Chapter 2.

Knock, Knock! A loud banging at their door woke Rio up. She was on the floor between the two beds, all sweaty and pale. Nightmares.

Mishone, already dressed in casual clothes, went to the door to let Jerricho, Mike and Roobin in. The first two were generally early rises, which was sure to get annoying, and Roobin... was just too excited.

One look at Rio was enough for Jerricho and Roobin to burst into laughter.

"That nigger is all over the place!" Roobin laughed.

Mike on the other hand, was subtler, and came over to her, controlling a smile.

“How are you sweating here? It’s Feb and still so cold.” Mike innocently asked- her basketball pillow in his hand. Before she could justify, Mishone coughed, “Ahem, Ahem! I AM in the room. My hotness spreads. Get your head out of the gutter, Riona.”

Rio grabbed the pillow from Mike's hand and threw it at Mishone. Dodging the rebuttal, she got up, grabbed a change and took refuge in the bathroom.

“YOW!” She’d forgotten about the full sized mirror in the bathroom and almost ran out at her reflection. She took a quick shower, brushed her teeth, changed into a pair of comfortable navy blue shorts and a loose black T-shirt and was, THEN, ready to face the battlefield. But when she came out, the room was empty. A truce it is. Rio looked at herself in the mirror.
For a brief second she contemplated dabbing some lip gloss on her naturally tainted pink lips, but then decided it wasn't worth the effort. Knowing the guys, they would be all up in her face wanting to know who she was trying to impress. Rio quickly wore her black converse shoes, put in her blue lenses and then struggled to wrap her thick brown hair inside her favorite cap that she stole from Jake.
Eventually she gave up trying to tuck the many loose strands of her curly hair away and tilted her cap slightly to the right.
"Good enough." She sighed to herself.

Rio walked out of her room to see Anslo gesturing for her to come over quickly. Roobin, Jellio, Mike, Jerricho, Marcus and Anslo were all outside Jake’s room with the door open a fraction.

“Whacchu guys up to?” she asked suspiciously.

“Rio, you're the only one that can do this!” Jellio said, jerking his head towards Jake.

“Oh my god, you’ve got to be joking!” Rio instantly understood that they wanted her to WAKE Jake up… EARLY!
Now, she HAD woken Jake up before, many times in fact, but only by text. He'd been angry even then. She’d eventually receive a reply (after hours of him cooling down, she presumed) saying that he was going to kill her for waking him up. But by the next time they’d meet, he'd forget. So the cycle continued randomly. Now that she lived close enough for him not to forget, it was scarier.

“Why me?” she hissed.

“You're a girl.” Replied Mike, shrugging his shoulders as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

“So is Roobin, but I don’t see HER being thrown into the fire!”

"Hey, I'm a MAN! A deadly nigger! Imma cut you!" Roobin defended.
"Jerricho and I have a plan! How about we…

"What about the cheerleaders? Haven't they got here by now?" Rio remembered.

---Whoops! Forgot to mention them...

Every team had their own cheerleaders from their school. They lived on the floor below and had a separate itinerary to the teams.

- One of them being Madaleen Fernsburg, a.k.a-Maddy. She was the sweetest girl on their squad. She and Rio were really good friends and Rio was especially relieved about the fact that Maddy didn’t openly obsess about any of the guys on the team like her fellow cheerleaders. She's more down to earth.
Shy, reserved but polite and pretty. Auburn hair, simple face and green eyes. Been dating Anslo for long now.

- Bebop Chua- Kind of silly. Dark blonde hair with brown highlights. Green sparkling eyes. Stunning face and figure. Openly been chasing Jake for quite some time now...and even after many easy let downs, she NEVER gives up. Turns her nose up to most of the other guys on the team but is extra nice to Rio.

- Jennica Lollilofs- Calls herself Jlo. Captain of the team. Thin, blond hair, blue eyes and a skinny body. Openly flirts with the oblivious Mike all the time. Secretly hides a heart of gold behind her attitude.

- Aiden Smith- Pale white skin, butterscotch eyes with copper colored hair. She was new to the team and no one really knew her. She was extremely intelligent and was starting up university early so she was only here for the first half of the tournament.

- Flora Margerie Shred- Completely the typical blond type. Slow. Ironically, has red hair and dark blue eyes. A weird combination, but it works.

- Sue ‘The Cop’ Sui- Bossy. Bullies everyone in her squad. The 'boss' of the team but Sue can surprise you at times by being really nice. She’s very fair with issues not involving herself.

- Allessa Shree- No one really knew her that well. She mostly kept to herself and stayed out of the politics. She's pretty and the most flexible. Pale skin, straight black hair, black eyes.

- Tina Permer-The classic rich spoilt girl who occasionally got carried away while bragging about her wealth and beauty. It got annoying, but she WAS nice at heart and truly pretty with her coffee complexion and gorgeous face.

- Shime shine-She too was blonde and silly. She didn’t think for herself and was just a blind follower. She also got picked on a lot.

- Dina Mari- The tattle tale and the whiner. She's always sulking and pulling the mood down. But, when the squad needs some cheer spirit, she's the most enthusiastic. She had dark skin, brown hair and brown eyes.

- Coach Seleni-So bubbly all the time and very funny. Manages to tolerate all the fights and is loved by all.

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"Whoa! Don't be getting Cherry into this!" Anslo exclaimed.
"What? Anslo, contrary to what you believe, Cherry isn't the only girl on the cheerleading squad." Rio replied, shaking her head.
“Please! Who's gonna walk all the way there and get em?” said Jellio, in a bored tone.
"I'll walk there!" Jerricho offered over-enthusiastically.
"Yeah, and I'll make sure Jerricho doesn't lose his way." Marcus volunteered.

"Riona, fellow roommate and fair civilian! Just charge in and take one for the team, bro." Mishone said, while patting her on her back.

"What? Dude... shut up. Hold on, I'll be right back."

And so, with a cunning plan already formed, Rio set off to conveniently find Jakes worst nightmare: Bebop Chua.

After quickly making up some crap about Jake mumbling her name in his sleep, Rio had to run to keep up with Bebop's sprint to Jakes room. The guys sniggered when they saw whom Rio had brought up and all watched from the doorway as Bebop bounded up to Jakes bed. He was sprawled across the bed face up with the blanket covering only a fourth of his bare muscled chest. Bebop, never having seen him like this before, blushed and giggled as she reached over to touch his (bare) arm and then, to every ones shock, she started singing!

“Rock a bye Jakeyboo on the bed top,
when the wind blows,
my Jakeyboo will freeze,
When the bough breaks,
I’ll be right there,
Right there with Jakeyboo to cuddle and please!!!!”

The grins on their faces instantly got wiped away and were replaced with wide eyes and open mouths…

"What is dat!?" Marcus stared at her, in open mouthed wonder.
"I like it." Mishone snickered.
Her voice kept rising with each note and she was NO Madonna...
Then… It struck home. “Jakeyboos” eyes shot open the same time he bolted upright into a sitting position.

“AaaaHH YIYI! Bebop! What're you doing!?...Here?!” He asked with his face scrunched up into a freaked out look, kind of like the look they all had on earlier. “And were you just...SINGING?” he demanded in the same confused tone.

They couldn’t take it anymore. The rest of them immediately started howling with laughter. Bebop's evil glare at them, as if they had just interrupted a romantic conversation, only made them tear up on the floor harder…

In between the tears, Rio surveyed Jakes reaction to see how much trouble she was in. He was still going through mixed emotions and, at something Bebop said, scrambled to pull up his quilt all the way to his neck.

"That was some funny shit." Marcus said as he left the room… more like rolled out.

Feeling a bit bad for him, Rio forced herself to get off the floor. She grabbed a shirt from the top of J's suitcase, pulled it around his neck and sat down on the bed next to him. He quickly slipped his arms into the sleeves and shot Rio a grateful look. Still grinning, she winked at him and tilted her head towards Bebop. Feeling more comfortable fully clothed, Jake again asked her what she’d been doing.

“I came to make your dreams come true, silly! Don’t think I don’t know that you dream about me, so I thought I’d make your day FANTABULOUS by being the first person you saw. Oooh, did you like the song, Jakeyboo? I made it up all by myself.” Bebop seemed so pleased with herself.

But Jakeyboo's face was priceless. It was twitched in horror and he looked like he was grasping for words. His brain generally works slowly when he wakes up but this morning, he was blank.

Feeling responsible for Jakes sorry (and funny) situation, Rio casually threw in, “Oh snap! I forgot to tell you, Bebop, when you were SPRINTING over here, The CHOP (Sue) told me to tell you to get back ASAP. She seemed impatient.” With a panicked look, Bebop ran out.

Purposely avoiding Jakes eyes, Rio looked at Jerricho instead, who was crawling his way out of the room, joyfully crying. He probably just got the joke. The rest had just left him there before they got into trouble with J, and so, she had no one to converse with, so as to avoid Jake's wrath.

“Okaaay then,” she made a popping sound with her mouth, “I’ll just go see where Mikes gone to.” Rio tried to make a quick escape.

“Rio.” Shit. It was a quiet, but firm call. She turned to face him with her best ‘I'm innocent’ look.

“Yeah?” she asked brightly and (she hoped) innocently.

“Oh don’t give me that look! Bebop! Really?! Now her voice is going to be haunting my mind the whole day! And it’s-" he grabbed her wrist to look at her watch, "It's nine o’clock! In the morning!”

“But- but, Jakeyboo...”

"What?!" he demanded, flinching at his newfound nickname.

She was trying to keep a straight face as she said, “I thought the song was quite… creative. Didn’t you?” Before he could lash out, she continued, “By the way, what did she say that had you ducking under your covers?”

“Oh My GOD, yeah!! You noticed that? She was like ‘I didn’t know your chest was so perfect, my name would fit perfectly if you tattooed it across, and I love your PJs’... WTF? I swear Rio, that chick ain’t normal.” He said shaking his head.

In between her giggles that had openly escaped, she said, “I knew she wasn’t the first time she declared he love for YOU!”

Jake smiled reluctantly, “Hey, I'm irresistible!”

“And modest.” Rio sarcastically added.

“And modest.” He agreed.

Rolling her eyes she told him to hurry up and get ready for breakfast. She plopped onto his bed and suddenly, Jake, right into her ear, whispered, “F.Y.I, the next time you plan to set Bebop on to me, just remember, you’ll be waking up to your lover, Victore.”

"Aww man, way to kill the mood J."

For some reason, apparently beyond Rio's understating, the guys had taken to teasing her with Victore. Behind his back, of course. Jake had started it and it had just caught on.

"Ohhhh, have you met Eden? Like, did you talk to her?" He asked from the bathroom while brushing his teeth.

"Yeah… you haven't?"

"I didn't even know she was in our school. No, I spoke to her. Love her, so chill."

"Yeah, she just recently transferred. She's leaving midway though. Starting uni early."

"Huh."

"That's it? Huh?"

"Shut up. I'm brushing." With that he closed the bathroom door.

It’s a wonder how much a person can eat when they make it to the dining hall just 15 minutes before the buffet finishes. Coach Carl came up to them, looked around at the cluster of clean licked plates, and didn’t look surprised. “Okay, I want none of you entering the court today,” he was going to continue but didn’t bother when he got a chorus of:

“Sure coach.”

“Cool.”

“We weren't going anyway.”

"What!? What am I going to do the WHOLE day?!"

"It's fine Coach, we'll keep Mike busy."

Throwing them an ‘Oh God, why am I stuck with these idiots’ look, he gave up and ambled off.

It was funny to see their blubbering, sorry faces when some went back for (lost count of how many) more servings and discovered that the food had been taken away. Roobin kept glancing towards the entrance, and at around the 50th time, he finally saw four dark suited huge bodyguards.

As soon as they walked in, everyone in the dining hall, even the chatty cheerleaders, automatically became silent and turned to look at them. Expecting to see CJ, they were all surprised when in walked Justin Chase. Like a volcano eruption, the dining hall blew up as everyone stepped over each other to breathe in the same air as the young poster. Rio, Jake, Roobin and Victore stayed rooted to their seats.
They weren’t going anywhere. After about a minute­­, however, Roobin's resolve faltered and the weak betrayer jumped up to join the noisy crowd. So much for team togetherness. Well, Victore didn’t seem like he was getting up for anyone and as for Rio and Jake, their famous comedy act was imitating male Justin's slightly baby-ish voice.
"Lets get out of here" Jake mouthed, and just as they were about to make a run for it, one of the body guards announced,“Everybody involved in the…uh Basketball tournament please Wait HERE. The rest, clear out NOW.”

“This can’t be good.” Anslo voiced Rio and Jakes thought. He hadn't been so crazy about Justin either, he'd just gone to talk to Cherry.

“Even though CJ was supposed to be your celebrity, he called on Justin to take over for him,” The grumpy bodyguard continued.

“Until when?” Victore growled. Wow, looks like even he was worked up about this… deep down.

“He is now your promoter for the whole time period. CJ sends his apologies.” He replied, unruffled by Victore's aggressive tone.

The majority of the teams’ groans were unheard over the roar of cheer by the squad. Most of the team, unimpressed, turned towards each other and started talking. Roobin was crushed. Naa, he wasn’t that bad, just a bit pouty.

“That’s all we needed,” Jake wasn’t having a good day.

“Tell me about it! Justin? Really? They do know we want to get good publicity right?” Rio continued, completely unaware that Justin was in listening range.

“And you think I’d give bad publicity, girl?” The smooth voice behind her countered.

"Oh snap." She murmured under her breath.

She turned around and, looking straight into his eyes with a steely glare and a surprised look, replied, “Oh NO! Absolutely not! I just say things like this for FUN! You must simply do WONDERS with all the GREAT publicity you have! From one crazy rumor stating you to be a dog in disguise to another saying you have your mom secretly singing for you behind the curtains, it's been quite an achievement according to me.”

There were a few snickers (by the amused team) and a few gasps (obviously the cheerleaders). Justin, not used to listening to such unique ‘praise’ about himself, was taken aback by Rio's directness, but recovered in a quick second.

“Well, looks like that hasn’t stopped my records from being number one on the charts, sweetie.” Came his cutting reply.

Rio gave him her sweetest smile and returned, “Just goes to show that bribery goes a long way now days, huh?”

"You- you don't know anything about me. But you? Shouldn't you be in the kitchen?"

"Say wha-? Shouldn't YOU be-"

"Justin, since all your fans are indeed females, I suggest you don't go on insulting their kind. And stop chasing the only one that isn't following you around." Victore interceded.

Jake quickly came to her side and carted Riona away to save the humiliation. It was only Justin's first 5 minutes and so Jake felt he had to spare him… this time. Once Rio started, boy, it took a whole army to stop her.

Rio was annoyed. She didn’t really know why she had snapped at Justin. She certainly didn’t plan to, but she couldn’t have backed down. She DID regret lashing out now, as she remembered Justin's stunned look and to add to that, the uncomfortable, disapproving looks Jake was giving her wasn’t helping her conscience. Well, at least Jake wasn’t saying anything. That was the best thing about him. He knew how to deal with Rio at all moods. They walked in silence, automatically heading towards the indoor court.

Forgetting that the coach warned them not to come in, Jake knew that a game of basketball ALWAYS sorted Rio's mood out. She seemed calmer already and so, being brave he tried, “So, ‘sweetie’, looks like you’ve made a new friend… or fan I should say.” Looking at Jakes cautious face made her want to smile… just a bit. Somehow he always managed to make her happy. Noticing her struggle to stay angry, he took advantage and continued, “Actually, I wasn’t talking about Justin, although it applies for him too. I just happened to notice the look of admiration and awe Victore was giving you.”

“Such! An ass!” Now she just had to smile at the crap he was making up. They were outside the gym when their hearing instantly tuned in to the sounds of many balls bouncing, along with Coach Carl’s commanding voice. They peeked around the locker rooms and from the small window and saw a bunch of guys they didn’t know, trying out for Basketball, with THEIR Coach.
Not wanting to be seen, they crept away, hunching down while slowly walking backwards… Very Ninja-ly.

Rio however, with her amazing luck, walked right into… Gravity dude.

Now, further away from the gym, she straightened up to give him the full effect of her exasperated glare. “Of course! Why did I even bother to look at who it was? This day just keeps getting better and better by the minute!”

“Oh my word, my apologies! I assure you, aye had no idea that this was the crawlers lane. Absolutely none!” He replied, a very amused expression on his face.

"GREAT. Well, now you know."
Still a bit tantrum-y, Rio rolled her eyes and started walking away while Jake, all of a sudden his day looking much brighter, stayed back to talk to him.

Deciding to take a walk to get out of her ‘irritated’ zone, she started heading out, and saw Victore, going in the same direction.

"Hey… Thanks for umm, backing me up in there." Rio said awkwardly.

"Get over yourself. That wasn't an -I got your back- thing." Without even glancing at her open mouthed, shocked look, Victore rudely walked out of the hotel doors.

A second later, Rio recovered and, now even more irritated, she huffed off in the opposite direction.

Eventually, the beautiful scenery and the, surprisingly, clear pale sky did her good as she managed to cool off and get into a better mood…