A/n: Okay. Not much to say. DITR and BB are in the works, other than that enjoy TIOBM

Chapter

"Hey."
"Hey." I collapse onto the bed beside him. His blonde hair is in knots. He looks exhausted.
"You have homework." He yawns. Aww bless. He looks so tired... He hands me my social studies project. I pass him his health book.
"You too." He seems calm for a moment then opens his book to the little Zoey shrine on the front cover. He blushes furiously. I've never seen myself look this flustered.
"Um... I'm... I'm sorry ok."
"S'ok. I found it flattering." I blush. I found it embarassing, and confusion-onsetting. I'm starting to have doubts as to how I see Chase. Is he my best friend? Is he a potential crush? Would I date him? Is he... he's me. "Do you write that in all your books?" I ask curiously. I want to find out as much as I can about this little infatuation he has on me...

But only because I want to know. Not because I'm considering him as a partner! Just so you know.
"Only the lessons that I don't share with you."
"Why?"
"Because you never pay attention in class and always borrow my notes. It wouldn't have been clever for me to hand you a sheet accidentally declaring a crush on you would it."
"Oh yeah. I'm so... blonde sometimes."
"You're not a blonde anymore." he quips. I shrug.
"You've let my hair down Chase..." I shake my head as I reach forward and play with a strand of my own hair. It's all stuck together, partially with vomit partially with grease. His skin has lost my sheen, he's not been wearing my make up. I look AWFUL.

The fact is. He's going to have to shower at some point. I sorted that problem out easily enough for me. There's not too much lust appeal about Chase in his swimming trunks. (And I got into them by locking the bathroom door and turning off all the lights, I now kmow it's true - boys can dress in the dark.)

Girls can't. He's going to have to shower in my bikini. When I raise the issue with him his immediate response is:
"No!"
"Chase! You can't go round looking like that." I sigh and shake my head again. He shakes his head.
"Zoey look..." He pauses for what seems like forever. I know he's having difficulty saying whatever he's trying to say. "I love you..." He breathes. "And I don't think I would trust myself. I would never intentionally upset you... but. I would not trust myself in that situation. I'm a 14 year old boy..."
"How about I stay with you..."
"In the shower?" He asks skeptically.
"Yeah, it's what girls do. They sit and they talk to each other." I cross to the girls drawers, finding my bikini.

So... after a very difficult dressing session in the dark, we manage to get Chase in the shower. I can see he's uncomfortable, and I feel bad for him. But... I'm gonna make him feel worse.
"Chase... how long have you had a crush on me?" I ask over the noise of the shower.
"Why d'you care?" He asks.
"I'm just curious." I say in my 'I'm-so-innocent' voice. That voice is the voice that could fool the angels... but not Dana Cruz. She always sees through it. That girl has a seventh sense I swear. (Stupid Speilberg, copyrighting the sixth)

"You know what they say about curiousity."
"It killed the cat right? Well, I say if the cat's dumb enough to experiment with sleeping under the car... it deserves to die. Now. Spill..." Confused by my cat theory, Chase hesitates.
"Day one, ya happy." He's blushing slightly. "Pass me the shampoo."
"Day one, you mean my first day at PCA?"
"Yes... are you going to pass me the shampoo or not?" I can tell he wants to avoid the situation.
"Is that why you crashed your bike?" I ask. I just remember, on my first day at school he crashed his bike into a lamp post... no. It was a flagpole. Either way he crashed his bike ok. He gives an angry tut and stalks out of the shower to get the shampoo which is on the shelf behind me. "That's a yes then."

"It's a yes now shut up ok Zoey! I have a crush on you ok... big joke ha ha now shut up about it!" Chase doesn't yell at people. He just... DOESN'T. I feel my eyes start to tear up.
"I was only asking." I whisper. He's hurt me. How dare he hurt me! I'm not sure whether I'm angry or upset. I can't believed he yelled at me.
"Aww Zo... I'm sorry! I... I didn't... I don't want... Sorry!" He comes over and even though he's sopping wet and wearing a bikini he hugs me. I really don't want to cry. I'm not upset about him yelling anymore. he's apologised for that. I'm upset about the fact that I care. Chase is my... best friend. My Big Brother. And I think I may be starting to have a teeny bit of a crush on him? That can't be good. If I have a crush on him in my body... does that make me a lesbian? I'm confused.

"And I was... OH MY... GOD!" Nicole screams and slams the door. Chase springs apart from me.
"What happened?"
"The scene that just happened, Nicole misunderstood." Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no! I am SO gonna get it from... oh no I won't. Chase'll get it from dana and Nicole. I'll get a pat on the back and a high five from Logan and Michael respectively.
"She thinks we were..."
"Doing... IT." Oh god!

-----------------------

"And they were there... and ugh. She was wearing like only her underwear and I swear to god..."
"ENOUGH!" I yell. I slam my fist down at the table. "I am going to say this once and only once. Nicole you got the wrong end of the stick and I am NOT going to explain it to you." They've never seen Chase that mad. Chase places my hand on his arm lightly.
"Calm down..." He whispers.
"That's how rumors are spread though." I pout. He nods and blows a clean strand of blonde hair from his eyes. I fixed his make up for him, and he looks a million times better.
"I know... but you don't need to get angry..." He whispers in his softest 'calm-down-Zo-or-someone's-gonna-punch-you'
"Awww... you two are so cute together." Says Logan in a sickly sweet voice. "You're gonna make me throw up."

"Shut up." This is my excuse to flirt with Chase, to see how it feels, to test the waters, and not have it mean anything. I knew there was a reason I invented this lie. "Just because you can't get a girlfriend, doens't mean you can rag on me and Zoey..."
"Hey! FYI, I could have any girl in this school!" He snaps.
"Apart... from Dana." Michael smirks.
"Why I oughta..." Logan stands up, knocking his chair over, ready to punch Michael's lights out.
"Logan!" Dana says strictly. "Leave him alone..." She says very softly. He grumbles about it, but gets back into his seat and stares at his dinner tray angrily.
"Fine."

"She's got you whipped..."
"Michael! One more word and I'LL kick your teeth in, ok." Dana says in her 'I'm-not-that-innocent' voice. Michael shrugs.
"Just saying."
"I feel left out." Says Nicole suddenly. "Everyone's a couple apart from us Michael."
"Um... yeah... about that... I gotta go... take a shower." Michael fled the table in fear. Nicole looked confused.
"We're not a couple." Dana mumbles.
"Well you're as good as." Nicole huffs. "Zoey don't you have any cute guyfriends you can hook me up with."
"Um..." Chase pauses. "None as cute as Chase." He then says with a small smile at me. I give him a coy wink.

"You two really are gross." Dana huffs.
"For once we're in agreement about something." Logan says, taking a large bite of his cheeseburger. Dana says nothing. I can see right through her. In her eyes. She wants to grab him and kiss him... or hit him. She's furious with herself for pushing him away. And she's upset too, though... she'd never say it. She's tough as houses.
"Can't you two just kiss and make up?" Chase asks.
"Can't you two just kiss and shut up?" Suggests Logan. I shrug. I lean across and he pulls back. His eyes are saying 'What are you doing?' I roll my eyes. I want to kiss him. Properly. But evidently he doesn't want to kiss me. Now I feel stupid.
"Fine then suit yourself." I turn away from him.
"You just shocked me is all." He takes my hand and leans forward and kisses me. It's only soft and very chaste. Probably more like a siblings kiss, but it's nice.

I smile at him, he smiles at me. I have my lip gloss on Chase's mouth now. Hm... it tastes good. Weird.
"Come on loverboy..." Chase says standing up, he blushing so furiously, I think he'll probably burst one of my veins. "Nicole you too, we'll leave these two to duke it out." I stand up and Nicole gives Chase a
'Do I have to' glance. Dana gives Chase a
'Please don't make me!' and Logan gives a
'great, now I get yelled at' to the whole table. I pull Nicole up amd the three of us walk away.

"You're a good kisser." I mumble to him. Admittedly, it wasn't like he frenched me... but it felt right.
"I didn't kiss you properly. It's an act remember." He hisses. he's mad at me. I just remembered I'm mad at Nicole. I'll be mad at her later. When I'm less... in love? Oh god I'm in love with my best friend. How dopey am I! It is like the code, the unwritten rule. You do not fall for your best friend.

"You mad at me?" Dana asked eventually. Logan said nothing. He just looked at her. She sighed and stood up. "If you're not going to talk to my I might as well leave."
"That's you all over. When things happen, when things start to change... you up and walk away." She sat back down, smirking.
"See, now we're getting somewhere. I was scared ok."
"Dana Cruz was scared oh wow. Stop the press."
"You're always so sarcastic." She rolled her eyes. He nodded.

"So what are we?" He asked eventually.
"I dunno. I want to be your girlfriend..."
"But..." he sighed. He knew there was always a but with Dana.
"But... I want to be your only girlfriend." She shrugged. "I don't want to be on a date with you Saturday and Sunday hear some other girl saying how great a kisser you are." He paused.
"You think I'm a great kisser?"
"Of course." She said sweetly. "You're Logan Reese."
"If I promise, you'll be the only girl I date..."
"And the only girl you kiss, make eyes at or even think about."
"That too... then you'll go with me?"
"Yes." There was a very long pause.

Logan was contemplating the horros of life with only seeing one girl. Dana was awaiting an answer.
"Ok then." He nodded. "It'll be tough but... yeah." Dana smiled.
"Catch you later then."
"Hey don't I get a goodbye kiss?" He pouted.
"Not when you have spaghetti in your teeth." Dana looked at him disdainfully and left. Logan grabbed his sp00n and began using it as a mirror to inspect his teeth.

After icing Nicole... I'm still mad at her for saying that Chase and I were doing IT, Chase and I retire to 101.
"Why'd you go to kiss me earlier?"
"Putting on an act... remember." Ok - now I'm mad at him? And they say girls have over active hormones! Since I've been Chase it's like I'm on a roller coaster. Being a boy is so lame.
"Yeah but... I mean... nevermind."
"Look... we need to talk."
"Oh no..." he whines. "I hate that, those four words... Nothing good ever comes from those four words."
"Fine then!" I growl.
"Oh come on Zo... I was..." SLAM.

I don't know why I'm getting so mad.

A/n: Please review? Please? If you have time hit my profile page. This isn't my best story. The Opposites is.