A/N: Hi, guys. Been a while… cringes Okay, I know you all are so uber mad at me for not updating since Christmas. And I am so sorry. Like, from the bottom of my heart. And the bottom of my brain, since that's where all the emotion comes. Heck, I'm even sorry from the bottom of my toes.

And I have a lot more to say, but I know I have a tendency to rant in my A/N's (thanks, Raspberrylove), so that will be at the bottom. Bye.

Disclaimer: My psychiatrist says that if I tell people that I don't own Naturally, Sadie, I will finally be able to cope with the fact that I, indeed, own squat. So, I don't own Naturally, Sadie. Are you people in Psychiatrist-Land happy now?

Chapter Three

Cold Necks and Dead Faints.

Ben's POV

Ha, it was finally happening. I was going to kiss Sadie. After all the near-miss kisses, and that one time I kissed her ear, we were finally going to kiss.

Or, at least, that's what I thought until I heard Ms. Mann say, "I don't know what to think."

My hands instantantiously dropped to my sides.

I opened my eyes, and turned around to see our principal looming above us.

"Miss Hawthorne, Mr. Harrison, what exactly do you think you're doing? I thought I made it very clear when I said that there was to be no public displays of affection on this bus. Care to explain?" she asked.

"Well…I'd really love to, Ms. Mann," I started, "but, then…"

Oh, great, way to go Ben. You're supposed to have a plan before you start talking.

I looked around quickly, trying to find anything that could get us out of having task-completion slips till graduation, when I saw Margaret's pink iPod in Sadie's hand, the earbuds swinging with the motion of the bus.

"But, then, we would miss Michael Buble. We were listening to Margaret's iPod, when Sadie's neck got cold, and both of our scarves were in the overhead compartment, and I didn't know if we could stand up or not, so I put my hands round her neck, but then my earbud fell out, and Sadie had to put it back in my ear, and that's where you came in." The lie came out really fast, and I was sure that she would tell I had made the story up off the top of my head.

That was, until a jellybean hit her in the head.

"What the-I'll be talking to you two later."

And Ms. Mann stormed off, brandishing a wad of task-completion slips at some less-than-mature boys.

I sighed, and relaxed in my seat. I had barely escaped that one, even with all my smooth talking skills.

Sadie also, but instead of sighing like me, she started to giggle. The giggling turned to laughter, and was on the verge of full-on hysterics, when I clamped my hand over her mouth.

When she had finally stopped, I said, "Red, what was so funny about us nearly getting expelled?"

"I'm sorry, but, my neck was cold? That was the best you could come up with? That was the worst lie I've ever heard, and I live with Hal." She started to giggle again.

Then I started to laugh. Because, yeah, when I looked at it, that like was the worst lie ever told. Like, in all of time and space.

And, the best part is, Ms. Mann bought it.

As we sat there, doubled up with laughter, I reached out and hugged her. She suddenly fell silent and stiffened.

"Ben, what are you doing?"

"Uh, keeping your neck warm?" I supplied.

We both started laughing again.

Owen's POV

"Well, they're laughing. And hugging. And laughing some more. And hugging some more. And now they're laughing and hugging at the same time."

I turned back around in my seat and got down off my knees. I hadn't even sat down when Arden started ranting.

"What, that's no good. Ms. Mann was supposed to have pulled the bus over by now and kicked them off. Or at least made them change seats. How am I gong to separate them…"

I tuned Arden out. That girl was so annoying. Worse than Chelsea from last year. And she was bad.

But, she did have some good plans.

We had agreed before the bus had even started moving that we had to break up "Badie", as some people were calling it. How though, I had no idea. That's where Arden came in. she figured that if we split them up, I could get Sadie to remember her feelings for me, and Arden would get Ben on rebound. It seemed like a pretty good plan to me, but it was proving harder than we thought.

Especially the splitting them apart part.

That's when Arden figured that if we could catch them don't something against the rules, be could tell Ms. Mann, and she would take care of the rest. So we had been watching for anything out of the ordinary. When they leaned into kiss each other, Arden woke up Ms. Mann, and told her, and she probably would have given them detention for the rest of the year. I felt kind of sorry for Sadie, but it would be all worth it when we were together.

And then that kid threw the jellybean.

There was Plan A gone.

I tuned Arden back in; she was still muttering under her breath, so I figured it would be a good time to catch up on some sleep. I rested my head against the window, and nodded off.

Rain's POV

Sitting by yourself on a bus can be so boring.

Really, there was no one to talk to. I had forgotten my MP3 player at home. I couldn't get to sleep on the moving bus. And I just wasn't desperate enough to start on the homework we had all been given.

The perfect time to go to the bathroom.

What do you mean, I've already gone twice? You can never go to the bathroom too many times. Besides, third time's the charm.

I got up from my seat at the front of the bus, and started to wobble down the aisle to the bathroom. Do you have any idea how hard it is to walk when you're on a bus moving upwards of sixty miles per hour.

Not easy, my friend. Not easy at all.

I was finally getting the hang of it, when I stopped dead in my tracks.

And not because we had hit a speed bump, which had happened on the second bathroom run.

No, it was because Margaret was sleeping.

Right next to that Jon guy.

With her head on his shoulder.

And she was smiling in her sleep.

Seeing things like that do stuff to a guy, especially when the girl is the same one that you just figured out that you had the biggest crush on.

Suddenly, a nap seemed like a great idea.

Margaret's POV

I woke up when I felt something land in my lap. I blinked my eyes until I could see, and looked down. And what I saw gave me the biggest scare of my life.

Because what was in my lap was a hand.

And it was attached to a body.

And that body belonged to Rain.

And he was lying in the aisle of a moving bus

Seeing things like that do stuff to a girl. Especially when the guy is your best friend.

Suddenly, I found myself on my knees next to him, checking for a pulse like they told us to when we did CPR in health.

I placed my fingers on his neck and listened for breathing.

I sighed. He was breathing and he had a pulse.

But I still had to tell someone.

I turned to Jon, who was still in his seat, sleeping.

"Jon."

He blinked. "Wha-Margaret, why are you on the floor? And why is that kid on the ground?"

"I think he fainted. You need to go tell the bus driver."

As those words left my mouth, though, the bus came to a stop, and a voice came over the intercom. "Attention, students, we had arrived at our destination."

Sadie's POV

I woke up to Ms. Mann's voice coming over the bus intercom, saying, "Fire mini newts told Abigail," or something.

I turned to Ben, who asked me, "Did she say 'Find biscuits for appraisal?"

Some girl stuck her head over the seat, and said, "Five minutes until arrival."

Both Ben and I made an 'O' with our mouths as the girl turned back around.

"I feel smart," Ben whispered in my ear.

I whispered back, "Don't worry, the feeling's mutual."

We grinned at each other for a minute, until Ms. Mann stood up, and started talking.

"Now, while you're on the slopes, you'll be using the buddy plan. We will have groups of four of five, and you must stick with your groups at all times. No changes to these groups will be made without my consent and a good reason. No good reason, no changing. Now, the groups are-"

she was cut off when the bus jerked to a halt, and, seconds later, and disheveled-looking Margaret Browning-Leveque came on.

"Ms. Mann, Rain fainted."

Ms. Mann dropped the clipboard with the groups, and ran out the bus doors.

Owen's POV

As soon as Ms. Mann ran out of the bus, Arden turned to me. She had this evil-looking grin on her face, and pointed at the clipboard.

"I just found Plan B."

A/N: Once again, I am so sorry for the long wait. And for the kinda short chapter. But it was the best I could do in two hours. And I totally blew off my geometry homework to do this, so you all should feel thankful.

Now, for the really long story above mentioned, comprising of Why I Didn't Update and What Caused The Change of Heart:

I didn't update because, well, combination of writer's block and high school. Ugh. Just, ugh. And ugh some more.

And The Sudden Change of Heart: Well, despite the fact I New Year's Resolution-ed that I would update every week, I didn't. But then I got the most awesome review from Kallie Lynne:

Oh my gosh...you NEED to update this ASAP! This is the best NS fic ever!! Please update!!

Not that all your other reviews weren't great. They just didn't come at a time where I was trying to blow off geometry.

But, really, this review warmed my soul. It's doing so right now, as I think about it. (It's also doing a pretty good job of warming my fingers, which were freezing from all the typing. Or maybe that's the heating. Either works.) So I felt that I had to go upstairs and type the whole chapter in less than two hours. I don't even type my fanfiction chapters, but I made an exception. Because that review was so great.

Really. The fact that I could soundly put off geometry was just an added plus.

So yeah, I did a really suckish job of my New Year's Resolution-ing. But I will do better. I promise.

And, in case you're wondering, my other resolution was to do shorted A/N's. Guess I'm doing a kinda suckish job on that one too. Seeing as this A/N is more than half a page, but, oh well. I will do better, I promise.

If you find it in your hearts to forgive me, leave a review.

Please and thank you.

(They're called the magic words)

(Uber sorry for the Barney relapse above)