Liz locked the bathroom door behind her. She turned on the shower, but instead of stepping into the shower, she stood in front of the mirror and looked at herself. She leaned in, and saw a single tear making its way down. Liz angrily brushed it off. She then looked into the sink, and realizing that she couldn't hold it in, let the tears fall. Liz then tilted her head back, and stared at the ceiling. She was careful to avoid looking herself in the mirror. She couldn't look at her own face without becoming disgusted.

There was a knock on the door.

"Liz? Liz, are you in there?" Bex asked, while pounding on the door.

"Yes!" Liz snapped back, staring at the door, her vision blurry.

"Okay, okay." Bex replied, backing away from the door.

"You're going to act like nothing's wrong, and that everything's perfect." Liz whispered to herself in the mirror, having finally gathered enough courage to face herself. "Everything's perfect, nothing's wrong. Everything's perfect, nothing's wrong." She was still chanting this under her breath, when she had wiped away all traces of her previous state, and walked into the bedroom.

0oo0oo0oo0

The door swung open. "Hey, girls! Come on in." Summer smiled, and gestured for them to come in. But when Edward and Joe tried to come in, she held her hands up. "Nope…just the girls."

"We could protect them." Edward suggested.

"Well, you can protect them from the outside of the house. How about that?" Summer gently tapped Edward's shoulder for emphasis, before shutting the door.

"How absolutely rude." Edward exclaimed, turning to Joe. Joe simply shrugged.

0oo0oo0oo0

"Is everything okay, Summer?" Cammie asked worriedly, when she saw Summer walking down the hallway. She had been waiting for her, while the other girls took her into the kitchen.

"No, no. The guys just wanted to come in." Summer smiled at Cammie. "And…that might've ruined everything."

0oo0oo0oo0

Summer walked in, and clapping her hands said, "So…who wants to bake?" She began to take mixing bowls, and measuring cups out of the cupboards, before anyone answered. "Cool, so do I."

Liz looked at the mixing bowls, and measuring cups as though they were vipers in a nest, and she didn't wish to disturb them. "Um…" she shook her head, as she backed up, "I'm not exactly the best at baking, so perhaps I should just observe. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." She agreed with herself, and tried to sit in a chair.

The said chair was pulled away by Macey. She shook her head, and silently pointed to the counter, where the baking utensils were set out. Liz sullenly drudged over the counter, and banged her head against it. "You seriously don't want me to help."

"Oh, of course we do." Summer encouraged her. "Okay, so we're going to make some brownies. Liz, do you think you can put in the baking powder? Thanks."

The next fifteen minutes passed quickly, as they all helped out. Liz began to feel better, and when the batter was ready, it looked so perfect that Liz was certain that she hadn't messed up anything in the recipe book. She was so certain; she even asked to be the one to put the brownies in the oven.

Summer, Cammie, Macey, Bex, and Liz were all sitting in the living room, sipping hot chocolate, laughing at different funny times they had had, when they heard a huge explosion come from the direction of the kitchen.

All those wonderful honed spy skills of keeping-your-cool didn't really help much, because every single one of them jumped. Cammie and Summer's hot chocolate spilt on their shirts. They didn't care though, because they were so worried about the explosion. Everyone dashed to the kitchen, but Liz hung back a bit. She knew that she simply must have done something wrong. She bit her lip so hard, that it bled.

When she arrived in the kitchen, it looked as though a bomb had literally went off. There was brownie batter splattered all over the kitchen walls, ceiling, and floor. Joe and Townsend, having heard the explosion had rushed in, and slipped on the batter, and were now covered in it. Liz looked at the how Townsend's face was twisted in disgust, and embarrassment, and couldn't help but laugh.

Townsend, noticing this, laughed as well. He was glad that she was laughing.

Liz felt something wet on her head, and reaching up to touch it, realized that it was the brownies. She tilted her head back to see where it had come from, when more fell onto her forehead, and dripped down her face. She sputtered, and the brownie batter flew out of her mouth. She dragged her hand across her face, sweeping away as much as she could.

"What happened?"

"I have no clue." Summer giggled when Joe slipped on the brownie, and rammed Townsend into the wall. Needless to say, this created a bigger mess, when the mugs hanging on the wall crashed onto their heads.

"Coming through." Macey pushed Liz aside, and dumped a bucket of water on the floor.

"What was that for?" Bex perused.

"To clean it up, of course." Macey stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh, of course, because we're all just going to pour water on the floor. Of course not, it makes it an even bigger bloody mess." Bex retorted, spreading her hands for emphasis, and receiving two large globs of brownie batter in her outstretched hands.

Liz began to laugh harder when she saw Bex flex her hands, attempting control. She laughed when she saw Summer go to help both Joe and Townsend up, but ended up falling on top of them, when she slipped on the mess. Liz grasped for the counter as she began to collapse from the laughter ripping through her small frame.

When she, finally, collapsed in giggles, she didn't notice everyone in the room look at each other, as though they were in a conspiracy together. Bex winked at Cammie, and Macey gave a thumbs-up to Summer.

#1 Get Liz laughing. Check.