Maya sighed, setting her elbow on the desk and cupping her face in her palm. The girls in her class were giggling and whispering about how gorgeous he was, which didn't make her feel better. But it wasn't like they cared; the girls here only care about their objectives and completely put aside everybody else's feelings.

"Oh, I heard he's single now too!" one girl whispered.

"Yeah," another replied, "He and that one really ugly girl broke up."

Ugly?

"Shh," a third one hushed, "She's like a row away from us."

"Who cares?" the second one whispered, "Anyways, they dated for months. I'm glad they're done now, I totally want him. I come up with tons of excuses just to talk to him."

"It's pretty easy," the first girl said, "Just say you have to ask him something about the school or something. He'll talk a lot about something if you have a question, but I only do it as an excuse to look at his face."

"I'm really happy that he's single," the third one whispered, "He's too gorgeous for the girl he was dating; I think I reach the standard."

The other girls giggled and the teacher hushed them.

"Alright," Nathaniel said, just as soon as his gaze landed on her. He visibly swallowed before adverting his gaze, "I'm sure you all know that we, as seniors, are traditionally required to have a prom, and the information is finally ready to be official. The underclassmen are testing so the student council had me inform everybody about prom as opposed to saying it over the announcements. It's a bit more convenient this way. Prom is going to be exactly three weeks from now. It's obviously a formal occasion so girls, wear formal dresses, and guys wear your tuxedos. It will be from eight P.M. to eleven P.M. Please make sure you have a safe way to get back home because it will be dark by then and it will be almost curfew for those of you who aren't eighteen yet." He paused, his golden gaze scanning the students, avoiding Maya specifically. "Any questions?" he asked.

One of the three girls raised her hand and he called on her to ask. "Yes, um," she said, "Do you have a prom date?"

Maya's jaw clenched tightly as she glared at the girl. Nathaniel blushed, looking away but smiled a bit. "No, not at the moment," he said slowly.

Maya rose her hand, sitting up straight. He looked a bit annoyed but concealed it so quickly she was sure that she was the only one who knew him well enough to catch it. "Is Amber going with a senior?" she asked.

He looked like he wanted to roll his eyes but he shook his head. "Not that I know of," he said.

"Oh, I see," she said, smirking, "Well I heard that she was going with the delinquent of our class. I also heard that she was getting involved with alcohol…"

He grimaced, this time not bothering to hide it. "Miss Ward, could you please not spread rumors about my sister?"

She shrugged, still smirking, "I'm not spreading rumors," she said, "I saw it myself. I'm very close with that delinquent, you know."

This time he actually did roll his eyes. "This is a very personal matter," he said, "I don't think it should be discussed so publicly."

"No, wait," Orihime chimed in, "I want to know more. Tell us more about what Amber is doing with the delinquent."

Maya couldn't help but laugh. It felt so good to be so mean to Nathaniel. "Amber is doing everything with the delinquent," she said, grinning, "You know, in the room right next door to his, I can pretty much hear it all."

"That's enough, Miss Ward," said Nathaniel. He was genuinely infuriated now. "I'm not answering anymore questions," he said before walking out of the room without another word.

"Were you being serious?" Orihime asked in a whisper.

"Of course not," Maya answered, "Castiel isn't too fond of Amber if you didn't already notice."

"Maya," the teacher sighed, "Please don't anger our guests anymore, no matter who it is or what kind of grudges you hold against their sister."

The three girls were glaring at her and when she smirked at them, one of them scowled. "You know," she hissed, "It's not cool just to drive him away like that."

"It's not cool?" Maya said, chuckling, "I feel pretty cool about it. What about you, Orihime?"

"I feel great," she said, "I don't like Nathaniel."

The teacher, clearly having heard the entire conversation, approached them. He stood there, his arms crossed. "Maya," he said, "I think it's best if you go apologize to him."

"Apologize?" Maya said, "To Nathaniel? You've got to be kidding me. Why would I want to do that?"

"Because I said so," he said, "And I'll be asking him later whether or not you did it if you're going to use this as an excuse to ditch or something. I have my detention slips ready."

Maya rolled her eyes before pushing herself up to her feet. "Fine, whatever," she sighed.

"Wait," the teacher said as she hurried towards the door, "Take the hall pass."

"I don't need it," she said with a wave of her hand before stepping outside, closing the door. From where she was, she could see straight into the open door of the student council room. Nathaniel looked frustrated, gazing down at a desk with his hands balled into fists against it. She heard a mumble. Was he talking to himself? She crossed the hall, leaning against the wall just beside the door so she could listen unseen.

"I can't believe her," he muttered to himself, "Why is she acting like that to me? Did the love she said she had just disappear?" She heard him sigh. "I really messed up with her… I wish she knew how much I still love her…"

Maya closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths before hesitantly stepping into the doorway, giving a knock on the door beside her. Nathaniel looked up immediately, his face flushing red. Once he realized it was just her, he returned to his regular skin color and his facial expression disappeared.

"Do you need something?" he said, his voice returning to that business-like tone of voice that he had speaking to her class.

"Yeah," she said, "I… I was told to apologize… so I guess that's what I'm doing."

"Apologize?" he said, "For what?"

For what? He must really have a lot on his mind, to have already forgotten what went on in the classroom less than five minutes ago.

"Um," she said, chuckling, "The thing about Amber, maybe? Obviously you've been doing a lot of thinking."

He looked away, a shy look on his face. He didn't seem comfortable with the casual way she was talking to him. Did he want her to be angry with him?

"Well, I apologize, I guess," she said slowly, "I… I'm…" She felt her vision blur and she didn't have control of her body for a few moments. Before she knew it, she had her arms wrapped tightly around his waist, her cheek pressed against his chest. "Why am I like this?" she said, frustrating hot tears streaming down her face, "I've never even cried when my dad hit me before! But since I met you, it's been an easy thing. And I keep giving in to temptations and then I always feel so guilty about it, but Nathaniel, to be honest, I never meant to hurt you, ever! I just wanted to be with you."

"Stop," he said sternly, taking her shoulders and pushing her arms-length away from him. He roughly wiped the tears off of her face before meeting her gaze, a look of weakness suspending the glisten that normally settled in his eyes. "Stop talking like you're apologizing to me," he said, sternly.

"But Nathaniel," she insisted, "I know I'm not worth having someone like you, but I'm just so in love with you, I can't help but come back to you."

"Shh," he hushed, pressing a finger to her lips, "Stop." He took a deep, shaky breath, closing his eyes. "I'm the one that's sorry," he said, "I should've trusted you. Celeste told me what happened at the party. Gosh, I'm so stupid."

"No, you're not," she said, meeting his gaze, "You're smart. I don't ever want to hear you say something bad about yourself again."

He bit his lip delicately, his eyes softening as he traced her jaw to her chin, lifting her face. "Maya," he said quietly, "Can I… kiss you?"

Maya couldn't help but smile, drawing closer to him. "Why would you even ask?"

His lips felt like the inside of a flower and they tasted like strawberries; he must have eaten something fruity. She smiled at him when he parted his lips from hers. He was blushing as she took his hands.

"I'm so happy," she said, giggling.

"Yeah," he said, slowly. He looked uncomfortable again.

"Is… something wrong?" she asked. The bell rang, making him jump. Why was he being so touchy?

"Oh, um," he said quickly, pulling away from her and rushing over to a desk, "I… have a lot of work to do. Do you think you could come back later? Like… after school, maybe?"

"But what about lunch?" she said.

"I'm busy during lunch," he said without meeting her gaze, "Student council meeting."

"Oh," she said, "Okay, I guess. See you later." She left the room without another word. Why was he acting so strange?

After school, Maya had decided to spend some time with Celeste. She got the call for the waitress job at the restaurant she went to with Nathaniel and started work on Friday. She and Maya had just eaten dinner and were walking around town, thick winter coats on from the cold.

"I talked to Nathaniel today," Maya told her.

"Oh," Celeste said, "What happened? Are you guys friends now?"

"Friends?" Maya chuckled, "No, we're dating again."

Celeste looked a bit puzzled but nodded. "Oh," she said, "Well… that's good, I guess."

"Is something wrong?" Maya asked, "You know, Nathaniel was acting a little weird today too."

"Oh, no, it's nothing," Celeste said quickly, although it was clear as day that she was feigning her nonchalance, "I was just thinking of something. I hope you do well at your job."