Hello again everyone! My schedule has finally permitted me to make some progress on this story, as evidenced by the multiple chapters I've been able to put up in recent weeks. Hopefully this will continue, but time will tell! In the meantime, enjoy this next chapter!

Moze looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. Her first week at John Tyler high school was coming to a close, and she couldn't have felt more confused. Her classes were all going well so far, even English with Ms. Hammer. School wasn't what was on her mind right now. Her problems all stemmed from her personal life.

First there was Ned Bigby, her closest friend for most of her life, and for a brief time, her boyfriend. Moze was still trying to grapple with the question of just how she could trust Ned after the situation with Suzy. She had made it a point to not let it affect their friendship, but any feelings beyond friendship were murky at best. Moze had to admit she had serious doubts about a romantic relationship with Ned.

Complicating things further was her quickly blossoming friendship with Jeff Griffin, a fellow freshman in their class. Moze had to admit that she and Jeff had hit it off right away. She also had to admit (even if only to herself) that she was developing a pretty significant crush on Jeff. She loved spending time with him. They even had plans this weekend to go hang out at the mall. Moze felt butterflies in her stomach now every time she saw him.

This was why Moze currently found herself, standing in front of her mirror, having the longest wardrobe crisis of her life. On the one hand, she found herself wanting to look good to impress Jeff. On the other hand, she knew that if she showed up to school dressed differently than usual, it would draw a lot of questions from her friends. Those were questions Moze didn't want to answer yet, and she wasn't even sure if she knew HOW to answer them.

She especially didn't want to do anything that might hurt Ned. In spite of all her confusion about her feelings towards him, she knew she didn't want to hurt him, and finding out about her crush on Jeff would almost certainly cause him pain. Moze winced internally every morning when they met up to take the bus to school. She could see the hopeful look in his eyes every time he walked up to her to say good morning.

Moze sighed again and ran a hand through her hair. She still remembered telling Ned she wasn't going to give up on trying to make a romance between them work, right after he had told her the same thing. She still wasn't sure if she'd only said that to make him feel better about their break up, or if deep down that was what she really wanted. It was just all so confusing!

Why can't guys be like girls? Moze wondered. They'd be so much easier to understand, and then I wouldn't have to spend half an hour just deciding what to wear! Moze glanced at the clock and realized she was running out of time to make a decision. After another minute or two of debating her options, Moze finally decided to grabbed one of her pairs of blue jeans, but decided to pair them with a new top her mom had bought her over the summer. It was a pretty button up shirt with swirls of light and dark blue. She also grabbed a light blue tank top to wear underneath, as the shirt was made of a thin, semi see-through material. After she dressed, Moze looked in the mirror and had to admit, she liked the way she looked. She hoped Jeff would too.

Ned practically ran down the steps from his room, dashed through the kitchen, barely stopping to grab the pop tarts his mom had heated up for him, and bolted outside. He was eager, as he was every morning, to see Moze and talk to her before the bus arrived to take them to school, especially since they were never guaranteed to have an empty seat available on the bus so they could sit together.

As he emerged from his house and caught sight of Moze, Ned's heart felt like it stopped for a moment. Her appearance was breathtaking. Ned had always thought Moze was pretty, but her appearance now was nothing short of beautiful. At first Ned wasn't completely sure why Moze looked more stunning than usual, until he noticed her attire. The shirt she was wearing was pretty, but the way it fit with her already natural good looks was what put her appearance over the top.

Ned froze for a moment before approaching her. Is she dressed nicer than usual to impress me? This led to an even bigger hope in his mind: Is she trying to tell me she's ready to get back together as a couple? Ned swallowed, trying to quell his rising nervousness and anticipation, and finally summoned the courage to approach Moze. As he approached her, Moze turned and flashed him a quick friendly smile.

"Hey Moze" he said trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice.

"Morning Ned" she replied. "Ready to finish our first week of high school?"

"Definitely."

There was a pause between the two as both seemed unsure of what to say next. Ned was the one to break the brief silence.

"You look really nice today Moze. What's the occasion?"

Ned was surprised to see Moze appear uncomfortable at having this question asked. She blushed slightly, but also tried to avoid eye contact and stammered a bit while trying to respond. When she finally found words to answer his question, she sounded anything but convincing.

"No real reason" she managed. "Just… thought I'd so something different today. You know, end the first week with a bang."

Ned stared at her for a minute, and had just opened his mouth to ask her if she had decided to look nice specifically for him, when the bus pulled up. Ned lost his courage, and instead boarded the bus behind her without another word.

Throughout the day, Moze actively tried to avoid Ned. She could tell he was wondering if her change in appearance was connected to him in some way, and she REALLY didn't want to have to tell him it wasn't.

In Earth Science, Jeff did indeed compliment her on her appearance, but since Moze was sitting between Jeff and Ned, she wasn't able to respond to the compliment in the way she wanted, and instead had to tone down her response to a simple thank you.

After that class, Moze was determined to keep some distance from Ned the rest of the day. Fortunately her second class was Art, which meant she'd get a chance to talk to Jeff without Ned around. Moze wasn't a fan of having to watch what she said so carefully, so she was grateful for the opportunity Art class represented. Sure enough, shortly after they'd sat down next to each other, Jeff again complimented her appearance, telling her how much he liked her blouse.

"You really like it?" she responded, trying to sound as pleased as she felt.

"Yeah" Jeff replied with a smile "It looks great on you. Or rather, YOU look great in IT. You should dress like that more often."

Moze blushed a fairly deep shade of red and nervously tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"Thanks, maybe I will." Moze hesitated, then blurted out "If you like it I mean."

Jeff grinned broadly then leaned in close to whisper in her ear.

"You mean if I like you? Cuz I do you know."

Moze felt like her insides were doing somersaults. She wasn't sure if she could even find her voice to respond. Jeff's voice in her ear and his breath on her ear and neck had caused her to feel tingly all over. After taking a couple of moments to gather herself, she shyly turned her head partly in his direction, enough to make eye contact, and took a breath to calm herself enough to respond.

"I like you too Jeff."

Ned had just wrapped up his Computer class with Cookie and was approaching his locker when he noticed a flier had been taped to it, as well as everyone else's locker. He carefully removed it and read it: NEXT FRIDAY NIGHT! WELCOME BACK DANCE OPEN TO ALL STUDENTS! THE THEME IS SADIE HAWKINS SO GIRLS ASK THE GUYS! ADMISSION IS $5, TICKETS CAN BE PURCHASED IN ADVANCE OR AT THE DOOR. REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED.

Ned smiled as he folded up the flyer and put it in his locker. This was PERFECT! A Sadie Hawkins dance would force Moze to ask HIM out, and now he wouldn't have to ask her what her feelings were! Ned felt his excitement rising. First school dance, and the possibility of getting the girl of his dreams back had him floating on air all the way to Algebra.

He was able to make it in time to grab a seat next to Moze for the first time, but he deliberately avoided the topic of the dance when they had a chance to talk, and instead focused the conversation on class related topics, which for Ned was NOT an easy thing to do.

As soon as class ended, Ned offered to walk Moze to lunch, but to his surprise, she said she had something she needed to do first and dashed off. As Ned watched her moving quickly away down the hallway, he smiled. She's definitely in a hurry. I wonder if she's putting together a plan to ask me to the dance he thought happily to himself.

Moze hurried as quickly as she could to her locker, one objective clearly on her mind. She had texted Jeff (whose number she had gotten at the end of Art class) to meet her at her locker before they went to lunch. Normally Moze knew she wouldn't be this impulsive, but everything seemed to be lining up so perfectly that she didn't want to wait and risk something happening to ruin everything. As she approached her locker she saw Jeff was already there, waiting for her.

"Hey Jeff" she panted, nearly out of breath from having been walking so fast. "Sorry I'm a little late. My Algebra class is literally about as far away from here has my house."

Jeff laughed at her joke and Moze couldn't help but grin.

"It's okay Jennifer" he replied. "I'm sure whatever it is you needed was worth the wait."

"I hope so" she responded, now beginning to feel slightly nervous. "I actually wanted to ask you something."

"If the question is, why did they put my Algebra class so sadistically far away from my locker, I don't have an answer for you" Jeff joked.

Moze chuckled and went right along with the joke.

"No, that's not it, though remind me to set up a meeting with the principal to ask him that."

This time they both laughed. Moze cleared her throat and decided to just ask, rather than beat around the bush and risk psyching herself out of it.

"I'm sure you saw the flyers about the dance next Friday. You know, the Sadie Hawkins one?"

"No" Jeff joked "I saw all these pieces of paper on everyone's locker and I just figured one of the office paper supply stores was giving out free samples."

They both laughed again as Moze started to blush.

"Actually" she replied, a hint of nervousness finding its way into her voice, "I was wondering if you wanted to go with me. You know, as my date. I figured I'd ask you right away before anyone else had a chance to"

Jeff locked his eyes on hers. Moze could feel her heart fluttering inside her chest. It seemed like an eternity before he did anything, though in reality it was just a couple of seconds. Without saying a word, Jeff slowly leaned in and kissed Moze gently on the cheek. When he pulled back, he had a very sincere expression on his face.

"I would love to go with you Jennifer."

"So you're expecting Moze to ask you to the dance?" Cookie asked excitedly.

Ned grinned and leaned closer to his friend.

"The way she's been acting, she might even ask me here at lunch!"

"Ned that would be so cool! Since Lisa is sure to ask me, we could double date! It would be amazing!"

Ned sat back and thought about going to the dance with Moze. It would be amazing. I can just see us now, walking in together, with Cook and Lisa, and having the best time ever. Moze will probably look more beautiful than I can even imagine, and I can't wait to have her in my arms again, and to be able to kiss those sweet lips…

"Ned, here she comes!" Cookie exclaimed, interrupting Ned's thoughts.

Ned looked up, pleased to see Moze entering the lunchroom. His excitement tapered however, when Jeff walked in with her.

Moze was apprehensive as she and Jeff entered the lunchroom. She quickly spotted Ned and Cookie at one of the tables. Cookie looked really excited about something, and Ned seemed to be daydreaming about something that seemed to be making him really happy. Then Cookie spotted her and said something to Ned which jostled Ned out from whatever he was daydreaming about.

Moze noticed that Ned's expression changed quickly from excitement when he first spotted her, to apprehension when he noticed Jeff. Moze was tempted for a moment to go sit at a separate table to avoid any chance of the dance coming up. Suddenly to her horror she realized she'd never told Jeff to keep it secret.

What happened next seemed to unfold in slow motion. Jeff grabbed her hand and excitedly steered her towards Ned and Cookie's table. Lisa wasn't at the table yet so Moze didn't have any backup to help stop what was unfolding. As they reached the table, Moze saw Ned's eyes turn down to stare at Jeff's hand holding hers. When his gaze came back up, she saw a look of confusion across his face at first, then a slow, painful realization spreading across his features as his mind seemed to put the pieces together. Moze felt frozen in place. She didn't know what to say. Unfortunately for the worsening situation, Jeff did.

"Hey guys!" he said excitedly. "Guess what?"

Moze could tell Jeff was excited to tell the people he was getting to know as a potential new group of friends, news that he thought they'd all be excited about. He had no idea the consequences of what he was about to say. Moze wanted to scream at him to stop, to not reveal the news he seemed so excited to share, but she still felt frozen in place, and not a sound escaped her mouth as Jeff continued.

"Jennifer asked me to the Sadie Hawkins dance! We are going as a couple! Isn't that great?"

Time seemed to almost freeze now. Moze, with a stricken look on her face, stared right into the eyes of Ned Bigby. What she saw on his face, she knew she would never forget. Hurt. Betrayal. Worst of all, she felt like she could actually see his heart breaking.

Ned felt like he'd swallowed a bunch of nails. Or fire. His insides hurt. No, his HEART was what was hurting. Breaking. For a moment he just stared dumbly at Moze, who looked like she wanted to be anywhere else. Then Ned finally saw the painful truth of it all. Moze had been HIDING her feelings about Jeff. Hiding them from him. The person she was supposed to be closest to. He'd been living in a fantasy world. He thought Moze was going to ask HIM out. It had NEVER been him. It was Jeff. The outfit was for Jeff. The nervous attitude was about Jeff. Everything Ned had thought were signs Moze was finally ready to take him back….. were actually about Jeff.

At that moment Ned realized everyone's eyes were on him: Jeff, Moze and Cookie. Ned suddenly wanted to be anywhere but there. His heart in pieces, and without saying a word, Ned jumped up from the table and ran. He thought he heard at least one of them call after him, but he never stopped to see who. He barely heard them anyway over the buzzing filling his mind. All he felt was pain. Raw, pounding pain. He wanted to escape it, but there was nowhere to hide from it. He fled the cafeteria, and kept running, just trying to get away. Away from everything.

Moze felt sick to her stomach. Seeing Ned find out, seeing him crushed, and seeing the pain he couldn't hide before running off, made her feel awful. This wasn't how it was supposed to have happened. Moze eagerly looked forward to gym class, when she'd see Ned, and be able to explain, and tell him she'd never meant to hurt him. She wanted to do something, anything to help him. But Gym class arrived, and Moze found out Ned had gone home. Apparently he'd gone to the nurse at some point after fleeing the cafeteria and had called his mom to come pick him up.

After school, Moze practically ran off the bus, hoping to be able to talk to Ned. She considered going over to his house, but she wasn't sure what he'd told his mom when he'd been picked up from school, and Moze didn't want to have another awkward situation. Instead, she ran up to her room and opened the curtains, and looked out to Ned's room. But in a rare occurrence, the curtains were closed. She grabbed her cell phone and dialed his number. The phone rang and rang, but Ned never picked up. Moze left a simple voicemail asking, and almost pleading with Ned to call her. She waited in her room for some kind of response.

Afternoon became evening and then night. The curtains remained closed. Ned didn't call. Moze only left her room to have dinner with her family, then returned to her room immediately afterward. She spent the rest of the night constantly looking out her window, hoping that Ned would open his curtains, hoping he would call, hoping they could talk. She stayed up as late as she could, but there was no sign of Ned Bigby.

That's it for this chapter! Hope you liked it! Hoping to have the next one out soon!