"No, I'm fine I swear," Karia assured them, standing back up and regaining her sanity. "Just had a bit of a moment."

Rex raised an eyebrow. "I think somebody has a crush on the new boy." As soon as he said this Karia blushed.

Lana moved back to give Karia some room and ended up stepping on the piece of pizza that Blake had dropped. It made a disgusting squishing noise beneath the weight of her foot. Lifting it off Lana was quite grateful that she had still been wearing her shoes.

Blake was still trying to fuss over Karia when he heard and interesting noise. Looking back he realized what it was--his pizza. "Oh! I'm sorry!" he stated as he looked around for something to clean it up with. Too busy worrying about the mess he didn't hear Rex's accusation.

Karia laughed at the sound of the squashed pizza. "Oh my, watch your Lana!"
Rex just rolled his eyes. "Wow, stepping on pizza, that's a classic." Then he began laughing also.

Lana blushed and hid her face. She didn't see how it was funny at all, stepping on a piece of pizza. The way everyone was laughing at her made Lana feel incredibly stupid. Feeling her eyes begin to sting she slipped off her shoes, "I'll go get some paper towels from the restroom..." she told Blake before rushing out of the room and down the hall.

Blake stopped what he was doing and watched as the other two began laughing at his sister. Looking at Lana's face he could tell that she was hurt. He didn't think it had been funny either, he and Lana both had only been trying to help. He felt as dumb as Lana did knowing that he was the one to drop the pizza. He nodded to his sister as she left the room and resisted the urge to follow after her.

"Oh my, did I do something wrong?" Karia asked Blake. She knew something was wrong, and she hadn't meant to do anything.

Rex stopped laughing immediately. He watched as Lana left the room. After a minute he got up and followed her. For once in his life he felt horrible about something.

Lana didn't really pay attention to where she was going. She knew that she was supposed to be finding some paper towels but at the moment she didn't really care. A tear rolled down her cheek and she paused for a moment to wipe it away.

Blake watched as Rex left the room, he considered stopping his new room mate but he let him go though he wasn't quite sure why. Looking back from the doorway he noticed Karia as she spoke to him. He thought for a moment before responding, "She's just... Been though a lot..." he said, "Sometimes she has a hard time dealing with certain things."

Rex found Lana. "Hey Lana! Wait up!" he knew he had to apologized.

"I'm so sorry," Karia said weakly. "I'm very sorry... more than anything."

Lana heard Rex's voice behind her but didn't turn to look. She didn't want him to see her crying...

Blake just shrugged at Karia's response, "It's not me you should apologize to..." he said flatly.

"I know..." Karia said, very weakly.


Rex caught up with Lana. He was that she was crying, and he felt even worse. "Lana... I'm sorry."

Lana continued to stand silently for a few awkward second before weakly replying, "It's okay..." She knew that she was probably overreacting but sometimes she just couldn't help it and today was apparently just one of those days.

Blake watched Karia. He knew she was really sorry but he just wasn't sure what to say to her. He felt awkward, torn between caring for his sister and also caring for Karia though they had only just met.

"No... it's not... I didn't have to laugh," Rex said.

Karia stared at the wall. SHe couldn't bare to look at Blake... it was too painful.

Lana just shrugged. Today was a hard day for her. Ever since her uncle dropped them off at the school her whole world seemed to be turning upside down. She had a new roommate where she was used to living alone, she spoke more so far than she had in the past week, and already she was making friends where she had none before. It was a nice change but the upset in her routine made her feel unstable.

"It's okay..." she said quietly as she wiped away a tear and made an effort to smile, even if ever so slightly. She wasn't mad at Rex anymore, she just didn't know what to say.

Blake continued to look at Karia, he knew he should say something but his mind was coming up blank. After a few minutes he quietly replied, "I'm sure she'll forgive you if you ask..." He paused and put his hands in his pockets before continuing, "That's just the way she is."

Blake looked down at his feet and wondered if he should be giving out so much information about his sister without her knowing. It was really the only way for people to understand her though since she never spoke much, and even less about herself.

Without thinking Rex hugged Lana. It was such a sudden reaction even he was surprised.

Karia nodded. "I'll talk to her later. I suppose Rex is talking to her at the moment."

Lana's eyes widened and her body tensed up as Rex hugged her. She stood rigidly, her mind almost spinning from the million incomplete thoughts that were going on inside her head. Finally she managed to calm her mind enough to say a rather awkward but genuine "thank you".

Blake nodded, it made sense not to interrupt them. Yet still... What was taking them so long? He was worried about leaving Lana alone with Rex, especially since he didn't know his new room mate all that well yet.

"I'm sorry for the mess..." he said staring down at the pizza that was still stuck to the floor. "I guess I wasn't thinking..." Blake felt a bit of heat on his cheeks and hoped that Karia wouldn't notice.

Rex let go of her. "I'm sorry for my sudden reaction. I guess I'm just letting my emotions get the best of me."

"Don't worry about it," Karia said, picking up the pizza and throwing it away. She looked at Blake, "Uh, are you okay?"

"It's okay..." Lana replied, not noticing that she probably sounded like a broken record player. Her cheeks were practically burning up from how heavily she was blushing and her heart continued to flutter a bit from the encounter. "I think maybe I should get those paper towels now..." she said hesitantly, Blake and Karia would probably be wondering where they were by now.

Blake watched dumbly as Karia picked up the pizza. As she came back he realized that he had been spacing out and fought the urge to smack himself on the head. He was such an idiot... Watching as Karia cleaned up the mess he had made. He was really starting to lose it... "Yeah, I'm fine!" he replied though he was still inwardly cursing at his stupidity.

"There's a teachers lounge around here, I'll go in there and get some," he said. He walked down a few rooms and entered the teachers lounge.

Karia stared at him. "Well, okay then." She looked at the door. "I wonder where Rex and Lana are."

Rex left the teachers lounge and walked back to Lana. "I took the whole thing, they are useful. They can get more too, this school has a good supply." He smiled. "We should head back. I have a feeling Blake doesn't trust me."

Lana watched as Rex went off to grab some towels from the teachers' lounge. She wondered briefly if they should really be taking things from there but she figured Rex would probably know best.

He returned a few moments later with a whole roll of towels in hand. "Yeah..." she said, agreeing that they should be getting back. Blake and Karia would be wondering where they had gone off too...

Leading the way back she wondered at what Rex had said. Why wouldn't Blake trust Rex? She wasn't sure but she hoped that her brother wouldn't mind her spending time with him...

Blake remained silent lest he say or do anything else stupid. As Karia voiced her concern as to the whereabouts of Rex and Lana he too looked at the door, similarly wondering what could be taking them so long. After a moment the door opened to reveal Lana who seemed to be in a much better mood than when she left.

Rex followed Lana through the door. He nodded at Blake to assure him everything went alright.

As Lana walked through the door Karia jumped right up. "Lana, I'm so sorry for earlier!"

Blake was happy when Lana and Rex finally returned with the paper towels. He saw Rex's nod as he entered and gave a slight nod back. He was quite curious as to what had happened between the two of them out in the hall but he didn't ask.

Lana was surprised when Karia jumped to her feet and immediately apologized to her. She wasn't used to receiving apologies and such a fervent one at that. Still, she smiled and forgave Karia before taking the towels from Rex and wiping up the mess on the floor.

Rex helped Lana clean up the mess. Something about her made him want to improve his reputation of being a jerk.

Karia looked at Blake then at Rex and Lana cleaning up. She didn't know what to say, so she remained silent.

Lana smiled at Rex, she was happy for the help. Straightening up she spotted the garbage and threw away the dirty towel before moving her now clean shoes over beside her bed where hopefully no one would be able to trip on them.

Blake watched Rex and Lana clean up for a moment before turning his attention to Karia for a moment before looking away. He still wasn't quite sure what to think of everything that was going on.

Karia sat down on her bed. She stared at Blake for a couple seconds, unaware of what she was staring at.

Rex blushed when Lana smiled at him, but he hoped she hadn't seen him. "So, uh, what now."

Lana shrugged, she really didn't know what there was to do, especially since she didn't really know where anything was on campus. "Actually... Maybe a tour would be nice..."

Blake watched as Karia took up her position on the bed once more. He was just about to go sit down next to her when he heard Lana's request for a tour. "That would be a good idea..." he agreed.

"Okay," Rex said, looking now Karia. "Let's show them around."

Karia nodded, "Okay!"