Drip. Drip. Drip.

"Since you're all responsible adults, we trust you all to conduct yourselves with decorum and not do anything scandalous; this is Seaford High's first annual lock-in and we want things to go smoothly…"

Drip. Drip. Drip.

"Mr. Tanner and Ms. Appelbaum have volunteered to watch you guys all night long-remember, this is from six to 10 tomorrow morning. All of the toilets will be working, and Milton Krupnick, your president, will be accepting the pizzas from the pizza guy around ten so you won't starve…"

Drip. Drip. Drip.

"After all, I'm sure this rain will let up soon, and don't forget that the edge of the auditorium is experiencing a slight dripping problem, as you can tell. See you all at six! Dismissed."

"Yo, this is ridiculously swag, guys. A school lock in? Wait 'til I tell cousin Alejandro!" Jerry's dark eyes were practically glowing with excitement, bouncing on the balls of his feet and looking like the epitome of a Spaniard high on excitement.

Eddie rolled his eyes, sitting down with a plop on Kim's couch, his duffel bag in a squishing, purple pile at his feet. The gang was packing for the lock in together, everyone gathering at Kim's house so they could carpool to the school. Jerry was crazy with excitement, Eddie was sullen that he had to spend a night away from his mom, Milton and Julie were psyched, and Jack and Kim were…awkward. Each homeroom was separated into groups of six for a project, and the guys were just lucky enough to be in the same group. Their project was to see if the gadget that Milton had developed over the summer really, and truly read human emotions.

Jack and Kim still hadn't recovered from that late night kiss at Thanksgiving. It was something that had changed a lot of things between them, and they were scared, aware of what it could do to their friendship. Kim was terrified of losing her best friend because of a kiss that she had initiated, and Jack was afraid that the night was fluke and Kim had not feelings for him.

Jack did felt a little guilty for obsessing over it, because he had a bigger problem.

His parents were arguing. Loudly. Every night, after he went to bed, he could hear them going at it, ripping a void in the entire families relationship. Kim's family was already messed up, but Jack's was breaking, and he wasn't telling anyone. It was better this way, he decided. No one needed all that stress on them.

Julie

"Milty, did you bring the Emoreader?" Julie asked, pushing her glasses up with a finger, smiling brightly at her boyfriend. Julie was totally cool with the whole thing, and being one of the only girl friends that Kim had, was trying to break the tension. She knew what Kim and Jack had done, and wished them the best.

After all, Julie had her happy ending. She only wished the same for Kim-if only the blonde and the brunette weren't so complicated. If only.

The ginger shook his head yes, fishing a beanie looking object out of his plaid backpack. It looked like a normal, grey beanie, and it was true; sort of. Thin copper wire and small transmitters had been knitted into the hat, and it was programmed to send signals to Milton's tinkered-with iPad. Personally, Julie trusted Milton with all her heart and soul that it would work, but Eddie was relatively suspicious. Jerry was convinced that it would turn him into a robot (which he was totally fine with) Jack just looked at it with curiosity, and Kim waited to pass judgment. Milton wasn't usually wrong.

Jack slung his green camo backpack on one shoulder and Kim's splotchy grey canvas bag on the other one, despite her glared protests. The tall brunette was wearing a three quarter length light green skirt, the buttons at the top undone, the fabric sticking to his skin and hinting at the six pack Milton had told Julie that Jack had. Navy blue jeans clung to his hips, and Jack's feet wore his favorite pair of black Supra's. A hoodie the same color as his shoes was wrapped around his waist, and his hair swooped near the ears to fan out gracefully at the neck, an accidental style that came from a bad trip to the barbers (Milton admitted to her that it had been nasty) but still damp from a recent shower, covered by a navy blue and white zigzag pattern. Jack looked apprehensive, but determined.

Something was going to go down with him tonight, Julie could tell.

Kim's brown eyes weren't the same happy Hershey Kiss color they usually were, and now they held a sort of ice tea glow. Her family life was much better than it had been, but she was still healing. She was dressed in a blue and white striped long-sleeved button down with a pair of nice fitting khaki jeans that Julie swore made her butt look good. Kim' feet were clad in ankle high Indian boots, and a white-washed black hoodie hung delicately on her shoulder. Due to the way that the sleeves were too long, and it looked to be made for someone with broader shoulders, Julie guessed that the jacket had been a guys-probably Jack's. Kim's golden hair was in a high ponytail, the curls shining softly in the lamp light, strands tickling her cheek.

Kim looked apprehensive, and tough, and Julie knew why. Kim knew Jack much more than Julie did, and she had an idea of what Jack might be planning.

It was going to be an interesting night, that's for sure.

Kim

"I can carry my own bag, Jack."

No one could hear us talking. Eddie was simultaneously eating a Hotpocket and debating Julie on whether or not it increased his chances of heart attack in the middle two seats, Jerry was in the passenger seat, happily messing with the radio and singing along to the Spanish songs blasting over the speakers, and Milton was sitting on the left end of the back three seats with Jack and I, a pair of earphones on his head, staring ferociously at the iPad, totally zoning out. Jack's leg was uncomfortably warm against mine in the seat and I could feel the heat coming from his skin in the black car. His hand was so near to mine I could hold it if I reached out a little bit, and somehow, I felt like I needed to talk to him. Possibly it was because I didn't want to go crazy before we even to school, but the words came out strongly, and for that I was proud.

Jack sighed and fidgeted a bit in the seat. Giving up, he reached over me, making me duck, and settled his arm on the back of my seat.

He didn't even yawn.

"It's a matter of chivalry, Kim." Jack sighed, shifting a little bit more. I could've sworn he was closer than before, but maybe it's just me. I'm a little claustrophobic. "You have to let me do something." He smirked a little, the light from Milton's iPad throwing strange, soft shadows on his face that still made him look handsome, damn him.

"I'm not a damsel in distress!" I hissed stubbornly, folding my arms as Jerry launched into the second chorus of what I was pretty sure was Feliz Navidad. Come on people! It's the first week of December. Have a little decorum.

Jack shrugged as best he could. "No matter what you say Kim, I won't stop helping you." Our eyes locked in the darkness and I struggled to breathe, his apple cider eyes burning a hole through my heart. He reached out and touched my cheek with the back of the hand that wasn't around my shoulders, the feeling as soft as a birds feathers. It was gentle and sweet, something I didn't think Jack was capable of, and I leaned in a little bit, closing my eyes and sighing. "I will never stop helping you, or being there for you," Jack husked, and for a split second I swore he was going to kiss me in the dark of my mom's van-

"YO, DOGS! WE'RE HERE!"

Jerry's voice ruined the moment and Jack pulled away, the smallest movement in the hustle and bustle of the now loud and motion filled car. His mouth formed a synonym for crap that I couldn't distinguish from Jerry's Columbian war chant and Milton's plea's for quiet or we'd 'ruin the Emoreader' and Jack rubbed a hand across his eyes as Milton pushed past him out of the car.

"Come on, Princess," he said playfully, stooping down and crawling out of the car, holding out a hand for me. "We've got some work to do."

Jack

"Milton, you're one of my best friends and all, but there's no way I'm putting that thing on my head."

Kim's arms were folded more tightly than ever, and her beautiful eyes had that determined, not-on-my-watch look in it that I knew so well. The pulsing beat of 'Chasing the Sun' by The Wanted, one of Kim's, and surprisingly enough Jerry's, favorite bands, made the air in our half of the classroom seem super charged with energy, and Milton was going out of his mind with frustration.

"Come on, Kim! I need someone to try it out on!" he pleaded, hands poised above the iPad, standing in front of a complicated, scientific diagram with his girlfriend.

"Nuh-uh." Kim denied, shuffling over a bit on the desk top to make room for Eddie, who had a Twizzler poking out of his mouth. "I will wear this thing when hell freezes over."

Eddie's eyes widened. "My mom promised that it's going to happen!" The African American kid insisted, waving his hands around. "When the polar ice caps melt, the snow is going to drip down to H-E-double hockey sticks, and then it's going to form this cover that will-" He caught the confused looks coming from Milton, Julie, Kim and me, and stopped abruptly. "Never mind." Eddie said sullenly.

Kim shook herself off. "Either way," she finalized, patting Eddie's arm softly in consolation, "I'm not wearing that."

I pushed myself off of the window seat and came to her, arms outraised. "Aw, just think about it Kim." I told her, grinning. I tapped her nose like I had when the baby hawks had ruined her hair that day this past summer and placed my hands on her arms, rubbing them a bit when I felt how cold she was. "I think you'd look pretty cute in a beanie."

Almost despite herself, Kim bit her lip and smiled at me, and I was struck yet again by how beautiful she was she smiled. I frowned inwardly at the realization that Kim didn't smile much anymore. "Here," I amended, reaching up and taking off my own beanie. I turned her shoulders gently and pulled the ponytail holder out of her hair, letting the golden locks that I loved so much spill over her shoulders. Messing with the ends of the glimmering waterfall, I delicately placed the blue and white beanie on Kim's head, turning her around again to make sure it looked right.

A shock went through my heart when I processed how Kim was looking at me, with big, beautiful, doe eyes filled with a sort of vulnerability that I realized only stood out at times like this, when we were so close that despite the people around us it seemed to be just Kim in I, in our own protective bubble where we couldn't hide anything from each other and we weren't trying to hide from another.

Jerry's snicker brought me back, and I shook myself, tugging one last time on the beanie and facing a still frantic but slightly smug Milton. "Fine!" I grumbled, throwing up my hands and plopping down on the nearby stool. "I'll do your stupid test."

Julie grinned and clapped her hands, and Milton's stress lines finally smoothed themselves out as I gave myself up to their hopefully capable hands, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from Kim, even as Milton put the electrically altered beanie on my head. Said princess was blushing slightly while letting her hair hide her face, a smile creeping its way onto her face. Kim looked like an adorable bunny rabbit, and that fact alone made me grin.

"Jack, you're sending out tremendous readings…" Milton mumbled, fingers moving like crazy over the iPad. "Whatever emotion you're experience sure is strong…its blocking out anything else you might be feeling."

Jerry, who'd been dancing mindlessly to The Wanted, brightened at this and finally came over, a mischievous look in his eyes as he leaned over Milton's shoulder. "Everything?" he confirmed, and Milton nodded absentmindedly.

Jerry gave a wide smirk at that and bounced over to me. "Hi-yah!" he yelled, trying to karate chop my stomach, but there was one thing he hadn't accounted on-my reflexes. Without breaking a sweat or my concentration on the blonde haired beauty currently ignoring Julie's whispered questions, I flipped the Spaniard onto his back, and onto the floor.

"Shit, Jerry, I'm sorry," I told him belatedly as his 'Woo!' turned into a pained 'Ooo.'

"Naw, man, it's okay." Jerry grumbled, staggering up and limping to join Eddie in finishing off a bag of Doritos. "Debería haber sabido que no iba a funcionar..." He muttered to himself, and I rolled my eyes. Him and his Spanish, I'm telling you.

"Jack!" Milton's tone was somewhat urgent, so I got off the stool and came around to his side of the iPad. I had a few inches over the skinny ginger, so I could see what the readings were.

In blocky, computer script it read:

Current mood: Infatuated, Passionate Yearning

"Milton Daniel Krupnick, what the hell does that mean?" I spluttered, gesturing at the screen, desperate to find out why my friends face was redder than usual.

"Um…" Milton scratched his neck. "This whole phrase is a computers way of saying…" he motioned at my ear desperately, and I had to force myself to stop rolling my eyes. I leaned my ear in his direction, and he cupped his hands around my ear, whispering softly. "It's basically saying that you're pretty lustful right now."

I jerked away from him, my own face as pale as the snow drifting its way to the ground outside. "Erase that!" I yelled at him, and Milton hurriedly did just that, just as I yanked the cap off. "I don't think that really works, Milton," I growled out pointedly, and proceeded to stomp away from him.

Lust? At who?

KIM.

The answer came from that tiny perverted part of my mind that I tried to shut up so many times, but this time it was right. I wanted to kiss Kim. Badly enough that some stupid wires figured that out.

Why the hell was I lusting over Kim when my own family life was so messed up right now?

My body doing things I had no control over, I walked to the still blushing Kim. "Can I talk to you for a second?" I husked at her. "Outside?"

Kim's eyes shuttered and suddenly they were guarded again. "Okay…?" she said warily, and I followed her out the door, fighting the red warmth creeping at the edges of my vision centering itself on Kim.

I swear the way that her hips were swinging was doing things to me that I didn't want to admit.

When Kim stopped walking, unsure where to go, I grabbed her hand and towed her behind me, searching for a place that wasn't filled was people, before my eyes lit on a very welcome door; janitors closet. I ripped open the door, and then shielded my eyes and Kim's at the couple already halfway to making babies.

"Get your own closet!" I growled at them, and both kids fled, flustered and trailing various articles of clothing.

Dear God, please grant me some control. I don't want to force this, but Goddammit she was just so sexy without trying. Kimberly Crawford is her own kind of tease, and it turned me on some kind of fierce. I dragged Kim inside and closed the doors behind me, my eyes trained on hers. Kim was confused and all around wary as she took in the way I was looking at her.

"Jack?" she tentatively whispered. "What did you want to say?"

Kim

The look in Jack's eyes was both exciting and scaring me.

His hands had a slight tremble to them as the roughly closed the door behind us and I couldn't the see the apple cider color of his eyes because it was swallowed by the deep, endless black of his pupil. I could've sworn that the door locked and he slipped the key in his pocket, but I was so confuzzled I really couldn't say.

"Jack?" I whispered desperately, and Jack closed his eyes hard, his finger slipping over the light switch and plunging us into the same kind of darkness that covered the world outside.

"I'm so sorry Kim," he muttered, his hands coming from nowhere to trail they're way up my neck and towards my face, Jack's fingers the same kind of hot that they'd been in the dojo that day that seemed so long ago right now. "I see you, and sometimes, I can't control the way I respond but today, for the first time-"

My back hit the empty wall, a movement that I barely processed as Jack stared at me, his lips whisper soft on my jaw line.

"For the first time, Kim," he said tenderly, nose tickling the tiny strands of hair next to my ears, my eyes closing as I gasped, trying to breathe. "I feel like if I do this," I had a vague idea that he indicating the way that the walls seemed to pulse and I couldn't register anything but the way Jack's hands burned me as the touched the buttons on my shirt and the raging, fire hot feelings that followed the path Jack's lips took down my neck, "you won't push me away." Jack finished, and he slammed his lips on mine, hands still roving like a lost, very dirty puppy.

Oh gods.

I think the janitors closet is made out of stars.

Hey guys.

OMIGOSH. You guys...this is my first story on . The response was overwhelming!

I feel like part of a huge family! This is unbelievable! I got the emails dinging in my iPod during free period and I got such a golden, tingly happy feeling in the pit of my stomach... XP my friends thought I was crazy, lol.

paint the roses red: Glad you thought so! Took a bit to write, a lot of time and effort went into that.

ilovesports999: Stop! I'm blushing! :)

JasmineLief: Thats what I'm doing! Sorry about all the family trauma I'm putting into this, by the way. I have a great family relationship but somehow in the darkest pits of my mind I divorce people...? I must have something wrong with me. ;P

LoveShipper: I died laughing when I saw that. Literally, it made my day. Guess this one was steamy, and it wasn't the lunch meat... ;)

Jamieluvslife: I do what I can! :P

kyiomi: Will do! :)

LiveYourPassions: Glad you thought so!

toughwolf2227: I swear, I never get this many compliments. :D A lot of emotions went into this too...mostly from procrastination. ;D

Hope you all love this too! Wasted about four hours on it _ yay procrastination!

Love,

Lil