Angels in the Light Room

Chapter 19

Dealing

You know how when you do something you regret, life just comes up and kicks you in the bumbutt. Then life goes and kicks you while your down. "That second one was completely unnecessary!" you yell at life, who then just shrugs and kicks you back down again, leaving you to writhe on the ground in pain. That's what my day was starting to feel like, expect I didn't really deserve the first kick.

And yes, I did say bumbutt. But guess what, I'm allowed to because my life is turning into a soap opera! Seriously, the only thing I'm missing is the evil twin who's trying to ruin my life. And the fact that neither I nor anyone else I know has a drug problem. But everything else is there!

On the last episode of Living as Tas: Tas confronts her sister Jess, Things seem to be going well until Jess lets a dark secret slip out! Tas is an illegitimate child! Stay tune to see Tas meet her twin who is out to get her!

I mean when I first heard the news, I couldn't believe it, but then I realized it made so much sense. Then I got depressed, I mean I just found out a good portion of my life was a lie!

And then Caden came… and things got better. I mean He came to me when I was a wreck and made me smile, made me happy. The only other person who could probably do that is Alex. I didn't even get to see Alex until after school that day. But I'll be completely honest, I'm glad Caden found me first. If it were Alex I would have told her what happened just because she would have asked and I would have just let it all spill out. But with Caden, it was different I didn't have to tell him anything; I knew he wanted to know, but he didn't push it…too much. I would tell him eventually, but I just wanted to forget about it, and I was able too.

Caden and I must have spent around 3 hours in the light room. After we stopped hugging we started talking, I forget about what exactly, but it took my mind off…well everything, everything but Caden that is. We sat next to each other; I was slouched onto his shoulder, still pretty tired from the whole incident. And for a while his arm was around my shoulder, comfortingly, but he moved it eventually after it fell asleep. It ended up resting on top of my hand, another comforting gesture. I blushed lightly but acted like it was nothing and we kept talking.

But it couldn't last forever. Someone eventually walked in on us, and it was Alex… When she first saw us I was embarrassed beyond belief. But Alex was worried, I hadn't shown up to any of my classes after Social studies, and since she was in basically all of them she kept wondering where I was. Apparently she had tried calling me as soon as school was over. But I had left everything in the Social Studies room.

We had a very awkward conversation after she walked in. She knew something was wrong and wanted to know what it was. I wanted to tell her but Caden was there, and I didn't want to tell him. So the discussion consisted of Alex interrogating me, and me responding in 'ummm…' or 'nothing'. Eventually I started make small notions to Caden, explaining why I wasn't being cooperative. Alex caught it, but I don't think she thought it was a good enough reason.

"Okay, fine, whatever," She said with a sigh. "Let's just get going okay, schools out and I want to go home." I stood up quickly and jumped over to Alex.

"Can I stay over tonight?" I asked quickly, and desperately. There was no way I was going home. I don't think I would have been able to deal with that. Alex gave me a look that was a mix of curiosity and worry, but she nodded.

"Sure…My aunt and uncle shouldn't care." She said, the look on her face matching her voice very well. I felt kind of bad about not telling Alex, she seemed really confused. Although my guilt was over run by my relief.

"Good…" I said, letting out a calming sigh. I heard Caden stand up behind me, and I turned around to face him. Awkward would be the best word to describe the silence that followed. I mean we'd been pretty close in past few hours, and now that we had been pulled back in to reality it was…awkward.

"We should probably go…" Alex said, breaking the silence. We both looked at her, then back at each other, and we laughed softly, nervously.

"Yeah, I'll see you guys later." He said with a grin then made his way out of the light room, fast. Before I realized it, I was after him.

"Caden!" I called urgently before he got away. For a moment I thought he would keep walking, but he did stop and turned around so I could catch up with him. I hesitated slightly before speaking, mainly out of embarrassment. "Thanks for staying with me…" I mumbled. He just smiled.

"Any time." He grinned; I couldn't help but smile back. We stood there smiling for a few seconds before he turned to leave. "I'll see you later." He said once more and this time I let him go, waving to him.

"Bye," I said with the smile still on my face. A hand on my shoulder made me turn. I jumped back because Alex's face was right in front of mine. The look on her face told me that I wasn't going to let the situation go like I had with Caden.

"What's going on?" She asked sternly. I was expecting her to ask this but I wasn't comfortable talking about it while we were still in the school.

"I'll tell you when we get to your house, okay?" I said softly, although I knew she would understand.

"Well I figured but what's with you and Caden?" She asked, her voice lightening up a bit. Her question totally threw me off. In fact I actually stared back at her for a second blankly, not understanding what she meant.

"What?" I asked, the black look of confusion still on my face.

"Oh come on, you guys didn't show up for lunch and you didn't come to any other classes. I can only assume." On the last comment I saw mischievous smile grow on her face.

"Whoa!" I said, shaking my head and waving my hands around, trying to stop the thought processes. "It's nothing like that!"

"Then what did happen?" She asked much more seriously.

"I'll tell you when we get to your house." I said just as seriously, and took a step forward "I promise okay?"

"Okay…" She said after a slight hesitation. We didn't say anything else as we walked towards the bus. Both our minds were elsewhere, Alex was probably thinking about what had happened, I was trying to think of anything else besides what had happened. While we were on the bus we talked a little more, but we both just wanted to get to Alex's house.

When we got to her house we stopped in her kitchen to get some snacks. I knew the suspense was killing Alex, but I really didn't want to talk about it. Of course we ended up just heading up to Alex's room where we sat down, staring at each other. We stayed like that for a good five minutes before Alex finally had enough.

"What happened?" She asked sternly, making sure I wouldn't veer off course with my discussion. I fidgeted nervously, playing with the hems of my shirt.

"You might not even believe me if I do tell you…" I mumbled, making a last effort to not have to say anything. Alex wasn't going to show me mercy, at least not that kind of mercy.

"I don't care just tell me," she ordered. So I told her. I was quick and to the point, just wanting to get it out quickly. I skipped over the part where I was sulking in the light room, and said no details about what happened with Caden, which was really nothing. And as the words came out I realized how utterly ridicule I must sound. As I said early it was like a soap opera, a really bad soap opera.

Like I thought Alex was skeptical, I mean she obviously was concerned and sorry, but she didn't believe that Jess had been telling the truth, which was understandable.

"I just think Jess is trying to mess with you." Alex said with a sigh. Frustration with a hint of anger welled up in me.

"No! She was telling the truth! I could just…tell. Not to mention that it makes almost complete sense." I argued back. Alex gave me a look of pity, which surprisingly cooled me off. She put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"I know Tas… but it just seems too bizarre to be true." Alex explained, "I mean this kind of stuff is only suppose to happen in the movies."

"Tell me about it…" I sniffed. Ever since I had told Alex what had happened I slowly started getting the urge to cry, or hide in a corner, not to mention the familiar churning of my stomach. Alex's presence was probably slowing the whole process down, but the feeling was still there.

"Tas…" Alex started, obviously not sure what to say. "You'll get through this, you've been through worse." I knew she was talking about the divorce but I don't know which one was worse.

"I don't know…" I mumbled sniffing again. "I don't think I'll ever be able to look at either of my parents the same way." I started to sob, "Especially Dad…h-he's not e-even my dad…" Tears started to stream down my face uncontrollably. The fact that my dad wasn't my dad killed me, which was the worst part of the whole thing.

I looked at the ground as I started crying. Alex inched forward and wrapped her arms around me. I hugged her back, actually it was more like a cling then a hug, but in effect they were the same thing. We stayed like that until my little fit was over.

"I'm sorry…" I said softly after I had wiped my eyes.

"You don't have to be sorry about anything." Alex said with a smile that was a mix between amused and sad. "And, I know this is going to sound cliché but it's true, it doesn't really matter if he's your real dad or not. As long as he's who you always thought of as your dad then he is your dad."

"Yeah…" I mumbled. I completely understood what she was talking about, and I agreed with her. But I couldn't feel it. To be honest a good chunk of what I believed disappeared, and with it went my ability to believe things. I'm pretty sure Alex knew that I didn't really believe her, and an uncomfortable silence fell over us. Then Alex decided to change the subject, she was probably hoping to get my mind off my family, and oh did it work.

"So what was with you and Caden today?" She asked cautiously, probably afraid that I might blow up or something.

"What!?" I exclaimed completely caught off guard again by her question. Part of me was glad for the distraction, another part wanted to get off this subject as fast as possible. Alex seemed amused by my response because she was smiling, well it was more like smirking.

"Oh, you know what." She said leaning closer to me, "When I walked in the light room, you guys seemed a little close." A blush bigger then any other previously this day came to my face. I was having a hard time trying to remember any other time in my life when I had been more embarrassed. Wait… bra incident, Bree incidents…eh, maybe it wasn't that hard.

"W-We weren't t-that close!" I stammered, my face growing redder just thinking about all the embarrassing moments in my life, "I mean i-it's not as b-bad as homecoming…" Out of the frying pan and into the fire, I could tell I was getting in a situation like that just by the look on Alex's face.

"Yeah you two were even closer at homecoming." She leaned closer, her face a few inches away from mine. Yup, defiantly digging myself deeper then I could ever hope to get out of. I had no idea where I was going to go with this one. It didn't help that I just recently realized that…er… I liked Caden. I tried to say something but I just ended up sitting there with my mouth hanging open. After a few seconds I did manage to get a word out.

"S-So?" I stammered dumbly. Maybe if I denied that Caden exists she would drop the subject…god I hate boys!

"Oh come on Tas!" Alex exclaimed throwing her hands and head up in frustration. When she was looking at me again her face had a flat look, she knew I was hiding something, and it was bugging her. "You can't keep it to yourself forever Tas. Maybe I should ask Caden," She threatened.

"No!" I shouted impulsively. Even though Caden didn't know I liked him, and nothing serious had happened, I knew if Alex asked Caden he would exaggerate like no tomorrow.

"Then just tell me!" Alex cried in annoyance, then sighed.

"You would just laugh at me if I told you." I mumbled, and looked down at the ground, embarrassed beyond belief.

"I won't laugh at you." Alex said sincerely with a smile. I looked up at her but quickly looked down. "I promise." She assured me and I let out a sigh, in attempt to calm myself down, it didn't work.

"IlikeCaden." I spit out quickly and quietly. Alex just blinked, not having really heard what I said.

"Wait, what was that?" She asked leaning forward a bit to hear me better. I took another big breath, but I was still embarrassed, and my face couldn't be any redder.

"I like Caden!" I shouted loudly. I was actually surprised that I actually said it. It felt like an eternity before Alex said anything. I started regretting having told her that I liked Caden. I mean I was still kind of confused about the whole thing. But Alex spoke before I had time to take it back, not that she would believe me.

"So you admit it now?" She asked with a grin, which was only slightly better then her laughing at me. I was slightly shocked by her statement and I think my mouth hanging open (again) expressed that well.

"What do you mean 'admit it now'?!" I exclaimed, almost angrily. "I just started liking him today!" This time Alex laughed, which left me fuming.

"Whatever you say Tas." She said with a giggle. "I'm happy for you."

"Why?" I asked in annoyance, "We aren't going out or anything. I don't even know if he likes me." Alex just gave me one of her looks. "What?"

"I have a question…" She said with an amused smile, "Do you have to be told everything?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, now horribly confused by what she was talking about. Although I did have the sneaking suspicion that she was making fun of me.

"Never mind." She waved off, "I'll tell you later."

"No you wont, you'll probably forget about it…" I mumbled in annoyance. Of course I would probably forget about it too. I had so many things on my mind. The only positive thing was that nothing was really going on in the school area. Probably because I didn't have any homework tonight, because I wasn't in any…of my classes...

"Tas, what's wrong?" Alex asked, her teasing tone replaced with concern. She must have seen my face go pale, and my eyes grow wide. She didn't know that my stomach was going crazy with a nervous attack. I had just realized that I ditched school. I had never done anything like that before. And I knew that there was no way that I could get away from getting found out.

"I-I-I d-ditched school…" I stammered clutching at my stomach. I never got in trouble. I was the quiet kid who sat in the corner and didn't do anything wrong. I didn't want to have to go to the dean/ principle! I didn't even know whom I was supposed to go to. Alex saw my peril, but she didn't seemed to worry about it.

"If you explain what happened to them they will probably just send you to a counselor." Alex explained, trying to calm me down. It helped a little, but my stomach was still doing flips.

"I don't know…" I mumbled. Before Alex could say anything the phone rang causing me to jump. What if they knew I was at Alex's?! Were they going to suspend me?! Alex rolled over to the cordless phone on the ground and picked it up.

"Hello?" She greeted cheerfully, as she always did. But her face instantly fell and she turned to look at me. They did know! "Hi Mr. Corben." She said cautiously. I instantly forgot about school and nearly gagged as the feeling in my stomach tripled. Memories of the day flooded my memory. All the pain, anger, fear, and grief returned full force, and I felt just like I had when I was alone in the light room. I quickly scooted back away from the phone until I hit a wall. It felt like the walls of Alex's room were closing in on me and I brought my knees to my chest, holding back a sob.

Alex looked at me with a mixture of confusion and worry. But my father was still talking to her on the phone and she looked away from me trying to pay attention to him.

"Yeah she's here." She said casting me a quick glance, "Yeah we had some homework to do together… I don't know, maybe her phone is out of power… yes, ummm…Mr. Corben… is it okay if we have a sleep over? I know it's a school night but we have this project we need to finish up…No we won't stay up too late…Talk to her?" She looked at me with slight panic, but I was beyond being any help. She hesitated before answering, "Uhh…. She's in the bathroom… I'll tell her…okay bye." She quickly hung up and dropped the phone without care and came over to me.

"I don't want to go home…" I murmured, barely audible through my knees. I quickly wiped my eyes to get rid of the forming tears and sniffled. Alex sat next to me, leaning on the same wall. Her presence had its calming effect but it wasn't enough to get control of my stomach.

"You don't have to." Alex assured me with a small smile. I smiled back but the tears in my eyes ruined the effect. I knew that I would only be able to hide from my dad for so long before he would force me to come home. And he probably still thinks that I have no idea about… the secret. I doubt that Jess would ever tell him that she let it slip. I wonder what he we do once he finds out I know. But I tried to stop thinking about it before my imagination got carried away.

"Thanks Alex." I said sincerely. Alex was able to hear the obvious distress in my voice and we fell into another silence. It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like an hour. The silence let my thoughts mutate into horrible things and I was barely able to keep control of them. "I need something to get my mind off of this…" I pleaded to Alex, who nodded and stood up, pulling me with her.

The rest of the day and night we spent just doing any thing that was distracting. We watched movies, made dinner, talked, and looked up funny things on the Internet. But I think I had the best time when we were playing video games, because I was able to completely forget what was going on and place all my attention in trying to win, which I never did. But we did have to sleep eventually; after all we did have school tomorrow.

I tried to put off sleep as long as I could but my eyes eventually started closing on they're own and I surrendered. The reason I didn't want to sleep was because I knew it would be filled with nightmares, and I was absolutely right. Everything I tried not thinking about during the day came back full force during the night. And I remembered most of them because I would wake up right when something bad was about to happen. Of course I would fall back to sleep out of exhaustion and it would happen all over again.

When it was finally time for us to get up for school I had only sleep about two or three hours. It really sucked. Alex had to pull me out from under the covers, and I almost fell asleep in my eggs, which is not fun, I know from experience. The eggs get up your nose, it's the weirdest feeling… ANYWAY!

So we went to school, and all the way there I was trying to think of something else besides my family. My thoughts ended up drifting to Caden. I hadn't thought about him at all while I was trying to get my mind off of things, probably because he was one of the things that was stressing me out. I was nervous about what was going on between us. He had seen a really emotional and venerable side of me. Okay I admit that I'm naturally emotional and venerable, but it was to the extreme yesterday. I was afraid that he would look at me differently because of it, and it bugged me the whole way to school and until I saw him. I wasn't sure what to expect so I wasn't all to surprise when he just acted like nothing happened.

He said hi when Alex and I walked up and continued his conversation with Zander. I feel relieved that he didn't run over to me asking if everything was okay, and that he didn't ignore me or anything. Before I could start thinking of anything else Bree glomped me. The rest of the morning was taken up with all sorts of craziness, and no real awkward moments. A few times thought I saw Caden looking at me, trying to get my attention, but someone would always start talking to him before I could give it.

The bell rang before we he had a chance to say whatever it is he wanted to say but I figured it wouldn't matter because I would be able to see him later that day. So I went along with Bree to English. Luckily I was actually trying to pay attention so Burt didn't burst a vein at me or anything, which would have been the last thing I needed. But we did get homework, which didn't make me too happy. I didn't really catch what we had to do because I was sketching Bree who was sitting across the room. I didn't get the chance to finish before the bell rang.

"Damn…" I whispered under my breath. I paused then blinked. I had never said that before. So while everyone was getting up and leaving I just sat there awkwardly. I think the strangest thing was that I really wasn't all bothered by it. I mean Jess swore all the time, and of course I heard it all the time in the halls. And don't get me started in tech, they swear so much at tech. But it was the first time I had said something like that and it came out so casually… oh well. I shrugged and was up by the time Bree was over. I think she was slightly confused by the shrug, but I just smiled and she smiled back and I asked her what the paper was on. She had been paying attention.

During Gym I could tell Caden still wanted to talk. So after we did stretches we kind of snuck off by the balance beam and pretended to be waiting for a turn. We sat against the wall, hidden quite well from view of Mrs. Burgandy. I noticed that a few people were looking at us, and some made small whispers to their friends. I quickly turned to look at Caden hoping that I would be able to ignore the churning in my stomach.

"So you wanted to talk?" I asked a little more quickly then I had meant too. Maybe talking to him might not have been a good idea, well at least not with so many people who would look at us.

"Well yeah." He said and looked at me with a goofy grin. "I mean considering what happened yesterday who wouldn't want to talk." I gave a halfhearted sigh, I knew he wanted to talk about yesterday, and I really didn't want too.

"Yeah I guess your right…" I said and looked at my knees. "I probably confused the heck out of you didn't I?" I looked back at him to see him laughing.

"Well when I walked in and saw you crying I was instantly confused and it still hasn't really gone away." He confirmed, and leaned back to get more comfortable.

"Sorry," I mumbled, "but I'm not sure if I can tell you yet… I'm still shaken up about it."

"All I really care about is if your okay or not, you don't have to tell me what happened." He explained and looked at me with a warm smile. My face was instantly red. He was so nice and even selfless. I was beginning to think the liking him didn't make me crazy or something. Caden was really likeable after all, which led me to the next thing. What if someone else liked Caden…

I stared ahead of me with widened eyes. I had never really thought of that possibility. I felt my stomach clench and twist. I'll admit I only recently had any thoughts about Caden and I getting together as couple. In those thoughts I always figured that there wouldn't be another girl to try to stop me. Of course just thinking about this made my face flush a little more, mainly because I knew that it would never happen. I was way too scared to tell Caden how I felt about him, and I don't think he feels the same way about me.

"Are you okay?" Caden asked, leaning forward so he could look at my face. I quickly turned my head towards him. I was about to say yes but Bree and Zander came over. I was glad that they could interrupt the awkwardness that would probably have begun if they hadn't come.

Zander sat next to Caden and Bree sat next to me. Suddenly I had the feeling that maybe these two were going to make things more awkward. I wasn't sure about Zander, but Bree had this look in her eyes that told me she was doing something that she would find rather funny but I would hate.

"Shouldn't you guys be doing something more…gymnasticy?" Bree asked with a smirk. I gave her a suspicious look, as I tried to think what she was trying to get at. Unfortunately I was really bad at reading Bree's thoughts. In my defense though, Bree had some really random thoughts sometimes. The only reason I know this is because she likes to think out loud, it gets really strange sometimes…

"We were just talking." Caden said like it was nothing. I was glad he was good at making quick recoveries. And he was right we were just talking, it's what we were talking about that I didn't really want to say.

"Oh…" Zander said with a small smile. It was easy to tell that he didn't believe us. I looked at him with a flat face, daring him to accuse us of doing something else. The smile on his face just grew. But it was Bree who took the dare, which is probably why Zander was smiling in the first place.

"Really?" Bree asked with a small smirk. "Then why are you two hiding behind the balance beam, hmmm?" Err… good question. Well we didn't really want anyone over hearing our conversation. So we went to a corner. Luckily Caden once again had a more appropriate answer.

"We didn't want to work, and if the teacher saw us-" Of course right when he mentioned the teacher Mrs. Burgandy looked over at us. All four of us felt her eyes before any word even came out of her mouth.

"Hey!" She shouted, making her way over to us. "No loitering!" We all instantly stood up, and ran to go do something. I think I was the quickest though. I mean she threw me into the pool, what would she do here?! Chain my wrists to the parallel bars and spin me around?! Okay a little over dramatic but you never know!

Anyways, I had scampered over to the rings. The only reason I was able to use these things was because I had played on them all the time when I was in elementary school. I took a few calming breaths before I grabbed onto the rings and flipped myself over. When I landed I looked to see if Burgandy was watching, she had been and gave me a thumbs up. I felt much better as she turned away to look at some other kids doing stuff. I figured I might as well stay on the rings since I could do them.

I chalked up my hands (mainly because I like playing with the chalk, come on, who doesn't?) and went back to the rings again. I closed my eyes before I grabbed on and flipped up so I was straight up and down. The only way I was able to stay like that was because I had wrapped my feet around the straps. When I opened my eyes again Bree's upside down face was inches from mine. I screamed and almost dropped myself. Well I did drop my self but I waited until I was face up before letting go, I still landed on my butt.

"Don't do that!" I shouted and glared at Bree.

"What? Sneak up on you?" Bree asked and extended her hand to me, which I took and got up. "Well it would be harder for me if you kept you eyes open." Okay once again Bree had a good point, and she didn't even give me a chance to defend myself! "Your pretty good." She said and pointed to the rings.

"Well I always played on them at the playgrounds, so I can do a few tricks." I explained, and wiped off my hands. "Do you want to go on it next?" I asked and moved aside so she could get on if she wanted too.

"No, that's okay," Bree said with a grin. "I'm horrible with those things. I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh?" I said sarcastically, "Really? Are you sure you want to talk?" I took a step towards her, "After all I wouldn't want to give people the wrong impression in case they saw us talking, hidden by the….rings…" It had started off well, but I blew it with the ending. Either way Bree knew what I was getting at. "We might be 'doing' something." I used my fingers to make the quotation marks

"Okay, you guys were just talking, I get it." Bree said and shook her head with a smile. "But that doesn't mean that there's nothing going on between you two." I felt my face flush but I turned away, acting angry. "As your friends Zander, Alex, and I deserve to know what's going on." Well Alex already knew… but she wouldn't tell Bree or Zander. So I just sighed, deciding to tell the truth.

"There isn't any thing going on between us." I said loudly but added at a whisper "yet…" hey, I said it, not my fault if she doesn't have super sonic hearing. But I turned around to strengthen my point. "Besides if there was something going on don't you think Caden would really be able to pretend nothing was going on?" Bree thought about it and then gave a 'well yeah that's true' nod.

"Yeah, he would probably be all over you." Bree said with a laugh and I just scrunched up my nose. I hope he wouldn't be all over me! Yeah I like him and all, but bubble! "Okay so I'll take your word for it that nothings going on." Bree said finally. I let out a relieved sigh.

"Thank you." I said with a smile, but Bree held up her finger to stop me. Apparently she wasn't done talking yet.

"So there's nothing going on, but…" She paused and looked at me in the eye with a mix of seriousness and amusement. "Do you want there to be something?" I think my jaw dropped a little bit, and I know my face went red. I really need to get a remote control for my face, so I could have control of what it did, because half the time it's on auto pilot. Then I could paten it, and sell it to people everywhere and become a millionaire! And I've already had this conversation with myself about some other crazy invention I forget what though…Oh the anti-aging machine! Good stuff right there. Oh yeah back to the story!

"What?!" I was finally able to get out. My mind was racing as I tried to think of what to say. "I… He… What kind of question is that!?" I quickly turned not wanting to answer the question. I made my way to the tumbling place. Bree was quick to follow me.

"So that means you do, right?" Bree asked catching up with me, I made sure to always face away from her.

"I don't have to answer the question." I said stubbornly and made my way back over to the balance beam.

"Well if you just say no then I won't bug you." Bree insisted, not letting me get away. Why did she care anyways? It was my business not hers. Burgandy blew the whistle and we all went to go change. I ran. If Bree kept asking I would probably let something slip and I didn't want that happening. I got to Math so early that there were still some kids from the class before there. But this was okay, the passing period gave me time to calm down, after all I was getting a little too worked up over it.

When Zander walked in he sat down next to me like nothing had happened in Gym. I was okay with that as long as he didn't bring anything up. I had a feeling that Zander had talked with Caden while Bree was with me. Math wasn't all that bad until I got the pass. Someone knocked on the door, interrupting a problem we were going over. Mr. Hiet walked over and took the pink slip that the person held out. He nodded to the person and they walked away. He looked at the pass once more then at the clock. Then he looked at me.

"Tas." He said and held out the slip to me. I blinked, completely confused. I stood up though and took it. "It says they want you now." He said tapping the slip. He must have seen the confusion on my face. "Attendance." I nodded.

"Should I take my stuff?" I asked, and motioned to my backpack. Mr. Hiet nodded.

"Better safe than sorry." He commented and went back to the problem. I walked back and picked up my backpack and shouldered it. Zander touched my arm to get my attention and I looked at him.

"What happened?" he asked softly. I just shrugged.

"I don't know." I whispered back, "I'll see ya later."

I only got lost a few times before making it to the attendance office. I still wasn't sure what was going on. Maybe one of my teachers had marked me absent when I wasn't, that had happened to me before in junior high a few times. But when I walked in and saw Caden sitting down I knew I was in way more trouble.

Yesterday Caden and I had ditched a good deal of our classes as we sat in the light room, and the school knew. I couldn't believe I had forgotten about that! I guess my mind had been filled with the Caden thing. So all the worrying I hadn't done this morning decided to show up. My stomach went into over drive. I was just glad I didn't pass out before I was able to sit down next to Caden.

"W-w-we're s-so s-screwed…" I stuttered, my wide eyes facing the wall. Caden looked over at me then turned his attention to the wall.

"Yup." Was all he said.

A/N: Okay, I finally finished. Sorry it's taken so long. I blame tech and my own laziness. But it's finally done and I started chapter 20. And I realized something while I was reading through the old chapters to find out what the other "invention" was. This story kind of has a plot but most of it I just kind of threw in. Like… Bree… in general. But that's okay! As long as there is kind of a plot! Oh and I was sooooo tempted to have Bree make another move on Tas but I resisted.

Review Corner!

j.m.burford: Thanks again, your so nice to me XD And I completely agree with the age thing

Mehras: Sorry it took so long… but I hope you enjoyed this chapter

Serbgrl: Oh I will…. I will

Sillysocks: Thanks XD (P.S. you and purple inspired me to write more )

Purple battery: I love that movie and see above comment XD

Nickel: Thanks Major XD hehe, and I gave it to purple cause I actually see her. When school starts up again you can bully fight to see who edits XP

Kax: Hehe, sorry I made you stay up late XD But I'm really really glad you liked it that much!

Blooper Place

"Oh?" I said sarcastically, "Really? Are you sure you want to talk?" I took a step towards her, "After all I wouldn't want to give people the wrong impression in case they saw us talking, hidden by the….rings…" It had started off well, but I blew it with the ending. Either way Bree knew what I was getting at. "We might be 'doing' something." I used my fingers to make the quotation marks

"Don't tempt me…" Bree said softly and got dangerously close. I didn't think she would do anything with all the people, but it was Bree. She grabbed the back of my head and pulled me in for a kiss.

See! I was sooooo tempted to do that! But that was a little too forward, even for Bree XD Besides Tas has enough going on XD