Disclaimer: I know stories on FictionPress don't really need disclaimers, but I need to add this. Part of this idea belongs to my friend Esther, aka Pebblestream on Fanfiction. Well, not really, but the way the guy talks to the girl is. (I submitted part of the idea, though!!)

This is also like a prologue-type thing for one of my stories, The Matchmaker, featuring Joyce. :

Cameron yawned. Leaning back on her chair, she rested her elbow on the table, as Willis stared at her wide blue eyes bugging out. Willis sighed and looked down at his paper.

"Wait, so what exactly are matrices again?" he asked, his blank green eyes downcast, reading the textbook then glancing at his worksheet. Cameron sighed.

"Matrices are rectangular arrays of mathematical elements (as the coefficients of simultaneous linear equations) that can be combined to form sums and products with similar arrays having an appropriate number of rows and columns," she replied. Willis looked at her, continuously blank. Cameron sighed impatiently, again.

"They are squares with numbers in them," she replied.

"Aah," said Willis. "Now I get it. But what are they used for?"

"You know what? Never mind." Cameron fell back on her chair, letting her brown hair bound over her shoulders. "You're so pathetic."

"Well, twelve-year olds aren't exactly supposed to learn Algebra II! And, ugh! I am offended!" added Willis in a mock-girl way. "Don't look at me! Don't talk to me! Talk to the hand, 'cause I ain't home."

"Willis...you have so many problems," said Cameron. "Number one: You're not a girl. Number two: you can't be a girl. And number three: your brains have disappeared and disintegrated and are now in the shopping center, where Zac Efron eats them for breakfast and finds himself getting stupider by the minute."

"And that's supposed to mean...?" said Willis. Cameron sighed, for the third time.

"Never mind," she said. She banged her textbook on her floor and said, "Do you have food? I'm hungry."

"Cameron, I never knew a girl could eat so much," teased Willis, getting out of his chair and getting out a bowl of fruit. Cameron rolled her eyes, stretching. Her brown hair fell to her shoulders as her eyes fluttered shut for a millisecond before opening instinctively, again.

Willis opened an orange and tossed another to Cameron, who nearly caught it.

"Nice," Willis smirked. Cameron rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah? Well, your mom!" she said, grinning. Willis rolled his eyes.

"You're a riot," he said sarcastically

"I know, thank you, thank you, hold the applause," said Cameron. Willis rolled his eyes again, but smiled at Cameron fondly. They had been friends for...well, forever. Their parents were best friends, which only made them closer. The two twelve year olds they were, they went to school together, stayed at each other's houses often, and had been playing together in the bathtub since they were in diapers.

As Willis reminisced, Cameron rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers in front of the boy. "Daydreaming again?" she teased.

"N-No," blushed Willis. "Just...um...thinking."

"Sure," said Cameron sarcastically. "Just like you were 'just looking' when you went to my room last night."

"Oh, that was, er, nothing," said Willis. "Hey, Cam, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah?" said Cameron, taking a grape from the fruit bowl on the dinner table. "What's up?"

"Well..." Willis hesitated. All of a sudden, he was wary of his little sister right above them on the stairwell. Cameron must have noticed too, because she said, "Joyce! What are you doing here?"

Joyce, the small, ten year old girl, giggled, and ran over to Cameron. "Hi Cami!"

"Joyce..." groaned Willis. His little sister, although she was so innocent, was rather mischievous. She wasn't mean or anything, but she was extremely teasing, and...well, tended to embarrass Willis.

Joyce turned to her older brother, smiling in an "I-know-something's-going-on-but-I'll-act-all-innocent" way. "Yes, Willis?"

"We're talking, Joyce," said Willis, glaring at her. "Can you, you know, leave?"

"But I want to hang out with the big kids!" pouted Joyce, looking like she was going to cry. Willis sent Cameron a "help-me" look, and she understood.

"But we're just doing boring math homework," she empathized. "Not very fun. Can you please go?"

"Of course, Cami!" said Joyce, smiling at her angelically. "I'll go now! Bye guys!"

"Bye Joyce!" called Cameron, grinning and waving to the small girl who pranced up the stairs happily. Willis sighed frustratedly. "Ugh. I swear, that girl has just...she's just..."

"She's your sister, Willis," said Cameron. "So, what's this thing you want to tell me?"

Joyce's ears pricked up, and she stopped skipping up the stairs to listen to the two tweens. She sat herself on a stair step and eavesdropped. This should be interesting.

"Well...Cameron." Willis faced his life-long friend. "You're one of my closest my friends. You're like my best friend. You're always there for me, and you're nice, and, er, smart, and caring, and a great singer, and artist, and...um..."

"The word is pretty!" called Joyce, quietly grinning and unable to stop herself. Then she gasped, and, quietly giggling, covered her mouth quickly. Willis whipped around in his seat.

"Did you hear that?" he demanded to Cameron, who was confused.

"Hear what?" she asked, frowning. Willis turned back, and blushed. "Oh, er, nothing."

"So what were you saying?" said Cameron, and smiling genuinely to Willis, her heart hanging on every word.

"Well...what I was saying was..." Willis took a deep breath. "I don't want to be friends."

"What?!" said Cameron, stunned. She was so sure...so sure he was getting to somewhere else. He didn't want to be friends...! Tears pricked behind her eyelids, and, unable to hold them in, a few drops fell down. She stormed out of the house angrily, and devastated, in a swift motion after Willis realized his mistake.

"Joyce...!" he yelled. He knew he heard her earlier.

Joyce, half-giggling, walked down the stairs. Facing her older brother, she said, "You know, that would have worked so much better if you just said 'I don't want to be just friends.'"

"You're right," mumbled Willis. He put his head in his hands and banged his head against the table. "Stupid...stupid...stupid..."

"Will, stop," said Joyce, running over to him, and grasping his head. "I can fix this! Cami just lives next door! I'll go over there and explain!"

"But..." Willis hesitated. "Is it okay if I come with you, then? I'll just...I'll just be in the kitchen."

"Knock yourself out," said Joyce cheerfully. She loved playing matchmaker.

The two kids ran out their front door and to the red brick house right next to it. Joyce, leading the way, and Willis walked in—since their parents were friends, they didn't really need to knock—and Joyce ran up the stairs as Willis soberly went into the kitchen. He hoped Joyce was good at this kind of stuff.

He seriously has no idea...

Joyce hopped up the stairs, and, knowingly went into Cameron's room. She was busy pawing through a photo album, but when she heard Joyce, she snapped it shut and turned.

"Oh...it's you," she said. Joyce smirked.

"Expecting someone else?" she said. "Cameron, don't listen to my brother. He's just an idiot. What are you looking through, anyways?"

"Oh...nothing," said Cameron, blushing and turning away. Joyce rolled her eyes and picked up the photo album, and flipped through it. All the pictures always included Willis, some with Cameron and Willis, and maybe the two of them in a group of their friends or family.

"Who the heck can like my idiotic brother so much? Obsessed..." Joyce mumbled. "Cameron, do you like my brother? Say no, and I'll show him this album."

"...yes," Cameron confessed. "But now...he doesn't want to be my friend. At least."

"Cameron, Cameron, Cameron." Joyce sighed at the ignorance of these two pathetic kids. "Cami, he does like you. He didn't mean he didn't want to be friends. He meant he didn't want to just be friends."

"Really..?" asked Cameron, turning to the small ten-year-old. Joyce grinned as a reply.

"Yep. And he's just waiting downstairs for you," she said. "Come on." She took Cameron's hand and led her downstairs, where Willis was pathetically staring at an orange.

"Hey Willis!" said Joyce cheerfully. "I looked through your diary, by the way, if you wanted to know how I found out that you liked her. And I think Cameron's okay about the fact that you gel your hair everyday to look good for her."

"Joyce!" he said. But before he could do anything, Joyce grinned and Cameron said shyly, "Hi Willis."

"Oh...um, hi Cam," said Willis. "You're still not mad at me, are you?"

"No," said Cameron. "Well...Joyce told me that you liked me, so that was the only reason you said that...is that true?"

"Yeah, it is," said Willis, blushing. "But, er-"

"Well, Ilikeyoutoo!" blurted out Cameron. The both of them blushed.

"Oh, please," said Joyce. The two jumped, forgetting for a moment that she was there. "Do I have to do this?" she said impatiently. "Hey, Willis, didn't you want to see the Spiderwick Chronicles so badly?"

"Oh, er, yeah," said Willis, confused. Joyce hit her head.

"And doesn't Cameron love the book series?" she added. Willis got the idea.

"Oh, er, Cameron, do you want to, um, go to the movies, er, with me today?" he asked nervously. Cameron blushed.

"Of course!" she said, grinning. Willis sighed with relief. Joyce rolled her eyes.

"Kids..." she said. "Well, I'm done here." Willis and Cameron sat down at the dinner table, as Joyce happily bounded away back home. She knew this wasn't going to be the first time being matchmaker.

"So, you really do like me?" said Willis. "For how long?"

"Well…let's just say I'm a little more than obsessed," confessed Cameron, grinning. "I'm pathetic, I know. Hold the applause."

"And that's why I love you," said Willis. "You know, even though we've been friends forever, I think we're ready for something totally new."

--happily ever after--