Guys and gals, I am so very sorry for the multiple months wait for this chapter. All I can say as to why it's taken me so long is life has been crazy and it doesn't want to slow down.

To me, this chapter feels more like a filler. I did enjoy writing it once I got into the flow of things.

Enjoy!

Going dress shopping with her mom hadn't been that bad, in fact she had fun with her mom, it had been like the times they had went shopping together in New York, just with less stores. By the time they found a dress they could both agree on, Zoe had been rather tired of trying on dresses. They both agreed on a sleeveless dress, with floral print, and vertical big black and white stripes and a skinny black belt around the waist. Zoe liked that it had a 1950s vintage rockabilly swing vibe to the dress. Once they found the dress, they moved on to find a cute pair of shoes to go with the dress.

"You look beautiful, sweetie," Harley smiled, seeing his daughter glammed up for her first school dance.

"Thanks Dad," Zoe replied, grabbing a white cardigan to slip on.

"I will be picking you girls up after the dance for your sleepover," Harley reminded her.

"Okay," Zoe nodded, having already gone through this just a few hours ago. "That's Dr. Breeland," she said, hearing a car pull to a stop.

"Have fun, sweetie," Candice told her, only to stop her and fuss over her daughter's hair, trying to get some stray hairs back into place, as Zoe had her hair in a sleek bun.

"Bye," she told her parents, rushing out the door, not giving Lemon the chance to make it to the front door.

"Hello, Zoe," Brick greeted, once Zoe was in the car. Zoe bucked up saying hi before jumping into excited chatter about the dance. "Harley will be here a quarter to 9 to pick you four up," Brick stated.

"We know, Daddy," Lemon smiled at him, opening her door to get out.

"Enjoy your night girls, have fun Lemon drop," Brick told them. Waiting a few minutes after they entered the school before leaving.

Zoe looked around the gymnasium frowning. It wasn't so much a dance as it was everyone hanging out with their friends as the music played. The only ones really dancing were the chaperones as they moved about to make sure everyone was behaving. And she couldn't spot Wade anywhere. Meatball and his buddies were there, smirks firmly in place as they planned something, Zoe didn't want to know what.

"Let's get some punch and find a table," Annabeth suggested. The other three agreeing.

"Who do you keep looking for?" Crickett questioned, as they got their punch, along with some chips and cookies.

"No one," Zoe lied. "Just curious to know who is all here," she shrugged, walking to an empty table. "Like George," she said, watching him enter by himself.

"That's not it because when George entered the gym you looked all gloom, you're waiting on Wade," Lemon smirked.

"I might be curious as to why he isn't here, and I might find him cute, but we are not in anyway old enough to have boyfriends and to be going on dates. We're still kids for crying out loud," Zoe huffed. That is the truth and with Wade keeping his distance from her and vice versa just because she really didn't know what to say to him now that the truth is out there.

"Zoe's right," Annabeth said. "We have years to obsess over gross boys," she giggled. "Let's go have a dance party," she smiled, pulling her friends out to the dance floor as they stood in circle and silly danced to the songs being played.

Like any time that your having fun with your friends, it's time to go before you ever want to as the only thing you want to be doing is keep having fun with your friends. But the last thing that Zoe wanted to do was make her dad worried so they called it a night and left the dance, seeing Harley waiting for them.

The ride back to the Wilkes house was more subdued as they were exhausted from having fun at the dance. Very little had been said as they got ready for bed as they happened to crash once their heads hit their pillows. Rehashing the night would wait until morning over breakfast.

Saturday morning Zoe spent it playing with her friends. It wasn't until after lunch they went home and Zoe wanting to see what is going on with Wade, took off for the Kinsella house after letting her mom know where she was going.

"He's not here," Jesse told her before she could make it all the way up the front steps. "He won't be back until tomorrow. He left Friday after school to go on a fishing weekend trip with dad," he filled her in more.

"And here I thought he didn't show at the dance was because he didn't want to be friends," Zoe remarked, turning to head home. She only showed up at the Kinsella home to see how Wade was after finding out what he thought to be true, turned out to be nothing more than family.

"I can't help you with that," he replied. "Just don't get to offended if he does push you away, because he's great at that," Jesse shrugged. He should know, as much as it should be the oldest pushing the youngest away, it had been the opposite when it came to Wade as Jesse didn't mind hanging out with his younger brother, as they had always been the best of friends, until recently when Wade started to close himself off and push Jesse away.

"Thanks Jesse," she told him, heading home.

Her thoughts about Wade avoiding her heavy on her mind. Going fishing with his dad wasn't something that she could fault him for doing. With Wade accusing him of cheating they had things as father and son they needed to hash out, but she thought that he knew that she was there for him through it all. She sighed, walking up the front steps of home, her mom's voice trailing out through the screen door.

"I can't make you stay away from Zoe, but you sure in the heck can stay away from me Ethan." Her mom's voice trailed out. Instead of going inside and facing whatever was going on there, she headed down the steps to find a place to hide for a few hours to avoid as much as possible if not everything.

"Sorry, 'bout that," a male voice said, grabbing the football that had missed her by an inch.

"It's okay," Zoe shrugged. Looking up at the older teen standing before her playing with the football in his hands. "Lavon Hayes," she smiled with a dusting of a blush on her cheeks.

"Everyone knows Lavon Hayes," he chuckled. Being one of the best linebackers for the high school, it was common to get noticed, especially in a town so small. "And you're Zoe," he smiled. "Nice to finally meet you," he told her holding a hand out.

"You as well," she told him shyly, shaking his hand. She knew he knew who she was, being the daughter of the town doctor who shows up after 8 nearly 9 years being talk of the town is bound to happen.

"I don't like to listen to the gossip around here," he told her. "Want to play?" He asked. Zoe went to shake her head because she didn't want to get hurt playing with a bunch of teens. "Don't freight, they're your age, it's a youth group," he told her.

"I don't really play and I've barely gotten the cast off my arm," she told him.

"No worries, you can be my assistant coach," he countered.

"Okay," she nodded, finding no fault in helping out. Other than, "I don't really know all that much about football," she said. She knew how to play the game and the rules from watching but she didn't know anything about being an assistant coach.

"It's not that hard, you'll see Big Z," he told her, getting her to follow after him.

Lavon had been right, it had taken her very little to get into helping him coach and even spotting penalties, finding her Saturday afternoon an enjoyable one, all while her thoughts and worries dealing with Wade vanished from her mind as she not only made some new friends but memories she would have never gotten to make if they hadn't moved to Bluebell, maybe it was time to let the anger and distrust with her mom go.