Well, I am supremely excited! This chapter, without author's notes, is 2031 words long! How AWESOME is that? I've been told that my other chapters aren't quite long enough, so, hopefully, they'll keep getting longer. I want to thank all the people who've reviewed me once again. Your criticism helps this story become better and better. Now we can return to Logan and see what he's been thinking about. And we get a surprise guest at the end of the chapter! Wonder who it is? -laughs- Please, enjoy!

It was dark.

He could hear Michael snoring across the room.

Logan turned over, trying to clear his mind for sleep. He couldn't remember a time when there'd been so much on his mind...

But that wasn't true. He could remember plenty of times. Most of them having to do with a certain brown-eyed girl...

Logan rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling a few feet above him. He counted sheep to a hundred and still didn't fall asleep.

He could hear James' soft, regular breathing below him as he slept in Chase's old bunk.

Chase... How long was it before he could come back? Another couple months at the least. And what would happen when Chase got home?

James would have to find a new pair of roommates, obviously. And he and Zoey would stop dating... And Zoey and Chase would finally, finally, get together.

And then what..?

Logan looked at the clock. It read 2:27 am.

He groaned and turned over again. Why couldn't he sleep?

Finally, he gave up. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and quietly got down, so as not to wake James the light sleeper. Michael, however, was anything but. Logan looked at his friend in amusement as sounds similar to that of a caged bear erupted from the area where his face was pressed into his pillow. His heavy sleeping must have been a developed immunity to his own thunderous snores.

Michael grunted. "Sparky..."

Sparky? Logan thought in confusion, staring at his sleeping friend. Oh, that dumb horse he was blubbering about.

"Lola..." Michael muttered thinckly. "How would you... like to go..."

His voice trailed off before he finished the sentence, but Logan didn't need to hear the rest.

Lola? Logan thought. He was in shock. Michael and... Lola?

After a moment it struck him that it wasn't any stranger than him and Quinn.

But... I'm not thinking about Quinn like that... Am I? Logan asked himself. Scary thing was, he wasn't so sure of the answer.

Quinn sat up in her bed. She was still wearing her sweater. Still had her hair in a braid. The room was empty. Something was wrong. There was sunlight streaming into the room, although Quinn was sure she'd just lain down. But... she'd been under the covers then...

"Zoey?" she called timidly. "Lola?"

No one answered.

She felt uneasy. Quinn left the room in search of fresh air. For a while it seemed like she was merely wandering without purpose. Eventually, though, she recognised where her feet were taking her. She tried to go in a different direction, anywhere but THAT place. But it was no use. She was stuck on some kind of track and it was leading her directly to where she didn't want to be.

And then she saw him. He was just sitting there on the bench, watching her coming, looking exactly as she had left him. Quinn felt something in her stomach flutter. She came to a stop in front of him. He stood up.

"Hi," she said shyly.

"Hi," Logan said back.

An uncomfortable silence found its way between them.

"I, um, I'm sorry about before," Quinn said quietly, somehow unable to meet Logan's eyes. "I'm just... really confused and hurt. And what happened scared me. So, um, sorry."

Logan didn't say anything. When Quinn looked up, she found him very close. She wanted to back away and couldn't. She wanted to say something but the words seemed to stick in her throat. All she could do was watch as he came closer to her.

And then, just like before, there seemed to be a magnetic force between them. Suddenly, Logan's lips were pressed firmly over hers. She felt his hands on her face, her eyes fluttered closed. For long, long moments the kiss lasted, until Logan slowly pulled away.

"Well," he said, stretching as though a boring class had just ended. "I'd better get going."

"What..?" Quinn said, confused. Logan smiled sympathetically, like she was too slow to understand what had just happened.

"You didn't think that kiss meant something, did you?" Logan said with a patronising air. "I thought you were smarter than that, Quinn."

"Huh?" Quinn replied blankly, slowly beginning to understand. Slowly beginning to fall apart.

"It was a sympathy thing. I didn't really mean anything by it." Logan said, his voice still patronising as he looked down at her. Quinn tore her gaze from his face. She couldn't let him see her cry. "I mean, you weren't enough for Mark. How could you even fantasize about being in the same league as me?"

Quinn nodded without realizing what she was doing. She turned jerkily and started walking away.

Quinn sat up very suddenly, the comforter restricting her movement. She blinked and looked around. The world was very blurry and she realized she didn't have her glasses on. She put them on and then looked anxiously around the room.

Lola and Zoey were sleeping in their beds, Lola snoring lightly and Zoey breathing deep and slow.

Quinn sighed with relief and took off her glasses again. It was then that the memory of her dream hit her. She inhaled sharply, laying back on her bed. Tears stung her eyes. She blinked them back and turned over.

She went to sleep.

Logan was sitting by the fountains, which were turned off for the night.

He'd gone out for some fresh air. He was deep in thought. Or, more accurately, deep in non-thought. He'd been barely able to put a coherent thought together since that afternoon. He wasn't thinking at all, but there was a restless buzz at the edges of his mind, phantom images that wouldn't go away. Songs that repeated lines over and over like a broken record. It was all a jumble and he just didn't know what to do!

He stared off into space for the longest time before a thought finally struck him.

He fumbled with cold fingers for his cell phone. The time was 2:49 am. If Logan was right, it would be around 10:49 am for him. Logan hoped to god he wasn't in class.

Logan called Chase.

"Hello?" answered a familiar voice.

Logan let out a breath. "Hey, Chase. It's Logan."

"Logan?" There was a pause. "What the heck are you doing concious? It's three in the morning over there!"

"I know!" Logan said. "I.. Wait, you're not in class are you?"

"No," Chase said. "I've got a free period right now. Now why'd you call?"

"I couldn't sleep." Logan said evasively. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

"You never had that problem when I was there." Chase said sarcastically.

Logan bit back a groan and made up his mind. He had to go through with this. Which meant he couldn't afford to get Chase mad just now. "Chase, I hate to admit this... but I need some help."

There was a pause on the other end.

"You need help? The great Logan Reese is actually asking for my help?" Chase said in his best teasing voice.

"Yes, I, the magnificent Logan Reese. need your help." Logan said with an agitated sigh, "Chase, this is important. You can't tell anyone about this. Not even Zoey."

"Hey, this is me we're talking about. What goes in the vault never comes out." Chase said.

"Okay..." Logan said, and proceeded to tell him the whole story.

There was silence for a very long time on the other end when Logan had finished. He was just beginning to think the call had been dropped when Chase spoke again.

"You kissed Quinn." he said slowly.

"Yeah." Logan said.

"You kissed her." Chase repeated.

"Uh-huh." Logan said sheepishly.

"You kissed Quinn."

"Yes..."

"You kissed--"

"Yes, I kissed Quinn!!" Logan exclaimed in agitation. "I, Logan, kissed Quinn. Quinn Pensky. Quinn with the Quinnventions. Quinn with the glasses. Now what do I do about it?!"

"What do you think you should do about it?" Chase asked.

"What? I dunno. Was hoping you would." Logan said, starting to panic a little. What if Chase couldn't help him? What would he do then?

"How did you feel when you kissed her?" Chase said.

Logan thought for a moment. "I dunno. It was sort of... fluttery. Like you feel when you're nervous. But it was a good feeling, too. It was kinda like a... fizzing. When you get shocked or something. It hurts and it doesn't, ya know?"

He heard Chase sigh.

"Okay... Tell me Quinn's schedule for Thursday."

"Advanced Physics, World History, Calculus, and Photography. She has fourth lunch." Logan recited without having to think.

What the..? he thought. How did I know all that?

"And now you're wondering how you could mindlessly recite her entire schedule." Chase said blandly. "Tell me, Logan. What's Einstein's theory of relativity?"

"Okay, what is this?!" Logan asked angrily. "I didn't call you to play Twenty Questions!"

"Just answer the question, please." Chase said. "This will all make sense in a minute."

"It's E equals MC squared, idiot!" Logan burst out. And then, suddenly, he wasn't listening to Chase anymore.

"What's the relativity thing the smart guy made up again?" he asked as he filled out his homework worksheet.

"It's E equals MC squared, Logan." Quinn sighed. She smiled, though. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"As many as it takes for me not to forget." Logan said sourly. But he filled in the answer. He closed his eyes, then opened them to look at her again. His voice was apologetic as he said, "Sorry. I just really hate to ask for your help."

Quinn's smile became wider. "It's okay. I know you, Logan."

"Logan? Logan, are you listening?" Chase asked, breaking him out of his memory.

"Sorry." Logan said. "What's the verdict, doctor?"

"You're in love with Quinn." Chase said matter-of-factly.

"I'm what?!" Logan exclaimed.

"In love with Quinn. Don't sound so shocked," Chase said with a little laugh. "That's why you called me. You were afraid to admit it to yourself and you needed someone to tell you. All that 'secret' tutoring with Quinn helped, after all."

"I'm not going to ask how you know that." Logan said. He sighed. This was not going as he had hoped. He glanced around anxiously. "So... love, huh? Not like?"

"Yep. You're in so deep there's no way out." Chase said brightly. He sobered, however, when he gave Logan the long-awaited advice. "But don't wait to tell her like I did with Zoey, man. Or else you'll be rooming with me and Quinn'll have her own James."

"Thanks, Chase." Logan said. "I'll be sure to do that."

He wasn't nearly as confident as he sounded, but he owed it to Chase to say it.

"I've gotta go if I want to be alive when I wake up tomorrow." Logan said, throwing in a yawn for Chase's benefit. It turned into a real one halfway through.

"Okay, then." Chase said, and Logan could hear the grin on his voice. "Talk to ya soon!"

"Bye." Logan closed the cell phone. He sighed a long, weary sigh. "Love. I'm in love with Quinn Pensky."

Somehow, it didn't sound quite so strange as it might've half and hour ago.

Logan got up and walked away.

Chase hung up the phone and sat back, exhaling slowly as he turned over what he'd just heard in his head. He glanced at the clock. He still had some time before his next class started.

His eyes went back to the screen of his laptop, or, more importantly, the blonde girl he had for his wallpaper. He pondered whether he should do what he was about to do.

He clicked a link on his desktop and began to type:

Hey Zoe,

How're you today? I hope the weather's nice, since all I seem to be getting is more grey skies...

I just got the strangest call...

Sure, their conversation had gone into the vault. But what Logan didn't know was that the vault had been opened for one person and one person only.

And besides, he needed to make sure Logan didn't make the same mistakes he had.

Chase continued to type.

Well, how'd you like your surprise guest? Surprised? I sure hope so! I thought, since we see so little of him in the show, I'd throw him in here for some light CZ, and to give Logan some advice. I mean, isn't he just the perfect person to ask about this sort of thing? Besides, I'm not fond of James. -sticks out tongue at James- Zoey stealer! But he'll become a bit more important later. Oooh, clues for you. Hee hee! Hope you had fun reading, and please, tell me what you think.

Till next chapter,
Poet on the Run