I burst out of the bathroom, almost in a sprint down the hallway, just trying to get anywhere but here. When I finally realized that running away from my problems was useless I slowed down to my normal pace.

'Did you lose your voice?' What was I thinking? Lying to Grahm saying that I lost my voice just so I could get out of talking to him? He was talking to me first, he made it easy for me! All I had to do was answer his questions and my natural outgoing personality would have taken over. But obviously I turn into an idiot whenever I am close to Grahm.

I walked to my car with my face down and my headphones in. I just wanted to turn invisible so the horrifying blush on my face wouldn't be seen. I finally got to my car and then I was tapped on the shoulder. I looked up and saw Brian. He was always nice to me when I first got here and he was more like a brother than anything else, he was my best guy friend, well in this other world at least.

"Hey analeigh!" His smile never failed to make me laugh, especially when his eyes crinkled.

"Hey Brian, I haven't seen you all day where have you been?" For a moment I didnt really care but maybe talkign to Brian wouldnt make me feel like such a fugitive, trying to escape my latest blunder.

"I had to take that test for Honors Physics that Mrs. Steins left for me. She can be a real bat sometimes." He rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Yeah I know what you mean" I laughed, imagining wide rimmed glasses on a bat, flitting through the air.

Then there was a pause. That kind of pause where someone doesn't know how to tell you the bed news or when you first meet someone and you start out with a great starter but somewhere in the middle your last remark ends with 'so yeah..' and then it just becomes uncomfortable. I was becoming uncomfortable until Brian finally spit it out.

"Hey Analeigh... Umm well I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime this weekend?" He said it so fast, it was a miracle I understood what he was saying.

Why?! What would I say to him? 'Hey your like a brother to me, so no?' Yeah obviously not. I looked to the side to try and rack my brain for a good reply, that got the point across of no, but at the same time didn't completely maim our friendship.

"Umm... Brian I..." I stuttered a bit, the old habit coming back whenever I got nervous.

Then I looked up and saw Grahm, looking at me from his dark grey sedan on the other side of the parking lot. His eyes seemed to pierce the back of Brian's head for a moment and then snapped in my direction. He turned with a hurt look on his face and then he got into his car and drove off in a blur.

"Damn! Brian, can we not discuss this right now?" I started to say without looking at him and finally tore my eyes from the retreating car in the distance back to Brian's hopefully painful expression.

" But Analeigh, don't you like me?" I couldn't tell if he was trying to toy with me or if he was seriously asking, because the look on his face was curious and yet looked like he was hiding a smirk.

I nervously bit my lip and looked down for a moment, kicking at a stray piece of gravel.

"Brian look, I think of you as nothing more than a brother, I love you, but I'm not in love with you. Does that make sense?" I tugged at the strings on my sweatshirt as I watched his face turn down and his eyes no longer crinkled at the corners.

Brian looked away and I could see that he was very upset. He just nodded his head and walked away to his car a few rows away. Which left me standing by my car alone, and with tears rolling down my face. I felt like I just slapped him and told him to leave, I hoped that he would forgive me. I opened the car door and flopped into my seat as a voice rang in the back of my head.

'Analeigh? Analeigh...'