Sometimes the internet really annoyed Bloom. Though it'd only been two hours since she'd gotten home, Mitzi and her friends had blown up their personal blogs (and some new social media site called MySpace) to talk about what a terrible double-crossing skank she was. "I'm dead."

"Don't talk like that," Anna insisted, hanging upside down off Bloom's bed. She was painting her nails neon orange. "You realize what you're doing, right?"

"Watching my already dwindling social life crumble to bits?"

"No. You, dear heart, are letting 'the man' control you."

Bloom sighed and shifted herself so she was hanging over her bed next to Anna. Her hair touched the floor, while her friend's continued to defy gravity. "'The man'? Have you been listening to your aunt again?"

"Which one? The lawyer or the one that never left Woodstock?"

"Who do you think?" Anna laughed a little, and Bloom moaned. "God, A, what have I done?"

"…Well dearie, I think you kissed him."

"But why?"

"I'm gonna go with you like the taste of strawberries."

"Anna!"

"Well how should I know?" she questioned, "I'm not Doctor Phil, now am I?"

Bloom growled, running a hand through her hair. "I don't know. I just…I got tired of Mitzi and I wanted to just piss her off and once it happened I just couldn't stop. And geez Anna it felt so good."

"And you'll never tell him you liked it."

"Not if I want to live."

"See, there's your problem you're letting Mitzi control you. We need to take her power, and then we can all live happily."

"And how are we supposed to do this? She isn't Regina George and this isn't Mean Girls," Bloom sat up in bed; all the blood rushing to her head was giving her a headache.

"Hey it was a great movie."

"That's not the point right now."

After a moment, Anna sat up, too, her face bright red. "All right fine. We should start looking at this rationally. So to start that…" she slowly reached over and closed the internet on Bloom's computer. The redhead turned to glare at her, and Anna held up her hands. "Looking at all of those things won't help. We have to approach this logically."

"And how do you suppose we do that?"

Anna smirked in response, and Bloom's eyebrows rose. "I hate that look, Anna."

"I know. That's why I love making it."

"Ok, so if we add x on both sides of the equation and divide by two…"

"I have a question," Rio said, not seeming to care he was interrupting Mark's tutoring lesson. It was only Ellis after all; he would more than likely be forgiven. "Who comes up with these unrealistic Algebra questions? What girl in her right mind would want a garden in the shape of an obtuse triangle, and why does she want to know the degree of the third side of this garden? As long as pretty things grow in it, who would give a crap?"

Ellis went from looking focused to confused. "Wasn't it an isosceles triangle?"

Mark glared at Rio before turning back to his friend. "Ignore him, it was. So, you take the degrees of the first two triangles…"

Rio shrugged. "It was a perfectly polite, question, right Andy?" When there was no response, he sat up from his position on The Ellis's old leather couch. "Andy?" he asked, looking over at his friend. His eyes were glued to the computer screen, his glasses reflecting some website he couldn't make out. Ellis's dog Charlie was curled up next to him, looking rather bored. "Yo Andy, what are you doing?"

"Nothing," he called back absently, his fingers not leaving the keyboard.

He would've questioned him more, but at that moment his phone went off, not startling anyone but Charlie. The German Shepard-Collie mix shot up, going over and circling the couch like a guard dog. "He hates ringtones." Ellis said absently, still focused on his homework."

"Right, because that's a perfectly natural thing for a dog to be afraid of instead of a mailman or a vacuum…hello?"

"Rio? Hey it's Anna."

"Ah, my short-haired, Korean friend," he said, falling back onto the couch. "What's cracking? Ellis told me you were over with Bloom."

"I am. But I was calling because I had a question for you."

"…Ok."

"Now, bear with me…is Andy sitting around staring at the computer like a little lost puppy?"

Rio raised his eyebrow. "Bloom too?"

"Bloom too."

He sighed. "Well great. Should I even ask why, considering we all know the answer is tall, black-haired, and sounds like Alvin the Chipmunk on acid?"

Anna snorted back a laugh. "Yes," she finally managed to say. "It's Mitzi. Bloom's looking a little pale, so I thought checking up on Andy would be a good idea."

"He's the same. Maybe we should make them matching T-shirts."

"Tempting idea, but…I have a better one."

"Ooh, is that your 'terribly good idea' voice?"

"Who're you talking to, my sister?" Ellis questioned sarcastically.

Rio glared at him. "As a matter of fact, I am. Now shush."

Mark looked up too. "Isn't she just next door? What does she want?"

"I could find out if you'd shut up."

"…Seems to be enjoying making our lives miserable at every turn," Anna was saying. "So I thought it best to give her a taste of her own medicine."

"Ah, blackmail!" He paused for a moment. "How?"

"A secret blackmailer. Bloom has some old photos of birthday parties that I'm sure have been circulated through half the parents at the old elementary school, plus some middle school shots…and you know me; I'm brilliant with photo editing."

"Along with half the school now that the Advance Computer course is required. And she's pissed enough people off that she won't know who did it. And she won't dare mock a single person for fear they're the one's blackmailing her."

Mark was nodding; he'd overheard enough of the phone conversation to know what was going on. "Sensible idea."

"Agreed." Ellis added.

"What are you guys talking about?" Andy questioned, breaking his trance and looking up at them. The boys chuckled.

"Since Captain Clueless just snapped back to reality, how about we drag him over to Bloom's place so he can't keep staring at his social reputation. Plus we can start looking through songs to send in for the Alternative Press competition."

"Sounds like a plan. What about Roxy?

"She's helping Klaus with some paperwork for that bar he wants to open up. Apparently they found a good venue on the north shore near the boat docks, and he's almost ready to give a down payment on it."

"Fair enough. We'll give her the run down tomorrow morning before school."

"Sounds like a plan. See you in a few."

"As the days pass by, you're further away; just a low-base beat in the heat of the day. And as you keep it up I feel, that it won't be the same… So it's true what, they say, you can't be, that great…"

Andy half-heartedly sang the lyrics he'd scrawled down in his journal. They'd come to him after watching a couple break up at a music concert over the summer. On the opposite side of the bed, Bloom sat Indian style, creating a beat for Andy by tapping a pencil against the wall behind her. Anna, Ellis, and Mark sat around the computer, lost is discussing whatever computer talk they were using. Rio was asleep on the rug, Bloom's bunny Kiko resting peacefully on his stomach. Considering the kiss they'd shared less than four hours ago, it was a surprisingly comfortable setting.

He sighed and began leafing through the journal again. "That was bad; I have a better pre-chorus in here somewhere."

Slowly, Bloom shook her head. "No – I liked it. The 'low-base beat' thing is kind of catchy, even though I don't really know what it means."

"I'm not sure I know what it means," he replied, a small smile on his face. "I chose it for the beat it created. I'm not even sure it exists."

Bloom laughed a little. "You should keep it. But add more before the line 'it's true what they say'. What kind of music are you going for?"

"Honestly? I was envisioning a mix of Alternative and pop. A west coast indie, if you will."

"Hmm, the idea of music like that sounds weird and cool at the same time."

"So I was told." He grinned before looking around the room. It was covered in sketches and posters of mainstream bands. The drawings interested him the most though. They depicted settings from Gardenia to a large, intricately built castle; people dressed in street clothes to a sketch of a man with long hair, the only color on the page coming from his gold eyes. "Did you draw these?"

Bloom looked up, surprised. "Yeah. I did."

"They look awesome."

"That's Bloom," Anna spoke up absently. "A pint-sized Picasso."

The redhead chuckled, obviously a little embarrassed. "They're nothing."

"Well I like them," Andy said. "You'll have to design the cover of our album."

Bloom smiled softly. "Maybe I will."

It took a moment for the two to register the flirts. When they did, Andy cleared his throat a little loudly and Bloom gulped, leaning back against her headboard. Andy watched with mild curiosity as she tried to call Kiko over to without making any noise. The bunny opened one eye lazily, only to let it droop closed again. Slowly, Andy flipped through his journal until he came to a page that was – besides a few absent doodles of palm trees, blank. He started writing, and when he was done, passed it over to Bloom. With a curious look, she took the object from his hand and read over what he'd written.

You okay? You've been quiet this whole time.

She smiled faintly, and, deciding to play along, started writing on the next line. After a minute, she handed it back.

Fine. It's been a long day. School this morning seems like it happened in another century.

Andy nodded as he wrote. Understandable. Mitzi has us dancing like marionettes. But…that's it?

What else is there?

He debated of writing his next thought. That kiss.

When Bloom got the notebook, her cheeks turned the same color as her hair. I was sick of Mitzi controlling me, like you said. I wanted to giver her a little taste of venerability. You were the best thing I could think of at the time. I'm sorry.

I never asked you to apologize. He held it out for Bloom to see, but didn't give the book to her. Upon looking over the words, she grabbed a pillow from behind her and whacked him with it. He laughed a little a kept writing;

But if you really are 'sorry', you can make it up to me.

Andy handed the book to her this time. Bloom shook her head, a small smile on her face. And how am I going to do that?

Let me take you out for dinner Friday night.

"My cousin works at this really nice restaurant down on the wharf," Andy spoke aloud now as Bloom read what he'd written. "Nothing overly fancy, just a piece of fish a maybe some ski ball at the arcade across the street."

Bloom bit her lip, though Andy could tell in her eyes she liked the idea. "I don't know…"

"Hey, we deserve a break after everything we've been through this last week."

"Maybe, but…Andy I don't know. There's a lot of stuff to do, and I'm helping Anna and the committee plan the Halloween dance…"

"One night. Just humor me into seeing if the idea of 'us' works. If not, you're home free and I never mention it again."

It was quiet for a while, the only noise coming from Anna clacking away at the keyboard and Rio snoring. Feeling like he'd gone too far and not having the heart to look at her, Andy started doodling on the journal that lie between them on the bed (though he was really just entertaining himself by trying to copy Bloom's handwriting).

"Ok."

He looked up at Bloom. "Huh?"

"I said ok. Friday sounds nice." She smiled a little. "I'll ask my Mom if I can go. Though if I wake up half naked in a bed with you again, I'm filing a restraining order."

Andy's jaw dropped. He'd honestly thought she was going to stick with her 'no' answer. "Seriously? You'll ask?"

"Yeah, seriously. Unless you're having second thoughts?" She smirked.

The comment seemed to snap him out of his funk a little. "You wish. Well…alright then. I'll call Oliver and see what he can do."

Bloom giggled a little. "Your cousin's name is Oliver? Does he have a friend named Dodger too?"

Andy chuckled. "Don't mock my family."

"Though, as long as he doesn't spike my drink…"

"Not my doing!"

"Hey guys," Mark called from by the computer. "Come look at these. I think we've struck gold."

Andy slowly nodded, getting up off the bed and stretching his legs. "Coming."

As he passed Bloom on the way to the computer, he quickly bent down and kissed the top of Bloom's head. "Thanks." He whispered.

She seemed unfazed; another good sign. "Mmm. Don't thank me for something I haven't done yet."

"I won't. But for now at least you've shut me up."

…Everything you know I'm flipping upside down,
Take you 'round the world,
You know I like it loud.
Tell me what you want 'cause we can do just
What you like…
You make me feel that la la la la la…

You Make Me Feel (Cobra Starship