A/N. It was around 7:15 PM today that I realized today I was supposed to update. I really had a panic attack. I was screaming at myself, "Oh my Puck –if I have to write a chapter in two hours again, I will die literally!" Then I realized I had written almost over half of the chapter Sunday. :3 I felt better, lol. So…yeah, I feel better now. :D

Imma gonna die happily.

We've reaches over 780 reviews. So close to 800. I think this story might end in the 890s, but unless I get a splurge of new readers, I'm not getting to 1,000. So, if you want one of my stories to get over 1,000 reviews for the first time -pun intended, then mind spreading the word to your friends and getting them hooked on this? It'd be...awesome. And you know what? Like Ayns and Sky did, I will give a shoutout to every single reviewerI got (so I should start writing them all down now :3)! A challenge -yes. But, you guys are worth it. :) Really. You've helped me come a long way. I'll be grateful if most of you come back for the sequel! ^^

By the way, the 777th reviewer was...booksonclouds! Yaaarrr! You get four spoiler questions!WHOOHOO! That's right -ask me any four questions (most questions seem to be answerable ^^) and I shall answer them truthfully! Or you can have another prize. No one-shots though. Sorry. They're just hard to do when you're busy. :3 But congrats! ^^

Contrary to all this happiness, I found out that like half of my grade at my school are either a) moving out of the state b) moving out of the country, or c) moving out of the school only. You guys remember my friend, Ariana (I think I've mentioned her a few times before...)? She's moving to this mega-ultra-rich school. She and her parents just decided this, like, Sunday. You should have seen my face. I was so close to tears. And she emotionally kicked me in the chest, saying, "I'm so happy to be getting out of this poor excus of a school next year." The people who are moving are kind of taking things for granted. I mean, some kids CAN'T go to school and they're just blowing the school I go to off for no reason. It makes my eyes all misty. And finding out that so many of the people I grew up with (random names ahead) like Ariana, Sam, Donovan, Luke, Drew, Mark, and most likely a few more girls (because Ariana was the only girl named) were leaving...finding it out in ONE FRICKIN MORNING...I also watched a video on Jesus' crucifixion in Religion...I literally, bursted into tears. But no one saw because of my thankfully long hair. So...yeah. I'm sad. It's time like these when I wish FF was a REAL community, and we all lived in one place, and each section was sectioned by "anime, book, tv, etc." until they got so small that the streets were to be named after a book or somewhat, and there was a Sisters Grimm Lane that we lived in... And if we wrote for multiple fandoms, we could have other houses on those streets too (like condos)...

All right. I'm done being depressed. I think. My mom even said I might not be able to go to the high school I want because it's too far...

*Sage slaps me* GET YOURSELF TOGETHER, GIRL. STOP DOUBTING YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GO TO FM HIGH AND THAT YOU WON'T SEE YOUR FRIENDS AGAIN. OR ELSE. I'LL LEAVE THE SEQUEL.

No you can't!

Sage: Then stop doubting, or else I'll have to tickle you.

I'm done being sad! ^^' *eyes Sage in the corner* All righty! Maybe when I'm older, we can do like an SG meet -OMG, that'd be awesome. :) Anyways, I need to get back to the chapter...

And more importantly, we need to get back to Mr. Firay and Daphne. *wage eyebrows* GOSH! I love that. XD

Chapter 56: C.O.W

"Josh and I broke up."

My eyes bulged and I nearly choked on the spoonful of chicken noodle soup I was about to swallow. It scalded my mouth and I quickly swallowed, my eyes tearing up. "What?" I finally choked out.

Ariana sat across from me, looking abnormally calm after the sentence she had just uttered. She half-smiled at me. "He kind of got angry with me after I ditched him at the fair the other night…"

I looked at her in horror. "What? But you didn't ditch. You were kidnapped!"

"I couldn't exactly tell him that, could I?" Ariana responded, smiling wryly.

Immediately I felt guilty. Ariana couldn't tell anyone about the gang, so she couldn't explain the truth to Josh. "Oh, Ariana. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault—"

"Don't worry about it," Ariana cut me off, shaking her head. "It's not your fault."

"Yes it is," I muttered glumly. "You and Josh were together for so long…"

Ariana shrugged. "Maybe too long. For the last few weeks it felt like we were more like friends than boyfriend and girlfriend. Josh thought so too, so I guess this is for the good."

"I'm sorry, Ari," I apologized again, frowning at her. Even if she seemed okay on the outside, I knew Ariana better than that. "You'll find someone new…"

Ariana rolled her eyes. "Sure, but not for a few months. I'd like to stay single for awhile."

"Being single is fun," I told her energetically. "You get to fuss over cute guys without feeling guilty!"

Ariana smirked. "Yeah, well now I can't do that with my best friend, can I?"

I blinked at her in surprise. "Huh?"

"You didn't reply to any of my texts last night, and you're in a frighteningly good mood. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened after Wendell and I left the other night."

My cheeks blazed. "N-nothing happened!"

"You can't lie to me, Daphne," Ariana responded with a cheeky grin.

Now that's something I haven't heard before, I thought sarcastically. A smile spread across my lips. "You can't tell anyone, Ariana."

Ariana held up her hands. "Daphne, I never tell secrets."

Which was completely true. I gestured for her to come closer, and she leaned over the table, bringing her head as close to mine as possible. Closing the space between us, I brought my head to her ear and uttered two simple words. "We're together."

Ariana let out an excited squeal, pulling away from me, her eyes as wide as saucers. "Really?"

"Really really."

"Oh my gosh! That's…that's… Matt-tastic!" she gushed.

"Matt-tastic?" I let a snort escape my lips.

"You know, how you say things are Pucktastic, but this time it's Matt-tastic, because that's what he wants you to call him? Right, right?"

I laughed. "I know what you meant."

"I knew it was going to happen, though! I so told you!"

I laughed at her excitement. "You did."

"It's about time," a voice commented from above me.

Ariana's eyes snapped to Wendell, who was standing above me, frowning. I rolled my eyes at him.

"You can't tell anyone," Ariana told Wendell, giving him a serious look. "This is really important."

Wendell held up his hands. "I'm not going to tell a soul. But Ariana, Josh just told me that you guys broke up."

"That's because we did."

"Are you okay?" Wendell asked, giving Ariana a concerned look.

Ariana waved her hand. "Don't worry about me. It was going to happen anyway. Besides, as our relationship ended, a better one started. Officially, at least."

"Well, we aren't really official," I muttered, stirring my soup. "It's a secret, remember?"

Ariana grinned at me. "More than one person knows, so technically it is official. Ah, a forbidden romance. How romantic."

Wendell snorted. "You mean creepy."

I slammed my elbow into his stomach. "It's not creepy!" Wendell groaned, taking a few steps away from me.

"Yeah! Daphne and you-know-who are only four year apart. My parents are ten years apart," Ariana defended.

Wendell frowned, still rubbing his stomach. "I was kidding, jeez." He took a seat next to me, stealing the crackers that had come with my soup. "So Bryant's in jail for a long time, huh?"

"No," Ariana responded before I could. Wendell and I stared at her in surprise. She gave us the are-you-stupid look. "Every man is innocent until proven guilty. He's got a trial this weekend. Don't you have to go to it Wendell?"

Wendell shrugged. "Well yeah. But he's in jail right now, so that's all that matters..."

"What matters is that we don't have to deal with the gang situation again. Ever," I corrected confidently.

Ariana, Wendell, and I stared at each other for a moment. Wendell and Ariana looked relieved, small smiles slowly crossing their faces. It was hard to believe. Bryant was gone.

"December's going to be a good month," Wendell decided, grinning.

Ariana nodded in agreement. "A very good month. Full of love, eh, Daphne?"

I blushed, ducking my head. "Maybe," I murmured bashfully. "Or a month of flirting, for the single people."

Ariana and Wendell exchanged grins. "Sounds good."

Sighing contently, I dipped my spoon back into my soup. Just as I poured the spoonful into my mouth, the bell rang. Wendell immediately stood up, glancing at me with amused eyes. "Better hurry."

"Don't be late for Mr. Firay," Ariana teased, causing me to choke again.

I thumped my hand on the table, once again having the soup scald my throat and bring tears to my eyes. Ariana was going to end up killing me one day. She laughed before also pushing away from the table, joining Wendell, and then following him towards the throng of students leaving the cafeteria. I quickly grabbed my tray and hurried to the front of the room, handing off my tray to the lunch lady. She gave me a knowing smile, as if she knew I was going to be late.

Twirling on my heel, I hurried towards the exit. I only got three feet before someone ran into me. A groan of frustration left my mouth and I looked up to glare at the person. Daniel was looking at me in surprise.

"Daphne?"

"Hey," I greeted, stepping around him. "Better hurry, or you'll be late."

"You're going to be late anyway," he informed me, handing his tray to the lunch lady.

"I know."

He grinned at me. "There's strength in numbers."

The bell rang ten seconds before we entered the classroom. Mr. Firay was in the middle of a sentence. He paused, glancing at us with a frown. Before he could scold us, Daniel spoke up. "Sorry, my locker was jammed. Daphne helped me."

Mr. Firay raised an eyebrow at me. Immediately images of us necking on the couch two nights before filled my head, causing a blush to spread across my face. My head shot down and I focused on a tile on the floor.

"Well, take a seat."

"Yes, sir!" Daniel chirped, pushing me forwards.

I stumbled to my desk, unable to look back up at Mr. Firay. Someone snorted from the back, and I didn't have to look to know it was Wendell.

"As I was saying, now that our seafood course is done we'll be having an exam on seafood cuisines on Friday."

A groan swept throughout the class, and a few people muttered complaints. I kept my eyes on my desk, focusing intently on the word diploid someone had etched into the wood.

"We don't meet for class tomorrow and there's no school on Friday, so the test will be on Thursday. Today and Wednesday will be review," Mr. Firay continued, sounding slightly amused. Suddenly a hand appeared on my desk. "Would you guys like to go over things on the board, and start the review packet?"

Starting working on the review packet was the unanimous agreement. Mr. Firay emitted a low, alluring chuckle. "I'll go get them," he told the class, retracting his hand from my desk. After a few moments I looked up, watching as he disappeared into the supply room.

The classroom was quickly filled with the sounds of desks and chairs scraping against the floor as people moved to sit with their friends. Someone pushed a desk against mine and I turned to see Wendell slumping into it. He yawned, stretching his arms.

"So," he started casually. "You know how I have court Friday?"

I gave him a pitying look. "Yep."

"Um, I was wondering, and you don't have to, but if you want to come with me," he continued, giving me a sheepish look. "Some moral support would be nice."

I gave him a wary look. "But Bryant…"

"Yeah, I know it's Bryant, but he can't do anything because we're in the court," Wendell said quickly, stopping me before I could protest. "Please, Daphne? Even if he does try something, there are cops everywhere, and that will just add to his penalty. You'll be completely safe."

Wendell gave me the puppy dog look, and I felt myself resigning. I sighed. "I'm sitting in the back."

"You can sit wherever you like!" Wendell cried, a little too loudly. People gave us curious looks. I waved them off.

"So, you want to work with me on the review packet?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

Wendell frowned, slumping onto his desk. "I hate review packets," he muttered, running a hand through his blonde hair. "They're so time-consuming."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Stop complaining, review packets are easy."

"That's the spirit, Ms. Grimm."

My head snapped up involuntarily and my eyes landed on Mr. Firay, who was smirking down at me. His eyes twinkled in amusement as I gaped at him, trying to form a coherent thought. Suddenly there was a pain in my ribs and I winced, turning to glare at Wendell.

"You were gawking," he told me, sharing the same expression as Mr. Firay.

Now I blushed, unable to look back up at Mr. Firay. "I— I wasn't gawking…"

Mr. Firay chuckled, but I still refused to look up at him. "We'll need the C.O.W for this activity, so I need a volunteer to come with me to go get it."

A few people said they'd go, but I knew whom Mr. Firay was going to choose before he even said it.

"Hazel, you wanna help?"

I sighed, pushing myself up from my desk. I knew it— wait. I froze in my movements. Hazel? My eyes snapped to Mr. Firay, who was smiling at Hazel. I turned to her, watching as she started to get up from her seat with an excited expression on her face.

Without thinking, I shot up in my seat, throwing my hand in the air. "Mr. Firay, I have to, um, go to the bathroom anyway, so I can just go with you to make it easier."

"Desperate," Wendell coughed quietly.

I shot him a glare before turning to Mr. Firay, who had a satisfied smirk on his face. That's when I realized he did that on purpose. My jaw dropped and I opened my mouth to take back what I'd said, but he cut me off.

"That works," Mr. Firay said, his normal, polite smile returning. "Hazel, maybe you could return it after class."

I didn't have to turn to know she looked disappointed. "Sure," she responded glumly.

"Wendell, will you hand out the packets?"

Wendell nodded, taking a pile of papers from Mr. Firay. "Sure thing."

Mr. Firay smiled. "Alright. Let's go, Ms. Grimm."

Shooting a glare at the back of Mr. Firay's head, I followed him out of the classroom, and into the empty science wing hallway. As we walked through the quiet hall, Mr. Firay started whistling. I trailed behind him, my eyes on the floor, keeping a safe distance between us. Images of us kissing kept coming into my mind, causing my face to grow hot. What was Mr. Firay thinking right now? About the other night?

Suddenly I ran into something hard, causing me to fall a few steps back. I rubbed my nose, looking up to see Mr. Firay grinning at me in amusement. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," I muttered, dropping my gaze.

"Really? Your face is a little red, are you feeling okay?"

I glared at him, blushing deeper. "I'm fine!"

He emitted a low chuckle. "What were you thinking about?"

"N-nothing," I stuttered, going to brush by him. He chuckled again, purposely stepping in front of me so I bumped into him. I grounded my teeth. He took pleasure in teasing me, and was shameless about it.

"You know Daphne, you should probably stop blushing every time I look at you in class," Mr. Firay advised, holding the door that led to the stairwell open for me. "Someone's going to think you have a crush."

I glanced at him with a frown. "It's not my fault. Stop looking at me."

Mr. Firay snorted. "I can't do the impossible."

A smile slowly made its way onto my face. Whether or not he meant that as a compliment, it still made my stomach flutter. Mr. Firay glanced at me, his blue eyes looking amused again. Suddenly I had the urge to grab his swinging hand, but I resisted it. We were in school. We weren't a couple. We were student, and teacher.

"What's wrong?" Mr. Firay asked unexpectedly, stopping half way down the stairwell. With me on the step above him, we were almost the same height.

I cocked my head. "What do you mean?"

"Your expression just dropped," he told me with a frown. "What are you thinking?"

"Um, nothing really," I told him, blushing slightly. Would he think I was being childish because I was disappointed about our lack of interaction? We both knew in school we couldn't be together.

Mr. Firay raised an eyebrow. "Tell me."

"The test is worrying me," I murmured bashfully, down casting my eyes.

"Daphne, you can't lie to me."

I pursed my lips, looking back at Mr. Firay. My eyes widened in surprise when I realized how close we were. His face was merely inches away from my own. Concern was etched into his eyes, causing my heart to skip a beat. I chewed on my bottom lip, hesitating for a moment. Mr. Firay gave me an impatient look. I sighed.

"I know it's stupid," I started, playing the bottom of my shirt, "but it's just…"

"Just?"

"I don't like that we have to act like student and teacher instead of… you know," I admitted, feeling my face heat up. "It's weird. We have to act like we're almost complete strangers. It's a little, um, lonely."

Mr. Firay's face dropped a little bit. Immediately I regretted admitting what I was thinking about. "Sorry, just forget—"

Mr. Firay suddenly leaned forwards and quickly pressed his lips against mine. My eyes widened in surprise, and he quickly pulled away, glancing behind him. I raised a hand to my lips, looking at him curiously.

"Daphne, I understand what you're saying," Mr. Firay told me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "But I know that you know what comes with us being… you know." He lowered his voice slightly, gazing at the door again.

I nodded my head quickly. "I know. It's just going to take awhile to get used to."

Mr. Firay gave me a small smile. "Same here. Especially because while you have a reason to look at me during the whole class period, I can't spend it looking at you, otherwise someone will think something."

With that, he turned and started down the stairs again. I blanked, staring at his back in surprise. A blush blossomed on my cheeks again and I hurried to catch up to him, catching the back of his shirt. "Thank you, Mr. Firay."

"Matt," he corrected me, glancing over his shoulder. "Mr. Firay in class, and only in class."

"Right."

When we arrived at the library, Mr. Firay went in to get the C.O.W while I waited by the entrance, rocking on the balls of my feet. He appeared moments later, lugging the large cart of laptops. I quickly hurried forwards to help him push it.

"I now understand why they call this thing a C.O.W," he told me as we pushed it out of the library. "They weigh just about as much. Turn left, we have to take the elevator," he ordered.

A few students in the classrooms we passed gave us curious looks as we lugged the Computers On Wheels towards the elevator. A few students waved enthusiastically to Mr. Firay. He returned their gestures with an award-winning smile— one of his polite, fake smiles.

"You're still popular, huh," I commented casually.

Mr. Firay smirked. "Yep."

"Do the students ever tell you anything exciting?" Never before had I realized how hard it was to make small talk with Mr. Firay. A grimace crossed my face. I needed to work on that.

Mr. Firay shrugged, checking over his shoulder quickly to make sure our path was still clear. "A girl confessed to me the other day."

I nearly choked on my spit. "What?"

Mr. Firay's smirk grew wider and he raised an eyebrow. "Are you jealous? Trust me, it wasn't even a sixth of how good yours was."

"People confess to you?" I asked in shock.

"Oh yeah. All the time."

"I didn't realize girls…" I trailed off, blinking rapidly. Girls confessed to Mr. Firay? Who? When? Why? I swallowed my questions, trying to stay calm. I was not going to be the obsessive girlfriend.

Mr. Firay suddenly started laughing, bending his head down. He was laughing so loudly that Mr. Stevens, the math teacher, glared at him before shutting his door.

"Your face was priceless," he finally said, grinning like an idiot. "Absolutely priceless!"

I glared at him, feeling my face heat up. "You were joking, weren't you?"

Mr. Firay nodded, putting a hand over his mouth to stop any more laughter from escaping. "Daphne, you're too cute."

"You're a jerk," I stated, slamming the button to the elevator.

"I know."

The elevator door opened, and together we moved the cow into the small compartment. I hit the button for the second floor, and the doors shut, leaving Mr. Firay and I in silence. Suddenly Mr. Firay was next to me, a playful smile on his face. I took a step away from him warily.

"Mr. Firay, we're in school," I warned him.

He raised an eyebrow. "I know this?"

I frowned. Wasn't he just about to kiss me?

"I heard Wendell wants you to go to court with him on Friday," Mr. Firay commented, leaning against the elevator wall casually, crossing his arms. "What was he going in for again?"

A sigh escaped my lips. "Mr. Firay, I'm sitting in the back."

He scowled. "It's still Bryant. You know what happened last time with Bryant?"

"You got hurt," I pointed out before he could continue. "Nothing happened to me."

"But something could."

"We'll be in a court room!"

"Daphne, I'm worried about you," Mr. Firay told me flatly, giving me an exasperated look. "Sure, you're in a courtroom. But it's Bryant. You don't know him like I do."

I bit my lip. "I know… I just… Wendell wants me to go, and I'll be at the back. I won't let Bryant see me."

Mr. Firay stared at me for a moment, looking annoyed. Then he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Fine. Go."

"Mr. Firay…"

Mr. Firay shook his head. "I'm not angry. I get that you want to help Wendell. But if you're going to court Friday, then I want you to come over on Thursday."

I looked at him in surprise. "Huh?"

"Now that we're together, I don't have to think of stupid excuses for you to come over," Mr. Firay told me as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I wanted you to come over Friday, but if you want to go to court, come over Thursday."

He wanted me to go over? I grinned at him, suddenly feeling one hundred times better. "I'll definitely be over Thursday."

A/N.Since I feel -still- a bit sad, here's a story that'll cheer us up! It certainly did justice to SweetShireen and me. ;D

So! If you haven't read her latest chapter of Inside the Insanity, Gone, go do so after reviewing FTFT! Anyways, that's what I did. I guessed Oberon for the chapter and usually, my guesses are wrong, no matter how smart I am in school. So in my review, I wrote that if my answer was wrong, I'd throw a fit and not post the FTFT sequel (quite a blackmail, right?).

She tried to trick me. In her reply back to me, she pretended to say I was wrong and wrote and I quote, "Haha, an angry Lara, oooh, I'm scared."

This is where the good part gets in. She played me. I played her. So...is there still a sequel to For The First Time? I guarantee you will cry...(Here's my message back to her)

Good job -you just gave me permission to announce no sequel for that trick. Nice job. We will never know what happens to DxMseed in the future.

By the way, I wasn't actually getting the message, so I was reading, "You were...RIGHT!" just as your trick clicked my head. So I didn't freak out. Ha!

But see here, the trick to tricking a person and making them freak out is this:
Step One: Give your lie blatantly, then change the subject
Step Two: No emoticons, no nice words, nothing. They'll give you away.
Step Three: Pretend the subject that you lied about over, then introduce it at the end.
Step Four: Giggle to yourself that you're a genius.
Step Five: Introduce a topic at the bottom in case the person you're tricking tries to skip read all te way to the bottom to see if your lie is true (they will not find anything if you do step 5 right, of course)

Example:
"Because of that. No more sequel.
How'd you like them Hunger Games? PEETA! PEETA!
So I was scrolling through Wattpad and I saw this weird story. Freakin' anti-Pucktastic. Who makes Puck gay? It's just...wrong.
I have to sleep now. I have school tomorrow.
By the way, I was totally kidding about that no sequel. The tables have turned, haven't they?
Now. Cue evil gigle laugh thingamajig.
Did I get you? You're not mad, right? I figured it was Oberon though, because the other reviews did say so. So it's all good, right? No, I'm a pumbutt (used non-affectionately), right? Hope you're not mad.
Pumbutts, pumbutts, pumbutts!
Hey, have you seen any of the Lion King's? Was "Pumbutt" based on that? Because there's a character name Pumbaa and that would kind of make sense, right?
Sometimes, I don't know what I'm saying.
Hey, re-speaking of HG, how would you rate it on similarity to the books? People have told me Madge wasn't in it and that Rue sings and was supposed to whistle, an left a lot of scenes out. So...on a scale of 1-10, that is. :)
Hakuna mattata! What a wonderul phrase!
Hakuna mattata! Ain't no...something, phrase!
It means no worries! For the rest of your dayyys!
It's our problem free, philosophy...
Hakuna mattata!
Ah, sorry, I just needed to fill up my Example. XD"

And there you go. ;D I'm a pumbutt!
-Lara

...out of laughter! Or at least a giggle. Yeah, I ruined my "steps" with this message, but oh well. XD I'll add more so Step Five will be commissioned! ^^

As you can see, I'm just like you guys -most of you. I am a crazy wackjob that loves to make people laugh and smile without telling a lame joke. I really suck at making people smile in person because I just don't have the face for it:

Lara: So, you're a serial killer?

Julie: That's not funny.

Lara: Why not?

Julie: You look too serious. *mimicks my -_- face*

And there you go. Hope you all had a goood laugh! ^^

Well...I'm tired...I actually have to work on my science project -NOT SCIENCE FAIR! :D A fish project- that'll be due Monday...ugh. I really don't want to, but what can you do? :)

By the way, Home EC teachers do give tests/exams. That info credit goes to "WiseGeek(Dot)com: What does a Home Economics Teacher do?" ^^

See you guys...Sunday! HASTA LA PASTA!

(In case you didn't notice, I watched "Paint it White" today. xD My love for Italy has grown, definitely.)

~LαΓα