TUESDAY MORNING

As Kate walked through the dining hall, she saw Bailey Coffman waving her over to a table.

Last night when Kate called Pogue it was Bailey who answered his phone. Seems he left it in her dorm room. Kate had been ready to hang up, but instead Bailey started talking to her as though they'd been friends forever. It was uncanny how much they actually had in common. They'd spent close to an hour on the phone before Pogue's battery started to die.

Kate smiled and took a seat next to the girl whose hair was still damp from early swim practice.

"So how was it?" Kate asked. She knew that Bailey was very nervous about getting back in the water after such a long hiatus.

"Tough," Bailey answered. "I've got a lot of work to do before the first meet."

"The first meet?" Kate raised an eyebrow. "So does that mean you're back on the team?"

Bailey smiled and Kate gave her a big hug. In the midst of their embrace, another tray clinked down on the table and another pair of arms encircled them.

"Why are we hugging?" Will asked.

"Because Bailey is back on the team." Kate threw a playful elbow Will's way.

"Awesome!" Will placed his hand on Bailey's head, messing up her hair. "Finally, I'm not the slowest swimmer anymore."

"Watch it, Copolla," Bailey mock-threatened her teammate. "So where're the rest the guys," she asked, smoothing out her hair.

"Uh," Will rolled his eyes. "I don't know if they're going to make it.

"Why?" Bailey stopped and looked at him.

"After practice there was kind of an incident in the locker room."

"What kind of incident?" Kate asked. She'd only been at the school a couple weeks but it seemed 'incidents' like these were a daily event. Pogue hadn't been kidding when he told her there was a lot of drama at Spencer.

Will sighed and wiped his face uncomfortably. "You know I don't usually talk about this stuff but I guess you're gonna hear it soon enough."

"What happened?"

Both Bailey and Kate leaned forward and waited for Will to spill the details.

"I didn't see how it started but I heard them arguing. By the time I got from the showers to the lockers, they'd already started throwing punches."

"Who?"

"Tyler and Pogue."

"What?" Bailey gasped. "Why?"

Will shrugged. "I have no idea. Coach Hamm broke it up and took them to his office. I started to wait but I figured they'd be in there for awhile."

Kate was surprised when Bailey turned to her. "Do you have any idea why they would be fighting?"

"No," Kate replied, although she highly suspected she did know why. She didn't want to mention Pogue's alleged date with Kaylee Abbott this weekend mostly because Reid was involved in that conversation. Kate was learning not to trust anything involving Reid Garwin.

"Do you think they'll get suspended?" Kate asked. She was a little worried since this was Pogue's second offense and it was still September.

"Depends on whether or not Coach Hamm writes it up," Will replied.

"He has to report it," Bailey countered.

Will just shrugged and smiled. "It's like the Husky Hamhock."

Bailey smiled too.

"What's the Husky Hamhock?" Kate looked at them.

"A secret no swimmer can ever divulge," Will said with a wink.

"Seriously?" Kate looked at Bailey who was crossing her heart.

"Sorry, Kate. We swear to take it to the grave."

Kate tried to laugh it off. The Husky Hamhock. It was stupid right? But there was something about the whole thing that made her ridiculously curious.

The conversation shifted to swimming, Bailey and Will chatted back and forth. Neither Tyler nor Pogue made an appearance at breakfast.

Kate sat with Josie during Practical Life Skills. They were in the back of the room and Josie was holding a notebook up to her chest and writing furiously. Kate noticed that she wasn't writing in her notebook though. She was writing in tiny journal she was hiding on the inside of the notebook. When she saw Kate watching her, she turned her body so Kate couldn't possibly see what she was writing.

What's with all the secrets today? Kate wondered.

In Honors English she noticed that Edison had taken his old seat with Goldie and Aaron. Kate shook her head in disappointment. After the way they treated him yesterday, you would think he would try to find better friends. In her notebook she doodled a bad stick-figure pig labeling it The Husky Hamhock. Maybe she would ask Pogue about it.

Calculus was next and Mr. Pitt made everyone sit with their partners.

Notably the pair of Tyler Simms and Pogue Parry was absent.

Mr. Pitt explained that he received 'several' calls from concerned parents over the pairings and potential scheduling issues. Kate noticed how smug Kira looked when he said that. Mr. Pitt continued discussing how teamwork is essential in the real world. "Teamwork doesn't mean working with your friends all the time."

Then he repeated for probably the tenth time that no one would be changing partners. Instead he was going to let the class vote on two options. Option one was everything remains the same. Option Two was to work on the project in class (to avoid any potential 'scheduling' conflicts) and being assigned additional homework each night to make up for lost class time.

Everyone groaned.

Bordy shot a nasty glance at Kira. "Thanks a lot, Snider."

"Don't blame me for this," the red head snapped back.

Aaron shifted angrily in his chair. "This is asinine," he said loud enough for those nearby to hear even though his comment was directed at his girlfriend. "If I can work with Home-wrecker Kate over here, why can't you shut up and work with Bordy?"

Kate's body tensed in fury when Aaron called her a home-wrecker.

"Why don't you work with him?" Kira shot back.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Bordy growled at Kira.

"If I could I would, believe me," Aaron replied.

"I can hear you, you know," Kate hissed down to Aaron.

"I'm not saying anything you don't already know," he said tiredly.

The four of them began bickering amongst themselves creating quite a spectacle for the entire class. Kate didn't realize how childish they were being until she heard the snickering of her classmates. Instantly she sunk her head and didn't say anything further. Aaron, Kira and Bordy continued their infighting – which probably would have continued the entire period – if Mr. Pitt hadn't stopped them because it was time to vote.

The class was nearly unanimous in voting for option one.

By the time Kate got to World Geography she had a pounding headache. Sitting with Chelsea and Bailey only made it worse. The rumors were already spreading about the fight between Tyler and Pogue. Bailey's biggest concern was that she'd heard someone say that Pogue's nose was broken. Chelsea said that she heard Tyler went to the hospital because Pogue broke his ribs.

Kate didn't know what to think aside from she needed to get some Advil ASAP.

Speculation continued about the reason for the thrown punches. Bailey and Chelsea had each heard the same thing. It had something to do with Andie Bradway but no one was saying exactly what.

Kate closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. Reality TV didn't have as much drama as this school!

When the bell rang, Kate declined the lunch invite from Bailey and Chelsea. She needed to get the nurse, get some meds and get some space from the insanity. It was when she was walking across campus that she saw the trademark blonde hair in the parking lot. He was standing there watching as Tyler screamed at Caleb.

This had Kate's attention because – well, why was Tyler freaking out on Caleb?

She walked closer and started to catch bits of their conversation.

Caleb had a hand outstretched as though he was about to karate chop the air, "You need to calm the fuck down Tyler."

"Ooooooh, Caleb said the "F" word," Reid jested. "Better listen up, he must be serious."

Caleb's head turned sharply in the blonde's direction. "Stay out of this Reid." Then his attention returned to Tyler, "Do you hear me?"

Tyler's hands were balled into fists and he looked angrier than Kate had ever seen him. "Don't tell me what to do!" With a quick motion Tyler went at Caleb giving him a hard shove backward. "If you hadn't brought her to my house – none of this would have happened!"

Reid started laughing as Caleb tripped and nearly fell. "Kick his ass, Tyler."

Caleb's hands went up defensively. "You really wanna do this at school?"

"He's gonna fuck Kaylee!" Tyler yelled, as he slammed his fists down on the hood of someone's car.

"No, he's not," Caleb's hands were still up in submission. "He's just pissed and this is his way of getting back at you."

"But I didn't…," Tyler began, stopping to bite his lip. "Well, if I'm gonna be punished," he looked at Reid grinning. "I might as well commit the crime."

Reid grinned back. "Nice," the blonde said as the two bumped fists.

"Tyler!" Caleb's deep voice boomed as the pair started walking away. It was clear that neither of them were listening to him, so Caleb sank down in a frog-like squat and sank his face into his hands.

Kate took this as her cue and crouched down beside Caleb. "It never stops does it?"

"Never," Caleb let out a tired sigh.

"Why?"

"I wish I knew," the dark haired boy beside her smiled half-heartedly.

"They're fighting over Kaylee Abbott aren't they?"

"Not exactly," Caleb answered as he straightened up to a standing position.

"Then why are they fighting?"

"You hungry?" he answered, completely dodging the question.

"Actually, I'm on my way over to the nurse. Headache."

He nodded. "See you later."

"See ya," Kate said as they parted ways. By the time she made it back from the nurse there was about two minutes before the bell rang. She hurried to Chemistry and made it to her seat with seconds to spare.

"Can I ask you something?" Bordy leaned on the table and looked at her.

Kate shrugged. "What's up?"

"Would you consider being my partner for the Calculus project?"

"Bordy," Kate frowned. "We're not allowed to switch…"

"Look, I really do not want to work with Kira and you and I both know that you working with Aaron is a disaster waiting to happen."

Kate exhaled. Bordy did have a point. Despite what Mr. Pitt said, working with Abbott was not going to be a good thing.

"So what I'm proposing is an unofficial switch."

Kate didn't like how that sounded.

"The four of us work on both projects but only put our names on the ones we were assigned."

"That sounds like cheating."

"It's not," Bordy shook his head. "We're still doing all the work. I'll work with you. Aaron can work with Kira. When we put it all together it will still be our own work."

"I don't know," Kate shook her head.

"The three of us talked about it at lunch. We're still working within the assigned parameters. Aaron has it all figured out." Bordy folded his hands together. "Please."

"Let me think about it," Kate replied. She wasn't ready to make a decision like that right now.

"We were going to start tonight after dinner. Can you meet us at the library around seven?"

Regardless of what she would decide, there was a still a project to be completed. "Yeah," Kate agreed. "I'll meet you there."

She glanced over at Pogue's empty seat. Why did everything have to be so complicated?

The afternoon went by quickly and before too long the final bell was ringing. Headache-free, Kate went back to the dorm to change. Kira was already there with two other girls talking about the party Kira had over the weekend.

The girls talked freely and for the first time, Kate heard the detailed story of Josie and Derek's break-up.

First and foremost, Kira did not allow alcohol or drugs at any of her parties. However, one Reid Garwin single-handedly spiked the punch on Saturday night. Kate wasn't remotely surprised by that. What was shocking was that Josie Wesley got completely plastered and hooked up with Reid – right in front of her own boyfriend!

Kate shook her head sadly. Shame on Josie. And Poor Derek.

Kate was thankful when her phone rang. Hoping it was Pogue she eagerly jumped toward her nightstand only to see the display read "Dad Cell".

She froze. Did her mom tell her dad what Rose Simms had said? Kate hoped not. She answered the call, trying to sound like her normal self, "Hi Dad!" she chirped.

"Hi Honey. How was school today?"

"Good. I'm learning a lot."

"I'm very glad to hear that," he paused for a minute. "I only have a couple minutes in between patients, so let me cut to the chase; I got a phone call today from Glenn Simms."

"Glenn Simms?" Kate repeated, as her heart thudded in her chest. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening.

"You know his son, Tyler."

"Yeah. Yeah. I know Tyler." She was trying not to panic.

"Did you know that Tyler's brother-in-law plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers?"

"He has a brother-in law?"

"Brian's a third string quarterback – but hey, they still get a nice paycheck," her father chuckled. "Anyway, Glenn invited us to the Pats vs Steelers game this weekend."

"Really? That's great." Kate could hear his excitement.

"Seats in the private suite, too. With VIP parking."

"Wow."

"It's like I've been telling you Kate. Connections. Networking. Spencer is a place to meet people."

"Uh-huh." Kate was too stunned to say more.

"We're meeting them in Foxboro. Figured since they're taking us to the game the least your mother and I could do is spring for lunch. One of my patients said there's a nice Italian place near the stadium…."

Kate nearly dropped the phone. The Tunneys and the Simms all getting together – like it was one big family – date!

"Dad…," Kate tried to interrupt but her father kept talking about the game and meeting the Simms. "Dad…,"

"Sorry, honey. I have to get back to work. I've got a waiting room full of anxious patients. I just wanted to call and give the news before your mother stole my thunder. I love you, kiddo."

"Love you too, Dad."

As soon as she hung up the phone, Kate grabbed her jacket and keys and went outside. She found a secluded spot and hastily dialed Tyler's number. His voicemail answered and Kate hung up. She texted him and while waiting on a reply she walked to the pool building. From the balcony, she stared into the water below for a black cap and silver goggles. But there were mostly girls and of the few guys – Tyler wasn't among them.

She sent another text to Tyler as she headed over to the parking lot. She didn't see Tyler's car but she did see Matt Hodges sitting in his truck. He had a set of ear buds in and his eyes were closed as his head leaned back. His lips were moving, probably singing to himself. Kate hadn't seen Matt in awhile and so she strolled over to say hello.

She approached the truck and knocked on the driver's window – it was only then she noticed Matt was not alone in the truck. She quickly pulled her hand back, but just as fast a head lifted from Matt's lap.

Kate felt her stomach turn as she came face to face with Kaylee Abbott once more. Muttering a hasty, "sorry", Kate immediately turned and began a fast-paced scamper back to the safety of the buildings. When she found the safety of the library Kate relaxed. She didn't have any of her homework with her but there were some available computers. She sat down at one of them and put on the headphones.

Kate went on a You Tube binge until dinnertime.

In the dining hall she found an empty table and sat by herself. Today she was overwhelmed and needed a little time alone. But that wasn't meant to be.

Bailey and Chelsea joined her. Reid and Ryan also decided to sit at their table. Bordy saw Ryan and he sat down with them. Then he waved to Melanie Higgins – Kate made the assumption that they were probably still dating. Then Josie passed by and Reid pushed Ryan out of his seat so Josie could sit there. Ryan stole a chair from the adjacent table and sat on the other side of Josie.

That quickly the table was full.

A week ago, Kate would have killed for this. Now she just wished everyone would give her space. Then again, it was informative since Melanie Higgins happened to have accurate information on the 'incident' between Tyler and Pogue.

"Pogue went to the hospital for x-rays. The nurse suspected only his nose was broken but she wanted to make sure nothing else fractured when Tyler slammed him face-first into a locker."

"I don't understand why Tyler would do something like that," Bailey was upset and confused.

"Tyler admitted to starting it," Melanie continued. "So he's on a three day vacation."

"What about Pogue?" Kate asked.

"As long as he gets a medical clearance, he should be back in school tomorrow."

"I'll call him tonight to see how he's doing," Bailey told the table. "Kate, did you talk to Tyler at all today?"

Kate frowned, "No."

There was a soft crying sound as Reid's project suddenly came to life.

"What the fuck," Reid groaned. He turned to the girl beside him, "Josie, take care of that for me."

Kate saw Josie's brows narrow unhappily but she leaned down toward the carrier.

"Josie!" Kate said in anguish. "That's his project not yours."

But her friend disregarded Kate's words and went to the task of baby duty.

"Josie!" Kate protested once again.

"If it bothers you that much," Reid pushed his trash in Kate's direction. "Why don't you go throw this out for me?"

"Why don't you go throw yourself out," Kate muttered as she sipped her vitamin water.

"I got it." Chelsea scooped Reid's stuff onto her tray. "I was headed there anyway."

The baby was crying louder now. Reid looked at Josie in annoyance.

"I can't find the spoon," Josie explained as she rummaged through the small pouch attached to the carrier.

"Here," Ryan licked off his plastic spoon and offered it to Josie.

"Thanks but I need to use the one with the sensor."

"Just do this," Reid took the bottle and shoved it in the doll's mouth.

The doll cried louder.

"It has to be the spoon," Josie repeated double checking the chart. "And it's not in here."

"What do you mean it's not in there?" Reid took the pouch and dumped the contents onto the table. Kate saw a lot of various things but nothing that looked like a spoon. "Mother fucker," Reid cursed loudly.

"Maybe you can borrow one?" Josie suggested as the wailing reached an unsafe decibel. "Is there anyone else from your class here?"

"Uh," Reid scanned the room. "I don't think so."

But you could barely hear him over the screaming. Melanie, Bordy and Ryan were all covering their ears. "Can you shut that thing up?" Ryan yelled.

Kate cringed alongside Bailey at the horrible sound. Everyone in the dining hall was looking their way.

Josie fumbled with the doll. "I don't think it has a volume control."

"Then take it outside or something," Melanie yelled.

Josie left her untouched dinner and took everything out in the hallway. The doll could still be heard but it was much softer from this distance.

"Thank God," Bordy sighed with relief.

"Dude, you okay?" Ryan asked his cousin.

Everyone had been so focused on Josie and the crying baby that Kate hadn't noticed Reid was double over in his chair. His palms were pinned to his ears and he was moving up and down, in a semi-rocking movement.

"What's wrong with Reid?" Chelsea asked as she returned to the table.

"I..I'm not sure," Ryan stuttered. "Reid, You okay?"

Reid's chair shot back, scraping against the tiled floor. Without a word he got up and left.

Kate sat with the rest of them in silence.

"Did anyone else think that was weird?" Bailey asked, voicing the general sentiment of the table.

After dinner Kate went with Bordy to the library to work on their project. Aaron and Kira were already there, waiting. Both of them took turns debating with Kate on the validity of Aaron's plan. Which everyone else seemed to feel was a win-win for all involved.

With a marginal amount of reservation, Kate agreed. She was going to work on her and Aaron's assigned mathematician, Leonard Euhler. Instead of Aaron she was going to work with Bordy but the report would have Kate's and Aaron's names on it. Kate still wasn't sure that she was okay with putting Aaron's name on a report that he didn't do. She was however, going to make sure that she did not do this project alone and let Aaron get credit for her work.

After making headway with the Calculus project, Kate did pair off with Bordy to work on their chemistry homework. With her make-up test on Friday, Kate needed a good grade to offset the F in Mr. Pitt's class. Bordy gave her a problem to do and then walked away while she worked on it.

Halfway through, Kate realized she was in need of a bathroom break and headed to the girls room. On her way to the door she took a short cut through an aisle of books, and stopped to listen when she saw Bordy at the end talking to someone.

"It's not a good idea," he said keeping his voice low.

"It's some conditioning," the female voice replied. "Maybe some drills. Why are you making a big deal out of it?"

"I'm not making a big deal out of it," Bordy shifted uncomfortably. "I told you that I didn't want to be friends and it feels like that's exactly where this is going. Maybe it will start with some hoops after school. Then we'll study together and then BAM we're sleeping together again."

"You're with Melanie and I completely respect that."

"No you don't," Bordy exasperatedly laughed. "If you had an ounce of respect for my relationship with Melanie you wouldn't be texting me all the time. And that picture you sent me Saturday night…,"

"That was an accident."

"No it wasn't," Bordy shook his head. "And it can't happen again, alright? If it does, I'm going to the Provost."

"Bordy, come on. You're not really gonna do that…"

"Try me."

Kate watched as he walked away from the conversation, thankfully heading in the opposite direction from where Kate was standing. Curiously, Kate stuck her head around the corner to see who he had been talking to.

Maybe she shouldn't have been surprised but for some reason she was. Of course, in hindsight this was probably one of the most obvious things that she should have picked up on long before now.

The girl standing there in her black Harley Davidson tee looked as though she was about to cry.

Kate should have known that Bordy Becklin and Andie Bradway had some kind of history.