Disclaimer: I don;t own any of the characters in Milo Murphy's Law. I'm just waiting for season 3

Milo stared with a mixture of surprise and happiness at his two best friends. "Melissa? Zack? What are you guys doing here?!" He stood to the side to let them in.

Melissa glanced at the tv. "Oh, you guys are watching Dr Zone? Hey, is that the tenth season? You guys finally got it."

"Yeah," Milo said. "But why aren't you at the dance?"

"What dance?" Melissa asked.

"What dance? The 8th Grade Dance! The one everyone's at right now."

"Everyone except us," Zack said. "We're not going to it, Milo."

"What? But, why not? This is the Biggest Event of 8th Grade! You gotta go to it!"

"No, Milo, not without you!" Melissa said. "You're our best friend, we're not doing anything if you're not there with us!"

"If they don't want you at the Dance, Milo, then they don't get us, either," Zack said.

"I couldn't ask you to do that!"

"You didn't have to ask, Milo, we're doing it anyway," Zack said. "We're the Three Muskateers, and if one of us is out, we're all out!"

"Besides, Milo, anything without you is gonna be super boring," Melissa said. "You MAKE everything!" She put her hand on his shoulder. "We love you, Milo. You're one-of-a-kind, and nothing would be the same without you. No matter what happens, let's do it together!"

"If you stay, we stay," Zack said. "No way I'm doing anything without my best friend!"

"Me neither," Melissa said.

For a few moments Milo couldn't speak, he was suddenly afraid he might cry. "I...I don't know what to say..." he finally said.

"Say you're up for a practice in the backyard?" Zack asked as he and Melissa held up their guitars.

"And how!" Milo cried out. "Let me get my accordian!"

"Hey, you guys weren't gonna be doing this without me, were you?" Mort suddenly asked as he rolled his drum set up the walk. "I'm only the drummer!"

"Mort!" Milo cried out happily. "You didn't go either?"

"Why should I?" Mort said. "The whole band goes, or none of us go!"

This time a small tear did leak out of Milo's eye, and he quickly brushed it away. "Wow...you guys are the best friends ever!" he replied, choking on his words. "Come on, let's set up!" he quickly glanced at Sara to make sure this was OK with her. She nodded happily, thankful that Milo didn't see the tears in her own eyes, or the ones in his mother's, who was watching from the doorway.

Meanwhile, the 8th Grade Dance was in full swing. The band was playing one dance hit after another, the decorations were perfectly symmetrical and all in the right place, the food had been served exactly on time and had been delicious, and there wasn't one mishap! Everything was just right, exactly the way Amanda liked it.

So why was she feeling like she wanted to disappear?

Amanda sat down at her place at the nearest table, folding her hands in front of her. A few moments later Bradley came over to her,

"Well, Amanda, you did a great job, I have to admit it. The music is great, the food was superb, and there's no mayhem at all!"

"Yeah, the perfect night," Amanda agreed. She looked down at her hands. "But..I feel so awful..."

"Are you all right? You look rather pale."

"I don't know," she admitted, getting up from the chair.

"Amanda, what is it? This is your night, ya know! Everything is perfect and everyone is having fun, isn't that what you want?"

"Yes...no...I don't know..." Amanda admitted. "Excuse me.." she jumped up from her chair and ran out of the room, with Bradley and Chad both staring after her.

"What do you suppose has eaten HER?" Bradley asked. Lydia looked at her with a worried look in her eyes. "She should be overjoyed, the dance came off without a hitch! No disasters at all, for obvious reasons. She's succeeded, she's pulled it off, she's..."

"Miserable," Lydia and Chad finished up.

Amanda walked out of the big double doors into the main hallway, sitting on one of the white chairs near the door. She had never felt less like celebrating anything in her life, even if she WAS in charge of this. In a way Bradley was right, everything was perfect, everything was going smoothly. So why didn't it FEEL perfect? She couldn't shake the fact that something was missing...something was out of place. But...how could that be possible? She made sure everything was going according to schedule, everything was just right, everybody was enjoying themselves...

Almost everybody was that is.

Who was she kidding?! She knew what was wrong. It was Milo. HE was missing. HE was out of place. This dance might be running smoothly...but it was also so formal...TOO formal. It was boring! Everything was going perfectly...but without a little unpredictability, it was no fun at all!

A slow romantic song began to play from the other side of the doors. Amanda got up from the chair and peeked through one of the round windows to see. The lights had dimmed and couples were the only ones left on the floor. Amanda watched this scene with a heavy heart, wishing she were out there on that floor, dancing to that romantic song..

with Milo in her arms. "Milo," she let the name escape her before the scene before her began to blur. She quickly turned away and collapsed on the chair. She fingered the beautiful corsage on her wrist as she thought of her mother's words again.

'Concentrate on those feelings, Miel. Think long and hard about them, and then you will have your answer.'

Amanda closed her eyes, thinking hard...and finally realizing the truth. She DID love him! She was in love with Milo Murphy! Murphy's Law be damned, there wasn't anyone like him in the whole world, and it took her THIS long to see it!

'Oh Milo,' she thought to herself. 'All my life I was obsessed with order and perfection, and I couldn't even see that someone perfect for me was right in front of me the whole time! I don't want to be at this dance, I want to be with YOU!'

Finally the whole room turned into a blurry mess, but she couldn't stop herself. Putting her head in her hands, she began to cry.

"Amanda?" came a concerned voice. She looked up to see Lydia standing over her, holding out a tissue. "It's OK, I miss him too."

"Lydia, what are you doing out here?"

"My best friend is miserable and I shouldn't be out here?! If you're gonna assign me to have fun, this is one time I'm not doing what you say," she sat down in the chair next to her and out her hand on hers. "Amanda...stop fooling yourself. You don't wanna even be here," Amanda looked down and shook her head slowly. "Then...why are you?"

"Because...I'm the head of the committees and it;s my job to make sure everything goes smoothly..."

"And you suceeded, Amanda! Look around you, everything is fantastic. You've DONE your job, and you did it great! Now it's time to think about YOU."

"But I should still be here..."

"WHY, Amanda? You did your job! You did everything, and everything came out right. You don;t have to stay here anymore."

"But what if."

"Amanda, trust me! I'll handle everything! I can stay and take over. We both know there;'s someplace else you need to be right now. So go!"

Amanda slowly smiled, stood up, and gave Lydia a huge hug.

"Go, Amanda. Follow your heart!"