DIEHARD EMOTIONS:
Epiphanies on Display

"I don't have the strength to resist or control you, take me down" - Maroon 5

Friday, February 25th
12:09 P.M.

"I swear this life is like the sweetest thing I've ever known"

Claire sat cross-legged on his floor looking up at the plain white ceiling. His room was surprisingly neat for a guy but it was probably because she had scolded him many times to keep it so. She smiled at the memory of walking into his room and helping him clean because she refused to even be in it. He became the brute of many jokes after.

The door opened and her eyes slid to the person in the doorway. Cam was holding two drinks in red plastic cups and he handed her one. She looked in the cup and then took a cautious sip.

"Sorry, I'm too used to having alcohol in these," Claire murmured, while Cam gave a small chuckle.

"So what's up?" he asked her, taking a sip from his cup and placing it down next to his crossed knees. He leaned forward propping his face up in the palm of his hand. He tilted his head at Claire and smiled slowly. The blonde girl couldn't help but think of all the other times she sat like this in his room.

"Well you're not in school, being suspended and all," she responded, twirling a piece of her hair around her fingers and biting on her lip, refusing to look at him.

"Don't remind me. You could have seen me after school," he said after a beat. She looked back into his eyes for a moment, before looking away again. She grabbed her drink and took a tentative sip, hiding her eyes behind its rim.

"I wanted to see you now," Claire mumbled, feeling a small blush creep up in her cheeks. She dug her hands into the soft material of the rug trying to calm her growing nerves. She knew he was going to ask the question she wasn't sure about. He could see it being formed on his lips.

"Why?" he asked and her heart seemed to pound so hard that she was afraid he might hear.

Why? That's what she's been asking herself this whole time. Why had she rushed to his house? Why had she wanted to talk to him? Why couldn't she say anything now when she had practically spilled her guts to him before hand?

"I wanted to know why you fought with Landon," she whispered placing the cup down. She finished it rather fast; her throat had been dry from the anxiety she didn't know she had. She was just talking to one of her friends. He was only her friend. Right?

"Just something stupid, was that it?" he questioned. She looked up into his eyes with a faint smile on her face.

Despite being curious about the Landon ordeal, it didn't look like Cam was going to say anything more on the subject. Which was fine with Claire, considering that wasn't the reason she had come to see him during her lunch period anyways.

She needed to get away and he was the only person she could turn to at the moment. Alicia had gotten back into her party habits and Derrick seemed more distant then ever. She could just feel there relationship slipping through her fingers and she had no idea how to stop it.

That was probably the reason she wanted to hold to Cam from the beginning. She wanted to hug him, and she wasn't sure if the mere gesture would cross their friendship barriers. The lines were beginning to blur these days.

Claire slowly lost sight of reasoning as she leaned forward. He jerked up in surprise as she placed one hand on his knee and the other on his shoulder. She leaned closer till she could feel his breath, warm against her face. She had no idea what she was doing. It didn't seem like Cam was going to move and Claire really wanted to do something with those lips of his.

There was a small thud sound before either knew what happened. They both looked down.

"I'm sorry, I spilled the drink," she whispered looking at his red cup that was now on its side spilling the sticky soda all over the carpet. They looked back up at each other.

"Don't worry about it," he breathed back. They stood like that for a few moments. She was on her knees, half of her body hovering over him while he was still sitting down perfectly still, their lips a feather away from touching.

"We should probably clean it up, it's on your rug," she said, her eyes fluttered from looking down at the spreading liquid and back up to him.

"Yeah we should," and just like that the spell between them was broken when Cam pulled back rather awkwardly.

Claire snapped away like she had been burned, scrambling backwards, blush contrasting with her fair skin. She couldn't seem to meet his eyes as his body shifted, going into a standing position.

"I'll be back, let me get some napkins." She didn't watch as he stepped outside of his room, but she heard the sound of paper towels ripping in the bathroom and it told her where he was.

She didn't wait for him as her hurried steps descended down the stairs; they seemed much louder than they were, and the soft opening and closing of his door sounded like a gunshot bullet in her ears.

"This sucks," Claire muttered, kicking at the dirt beneath her feet.

Friday, February 25th
12:14 P.M.

"Half of my heart's got a grip on the situation"

"Where's Claire?" Derrick took a quick look around for his girlfriend despite the wondering question he had just asked.

Alicia glanced up from her phone, a stoic expression before raising an eyebrow at him.

"Claire. Where is she?" the dirty blonde boy questioned slightly annoyed.

"I don't know," the Hispanic girl snapped, like she had said that very answer the first time he asked and she was the one who had to repeat herself. He scowled at her before sitting down.

Sure, Alicia and Derrick didn't have the best of relationships ever since that time a year ago, but without Josh the dark haired girl was more of a bitch than usual.

A sputtering of choking grasped everyone's attention at the table.

"Cam did what?" Kemp hunched over the table, shaking with uncontrollable laughter.

"For being the head of the table you're sadly out of the loop," Josh stated, making the boy to his right straighten up in silence.

"How was I supposed to know Cam beat up Landon?" Kemp muttered, crossing his hands over his chest.

"Cam beat up Landon?" Derrick asked, making the eyes turn to him.

"His violence streak continues," Alicia interjects, still looking at her phone.

"Why'd he do it?" this question was voiced by Chris, who took a pause in his food chomping.

"Who knows these last few weeks Landon's thought he's been hot shit," Josh pointed out earning a chorus of agreement from the guys.

"That's because he is, well, he was." All the boys turned to Alicia.

"Elaborate." Kemp waved his hand in the air.

"Let me be the enlightenment to your boy brains. Landon Crane was thee hot new kid, all the girls ogled him—"

"I feel Alicia has been compromised by Landon's good looks." That interruption by none other than Kemp was promptly ignored.

"Anyways my point is as he went after Massie, of all girls, and let's face it there is far too many of us to want to double dip on guys—"

"I feel like this group has triple dipped," Derrick muttered getting him a snort from Josh.

"Massie is rather indecisive if you think about it," Kemp pondered aloud.

"Excuse me!" Alicia snapped making all future statements stop suddenly.

"We're just filling up the holes in your story." Kemp smiled innocently despite having the intention to be annoying as hell.

"Whatever, look Landon probably let all the attention get to his head. Just like every hot new kid." Alicia went back to looking at her phone.

"Why do I feel like that was cruelly directed at me?" Derrick pursed his lips.

"Never mind that, the real question is why did Cam fuck up Landon?" Kemp threw his hands up in the air dramatically.

"Here comes the girl in question right now." Josh pointed to where Massie was slowly making her way over to the table. She quietly slipped into her seat next to Josh and proceeded to ignore all the people looking at her.

"Come on, Massie, tell us!" Chris begged.

"What?"

"Don't play dumb, Block, why'd Cam go all macho Viking and kick Landon's ass?" Kemp studied Massie's face intently.

"I know just as much as you guys." The brunette shrugged.

"Bullshit!" Kemp grumbled, probably annoyed that he wasn't being properly informed.

"Maybe Claire will know something," Massie directed all the attention to the blonde who was making her way over to the table.

"Claire can you please tell everyone why Cam fought with Landon, so that they'll all shut up about it," Alicia requested when the girl got into hearing range.

"Why would I know?" Derrick could see his girlfriend was trying to keep a nonchalant look, but a blush was creeping up onto her cheeks.

"I'm going."

"But, Mass, you just got here." Josh watched as the amber eyed girl stood up rather abruptly.

"I need to know," she murmured in response.

"Yes go! Curiosity is killing me," Kemp groaned.

"The world would go around much easier if everyone minded their business," Massie warned, and just like that Derrick looked up to see the girl who's been plaguing his mind was gazing at him.

They held eye contact for what felt like forever before she turned away and left.

"Where's the fun in that!" Kemp exclaimed.

Saturday, February 26th
12:36 P.M.

"You got his heart and my heart and none of the pain"

"I circled the block like five times before coming in here."

Massie stood at the kitchen counter, playing with the hem of her blouse.

"Massie Block feeling nervous about something? Unheard of," Cam snorted, leaning against the opposite kitchen counter. The space was tight in that their knees knocked against each other ever so often.

Cam's mom had stepped out for a moment, and when Massie had stopped by it had been unexpected.

"I just wanted to know, about Landon. We didn't get to talk." She watched the floor intently.

"Did you sleep with him?" The question startled her so much that she winced.

"Yeah." Massie frowned, but couldn't meet his eyes.

"Oh, I didn't realize. Well it doesn't matter; he was being an asshole anyways." Cam shrugged.

"So you did fight, because of me." Their knees brushed together again.

"I was looking out for you, if that's what you mean."

"Well I don't need you to protect me, I can handle myself." Massie's lips pressed into a thin line, and the fire in her eyes had Cam unable to keep the smile from his face.

"What?" she sputtered as the green, blue eyed boy reached out and grasped her hand.

"I'm a man of honor, and Landon was a slime ball it's my right to deck him out," Cam pointed out.

"Even if what he said was true," she whispered, letting go of his hand.

"I'll never stop defending you, Massie, even if you could throw a punch without worrying about breaking a nail." Cam reached for again, this time pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Don't make me prove you wrong." She gripped him tightly.

"You wouldn't punch me, you love me too much," Cam chuckled, as she pulled back to regard him carefully. There was a comforting silence as they stared at each other.

"What?" Cam murmured, letting his eyes roam her face.

"Thanks," Massie murmured before pulling him in for a soft kiss.

When she pulled back the green, blue eyed boy was grinning at her.

"Stop it, Cameron, you're making me blush." Massie scowled as he continued to smile at her.

"You're so cute, Mass," he teased this time leaning in.

This time they met each other in the middle, pressing their lips together in the seclusion of his house. One of his hands reached up slowly to capture strands of her hair in between his fingers and gently cup her face. The other hand held the counter behind her, slowly leaning her against it. Cam felt on of her hands grip the collar of his shirt and the other tangle itself in the hair at the nape of his neck.

"Should we be doing this?" Massie whispered against the corner of his mouth as they broke apart for a second.

"We're friends, Mass," he murmured as she surrendered her lips to him once again.

"I like being friends with you, Cam," she giggled as he placed a teasing kiss on her jaw line.

"I understand."

"Hmm?" He could feel the vibration of her voice under his lips.

"You have Derrick, and I have Claire." They pulled away from each other for a moment, each regarding the other with silent consideration.

"I don't know about Derrick." The amber eyed girl looked away, suddenly forlorn.

"Trust me." The hand still on her face guided their lips back together. This time the kisses were feverish, and if it wasn't for that lurking feeling that they were in the kitchen it might have been taken further than bruising kisses and sneaking hands sliding along hidden skin.

The sound of a car pulling up to the driveway broke their spell, and they moved away from each other fixing themselves rightfully as the door jingled slightly before opening.

"Hello Mrs. Fisher," Massie said when the older woman came through the door.

Cam liked to think that they looked pretty innocent for just having a make out session on the kitchen counter. Even so, his mom gave them both a knowing look.

And because of everything he's been through he knows he loves Massie, and he knows those feelings are reciprocated. It was just that they couldn't be anything more, because Massie, despite all the denying she would do if she heard him say this, belonged to Derrick.

And he was a sucker for blondes.

Saturday, February 26th
5:42 P.M.

"'Cause you're a nice guy but that just won't do"

"So are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" Josh asked the amber eyed girl in front of him.

"Is this your wooing outfit?" Massie asked skeptically looking Josh up and down. The boy in question held out his hands and looked at himself.

"What's wrong with it?"

Massie looked at him thoroughly. She guessed it was okay. She wanted him to have a casual look, but she also wanted him to have this mysterious sex appeal that he just wasn't pulling off in that black sweater. It fit him pretty nicely but it didn't show enough chest and well, gosh she could go on forever on the wrongness of his outfit. She'll digress, this one time.

"Nothing, well, no, no, nothing, I think, no, you're good, I guess." Massie smoothed down Josh's shirt a little, and then reached up her hand to mess up his hair.

"Hey, hey." Josh swatted her hand away.

"Okay, you're done, but next time, I'm picking your outfit, Hummingbird." Massie patted him on the shoulder.

"I said to stop calling me that, Massie, it doesn't even make sense." Josh wrinkled his nose at her.

"It makes perfect sense, you're rather little and you can't seem to stand still," Massie pointed out.

"I'm not little, I'm a man."

"Whatever, little man, if it wasn't for your ADD that would be your codename." She shrugged as he scowled at her.

"I do not have ADD, Massie, I swea—"

"I don't know who Massie is," Massie said raising her eyebrows at Josh.

"Ugh fine," Josh muttered.

"Good so since we went over the plans, Hummingbird, I'll be—"

"I said stop calling me that," he hesitated, "Wizard of, uh, awesomeness."

"Don't you just love the sophistication of my name?" Massie gave him a genuine smile as he glowered at her.

"Let's get a move on, she'll probably be leaving anytime now," Josh rushed looking through the window to see Alicia silently sitting there eating so kind of pastry and reading a magazine.

"So somehow we need to get her attention and look like we're fighting about something and then you'll go inside and see her and— holy shit she's coming out, Abort, Abort!" Massie yelped as she saw Alicia throw away her stuff and walk out the door. Massie pulled Josh forward so that there backs were to Alicia, and they were focusing on poster on the window of the small bistro.

When Alicia passed them and rounded the corner out of sight, Massie let out a huge sigh of relief. Josh, however, glared at her.

"Well Hummingbird you truly do not have good reflexes and here I thought the name fit you rather—"

"Massie, what the hell!" Josh exclaimed and Massie waved a dismissal hand at him.

"This is only a set back, we'll go back to the drawing boards and make a Plan B, The Dark Side of the Moon shall never be conquered, come Hummingbird we have work to commence," Massie said pulling Josh by the wrist.

"You should be called the wizard of suckishness," Josh muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

AN: Hi guys, sorry. We know its been almost three weeks since our last update but we had a lot of work to do with this story, various others, and school work. However we're back! And will be continuing with our weekly updates. So what did you think? Click on that button right over there and drop a review.