Okay, I'm back!!! Sorry, it took a ridiculous amount of time for me to update. But, with a new job that has me working nine hours a day, and with the almost death of my laptop, I have been delayed.

Thanks for all of the beautiful reviews. I greatly appreciate them!

I hope this chapter is worthy of positive reviews.

Read and enjoy! :)

"I probably won't be home until after dinner," I called out to my parents as I put on my coat and grabbed my bag for the afternoon (I couldn't very well go to Nick's house in my uniform, nor did I want to). My body already felt the low temperatures outside as the cold air seeped under our door.

Maybe it will snow, I thought with a hopeful grin. Snow always brought out the good things in life: hot chocolate, warm fuzzy blanket, quality times with friends and family…

Not to mention AWESOME snowball fights. Sometimes Allison, Adam, and I almost freeze to death because of how long we spend outside in the snow. It's so worth it, though. To feel like a kid again? Nothing better.

Plus, pouring snow down both of my friends' shirts always brought the best expressions which would make my day.

"Where are you going after school?" my mother appeared around the corner with a questioning face.

"Nick Lucas asked me to hang out with him after school," I explained, feeling that weird flutter again. I must be hungry or something. Though…I usually don't feel this excited or happy when I'm hungry…

I can be a downright witch if I'm hungry. Just ask my friends or family; they can share many horror stories.

I faced my mom and almost laughed at the strange expression her face. She looked like she had never been happier. Is she really that ecstatic over me hanging out with someone else besides Adam or Allison?

"Really?" she squeaked hopefully.

I cocked an eyebrow. Her reaction's just a tad out of the ordinary for me. "Yeah…why are y-"

"Honey! Jane has a date!" she squealed excitedly towards the kitchen.

"Really?" I heard my dad ask in the same demeanor as my mom. "Go get him, Jane!"

It took me a moment to figure out what my mom's deal was, but when I heard the word 'date' escape her mouth, I got it. My eyes widened and I feverishly shook my head.

"What? No!" I stated in a high-pitched panic. "It is most definitely not a date!" Dates were supposed to involve dinner by candlelight and chick flicks. Right? Plus, the thought of Nick and I together like that twisted my stomach into knots. Which strangely felt like the flutter from earlier.

My mom lost her vigor and gazed at me with confusion.

"But…he asked you to hang out with him right?"

"Just because a guy asks you to hang out with him doesn't mean that it is a date," I said quickly, already feeling my body temperature go up.

"Then why are you blushing?" My dad, who had come from the kitchen asked with a knowing expression.

"Because you're embarrassing me!" I brought my purple scarf up around my face, and put my hand on the door knob, preparing myself for a quick escape.

Gosh, what is wrong with my parents? They have never behaved like this before, and I definitely don't like it.

My mother hit her husband lightly on the arm and controlled her excitement. "Sorry, Jane. Have fun and be back before eleven."

The quick change of attitude threw me off for a second. They basically looked like they wanted to throw a party in my honor a split second ago, and now they looked like they care less. If this were a movie, Twilight Zone music would play right about now.

Whatever, I wanted to get out of there, so I flew out of the door and got into my car.

While I checked my rearview mirror, my reflection caught my eye…

I am still blushing…

When a student enters his or her school, they automatically fall into routine. For example, I meet my two best friends at my locker fifteen minutes before the bell rings and have a normal conversation (or what we consider a normal conversation). The same people always walk by and life goes on normally.

Last week kind of smeared the name of normality, sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way.

So yeah, besides the fact I would hang out with Nick after school, today should start out like it always does.

It should…

However, when I think something should happen, it doesn't happen.

I kind of realized this truth once I entered the school.

"Allison! Wait!" Adam yelled as said girl marched briskly towards me

She looks ticked. By pure instinct, I took a step back and braced myself. An angry Allison isn't someone to be trifled with.

"Hi Jane," the fuming blond grit out louder than necessary. "Do you hear something?"

"Uh…" I drew out slowly, trying to delay my answer until Adam caught up with us. Plus, I didn't want to get in the middle of their feud. I tried that once, and my ears almost bled.

"Yeah, I don't hear anything either," Allison finished for me, her eyes flashing back at the guy who frantically ran up to us. "Unless you consider anything coming from the hormonal teenager behind us worthy of your ears."

My eyebrows shot up towards the ceiling and I stared at Adam in shock.

"What?!" A part of me wanted to laugh at how serious Allison appeared when she stated her accusation, while another part of me wanted to smack Adam upside the head for possibly being offensive.

Then, I realized this is Adam we're talking about here.

The word 'offensive' probably doesn't even exist in the boy's head.

"No, no, no!" the blushing accused shook his head resolutely. "Allison, you're making something out of nothing."

"I saw you looking at her!"

"She said 'hi' to me!"

The blond folded her arms with "Hmph!" and turned her head away from the incredulous expressions on both Adam and me.

"Let me get this straight," I ventured kind of getting what happened into perspective. "Allison…you're upset with Adam because he looked at another girl?" My eyes briefly met Adam's; wishing he also was getting it.

From the hopeful glint I saw in his eyes, though, I'm guessing he did.

"Yeah. While I was talking to him," Allison scowled, still oblivious to what she was saying.

"As I said before," Adam explained at a snail's pace. "She said 'hi.'"

"You didn't have to say 'hi' back," she countered.

Yeah, she's totally going to lose this argument.

"That would be rude."

And, Adam's going to win.

"You're rude!"

Really, Allison? Really?

"What?"

Exactly.

"A polite guy wouldn't split his attention between two people!"

Come on Adam; say something to end this nonsense.

"You're just saying that because you're jealous!"

Right on the mark.

"Wh-what?" Allison sputtered after the bantering came to an abrupt halt. "Th-that's not what I was talking about…completely beside the point…" Her face quickly turned to a deep shade of red.

"Were you?" Adam asked quietly with a hint of confidence. A ghost of a smile became apparent when the girl in front of him fidgeted with her hands.

An electric silence bestowed upon the two, and for a moment I thought Allison would never speak up.

"Who cares if I was," Allison muttered and quickly walked away mumbling about being late to class (even though the bell hadn't rung yet), leaving both of us stunned.

Did she secretly like Adam too? If so, does she still have a crush on Nick (if there ever really was a crush)?

I feel relieved all of a sudden; like some huge weight has lifted off of my heart. Though what I feel relieved over went over my head. All these different emotions are running through me, and I have no idea what to make of them.

I stiffly turned to Adam and smiled once I saw the brightest expression I had ever seen on the boy. He continued to gaze dreamily where Allison had turned the corner and disappeared from view.

I laughed and patted him on the back.

"Are you happy, Adam?"

"Very."

I won't bore you with the details of the rest of my school day. Nothing else happened. The basic premise was: Adam had a goofy smile on his face, Allison hid from the both of us, and I couldn't get rid of the feeling of my stomach twisting into knots.

Okay, so these ninja knots happened to occur every time I caught sight of a certain musician. I guess you could say I was nervous going over to Nick Lucas' house after school. I usually stick close to Allison and Adam, so going over to Nick's house was a huge change for me.

So, when the final bell rang for French, I excused myself from Nick and Adam and ran to my locker to retrieve my afternoon bag.

I changed into a pair of jeans, a purple long-sleeved tee, and my white flats.

Sadly, this is what I consider dressing up (besides my school uniform).

Not that I'm dressing up for Nick…I just wanted to appear presentable at his house. Even though my bruised nose rendered everything else moot.

I quickly exited the bathroom, knowing that it was rude to keep the musician waiting while I looked at myself in a mirror. My nose wouldn't change back to normal no matter how much I wish it would.

Nick stood by the main doors of the Horace Mantis Academy, still wearing his school outfit and holding a rather large keyboard. To me, the instrument appeared to weigh a ton, but the musician held it like any jock would hold a basketball.

His unfocused eyes blinked and finally noticed me coming towards him.

I smiled and waved, "Hey, sorry if you waited for too long; I just wanted to get into some regular clothes."

Nick shook his head with a simple grin, "I just got here a few seconds ago. So, you're ready to go-"

"Joe, get back here!" a familiar, feminine voice broke the almost silence of the hallways.

The grin left Nick's face. He placed a hand over his eyes and let out an annoyed sigh.

"Never!" the middle Lucas yelled and ran straight towards us.

Man…and I thought Allison won in the evil-looks department. If Stella touched anything at the moment…it would burst into flame. And yes, I just imagined her doing so.

"Scary," I whispered.

The boy next to me gave me a curious glance.

"It's okay," he muttered lowly (which strangely sent chills down my spine). "This isn't out of the ordinary. It always happens."

Always…

You know, the sight kind of reminded me of Allison chasing Adam down. Except, with the Nick stared down Joe, I'm going to guess the middle Lucas wasn't as sickeningly innocent and nice as Adam (not that I'm claiming Joe as a terrible person; no one can top Adam's congeniality).

"So, what did your brother do to Stella?" I questioned under my breath seeing as the pair coming towards us would have heard me.

Nick lowly scoffed, "It depends, and…oh no…"

I knit my eye brows at the abrupt change of subject. Oh no? Oh no what? I had no time to put my questioning thoughts into words, however. Nick had suddenly wrapped his hand around my wrist and was now leading me away from the still-frantic Joe.

Uh…

Crap, my brain died again. Dang it!

Stupid masculine hands breaking my noggin and rendering my legs useless! I had to have tripped over my feet at least six times before Nick and I even got outside.

The frigid air put my body back into proper action, and I questioned the random escape from Joe and Stella. Hypothetically, if my brother needed help or looked in trouble, I would stay and help; not grab some poor girl and turn her insides to goo.

I hate goo.

Scratch that. I love the goo they always show on the commercials where the kids play with it and make it into a random animal. What was it called again?

Oh, Nick-the-maker-of-gooey-insides is talking.

"-we're much better off not bearing witness to that," he responded to my earlier question, his breath fogging in the air. "I know my brother, and if Stella is on his heels, he will involve the both of us in the argument just because he can't man up to it."

"Sounds entertaining," I shrugged. I kept touching my wrist, trying to get the tingles to stop. Stop it, wrist.

"It was at first, but now it's like watching re-runs on the Disney channel. There's no end to it."

"You watch the Disney channel?"

Nick paused and for a second I thought he would try and deny it like every other guy would. But then he simply nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm not going to lie. I do watch the Disney channel occasionally."

That statement totally made my day. I smiled widely and laughed. "That's good to hear. I still watch cartoons."

"That's good to hear, too."

If I was to describe the boy standing in front of me in one word right now, the word would definitely be warm.

Do you know what I mean by warm? I don't mean it in the temperature sense (because he's probably very cold right now). But…I guess I'm talking about his disposition; his character.

Sure, on the outside Nick Lucas appears stiff and cold, but once you get to know him, it's quite the opposite of what you pictured.

He's just warm. Not too hot or too cold.

Forgive me for sounding clichéd, but Nick is just right.

No wonder I like hanging out with the boy so much. I basically consider him perfect.

I frowned at this thought as Nick and I walked together in silence towards his car. Nobody can be perfect, Jane. So stop thinking that way.

"Okay, first song; your pick," Nick stated as we pulled out of the school parking lot.

"Such a gentleman," I sighed and then rolled my eyes in amusement.

I scooted towards the iPod to scroll through his songs, but seeing as Nick had ten thousand songs, I figured it would be best to separate the songs by genre and just pick one at random.

"This would be easier if you didn't have a million songs," I muttered.

Okay…I feel a bit jealous, but who wouldn't? One of these days, I am going to save my money and have an outrageous shopping spree on iTunes, and then I'll buy ten thousand and one songs just to outdo Nick.

"I thought there was only ten thousand?" said person asked, glancing out of the corner of his eye.

I scoffed, "Only ten thousand. Right. My bad. Because, that amount is so trivial."

"If you were in my situation too, you would buy that much."

Dang it, he's right. I scowled and made sure Nick saw it.

Well…he's laughing/chuckling, so I guess he did see my expression.

"Ha ha," I laugh sarcastically. "Laugh it up."

Nick continued to do so. Stupid boy.

It took me a few more moments for me to find the exact song I wanted to listen to. With such a selection to choose from, I wanted to be sure to pick a good one.

Nick has great taste in music so it took me a while.

I sat back with a content sigh once "Sideways" by Citizen Cope began to play.

"You like Citizen Cope?" Nick asked as he turned on his exit.

"I've only heard this song from them, so I don't know. I rate the songs apart from the band usually." There are only a few bands that I'm an actual fan of.

"You said usually," the driver pointed out, appearing interested in the developing conversation. "So, you do have favorite bands?"

"A few," I conceded with a wave of my hand. "I like Lifehouse, Matchbox Twenty, Switchfoot, U2, Coldplay, The Beatles, and…*mumble*"

Nick crinkled his forehead in confusion. "And who? I didn't hear the last one."

I laughed nervously and directed my attention toward the rearview mirror. "Really? Well, I said I also like Taylor *mumble*…"

"Just say it," Nick coaxed.

I sighed in defeat, "I like Taylor Swift." Yeah, I know. What girl doesn't like Taylor Swift? What can I say? I was too embarrassed to tell Nick. Not a lot of the male population ranks the country/pop singer high on their playlists.

I sure wish the guy sitting next to me would say something.

Great, he probably wants to kick me out of his car. Or worse, never speak to me again.

I was about to turn around and say, "Just kidding! Gotcha!" But, the blaring of "You Belong with Me" cut me off.

"You have Taylor Swift on your iPod?" I asked in disbelief, turning around with wide eyes.

Nick lightly nodded, "Yeah, I do."

My heart pounded faster, but I noticed that it wasn't from fear or anticipation, but from…from…uh…

Okay, I have idea what from, but it felt like a good feeling.

"Tha-that's, uh, wow," I stuttered while trying to find the meaning of my rapidly beating heart.

"More guys like Taylor Swift than you think," Nick pointed out, like he read my mind from earlier.

"You just have the guts to admit it," I said to myself.

Maybe I should re-think over nobody being perfect…because this guy is doing an awesome job of proving me wrong.

It was at that moment, I felt like someone was watching me. I flicked my eyes towards the driver, but Nick kept his eyes on the road all innocent-like.

Maybe I just imagined it.

"Mom! Dad!" The youngest Lucas called out as we walked into the very nice firehouse.

When Nick told me he lived in a firehouse, I had a funny picture of the three Lucas brothers surrounded by a dozen Mike-Tyson-sized firefighters cheering over a pint, while making a mess of the place.

But no…a normal, clean house. I sneaked a glance at Nick. He simply placed his keyboard on the plush couch in the living room, and his school bag on the floor.

It felt nice seeing Nick in this environment. Completely relaxed, and just a normal atmosphere.

He must have felt my observing eyes on him, for he suddenly turned around with a questioning glance. I whipped my eyes away from him and pretended to look elsewhere.

"I guess my parents aren't home yet," I heard Nick mumble to himself. "Kevin said he has glee club practice late, so-"

"I thought Kevin was on the cheerleading squad?" It is a well-known fact at Horace Mantis that the eldest Lucas is a dedicated member (and only guy) on the cheerleading squad.

Nick gained a tight-lipped expression, "Oh, he is. But, ever since he saw the animal-print club shirts the glee club had, he had to have one. So, he joined."

Well…what does one say to that without laughing their butts off? Especially after I imagined Kevin in a white turtle neck with turtles printed on it while singing "Don't Stop Believing."

"Ah."

Nick didn't look convinced of my composure, but he still continued. "Anyways, Joe will probably have to bribe Stella with dinner and a movie, and Frankie has play rehearsal, so it looks like it will be just the two of us for a while."

"Oh, that's fine," I shrugged, not really understanding the concept of two unrelated teenagers of the opposite sex being alone under the same roof.

And, I wouldn't realize the awkwardness of the situation until I left.

Okay, get your minds out of the gutter now. Nothing above the rating of K+ is going to be happening in this story. I just thought I would clear that up.

I was planning on making this chapter longer, but future events belong better with the next chapter. So, don't think I'm prolonging the inevitable or anything like that.

I am now halfway through with the next chapter, so the next update will come much sooner than this one. Again, I apologize over the longevity of the wait, but I do thank you all for the encouraging reviews. Hopefully, this chapter deserves them as well.

Back to writing. A lot of fun things are going to happen in the next chapter. Later.