Hullo! Happy Easter Monday folks! Still eating chocolate (at ten in the morning, no less ;]) So, I'm sorry to those of you who thought this was unrealistic. All I have to say to you is poetic licence. Thanks. But I'm sorry you didn't enjoy my previous chapter. Maybe you'll like this one better.

Chapter Two

SPOV

Sitting next to Lissa that whole movie, I honestly thought either I was going to kill her or she was going to kill me; Most likely unintentionally, what with her constant nattering. One or the other. Somehow, though, all four of us made it out alive. Lissa chattered the whole way out of the theatre and into the driveway until we reached J.J.'s mother's car. She smiled out the window at Lissa.

"Lissa dear," she said warmly. "It's been so long! Do you need a ride?"

I tensed in horror. Please say no, I begged her silently. I couldn't spend another moment with that girl.

Lissa smiled. "No, thank you. I have someone picking me up." Her tone matched her bittersweet face. "I appreciate the offer, though."

"We'll alright," J.J.'s mother said. Tess, J.J., and I strapped ourselves in and we drove off toward my house.

"So," J.J.'s mother said after a moment of silence. "How was the movie?"

"It was fine," J.J. answered.

Tess, looking dreamily out her window, added, "Orlando Bloom is sooo gorgeous."

J.J. laughed. "Pshaw!" she exclaimed. "Johnny Depp is way cooler."

"What!" Tess shrieked. I listened to them bicker back and forth most of the way home. It was almost worse than Lissa's running commentary on the movie.

"Ladies, ladies," J.J.'s mother laughed. "You're going to drive poor Sam insane.

"Thanks," I muttered distractedly. My thoughts were a million miles from what the girls were talking about, and a million miles away from the car we were sitting in, and even a million miles away from my own body. I was still thinking about Max, but not as much how she'd rejected me. This whole moping about was not getting me anywhere. Plus it was way out of character. I at least had to perk up a bit, or J.J. and Tess would probably just give up on me.

We pulled up in front of my driveway a minute later. I smiled at J.J.'s mom without really trying and thanked her for the ride, then hopped out of the car and headed down for my driveway. I walked in the house and kicked off my shoes onto the mat before walking toward the stairs. I longed to get to my bedroom and just figure out how to fix up my act. I jumped when someone spoke to me.

"Sam," my dad said flatly. "Don't mope. It's bad for your posture."

I straightened up, as I always did when he said something about my posture. I hazarded a glance at him. My father was an older man, fifty-something I think. His hair was grey, but it really just made him look more experienced, not old. He was at least 6'5" and very widely built. He still wore his suit. He almost always wore a suit.

Come to think of it, I don't think I'd ever seen him not wearing a suit.

"Sorry, Dad," I said. He smiled at me and folded up his paper.

"What's the matter, son?" he asked me. I bit my lip, debating whether or not to tell him what was really bothering me. Better him than anyone else…he was a guy. At least he had a chance of understanding.

"Well, there's this girl," I started. Cliché, I know. I beg your forgiveness. My dad sighed and sat back, settling in for what he probably expected to be a long story full of sighs. I sat down in the arm chair across from him.

"We were sort of…dating, and, well, she — a couple months ago she…took off with her family. Y'know, when the school went crazy?" Not exactly a great start. I paused, not sure where to go next. That was only half of my troubles. There was still the matter of her not trusting me. I sighed and gave my best shot at making it make sense. "She was kind of…paranoid. So, I tried to help them — her and her siblings, that is — but she thought I was one of them — by them I mean the bad guys — and — literally — ran me over."

My dad was silent for a minute, sorting out everything I'd just told him. Finally, he said, "Well, son, sometimes it takes a while to get someone to trust you. And you only knew her for, what? A week?" I blushed slightly. He had a point. "And anyway, a lot of the kids at that school were a little nuts weren't they?"

"No!" I said automatically. "J.J. and Tess weren't —aren't crazy!"

"Sam?" my mother called. "Is that you?" I sighed. I hated it when she interrupted me. She did that a lot.

"Yeah, Mom," I called back. She walked into the living room and smiled at me.

"How was the movie, sweetheart?" she asked. I shrugged.

"Fine," I said.

"Well, that's good, honey." She smiled again and walked out to return to whatever she had been doing.

I looked at my dad awkwardly. We never really had long conversations and when we did, they usually ended in silence. Long silence.

"Well, uh, I'm, er, going to bed, then," I said uncomfortably. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night, Sam," my dad said. He opened up his paper again. I jogged up the stairs and into my room where I flopped down flat on my back. My bed let out a horrible squeak as I did.

"You know," an ominous voice said from the other side of my room, "you're really expecting too much of this ex-girlfriend of yours."

I let out a girly and unfortunate scream, frightening away all traces of manliness from my body. "Oh. My. God. Emily get out of my room!" I shrieked. She shrugged in the semi-darkness.

"I'm just saying," she said with a nonchalant flip of her hand. "Maybe you just thought she liked you more than she did."

"I don't want your advice," I moaned, covering my head with a pillow.

"Fine," she sneered. She padded to the door, but she paused in the doorway. "Just remember," she added, faking maternal concern. "You can always talk to me."

"Get out, Emily," I snarled and threw the pillow at her. Emily shrieked playfully and slammed the door shut.

I couldn't stand my sisters. They really made my life miserable. Thank God two of them had moved out. I don't know if I could stand all three again permanently. It was hard enough on holidays.

That was beside the point though. I had to make a decision and make it fast. How was I going to get over Max?

I wasn't sure yet, but I knew that I would do it even if it was the last thing I ever did.