Miss PCA

Chase was standing outside Room 101 waiting on Zoey. It had been a few days since Logan had announced his Miss PCA beauty pageant and in Chase's opinion, about half the girls on campus had lost their minds. Unfortunately, that half included Zoey and Lola too. They were far from the worst, Logan had spent the last two days with a parade of girls following him around and waiting on him hand and foot to try to suck up to him. At least Zoey and Lola weren't acting that desperate. To be totally honest, Chase had never heard of Buzz Magazine, but according to the girls, it would be a major accomplishment for their future to be on the cover.

So here he was. Zoey had called him for help with pageant stuff about twenty minutes ago. He wanted no part of this stupid pageant but it was Zoey, so he had been at her door five minutes later. He had spent the last fifteen minutes just standing around waiting for her to do whatever she was doing in her room.

"Zoey?" He called out, again.

"Two more minutes!" Zoey yelled back through the door.

"I'm bored."

"Look at the fire extinguisher."

Following her suggestion, Chase glanced around for a moment until he found it hanging on the wall. He flicked it with his finger, letting its metallic ring fill the hallway for the moment. Unless Quinn had set something on fire again, that was probably all the use he could get out of it right now.

"It's not that exciting." Chase whined.

"Just wait, I need your opinion on my dress."

Chase rolled his eyes, for about the tenth time that day with everything going on about the pageant, he literally couldn't go anywhere on campus without hearing people talking about it. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "You know I don't support this beauty pageant. It treats girls like they're prized show pigs at a county fair. And I don't think its right that-"

Chase broke off from his rant when he heard the click of Zoey's door opening and he turned around. Seeing her, he suddenly forgot what he was talking about.

She was wearing a full-length, spaghetti strap dress that was solid red with some sparkly beading over her torso. She had one hand on her hip, and all Chase could think was that red was now his new favorite color.

"Ohhh." He mumbled, he literally couldn't focus on anything else as his eyes kept scanning her from head to toe. He felt like he couldn't even control his tongue. Maybe there were some positives to the stupid pageant, he decided.

Zoey glanced down at herself for a moment before looking up at him again. "Do you like it?"

"Ohhh." He tried to control his mouth, but without much success, his brain still wasn't working at full capacity. He could feel his mouth quirk into a side smile of its own accord. Not that Chase was complaining, but he felt like he should really be trying to get ahold of himself before she asked any more questions.

"So you like it?" She asked again.

Third times' the charm. Chase finally got his mouth and brain connected again, not that he really knew how he should answer that. "Yeah, it's um, a very, uh, flattering?" He tried, he felt like that would be the safest word he could use in this situation.

"Do you need a drink of water?" Zoey tilted her head and smiled at him.

Does she know how much she's torturing him right now? Was she enjoying it? Chase's head felt like it was divided into two very different missions, one side was trying to commit every aspect of this breathtaking image to his memory forever, while the other half was trying to maintain the outward composure of his sanity. Chase hoped he was succeeding in at least one of those.

"Yes please." Chase managed to choke out, his mouth was also seriously dry for some reason. Ok not some reason, the reason was pretty obvious.

"Come on," Zoey turned around and walked over to the fridge to grab Chase some water, Chase followed happily behind her. He would always follow her anywhere, but right now. Chase could feel his brain shutting down again.

Zoey handed him a bottle of water and he took a sip to quench his parched throat. The splash seemed to be reviving him, or at least he hoped it did.

"So do you think it looks good?"

"Um, yeah. Personally in my totally unbiased opinion, if you wear that for the pageant, I can't imagine how any girl can possibly look hotter, I mean better, I mean…" He always loved his title of Zoey's best guy friend before but he had absolutely no clue what the right thing to say was. How much can he say and stay safely away from his biggest secret, especially when all he wanted to do was tell her how beautiful she looks?

"So you think I should go with this one? I was going to wear this blue one I found, but I think this one will work better for me and the blue one will be better for Lola."

"Um, yeah, red is definitely your color."

"So, you know Logan right? What do you think he'd say?"

Why did she have to bring up Logan? Although his annoyance gave him further control of his faculties, if he was expected to channel Logan, that could be a safe way to reveal what he was really thinking. "Wow, you look so hot. In fact, meet me backstage later and we can go make out where we can have some privacy." Chase said in his best (terrible) impression of Logan's voice and even included his signature smirk.

"Wow, you sound just like Logan. You know what I going to go with this one."

"Why? I mean I totally approve." Chase nodded.

"Just based on your reaction, if I can drive you speechless I bet the Buzz cover is in the bag. Logan won't know what hit him."

"Yeah, Logan. Look for the record, while I think you look good, I still think you should just drop out before something happens and someone gets hurt or angry or something. The only thing beauty pageants do is cause drama. Oh here's an idea, how about the night of the pageant, you and I go to Sushi Rox instead? I'll have no complaints if you wear that dress for that."

"No thanks, Chase. I need to be on that cover, it could just, open so many doors for me in the future. I know it's kind of stupid, but you won't talk me out of it."

"Fine whatever you say Zoe. Need me to snap a picture or anything so you can see yourself?" Please say yes, please say yes. He silently prayed.

"I have a mirror silly." Zoey pointed over her shoulder to said mirror.

"Right of course." There goes that plan.

Lola walked in behind Chase. "Oh, hey Chase."

"Hi." Chase said softly, he could feel himself being distracted again, anyone who wasn't Zoey in a dress wasn't important to him right now.

"Zoey what time are we gonna-" Lola trailed off as she noticed Zoey was in the dress. "Oh my god, you look gorgeous!"

How much Chase wished he could have said that to her without fear.

"Really?"

"Yeah! Absol- Wait, I thought you said the red dress was for me?"

"I did, but then I started messing around with them and I decided that the other dress would look better on you and this one was better for me." Zoey smiled at her.

"Oh, so you're saying I would look bad in that dress?" Lola's face went from awestruck to confusion to a glare so fast that Chase felt like he had whiplash.

Yep, Chase knew it. Hold a pageant and there will be drama.

"I didn't say that."

"Yeah, you kind of did."

"Girls-"

Zoey talked over him. "Look, I made your dress look just as cool as mine."

"OK, let's see it." Lola crossed her arms with a challenging gleam in her eye.

"Sure." Zoey walked over to her closet, leaving Chase to stand a bit awkwardly with Lola. He started silently praying that Lola would like the dress and this stupid fight over a stupid dress for a stupid pageant would be over before it began.

Zoey brought out a blue and purple dress. "Here, what do you think?"

Lola gazed at it for a few moments and bit her lip. "Hmm, I don't know, kind of torn between eww and ilck!" Lola gagged.

"Hey, who likes Cheddar Cheese? I know I do." Chase tried to relieve the ever-growing tension. But to no avail.

"Do you know how hard I worked on this dress for you?" Zoey demanded.

"Not as hard as you worked on that one for you!"

"I, I'm gonna go somewhere else now." Chase awkwardly walked out of the room and shut the door behind him, but even through the door he could hear both girls still screaming at each other. Chase sighed, so the one positive about the whole pageant thing was seeing Zoey in her dress, but Chase had a feeling unless the girls made up right that moment, nothing would make them rational again until the pageant was over. He knew both of them were stubborn when they wanted to be, he wondered if he should go warn Quinn about what she was about to be walking into.

Back in the room, Zoey and Lola were still fighting.

"I should have known you would try to make me look worse than you! Well, good luck with that." Lola smirked.

"Please, based on Chase's reaction I have this thing in the bag. He was completely speechless when he saw me." Zoey pointed out smugly.

"Oh like Chase is an excellent judge when it comes to you. His tongue falls to the ground every time he sees you on a daily basis."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"How are you still so oblivious. How are you smart enough to sabotage your obvious biggest competition but still too dumb to see what's right in front of you?"

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"Hello? Of course Chase was speechless when he saw you! He's Chase and you're Zoey."

"Is this your stupid Chase is in love with me theory all over again? That's the only thing crazier than your insane sabotage theory!"

"Well, obviously both are absolutely true. I'm going to go find my own dress!" Lola started marching out of the room before stopping at the door. "Oh, and you know what's going to be so great about seeing my face on the cover of Buzz Magazine? Not seeing yours!"

"Your face should be covered. With a sack!"

"You'll pay for that one Brooks." Lola warned her then finally marched away.

Zoey threw Lola's dress to the floor in anger. Then just sat on her bed with her arms crossed. What was Lola's deal? She was her friend, emphasis on was. She wouldn't try to sabotage her to win. Zoey didn't care though, she wouldn't sabotage Lola but she was so going to beat her and rub it in her face. She didn't care what it took. And why in the world did she bring up her stupid Chase was in love with her theory again? Just more proof that she was crazy. If Chase was speechless even seeing her, she was obviously right that the red dress looked great on her. She just knew she was guaranteed to win.

A few days later, and Chase was still fed up with all the pageant nonsense. Everyone had sat together at lunch earlier, and he was pretty sure they had barely avoided an all-out brawl between Lola and Zoey. Logan of course wasn't helping anything, and it was all his fault anyway. He still had girls bringing him his lunch tray and anything else he needed. And he of course reminded Lola and Zoey how important it was to look their best tomorrow night. Chase and Michael each had to hold Zoey and Lola back before they attacked each other after Lola brought up the dress again.

Now he was running to Zoey's dorm once again after receiving a text message that she really needed his help in her room and that it was an emergency.

"What happened? Are you OK?" Chase asked, when he got there Zoey was looking in her mirror doing something, she didn't even turn around to look at him.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be OK?"

"Cause you sent me a double 911 text message."

"Yes. Because I need to help me decide which earrings I should wear for the pageant!"

"Oh, sorry. I didn't realize the seriousness of the situation." Chase said sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah yeah. So do you like the topaz, the pearls, or the little red balls?" Zoey brushed her hair back to reveal a different earring in each ear plus holding the third option up with her hand.

"Um…they all look very nice." Chase said, he really had no opinion, to him they all pretty much made Zoey look the same. Plus he was a guy, what did he know about earrings?

Zoey scoffed, "What are you doing? Running for president? Take a position! Make a choice!"

"Um, ok um, the topaz balls?"

"Alright look, just pick up those index cards and read me the questions." Zoey pointed to a pile on her bed so Chase walked over and sat down to read them.

"What are these questions for?" Chase asked, as he hurriedly read over a few of them.

"The interview. The pageant consists of four sub competitions; talent, evening gown, interview, and swimsuit."

"Can I help you pick out a swimsuit?" Chase smiled. He would enjoy doing that much more than this, which was mostly Zoey yelling at him so far.

"I already picked a swimsuit, just read those." Zoey glared at him.

Chase nodded and read the first card while Zoey continued to pace back and forth around the room. "OK um, if you could, what would you do to help hungry children of the world?"

"I don't know, feed them? What other answer is there?"

"I think they're looking for more specifics." Chase suggested although he doubted Logan would actually have the capacity to care about a question like that either.

"OK meatloaf, I'd give them all meatloaf." Zoey shrugged her shoulders sarcastically. "Next."

"Um," Chase read the next card, but he came up with a better idea maybe if he got her to laugh maybe Zoey would stop acting so crazy. "If you could be an internal organ, which organ would you be? Heart, lung, liver, pancreas, or bladder?"

"What kind of question is that?" Zoey demanded.

"It's a Chase question, came up with it myself. Do you know what would be even more fun, a game of Would You Rather? Eh?" Chase smiled at her.

In response, Zoey threw a pillow at his head. "Ahh, you dented my 'fro."

"You're not taking this seriously!" Zoey whined.

"Well, you got that one right." Chase muttered.

"This is important to me, I want to be on the cover of Buzz!"

"No you don't. You're just obsessed with beating Lola cause you guys are in a fight."

"OK, I don't need a therapist so if you're not going to help me-"

"Maybe you do need a therapist because you're not even acting like you." Chase finally decided he had enough of watching Zoey keep doing things he knew she would regret later.

"Oh, I'm not?"

"You're the one that said contests like this bring out the worst in people, well guess what? It's bringing out the worst in you."

"That's so not true!"

"It's like you to run around, freaking out, dying for Logan to pick you as the prettiest girl at PCA?"

That got Zoey to pause for a moment. "Topaz, pearls, or red balls?" She asked again.

"Look Zoey, you want me to take a position. Then hear me out. I can't be the person to help you with this." Chase threw the index cards on her bed beside him. "You know I'll always do anything for you, but not this. This stupid pageant is making you and Lola and half the girls on campus act insane. I know Quinn has been staying away from your room as much as possible because if you two are in the same room together it turns into a shouting match."

"That's because Lola-"

"I know, it's because of the stupid dress, and I'm sure you had the best of intentions when you decided you got the red one and Lola would get the blue one. But I know you, Zoey, I know all your friends mean the world to you. Do you really want a stupid dress to ruin your friendship with Lola?"

"But-"

"Hold on, I'm not done. Sure, whatever Buzz Magazine is, I'm sure it's a big deal. But is it really worth it if you're giving Logan what he wants? He's doing this as a way to look at girls and to make them do stuff for him. He's just using his college application as an excuse, and I can't imagine any college would actually be impressed by this since again, he's just using his dad's money and connections. While you at least have enough pride to not stoop that low like some people. With everything you know about Logan, you know he can't be predicted. Other than he only does whatever benefits him the most. It's Logan, while I think you're always the most beautiful girl on the face of the planet, Logan will just do whatever he wants."

"Plus If you think I'm a good person to ask for any advice about earrings and dresses and whatever, I'll tell you the answer I will give you every time even if you're wearing a ridiculous banana costume or something. I will always say you look absolutely gorgeous no matter what you're wearing because you're you. In case you couldn't tell I could barely breathe yesterday when you opened that door."

"I know this isn't you Zoey. You know me better than anyone else, and I hope I know the real you better than anyone else. The Zoey I know would never sacrifice her friendships for a stupid contest. Remember the election or the radio? I don't want to see you and Lola throw each other away and for Logan no less." Chase finally paused for breath and Zoey was just, staring at him. He may have gotten a little ahead of himself and said some things that he hadn't been planning, but maybe his honesty would help break through to her.

"Chase…" Zoey started slowly, she sat down next to him on the edge of her bed and Chase scooted over a few inches to give her room. "Maybe you're right. I did sign up for Buzz and then Lola…No we both started this. I could have explained more or at least asked her before just telling her I was going to use the red dress." Zoey admitted quietly. "What do you think I should do?"

"In my honest opinion, I think you should drop out, we can do something else tomorrow night just us, and leave all this drama and anger behind. Or at the very least, try to apologize to Lola to see if you can get the ball rolling on you two being friends again."

"You know what Chase, you're right. Your opinion means the world to me. I'll drop out of the contest and tell Lola she can use the red dress if she wants. Because my friendship with Lola does matter more to me than a stupid magazine cover. And I couldn't care less what Logan thinks of me. I already know he just thinks of me as a pair of lips that he'll never kiss."

"Yeah, I bet. I'm happy for you Zoey. I think you made the right decision."

"Yeah, I do too. So did you mean everything you said?" Zoey asked after pausing for a moment.

"Yes, absolutely." Chase nodded,

"Even how you think I'm the most beautiful girl on the face of the planet? And that I look absolutely gorgeous no matter what I'm wearing?"

"Yes, that too. Chase swallowed nervously, feeling himself blushing, but he could also have sworn that Zoey was blushing just as much. It was probably just his eyes playing a trick on him, or she had makeup on or something.

"And you said you were speechless yesterday?"

"Yeah, also true. Could you not tell?"

"I could, I just assumed if I could make my best friend as tongue-tied as you were then I had the pageant in the bag. Plus it was pretty amusing to see you gasping like a fish." Zoey giggled lightly.

"Always good to know I amuse you Zoe." They both lightly chuckled after that, but then they each broke off into a bit of awkward silence. Chase was terrified that Zoey would keep asking questions, plus freaking out that he had finally told her she was always gorgeous, it wouldn't be too far of a leap to ask more questions about what he was always hiding from her inside himself.

Now that she had established for sure that Chase was just as speechless as he seemed yesterday. One thing Lola had said kept knocking around her brain. But she didn't know for sure what answer she wanted.

"Um, Chase…?"

"Yeah, Zoey?"

"Yesterday, when Lola and I first started fighting and you left the room, Lola said it was no surprise to her that you went speechless when you saw me."

"And why did she think that? I mean we've established it's true and everything, but…?"

"Right." Zoey glanced down at her lap, instead of looking at Chase's face. "Now, she's brought this up before, but she brought it up again yesterday too. She and Quinn have been trying all semester to convince me that you're secretly in love with me. I always told them they were crazy, but…" Zoey broke off when she looked up at Chase's face, and she just knew. After nearly two and a half years of being best friends, she could read him like a book, well maybe not as well as she thought she did if she just figured it out now. But this time she was certain she knew exactly what he was thinking. "It's true, isn't it? They're both right, aren't they?"

"Yes. It is true." Chase gently took hold of Zoey's hand. "Zoey, being your best friend has been literally the time of my life I wouldn't ever want to change anything about us. And yes, I do think you are the most beautiful, perfect girl on the planet. But inside and out. I feel like I know you better than anyone else I have ever known my entire life. And you know me just as well. For the past two and a half years, we've learned pretty much everything we can about each other. Except for one thing that I'm telling you now. I am in love with you, Zoey Brooks. I always have been from the day we met. I don't think that feeling will ever go away."

"Chase, I think you're right again. Because of everything you said, I feel the exact same way. I do know you more than anyone else, and you know me more than anyone too. That's why you'll always be the first one I call if I need help with anything, from homework to earrings. Because I know you will always be there for me, and I value your opinion so much. Thank you for knocking some sense into me. You reminded me who I want to be. And that's me."

"You're welcome Zoey, whatever you want, whatever you need."

"You know, there is something I want much more than a stupid magazine cover."

"What is it?"

Zoey placed her other hand on top of his and gave him a gentle squeeze. "I want you. I want to try being with you. Chase, can we try being together, as more than friends? Maybe even, boyfriend-girlfriend?"

Was Chase absolutely sure he wasn't dreaming? Because this felt like he was dreaming, but even if he was, he wasn't going to waste any time. "Yes, yes. Definitely, I would love that. Absolutely. Zoey, will you go on a date with me tomorrow night? I bet Sushi Rox will be deserted tomorrow if everyone else is at the pageant."

"Sounds great, I can't wait." Zoey smiled and as if they read each other's minds, both leaned closer into a hug that neither wanted to ever end. "You know what I just had a great idea."

"Tell me, whatever it is, I'm sure it's the bomb. All your ideas are great ideas."

"I'll find Lola and give her the red dress and hopefully apologize for everything. Even though I still think she'll rock the blue much better. But anyway. Do you have dress clothes?"

"I have dress pants and a few button ups and ties. Why?"

"Well, if I'm not doing the pageant, I might as well get some use out of one of those dresses. So how about we dress up tomorrow for fun?"

"If I can see you in any dress again, I would very much enjoy it." Chase admitted sheepishly.

"And I'd love to see you all gussied up too." Zoey admitted. "You aren't so bad looking yourself Chase."

"Not so bad looking? Is that all I get?"

"Fine, you're pretty handsome, boyfriend."

"That's better, girlfriend." Chase smiled back, giddily as the word rolled off his tongue.

"And…"

"And?"

"I don't have the swimsuit competition anymore either. So after we eat, how about we hit the beach?"

"OK, just checking, this isn't a dream right?"

"If it is, I'm having the exact same dream."

"Good, I'm all for that plan. Just don't blame me if I stop breathing when I see you in a swimsuit based on my reaction to your dress at least." Chase joked.

"Don't worry. I'm trained in mouth to mouth, remember?" Zoey joked back.

"And I promise I won't bite your tongue while you're trying to save me."

"Good answer."

"So what about the interview and talent portions?"

"Well you already know everything about me, but I'm sure we can come up with plenty of Chase and Zoey questions to ask each other so we don't get bored over dinner."

"And the talent portion?"

"I was planning on singing something at the pageant, but how about we see what you can do?"

"Me? My only talent is falling on my face and getting back up mostly unscathed."

"Come on now, you must have something."

"I can tell you everything about every supervillain Batman ever fought."

"Oh yeah, your uncle's comic book store?"

"Yep."

"I bet that would have one you the pageant."

"Please." Chase scoffed, "I think I can guarantee that the girl who wins the talent portion will do it by making out with Logan and that at least five girls will try."

"That definitely would not have been me, but if you were the judge…"

"If I was the judge, all you would have to do is walk on stage for five seconds then walk back off and I would give you a perfect score. Not to sound like Logan, but to me, you will always be a perfect ten, inside and out."

"And you are too Chase. I better go find Lola now, but I can't wait for tomorrow night."

"Me neither Zoey, me neither. Tell me how it goes, or if you need any more help."

"You know I will. So what do you want to see tomorrow? Topaz, pearls or red dangling balls?"

"All I need to see tomorrow is you, Zoe."