So in request, this chapter will be a little longer. Also, someone asked why Zoey fell in love with Chase and I thought 'oh no, I completely messed up!' But then I thought of a solution. So this will be the second last chapter (I hope you guys are tearing up right now to know that this story is ending- tee hee. Well, don't worry. Another story by me is on the way! I think…)

Chapter Seven: Realer Than Real

The gym was decorated brilliantly by the dance committee and lights flashed everywhere. Zoey entered, wearing her new blue dress. Even though she wasn't going with Chase she still wanted to wear her beautifully hand sewn dress made especially for the dance. She had apologized a billion and one times to Nicole who had also forgiven her a billion and one times.

"It's ok," Nicole said reassuringly. "This jean jacket of mine is still totally hot." She giggled. "But you do look great in that blue dress. No one can compare to you here!" She gestured around just as Michael came stumbling over, looking worried.

"You guys seen Chase?" he asked, sounding a little nervous. He held an empty plastic cup with drops of fruit punch along the sides. Nicole shrugged her shoulders and looked at Zoey who also shook her head.

"Darn!" Michael frowned and shook his empty cup of fruit punch around. "Well when you see him… let me know…" He rushed off quickly, dodging around people. Nicole turned to face Zoey.

"C'mon, Zo," she said, grinning. "It's a dance- so let's dance!"

"Nah, you go ahead," Zoey said, forcing a smile. "I'm going to go find Dana. I have something to… uh, tell her." She walked away from Nicole who shrugged her shoulders again and rushed off to talk to a cute boy who was standing alone under the disco ball.

"Hey Dana," Zoey said as she spotted her friend. Dana was holding a white box in her hands and hopping from one foot to another. "What's up?"

"Huh?" Dana jerked her head up to face Zoey. "Oh, uh, hi Zoey. I'm just… so where's Chase?" she was talking very quickly and Zoey was about to ask her what was going on when Chase walked in.

It felt as if everyone else had vanished. It was only Zoey and Chase, Chase and Zoey. They stared at each other, looking through all other people. Chase blinked and then Zoey smiled at him a little. Her eyes were sad. Chase couldn't tell, but it looked as if she was looking at him with… apology?

Zoey left Dana and walked right up to Chase. She barely noticed her knees knocking together and her legs shaking. She didn't notice Nicole standing with her arms linked with the cute guy under the disco ball, gasping. She didn't notice Michael about to yell something. She didn't notice Logan slapping a hand over Michael's face and laughing to himself. She didn't notice anything. It felt as if her life had been turned to a slow motion dial. She was walking right to Chase. Closer, closer…

He ran out of the gym and the slow motion button swiveled back into place at normal pace.

"Chase!" Zoey called, but the music was blasting so loudly that she could barely hear her own voice. Without looking back, she ran right out of the gym after Chase. Her heels were slowing her down so she stopped to take them off. Her bare feet hit the ground as she ran. Where could he be? Then an idea clicked in her head. She ran outside, her feet aching from hitting the gravel. She finally spotted Chase sitting on the bench, the very bench they had sat on the night Zoey had almost drowned.

"Chase!" Zoey rushed up to him. He looked up at her with a desperate 'get me out of here' look on his face. He started to get up, but she stopped him and sat beside him, trying to catch her breath.

They sat in silence for awhile and stared up at the sky. The moon was visible now and stars dotted the sky. There was a gentle wind blowing in their directions and Zoey lifted her feet up on to the bench and hugged her knees. After awhile, Chase did the same.

"Zoey?" he said quietly.

Zoey turned to look at him. His eyes seemed to sparkle even though there was no sun. The moonlight hit his face in exactly the right angle. Zoey hoped he wouldn't move his head.

"Uh huh?"

"Why are you out here when you could be at the dance, having the time of your life?" Chase asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Zoey took a deep breath. "Because… I had to apologize."

Chase turned to stare her right in the eye. "Apologize? For what, Zoey? I was the one that led you on, pretending to drink the love potion." He gulped. "And I mean… well you know about the potion right? And… Quinn…. You know right…?"

Zoey smiled. "I know."

Chase slumped back a little. "So why are you apologizing?" He let his feet down off the bench then curled them up again. He couldn't seem to get in a comfortable position.

"Because…" Zoey smiled a little. "You might have been leading me on, but I was leading you on too."

"What?" Chase was so shocked that he actually fell off the bench. After he had collected himself off the ground and dusted himself off, he looked at Zoey and put his hands on her shoulders. "Okay, Zoey, what did you just say? I thought you said-"

"I was leading you on," Zoey said. "Yeah, it's true." Chase took his hands off her shoulders and slumped down on the bench.

"I don't… what are you talking about?"

"You really think I'd trust Quinn to test some kind of potion on us?" Zoey said, laughing. "We could have exploded or something! I pretended to drink it and when she wasn't looking I spat it out."

"But you acted like you were under the spell…" Chase felt very confused.

Zoey smiled. "I guess being in a play can make you a good actress." She took a deep breath. "I had a suspicion you didn't take the love potion. You kept mentioning it… but I thought that if… I thought if I was under a spell then I could love you without having to hide it."

Chase stared at her blankly. "Huh?"

Zoey took a deep breath. "After spitting out the potion, I got really sleepy. I don't know what it is, but every time I talk to Quinn I get sleepy." Chase shrugged and nodded his agreement. "I think it's all those big words," Zoey continued. "So I went to sleep and woke up the next morning. I eventually remembered everything and decided to play along with it… because… Well, Chase, I really like you. I mean… I really, really do." She took another breath. "Every time you mentioned it… I just pretended I didn't know what you were talking about." She laughed uncertainly. "All the kisses, the cupcake, everything… it was all real, Chase. I was leading you on. Not the other way around."

Chase's mouth had dropped open while Zoey was talking. "You're… you're serious?"

Zoey giggled and nodded her head. "Yep. Every last word, completely serious."

Chase sighed and just shook his head in disbelief. "And all this time…" He frowned. "Well… I guess I should have known you didn't take the love potion."

Zoey's eyes widened. "Huh? How would you know?"

"If you were the only one that drank it then how could you have fallen in love with anyone else when nobody else drank it?" he said, smiling a little.

Zoey laughed. "Wow, we didn't see that coming, did we?" She sighed happily and pressed her body against his, leaning on him slightly. "So Chase, now you know exactly how I feel. Is it confusing? I mean… I'm sorry. For everything… I know if you don't feel the same way…"

"Zoey," Chase said quietly. "I said I was leading you on and I was. Why? Because I... I really, really like you too." He caught his breath, waiting to hear what Zoey's next words were.

Her eyes were filling with tears. "Y-you do?"

Chase nodded his head. Zoey tilted her head up and kissed him on the lips. By far, this was the most perfect kiss they had ever experienced. This time they knew for sure that it was real. This time they were sitting on a bench, surrounded by flowers, moonlight striking them in the most beautiful way, and stars gasping in the sky as they saw what the saw. This time it was realer than real.

Okay so it wasn't really that much longer then other chapters- but, heck, you found out A LOT in this chapter! Well okay, I wasn't really planning it so it would happen like this. But I hope you guys like it… I understand if you think it was totally lame and it made no sense at all. REVIEW (even if you thought that it was totally lame and it made no sense at all) please?