Awkward

Dak twirled his pencil around his finger as he looked around the room, zoning out and not paying any attention of what the English professor was droning on and on about. Every time he caught a girl's eye, they would flutter their eyelashes at him and give a finger-wave, while occasionally flipping their hair. But not Katie.

Definitely not Katie.

She had her head down and was dutifully writing down notes, occasionally pulling her hair behind her ear. He remembered how much he liked to watch her when she was busy with something, because anything she was doing she had a smile while doing it, but now, it just made him feel guilty.

And it was his fault, he supposed.

But he also blamed his record company and the paparazzi at the same time.

When he and Katie I were together, there was so much tension between them, that he couldn't stand it anymore. But the tension was his fault; he didn't pay a lot of attention to what Katie was doing, since he spent hours upon hours working on music. There was also so much pressure on him from the Paparazzi, the people that worked at the record company, and from Katie's brother and friends that he had to break off the relationship. He couldn't stand the pressure he had. It was if two metal plates were crushing his head as if two cars collided into it. So, before the cars hit, he ducked out of the way, and he broke it off.

He tried everything to catch her attention, but it didn't seem to work.

He had thought about giving up, but then what the teacher had said about a small project that was going to be due the next day caught his attention. Apparently she had been assigning groups together and as luck would have it, he was going to be partnered with Katie.

She looked up as her name was called and then her eyes slid over to Dak, barely concealing the disgust that she held.

'Well, at least she'll have to talk to me now' Dak thought as he gathered up his books along with the other students and moved seats so he was sitting across from her.

Katie's mind whirled as her eyes prickled again.

'Ugh, normally, I don't cry. I can't. I always refused to cry when I was younger. I didn't want people to find out they could hurt me. I didn't want to be this vulnerable.' Katie thought to herself, rubbing her hands over her face. 'Look, you made me cry. For the first time in months. Because of you, I'm crying. Congratulations, you made the girl who couldn't cry, cry.'

"Are-are you ok?" Dak reached a hand out to touch her arm and Katie quickly pulled it away.

"You don't deserve to care how I feel." Katie whispered back, making sure that no one could hear her.

"I know," Dak scratched his forehead. "I know I shouldn't, but I can't help it. I don't want you to be sad." He made a face as he winced; realizing that what he had just said was stupid.

Katie's eyes filled with fury and she crossed her arms on the table and slightly leaned closer. Close enough so that he could hear what she was saying and know that she meant everything that she said and that she was serious when her eyes said that she hated him.

"You left me. You used me. When you have something YOU want to talk about, I'm good enough. Otherwise, I'm not. I can't help the fact that I don't like being with a lot of people. That the thought almost makes me throw up. This is not fair. Not at all. I've always been there for you. Always. When you needed me, I was there. I guess it doesn't work the other way around. Thank you so much, congratulations, you broke my heart." Katie hissed and got up, grabbing her backpack.

"Katie!" Dak stood up as well, ignoring everyone else' stares. "Katie, wait! Katie!" He called after her.

"Mr. Zevon," the professor called his name and he turned towards her. "Would you please go after her and see if she's ok?"

"No, it's better if she's by herself for now." Dak replied, shaking his head and sat back down in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest.

Katie hurried out of the classroom and ran out of the building, only stopping when she finally made it outside. She tossed her bag to the ground and slid to the ground, resting her back against the concrete behind her. She shoved her hand into her pocket, searching for her cell phone and when she didn't feel it she started to through her backpack, finally finding it in the mesh pocket on the side. The first person she thought of calling was James and immediately dialed his number.

Katie put her phone to my ear and waited, listening as it ran over and over again. When it was evident that James wasn't going to pick up, she ended the call and then scrolled through her list again. She left Kendall a message and then tried to decide whether or not to call Carlos or Logan. Carlos probably wouldn't really know what to do about it but try and make her smile…Well, she could use that. So she called him and left him a message as well before calling Logan.

The two probably would be able to talk to each other openly about it; Logan was probably the most upset that she and Dak broke up. He was the one that said that he could see the two of them together for a long time. Katie frowned and felt a little guilty as she looked back at the classroom. She knew that ditching Dak would be very rude and would show him that she was a better person, but she still felt awkward around him and he deserved it. Besides, Katie still wanted to why he and Camille broke up.

Four rings went by and she was about to hang up, but then she heard Logan's voice on the phone.

"Hey Katie, what's up?" he asked and then sounded concerned when Katie didn't answer right away. "Katie? Are you there?"

"Yeah," Katie replied after a second. "Yeah, I'm here." She let out a breath. "Can you come get me?"

"I'm in the middle of a class right now," Logan replied, sounding rushed. She could practically see him looking at his watch repeatedly. "I had to step out when you called me."

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to…" Katie trailed off her sentence and Logan could hear the distress in her voice.

"I can be there in twenty minutes." He stated.

"I don't want you to skip your class, Logan." Katie insisted, shaking her head, even though he couldn't see her. "Just go back, I'll be fine."

"No way," Logan replied and she could hear him gathering his stuff together. "I'll just tell my teacher that there was some sort of an emergency-"

"But you can't lie," Katie pointed out, hearing a beep in her ear. She pulled her phone away and saw that she had just gotten a voicemail. "You always make these stupid sounds, your eyes grow wide, you start to sweat, and then you blurt out the truth."

"I'll handle it." Logan replied and hung up.

Katie smiled a little as she ended the call and then went to check her voicemail. She saw that she had three messages and listened to them, her eyes shifting back and forth, and her thumbnail in her mouth.

"Hey Baby Sister, it's me. I can't talk right now because Carlos and I are getting ready to get on a plane, but I'll call you as soon as I land. The only thing I really want to know is whose ass am I kicking? Later."

"Hey Katie, its Carlos. I can tell by the sound of your voice that you need a hug. And unfortunately I can't give you one right now, but the next time I see you, which better be soon, I'll give you the biggest hug you've ever had."

"Hey its James, you sound really upset. Do you need me to pick you up or anything? I'm taking a break from shooting soon so if you call back I can talk. Later."

Katie smiled as she hung up her phone.

A/N: So I wanted to show a little bit of Dak's thoughts on the breakup and a little bit more of Katie's. The next chapter has more to do with the Logan/Katie/James deal and something really dramatic will happen. Bet you can't guess. I'll update again soon.

-Riley