare-phone from the days before Caller-ID. Its paint was peeling like a hard-boiled eggshell, exposing the grungy gray surface underneath. She picked it up, half-expecting it not to work, and the numbers lit up--well, some of them. She punched in Kval's cell number, and put the phone to her ear. A musty smell wafted into her nose from the receiver, like smoked ham. She tried to ignore it as it rang. Once...twice...

"Kval on," came the confident and charismatic voice.

"Hey Kavl," she said, using her nickname for him, a result of her dyslexia switching the middle letters of his name when she was younger.

"Well hello there, glad of you to call. Was gettin' edgy," he said, in a playfully threatening tone.

"How's the movie?"

"Awesome! You're really missing something here! Called at a good time though, hafta admit. Lyz's taking a potty break--hold on, here she comes." His voice came from a distance, soft and sort of muffled. "Did you wash your hands? ... I know, it's kinda yucky, but it's still better to wash. You don't want nasty germs do you? ... Good girl, I'll wait here, remember to bring a paper towel to cover the handle." His voice came back, clear and loud, "So, the movie'll be over in about thirty more minutes maybe, and it's only a ten minute drive back to the library, if the stupids are done driving. I can still pick ya up if you want some PIzza-Arcade-age. Howzabouts it?"

"Uhm..." Emeral glanced at Ket, who'd sat down on a footstool at the other side of the kitchen. "Actually...yeah, I would like that. But don't hurry, take your time okay?"

He chuckled on the other end, and then whispered, "So, did you tell him yet?"

"No, not yet I--" She jerked the phone away from her ear, "Wh--what!?" She squealed, then pressed it back against her skull, "H--how did you--?"

His voice interrupted her, sounding like a pirate, "Arg, yee best get it off yer chest now'r yee may not have courage later-arr-arr-arr..." His voice became distant before he hung up.

The phone buzzed in her ear, and she was left with her mouth open like a fish. She glanced at Ket, who seemed in a daydream, posed on his footstool like The Thinker. Very gently she set the phone down on its cradle.

Kval was right, if she couldn't say it now, she wouldn't be able to say it, ever-ever.

"Ket?"

He remained statue-esque.

"Hey, Ket..."

Nothing. She stamped her foot.

"Arkethius!"

He turned his head toward her. "Mm?"

"Oh stop pretending like you weren't listening." She said, shaking her head.

"But I wasn't. I was thinking."

"Well stop it. Back upstairs."

His eyes shifted. "Jeez, I said I was sorry for not eating the Mac," he muttered, standing up slowly.

She stepped up to him and pushed him, "I'm not mad about the Mac. It's something else, but I don't want to tell you here, I wanna tell you upstairs."

He started to ask why, but her stern emerald-green eyes made him judge otherwise. He sighed, "Okay, okay..."

Once upstairs, she set him on the couch and sat beside him, her hand close to his hand. She quelled the urge to rest over it. She took in the biggest breath, trying to net all the butterflies. "I don't... know any other way... to say this... but..."

She thought back to Rini's words for a split-second, as if one last effort to save her the embarrassment of having to admit herself. But there was no reason to stop, now that the words were already on the tip of her tongue, ready to tumble forth. She just had to tip them, and let them fall.

"I--I like you," she said quickly, placing her hand on his at last. "I... like you... a lot." She amended, more slowly.

His lips fell open just a bit as he seemed to decode an encrypted message. "You mean like...boyfriend-girlfriend?"

Her cheeks weren't a red-enough answer!? She nodded with short, rapid shakes, "Uh-huh," was all she could manage to say.

He looked down at their hands, and then back up to her eyes. He was nervous.

She squeezed his hand. "Look, I know you may not like me like that but--"

"No," he shook his head, "I mean--" his words caught. He looked away, eyes staring distantly as he crammed words together to make a sentence. "I...uh...it's not that I don't--I mean, I've never...never really had a--"

She squeezed his hand. "I get it," she said sympathetically, "It's okay. You don't have to be my boyfriend--I just wanted to let you know." She sighed. "I mean, after... after what I did the other day..."

He sighed and massaged his forehead--so he had that habit too? "It's not that--well, kind of--I just..." He finally looked at her again, "I've never really had a friend," his gaze dipped down at their hands, "Much less a..." He trailed.

She tilted her head. "You never had a friend?"

He nodded.

She shook her head. "That's hard to believe."

He became defensive, "Why?"

She smiled, "Well, cuz...I mean, there's no way you can go through school without having at least one friend. It's impossible."

He blinked, his gaze averting. "Well, I mean... I haven't had a friend my age. I mean, there were people I talked to and stuff. There was this one kid I talked to, sure, and we said we were friends to keep the counselors from annoying us. But... I've never had someone come over, or spend the night, or... anything like that." He finally moved his hand out from under hers, clasping them together in his lap. "I'm not... It's just..." He bit his lip.

"Can I be your friend?"

His eyes shifted over to her. "I thought you wanted to be my girl-friend," he stated.

"No--I mean, I don't have to be... not right away at least." So he wasn't against the idea? She moved so she was kneeling on the couch, facing him. "You've never had a friend. So why jump in the deep-end so fast if you don't know how to swim?"

"I know how to swim..."

She tackled him on the couch, pinning him down, mindful of his four sore-spots. "It's a figure of speech silly."

"Oh..." he said sheepishly. "But...what if...I'm not a good friend?"

"Are you kiddin' me?" She leaned in close, pushing her nose against his. "You'll be a great friend."

He blinked emphatically, "I'm not so sure..." His pupils flitted to the left. "What even makes a good friend?"

She held his gaze for a precious moment before sliding off the couch and quickly rushing to her backpack for a pen.

He watched, still lying on his back.

Pen in hand, she approached him, biting off the cap and pulling a small paper from her front pocket, setting it upon his chest. He felt the pen tickle over him as she wrote on the paper, pressing carefully and writing slowly. At last she stuck the pen in the cap so that it hung from her mouth.

"Can'ou ree'dish?" She asked, lifting the paper up.

He read off the seven numbers.

"Goo'," she took the pen from her mouth and let the paper rest upon his stomach. "That's my house number--it would be my cell-phone number, but I don't have one yet."

"What do I do?"

"Call it. Tomorrow afternoon."

"Will you answer?"

"Probably not me," she said, hoisting her backpack over her shoulder and bending over to slip on her shoes, "Mom likes to answer the phone when she's home."

"What do I say if she does," he asked in a bit of a panic.

She giggled, "You're so helpless it's cute."

He glared, eyebrow twitching agitatedly.

"Hey, first rule. I'm only teasing." She put a finger to her lip in thought as she straightened up. "Um...I got it! Just tell her you're the study-buddy, and she'll know what you mean."

He got up, following her down the stairs. "How will she know? I don't even know what that means."

She smiled up as she saw him on the stair-turnaround, "Don't worry about a thing, just be prepared to go to the library for a little while."

At last they reached the door, and his questions stopped; and at last he nodded. "Okay...I'll call tomorrow, then."

Yes! Yes! Yes!

"Cool." She calmly remarked, rubbing her hands together, fidgeting. "Uhm...before I go..." she looked down for a second, then back up, "I know we're not boyfriend and girlfriend, but..."

Very quickly she hopped on her tip-toes and pulled his chin close to her. Before he could react, her lips pressed against his cheek, and in his ear a muffled click resounded as she kissed him.

He blinked, a little dazed at the act.

She squeezed his shoulder. "See you tomorrow, Arkethius," and she slipped out into the sunlight.