IIMMMM BACCK! And DANG! I missed Fanfiction the whole time! Anyway, while I was away I dreamt of a billion reviews and story alerts and all that jazz flooding my inbox. Of course that didn't actually happen but anyway thanks to the people that made me smile after a long trip home: elisabeth2me for favstory-ing, live-in-dreamland1 for reviewing (thanks for reviewing so many times!), .X for fav-ing, 711slurpeerocks for reviewing (uhm I don't really understand your review,(sorry!) but you can PM me any questions I'll be glad to answer),horselvr24 for fav-ing, xoxohotsportsxoxo for alerting, tessa411 for alerting and reviewing.

These people are possibly the best people ever. Correction: the best people. You guys rocks! Enjoy this chapter! I worked hard on it when I came back to get it up today!

Chapter 7: Connect Three

"Hurry up Mary!" Bianca and Breah shrieked from their bedrooms. "Coming!" I ran into the laundry room and grabbed two stacks of freshly washed and iron clothing, both of them almost as tall as the eleven library books.

I grunted as I shuffled around the dining table and ran up the stairs, praying to myself that I wouldn't trip on them. I went to Bianca's room first; she was the most impatient of the evil twins.

Her room was possibly seven times larger than mine, with a humongous canopy bed, vanity mirror, closet, TV stand, bathroom, a whole other cupboard devoted to makeup and a cozy looking hammock in the corner of the room. It was the kind of room I would want, except minus all the pink. It was nauseatingly Barbie everywhere.

I tried to curtsy while balancing the clothes. "Which one is mine?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. "Oh it doesn't matter," she sighed and walked over to me, picking a yellow dress from the bottom of the pile.

The rest of the clothes tumbled to the ground. "Shame on you, Dorkary!" She scolded as she flashed her grin at me. I felt like sticking my tongue out at her but I just squatted down and began to pick up the clothes, hoping that Bianca would be having a bad hair day today.

"Mary!" Breah called from her room across the hall. "Get over here!" I quickly grabbed the pile of clothes and left the room, leaving Bianca staring at the mirror with the dress pressed to her chest.

I stumbled into Breah's bedroom, which was similar to Bianca's except hers was all purple themed. "What did you do?" she goggled at the mess of clothes in my hands. "Sorry… I tripped…" I stuttered.

Breah groaned and picked up a blue dress from the top of the pile, which was similar to what Bianca had picked. "Dork," she sneered at me and slapped her hand down on the pile. "Ah!" I screamed and my hands fell apart under the sudden pressure, the clothes falling down… again.

What was wrong with this family? They could drive the sanest person on the earth insane!

"Clumsy, clumsy, clumsy," Dominique shook her head slightly as she posed at the doorframe. She was wearing… was that a blue tutu? I tried not to stare as I picked up the clothes. "You are ruining their morning!" Dominique complained as she strut into Breah's bedroom.

Breah snickered at me before she left to change. "Sorry… Dominique…" I whispered under my breath, feeling my cheeks flush. Dominique puckered her red lips as she leaned in to check her reflection in the mirror.

"Connect Three are going to be at West Water today, and since the only people they will notice are my darlings, they'll need to be dressed exceptionally well. Are you purposely trying to ruin their chances of appearing in their best clothing? Unlike you, they have a sense of fashion. You dress like a dumpster," she looked down at me and stared at my mahogany t-shirt that ended at my knees, my black denim jeans and the grey hoodie tied around my waist.

I quickly scrambled to my feet and curtsied before leaving the room. "Breakfast dearies!" Dominique called before she proceeded to descend the staircase. I tried not to laugh at her nickname for the evil twins before I left the room.

"Oh Mary?" Bianca shouted. "Yeah?"

"Breah and I won't be having breakfast today. You know, carbs… oh wait you wouldn't would you?" She made a point of looking at my stomach and laughed as I ran down the stairs. Mornings really were the worst part of the day.

"Ah!" I cursed under my breath as I tripped on the wet morning grass. Dominique must have turned on the sprinklers this morning. I speed-walked to my bedroom and grabbed my skateboard. I jumped over the fence and made for Tami's large, orange and apparently half-alive truck.

"Morning Mary," Mitchie and Tami chorused when I slid into my seat. "Morning girls," I sang back. "Burrito Monday," Mitchie threw a cold burrito into my lap. "Thanks Mitch." Every morning when Tami came to pick me up, she and Mitchie would bring my breakfast with them. I smiled appreciatively at them as they argued over the usefulness of Tami's car.

"Your car is dying," Mitchie complained as the "great pumpkin" wheezed to life. I choked on my burrito as I laughed.

"The great pumpkin is very much still great," Tami retorted as she pulled away. "It's probably only lived this long because you called it great pumpkin, Tami get a Mercedes of something!" Mitchie said.

I looked out the window as I chewed on my burrito. I remembered Bianca's crack about not knowing about carbs and suddenly I felt like I didn't have an appetite anymore. I mean, it wasn't like me to care about looks… but I was seeing Nate today, probably.

I sighed and set my burrito back on my lap. I couldn't believe Nate was the Nate. Connect Threes Nate. Maybe it was better if I didn't get in too deep. Which I didn't think possible, I considered myself pretty deep in already, if I was worrying about carbs because of him.

"What's wrong Mary?" Tami asked as she turned to me. "Eyes on the road," Mitchie and I reminded her. We laughed a bit but I stopped almost immediately. "Do… do you think I'm fat?" I asked.

Mitchie choked on her drink and spit some on Tami. Tami swerved a bit to the right lane and a bunch of cars honked at her. "Look what you made me do!" She scolded as she rolled down the window, stuck her left hand out and waved, yelling "Sorry!"

"You are so weird Tami." Mitchie and I gawked at her. She shrugged. "Anyway… you are as thin as cardboard Mary! Who told you you were fat?" She asked. I shrugged. "Just a passing thought…"

"Well you aren't fat." Mitchie pitched in. "Dominique has you surviving on like three meals every two days. You can't be fat even if you tried." I rolled my eyes and bit into my burrito. "Anyway… today is the day I see Shane again! I mean… I missed the whole connect three… but Shane's coming!" Mitchie exclaimed.

Tami laughed. "Old news, Sherlock. Anyway, yeah they are. Shane's probably counting the seconds until he sees you," Mitchie bounced up and down in her seat. "Duh!" Then she squealed. I thought I was going to get sick, just thinking of facing Nick today.

"What's wrong?" Mitchie trilled. I leaned away from her, rubbing my ear. I hadn't exactly told them about my day with Nate yet. They didn't know I knew him, and right now I wanted to keep it to myself.

"Anyway… have a nice day," Tami called as Mitchie and I hopped off her truck. Tami waved and turned to drive down the carpark. Our school was WestWaters School, and it was the first school of its kind. It held classes from elementary school all the way to the university that was on the other side of the campus and barred off from us.

Mitchie grinned at me. "This is it." I stared at the group of elementary, middle and high school girls crowded around the front door to the high school building of WestWaters. I gulped. Over the heads of squealing girls I could see a head of bronze curls move. Nate.

"This is it," I choked. I tried to breathe in and breathe out, slowly, knowing I would probably hyperventilate if I became too nervous. "Are you okay?" Mitchie asked me, her concerned eyes searching my face. "Na… Nate…" I smoothed my shirt.

"You're nervous?" Mitchie asked, relief coloring her face—she must have thought I was having another asthma attack. I nodded slowly as I did my mental breathing exercise. I hated lying to Mitchie or Tami but right now I couldn't let them know about Nate. They would definitely make sure we got together… and if Dominique found out… she would lock me up forever.

Mitchie laughed as she dragged me along. "Connect Three is really cool," she gushed as I followed her through the car park. I closed my eyes, trying to remember that electric feeling, maybe it could chase away my butterflies. It didn't work, I still felt nauseas.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea Mitch," I trembled as we reached the throng of girls, their screams as high pitched as a jet. Mitchie laughed. "Shane knows me. We are fine," She tried to reassure me.

I didn't even bother to nod. I could hear songs about makeup and being thin blare behind me and I turned around, finding Bianca and Breah with Tess, the school's 'miss popular' riding in Tess's hot pink convertible.

Mitchie turned around slowly too and I had to squeeze her arm to stop her from lunging straight at the Barbie perfect Tess Tyler. "What… is… she… doing… here," She said through gritted teeth. "She goes to school here Mitch. Calm down. Now is not the time, especially with cameras," I laughed nervously, glancing behind at the flashes from the media crew that surrounded Connect Three.

Tess reached over and stopped the music, swerving around in her seat to smile innocently at us. I managed a weak smile back but Mitchie just growled. "Mitch…" I warned under my breath.

"Two losers looking to pick up a date with Connect Three?" Bianca pouted at us. Breah snorted. "Like they would ever look at two dorkazoids like you… nerd zombies," she stated proudly. And I was surprised, she managed to get out one whole sentence.

"Stop it!" I yelled at them when Mitchie took a few threatening steps closer. "Stop it now!" Tess rolled her eyes and reached over to get Bianca's drink. Mitchie was lifting her fist. I stepped in between her, still facing Tess, my eyes fiery.

"Mitch don't! They're not worth—"In one swift motion, Tess had ripped off the cover of Bianca's 711 drink and thrust it at me. It soaked through my shirt and for a second I was so glad I was wearing a dark purple t-shirt today.

I was frozen from shock, standing in the open cold at the beginning of December, the ice cold coke chilling me to the bone. "What did you just do?" Mitchie yelled as she lunged towards Tess. Suddenly, a bunch of flashes went off as I grabbed Mitchie before she could slap her.

We spun around and there was the media, boy they were having a field day. I could see the headlines now, "Tess Tyler Attacked By Rampaging Connect Three Fan!" For a brief moment I shivered in the light as my eyes swept the crowd.

And then I stopped on the face of Shane Gray, his mouth gaped open as he whispered the word, "Mitchie."

I moved to the person standing next to Shane and found myself staring into familiar deep hazel eyes that were covered slightly by a mess of brown curls.

Oh no. Nate?

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