AN: *puts on helmet and warpaint* You guys are going to wage war on me after this chapter. Anyway, school has kicked my a-star-star once again so my beta and I haven't been able to work on this as fast as usual. It's almost over guys. The light at the end of the school year tunnel is drawing near.

Connor stared at his phone, wondering if he should just give up on his plan or go through with it. He took a deep breath, pressing the call button. It rang a couple times before it was picked up.

"Hey! What's up?" Ellie said.

"Hey…do you remember that party Revere invited us to?"

"Invited you to, you mean?" Ellie teased.

Connor rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Would you be willing to go with me?"

He heard some shuffling on her side. "Why? I thought you said you didn't want to."

Taking a deep breath, Connor swore to kill his dad for offering up the suggestion. "W-well, I asked my dad what he did about the c-cards and stuff when he was my age and he said that he had one of his good friends fake being his-uh-d-date to a lot of things…"

Connor wanted the floor to swallow him up. He couldn't bring up the topic without feeling embarrassed.

"Wow, really? All right, we don't want good ol' Haytham popping a vein anytime soon. I guess we could give it a shot."

Connor almost fell from surprise. She actually agreed! "Uh…"

"What? Cat got your tongue?"

Yes, he thought, thinking about the nickname he gave her.

"N-no, I just didn't expect you to agree-because we're friends and all."

"Connor, I'm sick of girls handing me their numbers. Let's make the fans pay!" she laughed.

Connor held back a sigh. He wondered if his father had actually liked his good friend or not when he was in this situation. "Okay, well, it's tomorrow."

"Are you just going to crash?"

"Nah…that Desmond guy already gave me his number. I don't know how to feel about him."

Ellie chuckled. "Just give him a chance. I had to be his lab partner in Chemistry last year. He's pretty cool, once you get to know him."

Connor shook his head. "If you say so."

"Anyway, how long are you planning on being there?"

Connor fell back onto his bed. "Just for a little bit. I was thinking we could go somewhere else afterwards."

"Like a movie or something? Perfect!"

Connor grinned. The plan Achilles helped him out with was working too.

"Hey, is it okay if Claudia comes?"

Never mind.

"Uh…sure," Connor said, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. He finally mustered up the courage to do this, but he knew he wouldn't have the chest hair to talk openly about what was on his mind with Ellie if Claudia was nearby.

"Claudia can just meet us there. What time do you want to leave?"

"Around six?"

"Perfect. See you tomorrow!"

He hung up after saying good bye, staring at his phone. Well, at least one part of the plan went well.

Connor thought back to the amused expression Haytham wore while giving the advice. He walked out of his room, heading toward his father's office, and knocked before coming in. Haytham looked up from the paper he was reading, glasses perched on the tip of his nose.

"Yes?"

"Did you really do what you said you did earlier?" Connor asked with a scowl.

"What? The fake date?"

"Yes!"

"Well…I didn't, but a friend of mine did." Haytham replied innocently.

"DAD!"

"What?"

"I just asked Ellie to be my fake date!" Connor said, leaning back against the wall as the full impact of what he did hit him. He asked Ellie to be his date, regardless if it was fake or not. You suck you suck you suck you suck, Connor inwardly growled to himself.

"You did? Good for you."

"NO! Not good for me! What if I screw up?!" Connor yelped, waving his arms.

"You won't."

"Yes, I will."

Haytham sighed, pulling his glasses off. "Do you want me to just say it point blank, twit?"

Connor frowned at him.

"You're a handsome boy and a gentleman. What can go wrong?"

Connor wiped a hand down his face.

"I take that this wasn't an issue at your old home?" Haytham asked in amusement.

Connor sighed, looking at his father again. "No…I never really liked anyone there."

"About time you admitted it," Haytham huffed, leaning back in his chair.

Connor rolled his eyes. "Dad, I don't want to lose my friendship with her because I did something stupid. What if she doesn't see us that way?"

"How do you know she doesn't?" Haytham asked, arching a brow.

Connor spluttered, trying to think of a good answer. Nothing came to mind. "Well…"

"You'll be fine," Haytham said, pushing his reading glasses up before looking at the paper again.

Connor frowned, turning away.

"Have fun on your-oh what are they called? Ah, yes. Date!"

Connor held back a growl of irritation, waving it off as he shut the door.

hr

Ellie glanced at her reflection in the mirror. She was dressed cozily, in a long-sleeved sweater dress and leggings. Briefly considering changing into something fit for the party, she shook her head. It was unlikely that they would be there for long.

She tugged on some boots, patting on slightly more makeup than usual. "I'm heading out!" she chirped as she got to the door.

"You know the rules," Eliza replied, looking around the entryway to the kitchen at her.

"Have fun, Kiddo," Peter said from the couch.

Ellie walked out, blushing slightly as Connor walked up her driveway. The dark red, button up shirt underneath his coat flattered him very well. The top two buttons were undone, allowing his necklace to peek out.

She tucked some hair behind her ear, grinning. "You clean up nice," she teased, moving to pull on her coat.

"So do you," he laughed, taking her coat and holding it out.

She shrugged into the coat, accepting his help. A warm, bubbly feeling started to form in her chest. Maybe Ezio was right.

They got in the Mustang and headed out, Connor driving and Ellie pointing him in the right direction. She tapped her knee, biting her lip. "Connor?"

"Yeah?"

"We'll get out of there is anything shady is going on, right?"

Connor glanced at her before looking at the road again. "Like alcohol and stuff? Yeah, we'll get out of there. My dad would skin me alive if I got in trouble again."

Ellie snickered. "We don't want to piss off Mr. Kenway again."

Connor shook his head, grinning. "No, we don't."

They reached the street Revere's house was on. Ellie's eyes widened at the number of cars there. "Holy schnike.

"No kidding."

Connor parked and they made their way to the door. Claudia was waiting outside. "Thank goodness. I don't know a living soul here," she said as they walked up. She sneezed into her sleeve. "Ellie, I might not be able to hang out after this. I feel like merda."

Ellie patted her friends arm, smiling sympathetically.

"Ten minutes and then we can leave, deal?" Connor asked, glancing at them.

"Agreed," Claudia said, looking relieved.

Ellie nodded. "Let's get this over with."

They walked in to a situation Ellie had never thought she would be in. Everyone in the living room stopped and stared at the 'Internally Combusting' Connor.

"It's the guy who handed Hickey's ass to him!"

"Connor, right?"

"Hey man!"

Ellie and Claudia shared a sarcastic look as people approached, giving Connor high fives or appreciative comments.

"Kenway!"

Ellie looked to see Desmond pushing through the crowd. Connor looked a little relieved. "Hey Desmond," he said as Desmond finally got through.

"Hey man, all of us are in the TV room if you want to hang out a little."

Connor glanced at Claudia and Ellie, who shrugged. "Sure."

Desmond grinned and held up his hand. "Hey Chem buddy!" he laughed.

Ellie smiled and gave him a high five. "Long time no see!"

"I know! It's not cool that we don't have any classes together. I could use some help in Physics, let me tell ya," Desmond said, leading them toward the TV room.

Ellie suddenly remembered why she asked Claudia to come in the first place. They made it to the TV room, where Sam Adams, Paul Revere and the gang were hanging out. Ellie tapped Paul's shoulder. "Where's the bathroom?"

"Up the stairs and to the left."

Ellie grabbed Claudia's hand and headed toward the stairs. They finally made it up to the bathroom. Ellie pushed Claudia in and shut the door behind them. Claudia arched a brow, crossing her arms. "Why are we here? You said you would tell me!"

Ellie leaned back against the door, sighing. "Okay, Connor asked me to come for a specific reason."

"And that was?"

"He said his dad had the same secret admirer problem so Mr. Kenway told him to go on fake dates with a good friend," Ellie explained.

"Fake dates? So girls would leave him alone?"

"That's the idea."

"So what's wrong?"

Ellie bit her lip. "I just…don't think it's going to be fake after this."

Claudia's brows flew to her hairline. "He asked you on a real date?"

"Not exactly. He just wanted to hang out after this, but I think he meant for it to be a date. I asked if you could come and he seemed disappointed."

Claudia rolled her eyes. "Why did you do that?! He could have been planning to ask you out or something, you idiot!"

Ellie covered her face with her hands, heart leaping to her throat at the thought. "I know! I panicked!"

Claudia grabbed her hands, looking her straight in the eye. "Look, I'm going to come up with an excuse to leave, and then you guys can ride off into the sunset."

Ellie opened her mouth to argue. The thought of Connor asking her out made her heart race a mile a minute. "But-"

"No buts! It's happening. Come on," Claudia said, pulling her away from the door and opening it.

Ellie started to feel light headed. "Claudia," she protested weakly.

Claudia grabbed her hand and led her back down the stairs, moving toward where Connor and Desmond disappeared earlier.

Connor and Dez were standing next to Paul Revere and his crew. Sam Adams threw back his head and laughed at something one of the boys said.

"Yeah right!" Revere snorted, "I bet you guys hook up a lot."

"Uh…what?" Connor asked, looking shocked.

"Ya know, get together?" Adams said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Yeah, Ellie and I hook up a lot," Connor said, looking at all of the guys.

Ellie froze, feeling like her heart stopped. She literally felt her stomach sink to her feet. Claudia looked as if she wanted to put Ezio's MMA teachings to use.

"Take me home," Ellie said, tugging on her sleeve.

Claudia opened her mouth to argue. "Take me home Claudia," Ellie said, feeling her throat close up.

They finally walked toward the door, unnoticed.

hr

Connor walked into the kitchen for the fifth time that night. It had been thirty minutes and there was no sign of Ellie or Claudia. Connor sighed, checking his phone. No messages.

"Dude, how you holding up?" Desmond asked, walking in.

Connor shook his head. "I can't find Ellie or Claudia."

Desmond shrugged. "They probably found some of their other friends."

Connor frowned. "We were supposed to go somewhere else after this, at least Ellie and I were."

"Getting together huh? I didn't think Ellie was that type of girl, but then again, look at ya," Desmond laughed, taking a swig of his .

Connor looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Desmond jerked his thumb toward the door. "Man, you hook up with her? I was kind of shocked when you admitted it."

Connor's frown grew. "We hang out a lot. Big deal."

Desmond spat out some of his soda. "Hang out?"

"Yeah, we hang out a lot. Isn't that was hooking up means?" Connor asked, looking around for paper towels.

"No man! It means 'The Deed'!" Desmond managed to choke out, wiping some soda off his chin.

"The Deed?"

"Sex dude! Hooking up means sex!"

Connor felt the bowling ball return. "Oh shit."

"Yeah 'oh shit'! You just told them that you get with her a lot. Christ," Desmond said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Have you seen Ellie?"

"I haven't seen her or your other friend, actually."

Connor felt his stomach curdle. Oh hell.

He nodded at Desmond. "I have to go."

"'Kay, I'll cover for ya. I'll make sure Paul doesn't be an asshole and start spreading the word. The other guys wouldn't."

Connor waved it off and hurried to the front door. He looked at all of the cars as he got outside; panic was starting to settle in.

Claudia's car wasn't there.

"Shit!"

Connor raced to the Mustang, leaping in. He pealed out, speeding toward his house as his knuckles turned white on the wheel. Nausea curled in his stomach. If Ellie had heard what he had said…he didn't even want to think about it.

He finally made it back to his house, seeing Claudia's car parked in the Johnston's driveway. He parked in his own, leaping out and racing toward Ellie's house and knocking on the front door. The door flung open to a furious Claudia.

"Leave."

"Wait! Let me explain-"

"Fottiti! You're a stronzo and it's taking every ounce of effing energy I have to not kick your ass right now! Do you realize how much you hurt her? Just leave."

"Claudia, I didn't realize they were asking that I-"

"Let me tell you something Connor. Friends don't go around and say bullshit like that," Claudia snarled, pointing a finger in his face, "And I don't want to hear or even-Gah! Just leave before I show you how good of a teacher Ezio is!"

Connor backed up a little. "It was a misunderstanding!"

"Misunderstanding my ass!" Claudia shouted, slamming the door in his face.

Connor knocked again, resting his forehead against the door. The bowling ball was just sinking now, simmering and changing into burning anger at himself. A heavy weight settled on his shoulders as his throat closed up

He shoved his hands in his pocket and started to walk back to his own house, looking up at the sky.

"Goddammit!"

AN: *peeks out from hideout* They hate me, I know it.