Routine

CHAPTER 3

"Hey, Tiana! Wait up!"

Tiana stopped and turned to see Runo running towards her on the sidewalk, her bag slung over one shoulder and her blue hair tied into their usual pigtails.

"Hey Runo," Tiana greeted when Runo had fallen into a step beside her.

"I didn't see you in the Chat Room last night."

"Yeah, sorry. I was..." Tiana thought back to how her mother had blocked out her access to the Bakugan site and Chat Room for the night as punishment for asking too many questions. "...busy."

"Oh, okay. You didn't miss much anyway. Dan was just being his usual self, gloating about how he made Masquerade run and hide." Runo rambled on but Tiana had already stopped listening. To say that she had a terrible night sleep was an understatement.

"Hey, are you okay? You seem a little...out of it," Runo asked, noticing Tiana's tired and weary eyes.

"Fine, just...couldn't sleep."

"Is that why you kept mumbling throughout the night. Who is Jax?" Nemr asked as he popped out of Tiana's pocket, making his presence known to Runo.

Tiana froze when she heard Jax's name and worried that Runo might catch on about what's going on but she was too busy staring down at Nemr in amazement. It wasn't that Tiana didn't trust Runo but after her outburst the day Jax had been taken away, Tiana had felt uncomfortable talking about Jax with Runo.

"You have a talking Bakugan and you didn't tell me!" Runo yelled, causing both Tiana and Nemr to jump.

"Well, I don't really gloat about the things I have that other's don't," Tiana said, not seeing why Runo was getting that worked up about it.

"But you didn't tell me!"

Tiana just shrugged and continued walking to school. Runo staying behind for a moment, still shocked, before she quickly catched up to Tiana and continuing their walk.

°°°

After school was over, the two girls decided to go for a walk in nearby park to relax. Well, that was Tiana's plan. Runo had other ideas...

"It's so unfair! I mean, why do you have a talking Bakugan and I don't! I'm your best friend! If you get one, it's only fair that I get one! But nooo, the universe just had to separate the two of us so you could be a better Brawler!"

"Does she ever stop talking?" Nemr complained from where her sat on Tiana's shoulder, who was currently massaging her temple as a headache began to form because of her friend's constant rambling.

"I'll tell you as soon as I figure that out myself."

"Hey, are you even listening to me?!" Runo exclaimed when she noticed her friend wasn't paying attention.

"No," Tiana stated bluntly.

"You know, you always do this! Can't you just listen to me once! I mean, it can't be that hard!"

Tiana let out a groan as her friend continued and Nemr also seemed to let out an audible sigh from Tiana's shoulder.

This was going to be a long walk...

°°°

"Oh, so you're friends again. That's great," Julie commented over the computer screen when Dan had announced that he and Drago were finally getting along well.

"Yeah, everything's been aces since Drago started seeing things my way," Dan said. "Although...I don't know what made him change. Something I said maybe."