A/N: As always, thanks for reading!
As September turned into October, the sun began to disappear and the days got colder. That is, they were colder for everyone except for Allison and Greg. Allison had spent the better part of the last month with her new boyfriend, watching movies on his laptop at night, exploring the tiny town on the weekends, finding the best places on the campus to make out in secret and testing out each and every one. Sometimes, they would hang out with James and Sam, and the four of them would sit on the porch of James's and Greg's house and play poker. However, Allison noticed that Greg and James did not seem entirely comfortable with each other after their fight, so most of her time with Greg was one-on-one. This, however, didn't bother her in the slightest. She loved being alone with Greg, especially when they were just talking. She liked how much he seemed to understand people, and how insightful he was. He seemed more open-minded than the rest of the people she had met.
There were also some social perks to her relationship, and even though Allison tried to pretend that it didn't matter, it was pretty cool that almost everyone in the school knew her name. She was the only freshman who was currently dating a senior, and that was a juicy bit of gossip for the rest of the student body to focus on. Additionally, Allison had made a bunch of friends that she wouldn't have otherwise. Sam and Allison liked each other from the start, and Sam often talked to her between classes and at lunch. James made it a point to say hi to her whenever he saw her. Even Lucas, though he was still barely talking to Greg, gave a wave when their paths crossed. The only person who did not seem to like Allison was Lisa Cuddy. Though they had met once, and though they were often in the boys' house at the same time, Lisa rarely acknowledged her presence. Allison chalked this up to the fact that Greg did not like Lisa, and Lisa probably didn't like Greg, and decided not to read too much into it.
The only issue was Taylor. Allison tried hard to spend time with her friend, but she often lost track of time while she was with Greg and didn't give Taylor the time of day that she deserved. She had introduced Taylor to Sam and James, but when all of them hung out together, Allison could tell that Taylor felt awkward and left out. Eventually, she stopped attempting to include Taylor and tried simply to spend more time in the dorm with her friend, but it was difficult to balance everyone. Taylor hadn't said anything about it, but she always seemed distracted and unenthusiastic when Allison talked to her, particularly when it was about Greg. Furthermore, she always seemed to be finding excuses to avoid Allison. This was evidenced at the end of one physics class, when Taylor rushed out as the bell rang without waiting for Allison to catch up.
"Taylor, wait," Allison called after her. Her words were wasted, however; her friend was already well outside the door. "Damn," she muttered, packing up her own books. So far, she was having a lousy day. Greg had been working on homework in the morning and couldn't eat breakfast with her, and then she got a C- on her physics test. Now Taylor was in a particularly bad mood. What else could go wrong?
"Allison, can I see you for a minute?" her physics teacher, Mrs. Evans, called from the front of the classroom.
"Sure," Allison said apprehensively. She approached Mrs. Evans, and the teacher waited until the rest of the class had left before holding up Allison's test.
"I just wanted to check in with you. All of your tests and quizzes since the beginning of the year have been in the A range. What happened?" She didn't seem angry, but rather, concerned.
"I don't know," Allison said, ashamedly. The truth was, she did know. She hadn't bothered to learn anything from the last unit—she'd been so occupied with Greg. In fact, she could remember how she spent the night before the test. While everyone else was studying, she and Greg had been fooling around on his bed. Allison started to smile at the memory, and she forced herself to look solemn. "I guess I didn't have a very good grasp of this material."
Mrs. Evans nodded slowly. "It certainly seems like it." She paused. "Is anything bothering you?"
"Not at all," Allison said quickly. "I just didn't really get this unit. And I really want to make up for the grade. I promise I'll study harder for the next test."
"Okay, that's good," Mrs. Evans said. "I just wanted to make sure. You are one of the best students in the class, after all." Allison flushed with pleasure and slight embarrassment at being complimented. "Maybe you should come and meet with me before the next test?"
"Of course," Allison said, wanting Mrs. Evans to know she was serious about her schoolwork. "I think that's a good idea."
"Perfect," Mrs. Evans said. "The next test is on November 2nd, a Monday, so could we meet on the Sunday before? Say, ten o'clock, November 1st?"
"I'll be there," Allison assured her.
"So the Halloween fair is right around the corner," Amber said to the members of the Make-a-Wish club. "And we're going to make a booth for it, like James suggested. So the question is, what should we sell?"
"We should advertise," Sam said. "Pass out bulletins for sure. Maybe sell t-shirts or something?"
"I think we should also have some food," James said. "That's always popular."
"Good," Amber said. "I think we have enough time to order the shirts if we do it soon. We'll need some possible designs, though."
"Why don't we draw up some samples right now?" James suggested. "There's lots of paper in here." There was a murmur of assent from the rest of the group, and Amber passed out some paper.
They spent the meeting drawing designs and voting on them, and then they split up the baking for the booth. The planning went smoothly, and James was proud that his idea to have the booth was working well so far. Amber seemed to be pleased, too, because after the meeting, she approached James.
"Hey," she said. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping me out with some of the booth stuff. I'll need to spend a few hours on the weekend planning and organizing."
"Okay," James said, taken aback.
"You don't have to agree right now, you can check your schedule and stuff. I know it's a lot to ask," Amber said quickly. "It's just that I need help and you seem to have a lot of really good ideas."
"Oh yeah, it's no problem at all," James said. "I'd be glad to help."
"Great," Amber said with a smile. "Thank you so much." She touched James's arm lightly as she walked away.
"She wanted you to help her?" Sam said, coming up behind James.
"Yeah," James replied. He was wary of her tone. Sam sighed and left the classroom, and James followed with some trepidation. Once they were alone, she turned to him.
"Say no," she demanded.
"What?"
"Tell Amber you can't help her."
"Why?" James asked. "She needs help. I have to."
"You don't have to," Sam corrected. "She's been doing this thing for the last couple of months, like she's trying to get you to like her or something, and I don't like it. I don't trust her."
"You barely know her," James countered. "So you can't judge her character. And you're being ridiculous. Just because she wants me to help her out, you think she's trying to seduce me? Talk about overreacting."
Sam's eyes turned cold and she glared at James so harshly that he immediately regretted what he'd said. But he knew he was right. After a moment of glaring, Sam spoke. "I'm your girlfriend and I can be irrational if I want to. I'm not saying you have to say no to Amber. I'm just saying that you have to say no to her if you want to keep me."
James looked at Sam in disbelief. "So what, you're just gonna break up with me because I'm helping her set up a Halloween booth?" Sam did not answer, and James felt a wave of irritation. "Well I guess you're going to have to dump me, then, because I'm going to help her. And if you want to throw away our relationship because I'm doing charity work, then you're crazy." With that, James speed-walked past Sam and didn't slow down, even when he heard her calling his name from behind.
"This business totally sucks," Lawrence said, swiveling around in his chair. He and Chris were once again in the computer lab, only this time, Chris was doing homework. They weren't making any fake IDs because so far, they hadn't had any orders.
"It was your idea," Chris said. "I never thought it would work."
"Liar," Lawrence said. "You wanted it to work."
Chris hit save on the essay he was working on. "What can we do? We're nerds. No one wants to buy a fake ID from us. I mean, look at us. We spend all of our time in a computer lab."
"I just really thought this was going to take off;" Lawrence said, and he sounded so disappointed that Chris felt bad for him.
"Hey, it might still work," he said optimistically. "We're still working on getting our names out there. Eventually, people will tell their friends and we'll get some business."
"I hope so," Lawrence said, but he still sounded glum.
"Hey guys. Thought I'd find you in here," came a voice from the doorway. Chris looked up. It was Maya. "What's up?"
"Homework," Chris replied. "And Lawrence is moping."
"Why?" Maya asked, making her way over to them, and sitting down in a chair.
"The fake ID business isn't going as well as he'd hoped," Chris informed her.
"Actually, it's not going at all," Lawrence corrected.
Maya smiled. "I disagree," she said.
"What are you talking about?" Lawrence asked.
"I just got some orders," she said. "It's no big deal. Just that seven of the guys in Brode want IDs in time for the Halloween fair. They're willing to pay one hundred dollars each."
Both Chris and Lawrence were silent for a moment. Then, slowly, each of them began to smile. "You're kidding," Lawrence said to her.
"Not kidding," Maya said with a grin.
"Yes!" Lawrence said, jumping up from his chair. "This is awesome!"
Chris and Maya got up too. "Seven hundred dollars!" Chris exclaimed. "Maya, you're the best." He hurried over to her and hugged her tightly. They held on to each other slightly longer than they should have, and Chris pulled away blushing.
"This calls for a celebration," Lawrence said, seemingly unaware of the awkward moment that had just passed between Maya and Chris. "What do you say? Dinner?"
"Sounds perfect," Maya said. "We'll go this weekend."
"Yeah, good idea," Chris said with a nod.
"Alright, then it's settled," Lawrence said. "But in the meantime, we have work to do. We gotta make those IDs."