*Ah am not goin' to cry. Ah'm not. That's all there is to it. It's none o' mah business anyway. Ah should be happy they found each other. Ah AM. Sure, that's why it feels like someone ripped a hole in yo chest, Guthrie.*

A small sob escaped that newly ripped hole, and was followed by another and another until she knew she couldn't go back to the girl's dorm without getting a lot of stares. But there wasn't anywhere else she could go. There would be people everywhere on a day like today and she definitely did not want to be around people right now.

*Dammit, gal, ya can't go on like this! Ya'll just have to ask 'him. Oh sure, not too obvious, huh? ' 'Scuse me, Jono, but Ah just had to tell you that Ah'm madly in love with you and Ah just wanted to know if you felt the same way. No? Well, thank you for your honesty. 'Scuse me while Ah go blow mah brains out in mah dormroom.' Ya can't do it, Guthrie. How can you be an effective leader if ya can't even look your teammates in the eye because you got an unreciprocated crush on one of 'em.*

But a small nagging corner of her mind told her that she'd feel just as awkward if she told him or not.

Paige was far enough from the school to escape the sounds of splashing and laughter coming from the area of the pool, but Jono wasn't. Figuring Paige, being the social animal that she was, would be there he broke character and decided to join his classmates in the hopes of dragging her aside for a moment. As he neared the pool his skeptical side started making baloon animals out of his lower intestines.

*Yer know,* it piped up obnoxiously from the recesses of his mind, *Yer won't make a very good impression on ther gel if yer look like yer gonner keel over whenever yer talk to her.* He knew he was just being pessimistic, not a big change for him, but it still made him pause.

*'Ey, she was ther one who kissed me!* he told himself angrily. *Sure, she was drunk at ther time, and she asked yer not ter tell anyone about it, but 'ey, that's no reason ter think she doesn't like yer.* he shot back.

His hand ran through his hair again as he thought about just going back to his room until his feelings went away. He finally turned around to do so when--

"Hey, Yorkshire!"

--Jubilee noticed him. Shoulders dropping in defeat, he turned back around to see everyone at the poolside looking at him, some quizzically, some surprised but trying not to show it.

"What'cha doin'?"

Paige wasn't there, he noticed with a mixture of disappointment and relief.

~Leaving.~ he answered just before doing it.

Walking back to his room he briefly considered if he'd actually have done it, had she been there. He honestly couldn't answer himself on that.

He almost didn't see the letter under his door before he stepped on it. Curious as to who would send a letter instead of just talking to him, he opened it as he walked down the stairs to his room. The folded piece of paper inside the open envelope had three sentences on it which he re-read several times, not believing
what his eyes were telling him. Was she serious?

*Ohhhhh, that was stupidstupidstupidstupid! Why did you put your name on it, Paige? And why in the name of Charles Xavier did you say that???? 'Gee, Jono, Ah think you're swell.' Swell. Who in their raht mind uses the word 'swell?' Ah can't BELIEVE how stupid that was! Now he's just gonna think yer a moronic hussy with a 'Leave it to Beaver' fixation!!*

In the confines of her dorm room, Paige Guthrie threw herself on her bed and promptly buried her head in her pillow. She had absolutely no intention of coming out again, either, until she heard a knock on the door.

"Yo, country mouse!" Oh great, just what she needed.

Sniffing a few times, Paige poked her head out of the pillow.

"What is it, Angelo?" She tried not to sound upset but she wasn't an actress and he knew she didn't pull it off. She just prayed he wouldn't notice or he wouldn't care. But on some other level she had buried, she was screaming for someone to listen to her.

Out in the hall, her friend paused. She waited, heart frozen in terror that he'd notice, or maybe that he wouldn't.

"Just wondering if you want to come watch a movie with us. We rented 'Shawshank Redemption.' What can I say, we let Monet pick."

It wasn't a particularly funny statement, but Paige laughed anyway. It felt good to do it. She hadn't done it in a long while, and she had needed to desperately. It was then she realized how long it had been since she had done anything with any of the other students there. She usually just stayed in her room by herself, daydreaming of Jono or doing her homework. And she loved 'Shawshank.'

"Okay, sure." she finally said. "Just let me make myself presentable." She ran over to her mirror and blew her nose, ran a hand through her slightly toussled hair, and smoothed the wrinkles in her shirt as much as she could before opening the door and facing Angelo for the first time outside of school in almost a week. She surprised herself by having the smile on her face be a genuine one.

Angelo gave her a once over, approval glinting in his eye.

"You call that presentable, chika?" he joked. "I've seen better-looking villains on 'Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers'."

She gave him a lopsided smirk with her patronising look.

"That the best you can do, Angelo? You must actually watch the show, your humor's just as dry."

"Oh ouch, you wound me! How will I ever survive?"

The verbal bashing continued all the way through the previews and Paige couldn't remember the last time she had been that happy.

By the time the movie was over she was glad it was Friday night because there was no way she was going to be getting up before ten the next day. Not only was it some ungodly hour of the morning, but after the movie everyone had gone on a little shopping spree at the local supermarket. Of course nothing they had bought had had any nutritional value at all. By about 2 am, three packages of cookies, four cartons of ice cream and two bottles of sparkling cider had been consumed and everyone was now in the middle of a scorching game of Truth or Dare.

Whether it was the early hour, the sugar, the cider (which always seemed to have an intoxicating effect on her), or the amount of fun she was having, Paige couldn't remember the last time she had felt so uninhibited. Because it was the middle of July, they all decided to move outside. So far, Jubilee had to reveal how far she'd actually gone with a guy, Everett had to say who he had a crush on, and Angelo had to pee in a cup and put it in the neighbor's mailbox. It was now his turn.

"Okay, ummmmm...Paige!" An evil grin slid across his ashen face as he pondered the possibilities of all the horrible things he could make her do.

Not wanting to take the risk of anyone finding out about her feelings for Jono, she winced and took a dare. And then wished she hadn't.

"You want me to do what?" She looked at him incredulously.

"You heard me, Country Mouse. Unless you want to take a truth, you're going to have to do it." And he gave her the smug, self-satisfied grin that, for some odd reason, made her think of the sound of shattering glass.

"Get me the ping-pong paddle." she managed through clenched teeth. "And if I get a splinter, Espinosa, it's comin' out of your hide."

That got a snicker out of Jubilee and Everett. The thought of Paige attempting to explain to the headmasters how she got splinters in her mouth was almost as funny as the expression that would no doubt be on the next door neighbor's face the next morning.

After enduring the most embarrassing incident of her life, Paige was more than ready for her turn. After looking thoughtful and indecisive for a little while, she finally chose someone.

"Angelo!" And she gave him the most evil, wicked grin she could. She knew he wouldn't take truth because he insisted on keeping this air of mystery about his past. Most of the time it made her want to be sick, but sometimes, like now, it had its uses.

He took a dare, much as she had predicted. And she gave him the nastiest one she could think of. Everyone stared at her, wondering where the hell this had come from, and why she hadn't shown her nefarious creative side before now.

With a grimace and a few Spanish mutterings that she was pretty sure she didn't want a translation for, he grudgingly stood up, dropped his pants, grabbed himself and started singing the ever-hated 'I'm a Little Teapot' song. Much to everyone's delight.

It was now about 4 am and pretty much everyone else had gone to bed. But Paige and Angelo weren't tired and decided to keep each other company rather than stay in their respective rooms. That's how they ended up on the roof staring up at the fading stars, huddled together in the cold pre-dawn air. She couldn't even
remember what they'd been talking about, all she knew was that this was the most fun she could remember having in a very long time. Ping-pong paddles not withstanding.

And then she started giggling for absolutely no reason. Something about the situation just struck her as funny and she couldn't stop. After a while it turned into a full-blown laugh which she tried desperately to cover up but only ended up making herself snort which made her laugh harder. And, as laughs often are, this one was highly contagious and soon Angelo was laughing along with her. The fit finally died down and they were left feeling slightly euphoric, and very happy.

"Angelo," Paige looked directly at her friend. "Thank you for inviting me. I guess I haven't been doing much lately and it was starting to get me down."

"You're welcome, Paige. Just don't ever make me sing with my pants off again."

That started off a fresh batch of giggles which took a few moments to die down. When they were calm again, a thoughtful look crossed Angelo's face.

"Paige?" She turned to face him, her face full of light and innocence. Something he hadn't known he'd missed until he met her. "What was wrong earlier? You were upset about something-- Nevermind, it's none of my business."

"No, but I'll tell you anyway."

Walking down the hallway to her room, Paige realized that she was going to hate herself later for telling Angelo her "little secret" but right now she was so deliriously happy she didn't care. She'd seen sunrises before, but she'd usually just woken up before dawn to go jogging. She'd never stayed up all night and then gone to bed when it was just getting light. It was fun, but not something she'd want to make a regular habit of.

Arriving at her door, she looked down to see what made it so hard to open. There was a letter wedged underneath it. Curiously, she picked it up and read it in the hall. All it said was:

I think you're swell too.

A smile crept across her face, even though it felt like her heart would never start moving again. She flung open her door, slammed it closed, threw herself on her bed and screamed into her pillow. After she was out of breath, she unfolded the pieceof paper and read it again, loving the tingling sensation created by the huge adrenaline rush she got just reading his handwriting.

*There is no way Ah'm gettin' to sleep any time soon!* she thought to herself just before she drifted off.