Author's Note: By the end of the story, you'll fully understand the kiss (and those to come).

I woke up the next morning alone. Michael and I snuggled after that surprising kiss
(and the few after that too) and I must have fallen asleep before him. I guess he left.

I sat up and got out of bed. There's a note on my computer screen.

Call you later

That's all it said, but it was enough to set the butterflies in my stomach racing. What does it mean?

Confused, I walked over to my closet to get out my uniform. Stuck on the doors were pictures of me with all my friends. Including Leaves.

LEAVES!

How does this affect Leaves? I mean, I know we broke up yesterday, it was the reason for all the ice cream and sappy movie that lead to the kissing.

But now there's the kissing to consider. Was it just something that happened between two confused, depressed and lonely friends? Is it something that Michael and I will never talk about again, let alone let happen again?

Deep down though, I know I want it to happen again.

Is that horrible? Michael's my best friend, and I thought I totally got over him when Leaves came along, but I guess I just replaced him with someone straight.

And it's not like I didn't like Leaves, maybe it was more even. But Michael's just…Michael.

Nothing and no one compares to him.

Oh, what am I going to do?

Maybe I should just leave the ball in Michael's court, and see what happens. Besides, I have school right now, and unfortunately, that won't wait.

"Mia, we need to talk."

That was Leaves, cornering me in the hallway on the way to homeroom.

"I think we've done enough talking, Leaves. I'm going to be late."

"Homeroom can wait," he said urgently, loosening his grip on my arm when Lars stepped forward. "This is important."

He was looking at me with his puppy dog eyes; begging me with them.

Damn him. He knows my weaknesses. He knows I can't say no when he uses his puppy dog eyes.

"Make it quick," I told him.

He scanned the hallway quickly. "Not here. Come on."

He grabbed my hand and pulled me up the hallway, towards the door that leads to the roof. Lars followed quickly, but once we began to climb the stairs, he stopped and waited downstairs. He knows we can't actually access the roof from here.

"Go on," I said, sitting on the top stoop.

He sat on the one below it and looked at me. "I want to talk about what happened last night."

Uh oh. He knows what happened with me and Michael?

"I don't regret it," I said quickly. "He might, I'm not sure, but I know that I wanted it to happen. And I'm not sorry that it did."

He frowned at me. "What are you talking about? What happened last night, and with who?"

Oh crap. He wasn't talking about Michael at all. He was talking about us breaking up.

"Um, nothing. No one. Nevermind," I said quickly.

"Mia, what happened?"

"Nothing. But if you're talking about us breaking up, I don't regret that either."

"We'll talk about that later," he said sternly, as if he's my father. "I want to know what else happened last night that you don't regret."

"It's none of your business," I said strongly, standing up. "You're not my boyfriend anymore, it's over."

He stood up too and held me back from walking down the stairs.

"I don't care if I'm not your boyfriend any more, I still want to know what happened. Who does it involve?"

"God, Leaves, possessive much? I told you I'm not telling you anything so just drop it."

"Is it Michael?" he asked, completely ignoring me. "Did something happen with you and Michael?"

I started to reply but he kept going.

"No, of course not. Michael's gay, everyone knows it. Nothing could have happened with him."

I don't know if it was the blatant use of the word 'gay' or something else, but I frowned at him.

"What?" he asked, frowning back. "You mean, it…it was Michael? Oh God, Mia, what happened?"

"Nothing, okay! Just leave me alone. Maybe it's best if we don't see each other at all for a while."

"Mia, wait," he called after me, but I was out of there.

I grabbed Lars and high tailed it to Algebra, since I'd already missed homeroom.

Lilly has been on my case all day. She thinks that since she's one of my best friends, she is entitled to knowing everything about me and my problems. But if I tell Lilly what's going on, she'll psychoanalyse me. Plus, she's Michael's sister. I can't talk to her.

What I really need, is an outsiders advice. Someone who's not related to anyone involved, and who has my best interests at heart.

I need Tina.

Blowing off French for boy talk is a common thing for me and Tina. But since things with Leaves have been pretty peachy until now, we've only ever really talked about Tina's problems.

"Why'd do call this secret meeting, Mia?" Tina asked when we reached the top of the stairs to the roof. "Things are going great with Pat right now, I've got nothing to bring to the table."

"Yeah," I said. "But I do."

"Uh oh," she replied, sitting down. "That doesn't sound good. What's up with Leaves?"

"We broke up last night," I told her.

"Oh no! Is that why he wasn't sitting with us at lunch?"

"Yup. We sort of had an argument about it this morning. But that's not what I wanted to talk about here. There's sort of…something else. Someone else actually."

"Another guy?"

I nodded.

"Already? Is that why you broke up? Because you're attracted to someone else?"

"No, not exactly. I mean, we did break up because of this other person, but it wasn't because I liked them that way and didn't like Leaves anymore."

"Mia, maybe you'd better just spit it out."

"Okay, well…"

Before I could even start to tell Tina about Michael, I felt my cell phone in my pocket start to vibrate.

"Hold that thought, Tina," I said, reaching for my phone.