Hi guys, Sammy Jo here. Some of you probably know me from Interview: Bleach Pairings, and, after a lot of people asking me to do it, I got an account. I then decided to go along with this story, because it got stuck in my head, and it won't go away until I type it out and post it. So yeah :) I want to thank you guys for supporting my friends, Jennifer (Dark Rukia141) and Jasmine (Rukia141) and I!

This story is an AU, high school life setting. No Shinigami, hollows, and all that good stuff, just the loveable characters in this fic!

A Girl's Challenge

A story by Samantha Jo!

Chapter 1

Rukia yawned and then groaned luxuriously as she buried herself deeper in the coolness of her soft bed sheets. Then, she stretched and fixed her pillow in order to make it more comfortable. There was something about being in bed in the mornings that made sleeping much more pleasurable. Rukia saw the sunlight peek through her curtains, the breeze squeezing through the small opening in her window. The fresh scent of dried leaves were the harbingers of autumn, and when the all the leaves finally fell, winter will be knocking on her window; she couldn't wait, the cold was her favorite time of the year. Her hand slipped underneath her pillow, searching for that cool spot. She smiled to herself and sighed contently.

The covers were suddenly flung away from her, making Rukia shoot up in bed. She rubbed her eyes and looked up at the grey eyes of her brother, glaring slightly at her, bed sheets in his hands. "If you're not ready in ten minutes, you'll be forced to walk to school." Byakuya told her, letting the sheets drop in a pool at his feet. Fixing the cuffs of his shirt, he exited her room without a word. Heaving a sigh, Rukia fell back against her pillows, and closed her eyes; she can easily get ready in ten minutes…

Ten minutes were nothing…

Ten…

…

…

…

Rukia opened her eyes and noticed that it was much brighter outside. Her eyes went wide as the captivating world that was her dream, slipped away and she was gripped with the most horrifying reality one could ever encounter.

She was late.

Rukia sprung out of her bed in one leap as she dived headlong into the closet, taking a deep breath, wondering if she was going to come out in one piece, seeing as her closet was hell itself. She really needed to find some time to clean it out, otherwise she'll be completely engulfed one day by all the junk in her closet, forever lost in its murky depths.

"Ugh, let go!" Rukia cried, as she fought against the coats, dresses, and every other bit of clothing that clung onto her. She fell back, clutching her uniform tightly in her arms as she kicked the closet door closed just before the arm of a jacket snaked around her ankle. She quickly dressed and flickered her eyes to her clock.

"Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!" Rukia chanted when she saw that she only had fifteen minutes to get to school. However, no matter how much she cursed, begged, and prayed for Father Time to go slower, he would only roll his eyes and shake his head, all while tapping one of his many hourglasses. Rukia grabbed her shoes and hopped on one foot, while trying to put a shoe on the other. When she reached the stairs, she lost her balance and fell forward, down the many steps, rolling, tossing, and sighing.

She landed on at the bottom, her body awkwardly sprawled out. She made a mental note that that was fall number one hundred and thirty-two. Rukia hastily stood up, brushed herself off and raced into the kitchen. She flung open the fridge, took out some orange juice, and rummaged through the fridge to see if she could discover something edible.

Crap, Byakuya had told her days ago to clean out the fridge, yet she always put if off. Rukia was such a procrastinator, and she realized she needed to seriously work on that problem. Eh, she'll deal with it later.

She saw something in the back of the fridge that was all moldy and runny. Wrinkling her nose, she pinched the plate and slowly dragged it forward, but yelped and snatched her hand away as the mold snapped at her. "Seriously?" She asked. Gathering all of her courage, Rukia grabbed the moldy creature and tossed it into the sink, plate and all. She immediately turned on the grinder, and watched with satisfaction as the mold shrieked and writhed.

"Ha!" She cried with triumph as she took her glass and drank her juice. Rukia then ran into the hall, tugged her book bag loose from one of the many hooks, and dashed out the door, locking it behind her. Her brother was gone, obviously, he told her to get ready in ten minutes, forty minutes ago.

Keeping a tight hold on her book bag, Rukia sprinted to the direction of her school. As she ran, she told herself over and over again to listen to her brother next time knowing very well it wasn't going to do much good, since she would repeat this whole morning again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and the next damn freaking day-ugh what was wrong with her? Damn it!

…

Rukia dashed up the stairs to the second floor and skidded around a corner. She slammed into a girl, sending all of her papers flying in the air, fluttering to the floor like leaves. "Hey!" She cried at Rukia with indignation.

"I'm sorry, any other day I would help you pick them up, but because I'm late for class and am too selfish, I won't lend you a hand and hope that you'll forgive me eventually even though I've never seen you before in my life." Rukia called over her shoulder. The warning bell rang, telling her that she only had thirty seconds to make it to class, if not her teacher would give her detention, and she hated detention with her teacher.

Rukia frantically rounded a corner and caught sight of Ichigo and Renji talking, on their way to their classroom. They turned when they heard her pounding footsteps. "Oi! Hurry up!" Ichigo called.

"What do you think I'm doing, idiot? Waltzing my way over there?" Rukia shouted at him as she neared the classroom. However, because Lady Luck hated Rukia for some unknown reason, she lashed out at her like the bitch she was and made Rukia stumble forward.

"Damn it, Rukia!" Ichigo called as she fell. He quickly went to her and grabbed her by the cuff of her neck and hauled her ass into the classroom and quickly joined her and Renji into the room, just as the tardy bell rang. Rukia leaned against Orihime's desk as she gulped for air, holding her sides.

"Wow, Rukia, you made it this time!" Orihime beamed as Rukia merely gave her a small smile in response, since she really couldn't say anything at the moment. The teacher, who had been writing something on the board with chalk, stopped in order to face her. His steely grey eyes were far from amused.

"It seems that you were on time today, you surprise me sometimes, Miss Kuchiki." Byakuya told her as he turned back to the board. "Now, if you would please take your seat and stop being a hindrance, we could start with class."

Sometimes being the younger sister of the teacher made Rukia want to kill herself. Sure they weren't really related, but when he married her sister, Hisana, Rukia went to live with them when her parents died. She was only able to have Hisana for two years before she died of cancer. Now, as a last promise to his late wife, Byakuya took her in, but that didn't mean he had to be nice to her.

"Yeah, don't mind me, I'm like, the only sister of your late wife you supposedly loved." Rukia thought bitterly. He picked on her in class too, and that was breaching the boundaries of what was fair and what wasn't. If she so much as talked, detention. If she was late, detention. If she dozed off for just a millisecond, detention. If she forgot her homework, detention. It's not like she's the only one doing it, but Byakuya was like a sniper, ready to blow her head off the first chance he got; she could almost see, no, feel that damn little red light pointing at her forehead.

Jeez, she was seventeen for crying out loud!

"Turn to back to chapter twenty-one, we'll be discussing that time period again." Byakuya said, receiving several groans of protest from the class. Rukia remained silent however, because Lord knew if she opened her mouth, she'll be staying after class, cleaning the damn room.

"Sir, we just went over this last week, why do we have to do it again?" Renji dared himself to ask.

"Because your poor quiz scores screamed that you were in dire need of re-teaching; chapter twenty-one, Mr. Abarai." Her brother replied. Renji slouched back in his chair as he lamely turned the pages of his text book. Rukia felt someone tap her shoulder and she ducked her head in order to look behind her, praying that her brother wouldn't notice. Rukia saw a pale pretty face, with large brown eyes, and black lush hair that fell past her shoulders and curled at the tips. Her usual sunglasses were tucked in the front of her shirt, and the tie of her uniform was loosely tied around her arm. For someone so beautiful, she sure knew how to make a guy cry.

She stared into the mischievous eyes of Jennifer Vaughn, one of her best friends, and the one person she really shouldn't be hanging out with, but did so anyway, because Rukia really didn't know any better. Again, what the hell was wrong with her? "What do you want?" Rukia whispered. Jennifer leaned forward, smirking.

"The girls and I are having lunch on the roof, want to join us?" She asked. The roof? The guys always ate there, and they were territorial about their spot.

"What about the guys?" Rukia whispered back, chancing a peek at Byakuya, but he was too busy explaining the war of blah, blah, blah, and why it's historically important due to blah, blah, blah.

"Oh please, our group beat the guys in a card game and took the spot for ourselves." Jennifer explained, smirking again. Rukia blinked at her friend in confusion.

"Wait a minute, where was I when all of this happened?" She asked.

Jennifer shrugged. "Detention."

Go figure.

"It seems to me that there's talking coming from the back of the room. Girls, do you want me to stop the lesson and have the class listen to you instead?" Byakuya asked, not turning away from the chalk board. Rukia inwardly groaned as Lady Luck struck again.

"Sorry, sir, but Jade over here insisted I explain to her what you said since she didn't catch the last part." Jennifer said, turning to one of her startled peers. "Isn't that right, Jade?" She asked, her tone eerily quiet. Jade's eyes widened in fear then she vigorously nodded.

"S-She's right, Sensei, my apologies." Jade told him hastily. Rukia breathed a sigh of relief when Byakuya turned his attention back to the board.

…

The small group of girls sat in a circle, eating lunch and talking about anything that came up. The roof was an ideal place to eat when it was lunch time, but because the boys consisted of Ichigo, Renji, Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, and Toshiro, no one really bothered to cross their turf; no one really had the guts, except maybe for Jennifer.

Rukia watched her group talk amongst themselves. Momo sat next to Orihime, wordlessly listening to her telling a strange story. Orihime excitedly waved her hands around, twirling a leek in her hand (Rukia was still trying to figure out where that thing came from), and making Tatsuki flinch away every time the thing almost came in contact with her nose. Jennifer sat back, her arms crossed and looking relatively bored.

"What is it, not all that great?" Rukia asked as she put away the last of her lunch. Jennifer sighed as she nodded.

"Yeah, I figured the guys would come up here, demanding that we give their spot back. Man, what a bunch of girls." Jennifer said. It didn't bother Rukia at all, however. She enjoyed it on the roof, especially now that she could lie down and stare up at the sky. The white cotton balls that rolled across the sky took many shapes and forms. It wasn't long before all of them were pointing out different shapes. Despite the problems she may have in school, Rukia's small group of friends always found away to make things fun, and distract her; not counting the times when Jennifer got them into trouble, because those times sucked.

The door that led to the roof burst open loudly, making the girls jump. Five boys walked towards them, three looking like they were going to pick a fight, and the other two looking as if they clearly had something better to do. Jennifer's sly smile didn't go unnoticed as she stared up at the guys from where she w sitting. "You know, I almost gave up on the five of you, I was starting to think you backed down."

"Cut the crap, Jennifer, we want a rematch." Grimmjow snapped angrily. Jennifer raised her one of her eyebrows and stared up at him, innocently.

"A rematch, but we won fair and square." She told them.

"We know, but we just want our spot back, and we're willing to play you again for the spot." Renji said. Ichigo scratched his head, annoyed at all the trouble that was being caused.

"Let's just play the damn game and get this thing over with, okay?" Ichigo said. Tatsuki scoffed as she stood up from where she was sitting. Orihime clasped her hands together in slight worry, the leek no longer in her hand and-wait? What the hell, where did that leek go? What kind of sorcery was this!

"Typical of you guys to come crawling back. We said that whoever won, kept the spot, and last time I checked, Jennifer beat Grimmjow's ass in the last round, giving us the victory." Tatsuki said, and Jennifer smirked in Grimmjow's direction, the smug heavily clear on her face. He scowled at her.

"Don't think that you'll win again once we-"

"You know we are not going to give you the spot back." Jennifer told Ichigo, pointedly ignoring Grimmjow.

"Bitch, I wasn't done talking!" Grimmjow yelled. Jennifer remained unfazed. She always found a way to push everyone's buttons just right, making people reach their boiling point. She was sort of like a fisher, she easily cast the line, and Grimmjow was easily baited.

Toshiro sighed as he leaned against the railing. "You know, we can always find another spot to eat, it'll save us all the trouble; I'm also not in the mood to play childish games."

"I agree with Hitsugaya, this really is unnecessary." Ulquiorra said, but the other three wouldn't have it. Rukia had to admire those two, why they chose to hang around those three blockheads, she'll never know, but at least they're there to make the group look cool instead of really, really stupid, because that's what Renji, Ichigo, and Grimmjow did.

They made the group look really, really stupid.

"Why won't you give us a rematch?" Renji argued.

"We already told you, we won against you and took the spot, we don't need to have a rematch now that the spot is ours." Momo finally spoke up.

"Guys, seriously, drop it. Jennifer will eventually grow tired of it and give it back, won't you Jen?" Rukia asked the girl sitting beside her..

"Hell no." Jennifer said, putting her sunglasses on.

"Jen." Rukia said.

"What? Eff you guys, I want this spot." Jennifer said.

"Er, if I could make a suggestion? Why don't we all share the spot." Orihime offered hopefully. Everyone stared at her for several seconds before going back to arguing amongst themselves. Rukia shook her head and decided to lie down again. She ignored everyone and smiled to herself when she found a cloud that looked like Chappy.

…

"Get over yourself, Jennifer, you are so conceited." Tatsuki rolled her eyes. The girls found themselves in the library after school, trying to spend there time researching, but what they were really doing was wasting time, like always. Rukia smiled softly and Jennifer glared at her.

"What's so funny?" She demanded.

"It's you, you honestly think that you're the girl?" Rukia asked her as she read the many titles of the books. Jennifer gave a soft smile, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"I don't think, I know." Jennifer responded.

"Oooh, somebody is blinded by their own importance." Momo laughed, earning a harsh shush from the librarian. The girls ducked behind a shelf, then they emerged again, whispering.

"You don't think so? Who suddenly made you all experts on guys?" Jennifer asked. "I have yet to see one of you with a boyfriend." She told them, making the other girls, except for Tatsuki, flinch. Rukia will admit, she did have guys that admired her, but they were just too afraid of Byakuya to even ask her out.

"It's not like we can't land a guy, we just have more important things to do." Tatsuki said, reaching for a book and brushing some dust out of the way. The dust motes gathered together and attacked Rukia, sending her into a fit of coughs. Again the librarian shushed them, but her friends paid no attention to Rukia's struggle to stay alive.

"That's a lie, you're only using that excuse to cover for yourself. It's okay, I understand none of you have the qualities you need in order to catch a guy's attention, let alone keep one at your side." Jennifer said a little too lightly. Rukia felt insulted.

"That's a not fair, Jennifer, we're just as good as you." Rukia whispered harshly. Jennifer gave a mischievous smirk.

"Okay then, prove it." Jennifer said, going to the tables and tearing off a piece of paper. She cut it into five strips of paper, and scribbled something on them. She then took a cup for of pencils located on the table, and dumped them out. The other girls watched her with mild curiosity, and Jennifer raced back to them, placing the small papers in the cup and shaking it about a bit.

"What are you doing, Jennifer?" Orihime asked, staring at the papers in the cup.

"This, my dear, has the names of certain guys. You pick out a guy, and you have to get him to like you and ask you out by the end of the year." Jennifer said. "Sort of like a fun challenge."

"Huh? A challenge?" Momo asked.

"Yeah right, you're full of crap, Jennifer. I'm not doing it." Tatsuki shook her head. Jennifer shrugged mildly.

"I know you weren't going to, I understand that you're too scared, but it's okay, it's completely okay." Jennifer said in a pitied tone. Tatsuki glared at her friend and, to everyone's surprise, dug her hand in the cup and pulled out a strip of paper.

"You're on." She told Jennifer through clenched teeth. She opened the paper and read the name, her face going grim.

"Who is it, Tatsuki?" Orihime asked.

"mrefjiabrfai." Tatsuki mumbled. Jennifer leaned in closer to Tatsuki, grinning.

"What was that, Tatsuki? I didn't catch that."

"I got Renji, okay, Renji." Tatsuki said in anger.

Jennifer laughed softly as she turned to Momo. "Your turn." Gulping, Momo pulled out a white piece of paper.

"T-Toshiro?" She asked, looking like she was about to faint.

"Nice, I'll go next." Jennifer said, picking slip herself. She pulled it out and opened it. She frowned at the name.

"Who did you get?" Rukia asked.

"Grimmjow, damn it, I was hoping for Ulquiorra, or Ichigo. What a pain in the ass." Jennifer rolled her eyes. Orihime caught Rukia's eye.

"Um, you go Rukia, I'll pick last." She told her. Actually, Rukia wanted to go last, but she really didn't have much of a choice now. Reaching for the cup, Rukia took a piece of paper, and she swore it felt like a ton. With shaky hands, she opened the sheet of paper and read the name. Rukia's breath got caught in her throat as Orihime took the last name.

"U-Ulquiorra…" Orihime stammered as she read the name. Jennifer then smiled slyly.

"Then that means Rukia got Ichigo. That's pretty funny." She laughed quietly, making the librarian storm towards them, but the girls sped off down the aisles of books. Neither of them noticed a teacher standing not far off.

Rangiku watched the girls lead the poor librarian into a wild goose chase. She overheard their conversation and tapped her chin. "A challenge, to see who could seduce a guy first?" She asked herself. Then she broke into a grin.

"That would be fun, I should tell the others!" Rangiku cried out, quickly leaving the library, heading off towards the teacher's lounge.

Let the challenge begin!

Well, that's it for now. The next chapter, we'll see what the girls will try to do for attention! I apologize for any mistakes!