Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with any of the cast members of In A Heartbeat, nor do I have anything to do with the producer or anybody related to the show.

Tyler: Stuck

            I had never actually seen Val leave, but Mike told me he walked her home and from what I had seen of Mike, he was a good guy so I was relieved. I was glad that she got home safely and that she wasn't like…kidnapped or whatever. But one thing was for sure: the team was acting really strange the rest of the party. I shrugged it off and just stuck with Casey and Hank the rest of the night. On Sunday, I slept in late because I was so tired from the night before. I got up at noon and logged onto the computer. I had 4 new messages. One from Casey, one from Hank, one from Val and one from Caitie. Wait a minute. Why would Caitie write an e-mail to me? Caitie Roth. Writing an e-mail to me. No, that just didn't seem right at all. We barely ever hung-out and when we did, it was because of Val or Jamie or both. I opened Val's first. It was a reply to an e-mail I sent her about weekend homework on Friday because I had left my planner at school:

Hey Tyler!

About the weekend homework, we didn't have to do much except for the science lab. I had fun at the barbeque tonight and I hope you did too. I didn't get to see much of you but I called Hank and he told me that you were with Casey a lot of the time. Doing what? I dunno….=p well anyways, just wanted to reply to your letter. See you tomorrow! Bye! ~Val

            'That was weird.' I thought. Val called Hank? But…didn't she used to call me? I shook it off. It couldn't mean anything….could it? Was Val mad at me? What did I do? I pressed the reply button and replied to her:

What's up Val? Yeah I had a blast yesterday. Thanks for the homework. I don't think I wanna finish up the lab. Wanna do it for me? j/k well anyways, Casey and I weren't doing anything naughty or anything. We just talked. Um, well, I have a question for you: Are you okay? Really? I mean, you seemed down yesterday and Mike told me he walked you home early. Are you alright? I'm sorry I didn't spend time with you yesterday. I didn't think you'd care. Sorry! See you tomorrow! –Tyler

And it was true. I honestly didn't think she cared and although it was very subtle, there was a little bit of hurt in her e-mail to me. I don't know how I could tell, but to me, it was evident that there was hurt there. I opened up Hank's e-mail and basically it was just saying how much fun he had and how he couldn't wait for the game next week. I replied to it quickly then opened up Casey's. It didn't really say anything much. Just that she had fun, couldn't wait to see me again on Monday….that stuff. Then I got to Caitie's. It read:

Tyler:

Let me just make ONE THING CLEAR. You may NOT tell Val that I told you this or that I e-mailed you at all. As her best friend, I'm doing it for her best interest. I'm guessing you haven't heard about Mike yet. She's relatively happy, but she's still upset about something. As one of her close friends, I suggest you talk to her Tyler. That's all. Thanks.

-Caitie

Oookay. Now, I knew there was DEFINITELY something going on. If Caitie was pressuring me to talk to Val, then I knew I had to. Only problem was, what do I talk about? I logged off and picked up the phone. Then, I put it down again. I couldn't do this. I couldn't do this at all. I'd talk to her at school. It was just easier.

            On Monday, I walked into school with anticipation. I walked straight to Val's locker, "Hey Val."

            "Oh, hey Tyler!" Val said looking up from her stuff.

            "So…how was the rest of your weekend?"

            "It was great. Oh, and guess what?"

            "What?"

            "Mike asked someone out!!"

            "Who?" I asked along with another voice. I turned around. Jamie. And Caitie, but judging from the look on her face, she already knew.

            "ME!!! He asked me out!!!"

            "To the dance?" Jamie asked, smiling.

            "Yeah. And then, he asked if I wanted to 'get together' on Friday night. I asked if it was like a date and he was like 'Yeah, like a date.' And I could practically hear him smiling on the other end of the phone." Val squealed.

            "That's great! Congrats!" Jamie exclaimed.

            "Yeah, I'm really happy for you!!" I chimed in.

            "Thanks." Mike came over, "Hey guys. Hey Val."

            "Hey Mike." We all said in unison.

            "Uh Val, meet me in the courtyard today at lunch, ok?" he asked.

            "Yeah, sure!"

            "Great…I'll, uh, talk to you later."

            "Okay."

            "Bye guys."

            "Bye!" we all said. As soon as he was out of earshot, Val sighed, "He is so hot."

            "Oooo yeah." Caitie agreed. The bell rang and we all took off to our homerooms. My homeroom is across the hall from Val's so I walked with her. It was quiet for awhile and I didn't know what to say.

            "So…What do you think of Mike?" Val asked me finally.

            "Um, well, you know, he's the new guy on the football team so I don't know him so well, but from what I've seen of him on the team, he's really nice and he's a good person." I said carefully.

            "Really? Wow, that's really good."

            "Yeah, it is." We reached our homerooms and said goodbye. As soon as I stepped into my homeroom I wanted to punch myself. I had the big time oportunity to ask her what was wrong and I blew it. Why was it so hard for me to ask her that? I was disgusted with myself.

            After school, I headed to football practice and we had a great practice. Nothing went wrong. Absolutely nothing. It was great and I had decided that at the station, I was going to take Val out to the basketball courts and talk to her there. I had it all planned out. Until we were in the locker rooms. Hank had left practice early to go to the doctor's office before our shift at the station so that made everything that happened worse. The guys were horsing around and I was watching them. When they stopped we started talking.

            "So, Mike, did you ask Val Lanier out yet?" one of our linebackers asked. Mike nodded, "Yeah, on Sunday over the phone. We're going to the dance next week and we're going out Friday night."

            "She said yes to the dance? Good." The other running back said.

            "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why, good?" I asked them. This didn't seem right to me. Something was up.

            "Oh, Tyler, we didn't tell you?"

            "No, you didn't. What is up?"

            "You know the secret club of football?" Of course I knew the secret club of football. All the football players were in that club, but you had to go through an initiation process…Oh, no! That couldn't be it. My initiation was so easy. I just had to purposely be 5 minutes late for practice for a week. It wasn't hard and the guys helped me patch things up with the coach after that saying that I was helping a teacher for a whole week.

            "No, you guys..No." I managed to get out.

            "Yes. Mike's gonna bring her to the dance and then, all us members are gonna be really nice and everything to her. But, at the end of the night, we're all gonna dump bubblegum goo all over her and then Mike and the rest of us have to walk away and not help her even one bit!" all the guys found this funny and started laughing hysterically. No, I couldn't believe it. No, no, no, no, no!! I mean, harmless dares, yeah okay, but this was the farthest thing from harmless. In fact, it was very harmful. It would hurt Val for a long time and she'd never ever be able to show up at cheer practice again!!

            "No, you guys. I can't do that to Val. We've been friends for a long time. I can't just walk away from her like that."

            "Oh, yeah, Tyler's tight with her….Hmm…well Tyler you can be excused for this one, ok?"

            "Okay, but you guys, this isn't a harmless prank anymore. It's serious."

            "Yeah, we know. The rules have changed." I sighed. This was great. I had to warn Val before anything happened. But she wouldn't believe me. I wouldn't believe me either. At the same time, she'd be heartbroken at the dance.

            "Why Val?" I found myself asking.

            "Because she turned us all down."

            "So you're just gonna play some stupid prank on her and break her heart?"

            "Well that's what she did to us."           

            "Maybe it's because you guys used pick-up lines on her and that doesn't work with the best of the girls in Kingsport High. Maybe it's because you guys are perverted. Maybe it's because she just doesn't like you damn it!!!" I stormed out of there. 'Now what do I do?' I asked myself. I couldn't just go up to Val and be like, "Yeah by the way, the dance date with Mike is all fake." First of all, I couldn't betray my football friends. They were good guys, really, they were, despite their numb nuts. And second of all, what girl in her right mind would believe me? I wouldn't. What was I going to do??