"Hey Julia. Hey Seth!" Seth blinked a couple times before he realized that the cheerleader waving at him was not a figment of his imagination.

He nodded in her direction and followed Julia to the cafeteria.

He'd been dating Julia for a couple of weeks now and to his great surprise, people weren't rushing to defriend her because of it. In fact, people were starting to look at him a little differently. Seth guessed that they were trying to figure out why Julia was going out with him and he didn't think he was being conceited when he thought that maybe they were starting to get why.

He glanced at Julia and smiled. She was awesome. She was well liked around school, teachers included. His parents loved her and Ryan thought she was hot—all the guys in school did. And she was going out with him. He grinned more broadly.

At first he'd asked himself why a beautiful, popular girl like Julia would willingly be seen with him but it only took a few days of being in her company to realize that she was one of the most down to earth people he'd ever met and she was becoming one of his best friends.

Which was the problem. As much as he thought she was beautiful and great, the attraction just wasn't really there. The more they hung out the more he kept seeing her as a sister like figure and it was fucking frustrating. Finally, he met a girl who was awesome in every way and he didn't feel anything more than friendship for her.

As they walked into the cafeteria, his eyes wandered over the room looking for Ryan. His eyes paused when they fell on Summer's dark head. She'd been avoiding him since the night of the party. He only saw her now in French class. He missed talking to her, he even missed the berating.

She looked up as if sensing his gaze on her and for a second he thought her eyes brightened at the sight of him. Just as quickly, she frowned and with a flip of her hair turned away.

His heart fell for a second and perhaps that showed on his face because Julia looked at him, then followed his gaze and her brows puckered in a frown. "Seth, we need to talk."

He looked at her and wondered at the expression on her face. "Yeah, sure. Let's…"

She shook her head. "No, not here. After school at my house."

He nodded and frowned. This sounded serious. Was she thinking of breaking up with him? He was selfishly worried about it even though he knew that with the fact that he still had feelings for Summer and only a feeling of friendship for her, breaking up was inevitable.

He just didn't want to lose Julia's friendship. With her, Ryan and now Marissa, who was back to hanging with Ryan, this year was by far becoming the best one of his high school career and he really didn't want to lose that.

…

"Do you want something to eat or drink?" Julia asked as she unlocked her front door and walked down the hallway.

"Do you have cereal?" Seth asked, raising his brows in question.

Julia grinned. "Of course."

She led him into the kitchen and started hunting in the pantry for the boxes of cereal she had. Finally finding them, she allowed him to look them over before deciding on Corn Pops.

After they had poured both the cereal and milk into bowls, they headed to her room.

Seth eyed the back of her head as she walked in front of him. So, this was it. The walk of shame, the march of doom. He wasn't sure that he wanted to hear what she had to say but he thought dropping the bowl of cereal and on the ground and making a dash to the front doors would leave things somewhat…awkward between them.

They finally reached her room and Julia slumped down on her bed, bowl of cereal still in hand. He looked around before walking over to her desk chair and sitting down on it.

She looked across at him and straightened up. "I don't know how to start this."

Seth felt his heart drop. She was really going to do it. He decided to make it a little easier for her. It would be better to just get it out there and over with. "Okay, you want to break up with me, I get that. Let's not dance around it."

Julia looked up at him, surprised at his words. "It's not—Look, I like you. I think you're an awesome person but…I refuse to play second fiddle."

Seth's eyes widened disbelievingly. "What are you talking about?"

Julia took a spoonful of cereal and chewed. "Summer, Seth. I'm talking about Summer. You still like her don't you?"

Guilt unfurled in his stomach. Had he been that obvious? He looked at her silently. He didn't know what to say.

She shook her head at the look he was giving her. "Don't worry about it. I know you've had major feelings for her for a long time and it's okay."

Seth put down his bowl on her desk and walked over so he could sit on the bed. "You're right, I'm sorry. I thought things would change but it hasn't. And like—"

"It's okay," Julia said cutting him off. "Being friends is totally cool with me."

"I was worried about that, actually," he said to her.

"Seth, the last thing I want to do is lose your friendship. You're one of the most sane people I know at school. I think I'd go crazy without you." She grinned at him and he grinned back. She put her bowl down and hugged him. "This is probably the best break up I've ever had."

He laughed. "This would be the only break up I've ever had so yeah."

Suddenly Julia got up, a thoughtful look on her face. "So, what are we going to do about Summer?"

"Uh what?"

"I want to help you, Seth. My cousin needs someone like you in her life."

Seth gave her a lopsided grin. "Yeah well, explain that to Summer."

"Why explain when we can show her?" Julia's eyes sparkled with mischief.

"Where are you going with this?" Seth asked as he noted the glee in her voice.

"What if we didn't break up—I mean, what if people still thought we were together? And so did Summer. What if we totally shoved it in her face? Jealousy is a great motivator. We saw that the night of my first party here." Julia said ironically, thinking of her unwanted swim in the pool.

A smile slowly came over Seth's face. "Okay that is an awesome idea. But, are you sure you want to do this?"

Julia smiled. "I wouldn't have brought it up otherwise. It'll be fun to play with Summer's head. I've been wanting to this for years. Besides, I'd love to shake things up a little for the so-called popular kids in school. I know what it's like to be the uncool kid."

Seth looked at her doubtfully. "You used to be a geek? Yeah right."

She grinned at him. "Not that this proves anything but…" She got up and walked over to her closet. She slid a box out of it and flipped the top of it open.

Seth looked inside and saw comic books, some in plastic some not, but all in pretty good condition. His mouth dropped open as he picked up a well-preserved copy of a 1957 Superman comic book. "Whoa! The Forbidden Box from Krypton," he said in awe as he read the cover of the comic.

He set it down and looked through the rest of the box, trying to find other hidden treasures. After looking through half of the collection she had, he looked up at her and grinned. "Forget about this Summer plan. Let's get married."

Julia giggled and joined him on the bed.

*

A/N:So that's that. Thanks to those who are reviewing. And again if you read this please review. I'm not overly concerned with the amount but knowing what people are thinking about how I'm portraying the characters and how the storyline is going really helps.

And a big thank you to Literati Lover for the continued reviews. :)