Chapter 14

Meanwhile, Punk was still trapped in the closet, mindlessly banging his head against the wall in pure boredom, but when the door opened, he stiffened up, afraid that Cole was there. But once he saw Mickie appear instead, he breathed a sigh of relief and even smiled a little. "Hello, doll face. You lost?" he asked.

She giggled.

In the library, Chris was finishing up on the essay, while Alex played some more air guitar, and Jeff was reading through a poetry book. He peeked up for a second to see Maria a short distance away from him, but then took a double take and dropped his book once he saw the new and improved Maria. Instead of her hair hanging in her face, her red hair was slung over her shoulder, showing off her features a lot more, and her makeup consisted of some light green eye shadow and light pink lip gloss. So she still looked both edgy and cute at the same time. "...Ria?" he asked, speechless.

She mustered a smile and shyly approached him, saying, "Hi, Jeff!"

The Enigma could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and the only thing he could utter was, "Y-You...are so gorgeous."

"Thank you!" she exclaimed back.

At the same time, Chris, Velvet, Alex, and AJ all watched the scene at once.

"Wow, she looks great!" Alex exclaimed. "What'd you girls do to her?"

"Nothing a little makeup couldn't handle." Velvet replied, high fiving with AJ.

"Well, good for those two." Chris nodded. "And Vel, that was a really great thing that you did, I'm impressed."

She smiled and placed her hand over his. "Thanks. Y'know, I think being in here has made me into a better person. It's nice to make others happier."

"That's a great thing to hear, Vel, but honestly, I never thought that you were a bad person to begin with." Sabin replied before whispering to her, "Besides, remember what you said earlier about...how sweet you thought it was if-if..."

"You were a virgin?" she whispered back.

He nodded. "Yeah. I didn't want to tell this in front of the others, but...it's true. I am, just like you are."

The blonde nodded. "Well, that's perfectly fine with me. And don't worry, I won't tell a soul."

"Thanks." he chuckled.

"And Chris, there's another thing."

"Yeah?"

"Earlier, when we were all revealing our deepest, darkest secrets, I remember you saying that you were falling for me? Is-is that true?"

"Ah, haha..." he sighed, feeling a bit flushed. "Well, Velvet, yes, it's true. Even though I never had the courage to ever speak to you before today, I've always had a soft spot for the most beautiful, nicest, and most considerate cheerleader in the school. There, I said it."

"Oh, Chris..." she began, before wrapping her arms around him in a hug. "I think that I'm falling for you, too."

Surprised at this, a smile grew onto his face and responded back by hugging her in return.

In the meantime, AJ grabbed another one of her comic books and sat cross-legged on the carpet. Sighing, she couldn't really read anything and placed the book down, resting her head in her hands.

"April?" Alex questioned, sitting next to her. "What's wrong?"

"I dunno, I just feel really bummed."

"That today's almost over? I know how you feel. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I'd have such a blast stuck in Saturday detention." Shelley replied.

She laughed. "I know, right? But most of all, I'm so glad that I got to meet you, Alex. To be honest, I never thought that any boy would have any interest in me, so I admit, I was shocked that you didn't think I was…childish and naïve for liking Pokemon and comics and video games and such." she replied.

"April, are you kidding? I think that a chick who loves those kinda things is one worth keeping! I don't think you're childish or naïve at all, hell, I'M childish once you think about it! I still like watching Saturday morning cartoons with a nice bowl of Cookie Crisps and milk on the side!" he exclaimed, smiling.

She laughed again. "I love Saturday morning cartoons and Cookie Crisps."

"See? That's something else we have in common! But seriously. I just wish you weren't so insecure about yourself. I wish you could see the amazing girl that I see here right next to me. How could any guy not have any interest in a beauty like you?" he asked, tilting her head so that she met his gaze.

AJ began to tear up. "Alex…"

"It's true. And you know what? I definitely don't want today to be the last day that I see you."

"I don't, either. And um…I remember your story from earlier, y'know, about how you found out that you were adopted? I just couldn't imagine ever finding out and going through anything like that. If I were there, I would've just hugged you and never let you go." the geek replied while Alex flashed her a genuine smile and wrapped a protective arm around her. "And for the record, you turned out to be a pretty amazing guy. Plus…you're hot." she giggled, blushing.

He laughed along. "Well, thanks, beautiful! Hey, you planning on going to the Senior Prom this year?"

"Well, at first I wasn't, but I'd love to go with you. I-I mean, if you want." she twiddled her fingers again.

"I wasn't going at first, either, but I'd love to take ya. Ever dreamed of showing up there in a huge Hummer limo on the red carpet, being the envy of the entire school?" asked Shelley.

She gasped. "Yes, that'd be a dream come true! Did you have a limo rented out?"

"Uh, not really. Would you settle for an '86 Corvette instead?" he asked with a chuckle. AJ playfully hit him and laughed along.

Back in the closet...

"Just thought you were here feeling lonely, so I wanted to pay you a little visit." Mickie told Punk.

"Well, that's very, very flattering, but what if Cole waltzes in here and finds you? He'll probably give you next Saturday detention, too." he replied.

"Y'know, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, considering the fact that you're going to be here every Saturday for the next two months anyway." the brunette smirked.

The tattooed teen laughed. "Touche. So why are you REALLY in here?"

"I told you! I felt bad that you were in here by yourself, so I wanted to visit you!"

"What a change of heart, doll face. Seven and a half hours ago, we were seconds away from literally fighting one another, and now we're sharing sweet nothings in a storage closet? Where, oh, where has this world gone?" he asked, in fake dramatics.

"Ha! So true. But like you said before, we really do have more in common than we both thought. We both like kicking people's asses if they give us lip..."

"We've both come from broken homes..." added Punk.

"And I think that although you're stubborn and arrogant as hell...I've grown to like you." she admitted.

He chuckled lightly and stood up to meet her height. " And I think that although you seem like such a mouthy brat...you've got guts, doll face, and I like ya too." he smiled genuinely.

After that, his chocolate eyes gazed into her dark hazel eyes, and before either of them could blink, they leaned in and shared an intensely passionate kiss that lasted for a good few seconds. After they broke away, they were left speechless.

"WOW, you've got some serious lip talent..." he uttered.

"Oh yeah, you were great, too." she uttered back, nodding quickly. Then, they both bursted out laughing in the wake of their awkwardness. Apparently, opposites really do attract.

Back in the library...

Chris lifted up his finished paper and kissed it. "At last! It is COMPLETED!"

Velvet laughed. "Way to go, Overachiever." she smiled before kissing him on the cheek.

Meanwhile, Jeff was still awestruck upon seeing the new Maria. "Oh my God, Ria, what happened to you?" he asked with a surprised smile.

On the other hand, she took his surprise the wrong way and freaked out. "What? Why? Velvet and AJ did it, what's wrong?"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down! Nothing's wrong. In fact, everything's so...so right. You look so different. I can finally see your face." the Enigma continued.

"Is that a good or bad thing?" she asked nervously.

"Are you kidding? That's a great thing!" he smiled.

"But...I'm still weird." she said in a tiny voice.

He tilted her head so that she could meet his gaze. "I think that you're beautifully weird." he replied.

The redhead pouted cutely and then grinned. "That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever told me."

"Well, I'm glad that I was the one who told you first."

"Well, thank you, Jeffro." she replied. "Oh, and by the way..."

"Yeah?"

"You never showed me what you were drawing all day in your sketchbook."

"Ah, well since I'm finished with it now..." he began, handing it to her. She gasped, seeing a wonderfully accurate sketch of herself, that looked exactly like her. "It's-it's me!"

"Yep. This drawing will be a reminder of the best day I've had in a really long time." Jeff finished sincerely, while she continued smiling and took his hand.