Fred didn't want to admit it... but he was terrible with girls. If he was 100% honest with his self then he would have to admit that girls terrified him. It was both stupid and ironic. He was one of the school's best athletes and was also becoming one of the most popular guys in school period. But the thought having an actual conversation with a girl scared the crap out of him. He didn't even have the nerve to say more than hi to Flare for goodness sake.

Which was why he was eternally grateful for a girl like Anacaona as a friend. Once you got past her rough edge and then after that her slight social awkwardness, she was a pretty cool girl. He could talk to her without worrying about sounding stupid and she was down to earth and down right interesting so he didn't have to worry about any stupid gossip. Too bad all good things must come to an end.

"Dang it!" Fred yelled as his character exploded and died. Again.

"What happened this time?" Anacaona shouted just as loudly. "I'm blind remember? You have to describe what's happening!"

"Right, sorry." Fred mumbled re-equipping his character. "Some douche planted a bomb behind that truck I was hiding behind."

Anacaona laughed and Fred threw a handful of left over popcorn kernels at her. Most girls would have been furious at their hair being messed up, but she only laughed more and shook them out of her hair.

"Was that all the popcorn?" She asked popping one of the half popped ones into her mouth.

"Yep." He said taking a swig of soda. "Why? Still hungry?"

Anacaona groaned and flopped back on the beanbag chair she was sitting on. "Always. I constantly have to take in calories if I want to keep my figure and my muscles."

Fred laughed and looked at her. Even though she liked to wear long sleeved shirts to cover up her the scars on her arms, that didn't stop her curves from showing. She smirked suddenly and turned her face towards him even if she couldn't focus on him.

"Are you staring at my boobs again?" She said. "Geez Fred, you're such a perv."

"Pfft, as if," Fred rolled his eyes. "Anyways if you're still hungry there's more popcorn in the kitchen."

"Oh great." Anacaona smiled and bounced up. "Let a blind girl loose in a kitchen filled with sharp objects and things that make fire."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." Fred paused the game and followed her into the kitchen.

As they were sitting in the kitchen waiting for the popcorn to finish popping, his brother Mike walked in the house making Fred groaned inwardly. Mike was the exact reason why Fred didn't invite Anacaona to his place more often. Whenever one of the cheerleaders called his house or tried to come over, Mike always teased him mercilessly for hours afterwards.

Fred opened the microwaved and quickly emptied the popcorn in the bowl as Mike's footsteps grew louder. If he was lucky they could make it back to his room before his brother caught them.

"S'up squirt?"

Too late.

Mike walked into the kitchen and threw his gym bag to the floor. He headed towards the fridge and stopped when he noticed Anacaona. He smirked and grabbed a Gatorade from the fridge.

"Who's the chick?" Mike asked. "Your latest girlfriend? You're right, she is a cutie."

Anacaona blushed and Fred felt his own face heat up. "S-shut, Mike. I never said that and she's not my girlfriend."

"Uh, huh. Sure she isn't." Mike rolled his eyes and leaned towards Anacaona. "Don't mind my little brother, he's kind of a twerp sometimes."

Anacaona bit her lower lip and folded her hands nervously. "N-no problem. I-I don't mind, Micheal."

"Come on," Fred grumbled grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the room.

"Have fun you two," Mike called after them laughing. "But not too much fun."

Fred pulled Anacaona into his room and kicked the door closed behind them.

"Ugh," Fred groaned. "Sorry about that. My brother can be such a jackass sometimes."

Anacaona didn't answer and when Fred looked at her he noticed that she was blushing and that he was still holding her hand.

"Sorry," he said dropping her hand quickly.

"It's okay." Anacaona cleared her throat. "Listen, I should get going now. Laters, Fred."

"Later, Anacaona." Fred mumbled.

The next day at school Jimmy burst out laughing when Fred related the story to him in the locker room.

"Sounds like she has a wicked crush on you, Freddie-boy." Jimmy chuckled.

"What?" Fred scoffed. "Bullcrap. Anacaona and I are just friends."

"I dunno," Jimmy smirked. "She's always hanging with you, she acted all nervous when your brother teased you guys about being together... sounds like she's in serious like with you dude."

"Yeah well, like I said it isn't like that between us." Fred mumbled pulling down his hat. "We're just friends."

"Sure, whatever," Jimmy laughed. "Hey, no need to be ashamed. She's a total babe even if she is crippled."

"She's not crippled she's blind." Fred called over his shoulder as he left the locker room.

Things felt different though whenever they hung out after that. For some reason all Anacaona wanted to do was hang over at his house. And she suddenly awkward and jumpy around him. Now Fred was used to Anacaona being socially awkward around everyone else, but not him. No she was usually so chill with him. Fred can usually get her to relax with him again until of course Mike waltzes in and starts teasing them. And then she would blush and deny it and get all nervous...just like a girl with a crush...

"Ugh," Fred groaned. "Stupid Mike. Just had to go making things complex."

Fred sighed in aggravation and quickly dialed her number.

"Hey it's me," He said when she finally answered. "Yeah, I know. I haven't been avoiding you, I just... look, can you come over so we can talk? Great... see you in an hour."

Fred hung up and flopped onto the bed letting out a deep breath. He was not cut out for this talking to girls stuff, but he couldn't stand not talking Anacaona. And her feelings for him. And his possible feelings for her? No. No way. They were friends. Just friends. Besides, if they did become a couple and he screwed things up? Best scenario- they could never be friends again and that would suck big time. Worst scenario- she would use her scary electric finger nails on him and that would suck just as much. So he thought it was best that he just let her down easy now and not let it drag on.

The door bell rang and Fred got up to let her in. When he opened the door he knew he was in bigger trouble than he thought. Anacaona was the type of girl who wore make up and when she hung out with Fred she usually just wore eye shadow and some lip gloss. But standing in front of him he could see that she went all out which only meant one thing-

"Hellooooo," She said waving a hand in his general direction. "Are you staring at me again?"

"Um," Fred shook his head and gestured her inside. "Sorry, come on in."

"Are you okay?" She asked sitting on the couch. "You've been acting really weird the past few days and I feel like you've been avoiding me."

"Yeah, about that..."

"Oh wait!" Anacaona jumped suddenly. "Is your brother home yet?"

"No, he isn't." Fred growled.

"Oh." Her shoulders dropped and she sounded strangely disappointed.

"Forget about him," Fred waved a hand dismissively. "I wanted to talk about...us."

"Us?" She frowned and raised an eyebrow. "What about us?"

"Well, I really like hanging out with you and we're really great friends right? Well don't want to ruin that with a relationship-"

"Fred-"

"Let me finish. It's not like I don't think you're cool or pretty though. I mean you're actually pretty hot. It's just that-"

"Fred, wait. You have it all wrong I-"

"Please, I'm, uh, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings or anything because I do sorta like you. But I'm not really interested in a girlfriend or risking our friendship-"

"I like Mike, Fred."

"So I think it'd be best if we were just-" Fred stopped suddenly and blinked at her. "Wait, what?"

"I like Mike, Fred." Anacaona blushed and smiled dreamily in his direction. "Yeah, he's a total hottie."

"How the heck can you tell?" Fred grumbled. "You're blind remember?"

"A girl can always tell." She said rolling her eyes.

The door opened and Fred could hear Mike dropping his gym bag on the floor and going into the kitchen. Anacaona perked up immediately and started toying with her hair.

"There he is now," She said excitedly. "How do I look?"

Fred sighed and forced himself to smile at her. "Perfect."

"Thanks," She blushed and jumped up from the couch. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Sure," he mumbled watching her bounce into the kitchen. "Whatever."

Fred stared at the ceiling and felt a wave of relief wash over him. There's no way Mike would fall for someone Anacaona's age and she always bounced back relatively easily from these sporadic crushes of hers. Give or take a week and things should be back to normal between them. Fred couldn't help but frown though when he heard them laughing from the kitchen and Anacaona bounded back to the couch with a small blush and smile on her face. Yep, this will all be over in two weeks and things will be back to normal... Right?