A/N: Thank you so much for your support and for your opinions. I can't express how informative they are with what y'all want, expect, or foresee. Sometimes you guys are right... sometimes not so much, which, as the writer, makes me excited.

This chapter contains Paul. I remember when I wrote this chapter about two weeks or so ago, I realized that I had zero Kia, Yvonne, and Paul in the story... So I thought I needed to correct that. But don't worry, the friendships between Viola/"Sebastian" and Duke, Toby, and Andrew won't change. I'm not going to cram Cornwall friends down your throats out of the blue. But they'll make appearances in upcoming chapters.

Also... If you find this story predictable. I'm truly sorry. I'll try to find an ace up my sleeve you won't expect. Most of the chapters I post, I wrote them weeks in advance or a few days before. It just depends on when the creativity juices are flowing for me. So yeah, when I write something, I write it and don't go back to it until it's time to post that particular chapter. So, I promise to be more... of a maverick.

With that being said, I hope you like this chapter.

--

(Viola Hastings as Sebastian Hastings)

Right at the stroke of noon, I walked into Cesario's looking for Duke, Toby, and Andrew. They were in their usual spot, chatting it up.

Nodding at Duke, he slid over towards the window, giving me my seat. "Hey kids," I greeted as I took my seat.

Toby and Andrew bumped fists with me.

Duke nudged me with his elbow. "A pitcher of Dr. Pepper and an extra-large pepperoni pie okay with you?"

"Yep, sounds good to me!"

"Good," Duke said with a smirk on his face, which piqued my interests, especially when he looked at Toby and Andrew.

Looking back and forth between my friends, I couldn't help but give into their weirdness. "What?"

"We hear that you and Olivia got some alone time last night at Holden's," Toby said, leaning against the table. Andrew started to laugh and Duke just smiled like an idiot.

I slouched a bit into the booth. "We talked, that's it."

"Uh-huh," Andrew snorted out.

"What did you guys hear anyway?"

"Nothing, only that you two disappeared and didn't come back for awhile, and when you did come back, both of you were acting weird." Duke teased while both Toby and Andrew were trying their damnedest not to make a scene by laughing.

I shrugged. "Well, all we did was talk."

Luckily, the waitress came around before they could insinuate any more. "What are y'all having?"

Duke sat up a bit straighter and leaned towards her. "A pitcher of Dr. Pepper and an extra-large pepperoni pizza, please."

"Okay," the waitress replied as she scribbled down the simple order quickly. "I'll get the Dr. Pepper for you right away." Then the waitress disappeared to do her obligations.

That's when I saw Olivia walk into Cesario's. Instantly, I was happier. She definitely had an affect on me. I couldn't help but give her an up and down look. I had to hand it to her, she looked great in skinny jeans. I wondered if she was meeting Maria or one of her other friends up here.

"Hey guys, Olivia's here," Duke whispered hurriedly over to Toby and Andrew, who snapped their heads around quickly and then looked at me a millisecond later to see how I was reacting.

I crossed my arms over the table and bowed my head a bit, trying to hide the smile that had slipped onto my face. When I looked back up at Olivia, that smile was wiped off of my face.

I saw this swimmer type standing next her. He had his arm wrapped around her waist. I hadn't seen this guy around the school, so I guessed he must've been from Westlake College, a university just fifteen minutes away from Illyria.

If I had seen him on the streets before seeing him with Olivia, I probably would've given him more credit on looks (he was a tall brunette with hair that reminded me of Kevin Zegers') and style (he was wearing a simple white V-neck that showed off his build and a pair of worn jeans). But that wasn't the case, I only saw him as a threat.

"Oh snap!" I heard Andrew mumble. He must've realized what I had just a few seconds before. Olivia wasn't here to meet up with friends -- she was there on a date.

Duke gave my a pat on the back and said something to the effect that 'it happens to the best of us'. I tore my eyes away from the two and looked down at my spoon. I felt like if looks could kill, my spoon would've felt my wrath.

Duke nudged me a little, "She's coming over."

Why couldn't she just sit the down?

"Hey guys," Olivia greeted merrily.

It took all of the will within me to look up from my spoon to Olivia and her dolphin boy. But when I did, I forced a cheesy smile on my face. "Hi Olivia!" I could feel Toby, Andrew, and Duke all give me worried looks. They knew this could turn ugly in a matter of seconds if they didn't try to buffer the situation a bit.

"Hey Olivia," they all cried at the same time. Looking at each warningly, they finally silently agreed on Toby to do the talking.

Olivia smiled an awkward smile and then looked down at me as she leaned into her little college boy toy. "Sebastian, I want you to meet," she gushed up Mr. Swimmer, "Gabe."

Gabe, what a douche.

Gabe nodded his head at me, but didn't say anything. I gave him a nod back after a few pregnant seconds afterwards. I wanted to make it clear what I thought of him without having to plainly say it.

"So! Olivia," Toby started as he knocked his empty cup over, "on a date?"

Olivia smiled a big smile and nodded her head contentedly. "Yeah, Gabe thought it would be fun to come to one of my favorite hangouts for our first date, so then he could get an idea of where to go on our next one." She hugged him while his hand started to head a little too far south for my liking.

I began to grip my spoon angrily at seeing his hand cross a dangerous line and at realizing that she planned on going on more dates with this Gabe. Duke saw my white knuckles and kicked my ankle.

Yelping, I breathlessly said, "Sweet Jesus!"

Everyone around the table looked at me, including Gabe and Olivia, which made me want to vomit.

"Well," Olivia said as he unhinged herself from Gabe's side, "I guess we better get a table. See you guys later!" She looked completely pleased with herself and Gabe looked like he couldn't wait to get her in the back seat of his car. Just the thought of his greasy hands on her made me want to punch something.

"Dude, would you chill?!" Duke said, ripping the spoon out of my hand. I had bent the head of the spoon backwards and then some. My hand hurt a little from doing so, but I couldn't have cared less.

I eyed Olivia and her date while they walked side by side and hand in hand back to their table. Rolling my eyes and making a disgusted sound, I threw myself backwards into the booth's back. "What does she see in that guy anyway?"

"I don't know!"

"He's ugly, bra!"

"He's no Sebastian Hastings, that's all I have to say!"

They all were just trying to make me feel better. They were being good friends.

Finally the waitress brought over our Dr. Pepper. I was glad to have it too -- there's nothing like emotionally eating and drinking. For the rest of our lunch, our group stayed relatively quiet. I scarfed down my food as quickly as humanly possible, got up, shelled out a few bucks, told the boys I'd catch up with them later, and then busted out of there at the speed of light.

--

(Olivia Lennox)

I felt terrible for using Gabe as shamelessly as I was. I knew he actually liked me... and not just because of my looks either. He had known me since we were kids, so I did realize I was playing with a dangerous fire here. But when I asked him to do this for me, I made sure he knew it was acting -- we weren't going on a date. I could tell by the tone in his voice that he was disappointed. Gabe told me back when he was a senior and when I was a sophomore that he had liked me since those childhood days, he just didn't have the guts to ask me out until the prospect of never having the chance to again dawned on him. I thought he was sweet about it and all, but he was like a brother to me... nothing more. So I had to turn him down.

Gabe was perfect for this 'love is war' game though. He was good, no, great looking, had an allure about him that made everyone's eyes be drawn to him, and had a mild-manner about him. It was as if he was made to threaten other men's turf just by existing.

"He's leaving," Gabe whispered over to me as he leaned in over the table, making it look like he was telling me something intimate.

With all of my might, I had to keep myself from looking over at Sebastian. Instead, I mirrored Gabe's actions. "Alone or with his friends?"

Giving me this mischievous smile, Gabe answered, "Alone." I had to hand it to him, he was good at this.

"How does he look? Does he look sad or mad? Has he looked over at us? How do I look?" I asked with excitement creeping into my voice. I couldn't help it. I hoped that my game had played out exactly how I wanted it to. I wanted to know that Sebastian was jealous. I wanted him to reevaluate our relationship.

Gabe laughed and lowered his eyes bashfully. Oh, he was really good at this! "He looked pissed. He did look over here, but only for a brief second. And you look," Gabe paused, bringing his eyes to look into mine, "amazing."

Fire. Fire! FIRE! My brain shouted.

I wondered why I couldn't just see Gabe like I saw Sebastian. He would've made the perfect boyfriend. He knew what I liked, what I hated, what I loved, what I couldn't get enough of. He knew some of my most embarrassing secrets, and he never told them to a single soul. Gabe understood why I was so stubborn and why I was so earnest. He even knew why I was the way I was when I couldn't even tell you.

Stupid me. I always make my life more difficult in some way or another. If it wasn't through taking on way too many tasks, it was through relationships.

"Thanks for doing this again," I began lowly. "It means a lot."

"Don't mention it," he replied back. "Let's just hope he sees what he's missing out on," Gabe said in such a heartbreaking way. I knew that it wasn't because he was jealous or found the situation ironic. It was because he would kill to have me go to all of this trouble to get him to notice me.

Nice one, Olivia. You're so freaking selfish that you didn't even think how this might hurt him.

"So, ugh," Gabe started as he absentmindedly played with his straw, "you want to get out of here? I can drive you back to your dorm."

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea."

--

(Viola Hastings as Viola Hastings)

"Viola," Paul said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "What exactly have you been doing at Illyria?"

Slumping onto my very own bed, I didn't look at him. "Oh, how about acting like this amazingly sweet boy who can't help but be honest, which unintentionally makes girls fall in love with me, except they have no clue I'm a girl dressed up like her twin brother."

I heard Paul laugh, which caused some anger to flare up in me. "What could possibly be funny about that?"

"Oh, I don't know," Paul sardonically replied. "I think all of it is quite humorous, especially the part about girls falling for you."

"This is serious, Paul!" I groaned, shoving my pillow in my face.

"Well, I heard that our little 'Sebastian Hastings' was quite the flirt, though."

I practically threw the pillow off of my face and looked at my friend. "Who told you that?"

"No one. Just word on the street is all," he said with a shrug as he sat down and looked at his manicured nails.

"So you know about the library make-out with Olivia, then?" I asked embarrassedly.

Paul's eyes widened and his jaw dropped slightly.

Nope.

"You made out with Olivia?! When? Do tell!" Paul excitedly answered. The smell of gossip and juicy truths in the air always seemed to wake him up like a cup of coffee in the morning.

Why am I so stupid? Why?

"Kind of... For like a few minutes," I confessed meekly.

Memories from the make-out came flooding back. The warmth of Olivia's body against mine. The fruity smell of her hair. The intoxicating taste of her --

Whoa, there, cowgirl! Get your head on right!

Paul started to clap joyously. "Boy, have I missed my little Viola. All of the good stuff happens to you! Please tell me exactly what has happened since we've last talked. I want all of the minute details, even if you find them silly."

Rolling my eyes and huffing rather loudly, I prepared myself for one laborious discussion of my life in the past week.

--

(Olivia Lennox)

"So, how did it go?" Maria asked as soon as I slid into our dorm.

Smiling brightly, I practically skipped over to my bed. "Well, if him storming out of Cesario's and almost tying a spoon in a knot constitutes to anything... I'd say pretty damn good!"

Maria's jaw drop. "No, he didn't!"

"Yes," I said with a happy sigh as I flopped myself down on my bed, "he did."

"So," Maria continued, "what does this mean?"

I bit my lip at the prospect. "Sebastian's jealous... most likely thinking about what just happened and why he got so riled up. As long as he's honest with himself, he'll figure it out and he'll come crawling into the little trap I've set for him."

"And what trap is that?"

Giggling like an idiot, "Oh, you'll just have to wait and hear about it!"

Maria looked shocked. She must've thought I was going to tell her so I could get a second opinion on the matter. But truthfully, I was tired of thinking things out. It was time to rely on my instincts.

"When's this great plan of yours going to happen?"

I shrugged and smiled coyly.

"Oh, you have to at least tell me when it's all going down! I'm your best friend!" Maria shot back. A secret was always attractive, even to a person who was not going to be affected either way. "Please."

"Okay, you convinced me!" I excitedly let out. Maria did a little pump fist as if she had just made a miraculous putt or something. "I'm going to play all cool around Sebastian for a few more days. Y'know, really lay it on thick, like I'm over him."

"Why?! You're just going to be wasting time -- time you can just as easily spend together."

I shrugged again. "I want him to know how it feels... and when he does, I'll be able to see this," I paused, searching for the right word, "fire in his eyes. And that's when the games will stop and the pouncing starts."

Maria laughed disbelievingly. "This is gonna be good!"

"Yep, it is!"

--

(Viola Hastings as Viola Hastings)

"And that's basically it," I ended breathlessly. I had spoken for a full half-hour with very little interruptions from Paul to clarify a few things over the events of the past week of my life as Sebastian Hastings.

I looked over at my best friend, who had this knowing look growing in his eye and a mischievous smile curling by the second. I hated that look; I always knew it meant that he knew something I didn't.

"What?" I defeatedly asked with a huff.

Paul's smile was bigger than ever. "Viola, you're so blind!"

I didn't even reply to that, I just stared blankly up at my ceiling.

"Or," Paul continued, "you're just too afraid to admit something. Something as normal as feelings."

"I'm not afraid to admit my feelings! I don't even know what you're talking about anyway!"

"Oh, whatever! You know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm talking about how you like Olivia Lennox and that you like her a lot!" Paul snapped back with excitement. He always got this way whenever my love life was involved somehow.

I made a dry laugh, "I don't like Olivia like that!"

"Really? You wanna go there?"

I continued to make my hollow laughs and each new eruption brought out a louder one.

Paul didn't like this challenge, so he threw down the gauntlet, hard. "If you didn't like Olivia, you wouldn't have made-out with her in the library for as long as you did nor would you have tried to clear the air with her. Then at the party, you wouldn't have spent the entire night with her alone, looking at the lake, talking about your favorite things. And most importantly and telling," Paul took a deep breath to add anticipation as well to catch up on all the oxygen he missed out on during the tirade of sorts. "You wouldn't have gotten so jealous about this Gabe guy taking Olivia out on a date."

"See, right there, I wasn't jealous about Olivia going out with another guy. I was upset that she would be plastered all over him." I rebutted back passionately.

Paul flashed a grin that I knew wasn't a good sign. He must've found a big gaping hole in my defense. "And that totally proves my point, Vi. You didn't like seeing her draped all over someone else."

"No!" I replied flatly, crossing my arms as I sat up.

"Say whatever you want to say, you know I'm right, like always." Paul snapped back as he got up to check his hair in my dresser mirror.

With eye brows furrowed, I pouted. "Fine, I will. I'm not jealous over Gabe being with Olivia."

I looked over at my clock and saw that it was 3 o'clock.

They probably just got done having sex in the back of Gabe's car.

Thinking that, I hit my forehead over and over again until it started to sting from the biting attack.

"Vi," Paul eyed me in the mirror with a weird mix of intrigue and horror, "what are you doing?"

Throwing my head back and looking up at the ceiling, I finally let the truth be uttered out loud. "I'm jealous!"

"And?" Paul pushed on as he turned around and leaned against my dresser.

Looking down at my bed, I whispered, "I like Olivia."

"There you go, that wasn't so bad, now was it?" Paul cheered happily walking over to me.

I mimicked him childishly in response.

Paul sat down next to me as he whipped out his cell and began to call someone. "We need to get Kia and Yvonne on a three-way to discuss a good plan of action to get you your Miss Lennox."

I had to admit, it felt pretty good to get the whole thing off my chest, even if it had to be forced out of me. But then a big resounding problem smacked me upside the head.

Grabbing Paul's arm, I looked at him like I was staring Death in its face. "But I'm Sebastian to Olivia, not Viola."

Paul's excited eyes dimmed at remembering this, "Oh shit!"

--

A/N: All right! I have to say that I'm excited about the latest chapter I wrote... I'm not going to tell you what it entails, but I will say that you all will enjoy it. It's either two or three chapters after this one. So yeah! Good times are to come.

Also, I know many of you are wanting some hot action between Viola and Olivia because it's been a few weeks since I first posted this story. But you also have to realize the time frame in the story. I would love to throw in a hot make-out scene, believe me! However, it wouldn't make much sense to put it in randomly and then make the chapters before that make-out seem logical, believable, and not like a waste of time; as well as make the characters seem controlled and rational. I guess what I'm trying to say is... patience! Please! I think you all deserve a thought out story. So hopefully... you all agree and aren't angry with that.

Other than that, please tell me your thoughts! I love knowing them -- heck, that's why I post my thoughts in these Author Notes because I think you all deserve a reply to your thoughts. So yeah, please give 'em to me! Lol.