Author's Note: You cannot even begin to understand the stress I'm under right now. Sports. Records. School. Why is life ever so hectic? Seriously. I am going to have an ulcer by Halloween. Pray for my sanity please.

And thanks to those reading. But um, I don't know why arethosebuglescarmine wrote about Lucie. Who is Lucie?

MICHAEL:

"Where were you last night?" Felix asked, placing a pin into his map of the world that he had on his wall.

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying not to smile.

"We were at the Diner. Judith showed up. Looking for you. You might as well get together with her. No one else is even worth the brain cells…" Kevin said drifting off. "We could double date."

"Well, Mia is definitely worth the brain cells," Felix said, tossing a dart into the board on his door. "Anything happening on that front?"

I smiled, "Kind of. We're not really talking about it though…"

"You kissed her?" Felix asked, mid throw. "Tell me more, I mean details."

I nodded, "Yeah."

"What was it like?" Kevin asked. He was living vicariously through me considering he'd only kissed Miranda.

"Did you get very far?" Felix asked excitedly.

I smiled, "It was nice…the few times we kissed. I wanna take her out somewhere nice though. She deserves something good."

"My dad takes my mom to the Plaza for dinner when he's in trouble. It must be nice," Kevin replied. "Maybe we could finagle jobs and save up for it. We could take our girls somewhere classy together."

I smiled. She was my girl. MY girl. "Sounds good."

"I'm glad that while I'm out there with my butt on the line you boys are back here trying to get laid," Felix said dejectedly.

I turned red. I was not trying to get laid. "That's not true. I'm not trying to get laid."

"Please. Spending all that money on dinner for the girl? Yes you are. Besides, it's easier for you….you're in the same house as her all the time. Come on, you haven't thought about it? You haven't seen her naked yet? Getting out of the shower and 'Oops, I walked in on you' type of thing?"

Both of their eyes bore onto me. "Well…yeah, but not in a serious kind of way. We are both too young. I haven't seen her naked. And…" I started, "Her family. I haven't even met them. I won't until the war is over."

The guys looked at one another.

"Besides, shouldn't you be onto Kevin over there. He's been with Miranda for-"

"I don't need anymore prodding," Kevin said with a smile.

"What?" Felix and I said in unison.

"Gentlemen, as of last night I am no longer a virgin."

Felix fell to the ground and sat criss crossed. "Wow. What's it like?"

Kevin acted like a man of the world and took his time answering. "Very nice. But it's not like we hadn't done anything else before that…"

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused but intrigued. I needed to know all this now that I had a girlfriend and from what I knew a possible lifemate.

"We fooled around before, but I never told you guys…"

"Yeah, right," Felix said with a laugh. "Then what exactly did you do?"

I decided to take mental notes as Kevin spoke. He talked about things she had done to him and things he had done to her so that when they finally made love it would take longer to finish. I had you know, done this before alone so I kind of had an idea what he was tallking about. God. If Mia knew we were having this conversation, or that I'd done that on my own she'd probably think I was a disgusting pig and never talk to me again. "I heard that most times guys get too excited and they…you know, finish too soon. So we practiced before hand."

"She actually agreed? You didn't have to pull the 'Baby, I'm leaving in a few weeks to fight a war that we aren't sure we are going to win' bullshit, right?"

"No, we did it because we love one another," Kevin said, disgusted. "Plus, all that other stuff can be fun too," he said looking at me. He knew that I was starting to freak out.

I wondered if I was going to wait four years for the 'fun stuff' to begin. But I think if we last through the war I would propose. I mean, why would I keep in touch with her if we weren't? I'm so weird sometimes.

I mean, I only met her last month. You can't consider marrying someone you only met a month before, right? No… no, you can't. It's not possible. Well, unless that girl happens to be one Princess Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Grimaldi Renaldo. That is a girl I could seriously spend some serious time with. You know, like maybe a life time?

I learn something new every day from her. She is smarter than other girls I've met. I mean, sure, Judith knows everything there is to know about science, but she hasn't really experienced anything .She can simply quote from the books. Mia tells me all about the places she's been in Europe. What the Eiffel Tower looks like from up close. What Buckingham Palace looks like (although, at the time I hadn't realized that she had stayed there and was friends with Princess Elizabeth). She's actually seen people have to leave their homes in order to survive. I doubt Judith has ever lived off of Fifth Avenue.

And she helped me with music. She sang my songs for me and helped me work out the kinks in the lyrics. She knew if something wasn't going to work.

I hope she learns more than Geometry from me.

"Michael, you still with us?" Felix said with a laugh.

I nodded. "Yeah. I am. It's just….I really like her…a LOT. I wasn't expecting anything like this. When I was told a girl was coming to live with us I wasn't expecting…"

"To fall in love?" Kevin guessed. He was better at reading my mind than Felix was.

"I'm not in love," I said defiantely, immediately knowing that I was lying through my teeth. Well, not in love yet, but I knew that it would be impossible not to fall in love.

"Yeah, sure. I'm gonna go home and do-"

"Mia?" Felix teased.

I playfully hit him over the head. "See you guys at school tomorrow."

"I'm done with it moron," Felix said shaking his head. "Remember, I'm leaving on Wednesday."

I sighed. "I'll come over right after school and we can do something, okay?"

"Naw, I'm going to be at the recruiters offices all this week. They have to run tests and stuff to make sure I will be healthy enough."

"Then tomorrow night? We can get dinner, the three of us."

"Michael, it's fine. I'll see you when we get back from the war. We'll have the reunion like we promised. Right in Times Square."

I nodded. It had been hard saying goodbye to the others but Felix was different. I had literally grown up with him. Our mothers had been pregnant together. I gave him a hug and quickly left the room. I didn't want them to see me cry.

Mia wasn't home when I got back. I had really wanted to see her…to talk about Felix. To let her know that the war was effecting us here too. Instead I did my homework.

She came home with both Sylvia and Tina in tow. "Hey girls," I said casually, going into the fridge to get an apple.

"Hi Michael," they said in a voice I knew she had told them.

I smiled and winked at Mia. "What have you been doing to my girl all day?" I asked before I took a big bite out of the fruit.

They sighed, "Mia, did you hear that? He just called you his girl!" Tina squealed.

Mia smiled and shook her head. She definitely was not like the other girls. She had her head on straight. Maybe all European girls did. Thank goodness I didn't fall for a silly AMerican. I laughed in my head because Mia had always referred to us, when she first got here, as silly Americans.

"I am right here Tina, of course I heard him. Now aren't you girls going to tell him?"

"Oh, we brought her to the zoo."

I laughed. "The zoo? Fun. See you later."

MIA:

Okay, this is what I got from the magazine (we ripped it out so I could look for the signs from Michael), (a/n: this is from an article by Abu Muhammad and can be found at: ):

Love has certain signs which the intelligent person quickly detects, and the shrewd man readily recognizes. Of these the first is the brooding gaze: the eye is the wide gateway of the soul, the scrutinizer of its secrets, conveying its most private thoughts, and giving expression to its deepest-hid-feelings. You will see the lover gazing at the beloved unblinkingly; his eyes follow the loved one's every movement, withdrawing as he withdraws, inclining as he inclines, just as the chameleon's stare shifts with the shifting of the sun…

Sometimes I catch him looking at me then quickly looking away. I continue:

The lover will direct his conversation to the beloved, even when he purports however earnestly to address another: the affectation is apparent to anyone with eyes to see. When the loved one speaks, the lover listens with rapt attention to her every word; he marvels at everything the beloved says, however extraordinary and absurd his observations may be; he believes him implicitly even when he is obviously in the wrong, testifies on his behalf for all that the may be unjust, follows after him however he may proceed and whatever line of argument he may adopt. The lover hurries to the spot where the beloved is at the moment, endeavours to sit as near to her as possible, sidles up close to her, lays aside all occupations that might oblige him to leave her company, makes light of any matter however weighty that would demand his parting from her, is very slow to move when he takes his leave of him…

Um, he totally comes and sits with me at lunch. And when the topic of the war gets brought up and his leaving he blows it off. He doesn't like the idea of leaving. Maybe it's because he could get hurt, or maybe it's because of me. I don't know.

The article goes on to say that a lover (I have to hold back laughter when I think of Michael like a lover!) is not afraid to show their beloved off. That they enjoy kissing and holding hands. This is something I will watch for in the future.

We did homework that night as we normally did, and listened as his parents listened to their radio program. "If you get three problems in a row correct," he whispered, "I'll kiss you."

I smiled and set to my work. "You know, my parents came by today on their way to the train station."

He looked upset, "Oh? They did?"

"I missed them. They wanted to get lunch together, at the Plaza. They left me letters with an address I could reach them at."

He nodded slowly, "Well, that's good, right? You know they are safe at least, right?"

"Of course….it's just sad that they were there waiting while I was out having fun-"

"You are supposed to," he argued. "Now, get to work."

He didn't get to kiss me though. His mother came in to talk to us about Halloween. "Shall I help you make a costume, Mia?" she asked.

"Why? What is Halloween?"

"I always forget you aren't aware of our customs, I'm sorry," Mom replied. "You dress up and we always have a party. Well, I'm sure you kids would much rather the party at the school…"

"Like All Saints Day?" I asked. I looked at Michael. "We wear masks so that the devil doesn't get us. It's so much fun. Simon liked wearing scary masks to scare me."

Mrs. Moscovitz patted my shoulder, "Simon being your butler, right?"

Oh. Right. She doens't know that Michael knows everything, including my brother.

I smiled, "Thank you Mrs. Moscovitz. But what shall I be? We have to make my mask."

"A whole costume, dear."

"Okay, so what shall my costume be?"

"I will think about it. Michael," she started.

"Yes Mother dear?" he asked, looking at her innocently. He had his hand on my knee under the table. I was shaking with nervousness. He was only inches from being under my skirt.

"I signed you up for dance lessons."

He nearly choked on his milk. "You did what?"

She shook her head. "You need them. You are hopeless with dancing. How will you ever dream of meeting a girl to marry if you can't dance? No proper young woman doesn't know how to dance."

I looked sweetly at him. "I know how to dance."

She smiled weakly at me, "See Michael? Mia is very proper."

He smirked. "Fine."

"So, instead of paying for a class I could teach him. It would be my way of paying you back for taking me in-"

"Mia, you don't worry about it. You are part-"

"I honestly don't mind. We can do it after our mathematics tutorial," I replied with an honest smile. "Unless he would rather see the girls in the other class..."

He shot a sideways glance at me. "That would be better. Mom, I get so nervous around regular girls. I would rather have a lesson in my room with Mia than in some studio with a total stranger."

Mrs. Moscovitz smiled knowingly. She thought we had simple crushes on one another and found it to be cute. Cute puppy love.

"You sure you wouldn't mind, Mia?" Mrs. Moscovitz asked.

I shrugged, surprising both Michael and his mother. It wasn't like me to use such a motion. "I guess it would be good. Plus, I haven't practiced in ages."

She smiled. She thought I was covering up my crush on Michael with indifference. Mother's are so silly.