Mouth sighed as he wiped the sweat from his brow. The air conditioning system that serviced half the school was on the blink and it just so happened that the classroom used for the Media Club was on the unlucky, miserable and hot affected side of the building. Looking over a few feet, he saw Shelly, just as sweaty, diligently working her half of the project. It had been a few days but things were going well and moving at a satisfactory rate of speed. The task had also been good for Mouth. It was good to keep busy and each morning he woke up finding himself less and less angry about life.

"Want to take a break?" he asked.

She shrugged.

"I guess."

He looked at the clock. It was something to five and his stomach was already growling.

"You hungry?"

"I don't know."

"I'm starving. We could get a pizza, if you want. I could call for delivery."

Shelly raised her eyebrows. He had been less hostile during their meetings but she was still skeptical.

"Are you sure about that?"

"It's just pizza," he looked confused.

"I know but a few days ago, you didn't even want to talk to me."

"Yeah, um about that. I don't have an excuse really. I was being a jerk and that's wrong and I'm sorry."

She rolled her eyes as she came to a stopping point.

"I like pepperoni, ham and black olives."

"What?"

"You know, on my side of the pizza. Oh and a Diet Coke to drink, please."

He gave her a smile and placed the order on his cell, springing for the bill. Half hour later, the food was at the school and the two hungry students were devouring it.

"This is delicious," Mouth spoke between slices. "Is yours good?"

"Yeah," she said, wiping her face. "Thanks."

"We've been getting a lot done. I say we go about an hour, an hour and a half more and we can call it a day. We should be able to finish by the deadline with no problem."

"Yeah…" she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"You okay?"

Shelly looked at him.

"I'm fine. This is a little weird but whatever, I guess."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you. I mean this complete personality change. You're like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

Mouth sighed.

"I guess I owe you an explanation about all that."

"You don't owe me anything."

"I know but we are working on this project together. We do have classes together. Look, I was an ass, okay?"

"No argument here."

"I was a real ass but I was going through some things. Remember what you said?"

"About what?"

"About Gigi. Well, you were right. It was about her. We broke up. Actually, she did all the breaking up. I wasn't ready to let go and it was unexpected and it was a mess. I kind of went off the deep end there for a while. I wasn't myself."

"And now?"

"This is me. I'm Mouth McFadden, resident nice guy, easy to get along with. I think I'm ready to be him again."

Shelly gave a small smile.

"Good because I don't think I could have taken much more of Mouth the prick. Honestly, I wanted to punch you."

"I'm sure a lot of people did. It just sucks. I'm sure you don't know about it but getting dumped pretty much sucks."

Shelly frowned.

"Why wouldn't I know?"

"You're a Clean Teen, right?"

"Yes, I am a Clean Teen but I'm still a person. It doesn't mean that I never had a boyfriend."

"I didn't mean to offend you or anything. But even if you've had boyfriends, there is no way you could relate to what I'm talking about."

"You mean getting a broken heart?"

"Well, yeah."

Shelly laughed out loud.

"What would give you that idea?"

"I mean, look at you. You're a very pretty girl. What guy in his right mind would break up with you?"

She looked away.

"A lot of them actually."

"You're just saying that."

"It's very true, believe me. I know exactly how you felt. You're so angry you want to hit something. You're so sad you feel like never getting out of bed. Your nerves are so on edge that every little thing done or said in daily life makes you want to scream. And when you see everyone else around you, all the happy couples, kissing and in love, arm in arm, it makes you so sick that you want to puke."

Mouth chuckled.

"Great summation. Very accurate."

"I've been there a few times."

"What did you do? How did you get over it?"

"Time helps…some time. I don't know. I guess each person is different. I was one of those girls that was always on a date, always in a relationship. Boys were the center of my world. I got hurt a lot and that last time…well, it was too much. So I decided to focus my energy elsewhere."

"With Clean Teens?"

"That and church and a lot of busy, positive other things but mainly Clean Teens."

"What made you think of it? How did you put it together?"

"Sex ruined my life and I realized that just a few months before my 17th birthday. There's a lot of peer pressure out there and all this negativity for teens to see, so I thought, why not switch it around and make something positive and uplifting? I wanted a comfortable forum for virgins and secondary virgins our age to meet and talk and do things for the community. The idea just came to me. I pitched it to a few people, put up some fliers. Gosh, that first meeting I was scared out of my mind."

"Why?"

"I didn't think anyone would show up."

"Did they?"

She smiled at the memory.

"No. Not one."

"Wow. What did you do?"

"I went home, I cried and did the very same thing the next week. Two people showed up. At the next meeting, one more. Pretty soon we had a full group. It was great. We were having fun and doing good things. And we're all there for each other. We're friends and it's a great support system when you're all there for the same reason. I love what I do and I am extremely proud of what I have accomplished. It's helped a lot of people, myself included."

"That's good. You should be proud. I'm sure it isn't easy. It took a lot of guts to keep going even when it felt like no one else was gonna join."

"Clean Teens is the best thing that has ever happened to me."

"Maybe I should do something like that," Mouth joked. "Maybe I should create a club for broken hearted losers. I wonder how many people would actually show up?"

"Don't say that. You're not a loser."

"It's getting a little easier."

"Was it a bad break up?"

"Not really."

"Did she dump you for somebody else?"

"No."

"That's good at least. Look, you're a nice guy, or at least you are when you want to be. I'm sure in time you'll find someone else."

"Maybe. I don't know. For now I'm getting back in the books. When I was having my pity party, I kind of lost sight with things at school. And I have some really awesome friends who I'm sure were somewhere in line behind you to take a swing at me when I was acting like a jackhole. Anyway, they're a great bunch of people. So I'm just gonna enjoy that and the rest of basketball season and what's left of senior year. After all, it only comes once, right?"

"That's right."

"It's not so bad. I'm a lucky guy. I do a lot of volunteer stuff that keeps me busy and I have a grandfather in the nursing home who I love more than anything and we spend a lot of time together. That's important to me as well as my friends."

"That's good. Seems like you have a lot going on. It's sweet the way you help take care of your grandfather like that and it's always nice to have good friends. You can never have too many of those."

"Ain't that the truth. And speaking of friends, I've been meaning to ask you, Shelly. What you said was true. I couldn't believe my eyes but Brooke is a Clean Teen. She didn't have time to talk when I saw her, something about being late for tutoring but she confirmed it all, she was wearing the shirt and she looked really, really happy."

"She is. Brooke is pretty great. Things are going well."

"I'm glad, just surprised. Brooke as a Clean Teen…I just never thought I'd see that."

"Neither did I but a few years ago if you had told me I would have formed the group, I would have laughed in your face. But it's never too late to have a change of heart and sometimes that can be a good thing."

"I agree," he nodded. "Shelly?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

She made a face.

"For what?"

"For giving me a second chance. I'm sorry I was a jerk and that I took out my personal problems on everyone around me. We barely knew each other and I'm sure I made a horrible first impression on you. But you gave me a second chance and I appreciate it. We have a lot more work to do and we have classes together the rest of the semester so if you don't mind, I'd like to start over. I want you and everyone else to see who I really am. Today was pretty cool. We work well together, we get a lot done and I enjoyed the talking and the pizza and everything. If it's okay with you, I'd like to be friends."

Shelly nodded as she extended her hand.

"Hi. I'm Shelly Simon."

"What are you doing?"

"Starting all over," she smiled.

Mouth returned it and shook her hand as well.

"It's very nice to meet you, Shelly Simon. I'm Mouth McFadden."