"You know, you're a real snob." Gena hissed under her breath. "You had to come along and ruin everything. And now I bet you're just so upset about how your life is so unfair. Self-centered brat." She muttered, placing her own cookies in the oven and cleaning up her table.

Slamming the oven door shut, Leane turned and glared at Gena, "You're one messed up freak, you know that? You think you can just keep Matt to yourself and treat him like your little puppy who will always be around to praise you and gawk at you and do your bidding? Think again, you spastic bitch. I have every right to care about him and have feelings towards him! You seriously need to get a reality check, Gena. You had him to yourself for years, you never acted once. You were too busy practically having sex in the stacks with your lab partner to think about how Matt would feel. You honestly think you deserve him? I don't think so. You're a wretched, vile freak to needs to get over herself because I hate to break it to you, but you're not Matt's favorite girl anymore - so get over it. You've lost your chance, now move on and deal, you psychopath."

As Leane yelled at Gena, the classroom simply turned and stared. Leaving her cookies in the oven, Leane stormed out of the class and practically ran to her locker to grab her things, not caring that she'd probably get into more detention come Monday for leaving school early without a pass.

Gena blinked once in surprise at Leane's outburst. "I guess the therapist daddy bought itsn't working out." She shrugged, earning a few laughs from the class, as she turned back to her cookies.

~-~-~

Matthew wandered the halls aimlessly, deciding to ditch the last period. Screw it... He thought, he didn't really need French anyways. He made his way to the parking lot, walking towards his car. The wind picked up, causing a breeze to almost knock him over, knocking the keys out of his hand. "Stupid karma. Keys for ditching? Hardly seems fair." He mumbled to himself as he reached into the bushes to find his keys before a teacher spotted him.

Leane stormed out of the school, the metal door slamming against the brick as she stormed through and down the steps. Tears forming in her eyes, Leane stalked towards her car. Shifting her bags so she could get into her purse, Leane searched for her keys. Not able to find them, Leane shifted the bags once more so she could reach farther into her purse, but only resulted in her bag falling at her things going all over.

"Damn it!" Leane yelled through gritted teeth, slamming her fist against the car door as she bent to her knees and began gathering her things. When her things were gathered, she shoved her bag to the side and put her purse in front of her, immediately beginning to dig through her purse to find her keys.

"Found them!" Matthew yelled to the sky. "What now, karma?" He laughed, turning to see a very upset Leane. "Good one." He whispered up the sky before approaching Leane.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked warily.

Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, Leane turned to face her car, still on her knees as she dug through her purse. Swallowing hard, Leane nodded, "Of course I am, just didn't feel like cooking is all. I just can't seem to find my keys.. You'd better get going.. No need to get into trouble before the Ball, right?"

"When I asked if you were okay it was meant as a 'tell me what's wrong'. Its pretty obvious you're upset. I've never seen anyone get so angry about cooking before." Matthew teased lightly. "What happened?"

Leane scowled as she continued to dig through her purse, "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll hear about it from Gena," she spat the word out agitatedly and disgustedly as if she had just tasted a banana peel that had been found at the bottom of a dumpster, "You'll only be furious with me when you find out what I said, and I'm really not up to dealing with that right now.. I just had to deal with that tramp in cooking telling me how I've ruined everything for her in regards to you and how I'm such a self-centered brat and a snob - all because we're going to the Ball together! You'd probably be better off if you didn't take me and you just took Gena - it would probably end a lot of fighting between you guys and ease a lot of tension.."

Finding her keys, Leane stood up and picked up her things, wiping her eyes on her sleeve as she stood up. Turning towards Matt with a forced smile, her eyes red and puffy from the tears, as well as from now holding them back, Leane tried to act chipper as she spoke, "And hey, it'll get you off the hook from having to take me. Don't worry, I'll just go alone, there's no time to find a date now. Besides, I'm sure I can find someone to dance with at the Ball. That will surely make up for not having a date, right?"

"Right," she confirmed with a forced smile. Leane quickly turned back to her car and fumbled with the key, trying to get it into the lock despite her hand being shaky from her temper.

"You don't want to go with me?" Matthew asked, his voice soft. "Well that's great, really. Way to just flake out on me. If you didn't want to go you could've said that from the very beginning instead of causing all this drama to get attention. That's pathetic, Leane. Even for you." He said angrily, stalking off towards his car.

"And do you really think I'd take Gena? I asked you." He spat angrily when he'd reached his car and pulled open the door. "If I didn't want to go with you then why would I even ask? You're logic is twisted." He said.

Turning to face him, the tears slipped from her eyes, no longer having the strength to hold them back, "I do want to go with you! Don't you see that? And do you honestly think I want all of this attention? I try to prevent the attention! If it comes out that I've fallen for you, your life will be a living hell! Half the school will be after you and pushing you to the point where you finally break and ditch me, don't you get it? Then I'll be hurt even more than I am now, and you'll still end up with Gena. She's always been your first choice, right? Your first choice for the ball? Your first choice for a girlfriend? I can't compete with her! She'll always be your first choice. I'll always lose you to her! So what's the point in going, falling for you more, and then having it get harder and harder to give up on you? Tell me, why shouldn't I just end it now before anything begins and save you from getting the whole school against you? Not to mention keep you available for when Gena asks you to be her boyfriend. Surely you'd much rather have a chance with her than a chance with me."

Turning back to her car, Leane shoved the key into the lock, unlocked her door, got into the car, shoved her things into the passenger seat, and slammed her door shut. Locking her doors, Leane shoved her key into the ignition and started the engine of her Prius. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Leane simply sat there for a few minutes, trying to calm down and lower her temper so she could stop crying and drive home.

Matthew sighed, slamming his door shut before moving over to Leane's car and crouching outside her window. "Leane, don't cry." He said, his voice soft. "I don't want to fight with you. I just want to take you to the Ball." He sighed. "If you think the football team acting like a bunch of airheads is enough to make me regret asking you, then you're very wrong. Those guys have been after us losers for a while. Don't let them or Gena for that matter change your mind. I want to go with you and that's what matters."

Wiping her eyes, Leane glared at Matt, regretting leaving her window down, "I don't want your pity, Sommers. You really expect me to believe you'd risk getting your ass kicked just to go to the Ball with me? And you really expect Gena to just let it go? Matt, your friends don't like me. The only one who tolerates me is Ben. You honestly expect me to believe that you want to take me to the Ball, knowing full well how the entire school will react towards us, especially your friends? Come on Matt, we both know I'm not worth the trouble, and we both know your friends will be angry with you if you take me, so why bother? It's not like you feel the same way. You only feel that way for Gena, and I get that. Why do you think I'm beating myself up over letting it slip that I like you? Now that you know, you think I'm even more pathetic than you already did.."

"Leane." Matthew said, putting his hand through the window and wiping away a tear from her cheek. "Why don't you stop worrying about what other people think and just focus on what you feel. I like you Leane. As hard as that may be for you to grasp, I like you. So I think the least you could do is allow me to prove it to you and let me take you to the ball." Matthew said. "Please?"

"A-a-are you s-sure Matt? I mean, you r-realize you're talking to m-me, right?" Leane stammered as a blush crept into her already red cheeks. Wiping her eyes, she thought aloud to herself, "It's a good thing I wear waterproof make-up.. I'd hate to see how wretched I'd look right now if I didn't.." Blushing deeper as she realized she spoke aloud, Leane quickly looked down at her lap. Noticing her car was still on, Leane immediately reached out and turned it off. Sighing as she mentally chastised herself for wasting the gas.

Looking up at Matt, Leane bit her lower lip, "Matt.. Are you really sure about this? You're not going to regret it?"

"I promise." Matthew smiled. "No regrets." He assured her, cupping her chin and pulling her towards him to kiss the tip of her nose. "Are you still angry with me?" He asked softly.

Leane's blushed deepened as he kissed her nose. Stammering, she slightly shook her head, "I-I was n-never exactly a-angry with you M-Matt.. You were th-the one who was an-angry with me.. I-I was more angry at m-myself and G-Gena, than at y-you.."

"Don't worry about Gena. She's my best friend and I think I've finally realized that its best if she stays that way." Matthew said. "I'm sorry for getting angry with you." Matthew apologized, dropping his hand to rest on the door. "I was just fustrated that you'd let me think that I'd get to take you to the Ball and then you were taking it away. My temper kind of got the best of me." Matthew laughed, a hint of red in his cheeks.

"I'm sorry.. I thought you'd be happier going with someone else than with me.. I didn't think it was possible you could like me even a tenth of how much I like you.. I didn't realize you'd want to take me to the Ball that much.." admitted Leane with a blush.

"Well now you know." Matthew said. "And no more threats about not going to the Ball with me." He warned teasingly. "I like you, Leane. I think you're just going to have to deal with it." He said as the bell rang behind them. "You should be going. I'll see you tomorrow night." He said with a wink before turning back to his car.

Blushing, Leane unlocked the doors and opened her door. "Hey, hold up," she called as she jogged over to him. Turning his face towards hers, Leane gently caressed his cheek and placed a shy kiss on his lips. "I don't think I'll mind dealing with it. I'll see you tomorrow night," she hurriedly said with a blush as she turned and began walking back to her car.

Matthew stood still for a moment out of surprise as a horde of students began to pour out of the building. Turning slowly, Matthew made his way back to his car.

"Hey, Matt!" Ben cried from behind him, running to catch up with him. "How's it going dude? Have you talked to Leane?"

"Yeah, we talked." Matthew said, fighting to keep the smile off his lips.

"Alright, so everything's good?" Ben asked.

"Yes, everything's good." Matthew said just as Gena swept by the both of them and got into another one of her friends' cars. "Okay, not everything." Matthew laughed. "But I'll worry about that later."

Shortly after Leane got into her car, Jenny and Joanna piled in, "Okay, spill. What the heck was up with Gena? What happened between you two? The whole school's talking about how you two had a fight over Matt? That's crazy though, right?"

Jenny, noticing Leane's eyes, immediately hugged her friend, "Oh Lee, we'll get the rumor straightened around we promise!"

Leane laughed, "No need, it's true. Gena did say some things to me, and I did freak out. It was all over Matt, but hey; if I hadn't gotten pissed and left early, I would never have gotten the chance to talk to him before the Ball tomorrow night. Nor would I have found out he really does like me, nor would I have kissed him," she added as pulled out of the parking lot, trying hard to keep the smile from her lips as she gently bit her bottom lip.

Joanna and Jenny simply grinned at each other before they both started talking at once, telling Leane that they knew something was up and that she had at thing for him all along. They even spilled about their plan to rig the contest, and about their failure to do so. Both girls were happy for Leane, but still.. they feared what would happen to Matt once all of Leane's admirers found out that the rumors were true..

Ben, Jack, and Matthew all piled into Matt's small car. "So you're definetely going to the Ball with Leane. No more cop outs?" Ben asked, bluntly.

"Yes, no more cop outs." Matthew agreed as he pulled out of the school parking lot.

"Good for you dude but Gena's pissed." Jack shrugged.

"I know, but she'll get over it. If you never would've told her." Matt said, reaching over to smack Ben. "She never would've thought about us and I think she only likes the idea of me liking her. Its a little selfish really."

"Its not selfish." Jack argued. "Gena's been your best friend for years and for those same amount of years she's hated the type of girl she assumes Leane is. Gena's never had it easy and she hates Leane for having everything handed to her the way it is. When she sees you with Leane it upsets her because to her it seems like all Leane has to do is snap her fingers and you'll be at her feet doing as she pleases and that's the kind of thing that Gena is against." He said, hsi words met by silence from Ben and Matthew.

"That has got to be the most we've ever heard you say in one time." Ben said quietly, breaking the silence.

Leane sighed as she pulled into her drive, Joanna and Jenny chattering away about the Ball.

When they entered the house, Leane called to Josh, "Josh! I'm home!"

"But she's a changed girl!" teased Jenny.

"She's a woman now!" added Joanna with a wicked grin.

Josh immediately rushed down the stairs and into kitchen, "What. Was. Taken."

Leane rolled her eyes as she calmed Josh down, "Josh, calm down, I'm still in tact. I just kissed a guy, that's all."

Josh burst out laughing as he ruffled Leane's hair, "Is that all? Jeeze Jo, did you have to put it like that?"

Leane sighed, "Because she's an idiot."

"So who's the lucky guy?" teased Josh, referring to how she called whoever it was a 'guy' instead of a 'boy'.

"Matthew Sommers!" replied Jenny and Joanna in unison in their girlish-squeals, their excitement showing through 100%.

Leane blushed as Josh smirked, "So you did like him! Now we'll have to make the Ball extra-special while you're at detention."

"Josh, don't you dare do anything to embarrass me or Matt! I'll kill you if you do!"

Josh winked at Joanna and Jenny, "Wouldn't dream of it. Now what say you we have some Baked Ziti while you tell me about this Matt fellow?"

"I'm just trying to explain Gena to you two." Jack shrugged when they walked into Matt's house.

"I know Gena well enough thank you though." Matthew bit back. "Is it so hard for people just to be happy for me and Leane?" He asked.

"I am happy for you." Jack said rolling his eyes.

"Yes, the eye roll lets the happiness shine through." Ben joked, falling into the sofa.