If there aren't any updates from me for a while, it's because I'm going to be out of town from June 30th until July 11th. I'm gonna try to update this story again before then, but I thought I'd let you know anyway just in case I didn't.

"So, do you, uh, really like me?" Chris asked, or rather, mumbled, as he fiddled with the combination on the locker beside Massie's. Massie stopped rummaging through her things and turned around to face him.

"Of course I do," she replied, putting on her very best Why-wouldn't-I? voice. "How could you possibly think otherwise?"

"Well, you kind of avoided me after that Spin the Bottle incident, and then we never hung out or talked the rest of the weekend, and--"

"Chris," Massie interrupted. "Did I not just kiss you in front of all of our friends? And, might I add, a few dozen of our classmates?"

"Yeah, but I figured that was more for Cam's benefit than for mine," Plovert mumbled, staring down at his sneaker-clad feet.

"Okay, I will admit that Cam seriously needed to be put in his place," Massie laughed. "But if I had only been out for revenge, don't you think it would've been easier for me to just make out with Kemp?"

Chris laughed, too.

"I guess you have a point there."

"So yes, Chris Plovert, to answer your question, I really do like you," Massie said, smiling up at him.

"Enough to want to be my girlfriend?" he asked in reply, his entire face lighting up.

"I thought you'd never ask."

As Massie's new boyfriend, Chris felt obligated to walk Massie to her first period class, even though it was on the complete opposite side of the school from his class. Though Massie usually loved when people went out of their way for her, this particular instance only annoyed her. If she wanted someone to follow her around at school, she'd bring Bean.

After hugging goodbye, Massie sauntered confidently into her classroom and Plovert rushed back across the school to his first period chemistry class. He entered the classroom just as the bell rang, his hair disheveled and slightly sweaty but his smile wide enough to rival Demi Lovato's. After receiving a stern look from his chemistry teacher, Chris quickly took a seat at an otherwise vacant lab table; his usual lab partner, Danny Robbins, was home sick with food poisoning. Due to Layne missing class for an Environmentalist Club field trip, Claire was also left partner-less, which is how she found herself making awkward conversation with her newly appointed lab partner Chris Plovert.

"So...you and Massie official now?" Claire asked for lack of anything better to say. She already knew the answer; Massie had fired off a text message informing the girls of her new relationship status immediately after Chris had asked her out.

"Yup," Plovert confirmed, excitement gleaming in his blue eyes. Hidden by glasses until he got contacts at the start of ninth grade, Chris Plovert's eyes had never really been a feature Claire had ever noticed. Now she saw that they were an impossibly bright, sapphire blue, and framed with the kind of thick, dark lashes that most girls killed for. The femininity of his eyes were balanced out by a strong square jaw and a broad, muscular build. All-in-all, Plovert was quite the attractive guy. Claire shouldn't have been surprised, because Massie had always had excellent taste in guys, but she had always been so focused on Cam that she hadn't really ever paid much attention to any other boys.

"Hello, earth to Claire," Plovert joked, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Oh, sorry," Claire blurted, quickly looking away. "I must have dazed off for a second there. Guess I'm not fully awake yet," she babbled, embarrassed to have been caught staring.

"I know the feeling," Chris replied, smiling kindly.

"Um, we better get started on our lab experiment," Claire said, gesturing towards the instructions printed neatly on the white board at the front of the class room.

"Kay," Plovert replied, setting off to get the supplies they needed. The experiment they were performing was pretty simple: using five known substances, determine the identity of the unknown substance. Plovert and Claire breezed through it easily and were the first set of partners to finish.

"Who knew you were such a good lab partner?" Plovert teased as they stood at the sink, washing out their test tubes.

"I guess we just have good chemistry," Claire joked in reply. Plovert rolled his eyes at her corny humor but laughed all the same. "Seriously, though," she added, "I had a lot of fun."

"Me too." Plovert smiled. "We might have to be lab partners more often."

"Oh, but what about Danny and Layne?" Claire asked, feeling suddenly guilty for getting along so well with her best friend's boyfriend.

"Danny has always had a thing for Layne," Plovert pointed out. Claire laughed, her guilty feelings already forgotten.

"Well if that's the case, then we simply have to let them partner up without us," she reasoned.

"Exactly." Plovert winked.

When the bell rang and Claire and Plovert walked out of the classroom together, laughing at something one of them had said, Cam was in the hallway waiting for them. Plovert scowled at Cam and quickly brushed by him, leaving Claire alone with him.

"Hey Claire, do you think you could--"

"If it has to do with you getting Massie, I'm not doing it," Claire interrupted. "She's a girl, not a prize."

"I know that," Cam replied earnestly. He stepped closer to Claire, putting a soothing hand on her arm. "It's not about the competition, I promise. I really do like Massie. And it's okay if you don't understand why I'm trying so hard to win her over. You've never had to watch the person you like like someone else." Claire yanked her arm away.

"Actually, yes, I have. Now if you excuse me, I have to get to class." With that Claire walked off and didn't look back, and for once, Cam was the one left standing alone in the hallway.