Kate couldn't have cared less who was running after her. All that mattered to her was herself at that moment. She hated to sound so self-centered, but that's all she needed to care about. If she hadn't spend so much of her life trying to please people, maybe she could've been happy. And all those years would mean something

She huddled in the corner and slid down the wall. When she finally sat down on the cold granite floor, there was nothing left to do but cry. She lowered her head and hid behind her long, tangled hair, and sobbed pitifully.

"HHey, K-Kate."

~~~~~~~

After Kate wasn't visible anymore, the rest of the gym semi-normally went back to their conversations. After all, most of them had suspected something like that would happen. But Claire wasn't about to get over it (she was still giggling), but evidently, neither was Larry.

"Claire, why would you do that?" Larry demanded of her.

"Ugh, I wasn't aware tonight was Kate's pity party. It's not like she was ever your friend," she argued.

"Yeah, she wasn't. But she was yours." He shook his head in disappointment. The fight between Claire and Kate made him realize that he needed his old friends as much as they needed him. Without his friends, who was he? He was famous, but why did that matter so much to people? He needed to go talk to his friends, his true friends. "I'll be over there," he said, pointing to the table in the opposite corner of the gym. "Let me know when you decide to stop being oblivious." He marched away.

Claire stood speechless. She peered down into the empty punch bowl, still in her hands. She could see her reflection.

~~~~~~~

"What do you want?" Kate sneered. When she heard no reply, she looked up. There was Ethan, standing there, hands in his pockets, trying his best not to look too concerned. Kate couldn't understand. Why was he here? Ethan, of all people. She noticed that he stood almost too far away from her. Did she really make him that uncomfortable?

"I just uh, wanted to know if you weregoing to be okay, you know?" He fidgeted around.

Kate looked around the hallway. The school hadn't changed much in those 10 years. Junior high, she thought. As her eyes wandered on, they were brought to a halt. For a brief second, Kate and Ethan locked eyes, and in that tiny moment, everything was okay again. They were back in junior high. They were young, innocent, maybe even a little naïve. But as reality came back to them, she looked at him again. This nervous, stumbling boy in front of her. This wasn't Ethan Craft. Ethan Craft was the most popular boy in school, the one everyone wanted, the guy who just emanated confidence. That was then. This is now. She sighed.

"Ethan.what happened?" she whispered. She knew perfectly well what had happened. But she couldn't bear to make herself look like more of a fool, saying sorry and not being forgiven.

He smiled to himself. "Well, you see, Claire dumped a bowl of punch over your head" Kate looked down at her sopping wet, now-red shirt. Looking back on it, it actually was sort of funnyshe smiled. But as soon as she finally appreciated the humor, his face had already turned sour.

"You knowI just.I just don't know. Things got weird, and" Part of Kate yearned to hear what we thought, and what he felt. But another part told her that talking about it would just make him hate her more. Apprehensively, she opted to let him continue.

"I understand why you did what you did, Kate." That confidence from long ago poked up through the shy outer shell. "You were meant to be popular, and I just.you know.wasn't." Kate couldn't take it anymore. She had some things she needed to get off her chest. It wasn't the right place. It wasn't the right time. But then why did it feel so right?

"Ethan, I never wanted to be popular. I had friends: Lizzieand Mirandaand Gordo. They were my real friends," she paused for a sniffle, "andI didn't need popularity. I was happy, andI could've said no then. Seventh grade, I could've said no, and nothing would be said about it again. But then I wasI was a snob, because that's how I thought I should act. I wish I had realized it then. By the time I did, it was too late. I was in too deep." Tears were falling down her cheeks. "By then, my real friends were gone. They didn't care. The popular people didn't care. All I ever wanted to do was get out of Hillridge, and start a new life, and be a new Kate Sanders." She inhaled, and recollected herself. "When you asked me for advice in 10th grade, I didn't know what to do, or think. You were the only person to ever care for me, and"

Ethan sat down next to her. Without thinking, he hugged her. She hugged him back, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

~~~~~~~

Lizzie and Miranda were practically rolling on the floor laughing. They were the loudest people in the Digital Bean, and the pre-teens around them continued to stare. They were talking about homecoming, freshman year, when everything went wrong. From the drunk limo driver to the cheap-o dresses they had bought that had ripped, to their dates, a couple of guys they called "dates", that ended up getting a little too close for comfortwith some other girls, to the goldfish someone put in the punch bowl, to the decorations someone had destroyed, to the DJ that decided to take an extra-long break and put "My Heart Will Go On" on repeat, that night was a mess. They had both cried afterwards, but they were still able to laugh about it, so many years later.

When they had both cooled off from all the laughter, Miranda piped in. "You know, it's almost 8:30. If we're gonna go, I think we should go now."

Lizzie made a face. She knew she'd have to do this eventually.

She sighed, grabbed her jacket, and walked out the door, for the second time this night.

-----------------------------------------

[A/N: Sorry for the long, long, long time without an update. So here's an super-long one just for youu!

A few things to think about: What's up with Claire? What's up with Kate and Ethan? And what's up with Lizzie?

Yeah, usually I like you people to be intelligent and think up your own questions, but I really want you to think. Please review. Muchos gracias.]