Election

Chase and Zoey were walking through campus after French class. Both were feeling kind of annoyed at each other for nominating one another for class president.

"Why'd you nominate me?" Chase asked.

"Cause you nominated me."

"Well, I happen to think you would make a great choice for class president," Chase said honestly.

"OK, and I think you would," Zoey replied, she would have no problem with Chase being president, he was always so kind and creative. But she had mostly done it just because he basically forced her into it, so she forced him into it in return. That's what best friends were for.

"Well, thanks, I'm flattered but I don't want to run against you."

"Oh, what's the matter? Are you afraid you're going to lose?" Zoey said in a teasing voice.

"No, no I'm not afraid I'm going to lose." Chase chuckled nervously.

"Oh, so you think you can beat me."

"No! I, I mean, I don't think I-" Chase rushed to correct himself.

"Calm down I'm just playing with you." Zoey smiled at him.

"Look, I'm just worried, cause you know we're really good friends and I'm afraid if we're running against each other, you know, the competition might screw up our friendship."

"OK, then let's make a pact." Zoey stopped walking and Chase turned to face her. "That no matter what happens in this election, we both promise not to let it affect our friendship."

"Deal." Chase nodded and then spit into his hand. "Spit shake?"

"Gross!" Zoey cringed, looking absolutely disgusted.

"What? Girls don't spit shake?" Chase awkwardly withdrew his hand.

"Not really." Zoey shook her head.

"Oh well. You learn something new every day." Chase wiped his hand off on his jeans. "Is that better?"

"Not until you wash your hands, but we have a deal." Zoey smiled at him.

"You know, for what it's worth Zoe, I would be totally happy if you won."

"And I would be happy if you won."

"May the best candidate win then."

"Yep. So you ready to head to government and pick up some campaign tips?"

"You know it." Chase nodded and they walked off to their next class.

The next day at lunch, Quinn was showing Zoey, Nicole, and Lola the polling data she had been collecting, and it showed that she and Chase were basically neck and neck, with Mark in a very distant third place.

Melissa and a few other girls ran up to their table, interrupting their campaign meeting. "Hey you guys, if you go down to the quad, you can a free smoothie! And look! Chase's face is on the side of the cup!"

Melissa held up her smoothie, showing a picture of Chase asking people to vote for him.

"What?" What was Chase doing? Zoey wondered, this didn't sound like something he would do, and while she knew he was doing some campaigning just like she was, she thought he didn't even want to be president just as much as she didn't.

The girls followed the excited crowd down to the quad to find out what was going on. As they walked up, they could see a large crowd of kids surrounding the apparent smoothie cart, and heard a voice they all knew too well.

"That's right PCA students! Free Smoothies!" Logan's voice sounded over a megaphone. "Compliments of Chase Matthews! Remember, a vote for Chase is a vote for Free Smoothies!"

Zoey and the girls marched closer, catching Logan's eye. "Oh hey Zoey, you voting for Chase? Free smoothies."

"What are you doing?"

"Just getting out the message," Logan smirked. "Vote for Chase!" He said into the megaphone, eliciting an excited cheer from the crowd.

Zoey put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes at everyone. She didn't know what was worse, that the smoothies seemed to be working, or the fact that Logan was right about something. It made sense that he would only understand bribery to get people to do what he wanted. She couldn't understand why Chase of all people would go along with this.

"Hey." Nicole tapped her on her shoulder and pointed behind them.

Zoey glanced over and she immediately locked onto Chase walking up to the smoothie cart, so she marched her way over to him.

"This is how you plan to win the election? By giving out free smoothies!"

"I, I just heard about this," Chase said, seeing Zoey angry at him sent him into an immediate state of panic.

"He just heard," Michael repeated.

Alright, that made her feel the tiniest bit better, she could tell Chase was just as shocked as she was. But she was still angry. "Well, I don't think it's very fair." She crossed her arms in front of her.

"Neither do I, which I why I'm going to put a stop to this right now," Chase promised as he marched over to Logan.

Zoey couldn't keep her glare down, and with Chase gone, Michael became her sole target.

"I, I'm gonna follow him." Michael pointed.

"Uh huh."

Chase walked up to Logan and pulled him a short distance away from the cheering crowd. "Man, what you doing?"

"Helping you get votes. You should thank me."

"You said you weren't going to help!"

"I know, I lied. Welcome to politics my friend. Here, have a smoothie."

"I don't want a smoothie."

"It's Mango." Logan sang out while shaking the cup.

"Oh, give me." Michael reached for it, but Chase grabbed it out of his hands and handed if off to someone else.

"Logan, seriously just stop. Take the smoothies away."

"No way, we're not going to have a girl president, and Del Figalo's a lost cause, so unfortunately that leaves us with you. So I am going to make sure you win."

"Seriously Logan. Please stop. I don't want to bribe people to win the election. I don't even want to win."

"Chase, of course you want to win. Why would you be running otherwise?"

"Because Zoey nominated me after I nominated her because I want her to be president."

"Come on man, don't you want power?"

"Dude, it's 9th-grade class president. I have no idea what I even have to do. But I doubt I'll be taking over the world anytime soon."

"You never will with that attitude." Logan brought his megaphone up to his mouth again. "Vote Chase for free smoothies!"

"Yeah!" the crowd cheered again.

"No! Enough, I do not support these smoothies! Logan is not part of my campaign! Everyone go back to class or go get sushi or something!"

"Chase! Chase! Chase!" Logan started leading a chant that drowned out all of Chase's words and got the crowd even more excited. Leaving Chase to try to squeeze his way back out and back to a waiting, and very ticked-off-looking Zoey.

"Look, Zoey, I promise I'll get Logan to stop the whole free smoothie thing." Chase held up his hands in a placating gesture.

"Whatever." Zoey just shrugged her shoulders in disbelief.

"Chase! Chase! Chase! Chase!" The crowd kept chanting thanks to Logan's very annoying leadership.

Chase tried to step between Zoey and the crowd. "Um, remember when we promised we wouldn't let this whole election thing affect our friendship? Remember that?"

"Yeah, I remember that," Zoey said with a completely flat voice, before turning around and walking back to her dorm.

"Alright, I just wanted to make sure we were cool." Chase said nervously, yelling over the still chanting crowd. "I'll call you later!" He promised, watching her walk away. "And she hates me." Chase sighed to himself.

Well, who wouldn't even he was getting annoyed with the crowd, and he really hated Logan right now. He did his best to try to break up the crowd, but no one was listening to him at all. He considered taking Logan's stupid megaphone from him, but he doubted he would give it up very easily. He just tried to keep telling people he had nothing to do with the smoothies but no one really cared. How in the world did Logan even get all these cups and everything else so fast? Not that that mattered.

Finally, about an hour later Logan was finally out of smoothies and the crowd went their separate ways. Chase spent their entire walk back to their dorm trying to explain to Logan why he didn't want any more of his help, especially his strategy of dirty politics, and also glaring at Michael who was sipping on his own smoothie, which he kept safely out of Chase's reach this time.

Out of everything else, he just really didn't want Zoey to be mad at him. He always hated to make her mad, like at the dance last semester, or when she thought he was in on Logan's webcam. Actually, whenever Zoey got mad at him it was almost always Logan's fault, at least partially. Not that Chase deserved some blame himself for the dance. He hated seeing her beautiful face not smiling at him. Not laughing with him. Why did he have to be right? He just knew a competition like this would just create a big mess. Why couldn't she understand that he genuinely thought she would be a great leader? She led the girls in their prank week plan, and several revenge plans on Logan already. Zoey was a natural leader, and a good one, who always looked out for her friends. While he still had no idea what the class president actually did, he knew she was the right choice. Why couldn't she understand that? how could he prove it to her? Stupid nomination rules, forcing him to do this. At least Logan finally agreed to no more smoothies, hopefully, he hadn't done too much damage to either Zoey's campaign, or to his most important friendship.

Zoey was so annoyed. Annoyed at Logan for playing dirty, she should never have expected anything less from him. But even more annoyed at Chase, even if he didn't know about the smoothies beforehand, it didn't seem like he was trying very hard to stop them, no matter what he promised her.

As they walked back to their dorm, Lola once again suggested using her poster of Chase in a wedding dress to make him look weird. But Zoey refused, even if Chase was playing dirty, she refused to stoop to his level. She was determined now. She would win this election. Fair and square.

Zoey and the other girls just kept making more posters and buttons to hand out tomorrow, Zoey trying to get over her anger at Chase, part of her knew it had to be Logan because she knew Chase was way too sweet and kind to try to cheat to win a stupid election. The girls were hard at work for over an hour when Zoey's phone started ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hey Zoe, its Chase."

"What's up Chase?"

"OK, I know I should take Logan's word with a grain of salt, but I did get him to promise no more smoothies. And I promise you I will run the rest of this campaign the right way. No more sneaking around, I promise Zoey."

"Thanks, Chase, as long as you fixed everything, I'm not mad." Zoey smiled to herself as her annoyance with Chase evaporated, it always felt so strange the few occasions Chase made her mad, so she was happy to be happy with him again.

"I'm glad to hear that. So I'm assuming you're still working on campaign stuff?"

"Yep, we've got posters and buttons galore, by tomorrow everyone will be voting for me."

"I don't doubt that. I promise I won't go down without a fight, but it will be a good, clean fight."

"I wouldn't want it any other way. I think we're about to pack everything up for the night and then head to bed."

"Yeah, me too. Are we still meeting for breakfast tomorrow?"

"Of course, just because we're rivals doesn't mean we're skipping one of my favorite parts of the day."

"I hear that, and I totally agree with you. Goodnight Zoey."

"Goodnight Chase."

The next day, Zoey and Nicole were busy walking around campus, handing out buttons and flyers to everyone they met. Zoey felt like things were going well, she and Chase had an awesome time eating breakfast together like usual and thankfully with just the two of them, they were able to forget all the campaign craziness for a while, they even played a few exciting rounds of would you rather before heading to their first class of the day.

Right now everyone they met took their buttons and flyers happily, which Zoey took as a good sign, that is until they turned around the corner near the library to once again, hear a very familiar, annoying voice speaking at maximum volume.

"That's right! Vote for Chase! Chase Matthews for Class President!" Logan was once again shouting into a megaphone. This time with a small crowd of kids scrambling on the ground to pick up the money he had two other guys tossing in the air like confetti.

Zoey marched over and pulled Logan by his arm away from the center of the crowd. "You're unbelievable!"

"Thank you." Logan smirked.

"You're seriously giving people money so they'll vote for Chase?"

"No." Logan shook his head and held out a few bills. "These are Chase Bucks."

Zoey took one, to see a fake dollar bill with Chase's face on it. "OK, what are Chase Bucks?"

"Chase Bucks can be redeemed for merchandise at any store or cafeteria on campus."

"And how is that different from handing out cash?"

"Simple, handing out cash is illegal, handing out Chase Bucks is genius."

"That's still wrong!" Zoey yelled at him.

"You're just going around the rules!" Nicole shouted.

"How can you do that?"

Logan shook his head at them, still smirking, "You really don't get politics do you?"

Zoey glared at him once more before glaring down at the Chase Buck in her hand. She had had it, she needed to talk to Chase now. She knew he had gym class right now, but she didn't care, she was angry enough to chase him down on the track herself.

He promised last night that he had Logan under control, but that obviously wasn't the case. Had he lied to her? Did he really want to win that badly? Because the person who had their face printed on money for a stupid school election obviously didn't care about his friends, so he must not care about her.

She marched into the gym but it was empty. When she glanced at the clock on the wall she realized the class was almost over, so everyone was probably in the locker room showering, including Chase. She just tapped her foot outside the door to the guys' locker room for a few minutes, but right now her patience was at an all-time low. Thankfully no one else was in the gym so she took a deep breath and marched right in.

When she entered the locker room she was hit by the wave of humid air, smelling like fifty percent sweat and fifty percent body spray. She gagged for a moment but continued on her way, undeterred. Several guys screamed when they saw her coming but she didn't care, finally, over the top of a row of lockers, she saw a head of familiar bushy hair.

"Chase!" She shouted, rounding the corner to find Chase standing in front of an open locker, with only a towel wrapped around his waist. Despite her anger, she blushed in spite of herself. Maybe she hadn't completely thought this plan through but she was still so angry she wasn't stopping now.

Chase turned around when he heard his name being called, but when he locked eyes on Zoey, he felt all the blood drain from his face. What was she doing here? Why was she in here? She can't see me like this. Chase was completely terrified. Those dreams where you're giving a presentation in class and then you look down and you're naked. Chase had had those from time to time, but oh boy, nothing could have ever prepared him for this. He silently prayed to whoever was listening that Zoey would leave as soon as possible. A wish he never in a million years thought he would have before.

He grabbed his towel with one hand, he would not risk anything else being revealed to her accidently. He was so focused on himself and his panic that it was only moments later when he looked up at her again and he grew even more terrified, if looks could kill, Chase was sure he'd be six feet under right now.

"What is this?" Zoey held up the Chase Buck, looking right at his face, refusing the strange temptation to glance anywhere else.

"Um, this is the guys' locker room. You can't come in here, you're going to get in trouble!" Chase glanced nervously around, most of the other guys were running off to hide anywhere else that wasn't in Zoey's line of sight. He wished he could too.

"You're in trouble." Zoey shoved the Chase Buck in his face and he took it in his right hand, his left, still holding his towel in a death grip.

"Chase Buck? What is this?"

"They're redeemable at every store on campus."

"What? Why?"

"You know why! Logan's tossing out handfuls to ever every kid in our class to get them to vote for you!"

Of course, this was Logan's fault like usual. "Man!" Chase banged his fist against a nearby locker and regretted it moments later. "Ahh, ok pinky's broken," he grimaced to himself as he shook out his hand to try to relieve the self-inflicted pain.

"This isn't funny!"

"I know. Look, Zoey, you promised me that this election wouldn't wreck our friendship."

"Well, I didn't know what kind of campaign you were going to run!"

"It's not me! It's just…alright that's it!" Chase through up his arms in exasperation. "You know what? I'm out! I'm done!"

"What do you mean done?"

"I'm just going to drop out of this stupid race."

"OK, so now you're just going to quit and let me win?" Zoey didn't think her anger could grow anymore, seems she was wrong, just like she had been wrong to trust Chase.

"I didn't say that!"

"You think the only way I can win is if you drop out!"

"How is this happening?" Chase asked whoever was listening that this nightmare could be over soon.

"You better not quit, or I'm going to be really mad."

"Zoey, would you just…?" Chase trailed off, he didn't know what to say, leave the locker room, forgive me, calm down? Turn around so I can put on some pants before you kill me? He really doubted any of those would work.

"I'm out of here." Zoey scoffed and started marching away.

Thank God, Chase thought to himself, but as much as he wanted her to leave, he didn't want her to leave while they were still fighting, so despite his better judgment he chased after her.

"Zoey!"

"Don't you drop out of this election!"

"OK, I won't drop out." Chase held his hands up in surrender.

"Good." Zoey turned around again for a moment before Chase spoke again.

"So you're not mad at me?"

"No! I'm fine!" Zoey insisted, still looking royally ticked off.

"You don't sound fine."

"I'm fine! And I can win this election without your help!" Zoey finally turned around for the last time and marched back out the door.

Well crap. Chase could feel his heart rate finally slowing down again. As he calmed down he felt like he probably needed another shower after how hard his heart was beating the entire time Zoey was in the locker room. He hurried to put his clothes back on, just in case she felt like coming back in for some reason.

This was the worst. He was stuck between a pissed-off Zoey and no way out. Given his previous record, he knew he had no chance of really stopping Logan once he put his head and his money into something, and unfortunately that something was Chase. So if he couldn't trust Logan to stop, and Zoey wouldn't let him drop out, then he just had to make himself the worst presidential candidate in history, and thankfully he quickly came up with an idea of how to do it.

He once again thanked God that Zoey wasn't outside waiting to ambush him again, because he had work to do, and he didn't want to face her again until he made it up to her.

Zoey was still fuming as she stomped back to her dorm room. Thankfully she was alone so she slammed the door shut and just screamed out all of her frustration and then sat on her bed. Why was Chase driving her so crazy? She wanted this whole thing to be over as soon as possible so things could get back to normal, if they could get back to normal. Even if Chase wasn't planning all of Logan's campaign ideas with him, he was still letting it happen, and now Chase was clearly winning over most of the students.

For the first time ever, she didn't want to think about Chase, but she couldn't stop and it just made her angrier and angrier. She thought they were friends, but friends don't cheat so they can steamroll their friends in an election that they both claimed to not even care about.

There was also the weird feeling in her chest that sprung up out of nowhere after she left the locker room. She had maintained her focused glare on Chase's face the entire time, but maybe her eyes had wandered a little bit, not that she hadn't seen him mostly like that before. They had gone swimming at the beach several times in the past, but that was different as she realized just what she had done, seeing Chase in nothing but a towel.

Suddenly she felt even more like a horrible friend. It had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, and she hadn't cared at all what she could see, but obviously, Chase probably cared a lot, if how he kept his death grip on his towel was anything to go by. She promised herself she would apologize, but only once all of this was over.

She just sat on her bed, and did her best to not think about Chase or elections or anything, and failed miserably.

The next day, Zoey's poll numbers were still tanking compared to Chase, she didn't see any way she could win now thanks to all of Logan's meddling. When Quinn called them into the lounge to watch a commercial that she thought Zoey made about Chase. When Zoey laid eyes on it though, she was shocked.

Chase Matthews wants to be your class president, but how well do you really know Chase Matthews? For example did you know he eats out of garbage cans? Or that he shaves his legs? Or that he picks on little girls? Is this the kind of guy you want for class president? No! On Tuesday vote Zoey Brooks for class president. She's awesome!

Zoey was stunned into silence until everyone around her started getting mad at her for trying to slander Chase's name, even though she had no idea who even made this thing. She could tell whoever made it tried to make Chase look horrible, but they made it look like she made it.

She escaped the crowd in the lounge that was quickly becoming a angry mob to head to Chase's dorm. One her way everyone she passed was glaring at her and telling her what a horrible person she was. At this point she didn't even care about the election anymore, but she had to make sure Chase knew that she had nothing to do with the commercial. Heck it was probably Logan again, even though she doubted he was smart enough to think of a reverse psychology campaign and somehow pull it off.

She walked into Chase's room. "I didn't do it." She said quickly.

"You mean the commercial?" He asked her.

"Yes, even though I was kind of mad at you, I swear I would never do anything completely mean like that."

"I know." Chase nodded at her.

"Because your friendship means way more to me than this dumb election."

"I made it." Chase said, pointing at himself but Zoey didn't hear him at first.

"And when I find out who did, I'm going to hurt them, I'm going to-"

"I made it. I made the commercial." Chase interrupted her.

"Why?" Zoey brushed her bangs out of her face.

"Because, I never wanted to be president. Look, when I nominated you, its because I really thought you were the best person for the job. And I still think that. But I was going to win cause Logan was out of control and it wasn't right. You should be president. That's why I made the commercial."

There was that weird feeling again, just like she had in the locker room, she felt touched by what Chase said, but as she realized the important fact that he was the one who made the commercial, she chose to ignore the weirdness and focus on her annoyance that once again popped up. She reached out and slugged him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Chase rubbed his arm. "What was that?"

"Everybody thinks I made it!"

"They do?" How did that happen? Chase thought his plan was foolproof. The only way he could make things up with Zoey.

"Yes! So now the whole school feels bad for you and they hate me!" Zoey stormed out of the room. This whole week she just felt horrible, and it just kept going from bad to worse. She could barely even look at Chase anymore. There was just too much going on between them, not even counting the weird melancholy she felt beneath all the anger at even the thought of not spending time with him.

She didn't even care about this stupid election and now, thanks to Chase, whether intentional or not, she had zero chance of beating him. She just wanted to be done, so she knew what she had to do.

About an hour later, Zoey went to hang out in the lounge with her friends, but no one wanted to even look at her, and Nicole, Lola, and Quinn were all too afraid to be seen with her. Zoey was trying to get Nicole to talk to her when Lola turned up the volume on the TV.

"Hey guys, look at this." She called out.

Chase appeared on screen at a press conference he apparently had just called. "Hi, is this on?" Chase tapped the microphone a bit awkwardly. Zoey didn't know what to feel, she wanted to smile when she saw Chase, but she had no clue what he was doing. So she just watched silently with everyone else.

"Hi, my name is Chase Matthews, or most of you may know me as the guy who eats out of trashcans, shaves his legs, and picks on little girls. Now I know most of you thought that my opponent, Zoey Brooks made that commercial, but she didn't. I did."

Most of the girls around her were sharing shocked glances at this new revelation. Zoey finally let her smile show again for the first time all week, as she finally realized what Chase's plan was.

"Now, I know that sounds pretty stupid, but I did it because I really think that Zoey is the best person for the job. Which is also why I decided to drop out of the race for class president. Anyway, I guess that's it…..Is the camera off? It is? Well, turn it off. Um, I'm just going to…" Chase walked away from the podium and out of the shot a bit awkwardly.

"How cute is he?" Nicole asked, to no one in particular, but Zoey found herself agreeing.

This was her Chase, whom she knew would always do anything for her, even when she told him, no, and even she didn't know how to fix things, whenever she was struggling he was always there for her. Everyone around her apologized for getting mad at her, and she accepted all their apologies gratefully, but now it was her turn. So she once again went looking for Chase, but this time with a smile on her face. It felt great to smile when she thought about Chase again.

She looked all over his dorm room and finally found him sitting on his roof, reading a textbook.

"Boo." She said with a smile as she walked up to him.

"Oh, hi. How'd you find me up here?"

"Do you not want me up here?"

"No, of course not, my roof is your roof. Sit." Chase motioned to the nearby lawn chair that Zoey happily took her spot at while Chase set down his book and offered her an orange wedge.

"Look I'm really sorry." They both said in unison. They glanced over at each other confused for a few seconds as they realized what they both heard.

"Wait, you're sorry? Why are you sorry?" Chase looked genuinely confused.

"Cause this whole week I've been getting mad at you for stuff that was Logan's fault. And so I'm really sorry."

"No problem." Chase nodded at her.

"So what were you sorry for?"

"I don't know, when a girl gets mad at you it just seems like the smartest thing to say." Chase grinned at her, and she grinned right back.

"Very true. So why'd you drop out of the race?"

"Well after my brilliant smear campaign against myself backfired, I figured getting out of the race was the only way to make sure that you won. So I dropped out."

"Me too." Zoey nodded.

"Yeah, I just- Wait, what? You dropped out? When?"

"This afternoon, right before you did."

"But why?"

"Same reason as you. And cause I think our friendship is way more important than a stupid election."

"I one hundred percent agree. So we're friends again?"

"We never stopped, did we?" Zoey asked, a bit nervous.

"Of course not Zoe."

Zoey nodded in confirmation. "Alright, there is one more thing I should apologize for." She said, heat rising in her cheeks at the thought of what she was about to say.

"What is it Zoe?"

"I'm sorry I cornered you in the locker room. I should have just waited outside for you but I was just so angry…I hope you can forgive me. I know that was wrong of me to do."

"While I admit, that is now the most terrifying five minutes of my life…" Chase blushed beet red at the memory. "I'll always forgive you Zoey, just please never do anything like that again."

"I promise I won't."

"And uh, please tell me you didn't see anything?"

"Nothing I haven't seen when we've gone to the beach. Don't worry, you looked great in the towel." Zoey just knew her face was as red as Chase's was right now, why had she said that?

"You, what, I do? What?"

"Of course you do Chase, and seeing you onstage, fixing everything, Nicole said you look cute, and I totally agree." Zoey nervously brushed a strand of hair out of her face, all her focus entirely on Chase.

"Um." Had Zoey just called him cute? And said he looked good in just a towel on, what was he supposed to do? She was his best friend, and she hated him all week. Why was she saying this now? "Thanks, I guess, and you always look great too. I'm sorry I couldn't control Logan."

"And I'm sorry I didn't listen to you when you talked about why you wanted me to be president. I should have realized you truly believed what you said. Just like you always mean exactly what you say. I was being oblivious to you your true intentions. I'm sorry."

That's not the only thing you're oblivious of. Chase thought silently to himself, but as they continued hanging out on the roof, he could have sworn they were both stealing glances at each other but then looking away when the other noticed, but they both kept coming back for more. Now this was nothing new for Chase, but this was the first time he ever saw Zoey looking at him that way.

"Chase, look I know I might be crazy, but just hear me out," Zoey said, after a few minutes of comfortable, companionable silence, but there was still a tension in the air, something left unspoken but neither knew what it was.

"What is it Zoey?"

"I think you're a really great guy, and even though you mess it up sometimes, I know you always have my best interests at heart. You are the greatest person I know, both inside and out."

"Trust me Zoey, I feel the exact same way about you."

"I know, but Chase have you ever thought about us being maybe more than friends?"

Every single day since I first laid eyes on you. Chase thought silently in his head. Chase was frozen, why did she ask that? The one question he wanted to answer more than anything, but also run away as fast as possible. But the way she asked it. Maybe, just maybe, he could finally be totally honest with her. "Yes, I have thought about it. A lot, in fact, a lot more than you probably know. Why?"

"Because I think I know why I was so mad at you. Chase, I think I like you, and Logan made me think you were acting like a completely different person. I hated being mad at you, and nothing has ever scared me more than when I thought you would think I made the commercial like everyone else did. I thought you wouldn't like me anymore and then everything about this week has just been so frustrating and I couldn't lean on your shoulder because I was mad at you."

"Zoey what are you saying?"

"I'm saying I think I like you as more than friends Fuzzyhead! Zoey shouted louder in annoyance before her voice softened in nervousness. Do you like me like that?"

"Absolutely! I really like you too. As more than friends."

"I'm so happy then." Both of their grins widened into brilliant smiles and their fiery blushes faded away as they realized they no longer had anything to be embarrassed or frightened of.

Chase reached around Zoey to surround her in a hug and Zoey leaned into him just as closely. She had missed his hugs this week, missed everything about him, she never wanted to be mad at him again, certainly not for such a dumb reason as this week had been.

They pulled apart and Zoey smiled at him. "I promise Chase, we won't let anything stupid like this dumb election get between us. If something's bothering me I'll talk to you, not just yell at you. Or ambush you in the locker room."

"And I promise to run all my plans by you for your approval. Obviously, my scheming could use some work."

"You're too sweet to the scheme, you can leave that to me. I know as long as we work together, nothing can stand in our way."

"I completely agree. So can I take you out on a date sometime?"

"I would love that, but I think we're good here. We got the sun, music, orange slices, you. That's all I need."

"You're all I need too Zoey."