Monday morning came sooner than expected. Mr. Wallices seventh grade class was gathered outside in the school parking lot, saying good bye to their parents and lugging heavy bags across the pavement. Tori sat on her luggage, outside the ring of gossipy classmates, waiting for her friends to arrive. She was wearing an old green day tee shirt and an over sized plaid shirt, with torn up denim cutoff shorts. On her neck, as usual, hung a small metal chain with an old, cheap plastic ring hanging off of it. Teddy had won the ring for her on her eighth birthday at Chuck-e-Cheese, and she wore everyday around her neck. She wore it under her shirt so Teddy wouldn't see it.

Jen arrived first, riding in her grandma's old mini van. "MEEMA, WHERE DID YOU PUT MY LUGGAGE?" shouted Jen. Her unexpected shout had broken the peaceful quiet of the cool morning, causing some of the students to jump. Tori was used to it. Jen's grandma, called Meema, was half deaf, So Tori was used to Jen yelling to her grandma. "What? Oh yes, it's in the back." Meema answered back loudly. Jen ran and grabbed her luggage. "BYE MEEMA! SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!!!" Yelled Jen as Meema drove away. Jen then walked over to Tori and joined her on the pavement. She was wearing bring blue Bermuda shorts and a bring yellow tee shirt that had a picture of a multicolored palm tree on it. On her head she sported a pair of rainbow Raybans. "Holy Mcnuggets, we're going to Florida!" Jen exclaimed. "No, I thought we brought our luggage to school just for the heck of it!" Tori answered back sarcastically. Jen rolled her eyes, "Don't act like you're not excited too! Seven days of nothing but sun! That is my kind of field trip!" said Jen as she lounged on her luggage. "Hey, do you know where Teddy is? I haven't seen him all morning." Tori said, slightly panicking inside. "Don't worry, he'll be here. We still have, like, twenty minutes," said Jen with a shrug of her shoulder. Tori stared intensely at the parking lot entrance. Jen was her best friend, but even she didn't know about her feelings for Teddy. She loved Jen, but that girl could not keep her mouth shut. She hoped Teddy would arrive soon. At that moment, a small silver car entered the parking lot. Tori immediately perked up. Teddy exited the car, grabbed his bags, said goodbye to his mom, and headed in Tori and Jen's direction. He was wearing an dark tee shirt with a name of a band no one had heard of and a pair of old basketball shorts. He sat own on the pavement next to Tori, and yawned. "Why do we have to be here at seven in the morning? This should be illegal!" he stated as he rested his head on his bag. "Cheer up sleeping beauty, we're going to Florida!" said Jen with a clap of her hands.

Before anyone else could speak, Mr. Wallice's booming voice filled the parking lot, "Good morning everyone! I hope you're all excited for our trip to Sunny Florida. Our Flight leaves in two hours, so we better hop on the bus and head for the airport. I have made a seating chart for the bus-"everyone groaned,"But I tried to sit friends with friends. The pairs are: Alicia Morton and Sammy Callawy, Sarah Noble and Jakob Jones..." The list went on and on. Tori crossed her fingers that she was sitting with Jen or Teddy. Finally, Mr. Wallice said, "Jen Zapple and Toby Richards, and Nickels and Teddy Goodman. Well, lets get a move on!" The stampede of student rushed on the bus. Tori couldn't believe her luck. She was sitting with Teddy! Jen also seemed to be pleased with her partner, for she was already sitting with him and obviously flirting. Tori sat down in a middle seat and waited for Teddy to come join her.

Teddy sat down and smiled at Tori. Inside, he was ecstatic. "Hey Tor, how's it going?" Asked Teddy. "Pretty good. You?" They chatted for a while about nothing important. Finally, the bus started moving. The seventh grade class was awake and ready. The quiet bus was soon filled with the sound of noisy chatter. Tori couldn't take much more of it. She took out her ipod and started listening to it. After listening to her songs for a little bit, she looked up and saw a couple of girl talking with Teddy. They were batting their eye lashes and giggling at everything he said. She felt a rush of jealously flood through her. She glared at them for a while. Tori decided to take a stand. Taking out one of her ear phones, she asked Teddy "Wanna listen?" He nodded and stuck the ear bud in his ear. They sat closer to each other, due to the short length of the ear phones. Tori didn't mind at all. Her heart pounded in her ears, drowning out the music. She wondered if Teddy could hear it.

Mean while, Teddy was silently rejoicing. He loved sitting so close to Tori. Teddy whispered to Tori, "Thanks for saving me! I swear, those girls get weirder and weirder!" "Please, they looked like they wanted to slowly eat you with a spoon!" Tori whispered back. Teddy wondered if he heard a tint of jealously in her voice. Nah, it was probably nothing.

After listening and talking for a good forty five minutes, they finally made it to the airport. They unloaded their bags and headed for the entrance. Jen had a bit of an issue at the baggage check. "What do you mean my bag is two pounds over the weight limit? It's as light as a feather!" Jen argued with the baggage lady. After a short disagreement, Jen was forced to put some of her objects in her carry-on. After that, the class filed over to security. Everyone made it across the metal detector without a hitch. But when Tori walked through, a loud buzzer went off. "Miss, are you wearing a metal belt buckles or jewelry?" the stout security guard asked. Tori was about to object, until she remembered: Teddy's plastic ring. If she took it off, Teddy would see it. If she kept it on, she wouldn't be able to go on the plane. She reluctantly removed her necklace and put it through the carry-on check. Once she walked through the metal detector, she ran to the other end of the carry-on check. She silently willed her necklace to come out before Teddy saw it. Finally, her necklace slowly moved its way out of the carry-on check. She snatched it up before anyone else could get their bags. She quickly clasped the necklace around her neck before anyone could question her. She then picked up her bag and ran to catch up with her friends.

Mr. Wallice gave each of them their plane ticket. Everyone was excited to see who they would be sitting next to. Tori, Jen, and Teddy were pleased to see that they had been seated next to each other. When they boarded the plane, Teddy sat by the window, Tori sat in the middle, and Jen sat on the outside so she could continue flirting with the boys in the other rows.

"Okay, only-" Jen checked her watch, "Five more hours until Florida!" Jen squeaked. Tori and Teddy chuckled at their friend's enthusiasm. Thirty minutes later, everyone seemed to have gotten comfortable and started talking. Jen was (of course) talking to Toby, the boy she was seated next to on the bus and was currently siting across from. Tori had found her sketch book and started doodling. Teddy had pretended to text someone on his phone, but really he was watching Tori. She was currently drawing an evil unicorn that could spit fire and shoot lightning out of its horn. He silently chuckled to himself. To other people, Tori may have seemed pretty plain, but Teddy knew better. He knew that she was funny and random, quick with her wit and not afraid to law down the law. She was also smart, beautiful, charming, talented... Teddy shook his head. He had to keep reminding himself that she was way out of his league. He looked up and decided to survey the area. A group of girls were giggling and whispering. He was happy Tori wasn't like that. Don't think about Tori he reminded himself. He looked over at the next row. A bunch of boys were grouped around, playing on their DS's. He wondered if Tori would like him if he were like that. Don't think about Tori he reminded himself slightly harsher. He then surveyed some more and saw his mortal enemies: Chuck Daren and Mitch Kalson. Chuck and Mitch were just nasty kids. Many of the girls in Teddy's class had a crush on Chuck, but he couldn't see why. Those two boys were always picking on someone, and Teddy didn't like it. He also didn't like the stare Chuck was giving Tori. Chuck nodded his head toward Tori and whispered something to Mitch. Mitch laughed and said, "Your're on!". Teddy stiffened and scowled. He knew they were going to do something to Tori, and whatever it was, it wasn't gonna be good.

Chuck leaned over to Jen, Tori, and Teddy's row. He flashed a grin at Tori and said, "Hey, Nickels, how you doing? You missing me over here?" "First of all, my name is Tori. Second of all, I was kind of in the middle of something so if you could be so kind as to take a hike, I would appreciate it." she said with a fake smile, then turned back to her notebook. "Come on, baby, don't be like that," Chuck said snatching Tori's book. "Hey!" Tori exclaimed. "There's an empty seat over by me. Why don't you come over and we could...pass the time." he said grabbing Tori's hand. "Get away from me Chuck!" Tori said through clenched teeth, but Chuck wouldn't go. Teddy had had enough. "She said let go, Daren. I suggest you follow her instructions." Teddy hissed while snatching Tori's notebook and unhooking her hand from Chuck's grip. "What are you gonna do about it?" Chuck said standing up. Teddy stood up also. After seeing the major height difference between he and Teddy, Chuck grudgingly surrendered. "Whatever..." Chuck mumbled as he sulked back to his seat.

Teddy sat down and looked at Tori, "Are you okay?" he asked her. "Yeah , I'm fine. Thank you." Tori said looking Teddy in the eye. After looking in her eyes for a moment, he looked down at Their hands. He had forgotten to let go of her hand when he unhooked it from Chuck's. He quickly let go, then looked away awkwardly. Jen had been watching. She looked at Tori, then at Teddy. Then she rolled her eyes. Once Tori had put her ear phones in, Jen whispered to Teddy, "I swear, the sexual tension is so thick I could cut it with a knife!" "Jen, shut up! she might be able to hear you!" Teddy whispered back in a hiss. "Okay, okay whatever..." Jen mumbled as she turned back to her magazine.

About an hour later, the thrill of the plane ride seemed to ware off. Many people began to doze off. Teddy had a notebook in his lap, trying to find inspiration to write a new song. Suddenly, Teddy felt something fall on his left shoulder. Turning to look at his shoulder, he saw Tori's head resting between his shoulder and the crook of his neck. Teddy was utterly shocked. Did she know what she was doing? He soon saw, however, that she was asleep, and her head had ended up falling on his shoulder. Teddy's sighed. Man this girl drove him crazy, but he loved ever minute of it. His confidence building, he slowly eased his head onto hers. Looking down at her again, he saw that she was wearing a necklace. Looking closer, he saw that a plastic ring with a false diamond on top was hanging from the metal chain. Something about that ring seemed so...familiar. Then it hit him... flash back

As he walked into the Chuck-e-Cheese's, he saw the group of familiar people crowded around a table adorned with big balloons. As he set Tori's present on the table, he looked of toward the blinking lights of the arcade games. As he was about to start playing, he heard a cry from the ticket counter. He walked over there to see what all the commotion was about. When he reached the counter, he saw his best friend, Tori, crying off to the side of the prize center. "Tori, what's wrong?" Tedd asked with concern. Tori sniffled, then replied, "I don't have enough tickets to get the ring! I tried, and I tried, and I tried but I still couldn't get enough!" with that she let out another sob. Teddy hated to see his friend cry. He decided, with the will of an eight year old boy, that he was going to get Tori that ring.

When it was time to cut the cake, a still tearful Tori walked up to blow out the candles. Just before she extinguished the small flames, she silently wished, "I wish I had the pretty ring". As she blew out the candles, Teddy came running up to her. "Tori! Tori! Tori i got it!" he proclaimed. Tori's little face scrunched up in confusion, "Got what?" Teddy then dropped the little ring in Tori's hand. "Happy birthday," he said. "Oh my goodness! Thanks

Teddy!" Tori smiled. Just before she walked back to her presents, she turned around and gave Teddy a peck on the cheek, then ran away. Teddy stood there in joyful silence. He had to get her plastic rings more often!

Teddy smiled at the memory. Then he wondered, why did she still have the ring? It was just a cheap piece of plastic.....right? Maybe it actually meant something to her. Teddy could only hope.

Tori made him feel so many things he had never felt with another person. She made him feel wonderful, ecstatic, joyful.......happy. He looked down at the blank notebook in front of him. He had finally found his inspiration.