Dana sat on the edge of her bed, feeling… well, stunned. Zoey had just informed her of Tammy Ale's evil plan… the plan that had made so many people miserable. Closing her eyes, she felt her heart strike against her chest faster and faster and faster… until she couldn't take it anymore. She stood up and started to walk out of the room.

"Dana, where are you going?" Zoey asked, staring after her friend in concern. She didn't want anything terrible to happen- they already had their share of terrible things. Dana turned around, her fingertips touching the doorknob. She smiled reassuringly at Zoey.

"Don't worry," she said. "I'm not going to do anything stupid." She walked out of the room, leaving Zoey alone with her thoughts. She stood still for a few minutes, lost in her own world. After telling Dana about why Logan had broken up with her, the relationship between Michael and Quinn and how Quinn had tried to commit suicide, she felt worn out. Before she had explained everything it didn't seem real. But now that she had actually repeated the story with her own tongue, it felt different… as if the truth was about to swallow her up like a monster hiding under the bed.

Dana walked quickly down the hallway, staring straight ahead. Her footsteps were as loud as her beating heart and her shallow breaths. She stopped at every doorway and every classroom to see if Tammy Ale was there. She was beginning to lose hope in finding the girl who had made everyone fall apart when she saw her sitting on a couch in the student lounge, doing homework and drinking a smoothie.

Dana took one look at Tammy Ale and started to have a mixture of feelings churn in her stomach. She felt… hatred. She wanted to make Tammy Ale's life a living hell for all she was worth. She clenched her teeth and glared at the girl on the couch, her eyes burning like fierce fires. But no… no matter how much she wanted to stab Tammy in the heart with a knife, she couldn't. She would deal with things the mature way.

She walked up to Tammy Ale, snatched her homework out of her hands and ripped it up into tiny pieces. Tammy watched in utter shock and confusion as Dana shred the piece up paper, speaking loudly with each rip.

"This is for threatening to hurt me," Dana said, making a large tear in the middle of the page. "This is for bothering Logan. This is for leading Michael on." She dropped the shreds of paper to the floor and grabbed the smoothie out of Tammy Ale's hand. She took the lid off and poured the sticky contents all over Tammy's head.

"And that," Dana said, the cup that the smoothie had been held in crunching in her hand. "Is for hurting Quinn… because you know what?" She dropped the cup, making it clatter against the floor. Leaning right in front of Tammy's face she said, "Nobody hurts my friends." Then she smirked. "No, scratch that. Nobody hurts my sisters."

With those last words, Dana walked away, leaving Tammy Ale sitting there with her ripped up homework and her hair dripping with smoothie. People were gaping at her as she blinked her eyes once than twice. She was speechless.

Quinn shivered under her covers, her cell phone pressed against her ear. After several hours, she had finally mustered up enough courage to call Michael and sort things out with him. The phone rang, the ringing making chills go up her spine every time. Then she got the answering machine.

She was about to hang up when she had a sudden thought. The answering machine was good. Yes, it was good… She would leave a message. There was the familiar beeping sound and then… she began to speak.

"Michael," Quinn whispered her voice quiet and fragile. "I…" She paused. She suddenly felt a surge of power run through her body. She wouldn't apologize to Michael or plead for him to consider seeing her again. She would speak her mind. No, she would speak her heart. Her voice stronger, she spoke again. "Do you know what pain means?"

Michael was at the beach.

Tammy had called him just minutes ago. He had rushed to meet her. He had greeted her with a smile and asked how she was doing. She had given him a cold, hard look. He blinked at her, confused. Was something wrong?

"Michael," she said her voice firm and almost angry. "We're breaking up."

At that moment, he felt his world slip from his fingertips, like water. "W-what?" he stammered. "What do you mean we're-"

"It means exactly what you think," Tammy snapped harshly. "And I'd like it if we didn't talk anymore at school either." With one last look, she walked away. After Dana had torn up her homework and spilled the smoothie all over her, Tammy had realized that there was absolutely no way she could get her to stay away from Logan. So she had decided to stop the charade with Michael. She didn't care about breaking his heart. Why should he?

"Tammy!" Michael ran after her, grabbing her arm and turning her around to face him. He stared at her with pleading eyes. "Why? Can't we sort this out?"

She stared at him with no emotion in her eyes. "You don't matter to me anymore, Michael." She pulled her arm out of his grasp and walked away. This time, he didn't follow her.

Her words had stung. But they were so familiar…

They were the same words that he had spoken to Quinn. The girl who had loved him. The girl he had loved. The girl he still loved. Deep within his heart he knew he still loved her. So then why did he break her heart? He had wanted change. He wanted… Tammy Ale. He let out a shuddering sigh and collapsed on the sand. He was lying there, thinking… thinking hard. He was thinking so hard that he didn't notice his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. After a few minutes, he got up and started to walk back to school when his phone started making beeping noises.

He dug it out of his pocket and flipped it open. He had one new message. He pressed a few buttons and held the phone up to his ear, waiting and listening.

"Michael… I…"

It was Quinn. Michael felt his heart stop. Her voice sounded so weak… but then suddenly, it grew stronger as if someone had helped her stand again. He listened to the rest of the message in silence.

"Do you know what pain means? Pain… is what you gave me, Michael. You gave it to me, wrapped by your cold hands which I once thought were warm. You gave me pain on a silver platter. You gave me such large pain that I can't stand it. Did you know that? Do you know how awful I felt after you had stomped my heart into the sand? Do you know how much despair was thrown in my face after you had spit on me, tossing me away like yesterdays lunch? I don't think you do. I don't think you ever will. I don't want you to give me pity. I don't want anything from you. And don't worry- I won't give anything to you in return. For I could never give you pain, Michael. Do you know why? It's because… I loved you. And I could never hurt someone who I loved."

The slap across his face was a loud one. Josh touched his red, burning cheek and stared at Nicole, furiously pushing her away from him. "Why did you do that?" he yelled. She stood there, trembling all over, feeling anger surge up inside of her.

She thought he was nice. She thought he was The One. But she had been wrong. She had been so, so terribly wrong. After insulting the Pants, he had asked about her friends at school. After describing how each and every one of them was wonderful, he had snickered and brushed them away like flies buzzing around his head. He had called Quinn a 'weirdo', Zoey a 'perfectionist' and Dana a 'wannabe'. After all those hurtful remarks, Nicole couldn't keep her anger in any longer. She slapped him across the face inside the store, surrounded by racks of clothing.

"You're a jerk," Nicole said, tears blurring in her eyes. "I can't believe…" She shook her head. "You're not worth my time."

Josh glared at her. "Is this because I made fun of your stupid friends? Nicole, what is your problem? I thought you were above all that. And besides, you wouldn't have this job if it weren't for me."

"Whatever," Nicole said. "I don't care anymore. I quit!" She took her nametag off and threw it on the ground. Then she ran out of the store. Betsy called after her, but she took no notice. Nicole ran and ran and ran. Her feet hit the ground hard as she bolted down the streets, tears running down her cheeks like rivers.

She had quit her well paying job. What was her mother going to do now? How would she be able to get her surgery without the money? Nicole was shaking all over by the time she got home. She called out for her father and then her mother even though she knew that both of them were at the hospital. She wondered what to do with herself now when the telephone rang.

She picked it up on the third ring.

"Hello?" she whispered into the receiver.

There was a strange sound on the other end. It was rather muffled. It sounded like… someone was crying. Nicole felt her heart beat faster. "Hello?" she said, her voice shaking as much as her hand was. "Hello?"

"N-Nicole…"

"Dad… is that you?"

"Nicole… your mother…"

Her fingers were wrapped so tightly over the receiver that they were turning white. "What?"

"Her heart… it's still beating… but…" Her father was having difficulty making sound. He just wanted to break down and sob. "She's not… answering anyone. She's just lying there like… like…"

"Like she's dead," Nicole whispered. She felt herself trembling. Then she dropped the receiver. It clattered against the floor. Heart beating fast, she ran out of the house. She ran as fast as she could down the street until she saw a taxi. She scrambled inside the yellow vehicle and yelled at the driver to go as fast as he could to the hospital. Once they had arrived, she fumbled in her pocket and paid for the ride. She ran out of the taxi and into the hospital, feeling hysterical by that point.

She ran right into a nurse. "Nurse!" she screamed. "Where's my mother? I want to see my mom. Where is she? WHERE IS SHE?"

"Calm down," the nurse said. She examined a clipboard. "What's your mother's name?"

"Bristow…" Nicole said, feeling dizzy. "Last name is Bristow…"

"Oh I'm sorry," the nurse said. "She's in room 310, but no one is allowed to see her right now."

"If I don't see her now I may never be able to see her again!" Nicole yelled. She realized the reality of her words and felt her insides crumple. "I may never see her again…" Before she could break down and cry, she pushed past the nurse and ran down the hallway, looking for room 310. When she found it, she burst through the door to find her mother lying on a bed with her eyes closed.

Nicole walked slowly to where her mother lay. Her legs were shaking. She sat down next to the bed and slowly picked up her mother's hand in hers. Their fingers entwined, the tears started dropping freely down her cheeks.

"Mom…" she whispered. "Mom… I… I don't want you to go."

Her tears stung. They landed on her fingertips. She looked at her mother's pale face and whispered again.

"I don't want you to go."