When we left Geometry, Shane ruffled my hair while Nate gave me another high-five. I could hear them saying that they would "so ace the project" thanks to me. They have no idea how lucky they are that I'm their partner. (A/N - I hate group projects. In seventh grade, I was assigned one in science, and my partner bailed on me and went out of state for two days, the two days we were supposed to be doing that project. I called in my cousin with three hours to spare and got an A in the end. UGH.)

I informed Nicole and my mom of this by the time school was over. Unfortunately, I would have to wait while Nate and Shane had football practice, so I sat in the library doing my homework for History and Biology.

I had just started to draw a rough outline for that project mapping their house from what I remembered their house to be when a very sweaty-looking Shane burst through the doors and yelled "IS JENNY HERE?!" The other students and librarian told him to be quiet while I walked out the door with him. I admit, I'm kind of embarrassed. "Don't you know how to not talk that loud in libraries?" I ask him.

"Well, sorry. I never go in the library, I just thought you were there since you're well.. Yeah." I sigh and say to him "I get the point, okay? Let's just go to your house and finish this thing." Once again, Nate was riding with Jason while I was riding with Shane. I was still doing the rough outline as we pulled up in front of their house.

I ran into their already open doors since Nate and Jason were already home. I started walking around the house and adding rooms. After twenty minutes, my rough outline was finished. I guess that's enough for today.

"Hey, guys, I should leave now. I finished that outline for that project" I said to no one in particular. I was about to ask Shane to drive me to my house when Nate showed up out of nowhere and says to me "Wait, don't leave. It's too soon."

It was about 5:30, what was he saying? "I mean," he continued, "You should stay longer so we could all hang out, you know?" Oh, now I get what he's saying. "So, what would you want to do then?" I ask him. He ponders this for a moment, then says "Rock Band!"

Oh my God, I am in love with that game! I do everything. From bass to guitar to drums and yes, even singing, I'm pretty good. Well, mostly in guitar, though. "Wait, you have that game?" I ask him. "Yeah" he replies. Then he says "It's in Shane's room." I didn't really care that he seemed uncomfortable saying Shane's name, so instead I yelled "To Shane's room!"

I ran up the stairs and through the door that I remembered being Shane's room. Shane and Jason were already setting up the game on Shane's 360. I pick up one of the guitars and say "I am so playing guitar. So who's playing what then?" Shane says "I'm singing" while Jason says "Bass."

I guess Nate's doing drums. The drums are my biggest pet peeve. Whenever I play, only half the notes actually go through. I refuse to use the sock mod though.

Nate finally appears in the room and grabs the drum sticks and sits on a chair while the game starts up. I strap on the guitar and we make our own band, which takes about ten minutes. I make my character dress in a bikini top and jean skirt. This makes all the guys laugh. Unlike me, their characters look and dress like them.

Wow, even making a band with them is fun. We finish the first two cities before I saw that it was almost seven. Throughout the entire two sets, I was always the best player with the highest percentage and streak. It's pretty funny that they suck at this game. Shane sings good, just not rock songs. I guess he's more of a pop star? Winky-wink.

I say to Shane "Hey, Shane. I think I should get home now. Care to drive me?" He smiles and puts down his microphone, then says "Sure, yeah. Let's go." I jump on Jason and give him a hug and go to leave the room when I feel Nate squeeze my hand then let it go. That gesture was.. Unexpected.

I yell goodbye to them and grab my backpack and run to Shane's Lambourghini, waiting for him to unlock it. When he finally does, I jump in and put on my seatbelt. Once again, Shane doesn't bother with his, so I reach over and buckle it for him.

"What's up with you and seatbelts?" he asks me. I say to him "Safety first. Some politician in our state got in a crash and went to the hospital because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, you know?" He scoffs and says "Wow, you're pretty paranoid." I reply "Blame it on mi madre." Shane obliviously asks me "What does 'mi madre' mean?" I ask him "Wait, what language do you take?" He answers "German, what do you take?" I reply back "I take Spanish."

He then asks me "Wait, you're like, a quarter French, right? I'm just guessing because of your eyes and facial features. Why didn't you take French?" Wow, I'm surprised that he's that observant. Only Asians are aware right away that I'm mixed.

I answer him "Well, the fact that French was considered 'the language of love' scared me, so I decided to take Spanish instead." Shane raises one of his thick eyebrows and says "No wonder why you haven't kissed a guy yet." Then he starts laughing. What's so funny? I don't bother asking him since we've already arrived at my house.

Before I could even get out the car, my mom rushes out of the house casually dressed up and yells in Vietnamese "Thao Nhu (That's my Vietnamese name) we're going to Chu Muoi's house for pho!" She might as well should've said, Jenny, we're going to Jen's dad's house for another booze party. Yeah, I have a cousin named Jen. Our family calls me Jenny while they call Jen her Vietnamese name, which was Lan. You pronounce it like lawn.

Then my mom says "You can bring that friend of yours, by the way. He's really handsome." I profusely blushed at this, and Shane gives me a questioning look. I then say to him "Wanna come to one of the HUGE family's booze parties?" He chuckles, then says "Sure."

We follow my mom's car to my Jen's house. We arrive at her house within ten minutes, and Gina and my dad gets out, along with my mom who was driving. Shane greets my parents and says to them "Hello Mrs. Huynh. Mr. Huynh. My name's Shane Grey, I'm Jenny's friend."

Wow, he was actually being polite. Wait, it just registered in my head that he was meeting my parents! After introductions and my little sister telling Shane that he was "hot" we were left alone.

"Hey, let's find my cousin Jen" I say to him. We walk into the house, which was bustling with people. I formally greet all the adults and drag him upstairs to Jen's room. I saw her pacing around in there with her friend Lisa sitting on her bed and her phone in her hand.

"Dave, your fucking mom fucking called me again and fucking asked where the FUCK YOU WERE!" she yelled into her phone. This is kind of normal. Fighting with her boyfriend about his mom always calling her asking her where he is.

She's pretty annoyed every time this happens. Lisa was sitting there, undisturbed by Jen's mood. Both Lisa and I were used to this. "So let's fucking go to that fucking club then!" she yelled into her BlackBerry.

She hangs up and says to Lisa "Dave's driving us to that fucking club." I finally decide to speak up and say "Hello? I'm kind of here?" Jen finally notices me and says "Hey Jenny! Who's that dude?" I answer "Oh, that's my friend Shane. He was driving me home from his house cuz of this project and decided to tag along here."

She gives me a questioning look, then says "Oh, me and Lisa are going with Dave to that club, but you guys can come." I tell her "Uh, you know my mom, and he can go, I don't care. I'll just busy myself with your computer." Shane then says "No, I'll stay with you. I'm not really into clubbing." I'm shocked and ask him "Wait, you aren't?" He replies "I'm not into those things unless it's at my own house."

Jen hugs me then says "Hey, can you keep watch over my room? Make sure the little kids don't get in." She and Lisa make their way out to the front yard. I see Dave pull up. They get in and drive away. Wow, Jen just totally ditched me.

"Did she just leave us alone in her room together?" Shane asks me. I say to him "This is kind of a normal thing for her, but instead of clubbing, it's usually Starbucks. Oh well, might as well go get some food."

I went downstairs alone to get some pho, and avoided questioning looks when my aunts, uncles and older cousins noticed that I had two bowls instead of one. After putting those seasonings in both bowls, I went upstairs and locked Jen's door.

So this was the current scene. Me and Shane Grey eating pho together. He actually likes it! Pho's this Vietnamese dish that's a beef noodle soup. Seriously, it's hard to find an Asian who won't like it.

"So, how common are these family gatherings?" Shane asks me. I answer him by saying "It's more common in the summer, really. During the school year, once a month or so? It takes place at different houses."

We finish our food and I put it aside. "So do you always stay upstairs then?" He asks me. He's asking a lot of questions tonight. I reply "Yeah, I do. If I go down there, there'll be drunk uncles trying to get me to drink some booze, and crazy little cousins trying to get me to play with them. It's better to avoid them all. Unless Jen or my other cousin Tracy is here, it gets pretty boring. And in this case, you."

He grins and asks "Me? So I made your night fun?" I stick my tongue out at him and say "You just made it less crappy, that's all. Don't get so full of yourself."

I get up and go into Jen's walk-in closet. I grab a random purse and bring it back to where Shane was sitting and sit back down. "She doesn't really mind that much if I go through her stuff, and if she does, she's not here right now, is she?" I say to him.

He curiously asks me "Do you always go through her purses and bags?" I answer him "Sometimes, when I'm really bored." I pull out some oil wipes, keys, and then her wallet. I open up her wallet and see about five condoms tucked away in there. I pull them out and show Shane. "She carries condoms in her wallet?" he asks me. I can tell he finds this pretty funny.

"Yeah, Dave makes her hold them for him. When I first opened this wallet, she told me to not freak out, but when I found the condoms, I asked her what it was that'd freak me out. Turns out she was referring to the condoms the whole time, I just wasn't bothered by it" I answered him.

"So she thought you'd flip because you found condoms in her possession?" he asks me. I reply "Yeah, but she should know that this stuff doesn't really bother me anymore. In our circle of friends and family around my age that I've known since I was 3 or so, I'm one of the only virgins. If the other girls are virgins, they sneak out, or other stuff."

He asks me another question. This time, he asks "So just like in school, you're one of the only innocent ones in your family?" I answer him "Well, you could say that. I guess I had a 'boyfriend' before, but I never liked him, and never kissed him, so I don't think that 'relationship' counted, ya know?"

"I agree with you. I don't think a relationship is solid until there's some physical contact. Like, the first step is kissing, and then the other three bases" he says. I continue for him and ask "Touching, oral, then the home run?" He nods his head and says "Yup."

I feel like asking a really funny question, so I say "Have you ever thought about this? When a guy has sex with a girl, the amount of matter his dick took up is totally gone? I read about it in a book." He looks at me like I have two heads, then asks "What the hell were you reading?" I tell him "Brave New Girl by Louisa Luna. Pretty interesting book." He then says "You think up the weirdest things." I replied "Thank you."

I grab one of Jen's pillows and put it on the floor, then I lie on it. "You know, I wonder what Jen's doing right now" I say to Shane. He raises his eyebrows then answers "Well, she's at that club, no duh." I say "I know that, but I wonder if she's still in the car, or if she's dancing, or doing anything else."

He gives me a weird look, then asks "Why would you be wondering that?" I answer him "I don't really know. I'm just worried that one day, something could happen at the club or something, and like, I miss spending time with her. Besides Nicole, she's one of the few other people that I really like to hang out with." I don't know why I was telling Shane all this. I was probably boring both of us to death, but I've never really had a legit conversation with him before.

He says "I guess you feel lonely sometimes. I know that feeling." I'm surprised that he feels lonely, so I ask him "You, the Shane Grey, feels lonely?" He sighs "Being popular isn't all good. You don't know if people are friends with you for the parties, or the girls." I ask him "What about those girls that fall at your feet, begging you to fuck them senseless?"

He answers "When I do have sex with those girls, I don't feel anything. There's no love or passion, just nothing. They're all so easy to get. It's like there's nothing to accomplish with them." I'm pretty sure my face looks pretty curious, because he continues "For once, I want to be in a serious relationship, that's not based on just physical attraction. I want something real."

I say to him "Oh, I get it now. You have sex with girls to try to make yourself feel better about your friends, but all it does is make you feel worse and more useless." He says through clenched teeth "Nice way to put it."

I think he took that the wrong say, so I said "I mean, you're using those girls as a substitute to real friends, in some freaky deaky way. Maybe you should just.. Stop and try to find an ideal girl that's not so easy." He whispers to himself "Maybe I should."

I then say to him "You know, if I feel lonely at Jen's house, all I do is grab her giant pink Care Bear and hug it." As I said this, I got up and grabbed that very Care Bear, then gave it to Shane. "What am I supposed to do with this?" he asks me. Uh, he really doesn't get it, does he? I reply "You're supposed to hug it and be happy."

So he lays down on my pillow and cuddles with it. "This doesn't really make me feel much better" he says to me after a couple seconds. "Maybe you just have to get used to it. It works for me" I say to him. He sits up and gives me the Care Bear. "Fake loving just isn't doing for me, Jenny" he says to me.

"'Fake Loving'?" I quoted him. He replies "Yeah. Sleeping with those girls is false happiness or whatever I want to get out of it. This Care Bear's the same thing." Wow, I never thought of it that way.

"So each time I hug this thing, it's fake loving?" I ask him. He answers "Maybe not to you, but wouldn't you rather be hugging someone else?" I think about that thought for a couple seconds. He's right, I'd rather be hugging one of my friends, not some inanimate object. "Yeah, you're right. Do you want a hug?" I ask him. He answers "Yeah, I'd love one."

So I reach over and give him one of my big bear hugs. As I bury my face in his chest, he puts his arms around my waist. For some reason, this isn't uncomfortable. For once, I don't feel awkward around Shane. Maybe it's because in the end, just like me, he's also a lonely soul, needing more love and attention.

A/N - Whoo, almost a thousand hits! I'm so happy that people are actually reading this fic. Next chapter will be Tuesday, of course. Tell me what you guys thought about the ending at the end of this chapter. Don't worry, Jenny/Shane isn't definite. But nor is Jenny/Nate. And care to give me some couple names? I can't think of any!

I'm trying to make the story easier to read by making the paragraphs more spaced out/shorter. REVIEW!!