"Good morning everyone!" Ms. Davis exclaimed happily, walking into the classroom.

"What's good about it?" Ana muttered under her breath. She glared unhappily at the too bright sunshine that was streaming in through the windows.

"Today, I've got a special surprise for you," Ms. Davis said. She approached the class, her hands clasped neatly in front of her. "We're going to the lab to do an experiment. Isn't that exciting?"

A few students looked interested, but most barely picked up their heads from the desks where they were sleeping. Jack was one of the few who were paying attention and therefore curious.

"Ok, I'm going to split you up into groups of four. When we go into the lab, one team to a table. Let me go ahead and pass out the instruction papers," Ms. Davis continued. She walked around the room, passing out papers and putting people together.

"Ok, everyone, let's go into the lab," Ms. Davis said, pointing exaggeratedly toward the door.

"Um, Ms. Davis? You didn't put me in a group," Claire said loudly, holding her hand in the air. Ms. Davis looked blankly at her for a moment.

"Yeah, us too," Ana said, pointing between her and Jack.

"Well, why don't you all join together," Ms. Davis said. "You're neighbor, too, Claire. Uh, I'm sorry, dear, what's your name again?"

"Ben," the small boy replied. He promptly got up and led the way into the lab.

Ana shook her head. She seriously did not get that weirdo kid.

In the lab, Jack, being a gentleman, retrieved goggles for everyone on his team. Ana and Claire accepted theirs graciously, but Ben's lip curled when Jack offered a pair. The four then put on their aprons. Ana felt ridiculous: the goggles, even though secured around her head with a band, kept sliding down her nose and the apron was way too long. Even Jack, who was at the very least a good eight inches taller than her, was having trouble.

"Ok! Everyone, you can get started. I'll be coming around to make sure you've set up the apparatus correctly," Ms. Davis yelled over the din.

"Ok, guess we should start, then," Jack muttered awkwardly, when none of the others made a move to get started. He got out a graduated cylinder and a beaker and filled them each with water. He covered the mouth of the graduated cylinder with the palm of his hand and attempted to invert it in the large beaker. The attempt resulted in water everywhere.

"You're doing it wrong," Ben snapped. He snatched the equipment away from Jack and started to refill them with water from the sink.

"Come on," Ana murmured to Claire. They headed across the room to get paper towels to clean up the mess. When they returned, Jack and Ben were arguing about the best way to achieve their goal.

"But that's the wrong-" Ben was saying.

"That's what she told us to do," Jack said sternly. He turned to Ana, looking for support. "Didn't she?"

"Um, sure," Ana said curtly. She began cleaning up. She didn't notice that immediately both Ben and Jack called an end to their argument at her words. Claire, however, was not as oblivious.

"Why don't you try, Ana?" Claire suggested. "You've got smaller hands. I bet you could make it work."

Ana shrugged and pressed her palm against the top of the graduated cylinder. She flipped it swiftly and inverted it in the beaker without making a huge mess. There were no air bubbles in the graduated cylinder. It was a success.

"Ok. Good," Jack nodded. He ducked under the table to get something else. Ana just rolled her eyes.

"Good job, Ana," Ben said quietly. He was staring at her avidly. Claire stifled a giggle.

"Now, we need to attach this," Jack said, standing back up straight. He held out some other equipment, including some tubing. Without waiting for anyone's reply, he set to work setting everything up. In the meantime, Ana walked away from the table to gather up the chemicals they'd need. Ben followed her.

"You have to get down to eye level to measure that," Ben remarked. Ana jumped at the sound of his voice.

"I know that," Ana snapped. She sighed and went back to what she was doing.

"So do you have a boyfriend?" Ben asked.

Ana gave him a strange look. "Why?"

"I was just curious," Ben shrugged. "If you didn't, I'd…consider asking you out."

Ana paused. What was going on? "Well, I'm involved. Sorry. Why don't you take this back to the table?"

If Ana didn't know any better, she would say that Ben looked disappointed as he turned around to do as she asked. No, she could tell he was pissed. Pissed that she was 'involved'? Well, actually, she wasn't exactly involved with anyone…Goodwin was a pig and no one else she liked was available. Well, Goodwin wasn't exactly a pig. Pervert, maybe, but she could get over that. Hm…

Anyway, so Ben liked her. That was just…that. She couldn't deal with that right now, what with Goodwin and her mom and whatever was going in her head about Sawyer.

Ana made her way back to her lab table, finding her team well into the experiment already.

"Ana," Jack nodded as she approached. "We already mixed the chemicals. We just have to wait until it stops reacting so we can measure the hydrogen gas collected."

"Cool," Ana replied. She pulled her paper toward her and set to work writing down her observations.

"So, Ana," Jack said quietly. He was standing next to her, doing his own work. "How was your weekend?"

Ana glanced up. Ben was seemingly absorbed in his work and Claire was talking with a friend at another table. Jack was staring so hard at his paper that Ana was sure he wasn't really seeing it. "Fine."

"How was your-date?"

Ana's brow furrowed in confusion. What was Jack doing asking her about her date?

"That guy you were with, did he upset you? You left the theater pretty quick," Jack continued.

Was that concern in Jack's voice? Seriously, what was he doing, asking her about this? "No, he didn't upset me."

"Are you going to go out with him again?" Jack asked. He still continued to stare at his paper.

"I don't know," Ana replied. Man, what was wrong with boys today?

-xXx-

"Afternoon, Claire," Charlie muttered as he sat down. It was the last period of the day. Art. With Claire. The girl he actually had a dream about the other night. He dreamed that he had walked her home and then kissed her goodnight.

Charlie was horrified to find out that it had not been a dream. He had actually walked with Claire over the weekend and he had actually kissed her goodnight.

Then Charlie had freaked out. What if he scared Claire away? He didn't want to do that. She was a nice girl. Then on Sunday, after spilling what was wrong with him, Liam told him to chill and just act normal whenever he saw Claire next.

And so Charlie had taken his older brother's advice. He walked coolly into the art room and took his seat, saying hello but not making eye contact with Claire.

"Hello, Charlie," Claire said brightly. Charlie could see her grinning brightly out of the corner of his eye.

"How are you today?" Charlie asked.

"Good, good. And you?" Claire replied.

"Not bad," Charlie said. He felt sweaty. Was it hot in here? Why did Claire have to smile at him like that? It was making him nervous.

"Ok, everyone," Mr. Don said loudly, clapping his hands. "Today, we're…"

Charlie tuned out the teacher, choosing to look out the window instead of dwelling on anything, class work or pretty girls.

By the end of the class, Charlie was feeling better about his situation. He and Claire had gotten along swimmingly. There was no awkwardness, no tension. Just good plain fun.

"So anyway," Claire said, "I think I'm supposed to baby-sit again this weekend, but maybe we could-"

She was cut off by the end of the day bell. She smiled sweetly and gathered together her books.

Without thinking, Charlie touched Claire's arm lightly. He leaned in close. "I would love to hang out with you this weekend." He pressed his lips to hers and walked out, grinning crazily.

-xXx-

So what was the deal with guys today?

Ana had the strangest feeling that she was some kind of pawn in a game that many of the boys she knew were playing.

So far today, three boys had made it obvious they were interested.

1. Ben. Strange kid though he was, he was pretty smart. He was a sophomore, though. That meant he was a year younger than her. He was a little funny looking, what with the bulging eyes and the tendency to stare. Not bad overall, Ana supposed; she just didn't know him.

2. Jack. The least obvious of her three suitors. Very smart, a bit tense at times, it seemed. Easy on the eyes, that was for sure. Not very reliable as a boyfriend, though. From what she had heard, Jack was pretty inexperienced with women. And after that incident with Sarah…he may not be interested in casual dating.

3. Goodwin. Yes, that's right. There was a very good chance Goodwin had talked his way back into the picture. He had stopped her in the hallway before class and apologized for 'feeling her up'. Yes, those were his actual words. Anyway, he sweet talked her into forgiving him. The bell rang before he could ask her out again, but Ana knew it was coming. She hadn't decided what she was going to tell him yet.

Ana's thoughts were interrupted by the end of day bell. She began to gather together all her books and papers.

Well, one thing was clear. She'd take Jack or Ben- hell, even Goodwin- before she'd surrender to Sawyer. That was for damn sure.

-xXx-

"Shannon! Shannon!"

Shannon turned around to see Sayid running down the hall to meet her.

"Shannon, what are you doing tomorrow night?" Sayid asked when he reached her.

"I don't know. Nothing probably. Why?" Shannon said.

"Tell your dad that you made plans to study with some friends. Don't tell him who, just that you'll be back by ten," Sayid said.

"What are you talking about?"

"Shannon, tomorrow night meet me at the library on King Street at six. We can study a bit, but then I'll take you to dinner," Sayid said calmly.

"Oh, I get it. You want me to tell my dad that I'm going to the library to study so he won't get angry that I'll be with you," Shannon said, grinning.

"Exactly," Sayid said, brushing the hair out her face. "That way you won't get in trouble."

"It's perfect," Shannon said, giving Sayid a hug .

-xXx-

Ana stood at her locker, staring into it blankly, trying to remember what books she needed.

"Hey, chica."

Ana gave a start. "Sawyer."

Sawyer smiled cheekily and leaned against the locker next to hers. "How are you today, sweetheart?"

"Don't call me sweetheart," Ana snapped. She grabbed a book and shut her locker. She bent down to put the book into her bag. She could feel Sawyer's eyes on her the whole time. "Stare much?"

Sawyer smirked and let his eyes trail down her body. Ana got the horrible feeling that he could see down her shirt and quickly stood up straight again.

"Sawyer, what do you want?"

"What, I can't just say hello to one of my good friends?" Sawyer replied, still looking at her body.

"You'd better not let Kate see you staring at me like that," Ana said quietly. She crossed her arms over her chest. "She might get the wrong idea."

"No, she wouldn't," Sawyer said, taking a step closer. He looked at her face now. "She left already. Besides, I'm having too much fun. She would never let me look at her like this."

Ana cursed under her breath and made to walk away. Sawyer grabbed her arm.

"Don't go yet, chica," Sawyer said. He gripped her tightly and pulled her to him. "I wanted to ask you something."

"What makes you think I want to hear anything you have to say?" Ana said dangerously. She made an attempt to pull out of Sawyer's grasp.

Sawyer chuckled in her ear, making her shiver. "You were staring at me all through P.E. today. Now, I think that says something."

"I was not star-"

"Is everything ok over there?"

Sawyer and Ana both looked over to see a teacher watching them closely. Sawyer immediately let go of Ana and forced a smile.

"Everything's fine," Sawyer said. The teacher looked at him suspiciously but slowly walked away. As soon as she (and most of the other students) was gone from the hallway, Sawyer turned to Ana and shoved her back into the lockers. He placed hands on either side of her head and stared into her eyes.

"We were getting off track. I only wanted to know if you were ok after that asshole touched you on Saturday."

Ana looked at him confusedly. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good," Sawyer said. "Now, tell me, Ana. Do you like me?"

"What? No, I do not like you," Ana snapped. She would have tried to push him away by now, but that would have meant she would have had to touch him. Touching Sawyer could only lead to worse things.

"All right, all right. No need to get snappy. Just curious," Sawyer considered her for a moment. "Well, if you're in denial, I might as well follow your lead. Should be easier for me though, what with Kate around and all." He laughed. "See you around, sweetheart."

Sawyer leaned in and kissed her jaw. He walked away as if nothing had happened. Ana, however, stayed where she was.

What in hell was Sawyer talking about? Did he just say what she thought he had?


Man, I have been so lazy lately. I meant to have this chapter done like ten years ago. Fortunately, I was suddenly struck with inspiration the other day and wrote all day long. I had to wait to post it though, because we're in the middle of moving and I didn't have internet.

All that chemistry crap was based off an experiment I actually did in class one day. Ha, just thought I'd impress you with my awesome chemistry knowledge.

My favorite review from last chapter (I laughed when I read it, no idea why): Benjamin Linus: You should bring Ben back.

In my eyes, my version of Ben is a little retarded and a bit off, but at least I included him.

Next chapter I'm going to try to add more drama because I'm feeling a little bored by this story.