Matthew got up, following Jack and Ben out of the cafeteria. "Where's Gena?" He asked, noting that they were alone.

"I don't know where she went." Jack shrugged. "She only left a few minutes ago."

"Yeah, where would she have gone?" Ben asked, his brow furrowed.

"No idea." Matthew sighed. "But we'll see her later anyways."

~-~-~

Gena's anger rose as she pictured Matthew waiting for Leane at her fabulous ball. Stupid Leane... She thought to herself. If she hadn't come into the picture Matthew never would've strayed from Gena. Strayed? She thought as she wondered through the stacks of the library. If Ben hadn't planted this stupid idea in my head I wouldn't even be angry right now.

Leane sighed as she plopped down next to Joanna. As Leane shoved another piece of orange into her mouth, Joanna and Jenny both exchanged a look before closing in on Leane, "Okay, what happened. Did he change his mind?"

Leane shook her head as she put on another smile, "Not at all! He's meeting me at the stair after we descend."

"Then what's wrong Lee?" asked Jenny, a bit worried because instead of simply telling them what was wrong, Leane was avoiding the subject.

Before Leane could come up with an excuse, the bell saved her and Leane immediately jumped up and headed to her locker to get her books.

Matthew, Jack and Ben all hurried off to their own lockers after the bell rang, figuring the Gena would catch up with at least one of them later.

~-~-~

Gena snaked her way through the bookcases until she saw a familiar figure in front of one of the bookcases. "Justin?" She asked as she moved towards him. Not waiting for a response, Gena reached for his hair and bent him forward to kiss her.

Justin immediately responded, pulling Gena into his arms. His lips moved quickly across her's his tongue roaming her mouth. He had become used to this. Meeting her randomly in the depths of the library only to kiss her passionately. He had finally asked her to go to the ball with him and she had said yes, a large ego boost for him.

As her fingers twisted in his hair, Gena's mind raced with images of Matthew. Before she could stop herself, she was imagining her fingers in Matthew's hair. Her lips moving in rhythm with Matthew's lips.

Leane blushed as she saw Ben in Chemistry lab. Sighing Leane slid into her new assigned seat. Figures, the Mr. Covier would pair her up with Ben for the next six weeks.

"Hey.. Guess I kinda screwed things up today, huh.. Is Matt angry that I got you guys into a fight?"

As she spoke, Mr. Covier eyed them as he began explaining the lab they were going to do, which he had left on their desks before they arrived.

When he'd finished and they began work on the lab - finding out which solutions were acids and which were bases and recording the pH through the use of indicators.

Sighing as she set the test tube rack out in front of them, Leane added, "I bet he's regretting asking me, huh. I mean really, I'm not worth a fight with Jack and Gena. He's probably giving it a second thought right now and thinking he should have asked someone else. I'd probably better let him off the hook, right?" Leane continued to ramble as she poured each solution into a tube.

"You doubt yourself to much." Ben laughed. "Matthew's not regretting asking you. What happened with Gena and Jack was no your fault. Gena's just been acting weird lately and Jack always backs her up." He explained.

Ben picked up the pH paper and dipped it into a test tube of dish detergent. "Gena helped Jack through some tough times. So he's just repaying the favor kind of thing." He said, waiting for the paper to turn a different color. "Don't take it personally."

Leane sighed as she waited for the results, "Well it's her own fault! If she hadn't been so cold to me and acted like she was in love with Matt , when we both know she's in love with her lab partner, and like she owned him, I wouldn't have gotten jealous and pissed off!"

Blushing as she realized what she said, she tried to cover her tracks, "I-I-I mean, if she hadn't been so cold to me, I wouldn't have said such things after she left and caused Jack to be angry with me, as well as Matt since he stuck up for me.. for some reason... I'm still unsure why he stood up for me.. I mean, he doesn't like me.. right? Of course not, that's a ridiculous thought. I mean really.. him? Like me? Impossible!"

"Jealous?" Ben asked, wriggling his eyebrows. Ben leaned over the table, forgetting the pH paper and resting it on the table. "And the plot thickens." He teased lightly. "Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me." He smiled.

"As for whether or not Matthew likes you..." He trailed off, deciding to tease her.

~-~-~

Gena pushed back against Justin's chest. "This is a bad idea." She said quietly.

"Uh, not sure where you're going with this." Justin said, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"I'll see you at the ball." Gena sighed, walking away to her class. No matter how much she kissed Justin, Matthew always seemed to come back to her mind.

Leane's blush deepened as she stammered, "J-jealous?! Who said I was j-jealous? I-if I were jealous, th-that would mean that I-I-I like him! And there's no way I l-like Matthew Sommers! How could you even think such a thing? And of course Matt doesn't like me, I mean, that's j-just ridiculous, right? I mean, he thinks I'm a spoiled rotten Princess who only cares about shopping and her Daddy's money... How could he possibly like someone like that.. Besides, he thinks I'm full of myself and egotistical! That's definitely not something you say to someone you like, right?"

"You said yourself that you were jealous. Not that you'd need to say it flat out, its pretty obvious." Ben smiled devilishly. "But I won't tell Matthew. I'll just let him figure it out. If you didn't like him, why would you care?" He smiled, his teeth showing through his wide grin. "I don't really think its my place to tell you how Matthew feels though." Ben shrugged. "But I'll give you a hint." He winked. "I'm thinking that he feels the same way as you do."

Leane's cheeks were now a deep red as she avoided Ben's eyes and stammered, "I-I-I-I-" taking a deep breath, she tried once more to speak, "I don't act jealous."

Resting her forehead in her palm as she rested her elbow on the table, Leane sighed, "Do I really? I don't mean to.. I just.. Gena makes me so angry! And it's so obvious he's still in love with her.. I don't think you're right about him.. I think.. I think he's way out of my league. I mean, he's not like the other boys at this school.. Matt is. Matt is... Well, he actually sees past all of my money and looks and doesn't want to get into my pants as soon as he can like all the other boys.. And.. because he's not like everyone else.. he surely doesn't like me.. I mean, why would he?"

Ben laughed at Leane's shyness before becoming serious again. "You said that he sees past your money and looks. Maybe he likes what he sees." Ben shrugged. "And maybe next time we'll actually finish the lab." He grinned just before the bell rang. "See ya." He said before tidying the lab station and grabbing his books.

Leane blushed as she watched Ben walk off. Gathering her books, Leane's thoughts were a rush. Walking out of the class, Leane didn't pay much attention to where she was going as her thoughts went from 'I can't believe I like Matt!' to 'There's no way in hell he likes me...' to 'What am I thinking?! I don't like him! There's no way. None. Zip. Nada. Damn it, I do like him!'

Lost in her thoughts, Leane bumped into someone, her books flying all over. Sighing, Leane didn't even bother to see who it was, nor yell at them like she usually would. She simply apologized as she bent down and began picking up her things, "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

Matthew fell back against the floor. "Whoa." He said as he hit the floor then noticed it that Leane was on the floor opposite. Matthew gathered both of their books in one hand before they could be trampled by the other students then stretched out his hand to Leane to help her up. "You really have trouble watching where you're going." He laughed. "First you try to run me over then you crash into me in the hallway. Not very graceful." He said with a small smile.

Leane blushed as she took his hand. Standing up, Leane avoided eye contact as she stammered a retort, "It's y-your fault for always g-getting in my way! And I said I was sorry..."

Taking her books from him, Leane murmured a 'Thanks' before slipping past him, her insecurity and nervous tendencies getting the best of her. As she walked past him, she mentally chided herself for getting so worked up and blushing, not to mention stuttering like she did! If he didn't think her an idiot already, surely her stuttering caused him to think it now.

Matthew sighed as she walked away, shaking his head. He could understand that Leane didn't like him but there was no need to feel nervous about telling him that. Oh, well.

Matthew continued to walk to his locker, quickly putting in the combination and putting away his books. Thank God for two free periods daily.... Matthew sighed as he made his way to the familiar tree in the courtyard. He sat on the ground, opening his novel and becoming lost in his book, not noticing the crowd filtering away to their classes and leaving him alone under his tree.

Leane sighed as she quickly put her books into her locker and grabbed her art things once more. If there was one thing she was glad for, was that when he came to her courses, Leane was able to choose whatever she wanted as long as her father kept up the donations to the school. And due to this, Leane made it so that she could take two art classes a day, the second being only for relaxation and stress relief.

Her teacher already telling to her to simply meet them outside, Leane carried her supplied to the Courtyard and headed towards her the tree she had been sitting under the previous period.

As she reached the tree, Leane noticed a pair of feet sticking out. Putting her supplies down, Leane put her hands on her hips as she stepped around the tree and looked down at a guy reading a novel, "Okay, look. I've had a really stressful day, and I'd appreciate being able to draw in peace, so do you mind vacating my tree?"

Blushing, Leane began biting her nail as noticed who it was sitting under the tree. Stammering, Leane's blush deepened, "S-sorry. I-I didn't realize it was you.."

Matthew looked up from his book to see Leane with hip out to the side. "You have a little bit of a attitude problem." He laughed, not bothering to move. "Has anyone ever told you that? I was right at the good part to." He said, holding up his copy of Lord of the Flies. "The part where Jack sets the island on fire and goes insane. My favourite part as odd as it may seem."

Sitting beside him, Leane took the book from him and flipped through the pages, "Lord of the Flies, huh. I didn't like that book, Jack and his friends were too cruel to Piggy and Ralph. Not to mention Sam and Eric swayed far to easily to Jack's cult. And what was with Jack and everyone going back to normal just because an adult showed up? There's no way they could simply snap back to reality that fast. Golding was seriously delusional when he wrote that ending."

Handing it back, Leane chuckled, "Yes, I actually read things other than price tags and magazines, shocking no?"

"Only a little shocking. I was pretty sure that there was something in you that could read actual literature. This only proves I was right." Matthew laughed. "As for Golding, I think this is one of my favourite books. I like the symbolism used. But then again I'm just a nerd." He winked.

Leane rolled her eyes, "Yes, yes, you're a genius in figuring me out - not to mention a definite nerd for enjoying the symbolism, not matter how accurate it was to actual society. But why were you even thinking about me and trying to figure me out anyway?" she inquired softly as she pulled her knees to her chest.

Resting her chin on her knees, Leane sighed, "You don't even like me, so why waste your time trying to figure me out?"

"Now just because you try and run me over then blame me for it or tell the school how you drawing my name is a sick joke doesn't mean that I don't like you." Matthew laughed, leaning up against the tree. "Maybe its never occured to you that you're a very interesting person." Matthew admitted. "Or at least I find you interesting. But I mean that in a very non-creepy way."

Leane looked over at Matt, a confused look on her face, "Y-you do? But-but why? I.. I didn't even really notice you until Ben pointed you out when he and Jack entered your name.. I mean, I've always noticed you.. but.. I never really started to like y-"

Leane blushed as she shut her mouth and looked away, "I-I'd better go.. You probably think me stupid now.."

Standing up, Leane walked around the tree and sat on her knees, gathering her art supplies.

Matthew stood and sat beside Leane on the other side of the tree. "You can't just keep running away from me." He laughed. "It will make the ball very awkward if you run away while we're dancing."

"Anyways, its nice to know that you haven't paid any attention to me before the ball. Its a large ego boost really." He winked. "But in truth, I didn't really begin to notice you until this contest." He grinned. "I know that may sound like an insult but I think that if I told you that I'd been watching you I'd sound like a creep."

Leane chuckled as she sighed a sigh of relief, glad that he didn't realized she had nearly confessed to liking him more than she should, "If you told me you'd been watching me, I'd have to say it would sound a tad creepy, yet a bit sweet and confusing at the same time. Besides, why would you want to talk to me? I mean, do you really care what I have to say? As for the Ball, I assumed you wouldn't want to dance with me.. I-I was afraid you'd simply go with me to be kind and indulge me, then go off on your own and dance with the one you truly hoped to go with for the night.. I wouldn't blame you if you did, I mean, why would you want to dance with someone like me? Oh!" Leane gasped as the wind picked up and blew her sketch book open, a few pages coming loose and blowing towards Matt.

Leane quickly shut the book and reached for the papers, trying to hide her artwork. "S-sorry about that.." Leane mumbled as she picked up her sketches.

"Don't be sorry." Matthew said, gathering a few of Leane's sketches into a pile. "And of course I'd want to dance you with you. You are my date after all." Matthew smiled. Handing the papers back to Leane, Matthew looked down at them. "Hey, these are pretty good." He said, turning the sketches towards him for a better look. "You're not half bad." He laughed, flipping through the sketches.