Tia was pacing the mostly vacant room restlessly. Keely had been picking at her brain for quite a while now.

"All I'm saying is that it sounds like part of you didn't want to blow up at him like that."

"But he- seriously? Did you see what he did?"

"Yeah," Keely sheepishly admitted, "but still!"

"Just drop it, alright? If he wants to apologize and get back together, he'll do it."

Keely frowned. He wasn't going to do it: that was the problem. "You're okay with that?"

"I don't know! I mean, I'd like for him to apologize, sure, but... but I know it's not gonna happen."

"Look, I'm not trying to say that Owen's not that great, but have you ever stopped to consider that he might be.... not so great?" Keely bit her lip and raised an eyebrow.

"Of course I have," Tia replied a little bitterly. "Why do you think I'm not getting my hopes up about him trying to get back with me?"

"So what are you gonna do?"

Tia sighed. "Guess I'm gonna go down and give him an ultimatum..."

- - -

"It's gettin' late."

"Is it?" Owen glanced up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already past one in the morning. "Oh... guess it is..."

"Not that great a party anyway, yah?" Siobhan asked.

"Had better," he replied with a shrug.

"So... d'you gotta be gettin' back to your place?"

"I..." He sighed. "I don't know if I want to go back there right now. That girl I'm staying with isn't gonna be happy with me..."

"Right... well, ya got a few choices, as I see it."

"Please."

"One. You could go ahead and go back. Face the music. It'll be better in the long run. Two, you could apologize to 'er, if you're so inclined. Or three, you could find somewhere else to stay for the night."

"Like where?"

"I dunno. My place, I guess. I don't think my roommate would mind." She offered a small smile as she ran her finger along the rim of her glass.

"Well, let's at least get outside. I can't think with all this noise in —" Owen cut himself off after hearing Tia shouting his full name over the thumping bass. The two of them paused by the front door, and he looked to the staircase and saw Keely's head coming towards him through the crowd. She was frowning. Presumably, she was being dragged by the wrist through the crowd by the much-shorter Tia.

"That her, eh?" Siobhan asked, the disdain in her voice obvious. Owen nodded.

"Nothing you'd like to say to me, huh?" Tia huffed as she finally made her way over to him.

"Um... I assumed you stormed away because you wanted time to cool down..."

"Wh- are you a complete idiot? For God's sake, Owen, you're supposed to check if I'm okay!" She stammered as she tried to find a proper insult to throw at him, but stopped when she saw the auburn-haired girl beside him looking incredibly uncomfortable. "Oh, I see what's going on here."

"Oh, no, this isn't—" Siobhan started.

"You're leaving with her, Owen? That's what's going on here?"

"Look, I don't get what you expect from me! One minute you're telling me not to talk to you, then you come storming down here and chew my head off!"

"Okay, uh, people are definitely looking," Keely muttered in Tia's ear. This didn't seem to bother Tia in the slightest.

"If you walk out that door with her, it's over between us for good."

"Just watch me!"

"Look," Siobhan announced, "I really didn't mean to get caught up in all this..."

"SHUT up!" Tia barked at her. Frightened, the girl recoiled slightly and grabbed her left forearm with her right hand.

"If this is how you're gonna be, I don't want any of it. Come on, Siobhan. We're leaving."

"DAMMIT, DON'T YOU WALK OUT THAT DOOR, OWEN!"

He didn't even turn to shout anything back as he gripped Siobhan by the wrist and headed outside, hastily slamming the door behind them.

- - -

In a dark room upstairs, a girl with curly dark-brown hair sat up slightly at the sound of a shrill American girl shouting out someone's name in anger. "Whazzat?" she asked, looking around the room.

"Hmm?" a brown-haired teen with horn-rimmed glasses asked.

"D'you say somefin'?" she asked.

"That.... would be my friend downstairs," Via said slowly, leaning her head back and exhaling slowly, looking up at the blacklight sitting on the dresser across the room.

"My hands... can touch anything but themselves..."

"You're so far gone, Alex!" A fit of giggling followed the curly-haired girl's observation.

"...'s true!" the boy named Alex urged, as he slowly brought his hands together. ".... Oh wait...."

"Bloody hell," Via muttered with a laugh. Someone started flashing a laser pointer around the room. The light from the laser shone brightly in the smoke hanging around the room.

"They're sooooo loud," a girl named Alison muttered, as she leaned against the horn-rimmed glasses boy.

"Her boyfriend..... is a bit of a blighter," Via said softly, as the room swam before her eyes.

"My shirt itches..."

"How can your shirt itch?"

The girl complaining of the itchy shirt ignored Alex's profound question and instead just took off her shirt. Seeing her white bra glowing from the blacklights sent much of the room into a fit of giggles. "Oh, stuff it, all of you," she muttered.

The music downstairs had picked up again, making it harder for them to hear the shouting match between Owen and Tia. Via decided this was a bad thing, and slowly started to stagger to her feet. "I think... I should get downstairs and make sure... it's all right between them." She got to her feet and threw her hands out in front of her for balance. "Bugger."

"You alright?"

"I'm fine, Katie..."

"You sure?" She tried to get to her feet to help steady Via, but only ended up falling onto her back in the process. Finding this disproportionately hilarious, she burst into laughter. Via slowly started laughing as well and had to double over and put her hands on her knees to make sure she didn't fall over.

"I'll... I'll be back," Via slowly said as she walked cautiously and deliberately out the door, being sure to shut it behind her.

"Alright, Blackburn," she muttered to herself, as she leaned with her back pressed against the door. "Maintain." She took a breath and walked to the stairs, holding onto the banister as she briskly headed down step by step. She heard a door slam as she reached the ground floor, and looked up to see Tia standing staring at the door furiously, almost as if trying to rip it off its hinges using only her mind. Keely nervously stood behind her, gently putting a hand on her shoulder and saying something inaudible to her. Via made her way through the crowd to reach the two girls. "What happened?" she asked.

"Owen kind of... stormed out," Keely answered, after seeing that Tia was still staring wrathfully past the door.

"You broke up with him!" Via said, suddenly excited by the news. "You know what? Good for you, Tia. Good for you."

"Good for me?" Tia asked, shutting her eyes, her hands still balled into fists. "Good for ME?" she reiterated, opening her eyes and turning to face Via.

"Um... yes...?" Via shuffled back slightly, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable now that Tia had made eye contact with her.

"He STORMED OUT on me! How is that GOOD?!"

"I... I thought you broke up with him..."

"What did you SAY to him?!" Tia shouted angrily.

"Wh- wh- I- I didn't say anything he couldn't have figured out for himself! Don't blame me because your relationship with him is shambles!"

"Don't blame you?! It's YOUR fault all of this happened in the first place!"

"What?!"

"You just, you don't care what happens to me, do you? You're.... you're such a...."

"Saboteur?" Keely suggested.

"Would you please stay out of this?" Via asked, her voice a mixture of bitterness and pleading.

"Yes! You sabotaged us! For your own amusement!"

"I most certainly did not. Your relationship just finally collapsed under the weight of your egos."

Tia screamed in anger and launched herself at Via, wrapping her arms around her and tackling her. Via let out a loud grunt as Tia landed on top of her and began throwing any insult she could think of at her. She quickly pushed herself up and knelt straight up, her knees astride Via's body. Via tried in vain to push Tia off of her, but given her current state, the attempts were useless. Tia grabbed onto her wrists, then forced her arms under her own knees, then started raining hits on the defenseless Brit.

"Tia! Get off of her!" Keely shouted, hurrying over to them and grabbing Tia by the arm. The brunette swatted blindly over her shoulder at Keely, unwilling to be pulled off of Via. Her finger accidentally made contact with Keely's right eye, and the blonde yelped in pain and backed off. Her hand free, Tia landed a punch right on Via's jaw. The gathering crowd started cheering her on as she kept hitting and scratching Via.

Phil, Seth, and Caitlin, who had noticed the commotion, ran over and fought their way through the ring of people that had formed near the front door. Phil was the first to get through the wall, and instantly spotted Keely doubled over in pain, her hands covering her face. He hurried over and put an arm around her, asking if she was okay.

"STOPPIT!" Caitlin shouted, upon seeing Tia backhanding Via, who was completely defenseless. Seth had already headed over towards the two and grabbed onto Tia's arm.

"Tia. Stop," he said calmly. She looked over her shoulder at him and paused, then sighed and dropped her other hand, and fell back, sitting on Via's stomach. Via let out a grunt as she did so. "Come on, Tia, get up," he said, offering his other hand to her. She grabbed it and slowly stood up, shaking her head. Caitlin looked at her with an accusatory glare, but she kept her head down and dropped her hands by her sides.

"Ugh..." Via groaned as she rolled her head to the side.

"Good of ya to take action like that," Caitlin said aside to Seth as she took a step towards Via. Tia, however, quickly turned around as Caitlin spoke, and landed a hard kick just below Via's ribs, the toe of her boot slamming into her body with considerable force. Via let out a loud, prolonged groan as she rolled onto her other side.

"HEY! Knock it off, ya scrubber!" Caitlin shouted angrily, giving Tia a small but forceful push. Tia looked defiantly back at her, but Seth grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her away before she did anything.

"You alright there?" Caitlin asked as she knelt down beside Via.

"I've had better days," Via groaned, still wincing from the kick Tia had thrown in.

"She coulda kicked ya right in the kidney! You sure you're okay?"

"I think so... more embarrassed than anything. I didn't even hit her back."

Caitlin laughed and helped pull Via up into a sitting position. "Got some scratches on ya..."

"Have I?" Via felt her face and neck with her fingertips, wincing slightly as she touched the red spot where one of Tia's large rings had collided with her face.

"They don't look too deep... painful though. Come on. Up you go." She stood up and grabbed Via's sides, pulling her up to her feet. Via smiled and thanked her.

Caitlin slowly became aware that some of the crowd still was watching them. "CLEAR OFF, WILLYA?"