Wow, once again, thank you for the incredible response you guys! It means a lot, and I'm glad you guys enjoy it so much! I'm planning on this one being longer than my other story, and do not worry. It definitely won't be turning into The Secret Life or anything, it will still have tons of Chalek kicking ass :D Also, just to clarify, this story is AU after Girls Night Out.

When the alarm clock began to buzz on her nightstand, Chloe groaned, and reached over to shut it off. However, as she moved her arm above her head, a familiar queasy feeling visited her once more.

Barely able to keep from groaning, Chloe nimbly leaped from her bed, and dashed into the en suite bathroom, collapsing to her knees in front of the porcelain toilet bowl. She had barely lifted the lid up, before she was heaving the contents of her stomach into the toilet.

After what felt like hours, a pair of warm hands pushed her curly blonde hair off of her sticky neck. Chloe sighed in contentment, as Alek turned her around, a concerned frown evident on his face.

"Chloe, are you alright?" He asked, feeling her clammy forehead. Unable to speak, Chloe simply nodded, as she was currently trying to remember how to breathe. Being in this close of proximity to Alek always brought back memories of that night, when he had moved his hands everywhere over body, and visited places that no man had been allowed to before.

"I'm fine Alek. I feel much better now." Chloe lied. She knew she would feel better by lunch though, this was the third time it happened this week. However, it didn't seem like Alek was buying it. He frowned at her.

"No, Chloe, you're sick. You should stay home today." Chloe shook her head. She couldn't afford to miss any school. Besides, she was used to this weird nausea. Maybe it was just an after effect of being Mai. Or the Uniter, since neither Jasmine, nor Alek seemed to have experienced anything like it before.

"I'll be fine. Seriously Alek, it's not the first time this has happened." He instantly looked concerned, and he grabbed Chloe's shoulders, gripping them tightly, but not painfully. Chloe avoided looking in his eyes. After all, she did not want to see the concern there. It hurt her, literally pained her heart, every time she saw concern or caring radiating from Alek's beautiful chocolate brown eyes, knowing that he would never feel the same way for her. She hated how the line between friends and something more was so blurry with him, yet distinctly present. She hated knowing that she would always have a piece of him, but it would never amount to anything more than what they already had.

She had thought she would be able to do this. She had thought that she would be able to move past that night, forget Alek, and move on from him. But she had been able to do no such thing. Brian continuously flirted with her, yet she felt nothing. He was now back at school, and Chloe couldn't be happier. Well, she could. If only Alek reciprocated her feelings. As it was, they still walked the school hallways as if nothing was wrong, Alek with his 'Jocko' basketball buddies, and Chloe with Amy and Paul. But it was slowly killing her inside, watching him flirt with cheerleaders, and mock the outsiders with his friends, knowing that she was in love with him, yet he did not feel the same way.

"Fine. If you insist. Stubborn head." Chloe raised her eyebrows, certain that she was not intended to hear the last part.

"You do know that I'm Mai too, right?" Chloe shot back, and Alek awarded her with his signature smirk, the one that made her heart lurch, and butterflies flutter in her stomach. No, wait, that was just the nausea revisiting.

She knew that Alek was watching her with concern. "Are you sure that you want to go to school today? You really don't seem well. If this is a recurring thing, maybe you should, I dunno, see a doctor? Or at least Aunt Val."

Chloe bit her lip. "No, I'm fine, I swear. I have to give an oral presentation in World History today, and they always make me nervous. I've been freaking out about it all week. I'll be fine, promise." She gave a convincing smile to Alek, who rolled his eyes.

"Such a mundane human thing to worry about. Honestly Chloe, if you're going to stress yourself to the point of illness, at least do it about something worthwhile, yeah?" Chloe rolled her eyes, and she shoved his shoulder playfully.

"Just because you're a smooth, cocky bastard does not mean that the rest of us are! I've never been good at giving presentations. I always fail them for speaking too quietly, or nearly passing out. It is a legitimate reason for being nauseas!"

Chloe stood up and stretched slightly, and she heard Alek draw in a sharp breath. "What?" She asked, frowning at him suspiciously. She was surprised to see him redden slightly, and turn away. Was Alek Petrov actually blushing?

"Erm, it's nothing, just…you sure you're alright?" Chloe frowned. What was that supposed to mean? He seemed to be determinedly looking away from her, though his eyes kept flickering back, slightly below her chin.

Chloe glanced down, and she quickly realized what Alek was noticing. She rolled her eyes. She was slightly pleased that Alek noticed, but at the same time, it still hurt. He didn't feel the same way. But at least she now knew she was at least slightly attractive to him.

"Oh grow up Petrov." She sighed. "They're breasts, you've seen them before." Though her words were exasperated and collected, it still hurt her, remembering that night.

Alek's blush only intensified. "They-they're bigger." He muttered, and Chloe stared at him for a moment, before bursting out into laughter. He blushed a deeper shade of red, and the female Mai attempted to contain her giggles somewhat. She missed this; this easy banter between the two, full of witty quips, and sarcastic innuendos. Whether they had wanted it to or not, everything had changed after that night, despite how hard they both tried to ignore that fact.

"Well, you certainly do wonders for a girl's ego." Chloe teased. "Now get out, because despite your habit to be overprotective, I am going to school, and I need to shower." Alek left, still blushing and muttering under her breath. As she stripped down, and entered the shower, Chloe couldn't help but look down and grin. Leave it to Alek to notice something like that.

There was something different about Chloe. Alek couldn't quite place it, but he knew there was definitely something. What had happened earlier in the morning was only an example. The old Chloe would have blushed and pushed him away, or punched him, and then kicked him out. He had no idea where the newfound confidence had sprung up from, but he found it sexy as hell.

And apparently he wasn't the only one.

"Damn. That King girl got pretty hot, you reckon?"

Alek instantly snapped his head around, and tried to contain his glare, as Joshua spoke to Malcolm, gazing appreciatively over at Chloe, who was chatting happily with Amy by her locker. She looked especially pretty today, wearing another one of her flowery tops, albeit a tighter one, that showed of her new…assets.

It killed Alek, knowing that he couldn't tell his two so called friends to knock it off, without a good reason. And if he told them that he was head over heels in love with Chloe King, and they had each taken each other's respective V card, they would laugh in his face, and not believe a word he said.

Besides, he wouldn't do that to Chloe. He knew what an announcement like that would do to her. Jasmine had been called the school slut for a year, until everyone found out that she was only Alek's cousin. He was a rather hot commodity at this school, and considering that he didn't date anyone, that just increased his cool level. Mimi had been the only girl he had ever been known to have a public relationship with. Even though Chloe was the only girl he wanted one with.

Girls could be more vicious than any jackal or Order member, this much Alek knew. Chloe was lucky; she had true friends in Amy and Paul, and she had escaped the painfully harsh gossip and rumors thus far. But he didn't want to put her at risk by hanging out with her more than necessary at school. If he started hanging out with Crazy Amy's best friend, the shy, quiet Chloe King, girls would immediately start talking and threatening her, especially the cheerleaders who seemed to believe that they were destined to live out a bad sitcom's high school cliché.

"You're staring."

Alek turned around and let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding. He glared at the smirk on his cousin's face, and rolled his eyes, turning back around and walking in the direction of his locker. "I wasn't staring. You're delusional as always Jazzy."

Jasmine sighed, and began to follow him. "I'm smarter than you Alek and you know it. Plus I'm a girl, I have intuition for these things. You're falling for her. And you're being quite obvious about it. I'm fairly sure even Paul can see it."

Ah yes, the comic con nerd. Alek rolled his eyes thinking about Chloe's friend. Why was she friends with him, and his insane girlfriend? Seeing Alek's expression, Jasmine frowned. "They're Chloe's friends Alek. You may not like them, but they're good people. Can you think of many other people at this school who would be okay with you, or I, or Chloe being Mai?"

Alek sighed. He hated that Jasmine had a point. "Paul is far too okay with us being Mai. And couldn't she have picked better than Crazy Amy?" Jasmine glared, and Alek knew he had gone a step too far.

"Hey. Just because you have feelings for Chloe doesn't mean you can lash out at me, or talk about Amy behind her back. She's a nice girl. They're both overenthusiastic, but they love Chloe. They care a lot about her, and she obviously cares about them. If you want to get on her good side, and have any shot with her, get to know them. They'll probably help."

Alek shook his head. "No. No way in hell am I hanging out with them. Besides, she's heads over heels in love with Bran."

Jasmine rolled her dark eyes. "First off, it's Brian." Alek shrugged. It didn't matter either way to him. "Besides, he's a college aged human. She doesn't have a chance with him. But getting to know her friends would be an advantage for you. As far as I've heard, Brian has never made any effort with them. It would make Chloe happy, knowing that you were at least trying to be inclusive and friendly. They don't have a whole lot of friends, they would all appreciate it."

Alek tossed his head back in frustration and groaned. "Fine, fine. I'll invite them to our party next weekend, happy?" Jasmine grinned. Alek tried not to stare as Chloe walked by, not even sparing him a glance, focused on going to her next class. Amy followed a few moments later, hand intertwined with Paul's. So they were back together then. And Jasmine said he didn't care about the humans.

"Oi, you two. I'm having a party next weekend, you two can come."

Both sets of eyes widened, for completely different reasons. And as soon as they opened their mouths, Alek began to regret inviting them.

"You mean you're inviting us to a real high school party?" Amy squealed, and Alek rolled his eyes, though he felt slightly sympathetic. They truly were outsiders, weren't they? Maybe it was a good thing that they were friends with the Uniter.

Paul, however, was slightly more annoying. "You mean we get to spend more time in your lair? Dude, that is so awesome."

Placing her hands on her hip, Amy's look turned suspicious. "You are inviting Chloe too, right? I mean, we wouldn't even talk to each other if it weren't for her."

"Of course I'm inviting Chloe. And there'll be plenty of strawberries there, so she doesn't eat all of them before the other guests get to them." Jasmine snickered, remembering dinner a few nights ago, when Chloe had showed quite an affinity for strawberries.

Amy and Paul exchanged a strange glance. "Strawberries? Chloe hates strawberries." Amy said, causing Jasmine and Alek to frown.

"She could have fooled us. She had a ton of them the other night."

Paul shrugged. "It's probably some Mai thing." Accepting the suggestion, Amy shrugged, and walked off, with Paul happily talking about some comic book.

Alek glared at Jasmine, who bit her lip, trying not to laugh.

"I'm going to kill them."