A/N: I'm so out of it, guys. Writer's block does things to you.

Chapter Eight

Beep-Beeeeep!

For a second Maka thought that that was the sound of Patti's car waking up the entire neighbourhood. But no, it wasn't, unfortunately. It was the sound of her home phone echoing throughout the vacant house. Maka groaned in her sleep, wondering where the hell Stein was and why he wasn't answering it, then it dawned on her that he was probably already at the venue to prep for the swimming gala.

She sat up, groggily rubbing her eyes as she reached over for a syringe. The phone was still ringing. It was starting to drive her nuts.

"Ugh," she muttered repeatedly as she walked downstairs. She picked up the phone, glad to finally be met with near-silence. "Hello?" Why did they have to pick this time to call? She sounded like a frog with a sore throat.

"Maka? This is your mother," a familiar voice spoke at the other end of the line. Maka immediately jolted awake, looking at the time on the clock. 5:30 AM. She suddenly became very aware of her surroundings. Even the smoke coming out of the kitchen.

"Mom?" Maka replied, dragging the phone cord with her to the living room.

"I got your call from a while ago, I'm sorry I couldn't call back sooner. Is everything alright?"

She closed her eyes, thinking how much she missed her mother's soothing voice in comparison to her father's constant incessant yelling. "I'm fine, mom. I just called about you and dad's arrangement with Stein. Why didn't you tell me?"

Her mother sighed. "I thought that douchebag promised to tell you. I'm so sorry, ma chérie. I would have told you if he hadn't gone ahead and taken that task for himself."

It was Maka's turn to sigh, but it was not for her mother. The smell wafting from the kitchen was disgustingly putrid and it was severely messing with her train of thought. It was like someone was cooking cat intestines, and Maka couldn't stand the thought of someone butchering her kitchen. "I miss you," she managed to ground out.

"I miss you too, ma chérie. I've already sent the payments for the rent, but I'm sure Stein will provide a portion of it to cover his accommodation. How is he? Is he taking care of you well?"

Maka leaned back to try and catch a glimpse of the kitchen but all she could see was a soot-covered lab coat. "I…guess so?" Maka shrugged, even though her mother couldn't see it. "We don't really speak much."

"That does sound like Stein," her mother giggled. "And how is school? I remember it being a magnificent part of my childhood."

Maka smiled. "It's great, ma. I've made some good friends. I'm going to a swimming gala today, to support one of them."

"It's good that you're taking part in school life," said her mother. Maka held the phone tighter. "I hope they win, but don't strain yourself too much, okay?"

"Yes, mama." She yawned, still needing some sleep.

"Ah, I'm sorry to have called you at this time. I forgot that it's only five in the morning over there. But it's been the only break I've had from concerts in the past weeks."

"It's okay, mom," Maka yawned again. "Do you want to talk to Stein?"

"If you would kindly."

Maka took the phone from her ear and dragged the cord towards the kitchen, pinching her nose as she approached the foggy room. She saw him hunched over the sink and tapped his shoulder. His dark-rimmed eyes glanced at the phone she was pointing to and smirked, taking it from her hands and leaving her to clean up his mess. What a lousy guardian, she thought bitterly, nose still pinched. She leaned over to see what he had been trying to do and her eyes narrowed in disgust at the burnt omelette on the pan, an open bottle of 'H2SO4' beside it. Face-palm.

Dutifully she began to cap the sulfuric acid, making sure to minimise skin contact with it. She had no idea what sort of concentration he was using and she wasn't about to find out through a hole in her hand. But before she could really begin to tidy up the place, Stein returned and glaringly snatched the bottle from her grasp.

"You shouldn't touch this," he almost growled out, setting it to the side. It seemed his conversation with her mother hadn't gone too well. "I'll take care of things here. Just go back to sleep."

Maka stood her ground and glared back. "Clearly you don't know what you're doing, this whole place is a mess!" But the sternness of her tone was completely erased by her articulacy. Her nose was still pinched, so her words were garbled, leaving Stein to forcefully drag her out of the kitchen.

"Go back to your room," he repeated, this time more tiredly, and the dark rings under his eyes were more prominent in broad daylight.

Maka let go of her nose and turned back upstairs. She wondered just what her mother had said to him. And why he didn't return the phone to her to say goodbye.

Beep-Beeeeep!

"OI, MAKA GET DOWN 'ERE!"

Yep, that was definitely Patti waking up the entire neighbourhood. Maka was sitting on her bed, reading 'To The River' by Olivia Laing whilst facing the window of her room, occasionally glancing up to see if Soul's curtains had been drawn. She really wondered about that kid. One minute he was cool with her, the next he was glaring, for a reason she couldn't pin down.

When Patti had started honking, she put her book down and walked over to the window, getting a glimpse of the Thompson sisters' red and white Bentley. Tsubaki was with them on the back seat, calmly playing with her long raven hair. Liz was on the driver's seat, trying desperately to fight off a flailing Patti.

Maka grabbed her keys and opened the door – noticing that Stein had cleaned up his mess somewhat – and shouldered her bag filled with chocolate bars as she approached them, smiling. Patti, upon seeing her, waved dramatically. Trust her to exaggerate every action.

Tsubaki looked up from her casual twiddling and smiled back at her, leaning forwards to open the door to the backseat. "Good morning, Maka!" she greeted as the ash-blonde girl set her bag down in front of her. She closed the car door smoothly. "I hope you're having a nice weekend?"

"Well, duh, who wouldn't?" Patti cut in, flailing her arms in the air. She and Liz were wearing identical sailor hats that had 'AHOY, KID!' on a stick plastered onto it. Maka had to resist the urge to giggle. "Come on, sis, we need to get front row seats!"

"Alright, alright," Liz muttered darkly, fiddling with the car equipment. She was taking her time, though, deliberately putting in a CD into the player, until Patti, once again, cut in.

"Don't you want to have a good view of Kid's symmetrical backside?"

Liz paused and growled. She stomped on the pedal with Patti's maniacal laughter filling the air.

When they arrived at the venue, the place was almost empty. Patti had riled up Liz so much that they had gone to their destination two hours early. At least Patti would stop complaining about the front row seats being taken. There were only about ten people sitting on the bleachers, ten of them were part of the DCHS swim team.

Kid had looked up as soon as he heard Patti screaming "Front row seats!", setting his breakfast down beside him and raising an inquisitive eyebrow. He was at least pleased that they were wearing the uniform that he had set them, although Maka and Tsubaki would surely ruin the symmetry…his left eye twitched.

"I appreciate your keenness to support me, but why in Death's name are you two hours early?" he collectedly greeted their approaching forms, amber eyes alight with amusement.

Liz sighed. "Patti wanted—"

"No, Liz wanted to get the front row seats," Patti cheekily interjected. Kid raised an eyebrow at Liz, who only shrugged and sent him a pointed look that said it all. "And Maka wanted to see what kind of food you're selling." With that, Patti dragged her sister towards the open café, leaving Maka alone with Kid.

Maka shook her head at him, whipping her pigtails in the air. Kid nodded. "I suppose there's no point in sending you back to wait another two hours. Come, sit. Where's Tsubaki?"

Maka glanced behind her to find that the raven-haired beauty was nowhere to be seen. "She was just here a moment ago."

Kid waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry, she always goes to help the medics before the start of the race."

"Oh. Alright," Maka beamed, bounding over to the bleachers. "So which events are you swimming in?"

Kid passed her the program sheet. "Swimmers can only partake in two events, so I'm doing the Boy's 50m Butterfly and the Medley Race, since our school has too many freestyle swimmers to count."

Maka nodded as if she understood. She had tried reading up on what swimming galas were last night but all these races were just the same to her. "So who else is on the team?"

"Just a bunch of people who are of no importance to know," Kid shrugged and Maka took his word for it. Liz and Patti came back with a tray of pre-event food: fries, three colas, and three scones.

"I'm guessing they're saving up the good food for the actual event," Liz commented as she eyed the scones. "Do you mind, Maka?"

"Nope," the blonde grinned and reached for a scone. "I love scones. My mom used to make them for me all the time." She munched happily on the strawberry-and-cream filled scone, gulping it down quickly.

"Used to?" Patti chimed in, eagerly shoving some fries into her mouth and simultaneously slurping her cola.

Maka froze in the middle of her second scone. Kid, sensing her discomfort, told Patti to not ask such personal questions. "It's impolite," he said, sitting back on the bleachers. Liz gave her a sympathetic look, drinking from her cola more composedly. "There's Tsubaki."

All three glanced to where he was looking, spotting their friend in a white lab coat and stethoscopes hanging around her slender neck. Liz waved her over.

"She wants to be a doctor, just like her brother," Liz disclosed as the long-haired girl walked over to them, holding a clipboard in her hands.

"Well, not really," Kid cut in. "Masamune never really became a doctor."

Tsubaki stood in front of them. "Hey, guys," she smiled. Maka noticed that she was wearing Black Star's lab coat with the stars stitched onto the white fabric. "They brought in the wrong coats so I had to borrow his," she explained awkwardly. "Anyway, Maka, Stein told me to give you these." She handed her a pair of plastic socks with grips.

Patti scrunched her nose at them. "Aren't these for, like, verruca or something?"

Maka paled, grimacing. "What did he say they were for?"

Tsubaki placed a finger on her chin in thought. "I think he said it's so that you won't accidentally slip or something. It can get quite slippery during the races."

"Um," Maka frowned, taking the socks anyway. "I'll just stay here for the entire thing, then."

Patti laughed. "Maka has to wear verruca socks!"

"Shut it, Patti," Liz scolded her sister. "Don't make me bring up that time when you had to—"

Patti placed a hand on her sister's mouth, preventing her from speaking any further, that is, until she suddenly retracted it, wiping it on her shorts. "Ew! Ew! Ew! What'd you do that for?"

Liz rolled her eyes, wiping her mouth cleanly and crossing her arms over her chest. "I can't believe you're my twin."

Everyone paused for a brief moment, the meaning of the statement hanging in the air.

"Neither can I," Tsubaki, Kid and Maka said altogether.

They all laughed, save for Patti, who sulked with her back towards them, and all thoughts of Maka's verruca socks were abandoned.

The games had begun, starting with the Girls' 100m Individual Medley. DCHS had quite a strong swimming team, having won two galas consecutively three years ago, but that was when someone named Justin had been on the team, and he had graduated, so their team was sort of useless without him.

They were watching from the front row, their attention divided between Kid's stretches (well, only Liz), and Tsubaki's hourly rounds with the swimmers waiting for the next race.

For someone who was watching her first swimming gala, Maka was quickly bored out of her mind, or maybe it was because the girl swimmers were less competitive than the boys, some of them only languidly stroking through the water.

When the first race was done, DCHS had come fifth out of eight places. She could see Kid scowling on the sides. Liz and Patti, however, were doing their best to mimic their cheerleading routine for swimmers, so Maka stuck out like a sore thumb next to them. She was almost tempted to reach out from her bag to get a book out, when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

She whirled around to meet the person, envisioning a certain boy in her mind. Dilute, blue eyes met hers. "Crona!" Maka greeted the pink-haired boy with surprise. "Hey, you can sit with us."

Crona shuffled over to join them on the front row, his bony shoulders pressed against Maka's, making her blush at their sudden close proximity. "I didn't know you were a fan of swimming," he commented, turning to face her.

"Same for you," Maka said back.

He frowned in response. "My mom is helping out with the medical bay, so I had to come along," he replied distantly. He kept his periwinkle eyes trained on the swimmers getting ready to dive.

"I guess you could say the same for me, then," Maka giggled. "My friend is part of the swim team. Do you know Kid?"

He nodded. "Yeah, he showed me around the school on my first day, but he sort of left me to wander around by myself afterwards."

That doesn't sound like Kid, Maka thought internally. "I'm sure it was because of an emergency."

Crona nodded, smiling slightly at his childhood friend. "I never really introduced you to me mom, have I?"

Maka shook her head no. "You said she was always busy at work."

He inhaled sharply, shifting his attention swiftly. "Yeah. Well, you can meet her today, after the gala. She works at the school."

She stared at him confusedly. "Are you sure? I-I mean, is it okay? With you?"

Crona gritted his teeth visibly. "Of course it is," he replied steadily. She said she wanted to meet you."

Liz called her name. "Hey, Maka, who is this girl?" she raised an eyebrow, hands on her hips.

Crona froze at the newcomer, eyes terrified of the intimidating stance she had over him.

Maka sighed. "This is Crona. He is my childhood friend, Liz," she narrowed her eyes at the other blonde.

"So you're cheating on Soul now?" Liz crossed her arms, the look in her eyes was threatening.

Crona stiffened beside her. "Huh? You have a boyfriend?"

Maka's skin turned cold then flushed a burning red. "W-W-What? No! Soul's not—"

"I'm not what?"

The sound of the gun made them jump in their seats as the Boys' 100m Individual Medley began. Maka didn't want to turn around to see those frightening red eyes so she kept her eyes trained on the race. But she could tell Liz was staring him down. She wouldn't look. She had control. She can deal with this.

"Oi," he nudged her, and she wondered why he was here of all places. Then she remembered that Black Star was in attendance too, probably already seeking attention from the crowd. "Oiiii," he nudged again, and she had to admit that she missed his annoying presence. "What am I not?"

"Her boyfriend," Crona said beside her. Maka was stunned, watching the boy beside her in a fierce glaring showdown with the boy behind her. Liz was shaking in laughter to her right, whilst Patti was still cheering on the team, ignorant of the real event playing right beside her.

"What?" Soul drawled. "Maka has a boyfriend? Who would've thought?"

"Hey!" Maka twisted her body to finally look at the boy. He was dressed in a red shirt that matched his eyes well and his white hair was clipped back just like when he would start studying. He was smirking at her. "I don't even want to know what you're implying."

He shrugged, igniting a dormant flame inside her. "Interpret it as you want, no-one's stopping you," he chuckled teasingly. "Didn't know you were a fan of swimming."

"Everyone keeps asking me that, I'm just here for my friend," Maka sighed in exasperation.

"Your boyfriend?"

"Kid's not—"

"Yeah, Kid's not a giraffe!" Patti chimed in. Everyone turned to look at her in confusion. She mirrored their expressions. "What? I thought everyone was talking about giraffes."

Liz groaned. "Patti, can you get us some food?"

"No, you get it yourself. I'm not your slave," Patti huffed. She broke into applause when the crowd cheered that the DCHS swimmer had come in third place. "WOO! We're finally gaining some ground!"

They all face-palmed. Liz exited the conversation by getting up to go to the cafeteria. Crona leaned closer to Maka. "Do you have a boyfriend?" he whispered so that Soul wouldn't hear behind him and start teasing again. But he did notice how dangerously close their faces were to each other and he resisted the urge to snap, instead clenching his fists tightly.

"No," Maka whispered back. "They're all just my friends. Mom told me to never trust a man with your heart."

Crona nodded in understanding and stood up, applauding with the crowd. "What's next on the programme?"

Liz came back with a tray full of food. "I guess they did save the best food for the real thing," she said. "The freestyle's next. Then the team Medley," she told them after she slurped her milkshake dry. "Kid's on it so y'all better get pumped up. The real show's about to begin." She set her milkshake on the space next to her and shook her legs out. "I forgot how slippery it could get out there. I almost slipped a few times."

Maka's stomach grumbled upon seeing the food. The way leading to the cafeteria was indeed wet, since the swimmers didn't bother drying themselves up before they bought some food. And she couldn't ask Patti or Liz to go back again…

And there was no way she could ask Crona, or even Soul.

"Yo, Soul, have you seen Tsubaki anywhere?" a familiar shrill voice interrupted her thoughts. "Oh, hey, mortal."

Maka turned to see Black Star glancing down at her sitting position. "Hey, Black Star. If you're looking for Tsubaki, she's at the medic bay."

His eyes widened impossibly. "What? Is she sick? Don't worry! I will cure her with my touch!" he yelled as he zoomed towards the medic bay, not slipping once.

"He really is impossible," Soul muttered to himself, but Maka still heard him.

Speak for yourself, she thought, as the Boys' Medley Relay began.

"YES, KID, YES! GO, GO, GO!" Liz and Patti were screaming fiercely, jumping up and down with surprising fervor. Maka and Crona shied away from their overwhelming vigor.

"Are they always that passionate?" Crona whimpered with wide eyes.

"When it comes to Kid, yes," Maka told him. "They're his biggest fans."

"I can see that," Crona chuckled, relaxing when Liz decided to calm down a bit and scream more collectedly. "Does she like him a lot?"

Maka nodded, standing up to join them as they cheered for their friend. Kid was doing extremely well, streaming past the person ahead of him with determination. She wondered what could drive him that hard to push himself so much. His muscles were straining each time they appeared out of the water with each stroke, black hair freely sticking to his forehead. This race was definitely intense, and it seemed like it was over before she could really comprehend it.

Kid touched the wall first, prompting the fourth Medley swimmer to dive in.

Liz and Patti were screaming as the crowed roared. All six lanes were splashing all over the place, even soaking some of the closer spectators. Kid was fuming, though. He was engaged in an argument with the swimmer that he had been in league with for a short time, pointing repeatedly at the goggles on his head. They were of two different colours; one lens was red, while the other was green. Now Maka could tell what had driven him over the edge.

"Did you see that, Maka?" Liz excitedly snapped her from her thoughts. "Kid was incredible! That was his best time yet!"

Maka's throat was sore from cheering and her heartbeat had slightly sped up. She had almost missed the warning beeping from her watch and subsequently she pressed the button that would renew her energy. She reached into her bag for a chocolate bar, just in case the watch was insufficient. Although she trusted Stein with his scientific calculations, she wanted to be more self-reliant.

"Yo, Pig Tails," Soul nudged her again. "Have you got the stuff we need for the project yet?"

"Yeah," Maka replied after gulping down a bite. "Stein said he might help with the circuit. He's been wanting to experiment on artificial life for a long time, apparently."

Soul nodded, leaning back on his seat, watching Crona with narrowed eyes. Just who is he to her? Soul thought bitterly. "I'm going to the cafeteria," he announced suddenly. "D'you need anything?"

Maka shook her head but her growling stomach betrayed her, causing the red-eyed boy to smirk. She sighed. "Maybe just a strawberry milkshake and some scones."

He scrunched his nose at the 'scones' bit. "Are you an old granny or something? Who'd want to eat scones?"

"You're the old gramps, Soul, are haven't you looked at your hair in the mirror yet?"

He froze in his position, stunned at her…admittedly cool comeback… but he regained his composure in a heartbeat. "Whatever," he growled, stepping down from the bleachers and shoving his hands in his black trousers. "You want anything, Pinky?"

Crona frowned at the derogatory nickname and shook his head, prompting Soul to go ahead towards the cafeteria. He turned to Maka eating her chocolate. "I don't get that guy."

She shook her head. "Me neither."

The crowd erupted all around them. DCHS had come first place, and she could see Kid fist-pumping the air in triumph.

"DAMN, that was a great race!" Liz relaxed on her seat, and Patti was out of breath from screaming so loud. "Kid's on again in the Boys' Butterfly 50m, which doesn't start until about an hour or so, since it's lunch break."

"Yeah," Patti panted. "Everyone's leaving for an hour. We're meeting with Tsubaki to go to McDeath's, wanna come?"

"Sure," Maka replied contentedly. "Hey, Crona, do you want to come with us?"

Crona reluctantly agreed, getting up to join them. "Okay."

Maka felt her stomach grumbling and frowned. "Um, Liz? Do you know where the toilets are?"

Liz nodded and pointed to across the pool. "Yeah, it's just across the swimming pool. Do you want us to wait for you?"

She shook her head. "No, I'll meet you up front. You should go with them, Crona."

Crona looked nervously at the two sisters beside Maka, but seeing Maka's reassuring smile allowed him to regain his confidence. "Okay, I will. I'll see you in a bit, Maka."

"Yep," she smiled at him, making her way towards the toilets.

Once they were out of sight, Soul appeared from the cafeteria, carrying her milkshake. They had run out of scones so he hoped that she wouldn't be too mad at him, Death knows how irritated he'd already made her.

She was walking smoothly on the perimeter of the pool, watching her step carefully as her boots squelched on the mini puddles.

Soul smirked as he jogged his way over to her, mindless of the wet surface. "Hey, Maka here's your—whoa!" he slipped as the contents of her milkshake spilled everywhere and everything looked like it was happening in slow motion. He grabbed onto the nearest solid thing he could find by instinct and cursed when that thing was Maka.

She screamed as he dragged her down with him into the water and choked as she used her arms to try and stay afloat. Her parents had never taught her how to swim because no matter how much chocolate she ate, it wouldn't be enough to make her stay conscious when she's desperately flailing her arms and legs all over the place.

Soul pushed himself out of the pool, unaware that Maka was drowning helplessly in the water. "Get a grip, Maka, it's just water," he rolled his eyes at her form, which was floating away further into the deep end. Her arms were progressively slowing down and she had stopped screaming. "Maka?" he called. "Oi, get out of the water!"

Her arms had stopped moving. She could feel her muscles weakening and her heart erratically beating in her chest. The screen of her watch was a blaring red and she reached over to push the button, but it was too small a dose.

Her head dropped below water and all she could see was black and all she could think was oblivion.

A/N: Y'all know how this goes down, I'm sure. :) I'll try updating quicker next time, it's just this stupid writer's block that's preventing me from typing actual words. I still hope you like this chapter... tell me if you spot any typos, I still haven't proof-read it... Have a good day! :D

Reply to Anon Reviews:

Guest: You'll just have to find out! hehehee xD

Stein: Whoa, pretty creepy but awesome review :) You've definitely ripped out the contents of my brain for this chapter, so thanks, I guess xP mwahahahaha