Owen slowly walked back to Kate's room, taking his time and thinking about where he went wrong. When he got there, Kate was sitting on her bed reading her latest magazine. He sat down next to her and asked, "How do you rebuild a friendship when you've completely lost the other person's trust?"

Kate put down the magazine and replied, "Is this 'other person' Lila?"

"How'd you guess?" Owen asked sarcastically.

"I knew she wouldn't be immediately forgiving. I've read all the magazines and you've committed a stage 8 friend crime." Kate said in a joking tone

"How many stages are there?"

"10. Stage 8 is 'Ditching and Lying' and since you left her at the ball, that falls under the 'ditching' category. And since you lost her trust that practically falls under the 'lying' category. Therefore, you have officially committed a stage 8 friend crime." Kate nudged him a bit. "Lighten up. It's not like she'll be like this forever, she's just confused."

"How do you know that? How do you know she doesn't hate me?!"

"Have you been talking to her for the past year? I don't think so. While you were gone in God knows where, I was actually here being a good friend and talking to Lila to help sort out her problems. She told me everything about your little 'situation' and trust me, I know how to handle this."

"Well if you're such the expert, then what should I do?"

"Wait a minute! If I'm going to give you advice, then what will you give me…"

"That warm, fuzzy, good feeling you get when you help someone?" Owen said with desperation. He got on his knees and started pleading. "I'm begging you, Kate! Please help me!"

"Wow, kneeling and pleading… FINE! I'll help you. But consider this a 'welcome back' gift.

"THANK YOU!" Owen said while kissing her feet.

"Ew! Stop it! That's disgusting!" She shook him off her foot. "I'm flattered and all, but you should've stopped at the pleading. Anyway, first thing's first. Do you want to get Lila back as a friend or as a girlfriend?"

"Anything at this point." Owen stood back up, "I really want to just continue where we left off, where we were still navigating our way through the wall that separates the friend zone from the girlfriend zone. But if needed, I can go back to being just friends. All I really want is to have Lila back in my life again, and I don't care how, just as long as she's there."

"Aww that's really sweet. I'm tearing up." Kate said in a meaningful but slightly sarcastic tone. "Now back to the point: Re-gaining her trust. You lost her trust when you left at the Christmas ball. You left her with many words to think about and many feelings to figure out.

"So what do I do to make her trust me again? How do I convince her that I'm staying for good?"

"Well, are you staying for good? I mean, you still don't go to this school."

"Does nobody know? I got back in! Matt confessed!"

"Oh! That's great Owen!" Kate stood up and hugged him for a while, then she sat back down and continued again, "Well, now you've got two options: 1. Start over from the beginning. If you do this you will start over your friendship. You will both decide to forget everything from your past and start over as strangers. Soon you will be best friends again. And then maybe after a while, she'll have finally gained your trust. Then you can start becoming more than friends."

"And what's the other option?"

"Well, you have to do something so BIG that she'll have to trust you again"

"And how am I suppose to do that?"

"Well, just do something to show her that you still care a lot, and then wait and see how she reacts to it. This is the most risky option because she can either love what you did, or she can say 'thank you' and walk away without a care in the world about what you did."

"So, how do I get her to love what I do?"

"Well, it has to be something really special. You have to go all out."

"Okay…" Owen sat back down next to her, "any ideas?"

"Hey! Don't drag me into this! I can't help you. You have to do this on your own or else it won't be as genuine." There was a short silence, then Kate grabbed both his hands, "And I just want you to know… that I'm ok with you and Lila… ya know… going out, if that happens. I know you don't really need my permission,but I just wanted to let you know.'

"Thanks." Owen gave her one of his famous, thoughtful smiles. He looked down at their hands, then back up at her, "It really means a lot." He stood up and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Don't you know? I have a big gesture to plan!" He smiled again and walked back out the door."

disclaimer: I don't own any characters ;p