Disclaimer: I don't own the clique.

Kristen Gregory took this moment of solitude to survey the scene around her. Claire Lyons, one of Kristen's four best friends, was flirting with her latest boy toy, Derrick Harrington. Dylan Marvil was giggling as Chris Plovert cracked some perverted joke. Massie Block was gazing into the eyes of her long-term boyfriend, Cam Fisher. Alicia Rivera was fussing with her boyfriend Josh's Yankee cap when he finally just took it off and dropped the hat on her head with a sigh. Kristen sighed too.

Why didn't she ever get a chance at love? All of her friends had somebody. They were only 14, and they had all found "Mr. Right." Why hasn't she? She had nobody HART-worthy available, except for Playboy subscriber Kemp Hurley. She had secretly liked Cam, and when he asked Massie out months ago, she was torn. Then, she had dated notorious player Derrick Harrington for a week before he broke it off with her. Kristen said that she didn't care and that he meant nothing to her. As a result, Claire had secured him as her boyfriend just recently. Claire was the only girl who had managed to keep him for more than 2 weeks, and Derrick was endlessly amazed by Claire's "charms." Kristen had dated lots of other boys, but none of them were long-term.

"Attention students," Dr. Loni's calm voice snapped Kristen out of her deep thoughts. Ever since the 6th grade, the boys and the girls had ESP once a month together.

"Today, we're doing trust exercises." Groans from the boys and squeals from the girls were instant responses. Kristen herself hated trust exercises, especially the falling one. Nobody ever managed to catch her, and she was usually just left crying on the carpeted classroom floor when dropped. "Please pick a partner in a calm and-." Before Dr. Loni could finish, people rushed around the classroom trying to secure their partners. Seconds later, everybody had a partner. Except Kristen. She felt a light tap on her back.

"Hey. Wanna be my partner?" Kemp Hurley smiled his trademark toothy grin that made the girls coughSLUTScoughworship him.

"Are you the only one left?" came Kristen's blasé reply. Kemp's grin never faltered.

"Yup." His eyes sparkled mischievously.

"I don't trust you."

"I know."

"So why are you still here?"

"Wanna be my partner?" Kemp repeated himself.

"Sure, why not?" Kristen was exasperated at this point, and she surrendered, rolling her eyes.

"Okay," Dr. Loni said, "I want you to line up, one partner a few feet in front of the other. I want the person in front to fall back, and the person behind will catch them."

Great, Kristen thought. My favorite person AND my favorite exercise. Joy!

Kristen hesitantly fell backwards, and Kemp's strong arms caught her. 1 for 1, Kristen thought. He bent down and whispered in her ear, "I like you, Kristen." Kristen's eyes widened. It was a joke, right?

"Ok, let's do it again! 1, 2, 3, GO!"

This time, Kemp said, "I like you a lot, Kristen." 2 for 2, Kristen thought. This was just some stupid prank. It had to be.

"Last time!" Dr. Loni said. "1, 2, 3, GO!"

Kemp caught Kristen, and in one swift motion, turned her sideways so it looked like he was dipping her and that they were dancing the tango. Then, Kemp leaned down and planted a kiss on Kristen's lips. Kristen pulled away in shock.

"3 for 3," she murmured, looking at Kemp's bright grin as he put his arm around her shoulders. Her lips were still tingling.

Maybe Kristen did have a chance at love.

And then, Kristen watched an annoyed Massie stomp out of the classroom because Cam had failed to catch her. Twice. Cam caught Kristen's eye and winked, obviously unaware of Kristen's newfound infatuation with Kemp.

Oh, the irony.