She just looked at him for what felt like hours, not realizing that not only did she feel noncommittal on the invitation, but managed to look noncommittal as well. She was trying to figure out what made this usually seditious basketball player transmute into this prince charming with an apparent night-in-shining-armor-complex.

"No." she answered decisively. The word reverberated around the empty hall. She would not be hurt again. Not by one of them. Not by another athlete.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

She had stood there just staring at him for a full two minutes, almost managing to destroy his aplomb. He had no idea what had compelled him to ask her out. You're lying. Okaaaay, so he knew exactly why he had asked her. That long, silky, wavy, brown hair was the first thing. He usually had a propensity to date tall, skinny, leggy, blonds with no brains and no personality, but looking at her, he could not help but want to run his fingers through her wave like tresses.

She snapped him out of his dream like state with her simple, but decisive 'No'.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because as much as I enjoyed our little sensational skit back there, this is as far as that relationship can take us."

"Why"

"Because I have experience with your type." She stated, holding on to her last string of patience

"What type?" he continued answering with questions hoping to get a rise out of her.

"The surreptitious type. The type that seems so great at first but seems to debase themselves and the other person as the relationship progresses. The ones who desecrate relationships on a daily basis, and I know that's just who you are."

"How?"

"Will you stop answering me with questions?!" she finally snapped, "and will you please come up with a more than two word response and stop using second grade words?!"

"You mean use big words such as, surreptitious, debase, and desecrate?"

"Yes!"

"You manage to prate on and on to me about one word rejoinders but you could not come up with a better riposte to my question than 'yes'? I am hurt. I mean deeply and truly wounded that you do not deem me to be cerebral enough to keep up. That is very heinous of you Ms. Porter." He said trying to sound offended.

"I do not prate and I am not heinous. As a matter of fact many find me to be quite equitable." She stated indignantly.

"I apologize your majesty and I beg for amnesty. I only wish to participate in your word war no matter how scurrilous it may be." He said with mock meekness.

"Allow me to disabuse you of that fact. I am not royalty and I do not wish to engage in a word war." She simply stated. "Besides you sound like you pillaged a fourth grade spelling list for your words." She added quietly to herself.

"I heard that. Anyways, I have no desire to live in autonomy so you'll just have to step up to being a princess and having dinner with your knight in shining armor." He half joked. He could not figure out why he was all of a sudden so sedulous when it came to getting a date with a woman. But it wasn't just any woman he was exhorting all of his strength for this particular woman who seemed so bent on turning him down.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Alaska didn't believe, after this short, rather odd conversation, that he was as sleazy as he looked on Television. Now that she thought about it he never started fights or arguments, he was always defending someone or breaking a fight up. With the exception of his old agent who had a tendency to peculate his clients' money every now and then. Most importantly she never saw him do anything that pointed to any megalomania issues or megalomaniac tendencies. He even managed to transgress from her initial impression of his intelligence.

She shook herself of all charitable thoughts towards this man, for she could not allow herself to be fettered down by another athlete. Especially since she had someone else to think about now.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He sensed it in her stance and sudden change of expression. She's gonna bolt.

"Look I would love to sit and chat some more but I've already missed a meeting and I have to get home." She said feeling kind of jittery under his steady gaze of observation.

"Someone to cook dinner for and talk about your day with?" he asked assuming the answer to be no.

"Yes. As a matter of fact I do. Good-bye." With that she stormed of and out of the doors.

His heart sank as he watched her leave. Then, hopes rising again thought that she could be going home to a pet. He would just have to find out and in the mean time he had a week to plan before their next meeting. He couldn't wait! This will be interesting.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next week was proved to be very interesting indeed. Alaska received several different bouquets of roses in various different shades. The first bunch, a bouquet of white roses, was on her desk when she walked into her office the next day and, whoever placed them there was conscientious as to where they sat them, right on top of the magazine she was reading yesterday which was open to, whom else, but Terry McDowell's face. It irked her a little that in the short time he has known her he has already taken it as his personal right to infringe on her personal space.

The second batch arrived just before 6:45, when she would begin making her rounds around the school to talk to her security guards, her teachers, and other people she appreciated around her school. It was a spray of deep pink roses that was a dozen large as was the last one. She was sitting it on the window sill when she noticed a card amongst the white roses. She picked it up and read.

You're still beautiful. The offer still stands.

"You're still beautiful. The offer still stands." She repeated to herself thinking it over.

She wanted to criticize the gesture and the card so badly that she began to make up faults where none should appear. He doesn't mean it. He's just trying to cajole you into going to dinner with him. As she kept telling herself that she picked up the card from the deep pink roses.

You are a redoubtable figure.

After reading the cards she took her morning walk through and contemplated the new feelings cursing throughout her mind. She felt as if he is trying to take up space in her mind ex officio, but she would be the last to admit that she sort of enjoyed the attention she was receiving from him and the schools staff. She smiled to herself. People were starting to notice her flowers though no one has said anything they have all peaked into her office more often than usual some attempting to ingratiate her and get her to say who the flowers were from.

She was just returning to her office when a girl who stood at about 5'10/5'11, walked in carrying a bouquet of red and pink unopened roses.

"Where do you want these?" the girl said not a bit shy.

"On the window sill's fine. Next to the other ones."

"You'll run out of room soon if you don't find another place to put them. You might as well just say yes to the poor guy, put him out of his misery and expedite the whole process." The girl stated as she turned back around to face Alaska.

Alaska took a moment to survey this girl who has probably never said an indirect thing in her entire life. She was tall for a girl and was "mixed" like Alaska herself was, and had mid back, wavy, brown, hair and eyes as green as the grass in the quad. She was wearing form fitting blue jeans and a USC hoody.

"Thanks. Now what can I do for you?"

"For what the advise or the delivery. I'm a new student."

"For both, I guess. Have a seat you must be Brieyonna." She said, pronouncing it bree-yona, realizing that she was the phenomenal Basketball player that Jenny, Alaska's close friend and a councilor at the school, had told Alaska about last week.

"Actually it's pronounced Bray-yonna. Like Brianna but with an 'A' instead of an 'E'." she swiftly but sweetly corrected Alaska's pronunciation.

"Sorry. So how do you feel about everything so far? Any questions that weren't answered in your packet or by your councilor?"

"Yes. I was actually wondering why I had to come to the principal's office when there are about 20 other new kids at the school along with me, and am I correct to assume that I'm the only one who has to come in here."

"Well you know what they say about assuming." She said with a smile. "But yes, I was told by your councilor that you have an interest in a certain activity." She hoped the girl picked up on the little allusion to her interest in basketball.

The girls eyes lit up as she began to tell Alaska of her love of basketball. Telling her that she had been playing only since sixth grade when her brother began to teach her the basics after watching her play by herself in the drive way. Man could the girl talk!

"I would love to meet the coach and arrange a tryout." She said excitedly.

"Good thing I'm the coach then, huh?"

"You're the coach?" she said incredulously and Alaska could tell she was going to be fun to have around.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Terry walked into the gym that afternoon ready to do battle. He was coming to introduce himself to his sister's could-be-basketball coach and possibly intercede on her behalf and convince the coach to give her a tryout. His sister had been so excited about playing on a school team; her excitement and continual chatter would have been unbearable if he were not so excited himself. He was forced out of his reverie by the sharp trill of a whistle ending practice, and then he saw her. Alaska instructed the team to meet in center court. His heart skipped a beat as he watched her interact with the girls, unaware that this time she was watching him

He was so busy daydreaming about her and her irrevocable beauty that he didn't even realize that the group had dispersed and that she had walked right up to him with out him noticing.

"Hello, Flower Boy. Earth to Flower Boy." She said trying to get him to stop staring.

"Huh?" he felt extremely of kilter at being caught staring and was quickly trying to contrive a story about why he was staring.

"Hiya Good Lookin' watcha got a cookin'?"

What? Come on man! Mickey Mouse came up with better openers than that.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She was just about to take pity on him when he said, "Hiya Good Lookin' watcha got a cookin'?" totally destroying all thoughts of sympathy for his embarrassing moment of staring. Her feelings for him had become confusing in the past couple of hours. She didn't even really know how she felt about him. One minute she wants to chastise him and the next, ugh! It was so confusing! She knew she was attracted to him but how can you be attracted to someone and want to be the personal director of his funereal all at once.

"That is exactly the kind of statement that explains why I abhor male athletes." She stated mater of factly.

Then, Terry, proving to be amazingly resilient managed to turn the table of her emotions once more.

"Did you like the roses?"

The question threw her. He kept doing that to her! She was so off balance that she did the only thing she could do, tell the truth.

"I loved them." He smiled at that then handed her a paper and went to collect his sister from her new friends and teammates in the hall. Of course once people started to realize who he was there were squeals and autograph request but he managed to come out unscathed. Well except for his exceptionally ruined ego after his embarrassingly stupid remark to Alaska.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She watched him flea from the gym then, a moment later, heard squeals and giggles from the hall. She looked at the paper he gave her.

Go to your office.

She walked to her office to find a note taped on the door. The outside said:

Read as you go throughout the room.

She opened the door and her breath caught at what she saw. There were roses everywhere of every different color including another dozen white and another dozen deep pink. She stopped in front of the white and began to read the note as she went from bouquet to bouquet. On it was hand written by him:

A man who gives white roses is telling a woman that he thinks she's an angel.

Deep pink roses symbolize gratitude and respect.

Yellow roses symbolize friendship and caring.

If you receive a deep burgundy rose, someone is telling you they think you more beautiful than you realize.

If you receive a red rose and several yellow roses, you are being invited to join in the fun!

Orange roses symbolize new beginnings

Now that you know about the secret language of roses, can we start over?

As she read the last sentence she was at her desk and on it sat another bouquet of deep burgundy, another bouquet of orange roses and another bouquet of yellow roses with an insular red rose directly in the center.

To Be Cont…