(A/N: This chapter was so hard for me to write just because it's so emotional. This is the last chapter of this story because I decided to make it a 4 part story about their freshman year at PCA. And every fic will be about every quarter, sooo that's why this chapter is so long and it resolves a lot. So read and enjoy and review! Please and thank you.)
Chapter Seven: Fix You
He was a party animal. A monster, actually. He was known for throwing chairs into the ocean and dancing on top of cars, he was spinning out of control – and no one knew it. He usually snuck out of his dorm way past curfew and meet Brent and his friends at the beach around midnight. He'd sleep through all of this classes, but his teachers excused him because of his "situation". By day he was silent, at night he was out of control. He was known as 'Reckless Reese' around his party-buddies and was a stud in his own right. His relationship with Dana was on the rocks, but he didn't seem to care. All he seemed to care about was who was bringing the beer and how many girls were going to be there – his life was going nowhere and it didn't seem to be a problem to him.
"Hey", Dana spoke quietly as she stepped into his dorm room, "What's up?"
Logan slowly brought his head up and met Dana's gaze - he suddenly looked away and swallowed hard, "Dana we have to talk", he chose his words carefully as they rested on his tongue, "I – I don't think we should be together anymore".
"What? Is it something I did?' tears were streaming down Dana's cheeks now, "Because if I did something then I'm really, really sorry Logan", she walked into his bedroom and sat down his floor, "I love you".
"Dana", Logan sighed, "We've changed".
Dana took a good look at Logan and cocked her head to one side. For the first time in her life, Dana Cruz was speechless, she started to move her mouth but quickly shut it. Her mind was still trying to process the words Logan was saying to her. Was he breaking up with her? The idea was impossible – ludicrous. In fact it was gastatious. (And that' not even a real word.) Dana looked at Logan in wonder. Wondering what he was thinking to consider breaking up with her. Wondering what was happening to him.
"I heard you got to second base with Ally Sanchez", Dana quickly peeped after five minutes of silence; "If you're cheating on me then we can work this out". She closed her eyes lightly and took a deep breath, "If you want to".
"I don't", Logan snapped.
Dana nodded this time, her head feeling like a bowling ball, large and heavy, "So we can't fix this?"
"We can't fix me", Logan replied, "I'm not the same person you went out with a month ago".
"I know, you don't talk to me anymore, you don't hug me anymore, you don't even look at me anymore", Dana began to cry heavier now, "What's wrong with me? What did I do?"
"DAMMIT DANA! IT'S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT YOU!" Logan roared.
"Is it about Ally Sanchez?" Dana asked coolly.
"Get out", Logan hissed.
Dana just sat there, blinking her eyes in disbelief.
"ARE YOU FUCKING DEAF DANA? WE'RE OVER. WE'RE THRU. GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Logan pointed to the door.
Dana slowly rose to her feet, but before she walked towards the door she turned to face Logan "When I said I loved you, I wasn't lying". She took her right hand and slapped Logan painfully across his cheek, "But I should've been. I hate you Logan Reese. I hate you". She pushed Logan on his bed, hard and stopped out of his room.
"Grow up Cruz!" Logan called after her.
Dana turned around and rose her middle finger up to Logan, "I'm glad she died", Dana said in a tone that was an octave lower than a whisper, but Logan didn't have to hear her because he could read her lips loud and clear. And at that moment he wished he couldn't.
---
The party was roaring and Logan was as drunk as hell. He staggered over to Ally Sanchez. The taste of peppermint schnapps intoxicated his body as he placed his hand on Ally's tank top and began to slide the strap down her arm. Ally rolled her eyes and put her hand over Logan's, her deep brown eyes looking more serious than the times Logan had seen them – more serious than when the two were fooling around. Logan had no idea what Ally was trying to do.
"Logan", Ally tucked a curly brunette lock of hair behind her ear, "We can't do this anymore. You're – you're out of control, and your girlfriend's worried".
"My ex girlfriend".
"YOU BROKE UP WITH HER?" Ally let out an exasperated groan, "Why the hell did you that?"
"Because relationships are stupid Ally".
"Logan, Dana cared about you I was just here for fun, you know that right?" Ally asked, "We never did anything past kiss".
Logan began to mess with Ally's strap, "Not after tonight" he muttered".
"UGH! YOU'RE SUCH A PIG LOGAN! I know what we did wasn't the best thing – but breaking up with Dana over it?"
"THIS IS NOT ABOUT DANA!" Logan screamed, "IT'S ABOUT WHAT I WANT!"
"Logan", Ally shook her head, "This whole semester has been about what you want. You wanted Dana, you get her, you wanted to mess around you go that. Dammit you've been playing the whole "dead grandmother" card for way too long. It's getting boring".
"Fuck you", Logan whispered.
Ally nodded, "Nice Logan people are sitting here, worried about you and you're out there making a fool of yourself! You're not even letting them help you".
Logan pushed Ally of the chair the two of them were sitting on, "I don't need anyone's fucking help".
"God Reese", Ally got up from the ground, "You have issues".
And the truth was, he did. His best friend in the whole world was dead, his dad didn't have any sympathy for him and to Logan Dana was being overbearing. So this was his outlet, and now that Ally was doing this to him – shrinking him like everyone else, there was going to be hell to pay. And Logan Reese was sure of it. He began taking empty beer bottles and throwing them into the ocean, one by one, with force and conviction.
"WHOO! GO REESE!" Brent Bailey laughed and shook his beer can in the air.
(An idiotic image, yes I know.)
And as tears dripped from Logan's eyes as he threw the bottles and polluted the ocean, he began to think, 'This is for being so nice to me!' he thought as he threw another bottle into the ocean, 'this is for teaching me how to ride my bike', Logan whipped another bottle into the ocean, 'This is for telling my that my dad loved me', bottle after bottle Logan thought more thoughts to his grandmother, 'This is for taking care of me all of the times that my mom and dad were in Spain!' Logan's lower lip began to quiver, 'GOD. THIS IS FOR LOVING ME!'
And Logan put the bottles down, and backed up to the edge of the beach.
"Reese, man what are you doing?" Brent looked at Logan suspiciously.
Ally looked up at him, "Come on Logan, what are you thinking".
'I'm thinking I want to be with her', Logan thought as he whipped a tear from his eye.
"Are you crying?" Brent hackled.
"LOGAN! CUT IT OUT!" Ally screamed, "COME ON!"
Logan put one foot behind the other and began to run towards the ocean, it's waves being arms that were waiting to sweep him up at any moment.
"Logan!" Brent began to pay attention now, "Dude! There are sharks in there at this time of night".
"LOGAN!" Ally ran towards him, "What are you thinking?"
I don't know if Logan was thinking or not, maybe he was hypnotized by the devil or something, or possessed, yeah possessed. But as his legs gained speed and as the image of grandmother became clearer to him one thing was for sure, he wanted to go in that water. He wanted to go and just forget everything about his life and be with her. Because, if he was with her he'd be happier, and Dana would be happier not to see his face again, and his dad would be happy to know that his son wasn't a wimp.
So he ran faster, and harder as if his grandmother was cooing for him to come towards her.
Dana had made it to the beach by then, and Ally Sanchez was running up to her, "DANA!" she shrieked, "Something's up with Logan".
Dana's lower lip began to tremble as she saw Logan run towards the ocean.
"What's he doing?" Dana croaked.
"I don't know", tears began to fall from Ally's flushed cheeks, "I really don't. But no one can stop him – this isn't safe Dana!"
It wasn't normal either. Ordinarily, if you were about to jump in the ocean you would've at least taken off your jeans first. But Logan was fully clad running towards the ocean still wearing his brand new expensive silver Nike Shox™. Maybe it was because he wanted to be with her at that very moment, or maybe he was partially mental. Either way, something inside Logan's brain wasn't normal.
"LOGAN!" Dana called, "I DIDN'T MEAN WHAT I SAID! AND I DON'T CARE IF YOU WANT TO BE MY BOYFRIEND OR NOT I JUST WANT TO BE YOUR FRIEND LOGAN! I JUST WANT TO BE YOUR FRIEND AGAIN." Tears dripped from Dana's eyes.
A tear dripped from his as well, but he couldn't let one minor distraction get in his way from achieving his big goal, and that was going to his grandmother. When he jumped into the ocean, he wasn't even going to swim or doggie-paddle. He was just going to let the ferocious ocean waves absorb him and swallow him whole.
Dana began to run towards Logan as he got closer, "NO!" she screamed, "You're not going in there Logan! You can't do this".
'I can do whatever I want. I can wear underwear on my head if I want to Dana, you're not my mother', Logan thought smugly to himself and ran faster, and when there was no more space for him to run he let the oceans waves cover him – attack him actually and he let the ocean absorb him and begin to digest him as he tried to find the white light.
"LOGAN!" Dana screamed as she began to cry, "LOGAN!"
She fell on the sand and buried her face in her hands, she took large fistfuls of sand and began to throw it at people, the music had cut off and everyone was looking out to the ocean, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!" Dana's mouth hit the water as she blubbered, "IF YOU WERE HIS FRIENDS YOU WOULD'VE WENT AFTER HIM! YOU WOULDN'T LET HIM DO THIS!"
Ally Sanchez walked up to Dana and wrapped her arms around her, "Dana…" she began to soothe her, "I can't tell you it'll be okay because I don't know… so just cry okay? Just cry".
And as everyone else began to walk away from the scene, Brent Bailey took one last look at the ocean before throwing his beer can in the ocean and muttering the words, "That's for you Reese".
News hadn't gotten to the gang yet about Logan and Michael and Nicole were happily cuddling in the boy's dorm room as they were making a care package for Lizzie, a great idea that Nicole had thought about earlier. Michael was sending her all of this left over Halloween candy, which after a week was sparse, but nonetheless Michael and Nicole had both managed to save enough of Lizzie's favorite candy. (Which in her case were Snickers, Skittles, Starbursts, and anything that essentially started with an "S"), and at that moment Michael and Nicole were stuffing the candy into a pink purse that Nicole had knitted (yes, knitted) specially for Lizzie.
"Thanks", Michael said to Nicole as they put the last of the candy into the purse.
"For what?" Nicole stuffed the purse into the brown box they were using to send Lizzie's care package in.
"For being here, for me. For not giving up when I was ignoring you".
"No problem", Nicole kissed Michael on the cheek, "I just really care about you".
Michael nodded, "I'm just afraid of letting my feelings out, letting people know that I'm upset".
"Why".
"Because if you haven't noticed I'm a guy Nicole".
Nicole rolled her eyes, "Well if you haven't noticed Michael I'm a girl and we don't always cry about our nail polish not matching our outfits, we're all different".
"I guess", Michael shrugged, "But you do cry about your nail polish not matching your outfits!"
"So? I thought you said it was cute", Nicole crossed her arms, "And besides I think it's cute when you get all sensitive. It's kind of sexy actually".
"Really", Michael wrapped his arms around Nicole and began to make out with her when Brent Bailey stormed into Michael's dorm room.
"MICHAEL!" Brent yelled.
Michael got off of Nicole and the two both looked at Brent.
"Ever heard of knocking, we were kind of busy", Michael gestured to the door. Nicole nodded.
"Sorry, when you two are expecting twins I'll be sure to knock", Brent laughed sarcastically.
"What do you want?" Michael changed the tone of this voice.
"Logan, was drunk tonight", Brent's tone changed drastically as he looked down to the floor, "I know I should've stopped him but I was so scared – God…"
"What happened to Logan", Nicole readjusted her top, "Is he hurt?"
"He threw himself at the ocean, man I knew I should've stopped that slut Ally for yelling at him – but he just went nuts", Brent bit his bottom lip, "And then he just started running".
"What happened?" Michael swallowed, his eyes stricken with fear, "Where's Logan? What happened".
"The way I saw it, it was a suicide attempt".
Michael jumped up and pinned Brent Bailey to the wall, "What the fuck do you mean?"
"You're roommate is most likely dead", Brent shrugged.
"AND YOU'RE SMILING ABOUT THIS! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Michael pushed his arm against Brent's neck, choking him, "Logan was your friend".
"I'll find others. He was too much of a fag anyway".
And at that moment, Nicole took her perfectly manicured hand and slapped Brent Bailey across the cheek with it, "You're an asshole Brent, a slimy ugly asshole".
"Look, the kid cried about his grandma dying for like, months. The kid needs to get a penis okay?" Brent laughed, "Oh wait, he's dead".
Michael wanted to pull a knife out and stab Brent right then and there but he couldn't – firstly, he didn't have a knife and secondly… it was totally against his code of ethics, even though Brent was the sole cause of Logan's attempted suicide, with introducing him to the party scene and whatnot.
"I hate you Brent", Nicole began to cry.
"Well I'm sorry the prude-posse has excluded me from their little friendship circle", Brent swallowed, "But I can't be liked by everyone".
And that's when Michael did it – he took a senior, who was pretty much certified to kick his ass and threw him on his bed, and pounded him and slapped him, and kicked him and did whatever that his emotions told him to and during that he began to cry, he cried because his best friend since he was eleven had committed suicide, and this – this form lesser than a human had let him do it.
"GET OFF ME!" Brent began to scream, "PLEASE!"
Michael did stop, but not to Brent's request, he pulled his arms and pushed Brent against the wall once again, "You're gonna tell Dean Rivers what happened to Logan. You're going to tell him it was your fault".
"Oh and what will you do about it Barrett?"
Michael shoved his arm into Brent's neck, "I think I'll kill you Bailey".
"You know I could report you for threatening me", Brent coughed.
"Yeah, Dean Rivers will believe you, an alcoholic with a 1.44 GPA over me a sober, 3.0 GPA honor roll student. Okay let's see how that all works out".
"Go tell Dean Rivers", Nicole crossed her arms.
"Fine, I'll do it", Brent nodded, "I'll turn myself in. I'd rather go to juvy than have you beat my ass again".
"Good", Michael stepped back, "Now go".
Brent just stood there.
"Are you deaf? GO TELL DEAN RIVERS!"
And just like that, Brent tripped over his own feet and ran out of the dorm room, heading towards Dean Rivers office with no question.
"Whoa", Nicole breathed, "Are you okay?"
"I don't know", Michael sighed, "We have to go the beach right?"
"Right", Nicole nodded, and took Michael's hand as he led her out of the dorm building, she was shocked by Michael's new found assertiveness – but somehow it had turned her on.
After what happened the night of the dance, Quinn hadn't spoken to Dylan in quite sometime. She was embarrassed to ask him all of the impeding questions that were going on in her head, 'Was I your first?' 'Did you like what happened?' 'Why didn't we use protection?' 'Am I going to get pregnant?' The last question really hung in her head, and it scared her more than her crazy science experiments and being called a 'spaz'. It scared her to know that she could end up being a teenage mother, getting kicked out of PCA, sitting in her basement eating Ben & Jerry's ice cream while listening to the sound of her baby cry in a crib her parents stole from Goodwill.
That scared her more than anything, even more than talking to Dylan.
"Hey", Dylan startled her as Quinn sat at a table inside Sushi Rox on that cold November night. She had her jacket zipped all the way up to her neck as Dylan sat down next to her, "What's up with the nun look?" he played with her zipper. Quinn placed her hand over it.
"It's cold", she replied curtly and pushed her glasses further up her nose; she began to salt her sushi without looking at Dylan. Somehow, not looking at him made him less intimidating than he was that one night when she just couldn't say no. Looking at Dylan would make Quinn realize once again how hot he was and fall into that perfect trap that she happened to fall into every time she was around him.
"I never knew you wore glasses", Dylan tried to make eye contact with Quinn, "They're kind of dorky don't you think?"
"No", Quinn looked up at Dylan and realized for the first time how large his nose was, and how hideous and tacky his blonde high lights were. (God, why did she loose her virginity to this ogre?) "They're me". And after that statement she stabbed her fork into her sushi and looked at Dylan with daggers in her eyes.
"C'mon Quinn. That's not you", Dylan laughed, "You're so hot, and right now you just look like a nerd. Stop the act okay?"
"You don't know me well enough", Quinn shook her head, "You don't know me at all".
"Come on, if I didn't know you then why did we do it?"
"I don't know", Quinn swallowed, "I was stupid that night, and I apologize for letting you violate a nerd like me".
"So this whole time, you were putting on an act? Acting like you were hot?"
"I wasn't acting I was experimenting".
"Yeah, because that's what nerds do right? Take advantage of people?"
"I NEVER TOOK ADVANTAGE OF YOU!"
"You just used me to get what you want. Thank God you weren't my first…"
"I didn't even want to have sex with you Dylan, I didn't want any of this. But I thought you cared about me".
"I thought you were hot".
"I'm beautiful", Quinn cleared her throat, "Glasses or not, dork or not, I'm gorgeous".
"Save the Dr. Phil talk for someone who cares".
"If you got me pregnant Dylan, I swear I'm going to make sure this child never meets their father, because you're nothing but a big disappointment".
And for the first time Dylan was silent.
"I know I'm not 'hot' and I know that I'm probably one of the least attractive girls on the campus but I don't care because I know that I have a good heart and you don't. You just have looks and maybe, if you're lucky half a brain. But you know what Dylan? That half a brain of yours is going to melt away and your looks, they're already wearing and I'm gonna make it. I know I will, because I'm smart and I'm funny and I'm beautiful inside and maybe out but I don't know. But I'll find out by giving other guys a chance, and forgetting all about you".
Dylan snorted, "If you're so smart why did you put out? Are you a slut?"
"Maybe", Quinn laughed, "If you call sleeping with only one guy when I was confused about who I was being a slut than I guess I'm the biggest one at PCA".
"Aren't you going to leave now?" Dylan asked.
"Now, why would I do that Dylan? I bought my sushi and I'm sitting here. But I guess now that you've polluted this table with your air. It's all yours. Have a nice life Dylan". And with that Quinn walked out of Sushi Rox and let out a huge sigh and beamed the brightest smile she's ever smiled in her life.
"QUINN! I heard what you said and I gotta say – I'm impressed", Mark Del Figgalo walked out of Sushi Rox and ran up to Quinn, "Really impressed'".
"I thought I was going to throw up", Quinn smiled, "Why are you even here – I thought you hated me".
"I could never hate you Quinn – you're amazing".
"Yeah, now that I'm probably pregnant and I'd let Dylan take advantage of me. If that's your definition of amazing", Quinn took off her glasses and began to rub her eyes.
Mark walked towards her, "Amazing was the way you handled Dylan even after what happened, amazing is the way you think, Quinn. You didn't need to change. You were perfect".
"Somehow I really believe that".
"Because it's true", Mark smiled, "You just had to be yourself".
"Well I learned my lesson now, I'm never, ever going to change", Quinn sighed, "For anyone. I can't believe I was so stupid".
"Well, Dylan does look like someone girls would be attracted to".
"WOULD be", Quinn shook her head, "He takes advantage of people, and I hate that".
Mark sighed.
"Thanks Mark, for talking to me", Quinn smiled, "It helps".
"I know".
Quinn smiled and kissed Mark softly on the lips, and it wasn't forced and unnatural, it was perfect. So unlike the first kiss she had with Dylan, so unlike everything she had with Dylan.
"So does this mean we're back together?" Mark asked.
"According to my calculations…" Quinn laughed, "We are".
And Mark laughed with her.
"QUINN!" Nicole's voice became eminent to her, "QUINN! COME TO THE BEACH! SOMETHING HAPPENED TO LOGAN!"
And with that, Quinn took Mark's hand and followed Nicole and Michael to the beach.
If Kelly didn't have an overactive social life, Chase and Zoey would never be able to spend time together. But as it turned out, Kelly was a social butterfly and was gone just long enough for Chase and Zoey to hang out for more than an hour every day. Thank God for friends. Chase and Zoey were sitting in the girl's dorm lounge watching some movie about a talking bees and eating grapes. Both of their feet were propped up on the table and Chase was finishing some random homework assignment on his laptop.
"I hate this movie", Zoey popped a grape in her mouth.
"Me too", Chase didn't bother looking up from his laptop, "Bees can't talk".
"I KNOW!" Zoey groaned, "It's sending out such a bad message to our children".
Chase stopped typing and looked at Zoey suspiciously.
"Not our children… children in general. Like, America's children – because really they're our 'children' too", Nervously Zoey popped another grape into her mouth to make her shut up.
Chase just shrugged, "I know what you mean".
"Good", Zoey could feel her reddened face drop in color.
Chase looked up and began to pay attention to the movie, "That's one ugly bumble bee".
"I know, if I was stung by that bee, I wouldn't mind dying", Zoey laughed.
Chase smiled back, "Okay then".
"You can't tell me you'd rather be stung by that bee".
"Over what? My life? Sorry Zo, but I'll choose my life".
"Okay, would you rather have yourself dipped in honey and tied to a tree for those bees or be stung by that ugly one?"
"First one".
"What?" Zoey asked, "It's atrocious!"
"It's little. God you're bad at this game Brooks".
Chase's cell phone began to ring, "I'll be right back", Chase took his phone and walked outside.
His laptop was right there, and Zoey knew it was a bad thing to do, but she had to know what he was writing, she was dying to know. And the top was already open.
It was inviting her.
It was calling her.
'Zoey', the laptop called, 'OPEN ME!'
"No", Zoey shoved a grape into her mouth, "It'll be invading Chase's privacy. I can't do that to him. I just can't".
'YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO READ HIS STORRRY! IT COULD BE AWARD WINNING MATERIAL, AND YOU'D NEVER KNOW UNLESS YOU READ IT ZOEY. COME ON AND READ MEEE!"
"FINE!" Zoey screamed and found the file under Chase's laptop called PRIVATE.
'This has to be the one', Zoey thought as she clicked on it.
He'd loved her since the first moment he laid eyes on her, and he knew it was cliché and he knew she probably didn't feel the same way but Chase couldn't help but be in love with his best friend Zoey. If he could fight the feelings back he would, he couldn't ruin a single friendship just because of his feelings –
Chase slammed the laptop down.
"CHASE I'M SO SORRY! I JUST HAD TO READ IT! IT WAS SINGING TO ME!" Zoey noticed Chase was crying, "Chase what's wrong".
"Zoey…" Chase's eyes began to flood with tears, "Zoey – Logan, Logan committed suicide".
"No". Zoey shook her head, "He didn't".
Chase wrapped his arms around Zoey, "He did and we have to go to the beach. Everyone's there and – and it's not good".
Zoey began to cry into Chase's navy blue shirt and looked up at him, she couldn't control what was happening at that moment, everything was out of it's element and thrown into the twilight zone.
So that's why she kissed him.
Right there, in the PCA dorm lounge.
"I love you Chase", Zoey whispered.
"I love you too Zoey", Chase whispered and took Zoey's hand, "We have to go… we have to go now".
When it had all ended on November 7th some things were still unclear: was Logan okay? Was Lizzie going to fight her battle with leukemia? Was Quinn pregnant? Were Dana and Logan going to work things out if Logan was okay? What was going to happen with Michael and Nicole? And what was the next chapter in Zoey and Chase's telenovela?
As the gang stood there that night, watching the ambulance resurrect Logan's body from the water and put him into the white ambulance trunk only one thing was for certain.
For them, they had to expect the unexpected.
(A/N: Emotional, tear-jerking chapter right? Look out for "Swing Life Away" soon because every question, well almost every question will be answered in that fic. And I just wanted to say thank you for every single person who read this and took the time out to review it really means a lot to me.
Love always, Me)