I was seriously planning on uploading last Wednesday, but I never got the chance. Sorry :(

New characters in this chapter!!! :D

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On Monday, Todd picked up Maxine; they didn't look at each other. After a few minutes of the ride to school, he started teasing her.

"I remembered when you ate like a pig," he recalled, chuckling.

"I remembered when you came out of the pool dripping wet," she countered.

"You know, I wasn't the only one who came out of the pool dripping wet."

"Well . . ." She paused to think of a good reply. When she glanced outside the window, she saw that they were already at school. "Well, we're already at school," she finished, speedily climbing out of the car.

At lunch, Karl went to the Sky Cafeteria with almost everyone looking at him. He didn't care, nor did he mind. He was used to it, as a matter of fact. He entered the cafeteria and grinned when he saw the gang.

"Have you heard of the news about Josh's party on Friday?" he asked excitedly, as he joined the gang's table. "I heard everyone's invited."

"What's the party for?" asked Maxine.

"You don't need to have a reason for having a party," stated Todd, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'm sorry for not knowing. That's why I asked, didn't I?"

Before Todd could say anything, Kim stopped him – preventing another argument. He rolled his eyes, but dropped the conversation. So did Maxine.

The week passed by in a blur. Before anyone knew it, it was Friday night.

Everyone wore their school uniform at the party, but most of them had their coats off. The place where the party was held at was incredible. They were at the penthouse of one the most famous hotels in the City. Everybody was having a blast. But for the weeks that Maxine spent studying at Sky, she still had no idea who Josh Mantle was.

"So, who is this Josh?" she asked the others, after they settled themselves at the corner of the room.

"He's also a junior," answered Brian. "He's popular in school because his family is one of the richest in the City."

"And he's a basketball star at Sky," added Kim a-matter-of-factly.

"Oh," nodded Maxine.

"He's nothing but an egoistic dupe, if you ask me," mumbled Todd.

☺ ♪ ☺ ♫ ☺ ♪ ☺

Josh continued to argue with Jen Takishima.

Jen Takishima was a pretty half-American, half-Japanese girl, with above shoulder length black hair and eyes. She liked listening to Alternative Rock music. But she didn't like guys – though they would always ask her out.

Josh Mantle was tall, had dark hair and golden eyes. He was used to getting what he wanted. So depriving him something he desired would get him to lose his temper.

Karl was getting some drinks when he heard Josh having a really loud discussion with Jen. She seemed to be very angry.

Karl didn't mind them, knowing that it wasn't any of his business. But Josh didn't stop yelling at Jen's face. Karl noticed tears coming out of Jen's eyes. Seeing it made him angry and sad. He never liked seeing a girl cry. Besides, Josh wasn't treating her properly. How could he just ignore them and walk away? But Jen seemed to have the same idea, because she made a move to leave but Josh grabbed her arm to stop her.

Karl couldn't take it anymore.

"Dude, I know that this is none of my business and all," he stepped in, his voice unusually cold, "but I really can't stand seeing you do something like this to a girl."

Josh turned to him, not letting go of Jen's arm.

"What can you possibly do about it? As you said, it's none of your business. So, I suggest you to," he paused and threateningly went closer to Karl, "get lost."

Karl glanced at Jen and he saw her widened eyes look up at him – with fear? As though his body taking over him, he punched Josh right at his face. He didn't even realize how very cool-looking he was.

Josh lost his balance and stumbled to the ground.

"Why you –" he started, struggling to get up. He didn't get to finish his sentence, for Karl was already gone – with Jen.

Karl and Jen left the party. They decided to walk around the block for fresh air. She was the first girl to be saved by Karl. He barely even knew her. He couldn't explain it, but after seeing her being treated like that by someone made his blood boil. What was the reason behind that? Part of him had an idea – the part that kept back-flipping every time he saw Jen at school.

"By the way," started Karl, "I'm –"

"– Karl Andrews," finished Jen. "Yes, I know who you are. You're rather popular at school, you know. I'm –"

"– Jen Takishima. You're rather popular, yourself," he said, grinning. "If you don't mind me asking, is Josh your . . ." he trailed off, not wanting to sound too nosy.

"Josh is my cousin. Honestly, I couldn't say I'm proud of it," mumbled Jen, somewhat dreamily. "He is so protective. Just because Dad left me in his family's care, he started acting like a father. I quite understand that he cares for me. But I mean, we're in the same age . . ." she continued to talk. Part of her seemed to tell her to keep speaking.

Karl just listened patiently. It was as if they knew each other for a long time. And to think, Jen was never really talkative around other people, while Karl had never spent a conversation that lasted even two minutes with someone other than the gang.

Without them planning on it, they spent the rest of the night together.

☺ ♪ ☺ ♫ ☺ ♪ ☺

Josh was roaming around to see if everybody was having fun — also keping an eye out for Karl and Jen. And there, at the corner of the room, laughing with her friends, was Maxine. She was new to his eyes that he was very intrigued. He failed to comprehend that she was with Todd Samuel's gang. So he walked towards them and pulled out his most charming smile.

"Did you know that you've just brought color to my colorless life?" Josh told Maxine. The gang turned to him. He grinned and continued, "You'll never know, it must be fate that brought you here so we could meet."

"It was actually the limo that brought her here," said Todd indifferently.

Josh shot him a look.

"I – um, think – that was . . ." stammered Maxine, trailing off. She wasn't expecting something like this to happen. She was caught off guard. "That was –"

"– Quite lame," Kim finished Maxine's sentence.

Josh considered that. "It's okay to be lame, as long as I'm telling the truth."

"You know, that's a strange way of telling the truth," Brian pointed out.

"Maybe because he's not telling truth," stated Todd, a bit annoyed. He didn't see the point of this conversation.

"Maybe," shrugged Brian. "You know Josh, he's almost as good as Peter for tricking girls," he added to Todd, Kim and Maxine in whisper.

Josh didn't mind, nor care, what they were whispering about. He slowly took Maxine's hand and kissed it. As soon as Maxine felt Josh's soft lips on the back of her hand, she froze. Her face heated up in embarrassment.

Kim rolled her eyes. Brian looked at Todd, and noticed Todd's eyes were blazing.

"What the hell"– they looked at Todd –"is Peter doing?" Todd finished, pointing at Peter who was stroking Michelle Jones's hair.

They all looked at Peter with a mixture of blank and confused faces.

Brian was the only one that didn't look away from Todd. He knew that Todd lied smoothly. He knew that Todd was supposed to say, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" to Josh, but didn't continue it. He could swear he saw Todd sigh with relief when the others turned to look at Peter.

Out of the blue, Gerald Conner asked for everyone's attention. Josh took the chance to steal a kiss from Maxine while everyone was distracted. He leaned down, and then the next thing he knew, he was lying on the floor. Again.

Todd punched him really hard.

They were all surprised – even Todd himself. Josh stumbled to get up yet again.

"That's twice in a row now," said Josh irritably, "from your gang."

"From our gang?" asked Brian, confused.

"Yeah, Karl Andrews punched me earlier," answered Josh, frowning. "And now, Todd Samuels?" Then, he had a thoughtful look as he faced Todd. "Now that I think about it, why did you hit me?"

Todd ignored Josh's question. He and the others were still thinking about what Josh said about Karl. They might have heard wrong.

"Karl punched you?" exclaimed Brian, Kim, Maxine and Todd in unison.

It was really hard to believe that Karl would do something like that. He was the most quiet and shy in the gang. What could Josh have possibly done for him to get a hit from Karl? They were sure of one thing, though. What Josh must have done was beyond out of line.

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So do you think Josh Mantle is over the top? When I made his character when I was fourteen, I was addicted to Mangas and Animes (still am). That's why his character is... exaggerated. If you know what I mean. Tell me what you think. Should I tone down his overdone personality or is it interesting? Need to know what you think!! :)