"Hi, Lane!" Rory smiled at her, trying to hide the queasy feeling in her stomach. She so desperately wanted to know who that person was. Was it Dean? There was a sneaky suspicion in her that it might not be, but then again, who was she to say? She thought of Tristan...and then Jess...she sighed.

But if it indeed was some mystery admirer, someone she'd never acknowledged before...Rory racked her brain, thinking back to all the boys she'd ever said hi to that year. The answer? Zilch. The boys in her life revolved around Jess, Dean, Tristan and...Luke? Did Luke even count? She doubted it. She shook her head ruefully. She needed to get out more.

Lane waved back at Rory. It had been some time since they'd last gotten together, the day stretching ahead of them.

"Erm, Lane, if you don't mind, can I talk to your Mum?"

Lane narrowed her eyes, "Wait a minute, you're not gonna tell Mum about the time I dyed my hair purple, are you?" It was common knowledge that Lane's mum was the strictest around.

Rory suppressed a laugh, "Of course not! That photo is still with my Mum!"

"Oh okay then, sure - she's in the storeroom," Lane waved her hand nonchalantly in that direction, and Rory complied, her heart thudding - would she finally find out who this mystery guy was?

"Hello, Rory," Lane's mum greeted her in her rigid accent, and then frowned, "This Lane, she too much freedom. Every day ask me to bring her to mall! The mall!" she gesticulated with her hands angrily, wringing them, "I manage shop on own, and this Lane, she want me to bring her to the mall!!! Kids these days!" She snorted, "Way too much freedom!"

She glanced at Rory, who was trying once again to suppress a laugh, "Not you, of course," Lane's mum added hastily, "You no too much freedom. You good girl. Not like Laney." She frowned in the distance, and then turned back to her work at hand - a peeled and faded chest of drawers, and then, tongue sticking out, she added a price tag onto it deftly - $200, "You know," she confided in Rory, "People these days, they think money grows on trees. You got to charge right price. Or else people, they...how you say...take advantage on you!"

"Actually," Rory interceded, "That's kinda why I was here to talk to you today. Lane told me that there was...well, a boy that came round here the other day, and he bought a music box from you..."

Lane's mum looked up sharply. Any mention of the opposite sex set her Lane's-protection alert on overdrive, "Why you want to know?"

"Well...Lane described the music box, and it sounded nice, I was just wondering if I could get one for myself..?"

"That not likely," Lane's mum concluded, "That music box one-of-a-kind. That why is $70. The boy, he wanted it for $50! But next day, I come to store, music box gone, $80 here! Note say $10 for the glass he broke to get into store."

"Erm, how did this boy look like, if I may ask?"

Lane's mum squinted her eyes, as though that would make the boy materialize in thin air. And then she shook her head, "I no can say. He wear...whatchamajiggy? Hoo...die. So I no see his face."

"Oh..."

"But," her face brightened, "I can show you the note. Nice boy actually. Glass only cost $5 to fix. See, I can bargain pretty well!"

"Sure, I'd love to see it!" Rory said, a bit eagerly.

Lane's mum retrieved a note from a cabinet in the corner. Rory short of snatched it, quickly reading the words.

'Sorry. Here is the $70 you asked for, not $50. I also added $10 for the glass breakage.'

Her heart stopped. It was the same handwriting as the one on the bouquet of flowers...this was getting more complicated as she went on..