Mona went straight to the auditorium after school. She wanted to distract herself. Usually she could put her feelings behind her. In this case it worked for a while, but that feeling always came back. Mona thought a little hard work will help her like it always did. When she got there the drama club was leaving. She saw Mikey come straight towards her. He ran up to her and hugged her.

"Hey Mona. Are you okay? You look weird." He asked. Mona smiled. She liked that he was so considerate of others even though he didn't really have a way with words.

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Mikey released her from the hug.

"Are you going to finish the set? Alone? Where are the other people that help with the set?"

"They usually come at random times. Like when they're free. Or when they feel like it. But it's fine. I can do this by myself." She assured Mikey. He gave her a concerned look.

"Why don't Leo and I help you out?" He offered. Mona looked past Mikey and saw Leo coming. Mona blushed a little. She had to admit Leo was very handsome.

"No it's fine. I'm sure you guys have other things to do."

"Damn! I forgot! I have a paper due tomorrow." Mikey exclaimed. Leo stood next to Mikey and looked down at Mona. He gave her a smile and she looked away blushing.

"Leo! Help Mona finish the set. I don't want her to be alone." Mikey begged. He didn't really have to, Leo would gladly do it. Just to spend time with Mona made him extremely happy.

"Sure. I can help. Do you mind Mona?" Leo asked.

"I mean only if you're not doing something."

"Nope, I'm free." Leo gave her a wink. Mona lost her breathe for a second. Oh gosh. Not this again. That weird feeling.

"Great. I'll see you guys later." Mikey said and with that everyone was gone and it was only the two of them. Mona walked towards the stage with Leo following behind her. She was nervous. When she got to the stage, there were paint brushes scattered across the stage and paint on the only good table in the auditorium. Mona growled.

"Why can't they ever put the supplies back or clean up after themselves?! I feel like I'm a mother to these little brats." Mona kept rumbling. Leo laughed at the sight of her angry. He thought it was the cutest thing. He went up on stage and started to clean.

"Leo, you don't have to do that!" Mona said as she struggled to climb on to the stage. Stupid short legs. Suddenly she felt hands pulling her up. She looked up at Leo.

"You know you could have took the stairs." Mona looked behind her and saw the stairs. She felt embarrassed, but she had to laugh at herself.

"You have a nice laugh." Leo said. She immediately stopped.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's cute." She stood in disbelief until she realized Leo still had his hands on her. She backed away slightly.

"Thank you. Uh… why don't we clean up and uh, get started."

Even though with Leo there with her, Mona couldn't stop thinking about Raphael. He was cute but he was weird. Always staring at her. She didn't know what to think of it. Ever since her last relationship ended the way it did, her confidence dropped drastically. She didn't feel pretty anymore. She didn't think she was good enough. Mona just wanted to be alone for a while and love herself again before loving someone else. When Mona snapped out of it, she realized how quiet it was between her and Leo. She might as well talk to him since he was helping her out.

"Thank you for helping me with the background, Leo." Mona broke the silence.

Leo smiled. "It was no big deal. But you're welcome."

"I would have thought you had something better to do." Mona smirked.

"This is much better than anything important I had to do." Mona had to stop and look at Leo. That... was really sweet. She felt herself blushing and had to turn her head away from Leo.

Raph felt like shit. He wanted to apologize to Mona even though he didn't really know what he did. He looked for her everywhere he could think of. He saw Mikey going through his locker.

"Yo, Mikey! Have you seen Mona?" Raph asked.

"Uh...Oh yea! She's in the auditorium painting the set." Mikey replied as he shut his locker.

"Thanks man." Raph walked quickly towards the auditorium. But then Mikey forgot to tell him that Leo was there too! He turned to tell Raph but he was already gone.

"Oops."

Raph felt like his heart was beating out of his chest. What would she say to him being sorry about earlier? Would she stop talking to him? No, she wouldn't do that! Would she? Raph took a deep breath and opened the auditorium door. He saw Mona on the stage texting. He walked down the aisle but stopped when he saw Leo coming towards Mona with paint supplies. She looked up from her phone and gave Leo a big smile. Raph could see her blushing. He felt his heart drop and then he felt anger build up inside of him. He quickly exited out of the theater and left.

He walked out of the school, mumbling under his breath. He wanted to punch something! But he just couldn't do it. He didn't want to get angry about Mona. He wanted to get to know her and he didn't want his anger to ruin that, like it had so many of his other relationships. He was going to apologize to her and talk to her.

In Home EC the next day, Raphael got to class early. His family was very shocked because he never went to class early, let alone school early. He arrived right on time because Mona was there in class reading. He walked up to her and greeted her.

"Hey Mona." Raph waited for her to respond. She was so distracted by her book.

"Mona..?" He tapped her shoulder.

"Ow! What the-" Mona yelled. She looked up at Raph with a pout.

"I'm sorry! I keep screwing up!" Raph groaned. He put his head down on the table. He felt a hand on his back. He looked at Mona.

"Raph, you didn't screw up anything." Mona rubbed his back a little. Raph looked down at the table and sighed.

"Are you okay?" Mona asked.

"I'm sorry..." He said.

"Sorry about what?" Mona got closer to him. He felt nervous.

"I'm sorry I made you cry yesterday." Mona had a confused look on her face. Cry?

"Raph, I didn't cry yesterday. Where did you hear that?"

"Leo." He groaned.

"Leo? No, no, no I never cried yesterday. I was just a little embarrassed."

"Embarrassed? Why?" He asked. He stood up in shock.

"Uhh I-I thought you were staring at me because you- uhh thought I was ugly…" Mona practically whispered.

"Ugly? I think you're pretty!" Raph exclaimed. Mona was shocked.

"Pretty? You think I'm pretty?" Raph started to fidget. Why did I have to say that?

"Y-yeah. Very pretty, actually." Mona stood silent. Although she started to blush, the corners of her lips started to turn up.

"Thank you, Raphael." Mona smiled. They both stood in silence. The bell rung and people started to pour into the classroom. Before it got too loud, Raphael turned to face Mona.

"Listen Mona. Do you want to hang out some time?" Raph asked. Mona just looked at him and frowned.

"I-I don't know Raphael." Mona turned to look at the blackboard and that was that.

Raph sighed as he also looked to the front of the classroom at the blackboard. His mother was writing the day's lesson: the art of conversation. He sighed deeply.

'Oh great. Oh, well, maybe I can get a few pointers from this lesson. Mom always knows how to talk to people…'

But as Raphael stared at the blackboard, Mona turned to look at him and smiled sadly. She then turned back to the blackboard but the lesson went in one ear out the other. The only thing on Mona' mind was Raph asking her to hang out. She was so happy but so nervous at the same time.

'Ehh. We'll see.'