Kelsie and Craig walked into school Monday morning, beaming. They had a great weekend together. The first thing the saw was Jimmy and Ashley standing by Mr. Simpson's classroom talking amongst themselves closely.

"Hey," Kelsie said as they passed them, waiting for them to ask questions about her and Craig, as she was a little eager to tell the world about it.

"Hey you two," Jimmy said.

"How was your date the other night Kels?" Ash asked, wondering if Craig knew about it. Knowing that he still was in love with Kelsie, but she didn't seem to feel the same way for him. She kind of felt bad for him though, the boys tried to set him up a couple of times but it never seemed to work.

"It was great," she said looking at Craig, giving him a big smile.

"Well that's good," glad to see that he friend was finally finding happiness again. She only hoped that Craig would finally find it.

"Well we have to go to our lockers, see you later," Kelsie said, hating lying to her friend.

"Bye."

"I'm surprised that they didn't know we were dating, I was sure that Paige would have opened up her big mouth about it by now," Craig said as Kelsie put her arms around his arm.

"I know, but maybe she got the idea that we wanted to tell others about our relationship," as they climbed the stairs to their lockers.

"Maybe," knowing how much Paige liked to gossip.

Manny and JT were strolling their way, holding hands, looking like they did when they started the relationship, unable to keep their eyes off each other. No one would have guessed they would last one date let along a year. Noticing Craig and Kelsie, "Oh, so you've finally landed your lady," Manny said to Craig.

"Yeah, I'm lucky that she finally would have me," looking over at Kelsie with a twinkle in his eye, with a big smile.

"Well I hope you are as happy as we are," JT stated glancing at Manny.

"We are!" Kelsie said squeezing Craig's hand slightly.

Kelsie sat in the library doing a poetry project for English, writing down some notes. Spinner and Jimmy were supposed to be helping her but they were too busy goofing off. She was getting a little annoyed because it was worth 20 of their final mark, and she didn't want to fail because of these two boneheads.

"Guys can you please help me?" she said harshly, as she had finely had it with the two of them.

Spinner changed the subject right away, "So what did you and Craig do after we left the other night?" nudging her arm a little.

"What?" Jimmy said surprised, looking at Kelsie, "What is he talking about?

"They're going out," Spinner blurted out before Kelsie got a chance to even answer.

"Since when?" feeling out of the loop.

"Well we've been together since after the movies, that day you and Spin found me and Craig kissing. We've been keeping it a secret. Only Spin and Paige caught us the other night, and it would have been too hard to make up another believable story."

"Oh man! I can't believe Craig was able to keep it a secret. He couldn't even keep it to himself about having two girls last year," Jimmy acknowledged.

"I know what you mean," putting his arm around Kelsie, smiling, "but this girl is extra special to him," Spinner said making Kelsie feel good.

"Why thanks!"

Craig and Kelsie walked into her house, to the usually silence, to find her mother sitting in the living room, with a mad look on her face. Craig and Kelsie looked at each other.

Surprised by her presence, "Mom when did you get home?" Kelsie asked.

"Funny thing, I'm in the Seattle when I got a phone call from Joey today," her mother spoke she glimpsed over at Craig and him at her. Wondering how Joey even got her number in the first place.

"Oh, what about?" she asked even though she already knew the answer to that.

"He wanted to know if Craig had been staying here since he sure hadn't been staying at any of his guy friend's house. So of course, I don't know what he's talking about," pacing back and forth. "So has he, because I haven't been home so I wouldn't really know," she yelled coming closer to Kelsie, with a look that could kill.

"If you want to know the truth…yes, but…"

"How long has this been going on behind our backs?"

"Since February."

Grabbing on to Craig's arm tightly, "I want you out of my house, and I don't want to see you near my daughter again," she yelled.

"NO!" Kelsie cried.

Removing Mrs. Fitzgerald hand, "Let me explain, it's not what you think!"

"I don't want to hear anything that comes out of your mouth, you good for nothing punk."

Getting into her mothers face, "I will not have you speak about him like that, you don't even know him. You don't know anything!" she shouted.

"I don't care; you wouldn't have done this if you hadn't met him."

"Mom, how would you know what I would have done?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Did you know that Chris stayed at our house most nights when you and dad went away on business, or that sometimes I stayed at his house? Or when he died how all of a sudden I was like a whole different person, that I treated my friends horrible."

She looked at her daughter with dismay, "What?"

Craig grabs a hold of her hand, and squeezes it, "See you don't play attention to anything, if you did you would have seen something was up. You never listened to my cries for you and dad to stay home, you acted as if my opinion didn't count, like I wasn't a part of your life anymore," she leaned her head on Craig's shoulder.

"Mrs. Fitzgerald did you know, that some nights when I've stayed here, I heard your daughter cry in herself to sleep, when she thought that I was sleeping. There's a part of her that struggles to open fully up to anyone," he was glad to finally this off his chest.

Mrs. Fitzgerald was astonished about how much she really didn't know about her own daughter. She couldn't even think about the last time they had sat down and just talked, or even had a family night. Had her husband and her been that busy to notice how much she was hurting inside? "Craig I think maybe you should leave, my daughter and I really should talk by ourselves."

He looked at Kelsie, looking into her eyes to make sure that was what she wanted, "It's okay, I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, love you," he said leaning in for a quick kiss.

Craig had come home to find no signs of Joey, so he thought he was home free for at least a little while, he wasn't in the mood to hear it right now. He walked through his room door to find Joey sitting on his bed. He dropped his head, and whispered, "Dam."

"So you've been lying to me about your where about…why?" wanting know the truth. He hated to be lied to.

"Kelsie's parents seem to go away a lot, and she hated being alone in such a big house, I stayed so that she wouldn't be."

"That's not an accuse for lying to me," he said with disappointment.

"What was I suppose you do, tell you I was staying at my girlfriends? Like that would really blow over well," he said looking straight at Joey without blinking.

"I thought you really had grown you after what happened with Ashley and Manny," standing up.

"This is what it always comes back to with you, I'm sorry we can't all be PERFECT like you," as he went to leave his room, "Oh that's right you were in the same position around my age," walking out leaving Joey to think of what he had said.

"How dare you?" he yelled.

Turns around, "What, you can bring stuff up, but I can't?"

"We're talking about you, not me. I'm not the one who's been sneaking around am I?" he sneered.

Rolling his eyes, "No. You know what Joey, I had my chance to cheat on Kelsie, but I never, because she means more to me than life itself."

"That's not all I was talking about Craig. I'm talking about the chance that she may get pregnant. That's the last thing you need right now, I want more for your life. I don't want you to be held back from the things you want to do in life. Kids are work; you don't always get to do the things you want once they come along."

Craig couldn't believe that Joey thought about those things for him. Yeah he was his stepson, but it's not the same as if he was his own. Had he been wrong about the way he felt all these years?