Dear Nicole,

Hi. I'm sorry I didn't send you a letter sooner. Logan broke up with me and now this freak, Tammy Ale (do you remember her?) is out to get me if I don't stay away from the one boy I truly love. I mean, loved. I can't love him anymore because he doesn't love me back. Anyway, I'm sorry to depress you during your hard times. How is your mom doing? PCA isn't the same without you. I hope the Pants will bring you better luck than they brought me. Love you.

-Dana

Quinn's cell phone had been ringing all day. It had started to annoy her so much that she had taken out the battery and shoved her phone inside a plastic container she had used previously to hold some chocolate chip cookies. Michael had been calling her continuously, leaving message after message, trying to contact her. Quinn was too furious to speak to him, let alone see him. She couldn't believe he had done what he had done and she didn't want to know why, either. All she wanted was to never see that boy again.

Quinn walked around like a ghost for the rest of the day, only half there. She wasn't as observant as she usually was and her eyes were glazed over behind her glasses. For the first time in her life, she was experiencing a terrible heartbreak. She didn't know her heart was slowly shattering away, but soon she would.

After her last class of the day, Quinn was heading for her dorm room when someone grabbed her arm. She turned around and saw Michael staring at her with pleading eyes. She felt a strong urge to push him backwards and run away, but she kept her eyes locked on his. He pulled her forward a little bit and said, "Please. Can we talk?"

She knew she should have said no. She knew she should have refused to speak to him until she was ready. But the other side of her brain, the one that was mentally ill in her opinion, told her to talk to him. Maybe he had a good reason for kissing another girl. The boy she loved stared at her, asking her to talk and she accepted. The two of them walked out the school and headed for the beach where they sat on the sand with their legs stretched out, the waves lapping up on to the shore.

"Look, Quinn," Michael said quietly. "I'm… sorry."

"Why, Michael?" Quinn said, almost whispering. She turned to stare at him with large, round eyes. "Why did you do this to me? Why were you kissing Tammy Ale and why haven't you been answering my calls for such a long time? Why, Michael? Are you trying to break my heart?"

Michael looked down at the sand, unable to speak for a second. Then he let out a quiet reply. "Sorry, Quinn… but… I don't know. Tammy came on to me and…"

"And…?" Quinn said, staring at the side of his face, her entire body shaking.

"And I felt like she was The One," Michael murmured. "And I felt like… she was so exciting and you…" Now he stared directly into Quinn's eyes and said something that made her know for sure that her heart had shattered completely. "You didn't matter to me anymore, Quinn."

Before the words had even fully departed from his lips, Quinn heard the shatter of her heart. The pain made her feel limp and almost as if she was dead. She wanted to be dead. She wasn't sure why she was still living. What purpose could she have to live anymore? She looked away from Michael, hoping his words were all lies and she hadn't heard what she had actually heard.

"Sorry, Quinn," Michael said, his eyes wet. Then he stood up and left her alone.

She sat there for who knows how long. She couldn't move. She didn't want to move. She wanted to die right there on that very spot. The sensible side of her brain was telling her to get up and pick up the broken pieces of her heart and put them back together. But why should she? Even if she did put her heart back together, who would be there to fill it?

Quinn lay down on the sand and closed her eyes. Tears started running down her face and she started crying. Her eyes started to get red and she couldn't breathe anymore. She coughed and sputtered and cried, wanting to be dead, wanting to throw herself into the ocean and be as shattered and broken as her heart. But she knew she couldn't do that to herself no matter how heartbroken she was. She couldn't… she couldn't… But maybe she could.

Zoey couldn't sleep. She just kept thinking about Chase and she decided she needed to clear her head. She crept out of bed and silently opened the door so she wouldn't wake up Dana. She put her shoes on and headed out the building. She walked toward the beach, the wind whipping her hair back. She started to jog. Once she reached the sandy area, she took her shoes off and started walking barefoot, holding her shoes by the laces.

That's when she saw her.

Zoey squinted in the moonlight and saw a dim figure of a girl walking into the ocean. She wasn't sure she recognized who she was at first, but then she realized it was Quinn. Zoey was just about to call out to her when she decided instead to surprise her by creeping up on her. She started tiptoeing toward her when something made her stop.

Quinn was continuing to walk into the ocean, her eyes straight ahead. Tears were running down her cheeks as she walked deeper and deeper into the water. Zoey was watching with wide eyes, wondering what in the world Quinn was doing. Quinn took a deep breath as a wave hit her chest, making her stumble. Then, suddenly, she was gone. Her entire head disappeared under the water.

Zoey stared at the spot where Quinn had disappeared for a moment. And then it struck her like lightning striking a tree. She realized what Quinn was doing and she felt herself starting to shake. "Quinn?" she called out into the air. Then, tears about to burst out of her eyes, she started running. "QUINN! QUINN!"

Zoey ran into the ocean, screaming her lungs out. "QUINN! QUINN!" She dove into the water her eyes open as she looked for her friend. She had to be somewhere- anywhere! Zoey swam farther away from shore, searching for Quinn. She swam up to the surface to get some air. "QUINN!" she yelled into the night. "QUINN!"

She looked frantically around and then dove back under. The salt water stung her eyes and she was just about to swim back up when she spotted Quinn's body at the sandy bottom of the ocean. Zoey rose back up to shore, took a gulp of air, and then dove back down. Her arms were outstretched and she grabbed Quinn's body and started to head back up when she realized that Quinn had a belt of rocks tied around her waist so she would sink when in the water.

Zoey was starting to run out of air and Quinn was too heavy to lift back up Frantically, Zoey pulled at the belt of rocks until it came loose. She let it sink to the bottom and she started to swim up, up, up, with Quinn in her arms. She wasn't sure if she was going to make it. Her legs and arms were getting heavy and Quinn was already so limp that… Zoey felt like her lungs were going to explode. She was just about ready to give up when her head broke through the surface. She took great gasps for air and looked at Quinn who still had her eyes closed. Panicking, Zoey swam toward the shore, pulling Quinn along with her. Once she had reached the sandy, dry area, she laid Quinn down and started to scream.

"Quinn!" she cried. "Quinn! Please tell me you're alright. Quinn, please speak to me! Somebody, help!" But no one was there to help. It was the middle of the night and help was impossible when no one was around. Zoey did everything she could to get Quinn to wake up again, but nothing worked and soon she started crying. She cried, holding on to Quinn's hands and she cried as she lifted Quinn up on to her back and she cried as she knocked on the door of the nurse's room to seek help.

Logan lay in bed, staring at the photograph of Dana he held in his hand. Looking at her made him sad. He wanted to hold her so badly n his arms. He wanted to be with her every second of his life, but he knew it was impossible. He closed his eyes and tried to remember as clearly as he could, the words of Tammy Ale.

"Logan, I like you," Tammy said timidly. "W-will you go out with me?"

"Oh…" Logan said, looking around a little awkwardly. "Um… sorry, but I'm already going out with Dana. You know Dana? Dana Cruz? The great looking girl with-"

"I know her," Tammy interrupted coldly. "And frankly, I don't see much in her. Logan, to tell you the truth, I wasn't really expecting you to say yes when I asked you if we could date. But I do want you to stop seeing Dana. I don't think she deserves you at all. You can do better, can't you?"

Logan was shocked. "Don't say those things about Dana!" he yelled angrily.

Tammy rolled her eyes. "Okay, Logan. I warned you. If Dana doesn't stop hanging around you, some pretty bad things are going to start happening to her." Tammy grinned evilly and cracked her knuckles. "And trust me- when I say bad, I mean bad." With those words she turned and left, leaving Logan stunned and rooted to the spot.

Logan didn't like the idea of Dana getting hurt in anyway. He had many options to choose and one of them was to protect Dana and still be with her. The other was to break up with her and insure that Tammy wouldn't hurt her. The first choice seemed like a bad one because Tammy was a very sneaky girl and had ways to get to people's minds even if they had a billion security guards. So hesitantly, with his heart breaking as he did so, he had broken up with Dana in hopes that she would be safe.

But now he felt as if he had made the wrong decision. He missed Dana so much that he would give anything just to be with her right now. He sighed and rolled over on to his stomach the photograph of Dana lying just in front of his nose. He wanted to hug her again and kiss her and… He suddenly sat up and grabbed his jacket. He was going to go see Dana right that very minute. He quickly grabbed his key and ran out of the room, slamming the door and waking Chase and Michael.