A/N

Disclaimer: Everything you recognize is Meg Cabot's…the character Bryan and the plot of the story is mine.

Sorry…I had to post this chapter a little later than I expected. Homework, projects, science fair, etc, etc…you know, all that jazz.

Well, well, well, have you checked out what's been happening? Sam is not interested in David anymore, there's that new guy Bryan, and the two guys get off on the wrong foot by arguing over Disneyland. How immature… Is David jealous? Does Bryan like Sam? Who does Sam like? Questions, questions, questions…all will be solved pretty soon. Read on!

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Chapter 3

After we had finished drawing, we all turned our easels to face the center of the studio as usual so we could critique each other's work. I thought I had done a rather good job on my pineapple. I had outdone myself, giving detail to the crown and shadows all over the weird-looking fruit. Susan commented on our drawings one by one.

"Mark, your pineapple is pretty well-done, but you should give the cloth that the pineapple is sitting on more detail. Without a proper background to support it, the pineapple will be floating around on the paper with no structure! You can't decorate a house without a foundation. (Similar to Susan's comments of Sam's drawing in Ready or Not by Meg Cabot)

"David, your paper is barely holding together because you colored so hard. Coloring hard can be used to define something, but please don't try to rip a hole in your drawing. If you color everything that strongly, the whole pineapple looks rigid and messy. You normally don't do this. What's gotten into you?"

"I was just tired, I guess. Wasn't really concentrating," David muttered.

Susan looked skeptic, but left him alone. She moved on to my drawing.

"Sam, well done. You're really improving in every aspect. Keep up the good work!"

I beamed. It was nice to have Susan compliment your drawing without any added negative comments.

"Bryan…" She hesitated.

I looked to my left at Bryan's drawing, and saw that it wasn't very good. You could tell that it was a pineapple, but instead of forming details, the colors just melted together to form a pineapple-shaped blob with multi-color swirls. I guess it would've looked pretty cool if this was a design class where you had to go for that swirl effect, but in still-life drawing, this technique wasn't very…useful.

Susan, who didn't play "favorites" or "go-easy on newbies," began to rattle off all of Bryan's mistakes: juxtaposition, the use of colors, lack of details, the foundation…and she went on and on. And with each remark, Bryan turned a deeper shade of pink. I felt pity rising in my heart for him. Susan had mercilessly criticized me on my first day too.

To my right, I saw David with a smirk on his face. I frowned at him. No matter how much he disliked Bryan, couldn't he at least look a little more sympathetic?

When Susan had finished telling Bryan how he could improve, she clapped her hands and announced that class was over. Before I could say any words of consolation, Bryan packed up and hurriedly left.

To my surprise, I found myself wondering, Will he come back next week? What was wrong with me? Why did I care whether he came back or not? It's probably because you feel sorry for him, that's all, I told myself.

I quickly forgot about Bryan as David came up to me while I was packing up.

"Ready for some Chinese cuisine?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Remember, you said you wanted to go to Mao Shao's?"

Oh right. I had arranged to have dinner with David.

"Right, of course. I'm really hungry, aren't you?" I asked

"Then what're we waiting for? Let's go eat," David said, with a grin.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

As we were eating, David told some funny stories about how his father, the President, had started singing Elvis Presley songs while trying to dance with a reluctant First Lady. I laughed out loud. I couldn't imagine the President, who was always serious and formal, dancing while singing Elvis.

After our orders came (a Mao Shao Veggie Delight for me, Deep-fried Noodle Dumplings for David), David's laughter died away.

"We need to talk," David said, his tone suddenly becoming serious.

"About what?" I asked nervously.

"Well, to you, it might be nothing. But to me, it's everything," he said.

Oh no, David was going to ask Why did you stick up for Bryan in art? Do you like him or something? Or even worse, I noticed you don't return my ardor lately. I love you Sam, but do you love me? Are you just going out with me because you feel obligated to? And I wouldn't be able to lie because cursed with my red-head personality; I would blush redder than a tomato if I lied.

"Well…" David fidgeted in his seat, like he didn't know how to start.

I braced myself. This is it. David's going to find out I don't like him anymore and break up with me. It's going to break his heart, and I'm going to lose a best friend. This is it! I clenched my fists under the table until my knuckles turned white.

"David, I'm sorry about how I've been…" I stammered.

I was cut short by David asking, "Will you help me host a party?" quickly in one breath.

"What?" I asked incredulously. Where did the whole love issue disappear to?

"I know, it sounds dorky, but I've never hosted a party before. And you know my birthday is coming up next month and my parents are going to let me host any kind of party I want. I decided to have a mini-golf party."

Mini-golfing. The President's son can decide any kind of party he wants for his sixteenth birthday bash and instead of a big pool party with bikini babes, he decides to go mini-golfing. Well, his geekiness was what made me fall in love with him in the first place.

"What makes you think I can help with parties?" I asked uncertainly.

"Sam, you're the coolest person I've ever met," he said point-blank. I could tell he wasn't joking.

Aww, how nice. "But David, you know I'm not one of those party animals like Kris Parks."

"Exactly. I don't want this to be a hey-let's-get-drunk-and-make-out party. I want it to be a geeky one where you have real fun."

Interesting. A geek party, and being a geek was what I was good at…in art, anyway. I saw a fun challenge here.

"I accept," I said, holding out my hand, all previous love-issue-anxiety having vanished.

David grinned and said, "I love you," as he shook my hand.

Although I didn't feel any frisson as he said this, I was too excited about this geek party to care.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

A/N

Just what is this geek party? Will Sam's love for David re-bloom through working together on this party? What happened to Bryan? Is his part over? We shall see!

Review please!