Craig played a note on his guitar after school that day, and then sighed in frustration. He turned to his band, which consisted of Marco, Spinner, and Jimmy.

"We suck," he said miserably. He placed his guitar down and plopped onto a raggedy brown couch. Spinner and Jimmy glanced at each other.

"Um...correction, you suck," Jimmy said smoothly, pointing at Craig. "Not us."

Craig sighed and ran a hand through his curly black hair. "I know guys. I just...can't focus. I keep thinking about Ash...and Manny."

"Why? I mean, I thought we already decided they hate you. You need to move on, dude," Spinner said helpfully from behind his drum set. He fiddled with his sticks and shrugged. "Like, find someone new. How about Roxie? She's pretty cool."

"No. I got the distinct impression she hated me. Besides, I still have feelings for Ash...and Manny." Craig said, leaning back on the couch and staring at the ceiling of his garage.

"Wasn't that kind of the problem before?" Jimmy asked, strumming lightly on his guitar. "But Manny has a new boyfriend now. So it looks like your option is Ashley."

Craig groaned and ran his hands over his face. Yeah, he knew Manny had a new boyfriend, Carter Monroe. Personally, Craig hated Carter, and not just because he was dating Manny. Craig remembered last year when Carter had tripped him in basketball and Craig had gotten a bloody nose. If he remembered correctly, Carter had just laughed and walked away. Craig gritted his teeth just thinking about it.

Just then, the boys heard voices outside, and they quieted down to listen.

"Come on! Don't be such a wimp," came a high, feminine voice.

"Paige, you said we were going to get a C.D, not stop by here to see your boyfriend," came another moody voice. "I'd rather be buried alive than go in there. I'll wait out here, thank you very much." It was clearly Paige and Ashley, arguing.

"No, your not," Paige said, and then they heard a grunt, feet scuffling, and then the door swung open. Paige marched in, dragging Ashley behind her, and behind Ashley was Hazel. Ashley looked like she was telepathically trying to murder Paige, and Paige was grinning happily.

"Hi!" Paige said, and she jerked Ashley into the room. Ashley mumbled something that sounded like "hey" and then stared at the ground. "We just wanted to stop by and hear you guys play! Didn't we, Ash?" Paige chirped, nudging her friend in the side with her elbow.

"No," Ashley said, and Paige immediately nudged her again, only harder.

"Sure we did!" Paige said. She gave Ash a look and then skipped over to her boyfriend, and gave Spinner a long, hard kiss on the mouth.

"Get a room," Jimmy mumbled, but stopped when Hazel walked over and did the same thing to him. He grinned and shrugged.

Craig watched as Spinner and Jimmy abandoned their instruments and began cuddling up with their girlfriends. He inwardly groaned and glanced at Ashley, who was still standing in the same spot, staring at the ground morosely. He swallowed hard and decided to give it one more shot.

"Hey, Ashley," he said, sitting up straighter on the couch. Spinner, Jimmy, Paige, and Hazel all stopped what they were doing to listen. Ashley glanced up, and Craig saw her jaw clench.

"Craig," she said coldly. "Just because I'm standing in your garage does not mean I want to talk to you. Paige, I'll be waiting outside." Ashley turned and stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Craig winced as she did, and he could feel the sympathetic stares of his friends.

Paige pulled away from Spinner and sighed. "Well...we should go." She looked at Hazel and nodded toward the door. Hazel and Paige both gave their boyfriends a final kiss and then headed for the door. Just before she walked out, Paige stuck her head in and smiled. "Oh, by the way, you guys sounded terrible. I just thought you should know." Then she quickly shut the door behind her.

Craig leaned back on the couch and rubbed his eyes with his hands.

"Maybe you would actually have better luck with Manny," Marco suggested weakly after a long minute of silence. Craig grabbed a pillow from behind him and promptly thumped Marco on the arm.

Emma stuffed her book into her bag as soon as English class ended the next day. She zipped up her bag and stood up, glancing behind her. As usual, Sean was taking his time getting his things together, so Emma turned and tried to look busy by organizing her pencils by color on her desk.

"Hey, Em, you coming?" Chris asked her as he walked by her desk. Emma looked up and quickly shook her head.

"Um...no. You go ahead. I have to finish with....my pencils." Chris gave her a weird look, but just frowned and headed out of the classroom. Emma sighed and stuck her pencils in her bag, just as Manny glided by. Manny intentionally looked away, and as usual, Emma completely ignored her.

Once Manny had safely passed, Emma turned to the door and saw that Sean was just hoisting his bag onto his shoulder. Emma walked down the aisle toward him, and she suddenly got the sensation that she really needed to throw up. Emma swallowed it down and told herself that it was no big deal. This was Sean, after all.

"Sean!" Emma croaked out, just as Sean was leaving through the door. He turned and looked at her, and Emma completely blanked out for a second.

"Uh...can we talk?" she said finally, holding her breath. Sean stared at her for another minute, and finally nodded. So Emma continued. "Look...I'm sorry. What happened between us was really stupid, and I don't think it should ruin our friendship. I mean....I know we went out for awhile, but I still considered you one of my best friends. And I'd hate to lose that. So I was hoping we could....well, be friends." There. She said it.

It seemed like an eternity until Sean responded, but he finally did. "Yeah...I feel the same way."

"Really? Good," Emma said with a relived sigh, and then waited. Neither of them said anything for a minute, and Sean coughed awkwardly.

"So...friends?" Emma said, with a slow smile. Sean slowly smiled back, and nodded.

"Friends."

Manny flipped her hair over her shoulder as she headed to the water fountain. She was absolutely parched. She walked up to it, and pretended to ignore the appreciative stare of the tall guy on her left. She knew she looked awesome in her black sweater crop top, and her skin-tight jeans. Manny had slightly tamed her look since last year, but she still liked to look good. She smiled slightly to herself as she bent over and took a long sip of cool, clear water.

Manny stood back up and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, which she knew was probably very unattractive. She turned to go back to her locker, when she bumped into something tall and hard.

"Sorry..." she said, but she trailed off as she glanced up. She was staring straight at...Craig.

"Manny," he said, blushing slightly and obviously not trying to stare at the bare skin of her stomach. "I...it's good to see you."

Manny narrowed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. "Really. Gee, that wasn't what I was going to say about you. I was actually wondering how long I could go without seeing you. Too bad."

"Manny...I don't want things to be...like this between us," Craig said, gesturing with his hands. He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair when he realized Manny was still glaring at him. "I really cared about you." Manny snorted at this and rolled her eyes. She was getting bored with this conversation.

"Craig, I would appreciate it if you never talked to me again, ok?" she said, holding up a hand. "How can I make it any more clear to you how I really feel?" Without letting him respond, she began to turn to walk away. Craig desperately reached out to stop her, grabbing her arm. She gasped. "Craig!"

"Hey!" Craig suddenly heard a deep voice say, and he suddenly felt himself being thrown against the lockers. He only realized a minute later that Carter was standing in front of him, and he had pushed him. He was about to explain when Carter grabbed his shirt collar and got right in his face.

"Let's keep your hands off my girlfriend, alright?" he said, somehow managing to sound calm and completely pissed off all at once. Craig swallowed hard and nodded his head, realizing that putting up a fight with Carter was a pointless battle. He then saw Manny put a hand on Carter's arm.

"Carter, stop," she said, gently but firmly. "Just...stop." Carter slowly released Craig, never taking his eyes off his face. Craig sighed with relief, and then realized what a wimp he must look like right now. Carter stepped back and put a protective arm around her shoulders. "Sorry, babe," he said. "Thought he was hassling you." Manny just shook her head and steered Carter away, down the hall.

Craig stared after them as he retrieved his book bag, which had fallen to the floor when Carter had grabbed him. He watched Manny had she glided away, attached safely to Carter's side. He turned and walked away, just before Manny looked over her shoulder at him, a look of sympathy and longing on her face.