Thorne sat in his car for a full five minutes after Cress had kissed him and wondered what it all meant. It was only a kiss on the cheek, but did she make it a habit of kissing all of her friends on the cheek? She hadn't said anything after it to give Thorne any indication of why she had done it and what it had meant. Maybe it had been just a friendly thank you kiss. Did people give thank you kisses? Was that a thing?

Thorne couldn't keep his fingertips off the spot on his cheek, which tingled where Cress's soft lips had touched it. She had kissed him. She kissed him. And he had done nothing but stand there and watch her leave. He should have done something. If he were more bold or daring, he would have grabbed her and kissed her back, fully on the mouth.

The thought of kissing Cress like that made the heat rise up his neck and Thorne realized he had been sitting in front of her house for far too long. He quickly turned the ignition and pulled out onto the street, hoping she had not seen him sitting stunned in his car.

Thorne hurriedly stuffed books into his backpack as he stood in front of his locker. It was odd standing there now, remembering the fist fight and how he had nearly passed out. As he zipped up his backpack, a hand clapped down on his shoulder and he froze. Holding his breath, he spun around to see a boy almost as tall as him, with messy brown hair. Thorne recalled his name being Alec, but had never spoken to him before.

"Hey man, how's it going?"

"F—fine," Thorne replied, almost scared of what Alec was going to say next.

"I just wanted to say way to go with Julian. He is such a jerk."

Thorne nodded. "Yeah. He is."

Alec chuckled. "I'll see you around."

Thorne watched as Alec made his way down the corridor and wondered what that was all about. He was just about to close his locker when two girls walked by and said hi to him. Thorne could only manage a weak wave before they, too, made their way down the hall. For a split second, he wondered if someone had stuck a note on his back as a joke, but when he reached behind himself to check, he could only feel the soft jersey of his t-shirt.

Bewildered, Thorne made his way down the hallway and around the corner to his first period class. On the way, five people stopped to say hi to him and someone even gave him a fist-bump. He scratched his head in confusion until he looked up and saw Kai, Cinder, Scarlet and Wolf hanging around their lockers. Thorne was always impressed at how they managed to get lockers right next to each other, but figured Kai had special perks for being student body president, or they were just incredibly lucky like all popular kids seemed to be.

"Hi, Thorne," a cute brunette said to him as she walked by.

"Um—hi," came Thorne's weak reply. He watched her go and turned to see the gang looking at him.

"Hey man, how's it going?" Kai asked. The rest of the group followed with their greetings.

"Um …" Thorne rubbed the back of his neck. "Kind of weird, actually. All these people keep saying hi to me."

"What's so weird about that?" Scarlet asked as she flipped through a notebook in her hand.

Thorne shook his head, feeling self-conscious. "Nevermind." He looked around, noticing someone missing. "Where's Cress?"

"I think she's talking to Kinney." Kai gestured his thumb down the hall.

Thorne's eyes followed in the direction of Kai's finger and when he finally spotted her, his heart sank.

She stood less than ten feet away from him with her back pressed against the wall. She was talking to a tall, handsome boy who had thick, wavy brown hair and who was hovering over her. Liam Kinney, the football team's quarterback, had his hand resting on the wall by Cress's head and casually leaned into it as he talked to her. He was smiling way too much for Thorne's liking.

Thorne frowned, remembering that he and Cress had been almost in that exact position just a couple of days ago at the football game, except that they had been hiding from Principle Vargas. He recognized that Cress was now standing there with Kinney because she wanted to and by the looks of it, she was enjoying herself. Thorne watched as she smiled back at Kinney and even laughed at something he said.

The tinkling sound reached Thorne and instead of filling his chest with the familiar tingle it had always done before, it just burned in his ears. Apparently that kiss had meant nothing after all.

The bell rang, and Thorne caught Cress's eye for a brief second before he turned to make his way to his physics class. He thought he heard his name being called out in the distance, but the sound was muffled by shuffling feet and the chatter that usually filled the halls when students were making their way to class. Thorne couldn't bring himself to turn around to see if it was Cress who had called his name.

Thorne leaned against one of the large sycamore trees on the school grounds. It was his lunch hour and instead of spending it in the cafeteria or library like he normally would, he opted to eat his peanut butter and jelly sandwich out on the grass near the soccer pitch. Most of the students avoided it because it was out of the way and if they wanted to eat outside, they would hang out on the lawn next to the football team's practice field. Thorne was hoping he could avoid the masses.

Sighing, he slid down the length of the tree and settled himself against the base of its trunk.

"You okay there?" A voice next to him piped up.

Thorne jumped and clutched his chest, but eased when he saw Kate's friendly face. She must have been sitting there the whole time. "Stars Kate, you scared me."

She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

Thorne nodded and took two gulps of air to try and regulate his breathing. Kate watched him as he calmed down.

"How come you're out here? I've never seen you here before."

"I—um—am trying to—"

"Tough being popular, huh?"

Thorne breathed a sigh of relief. "It's pretty unsettling. Have these people always known my name and just chose to ignore me?"

Kate laughed, tucking the book she was holding into her lap.

"I haven't actually done anything for their attention."

"You got into a fist fight and got suspended. You're like, the bad boy, now," Kate teased.

Thorne laughed uneasily. "I don't think that's it."

"The prettiest girl in school came to your rescue and her friends backed you up?"

Thorne picked at the crust of his sandwich. "Is that true? Is it really because of Cress?"

Kate shrugged. "You were hanging out with her and her friends at the football game. Someone said you were at the park together, too."

"Oh." Thorne rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, that's a relief."

"How so?"

"I thought I had done something to warrant everyone's attention. It's good to know it's not my fault at all and I can blame Cress for this misery."

Kate laughed, but it died quickly when she saw the look on his face. Thorne was just joking about it being Cress's fault that he was miserable, but when the words fell out of his mouth, he found it had rang truer than he had thought. He shook his head. Of course it wasn't Cress's fault. She had done nothing wrong. She had only been nice to him and tried to stick up for him.

If Thorne were to blame anyone for his misery, it would have to be himself. He was the one who tortured himself over his feelings for Cress and wouldn't do anything about them. Thorne was miserable because of his own insecurities. His own failure to act.

Kate shuffled her book around in her hands before asking, "What's going on between the two of you?"

"Nothing."

Kate looked at Thorne and he resigned himself to another sigh. "You like her, don't you?"

Thorne nodded.

"And she likes you. So—"

"What makes you think that?"

Kate shrugged. "Just a hunch."

Thorne sighed again, dragging a hand down his face.

"What makes you think she doesn't?"

"Kinney."

"Oh. He's dreamy."

Thorne pursed his lips.

Kate laughed. She playfully nudged him in the shoulder. "So are you, so go ask Cress out already."

There was a hint of teasing in Kate's eyes, but he could tell she was being genuine and it made him feel increasingly better. He was grateful for his new found friendship with all of Cress's friends, but there was something about Kate's kindness that made him cherish hers even more. Maybe it was the fact that she was nice to him before the rest of the school decided he was cool or maybe because they had become friends without Cress's help.

"Do you really think Cress would say yes if I asked her out?"

Kate smiled. "I do." She picked her book back up and continued reading where she had left off.

Thorne thought about it for a while and pulled out his copy of the Complete Poems of John Keats, turning to a page he had dog-eared the day before.

Sitting at the desk in his bedroom, Thorne couldn't focus on his physics homework. He had hoped to talk to Cress after school, but when he spotted her down the long corridor, she had been talking to Kinney once again. Thorne had lost all the nerves he had built up after his talk with Kate at lunch and although Cress and Kinney had not been in the same stance that they had been that morning, Thorne had not been able to bring himself to walk up and talk to her. The two had been surrounded by Cress's friends and everyone had looked like they were engaged in a story Kinney was telling.

Thorne rubbed his face and smacked his notebook against the textbook that was open on his desk. The sudden gust of wind made a crumpled dollar bill fly across the desk and Thorne reached for it before it tumbled off the edge. He pushed his books out of the way before he gingerly smoothed the twenty dollar bill out flat against the worn walnut of the table.

He had forgotten about the money that Wolf had pressed into his hand, telling him to buy Cress roses. Wolf, out of all of Cress's friends, had intimidated him the most, but had been the one to give Thorne a glimmer of hope. He didn't think Wolf would have said something like that to Thorne if he didn't expect him to act upon it. Like Thorne, Wolf was a man of few words, and Thorne decided that the words he did choose to say were important. Thorne ran his thumb over the edge of the wrinkled money, finally deciding to be bold. He fished his phone out of this backpack and took three deep breaths before dialing Cress's number.

She picked up after the second ring. "Hello?"

Even though she was miles away, just hearing her voice so close to his ear made the hairs on the back of Thorne's neck stand up. "Hi, Cress."

"Thorne! Hi. I didn't get a chance to talk to you at school."

Thorne smiled to hear her sounding so buoyant. "Yeah, I know. It was kind of weird being back wasn't it?"

Cress laughed. "Yeah, kinda. If only we could open up Cress and Thorne's School for the Suspended and Criminally Inclined. We could have classes at the park every day."

"Don't tempt me. Is there anyone else you think deserves a punch in the face?"

"Yes, but maybe we should wait until your hand heals fully before we start knocking heads and taking names."

Thorne laughed. "Deal."

"How is your hand, by the way?"

Thorne looked down at his splinted fingers and twisted it around to get a better look from the light of his desk lamp. "Okay, I guess. I wouldn't know. It doesn't really hurt much, which I think is a good thing."

"You should come by for a check up. You can even come over to the house if you want."

"Yeah. That—that would be lovely." Thorne cringed at himself. That would be lovely?

Cress let out a soft laugh.

"Hey, Cress?"

"Yes?"

"I—um—wanted to ask you something."

"Sure, what's up?"

"Um … "

Cress's voice was gentle, yet encouraging. "You can ask me anything."

Thorne hesitated. He clearly did not think this through and now panic was rising in him. He should have practiced how to do this, or at the very least, written something out.

"Thorne?"

Thorne cleared his throat. "I—uh—doyouwannagooutsometime?"

Silence.

Thorne closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Cress, would you like to go out with me sometime?"

More silence and Thorne began to wonder if their call had been cut off, when Cress finally spoke.

"When?"

"This Saturday?"

"Yes." A pause. "That would be lovely."

Thorne could almost hear the smile on Cress's face and couldn't keep from smiling himself. He was sure he looked like a complete lunatic. "So, it's a date?"

"It's a date," Cress giggled.

"Great! I'll—I'll let you know about the details … later."

Another tinkling laugh from Cress. "Okay."

"Goodnight, Cress."

"Goodnight, Thorne."

Thorne heard Cress let out a soft breath before she hung up and he finally allowed himself his fit of nervous laughter, full of pure elation. Thorne spun around in his chair until he felt dizzy and then suddenly stopped himself. It was one thing to have Cress agree to go out with him, but now he needed to take her on the perfect date. He pulled the bottom drawer of his desk out and rummaged around to find a map and his calculator. He flipped to a new page in his notebook and began his planning.

AN: Thanks again to the wonderful lettered for beta'ing. No books were harmed in the writing of this chapter. While the characters in this story love to dog ear books, I do not condone this action.