Disclaimer: I do not own How to Rock.

A smirk spread across his face as the camera lowered. Taking in a deep breath of satisfaction, he leaned on the side of the car that was behind him. His eyes followed the two as they ran pass a few other cars. Someone honked at them as they ran, startling the girl and annoyed the boy. She stumbled, caught off guard by the honk of the car. The boy held tightly onto her hand wrist. Their steps soon faded out of the vacant parking lot.

...

Fast paced steps soon slowed to walking. The two were close by each others side, their hands swaying by their sides, no longer wrapped within each others. As he walked, his ear caught the faint sound of Stevie's breathing, tired from the running they had just been doing.

"Do you think Mat will be okay?"

He could feel her eyes on him, but what could he say. He didn't even know himself. Zander shrugged. Silence fell upon the two as they walked, but Zander could feel that something was wrong. He should have gotten an answer from her by now. Zander turned his head to look at her. He stopped her in her tracks, holding her arms. She didn't look at him. Zander tilted her head up with his hand, pushing up her chin. But still her eyes adverted away from his face.

"Stevie, look at me"

Slowly, she obeyed his directions. Her eyes moved from the ground they were on to his face. Where they locked eyes.

"Mat will be fine"

"Are you sure?" she asked quickly.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

He pushed on the heavy door, stepping into a room lit bright with sunlight. It was bare, besides two green plastic chairs on the side and the bed that was in the middle. Mat let the door ease itself close behind him, as he edged his way towards the person on the bed. When he had come to about a foot away from the bed, he stopped himself.

"Hi mom"

She looked up from the book that she was reading. They shared a few short seconds of silence, but then she folded the top page of her book. As she was putting the book on the table side, she heard his voice again.

"I know, I should have visited you sooner. I'm sorry. I'm really really sorry"

Her hand reached for the small table on the side, where a cup of water was. Taking the cup into her hands she brought it to her lips and drank slowly, taking in every word that he had just told her. When the cup was half full, she put it down, letting out a sad sigh. She sat on the bed silently, her hands folded in her lap.

"How's your father?"

Mat hadn't think he heard her right. That was until she repeated her said question a few seconds later.

An emotion welled up inside him; one that he couldn't quite distinguish. It wasn't a cold sadness that made his stomach ache, it burned in the pit of his stomach. Yet it wasn't hot enough to be anger. As his emotions took over him, Mat took a bold step towards his mother, lashing out at her his thoughts.

"Why do you worry so much about him, huh, mom? Why is he worth any of your concern...Of..Of your consideration, of-"
"Because he's your father."

Her quiet tone and her simple answer silenced his outburst, and pushed away all of his past emotions. Mat's mouth closed obediently, and he could feel her eyes on him as she talked.

"He's also my husband. The two of you are my family. How can I not care for my family?"

His mother's words echoed in his ear, making him taste the guilt of ever thinking, more so, ever feeling the hatred that he had felt for his father only moments before. Mat looked up as his ears caught a muffled sound. His eyes saw his mother's thin hand, patting a side of her bed, beckoning for him to come join her. Mat edged closer, and sat down heavily by her side. Finally, after pushing away the guilt, Mat looked at his mother.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice small in such a big room. She gave him a sad smile, placing her thin hand on his face.

"I'm fine, Mathew" Mat returned the smile, placing his own hand over hers.

"Good"

-Time Skip: 3 Days Later-

-Ring-
-Ring-

The bell blared, announcing to everyone that the period was over. Stevie heaved a tired sigh as she packed her books. Her hands moved back and forth from the desk to her bag, her thoughts traveling in synch with them. Thoughts that revolved about school, friends, family, herself went in an never ending and repetitive cycle in her head.

"Ms. Baskara"

Stevie shook out of her thoughts as the teacher addressed her.

"Oh, um...Sorry" stuttered Stevie as she put the last folder into her bag. Swinging the bag onto her shoulder, Stevie walked out without looking back.

-x-

She entered the bustling lunchroom, eyes searching around the place for any familiar face. As she walked past the tables, glances and long looks passed over her. She choose to ignore them, pushing away their stares. Stevie continued her search and suddenly landed Andy. He stared at his mouth open. Usually this was normal, she wouldn't mind.

This time however, it was different. She could see it. Stevie returned his stare with a daring one of her own. He waved her over. She looked around to see more and more people taking notice of her. Turning away from them, Stevie quickly made her way over to Andy. Seconds passed before she was hovering by his side, holding on tightly to the strap of her book bag, willing the stares of all the people to drift away.

"Stevie, is this you?"
"What's me?"

Andy took another long look at her, making her antsy. Finally she caught sight of his open laptop and sat down, taking a look of what was on the screen.

Cliffhanger...
Till next time, PBL.