A/N: This is my first ever Z101 fic and it is loosely based off the song Time & Confusion by Anberlin. It's an amazing song about friendship and I highly suggest you listen to it. Now while there is definitely romance going on, it's not totally fluffy, and there's major confusion going on between people and their feelings. Just for some background info they are all seniors, and James is gone temporarily but I will warn you this is not the last you'll hear of him (all James haters please hold your torches and pitchforks you'll love me by the end of this story, I promise!). Well, I'll shut up now and let you enjoy the story.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Zoey 101 or any of its characters. They all belong to Nickelodeon and other rich people.
"A little to the left."
Zoey and Quinn sighed as they lifted their already sore arms and moved their purple couch two places to their left.
"No, the other left."
Zoey rolled her eyes to Quinn and they once again moved the heavy piece of furniture.
Lola tapped her chin. "Hmm…but then again…"
"Oh, gosh," moaned Quinn.
"…If the couch goes there, it'll block sunlight from our window, and sunlight is the ultimate source of spiritual equilibrium. You know what? Move the couch back to that corner, there." Both Quinn and Zoey gave Lola a "you-can't-be-serious" look.
"But Lola," growled Zoey, "That's right back where we started!"
"Oh, well…then that means I always had great spiritual taste! Go me! Now, if only there was a way to move the beds…"
Both girls under the brutal wing Lola let out a harmonious sigh. Zoey pinched Quinn on her upper right arm.
"Ow!" yelped Quinn before caressing the slightly red mark. "What was that for?"
"That was for introducing Lola to this "feng shui" madness; now for the past five hours we've been her labor slaves! Look," she held out her pinkie finger. "I broke a nail! On my pinkie! You know that's my favorite finger!"
"Hey! How would I have known that she would take my science observation of changing-orientation-of-an-established-environment-affecting-the-minds-of humans seriously? I didn't even take it seriously. "
It all started after school when the gang was hanging out at the boys' lounge. Chase was beating Logan's butt at Speed Racer (for the 18th consecutive time), Michael was paying—that's right, paying—Dustin to help him with his math homework, Lola was giving Zoey a pedicure, and Quinn was reading her issue of Scientific Mind monthly. She had found an article that mentioned altering your surroundings such as furniture, for example, to reach a positive Qi, or energy (something like that). She read the article aloud (even though only the girls really listened) and called it a bunch of "pseudoscience bologna". However, Lola took a great liking to it. Completely ignoring the girl with half-painted toenails, she grabbed Quinn's magazine and dragged both her roommates to start her new project.
"Oh, giiiirls," called Lola from the closet, "I just noticed how unorganized our closet is! Maybe if we moved some things to the back wall and throw out all of Quinn's biohazard boxes we can—" but as she was making her way out, she noticed Zoey and Quinn completely knocked out on the couch.
"Oh, come on!" she complained more-or-less to herself considering her roommates were unconscious on the couch. "A little hard labor never hurt anybody!"
With that, she decided to prove how easy moving a box could be, so she walked toward Zoey's end of the room and eyed a blue box worth moving. After approximately three seconds of hard labor she gave up.
"Ouch, I broke a nail. Stupid hard labor."
She decided feng shui wasn't as fun when she didn't have people to move everything for her, so she turned out the lights and crawled into bed (at 3:00 in the morning).
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
That, my friends, was the sound of the Californian Michael Barrett screaming.
Zoey, Quinn, and Lola (and probably the entire campus) abruptly woke up to the sound of Michael's disastrous cry. Zoey didn't know what was worse: the new gigantic ringing in her ears or the awkward sensation of Quinn's foot on her face. She pushed her off, causing Quinn to fall with a thump, and rubbed her eyes.
"I didn't know we set our alarm clock to Michael Scream at 7:00 am."
"I wonder what's wrong with him" asked Quinn rubbing her butt from the fall.
"I don't know, but when I see him I'm gonna kill him." The two girls turned to Lola who jumped from her top bunk to the floor.
"Why?"
"Because his stupid screaming caused my nail polish to fall. Ugh, my favorite, too!" She kneeled down and caressed the open miniature bottle. "Aw… Strawberry Maroon…you will be missed."
Zoey and Quinn rolled their eyes and threw all their pillows at their overly dramatic friend. That's what she gets for letting them get only four hours of sleep.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Lisa crossed her arms and patiently waited for Michael's episode to end. After five minutes, however, it was getting extremely tiring and a bit embarrassing. She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him up from his puddle of tears on the floor.
"Michael, please, get a hold of yourself."
"Get a hold of myself!? Get a hold of myself!? Here, I'll get a hold of myself!!" he dramatically spun 360 degrees and wrapped his arms tightly around himself. Lisa rolled her eyes. Stupid literal body language.
"See!? Getting a hold of myself is not going to stop you from moving to New Hampshire! Where is New Hampshire, anyway?"
"It's in—"
"Bleghwha! I don't care where New Hampshire is! Stop changing the subject!"
"But you asked me—"
"Bleghwhaaa! Lisaaa! Babyyy! How could you do this to me? To us? To them—to anybody?"
"What?"
"You know what I mean!"
Lisa sighed. "Michael, I told you. I got a full four year scholarship to the University of Hampshire Arts (totally made up, by the way), and it's really hard to get into."
"Okay, that's college which is still a year away. Finish your senior year here with me."
He desperately grabbed onto her hand. He would squeeze it off if that meant making her stay with him. He stared longingly into her eyes, hoping to get through to her. Lisa, desperate to give him comfort, grabbed onto his hand in response.
"You know I would love that, but in order to be enrolled without having to pay 5,000 dollars extra—money that my family doesn't have—you have to be a resident of the area for at least six months. Cunnington Academy is great, I'll be fine."
"Yeah," Michael released her hand and groaned, "Fine for you; horrible for me."
"Michael…"
"So, it this it? Is this your way of breaking up with me? Is this your way of telling me it's over, that we're never gonna see each other again?"
Lisa was silent, and Michael knew he was right. After all, silence does speak a thousand words. He began pacing the room.
"Michael…"
"Oh, don't Michael me! Don't I'm sorry me! Don't do anything to me, because you can't break my heart more than you already have!"
"Michael, stop! You know that's not fair! This is my future! You know how much I love to dance. I've waited so long for this chance; please don't take it away from me."
Michael could have cried; he could have yelled out some snappy yet nonsensical remark like he usually does, but he held his tongue. For once he had to control his emotional overactive mind and think about what really mattered: Lisa. She would always talk about different performance arts colleges around California; she always signed up for dance shows; she even choreographed PCA's musical of "The Wonderful World of Meat". It was unfortunately painfully obvious how much she loved to dance—probably loved it more than him—and no matter how hard it was for him to think of that, he had to, for Lisa.
"Look, Michael. I have to go or else I'm late for first period. You should get going, too." She grabbed her bag from off the floor.
"My parents are coming tonight after school to bring me to the airport. Maybe we can talk before then." She leaned to give him a light kiss on the cheek. He didn't object, but he didn't really accept, either. Lisa sighed. She knew this wasn't going to be easy, but she couldn't let anything stand in the way of her dream. She smiled at him one last time and turned for the door.
Forget first period. It was just stupid American Literature. And besides, he couldn't take Lola seeing him like this, since he had first period with her. Instead, Michael stayed in his dorm room alone, sulking in his bed, drowning in his own wretchedness.
"Lisaaaaa…"
The bell rang signaling one minute left to get to class. However, that didn't matter seeing as how Quinn was already in her seat early as usual. Well…sleeping in her seat. She shot up at the ringing of the bell with drool covering her right cheek. Poor Quinn falling asleep at her desk; since that whole "Lola-making-her-roommates-rearrange-the-dorm-room" incident she's been collapsing every three minutes to Physics all the way from the dorm.
"Ugh," she croaked. She wiped the disgusting drool from her cheek when she noticed her new recent Quinnvention: the shockwatch. It was like her zap watch but instead of zapping others it gave the user minor electrical currents throughout his/her body. She could use that to shock herself so she wouldn't fall asleep! (Why she would invent a device that would inflict pain on her? I don't know) Quinn smiled at her plan and pushed a button repeatedly on the watch, setting it for shockage every three minutes.
"There."
The late bell sounded which—as always—signaled the time for Logan Reese to walk in the classroom. Quinn smiled in that intoxicated way only Logan could make her feel. Why did it always seem that he walked in slow motion with a gigantic fan blowing against him every time he walked in a room? Logan did the traditional "head-nod of acknowledgement" to a couple of people in the stools before he took his usual seat next to his super hot and intelligent girlfriend in the middle row.
"Hey you," he sing-songed while taking off his book bag and placing a light kiss on her forehead. It's been officially ten months since he and Quinn started dating (well, six months if you don't count their days of "undercover love"). He had to admit that sometimes it did feel a bit strange considering he hasn't been in a relationship this long. EVER. Quinn definitely had the other girls beat by…9 months, 3 weeks, and 6 days. Well, he did still hear a few voices in the hall that sounded like, "Logan may be kinda stupid, but he's hot. Him and the science chick Quinn Pensky? I so can't see it," or some that sounded like, "Oh! I wish I had a guy that was brave enough to confess his love for me in front of the entire student body! Quinn is sooo lucky!"
Yes, yes she is.
"Hey you, too," Quinn dragged because of the yawning. Every muscle in her body was screaming for her to just fall limp on her broad boyfriend's shoulder and sleep, but the shock watch was in full affect and she could already feel a small electric current coursing through her veins.
Logan (on a more recent non self-centered occasion) stopped looking at his dazzling reflection through the back of his cell phone and noticed Quinn yawning for the fourth time.
"Hey," his tone was casual with a just-for-Quinn touch of compassion, "What's wrong, tired much?"
"Yeah…blame Lola for keeping me and Zoey up all night."
Logan chuckled, "I will gladly do so."
Quinn yawned for the fifth time. Suddenly there came a…
:SHOCK:
"AH!" yelped Quinn. Everyone turned their gaze toward the couple in the middle row. Logan was just as confused as they were, but he casually (and a bit awkwardly) cautioned everyone that everything was okay, and then spun around to face Quinn.
"Um, what was that!?" Quinn had to take a minute to come out of her shock then adjusted her glasses.
"My shockwatch went off," she said casually.
"Your shockwatch?"
"Yeah, see I set it for every three minutes so I won't fall asleep. Pretty clever, huh?"
"Pretty stupid," Logan sighed. "Look, turn that thing off alright? I'll make sure you won't fall asleep."
"Oh, please," she argued. "You can barely keep yourself from falling asleep."
"I will alright? Just please turn that thing off before you kill yourself."
Quinn could argue more on how it was scientifically impossible for her extremely low voltage watch to cause death, but she noticed in his voice how he just worried. She thought it was cute, so all she said was,
"Okay." Logan smiled in approval and began rocking back and forth on the heels of his lab stool.
"So," Quinn began, "The girls and I heard Michael cry out this morning. Do you have any clue as to why?"
"Don't know don't care."
"Logaaan…" she reprimanded.
"Quiiinn…" he mimicked her tone rather poorly.
:SLAM:
Everyone froze and sat up straight as they saw their Physics teacher Mr. Pentlatski enter the room (well, all except Logan who was too comfortable in his super laid back position to care).
"Good 'aye mates!" See, Mr. Pentlatski was adopted by and Australian couple when he was eleven, so he desperately tries to fake an Australian accent. The students have yet to catch him when his guard was down to expose him for the middle-aged boarding school teacher he is. Poor, poor man
"Alrighty then! Rather than take attendance or watch the morning announcements, I'm gonna skip all that mind bladder and get right to the fun stuff—projects!"
"Really?" random students asked in excitement.
"You bet your wally! Now you and your mate will build a machine that's not only a pure beaut, but reflects the laws and principals we've learned thus far. For example, a pendulum, a pulley system, or my personal favorite, catapults!"
"Woo!" a yell of excitement roared through the class. It's not that Physics wasn't a riveting educational adventure for the mind, but free reign on a project equaled awesomness in Mr. Pentlatski's class.
"You know what this means," purred Logan to Quinn in a very seductive tone.
"Another chance for an easy A by mooching off your girlfriend?" Quinn ribbed.
"Now Quinn, you know I only mooch off of you…45 percent of the time."
"Plus 55"
"What?"
"Now hold your captains quarters, class," Mr. Pentlatski interrupted, "There is the dilly of picking partners—"
Logan wrapped his arm around Quinn's shoulder and stole a quick glance around the room clearly marking his territory. That super smart brain was his and only his.
"—you can't pick the partners you want."
"WHAT!?" A simultaneous yell came from everyone in the class. What was he thinking? Mr. Pentlatski always allowed the students to pick their own partners. The kids always paired up with their closest friends and the losers got stuck with their fellow losers. That was tradition! How could he break that up?
"Well," he began, "every time I've noticed a pattern: girlfriends, boyfriends, and best friends would pair up, leaving out poor Heimlich Fraudenburger."
Logan was outraged! He was going to kill Heimlich Fraudenburger.
"Wait, who's Heimlich Fraudenburger?"
"The new foreign exchange student that smells like cheese," answered Quinn followed by a point of the finger to the only one-person table at the back of the room. Everyone in the class turned to give the ever chilling group glare at Heimlich, who was heavily enjoying a plate of cheese—cubed form.
"What?" he said partly incoherent because of the mess of cheese sticking to the roof of his mouth.
"So," continued Mr. Pentlatski, "to decide who gets hooked with whom, we'll do what me and the fam used to do down under: pick names outta a hat!" He held up a huge random sombrero. "You have two minutes." It was a good thing the teacher put on his head phones and started relaxing to "Sounds of the Outback Vol. 5" or else he would have heard the rude language said to him.
Logan turned to Quinn with an evident scowl on his features. "Stupid Pentrof—Pentak—Tamponski—"
"Pentlatski," Quinn corrected. It's funny; they've been in Mr. Pentlatski's class for about a month and a half—he's even been Logan's personal tutor for a week—but he still could not pronounce his name correctly to save his life.
"Whatever. It's not our fault that cheese boy is a social outcast."
"So," she sighed, "what are we going to do?"
Logan pulled out his cell phone.
"Besides stare at your gorgeous reflection," she groaned.
"Shh…it helps me think," he began chanting to himself, "Come on Logan, and think. You're awesome, you can do this." He needed Quinn—not just wanted—but needed Quinn to be his partner. Not only was he borderline passing this class, but Quinn was the only person that could actually teach things to him and make him realize that learning can actually be fun (sometimes).
"Well, you better hurry, we have a short time left."
Logan furrowed his eyebrows then smiled. Not only was that looking sexy on him, but he stirred up the perfect idea. "Got it!" He turned toward his girlfriend and reached forward and grabbed her green girly science notebook.
"Hey! What are you doing?"
He ripped a piece of her notebook paper off.
"Look: I'll write my name on this green paper," he applied his sloppy yet attractive script to the torn paper, "All the rest will be plain white, duh, so you'll definitely know to pick me. It'll stand out, kinda just like I do on a daily basis."
Quinn's inquisitive look turned into sheer excitement. "Excellent! But wait; what about my name? How will you know to pick me if you go first?"
Logan took a gander around quickly. He knew he didn't have long left until Mr. Yapantski or whatever his name is called time. He turned around to notice Stacey Dillson. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn she was shooting eye daggers at Quinn and notice that she still didn't get over being dumped at last year's prom. Too bad he didn't know any better. He tore a piece of her pink notebook paper without asking (such a Logan thing to do).
"Hey!" she objected. Finally her words sounded normal thanks to the windshield of Michael's car.
"Yeah, thanks Dillson," and Logan turned back around. "Here," he started, "I'll write your name on this pink piece of paper so I'll know to pick you."
Quinn was impressed. Smiling with relief that she didn't have to have someone horrible as a partner, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "You're a genius!"
"Tell me something I don't know."
"The value of pi is 3.141592653589…"
Logan abruptly shielded his ears with the palms of his hands. "Okay! Okay! Brain cramp!"
Suddenly, Mr. Pentlatski rose and removed his headphones.
"Okeedokee class, my CD won't stop skipping so it's time to turn in those slips!"
Each table went down the isle one by one to place their destinies in the sombrero. Mr. Pentlatski picked it up once everyone was done and said to the class, "Alrighty then, mates. Everyone come up one by one and pick your mates!"
Mary-Anne Stewart was the first one up, then Tyler Peterson, then Drew Alhart. Quinn couldn't help but notice that all of them occupied a slightly smug look on their face then when they sat down, it shifted to looks of dismay. The line continued, and so far no one was happy with their partners. Quinn prayed that this all was just a horrible coincidence and that she and Logan would be the exceptions. It was now Logan's turn, so he gave Quinn a quick wink before he went up.
"Logan," greeted Mr. Pentlatski as he approached the front of the room.
"Mr. Pataki," he greeted back.
Logan didn't notice the very confused look he was given and peeked in the hat, looking for the pink slip that belonged to his girlfriend.
He peeked again.
And again
And again
WTF??
"Today, please, Mr. Reese."
Logan was outraged. How could this happen? He worked out everything perfectly! Angrily, he picked a piece of stupid paper and stupidly marched back to his stupid seat.
Quinn quickly noticed his troubled stare.
"What's wrong?"
"Go see for yourself," he growled. Quinn looked at his hand. Well, his slip was pink, he got her, and so what was the problem?
Quinn rose and walked towards the sombrero. She peeked inside.
She peeked again.
And again
And again
WTF??
"Hurry please, Ms. Pensky, other students are waiting," but to be honest, they could care less.
"…certainly…" her voice dropped. What happened? She picked a piece of stupid paper and stupidly marched back to her stupid seat. As soon as she sat down she turned to Logan.
"What the heck!? They're all green and pink!"
"Yeah, ya think?" Logan rolled his eyes.
"How could everyone in the class have the same plan as you?"
"I don't know," Logan stood on up and shouted accusingly to the class, "but you guys stole my idea!" Quinn pulled him down in slight embarrassment.
"Okay, just shut up and show me who you got."
"Why don't you shut up and show me who you got?"
"No you"
"No you"
"No you"
"No you—look, just why don't we switch and read each others?"
"Okay…" She gave him her paper and he gave her his. They started counting down alternately.
"Three"
"Two"
"One!"
Quinn read it.
Logan read it.
Both could not believe it.
"MARK DELFIGGILO??" shouted Logan.
"MANDY FRANKLIN??" shouted Quinn.
Both of their cries would have been a major disruption of the class, but considering the fact that practically everyone was yelling and complaining about their partners, no one really noticed.
"What force could possibly make you pick Delfiggilo!?" Logan shouted again. The ex-boyfriend; how horribly cliché.
"I don't know," Quinn shot back, "Maybe the same force that made you pick Make-Out Mandy!"
Logan was insulted. "Oh, so you don't trust me!? What do you think, I'm just gonna get all rapped up and make-out with her first chance I get?"
"Well, her name is MAKE-OUT MANDY so yeah, that's kinda what's going through my head right now!"
"Well, since we're on the subject of nontrust—"
"Mistrust"
"Whatever—please explain how I should trust you with Delfiggilo, seeing as how he's what? Oh yeah, your EX-BOYFRIEND!?"
"Alrighty, class, hold your kangaroo shoes. The partners have been chosen and there's no going back. Don't you love Democracy? The project is due in…uh…let's say three weeks? Now off to some educational business. We last left off on chapter three…"
Even though the class settled back in their usual routine, there was a gloomy stillness in the air. The table of the couple was silent for a long while. Usually Quinn and Logan would either play footsies under the table of a game of tic-tac-toe. Quinn already took Physics over the summer learning course since Science Camp was over, but she was doing it again just because she had a free elective and didn't know what to do with it. And Logan was just…well you know…Logan; goofing off, getting distracted was his thing. Besides, he always had his hot and super smart girlfriend to summarize everything in class to him afterward. But right now, his hot and super smart girlfriend wouldn't even give him a passer's glance. He knew his conscience said he should apologize for raising his voice and making her upset, but his jerk-side was like "Hey, she rose hers first saying how she doesn't trust me just because I unknowingly picked a girl who just happened to be named Make-Out Mandy. She hasn't even made out with a lot of guys…okay, yeah, she has, but that's beside the point." Logan pushed that side down. Because of Quinn he was learning there were times when being a jerk was not appreciated or wanted. See, that's just it. Quinn made him realize that, not anyone else. He's hers now and she should trust how much he loves her, not accusing him of cheating on her any chance he gets.
Wait a minute…
Logan officially had a weird moment. It consisted of him feeling guilty and realizing that he said those same accusing things about her and Mark.
Whoa…I think I just grew up a little bit, today.
Logan came to the conclusion that he didn't want to fight. Besides, angry Quinn meant no make-out session, and no make-out session meant a very sad Logan. He reached in his pocket and grabbed his cell phone. With the push of some tiny buttons the text was ready.
Quinn jerked up. At first she thought it was her shockwatch malfunctioning but it just turned out to be her phone vibrating. She curiously reached into her pocket and grabbed the yellow cellular device. It said she got a text message. Hm…she began reading.
NEW TXT
--
Im srry. I trust u. Forgive me?
--
Received: 8:09 AM
From: Logan
Quinn could not hide her smile. She also couldn't hide the fact that her anger was stupid. It was known to all her friends that she was slightly defensive and a bit self-conscious, but every time she was around Logan that intensified ten fold. He was truly great—overly self-centered but great nonetheless; there was no hiding his attraction and attention from the opposite sex. It was easy for any girl to get wrapped up in those gorgeous eyes of his. This one side of her kept on reminding her of all the reasons they were so different, but this other side kept reminding her of all the reasons she loved him, and all the ways he showed her he loved her, too. They knew from day one that their relationship was crazy, but one thing they both could agree on was that they couldn't stay away. Everyone was self-conscious, but it was up to her to let that go and fight for the arrogant boy she loved, even if that meant kicking Mandy Franklin's butt. She replied to his message and pressed the green send button.
Logan already had his phone in his hand when he received his text. He gulped. Was it a good response or a bad one? Knowing Quinn, he wouldn't be surprised if it was the opposite of what he expected. He sucked in his gut (or should I say six-pack) and opened his phone.
NEW TXT
--
No, I'm sorry. You're an excellent boyfriend, I should've trusted you. Forgive ME?
--
Received: 8:10 AM
From: Quinn
Logan smiled. Phew, he was off the hook.
Quinn felt another vibration which signaled another new text. She opened her phone eagerly wondering what Logan's reply would be.
NEW TXT
--
How could I be mad at the most beautiful smart girl in the world? Don't worry, Mandy has nothing on u.
--
Received: 8:11 AM
From Logan
Quinn beamed and sent another text.
Logan opened his phone before it had a chance to go off.
NEW TXT
--
And Mark has nothing on you
--
Received: 8:12 AM
From: Quinn
Quinn received one last text from Logan.
NEW TXT
--
O trust me I know
--
Received: 8:13 Am
From: Logan
She placed down her phone and looked up to see her beautiful and amazing boyfriend smiling back at her.
"You're amazing," she whispered.
He continued smiling that adorable smile that made Quinn's heart melt and grabbed her hand from under the table. He placed a light kiss on every knuckle which visibly sent shivers all through her spine.
Oh, yeah, he was so in.
Mark Delfiggilo—when he wasn't staring at nothing—glanced back at his pink unfolded paper.
Quinn Pensky
Hm. He got Quinn. That was…hm, he guessed. He looked ahead to find her working on some bookwork with Logan since Mr. Pentlatski was finished with his lesson for the day (and secretly wanting to finish listening to his Sounds of the Outback). Logan's arm was securely around her waist, and they smiled back at each other every so often. Right before he turned to look away, she placed a light kiss on his cheek. Hm. He and Quinn never showed that much PDA. Hm. He could've been angry, anxious, or happy that he got to work on a three-week project with his ex-girlfriend of two years, but he just thought it was…hm. HM!
Gosh, no wonder Brooke dumped him.
Mandy Franklin, while turning her bleach blonde hair around her index finger, popped her gum out of her mouth and stuck it to the back of her Physics book. She picked up her green slip and read the name again.
Logan Reese
The hot—yet kind of rude and obnoxious—guy on the basketball team. Not to mention hot. The fact that he has a girlfriend completely escaped her mind.
"Hm…this could be fun!"
A/N: Thanks for reading if you got this far! Now, before I go on, please tell me if you like these length of chapters because this is what I imagine the average length to be. You can either have long chapters, many events with not so fast updates or shorter chapters, one or two events, and faster updates: up to you! I've never ever traveled to Australia so had to research some of the lingo. This isn't the last time you'll see Mr. Pentlatski so if you have any suggestions on type of things he should say, feel free to tell me. You'll have some Zoey and Chase fluff next chapter, and the only way you'll learn what's gonna happen to everyone is if you review and stick for more!