Jeff and I glanced at each other awkwardly as we waited for Nick to get back with our coffee. I knew we were thinking the exact same thing. It had been three weeks since Nick had worked up the courage to ask out my step sister, Heather, and she had completely turned him down. He hasn't been the same ever since.

I bit my lip nervously and brought up what we had both been thinking. "Don't you think we should do something? I'm so tired of all these awkward silences and endless phone calls in the middle of the night."

I picked up a tiny packet of sugar and ripped it open, spilling all of the contents on the table.

He just shrugged. "There's nothing we can do but wait."

I rolled my eyes and groaned. Things were fine between the three of us until my dumb step sister had to show up at Dalton. I could never figure out why Nick had fallen for her anyway.

I put on an extremely fake smile when I saw that Nick was walking up to our table, desperately trying to look happy for our sake.

"So, Nick, Jeff and I were planning on scoping out the competition for sectionals this year with Blaine. You wanna come?" I asked, desperately hoping he would say yes. The Lima Bean had been the only place he'd come in weeks.

My heart sank as he shook his head. "No thanks. I got, um, a lot of homework."

I exchanged another nervous glance with Jeff.

"Come on, Nick," Jeff said, putting his hand on his shoulder, "Why can't you just forget about her? It's been three weeks. She's not even that great."

I nodded in agreement. "Seriously. I've had to live with her for the past two years. She's horrible."

Shaking his head, Nick said, "You don't understand. There was something there, I swear. She's more than what she seems, I just know it." He said, getting up and leaving the Lima Bean.

Jeff and I spent the next half hour sipping our coffee in silence.

The next day in homeroom, Nick didn't show up at all. I was beginning to regret what Jeff and I had said to him. Maybe we were being just a bit too harsh.

"Where's Nick?" I asked Jeff the minute he walked into homeroom.

"I don't know," he said, "He wouldn't answer his cell phone."

"That's it," I said, throwing my hands up in exasperation, "I'm skipping first period. It's time to set that boy straight."

Sitting down, Jeff rolled his eyes and sighed, "Okay, but because of you I'm going to end up failing biology."

I knocked on the door furiously. I silently cursed Dalton Academy under my breath for the short skirts they made all the girls wear. I was freezing my ass off and the only thing covering my legs were thin knee socks. Meanwhile, Jeff was all warm and cozy in his blazer and long pants.

Nick's mom, a.k.a the nicest woman in the world, answered the door with a bright smile on her face.

"Hi Jeff, Liz." She said, gesturing us inside of her home. I immediately stepped in front of Jeff and walked into the warmth of Nick's home. "What are you kids doing out of school?"

"Um..." I began searching for an excuse in my head.

"Class was canceled," Jeff quickly said to save me. Thank goodness for that boy. "Mr. Ryland was in the bathroom all during home room and they couldn't find a substitute teacher in time."

"Really? What a shame. What can I do for you two?" She smiled, flashing us her pearly white teeth.

"Well, we noticed Nick wasn't in homeroom this morning, so we decided to check in on him. Is he alright?" I said nervously, looking over at Jeff nervously.

"Oh, he just has a little cold. You can go right up and visit him if you really want to." She said, laughing warmly with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Thanks Mrs. Mega," I said in my sweetest voice. I felt just a little bit guilty lying to her, but I didn't want her to know that we had skipped school. Nick's mom pretty much thinks that all children are perfect, and I wanted it to stay that way.

I hurried up the grand staircase after Jeff, trying to take in all the beauty of the Mega household. I'd always enjoyed coming over Nick's house, even since I was a little kid. I'd always thought it must have been a beautiful, charming place to live in.

By the time I caught up with Jeff, he was already knocking on Nick's bedroom door.

"Nick?" He said in an almost worried voice. "It's me, Jeff. Can I come in?"

"Come in," said an almost pitiful voice from within his room.

Opening the door, I stepped inside of Nick's gigantic bedroom. There was no sight of Nick in the room. Exchanging both a worried and confused glance with Jeff, I called out, "Nick? Where are you?"

I heard a groan and then saw the blanket on Nick's bed shift a little bit. Rolling my eyes, I walked over and yanked the blanket off of Nick's body, which was lying face down in a pile of tissues.

"Oh, come on, Nick. You could do so much better than my dumb ass stepsister. She's not worth all of the trouble." I said, laying down beside him on his queen sized bed and shaking his shoulders vigorously. "Don't let her do this kind of damage to you. She's a bitch, Nick. You don't need her."

He just groaned in reply. I looked over at Jeff for some moral support and mouthed, help me.

"Yeah, Nick." He said, sitting down on the other side of Nick. "She's freaking crazy. Last weekend, at Liz's house, we were playing tennis and she threw a racket at my head because we were winning."

Still no reply from the heartbroken Nick.

I groaned in defeat. "Come on, Nick. Get up! I swear, I'll drag you out of the door if I have to."

Nick finally sat up in bed and faced us. I immediately felt guilty for making him get up. His face was all red and puffy and it looked like he'd been crying.

"I just want to know why." He said, wiping his eyes with one of the many tissues laying on his bed. "If you can help me find out that, then I promise, I'll be better. I know I've been a bit of a bother lately."

Jeff nodded his head. "It's alright."

Nick turned to me almost with a sad kind of hope in his eyes, awaiting my reply.

Rolling my eyes, I nodded. "Okay, I'll do it. But it won't be easy. Heather's motives are not easily defined." I said, looking down at my knees. "And by the way, I'm sorry I snapped at you. You're not a bother, I just wish that things were the way that they used to me, before stupid Heather walked into my life. And I meant it when I said you could do better."

He nodded slowly, suddenly looking extremely interested in staring at his mattress.

"Now will you please come to school?" Jeff asked, getting up from the bed and stretching. "Your mom's going to find out that you don't have a cold sooner or later."

Slowly getting up from his bed, Nick replied, "Yeah. Just wait outside for me, I'll be down in a few minutes."

I couldn't believe it, but it looked like he was actually smiling.