Chapter 8: The Kids Break Up

Angelwood Academy

Bellwood, California

Tuesday, December 3rd, 2000 C.E.

There were a few unwritten rules about making it at Angelwood Academy. Not as many as there were at other places, thankfully. There weren't nearly as many cliques and the nearest thing to a gang of hoodlums was kept in check by the unique environment. The two most important unwritten rules dealt exclusively with the whirlwind Tennyson cousins who found themselves at the heart of every important group of movers and shakers, and simultaneously, outside of the usual machinations.

The first of those rules were, it was better not to question them. That one applied to the kids as much as it did the teachers because Ben and Gwen Tennyson were brilliant, but other times, remarkably obtuse. The second unwritten rule regarding them was far simpler. Ben and Gwen always came as a pair. Always.

Lab partners, group projects, book reports, gym class, and especially lunchroom seating. Some teachers tried early on in school years to break them up, but it never took. The kids who knew them the longest, like Olivia, knew that it never had. They still wore those goofy plastic rings that they'd put on each other when they were all in elementary, even though Ben's only fit on his pinkie anymore and Gwen usually had hers on a leather string or whatever necklace she could get away with wearing that day, tucked inside of her shirt. It was just better to let them stick together. They liked hanging out with other kids too, but they always came back into orbit around each other.

Just as they were today again.

"Ben, you need to eat all of your salad." Gwen nagged at him. Olivia watched him scowl as he wiggled his fork through the mess of his chef salad, scraping off the slices of white root vegetable ringed with red. "It's important!"

"I eat enough weird things between visiting Grandpa at his RV Parks and whatever crazy tofu dish mom thought to use on me and dad," Ben told her. "I'm not eating radishes. You can have them if you want." Then he reached over and snagged the banana pepper Gwen had picked off of her own, taking a bite out of it to make her squawk. "I'll eat these, though."

"Ben, I was saving that!" Gwen smacked him on the arm, and Olivia let out a small sigh and shook her head. From his spot next to Ben, Liam looked across the table and gave her a slight nod. It was turning out to be another one of those days where the Tennysons were going to pick at each other instead of playing nice.

"Anyhow." Olivia said, reaching for her bottle of diet Snapple, "Gwen, is it true that Marci is throwing a New Year's party at her place?"

"That's what I heard from her this morning." Gwen grinned, picking up one of the radish slices from Ben's salad and chucking it at his face. He glared back at her, huffed, and then tried to ignore her. "I think she's inviting everyone in our class, and a few people from the other classes. She needed my help finding everyone's lockers to stuff invitations in."

"How do you - Oh. Yeah, never mind." Liam answered his own question with a rueful roll of his eyes. Of course, Gwen knew everyone's lockers Olivia reminded herself. Gwen was one of the students the office ladies used to run errands for the other students, including grabbing books and papers when they were sick. "So what's so special about this party anyways? I mean, if the boys are invited, great, but if we have to dress up and make small talk, I may as well stay home. Do enough of that here."

"Her parents are having their own party outside in the backyard," Gwen explained, pushing some of her hair away from her face. "Marci blamed my parents for what they did a couple of years back for the millennium, said that her folks wanted to do something bigger and better. They're even hiring a live jazz ensemble to play for them."

"Any chance you two will play with them?" Liam asked eagerly. It was another not-so-well-kept secret that Ben and Gwen had been learning how to play instruments of their own when they weren't at school.

"Not my kind of music." Ben grinned. "Besides, Gwen here can't sing to save her life."

"Rude!" Gwen gasped, putting a hand to her chest, but she didn't tell him he was wrong either. "But the point is, her parents are going to be busy with their party, so Marci got to put together her own inside the house and in the living room and dining room!" Olivia thought back to Marci's house and could easily picture the large spaces, connected by open walls without any doors. It was a lot of space meant for entertaining, and Marci's mom usually kept it off-limits when she had friends over. "There'll be music and snacks and dancing and we'll get to use their new DVD player...and we won't have her parents poking their heads in every five minutes checking in on us."

"Unchaperoned?" Ben's head perked up at that news, and he grinned a little. "Reaaaally…"

"No Ben, no. Best behavior." Gwen cut his planning off at the knees with a frown, poking her finger into his chest. "This is a test for Marci, you got it? Nothing can go wrong, I've already promised her that I'll be helping her to make sure that the party doesn't have any problems."

"If you let me and some of the guys bring some quality entertainment, I'll think about it."

"Your Gamestation?" Gwen guessed, raising an eyebrow.

"Gamestation? Nah. Movies." Ben grinned. "Liam?"

"Goldeneye?" Liam inquired, smiling a little.

"Yeah."

"I'll borrow it from the old man's collection, then."

"Top notch, old sport." Ben thanked him, mimicking a nasally British voice before he turned back to Gwen. "Just don't get so wrapped up in helping Marci plan this party that you forget to have some fun yourself."

"Isn't that why I keep you around?" Gwen teased him, and Ben leaned in way too close, close enough that if he'd done it to any other girl they would have turned beet red or yelled and smacked him.

"Sure you don't keep me around for another reason?" He growled out, and damnit, Olivia's face was on fire because even though they'd been like this since they were kids, they were growing up now, and doing that meant a lot more these days. At least it would have to Olivia.

Gwen just rolled her eyes, put her hand over Ben's face, and pushed him away. "Down, Scruffy." She mumbled, and Ben let out a small laugh. "You see what I have to put up with, Olivia?" Gwen added, pointing a fork at Ben. "You're such a pest some days, Ben."

He laughed again and rubbed at the back of his head, and was looking away in a different direction when Gwen struck up a conversation with someone else at their table. Olivia still had her eyes on Ben, though, if only because he was definitely cute these days, and looking was free even for someone as taken as he was.

Only, for someone who was taken, Ben's smile seemed a lot more forced as he stared off to the far wall of the cafeteria. Gwen didn't notice it, but Olivia did.

She wondered what it meant.

- o - o - o - o - o -

Ben's Home

December 6th

11:40 P.M.

He couldn't sleep. Usually, he'd be out like a light after Gwen went home, especially since mom had refused to give them any soda with caffeine tonight after the Halloween incident. They'd re-watched Jurassic Park tonight downstairs in the living room on dad's big TV, ate popcorn, laughed, and cheered when the T-Rex went after the velociraptors in the welcome center. Then Uncle Frank had picked up Gwen, taken her home, and he'd gone upstairs to brush his teeth and climb into bed. He just couldn't sleep. Oh, he'd tried. He'd tossed and turned, thrown off the covers when he felt too hot, tried breathing in and out slowly and counting his breaths. Nothing had worked, not when his mind was racing. Not when he was finally able to wrap his head around something he'd been grappling with for months now. No...years.

With a groan, Ben pushed the covers off and sat on the edge of the bed, hanging his head as he pushed a hand through his hair.

He was in love with his cousin. Head over heels, gag-romantic comedy in love with Gwen 'bossy-britches' Tennyson.

But he wasn't sure if she loved him back. If anything, she'd been getting cooler since school started this year. It was like some kind of switch had flipped in her head over the summer when he wasn't looking because she hadn't been the same. She didn't jump on his back and hug him when he wasn't looking anymore, she didn't smack a kiss on his cheek like she used to when they'd been in elementary school. And tonight, when Ben had tried to get her to watch the movie up in his bedroom, Gwen had ignored him and asked if his mom and dad wanted to watch it with them. Then she'd even sat on the outside of the couch, putting his mom in between them and ignoring him. She didn't sit beside him or lean against him like she used to. She never even reached for his hand during the scary parts.

She'd always reached for his hand before.

He wasn't able to figure it out sitting on his bed, so Ben got up and went downstairs, trying to move so the stairs wouldn't creak. They only did a couple of times. In the quiet they sang out brightly, making him wince. He went down to the kitchen and dug in the fridge for milk and the bottle of chocolate syrup, using the light from inside of the refrigerator to get a glass from the cupboard and start mixing it up. Ben had thought he'd been quiet enough, but it turned out he hadn't been, because the kitchen light suddenly flipped on. He froze in place, stirring spoon still in the chocolate milk, and turned his head in time to see his dad standing in the doorway of the living room. His old man looked a little worn down and the T-shirt he had on was faded to match.

"Might wanna shut the fridge door there, son. You're letting all the cold out." He teased Ben. "Or were you trying to get a snack without waking us up?"

"No! I just…" Ben scrambled for an answer and deflated. "I can't sleep."

"Yeah, that makes two of us." Dad sighed and walked in. "Think you can pour me a glass of that stuff too, champ?" Relieved at the reprieve, Ben went back to the cupboard and got a second glass while his dad sat down at the kitchen counter and scratched the back of his head. "Take it easy on the syrup in mine, though. Two squirts. Not the three you use."

Ben finished making the drink, stuffed the milk back into the fridge, and pushed the glass over to his dad. The two sat next to each other drinking quietly for a little bit. "Work?" Ben asked him carefully.

"You get put in charge of more people, you make more money but you have to worry about more. Nothing you have to worry about." His dad nodded, setting the half-empty glass down. "So how about you? What's keeping you up, Ben?"

Ben bit his lip. What should he tell him? Should he lie? His dad was pretty good at spotting lies, though. Almost as good as mom was. "There's a girl...at school," Ben said, quickly rushing for the qualifier as he blushed.

"Really?" His dad perked up and ruffled his hair. "Way to go, sport! I guess you are getting to be that age. You need some advice?"

This was beyond embarrassing, but...Ben swallowed down his pride and his first reaction and decided to give his dad a chance. Although he couldn't bring himself to tell the whole truth. His dad would never understand, he'd tell mom and then they'd call Uncle Frank and Aunt Lili and the whole thing would blow up and Gwen would never look at him again…

...Just like she could barely look at him now.

"How do I know if she likes me the way I like her?" Ben asked in a whisper. It was an honest question, and he could feel his dad staring at him for a bit before he reached for his glass and took another long swallow. His dad only started talking once he set it down again.

"Well, Ben, you don't."

"...Great."

"I wasn't finished." His dad's hand rested on his shoulder, and Ben tried to shrug it off, but dad wouldn't let him. "What you do, Ben, is you talk to her. You're afraid because you don't know what she's thinking? How she feels about you? Well, girls don't know how we think either. That was how it was with your mom and me."

"Dad!" Ben complained, and dad just laughed it off.

"Hey, this is important. I was taking this art class, and I couldn't draw to save my life. But there was this girl, Mary, who sat beside me when we had to draw and I thought she felt sorry for me, so she introduces me to her roommate who's in the class with us and is actually better than either of us. But very shy. That was your mom, by the way." Dad nudged Ben's shoulder with his arm. "She's still kind of shy about her drawings, but she comes by working for that art gallery naturally. But here's your mom bending over backwards to help me out so I don't fail this class, and at first I didn't think anything about it. Stupid guy, right? But after a while, something finally starts to stick in my brain. How she was so eager and cheerful when she first started helping me, how she'd make the time to help me out around my schedule, and how she was smiling less and less as the weeks went on."

"Why?" Ben didn't usually like hearing about his parents being in love and doing stuff, but...there had to be a point in here. Dad liked his stories, but this one felt different. It felt important.

"Because your dad can be an idiot sometimes." The old man gave him a wry look. "I finally broke down and asked her about it at a study session two weeks before our finals. I did it stupidly, of course. Just dropped the question in there without any tact. 'Are you doing this because you have a crush on me or something?' And she stopped what she was doing and just looked at me and fell apart a little, because yes, she said, she did. Had since the start and had just been waiting on me to pick it up. And boy, didn't I feel like a jerk after that."

"...How'd you make it up to her?" Ben asked him, curious. "I mean, you still ended up with mom, so, how'd you work it out?"

"Easy." His dad explained. "I told her I was sorry, and that I was an idiot who'd been too wrapped up in worrying about his grade to pay attention. Then I took our notebooks, closed them, and asked her if she wouldn't like to go get something to eat with me instead. The smile she gave me then...night and day." His dad sighed a little and looked off into nothing, and Ben fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Maybe that's a little too serious for your problem, but. The point, Ben, is that girls usually don't know what we're thinking and guys don't ever know what they're thinking. So if you really want to know how she feels about you? Just ask her. And be honest. It's good advice when you're in junior high and it's still good when you're in college. Talk to her. Okay?"

The butterflies in Ben's stomach settled a little, and he reached for his chocolate milk again, using the rest of it to push down the lump in his throat. "Okay." He answered.

"Good." Dad finished his off with three big swallows and taking their glasses over to the sink. "Now, come on. Let's get back up to bed, little man. And thank you."

"For what?"

"For being honest with me." His dad said, and Ben felt some of the butterflies start to come back. "You're growing up. Some day, you won't need your old man for anything, so I'm glad I can help you now. Don't worry, you're a Tennyson. We Tennysons don't back down from life. You'll get through this just fine. Besides, you don't have to worry about it until school on Monday."

His dad led him back up the stairs towards his bedroom, and Ben's butterflies came back in full force.

Monday.

He wasn't sure if he'd make it that long.

- o - o - o - o - o -

Monday, December 9th

Angelwood Academy

Monday came at last. By the time that Ben got off of the bus, he had gone over the words he wanted to say to her so many times that Henry had told him to stop muttering. At least he'd be able to get it all out of his head and confess to her today. He still had some butterflies, but at least now he could do something about them.

At least, that was the plan. There was a line his U.S. History teacher from last year liked to say that suddenly made sense. No plan survives contact with the enemy.

He tried to meet Gwen at her locker before the first class started because they rode different school buses but he knew she always went to her locker first. She was there talking to two other girls from their grade about something and seemed to freeze up when she finally saw him coming. He was maybe ten feet away from her when he cleared his throat after squeaking a bit and then tried again. "Gwen, could we…"

"Sorry, Ben, Lauren needs some help before class!" She cut him off with a bright smile and a wince of apology. "I'll see you later today, all right?" Before he could say anything, she'd grabbed Lauren's arm who let out a meep as Gwen dragged her away and the other girl followed, looking back at him for a second before spinning back around and racing off. Ben stood there looking like an idiot for a bit.

"...Yeah. Later." He said, knowing that it sounded wrong. Ben tugged on his uniform's tie a couple of times and then dashed for his locker with an irritated grunt. He barely made it to homeroom before the bell, and even with all of his karate classes he was still breathing hard from the delay. There wasn't any time in homeroom to talk to Gwen, not between her helping Lauren with her homework and everything else, and then they were off to their classes.

That seemed to be the pattern for the rest of the morning. Ben would rack his brains for a chance to get Gwen alone for a talk, and she kept finding reasons to - to avoid him. He wanted to talk to her in the hallway between classes? Oh, sorry Ben, I promised Mrs. Belvenson I'd help her get the slides ready for her next biology class. He tried to talk to her during P.E. class when they paired up for Badminton? She got on his case about focusing on the game and made everyone else laugh when he took a shuttlecock to the face for being so distracted.

Ben was sure that he could drag her away from everyone at lunch so he could talk to her properly. It would be one of his last chances since his classes in the afternoon didn't line up with hers as neatly. But sure enough, as soon as he sat his tray down next to her, she jumped on him before he could get a word out.

"Ben, I was saving that spot for Marci!"

Ben made a point of looking around the lunchroom before turning back to her. "She isn't here yet." He argued. He always sat next to her at lunch, that was just how it worked.

"She will be," Gwen said, shaking her head a little before taking the edge of his tray and pushing it to the other side of the lunch table. "Besides, don't you get tired of always sitting next to me?"

"No, I don't," Ben said, glaring at her. Why was she acting so weird all of a sudden? He could tell she was nervous, she had that line on her forehead she only got when she was twitchy about something. What did she have to be nervous about? She wasn't the one getting ready to - to -

"Well, maybe I do. And I do have to talk to Marci about her party. We have karate after school today so I won't have any time tonight to do it."

"Maybe you oughta spend some time talking with your -" Ben started, and froze. Her eyes got huge like she was panicking, and before he could move, she'd whacked one of her hands out to the side and smacked him on the side of the hip, pushing him away.

"You can wait your turn." Gwen stammered, looking away from him. "Now go sit on the other side of the table already, Scruffy." That got some laughs from the gang they usually sat with, but Ben didn't have to look at their faces to know that they were nervous laughs. He was fuming and hurt, but he finally walked around the table and sat down on the other side, stuck on the end with Liam. The boy was fidgeting in his seat and kept looking back and forth between Ben and Gwen, trying to use just his eyes. Ben could still feel him looking. He felt everyone looking at him.

When Marci finally came over to the table and sat down in his spot, Gwen immediately started talking to her. She was a little louder and the words came a little faster than normal, and she never even looked at him.

Liam leaned in towards the side of his head and spoke in a whisper. "Hey, Ben, is everything okay?"

Why wouldn't she just talk to him? Ben gave his head a shake and poked at his slice of pizza. For once, he didn't feel like eating it.

"I don't know," he admitted.

- o - o - o - o - o -

Maybe Gwen thought that because he didn't have any more classes with her the rest of the day she'd be safe from seeing him again. It wasn't like they could talk on the ride to karate, or during karate. It was wishful thinking on her part. Maybe Ben didn't have her talent for picking up new book learning as quickly, but he could out-stubborn her any day of the week. And he did a better job of coming up with plans on the fly.

Plus, he knew her schedule just as well as he did his own, including where she'd be halfway through 7th period. Gwen might have thought she could go on avoiding him, but she never stood a chance. When she stepped out of the school library where she'd been tutoring others in French (A language she'd struggled to get a handle on herself), she wasn't expecting him or looking for him. She turned left after passing out the doors, not even sparing a look to the right. That was where Ben was, absentmindedly rubbing at the faded Kangaroo Kommando decoder ring that only fit on his pinkie finger now and staring at her with all the feelings he had bubbling away in his chest. One still boiled harder than all the others she had made him feel today. Or last week. Or the months before.

"Found you." He forced out, and Gwen let out a yelp as she spun around, the deer in the headlights look back on her face in full force.

Gwen dropped the books she'd been carrying. They flopped around to her feet, forgotten as she stared at him. "Ben!" She blurted, panicking for a bit before she worked herself up enough to sound indignant again. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in…"

"I took a hall pass." Twenty minutes ago, for the bathroom, but he didn't care. Gwen did, though. She stomped her foot and glared at him.

"You're going to get yourself in trouble if you don't…"

"I don't care." Ben cut her off before she could finish that sentence about being proper and doing the right thing. Please. "This is more important."

"Bothering me is more important than not getting written up?"

"Yeah," Ben growled, pushing himself off of the wall and walking towards her. "It is." And sure enough, that indignant look faded away for panic so quickly it almost made his head spin. She backpedaled away from the books on the floor, nearly tripping over her own feet. Would she actually try to run from him? He took a step towards her and then she did stumble over one of the books that had fallen further away, falling backward with a yelp just as wild as when he'd surprised her.

Gwen had fast feet but Ben's hands could strike like cobras. All his years of karate had made sure of that, and even though she'd started taking classes after finishing that stint of ballet, he'd always kept that advantage over her. Ben caught her by the forearm and the shoulder before she could hit the ground, and she froze. Ben held onto her for only a second, long enough to stare into her eyes at close range and pull her back up onto her feet - well clear of the books she'd dropped. Then he let her go, not losing eye contact. She whipped her hand back and rubbed at her elbow, and he deflated.

"Why do you keep running from me?" He asked her. "All day. All day I've just wanted to talk to you, and you keep…" Pushing me away, he thought but didn't say. Gwen winced like he'd said it anyways.

"I need to say something." Ben pressed on because he knew if he didn't say this now, he'd go crazy over it. "Gwen, I - I like being around you."

"I like hanging out with you too…" She started, and Ben held out his hand in a 'stop' gesture. Gwen closed her mouth and nibbled at her lip.

"I think about you. All the time." He said, moving another step closer. "I remember how you used to be when we were little. How you'd brighten up whenever you saw me coming." Another step and Gwen pressed her hand to her chest, breathing shallowly. "You were...we were…"

She used to call him 'mine'. My Ben. My Scruffy.

He couldn't look away from her now. Even in her school uniform with the dark blue sweater and her black skirt and leggings, she was beautiful. Wild.

"You're my Gwen." He forced the words out. "And it took me a while to figure it out, but... I love you. I want to be with you. I want to be with you the way we were when we were kids. When we did everything together."

One of Gwen's hands stayed on her chest, but the other went up to her mouth, covering her lips. They hadn't kissed each other on the lips since that one game they played on the playground in elementary school. Ben hadn't figured it out at the time, but the memory roared at him now. What they'd done. What they'd promised.

God help him, he had married her when they were eight years old.

"Ben...I…" Gwen stammered out. He smiled at her.

"I'm your Ben. Nobody can kiss me, except you." Then he closed his eyes and leaned in to do what that little voice in his head, louder every day for a whole six months, had told him to do. To kiss her for real.

Warm skin pressed against his lips, and he froze. Because it wasn't Gwen's lips on his mouth. It was her hand.

And she pushed him away.

Ben wasn't expecting it, and he nearly ended up on his butt. Only all of his years of karate let him steady himself after three or four wobbly steps. He ended up six feet away from her, no real distance at all, but after that push…

His chest hurt, and the lump in his throat was back.

"We can't," Gwen spoke, a rasp in her voice that Ben had never heard before. "Ben, we... we're cousins." Gwen's eyes were always so bright, but now the gleam in them faded as she fumbled out words that made no sense to him. "It's a miracle our parents haven't - The kids here already…" She stopped herself and shook her head. "I know. Okay? I know how you feel about me." Gwen looked at him again, nothing but fear and hurt for him to look at. "But you shouldn't. You can't."

"I do." Ben pressed the point, but he didn't try to walk over to her again. He'd been pushed away once, he couldn't take it again. "And so do you! What are you afraid of?!" His hand slashed out in front of him. "Every gaggy romance movie you've dragged me to, every stupid British drama show always says the same thing. Even our English class last year! Love is worth it!" Something in his chest twisted. "And you're afraid of what other people think? When have you ever cared about what people thought when you were chasing after something you wanted?"

She just stood there, her head shaking back and forth ever so slightly and trembling, not saying a word. It only made him angrier.

His dad had told him to open up. To tell her exactly how he felt. Sure, dad hadn't known he was talking about Gwen, but - this wasn't how it was supposed to go. And what really wasn't fair was…

"I know you feel the same way for me that…"

"I don't." Gwen blurted out and clapped both hands over her mouth while her eyes went wide.

Ben heard a ringing in his ears after that and felt...off. He leaned against the wall with one shoulder and stared at Gwen. "What?" He asked. He was confused, the ringing got louder, and that twisting feeling in his chest got worse. Or maybe it was his stomach. "What?"

"I…" Gwen's hands shook as she lowered them back down. She took in a breath, and Ben lost his. "I don't." She told him, as the shaking in her hands stopped. "We were kids. Everything we did, we...we were kids. You were my best, my best friend, and you still are. But we're older now. We're growing up and feelings change. That's what my mom told me."

"...Liar," Ben whispered. The ringing in his ears was deafening. His hands tightened into fists and the decoder ring dug into his palm. "You love me."

"I can't…" Gwen shut her eyes again, breathed slowly, and her right hand came up to her neck. The first two buttons of her sweater and her shirt popped free as she rubbed at the skin there. "I can't love you. I don't love you." She finally opened her eyes and tried for a smile that didn't reach them.

"But you're still my best friend, okay? I still...I still want you around. We're cousins, right? Besides..." She kept saying more words after that, empty ones that he didn't hear as the ringing drowned everything else out. And then, right as his eyes locked onto her neck and noticed - not something, but the absence of something - the ringing finally stopped.

Her decoder ring. The one he'd put on her finger, the one she'd worn and used as a necklace when it didn't fit on her ring finger anymore, was gone. The leather string around her neck wasn't there. It wasn't there.

"Ben?" Gwen said, using his name as a question. He stared at her bare neck for a few more seconds, and thought he heard a door opening behind him and girls' voices talking quietly. Ben put it out of his mind, because he saw Gwen looking back at him, confused. He saw her follow where he was looking. He saw her turn surprised when she figured out what he'd been staring at, what wasn't there. And she panicked. "Ben…"

"Save it." Ben choked out. He ripped the plastic ring off of his pinkie and threw it at her, and it bounced off of her chest before hitting the floor. The girls behind him gasped.

Ben felt his eyes start to burn, and shook his head. "We aren't together. I guess we never were."

He found he couldn't look at her, not there. Not then. He took off like a shot, bending around her and running down the halls at speeds that would get him yelled at if a teacher caught him. He didn't care. He had to get out of there. He couldn't stay, not when everything felt wrong and he didn't know how to make it right again.

He couldn't make it right again.

When Ben finally made it back to class, he got written up for being gone for so long, and it didn't matter. It didn't matter when he had to stay after school for detention, it didn't matter when his mom had to come pick him up and he missed karate because of it. It didn't matter when his dad talked to him in the garage after dinner and asked him what he was thinking goofing off in school like that, and if the girl he liked had something to do with it. He didn't have an answer to his parent's questions. He only had an answer to his own.

Gwen didn't love him. And nothing made sense anymore.