Gia waited by the bleachers. She had told Emma they would meet up at Ernie's after she made a quick stop somewhere important. Reluctantly, Emma had let her go on her own.

I had been a few days since the Loogie attack. Gia hadn't spent too long in the hospital as the doctor plucked and pulled the glass from her arm and stitched up the gash in her forehead, all while telling her just how lucky she was. Her parents had been called by the hospital and had rushed in to care for her as soon as they heard what had happened. Emma, Noah, and Troy had all stopped by her house to check up on her. According to Troy, after Emma had stopped by to see her best friend, she had gone to see Gosei and gave him an earful for not warning her or the others that Gia and Jake had been alone fighting Loogies. Gia was sad she had missed it.

But, as she rested in bed, there was a thought she couldn't get out of her head. It drove her crazy until she went back to school. She had returned right on time to hand in her French assignment.

She had presented the basics on Jake. While she had been in the hospital waiting for her parents to pick her up, they had started to talk. She knew a little more about him, and presented that to the class. It was very straightforward, but if the teacher's nods and smile were anything to go by she was sure she had done well.

Jake's presentation surprised her. She hadn't told him much that wasn't on the report Emma had already handed out and gave him her blessings to talk about her to the rest of the class. It had been the least she could do for the guy who had stuck by her through her entire visit to the hospital, in spite of the fact that he was visibly uncomfortable throughout the whole thing. Her sacrifice would have come at a cost. Because she was so cold and aloof, no one in the school knew much about her. It had been their chance, and Jake would be a god for finding out something as simple as Gia's birthday.

But instead of presenting, Jake had pulled out a torn paper from his bag and handed it to the teacher.

"My dog ate it."

Mme Lacroix looked to the paper and then to Jake with a sigh.

"Y a-t-il quelque chose que tu peux dire à la classe au sujet de Mlle Moran?"

Jake looked to Gia for a quick translation. She whispered in his ear, "She's giving you a chance to earn presentation marks. Just tell them something, anything about me. It's fine. You don't have to fail."

Jake shook his head and then turned to the teacher, "Uh… Je ai oublié tout."

Mme. Lacroix shook her head, "Tu as tout oublié? Date de naissance? Son école élémentaire?"

"Jake…"

Jake simply shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, I didn't really get the assignment anyways, so I'm just going to sit down."

Jake took his seat and covered his head with his hood.

Gia looked out at the soccer field. Jake had been practicing with his team, but they had gone and he had been left alone. She still couldn't believe what he had done for her.

Suddenly, a ball came flying her way. Jake called for her to duck, but Gia stepped to the side and let the ball go right past her. Jake hurried over with an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there. Are you okay? Those were some pretty sweet reflexes."

Gia shrugged her shoulders, "Look, I just wanted to thank you for the presentation today."

"If those guys want to get to know you, they'll have to do it the old fashion way," Jake stuck his hands in his hoodie pocket and smiled, "They'll have to dig you out from the inside of an upside down car like a gentleman."

"You didn't have to do that, though. I feel bad…"

"One fail won't kill me," Jake said, "My parents kind of expect it anyways, so it's really no big."

"I went to talk to Mme Lacroix. I explained the Loogies and the car accident and…"

"My car accident? You mean like…"

"No, no. Mine," Gia answered. "You know, our cover story."

"Oh, right…"

"I told her you typed up my assignment for me. After I wrote it all by hand first, of course. I told her the computer light makes my headache worst and how by the time you were done writing mine, there was no time for you to type yours."

"You didn't have to."

"I did," Gia said, "So, I gave in the report Emma wrote up for you. Mme Lacroix read it over quickly and graded it for you. You got a B."

"A B?"

"On the written assignment. You still failed the presentation, but at least the written portion was worth a little more. I think you're getting a D+ overall."

"I passed," Jake smiled, "Even though, technically, I didn't put any work into the assignment."

"She doesn't have to know that," Gia shook her head. She walked over to where Jake's soccer ball had stopped rolling and picked it up. Jake gave her a look.

"That's a handball."

"Actually, it's a soccer ball," Gia teased before dropping the ball and kicking it. To Jake's amazement, the ball flew across the field and flew into the net.

"Super smart, super beautiful, and super talented," he said. Gia shrugged her shoulders.

"Nothing you can't already do, right?"

"Uh… yeah, well… technically, that's still a handball, so it doesn't count."

Jake ran across the field to pick up the ball and kicked it back over. He almost got it into the net, but the ball hit the post and bounced away. Gia held back a laugh and Jake's shoulders slumped forward.

"At least it would have been the right net," she walked over to get the ball and passed it back to him. Then she went and stood in net, "One more try, Holling."

"Gia, I thought the doctor said you had to take it easy. What if I hit you?"

"You're a shitty player," Gia called out teasingly, "I'm goalie. You're not supposed to think about hitting me."

Jake nodded his head and prepared himself to take the shot. Gia braced herself to jump out of the way but found she didn't have to. When Jake kicked the ball, he kicked it to the left, missing the net completely.

He missed her half of the field completely. She turned to look at him. He simply shrugged.

"Not going to hurt you."

Gia smiled and picked up her backpack, "I'm meeting Emma at Ernie's then we're going animal stalking. Want to join?"

"Animal stalking?"

"That's what I call it. It's kind of fun… sometimes… well, I'm still waiting for a bear to fight a coyote or something… but it could be… less boring."

"Sounds… not too boring," Jake chuckled. "Just let me get my stuff."

End

Auhor's Note: Megaforce Series coming next!