"Are you okay?" Todd whispered across to Elizabeth the next morning.
They were seated in homeroom. Elizabeth had gone back to her old style,
she was wearing khakis and a light blue tee shirt and her hair was in a messy
ponytail. And she looked miserable. It was hard for her to just be awake, but
she had found it impossible to sleep last night. She practically had to bit her
tongue and shut her eyes as tight as she could to keep from bursting into tears.
Elizabeth nodded and whispered back, "I didn't sleep well."
Todd smiled sympathetically. "You look like your dog died." Then he turned
back around.
Elizabeth couldn't believe that Todd had bought that lame excuse. Conner would
never have fallen for it. He always seemed to be so tuned in on her moods and
emotions. Conner. At the mere thought of his name, Elizabeth felt a new wave
of tears come on. It was hard to believe that she had only met him less than a
week ago. But everything they did seemed so important, so permanent. Their
dinner at the restaurant, their first kiss in his car, their make out session on his
couch…
And it was all Elizabeth could to keep from collapsing in hysterics.

Conner stormed out of the school. School had ended about an hour ago and he
had buried himself in the library until he was sure his friends had left. As he was
crossing the deserted parking lot he saw Tia leaning against his car.
"What are you doing here?" he snapped.
"You thought you could get rid of me that easily?" Tia said raising her eyebrows.
"I thought you knew me better than that. Plus, your gig at the House of Java is
tonight and I was volunteering to be your roadie."
"Crap!" Conner shouted as he kicked his tire. "That's tonight?"
"What is with you?" Tia said incredulously. "You have been in a foul mood all day
plus you have been avoiding us. This is worse then usual."
"Nothing's the matter," Conner said stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking
away from Tia.
"Well, you were so happy the past week." Suddenly Tia's eyes softened. "It's that
Liz chick isn't it?"
"No," Conner scoffed. "When I ever gotten pissed off because a girl I was dating
has a boyfriend."
"Liz has a boyfriend? That slut."
"It's not all her fault. "I have dated girls who have had boyfriends before."
Suddenly Tia smiled. "I know why you're so upset. You care about this girl,
don't you."
"No," Conner lied.
"Yes you do," Tia said grinning. "The heartbreaker has finally fallen and fallen hard."
"So what?" Conner snapped. "It doesn't matter now."
"You don't know that. Sure she messed up and she shouldn't have even looked
at you but maybe, she felt something too. Maybe she's confused. I mean she
probably though she loved her boyfriend. And then she meets this guy and she
falls for him."
"Maybe," Conner grumbled.
Tia climbed into the car. "If you like her, then go for it. You may find that stick up
your butt gone. And I also think you can do better. I've never met her, but it seems
like you could do so much better."

Ken pulled his shirt over his head and glanced over at Jason. He couldn't believe
he had agreed to help Jessica pump information on Jason. He hated the idea of
playing matchmaker and he didn't even like Jason. He couldn't understand why
all the girls seemed nuts over him. So yeah, he played football, was rich, and good
looking. But he was also arrogant and a show off. Ken thought he seemed perfect
for Lila. He didn't understand why Jessica would like him though. Jessica was so
funny and friendly and up beat. Not at all snobby or arrogant like Jason was. But
Ken had promised and he didn't like to go against his word.
"Tough practice, huh?" he said turning towards Jason.
"Yeah, I swear that coach was a prison warden in some life," Jason said pulling
his pants on. "If it weren't for the glory and the cheerleaders and the girls, I totally
wouldn't even play."
"Yeah," Ken said forcing a laugh. "Some of those cheerleaders are pretty hot.
Like Jessica?"
"Wakefield? Yeah, she gorgeous. I would definitely want to get some of that action."
"I thought you were seeing Lila." Ken asked confused.
"Yeah, we had some fun, but she's getting kind of clingy. I heard from some other
guys that Jessica likes to play the field. So we could go out and there would be no
pressure."
"She's not like that," Ken said annoyed. "I mean she does date a lot but she's not
the kind of girl that would…"
Jason laughed. "She might if I were to sweep her off her feet." With that he
grabbed his bag and strolled out of the room. Ken sunk onto the bench and
buried his face in his palms. What was he going to tell Jessica? That Jason liked
her but only wanted to use her? Was it really his place? Either way, he knew
someone was going to get hurt.

Jessica tossed her bag into the back of the jeep. She stretched her arms out
over her head. Now that cheerleading practice was over she was going to go
home and maybe sit out on the deck and catch some of the last afternoon rays.
Suddenly her eyes lit up as she saw Jason striding towards her. She smoothed
her hair and tried to look nonchalant. He approached her and gave her a
crooked smile. "Hey, Jessica is it?"
She nodded and smiled. "And you're Jason."
"Brilliant insight," he said stepping closer to her. "I like a girl who can use her mind."
His eyes roamed over her body and Jessica felt a slight tingle.
"What else do you like about girls?" Jessica said coyly.
"Everything," he said. "I know I like them cute and fun."
"That's how I like my boys," Jessica breathed.
"I bet," he said chuckling.
Jessica beamed. She couldn't believe that Jason had noticed her. But a slight
nagging feeling was slipping into her brain. She knew he was still seeing Lila
and that Lila would be devastated.
"What about Lila?" Jessica asked smirking.
"What about her? We went out once, we had some fun but that's all it was."
Jessica felt relieved. She knew Lila was going to be ticked but once she saw how
happy Jason and her were going to be she would understand.

"I don't want to go," Elizabeth complained form the back seat of Lila's Triumph.
"Get over it," Jessica chirped happily. "We won and you lost and you're going
to have some fun."
"I don't want to go see some wannabe rock star play at a new age coffeehouse,"
Elizabeth moaned.
"You have been in a bad mood all day," Jessica said twisting around so she was
looking at her sister. "I don't care what kind of stupid fight you and Todd had, but
you need to do more than sulk in your room. Plus he's going to be here tonight
with Ken so you two can do your obligatory make-up."
Elizabeth didn't say anything.
"Plus," Lila said as she turned around the corner. "This guy is supposed to be
a total babe."
"Really?" Jessica said interested.
"Yeah, Dana Larson met him last year at some concert and they had a little three
day fling. Apparently this guy is a notorious player. He dumps girls and finds a
new one before you can blink."
"I hate guys like that who think they're like God's gift," Liz scoffed.
Lila ignored her and continued to chatter on. "Dana said he was hands down
the hottest guy she had ever been with and Dana's dated some good ones.
He's from El Carro," Lila said checking the rearview mirror. "Conner
McDeckmont or something like that."
Elizabeth faced paled. Lila couldn't be talking about her Conner. A player? He
had seemed so sweet and earnest. Was he planning on breaking her heart too
and just used Todd as an excuse? Elizabeth felt tears well up in her eyes. All
day she had been dreaming about Conner forgiving her but he probably had
already found someone to replace her. Conner and her's relationship didn't
matter anymore; she was nothing to him, just another girl on a long list.