Disclaimer: thank you for all your reviews I enjoy them immensely. Now 1x09 aired and I find it difficult to disregard what happens in the actual episodes, so we will just have to stretch our imagination and think that 1x09 happened after chapter 4 and before chapter 5, even though a few things don't quite match up.

Chapter 5:

That night she decides not to say anything to anyone. Because maybe, hopefully, he does like her in a different way than he likes Daphne. He says he does, he has now reiterated several times that Daphne is just a friend, that he has no… "romantic" feelings for her. Would he still feel that way if he knew that Daphne does have them? She doesn't know, but she is not going to find out right now. Because it is none of her business. She will have to wait and see, have Daphne talk to him and see if he… well, if he says he is with her and that Daphne is too late well, that is the best case scenario. Just in case though she will prepare herself for the opposite, of him being all "yes, finally, hey you, what's your name again, hearing girl, was a nice few weeks, have a good life, bye now". In the end it will be Emmett's decision and it is not her business to convince him of how great she is… he knows that. And she can't tell Daphne not to say anything, because it is not her right. And Daphne would not care anyway. Emmett "belongs" to her world, like Liam belonged to Bay's world and she ended up taking herself out of that ballgame, she would expect Bay to do so too. She is not going to do that, she is not going to leave before Emmett asks her to. And he won't, right? He gave her the best birthday present ever (the blindfold could have gone two ways, kinky sex or a visual surprise and she is kind of glad that they still have kinky sex for when she turns 17). But she can't fall asleep, she tosses and turns and feels sick to her stomach. He won't, she tells herself, he won't want Daphne, he won't, he won't, he won't. But in the back of her mind she sees the shrine, and the 150 mile drive to the Deafenstein convention thing. And that look while he played the drums. He won't, right?

He gets up with the biggest smile on his face, thinking back to the way she looked when she saw the billboard, the way she hugged him, the way she kissed him thank you and goodbye. More than once each. She is pretty amazing, that girl, he thinks, his mother may not get it, but she is something special. Her girls in pink dresses, they are fantastic, of course it is an extreme sport in a way, he remembers, as the soap from his shower makes the wound on his abdomen sting like has left early as usual and his coffee is served with a note pinned under it: "Don't do anything stupid or resulting in blood loss today! XO Mom" He rolls his eyes and grins, she may be a pain in the neck, but she is one funny woman. He feels an all too well known feeling in his front pocket, grabs his phone and sees the text message "Just drove past the b-day girl, can't believe she is there for every1 to c! c u after school?" Hell, yes, he thinks, then remembers there is the Carlton pep rally that afternoon and he has never missed one, what with Daphne on the basketball team. Bay can come to it though, it will be fun. She can meet his friends, see his school. "Pep rally at school at 4. Wanna come? B my date and cheer for D!" He waits for her response, why is it taking so long? She sure is taking her sweet time to decide if she wants to come to a stupid pep rally. "Didn't talk to D yet, prob. uncomfortable, maybe another day?". Shoot, he forgot about that tiny little detail, maybe she could just come as a friend and they could make out behind the bleachers? Or maybe he should talk to Daphne before she catches them behind the bleachers. "Will talk to her today, let you know if pep rally ok after. Have a good day, b-day girl"

She looks at his last text… ah so cute. Doubts cloud her mind though… is he this cute with Daphne as well? She really needs to stop doing this. She is pretty happy in her decision not to do anything, so why torture herself? But she really can't help it. Well, if he talks to her today she will have an answer before 4 pm, either she still has a beautiful boyfriend who has then proved that he really likes her, that this is important to him, or she has lost yet another person to Daphne. For one sweet 16 year old girl she sure is a people Hoover, sucking them all away from her. She really likes Daphne is the worst part of it though. She is the only one who can understand, to a certain degree, what Bay is going through and she IS sweet. And nice. And it is not her fault that people adore her. She looks at her watch, 8:15 am… so in 7 hours and 45 minutes at the very latest she will know. Her heart starts to race and her stomach flips. He won't, he won't, he won't, she keeps chanting inwardly to try to calm herself. He won't, right?

He sees Daphne standing by his locker smiling at him as he arrives (late as usual) and she signs: "I need to talk to you, at lunch?" almost at the same time as he signs "Can we talk at lunch?" then they both start laughing nervously. She nods "It's a date" and he adds "a lunch date" to which she rolls her eyes and darts off. She somehow always makes it to class in time yet he always manages to be at least 5 minutes late, how is that possible he wonders, as he leisurely takes out a book, then another from his locker, checks his phone again, puts the first book back, ties his sneakers and strolls to the classroom. It is uncanny how she does it. As lunchtime creeps closer he starts getting nervous, she said she needed to talk to him as well, what could that be about? He saw her less than 12 hours ago, not that much could have changed. Did she sleep with Wilke again? That guys is such a loser with his ugly ass Backstreet Boy 90ies hair cut and his underground poker games. How could Daphne want to sleep with that?

He gets a sandwich and a juice box from the cafeteria but he doesn't feel like eating. How is he going to phrase it? "Hey you know Bay, who I said I was not interested in? Turns out I am, I am actually dating her!" Ok, maybe not this way. Daphne finally joins him, sits down in front of him and smiles a radiant smile. "Do you go first or I go?" she asks. He is pretty sure after his bombshell news she won't want to tell him whatever it is she was going to… and maybe he wants to really put it off as far as possible so he signs "ladies first". She blushes slightly, looks down, then back up into his face, her eyes wide and signs "I had an epiphany yesterday. I think I like you." He is confused, an epiphany would be her realizing after 8 years of best friendship that she doesn't like him, so he signs impatiently "I like you too. So what is the epiphany?". She shakes her head "not like a friend… like more than a friend". He stares at her, dumbfounded, flabbergasted even. She wants to be more than friends? Now? His perfect girl, the one on his wall a hundred times over, the girl he always imagined he would end up with. She looks at him and signs "say something!", then when he is still speechless, when he is still brainstorming the idea of this, she scoots over to him, puts a hand to his chin, turns his face to hers and kisses him softly.

She checks her phone for the umpteenth time this morning. Nothing. She has test texted herself from Simone's phone just to make sure it works. It does. Why does he not text then? She can't text him, because she is not sure she wants to know what he has to say. Is she single already? No he won't do that to her, he won't break up with her to be with Daphne. He won't, he won't, he won't. He won't, right?