Erin stared at the piano keys, not thinking about Carla's interruption, waiting for Christine. He soon heard her voice, calling his name. He turned to face her, her face was flushed, hair half coming out of her bun. He stood.

"What happened?"

"Oh, nothing-" she grinned, "I just ran here, Meg was chasing me. We were playing, uh, tag." Then she blushed and looked down. Erin chuckled. Christine let the rest of her hair free, sighing. She looked at him. "I'm declaring today a holiday."

"For what occasion?" He sat down on the bench.

"Today is national let's-not-rehearse day."

"Oh, so are you trying to get out of work, Miss Dane?"

"I don't know about you," She sat next to him on the bench, "But we have done nothing but practice every day for like, ever! Honestly, I think I'll scream if I have to sing any of those songs again."

"Unfortunately you're going to at least sing them once more, for the concert."

"Oh-I know that- I just want a break! I mean, I spend more time with you than anyone, and I don't know anything about you! We don't really talk, we're always singing…" Christine looked down "I-it's nice, of course, but I'd like us to be friends, right now I feel like I'm just your student."

Erin had a lopsided smile on his face and was staring at her. Christine wanted to melt, and found herself leaning forward, forward, forward, and closing her eyes. Then there was a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes opened and saw Erin hold her away from himself, who was staring wide-eyed at her. Christine turned away and stood up, then ran out of the theater. Erin watched her, speechless.

Christine ran out of the P.A.C. and down the hall, her face burning with embarrassment. I can't believe I really did that! She had tried to kiss him, she just, well, there was no thought behind it, it was just a reaction. But Erin, the way he looked at her-

"Hey Christi- ACK!"

She ran right into Ronnie, and he tried unsuccessfully to catch her, and they stumbled to the ground. She landed on top of him, mouths crashing into each other. Christine yelped in pain and scrambled off of him. Ronnie groaned.

"Jesus, Christine, I had imagined kissing you would've been less painful."

He sat up, Christine gasped.

"Oh my god- your tooth!"

"What?"

He looked at her.

"Your front tooth, it has a huge chip."

They happened to be by the boys bathroom, and he ran inside, Christine crept up to the door, tentatively peering inside.

"WOW." She heard Ronnie's voice.

"I'm so, so sorry Ronnie!" She leaned against the wall, and covered her face with her hands.

Ronnie came out of the bathroom, laughing hysterically.

"I can't wait to tell this story-" He noticed Christine, and his laughter died. "Christine, it's okay- it hurt like hell, but I don't mind. I think it's funny."

Christine moved from the wall and began to walk the other way, hands still on her face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Ronnie put his hand on her shoulder, but she shook him off.

"I don't want to talk about it."

He ran to be in front of her, and grasped her by the shoulders, Christine's hand moved to try to pry them off, and he saw that she had been crying.

"Hey, I'm here for you. You know that, right? You can talk to me."

Christine looked at him…you're not the one I want to talk to! But the one she wanted to talk to was the reason she was crying. Ronnie looked so sad, looking at her. She felt guilty, he didn't know. He was a nice guy, but…she felt she had acted stuck-up towards him, and felt twice as terrible.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, but why were you running?" Christine looked at the ground. Ronnie shrugged, and put his arm around her, and they walked down the empty hall. "You can tell me when you want to." He continued. "I'm glad I ran into you though."

They both laughed. Christine sniffed.

"You must be really masochist then." She said, smiling weakly.

"No, really, because I was going through some old photos and found out something really cool."

"What?"

Ronnie pulled out a photo from his large jean pocket, and showed it to her. It had a little girl smiling broadly in a pink dress, whom Christine realized was herself, and a blonde boy in a blue suit, looking at the camera grumpily. She looked at Ronnie.

"Is this us? What is this?"

"I remembered when I looked at this photo, that you were the little girl I had grown up with, before I moved away to Hawaii. I feel really stupid from not realizing it sooner- I thought I'd never see you again!"

Christine looked at him, then at the photo. Her face lit up, and she hugged him.

"Ron! It's you!" They stayed in their embrace. "I was so miserable when you left, I just knew your mom moved away just because she knew you liked me so much, and I was so mad because it was a week before your birthday, and I had spent so much time practicing the song I made for you."

"You made a song for me? Can you sing it?"

Christine looked at him, and frowned.

"I lost the lyrics, and I don't remember how it went."

"Oh, I don't think I can ever forgive my mom for that then!"

"I missed you."

Ronnie grinned.

"Yeah, me too." He laughed. "You, I mean."

Christine pushed him, turning away.

"You're still a huge dork."

"But I'm your dork."

Christine started to cry.

"Yeah, you are."

They spent the rest of lunch together, and they spent the afternoon catching up (Christine didn't have the heart to go back to see Erin). Meg was with them for a few minutes, amazed that they had known each other for so long, she laughed when she excused herself to go "study", and left them alone. Christine didn't talk about why she had been crying, and Ronnie only asked once. They spent their time together in this manner for the next two days, Ronnie did most of the talking, joking, commenting. Christine was content to listen. Oddly enough, it had been the other way around back when they were younger. She would talk endlessly, and he would stare and listen attentively. She did tell him that her father had committed suicide so she could use the insurance money for her tuition, because he asked when he could see her dad again. They cried together, as Christine's dad had been Ronnie's dad (his real one had died before his birth). That was the second day, and the sky had begun to darken. Christine was lying in his arms, when she looked up and blushed, thinking of the flush of emotion in her heart. Her childhood sweetheart, that's what he had been to her, and still was.

"Ouch! What the hell?"

Ronnie sat up, and shielded Christine, looking around.

"What happened?" Christine looked around.

"Some one threw a rock at my head!"

They scrambled out of there, eyes scanning their surroundings.

Christine yelped, when she looked to her left. She thought she had seen two glowing yellow eyes off in the shadows. She pulled Ronnie along, quickening her pace.

Erin had chucked a good sized rock at the boy's head, to deter what she thought was going to become a kiss. She had hoped it would've rendered him unconscious, or even dead, but this would have to be enough for the moment. She wasn't stupid, she realized something was up when Christine didn't come by after school a the day Christine had tried to kiss her. She thought it was her fault. She hadn't meant to hold her away, she had just…panicked? Not quite the right word, but that was the general reaction. Erin couldn't believe her bad luck when she found out that Christine and Ronnie were childhood friends, and that she had happened to run right into the idiot after fleeing the theater. She was angry at herself most of all. She had literally let Christine run from her, and into someone else's arms. But the question was, what to do now?

XXXXX

Christine sighed in relief, she had been afraid that the P.A.C. would be locked since it was a Saturday morning, but the door was open. She had left her U.S. Government folder in the choir room the previous day, she wished she wasn't so forgetful! She entered and saw that Mr. Bradley was there, sleeping on several chairs lined up. His brown hair was dishelmed, and a shadow had begun to appear on his thin face. It was obvious he had spent the night there. He woke up when she had walked in.

"Christine…?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Bradley- I just forgot something in here."

She pointedly avoided looking right at him, searching for her Government folder. She heard him get up, the plastic school chairs squeaking.

"Good morning." He stretched, it was clear he didn't make a habit of working out, from his thin arms, and his stomach which pouted over his belt.Why am I noticing this? It reminded her too mush of a girl in fourth period, who had stick arms and a mushroom top. "Have I told you that you are very talented?"

She glanced at him, he was nearby, staring at her. She had feared he may have possibly been drunk or hung-over (judging from his disheveled appearance), but he was not, his eyes being clear and focused upon her.

"Really?" She walked around the room, looking for that folder "Thank you," she became uncomfortably aware that Mr. Bradley took a few steps whenever she moved, getting a little closer each time. "Have you seen my government folder? It should be on the floor somewhere, around here, I'm sure I left it in your room…" She stood up, having the feeling he was staring at her ass the whole time she'd been scouring the room, bent over. She turned to face him, then gasped a little when he was much closer than she had thought. "Have you seen it?"

He held up for her to see her binder, placing it on the chair next to them.

"There is an extraordinary lack of notes in here, are you distracted in class, or is the class that easy?"

She glanced at her folder, then at him. She made to take it, but he held up his arm between her and it, resting his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure you're a good student, and there's nothing wrong with a little texting." He shrugged. "You are very forgetful you know."

"Yeah, sorry." She smiled weakly.

"If you're not careful, you might lose something important one day."

He leered at her, half-smiling. Mr. Bradley leaned in towards her.

"Good Morning."

Mr. Bradley backed away from her, and spun around. Christine almost cried out in relief, and felt her knees weakened. Erin was standing in the doorway to the theater, glaring at Mr. Bradley. His ink hair was tousled, he looked like he had just woken up, or had been awake all night.

"Hello, Erin." Mr. Bradley said, backing away, towards his desk.

Christine snatched her folder and hurried over to Erin, who put his arm around her protectively, drawing her close.

"I need to talk to you about the order of performances later, Mr. Bradley."

"I'll see you then."

Erin walked Christine outside of the P.A.C. Christine still clung to him. Then she noticed they had stopped walking, and pushed herself away. As she did her hand ran across Erin's back and felt something like small metal rings along the spine.

Erin looked at her blankly, not speaking. Christine realized that he must be expecting an excuse for why she hadn't been to see him for the past few days, and felt her heart sink.

"I'm so sorry…" Christine began.

"Avoid being around Mr. Bradley alone."

"I didn't know he was there, I was looking for my folder."

"If you see him in there, and no one else is around, leave. Do you understand?"

"Okay."

"Why were you trying to get your folder today? You could've- should've- waited until Monday."

"I have a test Monday." She looked up at him. "What were you doing in there?"

"I was…composing." His face changed slightly, eyebrows lifting. "Yes, I was trying to compose a song…it didn't go too well."

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Christine asked. She recognized an opening to learning something about Erin, and she would be a fool to pass it up.

"Sure. What do you do during your weekends?"

"At first I just sat in my room reading, but Meg has been dragging me down to the city. We usually go to the mall, or watch a movie. You?"

"Compose, or play music."

"That's all?"

"Or I sleep."

"You said you were composing in the theater, what was it?"

They walked along, the girls dorms were now visible.

"A simple little song, really…on the violin. But I just can't get the feel of it."

Christine looked at him, he was glaring into the space in front of him.

"Well…maybe I could help?"

"No." He looked at her, his face softened, and he looked down, "No, this song is a secret. No one will ever hear it, except the one I'm writing it for." He continued, "So, as you can see, it must be perfect."

Christine thought to herself, who in the world could he be writing a song for? For her? She blushed at the thought- what a vain thought! Then, what if he had a girlfriend! She paused briefly, causing Erin to look back at her.

"Christine?"

It made complete sense- that's why he stopped her the other day, all of this time he had was just being nice to her! How could she have been so dumb-

"Are you okay?"

"Uh- yeah."

They were at the dorms now, Christine ran from Erin, and up the stairs. She was fumbling, trying to unlock her door, when she heard Erin calling her.

"Christine!"

She got the door open, but she turned back and looked over the balcony. Erin was staring up at her, the sun causing his eyes to glow. She was instantly reminded of two things: first, the yellow eyes from last night. Which caused her to shiver. Then the scene from Romeo and Juliet, up there on the balcony. She gripped her folder tightly.

"Yes?"

Erin smiled at her.

"Can I…" he looked down briefly, "Can I take you out to breakfast?"

Christine grinned broadly, feeling very light-headed all of a sudden.

"Okay!" She ran inside and tossed her folder on the floor, then she stopped. She had just accepted a date with Erin- Erin had just asked her out- she had to wear something more appropriate. She dashed back out. Erin wasn't there. Her stomach flipped. "Erin?" she squeaked.

"Over here." she turned in the direction of the voice, to her right, nothing. Someone tapped her left shoulder, she turned her head, and gasped at Erin, who was just barely coming up the stairs.

"How did you do that?"

Erin looked at her oddly.

"Well, I walked up these stairs, and here I am on the same floor as you."

"No, I mean…" She shook her head, "I want to change into something nicer, please wait out here." She went inside her room and closed the door. She heard Erin on the other side.

"But you look nice already."

Christine smiled. Then she frowned. Obviously Erin didn't have a girlfriend. Or she hoped he didn't, and wasn't that kind of guy. Maybe she was thinking too much of it all. She looked through her clothes and pulled out a dark blue sun-dress with spaghetti straps. This will have to do.

Christine opened the door.

"A vision of loveliness." Erin said, who had miraculously cleaned up while Christine was getting ready.

Christine wore the dainty little dress, with sandals, her hair was free. The golden strands floated about her, from the frequent breeze. She modestly averted her eyes.

"Thank you. Where are we going?"

"To the city."

Erin offered his arm, and Christine took it. They walked down the stairs together.

"Really, how?" Erin gestured over by the front of the school, Christine saw a lone '65 Corvette Convertible. Red, of course. "Is that your car!"

"No, it's my Father's. Cars are one of the things he collects. He doesn't really like this one, so he doesn't even notice when it's not there."

"Oh." Christine looked down. She had no idea just how wealthy the kids she went to school with were. She had assumed foolishly that all of the designer clothing she saw must be fake, like in a public school. Real wealth was far more intimidating. "Do you visit home often?"

"No."

They didn't say anything else, until Erin opened the passenger door for Christine.

"Après vous." He smiled at her.

"Merci." Christine said.

The door closed, Christine put her hand to her mouth. She didn't know French!

"J'ai vous en prie." Erin got in, winking at her, and turned on the car. "Do you mind the top being down?"

Christine looked at the lack of a car top.

"No, it's fine. The weather is warm enough today."

Erin handed her a pair of sleek sunglasses.

"It'll keep your hair from whipping your eyes."

Christine put them on, and saw Erin put on a pair of aviators.

The little car drove away and down the road. Erin turned up the radio, and Christine started laughing. It was Sabotage by the Beastie Boys.

"What?" Erin gave his lopsided grin at her.

"I would've never thought you listened to this, Mr. Opera."

"I love the Beastie Boys. Gotta Fight for Your Right is my theme song."

Christine laughed.

"Hold on." Erin said.

"Why?"

The car accelerated, burning down the empty road. Christine was pushed against her seat from the force. She looked up at the sky, and laughed. It was exhilarating. Nothing could make you feel fabulously wealthy like this. Her worries were blown away at 112 mph. The roar of the engine blended with the heavy beat of the music.

Erin looked very briefly at Christine, admiring how her hair twisted in the wind.

Christine didn't know how long the drive had been, and felt the oddest feeling of being stagnant. She realized they had stopped, and Erin was holding the door for her. She stared at Erin.

"I can't move."

Erin laughed, and lifted her out of the car, Christine, tried walking around, feeling entirely off-balance. She saw they were outside of a little diner, on the coast. She looked at Erin.

"How are we at the beach, it's almost 300 miles away!"

"Magic." He winked at her, and they slowly walked up to the door. Christine looked at her watch. Two hours had passed in the car, and her legs weakened at the thought of how fast they must have been going. Erin carried her inside, and out to a lone table on a balcony looking out towards the sea. Christine slumped in her chair.

"Wow." She was also starving.

The staff apparently knew Erin, as they called him by first name, and he ordered for the both of them.

"I hope you'll be back in the theater during lunch."

"And after school." Christine said, sitting up.

"After school is rehearsals for the winter concert."

"Oh, yeah." Christine ran her hands through her hair, "The wind really did my hair in!"

"It's wonderful."

Christine blushed.

"So, this is a date?"

Erin laughed, but Christine noted that his face became a little colored. How cute!

"Well, I'm sure it's not a business meeting." He looked at her, his face resuming it's somber blankness, "Yes, it's a date."

"You know what's funny, I thought for a while you had a girlfriend."

"Me? Where did you get that idea?"

"Oh," Christine looked down, "Well, you know, I thought that was why you pushed me away…the other day?"

Erin frowned a little. He looked down.

"It wasn't you-"

A waiter, John, came out with their breakfast. He set each plate down on the table, and refilled their glasses. He nodded to Erin, smiled at Christine, and exited. They lay their napkins on their lap, and began to eat, they both had crepes with strawberries. Christine looked over at the ocean, flat and blue. There were a few boats farther out, looking like white dots.

"So what do you do with your friends when you guys hang out?" Christine asked, eventually.

Erin paused.

"I…" He laughed softly, "I don't have friends, actually."

Christine stared at him.

"Is there anything we can talk about that isn't an awkward subject."

"What's your favorite color?"

"Blue." Christine laughed. "You?"

"Black."

"Black is a tone, not a color. My old art teacher said so."

"Oh, and do you believe everything your old art teacher says?"

"I mean black doesn't count!"

"Fine, green. Does that please you?"

"Very much." She thought a moment. "Who is it that you're writing your secret song for?"

"Oh," Erin's face became somber. "My sister."

"You have a sister?"

"Yes, her name is Amelia."

"Wow, that's so pretty. Is she musical too?"

"She's more visual art, and writing." He shrugged, "I don't know for sure."

"She's younger right?" Erin nodded, "What's it like having a little sis?"

"I don't know. Interaction between her and I is scarce."

"Oh."

"I don't suppose you have siblings."

"No…I always thought it might be nice," Christine smiled "Even though everyone I know who has them says otherwise." She put down her fork. "So you're writing her a song?"

"Yes." Erin looked out to the ocean. "Are you happy at all here?"

"At our school?"

"Yes."

"It's hard to like it, even though all of my life I've wanted to come here. It's just the circumstances…but ignoring that, the school is everything I dreamed it would be. So, I guess I'm happy. As happy as I can be." She stopped pushing the food around on her plate, and her eyes looked up. Erin was sitting still, watching her. A warm feeling settled over her. "Meeting you has helped."

After breakfast, Christine learned they were in Malibu, and they walked around browsing the shops. Lunch, they stopped at a deli, and later went for ice-cream. Christine felt guilty at Erin paying for everything, but he insisted, saying it was his duty as a gentleman. He was being a little melodramatic at that moment, which caused Christine to giggle, and led to him pretending to be offended. It was an amusing day. The drive back was far longer, as Erin drove the speed of a normal car. Christine was grateful, and napped the whole way. When they got back to the school, it was five in the afternoon.

Erin called Gerard to pick up the car, and ordered Chinese take-out. Christine woke up, and stretched inside of the car, lazily crawling out. They walked towards the dorms, and Erin flagged down the Chinese delivery man, as he drove by. They ate in her room, talking about little nothings. They said goodnight at the door, Christine felt the metal rings again, and deliberately felt along them.

"What is this?"

Erin stiffened and held her away.

"It's…" He stepped out of the door.

"What? You can tell me."

"It's a binder."

"Oh, I didn't know…" Erin turned his face away, waiting for Christine to realize what that meant. "I used to know another guy who had scoliosis, he had surgery, and he had to wear a binder for a year after, to keep his spine from regressing."

Erin looked at her, mouth hanging open. He shook his head, then leaned in the doorway.

"I don't like to tell people about it. I don't want to be thought of as some victim."

Christine touched his face.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of. I only admire you even more."

Erin took her hand from his face and kissed it. He could sense Christine trembling. He let her go.

"Goodnight." He gave a little bow, and turned to leave.

"Goodnight, Erin."

He stopped and turned back towards her.

"Can I see you tomorrow?"

"Of course!"

Before Christine could blink, Erin stepped forward and kissed her.

Just as quickly he was gone, and she was leaning into the air. She rushed to the balcony, and saw a shadow melt into the night.