New Life: A Second Chance

Kyle couldn't get any work done that day. Well, school work, that is. All of it was settling the matter of the gifts.

First, he had to unwrap and categorise everything. Then, he went to his computer and made out the list of all the names of the girls (yes, there were no boys at all who sent him gifts. Imagine that) and their class. He then took out his handphone and called the nearest Florist.

"Hello? Flora Florist?" Kyle said, feeling the name was really a tongue twister.

"Yes, Dan speaking. How may I help you?"

"Do you have any peach roses in stock?"

"Yes, we do. How many would you like?"

"I need 218 of them, individually wrapped. How soon can you deliver?"

"Let me get this straight, Mr..?"

"Just Kyle."

"Kyle? As in, Kyle Smith? THAT Kyle Smith? Spiderman Kyle?"

Kyle grimaced. Was that his name now?

"Yes, the one and the same," Kyle admitted with a sigh.

"Wow! This is fantastic! Okay, sure, we can definitely do the order. But just so we're clear, it's 218 stalks of peach roses, each one individually wrapped? Not 218 peach roses in a bouquet?"

"Yes, that's right. How soon can you do it?"

"It'll be two days as we do not have enough stock at the moment," Dan said apologetically.

"That's fine. However, I also need them delivered to Sakura Academy. Specifically, to each person either personally or placed on their desk before class. I am willing to pay extra for this additional service," Kyle said.

"Okay, it can be done," Dan assured him, "It's not something we normally do but for our Local Town Hero, it's the least we can do. No extra charge!"

"Thank you very much, Dan. I'll email the list of the names of the recipients and their classes. Please add a small card or label to each rose, with the words, 'Thank you' then my name, Kyle."

"Not a problem," Dan assured him.

"Great. Email me the invoice after I send the list, and also the payment details. Thanks," Kyle said.

After Kyle ended the call, he immediately sent the email. Looking up, he saw Xing Han rolling his eyes at him, "218, huh? Roses? Aren't you worried they're going to misunderstand?"

"Peach rose represents gratitude, and I even included a 'thank you' to it. I can't help it if they misunderstand but I need to say 'thank you' in some way, don't I?" Kyle said with a shrug.

"Yeah, yeah. The ultimate nice guy," Xing Han said, "So what are you going to be doing with the stuff you got then?"

"Well, will give most of the chocolate to several orphanages since I can't eat all of it," Kyle replied, "As for the medicine and gauze, I'll take some and the rest will be here and the Student Council. I wish I could give it to the Infirmary as well but if the girls recognise them, it'll be bad. They might get hurt."

"Like I said, the ultimate nice guy," Xing Han said, "You seriously think of their feelings, huh?"

Kyle sighed and leaned back on his chair, "You can't trample over their feelings even though you may not like it. At least their feelings are pure, right? It's so tiring though ..."

"Yeah, but you being so nice makes them hope as well," Kay pointed out.

"I treat them all the same. I won't be mean just to have some peace," Kyle said.

They were just kids. How could he do anything to trample all over their sincere and sweet thoughts? He even found it hard to refuse any gift given when they just look at him with those sparkling, hopeful eyes. So he's careful to make sure to accept them normally and not give any extra attention.

It's only to those that he really knew, like Beatrice and Sarah, would he do something 'extra'. He didn't think they'd misunderstand his intentions, right?

The rest of the week passed by uneventfully, much to Kyle's relief. Even when the roses were delivered, he wasn't mobbed. Partly due to the fact that he gave the roses to every single person who had gifted him something (which made those who didn't, regret) and partly due to the fact that he disappeared right after class.

He didn't even attend practice, much to his coach's chagrin. The coach had to deal with the extra number of girls around the field stands trying to catch a glimpse of Kyle just to thank him for his thank you rose.

That Saturday, Kyle headed off to Rock5 Gym. There were many things that he had to settle with Cole. He had already promised to join the competition - and he would - but he just didn't have the time to train with them. Not that he really needed to, considering he had to go through Master Shifu's training.

Patrick had also given him a task to complete by the end of the year: a sort of test. When Kyle read the file last night, he didn't think it would be much of a problem but he couldn't solve it too quickly. However, he was going to use that as an excuse not to train together with Cole and the team much. He had more important things to do.

Time management. It's important.

Kay followed him out of curiosity but Sarah chose to stay behind. She felt she would be too obvious if she tagged along as she had no reason to do so! Lately, Sarah finds that every action she does needs to be thought of thoroughly. Not to be too obvious. She was moping in the dorm though.

The moment Kyle walked through the door of Rock5 Gym, Cathy excitedly came over.

"Kyle!" she said as she bounced towards him. Then she noticed a beautiful girl walking in right after Kyle. She was curious, but didn't ask. Seeing both of them together like that, though, was too bright for her eyes.

She almost went frozen again.

"Hi, Cathy. Your Dad in?" Kyle asked.

Breaking out of her stupor, Cathy managed to answer, "Yeah, sure. At the Lead Wall. Same place you met him the first time."

"Thanks!" Kyle responded with a smile then turned to Kay, "Shall we?"

"Sure," Kay said, "I want to see this Lead Wall you're so gung-ho about."

"You wanna try?" Kyle asked. After all, Kay did learn some basics from Master Shifu as well. Though she didn't go through the full course, "Though you probably would need the beginner's section."

"Nah," Kay replied, shaking her head, "It was fun then since you kept climbing trees and all. I prefer target practice though."

Kyle pursed his lips as he started walking to the Lead Wall and Kay followed as they continued talking. Both of them had been so engrossed with their conversation that they had forgotten about Cathy. She just stood there and watched as the two talked, effectively not including her in the conversation and she felt a bit miffed at that.

The fact that she wasn't actually friends with them yet didn't cross her mind at that point. Kyle wasn't deliberately being mean but he just regarded Cathy as another employee of the place.

Though it did allow her to stare at Kyle without him noticing it. So perhaps it was better that way? As they walked off, she bit her bottom lip for a while then decided to follow them. Perhaps she could get more pictures?

Cole saw Kyle come and gave a big smile, "Kyle, my boy!! You're here! Great!"

"Sorry about not contacting you sooner," Kyle said, "I have to attend school during the weekdays and curfew is quite early at the dorms."

"It's fine, it's fine," Cole said with a smile, "And who is this lovely girl next to you?"

"Kay," Kay said, shaking his hand. Kay had deliberately not introduced herself as Kyle's sister, so as to avoid potential girl problems in the future. If people asked directly, she would tell but she wouldn't volunteer the information. It made things easier to keep the bees away. Most people never dared to ask anyway, so it made things easier.

It worked both ways.

"And thanks for keeping to the story," Kyle said, "My Mum wouldn't allow me to participate in the competition otherwise."

"Yeah, she's quite overprotective," Kay explained, "Kyle had been doing this behind her back and if she knew that, she would have gone ballistic and stopped him because it was unsupervised. Now, though, since it's 'under' you, she is reassured."

Cole nodded in understanding ... though he didn't really understand. Not that it mattered to him about the reason. All he was interested in was the fact that Kyle could join them for the qualifying rounds.

"We had a full team, actually. The rules state that each team must comprise of at least five members, and we had six. Unfortunately, two of our team members had to leave when the one got transferred. They were a father-and-son pair," Cole explained, "We couldn't find a replacement within the short period of time."

Kyle looked at him in surprise, "Wait. Now I'm confused. Father and son pair? How old were they? And I'm only 13? Isn't this competition based on age groups or something?"

"That's the beauty of it," said Cole excitedly, "There are recommended age groups, of course, but you can join any higher tier. Adults can't compete in the kids' section but the kids can compete in the adult section.

"And you, my dear Kyle," Cole said with a huge grin, "is good enough to compete in both the kids' section AND the adult section!"

Kyle glared at him, thinking Cole was putting too much on him right now but chose to ignore it. What was done, was done.

"What's so important about this competition, if I may ask?" Kyle prodded.

Cole sighed, "It'll be my last before I retire. It was a promise I made to my wife, you see. If we couldn't participate this year, then I wouldn't be able to do it anymore. It's been my dream to reach the international stage but we could never quite get there."

Cole then placed his large hand on Kyle's shoulder, "With you, though, I see hope."

Kyle groaned.

"Oh, come on, Kyle," Kay said with a smile as she then hung on his arm and looked at him so innocently, "You'll look sooooooo cool up there. Win them for me, okay?"

"Excuse me? I look cool down here, too," Kyle retorted.

Kay grinned, looked down at his crotch then said mischievously, "I wouldn't know. You planning to show it?"

Kyle groaned yet again. He walked right into that one.

[Kyle 2, Kay 1] Kay said smugly.