School now consisted of Riley ignoring me. Whenever she'd see me, whether I was walking down the hall or sitting in class, she'd glance at me, then turn away. I wasn't usually bothered by this, but for some reason it really grated on my nerves when it was her ignoring me. I wished I could go back to the things I knew before Riley: sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.

So the day had come. The damn day of the damn dance. Damn. She'd be with the Geek Overlord, dancing the night away. Don't get me wrong, I had nothing against Brian. But I wanted Riley to have the worst time possible. I wanted her to realize that maybe she could've had a better time with me.

Then again...she had no idea that I liked her.

I decided to go visit Andy and Allison to take my mind off of everything. Instead of dealing with that bitchy nurse, I snuck through the basement of the hospital with an old sticker with my name on it stuck to my shirt. No one thought twice about it, which made me question how smart these doctors really were.

Andy's door was open, so I walked in nonchalantly only to see Andy and Allison making out again. I cleared my throat to acknowledge my presence, and Andy fell back on his pillow in frustration and embarrassment.

"God, Bender, can't you ever knock?" He asked in exasperation as Allison gave me another simple, child-like smile. She slid off of Andy, crawled beside him, and snuggled up to him as he put his arm around her.

She frowned when she saw my weary, jaded facial expression and said, "You seem tense."

"No shit, I'm tense." I muttered, taking a seat in the chair next to the bed. "I'm going fucking crazy."

Andy gave off a look of confusion, whereas Allison seemed concerned. I expected her to understand the whole 'crazy' feeling. Let's just face it, she's about as normal as a guy with three arms.

"What's your beef?" asked Sporto, who was now stroking Allison's dark hair with his fingers. "Family, school..?"

I ran a hand through my hair. "Amazingly, it has nothing to do with that."

"Is it the girl who Brian's going to Homecoming with?"

I looked up at Allison in stupor, stunned that she knew. I hadn't even told anyone that I liked Riley. How could she know about it? Before I got too ahead of myself, I reminded myself that it was Allison. Enough said.

"What makes you think that?" I asked casually, thinking maybe she wouldn't catch on to my little secret.

She had a knowing smirk on her pale face. Her brown eyes glittered as she replied with, "You like her." She sat up, still holding onto Andy's hand, and went on. "When Brian told us about her, you were sulking in the corner."

Praying that maybe there was some hope that my secret wouldn't be let out, I glowered at her. "Just because I was sulking means I like her?"

Allison let out a tiny giggle from her throat and nodded. "You looked very jealous, John." Now Andy sat up and put an arm around Allison's waist.

"You did looked pretty pissed, man."

"What, like I need therapy from the beefy wrestler and his loony bin girlfriend?" I said in a tone that I didn't recognize. I had sounded small and quiet, hopeless. That was new to me, and apparently to Sporto and Allison too. They both were quiet, then Allison got off the bed and walked over to me.

Kneeling in front of me, she asked, "Did you tell her that you like her?"

I leaned back in the chair and rubbed the bridge of my nose with my pointer finger and thumb, closing my eyes. "Would I feel this shitty if I did?"

When I opened my eyes, Allison was staring at me with the most serious face in the world. She really seemed to care about my situation. I couldn't help but feel glad that I had an understanding with her. The next thing I knew, she had my hand in hers.

"How much do you like her?" She asked.

"Aw, fuck...I dunno...a lot, I guess."

She cocked her head to the side, rolled her eyes, and said, "You don't deserve her if you 'dunno, a lot, I guess' like her. You need to 'know-more than anything' like her if you want her."

After she had said that, I sighed and smiled at her with a surrendering simper. She was right. If I wanted Riley to like me, I couldn't just act all badass about her. I had to treat her the way I felt about her.

I stopped myself from becoming too lovey-dovey, and said, "Okay, so I like her more than anything. How's that supposed to win her over?"

"Go to the Homecoming Dance and tell her." Andy piped up, sounding almost excited and proud of himself. When he saw the look of uttermost disgust on my face, he cleared his throat, frowned at his lack of masculinity, and said, "Rescue her, I mean."

Allison grinned lovingly at her boyfriend and walked over to him. "You're so cute." She told him, leaning in for a peck on his lips. As weird as it sounded, they were made for each other. You could see it every time they'd look at each other–whoa, I really have to stop thinking like a pansy.

I stood up, ready to go, when the door opened and Claire walked in. Her eyes fell on me, then on Allison, and she smiled. She was wearing a lacy pink and white Homecoming dress with various strands of pearls around her neck. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

"Looks like the Princess decided to take on her title literally." I stated, giving her a sly half-smile. She rolled her eyes in slight amusement, and spun around for Allison. Her eyes looked hopeful as she asked, "How does it look?"

Allison was smiling brightly at the beautiful gown as she replied, "You look like John said. Just like a princess. Thanks for stopping by so we could see the dress."

With a pleased look on her face, Claire smiled and took something out of the little white purse she as carrying. I discovered that it was a little makeup bag with brown eyeliner and pink eyeshadow inside. She walked over to Allison and gave it to her with a sheepish smile.

"It's a parting gift." She said softly, sounding a bit choked up. "It's so that you can remember me...and not to use that black shit."

We all laughed a little at that. A tear rolled down Claire's cheek as she and Allison hugged each other. She stifled a cry, probably hoping her makeup wouldn't run.

"Come back here soon, okay?" She asked in a strangled voice. "We're all gonna miss you."

Allison nodded. "I promise I will."

Claire gave Andy a kiss on the cheek and was about to leave when Allison spoke up just as Claire had her hand on the door.

"Wait, Claire."

Giving me a quick glance, Allison gestured over at me and said, "Take John with you. He's got something to take care of at the school."

Claire looked confused, but waited as I walked over and gave Allison a goodbye hug. We said our goodbyes, then left to Claire's limo. She seemed a little discouraged about me coming with her. There was no doubt in my mind that some of her richie friends were waiting in there for her.

"So...why are you going to the dance?" She asked me in the elevator curiously.

The look on my face was hard to interpret. I was excited to see Riley, nervous about what I would tell her, scared if she would decline, and a little psyched to be riding in a limo. What? A guy can't have a little bit of excitement over something like that?

"Well?"

I walked out of the elevator once it had reached the lobby floor and glanced back at Claire only once, hoping to stay calm. I didn't want to seem nervous either. When I didn't reply, she just groaned and led me out to her disgustingly glamorous limo.