I raced into the room. "Is it on?" I asked Declan.

"Not yet!" He answered.

I held back a squeal and jumped over the couch. I acted like an Olympics gymnast and held my arms out as if I finished a performance. The guys grabbed pieces of paper, scribbled something on it, then held out the numbers. Jordan and Bennett gave me decent points of eight and eight and a half, but Declan on the other hand...

I frowned. "A six, how come?"

Declan did a one shoulder shrug, not shrugging with his bad shoulder. "I just think you could've stuck the landing better."

"I'd like to see you do it better then."

"Can't," he said regretfully. "My shoulder-"

"Playing the "I got shot" card again, huh?" Jordan asked.

"But I did get shot!" Declan retorted back.

"Well you could have always tried avoiding it. The people in the movies can always do it."

Declan let out a sigh. "Please don't tell me you're talking about The Matrix or Star Wars."

"I have to side with Declan on this one," I cut in. "Only people freakishly good at limbo can avoid bullets Matrix style. And Storm Troopers suck at shooting, even worse that... well me. You can literally walk right by them and not get shot."

"First of all, you betrayed Star Wars," Jordan said, pointing at me.

"I did not!" I said. "I just face facts, besides most of the space logic is destroys..."

"Don't give in to the dark side!" Jordan said before looking back at Declan. "And still, that's no excuse."

"Well, I had good reason for it," was all Declan could say.

I looked at Bennett for a tiebreaker, but the moment Declan said that, Bennett said, "Enough with this," in order to stop the argument before it could turn to a fight. "Now why are you two so happy today?" He asked to change the subject, referring to Declan and I.

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked.

"It's the game coming up," Declan answered. "Paladins vs Mustangs."

I glared at Declan with a smirk on my face. "And the Paladins are going to win."

He laughed at my face. "Not on my watch, the Mustangs will kick your ass."

"After the game when the Paladins will, I'm going to say, 'wow, the other team Mustank."

"That's not even proper grammar."

"I'd like to see you do better.

Declan paused for a moment then let out a sigh. "Alright I got nothing."

"Yeah, because we're going to Pala-win."

"I don't mean to sound sexist or anything," Bennett began.

"But you do," I finish.

"I get Declan liking sports because well, he's a guy."

"I'm still waiting for the test results," Jordan whispered to me, making me snicker.

"But how come you like sports Naomi?" Bennett finished.

"Unless you're being cliché by breaking the stereotype that sports are only for guys," Jordan said.

"Well I'm not if I have a good reason for it," I said. "I don't have much to do on the weekends in the cruel world of my bullies, so I like to stay in the safety of my home. Usually I get bored with the TV shows I got, especially when they took out the classic good ones, so I got stuck watching games with my dad. It turned out fun despite my mom's attempts to reel me back to the girlish side which she kinda did. But at the same time, she didn't want to ruin that father and daughter time, I guess."

Declan nodded. "That seems to be a pretty good reason."

Jordan coughed. "Better than your excuse of-"

"How about I break your arm so you know what it feels like?" Declan threatened, standing from the couch.

Jordan took the challenge and stood up as well. "Bring it on, Donkey Kong."

"Guys, guys," I said, standing between them. "The game is starting." Usually I'd stop their fights too, but there's a game to watch.

In the end, only one team won the game. Let's try to figure out who did.

"In your face!" I exclaimed, laughing at Declan. "We destroyed you guys-"

"It's 99 to 98," Declan muttered.

"What Declan? I couldn't hear you, I was too busy celebrating how my team won by one point. You could've won, but you didn't by one point. Jordan if you please?"

Jordan took a remote and started playing We Are the Champions by Queen. But Declan cut it short when pressing the stereo. I immediately stopped my victory dance when Declan started to walk up to me. A bit scared for my life now, I backed up a bit.

"That was pure luck you guys won because Jason Evans got injured-"

"By being clumsy," I countered.

"I demand a rematch," Declan said.

I blinked. "A rematch?" I repeated. "But the Paladins won't verse your team until another month."

"I don't mean the Mustangs, I mean the Berserkers."

I gasped. "You traitor! Going for another team too!"

Declan rolled his eyes. "There's nothing wrong with going for two teams. Anyway, the next game between them will be tomorrow, y'know."

"I think I know where you're getting at."

Declan grinned. "How about afterschool we head over there for a game?" He paused then added, "Unless you think you'll lose this one."

"You're on, Donkey Kong."

Jordan and I high fived each other for that.

-

I fixed my Paladin's hat on my head as I stared at myself in the hallway mirror. It took a long time for me to wear this hat, mostly because it was Parker who gave it to me. I felt the heaviness of the hat on my head, making me want to take it off and chuck it into my closet. But my love for the Paladins made me wear it anyway. Despite the memory the hat carries, I'll still wear the hat with pride. I walked into the living room to see my dad sulking. I plopped down on the couch next to him.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Nothing."

"He's sulking," my mom answered from the next room.

"She has ears like a bat," my dad muttered to me.

I could actually imagine her putting her hands on her hips. "And what does that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing honey," he answered too quickly. "Did you I ever tell you how lovely you look today?"

"Kiss up," she said in sing-song. "And let me tell you, I don't listen superhumanly because I have ears like a bat."

He let out a sigh. "I know sweetie."

"It's because of my hearing aid."

I coughed. "It'd be cooler if she said she was just Batman."

"I heard that."

"Of course you did," I said back before turning back to my dad. "And why are you sulking?"

"It's because you're going to that game," my mom said, walking into the room. "Now stop being a big baby. She's going, you're not. Grow up."

I rolled my eyes. "This is what all of this is about?"

"Well, yeah," my dad grumbled.

"You know you can always watch the game on TV, right?"

He scoffed. "I'm too depressed to do that. Just tell me about the game when you come back." He grabbed my shoulders. "When you're out there, think of me."

"You're being really dramatic."

"That's the only way you can be when your daughter is going to a game without you."

"I'll bring you a souvenir," I promised him as the doorbell rang.

I got up to get the door with my dad following behind me. I opened the door to see Declan standing awkwardly on the porch. He looked surprised to face my dad but gave him a forced smile.

"Um, hi Mr. Lorraine."

"No need to be scared of me Declan," my dad assured him. "I don't have my gun with me."

"G-gun?" Declan repeated in disbelief.

"He's kidding," I assured him before turning to my dad. "That's messed up."

He shrugged. "It's not every day I can be overprotective with my daughter. But I know Declan here's a good kid, am I right?" He laughed and playfully punched Declan on the shoulder.

His bad one.

I held back a squeak as Declan staggered back a bit by the blow. His hand flew up to his shoulder as his face looked like he was in serious pain.

My dad blinked and looked at his hand. "Huh. I didn't know I still had that right hook."

"Well, I can assure you Mr. Lorraine sir, you still have it," Declan choked.

"We'll be going now," I said quickly, leaving out the door. "See you later."

"Alright," he said. "But don't forget my souvenir."

When we left the house, hopefully safe from my mom's superhuman hearing, I asked Declan, "Is your shoulder alright?"

"A bit," he said.

"It takes nearly a month for it to heal," I said, remembering the info I looked up on the internet. You can learn about a lot of things in the internet apparently. "I just-"

"I've been through worse Naomi." He smiled at me. "But thank you for caring."

More than you apparently, I thought.

I didn't like it, but it was Declan I'm talking about. Even in video games when he obviously needed to restore his heath, he refuses it and gives it to one of us in those multiplayer games. Yeah, a bit of a bad example, but still makes sense. I'm always sure to remind him to keep redressing his shoulder, and when he doesn't, I bandage his shoulder for him. Among other things I have to remind him from the articles I found on the internet, I know he's trying to shrug (though he can't with his left shoulder) it off as a small thing, to not show weakness or any  other guy egotistical thing, but this was just getting stupid.

We were going to the game in Declan's dad's Honda Civic as he had told me. I was just glad we were taking a car since the stadium was twice as far as the fair was. Following car rules, the driver picks the music. The car was filled with songs from Declan's playlist, which out of boredom I've been looking through his music to see good songs he has.

"Do you have the tickets?" I asked Declan distractedly as I scroll down his list of songs. "I want to see what seats-"

I was cut off when the car suddenly swerved to a sharp U-turn and we began to drive the other way.

"What? What happened?" I demanded.

Declan didn't say anything.

I looked behind us. "Is it a gang? Did you see someone? Declan-"

"I forgot the tickets," he grumbled.

The car was silent for a few seconds until I burst out laughing.

"Jordan's going to freak when he hears about this," I said as I began to type away on my phone.

"No! Don't tell him!" Declan exclaimed.

"Whoops, too late."

In seconds I got a reply from Jordan.

NaOhMe4 Declan actually forgot the tickets to the game!

JorDunDunDun2 What? Are you kidding me? Even I'M not that stupid.

The app was so good, Jordan's Ace, or avatar looked like it was actually laughing. Maybe the Ace matches what the message says.

"What did he say?" Declan demanded, trying to glance away from the car and to my phone.

I moved my screen from his view. "Nothing," I said, stretching the word.

Declan grumbled something and took out his phone from his pocket. "I'm gonna-"

"Don't text while driving!" I scolded.

He was quiet for a moment then sighed. "Fine. Tell him that I was in a hurry. And if he's laughing -what am I saying, of course he's laughing. Tell him that he's not perfect either."

"Alright," I said.

NaOhMe4 He said that he wasn't in much of a hurry, he's just really clumsy and forgetful. Also he says you're perfect.

JorDunDunDun2 Aw he did? Go on.

Jordan's Ace looked flattered, I couldn't help but snicker at that.

"What did he say now?" Declan asked me.

"He's denying it."

"That little- Well tell him he's..." This went on for a while so I'm going to skip back to the messages.

NaOhMe4 He says you're funny, smart, and 100x more awesome than he'll ever be.

JorDunDunDun2 You forgot sexy.

NaOhMe4 Oh right, and sexy too.

BentOverBckwrds1 You DO know he didn't say any of that, right? He'll never say something like that even if his life depends on it.

JorDunDunDun2 I know, but it's nice to think he said all of this, and I can always save this conversation as proof.

NaOhMe4 Poor Declan...

JorDunDunDun2 Bent, why are you here?

BentOverBckwrds1 Jordan, I'm right next to you.

NaOhMe4 I think Jordan meant on the chat. I thought I was talking to Jordan privately.

BentOverBckwrds1 Ithink you accidentally pressed group chat instead of private message. I keep on getting notifications of you guys talking back and forth.

NaOhMe4 Oh sorry, I never used this.

BentOverBckwrds1 It's alright, sometimes I don't get it either. I mean Jordan made it.

JorDunDunDun2 I'm still here y'know.

BentOverBckwrds1 I know.

DeckDaHalls3 Naomi you traitor!

I blinked when I saw Declan's message with his Ace hopping mad. I looked up at Declan to realize he was glaring at me. I was about to ask why he was texting when I saw he had parked the car and was texting.

I chuckled nervously. "Hi."

He shook his head. "You are so lucky that you're a girl..." He began.

"Yes," I said slowly, trying to remind him the fact. "Yes I am."

"I mean, I'm a supporter for gender equality, so I can easily make an exception..." He continued.

I looked down at my phone.

NaOhMe4 Guys I gotta go, Declan's gonna go kill me now.

JorDunDunDun2 You get used to it after a while.

BentOverBckwrds1 Declan, don't kill her.

DeckDaHalls3 I won't... Not yet anyway.

NaOhMe4 Tell my parents I love them.

JorDunDunDun2 Don't worry, I already did.

I took off my glasses and sighed. "Alright, make it quick."

"Um, what do you mean?"

I closed my eyes shut, cringing. "Go ahead, hit me. I deserve it."

"It's alright Naomi," he assured me. "I won't."

I slumped in my chair. "Thank you so much, I thought I was going to die there."

"The only person who's going to die is Jordan." I could hear the smile in his voice. "Hey, how bad is your eyesight?"

"Pretty bad," I answered as I looked down at my glasses. "I'm nearsighted, so I wear it all the time."

Declan held out his hand to me. "How many fingers am I holding?"

I rolled my eyes. "I said I'm nearsighted, not far. I can see near me, but I can't see far away."

"That's confusing."

"Yeah, I didn't get it at first either," I admitted before adding, "You're holding three by the way."

"Correct."

"So are you going back home to get the tickets?"

"Yeah I am," Declan said.

"Then we should go-"

"No, we're already here."

I looked out my window to see a house.

"I'll be quick. I think it's on my bed. I'll be right back so-" He stopped short and instantly slumped low in his chair so he wouldn't be seen at the window.

"What is it?"

He grabbed my shoulder and had me slump in my chair as well.

"It's my mom- Crap, she already saw us." He let out a groan as he craned his neck up to look out the window. "And now she's motioning for the both of us to come." Declan looked back at me. "Well, I've met your parents. I guess you'll meet mine."

I looked out my window again to see a blurry silhouette who must be Declan's mom. I forgot I wasn't wearing my glasses and quickly put them back on. But when I looked back at the house, she was already gone, must've gone back inside. Declan turned off the engine and the both of us left the car. We walked up to his house and he let me go in first before he followed right behind.

It looked like any other house, though there was a piano in the living room. But with Declan's mood when we're in his house like he's in a hurry to get out of here made me wary.

"Declan," his mom said. "Would you introduce your friend to us?"

I turned and saw his mom. I would have thought Declan would look like her as well as her husband, to have his same build at brown hair and brown eyes. But they didn't, they didn't look alike. The both of them had a darker complexion than Declan with a different shade of brown eyes. Declan could at least have told me about this so I wouldn't look this surprise as much as what Declan said next.

"I'm adopted," Declan said bluntly, too bluntly.

That's one way of explaining things, thank you.

I looked at him in disbelief for saying it like that and his mom shot him a look. "Declan, you shouldn't say it like that," she scolded.

"What? It's already obvious, I don't see why saying it straight would be so bad."

"I'm Janet and this is my husband Henry, it's nice to meet you..."

"Naomi," I finished. "It's nice to meet you too."

Declan's dad looked at him. "I thought you were going to the game? You're going to miss it the longer you're here."

"Did you come back for that extra jacket?" His mom asked him hopefully. "I told you it's going to be cold."

"No, I'm not because it isn't that cold. I just forgot something. I'll be right back, it's in my room." With that he left the living room.

She let out a sigh and looked at me. "Well you might as well get comfortable. It might take years for him to find something in that pig sty of his."

"That'll be an insult to the pig sty," her husband said with a laugh as he helped his wife sit on the couch.

Then he turned on the TV to watch the news while I talked with Declan's mom.

"I pretty much gave up on ever cleaning that place," she admitted.

If you think his place is messy, you should have seen what the guys did to the base. She would have fainted the first sight of it. Of course, I didn't tell her that.

"Knowing Declan, I doubt telling him to cleaning it up is pointless too."

She nodded. "You're right about that."

I looked down at her stomach which she held protectively. "How long are you?" I asked her.

"About five months now," she answered, smiling down at her stomach. "Declan's going to have a little sister."

I blinked. "Wow, he never said anything. Congratulations."

"Thank you." She paused and then asked me, "How long have you known Declan?"

"A couple months now," I answered. "He's a really good friend of mine."

"I'm glad. Before he wasn't that social with others, but during his junior year, he started making friends, two of them."

"Bennett and Jordan," I told her. "They're my friends too."

"Yes, that's their names," the dad said. "They've hang out here a couple of times, and Declan goes out more with them."

"Hey, I found that other sock!" Declan called out.

She let out an exasperated sigh. "We've been looking for that thing everywhere! It always end up that you find things when you don't look for them."

"Mom, don't bore Naomi!" His voice called out again.

"Don't worry, she won't, unlike you!" I called back.

She smiled then looked at the piano in the room. "Do you know he plays?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I do."

Declan came into the room and looked at me. "You do?"

I admitted that I may have accidentally heard him play once.

He walked over to the piano and sighed. "Well two secrets out of the way," he said as he opened the cover and played a few keys.

"I remember when I first heard him play," she said quietly with a smile.

"And I'm just thankful I taught him jazz," his dad said, though his eyes haven't left the screen of the TV. "You can't know music without it."

"I could've," Declan said, before adding. "But I'm glad I didn't."

I couldn't help but smile at all of them, feeling the love of the family despite the small past. And that only made me feel like I'm intruding here.

Declan cleared his throat. "Anyway, I can't find it. Do you know where those tickets are?"

His mom blinked. "Do you mean these?" She asked as she pulled out two tickets from her pocket.

"You had them the whole time?" Declan asked in disbelief.

She shrugged innocently. "Just an excuse to talk to your friend here," she said with a smile.

He shooked his head and got the tickets back. I got up from the couch to leave for the game. Declan hesitated for a moment then grabbed a jacket off the hook.

"It's never bad to be careful," he told his mom.

"You two have fun now," she said, waving by to us as his dad reminded him to buy him a souvenir.

We went back to the car and Declan went back to driving. The car held nothing but an awkward silence.

"I'm not embarrassed," he suddenly said out of nowhere.

I blinked. "Embarrassed about wha-"

"You could ask if you want, I don't care. I mean, it's a touchy subject, it can be a touchy subject to anyone. But I'm not stupid to not know that they're my adopted parents since I've know them for only a couple years, if you're going to answer that. I won't play dumb like Po in Kung Fu Panda, and yeah, I'm comparing it like that because he's awesome. And if anyone else was as nosy to ask that, I would punch the living daylight's about them. But if it's you, so it's alright because, well it's you. So I wouldn't mind if you would ask me anything." He was out of breath when he finished his rant.

I shook my head. "I don't have anything to ask."

He glanced at me. "You don't?"

"I know enough. I know that a lovely couple decided to adopt a kid named Declan and his music. If they hadn't done that, he wouldn't have met friends like Jordan and Bennett much less me." I looked at him. "Did I get it right?"

He smiled as he stared out at the road. "Yeah, you did."

We arrived to the basketball game in a couple of minutes or listening to the radio and talking smack of who will win the game. With the car in the parking lot, we went to the stadium and turned in our tickets. I was a bit excited for going to my first Paladins game, since I only watched the games on TV. I was sure to wear Paladin colors of red and blue that contrast with the rival team, Berserker colors green and orange. Along with it I wore the Paladins snapback I got... from Parker. I was hesitant to wear it, but my love for the team was too strong and I knew I had to wear it. But it came with a price because it felt heavy of all the memories, good and bad, that came with it.

"Though we're in rival teams, I might as well warn you about this," Declan said.

"Warn me for what? To get ready for your team to win?" I finished. "Well don't worry, because we will win."

"No, I don't mean that."

"Then to get a tissue box nearby for when we lose, because we won't?"

"No, not that either."

"Then to-"

"Not leave my side," Declan told me, no ordered me. "Obviously you know about the Paladin-Berserker game of '96. I don't know about you, but there are a lot of hardcore Berserkers fans. If they ever corner a lone Paladins fan, it won't be pretty."

I remembered those stories. The Paladins and Berserkers are the teams that represent our city, but are from different sides of it. The game of '96 was when Paladins destroyed the Berserkers chance to win the championships before their coach goes to retirement. The coach retired depressed that made the team and fans ashamed. Ever since, they're been a huge rivalry between the two teams that lead to big group fights. It got so bad that they actually seat the fans at separate sides of the bleachers rather than mixing them up. It's weird enough that Declan and I are going to the game together for a different team, but Declan assured me that we'll be seated between the two teams.

We decided to eat first before the game so we won't have to awkwardly go through the crowded aisles or past seated people to get more food. Though Declan didn't want us to separate, I wanted to go get myself a pretzel and popcorn while he'll get himself a hot dog and chips. Both are only a few feet away, and the game will be starting soon so everyone is in a hurry to get them. So we quickly went and found each other without anything else. The only trouble was when we started to head towards the stadium when I was shoved away from Declan.

As I was did, I accidentally crashed into someone and spilled my popcorn all over him. I was about to mourn for my popcorn when I looked at the person I crashed into.

Who just happened to be a Berserkers fan.

He was one of those hardcore fans Declan was telling me about with wearing a bunch of the team merch and face paint of their colors. His eyes narrowed down at me before looking at his fellow Berserker fan friends.

"Well looky here," he spat. "A Paladin had the guts to actually dump her popcorn all over my new shirt."

"I-I am so sorry," I stammered. "It was an accident, I swear."

Thankfully one of his friends tried to stop him. "Take her word for it. I doubt she'd do that on purpose, unless she knew that we're going to win."

"Well sadly, I know we're going to win," I retorted back.

And there goes my ticket to keeping my face.

"What did you say little girl?" He growled.

That's it, I'm going to die.

I turned my head and yelled out, "Declan!"

"You're calling out for reinforcements?"

"No, she's calling out for me," Declan said as he pushed through the crowd and wrapped his arm protectively around me. "I'm sorry for my friend over here, she just doesn't know when to shut up," he said with a grin, pinching my cheek for good measure.

The Berserker fan raised an eyebrow. "Your friend? A Berserker and a Paladin, you're kidding right?"

Declan shrugged. "A sad truth." Then he leaned close to him to whisper, "But don't worry, I'm on a bet that we'll win. You wouldn't want to know what happens once we do." He told them with a smile.

"I'm scared," I whispered mostly to myself.

"Well, you watch your friend over there," the guy grumbled before he looked back at his own friends. "C'mon you guys, let's go."

We watched them walk off the stadium.

Declan's eye twitched as his smile revealed to be a fake one. "If they did anything to you, I would have kicked their asses, fellow Berserker fan or not."

"Thank-"

He pinched my cheek hard that hurt a lot, making me whine. "What did I tell you not to leave my side," he scolded. "You're just lucky I came to save the day like that."

I massaged my cheek. "I am, thank you," I said with a smile.

He rolled his eyes. "You better be. Well we should go find our seats now."

We found out seats easily since it was just like Declan told me, smack in the middle where the Berserkers and Paladin's were divided. There were a few other unlucky people of the rival teams who were forced to sit next to each other, but they were noticeable leaning away from each other in the seats. Only Declan and I were sitting normally together, getting a few stares of the others but were easily ignored. Besides that though, these were great seats.

"Where did you get those tickets?" I asked him, knowing it must've been pricey enough to be this close to the court.

"Easy," Declan said with a smile. "From Bennett."

I frowned at that. Declan noticed that I wasn't smiling like him.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just... Don't you feel bad using his money for-"

He shook his head. "No, you got it all wrong. It's not like that at all."

I looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"He offered to give them to me. I did him a favor and he wanted to repay me back. I told him he didn't have to, but he just went ahead and bought the tickets for me."

"What did you do to have him do that?"

He looked down at his lap. "I saved him."

Before I could say anything he smiled. "Okay, I didn't mean to be all dramatic."

I glared at him. "You shouldn't kid around-"

"But I did," he said as he touched his shoulder. "It happened so fast. He was distracted when someone aimed the gun at him. Not thinking I stood in its path..."

"You took a bullet for him."

He smiled. "Yeah, pretty much."

"That's really... wow. That's 21 Jump Street friendship there," I acknowledge.

Declan couldn't help but laugh at that. "And got tickets in return, pretty good deal huh?"

"Thank you," I said.

"For what?"

"For saving Bennett and being alive yourself."

"It was pure luck."

"Then I'm still thankful. Just the thought you guy could get hurt or that there would be only Jordan and I left." I gave him a forced smile. "I'd hate you guys so much for leaving me with Jordan."

"Don't worry Naomi," he said as the game was starting. "We're not going to leave you, especially with Jordan."

With the passionate fans who chanted for their team, yelled threats to the other, and ate as they watched, you could really feel the emotion with through the crowd. Since we were sitting between the two rival fans, if one of the team scored, then one side would cheer while the other booed. This went on for a while as the points began to rise with each team taking turns with the highest score.

Suddenly we heard whoops from both sides of the fans. Neither of the teams haven't scored a point so they can't be cheering for that. But it was when I saw the Jumbotron —this big screen seen by everyone- to see the kiss cam was up. Obviously the name speaks for itself, this camera would show random couples and have them kiss for fun. If they did the crowd would cheer for them, if they didn't they would be booed. Though the kiss cam is all fun and games, I don't really want to watch people kiss each other, making me feel sad about my life and think I'll die alone. So I paid no attention to it and looked back at the game.

Until Declan shook my shoulder. "Hey Naomi?"

"Yeah?"

He didn't say anything, just pointed at the direction of the Jumbotron. I didn't want to look, I knew I shouldn't have looked, but I did. Up at the big screen were us staring at the screen that had us staring at the screen that had us- Well you get the picture. Along with it had the words:

Don't be like the players who shoot and miss

Instead, how about you two go ahead and kiss?

"That's new," I muttered as I lowered the rim of my Paladins cap on my face, hoping the camera won't get a good shot of my face, even with the camera.

Declan and I looked at each other for what felt like a long time. Besides how this will violate the contract, I can't kiss him. Do you know how awkward it'll be when I will? We're not even a couple in the first place. That's the thing with the kiss cams, they would accidentally get it wrong, like siblings, cousins, people who don't even know each other or in this case, friends.

The crowd was no help as they began to chant for us to kiss when they stopped short. They must've noticed the obvious colors that we were for different teams.

"What's this?" The announcer asked instead of focusing the game. "Rival fans as friends? And even better in the kiss cam?"

"How do you think they know we're friends?" Declan asked me. "I don't-"

He was cut off by a crunch of chips. He looked at me as I went to grab some more of his chips and ate them.

"Yeah, I have no idea how they could think we're friends," I said between chews.

"Could they really break the rivalry between the two teams for years?" The announcer continued.

We looked at the screen in disbelief.

"Is his serious?"

"Do you know how stupid that sounds?"

Though, that didn't stop the crowd to go back to chanting. Even the players in the game paused to see what'll happen next. Oh, but don't think it'll stop there. The song Kiss the Girl from The Little Mermaid began to play, usually they would play songs during the kiss cam for fun, but-

"That's not helping," Declan and I said in unison.

Now we feel the pressure from everyone, from the crowd, players and the thought of ending this stupid rivalry. I began to come up with a plan to somehow distract everyone so Declan and I could ditch our food to get away.  But I shook the plan away. We can't just ditch the food.

"Naomi."

"Please tell me you have a pl- What are you doing?"

"Just work with me here," he told me.

Declan took my hat off my head, then grabbed the back of my head to pull me close to him. Using the hat to cover us from the cameras, he leaned closed to me. After a few seconds as the crowd went wild with whoops and cheers, we backed away from each other. He put hat on my head and putting its brim down to cover my face. Then he glared up at the screen.

"Happy?" He demanded in exasperation.

After us, the kiss cam surprised other unsuspecting couples. The rest of the game, we didn't really talk to each other. It turns out the Berserkers won the game, but there were no demands of a rematch, accusations that they cheated, or fights that broke out. Instead there were people who shook hands and telling each other good game, people telling each other they can't wait for the next game, and just starting conversations of their love for basketball and not their hate for the other team. I guess when they saw that two young fans were able to be friends, they didn't see the use of such a long and pointless rivalry anymore.

After the game ended, Declan and I bought the promised souvenirs for our dads before we went to the parking lot. It wasn't late, so we decided to head back to the base. But even then, Declan and I didn't talk, there was nothing but another awkward silence between us. I glanced at him as he drove, tapping the steering wheel in a steady beat. I couldn't tell if he was angry, embarrassed or anything, he just wore a poker face that would make Bennett proud.

When Declan parked the car into the garage he only said one thing to me.

"We never speak of this."

"Speak about what? I don't know what you're talking about."

He nodded. "Exactly."

We went into the base, thankfully dodging the trap we both fell for. Then walking through the door, we had Jordan and Bennett waiting for us at the other side.

"Hey!" Jordan greeted us warmly. "How was the game, you guys?"

"Good," I said with a shrug as walked towards the couch.

"She's only saying it like that because we won," Declan said, smirking at me as he hung his jacket on a hook.

"Aw, too bad Naomi, better luck next time," Jordan said. "But of course, we knew that already because watched the game."

Declan and I froze in place.

"Really?" Declan asked, his voice staying calm.

"You did?" I asked weakly.

Jordan nodded. "Oh yeah. But it was pretty windy today, I think something's with the satellite dish."

The both of us let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks to that," Jordan continued, "I couldn't really make out the picture on the screen."

Oh no.

"Well there's no way you can peck, or bother, me to fix it, you can fix it yourself," Bennett said.

I looked at him. "Not you, too."

"You're right Bent," Jordan agreed. "I won't ask you for money. I can always give it a good old smack and hope it'll fix it."

Declan shook his head. "You guys suck."

Jordan ignored him and sighed. "I almost forgot! I have French homework!"

Bennett gasped, though it sounded fake, Jordan probably made him do it. "You do?"

"Man, I wish the homework is just being able to French kiss anyone."

"You're awful," I said.

"What's wrong with that?" Jordan asked innocently. "But I've always been bad at French, and I already have bad grades. Well, I can always kiss up to the teacher and ask for a better one."

"I doubt that would work Jordan," Bennett told him.

He shrugged. "It's worth a shot. I'll just write my teacher a note-" he grabbed a conveniently waiting pencil and paper on the coffee table "-and end it with OXOX, hugs and kisses."

"Are you done?" I asked him.

"Wait, wait, I got one more!" Jordan exclaimed. "It's sad that your team lost Naomi, I can't believe they didn't even go to first base!" He then burst out laughing.

"First of all, that's in baseball terms," I began.

"I don't care!" Jordan said between laughs. "It's still funny!"

"They don't show the kiss cam in TV most of the time," Declan said.

"We know," Bennett said. "Good thing we learned about it on the news. Naomi, could you turn on the TV for a moment?"

Though I didn't want to, I turned on the TV with the remote. On it was everyone's favorite news channel TANN, Today's American News Network, the very channel where I first learned about the gang war. But today's topic (sadly) wasn't that.

"The famous rivalry between the Paladins and Berserkers has finally ended by a kiss cam!" The news anchor, Gena, announced to us. "Can you believe it?"

"No, I can't," her fellow colleague, Roger, said with the same disbelief. "How about we watch the clip here?"

With that Declan and I faced what happened to us, only in a different perspective. Our dumbfounded looks as we looked up at the screen, us look at each other in disbelief, me eating some of Declan's chips, then Declan taking my hat to cover us as he had up lean close to each other.

Gena feign crying. "It's so sweet. Two kids of rival teams got the guts to not let the rivalry stop them and went ahead and kissed each other."

"I don't even know what the people operating the kiss cam were thinking!" Roger said. "What would happen if things went the wrong direction, if they refused to kiss?"

"We have a report from one of them here," Gena told him. "The operator who shall remain nameless stated, and I quote, 'We choose the couples for the kiss cam at random. We saw those kids walked into the bleachers together and they seemed close enough. Honestly, we thought it would be something if they'd kiss and ended this rivalry. So we decided to give it a shot and see what happens. I'm just glad everything went well.'"

"It's sad that we're not able to see the picture that clearly," Roger said with a sigh.

"I told you we couldn't make out the pic- Ow!" Jordan said when he was cut off by a punch from Declan.

"The girl had her hat on her face most of the time and had those glasses as well, while the boy kept on trying to hide his face with his hands or jacket until he made a move."

Made a move, I repeated in my head.

"I'm going to just say it," Gena said. "But to me, it's like a basketball version of Romeo and Juliet. There, I said it."

Declan and I just choked on her words. Not wanting us to die from choking, and maybe not wanting to use the Heimlich maneuver on us, Bennett turned off the TV.

"Would you like to explain-"

"We didn't kiss!" We both exclaimed in unison.

"I'm going to ask again, would you-"

"WE DIDN'T KISS!" We exclaimed even louder.

"Yeah, of course," Jordan said. "Even if you weren't kissing, which you totally weren't, can you at least not pretend to in front of a freaking camera?" Jordan demanded.

"They wouldn't stop chanting!" Declan said.

"It was the ultimate peer pressure," I told them.

"And I panicked, alright?"

"The reason we even put that part of the contract-" Bennett looked at Jordan "-What was it again?"

"Article 15, section five," Jordan answered.

"Right that," Bennett said. "That part is so it wouldn't be awkward between all of us. I mean, Naomi is free to like anyone, but just to be fair, she shouldn't choose favorites among us."

"But of course, if she could, I'm her favorite," Jordan said, popping out of nowhere and putting his arm around my shoulder.

"You're funny," Declan said as he grabbed Jordan by the shirt and pulled him away. "It's no secret I'm her favorite."

Bennett sighed. "Guys stop it."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, at least one of you-"

"Obviously, I'm her favorite," he finished in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Not you too." I looked at all of them. "I don't have any favorites, nor will I ever will. You guys are my best friends, period. And I'm just glad about that article because Bennett's right. A stupid crush, no matter how small, will ruin our friendship, and I don't want that."

Jordan scratched his head and sat on the couch. "The night I wrote the contract, I was drinking a lot of Red Bull. It didn't give me wings, if you were wondering. It just made me super hyper. And honestly, I wrote that article just to be funny."

"So the article is pointless?" Declan asked in confusion.

"No, just that an extra-hyper and extra-stupid Jordan wrote it," Bennett said.

"So..." I asked.

"So we can take out the article... because we shouldn't have to write the obvious," Bennett said. "Also no one can stop the heart, even the brain gives up using logic on it. If ever when we're older and something happens, then so be it."

"You guys are being stupid," I muttered as I turned on the TV and sat next to Jordan. "Enough with the even stupider article. Can we just enjoy where we are now rather than come up with something that will never happen? You're kinda freaking me out just discussing about this. I don't even know what the big deal about this. You guys are coming up a plan if we ever liked each other which none of us want. Just leave it alone. Now let's just watch a movie."

"I'm cool with that," Jordan said.

"Whatever," Declan said, sitting on the couch.

"What are we watching?" Bennett asked.

"A romantic-cliché."

They looked at me.

I smirked. "Kidding."

A little, or well, a lot of Decomi action. For that kiss cam scene, I had them hide their face and it'll depend on you. If you arren't shipping for Decomi, they didn't kiss. But if you are, they totally kissed and lied to the others they kiss. It's really your choice. Don't worry other passengers of the other ships, your turns will come. I just realized with March 1 coming, I'm going to double chapter you guys a lot, maybe even surprise chapter you guys. Probably to make you guys happy until you become all depressed when the story ends- Which I doubt you will.

RubixCube89201