This chapter is dedicated to Ray cuz it’s her birthday. Two more chapters are included with this one so enjoy them!! ^_^

Today was the day that Junno was finally going to get a chance to talk to Ray again. With Junsu’s help Junno was going to be able to talk to Ray without having Steph around. After all the bet was supposed to be a secret and since a lot of the targets seemed to know and be friends with each other it wouldn’t be a good idea to flirt and ask one out with the others present. There was always the risk of them noticing that all of a sudden guys that seemed to be friends and know each other were beginning to ask them out.

“Junno are you ready?” Su asked.

“Yeah” he replied.

“Ok well it seems like Steph won’t be around Ray for about ten minutes,” Su informed him. “Take that opportunity to talk to her and then I’ll find you another one that’s longer.”

“Thanks Su,” Junno thanks his friend who didn’t really need to help him out since he was also part of the bet, helping him out wouldn’t bring him a step closer to winning the money for himself.

“Its fine,” Su shook off the gratefulness since he did this from the bottom of his heart.

“Later Su,” Junno excused himself and went in search of Ray since he only had so much time to talk to her.

He found her sitting down on the fountain. Yeah the school had an actual fountain here with a statue of a person ridding a dolphin. Looking at her he noticed that she was busy looking through some papers that he guessed were probably from one of her classes. Before joining her thought twice because he didn’t want to interrupt her if it was important school work. But never the less he decided to approach her because this could probably be his only chance to interact with her in a while and he had to take it. Not to mention the fact that Su took time in figuring out that she’s be alone at the moment, he’d be a very ungrateful friend if he didn’t take the chance.

“Sup,” he greeted her.

Ray looked up from her homework to look at the person who was talking to her. She came into contact with Junno and wasn’t sure whether she should reply to him or not. Last time the boy had spoken to her he seemed to be rather rude which was weird because all the times she had seen him at school he looked rather cheerful. However when he spoke to her he did it with a rude manner and he seemed to turn into a mean person. Like right now it seemed like he was staring at her with cold eyes and she didn’t know what to do.

Junno smirked at her but inside he was wondering why she only stared at him. He only had a short period of time to talk to her alone and she was kind of messing things up by not saying anything to him. Staring at her wasn’t really helping him much so he ended up saying the first thing that popped into his head.

“So this statue is kind of lame right?”

“Excuse me,” she looked at him with a questioning look.

“The person and the dolphin so weird,” he clarified.

She didn’t say anything to his comment. All she did was stare at him like he was the weird one not the statue.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” he gave her and inquisitive look.

She proved his point when she didn’t reply back.

He heard footsteps in the distance and looked at his watch and couldn’t believe that his ten minutes were practically over. Junno sighed in exasperation that he managed to learn nothing from this short encounter with her. It was time for a new plan after this he realized that to learn something from this girl he was going to need more than ten minutes.

“Later,” he said to her and walked away in search for Su.

Ray just stared at him leave. She was confused and didn’t really understand what had just occurred to her. What she did know was that her communication skills needed to be improved because she hadn’t really said much to the guy. Then again she wasn’t really sure that she wanted to talk to him. It was weird to her that he would act like a jerk while with others he was this cheerful guy who got along with everyone. To tell the truth she actually wanted to get to know that guy not the jerk he seemed to show in her presence.

“Something wrong?” Steph asked her as she joined her at the fountain.

“Not really,” Ray answered. At the moment she could keep the little interaction she had with the guy to herself. Steph had a protective streak and Ray wasn’t sure how she’s react to a guy talking to her in the way Junno did.

“Do you work today?” she asked.

“Yes” Ray replied with a small smile.

“Practicing?” she inquired looking at her smile.

Ray nodded. “I need to be able to smile even if it’s not a real one.”

“You should try smiling for real I bet you’d get more customers,” Steph smiled.

“Hmm for now I’ll stick with these,” Ray replied.

“If you say so,” she said. “Well today I won’t be able to go see you at work but I wish you luck and hope you have a great day.”

“Thanks,” Ray thanked. “If I can I’ll make you a drink and take it to you at your job.”

“Great but if you can’t that’s ok,” Steph smiled at Ray’s gesture. She really hoped that Ray would have a good day at her job and that no one harassed her there.

~~~

Ray managed to get to work at the café ten minutes before her shift started. She actually found her job to be left stressful than Steph’s because she didn’t really have to go to tables to get customer orders. They had to come to the counter and tell her how they wanted their drink or they wouldn’t get any. She also liked her job because it was next to a playground and through one of the windows she could see kids playing. Ray really loved kids and it made her happy to be able to see them every day at work. Being here definitely topped being at home where she was always bored and alone since her parents weren’t home often.

“Your Ray right?” a girl asked her.

Ray looked at her and nodded her head.

“Ok good my name is Hay Lin and I work here with you,” Hay Lin stuck her hand out for Ray to shake.

Ray took the extended hand and shook it since it would be rude if she hadn’t.

“If you need anything don’t hesitate to ask me,” Hay Lin informed her.

“Ok thank you,” Ray said.

Two hours of working and Ray was already getting tired. If she thought her job was easier than Steph’s she was wrong. It seemed like she never took a break as customer after customer walked into the café and asked for a cup of coffee or something else. She couldn’t remember the last time she had worked so hard in her life. Right now the only thing keeping her standing were her perseverance and the little kids playing outside. Seeing them run around was giving her strength to continue on.

“Hello can I order now,” a girl in line asked rather rudely.

“Ah yeah what would you like,” Ray stopped staring at the kids and looked at the girl. Did she mention that people here were really rude? Some of them were ok but there were others like this girl who thought all the attention should be on them. A man earlier came in demanding a refund because we hadn’t made his coffee like his mom used to make it, people are just impossible sometimes.

“Can I get a coffee please,” Ray hears a guy say behind her.

She turns around to get his order down so he can pay and stops cold. Right in front of her is Junno. He stares at her with wide eyes before his smile turns into a smirk. Not sure whether she should be afraid or not she takes his order and takes his money. As she’s putting it away in the cash register he begins to talk to her and she can’t do anything about it. Hay Lin shows up soon after and relieves her of her post, Ray looks at her with thankful eyes before she disappears into the employee room where Junno can’t follow her.

~~~

“So how was work?” Steph asks Ray at school the next day.

“Is ok,” Ray says as she tries to chew her food.

“Hmm that didn’t sound like it was ok,” Steph gave her an inquisitive look.

“People there were really rude,” Ray sighed.

“Oh that ,” Steph gave her a supporting look. “But you’ll see that it gets better as time goes on.”

“I hope,” Ray said. “I am happy that I get to see kid’s every time I go to work though.”

“That’s good,” Steph smiles.

“Hey I have to go check on something I’ll be right back,” Ray tells her before she leaves.

On her way back to Steph Ray runs into Junno and her heart skips a beat. She now dreads every time she sees him since she’s realized that all he does is pick fun at her. It was the conclusion she came up with when she realized that he was always cheerful and playful until he came into her presence.

This time however Steph noticed the interaction between the two and wasn’t happy at all. She didn’t like the way Junno acted when in front of Ray. Junno left the second Steph showed up; she didn’t pay much mind to him until she noticed the way Ray looked. Ray looked sad and that was the last straw, she told Ray to hold tight and that she’d be back after she took care of Junno. Before Ray could stop Steph from leaving her friend was already gone, she just wished Steph didn’t get in trouble with what she was about to do.

Steph entered the cafeteria and spotted her target right away. She was angry at Junno for making fun of Ray and it was time to pay. When she was right behind him she poked him on the shoulder and the second he turned around she punched him in the face. Everyone at the table looked at her with wide eyes including Junno.

“You know I thought you were a nice guy,” Steph started yelling at him. “But I was wrong. You better stay away from Ray. I’m tired of the fact that you seem to think it’s okay to make fun of her. Well it’s not. If you get near her again I will punch you again and kick you for good measure.”

“And you,” she turned to look at Micky. “Leave me alone too.” With that she left turned at left through the doors she had come in through.

Junno got up from the seat before he knew it and followed her. She didn’t even give him a chance to explain that he wasn’t making fun of Ray he was just trying to talk to her. When he neared where they were he stopped in his tracks. Steph and Ray were both talking; Ray was telling Steph that she shouldn’t have punched him because she might get in trouble later. That fact didn’t seem to faze Steph because she said that it was worth it, she’d never punched anyone before and she was willing to do it again to defend her friend. In the mist of all this Junno couldn’t help but notice that Ray was acting differently than he had ever seen. What gave him the most shock of all was when he saw Ray smile for the first time. This smile was so captivating that he couldn’t help but blush as he saw it. Then he realized how much of a fool he was. He didn’t fault Steph for thinking that he was making fun of Ray, he actually felt like punching himself as he realized how much of an he had been.

“Watch out Ray,” Junno whispered. “This time I’ll win you over with my true self now that I know the true you.”

I hope this chapter was loved. This has been in my head and I’ve been trying to finish it. Happy Birthday again Ray I hoped you liked the chapter. ^O^