


Take Me Away

by So Into You



Category: Zoey 101
Genre: Drama, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-06-08
Updated: 2005-08-21
Packaged: 2013-09-11 06:49:32
Rating: T
Chapters: 38
Words: 57,350
Publisher: www.fanfiction.net
Story URL: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2428555/1/
Author URL: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/824985/So-Into-You
Summary: COMPLETE : when Dana moves out of Room 101, Rebecca , the hottest guy at PCA's equally glamourous sister moves in, causing confusion, emotions to be toyed with, loves to be rekindled, and pasts to be revealed. AN NOW UP! PLEASE READ!





	1. Cigarette Fries

**Disclamer: **I do not own Zoey 101, or any of it's affilates (it'd help if I knew what they were) but it'd sure be convenient if I did. I do however, own Rebecca and Kristen (and Art's friends etc, basically the characters that currently AREN'T in Zoey 101) so if you want to use them in your story then please ask me first. Thanks and pie, N x

* * *

"Oh wow! I think I get it!"

Nicole smiled broadly at Zoey who was attempting to tutor her in algebra. Slyly, she slid her arm around the table and stole an olive of Zoey's plate.

"Just because you get it doesn't mean you can eat my food," Zoey told her, closing the math book, "okay, let's see. If the product of a+b is 3, and a-b is 1, then what is a?"

Nicole chewed thoughtfully on her olive.

"Uhm…the first letter of the alphabet?"

Zoey sighed and opened the math book again. Evidently, she was going to be there for a while.

"Hey Michael! Over here!"

Nicole waved her arm in the air wildly, beckoning Michael and Chase to come join them.

"Hey Zoey," he said while sitting in the seat beside Nicole, "what are you doing?"

"Tutoring," Zoey replied with a heavy sigh, casting a downwards glance at the open math textbook on the table.

"Who?" asked Chase, shimmying his chair along so he could steal some of Zoey's untouched fries.

"Me!" Nicole exclaimed, smiling madly again. Michael looked between Nicole, the math textbook, Zoey then Nicole again.

"You'll need some caffeine," he told her, "you'll be here all night."

She didn't need telling twice.

Chase snuck his hand underneath Zoey's arms and onto the plate. She slapped it sharply, and he withdrew it. She pretended not to notice the sudden coy and shy expression her face had put on.

"So I have this _major _art exam tomorrow, would you believe that?" said Nicole, "So it's all study, study, study for me!"

"Art? Shouldn't you be drawing?" Chase indicated towards the textbook, "As opposed to learning algebra?"

Nicole stared at him blankly for a few seconds.

"Wow Chase," she nodded dreamily, "excellent point!"

Zoey sunk her head into her arms exasperatedly. She should've known better than to (attempt to) tutor Nicole, considering she could think of a million instances where Nicole forgets what class she's in.

"Michael, you're good at drawing, you can help me!"

"Uh…okay," he shrugged.

"Okay but you promise you'll help me?" She persisted.

"Yes, sure. What do you need help in? Concepts? Still life? Pop Art? The history?"

"Okay…" Nicole paused, leaning closer to him, "how do you draw?"

Chase choked on his lettuce leaf, Zoey stifled a laugh behind her hand, Michael's jaw dropped.

"I don't fancy your schedule much," Chase laughed, lifting the bottle of water to his lips.

"Woah!" gasped Michael suddenly, "Who in God's name is that! Drop-dead gorgeous!"

Zoey followed his gaze in the direction to the table across the cafeteria where she could see Nate Williams fixing his hair in a hand held mirror.

"Who, Nate?"

"Gross, no," said Michael, miming to vomit causing Nicole to jump backwards in her seat, "I'm talking about the total hottie sitting next to him. When did she get here!"

"Who?" Nicole began craning her neck in hopes of catching a sight of this girl.

"I must be dreaming," he sighed, "because she is F-I-N-E."

"Finny?" Nicole pulled a face, "What's 'finny?' Is it even a word?"

Michael chose to ignore her.

Nate scraped his chair backwards and walked across to the vending machine, allowing Zoey to see who Michael was drooling over. A girl was chatting animatedly with Art Sinclair, her long, elegant fingers wrapped around a latté cup in the other. She had delicate and exotic features, hollow cheeks, big, deep-blue doe eyes adorned by long, thick, curly eyelashes and underneath a perfect set of eyebrows. When she moved, the light would sparkle on her dark, mahogany-highlighted waves. Her smooth, caramel-coloured skin remind Zoey of a strong coffee.

"She's pretty!" Nicole said suddenly, "But I think the guy beside her's even more impressive." She slumped back down on her arms and looked depressed, "But I bet she's already flirting with him."

"Gross Nicole," Zoey pulled a face, "that's Rebecca Sinclair, Art's _sister_."

"Rebecca?" Chase frowned, "Isn't that awfully...I dunno...plain?"

"She's anything _but _plain," Michael drooled, "look at those legs. They're so long they're squashed under the table!"

Zoey didn't understand what Michael and Nicole were making a fuss over. She did feel a bit better knowing that Chase hadn't jumped on the Rebecca-Love Wagon. Zoey watched Art whisper something in her ear. Michael, Nicole and the guys at the table looked on enviously as she burst out in fits of laughter, fanning her face with her hand and putting down her latté cup. She then gave Art a peck on the cheek, stood up, waved goodbye to the rest of the guys and stepped away from the table, but far from walking across to the bins, she began walking across to Zoey's table.

"Pinch me," droned Michael. Nicole fixed her fingers around his skin.

"Ow!" He yelped, rubbing his arm, "It's an expression!"

"An ex-whatty?"

"Is this seat taken?"

* * *

Chapters 2+3 already posted, please review, will be highly greatful. ** jessie105** the title means Like, Love and Lust in French. 


	2. Coming and Going

Rebecca scraped back the chair beside Zoey and sat down, sliding her tray onto the table.

"Hey," she smiled, pushing her sunglasses back up onto her head, "I'm –"

"Rebecca Sinclair," Nicole interrupted, "I'm Nicole Bristow, so nice to meet you. It's actually amazing, you're really pretty, and your brother, woo, is he gorgeous. If it wasn't against the rules I swear I'd just –"

"I'm Zoey," Zoey interrupted sternly, "and that, is Nicole on overdrive."

"Evidently," Rebecca flashed a toothy grin, "so you're Zoey Brookes?"

"Uh-huh, why, have you heard of me?"

Rebecca picked up a french fry from her plate and stuck it in the side of her mouth like a cigarette.

"Heard of you? You have any idea how much he talks about you?" Rebecca jabbed her thumb in the direction of Art, "when I get home from the holidays it's like 'Zoey did this fundraiser' and 'Zoey made these backpacks.'" Rebecca looked across at Nicole quickly, "And a few 'Zoey has this nice friend, Nicole. She helps.'"

Nicole's face lit up.

_That was kind of her_, Zoey thought, _I'd have expected less from Art's sister._

"So, what's your name?" Rebecca turned brightly towards Michael.

"Er…um…my name is…" he looked about nervously, "er…"

"That's Michael," Zoey sighed, causing him to blush furiously, "and that's Chase."

"I know about Michael I think," she replied, "you're on the basketball team with my brother, right?"

Michael nodded.

"And you," she turned to Chase, "you write plays about aliens and lifeguards."

"Occasionally," he shrugged, "so are you new here?"

"Technically," she said, chewing thoughtfully on the chip hanging from her mouth, "but I've heard so much about this place it feels like I've been here for my whole life."

Nicole stared over Rebecca's shoulder and at Art and his band of loyal sport players. She had never seen anyone more good-looking in her life. Sure, she'd had crushes before, but this was to the point of obsession. Rebecca followed her gaze.

"Are you into my brother!" She gasped, her eyebrows shooting up towards her hair line.

"He's dreamy," Nicole sighed, sinking her head into her cupped hands.

"Eurgh! No way!" Rebecca laughed, "He's disgusting! He doesn't clean up after himself, he smells all sorts of funky in the morning and…"

Zoey patted her on the shoulder reassuringly.

"She's not listening," she told her, "when Nicole's in love, she's a woman possessed."

* * *

Zoey and Nicole returned to the girl's lounge little after their lunch with Rebecca. They'd talked about TV shows, Harry Judd, music, movies and were just edging on the topic of crushes when her phone began screaming a real tone of 'She Wants to Move' by N.E.R.D. She told them she was sorry, but she had to take this call, wiggled her fingers into a delicate wave and scurried off, cell phone stuck to her ear.

"Zoey!"

Quinn ran up behind them, two test tubes smoking in her hands.

"Is there some sort of clothes sale going on in your room?" She asked, "Or is it just midgets wrestling?"

Zoey raised a quizzical eyebrow. Some of the girls at PCA really weren't sane.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Nicole.

"Well all you hear when you go past it is 'thump thump thump' AAAH!"

"What?" Zoey gasped, clutching her chest, "What is it!"

"What are you screaming at!" Nicole said weakly.

"Nothing," said Quinn, "that's the noise you hear when you go up."

Nicole peered over the top of the smoking test tubes.

"So, what's that then?" She asked, nodding towards the tubes warily.

"It's my newest experiment!" Quinn announced excitedly, "I'm trying to fuse the concentrated solution of sodium persulphate and the powdered solution on cobalt potassium carbonate."

"To produce what?"

Quinn's excited smile fell off her face and was replaced with a thoughtful frown.

"I'm not sure," she said.

"Well whatever, just don't be testing stuff on my brother," said Zoey, "he's had a rough year."

Zoey and Nicole climbed the stairs to the third floor, walked down the corridor cautiously, listening out for bangs and screams.

Silence.

The girls opened the door to Room 101.

"Woah…" Nicole stepped inside and surveyed the room, "it's so…clean."

"It's so _tidy_," Zoey mused, nodding in approvement, "it's so –"

"Un-me?" Dana appeared in the bathroom doorframe in a familiar pair of ripped trousers and net vest. Zoey noticed the suitcases to her left.

"Care to explain?" She said.

"Quinn's moved out of her dorm and in with some red-headed freak who likes science too," said Dana, "I asked for a single dorm before I even arrived here so I was first on the waiting list."

"For?" Nicole asked, puzzled.

"A dorm of my own," Dana threw Nicole a dirty glare, "no duh."

"You're moving!" Zoey screeched, "I thought we were friends!"

"Yeah, I just need my space," said Dana, "we can still be friends. As long as you're not up in my face all day then cool, whatever."

"The room'll look odd," Nicole said, "there'll be three beds and two girls!"

"Keep your teddy-bear panties on," Dana told her, "a girl's getting sent up."

"From where?"

"She got put in a dorm of nine," Dana grimaced at the thought, "she's just new so…"

_Tap tap tap._

"Was that you?" Zoey asked Dana, trying to hide the hurt she was feeling. She thought finally liked them, after tantrums over single dorms Dana had gone quiet and acted friendly. But now she was leaving? So what was the past year? A big fakey friendship?

"Zo, get the door," Nicole was face down on her bed. Zoey had a distinct feeling she was attempting to hide tears. Nicole may not have gotten on with Dana, but she thought they were friends too.

"Zoey!" Cried a familiar voice, "Nicole! _You're _the girls at Room 101!"

Rebecca dropped the several Louis Vuitton luggage holdalls on the floor and embraced Zoey in a tight hug.

"This is so cool!" Rebecca said over Zoey's shoulder, "We're roomies!"

Nicole stood up and started jumping about, screeching excitedly.

"I bet you could tell me loads about your brother!" She screeched, "And hair, and make-up and clothes and –"

"If you think we're happy," Zoey smiled, "you should wait to see Michael's expression when he comes round tonight."

Rebecca stepped inside the room and grinned.

"It's so clean!" She said, taking in all the made beds and tidy table tops, "My dorm was like a midden. And it stank. Nine different girls using different deodorants and perfumes equals bleurgh."

"Who's this?" Dana asked, sneering slightly.

"Rebecca," Nicole told her, as Rebecca began dragging all her bags into the room, "she's Art Sinclair's sister."

Dana watched Rebecca stare around the room in awe, fingering the curtains and running her finger along the surfaces with a disguisted look on her face.

"What's wrong Dana?" Zoey asked snidely, "Having cold feet about leaving?"

"I don't know whether I should leave you with this," Dana indicated towards Rebecca.

"Oh no, we really like Savannah," Nicole smiled, swinging an arm around Rebecca's shoulders so hard that Rebecca stumbled and had to straighten herself up, "we met her at lunch today."

Dana's nostrils flared for a brief moment as she picked up her suitcases defiantly. It was not going as planned. She was supposed to leave Nicole and Zoey in fits of tears (which had looked likely before Miss-Art-Sinclair's-Sister had rapped on the door) so they'd miss her. That's all she wanted. To be missed. To be felt for. Of course, if Logan noticed she was gone then so be it…who was she kidding? She wanted him to miss her the most, she wanted him to lust after her, not being able to see her casually with Zoey and Nicole, he wanted her to have to come see her and her only, and then she'd know. Then she'd know what those weird feelings inside her meant. She slammed the door behind her.

Was she doing the right thing? Moving? Was getting Logan to confess really better than abandoning her best friends with some Louis Vuitton luggage obsessed, hyperactive new girl?

Of course it was.

She set off down the corridor confidently, dragging her suitcases behind her. She heard feet clunking up the stairs, footsteps way too heavy to belong to any girl. Chase, Michael and Logan appeared at the foot of the stairs.

"Going somewhere?" Logan sneered.

"Why don't you guess?" She shot back.

"The dog pound? Going back home Dana?"

Michael sniggered but Chase just rolled his eyes and pushed past them all, heading down the corridor, disappearing into the open door.

"Actually," she shook her head so her curls would move of her face. She'd read somewhere that guy's like it when girl's play with their hair. "I'm moving to my own dorm."

"You're kidding?" said Michael, scratching his head, "I thought you girls were all friends."

"Friends doesn't equal _privacy_ Michael," she snapped, sneaking a glance at Logan to see his expression. He was looking thoughtful, slightly out of it, and if she wasn't mistaken, a touch of panic in his eyes. Perfect.

"Well, if you need me," Dana hoisted the bags back up her shoulder again, "Room 72. You know where to find me."

"Where's that?" Logan teased, "the Zoo?"

"Now why would I be going back to your house Logan?" she smiled, tilting her head to the side so her curls would fall down her shoulder. She finished with a half-hearted wave and made her way down the stairs.

_Perfect! You saw that look in his eyes girl. Now it's only a matter of time._

Logan and Michael walked back down the corridor.

"So are you upset?" Michael asked.

"What? Why would I be?"

"Aw come on dude. You so dig her," Michael slapped Logan playfully on the arm but dodged out of the way quickly for a slap back. He knew Logan didn't really know the term 'punch them softly.'

Logan swallowed a lump in his throat. Now what was he going to do? His cover was blown. He didn't go down to Room 101 to see Zoey or Nicole, he went down to see her. The fact she was in there was a perfect cover-up. He would just pretend he was going to see Zoey and Nicole, after all, he was seen about school with them enough. The excuse was totally plausible. But now she's gone to a dorm of her own! Even Dana'd work out if he visited her there was something underlying – i.e, the 'L' word. The 'L' word that was followed by 'O,' 'V' and 'E.'

She wanted privacy?

_I guess, when we're dating, we'll have a lot more privacy._

And hopefully, they'd need it.


	3. Clashing of the Titans

Chase closed the door behind him.

"Okay, two things," he said, "first, why is the dorm so clean, and two," he pointed towards Rebecca who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by mountains and piles of clothes she'd began unpacking, "why is she here with what looks like the entire clothes supply of the planet?"

"Dana left and Dana left," said Zoey, patting the bed space beside her suggestively, "come sit."

Obediently, he walked over and sat beside her. His arm brushed hers, a shock traveled through his whole body, but he'd learned to stay calm and aloof when Zoey touched him now, otherwise, he would've given his game away ages ago.

"Logan won't be happy," Chase said to no one in particular. Rebecca stopped staring in dismay at her clothes and stared at Chase at the word 'Logan.'

"Logan? I've seen pictures of him," she paused before adding, "he's really quite gorgeous."

Chase stared in disbelief at Rebecca while Zoey and Nicole both immediately exclaimed "Rebecca!" at the top of their voices.

* * *

"Rebecca?" Michael grabbed Logan's arm, "You heard that right? From 101, 'Rebecca!' Please tell me you heard that!"

Logan brushed Michael's hand off irritably.

"Who the hell is Jessica?"

* * *

"What!" She cried, "It's the truth!"

"Don't let him know that," Zoey said quickly, "or his head will be so big, his ears will be in different time zones."

"He's such a jerk," said Nicole, "he always nasty to me."

"About…" Rebecca asked vaguely.

"My intelligence," Nicole sighed (Chase and Zoey bit their lips to stop themselves from laughing. Rebecca just stared on blankly) before adding sadly, "or the lack of it really."

"I share a dorm with the idiot," Chase rolled his eyes, "he's so self obsessed. Bench-presses like, a hundred before he goes to sleep."

_Knock knock._

"That's probably Michael," Nicole began to get up, but Rebecca – who had already leapt up to her feet – pushed her back down again gently.

"It's my first door answer to Room 101," she smiled, hopping over the wall of clothes and yanking open the door.

"Hey Michael," she said brightly, stepping aside, allowing Michael to step in, looking starstruck. Rebecca stared at the boy who stood still in the doorframe.

Logan didn't know what to think. He was so busy thinking about Dana (his brief 'Jessica?' interruption didn't deter him) that he didn't even realize Michael knocking on the door, or him stepping in. Only then, had he noticed that a slim, tall girl with glossy dark hair, amazing skin and sparkling deep blue eyes was standing in the doorframe, staring back.

"Jessica?" He tried. The girl raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"No, I'm Rebecca," she corrected, "and you must be –" _Totally gorgeous! _Her brain screamed. "– Logan."

He laughed.

"I'm sorry, you don't look like a Jessica," he said, "you look like a –"_fashion runway model from my dreams_, "– Rebecca. Definitely."

Rebecca didn't understand why her friends had said Logan was a jerk. He was perfectly…well…normal.

Logan wasn't sure how to act. He did the first thing that came to mind.

"Get out of the way then," he said. Rebecca blinked. Surely, he hadn't –

"Of course," she said curtly, "but I'm not sure your head will fit through the doorframe."

Logan had to stop himself dropping his jaw. What a comeback. It wasn't like she had them stored somewhere, more like she'd made it up of the top of her head. He liked that.

He stepped inside the room. He watched Rebecca sit on the carpet beside Michael.

"Why's Dana gone?" Chase asked.

"I don't know," Zoey shrugged, "I guess she never really liked us."

Nicole shifted her legs over the edge of the top bunk and swung them gaily.

"Well, now the room's clean," she smiled, "and no one to complain about my hair dryer."

Zoey glanced up at her.

"Just cause Dana's gone doesn't mean _I'm _going to stand for blow-drying at five in the morning," she said.

"So this dorm…" Rebecca asked to the room, "it's like a hangout for all you guys?"

"Pretty much," Logan shrugged, "but it isn't the Ritz."

Zoey tutted loudly under her breath. Logan was just constantly rude, like the way he spoke to Rebecca at the door. There wasn't any need really.

Nicole helped Rebecca sort the pile of clothes into categorical piles on the floor.

Logan watched them slyly. He couldn't believe this girl had more clothes than he did, and though, he pained to admit it, nicer hair.

"You'd think you were carrying a catwalk in there," Chase kicked out weakly at one of Rebecca's bags, "the amount of clothes you're carrying."

Zoey's eyes widened.

"Ehmagod!" She screeched suddenly, waving her hands excitedly in the air. The rest exchanged curious glances.

"Did you just say," Rebecca paused, "'eh-ma-God?'" She used air quotes around 'eh-ma-God.'

"Yes, and for a good reason!" Zoey bounced up and down, "I've figured out how to raise money for the year to go to Hawaii for a week at the end of exams!"

Rebecca looked lost.

"What? Hawaii?" She looked about for someone to explain to her but gave up.

"Zoey thinks that our year should all spend a week in Hawaii at the beginning of the holidays and end of the exams. Dean said they'd provide necessary transport if we could come up with the money for staying at stuff."

Rebecca tried to look undecided. Her parents could pay for the whole year to stay in Hawaii for the rest of their lives if they wanted, but she didn't like to mention her financial status. She hated people who were her friends for the wrong reasons.

"We can have a fundraiser fashion show!" Zoey squealed, "Ehmagod I can see it now. Glitter," she brandished her hands in the air, "and lots of it."

"Glitter?" Nicole repeated disbelievingly, "And lots of it?"

"We should pair each other up for some bits," Zoey grabbed a notebook and began scribbling furiously.

"Zoey gets ideas a lot," Nicole whispered to Rebecca, "and when she gets them, she makes sure she follows them through."

"I'll out the pairings later," she tossed the book away, "but I'll start on the clothes. Original designs."

"Kristen and I did fashion design as a study in my old school," Rebecca offered with a shrug, "I could help."

"And me too!" Nicole added, "Only don't give me a needle. Or a sewing machine, or a glue-gun, or hot glue, or fabric glue or –"

"We can call it '101,' because all the girls in 101 will contribute," Zoey told them, "we need to make stuff for different people. If Dana were here, she'd do the punky ripped shirt look."

Logan suddenly remembered who he was supposed to be lusting after, and who he'd been dreaming about on the way over here. Dana, Dana, Dana. He had to figure out how he could win her for good. A few stolen kisses weren't enough.

"Can you guys go?" Zoey asked, a pout forming on her lips, "We need to discuss and it's a bit distracting with you here."

"Cause you can't stop marveling at my hotness, right?" Chase joked, primping a weak muscle on his arm and smiling a goofy smile.

_I hope he's joking, _thought Rebecca.

_I hope he's not, _thought Zoey.

_Hahaha…haha, wait. I don't get it, _thought Nicole.


	4. Memories Tell a Million

"So what do you think of Rebecca then?"

Chase leant back in the arm chair by the window, his legs sprawled across the seat. Michael promptly sat in front of the Xbox, yanking the remote control from the table surface and unraveling the wire around it. Logan climbed up and sat on his bunk bed, staring at the point where the wall met the ceiling.

"H-O-T," Michael called, "that girl is smoking fine."

Logan wasn't listening to the conversation. His mind wandered back to the first time he saw Rebecca. Defenses Up. _I guess that's the way it's going to be until graduation then, _he thought, _but truth be told, I don't need another Zoey/Nicole/Dana on my hands._

"She seems okay," Chase shrugged, "I haven't really seen her academically, or mentally, but if she could whip up an insult back to Logan like quickfire," a grin broke across his face, "then she seems promising."

"Who are you kidding?" Michael scoffed, "I'm talking about looks."

"Well, I suppose she was okay then."

"Okay!" Michael put his hands on his hips, mocking what he'd seen Nicole do the day before when Zoey didn't approve of Nate Williams' new hair style, "'Girl, are you even looking at the same person here?'"

Chase shrugged indifferently so Michael would return to his Xbox. He didn't want to talk about Rebecca. He wanted to think about Zoey, like he always did. 24/7. His obsession for her was bordering on painful. He had to something quick, before she went off with someone else…

"You still got it bad, the old love bug?" Michael asked. Chase took a long time to answer, because 1) he had to work out whether Michael was asking him or the TV because Michael had asked the question directly to the television screen and 2) Logan was sitting in the room, and whatever Chase said, Logan usually mimicked and ridiculed it until he fell asleep.

"Mmm…" he eventually decided on, sinking lower in his chair so his loose shirt covered the bottom half of his face.

"Are you going to visit Dana?" Michael asked to the television again. Chase knew the question wasn't directed to him this time, so he looked up expectantly at Logan.

"Why should I?" He said, "I see that mug around school enough."

Michael rolled his eyes, this time imitating the 'puh-lease' look Nicole had used some time the day before. Chase picked up on this.

"Nicole, you should know by now girls aren't allowed in the boys' dormitories at 9 o'clock," he said mockingly. Michael grinned.

"I can't help it," he explained, "the girl's damn _funny_."

* * *

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Zoey's eyes flickered open to a white mass. It took her a while to comprehend that this was the ceiling, before rolling off the bed and staring groggily around the room. She caught sight of Nicole's arm dangling off the top-bunk. She followed the arm down to it's fingers, her eyes then averting to a girl in t-shirts and shorts lying on the bed, covers askew and pillows on the floor.

_Who the hell is that!_

She let out a sigh when she remembered Rebecca had moved in the day before. She'd obviously stayed up and sorted out her clothes because now, the floor was spotless, and the wardrobe door was slightly open. Zoey padded through to the bathroom and began cleaning her teeth. It was a Saturday, so she knew Nicole and Dan- _no, _she corrected herself, _Dana doesn't stay here anymore. Get used to saying Nicole and Savannah._ She couldn't help but feel hurt in the fact that Dana had moved. The three had grown close, really close, planned revenge, funny sketches, sung mad songs when they were high on sugar, divulged secrets…her toothbrush fell with a clatter in the sink.

Secrets.

But surely…surely Dana wouldn't tell? She couldn't be sure, as much as she longed to be. If Dana didn't value their friendship enough to stay in the same room then she certainly wouldn't tell everyone about Zoey and –

"Morning!"

Zoey whipped around to see Nicole and Rebecca posing in the doorframe.

_It's okay for Nicole, she never got on with Dana and now she's practically Rebecca's best friend._

She found herself gawping at her sudden epiphany. Was she, Zoey Brookes, _jealous? _Was the reason she was so upset about Dana leaving was that Dana got on well with Zoey, and not Nicole, and now with Rebecca in the room, she was worried Nicole and Rebecca would connect, leaving her out on the inside jokes like she had done with Nicole before Dana left?

Rebecca shuffled in beside Zoey at the sink, picking up her own sparkling pink electric toothbrush and gelling Colgate Whitening onto the bristles. Zoey continued to clean her teeth, occasionally stealing a glance at Rebecca in the mirror. Did she have some cunning plan to leave her out? Was she put up to his by her brother? After all, Art did have something to be mad about with Zoey…

* * *

Nicole sauntered down to the girl's lounge to find Michael already sitting on the sofa, watching Blue's Clues.

"I love this show!" She exclaimed, bagging the seat next to him and throwing herself into it.

"Are Zoey and Rebecca upstairs?" He asked distractedly, watching the blue dog jump about the screen.

"Yeah, Zoey's in the shower and Rebecca's _beginning _to pick out her outfit for today," Nicole told him.

"How far has she progressed?"

"Socks," she said simply, "which, you would think, come before shoes, then you walk out the door. Nu-uh. Socks/No socks are the first thing on Rebecca's outfit choice list, then it's underwear, shirt, pants/skirt depending on the shirt chosen, then shoes, depending on the socks chosen."

"So her whole days outfit," he frowned, "is orientated around –"

"Socks," she grinned.

"Gosh," he smiled sarcastically, "she's normal."

* * *

Rebecca waited until Zoey left the room (in a tasteful fringe skirt and pink over-sweater on top of a string vest) before shimmying on the rest of her outfit (finally deciding on the magenta pink Juicy Couture crop track-top, Miss Sixty black, silk thigh-lengthed pants and Stuart Weitzman flat pumps) and prowling about the room. She felt sneaky and odd, but she needed to know more about these girls.

Well, more about Zoey.

She tip-toed across to Zoey's photo area and inspected the people in every frame. Zoey and Nicole. Zoey and Michael. Nicole and Michael. Nicole and Chase. One of all the people she saw last night, one she assumed to be her little brother and her parents, and one of Zoey and Chase. Another of Zoey and Chase. And another of Zoey and Chase. And another one. And another one, and another, and another, and an –

She stepped back, her head spinning as she looked over smile upon smile of Zoey and Chase.

_So Chase was Zoey's boyfriend then?_

_Odd couple, I saw her more with Logan, _she scanned the pictures once again and found none with Zoey and Logan in it solely. There were two strips of photo booth pictures on the table. She picked up the first one.

_Surprise, surprise, _she thought dully, rolling her eyes at the sight of Chase's face again. She put it back down on the table. The second one, was a reel of her, Nicole and that moody girl that left yesterday, Dolly? Darla? _Dana_. That was it. Dana looked surly in every one. She prowled about a while longer, looking maybe to suss out what was going on between Zoey and Chase when her eyes found a Converse AllStars shoe box underneath Zoey's bed. Her heart speeding up, she bent down to get it. She slid her slim, tanned arm underneath the bed frame when suddenly, the door burst open.

"Uh, what are you doing on the floor?" Asked Nicole, staring curiously at Rebecca. Rebecca froze. Nicole followed her arm.

"Ah, trying to get that box out are you?" She nodded her head knowledgably, "I've been trying for donkeys," she rolled her eyes, "it gets jammed on the iron bit at the bottom. I don't see how I –" she raised her eyebrows at Rebecca, "well, now 'we' can get it outta there."

Rebecca stood up, self-consciously dusting down her pants, even though there wasn't any dust on them.

"Breakfast?" Nicole brandished a bottle of orange juice, "They're selling peach Snapple."

"I hate peach Snapple," said Rebecca, smoothing down her sleek, gelled ponytail, "and you are aware that you've got orange juice in your hand, right?"

Nicole looked down at the bottle.

"Damn!"


	5. Peach Snapple and Orange

"Hey! Chase!"

Zoey jogged up behind Chase, smacking her hands down on his shoulders. Chase felt his whole body rush with sudden warmth, but he fitted his face with the normal goofy smile and turned around.

"Hey Zo," he smiled, "have a good sleep?"

"Yeah," she flicked a piece of blonde hair out of her face, "I had a very nice dream. I got a bit of a fright when I woke up though," her mouth broke into a shy grin, "I forgot Rebecca had moved in and got the fright of my life."

Chase laughed lightly. He loved the way she spoke, the way she smiled, the way she moved. The way she told the most ordinary stories and made them into humorous tales. He loved everything about her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a two slim brunettes, one tall, one shorter.

"Have they got any peach Snapple left?" Nicole panted on arrival, "I bought orange juice this morning by accident."

"By accident?" Chase tugged on the hem of his shirt, "Didn't you read the label?"

Nicole rolled her eyes as if it was the most stupid question she'd ever heard.

"Er, duh," she huffed, "but 'Orange' and 'Peach Snapple' have a lot in common. They both have 'a's and 'n's and 'e's."

"Sure Nicole…sure…" Zoey laughed, picking a fruit salad from the bar. Rebecca picked up a plate of French Toast and slid along in the queue beside Zoey. Zoey picked up a fork and began twirling it around her fingers as she waited in line.

"So…" Rebecca said to her, but staring down at her plate, where she was sprinkling icing sugar lightly on her French Toast, "you and Chase, huh?"

The fork ran over her pinky and landed with a clumsy metallic 'clang' on the tray.

"Me and Chase?" She repeated, but in a strange squeak she didn't even recognize.

Rebecca turned her head to look at Zoey casually.

"So you're not dating him?" She asked, pulling a bottle of compressed apple juice onto her tray and sliding it along.

"No!" Zoey choked, "Why?" She hated herself for getting suspicious but she had to ask, "Do you want to date him?"

"I –"

"Hey, Rebecca."

Art walked up behind Rebecca, squeezing in between her and the girl behind her. The girl behind had no protests to Art going in front of her. Zoey immediately slid her tray along quickly and skipped the queue, paying for it, then storming off.

"Oh great," Rebecca snapped, "I was just about to get something out of her and you come over. What do you want?"

Art leant in and whispered in her ear. She hated the fact that every girl in the cafeteria were watching on enviously.

"I need you to find out some stuff about Zoey."

Rebecca drew her head back quickly and stared at her brother.

"Nu-uh," she shook her head, "no way. Zoey's my _friend _Art."

Of-course, while she scolded Art like that, her brain did seem to remember her and Nicole were doing the same thing.

"I'm your brother," he replied, pouting slightly, "please Rebecca."

"N.O," she reached for a red apple in the fruit basket, "That spells no. You'd think by now, you'd get the picture. I don't exactly know what you said to Zo or whatever, but she's mighty annoyed at you. So leave it."

Art walked off sulkily. Placing the apple on her tray, she reached for the bottle of syrup, but instead of her hand touching cold plastic, it felt something else, something warm, something soft.

"Can't keep your hands off me, can you?" Logan smirked, staring into her eyes. Immediately, Rebecca shot her hand back and back onto the other side of her tray.

"Don't flatter yourself Logan," she said dismissively, "no one thinks of you like that."

Dana, five spaces down in the queue, had heard and seen the whole thing.

_No one thinks of him like that, huh? _She thought sourly, _well obviously, Rebecca Sinclair, you're in denial._

* * *

"Hey, I heard someone else new is coming today, some guy," Nicole told Rebecca and Zoey as they made their way to their usual table, "hope he's hot."

"PCA's getting overrun with new kids," said Zoey, "not that I mean Rebecca's bad, I mean, you rock. We got a new friend. But most of the new students are girls that just go crazy over either," she held up four fingers, "Art, Nate, Harry and Logan," she put down each finger in succession.

"Logan!" Rebecca echoed, "Girls go crazy after _that_ jerk?"

"Girls are weird," Zoey explained, opening her fruit salad, "but since you went for neither, you're officially one of us now."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Rebecca began cutting up her French toast. Zoey let out a mildly loud laugh, followed by a broad grin.

"You decide."

Nicole took a sip from her new peach Snapple (she gave the bottle of orange to Zoey when Rebecca said orange juice made her throw up).

"I was just thinking," she told them. Zoey and Rebecca looked at each other briefly. Nicole? Thinking? Er, no.

"About this fashion show," she continued, "how are we going to get permission to do this? I mean, 'going to Hawaii' is hardly a charitable cause."

"I have a meeting this morning with Dean Rivers," Zoey spooned a fork of kiwi into her mouth and watched Chase go with Michael and Logan, "I'll propose it and see what he says."


	6. Ugly Cupids

Before we start, I'd just ike to make a little note : Upon writing this chapter, I decided Savannah wasn't the right name for the character, and have since changed it to Rebecca. So if you're puzzled, Rebecca is Savannah. Clear? And the usual disclaimer on chapter one, thanks and pie N x

* * *

"Fashion show, huh?"

Zoey sat – cross legged – in Dean River's office, twiddling her thumbs underneath the desk and shuffling in her seat. Rebecca, who had insisted on going (to 'learn' how things were done at PCA) was sitting quietly in a stiff wooden seat, swinging her legs back and forth. Dean Rivers set down the papers Zoey and Rebecca had presented him on arrival.

"What would you showcase?" He asked.

"Well, we and Nicole, the girls from Room 101, were thinking original designs by ourselves," Zoey said quickly, "and we would call it '101' and people could buy the clothes too if they wanted and then the proceeds would go towards…"

"I see I see," Dean Rivers interrupted, looking back down at the sheet of paper. Zoey shot a sideways look at Rebecca for some input, but she was too busy picking something green of the bottom of her shoe. Zoey cast her glance nervously around the office, finally settling on what looked like a marble cupid statue. Zoey could tell it was new, because there was bubble wrap at it's feet and Styrofoam 's's all over the floor.

"Erm, what's that?" She asked. Dean Rivers turned his head and stared at the statue, letting out a tired grunt and turning back around to face her.

"That thing," he sighed, "I ordered it for a dinner three years ago and it's only arrived now. Five thousand dollars, would you believe, for that monstrosity."

Zoey coughed politely, hoping to get Dean Rivers back onto the subject of the fashion show. Taking the hint, Dean Rivers looked back down at the papers.

"I don't see what can be a problem Zoey," he said finally, "is this fashion show going to have a theme? Are you planning any pre-find things, or post?"

"Like what, Dean Rivers?"

"Well here's the crazy idea," Dean Rivers smiled, "I've been wanting to get rid of that thing," he jabbed his thumb back at the statue, "since it got here. I'll let you have the fashion show if you agree to have a love themed dance afterwards. Of course, you'd be head planner and perhaps the committee may be able to help."

Zoey tried her hardest not to cringe. PCA Dances weren't exactly her 'forte.' At one, she was paired up with Chase and Glen Davis, upsetting Chase by choosing Glen and putting their potential relationship back another step, and at the last school dance, she had kissed Art. Okay, so normally, a girl would see this as the best night of her life, only she kissed Art straight after she kissed Chase. The last thing on her mind was another school dance. That's all she had to do, say no. Just say –

"A _dance!_" Rebecca suddenly gasped, squeezing her fingers together in excitement, "I've never been to a boy-girl dance before!"

Dean Rivers seemed to ignore Zoey's silence and smiled pleased at Rebecca.

"I knew you'd see things," Dean Rivers smiled, "now, we can have it both ways. Twice the money for your year Zoey."

Zoey stopped chewing her lip. She'd look way too suspicious. All she wanted to do was rip Rebecca's mouth off.

'_A dance! I've never been to a boy-girl dance before!'_

And since Rebecca was Dean River's favorite student (basically, every teacher on campus's favorite student as well) the dance was sure to be as elaborate and extravagant as she could take it.

_But it does mean more money for the trip, I should just go along with it._

"Okay Dean," she forced herself to smile, "a dance it is."

The girls scraped back their chairs and exited the office. Rebecca whipped out her cell phone to tell Nicole the news.

_I guess ripping her mouth off will just have to wait._

* * *

"Hey, Logan!"

Nate jogged up behind Logan casually, but it was a strained jog, most likely to keep his hair style in tact. Logan waited patiently as Nate ran up to him.

"What?" He asked on Nate's arrival (where he ran a hand through his hair).

"I just needed to ask you a question," he said, "do you have a thing for Rebecca?"

Logan's books fumbled in his fingers.

"Why?" He asked, desperately trying to keep his cool composure. No one had found him out that quickly before.

"I need to know."

"No way," Logan sneered, "she isn't nearly pretty enough to be in my league."

"Is that why you two have this whole flirting thing going on?" Nate asked rhetorically, scratching his knee absent-mindedly.

Logan tried his hardest not to buckle over there.

_Flirting thing! Was this guy crazy!_

"Flirting thing?"

"You know the 'nasty treatment.' The same you use on Dana."

"I don't fancy Dana," he said quickly.

"I didn't say you did…" Nate eyed him oddly before reverting back to the original topic, "so you don't have a thing for Rebecca?"

"No."

Nate nodded a goodbye before climbing the steps up to the library.

"Why?" Logan called. Nate turned, shielding the harsh sunlight from his eyes with his hand.

"I was going to ask her out," he shouted, "but I didn't want to if anyone else fancied her. Last thing I'd want is competition."

Logan watched Nate climb the last couple of steps. He wasn't sure exactly what was coming over him, but just as Nate almost disappeared around the corner, he called his name again.

"I think Harry likes her," he yelled, "and Michael. And probably Glen too."

Nate mouthed a curse before walking out of sight. Logan slipped away.

He had no idea whether Harry liked her. Or Michael. Or Glen too.

But did he?

He had no idea either.

* * *

Thanks for the reviews! **MrsLoganReese**, thanks for reviewing on every chapter, **Silent Observer** thank-you for commenting on my story! It rocks that you like it even if you don't like OC's, and thanks for saying it's well written - It's okay you're not keen on Savannah/Rebecca, because she has a plot coming up soon that hopefully may redeem her. I won't give too much away, but it involves an old friend bombarding in. **If anyone, I mean anyone, has any suggestions or plots, they're welcome. ** tell me! You have to read it, you might as well make it enjoyable. And don't worry. Dana will feature more. N x 


	7. Life's a Pineapple Part 1

_Okay, calm, calm down. Just pick up the pencil. Look at the pineapple. How many leaves does it have? Draw those leaves. Put the pencil to the paper. Start with the oval. You can do this._

"Nicole?"

At the sound of her voice, Nicole jumped in her seat, slamming her pencil so hard to the paper the lead snapped.

"Are you okay?" Miss Hannily asked concerned, "you're sweating. Do you want to move from the window?"

"No, sorry Miss, I was just…" Nicole twiddled her fingers lightly in the air, "getting warm. It helps my, er, sketch skills."

Nicole didn't think Miss Hannily bought the story, but like the good teacher she was, she just rolled her eyes and got on with whatever was in front of her. Nicole went back to staring out the pineapple. The guy beside her, Glen Davis, was zooming his pencil back and forth like a paint roller. The girl to her left was taking tiny, spidery strokes, progressing to a long, old looking line she presumed to be the leaf.

Nicole's paper was blank.

* * *

"Life science! The art…of life! In a science. That's life science."

Rebecca got out her notepad and a blue pen from her bag, thinking she would need to take notes. She began doodling her name in the corner of the sheet when 'Jerome' (originally Mr Forth, but insisted his class called him Jerome in hopes of becoming PCA's favorite teacher. He occasionally refers to himself in the third person) let out a shrill scream.

"Little missy!" He shrieked, looking panic stricken. Rebecca looked over her shoulder, not entirely sure whether the comment was directed at her.

"What are you doing!"

Rebecca looked around uncertainly.

"Er, writing my name," she said slowly, nervously indicating the pen she had dropped as soon as Jerome had screamed, "taking notes."

"Life, is not taken in notes!" Jerome cast a dramatic hand to his brow, "Life, is spontaneous. It is uncontrollable. It is not note take-able."

She pushed the notepad of the desk, and slid the pen back into her pocket. "Jerome wonders who you are?" Jerome asked.

"Rebecca," she replied, wondering why he was referring to himself like he wasn't there.

"Is it 'Just Rebecca?'"

"No," she frowned, "it's Rebecca. Not 'Just Rebecca.' Rebecca Sinclair."

At the word 'Sinclair' Jerome's face lit up.

"Joe Sinclair's little sister?" He asked. Rebecca felt herself groaning. She hated being known as 'a Sinclair,' 'Joe's little sister,' 'Art's hot sister.' She wanted to be known as 'Rebecca.' But apparently, that was harder around PCA than getting Nicole to ace advanced physics.

"Yes," she replied, hoping her disappointment and boredom didn't come across in her tone, "and Art's sister, before you ask."

Jerome seemed a lot more content with Rebecca than he had been with the whole 'note taking' incident. As he claimed he was leaving the room to find their 'class projects,' Rebecca slid back in her seat and sunk her head into her arms on the desk.

"I wouldn't worry about him," said a soft voice, "he's just…well…'Just Jerome.'"

Rebecca peeped over her left arm. Chase was leaning over in his chair.

"I've never gotten a fright like that in my life," she laughed, "obviously notes are a sin in this class."

"As is learning, apparently," Chase smiled, swinging his chair back to his desk now that Rebecca was upright.

"You mean this elective is totally wasted? I could've done something worth time like," Rebecca began picking up the notepad from the floor, "wood shop. Or er…touch rugby. Or…um…art! I bet I could've even slid in an extra science if I was sly."

"You're an academic student," Chase mused, fluffing his mini-fro up at the back. He had never taken Rebecca Sinclair as an academic student. It wasn't likely you'd meet someone very attractive that had a brain as well. Chase had only ever met one like that, and that was Zoey.

"I take my education very seriously," Rebecca told him, "I can't wait to get out of school and become an adult. Of course, you're only a kid once, so I'm valuing this all, but once I'm out of uni, then it's straight into the real world for me. I've always had that dream since I was a kid, learn then act it out. I've not had a chance to act out my learning. Maybe I'd like to write someday. I always have these crazy romantic love stories in my head," a bright smile spread across her face, "that's probably why I've never lasted with a guy for more than a week or two. They just don't meet my expectations. I know I should probably stop dreaming," she sighed sadly, "I mean, where am I going to find a guy who likes to read Jane Austen classics and watch killer movies _and_ play kick-ass fighting games?"

* * *

_Okay. Good work Nicole. You've successfully drawn a long circle. Give yourself a pat on the back. Now you have to draw on those leaves._

Shaking, Nicole brought her pencil to the top of the oval. She hadn't been joking when she'd asked Michael how to draw.

"_Okay, always draw what you see," he had said, "if it ain't there, it ain't on your paper. Always start with the basics, like distinguishable shapes. You know, circles, lines, etcetera, etcetera. Now, the detail. Some people like lots of short strokes. With your attention span in account, I recommend you use the long single strokes. That way, if you won't take your pencil off the paper and get distracted by something. Say a butterfly floating past or maybe Glen Davis sitting beside you, and you won't forget what you were doing and start on another place and ruin the whole picture. Okay, what I'm about to say is very, very important, so I need you to pay attention. When drawing still life, say, a pineapple then…"_

Nicole's mind began racing frantically. What had he said! She couldn't remember for the life of her. Okay Nicole, revert back to the conversation. She was sure if she just remembered what Michael had told her, then maybe she could get through this. And there was no reason that she shouldn't remember, unless something distracted her. But it shouldn't have. She was really paying attention to Michael. well, unless something really important came along. But it didn't, not that she remembered.

"…_say, a pineapple then make sure you…oh, hey Art. Pull up a seat."_

Nooooooooooooooo!

* * *

Zoey began sketching a girl on the front of her notepad. She drew in long, giraffe like legs and thin, elegant arms. Realizing not all the models in the fashion show would be built like Rebecca, she began scribbling it out.

* * *

"I love that book! But didn't you feel that perhaps there was a bit too much overshadowing? I felt like there was some sort of sequel or prequel I hadn't read and was left a little confused. Especially with the constant emphasis on the –"

The door to life science swung open. Everyone looked up curiously. When Rebecca saw Logan standing in the doorframe, she rolled her eyes and quickly went back to her conversation with Chase.

All the girls in the class began fussing immediately.

"Emily, can you move over, so Logan can sit beside me?"

"Oh no, I bet my hair's a mess."

"Susanna! Throw me your lip gloss!"

Dana sat moodily in the corner.

Pathetic. All pathetic.

The girl beside her began dithering and having what looked like a epileptic fit.

"Ehmagod, ehmagod," she sang, fanning her face, "Logan Reese. Logan Reese. I didn't wear my low-cut, ehmagod, he won't know I exist…"

Dana fought back the urge to hit the girl. She knew her briefly, Melissa or something, she stayed down the corridor from Dana's new dorm in a room with another three Melissa-Clones. Logan raised his eyebrows suggestively at Dana. As Dana set him back a piercing glare (to which he laughed at lightly) Melissa began hyperventilating.

"Ehmagod, he just raised his eyebrows at me," she breathed. Dana turned in her seat.

"You idiot, it was at me," she hissed, "like he knows who you are."

Across the classroom, a completely different reaction was going on.

"He's such a poser," Rebecca pouted, "you'd think he'd have sat down by now. What's he doing?"

Chase looked over Rebecca's shoulder.

"Primping to Dana in the corner."

"Dana? He likes Dana?" she gasped, "I thought he was with Zoey."

Rebecca noticed Chase's face drain of colour.

"No, definitely, no, definitely not. Not in a million years and never, ever, ever –"

He was interrupted when Rebecca placed her long, elegant fingers on his arm comfortingly.

"It's okay," she said, "I believed you on the 'no.'"

She removed her fingers and began fiddling with her long side bang.

"Do you think I should cut this?" Rebecca asked, "Like right off?"

"No, it's pretty," Chase smiled.

Rebecca smiled and looked at Logan out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to be approaching. Frantically, her eyes widened and she began panicking.

Why!

Go away!

Her stomach plummeted when she spotted the empty seat to her left.

_Please do not be the only empty seat in the class. Please do not be the only empty seat in the class. Please do not be the on-_

"Hey Jessica," Logan drawled, dumping his bag on the ground and sliding into the seat.

"It's Rebecca," she replied coldly, staring straight ahead.

"Save this seat for me?"

"No," she hissed, "it just happened to be empty."

A silence followed this. Satisfied, she looked down at her paper. Suddenly, she felt something on her shoulder. Slapping it, she whipped around to see Logan nursing his hand.

"Ow!" he moaned, protruding his bottom lip like a baby. Rebecca glared.

"Okay, okay. Sorry for the long wait," Jerome sashayed back into the classroom, a bag of textbooks in one hand, the other waving about in the air, "Jerome had difficulty locating the textbooks."

He paused and stared at Logan.

"Have you just arrived, boy?" He asked, raising on eyebrow.

"No," Logan lied, casually swinging back on his chair so his shirt stretched over his six-pack perfect stomach (Rebecca looked away in disguist), "I've been here the whole time."


	8. Life's a Pineapple Part 2

** This is Life's a Pineapple Part 2. ** It was originally all one chapter but it was really long so I halved it for you! So it just continues from where we left Life's a Pineapple Part 1. Thanks and Pie, R&R, N x

* * *

Jerome 'hmmed' at him disapprovingly but didn't further the matter.

"Jerome has the best project for you!" He cried, "Since this is life science. You are all going to document life. Your lives. Only I want you to do it in pairs. Because life, is about," he brandished two fingers, "togetherness. Get in partners."

The class began buzzing nervously.

"Partners?" Chase offered, a lot more keener on Rebecca since she proved she was just more than a pretty face. Rebecca smiled.

"Do you think I should ask him?"

"No way, I'll ask him first."

"Nu-uh, I think he's into me, I mean, the other day, I said 'hi' and he said 'hey.'"

Dana rolled her eyes.

Logan was going to ask _her_.

And then she saw it. It was a tiny little gesture, but Dana's senses were sharp. The over-zealous red-head at the front called Lucy or something like that was trying subtly to catch Logan's attention. To ask to work together, probably. Dana didn't want to go across and ask Logan to be her partner. It'd ruin the attitude and reputation persona she'd spent years building. She'd like to think that Logan would say no to Lucy and ask her instead, but she knew Logan was conniving and would accept, simply to make Dana jealous. He'd done it before, at the last dance. A blonde asked him to the dance, he agreed only because she was one degree above the ugly line. During the dance, the pair didn't separate. They kissed. They made out.

Dana punched the girl in the face.

She cast her eyes across the classroom in hopes of finding a plan, her eyes finally resting on a boy a few rows in front of her. He was tall, dark, and a member of Art's popular and good-looking sports player clique. His name was Jackson Rennison. Rennison. Reese. Rennison. Reese.

She flung her hand up in the air.

"Yes?" Jerome frowned.

"I don't really now much about life Jerome, but -"

Rebecca turned to see who was speaking. It was that girl she'd seen briefly on moving into 101. And she wasn't very nice. But now, she was using an unusually nice and innocent tone.

"- forgive me, but isn't life sometimes 'unfair' and 'uniform?'" Dana continued, "I think maybe, we shouldn't get to pick our partners. You should do it an alphabetical order, just to prove how tough life is."

Melissa began hyperventilating again.

"Melissa Race! My name is Melissa Race! Reese, Race!"

Dana saved herself from giving her game away by biting her lip to prevent a smug smile crawling across her face as the red-head returned to looking at her desk, definitely put-out.

"Any chance there's no kids in the class between 'Matthews' and 'Sinclair?'" Chase asked, nudging Rebecca in the ribs to deter her from her furious pout at Jerome.

"I wish," she groaned, "aw Chase! Our project would have been immense!"

"Okay, Kelly Adams and, Lisa Anniston." Jerome ran his finger down the register.

Dana let herself smile slightly as the red-head (presumably Lisa Anniston and not Lucy at all) waved weakly at Kelly Adams. She tried to ignore Melissa who couldn't sit still in her seat.

"This sucks," Chase whispered, "I bet no one would've done our idea."

"You better not use it with whoever you get," Rebecca said sternly, "I won't use it with whoever I have. We can save it. We're bound to partnered up at some point."

"Chase Matthews," Jerome called.

"Hey!" Rebecca hissed, "that's you. Good luck."

"Harry Onslow."

Chase groaned quietly while Harry looked outraged.

"Ooh, lucky," Rebecca whispered, "he's lush."

"I don't think being," he paused awkwardly, "'lush' is going to make him project partner material. He'll sit around and do his hair."

"What's wrong with that?" She joked, flicking her hair dramatically for effect.

"Attention seeking?" Logan asked, "Cause you got mine."

Rebecca sneered at him.

"Melissa Race and Hannah Raleigh," Jerome called. Melissa stopped bouncing, looking like she was about to cry.

"Logan Reese and Jackson Rennison," Jerome said. Rebecca let out a sigh of deep relief. Dana smiled to herself.

"Er Jerome," Jackson boomed in a deep rasp, loud enough to cover Rebecca's catch of breath, "I asked Dean to transfer to art next week, so I'm dropping life sci."

"You're dead to Jerome," Jerome cried, causing Jackson to shift uncomfortably in his seat. Dana wanted to scream at him.

_You stupid good-looking idiot! Couldn't you have waited until the project was over to vent your violent feelings towards a creative subject like art as opposed to bashing up your opponents on the court! I'm sure they could've taken a couple more hits!_

"Okay, Logan Reese and Trey Sawyer."

Rebecca sank back down in her seat, thanking whoever was up there for her fortune. Dana refrained from letting out a little 'whoop.'

"Okay, Rebecca Sinclair and N –"

"Jerome?" Lisa Anniston's arm was waving in the air, "Sawyer's in Canada."

"For how long?"

"Until the end of the year," said Lisa Anniston, "He's on a foreign school programme."

"Rebecca, I'll just pair you with Logan then," Jerome said lightly, continuing down the list. Rebecca's jaw dropped.

No.

Not.

Happening.

Dana let out a gasp of disbelief. Her plans had never failed her before, but now, she'd managed to land Logan in the hands of the prettiest girl at PCA.

"So class," Jerome clasped his hands together, "those are your new partners. I'm glad Jerome did them alphabetically, because by not getting your partner of choice, it just proves," Jerome looked across at Logan and Rebecca who were already hissing at each other and making threatening gestures, "what a bitch life can be."

Dana glared sourly at Logan and Rebecca.

_You can say that again Jerome._

* * *

Thank you so much **MrsLoganReese** for reading and reviewing, my most loyal r&r'er, and everyone else - you won't be hating Rebecca for long, there's someone else who you can't help but love to hate coming soon... 


	9. Hot Property 101

Zoey finished colouring in the shirt and placed down her red pencil, closing the notebook that had 'Fashion 101 – Zoey 101' written on the front. She'd been working on the fashion show since her meeting with Dean Rivers. She'd finished her initial designs for her line, but she wasn't looking forward to actually making it. Her notebook lay beside three others, one named 'Fashion 101 – Nicole 101' and the other 'Fashion 101 – Rebecca 101.' The last notebook was unnamed. She had decided to hold a competition for a guest designer, though she didn't suspect she'd get much talent coming in.

"Can I sit down?" Chase pulled back the seat and sat anyway, taking Zoey's warm smile as a 'yes.'

"What're they?" he asked, nodding towards the pile of notebooks.

"They're fashion designs for Zoey 101," she told him, "and Rebecca 101 and Nicole 101. And a Guest-Designer-101 too."

"Guest designer?" Chase swung back on his chair, "A lot of people will be interested in that Zoey, it'll be a good fundraiser. So, what else are you doing to raise money for the trip?"

"A dance," she groaned, flicking absent-mindedly through the Zoey 101 book. "Dean Rivers suggested it and Becca was all for it. She was abseloutely ecstatic."

Chase bit his lip. The last PCA dance, hadn't been good news for him. Not only had he not succeeded in asking Zoey to the dance in the first place, but she had also kissed Art Sinclair, after kissing him. The previous dance, Michael set fire to his trousers by accident and Zoey ended up escorting him to the hospital, and the other dances…well, they hadn't exactly been a picnic. He had a feeling, that this dance, wasn't going to break the pattern.

"Well she's not ecstatic anymore," Chase said, "you should've seen her face in life science when she got paired with Logan."

Zoey laughed lightly, imagining Rebecca's smile disappear and a well practiced and intimidating scowl taking place.

"I thought she'd swing out at Jerome," he continued, "but she sat there with her face tripping her. She looked so angry, it was quite funny. The two spent the last ten minutes of the class threatening each other in low hisses."

"Well that'll be an easy 'A'," Zoey commented, "'The Complete Constant Conflicts of Rebecca and Logan,' by Rebecca and Logan.'"

"The project would be a million pages long if they did that," Chase reached for Zoey's notebook and began looking through it.

The clothes were good. Very casual, a lot like what Zoey wore already. The main selling point of the clothes really was the accessories, and each outfit looked unique and custom-made, with pins and badges, sewn sequins and hanging rosettes. He noticed on a few pages were boy/girl pairings.

"Are you going to audition for models?" He asked.

"Each line designer will cast their own models," Zoey explained, chewing on the end of her pencil, "I'll have Nic and Becca in it of course, and you. Maybe, if you behave."

* * *

Glen slid into the empty seat beside Rebecca at the back table at the library. She looked up at him from the book she was reading, entitled 'How to Deal With Those Annoying Idiots who Just Won't Go Away.'

"Hey," he nodded his head casually.

"Hi," she replied uncertainly, looking back down at her book. The two stayed silent. Eventually, she looked back up again.

"I'm sorry at the risk of being rude, but do you want something?"

Glen took out a book from his bag and waved it in front of her face.

"No, I just wanted to sit and read," he said.

"Here?" She asked.

"Yep, here." He opened the book and began reading, glancing at Rebecca out of the corner of his eye. He could tell she was caving, because he could see her eyes losing place on the page and she kept shifting about in her seat uncomfortably. She looked up again.

"I'm really sorry," she said, pushing a wave behind her ear, "but why?"

"I need your help," he said in a low voice, closing his book and pushing it aside. Rebecca, looking startled, blinked at him.

"Sorry, do I know you?"

"Glen Davis," he told her, "and you're Rebecca Sinclair. And you, are going to help me."

"Okay…" she looked around uncertainly, "what do you need help on? Math? Geography? Life Science?" she paused to shudder, "Art? Well, you should ask Michael about art, he is the master of the pencil."

"It's not an academic thing," he said.

"Uh…okay…" said Rebecca, clearly puzzled, "P.E? Uh…manners? Clarity of your point of talking to me? Cause I could certainly do with a lesson in that."

"Do you fancy me?" He said so quickly, that it caught Rebecca off guard, who stared blankly for a few seconds before shaking herself out of it.

"I uh – what – uh…you're nice and all but you're not really my, uh –"

"Good, it would've been difficult in this mission if you had," he interrupted, "though I wouldn't mind a bit. Well, more than a bit."

Rebecca seriously hoped he was talking about cake.

"You should know," he continued, "that you have debuted on the 'Top 20 PCA Babes' List at number one. You're hot property."

"I'm what?" Rebecca pulled a face, "I'm sorry, you're going kinda fast and darting from subject to subject so I have no idea what you're tal –"

"The point is, I need you to get me hot property," he interrupted again.

"And why, sorry, _how _could I, of all people, make you hot property?"

"Because you're the hottest girl at PCA," he mused, "the first girl to debut at number one, the first girl to knock off Adrienne House since she joined."

"Adrienne House? No way, no way, did I knock her off," Rebecca shook her head, "she's stunning."

"And so are you baby doll," Glen knocked her lightly on the chin.

"I'm sorry, but I don't really know how to get about whatever you're asking me here," Rebecca picked up her book, swung her bag on her shoulder and stood up, "I apologize, but I really don't see what I could do to help you."

Glen stood to face her. She never realized he was actually a centimeter or so taller as her, a rare feat in boys when Rebecca was concerned.

"Oh I have something planned," he said. Rebecca raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?"

* * *

**MrsLoganReese, Starburst87** I would love to read your stories, I will do so once I have finished editing this chapter, **Starburst87** Rebecca is rougly 5'8/9 while the guys are roughly 5'6/7 and the other girls (Dana, Zoey, Nicole etc) are about 5'4/5/6, so she's definately taller than everyone else. The only girls she isn't taller than are Adrienne House (who will have a bigger part coming up) who's the same height as her and so will the other character being introduced, the 'Love to Hate' character...oh and **zxxbsmsgirl3148**, thanks for the cookies! 


	10. Au Naturale

Rebecca opened the door and stepped into Room 101. Nicole and Zoey were sitting waiting for her, cross-legged on the floor.

"Where have you been?" Zoey asked.

"We heard this abseloutely weird rumor that –"

Rebecca let her bag drop to the floor.

"I just kissed Glen Davis," she said simply. Nicole began shrieking excitedly, pulling Rebecca into a tight hug and squealing in her ear.

"Oh my God Becca!" she pulled away, "That's what Olivia said, she said she saw you in the library but I didn't believe you because Glen would never be seen in a library," she paused, "only I guess he was that time! Wow, Becca! Glen _Davis! _He's number thirteen on the 'Top 20 PCA Lust List'!"

There was that list again. She thought about questioning it, but Nicole began squealing again.

"Is he good?" she jumped up and down excitedly, "did he use –"

"I wouldn't know," Rebecca interrupted sternly before Nicole got too x-rated, "I don't have anything to compare him to."

Zoey and Nicole both stared at her.

"What?" she asked defensively.

"Do not tell me that _you_," Zoey jabbed a finger at Rebecca, "were a virgin lips before you kissed Glen."

Rebecca sat down on the floor.

"Oh my God. I thought you were joking," Zoey gasped, "Becca, was he your first?"

"Yeah," Rebecca said, "no boys at the nunnery."

"What about in the holidays?" Nicole asked.

Rebecca ran her fingers through her waves to give them an interesting wind-swept look.

"I guess I was shy," she shrugged, "kinda self-conscious."

"About what!" Zoey asked incredulously, "Do you see the same thing everyone else does when they look in the mirror?"

"Anyway back to Glen Davis," said Nicole, feeling a little out of the conversation, "are you going to like, date him?"

Rebecca looked appalled.

"No way!" she gasped, "he's way too flashy."

"What did he say?" Nicole continued eagerly, "I mean, he can't have just gone up to you and pulled."

"He said something about me debuting at number one on this daft list," Rebecca began slipping off her shoes, "and knocking off Adrienne House or whatever."

Zoey or Nicole didn't seem to think the matter deserved a 'whatever' judging by their expressions.

"_Rebecca,_" Nicole breathed, "_this is immense. You're number one on the 'Top 20 PCA Babes' List. _You're officially now the hottest and most sought after girl in school, according to the guys. And you knocked of Adrienne House! Woah, she's the prettiest thing I've seen."

Rebecca rolled her eyes.

"Am I supposed to be flattered?" she yawned, "It means abseloutely nothing to me. They haven't changed the way they've acted towards me…well, except Glen and the random pull thing, and I'm sure he was just bluffing to get me to pull him. No way am I prettier than Adrienne House. She's a model."

There was a sudden knock at the door, at which Michael, Chase and Logan slipped into the room.

"Hey guys," Michael waved, "good news Bec, you're number one on the 'Top 20 PCA Babes' List. You knocked off Adrienne House, congratulations."

Rebecca stared at him.

She had no idea what any of this meant. And what any of it would lead to either. She hated to think once more she was judged on what she looked like as opposed to what was in her heart.

"I also heard you kissed Glen," Chase sat down on the floor beside Nicole, "he was bragging about it today at lunch."

Logan looked a little put-out.

"Correction," Rebecca said, "_he_ kissed _me_, he practically launched himself at me with abseloutely no warning. He said something to me, then just," she clapped her hands together, "he's kissing me. Is that normal here!"

Zoey hoped no one had noticed she'd been silent for a while. She didn't like to hear that Rebecca had kissed Glen. At first, she told herself that it was because she didn't want Rebecca to be mistreated, but she knew perfectly well it was because she maybe felt something for Glen.

Otherwise, why would she be bothered so much?

_I assumed he had a thing for me. _She thought, _I mean, he faked his answers on the personality quiz to go to the dance with me, he's asked me to every dance since then and he's always talking about me. And then now, he's changed to liking Rebecca? Is it always going to be like that? Am I just going to get Rebecca's leftovers, like a recycling machine?_

"Not really," Michael began pulling at a loose thread in his shirt, "Glen just likes his direct approach. Besides, he totally digs everyone in this room."

Everyone made disgusted faces.

"I mean, the girls, that is," he added quickly, "all the girls."

Everyone's face turned back to normal. Michael continued to tug on the piece of thread.

"Stupid thread," he muttered, "been hanging off all day."

"I wouldn't pull that," Zoey said warningly, "something might –"

"If only I could just get it off," he continued muttering, "it's almost out. Almost, almost, it's coming!"

He gave one last final tug to the thread; the front half of his shirt crumpling onto his knees. Everyone burst into fits of laughter as Michael began trying to pin it back up. Zoey took it from him and offered to sew it back together.

"Speaking of sewing," she said, chucking Nicole and Rebecca their notebooks, "I've made these for you guys. You're each to design your own line, like I have. 'Nicole 101' and 'Rebecca 101' will be part of the complete 'Fashion 101' line along with 'Zoey 101,' mine, and 'Competition-Winner-101.'"

Nicole stared at the book.

"I can't draw," she said simply.

"Sure you can," said Rebecca encouragingly.

"No, my last art exam results confirm that I cannot draw."

"I'm sure if you ask nicely Michael will draw for you," Rebecca smiled, "or I will, if you scribe your designs. And I'll draw your models."

At the word models, Nicole seemed to brighten.

"Speaking of models," she grinned, "when do we begin choosing male models? And how many can I choose?"

"Each line designer can cast their own models," Zoey told her, concentrating on not running over the material on Michael's shirt with extra stitches.

"And they'll wear the clothes you design?" Nicole persisted.

"Yes."

"Well, then I know what I'm designing!" she pushed away her notebook triumphantly, "Nothing!"

"Nicole," Zoey rolled her eyes as Rebecca burst into a soft giggle, "why?"

"Because if I cast say, Art, Nate, Harry, Jackson, Glen…then they'd have to wear my designs."

She paused to grin mischievously.

"Which would be nothing, and I'm sure they'd all look fantastic, hmm, _au naturale._"


	11. Tropical Daydreams

The palm leaves swayed ever so lightly in the warm breeze, the sun was beginning to set on the sea – a sight Zoey had only ever seen on postcards.

Sitting on the beach – on a night like this – was something she'd dreamt of all her life, only she wasn't alone in those dreams, like she was now.

She guessed it was her fault; Chase and her had finally admitted their feelings for each other and then Zoey kisses Arten Sinclair? She didn't like Arten Sinclair much more than every other girl at PCA did – he was tall, tanned, muscular and had the deepest sapphire blue eyes that any girl could just get lost in. And he was English. And he had taken interest in her? She had found it puzzling at the time but not questionable. But what bugged her really, was why she kissed him. Okay, so he was basically a tanned kissing God but apart from that…was it because of Chase? She was worried that maybe, with their feelings out in the open, that their friendship would be ruined… was that it? Or was that what she hoped? Did she want to think that, to mask her crush on Art Sinclair, that she thought he was a lot hotter than Chase?

"Zoey?"

Maybe she wasn't as alone as she thought.

"Uhm…who's there?"

A silhouette figure came towards her, raising sand as he lifted his feet. He would have been completely unidentifiable if it wasn't for the bushy mini-afro that sat on the top of his head.

"Can I uh…sit down?"

"Sure."

Chase sat down beside her. They stared into the ocean for a while, both too nervous to say what they both wanted to say.

"Zoey –"

"No Chase. I didn't mean to kiss Art. It was because I thought that maybe, if we were together, then our friendship would…"

"Zoey, I understand."

He did?

"You do?"

Chase placed both his hands around Zoey's face and held it up to him.

"Love can make people do all sorts of weird things," he smiled, that cute goofy smile that she loved so much. He leaned in. She closed her eyes…

_Bang._

Zoey's eyes flickered open to a white, clinical looking room with a long, bright buzzing light and a length of seats whose fabric made her itch. It was a dream. But possibly the best dream she'd ever had. If only that bang hadn't interrupted her! She might actually find out what it was like to kiss Chase. Zoey had been summoned to Dean Rivers' Office around an hour ago. After practically having a heart attack at the prospect of being in trouble, she was told she was only there to take a new pupil around PCA.

"Miss Brookes? Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she said, her cheeks reddening, "I'm sorry, I was just uh…napping."

"Well the new student's just getting registered in the PCA pupil records. She shouldn't be long, she's called Kristen Williams."

Williams? Zoey's brain began moving into gear. Kristen Williams? Hadn't Rebecca mentioned something about a Kristen at her old nunnery school? Nate's little sister?

"Dean Rivers?" She asked, "Is Kristen Williams' Nate Williams' little sister?"

"Yes, very close with the Sinclair's I believe. Family friends."

So this Kristen _was_ the girl Rebecca had briefly mentioned. Zoey wondered whether Rebecca had good or bad things to say about Kristen, because she couldn't remember what Rebecca had told her.

"_Kristen and I did fashion design as a study at my old school."_

Was that it?

The door creaked open again. Zoey turned.

"Hey," Kristen said in a familiar English accent, much like the Sinclair's, "you're Zoey right? Art's told me so much about you." Kristen paused before adding, "And PCA."

"Great, you girls get to know each other," Dean Rivers said, "and if you have any problems Kristen then just give me a shout."

"Thanks Dean," she smiled, showing off a set of perfectly straight, pearly-white teeth, "much appreciated."

Zoey stood up and hoisted her backpack over her shoulder. Kristen stood in front of her, taller, with long, honey-skinned legs, glossy dirty blonde, long hair that feathered out at her shoulder and a detection of slyly pinned bangs, and emerald green sparkling eyes. Zoey should have known this Kristen girl was going to be stunning. She was built in every way the same as Rebecca, probably not even an millimeter difference in height. Like Rebecca, she had a pancake-flat stomach and cheekbones so defined you could cut paper on them. Zoey felt like a garden gnome beside this girl.

Dean Rivers exited the room. As soon as the door closed, Kristen embraced Zoey tightly. Slightly surprised, Zoey smiled.

"I'm sorry," Kristen said, "that's how I just greet everybody. Except teachers. So, you're Zoey Brookes. Oh my word, when I'm over at Rebecca's in the Summer Art's all 'Zoey this, Zoey that.' Had to fight to keep down a rage of the green monster, I must admit."

Zoey tried to comprehend this information, but for some reason, her brain didn't want to. Art Sinclair, _the _Art Sinclair, had told the rest of the Sinclairs all about her? That's the kind of thing girls at PCA dreamed of. Or being Art's 'friend-that-was-a-girl', which Kristen already had under her belt. Or, kissing Art, which by the looks of Kristen, seemed entirely possible as well.

"I'm so looking forward to starting PCA," she continued, "you have no idea what it's been like for me – like I've been deprived of it since a child. When Nate wasn't constantly talking about it, Art was, and Joe was. Even my mother was, she used to be a teacher here."

"You'll be warmed to pretty quickly," Zoey said, "already knowing a few people and all."

"Ah, but that doesn't mean I'm not ready to make myself a status," Kristen whipped some dark sunglasses out of her bag, "and I plan on doing that straight away. Now, how about you introduce me to all your little friends?"

* * *

Chase and Michael sauntered down the path to the basketball courts.

"So have you spoken to Zoey?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, actually," said Chase, "about these new ice pop things they have in the school store and –"

"I meant about Art," Michael interrupted, "I meant about Art."

Chase stared down at his high-tops as he continued walking. Michael took his silence as a no.

"You aren't serious? Look, you're not going to get anywhere with her if you just don't mention this," he said, holding the door open for Chase, "it's not something you two can overcome. You won't get to kiss her until this subject is appropriately dissected and discussed."

Chase didn't want to talk about it. Even seeing Art walk down the corridors made his stomach turn. What made it worse was that Chase could see why Zoey would be attracted to Art – there was no doubt about it, the guy was a heart-throb and Chase? He supposed he was just the goofy best friend would couldn't do one lap without throwing up in the bush. Art, however, was practically captain of every sports team at PCA.

"Dude, you gotta talk to her," Michael stretched his arms up, "or I will. I'm being serious. Next thing you know, Zoey'll be going out with, I dunno, Glen Davis or something and BOOM! Missed your chance again."

The boys turned the corner and onto the longer, straight path that lead straight to the basketball gates. While Michael continued to chat about the latest Tekken game released compared to his nostalgic Tekkens, Chase dreamt about Zoey confessing her undying love to him, and that kissing Art Sinclair was a messy mistake she couldn't quite explain. He found himself pleased that she was crying, because then he could caress her into a tight hug, then if the moment was write, place a hand on her chin, tilt her head up slowly and…

"Okay, I'll talk to her," Chase sighed, "but when?"

"How about now?" Michael nodded towards the path ahead, "She's coming this way."

_Okay, calm composure Chase. Talk to Zoey._

Two girls came down from the path that lead to the Dean's office. Michael began to splutter and cough, smacking his chest in hopes of quick recovery.

"Jesus!" He gasped, "Who's that with Zoey?"

Chase turned his head at the word 'Zoey,' trying to get a good view of her face. One of the girls stopped suddenly, while the other continued walking unaware. The one that continued walking, was shorter and had blonder hair. He knew it was Zoey. The girl who had stopped, was a tall, slim sun-framed girl who was staring disbelievingly at Chase.

"God is spoiling me," Michael cheered, "two beautiful girls in such a short space of time!"

"Chase Matthews!" The girl yelled, peering closer.

Chase recognized the raspy, English accent immediately.

"Chase? Is that you?" The girl drew a long-fingered hand to her mouth, "Oh. My. Word, it is you!" She screamed a little whoop of joy and ran past Zoey (surprisingly fast in her wedges), she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. He responded.

"Ehmaword," she panted, raking her long, elegant fingers through her dirty blonde locks, "this is surreal!"

Zoey walked up the path curiously, staring uncertainly at Kristen, who was now blocking her view of Chase.

"Oh!" Kristen gasped, spotting Michael, "how rude of me! I appear, sprint up and suffocate your friend! I'm Kristen Williams."

Michael took her outstretched hand and shook it.

"Michael Barret," he replied. This done, Kristen averted her attention back to Chase. She held him at arms length.

"Let me get a good look at you," she mused, looking at him up and down, "you haven't changed at all!"

Chase could hardly say the same. When he had last seen Kristen, she was a lot shorter, a little bit less slender, her hair was cut sharply and she didn't reek of glamour. He couldn't believe his eyes. Now, she looked like she'd just stepped off a catwalk. Those eyes! Those legs!

Zoey appeared at Kristen's side. Chase's heart sped up.

"Do you two…" she waved her hand between him and Kristen.

"Ehmaword," Kristen grinned, flicking her hair behind her shoulder, "when I last saw this guy, we were thirteen! Oh my gosh, you've grown up so much! I never thought I'd see you again!"

Michael explained they had to be at basketball practice, so Kristen agreed to walk along with them. As Michael engaged her in an in depth debate about the lack of a PCA cheerleader squad, (K: "But it's such degradation! We girls have been admitted to this school to learn, not to cheer on a bunch of barbaric guys playing whatever-sport-is-in-season." M: "But seeing girls in those skirts…I mean, er, cheering us on, will spur us to do better in our game.") Zoey slinked back to walk casually with Chase.

"So, you're taking Kristen around are you?"

Zoey noticed a twinge of uneasiness in Chase's voice.

"Yeah, she seems pretty well adjusted."

At that moment, Michael and Kristen burst into cackles.

"Well, she never has exactly been a wallflower," he shrugged.

_Why is this happening now? Why is Kristen here now? Could she have chosen a worse time to arrive promptly without warning?_

"Speaking of 'never exactly has been a wallflower,'" Zoey said slyly, "how do you know her? Do you have history?"

Chase felt heat rising up his collar.

"I guess," he said, hoping to sound unsuspicious and casual.

"Well, what is it then?" Asked Zoey, seeing right through Chase's persona.

Chase's head felt like it was on fire, his mouth dry, his breath short.

_It's best she finds out from you, not from Kristen._

"She was my er," he scratched the back of his neck nervously, "she was my first kiss. And my er, girlfriend before you came to PCA."

* * *

**zxxbsmsgirl3148** Your cookies rock:p **MrsLoganReese** don't worry, Glen is supposed to be weird and creepy. You'll soon find out why. He is a shady guy. **Starburst87**, thanks for reviewing and YOUR STORY IS AWESOME. And for everyone else, the story is about to get a LOT more interesting (when I have writers block, I write chapters for the future, and I have a whole lot of chapters about Kristen coming up). Be prepared from some conniving sabotage from Adrienne House, and big Nicole plot coming up! Thanks and pie, N x


	12. Foam Bottomed Love Hearts

"So this Kristen was Chase's _girlfriend_!" Nicole gawked, her hand finding the bowl of cashew nuts in the middle of the floor. The three girls sat in a circle around the bowl (with another few jumbo-bowls of Haribo foam-bottomed love hearts and another of butter popcorn), listening to Zoey, who had returned to the dorm shortly after Rebecca and Nicole had plunged into their designs, distraught and fuming, slamming the door, kicking pillows before collapsing in the middle of the floor. Nicole and Rebecca dropped their pencils and notebooks and rushed to her aid.

"I can't believe she's back," Rebecca groaned, "one of reasons I chose PCA was because it would mean I'd only have to deal with her in the holidays."

"Did she mention anything about Chase when she was at yours? When she was at the nunnery? Anything at all?" Nicole asked, stuffing a handful of butter popcorn in her mouth.

"We weren't allowed to talk to 'slash' about guys at the nunnery," said Rebecca, picking up the big bottle of coke and tipping it back, "it was very feminine pro. Little lady. Grow up to be a good housewife to the president sort of thing."

Nicole watched Rebecca put down the bottle and grab a claw of haribo's in her right hand, a gummy snake and a smaller bottle of Fanta lemon in the other while a sliver of red chew slid out the corner of her mouth.

"Yu-huh, I don't really think it worked."

"Nah," Rebecca bit the head off the snake vigorously, "I'd have been perfect and annoying if it weren't for Kristen. She rebelled me during the holidays and at the nunnery. She wasn't sane. She'd do what she wanted. She's good to have a friend, but awful to have as an enemy. Better on your side, you know?" Rebecca thought back to the original question, "She didn't mention Chase per _say_, but she was pretty put-out for a while about something, so maybe it was him going away. She isn't used to rejection."

Zoey had stopped listening a while back. When Nicole and Rebecca delved into their gossip chatter about Kristen Williams, her mind had been hijacked by Chase's face and expression when he saw Kristen.

"So does Chase still like her Zo?"

Zoey's focus returned to find Nicole and Rebecca staring intensely at her, food in both of their hands. She didn't understand how the two could eat like food deprived horses and still stay the skinniest girls in their year.

"I hope not," Zoey sighed, "but I don't know. It's so lame, I shouldn't kick up a fuss because it's my fault that we –"

Rebecca dropped the popcorn out of her hand and Nicole let out a gasp of disgust.

"This girl is moving in on your territory!" Nicole screeched before Rebecca piped in to finish : "Of course you have the obligation to _kick up a fuss._"

"He said she was his girlfriend!" Zoey cried, "For how long? I don't know, but it seems that if Chase and Kristen had known each other since they were ten then that's probably when they hooked up. You should've seen her you guys, she was all over him, ecstatic, all pretty and glamorous and hug-y. And he…he…he looked pleased to see her."

"I wouldn't blame him," Rebecca shrugged, "Kristen's a pretty girl."

"Rebecca, I _know _she was a pretty girl. If Kristen wasn't supermodel material like you then I wouldn't be freaking out so much!"

Zoey looked surprised to see Rebecca grin slightly.

"Zo, tell me the truth here," she said, "when I first came, and Chase helped me to my classes and stuff…were you…uh…'freaking out'?"

"Yeah," Zoey admitted, "but you can't blame me. You are 'Number One' to every guy and this Kristen girl, well, you two are now officially the best-looking girls PCA has probably ever seen, let alone in the year."

"Am not," Rebecca said, disgusted so much she had to put down the second gummy snake, "where are you getting this rubbish from?"

"Oh puh-lease Rebecca," Zoey rolled her eyes, "okay, item number one, how tall are you and what do you weigh?"

Rebecca looked over at Nicole, who had averted her attention to Rebecca.

"5ft 8/9, six stone," she cast a sulky glance at Zoey.

"And Carter Carson, te most popular guy in school and in his leavers year, asked you out on a date yesterday, am I correct?"

Rebecca pouted slightly and sighed havily before answering, "Yes. Yes you are."

"Enough said," said Zoey, sinking into an even further state of depression as Nicole chewed thoughtfully on a mouthful of popcorn.

"Ow!" She gasped, "I think that last kernel just broke my tooth!"

She put her finger in her mouth and began poking about.

"Ah no," she said, relieved, "it's still there. But it feels a little bumpy."

"Okay, casting the issue of Nicole's teeth aside," Rebecca took another bite off the snake, "are you upset because you think she'll make a move?"

"I don't think she will," Zoey sighed, "well, at least I hope she doesn't."

"She probably will," Rebecca sighed, "and I'm sorry to say but Kristen, well, she isn't self conscious. At all."

* * *

_Knock knock._

"Hang on!" Dana wrapped a towel around her body and started blow-drying her hair quickly.

_Knock knock knock._

"Just a minute!" she called politely, resorting to rubbing her hair vigorously with another towel.

_Knock knock knock knock._

"FOR GOD'S SAKE WILL YOU PLEASE JUST BE PATIENT AND WAIT UNTIL I'M READY TO OPEN THE DOOR YOU STUPID IDIOT!"

She flung the door open.

"Ooh Dana, you're all," Logan raised on eyebrow suggestively, "wet."

"I should've guessed," Dana rolled her eyes, "who else would has ABSELOUTELY NO MANNERS and drives me to the brink of insanity?"

"Can I come in?" he asked, stepping into the room anyway.

_Ha, Logan Reese, ha. You have walked straight into my trap. By coming here, you have proved you really do want me._

"What are you smiling about?" He asked, lying on her bed.

"Oh, nothing," she said lightly, closing the door, "just imagining you getting your arms chopped off by a severely blunt axe."

Logan sat up and stared at Dana. It had been a long time since he had really last seen her, recently, his head had been consumed with Rebecca, who managed to pop up everywhere and have annoyingly witty comebacks whenever he said something. But now, looking at Dana, he realized how much he missed her. Sure, Rebecca was pretty, but she was a pain. Dana was everything he ever wanted.

"Do you want to drop that towel and come sit on the bed with me?"

Dana let out an exasperated 'tut' and stormed through to the bathroom.

"You," she shouted, "are unbelievable!"

She continued to shout at him as she got dressed, finally re-appearing in a black shirt that said 'Thank God I'm Not Ugly' and a pair of Rock and Republic jeans. Her hair was still wet and hung in loose ringlets over her shoulders.

"What did you come here for anyway?" She said coldly, hoping Logan would not be able to see through her tough persona.

"To see you, honey," Logan pouted, "I've missed you."

"Really?" She raised on eyebrow, "Well, I've missed your really annoying, giant ego ruining my day."

"Aw, so you do care."

Logan patted the bed beside him.

All he wanted right now, was her. He didn't care that he'd just given up his whole 'I Hate You' act, he just wanted her a lot closer. To his luck, Dana got up from the seat by the desk and sat beside him.

"So you came to see me, huh?" She asked, her face centimeters from his.

"Yeah, I can't live without you," Logan breathed, "it's been an excruciating epiphany to go through, having to not see your face for longer than a week."

"So you're not going to kiss Rebecca?" She asked quietly.

"That, my dear, is the stupidest and most ludicrous thing I have ever heard in my life," he laughed, "Rebecca and I have a mutual hate relationship. We want to tear each others heads off. She's annoying, she's smart, she's witty, she's conniving, she's sly and down right evil. We hate each other."

Dana still wasn't at peace with that information in her mind.

_You pretended to hate me, Logan. Are you pretending to hate her as well?_

"Are you going to give Daddy some sugar?" Logan cooed, making kissing motions with his lips.

"If you use that line one more time, or refer to yourself as 'Daddy,' I will knock you one," she said sternly, planting a kiss on his lips.

The two kissed for what seemed like hours. Neither wanted to part.

_This is how it's supposed to be, girl. You've done well._

_Knock knock._

_Crap! _Thought Dana, _Oka,y okay, just ignore it._

_Knock knock knock._

"Are you going to get that?" Logan asked, not drawing back so his breath tickled her lips. She shook her head.

_Knock knock knock knock._

Dana pulled away furiously and stormed towards the door. Logan rolled over so he was on his back and stared up at the ceiling.

"What!" Dana spat.

"I'm sorry, is this Room 80?"

Logan sat up at the voice, it sounded horribly like Rebecca's.

_Please don't tell me she's here._

"Yeah?" Dana replied, "Why?"

"I'm new here," the voice continued, "It says on my slip Room 80."

"You must have made a mistake," Dana hissed, "I don't _room _with anyone."

"Oh, I don't make mistakes," the voice replied snootily, "I just correct them. Do you mind getting out the way so I can wheel my bags in."

Logan heard a loud rumble as several wheels rolled in other the gold door threshold bar. The girl stepped into the room and looked down at Logan. He nearly had a heart attack.

She had to be one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen in his life. She was tall, slim, had amazing hollow cheeks and big, bright eyes, framed by long, curling eyelashes. Logan knew perfectly well that the girl was built the same as Rebecca with the same classical features but he knew he didn't like Rebecca.

Did he like this girl?

Probably.

"Oh, er, hello," said the girl, blinking down at him. She turned back to Dana, "does he come with the room?"

"No," Dana hissed protectively.

Who the hell was this girl with her fancy Louis Vuitton monogrammed luggage and big sunglasses!

"Pity," the girl smirked, smiling seductively down at Logan. Dana felt her whole body tighten.

"I'm Kristen, by the way," the girl said to Logan, completely ignoring Dana, "it's a pleasure to meet you."

She let her eyes look Logan up and down, finally resting on his star-struck expression.

"Or, I guess," she continued, waving a dirty blonde lock out of her face, "the pleasure is yours."


	13. How St Angela's Academy Girls Blackmail

Chase sank his head into his hands. Things couldn't really get any worse, really.

"And she came back, why?"

He did a quick 'no-one's-looking-right?' check before tip-toeing across to his drawers. Lifting a false bottom, he carefully extracted a big, brown, dusty leather book, entitled 'Life.'

He flicked from page to page, passing the baby photos and 'My First Potty' page until he reached the 'Year 13' chapter. At first, there were just pictures of him and his family, a few of his friends and maybe one or two of the family lizard. When he turned the next page, it was doodled in love hearts and little messages around hundreds of pictures of the girl he'd just seen earlier.

Kristen pouting dramatically. Kristen eating a nasty looking corn-dog. Kristen at her pool in the back yard.

Hundreds of pictures of Kristen, doing almost everything imaginable. Sticking her tongue out. Hosting a barbecue, setting fire to her apron while hosting the barbecue…and along the side were vivid descriptions of what he and she had done that day. The next page housed a large, school photograph that took up the double spread. At the top read 'St Angela Merici's Academy for Young Ladies,' then underneath various dates. Chase was faced by row upon row of girls glowering up at him.

_Obviously, the girls of St Angela Merici's Academy didn't like getting their picture taken._

A scribbled note in the corner caught his eye. 'Up 4, Across 20.' Obediently, he followed the instructions and his finger came to lay upon Kristen's face. Her expression wasn't much different than the other girls', but the girl beside Kristen seemed to make Chase smile. She stood, surly, with an angry sort of pout and shifty looking eyes, her eyebrows knitted together in a sort of disapproving frown. It wasn't until he recognized the dark curls pulled back by a uniform white alice band that he realized it was a thirteen year old Rebecca. And on the next double-spread, there were more pictures of her, that Kristen had sent him when she was at school. Kristen and Rebecca pulling grotesque faces, doing cartwheels on a vast green. A few had another girl in them who was equally as beautiful as the two with blood red hair that reached the small of her back and big, saucer-like bright blue eyes. The next pages were just Kristen and Chase, obviously in the holidays. There were a few of Kristen back at St Hilary's – obviously older – with Rebecca, the red-head and another pretty girl who looked a bit Amish.

And with a flick of the last page, Kristen was no more.

Chase closed the book and slid it back in it's rightful place. He caught himself thinking if he'd ever go back out with Kristen Williams.

_But I love Zoey now. Remember Zoey? The girl you dumped Kristen for in the first place?_

But Kristen didn't know that. Kristen thought that he figured long-term relationships were a mental strain. Kristen thought that he guessed she's way too pretty for him. Kristen thought he was tired of other guys drooling over her.

Well, Kristen thought wrong.

* * *

_Knock knock._

Rebecca slid off her bunk and padded across the room to the door. She opened it, allowing a sliver of light to shine through and looking out with her left eye.

"Yeeeessss?" She drawled.

"Bec, it's me," came Nate's voice irritably, "open the stupid door already."

She pulled the door back, allowing him to step in. When he did, she closed the door and stared at him.

"Uh…you knocked?"

"I take it you heard Kristen was here," Nate sighed, sitting down on Nicole's bed. She made a mental note to tell Nicole that, as she'd want to keep the duvet unwashed until the end of time from then on.

"Well, from Zoey crashing in, demolishing the room in a fit of total rage then collapsing in the middle of the floor," she paused lightly, "then I'd say yeah. Oh, and how can I forget the delightful little visit I got from Dana Cruz ten minutes ago where she close to snapped off both my arms and beat me to death with them while she cursed Kristen until the sun went down." She rolled her eyes dramatically, "Yeah, I heard."

"Are you, uh, pleased?"

"Am I pleased? _Am I pleased?"_ She echoed, pacing back and forth, "Nathan, do you _think _I'm pleased? Do you _think _I want the girl who I escaped from in the first place here? Do you _think _I want her pissing off all my friends and driving them to insanity?"

"Okay, okay, calm it," Nate beckoned for her to sit down. She did so.

"Don't tell me you came here to ask if I was ecstatic about dearest Kristy-Kins return."

Nate stared across at Rebecca as she sank into a sitting hunch. Even in her tired and worn Joie jeans, her bright green string vest, and her inexcusably bad posture, she oozed gorgeousness. She radiated. He saw Rebecca as an ultimate, not one second of the day would go past where she'd look for the worse. She was kind, witty, smart and beautiful. Every guy's dream.

"Uh…no," he shook his head, "it was about the fashion show."

Rebecca looked startled for a second, but she recovered and went back to her hunch-back like demeanor.

"I didn't know you knew about that," she said, her face in the shadows.

"Well, Nicole was chatting away like a chipmunk on helium about it to Michael Barret in math," Nate shrugged, "and somehow, Kristen found out about it."

Even from the darkness, Nate could tell Rebecca's was frowning dramatically.

"And she wants in on it, considering you and her were," Nate paused and put on a high, sickly, English-posh tone that sounded like his step-sister, "'Like, totally inseparable. Eh my word Natie, you gotta totally let me do this fashion show thingy! Becca and I used to do fashion design at St A's, it'll be sooooooooo much fun!'"

Rebecca shuffled forwards so her face was in view, but she looked grave and worried.

"She's not in Room 101 though," she sighed, "Zoey'll freak."

"Do you not like her? Kristen, I mean."

"I do, she's my friend, it's just, a little too much of her can be," she paused, "a toxic overdose. And when she's on a high…venomous overdose."

"Well, that's another thing, she just figured out that Zoey Brookes was the girl that dragged both Art and Chase Matthews away from her, and she's pretty vengeful and annoyed," Nate raked a hand through his long, sandy hair, "and she says she's got something Zoey might want back, and if she doesn't give her a place in the fashion show, she's going to expose it all to the school, apparently."

Rebecca stared at Nate in disbelief.

"And you didn't try to stop her!"

"Well, what was I looking for?" Nate said defensively, "Why on earth would I know what Zoey Brookes kept hidden?"

Suddenly, Rebecca's mind start working on overdrive.

She slid off the edge of the bed, went down on her hands and knees and peered under Zoey's bed.

The Converse AllStars box was gone.

* * *

**MrsLoganReese**, thanks for reviewing again, and here are your answers : Nicole's big plot is for something else, I don't want to give too much away but it does involve her casting for her line and Art's popular and good-looking sporting clique. Adrienne House was the current 'Number One' before Rebecca came, and she took place as 'Number Two'. Now that Kristen had arrived, she is now 'Number Three,' and not happy about it. And yes, Kristen is in to shake everything up, but she's been ready to go in for a long time, I was just waiting for the place to insert her. While she's positively unbearable at times, she does shine through and help some major plot lines along without realizing it…you'll see given time.

**PranksterPrefect**, thanks for taking the time to review, and thanks for the kind words. Much treasured. Here, have some pie.


	14. Persuading the Princess

"Eh. My. Word!"

Nicole looked around curiously to see who had just screamed this but she couldn't see anybody. She did though, see Rebecca cringe and recoil into her tray slightly, her eyes squeezed shut.

"Rebecca Sin-kuh-lair! Is that _you_!"

Rebecca turned reluctantly, wishing desperately for it not to be who she thought it would. A girl with face-dominating black Chanel sunglasses was posing by the foot of the cafeteria entrance stairs, jean capri pants, monogram striped loose vest and big, chunky, Miu Miu wedges.

"Please no…" Rebecca uttered under her breath. The girl whipped off her sunglasses to reveal bright, sparkling blue eyes with eyelashes much like Rebecca's. Even though she knew who the girl was, Rebecca pleaded silently that it wasn't. Her long dirty blonde hair fanned out behind her as she rushed forwards, embracing Rebecca in a tight hug. Rebecca was totally aware almost the whole student body who had chosen to eat breakfast in the outdoor cafeteria were staring at them. Even the ones in the indoors cafeteria, the girl had screeched it so loud.

"I _can't _believe you're here!" Kristen squealed, "Ehmaword, puh-lease tell me that you're here until graduation!"

Rebecca glanced apologetically to Nicole. Kristen noticed this, now averting her attention to Nicole, but still clutching Rebecca's wrist like she was worried Rebecca would make a run for it.

"Are you going to introduce me to your little friend?"

Nicole couldn't help but notice how stupidly pretty this girl was.

"Nicole," Rebecca said wearily, "this is _Kristen Williams_." She raised her eyebrows significantly so Nicole would know it was the girl they'd been talking about the night before, "Nate's step-sister."

"You have _got _to stop referring to me as 'Nate's Step-Sister'," Kristen guffawed, "really, with the ever growing status I've been working on while he's at school and I'm flitting about fashion capital to fashion capital like a fashion butterfly, _he_ should be known as 'Kristen's Step-Brother.' Anyway, Nicole did you say? Nicole what?" Kristen extended a tanned, soft hand out to Nicole. Nicole wasn't sure whether she expected her to shake it or if she was suddenly going to pull it back again and wave, Kristen was way too unpredictable.

"Bristow," Nicole answered as Kristen withdrew the hand to fix her belt buckle, "Nicole Bristow."

Kristen snapped her head up from her buckle and pulled a 'scandalous' face.

"Is this her?" She asked, poking Rebecca sharply in the arm, "Is it?"

Rebecca nodded uncertainly. Kristen was ecstatic.

"Ehmaword!" she yelled, her voice abseloutely dripping with upper-class English, "I have heard sooo much about you. From Art and the guys of course," she leaned in closer to Nicole, "Is my brother a good kisser? All his old girlfriends said he was terrible. Well, maybe he's progressed since then but…"

Nicole stared, horrified, at Kristen who was now flicking fly-away strands of dirty blonde back.

"I didn't kiss Nate, or whoever you're talking about," she said, looking desperately across to Rebecca for assistance.

"Kristen!" Rebecca hissed, "Shut up!"

"What?" she replied in the same, loud, obnoxious tone she'd used before. It seemed like Kristen had only one volume, and that volume was Extremely Loud. "She should be proud! My brother is kinda a catch! _Your_ brother," she hit Rebecca on the shoulder, "is possibly _the_ most gorgeous specimen I have EVER come across! Imagine if I end up marrying him! We'll be sisters!"

Rebecca smiled appropriately, but Nicole could read that smile, it was a 'oh super' grimace disguised by a teeth-flash. Kristen diverted her attention back to Nicole again.

"So you didn't kiss my brother?" She looked thoughtful, "I wonder why he said he did then. Wait, did he kiss you Becca? He said he did."

"Please, Kristen," Rebecca abandoned her tray on the slide and urged Kristen away, steering her with her hands on her back, "let's talk inside. Away from where everyone can hear your annoying loud bellow."

* * *

As Rebecca walked Kristen through the indoor cafeteria, muttering quiet curses under her breath, many heads turned.

"Woah, nice."

"There's _two_ of them?"

"Except in my dreams where I see them by billions."

Logan watched them pass.

"That new girl that Rebecca's with," Glen leaned back on his chair, "she's almost as hot as her."

"Who are you kidding? We all know you've got the hots for Zoey," Logan dismissed, looking back at Glen now that Rebecca and Kristen had left the room.

"Yeah, I do."

"And by pulling her best friend you assume she's gonna fall all over you?" Logan teased, picking up his bottle of water. As Glen continued, Logan tuned out and instead thought back to what had happened the night before, when he'd first seen Kristen.

He knew he could've been a little more smoother than stare avidly, but he couldn't help it. He was caught off guard by her, and even though he was in the middle of a hot and heavy session with Dana at the time, he couldn't stop thinking about Kristen.

He dreamt about her too.

He thought about her when he woke up.

He was thinking about her right then.

* * *

"Will you _please _not go shouting about Nate in front of everyone?" Rebecca hissed after pushing Kristen into an empty classroom, "And for the record, no I didn't kiss him, but I've got a feeling the rumor mill will be churning now you screeched out that little gem. Thanks Kristen."

Kristen looked haughty.

"Well, ex_cuse _me for being curious," she said moodily, "I just wanted to know, that's all."

"Well you can start by apologizing," Rebecca began pulling her hair back into two thick plaits, "and you can finish by handing me over Zoey's Converse AllStars box. Right now."

A scowl crept over Kristen's face as she flicked a piece of hair out of her face irritably.

"How do you know about that?"

"Nate? He's like a radio, trust him with nothing," Rebecca brandished her palm and held it in front of Kristen expectantly, "but hand it over."

"No way, it's got valuable stuff," Kristen looked at Rebecca, "come on Becca. We used to die for this kinda stuff. Remember when we blackmailed Jennifer Barkley into thinking –"

"Well I've changed," Rebecca interrupted sternly, "I decided the evil little rich girl wasn't really the route for me. I didn't expect you to follow my footsteps anyway, I see you're exactly the same as I left you."

"You mean drop-dead gorgeous and willing to fight for what I want?"

"No, I mean bitter and twisted. Come on Kristen," Rebecca's voice changed from stern to sweet and pleading, "it doesn't have to be like this. The kids at PCA are different, they won't stand for your kinda crap. You shouldn't be starting a new opportunity like this."

Kristen looked down at her shoes, twiddling her feet around and chewing her lip.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

Kristen shuffled and itched her arm. An unnecessary amount of fidgeting, Rebecca noticed, but then again, Kristen was never a girl who'd stand still.

"You think I should…change?" Kristen asked. Rebecca nodded. For a moment, both were silent, staring at the ground. After a few minutes, Kristen stood, and began walking towards the door.

"Well get used to the old me," she said, "cause I'm not changing for anyone." She brushed past Rebecca's shoulder and out of the door, pausing only to say,

"Don't take this as the end of our friendship Rebecca. I need you, you need me. Just take this as a warning for Zoey. If she wants her little secret box back, then she can do as I ask."

As she stalked down the empty corridor, she called behind her,

"Oh, and if she doesn't get back to me with the answer, then I'm going for the Big One. I'm sure he missed me, right?"

* * *

This was a chapter I had already written and uploaded now, I put it up shortly after putting up the previous one so I'll answer anybody's questions at the bottom of the next chapter. Thanks and pie, N x


	15. Game On

Two hours ago, Rebecca and Nicole told Zoey about Kristen and the box. Zoey had a first babbled speechless, before giving up and returning to her bed. The two girls waited respectfully for half an hour before they went into the dorm, giving Zoey enough time to pretend she was asleep if she didn't want to talk to them. However, when they walked in the room, Zoey was sitting in the middle of the floor, with the box in her hands.

"What? I – I don't understand…"

Nicole blinked at the box and at Zoey, then Rebecca.

"So…Kristen came by?"

"She came by to give me the box back," Zoey said, "she said someone made her think about certain things and she didn't want to start some new hatred towards two strangers, so she handed it back."

"So she's not doing the fashion show?"

"No, she is," Zoey said simply, as the other two's jaws dropped.

"You what?"

"What did you do that for?"

"Well, it was a nice thing, bringing me back my box, so I decided to give her what she asked for," Zoey shrugged, putting the box on the floor. The three girls were compelled in awed silence for a moment, before Rebecca piped up,

"So can we er, have a look at your box?"

"No."

* * *

"No…the murderer's in there…go the other way you STUPID girl, in fact, no just run out of Jacuzzi, _he will suffocate you with the plastic coating!_"

Zoey walked through from the bathroom in her pyjamas and sat down behind Nicole and Rebecca, who were sitting in front of Rebecca's TV.

"What are you guys watching?"

"Valentine," they replied in unison, "with David Borenaz. Scary movie. Total hottie."

Zoey tried to ignore the fact that they both sounded eerily distant and began watching the movie.

She wasn't exactly sure what had happened that afternoon, but Kristen had seemed agitated and jumpy when she knocked on the door that night.

Suddenly, Nicole screamed as the cupid-masked figure pushed the girl into the hot tub.

"I told you!" She cried at the television, shaking her head disappointedly.

"Dodge the drill…dodge the drill!"

But why had Kristen came to her anyway?

"Breathe through the hole…breathe through the hole!"

It was a really bizarre like 'nice' thing to do, and Kristen didn't seem the 'kind Samaritan.'

"Dodge the drill again…dodge the drill again!"

Zoey hugged her chin to her knees. _I guess I should be grateful she didn't spill the box everywhere, instead of questioning her actions._

"Jump out the tub! CATCH YOUR BREATH LATER!"

Zoey jumped as the screen began flashing with light as the girl in the hot tub was being electrocuted. Rebecca hung her head sadly.

"They never listen."

* * *

Dana watched Kristen through the crack in the bathroom door, busying around the room, fluffing up her pillows, smoothing out her duvet and hanging up her millionth jacket with a pleased little 'hmph' at the end of it all.

_She's so…tidy. It's annoying._

Kristen advanced to dusting the corners of her photo frames lightly.

_Who does she think she is, interrupting Logan and I without even so much as an apology! 'I don't make mistakes, I just correct them.' Ugh, snob._

"Are you almost finished in there Dana?"

Dana jumped at the sound of her name, but as not to break her cool and show weakness to the enemy, she strolled out the bathroom and closed the door.

"Why? Do you want in?" she said sweetly.

"No," said Kristen, who had now whipped off her sock and was painting her toe nails in a delicate rose that matched her lip gloss, "I was just curious."

_Curiosity killed the cat, bitch._

Dana smiled falsely and sat on the edge of her bed. She watched Kristen apply second and third coats to both her feet until she lifted her head.

"So, what do you guys do at night around here?"

"Cuddle cute bunnies, read nice little faerie tales and paint cute little pictures," Dana sneered, "That's what you wanted to hear, right?"

Kristen pulled a face.

"Oh, I see how this is going to be," she tossed her head, "room mates at war? Yeah, well, two can play at that game. Speaking of games…" she pulled out a hair slide that caused perfect, floaty, dirty blonde bangs to cascade down to her forehead, "does that guy come round here at night, you know, the one I er…made an impression on."

Kristen grinned evilly and sank back on her bed, laughing.

"You stay away from him," Dana spat, getting on her feet, "he doesn't need people like you in his life."

"Oh yeah? I'm sure he could tell you different, Dana. Or at least his trousers could," Kristen burst into maniacal laughter, clutching her sides.

_What the -? Trousers? Is that the English word for pants? WHY CAN'T SHE JUST SPEAK AMERICAN?_

"Oh you're so, so funny Kristen," Dana said sarcastically, cocking her head to the side. Kristen rolled over onto her side so she faced Dana and her laughter died down naturally.

"Oh honey," she cooed, "I told you two could play at that game. I told you."

"I know you did. I'm not deaf and I don't have amnesia, you said it just a second ago."

"So you're not bothered?" Kristen asked lightly, staring intensely at Dana.

_God this Kristen girl's a big old conniving bitch. Talk about Satan's Spawn._

"No," Dana lied smoothly, crossing her arms over her chest, "Not at all."

"Well then…" Kristen sat up on the edge of the bed, "I got two words for you."

"Oh yeah?" said Dana harshly, "and what are they?"

Kristen grinned wickedly.

"Game on."

* * *

**SingMeAnything** you aren't the first to loose words at Kristen's connivingness, she's a dirty piece of work who knows how to plan cunningly. **zxxbsmsgirl3148**, omg don't take all your anger out on your triplets lol, that must be a lot of anger if you're at loss for words hehe, and no YOU rock! Here, have some pie, N x


	16. Extra Cold

Zoey came down to the student lounge around noon, carrying a huge bundle of what looked like colorful paper. She spotted the gang sitting around the widescreen and walked across, sitting on the sofa next to Michael.

"Hey Zo."

"Good sleep?"

"It was okay," Zoey shrugged, "a bit restless. One minute I was too hot, the other I was too cold…but I settled down in the end." She looked at the screen. "What are you guys watching?"

"Scrubs," Nicole answered, lying on her stomach and propping her chin up on her elbows.

"What's that you've got?" Chase nodded towards the pile of paper in Zoey's lap.

"Well the top third are posters advertising the design competition, the middle third are model casting sign-up sheets and the last third's just telling people about the whole thing, the dance, the show etcetera, etcetera."

Rebecca and Nicole rolled back over so they could see Zoey clearly as opposed to looking at her reflection in the television screen as she talked.

"So when's the deadline for this design thing?" Rebecca asked.

"I dunno, like a couple of days because we have a lot of stuff to do," Zoey explained, tucking a strand of blonde behind her ear as she talked, "model casting, measurements, clothes making, you get my drift."

The girls nodded and went back to looking at the TV screen. Zoey looked around the group.

"Hey, where's Dana?"

"She's got Saturday detention," Michael said lazily, "she punched Jackson Rennison in the face."

"OhmyGod _why?_" Zoey's jaw dropped in disbelief. Zoey knew fine well that Dana didn't have anything to do with Jackson Rennison – and even Zoey had to admit, it was a real shame Jackson Rennison had been punched in the face; his face was something nice to look at while she endured two hours of home economics.

"No idea," Chase shrugged, "she just went up to him, said something about life science and then 'bam,' straight in the nose. Nurse says it might be broken."

"Which is majorly crap," Michael added, "because he's probably the best player on our team. Well, he's the tallest, anyway."

A silence followed this when the rest of the group went back to watching Scrubs. Zoey, however, scanned the group again.

"Where's Logan?"

"Still in the dorm. We left him just when he was getting up," Michael said, looking directly at the television screen, "he said he was going somewhere and we didn't question."

Zoey nodded and everyone else went back to watching the TV. She scanned the group again, and minutes later piped up:

"Where's Kristen?"

There was a general wave of groans and 'hmph's as the rest of the group grumbled about being interrupted for the third time.

"She's still in her room," Nicole said, her voice growing a touch stingy, "we went to go collect her this morning before you woke up but she was straightening her hair. She said she'd be down when she was finished."

Zoey nodded again. The group stared at her.

"Are you finished questioning?" Michael asked, "So we can watch Scrubs uninterrupted?"

Zoey smiled apologetically and blushed slightly.

"Yeah, actually, I'm just going to start putting these posters up around campus. Can someone help me?"

Chase shot up from his chair faster than Zoey blinked. When everyone else turned to look at him oddly, he said quickly,

"I er…well, I've already seen this episode."

Rebecca blinked at him.

"But it's new," she said. Chase blushed.

"I uh…saw it in my dreams?"

Michael, Rebecca and Nicole frowned curiously before slowly turning their heads back to the television screen.

"Are you coming Chase?" Zoey asked, clutching the papers to her chest.

"Yeah…hang on…I just wanted to see what happens here," he gestured towards the television. Rebecca turned again.

"You should know," she said simply, "you've already seen it."

* * *

"Can I please have a bottled water, below room temperature?" Logan leaned against the counter in the PCA school store, "It needs to be cold, otherwise I'm not paying for it."

The shop keeper glared briefly at Logan as he went into the store room behind the counter. Logan turned around and leant his back on the counter, scoping out everyone in the store. There was that red-head who he quite liked, Lisa A-Something, looking at the color selection of ring binders at the back of the store. Some curly-haired guys flitting about, trying to work out the courage to ask Lisa out or something. Logan sauntered over and walked past them, standing next to Lisa.

"Hey," he drawled, raising an eyebrow. Lisa turned almost as red as her hair and began fidgeting with her ring, coming over all dithered and flustered.

"Hey," she said back, biting her lip. The rest of the guys walked off, disappointed. Logan took a good look at Lisa's face. She was certainly pretty, but no prettier than say, Adrienne House, or Rebecca –

Logan's brain screamed.

_Rebecca? Did you just think 'Rebecca?' You meant Kristen. No! No you didn't! You meant Dana. Dana. Dana. Calm it, you meant Dana._

_I can't believe I said Rebecca._

_When I obviously meant Kristen._

_I mean, Dana. Yes, I meant Dana._

"I have to go," Lisa said, causing Logan to stop arguing with himself to look down at her, "Susan's waiting for me. Bye." She waved her fingers into a coy wave and walked away, clearly conscious he was still watching her. He sauntered back to the front of the store.

_Where the hell is my water?_

He looked around the store again. Shannon Sewell and Christina Carlton had walked in, looking at the PCA sweatshirts. Even Logan didn't possess the right amount of ego to go talk to Christina or Shannon – Christina used to be 'Number 2' on the List before she was knocked down to 'Number 4' when Rebecca and Kristen arrived, Shannon was once 'Number 3' but was now 'Number 5' because of the same reasons. Besides, they, and Adrienne House, were a year or two older than Logan and his year. But Logan could talk to Adrienne, because Adrienne was flirtatious and social. Christina, had a long head, a thin nose, big, round blue eyes and a small mouth – while this would look fug on some, she carried it off – and her natural 'look' seemed to be an intimidating evil glare. Shannon was like a big Barbie, but with darker hair. She was quiet, but the point was, she hung around with Christina. And Logan couldn't talk to Christina.

He watched them deliberate over the purple with the hood and the purple without before they each grabbed one of each and walked towards the till. The shopkeeper, probably sensing their presence, shot out of the back room to serve them.

"Hello ladies," he said, taking their sweatshirts and scanning them, "how's life treating you?"

"Eurgh, I have test after test, insufferable," Christina spoke in a cold, upper class tone, "and then all these little people – and being knocked down."

"She's so bitter," Shannon explained, handing over the money from her purse, "but basically, yeah, life's cool. We'll see you later." The two brushed past Logan and out of the store. Logan turned to ask the shop keeper about his water but he'd already went back to the store room.

"It's an emergency," came a voice he recognized, "I was straightening my hair and my straighteners cut out. It's really a social emergency if I'm out here, my hair only half done."

The voice was coming form behind the rack of t-shirts. Curiously, he crept up and looked over the top. He could see the back of a PCA store assistant but they were obviously standing in front of the customer.

"Please tell me you have straighteners…it doesn't matter if they're PCA ones. Though why you'd have PCA straighteners is beyond m…oh, so you do have PCA straighteners. Hmm."

The assistant walked off.  
Kristen, the straighteners in her hand, looked up.

"Oh," she widened her eyes at Logan, "didn't expect to see you there. Climbing the t-shirt rack. Hello."

* * *

I hate to give things away, but I introduced Christina and Shannon for a reason. They're not MAJOR characters, in fact, they are very minor characters, but they're Adrienne's friends and Adrienne is about to become major, and Shannon befriends Nicole _because of something Nicole does_, Christina...well, you'll see. **MrsLoganReese** thanks for reviewing again, and yes, Kristen is a bit of a man eater/serial dater. She likes all her options open so if she fails at something she's suceeded at another, if you get my drift. AND I CAN'T TELL YOU WHAT'S IN THAT BOX! I want to, but it's a secret that will unravel given time. Kristen knows a lot more than she should, let's just say. **Thank you for reading everyone, have some sugar, but thank you even more if you review, and if you reviewed, then have some pie** N x 


	17. 101 in Order

**Disclaimer : **I don't own Zoey 101 or any of it's characters (though I would like to own Logan. Mmm. Logan.) but I do own everything else! I also own a nice pair of big sunglasses, that I'm wearing right now, because the sun's shining on my computer screen and in my eyes. Ciao, N x

* * *

"Can you give me a lift up there? I want to put one up there so if you're walking along the footpath you can look down and see it."

Chase wrapped his arms around Zoey's knees and lifted her up.

"Just a little higher," Zoey instructed, reaching out with her left hand, two posters in her hand.

Outside, Adrienne House walked down the footpath near the soda place, looking down on the glass roof into another common room. She was surprised to see a blonde head bobbing up and down at it. Curiously, she bent down and peered through the glass. After a few seconds of observing, she knocked on the glass. Whoever was in the room, got such a fright that they dropped the blonde girl. Two people were lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. Adrienne opened one of the roof windows and peered down.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Sticking up posters," Zoey said, clutching her head which was reeling slightly.

"Let me see one," Adrienne put her long, slim arm down the window and waited until Zoey could collect one of each poster, climb on Chase's shoulders and extend towards Adrienne's outstretched hand. The posters in it, Adrienne brought them back up to her face, and Chase lowered Zoey down.

"You're doing a fashion show?" Adrienne asked, staring at the poster.

Chase looked up at a worm's eye view of Adrienne House. He hadn't seen her that close before, but he could understand why she was once 'Number One.' She was tall, thin, and un-classically pretty, with a weird but suiting nose and long, chestnut brown hair that flicked out at the edges.

"Yeah," Zoey called up, "you should try out for the model."

"I'll try out for more than the model," Adrienne replied, looking at the next sheet, "this design competition sounds cool."

Zoey hated herself for getting excited at the fact that _the _Adrienne House thought something Zoey had thought up was 'cool.'

Adrienne stood and waved briefly, before disappearing from Chase and Zoey's view.

"That was weird," Chase mused, collapsing on the sofa nearest, "she looked Amazonian from this view."

"She is Amazonian," Zoey corrected, "you should see her height when she's standing."

"So…can we please abandon trying to put posters up in oddly high places?" Chase began rubbing his knee, "Cause it kinda hurts."

* * *

Harry and Nate joined Art, who was standing staring at something on the boys' common room notice board.

"Dude, please do not tell me they're making us do ballet again," Nate grinned, looking at the sheet of paper as Harry edged in on the other side.

"Where have you guys been?" Art asked, looking at them both.

"We went to go visit Jackson in the hospital wing," Harry explained, "he's rough, man. I don't think he'll be able to play tomorrow."

"Crap," Art hissed, "he's probably our best player. Well, the tallest anyway."

"Anyways," Harry peered closely at the sheet, "what's this?"

"Model sign ups for some fashion show to raise money to go to Hawaii," Art said, looking for a pen, "I think I might sign up."

"No duh," Nate pointed to the sheet, "check it out. All the line casters are hot chicks. Zoey. Nicole. Rebecca."

"Dude, please, she's my sister."

"And Kristen's doing it," Harry said eagerly, "where's the pen?"

"Dude, please, she's _my _sister," Nate grimaced, handing Harry a pen.

"Guest designer? Who's that?"

"Well obviously they don't know," Nate rolled his eyes at Harry, "if you were any slower you'd be going backwards."

"Whose are you signing first?" Art asked before Harry made an imprint on the paper.

"Why does it matter?" Harry shrugged.

"Well, you sign who you like the most first, don't you?" Art asked, getting out a pen himself, then signing his name under 'Zoey 101,' 'Rebecca 101,' ("Only cause she's my sister, and I can hold a real long conversation with her.") 'Nicole 101,' 'Kristen 101,' and then 'Guest Designer 101.' Harry grabbed the pen next. 'Rebecca 101,' 'Nicole 101,' 'Kristen 101,' 'Zoey 101,' then 'Guest Designer 101.' Nate waved the pen in front of the sheet indecisively.

"I dunno, can't I just fill them in normally?"

"No."

He pressed his pen to the paper.

'Nicole 101,' 'Rebecca 101,' 'Zoey 101,' 'Kristen 101,' ("She's my step-sister, and like all normal step-sisters and brothers, we can't stand each other.") then 'Guest Designer 101.'

When he put the pen down and the guys walked away from the list, Harry began fixing the front of his hair.

"So, you have a thing for Nicole?" he asked absent-mindedly, while fiddling with a hair at the front.

"She's cute," Nate shrugged, "but it's really a tie between her and Rebecca."

"Then please go for Nicole," Art laughed, "because Rebecca's my sister. And you're my best friend. I don't need you two slobbering all over each other while I'm in the area. And in the holidays, she'd be like 'Nate this, Nate that.'" Art shuddered, "so go for Nicole, okay?"

* * *

Thanks for reading mon amigos, y'all rock, especially my reviewers! Smoochies, and have some pie, N x


	18. Saturday Detentions

"Dana, Dana, Dana, will it ever be thus?" Mr Kingsley, the detention monitor for that weekend shook his head disappointedly when Dana had walked in moodily, slamming her detention slip on the desk.

"What are you in this time for?"

"I got caught punching Jackson Rennison in the face," she shrugged. Mr Kingsley, a big fan of basketball, gasped.

"No! He's probably the best player on the team…" he looked down at the slip, "well, he's the tallest anyway."

"So he can't play the game tomorrow and I'm screwed for today," Dana waited patiently for the her assigned seat number, "so I wanna get this over and done with."

"How many Saturday detentions have you had this year, Dana?"

"Is it any of your business?" Dana sneered, taking the seat slip and sliding into the seat near the back of the class. The troublemakers, like Devon Huntley and Geena Shipman were always placed at the front of class, so whoever was monitor could keep a close eye on them. Non threatening detentionees, like Dana, would be placed at the back, so the naughtier kids could be strategically placed closer to the front. Dana looked around the silent classroom, to see who else would be suffering Saturday detention with her. Devon Huntley was at the front again. He was in Saturday detention so many times he never made plans for weekends. Charlotte Banmyre – a girl Dana knew only in passing – sat in front of Dana, her iPod headphones hidden underneath her long, dark hair, but visible only from the back. Dana hoped Charlotte would get caught, cause when people got caught listening to music or generally having fun in detention, Punishments (with a capital P) were made.

"I never expected to see you here, Miss Carlton." Dana looked to the front of the class, which everyone else had done by then. Christina Carlton, 'Number Four' was standing, tall, aloof and pissed off at the front of class, clearly not up for making small talk with Mr Kingsley. After getting her seat, she swanned up to the back, the 'First Timers' in the dark corner of the class, casted by shadows. Strangely enough, Christina sat down and took out a little table lamp before turning it on, as though she was aware people wanted to stare at her.

Dana went back to staring down at her desk. She could hear Christina drum her long, sharp fingernails on the desk irritably, and letting out loud, annoyed sighs every now and then before resuming the finger tapping.

"Hey you," she whispered, poking Dana sharply in the shoulder, "what are you here for?"

"Punched Jackson Rennison in the face," Dana hissed.

"I've been wanting to do that for a long time," Christina mused, "the team'll never win the game tomorrow. He's probably their best player."

She paused and looked down at her nails.

"Well, he's the tallest anyway."

"What are you in for?"

"Me?" Christina asked, even though it was obvious Dana was talking to her, "Some prep-push-up thought she'd be funny by spilling nail polish all over my suede Manolo Blahnik boots," even though Dana had no idea what Christina was talking about, she still listened, "on purpose. So I turned around and smacked her one."

"With what?"

"My school bag," Christina pursed her small little mouth, "right across the head."

"Is she alright?" Dana asked, not vaguely caring.

"Nurse says she'll come to in a couple of days," Christina shrugged, "I can't believe I got Saturday detention for it though, she was totally asking for it. The only perk is I can dress to the occasion." Dana noticed at this point Christina was wearing a black and white striped vest, a pair of black denim skinny jeans and black and white striped pointy heels, "I feel like a prison convict in all these stripes. I can't believe I'm wasting my Saturday in _detention_. I could be doing really useful things, like, internet shopping."

* * *

"So, why did you move?"

Kristen looked over the rim of her latté and across at Logan was sitting at the other side of the table.

"I never liked the upbringing at St A's," she said, "and I couldn't go on there any longer. Once Rebecca moved, I was thinking about moving, and then my other friend, Georgia moved and well…here I am."

Kristen began fiddling with her bangs distractedly. Logan watched her.

"Do you like it here?" He asked. Kristen dropped her fingers from her forehead and wrapped them around her latté cup.

"Oh yes, everyone here's so…" she paused to take a sip of her latté, "welcoming."

Logan felt himself blushing.

Why?

He wasn't quite sure.

* * *

As the credits of Scrubs rolled across the screen and the familiar banjo-like theme tune began playing : Michael, Rebecca, Nicole and Quinn (who had joined them shortly after Zoey's departure) began to stir.

"What's on next?"

Rebecca picked up the remote.

"Uh…Ellen."

Nicole snatched the remote out of Rebecca's hands and turned the television of quickly, causing all of them to sigh with relief.

"I should depart," Quinn fingered the ends of the french braids Rebecca had put in her hair during the commercial break, "I have an experimental project I'd like to get going. It's all about male and female relationship patterns."

Michael scratched his head absent-mindedly.

"You what?"

"I don't really have time to explain," Quinn said, standing up, "in fact, I shouldn't even have watched that episode of Scrubs, it's put my project back a whole nine hours."

The three blinked at her.

"You've only been watching TV for an hour," Rebecca said, slipping her shoes back on.

Quinn tapped her nose.

"Ah! So you think!" and scurried off. Nicole contemplated over following her but decided against it. One time, after following Quinn, Nicole came back with green, spongy growths on the side of her calves.

"I think I'll go find Kristen," Rebecca yawned, pulling on her light jacket and sunglasses, "check she's not dead or anything."

"Oh Gosh," Michael cried dramatically, "you care so!"

* * *

Zoey put up her last poster with gusto, proclaiming 'ta da' and doing crazy jazz hands.

"That's them all!" She cried, dancing around in a circle, not seeing the tape on the floor, stepping on it and crashing into Chase.

"Woah!" Chase threw his arms out to catch her, she fell into them roughly, looking up at him.

_This is the perfect moment, _Chase thought to himself, _kiss her. Kiss her._

* * *

Rebecca had no idea where she was going to find Kristen, and quite frankly, she didn't even want to find her, but she liked playing the 'good friend' role. Besides, she knew it was better to have Kristen on their side. She turned the corner and walked breezily down the path. She caught a quick glimpse of bushy hair. Presuming it was Chase (and where there was a Chase, there was a Zoey), she called,

"Hey, have you guys seen Kristen?" and jogged up closer. When she arrived, Zoey was lying in Chase's arms like she'd just fallen, and the two were staring at each other, their gaze uninterrupted.

"Ooh…I'm sorry," she giggled as Zoey bit her lip and helped herself up, "I seem to have uh…did you uh…did I interrupt something here?" she waved her pointed index finger between Zoey and Chase.

"No I just fell," Zoey said quickly, fixing her hair.

_What had just happened there? Did I almost kiss Chase? He's supposed to be my best friend!_

"Suuuuure," Rebecca drawled, nodding over-exaggeratedly and widening her eyes to make it clear she didn't belief them, "are you uh…positive?"

"Yeah, she fell, I caught her," Chase scratched the back of his neck nervously.

_Rebecca knows. Rebecca knows. Rebecca knows._

"Mmhmm, well," Rebecca pulled the waist line on her skirt up slightly, "I'm off. I'll leave you two to uh…" she paused for a second, before finishing on, "well, goodbye."

Chase watched Rebecca leave.

"Er, I better go too Zo, I have…homework to do," he lied, scratching his neck again. Zoey didn't question. He slipped off.

_Damn it! _He thought, _Rebecca knows. I could tell by that look in her eyes._

_Oh crap. Rebecca's Zoey's best friend. Will they talk about it at little girly night time discussions?_

_God I hope not._

_But I can't be too sure._

_I've got to make sure she thinks otherwise._

* * *

Sorry this was delayed, I had it done by like, six pm but I was too busy watching America's Next Top Model and CSI Re-Runs! Apologies, have some pie. **zxxbsmsgirl3148** I am totally honoured I'm on your favourite authors list! Thank you so much, you rule! And thanks for the hug too...**MrsLoganReese** also thanks for my story being on your favourite story list, and I don't think I ever said this but I TOTALLY love your name, because Logan is hot. Bad Boys. Mmm. I love y'all, ALL of you have pie, N x


	19. The Lunch Date

**Disclaimer**: I know I've already written some but hey! They're fun. I don't own anything Zoey 101 though I would very much like to own Logan. Mmmm. Logan. I DO however own my OC's, so ask if you want them in your story but I have no idea why you'd want to...ah well. I also own a delightful pair of giant baby boots that I am wearing right now because my floor is freezing. Read on, young grasshopper, read on...

* * *

Nicole and Rebecca sat down for lunch alone that afternoon. Dana was in Saturday detention, Michael had basketball practice, Zoey was inside starting up some sort of project, Chase had locked himself in his room (Rebecca had a sneaking suspicion why) and Kristen and Logan were nowhere to be found.

And no one really wanted to invite Quinn to lunch.

Nicole picked up and olive and began stabbing it with her fork.

"So, how's PCA been for you? Everything you expected?"

Rebecca pushed the salad to one side of her plate with her knife.

"It's been cool," she said, chewing on a lettuce leaf, "the people are great, the classes are awesome…well…except life science. I can't believe I took up life science," she groaned inwardly, "and it's too late to back out now because of that _stupid _project I have to do with Logan. If Jackson Rennison hadn't dropped out then I wouldn't be in this mess. Maybe I should've punched him in the face…"

She stared wistfully into the sky before shaking her head, and looking back at Nicole.

"Tell me something," she continued, "who's a couple here?"

"Let's see…there's Anna Gregory and Jackson Rennison and Christina Carlton and Jake Duvall and –"

"No, no, I mean, like between the gang."

"Oh," Nicole popped an olive into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully, "let me see, uh, well there's uh…hmm…well…Michael went out with a girl called Addie a couple of weeks back and uh…"

"So, no one?" Rebecca twirled her straw around in her mango smoothie, "Weird."

"Why? Who did you think were couples?"

"Well, first impressions told me Logan and Zo, but then upon meeting Dana and spending a little more time with Logan then the two totally want each other, and Chase, I think he likes Zo, I'm not sure…but I don't know if Zo likes him, you know?" She began laughing, "God this life is like a soap opera. We should pay people to observe us."

"It's interesting that you say about Dana and Logan," Nicole said, "the two argue non stop and bicker, bicker, bicker, but you know one time I caught them at it," Nicole sniggered and Rebecca gasped, "but they don't know that. The thing is they pretend to hate each other, Logan…Logan and you don't get along do you?"

Rebecca suddenly began choking on her salad and coughed it back up onto her plate.

"I hope you're not suggesting that -!" She spluttered threateningly.

"No, no, no I wasn't," Nicole said quickly, shaking her head and her hands, "Not for one second."

Rebecca felt a hand pound on her back as she continued to cough up various pieces of lettuce.

"Mind if we join you?"

"Well, if you promise to stop regurgitating salad."

Nicole looked up into the sunlight. It was the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen; standing in a line, the three best looking guys in their year, each with their perfectly styled hair and their casual, low-riding jeans…Nicole had to stop herself from drooling.

Art, Nate and Harry sat down anyway – Art sat next to his sister and began automatically beating her on the back, Harry sat next to Art, leaving a seat between him and the seat Nate was sitting in, which was next to Nicole.

_Oh my good giddy God I can practically feel_ _his luscious-ness!_

"Who's the seat for?" Rebecca asked hoarsely, as she massaged her throat and cleared aside the plate.

"Michael, when he gets back from changing," Harry said, cutting his sandwich into little pieces. Rebecca looked down with dismay at her plate, which was now covered in sticky shreds of green.

"I'm going to get another lunch," she announced, sliding the plate onto the empty table beside them. She stood up and walked towards the cafeteria line. Nicole had to exercise some serious self control not to just jump them all. Or stroke their hair. She couldn't believe how actually perfect their hair was. Not a hair out of place. She was tempted to ask what gel they used but was rendered speechless as soon as her nose smelt the sweet aroma of DKNY Be Delicious for Men.

_I cannot believe he is sitting beside me!_

Her head down, she silently began eating her olives. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harry and Art raising their eyebrows suggestively at Nate then at her.

_What? What's going on? Is it bad? Should I run?_

"Duuuuuude," Harry whispered, obviously thinking he was inaudible, "do it!"

_God I should run. Just up and leave. Find Rebecca and run like the wind._

Nicole put down her cutlery and scraped her chair back.

"Nicole! Don't go," Nate said quickly, pushing her seat back in so hard that it buckled her knees.

_Oh no, I'm trapped. I should shout for help. _

"I was wondering if...," Nate ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair, "you would er…and I, er…sometime er…well, would you?"

"Would I what?" Nicole asked promptly, "Would I eat your chips? Would I levitate? Would I what?"

Harry and Art sniggered evilly in unison, nudging each other in the ribs. Nate, on the other hand, was sort of flustered. And he hadn't checked his hair was okay for the last thirty seconds. Woah.

A Personal Best.

"Wouldyouliketogooutwithmesometime?"

Nicole blinked.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Wouldyouliketogooutwithmesometime?" Nate repeated. Nicole noticed Harry and Art had stopped giggling and were now staring at her, obviously waiting for an answer. Her brain however, was having a dither attack.

_Hold the phone!_

_Did he just ask me out? Did Nate just ask me out? Did Nate Williams just ask me out? Oh my good giddy God I think he did. He did. Nate Williams. The Nate Williams. The Nate. Williams. Ahhh…please, brain, make me do something normal. No mentioning of armadillos or similar – oh my good giddy God he's looking at me now. Right at me._

_Oh right, he's waiting for an answer._

_GIVE HIM ONE!_

"Uh…sure," she said, hoping to sound casual and cool, when really her brain was on overdrive and her heart was beating faster than a…

_Really fast drummer._

_Oh wait, Nate's a drummer. Score!_

"Cool," Nate smiled, showing off all his perfect, white teeth. Harry and Art did the same, going back to shoving each other in the ribs happily.

"Okay, Teeth Ahoy," Rebecca frowned as she put down a container of fruit salad at her place and slid into her seat. "Is there a reason for all the smiles, or should I just smile along too and ignore it?" She immediately broke into a plastic smile. Even though it wasn't genuine, it as still worthy of toothpaste commercials all around the world.

Nicole felt a bit out of place. When Rebecca returned, she felt slightly out of it. It was a tribe of 'Beautiful People.' 'The Pretty Committee.' Add in Kristen, Adrienne House, Christina Carlton and Shannon Sewell then you had the whole set. Those people were destined to marry rich and probably marry each other. Date the rich and date each other.

_Well what does that say about me?_

Nicole knew she was shorter than Rebecca, but that didn't bother her.

She probably had glossier hair anyway.

* * *

**MrsLoganReese** you rock for reviewing! And thanks for clearing up that 'lied' thing I was reading it and thinking 'WTF!' but it's all understandable now. And to everyone else, eat your pies and be merry! Smoochies, N x


	20. Hair Control

**Read Me :** Woah! The big 2-0. Chapter Number 20! I'm getting all excited. Right now, I'm all bunged up because of hay fever so…and I thought I should alert you all now. **I will be on holiday from the 10th of July to the 24th – **in Spain, the land of the colorful piñatas! So I won't be able to update then, but I'll try and get us much in so you have plenty to read while I'm away. Also, I may not update a couple of days after I return because my parents have very FOOLISHLY and SELFISHLY booked the holiday when my pre-ordered copy of Harry Potter 6 arrives at my house, and since I'm a total HP Freak, that will be read as soon as I come back. I might even out-nerd myself and post my comments on HPANA and Veritaserum forums. Ah, the life of a nerd is a good one.

* * *

**Disclaimer **: I WISH I OWNED EVERYTHING! But sadly, I don't own much, except the clothes on my back…actually, come to think of it, my parents bought them for me. How depressing. Anyway, I do own the OC's, and the title of the story, but obviously not the language it's in, because that belongs to the French. Sayonara and read on!

* * *

"The response has been abseloutely _immense!_"

Zoey sat in the middle of one side of the long, rectangular table. Nicole, Rebecca and Kristen sat on the other side, an empty seat beside Rebecca. In front of them all were little place cards ("Incase I forget my name," Rebecca laughed), a bottle of water and a plate. In the middle of the table, was a pile of notebooks, and to the right and left of this pile, platters of sushi.

"I put the posters up this morning and I've already over a hundred responses," Zoey placed her hands on the table, "but I've picked a winner already."

Immediately, the sushi rolled out of all three girls' mouths.

"Eh? I thought we were going to be consulted about this!"

"Don't we get a say?"

"Unfair," Nicole finished lamely, picking up her sushi moodily with her chopsticks.

"I was thinking about it," Zoey admitted, "but you guys just agree to disagree. Besides, they were _real _good. Amazing."

"Can we see them?" Kristen asked through a mouthful of rice. Rebecca grimaced.

"Sure…" Zoey lifted some notebooks and produced three sheets of paper, obviously photocopied previous to the little 'meeting' and handed them to the girls.

"These are good," Rebecca agreed, looking at the faux-fur collars and rimmed boots.

"Who designed these?" Kristen asked, setting the paper down beside her.

"Hey, sorry I'm late guys."

Adrienne House pulled back the vacant seat beside Rebecca and sat down. She shuffled it in, flicked her hair behind her shoulder and slid off her jacket. The three girls suddenly realized that to answer their question, they just had to look at the place card that read 'Adrienne' ("Aw," she said, picking it up and looking close, "it's so cute. It has my name on it.").

"There was this sale on at the PCA School Store for gummy bears," she held up a bag close to the size of Zoey's head guiltily, "I couldn't resist."

_Adrienne House did these designs? _Rebecca thought, _No way! I thought she was too busy curling her fringe._

"Anyway, I thought we could discuss what we need to design etcetera," Zoey continued once Adrienne had settled down, "the sewing department have volunteered to make some of the clothes. But we'll still have to make some. And we'll need to do castings as soon as possible, so we know our models measurements."

Adrienne slid a purple gummy worm into her mouth.

"I just want to say thanks for the chance to show my work guys. It's way cool –"

But Rebecca couldn't concentrate on Adrienne's words. She tried to, she really tried, but Adrienne's fringe was really distracting. It wasn't a normal fringe, like bangs like hers or Kristen's, and it wasn't sweeping, like Zoey's. It was almost bangs, except it had a lot more volume, and the ends were all curled upwards, hiding her eyebrows. Every time Adrienne moved, the ends would ping out of place then settle back down like a piano key. And sadly, Adrienne was the kind of girl who talked animatedly.

"I've been a closet designer for ages –"

_Ping-flick-flick_.

Rebecca tried to drag her eyes away, but anytime she would, another couple of hairs would pop up again, catching her eye.

"– it's kinda my dream, to let everyone see. I know they're elaborate, but I had a look at Becca's ideas and they're couture-esque as well, so I'm alright."

_Fringey-flick-ping-flick_.

_Oh my God just PIN IT BACK! _Rebecca's brain was screaming. She had to exercise every ounce of self-control she had not to open her mouth and say something. She knew it had gotten worse now, because Nicole was staring as well, and so was Kristen, who was still trying to pick up her sushi. In fact, the only person who wasn't phased was Zoey.

Even Adrienne was a bit put off, because she kept looking up at her fringe every paragraph or two.

_Cut it off! CUT IT OFF! _Kristen began pinning back her bangs, in hope that Adrienne would take a hint.

_I seriously doubt she could pin it up. It has a mind of it's own._

Nicole began rubbing her forehead.

"So…it's majorly cool and all. Maybe, we should –"

Rebecca scraped back her chair. Kristen and Nicole did the same.

"Sorry, I left something in my room," they lied, running into the corridor.

"That fringe," Kristen hissed, "is so annoying!"

"It's distracting it practically does the talking," Rebecca sighed, "what could we do?"

"If only she could pin it down," Nicole bit her lip, "but we have little chance sneaking a big piece of Sellotape around Adrienne's forehead."

* * *

The meeting excused about an hour later, (the girls had finally decided to bring everyone down pink baseball caps, forcing Adrienne to put hers on so it would control her maniacal fringe) the girls, with Adrienne, watched America's Next Top Model re-runs for a bit, before they all drifted off to other engagements.

"I have a date with Nate!" Nicole squealed excitedly, clapping her hands together and disappearing up to the room to get changed.

"Shannon's birthday's next week," Adrienne said, standing up, "so I gotta go and plan the party with Christina."

"I've gotta go do some stupid art painting for term credit," Kristen groaned, reluctantly getting up from her seat and leaving the student lounge with her school bag on her shoulder.

"We have English essays to do," Zoey told Rebecca, as she sunk further into the bean bag, "I wanna do mine in the room. Do you wanna join me?"

"Nah, it's okay, my laptop's down here," she patted her school bag, "and besides, a new Kath and Kim's coming on. I'll see you later Zo."

* * *

Okay, uneventful and kinda short but never fear! I have plenty to come, big, big plot lines. When I mean big, I mean immense. When I mean immense, I mean…er…actually I really do just mean immense. And shocking, so it's only fair I let the characters have a little bit of a rest with such trying times ahead. **MrsLoganReese**, thanks for saying I'm funny. I don't mean to be funny, but I'm just clinically insane, so there you go. Eat your pies with your whipped crème fraiche and be merry, joyful and Valhalla-bound. I love y'all, smoochies, N x


	21. A Study of the Term 'Date'

Nicole thought she looked good.

She had 'borrowed' (without asking, or Rebecca knowing) Rebecca's curling tongs (she didn't want to use Zoey's because Rebecca's were stupidly expensive, celebrity-hair-stylist ones) and had flicked a funny switch so her hair was wavy. Not as wavy as Rebecca's, whose waves were big and full of volume, but hers were smaller waves and cause her hair was cut differently from Rebecca's, it sat differently too. After a state of absolute panic proclaiming she had nothing to wear for the date, she had also 'borrowed' (in the same context) some items out of Rebecca's closet. The white slip camisole she was wearing sat at Rebecca's belly-button, but it sat past Nicole's hips. She didn't mind, because she teamed them with a denim mini (also 'borrowed,' but from Zoey) that looked about two inches shorter because the camisole sat on top of it. For shoes, she had had a problem. Zoey had miniscule, baby feet and Rebecca had the biggest feet she'd ever seen (well, something had to balance that height), so she ended up opting for a pair of kitten heels with a little sling at the back.

_No, I look more than good, I look hot._

She knocked on the door.

There was a sort of scuffle that Nicole could hear from outside the room, before the door flew open. She was about to say 'Hey Nate,' but realized it would be completely stupid and inappropriate.

Because it wasn't Nate at the door.

"Nicole, right?" Shannon Sewell leaned against the door, her golden blonde hair pulled back to reveal dynamite bone structure. She had on a blue, floaty Summer dress that made her look like a goddess.

Nicole nodded.

"Come right in," Shannon stepped aside, "gosh, you're a lot prettier than I remembered. I love your outfit, it maximizes your leg length by about, a million!"

_Is this some sort of weird date where there's other girls? Is she on a date with Nate as well? I don't stand a chance if she is. _

Once she walked past the tiny corridor that lead to the boys' bathroom on the right, she stepped into a big, vast room that reminded her of Room 101. Two walls were painted baby blue and the other two were painted green. There was a bunk bed and a single bed by the huge window that looked over the basketball courts, a wide-screen television on the drawers and some weird game console Nicole had never seen sat beside it. It was clearly a guys room, posters of Britney Spears and Amerie decorated one wall, and a life-size Ciara cut out stood beside the window. On the single bed, Art sat with a red-head Nicole thought was maybe in her math class. Lisa-Something. On the floor, Harry sat alone, with an empty space beside him. Shannon scurried past and sat there, resting her head on Harry's shoulder.

_What? What the hell is this? Where do I sit?_

"Nicole!" Nate stood up. Nicole grabbed onto the wall for support. He was wearing his usual casual low riding jeans so his Calvin Klein strip showed, a salmon pink Old Glory shirt with the collar turned up and he had his sandy blonde hair spiked at the front and longer at that back.

_Holy be-jebus in the name of Señior Lobsters food bib…he's gorgeous!_

"Glad you showed," he blushed before embracing her in a tight hug. For a second, she stood poker straight and stunned, but realizing that she looked extremely strange and a bit like a frozen fish, she lifted her arms and hugged him back. He led her to a seat on the sofa near the single bed.

"Hey Nicole," Harry lifted his hand in a sort of wave but did a manly 'nod of acknowledgement' while his hand was in the air. Nicole wasn't sure what to do. She tried to imitate him. He laughed.

_Okay, calm down. You're sitting in the Alpha Male's dorm with the Alpha Male and the Fifth prettiest girl in the school, who hangs out with Adrienne and Christina…calm. Calm. Find your inner self. Or Nate, whatever's closest._

"We're gonna watch Pirates of the Caribbean," Lisa-Something piped up, "if that's okay with you?"

"Yeah, cool," she shrugged casually, fighting the temptation to squeal, 'Oh my God I _love _Pirates of the Caribbean! Do you love it? I love it!' Shannon, funnily enough, looked like she was doing the same thing.

Harry, closest to the DVD player, slid it in and fast-forwarded it to the menu.

The guys must have had surround sound, because Nicole could hear water behind her.

Nate 'yawned,' putting his arm around Nicole's shoulders. Nicole felt oddly pressured, because Shannon and Harry were already making out on the floor, and Lisa was actually lying on Art, him stroking her long, blood-red hair. She rested her head on his shoulder lightly. The sweet aroma of DKNY Be Delicious for Men reached her nostrils.

She couldn't believe where she was, or what she was doing, but she knew one thing.

_Damn this guy smells good._

* * *

Rebecca looked at the assignment sheet again.

'_Define the term 'love' from a personal opinion. Any length will be suffice, as long as it is your work and your views. Your essay should include paragraphs, 1.5 line spacing, an introduction, conclusion and the title will be : 'A study of the term 'love' by (insert your name here)_.

"This is stupid," she sighed, sinking down in the bean bag and helping herself to some of the gummy worms Adrienne had left for her. "How am I supposed to know what love is?"

* * *

"What should I write about? How every girl just falls in love with me whenever they see me?"

Logan paced back in forth in Room 32. He was speaking to Michael in particular, but Michael had given up listening long ago to concentrate on his own essay. Or a game of Doom X.

The point was, Michael wasn't listening.

"Or how everyone just can't help loving me?" Logan continued, oblivious to the fact that Michael was pressing various buttons on his laptop furiously and hissing "Why won't you die!" at the screen.

"Or how I just ooze loveliness," Logan sighed and sat down on the edge of Chase's bed, "I can't think. It's so hard. Do you think Dana'd help me?"

At that point, Michael had obviously re-tuned in because he burst into raspy laughter.

"Dude, Dana is a cold, cold girl," he laughed, "ask Rebecca. She's really smart."

Logan grimaced.

_Hell will freeze over and be used as an ice rink for the clinically obese before I ask Rebecca Sinclair for any help._

* * *

Zoey's fingers hovered over the keyboard to her laptop, sitting on top of Nicole's top bunk. She hadn't had Room 101 to herself in a while. It was quiet, sort of nice. She put 'Ghetto Gospel' by Tupac and Elton John on repeat, at a low volume, so the room wasn't silent. It was the first time she'd listened to it where Nicole and Rebecca weren't singing along. Badly.

She'd also brought up a bag of lightly salted nacho chips, and a bottle of coke with lemon just to keep her company.

_A study of the term 'love' by (insert your name here)_

She stared at the title again. What was she supposed to write? 'Love is Evol spelt backwards'?

* * *

The credits rolled for Pirates of the Caribbean. The boys left the light dim. Shannon and Harry had finally parted. Lisa sat up from lying on Art and tied her hair back. Nicole didn't want Nate to move his arm.

_Heaveeeen…I'm in Heaveeeen…heavy-heavy-heavy-heavy-heaveeeen…_

She sung in her head, resisting the urge to clap or hum along.

_Doob-bi-do-do-bi-do-something like that, doob-bi-do-do-bi-do-big fluffy cat._

She looked up at Nate's face, just to make sure she wasn't dreaming. He was looking back down at her.

In fact, he wasn't looking down at her. Perhaps Nicole was hallucinating with sheer joy, but his face was coming closer.

_Holy crap! He's gonna kiss me!_

Nicole slid out from his grip, and began giggling nervously.

"I er…do you mind if I look at your bathroom?"

Everyone stared at her.

_What the hell was that? Can I look at your bathroom! Oh Jesus._

"Sure," Art said uncertainly, pointing down the little corridor, "it's just around there."

Nicole tripped down the corridor and into the bathroom where she slammed the door shut.

"What's wrong with me!" She hissed, "He was gonna kiss me and I ducked out!" She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked just as good as she had done when she checked herself in the mirror in Room 101.

"It's cause I don't know what to do if he does," she sighed to herself, "if he leans in, what am I supposed to do? Watch him? Sing a song? Lean in too? Levitate?" She let out a long, heavy sigh, "I need help."

She trudged over to the toilet seat (which satisfyingly enough, the seat was down on) and collapsed on it, miserable, her head held in her cupped hands, her elbows perched on her knees.

"I need help," she moaned.

_What's that?_

A flat, blue, rectangular object was sitting on the unit beside the sink. Curiously, she slid it along and sat it on her lap. The PCA logo shone through about a million cut-outs of Christina Milian and Hilary Duff. In the corner, ontop of them all read 'Harry Onslow.' Nicole's head suddenly kicked into gear.

_This is Harry's laptop!_

She flipped it open nervously, and turned it on, hoping it wouldn't need a password, or would at least have a guest feature. Luckily, it had neither. A screensaver, featuring all the contestants from America's Next Top Model Cycle 4 flashed up.

_Guys._

She double clicked on PCA Messenger.

_Sign in?_

_I think so._

* * *

Gosh, I'm so kind to you all. In lead up to my fabulouso holiday I have given you THREE new chapters. That just shows how much I love y'all. I'm a giver. **ConfusedMo** thanks for reviewing, the comments were reeeaaaalllly nice and I totally treasure them! And don't worry, Kristen is supposed to be... shudder . **MrsLoganReese** thanks for reviewing again. I've shouted you out so many times but you really do rock. **zxxbsmsgirl3148** you eat that pie with pride and tell Lucy to get her own! Thankies and pie, cremosa and glacial cherries, N x


	22. Hey, Message Me

**8.30 pm**

Zoey sat down at her laptop glumly, and stared at the unfinished essay open on Word.

_A study of the term 'Love' by Zoey Brookes._

That was all she'd managed to write. In three hours.

Knowing she should really get down to writing her essay, she guiltily clicked onto PCA Messenger.

**_PineapplePrep : _**Zoey? Are you there?

**_Zoey-b-Girl66 : _**Yeah, just doing English essay.

**_PineapplePrep : _**Have you finished it?

**_Zoey-b-Girl66 : _**Er…

**_Zoey-b-Girl66 : _**Yes. What are you up to?

**_PineapplePrep : _**I was watching 'Pirates of the Caribbean' with Nate.

**_Zoey-b-Girl66 : _**? That wasn't in the cinema today.

**_PineapplePrep : _**In his room :p

**_Zoey-b-Girl66 : _**Where are you now?

**_PineapplePrep : _**Still in the room. Well, bathroom, Nate's outside. Art came in too, man is he gorgeous. And so's Harry. I nearly drowned myself in my own drool. How gross is that!

**_Zoey-b-Girl66 : _**Excruciatingly.

**_PineapplePrep : _**What should I do? Like, if he leans in?

**_Zoey-b-Girl66 : _**Ride away on a rubber chicken?

**_PineapplePrep : _**Oh ha ha ha. You're so funny, I almost forgot to laugh.

**_Zoey-b-Girl66 : _**Yeah, I have that effect on some people. Ask Becca, she's the expert on sudden kisses.

_**PineapplePrep has left the conversation**_

Nicole clicked onto the left hand corner of her screen.

**_PineapplePrep : _**B? Help meeeee. I need your heeeeelp.

**_PineapplePrep : _**B?

**_PineapplePrep : _**B?

**_BeautifulLoser : _**What?

**_PineapplePrep : _**Oh hallelujah you're there!

**_BeautifulLoser : _**I was summoned to my computer by the constant 'ding' sounds from you asking where I was. Constantly. Anyway, how can I help?

**_PineapplePrep : _**I'm in Nate's bathroom.

**_BeautifulLoser : _**…

**_BeautifulLoser : _**Okay that's a new one.

**_PineapplePrep : _**And I've been watching this movie with him, Pirates of the Caribbean, omg Orlando Bloom is sooooooooo lush. I think maybe, he might want to kiss me.

**_BeautifulLoser : _**Who? Orlando Bloom?

**_PineapplePrep : _**No! Nate.

**_BeautifulLoser : _**Then kiss him.

**_PineapplePrep : _**But I don't know what to do if he leans in, and Z said to ask you.

**_BeautifulLoser : _**Oh.

**_BeautifulLoser : _**Yay.

**_PineapplePrep : _**So?

**_BeautifulLoser : _**What?

**_PineapplePrep : _**WHAT DO I DO!

**_BeautifulLoser : _**Just let him lean in the most then lean in like, a centimeter and then kiss him.

**_PineapplePrep : _**Just like that?

**_BeautifulLoser : _**Just like that. I'm sorry, but I g2g, am feeling v. guilty about not doing my English report. But I assume you've g2g too - wink wink

_**BeautifulLoser has left the conversation**_

Rebecca signed off and double clicked on the minimized word file in the corner.

_A study of the term 'Love' by Rebecca Sinclair._

She ran her fingers along the keyboard in hopes of getting inspiration.

Love.

What was love?

Rebecca almost laughed when she was given the assignment, how would she, of all people, know what love was about? She could imagine Chase's essay to be page after page of flaxen hair and girls who are compassionate and smart. Or girls with dirty blonde locks, that are neither compassionate nor smart but conniving, evil and had a sort of evil laugh. He was in love with two girls. Chase would know.

But Rebecca wouldn't.

Because she wasn't in love with anyone, and she doubted she ever would be. When people asked Rebecca out, it wasn't because they wanted to get to know her better or because she had a sparkling personality.

It's cause they wanted to be known as the 'owner' to the beautiful, tall, exotic girl who liked eating icing sugar straight out the packet.

_Ding!_

**_YouKnowYouWantMe : _**Hey jerk. Are you there?

Rebecca stared at the pop-up message with amazement, before typing rapidly and furiously. When she finished, she gave a satisfied smile and clicked 'send'

**_BeautifulLoser : _**Apologies, Logan, but no, 'jerk' is not here. The fabulously intelligent yet aloof Rebecca Sinclair is here though. She offers her condolences to Logan as 'jerk' is not present, and you have very out of control hair. In the mean time, Rebecca offers to send on your message to 'jerk,' though finds the need to note to you that the message would be passed straight onto the biggest 'jerk' she can find and the message indeed would be passed onto yourself, thus, squashing the point of Rebecca passing on the message at all.

**_YouKnowYouWantMe : _**………….

**_YouKnowYouWantMe : _**You're so annoying when you're angry. I hate it when you use long words.

**_BeautifulLoser : _**Why's that? Can't you understand them?

**_YouKnowYouWantMe : _**Gosh, you're hilarious. I was actually planning on asking for your help on the English essay.

**_BeautifulLoser : _**Like I know what love is?

**_YouKnowYouWantMe : _**Course you do, after all, you are in love with me.

**_BeautifulLoser : _**Please don't make me vomit.

**_YouKnowYouWantMe : _**You are in denial.

**_BeautifulLoser : _**You are insane.

**_YouKnowYouWantMe : _**Well, are you going to help me or not?

**_BeautifulLoser : _**Why? Can't spell your name? I–D–I–O–T, that's how you spell Logan.

**_YouKnowYouWantMe : _**Oh ahahahaha. You're so, so funny Rebecca. You just crack me up. How I wish I had your sense of humor. I'm being sercastic in case you didn't know.

**_BeautifulLoser : _**You spelt sarcastic wrong.

**_YouKnowYouWantMe : _**...

**_YouKnowYouWantMe : _**I did that on purpose.

Rebecca didn't know how to describe love, but she sure knew how to describe hate.

_A study of the term 'Hate' by Rebecca Sinclair:_

_Logan Reese._

A+ report, I think.

* * *

And onto the next chapter? Perhaps…once it's written…I wish I had a piñata right now. And a barge pole. In fact, they'll be a short delay in the arrival of the next chapter because I'm going to go out and buy a piñata from the Spanish/Mexican party store in town. I also have to write it, but after I buy my piñata and pole. Toodles. N x

OMG! Forgot to say have pie. Please forgive me. Have pie. And lots of it.


	23. Natural Suspicions

_Knock knock._

"Nicole? Are you alright?"

Shannon's soft voice made it's way to Nicole, now sitting on the edge of the bath. Nicole snapped the laptop shut and slid it back to where it belonged. She flushed the toilet, even though she hadn't gone, and washed her hands for good measure. When she opened the door, Shannon was standing, hands clasped at her chest and smiling sweetly.

"Issues?" She whispered with a 'knowing' giggle before bounding back into the room.

_What is she on?_

Nicole followed her.

"Sorry I couldn't find your…" she paused and searched her mind rapidly, "toilet paper."

_Wow Nicole. You've truly out idiot-ed yourself._

Shannon was sliding on her expensive looking blazer jacket and Lisa-Something was already wearing her bomber.

"We're just going to go," Shannon explained, "do you want to walk with us to Butler Hall?"

"Sure," Nicole shrugged, wishing she'd worn a jacket so she could put it on as opposed to standing and waiting. Shannon bent down and gave Harry a peck on the cheek.

"Message me, okay?" She asked rhetorically, walking over to Nicole. The three girls waved goodbye and left.

"It's so cute!" Shannon marveled, once the door was closed, "You and Natie!"

_Natie?_

"Oh…uh…yeah, I suppose so," she agreed, flicking a wave out of her face. She wasn't sure how Rebecca could deal with all those waves. They were annoying Nicole already and Rebecca had about thrice as many.

"So you and Harry?" Lisa-Something asked, wrapping her jacket tightly around her.

"Yeah, he's so cute. He just came up and asked me out," Shannon sighed dreamily, "it totally doesn't matter he's only like, a year younger or something. He's so fit though. I love his hair."

Nicole watched Shannon as she continued talking. She flitted her had about in the air and occasionally clasped them both together like a flower girl at a wedding. Not once did her wavy blonde hair get in her face. She was a walking Barbie doll.

_That's the kind of girl Nate should go out with. A beautiful girl. Not just a pretty girl like me._

"Oh no, honey," Shannon began cooing, wrapping an arm around Nicole's shoulders suddenly, "you look sad. What's buggin' ya?"

_Buggin'? Ya? God this girl is preppy. I hope I'm not like her._

But what was bothering Nicole? She couldn't say to Shannon Sewell or Lisa-Something. The point was, she didn't kiss Nate at the end of the night, after all the panic she arose in the bathroom.

There was a bang behind them. Nicole, Shannon and Lisa-Something kept walking.

_Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud…_

The thuds were getting louder.

"Jesus Natie," Shannon rolled her eyes, "you're soooo heavy on your feet."

But Nate was listening to Shannon's protests. He grabbed Nicole's shoulders and pulled her around.

"Uh…hi!" She whispered, attempting a wave but failing as soon as she looked into his eyes. Sparkling emerald. Like a jewel.

"Harry'd kill me if I didn't," he panted, still leaving Nicole in a state of confusion.

"What?"

She was answered by his soft lips touching hers.

_Oh. My. Good. Giddy. God! Don't gasp, whatever you do. Just…just follow his lead. What did Rebecca say?_

'_wink wink.'_

_Okay not helping. What else did she say?_

_Um…_

When Nate kissed her, Nicole felt like she was floating towards the heavens. She felt as though she was worth a million dollars and the most beautiful girl in the world. He pulled away.

"I have to get back," he smiled, causing Nicole's knees to buckle. She grabbed onto Shannon's arm for support. He did a 'Harry' wave and jogged back to the room. When the door shut, Shannon, Nicole and Lisa-Something began squealing excitedly.

"That's was so cute!" Lisa-Something clapped, bouncing up and down.

"Aw…it's so adorable! He totally digs you!" Shannon squealed, hugging Nicole tightly.

Nicole didn't know what to think.

Except she had to tell someone.

* * *

Kristen sauntered into the student lounge at around 12 pm. She was way beyond curfew but she had permission from her art teacher, the one she so drastically hated, the one that made her do extra term credit paintings of grapefruits and eggs.

The table still had the empty sushi platters from their little meeting that afternoon. She trudged past it, and through to the staircase.

One floor.

Two floors.

Three floors.

Four floors.

Upon reaching the fifth floor, she dragged herself down the corridor and stopped outside room 498 and turned the key in the lock. It was dark, and because Kristen had been absent from the room most of the day, Dana had left it in a total mess, judging by the unidentifiable lumps all over the floor.  
_God woman. It's called cleaning. Learn it._

She heard scuffling. Assuming it was just mice, ("not surprising, considering the mess this room is in.") she picked her way through pile after pile of clothes, narrowly missing falling on the floor as she skid on a stray book or two to her bed at the other end of the room.

_Ah. Bed. My bed. My nice, clean bed._

Not even bothering to stop, she collapsed onto the duvet and spread her limbs out so her toes touched the footboard and her fingers hung off the edge.

"Goodnight Kristen."

Kristen's eyes flicked open.

"What?"

"I said goodnight," Dana's voice carried across the room. It seemed oddly innocent and sweet.

_Something's up._

Immediately, she flicked on her bedside lamp. Dana sat up in her bed.

"What? What is it?" She asked quickly.

_Way too quickly._

Senses told Kristen to snoop. She sat on her knees, placed both hands on the edge of the bed for support and flipped her head over, staring underneath the bed.

She smirked.

"Hello Logan. Here for a nice midnight stroll, are we?"

* * *

**readerbsmsgirl1053** thank you, I did have fun with my piñata and my pole. I invited around my good friend Clank (Mafia nickname…) and we beat the hell out of it in my living room while listening to a Spanish CD in the background. Youth rules. And how cool would it be if the sky really did leak raisins? I don't like raisins much but I'm sure other people do. **zxxbsmsgirl3148 **I'd do anything for my loyal R&R'ers so yes, I did read and review your story. Check your reviews for my er, review! **SingMeAnything **thanks for reviewing again. You all are fabulouso. I'm leaving on Sunday morn, so there won't be much update on Saturday, cause I'll be packing, but I'll try and post as much as possible so you're not bored. Oh, and **readerbsmsgirl1053, **have a nice vacation! And I assume **zxxbsmsgirl3148 **is going with? If so then both of you have a bueño pie-like time, you hear? Thankies and pie, N x


	24. The Sunrise

The sun rose from the horizon of the sparkling ocean, the sand warm orange and the sky hot pink tinged with purple clouds. Rebecca hugged her chin to her knees as she sat on the tiny plant terrace outside Room 101 and 103. It had been a difficult journey getting on it, the window was jammed in 101 and her t-shirt got caught on the railings on her way over. Besides, it was around four o'clock in the morning. Before the sun began rising, it was pitch black.

The slight morning breeze tickled her bare feet and caused her hair to prickle on her arms. She liked sitting on the plant terrace. It was her own place, a rare feat to find in a boarding school filled with hundreds and hundreds of kids. She could see the world from here.

But she still didn't understand it.

* * *

Nate embraced the morning coldness and pulled on his jacket. He'd left Art and Harry sleeping in Room 74 around five minutes ago. He couldn't take anymore of Harry's droning snores and grabbed his jacket, slipped on some trainers and sneaked out the room.

He walked along the path that looked across the sand shores and the sparkling ocean. If you sat there in the morning, you could watch the sun rise.

He'd had troubled sleep. He had a dream, or maybe a nightmare, that he was dueling a masked figure, and Nicole was crying on the bench, but every time he tried to run over to her, his opponent smashed him in the face with it's sword. He'd awoken in such a cold sweat that once he'd wiped his face dry, his duvet was soaking.

As he walked, he thought about himself. Where he was. Who he was. Why he was the way that he was. His mind brought him back to his date last night, with Nicole.

_She was really off with me, it was like she didn't want to be there._

When he watched her during the day, she was full of life. She laughed at everything, she was hyper, she was kind. He'd seen her help a kid who was crying that she didn't even know. She'd seen her escort new kids around the school with bright smiles.

_And that's when she doesn't even know them. Maybe she just doesn't like me. _

Nate looked up to the sky. It was beautiful, a hot pink tinged with lilac clouds. He realized, by now, he'd reached outside Room 101, where Nicole would be sleeping, probably snoring and dreaming about shoes sales and jewelry give-aways. He looked up at the balcony, trying to imagine them all sleeping peacefully, but something caught his eye.

On the tiny plant terrace, between Rooms 101 and 103, a girl sat on an upturned plant pot. She was silhouetted almost, by the sunlight, but the warm orange rays caught the edges of her hair and limbs. Even though it was dark, he knew she looked beautiful; staring out into the sunrise. Nate watched her, he didn't know how long it was but he was perfectly content on watching this girl stare out at the sun. Then finally, still silhouetted, she stood.

_What if she looks down and sees me? She might think I'm a pervert._

He ran back to his room, never once looking back. As he sneaked back into Room 74, he wondered who he'd seen sitting on the plant terrace.

Harry had stopped snoring, a sock stuffed in his open mouth. Art sat on the edge of his bed, glaring over at Harry.

"I can see why you left Nate," he groaned.

Nate plastered his face with a smile, hoping it would satisfy Art and he wouldn't ask where he'd been.

"I'm just going to go back to bed," Nate said, climbing the ladder and pulling the duvet over him before Art could argue.

_Who was that girl? She was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. She looked so sad and so alone, so thoughtful._

_I must meet her._

* * *

**zxxbsmsgirl3148 **if you signed on as the wrong person then I sent an e-mail to your sister asking for the Love essay. Tell her I apologize and could you still send me it? Thankies.

Thanks for reading and reviewing. To **MrsLoganReese**,** zxxbsmsgirl3148**, **SingMeAnything**, and everyone else who reads my story, then I leave you with this until I return from the land of the piñata.

* * *

Will Kristen rat out Logan? Will Dana punch Kristen's lights out? Will Logan finally get together with Dana? Will Logan change his mind for Kristen? Will Rebecca and Logan finally get along? Will Zoey admit to Chase how she feels? Will Glen come forward about his plans? Will Michael finish that game of Doom X? Will Chase choose Zoey or Kristen? Will Kristen choose Chase or Logan. Or Art. Or any other guy on campus? Will Rebecca find that special someone? Will Harry stop snoring? Will Nicole be suited with Nate? Will Shannon throw a big party for her birthday? Will Adrienne get her fringe cut? All will be revealed, in a fortnight's time on 'Take Me Away.'


	25. Don't Shed a Tear

Zoey placed her tray down at the usual table, only the crowd around it seemed a lot more bigger than normal. It seemed that Art, Harry and Nate had temporarily ditched their popular jock clique (as they sat at a table not that far away, loudly discussing game tactics and whether chess could really be considered a sport) and taken up hanging about with the usual crowd. There were a few explanations for this; one, Art is Rebecca's sister, and they get on reasonably well. Two, Nate's going out with Nicole, it's only natural he'd want to sit with his girlfriend in the morning and three, well, Zoey wasn't quite sure, but she couldn't really be bothered to question it.

Another unusual fixture, she noticed upon sitting down, was that Logan was sitting beside Kristen, cutting up her salad and stirring her compressed apple juice every now and then so it didn't get puréed. Dana sat at the other side of Kristen, glowering dangerously them both. Rebecca and Nicole seemed to be in deep discussion about the latest Tom Cruise movie. Chase was asking Quinn a chemistry query he was worried about. The only person not involved in a conversation was Michael, who was too busy pressing the buttons on his PSP as fast as he possibly could while occasionally shouting things like 'Yes!' and 'Die! Why won't you die!'

And something else that seemed to catch Zoey's eye was that Glen Davis – the guy who had made such a fuss about going to a dance with Zoey ages ago, then continued to vie for affections since then – was sitting beside Rebecca, his fingers entwined in hers as he joined in Nicole and Rebecca's conversation (obviously not commenting on how hot Tom Cruise had become with age, but instead of the killer effects on the alien's lasers and the crumbling people).

"So Zoey –"

Zoey tore her attention away from Glen to see Art, obviously leaving the conversation Nate and Harry were having, facing her, and smiling his toothpaste perfect smile.

_Don't think that charm will work on me Art._

"– I heard about the fashion show, it would be awesome to work with you."

Zoey wanted to say something smart like 'if you make the cut,' but there wasn't really any point in saying such a ridiculous thing when Art modeled for Jean Paul Gaultier the month before.

"Mmm," she settled on replying, concentrating on her croissant.

_Why does he suddenly want to talk to me again? What's going on? It's not like last year when –_

She didn't like to think about it. She'd been foolish, she'd lead him on. But now she thought about it, he must've known. It was all around the school by dawn break.

_But it doesn't have to happen again._

* * *

"Miss Sinclair, you're late."

Rebecca looked at the clock on the wall. It was five and a half past nine. The class started at five past. No one had even got their books out yet, in fact, the majority of the class were still chatting and beginning to sit down. Jerome hurried her to her seat with a pained sort of expression.

_Oh so he hates me? Cause I think life science is totally lame?_

"He hates you, by the way," Chase whispered, watching Jerome return to the front of the class, "he was muttering at the staff table about how he heard you telling Zo life sci was such a lame subject."

"Only cause I'm partners with Señior Jackass over there," she jabbed her thumb angrily in the direction of Logan, who was just strolling in the class room now. She noticed that Jerome didn't bother telling Logan he was forty five seconds late.

"Since we have all arrived, I suppose _later _rather than never," he glared at Rebecca at this point, where she scoffed furiously, looking over at Lisa-Something who had just arrived on the word 'never.' "Jerome thinks we should all get to work on our projects. It'll be fascinating to watch your co-operation with each other, because you're living, and this is what this science is all about. And Jerome'll be able to see the good seeds helping out the bad seeds," he finished his instruction with another glance in Rebecca's direction. She sunk moodily into her seat.

To her complete horror, she heard a chair scrape closer towards her desk. So close in fact, she could smell the mixed scent of freshly-washed t-shirt, Right Guard Clear Protect deodorant and a touch of what seemed to be Dior Addict 2. Even close enough, for her to see the familiar, toned, tan arm stretch out onto her table and steal her pen.

"Morning gorgeous," Logan slipped the pen between his fingers, "how's Miss Sinclair this morning?"

"Late," Jerome hissed, stalking past and looking down at Rebecca snootily.

"Why are you wearing girls perfume?" She said coldly, sniffing a few extra times, just to be sure she wasn't mistaken.

"I'm not, I was just with this girl before class," he smiled cockily, "she was covered in the stuff."

_You big-headed idiot, crap-faced cocky little shitake, sad, annoying –_

"Are you hissing under your breath?" He asked with a frown at her face.

"Get lost Logan," she hissed, shifting up in her seat and taking out a notebook, flipping open the cardboard front page so hard that it banged on the desk alarmingly. "Let's just do this project. And then we're done."

"What shall we do it on?" he shimmied his seat closer. She scraped hers away loudly.

"How about, 'Logan Reese's total lack of capacity to give Rebecca Sinclair her space?'" She hissed furiously.

"I can't help it," he shrugged, "you're a pretty girl."

Rebecca looked like she was about to vomit for a second. She turned green, grabbed onto the side of the desk then eased herself back to her normal, enviable perma-tan colour.

"Are you going to repay the compliment?"

She stared at him then burst out laughing.

"I would, but you know one thing I learnt at the nunnery?"

"What?"

"'Thou shalt not lie.'"

* * *

Nicole art class was unsupervised. She debated on whether to go tell Dean Rivers that Miss Hannily hadn't showed for class.

_I mean, what if she like, fell and broke her hip? And she's rolling about on her back like a turtle right now and I'm not even calling for help?_

But she decided against the motion when she was Jackson Rennison sitting in the desk near the door. Sure, he was doing what everybody else _should _have been doing in an art class – doing art – but it appeared he didn't want to be disturbed in whatever picture he was doing. If Miss Hannily came in he'd have to stop, and if he ever found out it was Nicole that fetched her well…she knew Jackson didn't beat up girls but he'd seen the way he trampled that TLS Academy kid during last week's basketball game.

And she quite fancied keeping all her arm bones in tact, funnily enough.

The class was buzzing and loud. They had all split into little groups, throwing things, chatting loudly, shrieking mentally (except Jackson, who sat on his own, drawing). None of Nicole's friends took art. Zoey and Kristen had taken home economics. Rebecca and Dana had opted for life science. Quinn had laboratory time (not that Nicole was entirely sure she'd hang out with Quinn even if she did take art). Chase and Logan were both cooped up in a life science room. Michael, well, no one really knew what classes Michael went to now, but he would sure be accompanied by his Doom X. And when Doom X was rockin', no one came a-knockin'.

Glen Davis used to sit at Nicole's table, but only when they were doing exams. Besides, just because she talked to him over breakfast about War of the Worlds did not mean they were suddenly hanging buddies. Glen sat over with the Alpha Males, Nate and Art (she thought maybe Harry had taken life science as a soft option).

"Nicole!"

She turned at the sound of her name.

_Speak of the devil._

Glen was beckoning her over, patting the seat beside him invitingly. Obediently, she trudged across and sat in the seat. Girls stared at her enviously.

"Hey," Art drawled to no one in particular, "where's Miss Hannily?"

_He certainly isn't the sharpest pin in the tin if he just noticed that now, but hey. He's cute as hell._

"Sick, maybe," Nate shrugged, "but it doesn't matter, we can have a free period, I mean, art exam and all."

Nicole tried not to blush when Nate smiled over at her. She'd never met anyone in her life so fictional. She'd read about tanned surfer-gods with honey golden skin, perfect sandy blonde hair and big, emerald green eyes but she never thought things like that were real.

_But hey, I never read about those fantastic cheekbones either._

"Are you going out with my sister?" Art asked suddenly, looking up from the table and straight at Glen. Nicole and Nate slyly stared at Glen too, curious for an answer.

"I asked her," he said, failing to hide the blush that was creeping on his cheeks, "and she said she'd think about it."

"So why were you holding hands with her at breakfast?" Art persisted. Glen shrugged.

"I dunno, I just grabbed it."

Art didn't seem at all satisfied by this, and returned to looking down at the table muttering something under his breath.

"Don't tell me you have a problem with it!" Glen laughed, punching Art in the shoulder playfully. Art didn't laugh.

"It's just that you screw up a lot of girls," he said, a deadly look glinting in his sapphire blue eyes, "Zoey, Lisa-Something, Susan-Whatchermicallit, Elisha Brantley…I could go on, but if you dare even make Rebecca shed one tear," he looked away for a second thoughtfully. "I'll rip your head off."


	26. Unravelling Pasts, Discovering Dreams

"And then lightly sprinkle the top with icing sugar and," Mrs Cooke, the home economics teacher threw both hands up in the air, "ta-da! You're perfect, classic-home made style brownies. Cooke family recipe. Now, I'd like you all just to get straight to work on that. There are eggs in the fridge, and obviously if you are allergic to nuts, then don't add them."

As Mrs Cooke busied herself off to the front of the class to read her 'Home and Leisure' magazine – the usual routine – Zoey fished out her apron and her bowls from the cupboard to her right.

"I haven't made brownies since I was like, seven!" Kristen mused, tying her own Louis Vuitton monogrammed apron around her back, a big grin spreading across her face. "This'll be so awesome!"

Zoey smiled back politely. It wasn't exactly that she didn't _like _Kristen, she had no reason to, but ever since Chase told her what a milestone in Chase's life Kristen was, she'd been aware of how she'd flirt with him constantly, how she'd always look good no matter what she did, how she'd always laugh at his jokes and how she'd always speak in a deep sort of English rasp that drove the guys at PCA wild.

"So…you and Chase, right?" She asked casually, while extracting the large, steel whisk from the cupboard.

"Wrong," Zoey replied, fishing out the same utensil, "And we never have been."

"I see…" to Zoey's relief, Kristen left the table unit for a brief moment to find a bag of flour and some sugar. As half the guys in the class immediately realized they all needed to get sugar and flour at the _exact _same time as Kristen at the exact same dispenser, Zoey had a little quiet time to herself.

_What does she mean by 'I see…'? No, in fact, what did she mean by asking the question in the first place? What is she up to?_

A little voice in Zoey's head began laughing.

_She's up getting flour, that's what she's up to. Calm down. Why are you acting so freaked out? You obviously don't care that much about Chase considering what you did last year._

Zoey didn't want to think about what had happened last year. Even though she forced herself to come to terms with it, she was still pretty messed up. Even now, at 16, Zoey didn't really understand it all.

It seemed Kristen was now three steps ahead of Zoey. Zoey, usually being the best in class at home economics, decided to get straight down to work.

"So you met Chase when you moved here, right?" Kristen asked, sliding in a slab of creamed butter with a butter slice.

"Yeah."

"He's really cool," she continued, now cleverly heating it slightly with a hand held mini-food iron before beginning to whisk, "all the guys here are. Michael rocks. I had a lengthily conversation with him yesterday about Doom X. He even let me try a little bit. It's alright, but I prefer my platform action games."

Zoey didn't know what to say to this, in all her time at PCA she had not once talked about video games with Michael. A whole lot of other things, but not his burning passion.

And Kristen had been here, what? A week?

"What about Logan?" Kristen got out the hand-held whisk and plugged it into the other side of the unit, "I mean…well…" she laughed lightly as she slid on a pair of clear goggles, "I suppose I met him at a bad time. Him and Dana were…well, who knows really? I think I interrupted it right before they were about to fu –"

_Brrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmm._

Kristen's word was droned out by the loud rumble of her hand held whisk, but her throaty cackle rose above it eerily.

Zoey took this as an opportunity to try and decipher what Kristen had just told her. By the look of pure innocence on her face as she whisked away at her brownie batter, Zoey assumed Kristen didn't know about what had happened the year before either.

The year before was an estranged one, but Zoey didn't want to delve into that part of her memory. She'd locked it up for good. She didn't intend on visiting it again.

Zoey didn't want Chase, but she didn't want Chase with anyone else. Especially not Kristen, who she was sure he would jump at the chance of. Fair enough, if Chase started dating a total mouse with boring hair and average looks, or even a stupid common bimbo, but Kristen was neither of these. Kristen stopped people in the street with a flick of her hair. All the boys were sneaking glances at her as she whisked away, trying to work up the courage to say something. Kristen's teeth were perfectly straight and painfully white. Kristen's eyes were the same emerald green as her step-brothers. Kristen was – quite frankly – to die for.

_And I'm not._

* * *

"So what do I write here?"

Chase stared at Harry disbelievingly.

"Are you having a laugh?" he said weakly. Harry just blinked at him. He took this as a no.

"Your name," Chase pointed down to the paper, "that's why it says 'insert your name here.'"

Harry looked at the paper blankly for a few seconds before suddenly nodding.

"Ahhh! I see!" He smiled, knocking Chase in the ribs sharply. The people who Harry would usually do this to, i.e, Art, Nate, Jackson etc would have six-pack steel re-inforced ribs cages and could take the blow. To Chase, the blow stung like he'd been set on fire. He rubbed it sheepishly.

_At least I'm having a better time than Bee._

* * *

Ten minutes ago, Rebecca had realized trying to discuss any subject that didn't involve mindless violence or naked girls with Logan was a complete disaster. She made him promise to meet her in the library for regular sessions in studying. At least, in the library, they wouldn't have to talk. Now, the two were sitting not that far apart, Rebecca seemingly asleep on the desk, looking opposite Logan and Logan trying to talk to her.

"I bet you'd look nice in yellow," he said, "in fact, wear that yellow and grey jumper tomorrow and that really short denim skirt and then we're alright."

"And how about," she said into her arm, but loud enough so he could hear her, "you wear that delightful little gingham frock of yours with the cute little Spanish tap shoes?"

* * *

Even from where she was sitting, she could tell he was glaring at her.

From across the room, Dana could tell that Logan and Rebecca weren't working on their life science project. In fact, they just weren't working at all, just exchanging cunning banter, each more insulting than the next.

_That's supposed to be me he insults! It's our little thing. Not Princess BitchBecca…_

Dana knew she was being spiteful, because Rebecca had done nothing to Dana, said nothing to Dana, to call her names. She refused to accept she was jealous as well. Jealousy was a sign of weakness, and Dana was not weak.

For a second, it looked like Rebecca and Logan both laughed together, then, noticing each other laughing, set themselves into stony silence.

_She's gone way too far._

As Kingsley Correster wrote out a questionnaire for Dana to fill in at certain points of the week, Dana allowed herself to speculate a little. Besides, Logan and Rebecca had retreated to turning on their laptops and staring at the screens. There was nothing interesting to hiss about.

She supposed it was part of her doing that caused Logan and her to be so estranged now. She knew really, it was both on their parts, but if she'd maybe softened up a little, then…

_It's useless thinking of hopeful dreams. What's been has been._

_Last year was a disaster._

* * *

Rebecca thought she'd take another crack at that love essay thing. She hadn't progressed any more on it that night she'd gorged herself out on gummy worms. She was about to open the file when a window popped up on top of it.

**PCA Messenger…………..(close pop-up)**

**YouKnowYouWantMe says : **I need to

know what you know.

She double clicked the top bar so the message extended.

_About what? Lion taming? Hair styling? The Pythagorean Theorem?_

**BeautifulLoser : **About what?

Rebecca tried to look quizzically over at Logan, but he continued to stare at his screen.

**YouKnowYouWantMe : **About Dana, and Zo, Nicole, Chase, Me…last year.

**BeautifulLoser : **Well I wasn't here last year, was I?** YouKnowYouWantMe : **Your brother too.

**BeautifulLoser : **…

**YouKnowYouWantMe : **I bet he came home all upset and distraught.

**BeautifulLoser : **That's none of your business.

She went to sign out of the conversation, but Logan must have seen her.

**YouKnowYouWantMe : **No! Don't go, I need to talk to you.

**BeautifulLoser : **Then talk to me.

**YouKnowYouWantMe : **I am.

**BeautifulLoser : **I mean to my face. I'm sitting right next to you Logan.

**YouKnowYouWantMe : **Can't be overheard.

**BeautifulLoser : **By who?

**YouKnowYouWantMe : **Chase, Dana...Harry…etc…mostly Dana, cause she's got a mean left hook.

**BeautifulLoser : **Alright then. Speak.

**YouKnowYouWantMe : **Surely you know just a little about last year?

**BeautifulLoser : **All I know was that Zo dated my brother for a bit.

**YouKnowYouWantMe : **Well, do you want to know the whole story?

**BeautifulLoser : **Why? Why are you doing this?

**YouKnowYouWantMe : **If I tell you the story, then you get your friend Kristen to drop the slave deal –

**BeautifulLoser : **Oh wait, you were skulking about under her bed weren't you, you weirdo.

**YouKnowYouWantMe : **You tell Dana you don't like me -

**BeautifulLoser : **Gross, I don't like you anyway!

**YouKnowYouWantMe : **- and you owe me a massive favor when needed.

**BeautifulLoser : **Sounds like a stankball deal to me.

**YouKnowYouWantMe : **I'll tell you why Kristen knows about the shoebox, and what some people really think of you.

**BeautifulLoser : **...

**BeautifulLoser : **shoebox?

**BeautifulLoser : **...

**BeautifulLoser : **Okay, but you better hold up your end of the deal.

**YouKnowYouWantMe : **It's alright, I'll tell you right now, it was last year, well, last Easter term, edging onto Summer…


	27. Memory Lane Part 1

Before we start I'd just like to apologise for not doing my usual shoutouts. I've just been writing writing writing and get a little sidetracked because I really need to update it all so it's fresh in your minds for the next part...but whatever, after the Memory Lane Parts I will resume my usual shout outs, and on my last Memory Lane Part, I will shout out too. Adios, N x

* * *

** Last Easter **

* * *

The scorching afternoon of the hottest Easter PCA had ever seen was drawing to a close. The sky was beginning to tinge with a dark red, signaling the distant calling of dawn, as the sun began setting over the inviting blue ocean.

Zoey, Nicole, Chase, Dana, Logan and Michael were sitting on the edge of the PCA beach around a big, soda cooler, their feet all stuck in the ice. The girls were glowing in their bikinis, Nicole and Zoey were trying to tan while Dana was more concerned on looking aloof. Logan was tanning as well, as was Chase, but Michael was reading a magazine he'd picked up on the way over.

"Awesome. This game called Doom X is coming out next year," he marveled, "it looks gory."

"I hope you don't get obsessed with it," Dana frowned, "a la Ratchet and Clank 2."

"Hey hey, I don't get obsessed with anything. I just got involved that's all. I mean, it's totally normal for a guy to not sleep for a week on the verge of completion of probably the hardest platform game ever. I don't get obsessed, in fact, I might not even play it." He set down the magazine onto the hot sand, "In fact, just to prove you wrong, I won't even buy Doom X."

Chase rolled over on his towel, so he was stomach down. If he turned like this every now and then, he could see Zoey sunbathing. Chase had to admit the girl that probably looked the best on that beach that afternoon was Dana, but no one else saw Zoey the way he saw her.

"Hey Mike!"

A group of three boys, the two at either side reasonably tanned, the one in the middle obviously was a permanent coffee-colour sort of skin tone approached in dark swimming trunks, their wet hair flopping in their eyes. Behind them, was a consort of giggling girls. Adrienne, Shannon, Christina and the rest of the 'Pretty Clique' were eyeing them up from the waves.

"You heard about the new Doom X game coming out?" Nate Williams asked, running his hand through his sandy blonde hair, spraying Nicole with drops of water, "It looks violent."

"All the more better," Michael grinned, "but I can't buy it. I'm proving a point."

Harry eyed Dana who was sitting defiantly on the towel at his feet.

"Looking good there Cruz," he nodded approvingly. Dana scowled.

A tall, towering dark guy with big, round almond shaped eyes and muscular, tight legs strolled up to them all, rivulets of water dripping down his toned, fit frame. Many of the girls broke into more fits of giggles.

"Rennison," Michael nodded in acknowledgement.

"Barret," Jackson returned, then turning his attention to Art and his consort.

"Waves are awesome," he rasped, "you don't wanna miss 'em."

"You heard the hulk," Nate shrugged, ruffling his hair again, "I'll see you later Mike."

Jackson, Art and Nate began to saunter off, the girls right behind them. Harry stayed still for a bit.

"Are you coming Onslow?" Jackson boomed.

"I'll catch up with you guys in a minute, I'm just going to talk to Mike and that," Harry waved them off, taking Quinn's empty towel and dragging it near Michael, Dana and Chase.

"Wicked Summer, huh?" He mused, shimmying into a comfortable position, "Good weather. For chicks in bikinis."

Dana rolled her eyes and stood up.

"I'm going to see Alex," she said, indicating towards a tall, Chinese girl with long raven hair that reached the small of her back, before walking off. Logan stirred from his tanning position, propping himself up on his elbows.

"You dig her, right?" Harry asked casually, picking the sand out between his toes, as Logan shook his head furiously, "No point denying it Reese. You got to remember other guys like Dana too. We've been waiting kinda respectfully for you to jump her already. Well, except Art."

"Why?"

"He's got the hots for Miss Southern Sunshine over there," he nodded towards Zoey, who luckily, was asleep. Chase turned a deep scarlet.

"Woah…" Harry looked at Chase's cheeks, "sun stroke?"

"No I just er –"

"HARRY!" A brunette, with slender legs and a thick, Spanish accent was waving and shouting from the tips of the waves, "COME SIT!"

"Sorry guys," Harry began to stand, "but that's Nina calling for me. Spanish exchange student. Won't go in the water. Looks brilliant wet so I might just go chuck her in. S'later."

Harry jogged off into the sand. For a while there was a silence between the group away from the waves, punctuated only by what could be presumed to be Nina's protesting shrieks and then a loud 'splash.'

Zoey rolled over on her towel, so she was facing inwards to Nicole. Nicole was already staring at her expectantly.

"OhmyGod girl, did you hear that?" She hissed quietly, "Art Sinclair totally has the hots for you!"

Zoey blushed.

"I heard."

"So you gonna act on it?" Nicole asked eagerly.

Zoey bit her lip. She didn't mind that Art liked her. Fair enough, Art was an extremely good-looking guy that girls dreamed of having him crushing on them, but Zoey didn't care about Art.

Well, maybe a little.

* * *

As the lights began flashing drastically and the hall was plunged into darkness; Zoey, Nicole, Dana, Michael, Chase and Logan walked in through the swinging doors. They were greeted by loud screams – not screams of horror or terror but jovial screams along to the loud music which was pumping out of the DJ's speakers.

In the middle of the dancefloor, Adrienne and her clique were already dancing with the 'Popular and Good-Looking Sport-Player' Clique. Quinn was standing by the refreshments table, a large bowl of something neon yellow by her side as she tipped in various test tubes and shakers. Zoey and Nicole went over to see her.

"Hey guys," she said vaguely when they approached, "I like your trousers Zo."

Zoey looked down. She was wearing a dress.

"Riiiight," she peered over the bowl on her tip-toes, "what's that you've got there?"

"I'm trying to concoct a liquid that tastes different to everyone," she breathed, wiping beads of sweat from her forehead, "I was asked to do refreshments that would suit everyone so I decided to have a go at this. I've been working on it ever since I came to PCA. I'm just putting it together…"

"What, you mean like it may taste like marshmallows for Zoey and lima beans for me?" Nicole frowned, fixing the ribbon tie on her own dress.

"No," Quinn said irritably, as though the whole thing was as simple as knowing your alphabet, "the potion –"

"Hang on a minute!" Nicole interrupted hastily, "_Potion_? That makes it sound scary and very, very bad. Like magic, Quinn, this is PCA. Not Hogwarts."

"As I was saying," she continued, ignoring Nicole's outburst, "the concoction is made so it will taste whatever entices you the most. For me," she dipped her finger in, "it tastes like plutonium, salted crystals and disinfectant."

The girls pulled disgusted faces.

"No, it's actually quite appetizing," Quinn insisted, dropping three more drops of green liquid in. The contents inside the punch bowl began steaming and swirling. Quinn grinned manically.

"Yes!" She cried, "It's aliiiiiive!"

Nicole shot a worried glance at Zoey, a 'on-the-count-of-three-we-run' sort of glance. Zoey nodded.

"One…two…" Nicole began.

"Taste it!" Quinn shoved a spoon into Nicole's open mouth. At first she began gagging but then her expression softened.

"Mmm…tastes like…candy-flavored lip gloss, DKNY Be Delicious for Men, and…and…styling gel."

Zoey grimaced.

"No Zo, it tastes real good!" She licked her lips, "Like…it tastes like heaven. Try some."

Zoey gingerly dipped in her finger in the potion and licked it reluctantly. It happened all at once, the smooth, sweet taste of honey from the garden at home, the warm sea breeze at the beach at sunset and…she blushed as she recognized the last taste.

Freshly washed t-shirt mixed with Lynx deodorant and a sort of chocolate-y aroma…

"What does yours taste like?"

"Honey…" she said, licking her finger again, _from the yard back home, _"sea breeze," _from the shore down from PCA _"and…uhm…"

_Chase._

* * *

Michael had disappeared long ago with a girl Logan vaguely knew as Addie Rennison or something. He would have been jealous, because Addie was looking particularly nice that night in a short, little black dress and her hair set into angelic blonde curls, but he had something better right by his side.

"Want to dance?" He asked casually. Dana sneered at him. "I mean, we just look like total idiots standing here."

Dana glared at him again.

"Excuse me," she said stiffly, "but I don't really remember giving you permission to speak to me."

This didn't deter Logan.

"I love the way you tease me," he knocked her chin lightly, she pushed away, swatting with her hands, "come on, dance with me. You know you want to."

She stared coldly at his outstretched hand, perfectly aware that other girls were now staring on enviously. A red-head was glaring over in Dana's direction.

_Hey, well, if you don't want to dance with him, do it for the jealousy points. _

She slapped her hand down like it was some big chore and allowed Logan to drag her onto the dancefloor. When they got there, she put her arms around his neck awkwardly, and he slid his arms around her waist. They slid down.

"Hey!" She said, slapping them, "Hands up!"

She felt them recline back up her back. Logan grinned at her.

"Why do we even bother Dana?" He said, rotating her slowly, "We both know we like each other."

"Do not," she said stubbornly, hating herself for lying to someone she cared about.

"Don't pretend," he continued, "I know you want me. I've read your journal. I've watched the way you look at me. I've talked to your frie-"

Dana shot back out of his grip.

"You read my _journal_?" She screeched disbelievingly, widening her almond shaped arms alarmingly, "What is wrong with you! Ever heard of privacy?"

"Shhh, now now babycakes," he took her back in his arms. She stood stiffly, like a wooden plank.

"Don't call me babycakes," she hissed.

"Don't pretend you don't like it," he whispered in her ear, so close, she could feel his breath making her short hairs prickle.

_Please, don't do this Logan. You know why I can't be with you._

* * *

"What's up lonely?"

Zoey slid herself into the seat beside Chase, sitting at the side of the dancefloor, slumped in his jeans and dress-shirt.

"Just watching all the girls flock around Art and that like they're sugar coated candy," he sighed, nodding gravely over in the direction of a crowd of swarming girls, glancing hopefully to see if Art or anybody was watching them.

"You can just expect girls to act like that Chase," she said, resting her head on his shoulder, "Some girls have no moral backbone. They'll see soon enough that they're just pretty faces."

The scent of freshly washed t-shirt mixed with Lynx deodorant and a sort of chocolate-y aroma reached her nostrils, causing her to blush furiously. She thanked God the hall was so dark.

"_The concoction is made so it will taste whatever entices you the most."_

Is that what she wanted?

Chase?


	28. Memory Lane Part 2

The violin introduction to 'I don't Wanna Miss a Thing' by Aerosmith curled it's way out of the speakers. There was a sudden rush to the dancefloor.

* * *

Zoey bit her lip.

"Chase, do you want to dance?" she asked nervously, drawing a heart out on the floor with the tip of her toe.

"Excuse me?" He asked, turning and staring at her in alarm.

_Did she just…did…just…_

"Sorry," Zoey apologized quickly, "I mean, only if you…naw, I'm sorry."

"Did you just ask me to dance?" He asked quietly, his voice quivering at the very prospect. Zoey nodded, turning red, even in the darkness.

"Only if you want to, I mean," she said hurriedly, "If you'd rather then…that's cool and uh…"

Chase grinned, the same goofy grin that made her knees buckle. He held out a hand. She took it.

As he lead her to the dancefloor, shoots of lightning sent to the very tips of her fingers.

* * *

"I hate this song."

"It's such a couples song."

"You're stepping on my foot."

"I think you'll find you're stepping on mine."

Logan and Dana rotated on the spot, three songs had passed since Logan had asked her to dance it the first place and yet neither of them had let go, despite claiming how lame each other were at dancing.

"Dana, you'd tell me the truth, right?" Logan drew her closer, so her body was pressed against his. Her initial instinct was to fight her way back out and then maybe swing him around the jaw a la Jackson Rennison on the basketball court against OCD Academy last week. But it had been a long time since she'd ever been this close to a guy, a living, breathing guy.

Not like she'd been slow dancing with corpses or anything, but she liked the way the warmth of his body shot right through to her very finger tips, how his cologne lingered around her nostrils, how his muscles felt underneath that shirt.

_Okay, don't get too porno._

"Yeah…I suppose," she said dreamily, her head over his shoulder. It was a lot easier like that, because they couldn't see each other. They just felt.

"Can you tell me the honest truth," he said quietly, Dana straining to hear him Steve Tyler's voice, "do you ever think of me, when you shouldn't?"

"I uh…I suppose I uh…" she was grateful he couldn't see her face, because she was dithering and panicking.

"Sorry, silly question, of course you do, it says so in your journal," Logan laughed lightly. Dana didn't even want to hit him.

_Though he's lucky I don't._

_Want to hit him I mean._

"Do you?" She asked softly, closing her eyes, "Think of me?"

"All the time."

Dana felt her heart hammer.

"All the time?" She repeated weakly, "Seriously?"

"You're the object of my mind, 24/7, I'm totally obsessed with you," he continued, "just the way you say things, your face, your hair, your body, your personality, your sass, your temper…if I didn't know any better…"

"Don't say it," she hugged him tighter, "you've got to understand Logan I have this problem. If I get with you, I'd inadvertedly end it as soon as I started freaking out," she paused, "which would be straight away."

"Dana…could you not even try to –"

"Just listen, I don't want us to be estranged in the sense that we can't even stand each other. And I mean for real, not this fake thing we've been doing. I couldn't bare to think you mad at me…I'd rather we just…pretended to dislike each other together. It's too special for me to wreck."

"I don't understand…why didn't you just sa-"

"Hey, you should've known," she smirked, "you read my journal after all."

Logan laughed, but it wasn't a jovial laugh, a sort of empty laugh.

"But we have tonight, and we have this song," she continued, "and tomorrow, I guess it'll be back to normal."

"Then I hope this song lasts forever."

* * *

There was no awkwardness for Zoey nor Chase as they held each other. As soon as the familiar scent of Chase reached Zoey she knew she was where she should be, his warmth, his body close to hers. And to her favorite song…surely, someone up there was trying to tell her something.

Or maybe it was just Nicole, who was wildly mouthing 'WTF!' over in her direction to Michael, Addie Rennison and Quinn. 'How did that happen?'

She ignored the goggling eyes of her friends (well, she didn't know Addie that well but she was nice enough at the pupil council meeting) and settled her face against Chase's chest. He seemed a lot taller than he usually was, like he was towering over her.

_Protecting me. Because he cares._

As they turned, she saw Dana and Logan in the same position, whispering to each others' ears, looking both blissfully happy and heart broken at the same time.

_Well I saw that one coming._

Chase smelt the aroma of peach shampoo rise from Zoey's flaxen hair and he closed his eyes. This was the sort of things dreams were made of.

_But it really is happening._

Her arms around his neck, her face against his chest. Chase was trying as hard as he could not to have a coronary.

_Every moment spent with you, is a moment I treasure…_

He held her tighter. He could almost feel the love coursing through all his veins and spreading throughout his body, as long as Zoey was there, dancing with him.

"Chase…, did you see Quinn earlier tonight?"

Chase didn't want to look down in fear that Zoey might let go for an answer.

"Yeah, I went to go get punch with Mike and she was shouting about some sort of magic potion," he laughed lightly.

"Did you guys try it?"

"Yeah, Mike's tasted like basketballs, video games and what he could only describe as 'hot chicks.'" He rolled his eyes, "Like they have a _taste_And how, how on earth could you taste video games? Sometimes I wonder about him…"

"What did it taste like for you?"

_Why is she asking me this?_

"Um…it tasted like sugar, Gucci Envy – Addie told me so – and uhm…"

Zoey giggled to herself.

"Who on earth do you know that wears Gucci Envy?" she asked into his chest, his t-shirt tickling as her mouth moved.

"Oh, no one, just an old friend…"

"A girl?"

"No erm, a guy."

"Wearing Gucci Envy?" She frowned. He could feel it.

"I just really like the smell, it entices me."

_You shouldn't lie to her. Gucci Envy used to mean a lot more to you than a smell. Or a taste. Or whatever._

"Well, what was the third taste?"

"Honey, golden honey, like…Southern honey."

"Is there even such a thing?" She asked, "Southern honey?"

She paused a minute. Discreetly, hoping Chase didn't notice, she sniffed her arm. The Estée Lauder lotion she had put on – the same lotion she put on every morning – smelt like something.

_Southern Honey –_ was what it had said on the bottle.

Southern honey.

"Can I tell you something?" She breathed slowly, "you must promise not to laugh."

"I wouldn't laugh at you. Not ever."

"Mine's smelt like honey too, like the honey at my yard back home, and sea breeze, at the beach at sunset and…well…" she bit her lip, "the last one smelt like you. Does that sound silly?"

Chase stiffened slightly. He kept rotating, but his brain had possibly stopped working. Zoey could feel his heart hammering on her ear.

"Chase?"

She looked up at him. He looked down at her.

"The Southern honey…" she raised her hand up to Chase's nose, "it's me, isn't it. I don't know the different between Southern honey and normal honey but 'Southern Honey's what's written on my lotion bottle."

He blinked.

"Chase…do you like my lotion…cause I can lend you some…or…do you like me?"

He mouthed wordlessly for a moment. 'Don't Wanna Miss A Thing' morphed into 'Incomplete' by Dru Hill. Her second favorite song. This was definitely getting creepy.

"You," he finally said, his whole body heating up.

She smiled.

"Are you real nervous?" She asked, running a hand down his shoulder, "You needn't be. I really like you too. I had a dream about you last night…" she trailed off, laughing at herself, "hey, I gotta keep some things to myself, right?"

Chase laughed in relief.

_No, this is what thingies are thingied of. Dreams. This is what made are dreams of. Wait a minute, that's not right, this is what drea…I can't even think straight._

They continued dancing for a while, Zoey resuming her usual position with Chase. Her heart was beating at six hundred miles per hour.

_Is this what love is? Is this what it feels like?_

"Chase…I think I'm in love with you."

She couldn't believe those words had just slipped out of her mouth without even realizing.

_Oh my God, please no…_

Chase's head was spinning. The night before, he had dreamt that at the dance, Zoey realize how madly in love she was with him. He'd take her in his arms, and kiss her, and they'd live happily ever after.

That afternoon, the whole thing had seemed extremely unrealistic when Harry let them all in on Art's little secret crush. Arten Sinclair was the most popular guy in school, and Chase had heard Nicole and Zoey talk about him. Like he was God or something.

And now, even though she knew that the most popular guy in school was vying for her attention, she was choosing to dance with him? Her goofball best friend that-happened-to-be-a-boy since she was thirteen?

"I'm still in love with you," he said quietly, her hair tickling his nose, "even if you wear weird lotion and let things slip out of your mouth when you don't mean it and have really bad taste in music."

She laughed, pulling back.

_Do it now. Do it. Right. Now._

_Here goes nothing._

He cupped her face in her hands, she went on her tip-toes. For seconds, they looked at each other, trying to take in every detail of this perfect moment.

_Do it!_

He nudged forwards, his lips brushing against hers. She found them, and kissed him. She kissed him back.

_I can make believe that I have everything, _

_But I can't pretend that I don't see…_

_That without you girl, my life is incomplete._


	29. Memory Lane Part 3

"Zo-ey!"

Nicole began bouncing and squealing upside down.

"Okay, puh-lease tell me that I did _not _just see you and Chase locking lips to Incomplete!"

She blushed furiously.

"Eh. My. God. It was, wasn't it? You did!"

She began squealing again, this time hopping from foot to foot like she was on hot coal.

"That is sooooooo sweet," she screamed, clapping her hands together. Michael drummed his fingers on the table.

"I think everyone saw it coming though," Addie Rennison piped up, "I mean, he so loved you. Like, real bad."

That was the first time Zoey had heard Addie Rennison speak. She had an All-American-Texas twang to her voice, and whenever she spoke, her head moved a little, so her curls would bob up and down.

"We're so happy for you guys!" Addie continued, embracing Zoey tightly before stepping back, slipping her hand into Michael's and sliding off somewhere.

"She's real odd," Nicole frowned, watching her back, "I mean, yeah, she's nice and all, but some of the things she comes out with. And her laugh. It's like…a cat. Laughing. Even though cats don't laugh but if you just _imagine _a cat laughing then you'd imagine her laugh. Not like she miaows or anything but it's like she –"

Zoey let Nicole continue to talk wildly as she thought back to what had happened during 'Incomplete.'

She had kissed Chase, hadn't she? Her best friend, and now, she supposed, her boyfriend. She was in love with him.

_Why don't I feel a bit more elated?_

She began chewing her lip.

_Okay Chase is what I definitely want but what if our relationship goes haywire, will we separate and never talk to each other again? Will we go our separate ways? I couldn't deal with that, I really need him._

"Hey Nicole!"

She recognized that voice. There could only be four people that made Nicole wave as wildly and excitedly as she was, and one of them spoke with a deep boom (so it wasn't him), the other was extremely American-Jock-y (so it wasn't him), and the other two were English. Of course, one of them, had developed more of an American accent in his tone, and whoever just called 'Hey Nicole' sounded as British as you could possibly imagine.

Art Sinclair strolled over, his hands in the pockets of his low-rise jeans, the 'Calvin Klein' sticking just over the belt. His dress-shirt was artfully ripped and had various sewn labels on it. His hair was it's usual, irresistible floppy self, the dark brown flopping into his sapphire blue eyes. When he smiled, he showed off two rows of perfectly straight teeth, each gleaming white, contrasting with his coffee-coloured tone.

"Hi Art," Nicole said coyly, wiggling her fingers delicately, "having a good time?"

"I suppose…" he looked back to the dancefloor, "Adrienne's totally wild."

"She is? Well…" Nicole paused for a moment and looked around. Addie Rennison seemed to be waving her over.

"I gotta go," she said, "nice talking to you though."

She disappeared into the throng of dancing people.

Zoey was perfectly aware she was now standing with Art alone. Well, with a punch bowl and some potato chips, but they didn't count.

"So…" he sunk his hands even deeper into his pockets so his jeans slid dangerously lower, "are you having fun?"

_I was. But not any more. I'm freaking out. I can't stand the fact that the guy I love will most likely eventually hate me. I mean, come on! Our relationship can't last forever, we're only fifteen!_

_But we could try._

_But we would fail._

_But we love each other._

_But we're fifteen. It's gonna all end in tears._

"Uh…hello?"

Art's waving hand in front of Zoey's eyes caused her to stop arguing with herself. She shook her head, as though shaking off a vat of water and smiled.

"Sorry," she raked her fingers through her flaxen hair, hoping to give it the 'windswept' look she'd seen on a girl who helped Art get dropped off on the first day of term, "I was…I was in another world."

"Well, do you want to dance?" Art smiled playfully, "In this world, I mean."

"Uh…" Zoey looked around. Where was Chase? Nowhere to be seen.

_Probably already hating me._

"Sure," she smiled, taking his hand as he leaded her onto the dancefloor.

* * *

Michael handed Addie a glass of punch. She swirled it around, watching the contents make a small whirlpool effect in the middle of the glass then knocked it back in one. Michael stared at her.

"What? You never seen a girl knock back before?" She asked, running her finger up and down Michael's left arm, "Listen. I heard you're into video games. My Dad works on video games, in fact, he worked on Doom X. I have an advance copy up in my room. You wanna go play it?"

Michael's jaw dropped – to the floor? Probably.

"_You _like video games?" He repeated disbelievingly.

"Yeah."

"_You _have Doom X?"

"Well, actually, I have like, two or three copies, so you can have one if you want," she ladelled herself another glass of punch and began swirling it again, "but we can bail this lame dance and get started on it right now, if you want."

Michael looked behind him.

No.

He looked over at the dancefloor.

Dana was dancing with Logan, her face buried into his shirt shoulder.

_Well, what she doesn't know won't hurt her._

_Besides, it'll just be a quick game. I won't even take the advanced copy off her. I'll just have a quick game then I'll forget about it._

* * *

Zoey realized she was in the same position she was about two songs ago. 'A Moment Like This' by Kelly Clarkson began to play. The same rush to the dancefloor, girls dragging guys, guys dragging girls.

_What are you doing?_

_You're not in love with Art._

_You're in love with Chase._

_But he'll hate me…hate me forever when I break it off. Perhaps it's better if we just start the relationship over when we're older._

_Besides, Art is so hot._

Art was maybe a little taller than Chase, because she found her head slightly lower on his chest than it was on Chase's. Art was a much better dancer. Not that Chase was a bad dancer, but Art moved with ease, elegance.

_Hotness, if that's even a word._

* * *

Chase came back through the doors. He noticed Michael and some girl with angelic blonde curls come towards him.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

Michael looked shifty for a second.

"To play…Doom X. But you can't tell Dana, man. It's totally confidential, or I'll tell Zoey all about your socks."

"They're not that bad!" Chase protested.

"Oh yeah?" Michael raised an eyebrow, "What about the pair I found crawling in mould and worms at the bottom of your bed?"

Chase flinched.

"Okay, okay…" he surrendered, the cue for Addie to drag Michael away. Before Michael turned the corner and disappeared, Chase shouted,

"Hey Mike! Have you seen Zoey?"

"Uh…she should be in there Dude. Whatever. S'later."

* * *

Zoey dared herself to look up at Art. Of course, she actually just got a good view of his chin, but when she stepped back, she could see the whole of his angel-chiseled face.

_It should be a crime to look that good._

"Hey…you smell like sea breeze!" She exclaimed, sniffing the part of her dress where she'd been against his body.

"I was at the beach for a little longer than you guys," he explained, "I left five minutes before the dance began."

_Sea breeze? This isn't happening…_

"What's the matter?" Art asked, looking at her puzzled face.

"Nothing…nothing…" she bit her lip. If she bit it any harder, then it'd probably bleed.

Art placed her curled finger underneath her chin, tilting it up slightly. He leaned in. She found herself doing the same.

_Zoey…what are you doing?_

_Kissing him._

_I need to make sure Chase is the one I love. He can't just be an obsession. Besides, it'd never have worked…I care about him too much._

As their lips locked, Zoey's head began swimming. His lips were soft, like he'd put on lip balm or something. As was his hair, which she was running her fingers through. It was glossy, soft to the touch. Everything about Art was perfect.

As they parted, Zoey put her face back on his chest, turning so she could look sideways.

Her heart plummeted.

"No…no…"

"What?"

Zoey's eyes filled with tears as she saw Chase standing on the side of the dancefloor, evidently having seen everything with an extremely hurt and angry expression on his face, before turning on his heel and walking out.

Zoey pushed herself away from Art and tore through the crowd.

_What have I done?_


	30. The Aftermath

"So…that's why Zoey hates my brother?"

Rebecca had listened intently for close to an hour. She'd followed Logan out of life science and into the cafeteria. She'd picked up her lunch, still listening, found a table for them both to sit at and continued listening to him, occasionally dipping her biscotti sticks into the honey pot.

"I suppose…" Logan shrugged, helping himself to one of Rebecca's biscotti sticks while she was still contemplative.

"But it's not his fault!" She said furiously, "I mean, sure, he was the one that kissed her but she could've said no!"

She fell silent for a moment, sighing exasperatedly and tracing a love heart out with her finger in a honey spill on her plate.

"Everything's so…I just don't…," she sighed, sucking her honey-tipped finger absent-mindedly, "well, understand."

"And that's why you're so phased?" Logan asked, watching her finger, "Because everything's normally easy-as-pie for you and your massi brain and now there's one thing you don't totally comprehend?"

Rebecca dropped her finger back to her plate.

"I don't know…" she sighed, "but this is weird. It's like a soap opera. You could film this all and pay people to view it."

Logan laughed, a genuine laugh, something Rebecca hadn't heard in a long time.

"Well, I have thought about it," he bit a piece of biscotti off the stick, "nah, only playing. Obviously. It's just weird that for once I understand a great deal more than you."

"Oh no, I so understand the whole Zoey and Chase thingy, and Mike and Addie and his Doom X fixation, which I now know the origin of…" she looked up defiantly at Logan, "but what I don't understand is you and Dana."

"Wh-what don't you…"

"Well, Zoey and Chase's story makes sense on how there's a weird force field between them and why they're not dating even though they so should, and it explains cold feelings towards my brother and why he's so oblivious to the reason why…but yours and Dana. It doesn't explain anything. Why you hate each other, why you jibe, why you insult. Why you don't date when you're almost made for each other…" she sighed exasperatedly, her bottom lip pouting slightly, "_that _I don't understand."

She looked up at Logan again. He seemed to have stiffened, but he refused to meet her gaze.

"There's more to it than you're telling me," she said accusingly, frowning as she tried to get Logan to look at her, "that's why you won't even look at me!"

His posture seemed to soften slightly, but still, he did not look her in the eye. Instead, he stood, swung his bag over his shoulder and began walking away.

"Get back here!" Rebecca demanded, "You don't walk away from me! You can tell me here, straight out what really happened with you and Dana that night Logan, or the deal's off!"

Logan looked over his shoulder.

"Fine," he hoisted his bag back up his shoulder and walked on, leaving Rebecca open-mouthed in awe at the lunch table, before he disappeared around the corner.

* * *

Chase sat in Room 32 on his own. Michael was out searching for his Doom X, which he'd miraculously (for the group) lost. Last Chase had seen, Logan was walking off with Rebecca. Of course, this in itself was possibly the second weirdest thing he'd seen in his life. Second only to the fact that Logan was talking on hyper-drive, and Rebecca – instead of telling him to shut-up or pulling a face – was listening intently. So intently, to the point, that she looked like she was ready to take notes.

_She knows._

Chase tugged on the hem of his red t-shirt. It was a ridiculous thing to think, considering he hardly knew what was going on himself, but Rebecca wasn't average. She was anything but, and when she put her mind to it long enough – which she evidently had – she knew what was going on.

_And she might tell Zoey._

_Even though you told Zoey it didn't matter…_

But even as Chase sat, cursing Rebecca under his breath, he couldn't help but marvel at her work. It certainly was impressive, she'd been here less than anybody else in the group (excluding Kristen) and she knew more about everything than everyone else.

_Knock knock._

Chase tugged himself up and trudged across the room to the door. He swung it open.

"Hey lonely! The guys said you were up here all by your lonesome so I thought I'd drop by and check you're not killing yourself or anything."

Chase fought the urge to glare at Kristen standing in the doorway. To anybody walking past, she looked sweetly innocent; her dirty blonde hair scraped back into a loose chignon, her lips tinged soft rose with tiny white sparkles and some natural colour on her hollow cheeks, some flour powdering a section of her hairline and streaking across her cheek. Even what she was wearing – skinny jeans, a white vest, pink cardigan and a Louis Vuitton monogrammed apron – made her look like a cute little girl with a big, white-toothed smile.

"I brought home-made Brownies," she tried, brandishing a tray out of what appeared to be nowhere with delicious looking brownies on it, "they got nuts, cause I know you like them with nuts. Can I come in?"

Chase stepped aside, allowing her to come in, dragging her pink book bag behind her. She dumped it beside the and began busying herself over by the tiny little kitchen-like section.

"What's up lonely?"

It was funny how those three words had such an effect on Chase. He knew Kristen was just trying to be nice and concerned but the last time those three words were used to him it was before he had his heart broken into a million tiny pieces. He had almost pieced it back together before Kristen arrived.

Because he knew perfectly well why one of the tastes in Quinn's potion last year was Gucci Envy.

"Just…freaking out," he admitted with a shrug, sitting down on the carpet where she signaled him to.

"Oh honey…why's that?"

"I don't know whether it's really my place to say," he lied, watching her take out two little plates and two tall glasses.

"Oh, okay. Do you have any chocolate sauce? And like, a tray thingy?"

"Sure…it's just under the bananas. I have a big nacho server in the cupboard by your knee."

She picked up the bottle, opened the cupboard and continued working away.

"Is it upsetting?" She asked vaguely, squeezing the chocolate sauce into the two tall glasses, "Like, is it a 'girl-problem.'"

"No, no, no…" he replied hastily, running a hand through his mini-fro nervously.

"Okay," Kristen turned around, the large nacho serving now used as a tray, the part for the dips filled with icing sugar, two tall chocolate milkshakes at each end and Kristen's brownies everywhere else, "I know you haven't had one of my chocolate platters in a long, long time."

Chase grinned as she set it down.

"Man, I've missed these."

"I've missed you," she said softly, picking up a brownie, "but I can't help wonder…"

Chase took a sip of his chocolate shake.

"How is it?" She asked eagerly.

"It's brilliant, just as I remember it," he set the glass down, "but you know what? You're not how I remember you."

"Oh really?" She said defensively, "Well, neither are you. I know about Zoey…" she cast a glance full of what looked like seething hatred down at the carpet, "about how you pretended you were all concerned about me at our break up because of long distance relationships…when really you just wanted the field clear in case Zoey ever asked you out…you lied to me."

Chase looked down guiltily, he had never meant to lie to her. At the time, Kristen seemed like just another girl (well, his first girl). Zoey seemed to be the world.

"I regret it," he tugged on the hem of his red shirt again, "lying to you. You deserve better than that."

"I do," she said quickly, her English accent breaking slightly to reveal a hurt and angry tone, "and I don't mean to be evil or anything – but I totally hated you after that," again, she glared at the carpet, "and I hated Zoey. I didn't even know her! But I hated her…and then I forgot about her…until last year when Art came home so…so upset and pissed off. About her! He was like, in love with her. That's _two _of my guys she'd pulled from underneath my feet now. Chase, as a friend, please, just answer me this. What does she have that I don't? I don't understand why people…why…um, well, the point is…"

"She's shorter," Chase tried, "and Kristen, you're a beautiful, beautiful girl, but you're really intimidating. Like, you do realize your about a foot above your age group's average height?"

Kristen shrugged, not a non-committable shrug either, but a sort of angry, fierce shrug. This was the only part Chase didn't really miss about her, the complete dragon she became when she was in a mood.

"Why aren't you with her now then?" Kristen asked fiercely, "You dumped me for her, so you had your chance. And you didn't take it…I'm beginning to think you just lied to me again…"

"Kristen, I didn't finish with you because I hated you."

"Oh puh-lease," she rolled her sparkling blue eyes theatrically, "then why aren't you and she all over each other?"

"Because she…" Chase looked down at his shoes. He had never admitted this to himself, and now, a past milestone in his life was badgering him about it. "She cheated on me."

There was a momentous silence in the room. Kristen's eyes widened with shock.

"Oh honey," she stroked his hand, "I'm so, so sorry."

Chase frowned at her.

"No seriously, I am," she insisted, "I may hate Zoey and I may be sort of pleased you two aren't together but I hate seeing you get hurt…"

"What are you saying? That you still care?"

"I always have! What a silly thing to say," she laughed lightly, "Chase, you were my best friend! Of course I still care about you."

Chase's frown grew deeper.

"You know what I mean, Kristen."

She looked away for a second, giving Chase the chance to study her face. Her cheekbones were sharp, her eyes were sparkling menacingly, and her full, soft lips were delicate and pink.

"Chase," she sighed, "you know I hate to admit things like this…"

Chase looked down at the chocolate platter – remembering picnics on the beach when Kristen would blow off going out with her best friends just to spend a little bit more time with him, when she'd come around to his house every time he was sick with 'Back to the Future' clamped in one hand and 'Kingdom Hearts' for the PS2 in the other, when she used to squeeze his hand reassuringly whenever he felt doubtful – and his brain began ticking.

_Admit it, you still harbor feelings for her._

_For the old her, you've seen how she's changed…_

_But it was your fault that she changed. You lied to her and she went bitter. Because she always knew._

_Knew more than she should._

_But that's what you love about her._

_Love?_

_Yes, love._

Chase squeezed Kristen's hand. She turned, her eyes boring into his.

"What is it?"

He leant forwards – not exactly sure what he was doing – until he felt his lips connect with hers.

He remembered her kisses, they were soft, sweet and innocent, always candy flossed flavored too, because she liked her flavored lip slicks.

And that kiss, was no different.

* * *

Hey everybody! Sorry for not doing shout-outs for a while, but I will do them now.

**MrsLoganReese, **as always, you rock all kinda rock. Yeah, what Zoey did was extremely bad but blame it on her mind, she was feeling all sorts of pressure, oh and Memory Lane isn't finished yet, as you can tell by Rebecca and Logan's encounter, she _will _find out what happened between Dana and Logan, and when she does, you will.

**readerbsmsgirl1053, **thanks for putting me on your favorite story list! I feel all sorts of wanted, hehe. Anyway, Dana will admit why Logan was under Kristen's bed and Kristen already knows, that's why she's going to use Logan as her little slave boy.

**zxxbsmsgirl3148, **haha don't worry, I believe you about the 'Moment Like This' thingy, no need to call TV people. To 'knock back' is like, to drink a glass of punch, say, all in one, in like, two gulps or whatever. Alcoholics specialize in it. It separates the novices from the old timers lol

**loganreeseroxmysox and more**, I know, Dana and Logan are cute together, aren't they? But they might be together, and they might not.

**Chris3137**, thanks for reviewing, means a lot. Anyway, yes, Rebecca is 'curious' per say, but she doesn't know who she likes yet. Of course, I know, but she doesn't…so…all will be revealed…

Thanks and pie, N x


	31. Reactions

"Hey gorgeous."

Glen Davis slid in his tray across from Rebecca, who was looking dangerously pissed off and scraping her fork across her plate. He bent down to kiss her lightly on the cheek but she dodged him.

"Okay…" he sat down, "what's the matter?"

"What's the matter?" She repeated, staring incredulously at him, "_What's the matter? _Ever since I came here people have been lying to me, keeping quiet about things etcetera whatever but Logan's been so…so sour to me and Chase has been so sweet and people try to _buy _me into things and sometimes I think that people generally just don't like me enough to confide in me, I mean, do I look untrustworthy? I don't think I do, anyway, from my point of view, but the point is," she took a deep breath before continuing, "apparently, I've almost been involved in this from the very beginning but still then I didn't have a clue and then Logan starts to tell me and then when I begin to hatch onto something he suddenly turns moody and walks away and I told him to come back, cause no one walks away from me and he just ignored me and this biscotti is _way too soft._"

Glen stared at her with a look of concern as her head sunk and she deflated slightly.

"Are…you…do you want time alone?" He asked, scraping back his chair slightly. Rebecca nodded sadly.

"Okay, I'll be over in the library if you need me," Glen abandoned his lunch and swung his book bag over his shoulder, bolting out of the cafeteria as fast as he could without anyone thinking he was running away.

Which he actually was.

When he rounded the corner, he stopped, panting slightly.

_Did she just breakdown in front of me? I've never heard her speak so fast, or so frantic. _

"But whatever man," he said to himself, "she's still yours for the taking."

* * *

**Next Day**

* * *

"Ohmygod? Did you hear? Chase and _Kristen._"

"Kristen? Like, as in Kristen Williams?"

"Yup."

"But that's so weird! She's a like, total bitch and he's a total sweetie!"

"I _know._"

"So like, when did this happen?"

"Like, yesterday, she went up to his dorm cause he was all alone and then poof! Dating!"

"Well I heard it's more than dating."

"As in like, bed activities and dating?"

"Oh puh-lease, like Chase is going to ever hop into bed with Kristen."

"Are you assuming Kristen's like, the innocent one here? Cause I doubt very much she still has her big 'V'."

"I meant, in the first place, before you totally interrupted me, like, the 'L' word."

"Lesbian?"

"Love, you total idiot, love!"

"Are you serious? Like, they're in love? But they only just like, met!"

"I like, know!"

* * *

Kristen rolled over in her bed. Her head was thumping, her mouth felt dry and she was extremely groggy. If she didn't know any better, she'd say she had a hangover, but she didn't drink any alcohol the night before. It was just because of lack of sleep, she guessed. As she sat up in bed, propping herself up on her elbows, she looked across the room at Dana's bed. It was empty, but as per usual unmade.

"Dana?"

"What?"

Dana appeared in the bathroom doorframe, looking extremely disgruntled, toothbrush in hand.

"Oh shiitake…" Kristen gasped, pointing to Dana's mouth and uttering a little scream, "you've got rabies!"

Dana growled slightly, the white foam cursing out of her mouth and down her chin.

"It's so unsanitary in here!" Kristen exclaimed. Dana spat the foam into the basin.

"You idiot, it's just toothpaste."

"Oh…okay," Kristen began to breakdown the sort of protective barrier of her own duvet she'd thrown in front of her, "I was just gonna ask you about Logan."

"Don't tell me you like him," Dana rolled her eyes.

"Don't tell me you don't!" Kristen shot back.

"Eurgh, he's mega-gross," Dana chided, putting down her toothbrush so she could talk animatedly, "I mean, he's so rude and vulgar. He drives me mental."

Kristen pulled an extremely unbelieving face.

"Yeah, uhuh," she said sarcastically, "and that's why when I came in he had no shirt on? And his trousers were down at his ankles?"

Dana blushed furiously, but continued staring at Kristen defiantly.

"And I'm not stupid," she continued, "I know perfectly well that Logan wasn't searching for dust bunnies under my bed – not that you'd find any, I mean, seriously, I take pride in my sanitation," she paused for a moment, "but the point is, he was hiding wasn't he? Because you didn't want anyone to know he was there. That's why you were so 'innocent' when I got in," she stopped to smile maliciously, "I mean, come on. Talk about obvious."

Dana folded her arms.

_Busted._

"Yeah, so what?"

"I dunno, I just like to prove points," Kristen blew lightly on her nails, "putting people into serious states of denial. It's just what I do."

Dana glared at her as she got up from the bed and stretched her arms.

"But hey," Kristen shrugged, after stifling a yawn, "don't forget."

"Oh, I haven't forgotten Blondie," Dana snapped back, even though she had no idea what Kristen was talking about.

"We agreed to pull out all stops," Kristen began twirling her hair around her finger, "remember, 'game on'? Yeah, well the game's still playing, and looks like I'm winning."

* * *

"Oh, salutations Glen," Quinn pushed her glasses further up her nose briefly before sitting down on the bench next to Glen.

"You seem stressed," she observed curiously.

"How can you tell?"

"Well, your pulse order vein is pulsating and –"

Glen held up a hand to silence her.

"You know what?" He sighed, "It doesn't matter. My girlfriend just totally freaked out."

"Who, Rebecca?"

"Yeah," Glen's eyes widened slightly as he recalled what happened, "she was speaking on hyper speed, all in one breath, and she was waving her hands about in the air frantically when she was talking," he shook his head, "it looked like she was ready to explode."

"Well that's perfectly normal," Quinn stated with a nod. Glen stared at her disbelievingly.

"For a girl of Rebecca's status," she continued, "she's expected to be perfect twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, she's high profile, she does a lot of extra curricular work, she sometimes helps me in the science lab if I need assistance, she's been plunged into such a vat of deep drama that she'd expected to be swirled up in because of both her looks and her friends, her ex-best-friend that she tried to get rid of has magically appeared again and she is most likely extremely confused about her feelings towards others," Quinn paused thoughtfully, "it is only expected that she breakdowns once in a while."

Glen looked down at his hands. If what Quinn had said was true, he could expect a few more of these mental outbursts from Rebecca.

He'd just make sure he wasn't near when one was coming.

He wouldn't break up with her for something as little as brief insanity spells.

She was way too good-looking to do that. Besides, all the guys were envious of him now, he was looked up to in a sort. He was dating the 'Hot Chick' the 'Visual Pleasure-er.' There wasn't one red-blooded guy on campus that couldn't say they were attracted to Rebecca, even in the slightest.

* * *

Right now, Michael wasn't attracted to Rebecca, not even in the slightest. Or any other girl on campus. He'd just reached 'Death Court' on Doom X. He had to focus on spearing Boss Kanaka because he had his gun revoked on entering the court.


	32. Good Evening?

"I'm sleeping."

Nicole peered over Rebecca as she lay in bed. The tips of her hair tickled Rebecca's cheeks.

"At seven?"

"I just had a mental breakdown," Rebecca explained, "according to Quinn, I need my rest."

Nicole rose, bashing her head slightly on the bunk above and extracted herself out from Rebecca's area. She liked it that Rebecca had moved in. She'd made a new best friend. And Nicole preferred her to Dana. Dana tried to kill Nicole in her sleep once. She woke up just in time to scream blue murder, causing CoCo to come bursting through the door (even though it was locked, so they had to get that repaired) demanding what was going on. With one more threatening glare from Dana, she claimed she had a scarring nightmare. Besides, Rebecca was a lot tidier than Dana. And Nicole liked stealing stuff from Rebecca's wardrobe. Dana's wardrobe was a bit too 'Are You Looking At Me? If You Are Then I'll _Stick A Fork in Your Eye_.'

"Okay…" she made her way across to the door, "I'll tell Zo to be quiet when you return then."

"It's alright, I've had some Nightol so she could have an orchestra in here and I wouldn't know," Rebecca pulled the duvet up to her neck, "oh and Nic?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you please hand in my essay when you hand in yours just now? It's on the table, just at your right."

"Sure."

"'night Nicole."

"G'night Bee," Nicole closed the door quietly behind her.

* * *

Zoey sat in the library, the book in front of her not being read, but if she didn't have it open, Miss Crispin, the librarian, would throw her out. And the library was the only place she could go. She was sure Rebecca, Kristen nor Nicole would set foot in the library. Rebecca, maybe, but last Zoey'd heard Rebecca had retreated to the room groggily after having a breakdown. Nicole probably thought 'library' was a make of shoes. Kristen isn't a brain box. She's a step down from brain box. Smarter than your average bear, you might say. She'd rather spend an hour internet-shopping on ordering Juicy Couture mini iPod cases than flip open a book that wasn't either TeenVogue or a required textbook. Besides, she'd be too busy with Chase to –

Zoey's heart lurched.

That's why she had to escape from the three girls. Not one of them could understand the denial, feelings and confusion she was going through. They all had their little spouses. Rebecca and Glen. Nicole and Nate. Kristen and…

She hated admitting it to herself, but sometimes a chilling voice inside her shouted the cold, hard truth.

_You ruined it yourself last year. You had plenty opportunities this year, and you passed them. You thought he'd just wait for you, he'd carry on, love unrequited without a girl for the rest of his life until you were ready, didn't you? Well, you're too late now. He's found someone else._

And Zoey knew it was more than just 'dating.' She wasn't stupid, she realized when she went to knock for Kristen the week before and she had invited her in while she finished straightening her hair. As Kristen tottered off into the bedroom, she spotted a tall bottle of Gucci Envy on the vanity table. When asked about it, Kristen said 'oh, it's my signature scent, I've worn it since, like, forever.'

And once upon a time in Kristen's 'since, like, forever,' she dated Chase.

_So when he admitted his feelings for you last year, did he still love her? Or was she just an obsession? An enticement…an idea of perfection. Male lust perhaps._

_You wish._

_But what are you going to do about it?_

_Who knows? Are you gonna talk to him about it? If he loves you in the way he claims then..._

_Then what?_

_I don't know, but this is eating me up inside. I need to get this off my chest._

* * *

Nicole slid through the gap into the English classroom. She walked across to the teacher's desk and laid down the four essays in separate plastic folders, with a quick scribbled note.

* * *

_Dear Mrs Ford,_

_Here are the essays which you asked for. The love ones. I dropped off mine, Zoey's, Rebecca's and Kristen's because well…I don't know where Zoey and Kristen are but Rebecca's sleeping. I know, at seven in the evening, but whatever. Oh, it's seven in the evening, by the way. That's the time I'm dropping these off at._

_Oh, and this note's from Nicole._


	33. Mrs Ford's Desk

Major props to **zxxbsmsgirl3148 **who wrote Zoey's essay. A total work of literary genius. Everybody give her a round of applause, and thank you very, very much for giving me it.

* * *

_A study of the term 'Love' by Zoey Brookes_

I think that maybe everyone in the world has a different view of the word 'love'. Even in my one opinion, I can think of three different main types of love.

One definition of love would be romantic love. A male and a female fall "in love", where they want to date, get married, have kids. Romantic love is the kind of love you read about in cheap, one-dollar romance novels that you pick up in a subway station. Romantic love is the kind of love you see shining on people's faces when a man and a woman or a guy and a girl walk down the street, looking into each other's eyes and holding hands. Romantic love is the kind of love many people talk about when they aren't in love, but then when it happens to them they are tongue tied and just sit in a daze, replaying scenes of their lover, over and over. Romantic love can seem like the scariest type of love, or at least I think it might be. I don't think I've ever been in love. I've had crushes but I don't think I 've ever been in love. I think that romantic love would be the scariest because it happens so fast, and from seeing my parents, sometimes you completely get swept up. You can say things you never expected to say, or say stupid things because you are scared of this new experience. New feelings can be scary, and romantic love is all about new feelings.

Another type of love is friendly love. You can love your friends without being in love with them. You can love a best friend of the same gender, but you wouldn't be _in love_ with them, of course, or you could love your best friend of the opposite gender without being _in love _with them. It's a comfortable kind of love, where you can share anything and not worry about your secrets being told or having them laugh at you.

There is also family love. You can love your mom, your dad, your sister, your brother, your cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, but it isn't the same kind of thing as being _in love_ with someone or loving them like a friend. In my family, family love allows for a lot. In my family, we love each other so much that no matter how harsh a fight or how foul an argument we have had, we can still fall back on each other when we need help. Family love, in my experiences, is eternal, but you have to work hard for it. In a family, I think you should help each other out and do whatever it takes to keep yourselves together. Romantic love and friendly love need more luck than work, because your family is always there, always has been there, and always will be. To find a lover or the perfect best friend, you need luck to find that one special person, or few special people.

The funny thing about the English language is that there is only one way to say, "I love you." Sometimes you can tell someone that you love them, but they might not understand which way you meant it. If, for example, you had a best friend that you loved as just a friend, and you told them that you loved them, they might take it the wrong way and think that you meant that you were _in love_ with them. In Spanish, though, there is one way to say that you love something, like, "I love this movie," or, "I love this food." Then there's another way to tell someone that you are in love with them or that you love them as a family member. Why can't English be as simple? But even if English was simpler, where there wasn't hidden meanings, it wouldn't make love any les s complicated. Love is complicated because more than one person is involved, and love has to be treated carefully, so that everyone involved will still be able to work together.

If you ask me, love can be described in so many ways that it wouldn't be able to fit on any amount of paper. You would constantly be writing new ways to describe it that you would be writing forever. Love is what keeps the world together. To sum up my essay, I would like to quote this silly statement: "Duct tape is like love. It has a dark side and a light side, and holds everything together." Love truly does hold the world together. No love, no life.

* * *

_A study of the term 'Love' by Rebecca Sinclair._

Recently, instead of spending my nights at my dorm watching America's Next Top Model and wasting myself on a packet of chocolate éclairs, I've been comforting my best friend - who shall remain anonymous - who has just came down with an incurable illness, that wasn't her fault in the first place to catch.

"Tell me I'm safe."

"I can't," I sighed truthfully.

The fid (friend in distress) would usually start the night by listing her symptoms.

"I'm, I'm going crazy," gasped the fid, "I-I-I, I'm going stupid, I don't understand things anymore and I'm crushing, falling into a sort of oblivion...twilight zone...what the hell is wrong with me?"

The fid looked at me expectantly. You see in this friendship, I am not normally the common sense, but since the fid has lost all of hers due to her illness, then I had to try and take some aboard.

"Is it leprosy? Or...a cold? Amnesia? DEMENTIA?"

And here comes my excellent diagnosis :

"I think…it's love."

Why is everybody phased so much by this? Love is supposed to be something fantastic and beautiful, but if it's with the wrong people at the wrong time then it can turn out to be such a stupid catastrophe.

Never mind terrorism or global warming.

The thing we panic about most is love.

Now, my fid, she's freaking out. Night after night, she cries herself to sleep. She spends her days eating _my _chocolate éclairs and foam-bottomed Haribo love-hearts and watching daytime television like Trisha, or Rikki Lake. And it's depressing to see her like this. For all of us. Because this fid, is the back bone to all of our sanity. She's funny, she helps, she aides, and now, she's incompetent. It's a sad thing to see.

So why do people look forward to falling in love when the most painful thing is falling out of it?

And it's unlikely, that at this age, anyone's going to stay in love for the rest of their lives. Not until they're twenty, at least.

Then, the unmeant love. "Oh my God, I _love _your shirt!" "Oh go on, I'll love you forever." "I love it. Love it, love it, love it!" It's just something that rolls off the tongue, but it does bother me.

If you _love _my shirt so much why don't you just go marry it and move to Hawaii?

The 'definition' of love can tell us a lot.

Definition One - A deep, tender, feeling of affection towards a person.

Definition Two – A zero score in tennis.

I know a lot of people would rather fall for 'Definition One' but it does make you think.

Is love nothing but a big fat zero?

Does it win you nothing?

Does it make you a loser?

In tennis it does.

In life? Who knows.

So what do I say? It's not worth it. Love? Maybe it's not for me. I've been hurt, tossed about, played around, and at the end of it, I blame the 'L' word. God, I couldn't 'love' my way out of a paper bag. So love?

It's way overrated.

* * *

_A study of the term 'Love' by (insert your name here)._

I guess I should maybe have written my name in the insert bit? I don't have a clue what to do.

Crushing on totally hot guys, my favorite hobby ever, is not love. I like to kid myself that it is, like I'd be all,

"OHMYGOD I LOVE ORLANDO BLOOM!"

You know? But I don't really, though I do really love him in pirate gear. Mmm.

Anyway, back to the point. Love's different for everyone, right? Some people are in 'hidden love' i.e coughrebeccaandlogancough though they don't know it, in fact, they hate each other, but it's sooo going to happen. I have a fourth eye about these sort of things. Or maybe I mean third eye.

Whatever, the point is, I knoooow.

And some of my friends are in 'unrequited love.' That's so sad to watch them pine you know? Distressing. Almost as upsetting when they don't have the new Steve Madden boots in my size.

Yeah, _that_ upsetting.

And I hate fakey love! Some people are in love with the idea of being in love! They're in love with love, not whoever they, 'ahem', love. It's downright silly. You don't love them. Snap out of it.   
And sometimes, people think they're in love but they're not. They're just totally crushing real, real bad. Some girls just ooze gorgeousness and while it's not fair, they can't help it, and then guys are seriously crushing hard and having dirty dreams like 'oh yeah, I'm in love.' Sometimes I wish I was a girl like that. It's weird knowing a girl like that though, cause she has no idea.

And actual love?

Well, when you figure that one out, please get back to me.

By Nicole Bristow

* * *

_A Study of the term 'Love' by Kristen Williams_

I'd like to think I've been in love. In fact, I probably have. Truthfully, it's the most amazing thing ever, you feel like you're on Cloud 9 and you tune out to anything and everything. Love is a wonderful thing which makes you feel light and wanted. Of course, my friends were oblivious to me.

When in love, you have to be really careful.

Extra careful.

You've got to pay attention. If you're in love, nothing matters except you and him. Sure enough, your friends eventually fall to the side but you just think '_they don't understand. They're not in love.'_

Then there's other loves. Like family love. I love my parents, I love my family, I love my step-brother Nate though occasionally he annoys the hell outta me, but I'm always there for him. Dependable love. They're the people in life who really understand you. I'd be devastated if something ever happened to Nate, though he can never, ever know that. Broken up into pieces. I like that kinda love. It makes you feel safe, and I'm sure you can agree.

Then of course, the mutual friendship love. There is no one I love more in that way than Nicole, Rebecca and Zoey. At first, we didn't like each other at all. I don't know what had been going around about me but it didn't matter, we've gotten real close. They're a little eccentric and at times extremely weird and spontaneous but they're worth everything to me. I'd hate to lose any of them.

And I know platonic love is supposed to be abseloutely amazing, it's just so depressing when you feel something different. Hey, the hardest kinda love is 'unrequited' and at the other end of unrequited comes a bag fat 'platonic' written out in magenta magic marke.

But in conclusion, there's little I can say. Well, except, I love love.


	34. Running Away

_Knock knock_

Dana began fluffing her hair dry with the towel she had just picked up. She had a funny feeling it was Kristen's – mainly because it smelt fresh from the laundry – so she deliberately left it on the floor.

"Hang on a sec…"

_Knock knock_

She grabbed the house coat from the hook on the door. Again, she guessed she picked up the wrong one, because this one had 'Missoni' stitched across the top pocket (why there was a pocket there, she had no idea), and it was pristine white with gold stitching. And it was clean.

"Just a minute!"

_Knock knock knock_

She tied the belt hurriedly and slid on her slippers (this she was sure of because they felt worn in and warm), before storming across to the door.

"FOR GOD'S SAKE I SAID WAIT A SECOND!"

She flew open the door.

"Woah," she scrunched up her nose, "déjà vu."

Logan pushed past her into the room.

"Hey!" She exclaimed, "Shouldn't you ask before you barge into a girls' private abode?"

"I'm gonna pretend you spoke English there," Logan slid his hands into his pockets, "and just ignore you."

Dana glared at him.

"Did you miss me much?"

She knew to keep up this charade with Logan she'd have to lie.

"No," she replied, "it was kinda nice having peace and quiet for a bit."

Logan stepped into her room, across all the strewn clothes and sat on the edge of the other bed.

"Get up!" Dana screeched, "Kristen'll kill me!"

Obediently, Logan stood back up, but frowned at her as Dana began smoothing down the sheets where he'd sat down.

"Since when have you been afraid of Kristen Williams?" He asked, taking a place on Dana's bed instead.

"Never, but have you seen those nails? They're long," Dana patted the covers proudly with her right hand, "and _sharp_."

Logan patted the seat next to him invitingly. Dana stared at it.

_What are you doing? Do you have the impulse to sit down? After all that he's done to you? After what he did to you last year when –_

_No. Don't think about that. Forbidden subject. An 'unmentionable.' _

_But I really want to sit down…but who's to say he won't do it again?_

"Stop arguing with yourself," Logan grinned cockily, "come sit beside me gorgeous."

If Dana was to stand her ground, she knew she couldn't look into his eyes, because when she did, her heart melted. She couldn't deny Logan was extremely attractive, his tanned skin, his muscular limbs…

_God he has spectacular legs._

Dana found herself crossing the room and sitting next to him. Why, she had little idea.

_Perhaps the legs are as entrancing than the eyes._

"I missed you," Logan's arm found it's way around Dana's waist.

"God you're repulsive," she shook his arm off angrily, "you used practically the same dialogue that day when Kristen barged in. It's like you've just memorized it from a book!"

"Nope, all original material," Dana's arm shake was deterring him, he slid it around again, "besides, you know you want me Dana."

"I wan_ted_ you," she said, "past tense."

"Well bring the past to life."

He leaned in for a kiss, to be greeted by her palm as she held it in front of her face.

"What gives?" He cried angrily.

"Hold up," she put her hand back down, "so you're here to see me?"

"Yeah."

"And you're here to what, make out?"

"If possible," she was so close he could feel her breath tickling his cheek, "you know I can't resist you Dana."

Dana buckled. He probably knew she couldn't resist phrases like that either. While everyone assumed she was angry and nasty there really was a big old romantic inside her, that fell for the oldest lines, the corniest kisses and the sweetest love notes.

Within seconds she felt his lips upon hers. She couldn't remember how they got there, and when they got there, but they felt nice. She kissed him back. They sunk onto the bed, wrapped in each others arms.

* * *

Art tucked his basketball under his arm as he and Nate walked out of the courts.

"Nice shoots man," Nate punched him the arm, "you did good today. Living up the Point Guard tradition here at PCA; only the best."

Art shrugged.

"Whatever," he shook his head so his hair fell into his eyes, "I'm feeling totally deflated. Lisa's creeping me out. She had my underpants and everything now."

"Did you give them to her?"

"No."

Nate's eyes widened in surprise.

"Woah, scary."

"I know…" Art trailed off, "anyway, how's things with Nicole?"

"Good, I saw her again last night…" Nate had managed to rid himself of the girl on the balcony. He was still intrigued, to say the least, but he had Nicole, and Nicole was worth putting the girl on the back burner.

"Did you guys make out? Hopefully not on my bed, it's already scarred from Harry and Sha-"

"Art!"

Art froze in his tracks, as did Nate. They both turned.

"Art! Wait up!"

Lisa came into view, and she was sprinting.

"God she's sprinting," Nate breathed, "I'll duck into this bush, you run man…pretend you didn't see her."

Nate dived into the bush.

Art set off at tail speed.

* * *

Zoey knew she didn't need to knock. She slid off her necklace, took the second key with the army print on it and slid it into the lock of Room 32, praying Kristen wasn't with him.

_Please, please make her have a hair emergency where her straighteners explode and singe the bottom part of her hair off. _

The door clicked open.

_Here goes._

She pushed it open cautiously and peeked her head around. So far so good, no sign of Kristen. She slid through the gap in the door and closed it behind her. At the sound of the 'click' from the lock sliding back into place, Chase appeared in the doorway to the bathroom.

"Oh, hey Zo, come in."

Obediently, she shuffled into the front hall. Okay, she had gotten so far, only she couldn't think of what to say. It had sounded alright in her head when she was sprinting over there, but now it just seemed jumbled and stupid.

Zoey stared at the razor in his hands.

"What were you shaving?"

"My face," he rubbed his cheeks.

"But there weren't any hairs there!"

"Hey," he waved the razor at her, "shaving is what makes a man. Would you believe Michael has to shave every morning? Seriously, if he didn't, his beard would probably suffocate him as he slept. His hair grows fast."

Zoey giggled, sitting in the familiar armchair by the window.

"I'll be out in just a second."

The bathroom door closed.

_Okay, what are you going to say? Sorry? No, sounds a bit random. I mean, no apology and a year later? Better late than never? I know they say that, but is that actually true?_

The door flew open again, Chase came out, wearing another band-shirt and a pair of boy-shorts. He sat down in the seat opposite Zoey.

"So…" he clicked his fingers at her, "what brings you to my lair of hair?"

"Uh…"

_Tell him now. Just tell him._

"I er…"

Suddenly, 'Hey Ya' by Outkast burst into full volume. The noise seemed to be coming from Chase's shorts.

"Uh, your pants are signing," she stated as he fumbled around in his pockets, "but I commend them. Good taste."

Chase smiled, the same goofy smile that made something new inside Zoey melt. He flipped open his phone and put it to his ear.

"Hey."

Even though it wasn't on loud speaker, the person on the other end in hysterical tears so loud and ringing that Zoey could hear them from where she was sitting.

"Kristen, calm down."

Zoey's insides froze as she watched Chase listen intently to whatever Kristen was crying about.

_I hope he doesn't invite her over._

"Oh God…are you serious? Are you hurt?"

More cries and wails, the words undistinguishable but Zoey could pick up on the general genre of them, that being a state of total panic and despair.

"Is Nicole there? Well, call Nicole, and she'll sort something out, she's good with hair."

There was a silence in the crying, Kristen seemed to have calmed down.

"Yes, really. Don't worry, I'm sure you still look charming. I'm going to go now, okay? Bye."

_And least he never said 'love you,' I suppose._

"What's the matter?" Zoey asked, feigning concern.

"She had a straightening accident," Chase scratched the back of his neck, "the straighteners blew a fuse or something, causing this mini explosion and it singed about three inches of her hair off."

Zoey's eyes close to popped out of her head as she stared at Chase disbelievingly.

"You're kidding?" She gasped.

"I wish," Chase smiled, "then she wouldn't be in wild hysterics. Apparently, she was just singing along to her Amerie album when," he clapped his hands together, "Boom! Straighteners explode and she smells burning, only to find her hair on fire. Luckily, she managed to beat down the flames before it burnt it all off."

_Woah! Maybe I should be pleading for that cute Diesel dress!_

"Anyway, what were you saying before she almost burned PCA down?"

Chase looked at her interestedly.

He couldn't help but stare slightly. He knew he was with Kristen now, but just as he still harbored feelings for Kristen, he still harbored feelings for Zoey. It was funny how, at the two girls being total opposites; Zoey being cute and wholesome, Kristen being wild and slightly satanic, he was in love with them both.

"I…I know I shouldn't be saying this," Zoey looked down at her clasped hands, "but I need to get this out. I can't keep it locked inside, because it's eating me up…Chase, last year, when I…when I kissed Art. I made a mistake. I still…I still love you."

* * *

"Oh. My. God."

Nicole gasped and raised a hand to her mouth, the other hand fingering Kristen's singed locks.

"What. Happened?"

"The straighteners," Kristen moaned, "they just exploded on me."

"Where was this? Where were you straightening your hair?"

"In, in your room," Kristen paused, "Everywhere else was locked, and I must've left my key in my room, so I went to check on your room, and Bee was asleep, so I tried to wake her up but seriously, she was out for the count."

"Nightol," Nicole explained.

"Whatever, so I clapped my hands together and she wouldn't wake, then I shouted in her ear and nothing, so I just decided to do it in there. So I put on my Amerie album and was singing along, straightening my hair in front of the mirror when boom! And I beat out the flames, picked up my phone and called Chase and…and…Bee slept through it all."

"Wait? You used the plug beside the mirror?"

"Yeah."

"Straighteners don't just explode," Nicole stroked her chin thoughtfully, "and let me guess, you had the new Misty Canyon ones, right? The best on the market?"

"Yeah, I got them cause I broke my others and the PCA once were totally shi-"

"But they can't explode, the chemicals….aren't reactants…"

Kristen frowned at Nicole.

"Hey! I know my hair care, okay?" Nicole shrugged, "But the point is…it must have been a fuse, the plug…but I use that plug all the time…when did…aha, wait a second…"

"What?"

"Zoey was fiddling with that plug not that long ago," Nicole said, "because she put in her plug into the socket and when she pulled it out the whole socket face came off. So the tried to put it back on and ended up sticking it with like, Sellotape. I guess a wire must've snapped or something…but Zo said she was going to tell CoCo about it, and the electrician, this afternoon," Nicole turned to Kristen, "I guess she had more important things on her mind."

"Wait," Kristen's eyes narrowed, "are you telling me this is Zoey's fault? Because she didn't remember to tell the electrician or CoCo that the plug was faulty?"

"I suppose…"

Kristen let out a low, vehement hiss, her eyes narrowed in pure anger, her fists clenched tightly.

"She. Is. So. Dead."

She threw her head back and let out an angry, primal, war-cry like scream.

* * *

Rebecca awoke with a start.

Her dream of playing ice hockey against the Ying Yang twins, G-Unit and the mafia from Doom X (where, for some reason, they were allowed to bring rifles onto the rink) was interrupted by a girl in the audience, standing up and screaming her lungs out. Of course, one of the members of the Doom X Mafia proceeded to shooting her in hopes of silencing, the bullets went through every part of her, and she still continued screaming.

In fact, now awake, she could still hear the screaming now. She clutched her head.

_Ah…killer headache!_

She grasped for some water and an aspirin. After glugging them down, the screaming stopped almost immediately.

_Ah…silence._

Then it started up again, even louder and more frantic than before. She threw off the bed covers and stormed across the room, pushing the door open and peering down the hall. She still had on her outfit from that morning, considering she'd fallen asleep with her clothes on, so knowing she wasn't donned in pyjamas, she set off for the source of the noise.

* * *

Chase's jaw dropped slightly.

_Did she just…she didn't? Surely?_

"And I just wanted to say…so I didn't have it on my chest forever, so I wouldn't have to like, suffer in silence and so that I…so that I…so that I let you know, because I never knew, I figured, if you still loved me from the past, well, love never dies, does it? I don't know, it was just a wild shot."

She let out a long, relieved breath once she had finished. Chase was still silent.

"Chase?"

Chase opened his mouth to utter a scream of disbelief, but his throat closed up and crackled as he rasped quietly, his eyes fixed on Zoey who was now staring back at him expectantly. After opening and closing his mouth like a fish, he finally managed to croak:

"I still…of course I still _love _you Zoey, but what you've got to understand is," he stopped. Was he going to do this? Finally, he had the chance to be with his dream girl, and he knew Art wasn't about anywhere.

But did he really want that?

What if they broke up? Would they hate each other? Not be friends?

He _needed_ her to be there for him for the rest of his life.

And it seemed unlikely that they'd stay together forever. They were only sixteen! Sure, childhood sweethearts, but Chase had seen way too many of them turn out way bad.

"Is…I love Kristen too."

He had done it.

"And I'm with Kristen now…and she loves me back. Definitely, and while she's the spawn of Satan, I can be sure she isn't going to go kissing Art Sinclair behind my back."

Zoey felt as though she'd had a blow delivered to her stomach.

Chase didn't mean to sound catty, but he was telling the truth.

"And…and Zoey…you're…you've…" he paused, "you've had your chance. I've been waiting, since we were thirteen, and you passed them up. I've waited long enough. You're too late."

* * *

**Maria Casey Wood, **I checked up your lookup – thanks for adding me on your favorite author/story list! The ting is, with these pairings, they change so often that it's kinda hard to track. At the very minute, it's Chase/Kristen, Michael/Doom X, Rebecca/Glen, Nicole/Nate, (hehe) and a little bit of Dana/Logan. For what it'll be in the future, who knows. And yeah, Rebecca did sort of mess it up, and you'll see why given time…

**Haley, **thanks for reviewing, much appreaciated. I try to update as quickly as possible. As soon as the chapter is written, it's up there.


	35. The Night Continues

"Woah."

Kristen stared at the scene in front of her, with a growing look of confusion spreading across her face.

"Déjà vu," Kristen scratched her head, "will it ever be thus? Am I like, destined to barge in on you guys before you almost do each other?"

Dana's head emerged from underneath the duvet.

"What happened to your hair?"

Kristen's shoulders were dusted with tiny little charred black hairs from the tips of her hair. It looked a bit like a bad dye job.

"Freak straightening accident," Kristen explained, "is Zoey in here?" She looked around the room.

"What do you think?" Logan asked angrily, sitting up in the bed to reveal his shirt had obviously been torn off in some mad frenzy.

"I need to find her," Kristen turned on her heel, "and I hope you don't mind her without a head, by the way."

Dana and Logan watched the door close.

"She's really weird," Dana mused.

_Wait a minute!_

_What are you doing under the duvets with this guy? Did you get caught up in the moment or something? _

_Kristen may be weird, but she's your savior at the moment, waking you from that reverie that he actually cared about anything else rather than getting some._

"Come lie back down," Logan rolled over onto his back, "we can resume where we were before she interrupted."

Dana scowled at him, throwing back the covers and leaping out of the bed.

"What!" Logan cried angrily, "What's the hell is it now?"

"Logan, every time I get near you it's like I'm under a spell and I hate it cause it just gets me hurt, eventually," she glared at him, "so stay away from me."

"Aw…come on!"

"Don't pretend you didn't come here hoping to get laid!"

"Well…"

"You're unbelievable!" She growled, "If you can answer me this question honestly, then I'll consider it."

Logan prepared himself.

"Would you do Rebecca?"

Logan averted his gaze. Dana smirked.

"I knew it."

"I wouldn't."

"Bullcock!" She exclaimed, "You had to think about it! The point is, you would. So Exnay, Ixnay, whatever, the point is you don't love me."

Logan stood up, his shirt in his hand.

"You know what you're problem is?" He shouted, "You're such a commitmentphobic! You're an angry bitch Dana, and it'll be your downfall."

"And what are you? A complete man-whore who'd do my best friends within a second!" Dana snarled, "And probably my mom too, which is just mega-gross."

"There are other girls in this world Dana," Logan yelled, "other girls who would jump at the chance to be in the bed with me!"

"Then you go do them!" Dana screamed, "And don't come near me again!"

Logan glared at her. He couldn't believe this was happening.

Again.

He turned on his heel and threw the door open, swinging it behind him with a loud bang.

Dana collapsed onto the bedspread.

_It's done._

For the first time, she felt something trickle down her cheek.

A tear.

* * *

Kristen had to try and not flare her nostrils in fury. She knew it made her look like a raging bull but her insides were boiling up inside.

"What is this?" She managed to hiss accusingly, staring daggers at Zoey. Of course, Zoey would be under the impression that Kristen wanted to rip her to pieces because she was in the company of her guy. Of course, yes, that counted, but Kristen hadn't quite forgotten about the hair incident. The little black hairs that kept falling off her shoulders didn't let her.

"Zoey was just round for…" Chase looked around, "a chat."

"Yeah, before she burnt my hair off!" Kristen shrieked, "Look at me, I look like Shrek. Like…like…someone notoriously ugly. Yes, because my hair's gone I can't even think of a valid example. I'm too distressed."

"I don't know what you're talking abo –"

"THE PLUG!" She screeched, interrupting, "You're stupid plug that you broke and couldn't be bothered to get fixed caused my straighteners to explode and singe off my gorgeous hair!"

"Kristen…" Chase said warningly.

"What? It is gorgeous."

"No, what I mean is that that's a bit of a loaded accusation," Chase looked over at Zoey, "it was just an accident."

"Just an acc – just an…" she let out a laugh, "Oh ha ha ha ho ho ho that's what people do, laugh at accidents. I hardly see anything to laugh about here," she pointed furiously to her hair, "she's such a style wrecker. Look, she hasn't even apologized for it!"

Truth was, Zoey hadn't asked to get the plug fixed because secretly she did want someone like Kristen to misuse it. Or Rebecca. Or even Nicole. She was getting tired of suddenly being fourth best out of them all.

"Kristen, calm down," Chase said soothingly, getting up to stroke her on the shoulder. She was flexing her fingers threateningly at Zoey, but it seemed even her pure, undiluted fury couldn't resist Chase's good-guy charm. She sunk her head onto Chase's shoulder and it sounded like she was crying.

"She burnt off my hair…" she said, her tears beginning to soak his shoulder, "she burnt off my hair…"

"It's okay…shh…tomorrow we'll get it nice and styled," he was rubbing her back now, something Zoey couldn't stand to watch.

"Honey, have you shaved?"

The guy she loved, soothing another girl who looked like she needed him.

What was the love called Rebecca always went on about? 'Unrequited Love,' the love that hurts, and is often teamed with 'Platonic Love.'

That's what she was feeling.

Maybe those loves should just be burnt. Like Kristen's hair.

* * *

Art's feet were aching, but he knew he had to keep going, or risk getting jumped on by Lisa-Something, who was still, amazingly, tearing after him. She had impressive endurance.

He turned the corner, the Ice Bean café coming into view. The people sitting outside were beginning to stare.

He checked over his shoulder. She was gaining on him, waving her arms wildly in the air. She seemed to be tailing right, so he tailed left.

He turned to look straight forwards again. He felt something hit his shins, and before he could find out what it was, he found himself head-down in a garbage can.

* * *

"Nicole!"

Rebecca jogged up to where Nicole was standing in the hallway.

"Oh, you're awake?"

"Please tell me you heard the screaming…" she pleaded, leaning against the wall, "please tell me I'm not going insane."

"No, it was Kristen," Nicole said, "she went mental, because Zoey set her hair alight."

Rebecca blinked blankly a few times before shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, did you just say Zoey set Kristen's hair alight?"

Nicole nodded.

"With what?" Rebecca seemed to be looking down the corridor nervously, as though ready to run from a pyromaniotic Zoey with a giant flame thrower in her hands, cackling with mad laughter as she set shouts of burning fire out of the nozzle.

"Straighteners," Nicole shrugged, "remember how Zoey was going to get that plug fixed, well she didn't, and Kristen thinks it's because Zoey knew she was going to be using it."

"Oookay…" She stole a glance down the corridor again, "and where did this happen?"

"Oh, in your room."

"What?"

"You slept through it," Nicole began fiddling with the sweep-over fringe she'd made herself that afternoon.

"I slept through…a hair fire?" Rebecca frowned, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, totally, go ask her yourself," Nicole slid the fringe behind her ear, "anyway, do you think I look alright?"

"For?" she asked promptly.

"My date! With Nate!" Nicole smiled to herself, "Hey, rhymes."

"Good for you," Rebecca said distractedly, "do you know what you're going to talk about?"

Nicole pulled a familiar blank.

"Talk about things he likes," Rebecca suggested, "like um…girls and short skirts. Girls in short skirts is even better."

Nicole frowned at Rebecca.

"Okay, okay," she chewed her lip, "video games. Like Halo 2."

"Is that about angels?"

Rebecca eyed Nicole oddly.

"Oh God," she said finally, "you're not joking, are you?"

Nicole shook her head.

"Okay, Pimp my Ride? You watch that right?"

"Occasionally. I mean, if it's on then fine it's not like I go out of my way to watch it and like, you know be a total fana –"

"Yes! We're getting somewhere!" she shimmied in excitement, "So what do you know about it?"

"Well…the guy that presents it is kinda hot in a adulty way."

Rebecca sunk her head into her hands.

"No Nicole, you're not thinking about this."

She began to wish she hadn't offered to help Nicole. Topics of conversation for her and Nate were dropping fast, like flies and a can of insect repellent.

_Think. What one topic doesn't involve a guy that Nicole knows about and Nate likes?_

If a light bulb was above her head, it would've lit up.

"Hair!"

Nicole looked over her shoulder curiously.

"You what?"

"You can talk about hair! Products, stylists, up-do's…I can't believe I never thought of this before," she bit her lip before she continued, "glass factor, hair straighteners, steel-hold gels. I'm sure you could think of more."

"Like how annoying split ended layers are when you're trying to plait?"

Rebecca blinked, the smile fading from her face.

"Okay, no, not that."

* * *

"Do I look hot?"

Harry looked Nate head to toe with a look of sheer disgust.

"Dude, if I answer that," he paused to shudder to himself, before retreating to his PS2. He was so bored, he tried to cajole Michael into coming over and playing some Tekken or Dead or Alive but he was too busy playing Doom Y or whatever. If Michael didn't finish that game soon, it was going to have to be smashed.

Nate gave himself a once over in the mirror. Yeah, he did look good. His jeans were sitting nicely and his shirt hugged in all the right places. And of course, his hair was set to perfection.

* * *

'I Like the Way You Move' by the Bodyrockers began booming for Rebecca's skirt pocket. She slid out her phone and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

Nicole slicked on a lair of Lancôme Juicy Tubes in Miracle and pouted for herself in the mirror, imagining it was Nate.

"Hey Daddy!"

Rebecca's voice had gone extremely sweet and cute, just like Nicole's did when she spoke to her father. Obviously, Rebecca was a 'Daddy's Girl' too.

"Well, go ahead."

She tied her hair into a side pony, debating over which shoulder to rest it on. Her face was pretty much symmetrical anyway, so it wasn't like it'd make a big difference, but every detail counted when it came to getting ready for an Alpha Male. Especially Nate.

"But…how…"

Rebecca's voice wasn't sweet and cute anymore. It sounded like it was filled with upset and panic. Her face said the same thing.

Nicole figured it was probably best to give Rebecca privacy when it came to family crisises. She slipped out the front door silently, (just in time to hear Rebecca screech "her too?") and close to ran down the hall, waiting to meet Nate in the foyer of Butler Hall.

* * *

Kristen had left soon after, claiming the need of a bobble, some Kirby grips and a Von Dutch cap that could be found in her room.

Chase turned to Zoey.

"I think it's best you leave," he said quietly, "I don't mean to say that in a nasty way, but it's the truth."

Zoey stood up silently, her eyes beginning to fill with tears.

"Is this it?"

Chase opened the door for her.

"I…I think so…it'd just be awkward, if you understand," Chase dropped his head, "when maybe, I can deal with this, we can be friends again. But for now…yeah, I guess this is it."

* * *

Art shook of a banana peel from his shoulder. He was lucky the bin was empty, well, except the banana peel. Slowly, Bradford Hall came into sight.

_Yes! Sanctuary!_

He felt little splatters of rain on his shirt.

_Just in time!_

* * *

**SingMeAnything – **thank you so much for the review! It's so kind and thoughtful and so so so nice, thank you times a million, I'll relember that one forever. And yes, I do mean relember, not remember (if you listen carefully to 'Like I Love You' by Justin T he says that at one point). And yes, Rebecca does get with Logan, but then she doesn't…in the short space of like, ten minutes. Confused? Read on…


	36. The Last Song

**WARNING : **This is me ending Take Me Away. Do not fret, however, while Take Me Away will be completed _– _ part 2, Overdrive, is nearly ready to publish. And I promise you this, Overdrive will be filled with even more (melo?)drama than before, with falling in love and being betrayed, rumors, back-stabbing, more history, arrivals, departures and 'the One' question being brought up. The name of this chapter actually has nothing to do with a song. My friend bought me Hilary Duff's album (I know, I pulled the same face when I saw it) and the last song was called 'The Last Song,' so it was really obvious that was the end of the album. I just thought it'd be nice to use it and for once, Hilary Duff could prove to be slightly useful.

At the end of Take Me Away and before the sequel begins, I will post a preview to Overdrive. I hope you all enjoyed Take Me Away, thank you so much for reviewing, especially my loyal r'n'r'ers (you know who you are - coughmrsloganreesecoughcoughzxxbsmsgirl3148cough – sorry, bad cold coming on there) and what can I say? It's been a pleasure.

* * *

In Dormitory 101, a sliver of light crept through the drawn curtains. The room was littered with clothes that for once, weren't only Nicole's. All around the room were empty tissue boxes, and discarded, wet tissues lay on the floor like a new carpet. The light hadn't been turned on. Zoey sat on the top bunk, her eyes red and sore from crying. She had retreated to the room and used more tissues within those three hours than she ever had in her life. Rebecca and Nicole had learnt to dodge Room 101 and hang at Michael, Logan and Chase's or Kristen and Dana's and return only to the now dark and depressed Dorm 101 when it was time to go to sleep. Occasionally, Zoey would cry herself to sleep, but then wake up when she began dreaming about what had happened. Sometimes, she pretended to be asleep, just to hear them, because when Rebecca and Kristen thought Zoey was asleep, they'd sneak in to get something they had forgotten, and talk in hushed whispers about Zoey and Chase, Art and Glen, if they hadn't discussed it outside. They also spoke in low, vehement hisses to each other, Kristen repeatedly saying "all of us?" "tonight? He told you tonight?" "but Nicole'll be pissed off too!" and "but…we can't…"

_Knock knock._

Zoey stared curiously at the door. It couldn't have been Rebecca or Nicole, because they all had keys, and it couldn't have been CoCo, because sadly, she had a key too. Maybe it was Kristen? Now that Chase wasn't there to stop her, she might be standing outside the door, her ninja sword wielded in her hand, ready to get her revenge.

_Knock knock._

No, Kristen wouldn't have knocked again. She would've kicked the door down, or stabbed her sword through it threateningly. If she had a sword, that is.

_Knock knock._

She certainly was in no state to answer the door. She didn't have to look in the mirror but she knew her eyes were puffy and red, mascara-tinted and sore from crying – which obviously meant the hairbrush had been left untouched on the vanity table as well.

_Knock knock knock._

"Zoey? Open up, I need to talk to you."

Zoey's heart began racing. She knew that voice, but surely, he didn't want to talk to her? After what he'd said?

"Zoey, open up right now or I'll get a key from CoCo and come in."

She sunk down on Nicole's bed, the soggy tissues around her like a feathered mattress.

_Knock knock_

"Come on Zo!"

She pulled the duvet over her head and closed her eyes.

The window began hammering with heavy rain and hail. The sky seemed to suddenly darken. For once, Zoey liked it not being sunny. The weather finally matched her feelings.

* * *

"Duuuuuude…." Harry watched Art sprint in, slamming the door shut loudly and pressing himself against it, panting heavily and looking exhausted, "chased by a swan?" He took Art's panting as a 'yes,' "Man I _know _how terrifyingly scary those things are. Petrified of them. One time, when I was five, I was feeding this one at the park and it started to go like 'quack' or 'honk' or whatever swans do. And then it came towards me, and I started running and I was thinking 'dude this swan's gonna kill me' and–"

"Harry," Nate panted, catching his breath, "shut…" pant, "…up. I was not…" pant, "chase by a…" gulp, "swan."

"Oh," Harry pulled a face, "but you won't tell anyone about my swan thing will you? People'll think I'm…sissy."

"I promise," Art clutched onto his sides, his face wincing in pain, "oh man, I've got a killer stitch. I haven't had one of those since I was coming back from injury during my first season," he blew air out his mouth roughly.

"Crap man," Harry eyed him nervously, "are you gonna die?"

Art shook his head.

"I was running from Lisa," catching his breath and bolting the door, he slowly made his way across the room, wincing with pain, and sat on his own bed.

"And?"

"She should really go for track." Art rubbed his side as he lay down, "she chased me into a rubbish bin man. I was running past the Ice Bean and I turned to check if she was behind me and she practically steered me towards this bit on the sidewalk and when I turned around I went head first into the garbage can. Lucky it was empty. I got up and barreled it behind me. I hope it flattened her, but I heard the familiar smacking of her stupid flip-flops not long after."

"Aw man!" Harry was now clutching his sides too as he wiped tears away from his eyes, "I wish I'd seen that!"

"Whatever," Art winced as he sat up, "I was lucky I only caught a little of this," he gestured towards the dripping window and then to his slightly rain-splattered shirt, "I thought as soon as I felt the rain 'hallelujah' cause Lisa's a serial-straightener, but I locked the door to Bradford hall so she couldn't come up, just incase."

* * *

The rain began to fall so hard it felt as though someone was tipping freezing cold buckets over Rebecca's head. Her dark hair clung to her face, her eyeliner and mascara had began to run, and her dress had soaked right through, sticking to her slim, shivering frame. She didn't know why she had decided to go see Logan, of all people. For some reason, after she ended the phone call with her father, she found the need to. She pressed her palms against the door. It didn't budge.

"Oh come on!" She cried, pushing harder, "Don't tell me it's locked!"

She rapped on the door with her knuckles angrily, looking hopefully through the windows. Nothing - no sign of anybody coming to the door, no sign of anybody responding and still, there she was standing cold and shivering outside his doorstep. Another sudden downfall of water came thundering downwards, a splash of water landed on Rebecca's head. It trickled right down her tanned, shapely legs, through her knee-length white socks and into her white Lacoste tennis shoes, her toes were numb.

_What kind of stupid idiot locks the door to a dorm hall?_

A bike shot past in the dark, it's wheels colliding with a great big, dirty, puddle. A cold wave of murky water went straight over her head, as it descended and splashed her with brown water (turning her tennis shoes a murky grey) she let out a shrill scream.

Immediately, the door flew open.

"Rebecca?" Logan peered at her, "Is that you, or the Drenched?"

"Both," she replied, her teeth chattering, "I've been knocking on this door for half an hour. Let me in."

She stepped inside, shivering so much it was like she was vibrating. Logan stared at her worriedly.

"Are you alright?"

"Why," Rebecca ignored his concern, "on earth is the door to Bradford Hall locked?"

"I think your brother was getting chased by that Lisa-Something," Logan guided her up the stairs, "and he ran in and locked the door so she couldn't follow him."

"I hate him," she said solemnly, shaking her head briskly, showering Logan with rain droplets.

"Oh, sorry," she blinked through a vat of inky eye-make up that was running down her face. It looked like she'd been crying.

"It's okay," Logan said, brushing his shirt, "we need to get you inside."

"I am."

"No, I mean in my dorm," he said sternly, showing her down a hallway, "you're going to catch pneumonia. Or hypothermia."

Rebecca smiled weakly.

As Logan fumbled for a key, he stole glances at Rebecca who was standing side-on, a step or so away. She looked like she'd risen from the ocean, every piece of material she had on was clinging to her body, looking like some sort of spray-on outfit. Her face was decorated by two, thick black stripes from her eyes down to her jaw line, but still the sapphire blue still sparkled through. Her hair was sleek and soaking, hanging down her back.

The door sprung open. He took her inside.

"Why did you come see me? When it was soaking wet?"

"I guessed you were alone, and I wanted to check if you were okay."

Logan felt something warm up inside of him.

"Do you want a fur jacket?"

Rebecca stared at him.

"Why? Do you have one?" She asked incredulously, trying to peer into his wardrobe.

"Only for winter, when it's…real cold," Logan excused lamely, fetching it down from it's hanger anyway and wrapping it around her shoulders.

"Thanks," Rebecca clenched the lapels of the jacket around her wet shoulders. He sat down beside her. She shuddered for a second, before breaking the silence.

"Did you sleep with Dana?"

Logan looked down at his feet.

"Where…why…"

"I need to know, that's all," she shrugged, her teeth chattering together breaking the silence in between, "is that why you two hate each other?"

Logan sighed. Rebecca continued to stare at him expectantly, shuddering every now and then.

"Okay," said Logan, after a long time of staring at the ground, "yeah we did."

"I knew it," Rebecca made what looked like an attempt to smile but she failed miserably due to the look of confusion that set across her face, "I don't understand what went wrong though."

"It's complicated," Logan twiddled his thumbs, "but don't worry, it's not like I got her preggers or anything."

"Preggers?" Rebecca repeated, "Er…"

"Pregnant," Logan would've rolled his eyes, but he felt too appreaciated to, "it's just…I sort of…"

"Let me guess," Logan looked up at Rebecca. She was shivering, her whole body shaking, she could barely get words out due to her chattering teeth but she paused every now and then to get full concentration behind putting out syllables. She looked frail, weak, waif-esque. It was the first time Logan had seen her looking vulnerable and open. "It just fell apart?"

Logan looked away again.

"Yes, but I'm not proud of it," he sighed loudly, "I loved Dana. It was a horrible mistake, like when we just finished. We started shouting at each other, we yelled, there was tears, I felt like a monster."

"Sometimes," she said softly, "you are Logan. You really hurt some girls, make their hearts ache and…" she cast her glance away, "it's not like I'm speaking from experience or anything. But I've seen the nicer sides of you. I just wish you'd show it more often."

_I could say the same about you._

_No, I couldn't._

"I don't want to leave you Logan," she said quietly, looking at him through the inky frame of her eye, hugging the jacket closer.

"It's okay," he felt the coldness of her arm against his, "you don't have to."

He could see her face if he looked to the left, the same, beautiful face he'd grown accostomed to.

"This is a really odd question," Logan looked away for a second before taking a deep breath, "can I kiss you?"

"Uh…um…, I don't really see why that should be a, uh…problem," she finished her ramble with a nervous smile, the same smile that made Logan's stomach flutter and his knees give way. He leaned closer, millimeters away from her face.

This was it! She was about to kiss Logan Reese. The guy she had hated not that long ago. She couldn't really believe what her brain was telling her.

"Uh, Logan," she said, aware that she was probably ruining the moment, "just for the record, I kinda like you too."

She took a deep breath and pressed her lips against his. She felt herself melting away as Logan's strong arms found their way around her waist. Her mind was working on overdrive, a million things flying across her brain in a muddle, except one message, clear as crystal : I hope this doesn't stop anytime soon.

He pulled away.

"Do you want to date me?"

"Why?" She looked about wildly for a moment, "Is this a trick question?"

"No, I'm like, asking you."

She widened her eyes in amazement, and blinked a few times.

"Like, out?"

"Yeah, I suppose I am. Well?"

"Well what?"

"Do you wanna go out with me?"

"I…" she smiled again, I would really, really want to," she bit her lip, "but…"

"I hate 'buts'," Logan sighed heavily, "but what?"

"I don't know how to say this, but I have to. I can't go out with you," a perfect, pearly tear found it's way down the black lines leading to her jaw, "my father called me tonight. Him and Kristen's father have a new business deal in Australia…and," she stopped, the tears now streaming from her eyes, her voice beginning to crack, "and my whole family and her whole family have to move tomorrow morning."

* * *

"Yeeeessss!"

Michael punched the air with his fist, jovially cheering and doing some sort of celebratory dance that featured body waves and some radical form of disco-dancing. Chase stared at him.

"Oh God," he cried, "where's the straight jacket?"

Michael chose to ignore him.

"I finished it! I killed the mafia!" he explained, still dancing, "Woohoo!"

He rose the game in the air like a trophy, before slamming it down to the ground.

"Oh shiitake."

* * *

"Sometimes, I think you're perfect."

Nicole settled herself against Nate's arm. He smelt of the usual, Be Delicious by DKNY and a brief scent of freshly washed polo shirt.

"You are perfect," Nate stroked her cheek lightly. They kissed again. Nicole had no idea how much time had gone past.

"Nate, what happens now?"

Nate looked down at Nicole. Her glossy hair was sparkling in the moonlight, cascading down her left shoulder in a super-straight side pony-tail. She was so sweet she was almost eatable.

_But that would be such a waste._

"Now?"

"Now, that everyone's been cursed," Nicole beamed a bright-toothed smile, "are we cursed?"

He answered her with a kiss.

"Oh, and just for the record," she pulled away, not much, her lips were still resting on his, "what steel-gel hold do you use?"

Nate laughed.

"Why?" he twirled his sandy blonde hair, "is it effective?"

"Oh, very."

They kissed again.

"I think, Miss Bristow," Nate said between kisses, "I'm falling in love with you."

"And I think, Mr Williams, I can say the same."

"Ahem."

They parted.

"Oh hey," Nicole waved at Kristen, who was now standing not that far from them. Nate seemed to eye her with great dislike.

"Nate, we've got to go," she said, her voice cracking slightly.

"To where?" Nate replied angrily.

"To Australia."

Nicole felt her insides plummet.

* * *

Kristen knocked lightly on her room door.

"Dana? I left my key round at Chase's…" she peered through the key hole, "can you please let me in? Just this once?"

The door popped open, swinging slowly as she stepped inside. Dana sat cross-legged on the bed, a look of blankness across her face.

"Oh…are you okay?"

Dana shook her head. It wasn't likely that now, of all times, she'd share a heart to heart with Kristen Williams, her sworn mortal enemy.

"Do you want a chocolate shake?" Kristen dropped her jacket on her bed, "That's what I have when I'm feeling troubled."

Dana stared at her.

_Did she just offer to do something for me? Without being tricked?_

_Wait a minute – did she just drop her jacket? Without folding it? What's going on here?_

Kristen went over to the make-shift kitchen section she'd set up not long ago. Dana heard a few shakes, squirts, breaking of cold chocolate bars and splashes, clinking of tall glasses, followed by the deafening whir of Kristen's blender. Not long after, she brought over two tall glasses and handed one to Dana.

"Here, a Kristen original," she said with a smile as Dana took it, "A Choco K-Shake."

Dana raised the glass to her lips and took a sip. It tasted good, like she was at home. The chocolate was creamy, Dana's favorite. How Kristen knew that, she had no idea. It was probably just a coincidence.

She noticed, now that Kristen was sitting on the bed, that her eyes were red-rimmed with crying, her face stained with mascara tinted tears. She looked exhausted, emotionally drawn.

"Did you…fall out with Logan again?" Kristen tried, peering over the rim of her glass. Dana's shoulders collapsed. She was letting her defenses down.

"Yeah," she sighed deeply, "but it's nothing different. We always fight."

"But you're not always depressed," Kristen fished a block of galaxy chocolate out of her glass and began sucking on it, "come off it Dana, do you really like this guy?"

"I don't know…" Dana sighed even louder, her shoulders sagging, her back concaving as she slouched, "I think it would be easier if I did."

"Wait, you mean, you…" she swallowed the chocolate block almost whole, choking momentarily but forcing it down so she could continue her heart to heart, "you don't love him?"

"I'm _in _love with him."

"Sorry, I don't really comprehend," Kristen coughed, "I didn't cover that in my essay."

"I don't love him," Dana took another sip of her shake, "I'm in love with him. I'm in love with the idea of being in love. I'm in love with his looks, with his scathing tongue…" Kristen coughed suggestively, Dana chose to ignore it, "just with…him. But I can't say I love him. It's definitely a for now thing. I mean, sure, for PCA, but in the big bad world, I don't think so. We'd argue, we'd tear apart. He'd break my heart agai_–_ " she stopped herself saying 'again,' but it was obvious the damage was already done. Kristen looked curious for a moment, but thankfully, she decided to drop it.

"So you can launch yourself at him," Dana continued, "we all know how you love to win. Get Logan and you'll win the game."

"I may be a bitch," Kristen said, "but I don't hurt people like that."

"But he doesn't care for me, he uses me then moves onto something else within a week," Dana sighed, "this would be the perfect opportunity for you to steal it all. You'd win the game."

"No," Kristen said softly, "Game Over."


	37. Epilogue

Things were extremely quiet that Saturday afternoon in Rooms 101, 32, 498 and 232.

The departure that had taken place that morning just proved how popular the Sinclair's and the William's were. Close to the whole school showed to wave them goodbye as they waved back, the girls teary eyed, the boys putting on brave faces and set away for Australia.

Their last hours had been spent each to their own. Nate was with Nicole. Art was still dodging Lisa, saying goodbye to all his good-looking sports clique, including his best friend, a member of the 'Alpha Male' tri-posse (that would cease to exist when Nate and Art left), Harry Onslow. Girls were in hysterics, knowing their dreams of Art and Nate discovering their true feelings for them and kissing them passionately were being torched. Of course, the male portion of the student body had turned up, hoping to get a goodbye kiss from either Kristen or Rebecca. They were severely disappointed when Rebecca spent her time with Logan's arms around her waist as she cried into his shoulder. Kristen didn't want to say goodbye to Chase yet again.

Then the car drove up.

And they were gone. Just like that.

Harry returned to the dorm with a heavy heart. His two best friends were gone. Gone for good. Room 232 suddenly felt extremely empty.

Chase, Logan and Michael had returned to Room 32 solemnly. Of course, Michael didn't quite understand the torture Logan and Chase felt, having their girlfriends that they loved (no matter how short lived) tore away from them so quickly…but the girls were Michael's best friends. And now they were gone too.

Dana had opted for a private room at the beginning of the term, and she got it – Room 498. She remembered how she complained about Kristen moving in, but now, she looked around at the obvious divide of the room, made with clothes scattered on one and pristine cleanliness on the other, and missed her. They'd pulled through for each other in the end, and now, they didn't even have time to celebrate their new found friendship. She was taken away to a continent hundreds of miles away.

Zoey and Nicole shivered with tears when they returned to Room 101. Rebecca's bed was stripped of the sheets and the pillow cases had been sent to the laundry. Nicole's heart was lurching. She'd let go to her best friend and her boyfriend at the same time. And it couldn't have been worse timing. They'd finally fallen in love. Zoey wanted Rebecca back. The time she had spent with her didn't seem enough. She missed her bad singing along to Zoey's iTunes, she missed her crack-addict-dolphin-who-had-too-much-coffee dancing along to the Kelly Clarkson album she'd stolen from her older sister back at home.

And funnily enough, she kinda missed Art too.


	38. Author's Note

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Hey everyone, I think I owe you an explanation as to what's going to happen next. I've been chopping and changing all sorts for the moment, starting 'Overdrive', etc, but I'd just like to say 'Overdrive' is being deleted. I want to move onto 'Roses,' and I need the time between the departure of the four (Rebecca, Kristen, Nate and Art) to the day 'Roses' is set to be mysterious. So yes, you will find out what happened in that space of time, but only in some revelations and confessions in 'Roses.' I can tell you one thing though :

Heather Simon, from Oklahoma, moved in Kristen's place. Rebecca's placed remained untaken.

And that's all! The time between the end of 'Take Me Away' and 'Roses' is now known as the Misty Canyon. Nobody knows the truth, except I, the writer. And they will all eventually find out at one point I suppose. As will you. And do not fret, if you particularly liked any of the new OC's from 'Overdrive' then you'll know Maria and Heather are to be included in 'Roses.'

Anyway, about 'Roses' :

Roses is set on the year group's trip to Hawaii. Arrivals, departures, greetings and goodbyes, Roses is the real Misty Canyon on backstabbing and revelations for the kids at PCA. Whether the people involved want it to be uncovered, doesn't matter. These kids are bent on finally finding out the truth between their supposedly close and tight relationships. Whether it's pretty or not.

Quick Notes about 'Roses' –

- Rebecca, Kristen, Nate and Art _do _return, but things aren't as they were when they'd left.

- Dana does get with Logan, but it's not long-lived.

- Chase is determined not to fall back in love with Zoey now that Kristen's back on the scene, but he hasn't exactly been totally 'faithful' to Kristen either.

- Jackson Rennison's nose has healed, and he's looking as fine as ever.

- Rebecca falls for another guy that Zoey has a thing for.

- Nicole ends her relationship with Nate.

- And yes, they all find out the nasty truth about each other.

Now before you go on to read Roses (hint hint) I'd like to take this opportunity to thank **Marina** and **Natalie **for being so stupidly awesome I can't even think of words to describe it. Big kisses, N x


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