Chapter 2:

"Kay?"

She heard someone call her name, but couldn't exactly tell who it was. Kay knew it was a male's voice and that it definitely WASN'T Miguel. So who could it be?

"Yeah?" she mumbled, almost inaudibly.

Whoever had called to her seemed to have heard her when she replied because she could hear footsteps nearing where she was sitting on the ground.

"You, umm," John turned the corner of the building, and saw Kay sitting down, looking very hurt and unconsolable. He was just going to tell her that she had forgotten her jacket back in Miguel's dorm, but the look of pain on her face had grabbed his attention enough to forget everything and stop talking.

"Oh, my jacket," Kay said, standing up to face him. She took it from his outstretched hands. "Thanks, John."

"Sure," he murmured.

He still could not stop staring at her features. So sad. He barely knew her, but wished that he could wipe that look off of her face. It didn't look good on her, and he didn't want to see her that way.

"I'm sorry about um, what happened back there. That must have been hard. Umm, would you like to go out for some coffee? I know it's late, but -"

"Yes," Kay replied hastily. She needed to be away from the nightmare she had just endured, even if it was only for a little while. And the fact that she had company wouldn't hurt either.

"Great," John said. Out of all of the 'group' that he had met awhile back, Kay was the one he was least closest too. But there was something intruiguing about her - like she possessed a mystery he wanted to unsolve. He liked that trait in a woman.

They began to walk to a coffee shop that was close to their dorms.

"I've never been here before," Kay said once they sat down with hot drinks in their hands. "It's a nice place."

He nodded. "You're a freshman, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kay nodded back. "It's my first year. What about you?"

"I'm a sophomore," he replied. He paused. He didn't know what else to say. The walk to the coffee shop had been full of small talk, and now he had run of stuff to conversate about, especially since he didn't want to bring up the mention of Charity and Miguel AT ALL. He could tell that they were the last thing she wanted to hear or talk about.

"What's your major?" Kay asked casually after a few moments of silence. She took a sip of her coffee.

"I'm a communications major for now," John answered, glad that she had decided to initiate a conversation between the two of them, "have you declared a major?"

"No," Kay shook her head. "I'm undecided, even though I am leaning towards English. Like creative writing. I love to write."

"Oh really?" John asked, interested. "What do you like to write about?"

"Anything. Everything," She gave a soft laugh. "Politics, racism, love, hate, nature, you name it."

"Maybe you'll let me read them sometime?" John pressed, hoping she'd answer with a yes.

"I don't know," Kay observed slowly. "I've never shown anyone my work." He could tell there was more to it than just showing others her writings. Those works of literature were her personal diaries. The key necessary to unlocking the secret of who Kay Bennett really was. And she had not let anyone see it. Not even Miguel it seemed.

"Maybe you should." John responded.

"Definitely," Kay agreed, nodding her head. "But just not yet."

______________________________________________________________________________

A few days later, Miguel and Charity were visiting their families and telling them that they were engaged. Grace, Charity's aunt, was so happy for her neice. She called Kay, Jessica and Noah, asking them if they could come home this weekend, even though they lived only seven miles away.

Jessica and Noah had agreed, but Kay, who was reluctant to see anyone celebrate happily at the same time when she would be miserable, had boldly refused.

"Kay!" her mother had scolded over the phone.

"You know how I feel, mother. I won't come. That's final."

"Kay, this is really immature of you!" Grace had hissed before Kay heard the clicking of the telephone. Her mother had hung up on her.

"Of course it is," Kay said bitterly to the receiver in her hand, "It's immature because nobody pays attention to the fact that I may be hurting from all of this!" She slammed the phone down.

______________________________________________________________________________

Miguel and Charity had returned from the shopping they had been doing. They went to the Bennett's. Charity opened the door to see her family, as well as Miguel's family, smiling and talking to each other.

"What's going on?" she asked her aunt.

"I invited the Lopez-Fitzgerald's over to celebrate your engagement, honey," Grace responded, giving her neice a hug.

"Oh that's sweet, thank you," she replied. She took Miguel's hand and walked over to where some of her future in laws were standing.

After a few minutes of chatting with her soon to be family, Charity felt Miguel take her to a corner of the living room where they could talk alone.

"I see Kay's not here," Miguel remarked, not a bit surprised.

"It's hard for her, you know," Charity insisted lightly. "She loves you."

Miguel sighed but didn't say anything. I'm sure it is hard, he admitted to himself, but she has to understand and just deal with it.

______________________________________________________________________________

"I'm sorry, everyone," Miguel announced a little bit later. "But Charity and I have to be going. We have a date."

"Ok, you two lovebirds," Pilar called, smiling. "Have fun."

"Thanks, mama," Miguel kissed her on the cheek before Charity and him were out the door.

"So where are we going?" Charity asked him once they were seated in his car. She had no idea that they "had a date" for tonight.

"Well I figured I'd take you to the carnival," Miguel remarked. "Remember that was where we first met."

"I will never forget that day," Charity replied, her face just inches away from Miguel's.

"Neither will I!" Miguel said, before his lips were on Charity's.

______________________________________________________________________________

Two hours later, after Miguel had won Charity a few teddy bears, they decided to take a break and get something to eat. They ran into Fox and Simone while they were in line waiting to be served.

"Hey!" the tall, handsome Fox called out. "What's up?" He gave Miguel a high five and smiled at Charity.

"What's up guys?" Miguel asked back, nodding towards Simone.

"Hey, Simone," Charity said, getting one of her friends aside to talk. "You're going out with Fox?" She stared at her incredulously.

Simone nodded happily.

"Since when?" Charity couldn't help ask. Simone was one of her good friends, but she didn't know anything about this.

"Since about three weeks ago," Simone told her. A new thought entered her mine. "I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier. Girl, here we are talking about my love life when we should be talking about yours! I heard about you and Miguel. Show me your ring!" she insisted.

Simone oohed and aahed as Charity showed her her engagement ring. "I'm happy for you," she told her, giving the blonde girl a hug.

"Thanks," Charity replied.

"So you and Charity gonna get married eh?" Fox asked Miguel from a few feet away.

"I can't wait," Miguel informed him.

They turned to look at their girlfriends, who were lost in deep conversation.

"Well we better leave you two lovebirds alone," Fox said a few moments later. "I'll be seeing you later, all right, dude?"

"Yeah," Miguel nodded.

"You ready to go, Simone?" Fox called out to his girlfriend.

Simone said a quick goodbye to Charity before she went over to her boyfriend, taking his hand in hers.

"See you guys," she called out.

Miguel and Charity watched them walk off, before they went back to their food.

"Who woulda thought they would go out, don'tcha think?" Miguel asked.

"Yeah," Charity nodded. "But they look cute together." She stared at their retreating forms.

"Not as cute as you and me," Miguel remarked, pulling her into a soft kiss.

{a/n: more to come. this is gonna be about 9 chapters long. just to let u guys know, if u dont like the couples ive put together, dont read this. and dont flame me with hoping of making me change things around. it wont work. remember this is MY fic. if u dont like it, go and write ur own fic in any way u want.}