"Have you seen T.K anywhere?" Riley asked, as she sat down across from Chase in the cafeteria. The Bellerophone tournament would be starting in a couple hours and they wanted to wish T.K good luck in case they didn't see him.

"I didn't hear him come in last night." Chase said, opening a carton of milk. But his bed sheets were all ruffled. He must've gotten up pretty early."

"Things with Lara must've gone badly." Riley said, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"What makes you say that?" Chase asked.

"Female intuition. And the fact that Lara cried again last night."

"I thought you said she was always doing that."

"She recently stopped. T.K must've been the cause of that."

"Oh, damn it." Chase said quietly. "I'm willing to bet that T.K's game is headed in the same direction as last night."

Max sat at her desk, waiting for Gabe to show up. They were supposed to be presenting their project next. Typical Gabe. Can't even take the time to present his own project.

"Miss West." Mr. Willow said as the kids who just presented their project sat down. "It is you turn."

Max got to her feet and, holding her pitiful project her hands, walked to the front of the class.

"Uh." She said hesitantly. She forgot that all her oral notes had been in the folder she had thrown out.

"This is-"

"Wait!" The shout came from the doorway. Every head in the room turned to see the origin of the shout.

Gabe walked into the classroom. What he was holding caused Max to grin from ear to ear. Gabe was carrying the mobile from the blueprints she had drawn up. It was completely flawless. Every aspect of the planets was painted onto colorful Styrofoam balls. They hung in an orbit in the exact right order. Every single little detail she had written down in her notebook had come into the physical world. In his other hand was a large piece of Bristol board completely painted black with sparkles dusted all over it, showing off a gorgeous starry scene.

"Mr. Willow. Sorry I'm late but that isn't our project." Gabe said, groggily pointing at the Bristol board in Max's hand. Max noticed that Gabe's eyes were shadowed and heavily bagged. He apparently hadn't slept in awhile.

"Well, Mr. Dawson. Whenever you're ready." Mr. Willow said.

Gabe reached under his arm and withdrew the notebook with all the notes about the project inside.

"I hope you don't mind if you do most of the talking." Gabe muttered, blinking hard. "God, I need a coffee."

Max smiled at him once more and delved into the project, much more confident that she had been before.

"Match, Daniel Gregory." The announcer called.

"Damn it!" Chase and Riley exclaimed. That was T.K's second match and he hadn't won one single set.

"If he keeps playing like this," Riley said as they watched T.K throw his racquet against the wall in frustration. "He'll be lucky to finish last."

"What are we going to do about this?" Chase asked. "This is all psychological. We need to get his mind off Lara or he'll be in Group F by the end of the day."

"Hmm." Riley muttered as T.K walked off to the locker room. "I think I need to have a little talk with my roommate."

Riley walked to her dorm room. She knew that Lara would be there. After winning a few matches and putting T.K's teachings to good use, Lara had left the court.

Riley opened the door and walked in. Lara sat on her bed, leafing through a magazine though not looking particularly interested in it.

"Hey." Riley said.

"Hi." Lara said weakly.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing."

There was a momentary silence.

"Okay." Riley said. "What the hell happened last night? With T.K?"

Lara looked at her with genuine sadness.

"He…" she said, quietly. "He kissed me."

Riley said nothing, trying to think of how to respond of to this. When she told T.K to act on his feelings, she had no idea that he would actually do it.

"And what did you do afterwards." Riley asked in a small voice.

"I-I left."

"What?"

"I left."

Riley couldn't believe this.

"Lara, look. I know we don't know each other that well but what you did was completely wrong. T.K really likes you or rather liked you."

"You don't know what I'm feeling!" Lara said loudly. Riley fell silent.

"My whole life, boys have flocked me because of my looks. My apparent friends only stayed with me because I was popular. They didn't listen to a word I said. They just wanted to be seen with me. And, T.K comes along and I thought I finally had a friend who could see through the makeup and like me for me. But, now he likes me too."

Lara had tears in her eyes now. Before Riley knew what hit her, she was sobbing in her arms.

"I just wish I had what you have." She sobbed.

"Well, if you hadn't pushed us away like that when you first met us, we'd all be hanging out together." Riley answered, patting her back uncertainly. "But what you have to realize is that T.K would be more then willing to be your friend."

Riley let go of her and they sat down onto Lara's bed.

"What you need to do though." Riley said. "Is apologize to T.K."

Lara shook her head hopelessly.

"Like he'll forgive me."

Riley sighed and took her hand.

"Lara, I guarantee that if you mean it, he'll consider forgiving you. We're not like those people at your old school. Like it or not, we're all equal here."

Lara's face brightened slightly.

"Thanks, Riley."

"Don't mention it. If you hurry, you can catch him before his match."

"Okay." Lara said, getting up from the bed and running from the room.

Riley lay back on the bed.

"How come her sheets are softer then mine?" she asked herself out loud.

A loud knock rumbled against Gabe's dorm room door, waking him up from his nap.

"Come in!" he yawned loudly.

The door opened revealing the brown blonde head of Max.

"Hey." She said, stepping in.

"Hey, Freckles." He said, lifting his head up from his pillow.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Trying to catch up on my sleep." He answered, stifling another yawn.

She walked over and sat on his bed.

"Gabe, I want to-"

"If you say apologize, I swear I'll kill you." Gabe said, smiling. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. I didn't show any interest in this work whatsoever and we almost got a crappy mark because of me."

She smiled as well.

"I was about to say I'm sorry that your sleep cycle was trashed. I know it was all your fault."

"Oh, shut up." Gabe said, grinning. "So, uh, are we okay?"

"That depends." She said, cocking her head eyebrows slightly.

"On what?" Gabe said, extending his head closer to hers, hoping he was reading the signals correctly.

"On whether you want us to be okay." She said, leaning in as well. The space between the two of them got smaller and their lips were about to come into contact when the door burst open. They broke apart quickly. The invader turned out to be Chase.

"Guys, I've been looking all over for you. T.K's match starts in like 10 minutes."

He then noticed how close they were.

"Unless you two want to be alone." He said, grinning slyly.

"Shut up, Chase!" they said together.

"Alright, well lets go!"

Gabe and Max looked at each other and got up, both happy to have their best friend back.

A/N: I'd like to make it clear that Gabe and Max aren't going out…yet. They are merely very flirtatious.