Chad rushed through the emptying hallways to Cree's locker, and seeing her there, paused to catch his breath before approaching her. As she closed her locker door he stepped up to her and greeted, "Hi, Cree."

She turned to look at him, surprised. "Oh! Hi!" Her heart was beating strangely; she presumed it was because he had startled her. "What are you doing here?"

"I…well, I just wanted to say hi."

"Okay. Well, hi," she said with a smile.

"Uh—well, I also wanted— Um…." He paused and considered a moment. Then he looked at her with a somewhat sheepish expression and continued, "I kind of miss walking home with you and just talking."

Cree felt a warm glow at his confession, followed immediately by remorse. She had been avoiding him…she should be avoiding him. I'm dating Maurice, and Chad's…. Chad was dating Abby. Which was exactly what she had been wanting. Wasn't it? That's right, it happened just as I hoped it would, and now we'll all be closer. She smiled, ignoring the odd feeling in her chest that she couldn't quite identify. Her mind worked hard to come to a decision. Now that he's dating Abby, we can all be friends now, right? Abby's dating Chad, so she should stop teasing me about him, and I can stop worrying about her trying to steal Maurice. And then we'll all be together forever. Everything's perfect now. Right?

Chad watched her uncertainly. She hadn't said anything for a while. "Um…are you feeling okay? If…if you want me to go away—"

"Right," Cree said decisively, answering her own internal contemplations. Then quickly added, "I mean—no, don't go away, you should stay. I mean—we should go." She laughed embarrassedly as she shut her locker. "We should go home together."

They stepped out of the school together into the afternoon sun. Cree felt inexplicably gleeful. "You know what? I should call a teen meeting. Right now, I should call the others and see what they're up to. It's been forever since we've had one, hasn't it? It feels like forever." She fished her cell phone out of her bag and called first her sister, then Maurice. Neither of them seemed too enthusiastic, but she didn't care. I'm the leader, they have to do what I say!

They ambled through the school's uncrowded lawn. Chad glanced at Cree. "Um…Cree—?"

"You know what happened to me the other day?" she interrupted, finding it surprisingly natural to slip back into their old way of talking. "I had a cup of water, and out of nowhere a fly came and did a kamikaze dive into it. It wasn't soda or anything, it was just water."

Chad was silent for a moment. "Maybe it was really thirsty."

"That's what I thought too, and then I felt kind bad for the little guy, 'cause he pretty much drowned immediately. But then this morning there was a dead fly in my toothbrush cup. It's weird, isn't it?"

"Yeah," answered Chad, with a chuckle that didn't sound forced to Cree at all. "Maybe…maybe you have really sweet saliva."

She laughed and didn't notice his reddened face. "I'll consider that theory. Oh, and just last week a bee came right at me, and died right on me!" She pointed to her shoulder where it had landed. "It was freaky."

"It's kind of early for bees, isn't it?"

"I thought so too, but it happened."

Chad sighed. This time Cree did detect it, and turned to look at him. But then he smiled at her, that same old warm smile of his (but again his eyes—are they sad?) and he said, "You should watch out. Some of those flies might be Delightful Spy Cameras."

"I think you're on to something. Nothing like a healthy dose of paranoia." She giggled and probably sounded silly, but she didn't care. She felt happier than she had for weeks. "You know what? I missed talking with you, too."

They walked slowly, as they always had, prattling on about the weird weather lately, the recent gossip, football, (well, Chad brought up that topic and Cree listened for as long as she could stand it before changing the subject,) and classes. One subject, or person rather, that didn't come up was Abby. Cree didn't know why, but she couldn't bring herself to ask him about their relationship. Which was odd, because she generally grabbed every chance she got to tease her little sister about Chad. He didn't mention Abby either.

When they approached her house, Cree was almost sad to see it. A part of her wanted nothing more than to continue walking with Chad. She couldn't quite say why, but something about being with him, having another one of their silly conversations, seeing him smile at her; it made her feel….

The moment she opened the door and stepped into the house Abby was coming down the stairs. Chad smiled and greeted Abby, she smiled back, and Cree completely lost her train of thought.

---

When the doorbell rang, Abby rushed to answer it. But when she opened the door to see Maurice on the other side, her eager expression faded.

"Oh, hi, Maurice."

He looked at her in annoyance. "Were you expecting someone else?"

"No, I just thought you might be Cree and Chad."

"You mean you thought I might be Chad."

"They're coming here together, you know," she answered, irritation apparent in her voice.

"I saw the way your face changed when you saw it was me at the door."

Abby grumbled in annoyance. "It's not like that. I told you I thought it would be Cree and Chad." She emphasized her sister's name.

He continued to eye her skeptically. "And you're really looking forward to seeing them?"

She frowned, carefully wording her explanation. "Well, I just thought…when she called, Cree sounded like she had an important announcement."

"What kind of announcement?"

"I don't know, the kind you suddenly call a meeting for."

"And she's got keys, why would she ring the bell?"

"I thought they might be too excited to bother," she shrugged.

"Excited about what?"

"I…I don't know; she sounded excited on the phone, don't you think? Like, happy excited."

Maurice just stared at her for a long moment. "You don't need to lie to me, Abby. If you like Chad—"

"Ugh, would you just shut up about me and Chad? I get enough of that from Cree. Look, I'm going to my room. Feel free to watch T.V. or something." She headed up the stairs, but halfway up she heard the sound of a key in the door. She turned as the door opened, and saw Cree enter with Chad just behind her. They were smiling at each other. Does this mean that he told her?

She headed down the stairs again, towards them. Chad looked up, still smiling, and said, "Hey, Abby." Then Cree turned, and her smile faded at the sight of her. It wasn't a good sign.

By the time Abby had reached the bottom of the stairs, Chad had apparently noticed that something was off, and he was having trouble finding the thread of his and Cree's conversation. Cree seemed distracted and didn't respond to anything he said, and he soon trailed off and stopped speaking entirely. His attention turned from her, almost wanderingly, until he made eye contact with Abby.

Abby monitored him with growing apprehension, and when their eyes met she looked away immediately. She could feel both Cree and Maurice watching them, analyzing, judging. Do not talk to me, Chad, she thought urgently, do not talk to me. That would only make things worse. If you had any brain at all—

"Oh, Abby, I almost forgot." Chad pulled a folded piece of paper out of his backpack. "My mom wanted me to give this to you." He held it out to her.

Fool. But she took it, defeated. What else could she do? Slap it out of his hand?

"It's her recipe for cinnamon scones," he said as she unfolded the paper. "You must have really made an impression, because she usually doesn't give out her recipes. She doesn't let me see them to me half the time."

Chad, don't you realize that this is the stupidest possible thing you could do? She thought, gazing at the recipe in her hands. "Thanks, that was nice of—"

"When did you meet Chad's mom?" Cree asked, probably trying to tease, but instead coming off as nosy.

Now look what you've done. "Just a little while ago."

"It was on her birthday," Chad informed.

Abby glared at him. What he needs is a gag.

"Your birthday?" asked Cree, now in full tease mode. "I should have known you two hooked up—"

"So you're getting recipes from his mom, that's real cute," Maurice muttered to Abby, walking over to peer at the piece of paper. "Sugar…butter…eggs…. Well, that explains her ass. Mega Mom is right, you know what I mean?"

There was silence as the other three stared at him.

"Did…you just insult my mom?" Chad's voice held more disbelief than anything else.

Maurice met his eyes coolly. "No, I just indirectly stated that she has a fat ass."

Chad regarded him with a neutral expression. In fact, he almost seemed to be smirking slightly. But his eyes were flinty. Several seconds passed before he threw the first punch. Maurice was expecting it and dodged it easily, moving back and slightly to his right, and returned a swing of his own. Chad blocked it with his left and moved in with his right, only to be blocked in turn. Maurice lunged forward in an attempt to shove him away and gain some time and distance, but Chad held his ground and finally managed to land his fist in the other's stomach. Maurice returned the favor immediately, his left fist making contact with Chad's jaw.

Abby stared at the ridiculous display incredulously. Knowing both of their motivations made it all the more absurd. She almost felt like laughing, but the whole situation was in truth more pathetically stupid than laugh-out-loud funny.

She didn't really know how long the fight lasted, but it was certainly measured in seconds, not minutes. It had quickly devolved into a kind of wrestling match, each of them attempting and not succeeding in getting the other into a lock. Regardless of the lack of any serious damage, it was pretty clear that each was out for blood.

It ended with a draw; Cree stepped in and pulled the two of them apart easily, grabbing each by the scruff of their shirts as if they were no more than a couple of petulant children.

Abby smiled, almost proud. Cree really is better than those other two put together.

"What is the matter with you?" Cree admonished once she had separated them.

"He started it," grumbled Maurice.

"Yeah, after you insulted his mom. What were you thinking?"

He looked sullenly away.

"I think you should go home," Cree ordered.

"You're the one who called the meet—"

"Go. Home."

Maurice did as he was told and stalked away.

"And you," Cree said, turning on Chad. "You shouldn't be offended so easily. Clearly Maurice was in a bad mood and was looking for a fight, and you played right into his hands."

"Yeah," he admitted grumpily.

"I think you should go home too."

"But—"

"You heard me."

With a sigh, Chad plodded out the door.

Once he left, Cree flopped onto the couch with a groan. "What the hell was that?"

"Too much testosterone?" shrugged Abby.

"If our boyfriends keep fighting like this, this isn't going to work."

Abby didn't know whether to laugh or groan in frustration. What a mess. Teens are so stupid….

---
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author's notes: whoo-hoo for lame fight scenes! heh, i suck at fight scenes, but this one actually was supposed to be lame, so it all works out, right?