Hi There,

Hi all of you fellow Quogan-aholics! Here's your (supposed to be) weekly fix of Quinn and Logan. I am sorry that this chapter is a couple of weeks late. This chapter was completely revised a whopping six times, along with life getting in the way, that whole time. I will stride to post weekly and usually around Saturdays if I can (I know this won't be reaching most of you till Monday, sorry!), but sometimes it may be late. So thank you all so much for your patience and understanding throughout this experience. Thank you so much RHrGreatness for your amazing review, without your support this may not have been more than a oneshot! Also thank you dabih for you kind review, it reached me during a time I needed some kindness and inspiring. I appreciate it so much, both you. Thank you all of the new people who favorited this tale or me as an author and I hope it's worth the wait. This one will be happening from Quinn's Perspective.

"The Collective Trails Of A Quinnventor and… Logan"
Chapter 8 – The Sci-Posers, Can Suck it!

I just re-read the story I told for my last entry and it feels a bit criminal reporting the happens of this week afterward. I know that the place, where I left off in this journal last, was a very cheerful, sunny, happy place. Chock full of new experiences and excitement over what has been happening in my life. It literally ended with me stargazing with a sweetie, when he wasn't giving me eskimo kisses… or making out. I hate to put a damper on all of those good vibes; but this week did happen and I am keeping these retellings honest, start to finish.

I am nearly in the twilight of my junior year, here at Pacific Coast Academy. After so many years here it is very hard to imagine that next year will be my last year here as a student. I've been working on tons of new Quinnventions, prototypes and ideas in this journal. Like my end of the year science fair project(s). PCA's Science department has three fairs a year. It has a fall, winter and end of year event, the last one is by far the best and biggest, and it would be happening this Friday.

Normally I believe I would be a lot more relaxed about the arrival of this annually anticipated occasion. This year I couldn't be however, for I'd been creamed by my competition at both earlier events this year, because I'd naively complied my resources and findings with (my at the time boyfriend) Mark's. Romance, research, results and success for any report do not mix well when you're dating a Del Figgalo (though maybe your place in the world's name for an 'enormous-bump-on-a-log' may vary). He's entered this contest too, and I'm gonna be judged contesting him and his new home slice (but come on, I'm not worried about them, they're an easy win). Even all of my non-science driven friends could easily over take those two in any battle of brainpower, or wits.

This time I am standing alone on my own findings and entering not one or two but three completely differing concepts I was confident one of them will impress our judges. The science club's jerk-faced leader and his petty little pack of sexist chauvinist followers are all convinced they've already won. Even though all of their formations were more fiction than actual science, even though they have not been able to get one of their prototypes in working order… amateurs.

Do you see why I don't waste my time trying to claw my way into their ranks. It would be a totally and wholly fruitless labor, devastating energy that could be better used figuring out ANYTHING else. A worthless goal, that there would be nothing at all to gain from it. Except being able to say I'd done it, and in the end, its just wasn't worth it.

I believed that whole-heartedly before any of this week had even taken place. Now standing and staring back at in retrospect I stand even more firmly with that notion.

Throughout this whole week, not one member of the science elite would let me take a breath, without commenting that I was incapable of even doing that correctly. I have been the butt of every joke, the target of every prank. The only reason that any of them are still alive is because I have been disarmed by my friends before teachers were ever aware of who's laser pointer it was that hurt.

What made everything so much worse was the fact that Monday morning, when I gave my practice presentation to a panel of teachers. I got some constructive criticism from the teachers of other subjects. Some of it was great, the rest of it however, basically sent me into a destructive panic. One determined instructor all but told me that while my science may be forward thinking and well done, my personal presentation stunk. They said that it sounded too much like a seasoned teacher, which was their job and not mine. It seemed this one teacher was downright offended by it apparently. Thankfully this wasn't one of my regular teachers, I would hate to have to put up with that kind of drama daily.

My own current chemistry teacher was kind enough to come to my defense saying that "I was one of her brightest students." She also explained before I could that, "I had gotten used to explaining things to others who didn't know what I was talking about or what she was trying to demonstrate." That I was, "never selfish with my knowledge and always eager to enlighten."

The panel was still not thrilled. They suggested strongly that I needed to work on better presenting myself and not to sound too much like I was a lecturer. When I asked them where I could gain such aptitude, I was handed a piece of paper with a classroom number scribbled on it sharpie ink and told to report there post-hast. The number written turned out to be for the drama department and for the next three days and two evenings. That is where I was spending all of my time learning techniques used by countless performers to open myself up and perform more professionally.

I have to admit that throughout most of that time, I felt like a complete idiot playing think-less improv. I didn't see how it could help, I didn't even see how it could be anything but a squandering of my precious time.

Moments better spent working on more of my research, or my overall ambitions to making the world a little better than it was when I arrived here.

After all one of my best friends is one of the improv-captains. I'm well versed in all of these games and how they work, I really thought that this was all some cruel conspiriousy that would eventually end in the sci-club guy's owning me for one entire year. A blow to my standing as a human being in the eyes of all my peers, as well as my personal self-esteem. How could I ever look in a mirror again? Those lunatics think their scientist just because they read about a lot of technical fiction, they own goggles and white coats (I know of some other white coats I could call they come equipped with straight-jackets). They think it's skill that they know how to mix kool-aid around it in test-tubes and look professional. Mark can do that! Oh why are we not all bowing to that kind of mental capacity? They shake it around using their own fingers to cork it instead of stirring it. Brilliant! I'll hand them the trophy myself!

I was so angry frustrated and exhausted, I started to actually question why I'd even signed up for this shoty-spectacle in the first place. Clearly they were letting the crowd pick in this popularity tournament, rather than the work or quality of the work. When had I gotten so sick to death of this competition? Didn't I love contending any opposition? Especially from an intellectual stand point? Where had that girl gone, I wondered? Was I losing my edge, was my craft slipping? Was I really about to have to bow before PCA's Sci-fi Society and call them the superior geniuses of this paradise private facility?

Hell NO!

Almost as soon as these questions floated to the surface of my subconscious… I was given all of their answers. To everyone, the error wasn't mine or any of my friends. It was all on those terrible posers dressed like geeky geniuses, all determined to make the truly smart people feel small. Well that wasn't gonna be me!

No, I was gonna win that first slot, I was gonna get to take home that trophy. Then I won't have to spend the next year listening to those bigots boast. I would claim victory if it was the last thing I ever do. Sadly this empowering moment didn't happen until I shut myself up in my room nearly the entire day leading into the evening before I did my real exhibition before my REAL critics. A part of me knew that I should practice, but this little voice at the back of my head told me it was more important for me to rest up and relax.

Lola and Zoey too had little to do with me, because both had disappeared with guys. It wasn't until I was pouting in my bunk, hugging my pillow a little harder than I should; that I realized just how much a certain someone has commandeered my trust. I hadn't comprehended just how much I'd come to rely on him and lean on those short little spurts of time where I got to be with him… Not till now. Someone that I missed so much all of a sudden that my chest actually hurt.

Besides all of my productive presentation platitudes, I have taken to also written tons of my stories and experiences down in these pages. Some of them about my friends and the things going on. Though I will admit that most of my ramblings have been centered on the happenings between a certain friend (Logan) and me. Part of why I have been so diligently recording those things in particular is because those exchanges are totally secret, and I need some output of some form or I'll spontaneously combust. The rest of why I'm doing it is because I don't want forget a minute of it.

That is how I've felt about everything that has transpired thus far.

Then this week happened, and of course all of that happiness too is gone.

Not that we've ended this little… trial run, that we're currently on. It's just kinda put on pause by the fact that I'm still here at school and he's currently in Los Angeles again. This time he's there because of some legal matter that his father's cleaning up. I'd had no idea that so much of the film and entertainment industries were in and out of courts so often. No wonder they accumulate and bleed expenses so easy-pee-se.

He's called at least once every day (even the night he left) and each time we talk no less than two hours. Lola and Zoey have both noticed I've spent a lot more time on the phone lately. Lola is so desperate to know who this mystery caller is she keeps trying to either steal the phone right from my hand. Or if I'm using the landline she keeps trying to catch my unidentified fella's voice on speaker-phone. Logan has had a little too much fun making up voices and reasons for our conversations. I had no idea that he was so good with chemistry till now (in theory). He can spout specific mumbo jumbo on demand enough to blow their minds and make them leave us alone.

All I needed to do was think of him, and suddenly everything about this new and unpredictable fixation I had on this boy was being put in the petri dish, viewed under a microscope.

Let's review, shall we? Just in case any of you aren't familiar with just what dating this boy entails.

I am currently dating Logan Reese, and yes! That is the same Logan Reese on the basketball team, on the wrestling team, member of the sliver hammer society (all of five minutes before it disbanded and lost it's charter with our school). The same boy who legendarily is the only guy that almost got away with joining the girls volleyball team. All of those scandalessly clad girls jumping up and down every play, each point earned along with… ahem, parts of their anatomies bouncing all over the place as well… and Logan always yelling "group hug!" Yeah, what am I thinking dating this mad man? The power he possesses over me lately, where did come from? I've been his friend for years, how is that I'm… sort of… with him… like this now?

There are easily hundreds of crazy stories like this surrounding this guy. All of them making him the stuff of legends among the male population; while we girls mostly shake our heads and say "What a pig." How in the world is it that we work so well, how is he capable of making me so insanely happy. What is it about this crazy twisted thing between us that makes so much sense?

We are dating but we're keeping it completely secret. Neither of us is saying boyfriend or girlfriend yet, neither of us has said a word to another living soul about any of this taking place. It has remained a secret between the two of us for weeks now.

Then I was forced from my dorm room because Zoey and James needed a place to neck in peace. I didn't mind really, it gave me a bigger push to get up and walk around. Little did I know that I would find myself cornered by the science club in one of the stairwells.

Where the head poser, Neil told me, "You know you're really pathetic. Even if you were to somehow manage a victory against us. None of your supposed crew will care, because not one of them actually cares about you. Your just their dork that they use when they need you, just like so many of the villains in my favorite comic series 'The Mis-Understood Misfits.' How sad is that?"

He was a whole lot sadder than that when he left with a few new pen holes in his clothes. Courtesy of my trusty zap-watch. I laughed, there was a time that those misguided Cretans words would have done some serious harm. They would have made me take another look at the way all of my friends treat me, see me, talk to me. In the end those brainless posers are all pretending to be geniuses, while giving us actual prodigies a bad name. In the old days I would have (unwillingly) given them exactly what they wanted. To push all of my friends away and make myself even more venerable. The old me could have done all that, but that was not gonna be me today.

Not this time, not even a little. I knew that I could count on my friends, I knew that they may not be at this event (not even the Brainiac Brunching promising assortment of treats could appeal enough), because our interest are all so different. Does that mean I love them any less, of course not! So not even the least bit fazed, I continued my hunt for something to pass my time.

Then I bumped into Gretta Getts, a gorgeous cocoa complexed doll of our dorms. This warm blooded Athena isn't just one of the prettiest faces in our entire campus, she's depicted on all school pamphlets and brochures since she started attending this school (The same year I started which was when girls were first permitted). Not only does she rule her field hockey green, but her quote known throughout school grounds is "What Gretta wants, Gretta Gets!"

If you could have heard all that she was saying to her friend on her tech-mate phone. You too would be swearing it wasn't too cryptic what Gretta Getts wanted right now.

"That Logan Reese!" She said, "God! That boy is hotter than a ghost pepper fresh from the skillet. OWW! Hotter than the leather seats of his limo. Hotter than a greenhouse on the equator! He could have his share of this desert, any time and he just hasn't. I have waited TOO long for that boy to make his move. I have weathered too many storms, just hoping for a chance at him. When that man gets back, girrrrrrrl, I'm telling you! I will make him MINE so help me GOD! Any other girls who wants slow this roll better just get out the way! What this girl wants, she gets!"

Yeah, she actually said all of that, I am not making it up. I laughed and thought "Well Logan good luck with that when you get home." I ended up back at the drama stage not entirely sure how I got there. I sat there, watching a lower grade production figure out their blocking on stage for their current theatrical masterpiece. Not expecting to get lost in my head… but gone I was.

What if this girl really did live up to her reputation? Who could withstand that kind of provocation and outright devotion? The Logan whose been my friend all of these years certainly could not, I could picture him now, grinning like a fool and tugging her towards the Oasis patch nicknamed "pecker-up park" after dark.

She would simply say, "I like you, be mine."

He would nod, "Yeah, your really hot," and they'd be off.

I could see it so plainly in my mind… he wouldn't have to hid his affection for this lovely young temptress. No, she could proudly adorn his arm without making him wish he was never born. Which is all I would ever make him feel if our friends find out.

As I sat there seeming to watch the actors on stage argue out all of their placing… I didn't really see any of it. All I could really see was that if it wasn't Gretta who made Logan realize that he'll never find happiness with me, another girl surely would come along that could, right? Is that what I'm hanging around for, is that where this is all leading? Was it completely selfish of me to be hanging on to him? Especially when we're not even serious?

How could we be? We're too different, right? It's completely nonsensical and illogical… isn't it? Those are usually two words I never allow myself to get tied to, why was this different?

A part of me wondered if I shouldn't just wait around for all of this to end badly. Perhaps I should go ahead and end it when Logan gets back. While I was sure that it could be done and we could keep things on good terms, because really, who was I kidding? A girl like me was lucky I'd held on to his attention this long, wasn't I?

"HEY!" I heard the drama teacher scream so loud it broke me out of my daze. To my shock, the entire stage was staring at me. The instructor was saying, "While I'm glad to see you supporting our theater even in these daunting chores, Miss Pensky. Isn't that YOUR cell phone ringing?"

I suddenly realized that it was, apologized and rushed out of the theater as I answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey Quinn."

"Logan?" I answered surprised, as I walked out of the drama building and out into the nightlife of our school. "I thought that you would already be in bed-"

"I am, I'm just not asleep."

"Really? Why not is everything alright?"

"Uh…yeah, all that legal crap's well in hand and I head back to PCA early this morning."

"Hopefully not as early in the morning as we arrived last time." I said seeking a quiet spot and sitting down on a bench that was far enough away from all of the loud dating teenagers that I could hear my… friend, clearly.

"No, not quite that early, thank god! Though not much later either."

"Good grief, well, I don't envy you."

"I'm sorry to bug you-"

"You're not bugging me," I said

"I just keep lying here and sleep won't come. Even though I know morning will be here way sooner than I'm ready for it."

"Well, what seems to be keeping you up?"

After a long pause on the other side of silence, I heard him release a deep breath and surrender, "I have no idea."

"Do you want me to try and help you, figure it out?"

"Um, sure, that… that could work." I could hear the rustling of his bed covers. He must have rolled over.

"Alright, well… standard procedure in cases such as these. I usually run down a list of questions I read on the internet. It's a line of questions that can help to narrow it down for me, why I can't sleep. Would you like me to do that real fast with you?"

"Uh, you know… why not, I'm open to just about anything, right now."

"Okay, you're at home and in your own bed, right?"

"Right, so far."

"Okay I have been in that house, it is at all times clean and pristine. There's no way that it's the covers, blankets, comforter or bed not being to your liking. It can't be the atmosphere, any strange smells or sighting of bugs or small critters that could be doing it."

"No, that's all fine, I guess. I just can't seem to get comfortable in another way. I don't know, I don't know how to explain it." I could just picture him saying this with an arm above his head leaned back against his headboard. Couldn't you?

Now he's even striking sexy poses in my head, what happened to me? Seriously? Does my heart have to thunder so hard at my imaginings?

Shaking my head and continuing, I began to ask and it came out a little husky. I cleared my throat and said, "Excuse me, Is it possible you just miss your bed here at PCA?"

"Not likely, they're the exact same, the only difference is that my school bed is a twin, while my room has a full size of the exact same mattress. This one doesn't have a bunk hanging over it with Michael hanging his arm out of it."

"He's on the top bunk? I thought that was yours?"

"Oh it is, but he keeps being a jerk and going up there and falling asleep on my bed. Just to piss me off."

"Sounds like it's working," I said trying to hide my amusement as I pictured it.

"It does, and when he's asleep, I mean really asleep, he's gone. There's no getting him up, the whole place could be on fire and he'd never know. So we're all kinda used to switching up here and there."

"Okay," I nodded to myself, "Is it possible that you could be missing your roommates?"

"My roommates?"

"Yeah, you know James and Michael, or even Chase? I know whenever I go home for the summer I spend the first couple of nights calling my roommates and chatting like we always do before bed."

"Aww, you guys are such girls." He said in his condescending asinine voice that had me swearing I was gonna hang up on him. He was back peddling so fast, "No WAIT! NO! QUINN! You NEED to HELP me! I need to get some SLEEP!"

To which I fired back, "Then you need to learn not to bite the hand that feeds you."

"Come on, help me, if you hang up now I may never sleep and then when I do make it back to PCA everyone will run away my unruly appearence. My status will be ruined and it will all be because of you. Can you live with that on you conscious?"

"Hmm," I thought about it for a second, playfully. Carrying on I said, "You know, the idea doesn't seem as unfeasible as you'd like it to."

"QUINN!"

"Alright, alright, calm down. We'll figure this out and get you shipped off to dreamland in no time." I said as I switched ears and tried to put on my best professional voice. "Okay, did you ingest an overzealous amount of sugar of caffeine today?"

"No more than usual," I could hear him shrug even though I couldn't see him.

"Okay, did you not get a chance to exercise? Or have you been spending a lot of your time sitting in inactive places-"

"What?"

"You know, inactive places where you have to sit and be quiet a lot. Like, were you in court a lot throughout your stay? Have been in attendance to any theater productions, or to the movies? Have you sat and watched tons of television or have you been in a lot of your father's meetings?"

"Yes, I mean, that is why I'm here afterall. Court and business, so meetings, but I still exercised. I even got to play ball with some of old gang here. It was nice."

"Okay, well it doesn't sound like it could be that either."

"Nope, sitting still a lot has been hard though."

"I'm sure it was, here at school you are consistently athletic and you get plenty of physical activity. You're not by any means used to standing still. When you've had to be inactive for so long and you've had to for several days on end. It can take a toll on an active person's body in as little as twenty four hours. You've been doing it for days on end and it's not something you're used to doing constantly."

"Yeah… you know, maybe that's only partially my problem or something. I don't know why, my head just doesn't want to shut off, you know?"

"Boy, do I know how that feels," I admitted leaning on one of my fists balanced on my knees. I felt like admitting 'especially lately with this whole science fair madness.' I kept it to myself and just decided to listen to him instead. He'd called me, evidently he needed to talk to someone, not heed to all of my setbacks and difficulties.

Get with the program Quinn! This is about him not you!

Thankfully he wasn't privy to any of this inner monologue. He went on to say, "I bet you do, if I was as smart as you I bet my brain wouldn't want to turn off for nothing."

"Logan you are smart-"

"Not like you."

"We're both smart in different ways, my intellect is all from hard work, countless hours reading, writing, researching and experimentation. Yours is from hard work too, even if it didn't come from the same place."

"Where did mine come from, then?"

"Come on, you know so much about your father's job and the entertainment industry. You would smoke us all easily in an category that involved any inside Hollywood intel. Or just the current ins and outs of tinsel town. When you aren't proving your knowledge on this particular venue. You learning all about sports all the time, watching the pros on t.v., playing video games when you're not on the court, field or grass learning for yourself. Yes, that method is different, but it's brilliance is just as bright as mine. Especially when you're you and you're winning left and right."

"I have been pretty lucky lately," he boasted and I could just perceive the male satisfaction puffing his chest and broadening his shoulders. How is it that I can picture him so clearly when he's miles away?

He continued, "Coach says it's because he's never seen me so happy before. I wonder what could have brought on that change."

My cheeks burned as I considered that this could be about me. Then I remember that this is Logan Reese we're talking about. He's probably fishing for complements. Since the poor thing is likely to get little sleep as it is, I felt in a giving mood and I said… "Well obviously it is because of all of your hard work and not just luck."

"Nuh, I don't think it was so much my work, talent or luck in the end."

"Really? That doesn't sound very Logan-like. Are you sure you're him? Do you have a fever or something? Is that why you can't sleep?"

"No, I'm fine… in fact I'm more than fine lately. I can't remember the last time I was this happy, even when so much is trying to pull me down and make me all angsty, all the time. Everyone is starting to notice even though they don't know why."

"Well, that's wonderful, that you've found this new resilience in your life. May I ask what's brought on this change?" I asked, again convinced that there just had to be something new in his life that I wasn't thinking of.

"I thought that would obvious, especially to you?"

"I'm sorry all of this drama surrounding the science fair has me a bit-"

"Oh yeah isn't that tomorrow?"

"It is, and usually I wouldn't be stressed about it, not one bit."

"What's so different about this time?"

"Well for one, I'm only going to be in so many more of these at PCA. Our senior year begins this fall you know? This is the first time I entered as a solo act in every category. I would simply walk up there, present my research, without a care in the world… I don't know… between a panel of teacher psyching me out, the sci-club being jerks all week AND having to watch Mark and Brooke kissy face each other through their five minute presentation… it makes me wonder why I even signed on for any of this."

"I'll tell you why," He interrupted my thoughtful ravine and reminded me that I was talking to someone. "Because your Quinn Pensky, you are in a class completely by yourself. A place so much higher than all of those nothings, it's not even funny. Now you get up there tomorrow and kill that demonstration and hold your head up high, you hear me?"

I laughed deep in the back of my throat, because I had not been expecting a pep talk of any kind. "Thanks Logan."

"Sure… and for the record, I think the main reason I can't sleep is because… honestly, I missed you more than anyone else and I'm too glad I get to see you tomorrow."

"Me?" I breathed so shocked I didn't know what else to say.

"Yeah, is it really so surprising?" He asked reading me like a book.

"Well, no because we are dating, but then again yes be-because…you know."

"No, I have no idea where this is going but I'd love to hear why this is all such a shocking discovery." He said sounding way too amused. He went on to say, "We're dating, I happen to pride myself on being a good date, I have been on plenty of them."

"Well if you're going to look at it like that, than let's state it correctly. You have been on dozens of first dates and yes, you are excellent casual dater, absolutely. We've met up, made out and… Oh my gosh." I said as I realized that bench I was sitting on wasn't just any bench. It was the very one that all of this started on.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, I just realized where I'm sitting, is all."

"Well, where are you sitting?"

"Where all of this started, I was just walking and looking for somewhere quiet where I could hear you. Little did I know that I was sitting right on the place where we first, well… you know."

"Yeah, that I do know, wish I could be there with you."

As I lay back on the spot that he'd been sitting in that first day. I imagined I was putting my head on his strong shoulder when I said, "Me too... Logan this whole week has been just awful, and I know that the only thing worse than the entire sci-department at PCA evoking, making me question my aspiration in science as my chosen profession… was the fact that you weren't here, to make me feel better."

"Me, the guy whose probably normally the last person to make just about anyone feel better, about anything. This year has been so weird."

"Way weird." I agreed. Before I asked, "Do you regret it?"

"No, it brought me to you… how 'bout you?"

"No, as strange as all of this keeps getting, you make it all worthwhile… somehow"

"That is some high praise from you Professor Pensky… it means a lot, but if I don't at least try to sleep a little; trust me, you won't want to see me."

"I saw you that week you were cut off, it couldn't be that bad."

"Haha, let's not even go there. Thanks for talking with me Quinn."

"Thank you for the pep talk, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"See you soon."

"Bye."

"Bye." I heard him say and I hung up.

Suddenly I couldn't wait for tomorrow to get here…This didn't stop all of the doubts or possibilities of this ending going on in my head. At least tomorrow I would get to see him again.

Then, this morning came… after an extremely restless night.

We got a six thirty wakeup call from James. Well, Zoey took the call and got us up, but if we hadn't gotten up and see it for ourselves. We would have never believed it. Logan was back, but it wasn't the fact that he was back that had gotten us up. It was the fact that there was a media circus camped out at the front of our school. Assorted with a mixture of Logan's fan club. Some of them were girls from other schools with signs like he was some boyband member pint up on their walls. Others were my classmates, people that see him in the halls everyday; acting like he was Justin Timberlake!

When he was spotted, you wouldn't believe all of the screaming. You wouldn't believe how he'd acted. As if he really was some pop sensation, used to all of this. While all of us, his actual friends stood back and shook our heads. Once Dean Rivers and a bunch of school security had secured Logan inside the cluster of offices used by the facility. All of the people who didn't attend PCA were being flagged off. Those who did attend here ran off back to their dorms. Most of us wouldn't even be up for another hour or two.

As we were all heading back to our dorms, for a little more rest, before we all started our days. I spotted something that made it impossible for me to rest, or stay cool or even show any expression but my jealous rage face. Lola and Zoey both assumed that I'd seen the way Brooke had been all over Mark and wearing next to nothing. Like I still gave a sideways damn about anything happening with either of those people.

No! What I HAD seen that had made me so crazy was my newly returned secret boyfriend in close proximity with one Gretta Getts. Yes, that is the very same gorgeous cocoa complexed Athena I'd described a few pages back in this very entry. Same one plotting how she was gonna get that man, "What Gretta wants, Gretta Gets!" Hard to forget, isn't it? Trust me, she's even more unforgettable when you see her. She really is all that appealing.

If you'd seen the way she was somehow always touching him, whispering in his ear, ogling his muscles... AHH! The flirty way she was all up in his personal space, the way she was giggling and smiling practically crawling on to his lap when he sat down. She was bringing on her A-game and as many years as I've known Logan… I was likely to be out of the picture before the day was out. Or forgotten entirely, or an afterthought at best. Maybe he would simply date us both, it wasn't completely out of the question. Though watching him in those few seconds before I was dragged outta sight by my roommates… Nope, nope, No, I was done… There was no way he could even ponder persisting this pact with me, and still have a straight face.

Logan didn't seem at all opposed this this temptress' tantalizing teasing.

He was grinning like a fool and letting her tell him stories while pointing towards the Oasis patch nicknamed "pecker-up park" after dark… You too would be swearing it wasn't at all obscure what Gretta desired right now. Who could sustain against that kind of incentive when it came in such a beautiful package? What man wouldn't remove ever obstacle in his path to unite himself, possibly forever, with such a woman. There's no way all of our years of friendship, the last few weeks of romantic exchanges and my entire lifetime of being a total dork could hold out. There was no contest here that I could possible win, not even if…

God, this hurt somehow so much worse than it had with Mark. Why? I'd dated Mark for two years, I had only spent a few weeks with Logan. Why was this so dissimilar, why was it so much inferior… it shouldn't be… how could it be? Logan is my friend, he will still be my friend when this is… when this ends. This silly game we played for a little while, who were we kidding? It could never last… but it had. Somehow, unlike when Mark ended things with me, I felt grateful for the time I'd been allowed with Logan in this way. This way that let me see him almost as an entirely different person. I felt somehow like I was a better person because of it, even though it was so short.

So by the time I did start my day for real, I was resolved. That whatever today had for me, bring it on. I was ready to conquer everything that I could. I went to class like I was supposed to, dotted all my 'i's and lower case 'j's, before heading down to the brunchen after first period and after eating quickly, I got to work on setting up my three working Quinnventions and blowing minds of those who walked around to our work areas. When I was sure that everything was ready. I sat calmly in a chair right next to my inventions making certain that none of those posers got any funny ideas about messing with my projects. When the first competitor got up to present, I noticed that he had this crazy impressive introduction video that he'd created the introduced himself. I thought that was cool, if only I'd had time to do that.

As time ticked by, and as they slowly crept through the alphabet (Why oh why are we 'P's so far down EVERY list. I might as well be a 'Z,' I'm always last anyway), it also occurred to me that I would be the only one without a video promo. How was it that I'd missed this flyer, this chance, just why is it that everything that could happen against this being a good day has happened.

I was finally next and asked to stand just out of view, at stage left. I was trying to think up something cleaver to say to cover for the fact that I have three projects and no video… Then all of a sudden, the project that was being presented exploded all over the stage and the poor boy still standing there shell shocked. He looked about the same age and size that Dustin was when I first met him. As a clean up crews and the nurse stepped in to fix the situation a video started to play. One that had been created by the science club that wasn't only mean, but disparaging to woman. Since sixty percent of the teaching facility is female… I don't need to retaliate for this wrong, those ladies have already said and done everything I would have (shy of punching each one of the posers in the face, if not crotch).

Just before I stepped out on the stage though, another video played. One that had been clearly put together by Michael with a little help from the rest of my friends.

He said, " Hi there! I'm Michael,"

Then it quickly cut to each of my friends introducing themselves (Zoey, Lola, Lisa, Logan, Dustin, James, even Chase and my alpaca baby Ottis with a caption saying "I'm Ottis" wear a shirt that read "Quinn's science rox my sox") before it cut back to Michael saying "You've probably seen all of us strolling through campus at one time or another, maybe even Ottis. But today, isn't about us."

It cut to James saying, "Because today is all about our friend Quinn and the amazing things she always seems to be creating and doing."

Lola: "Quinn is my best friend in the whole wide world and we've been friends for years. Yet everyday, she still stuns me with just how brilliant and unbelievable she is."

Zoey: "She's always building devices and tweaking gadgets trying to make things a little easier or more beautiful in the world."

Lisa: "She truly aspires to make this world a little better than it was when she got here. How cool is that?"

Dustin: "This woman eats, sleep, lives, dreams and breaths science, all the time."

Logan: "It's a part of her that can't be denied. She didn't ask us to do this."

Lola posed with her face leaned on her hand like a model: "We were sneaky"

Logan: "Like she's never mentioned the way she's been getting bullied by the science club for weeks now."

Dustin: "Sounds like someone wasn't liking the fact their intelligence was about to be pantsed in front of the whole school. You guys must have felt really threatened to come at her so low."

Michael: "I was walking back to my dorm last night when I got a glimpse of just what our friend Quinn has been putting up with. And it ends now."

James: "We don't mean just her either. No!"

Logan: "We mean you guys will never make another threat to another person on this campus."

Chase: "Because the very time you do. We are gonna be right there, putting a stop to it and trust me, it isn't gonna be pretty."

Dustin: "So take this as friendly suggestion to never again let us catch you doing someone wrong."

Lisa: "No one should be treated like that, especially when you all should have the same goal, science is the ambition to better the world and uncover it's natural mysteries."

Logan: "It was Quinn that taught us that, and I hope that she's never done teaching us."

Zoey: "So we hope the science club has had a blast teasing, mistreating and hounding anyone else who was smarter than them. Your reign of rudeness is over!"

Lola: "Class is in session and this is how an actual scientist conducts themselves."

Lisa: "We suggests you jerks take notes and Quinn, bring that trophy home girl."

Chase: "Win or lose we all love you, we've got your back and we hope you know that you never have to face anything alone. We're always here for you… you just gotta let us be there."

Logan: "Don't let anyone tell you you're less than brilliant… besides it's my job to humble you like that. Knock em out, Quinn."

Zoey: "Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guest it is our honor and privilege to introduce to you, our dear friend Quinn Pensky!"

I took a breath so I wouldn't cry, and stepped out and above all of the cheering masses. I heard the screams and shouts of my friends. Who were all wearing shirts that read "Quinn's Science Rox My Sox' in assorted neon colors they were all there (except Chase, darn you London). When the science club wasn't cheering all of my friends sent them a glare so menacing they were all standing and cheering with everyone else.

When I got up to the mic, I had to say, "I really had no idea they'd done that." To the accompaniment of laughter. "I'm so overwhelmed… whoo. My friends are the best!"

The girls all shouted "we love you!" Then I got down to business. All three of my concepts worked on cue and proved true. I'd love to tell you that I placed first, but my projects placed first, second, and third in with the popularity crowd polls. With the esteemed judges I placed first, third, and fifth and I know that the reason that I was able to win the crowd over was mostly because of my friends. It wasn't till I was talking to strangers that congratulated me from the crowd that I realized, so many had been turned against the science club by their own callus. So in this strange sandwiching of my dearest friends and some of my worst enemies I was shoved into that spot light and made to stand out long before my projects could. I was a very lucky lady.

It was so late by the time that I was finally able to leave the auditorium. After talking to so many people and even shaking hands with all of the sci-club elites. That the sky was beginning to darken, to say I was exhausted would have been a vast understatement. It wasn't a sleepy exhaustion, it was an elated one. I couldn't remember the last time I'd felt more fulfilled in my field of interests.

Then I noticed Logan kind of lingering, almost like he was waiting for me. Suddenly my soaring flying heart was blasting down towards my feet and suddenly my legs didn't want to keep going. Some little voice inside of my head was saying, "Alright Pensky. You've got this. This guy is your friend, he's going to remain your friend no matter what, and it's all gonna be fine. You were damn luck to have this much time with him and you know it."

Mark's presence in my life had been a comfort while it lasted. When it ended so suddenly, and he shattered my heart and left a trail of destruction that didn't just hurt. It bled, made me question my world view and self-worth. I found myself constantly comparing his exit to a hurricane with it's unpredictable path of devastation and deception.

Logan was a hurricane too, who didn't just leave in a cruel way, that will always rule the way I see him. His passion changed me for the better, and wasn't just shown when he was making his exit from me romantically (which I was all but convinced he would). Logan's passionate nature was a part of him all day, every day, in nearly every way that he could be. You just needed to know how to look for it rather than just pass him off as a jerk. The trajectory that his intensity ravaged throughout my heart and spirit somehow left everything a little better than it had been. Even the things that I hadn't known had room for improvement. It was like he'd laid the yellow brick road that made my internal world an Oz, rather than just a pretty place to be.

Even as I felt the impending end, even though my heart and legs didn't want to work right. I didn't regret one second of the time I'd gotten with this exquisite person. So I kept on putting one foot in front of the other, every step bringing it a little closer. Even though I knew it was likely to all end now, I would have done it all again without a second thought. If he needed me to let go, I would do that now.

About a yard away from him, he greeted me with his customary, "Hi."

And I said back a soft "hello," as I looked at my feet and pushed up my glasses to a more comfortable resting place on my nose.

My eyes were brought back to his face, because I had distinctly heard him scoff. I could just feel my eyes flash to his a warning, while he put his arms out and said, "Oh come on? Do you really think that is how a person sounds after they've just delivered that healthy an ass kicking?"

To further annunciate his point, he goofily impersonated the way that I had just spoken and not been able to meet his eyes. "I wasn't nearly that pathetic, you're overdramatizing."

"Am I?" He asked with that slight quirking of his eyebrows… the one that probably no one else has noticed but makes me crazy.

"What do you want anyway, Logan?"

"Did you forget already?" He asked.

"Forget what?" I asked playing along.

"We have a report to finish. Due Monday, ring any bells?"

"Oh… I totally forgot about that. Sorry-"

"No, you've had a big day. I wanna forget it to, believe me, but if we don't get it done coach is gonna bench me for the rest of the season."

"Right… athletes have to keep up at least a 'C' average to be able to participate."

"Yeah, we gotta get it done."

"Right," I said slinging my bag a little higher on my shoulder. "We should go."

Of course this was all a rouse, there was no project, no looming disapproving coach to impress. As soon as we neared one of our hiding places, I was grabbed. No sooner were safely under the cover of said hiding spot. Another outdoors spot, than I was having my senses kissed out of me. I managed between all of this outpouring of affection to thank Logan in between his persistent kisses.

"Thanks… s-so… so much for… the video…"

"I was so proud of you… you killed it up there!" He managed to say somehow. "You even… you even made me understand… exactly how it worked… and… what you hoped… it would mean…. for the future."

"Really?" I asked when we were trying catch our breath.

His smile was so bright it was enlivening, a laugh still colored his words when he spoke, "Yeah, Really."

I leaned my forehead against his and just let him hold onto me for a little while. I had no idea how I was gonna find the might to let any of this go. It felt too… I wanna say nice, but it doesn't seem to feel like it did the sensation justice. Let's suffice it to say that he wasn't gonna allow letting go of him to be any easier on me… Nope, leave it to this guy to make it hard as hell.

Though I had to admit as time went by and all he seemed to want to do was press kisses anywhere he could, when we weren't making out. If he was gonna let me go, he had a funny way of setting it up. Was he just enjoying our last instants to the fullest, before ending things? Or was he gonna keep up with both of us at the same time? I wondered, did he possess the energy and gall to be this affectionate with both of us, back to back? Or maybe he'd space it out so that he had adequate time to rest between us? My mind couldn't help but wonder at just what the future held and suddenly he pulled away and asked, "Have you got something on your brain… or… something?"

"Huh? Wha-What do you mean? On my brain?"

"What do I mean? I mean I am finally alone with you, I'm finally somewhere where I don't have to hide how I truly feel about you, and while I'm totally into the this. This stuff happening right here, between us, I feel like you are miles away." Putting his fists on his hips he said, "Now come on, what gives?"

"I know, I'm sorry, it's just that…"

"It's just what?"

"It's just this really stupid thing that I noticed while you were away it's nothing." I said waving it off, because I was chickening out of saying it.

"Well… If It's interrupting our making-up-for-lost-time-happy-time? It had better be pretty important."

"It isn't… really…" I sighed heavily and suddenly, he lifted me and placed me on a palm tree's trunk that bent like a seat. He sat me on it and then he sat right by me. Patiently waiting for me to explain.

So I began, I told him that I had overheard Gretta's plot and I'd spotted them together earlier this morning. Once I had that out in the air, and he was still not saying a word, he was just listening to me spill what I knew. I carried on and confessed that I figured, one of two things was gonna happen, the next time I was alone with him. I shared that I anticipated him either ending things with me here and now, to move on to greener pastures; while we could still do so on good terms. Or he would simply date the both of us, and I said that I could handle it, we'd never spoken of being exclusive after all. Not to mention, he is Logan Reese, his legacy is the stuff of legends throughout our entire school conference as a player, not just to our school.

And there I am once again, asking myself why in the world is this person wasting his precious time on a nerd like me.

Yes, I really did say all of that stuff. When it was all out there and in the open… I really did feel better for all of two whole seconds. Then it took another three seconds for Logan to speak. I could feel the pit of my stomach start to ache with fear.

He clarified, "Is that everything? That's what was interrupting our happy smooch time?"

"Yes," I nodded.

"O-kay," He said, "Now it's my turn to talk, and the only time I want to hear a peep out of you, for the next few minutes; is when I ask you a direct question. Answer it as clearly and quickly as you can and then it is still my turn, nod if you're gonna play along with me, here, okay?"

It took me a second to react but when I nodded he said, "Alright, I was gonna do this later and plan it out, make it better… you know, a bit more special. I guess there's no time like the present and you clearly need to hear this now…so. Gretta Getts… no, I'll get to that in a sec, let's start this a little different. My First Question is: Have you been walking around all day thinking that when you did see me I was gonna end this… whatever this is with you?"

Confused on whether I should talk or nod, I ended up just nodding yes.

"So you're telling me that I watched you go up on that stage today and kill like you did. While you were dreading this happening and the possibility of choking up there too?"

"Uhh-Huh." I said as I nodded this time.

"Hmm," He said with this almost approving smile.

"Hmm? What's 'hmm' mean?"

"It means, for now that I'm… impressed, that must have been even harder on you than it already was. Especially since those bogus teachers psyched you out, earlier this week."

"Yeah, are you going to end-" I began to ask, only to be stopped.

"It's still my turn, did I interrupt you?"

"No."

"Question number two: who is Athena?"

"Athena is a goddess… it's a reference to Greek mythology."

"Ah, okay so she'd like gods kind of pretty… or heavenly?"

"Pretty? Her beauty is only been fabled for thousands of-"

"Up-bup-bup!" he said shushing me with a single finger to my lips. "It's still my turn to talk. You've had your time, it's only fair."

"My apologizes, go on." I encourages to which he nodded his head in thanks.

"So you pass this Gretta chick on campus talking about how badly she wants my bod. Like that's something you're not used to hearing?" He said to the accompaniment of my eye's rolling and his chuckle. "You see us talking this morning, you see her flirting and me dishing it out as good as she's giving it, yeah?"

I nod my head yes.

"And you think that you're okay with me dating someone else; at the same time as I'm dating you?"

"Why did you have to say 'I think I'm okay' with it?" I tried to ask and the look he shot me had me saying, "I'm sorry, my lips are zipped, it's your shot, superstar."

"Okay, First off, Gretta Getts isn't that pretty. She's older than us, and leaving soon, she's boring. My Beverly Hills upbringing whispers in my ear, that she's had WAY too much work done on her... everywhere. She's about as plastic as a Barbie doll, am I the only one that hears her legs making those plastic on plastic eerching sounds all of our toys made when we were growing up. The one's that we'd had a while, I hear that noise with every step she takes. Imagine how she'll sound when she's actually old!"

I cover my mouth and try not to laugh while he continues, "On top of all of this she smells like old molten hard candy or cough drops of all orgins mixed together. One whiff will make your eyes run water, if she's outside or in direct sunlight. Which I feel like I need to point out that this morning… She WAS! She smokes AND she's one of the pushiest people I've ever met. My Dad works in Hollywood, he deals with some of the pushiest people on the planet and she STILL tops my list."

By this time I was laughing and Logan tilted my head up and made me look him in the face. "Anyone who traded you for that, I can't even put into words how crazy they would be. All I can promise you is, that's not me." He said just before he planted a sweet kiss right on my lips.

When he pulled away, he sighed and so did I. I felt all of tension and doubt still easing away as he went on talking while his face was buried in my hair just the side of my right temple. "The reason I said 'you think you could handle it,' is because I know for a fact, that you are not the kind of person, that could ever handle that set up. I knew that long before I ever got involved with you like this. You forget, I was locked in a room with you under quarantine enforce by the biohazard brigade for an entire day, when you suspected Mark was messing around on you. He wasn't, then, of course… still hard to believe anyone would be into him that way."

"Yeaaaah." I agreed making a face.

"Anyways, I knew you're a classic case of the 'jealous type' of girlfriend. Which sounds like a bad thing, but it's not." He shrugged as he put my hair right again after his face had messed it slightly.

"It's not?" I asked him, because that doesn't sound at all flattering, does it?

"No, it means any guy who's with you, better keep in check. That he better treat you right, or suffer the consequences at the same time as it means you're protective, passionate and as long as your man plays fair, you will do just about anything to make it work. I know because while we're different in so many ways, this is one of the only ways that we're exactly the same."

"You're like that too?" I asked.

To which he agreed with a murmured, "Mmm-hmm."

"No, no Logan! You can't be a jealous type, you're a player-"

"I was player, before you." He said, and I've started to tell when he's using his acting face to get his way. This wasn't that at all, he was genuine.

My hands started to shake and I asked, "What?"

"You're totally right about how I was, but I was only like that because I didn't care…you changed that. I know we never said anything about being exclusive or not dating anyone else. I haven't been able to see girls the same as I used to. It's different somehow, I even thought I was sick for a while. Now I did date a bunch that week you were dating everybody… that whole time, all I was doing was trying to keep up with you… All I wanted was to keep an eye on you. It nearly killed me whenever I saw you getting mistreated and I had to sit there and do nothing. 'Cause I knew if I helped, everyone would see the truth. I couldn't give you friendly assistance, I would give away our secret and I couldn't do that."

"So we're not ending this, did we just agree to an advanced socializing system?" I heard myself ask.

"If that system is that I date you, you date me and no one else than, yeah. Call it what you like, as long as we're like this, I only want to be with you. Quinn… will you be my girlfriend?"

"You may get really bored." I felt I needed to warn.

"Around you and all of your Quinnventing… not possible, no girl has even kept me this nuts for this long."

"Nuts? Is that a compliment or a complaint?"

"It's a complaint, right now this whole week I have been just dying to get here with you. Then I get here and your mind's off picturing me dumping you for some bratz doll bimbo."

"Didn't you say Barbie earilier?"

"The way her fake nails left marks all up my arms I should be calling her one of those Monster High Dolls."

Before I could stop it, it just flew outta my mouth, "Aww poor baby."

A hand flew up over my mouth, as if that would somehow pull the words back in my face. Logan's eyes visibly darkened and his eyelids lowered just a smidge-he asked, "So… it is me after all, I'm the lucky bastard next in line that you're gonna call baby?"

"Maybe," I said still behind my hand, "if it's okay to call you that. Or I can just stick to boyfriend… or whatever you like."

First he kissed my hand that had been over my mouth, and said "It's like I told you before... whoever you chose would be damn lucky. Just to be with you."

After that the rest of the night, we kept calling each other respectively 'Boyfriend,' 'Girlfriend,' or 'Baby.' I had never been happier.

Well that's it for this chapter. I really will try to have something posted next Saturday. So keep your eyes open. Now it's your turn readers, Did you like it, love it hate it, tolerate it? Let me know. This shop runs on reviews and I love hearing from you all! Thank you both of you who reviewed the last chapter and all of you who favorited this story or me as an author. God bless and see ya next time!

~DarcyBeDippy85