A/N: Hey everyone. Sorry it's taken so long, the new trimester just started at my school and my batty old English teacher has decided to take the time to teach us all to write poetry. It's heinous. Ridiculous! Unbe-fuckin-believable! So anyway, now that it's Spring Break and Ethan has pneumonia, I don't have anything to do. So I'm updating, of course, for all you beloved fans! And this will be dedicated to that little girl in CSI last night, Hannah West, I believe? She's just awesome. Once again, I love everyone who's even looked at this story (especially if they review)!

Maddy

P.S. I wrote this the day after that Hannah West ep. Sorry it took so long for me to update, life's a bitch. This chapter is long and, in my opinion, pretty heated. I've been trying to get a little more insight into Greg and Maddy's past. Enjoy!

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Greg ran his fingers through his spiky hair. He was at the beach, sitting on a towel watching Sara (on Nick's shoulders) play chicken with Maddy and Warrick in the waist-high surf. Pausing to straighten the towel, he laid down and let his gaze wander into the clear summer sky. Suddenly he heard a scream of profanity followed by a splash. Looking up, he saw that Maddy had tumbled into the water. Moments later, Warrick had scooped her up, shaking, and set her on her feet.

"Sorry," she said quickly. "I don't know how to swim and it always kind of freaks me out, you know?" She waded through the water and onto the sand, turning back to laugh as Archie and Mia stood, poised, challenging Nick and Sara.

Sitting down on the sand next to Greg, she spoke. "You're not making very much of an effort, you know…. I can't do all the work for you."

"I know," Greg replied. "I just don't have that much fight left in me. It's been nothing but struggling since day one, and that was, like, a year ago."

"Shyeah, I know exactly what you mean," Maddy said honestly, rolling her eyes. "But, isn't that what makes it so special? I mean, where'd the fun be in- heaven forbid –a normal relationship? The fact that you've tried so hard to win her over is what's going to make her like you, when all's said and done."

"That's all well and good, I suppose," Greg said with a wry smile. "But who've you ever been in love with? How do you know?" Maddy had had boyfriends, sure, but no one stood out spectacularly in his memory. No one was that important. They were frequent and short-lived relationships, the kind you'd have to kill time.

"Wouldn't you like to know." She smiled, retying the halter strap on her black bikini and putting her hair up hastily. "Now go out there and win her heart!" She shoved Greg onto the sand, smiling as he joined Sara in the water.

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"Isn't this old-fashioned," Catherine said, watching their hostess put a record on a dusty record-player. She'd been told they'd be learning to swing-dance, and had no idea what kind of music the eccentric teacher had in store. So far, there'd been an eclectic array of pieces including Death Cab for Cutie, Chopin, Jem, and an obscure '80's band called the Three o' Clock.

"Greg, come here." Maddy snapped loudly at her friend. She usually used Heather in demonstrations, but this dance required a little more muscle. Flicking a switch on the phonograph, a loud guitar riff started up, immediately recognized by most of the group as Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana's biggest hit.

"The first step in learning to swing dance," Maddy said over the music as Greg lifted her over his head, "is learning to trust your partner. Now we're going to start with a few basic steps, Greg, put me down!" Settled back on her feet, she got Greg into a dance position and went through a couple of easy steps with him. "Now, you try."

A sweaty hour-and-a-half later, Sara sidled up to Maddy. "I've heard your whole thing about the bastardization of the debutante, but why are you really teaching us to dance?"

"The competition is on the last day you're here and I can't expect you to already know how to dance, that's why I'm teaching you. Duh!"

Sara stood in awestruck silence as Maddy bounced over to Nick and went through a few steps with him. This competition was news to her, and probably to everyone else, except possibly one Greg Hojem Sanders.

XoXoXoXoX

Gil sat stiffly in bed later that night, his hands over his eyes. It was quite the dilemma he'd gotten himself into. Knowing he should have never let himself get friends in the first place, he went over pros and cons in his mind.

"Well, Catherine's beautiful and it seemed like I had a chance with her," he concluded, though quickly contradicting himself. "She's way out of my league and what if we couldn't be friends when it ended? This is high school. Nothing lasts forever. On the other hand, Heather is also beautiful, and she makes me feel… As if I'm not myself. Which isn't necessarily a good thing."

Laying back down, he rolled over and left his problems to sort themselves out on another day. Meanwhile, on the other side of the house, Sara, too, was discussing a problem.

"So it was some guy, and he just kissed me, and I guess I kissed him back," she concluded, taking a breath.

Catherine raised her eyebrows. "Well you know, there are only six guys who were in that room. It's not like the possibilities are endless." In fact, Sara was the only one in the room that all six girls had invaded who didn't know there were only two boys who could be the culprit.

"Six is a lot, Cat," Sara sighed. "I wish I had a way to narrow it down."

"You know, I'm gonna get some water, I want to overanalyze every minute detail when I get back," Maddy said, standing up and leaving the room.

She loitered outside Greg's room until he came out, lime green boxers seemingly lighting the whole hall. "I guess I underestimated you, Greggyo. You really were doing a lot of work on this. A little unorthodox, but… Whatever works."

"What are you talking about?" Greg asked groggily. In one swift motion, Maddy slapped him across the face.

"You know, I'm doing this all for you. You know very well what I'm talking about and I don't appreciate you playing dumb with me. I think with all the shit I put up with I deserve to know how my scheme is going."

"Your scheme? Excuse me, but this isn't just some game. This is my life that I trusted you with and I don't know what you're talking about."

"Jesus Christ! The key word there is trust and that's something I'd like. You can tell me what happened, I don't care. So you kissed Sara in a dark room. Yeah, it was perfect timing. She has no idea. I know all about it."

"I didn't kiss Sara. God, Madds, you'd be the first to know. But if you really can't trust me to talk to you, then maybe we should just call this off." His tone was icy cold.

"Alright. But I'm not letting the competition go to hell in a hand basket because you've got a crush. And I'm going to have to talk to that Nick Stokes about what you can and can't do in laser tag. Goodnight then." Her voice matched his, and she spun on one heel and headed off to the other side of the house, seething.