Hello again! :) Sorry I've been kind of M.I.A lately. I had dance camp for my school musical last weekend, this weekend I was with my best friend the whole time because we had student council stuff to do and this coming weekend is our Homecoming Game and Dance, Go Bulldogs! (Yay New London :l) ANYWAYS. Updating this week may be a challenge considering I have musical practice and still some student council stuff considering we have to get ready for the dance. Plus, I perform the half-time show for band for the game, so I'm on a tight schedule, but I will try to have something by Wednesday at the latest.

Sorry this isn't such a great chapter. I'm assuming the last one sucked too, because I only got a few reviews, which definitely killed my Muse's heart a little. Was it that bad D:

Here's your update! :)

I followed Artie through his house, familiar and yet so foreign to it. I felt slightly out of place, but those doubts fled my mind the second I saw Caitlin sitting on the living room floor, cross-legged with Mrs. Abrams pulling her hair into braids, talking animatedly.

"And then, she watched as me and Artie runned all the way back home! And her hair is blue again." I felt myself smile, looking down at Artie as he twisted in his seat, sending me a grin before wheeling himself into the room. I followed, suddenly self conscious of myself, taking my time as I found myself standing in the Abram's living room. Mrs. Abrams looked up, Caitlin following her gaze, both of them smiling widely when they saw me.

"TINA!" Caitlin squealed, bouncing slightly as she remained sitting, letting her mom continue to work on her hair. I giggled, sitting myself down in front of her so I could carry on a conversation with them.

"Caitlin, you just saw me 10 minutes ago," Caitlin's bouncing stopped for a few seconds, a look of concentration on her face, before she grinned, bouncing on the floor again.

"I know, but you're still here and that makes me happy!" I felt tears threatening to overwhelm my eyes again, but I blinked them back, noticing Artie's mom doing the same thing. Artie rolled his eyes, sighing and mumbling something about girls being so emotional.

"How have you been, dear?" Artie's mom asked, finishing up Caitlin's hair.

"I've been pretty good, actually, and you?" Before anyone could reply, Artie interrupted.

"Mom, Tina's doing the beauty pageant here in town," I turned quickly to Artie, looking at his satisfied grin.

"Oh! Tina that's so lovely!" I felt my cheeks heat up, not exactly thinking the word 'lovely' fit the description of me in a pageant. Caitlin squealed again, obviously excited by the idea and started talking again, entertaining us all.

After a while, Artie excused the both of us, saying he needed help on homework. I quickly hugged Caitlin and Mrs. Abrams.

"Tina, it really is good to see you around here again. You don't know how happy Caitlin and Artie obviously are, even if they don't realize it. We love you, sweetie, and don't be afraid to come back around," I pulled away, nodding my head as a tear fell from my eye. I wiped it away, noticing Mrs. Abram's eyes also watering up. She said a silent thank you, but I was the one who needed to be thanking her.

I stepped into Artie's room, finding myself automatically going towards his bed, sitting on the edge next to him. I looked at Artie, then down to his books before pushing them aside and lying down, my legs still hanging off the side of the bed.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" I turned my head upon hearing a snort, giving Artie a look before sitting back up, pulling my knees to my chest. "I'm serious. Is this whole pageant thing completely stupid?"

"Not stupid, no," Artie started, a look of puzzlement crossing his face before disappearing. "But it does kind of contradict who you are," I gave him a confused look, allowing him to continue on. "I mean, what happened to the whole "Righteous blade of equality" and all that? Isn't a beauty pageant kind of, sexist?" I opened my mouth to reply, only to discover that he was right.

"Of course I'm right," He said smugly, apparently reading my face like an open book. "You, Tina Cohen-Chang, have just contradicted yourself." I grabbed his pillow, throwing it at his face to wipe some of the smugness off.

"Shut up! I can't believe I'm so oblivious and stupid," I groaned, letting myself fall over to the side, landing on the bed, next to Artie. "Why me?"

Artie laughed, pulling me up and leaning me against him, wrapping his arm around my figure. "Because you are not only easily convinced in most situations, but you are also willing to do whatever it takes for a friend," I mumbled nonsense under my breath before turning to look at him straight on.

"Why are you letting me back in?" It didn't make sense outside of my head, but the statement must have made perfect sense to the both of us in our thoughts, because it didn't take Artie long to reply.

"Because someone like you only comes once in a lifetime, Tee. A friendship like ours isn't something you find every day. It's something you grasp onto, forever. And I didn't want to risk losing it. I didn't want to risk losing you," He pulled his arm out from around me, fumbling with his gloves like he always did when he was nervous. I couldn't help the flush that flooded my cheeks, causing my brain to malfunction.

"Artie... I…"

"I'm sorry, that was probably really awkward for you, considering we just agreed to be friends again. I'm sorry for rushing back into the friendship we had months ago, I'll just shut up now," I giggled slightly at his rant, flipping my hair over my shoulder as I settled in front of him, grabbing his hands and giving them a light squeeze.

"Artie, I was going to say that I couldn't agree with you more," He looked up slowly; I took it as a cue to continue. "I want to be able to be best friends again because, quite frankly, Rachel is a handful and sometimes I just can't handle her every day and still be sane." This got a laugh out of the both of us, any tension and awkwardness in the air disappearing almost as quickly as it came. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that, I'd be really glad if we could just slip back into the friendship we had. A friendship that helped make reality disappear, even if only for a few minutes." Artie nodded, his big blue eyes filled with understanding at my request.

He stuck out his hand. "Best friends?" I giggled at the Artie-ish procedure, nodding my head and instead of shaking his hand, launching myself towards him and hugging him. He immediately wrapped his arms around my frame, pulling me closer as I leaned my head onto his shoulder, silent unknown tears running down my cheeks as I finally got my best friend back, again.

Walaaa! I hope this update wasn't a complete bust. I planned on doing something bigger, but Caitlin wanted to be put back in, and Artie wanted his mom to know about the pageant and nobody would agree with my muse! Let's hope it goes smoothly next update :)

P.S - I'm a smiley-face-a-holic. If you haven't noticed. I apologize if that annoys you.

Thanks for reading, and don't be afraid to press the little 'review' button :D

P.P.S - Has ANYONE seen the behind-the-scenes of Duet with Mike and Tina? Their duet is going to be so funny and cute! Even if it is Mike and Tina :) I mean, Hellooo, did ANYONE see Harry Shum's abs? Delicious. :)