Author's Notes: Hello my faithful readers!!! Sorry it took so long to update this story. I've just been extremely busy with school, sports, and my prom that happened last week, and I've kind of had writer's block. I managed to write this much, but I warn you, it's not my best stuff. It's kind of like a filler chapter. Anyway, sorry for slowness and that this chapter is kind of short. This next little bit is a response to reviewers, so if you want to skip it, feel free to.

Thank you everyone for the wonderful reviews. You make me feel a warm and bubbly inside.

Tigress33- We are so on the same page: I named Milo after the actor from Gilmore Girls.

Dream-in- Thanks, I'm glad you like my story. And yes, Milo asked her out because Gaia's friend Taryn did ask him to, but he did like her a lot prior to her asking him.

Lela- Thank you, you are too kind. I know the scene with the family and friends is confusing to differenate between family and friend, sorry about that. To be clear, in case you were still confused and wondering; Family: Warren (dad), I didn't name the mom yet, Emma (Female, 12), Brent (Male, 14), and Quinn (Male, 16). The sibling's friends: Cameron (Male, 16, friend of Quinn), Lyle (Male, 14, friend of Brent), and Nell (female, 12, friend of Emma). Got that? And thank you for catching my grammatical error.

Cassius- Thanks for the review. Gaia makes some sort of decision here, but certain individuals are going to meddle in her business again.

Taija- Thanks. I think you'll be happy with this chapter.

IntricateOne- Thanks for sticking with my story and taking the time to review each time. Love ya for it.

xSwt Azn Angelx- Thank ya. I feel honored to be your longest review. I'm obsessed with the WB, so I totally feel ya.

Star123- Don't worry about Milo, he will be taking great care of, regardless if he ends up with Gaia or not.

Look Into My Eyes- Thanks. Sorry it wasn't soon enough for you probably. Hope you like this new chapter.

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By the time Milo arrived at her house at around 7:45 on Monday morning, Gaia was all ready to go, a rare feat for her. She hustled down the steps of her porch and quickly approached Milo's car. She opened the back seat and threw in her two bags, and then closed the door. Thoughts of hesitancy flew through her mind as she opened the passenger door and then climbed in. The rest of her weekend had been bombarded with thoughts of her present situation. Never in her wildest dreams would she ever have thought she would be caught up in a potential love-triangle, well at least one where she was the one with two choices. Even at work the day before Gaia had found herself distracted. She wished her decision was clear-cut and simple, but the fact of the matter was there was no simple answer. Sure, days before if Gaia had been asked to choose between the two guys it would have been easy. Days before she was completely and totally devoted to all things to Santiago, but since then, she had gotten to know Milo better, and she liked what she saw. Unfortunately, the day and a half she was allowed of thought had not helped her form any sort of final decision.

So now, here she was, with the opportunity to choose between two great guys, and one of the "contestants" presently seated in the car with her.

"Morning," greeted Milo as Gaia closed her door.

"Hey," replied Gaia.

She smiled weakly at Milo, unable to hide the cloud of gloom that she was engulfed in. Milo noticed this, and frowned in concern.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lied, not wanting to burden Milo with more of her teen-angst, especially the kind that he wouldn't be pleased with hearing. "Just tired."
"Okay So, how was the rest of your weekend?"

"It was alright. I worked yesterday, so you can just imagine how fun-filled my Sunday was. What did you do?"
"Nothing much. Some neglected homework and took my brother to the park."

"Neglected homework, now that's something I'm very familiar with. In fact, I think I might still have some in my backpack that's calling for me to complete."

"And I thought I was a slacker."

"Hey, I'm a pro at last-minute efforts. In fact, I wrote my senior thesis in two all-night sessions and got an A, thankyouverymuch."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll never question your procrastinating ways ever again."

"Thank you."

"So, what's on the agenda today after school?"
"I have a game. My coach is going to be so pissed at me for missing practice on Friday. I was so consumed by my crap, I forgot to tell someone to tell the Debbie I wasn't going to be at practice. Not that it matters because I'll just be sitting on the bench anyway, unless by some miracle some sense gets knocked into Debbie and she realizes that I'm a better asset on the field than on the bench."

Gaia stopped talking, realizing she was ranting about another one of the many setbacks in her life. She glanced over at Milo who was smirking at amusement at her.

"What?"

"Nothing," replied Milo. "It just always amazes me how you can talk so much and so fast sometimes without needing a breath. Kind of reminds me of Six from Blossom."

"I loved that show. Except that Blossom chick could be kind of annoying sometimes. However, I digress, and I say we move on to something else."

"All right. Who do you play today?"

"Marshall. And if we don't beat them, I'll be very disappointed."

"You guys lost both your games last week, right?"

"Yes, unfortunately, to two completely beatable teams. Wilson totally won on a fluke."

"That fluke being?"

"It went past our catcher, hit a pole, and rolled up towards their dugout, thus allowing two of their players to score in the confusion, thereby making them winning by one run."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, well the one and only good thing about being on the bench is that I can say that I had nothing to do with the losses."

"Always looking at the silver lining, I see."

"So, what are you doing after school?"
"I have to work."

"Ah, sounds like fun. Nothing like slaving away for your caffeine-addicted customers to complete your day."

"Right," replied Milo as they found themselves pulling up near their school.

They climbed out of the car and Gaia moved to the back seat to grab her stuff. When she got a hold of her two bags, she found that Milo was standing next to her waiting. He reached for her hand and for a split second Gaia was uncertain about allowing him to do so, however all thoughts of indecision left her as his hand entwined with hers and he started to lead her towards the side doors of the school.

They walked in silence as they made their way through the hall to her locker. They soon reached it and stopped as she spun the combination on the locker with her free hand than subsequently tossed her softball stuff in the locker after separating her hand from his. She transferred some books from her bag into her locker and put one book in her bag, then closed the door before locking eyes with Milo, giving him her best smile.

"Thanks for the ride."

"Not a problem."

"I'll see you in Psychology then, I guess?"

"Yeah."

Milo slowly leaned in closer to Gaia, then enclosed his lips on hers. At first she relented from his kiss, but as soon as their lips touched, she melted into the kiss. She unconsciously wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing him closer to her, intensifying the kiss. They were so wrapped up in their kiss, that they didn't notice Taryn stroll up next to them, wrinkling her nose in mock-disgust.

"Get a room," she joked, causing them to realize they had an audience.

They slowly pulled away from each other and bashfully smiled at Taryn.

"Well, I better get to class. See you later, Gaia. See ya, Taryn."

"Bye," replied Gaia.

"Later, Romeo," smirked Taryn.

Milo left the two girls at the locker, and they stood their awkwardly for a few seconds, waiting for the other to start talking. Gaia, deciding to be the bigger person, decided to be the first to do so.

"Look, I'm sorry for over-reacting. I realize that while you went about it the wrong way, your intentions were pure."

"No, no, I'm the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn't have shown him your poem, that wasn't right."

"No argument here."

"So you forgive me?"

"Yes, I forgive you."

"Yea. Now you can tell me all about the sordid details of your new love affair."

"First off, it's not a love affair and secondly, there are no sordid details to tell."

"You lie."

Gaia rolled her eyes.

"Okay, so I might have a few juicy details to tell you."

"That's what I thought," smirked Taryn. She linked arms with Gaia as they strolled down the hall to their first class, which they had together. "Now, tell me all about it."

On their way to their class, Gaia quickly filled Taryn in on what happened over the weekend. While Gaia was revealing that Santiago made advancements on her after Milo made his move, internally Taryn was applauding herself on a job well done. As Gaia was finishing up her story, Taryn was thinking of the right words to say to help motivate her friend to make what she thought was the best decision.

"So, what do you think?" Gaia asked Taryn as they sat in their seats at one end of the classroom.

"I think it's about time you and Santiago stopped dancing around your feelings for each other and admitted how you both feel."

"So, you think I should hook-up with Santiago?"

"Yeah, totally. I mean, Milo's great and everything, but Santiago's your dream guy."

"I guess. But what if Santiago is only admitting that he has these "feelings" for me only because I revealed that I had a thing for him and in actuality he doesn't have these so called feelings for me and instead is just confused because of my confession?"

"Well, the only way for either of to find that out for sure is to give it a shot."

"I don't know. I need to think about it still."

"Alright, I can understand that," replied Taryn. Suddenly a mischievous smile spread across her face, causing Gaia to worry. "So, how are their lip-locking skills?"

Gaia groaned and rolled her eyes. Luckily, before Taryn could persist, the bell rang, and their art teacher started to talk. However, the luck didn't last long, less than five minutes later the teacher gave the class free time to work on their current assignment, allowing Taryn to continue their conversation.

"So? Come on girl, dish."
"Well, they're both amazing kissers."

"I thought so. Santiago's lips look luscious."

"Right."

"So, who was better?"

"I can't just pick one. That's like choosing between a Twix and Milky
Way bar."

"That's easy. They both are horrible."

"You only say that because you don't like caramel. From my perspective, they are both mouth-watering good."

"So, their kisses were mouth-watering good?"

Gaia rolled her eyes again, but couldn't help but grin.

"Like I said before, they were both amazing."

"Okay, okay, but if you could only kiss one of them ever again, who would it be?"

Gaia paused to think about it. Granted, like she previously said, they were both fabulous kisses, better than she could have ever dreamed possible. When she really thought about it, though, when she kissed Santiago it was like a small firework display, but when she kissed Milo it was like this gigantic display of fireworks with a full orchestra band to accompany it. Santiago's kiss made her flutter, while Milo's made her melt.

"Well, let's just say that Milo's kiss can render me weak at the knees."

"Nice. But you can't just be with someone because their kisses are great."

"Not according to Cher."

Taryn raised an eyebrow at her friend and looked at her like she was crazy.

"You know, Cher, the singer? As in Sonny and Cher? As in Mermaids?" explained Gaia.

"I know who Cher is."
"She had this song called 'It's in His Kiss'."

Gaia received another blank look.

"It goes, 'Does he love me? I wanna know. How can I tell if he loves me so?'" Gaia sang, to try to make Taryn remember the song, but Taryn still didn't look as if she knew what she was singing, so she continued to sing the song. "Is it in his eyes? Oh no you'll be deceived. Is it in his eyes? Oh no, you make believe. If you wanna know if he loves you so, it's in his kiss."

"Oh, that song. I think I remember someone on Road Rules singing that in drag for a competition."

Gaia rolled her eyes at her friend, amazed with how she was able to recall the song.

"Well, no offense to Cher, but just because the kiss is great, doesn't mean it's love."

"Then you obviously have never experienced such a kiss then."

"Maybe."

"Ladies, how about a little less chatting and a lot more drawing?" suggested a voice from behind them.

They turned to find the voice belonged to their art teacher who was frowning in disapproval.

"Sorry Mr. Yelma, we'll get right on it," replied Gaia.

Satisfied with their answer, their teacher turned and walked away to another student who wasn't being very productive. Deciding it was best not to piss off their usually referral-happy teacher, the two girls attempted to do that day's assignment. Gaia pulled out her drawing pencils and started to sketch the still life that sat on their table.

For the rest of the morning, Gaia found herself in a more cheerful mood. Now that one of her problems was taken care of, the crap that weighed her down felt lighter. Unfortunately, due to her little performance for Taryn, she now had that Cher song stuck in her head, which did not please her. As she was humming the song at her locker, a pair of hands covered her eyes.

"Guess who?" she heard a husky voice whisper in her ear.

"Sven the foreign exchange student?" joked Gaia.

"Close."

The hands left her eyes, and she turned to find Milo before.

"Hey you. What's up? Anything exciting happen since I saw you in third period?"

"Nope. Well, there was this almost scuffle in my government class over some heated discussion we were having about one of the amendments, but other than that, it was pretty dull."

"Too bad."

"So, what are you doing for lunch?"

"Eating."

"Funny."

"I was going to walk down to Baskin' and Robbins to get myself a smoothie."

"With who?"

"Myself. But you are free to join me, if you want."

"Sure."

"Great."

Gaia tossed her bag into her locker before closing it, and then started to head toward the exit that would lead them to the ice cream shop. They quickly made their way to the ice cream shop, then came back to the school as soon as they got their treats. When they arrived back at school, they went back to Gaia's locker and sat down in front of it. Milo wrapped an arm around Gaia's shoulder, and Gaia snuggled into him as they both enjoyed their deserts.

At around the same time, Santiago had been searching for Gaia to talk to her. He went to the library to her usual spot that she sat, but found the table vacant. Deciding the other most likely place for her to be sitting was in front of her locker, Santiago headed in that direction. Unfortunately, all formally good thoughts he was having deflated when he neared the locker, spotting the happy couple moment Gaia was having with Milo. A frown marred his face and he watched the couple for a second, strategizing what to do, when his thoughts were interrupted by a voice behind him.

"Sickeningly cute, isn't it?"

Santiago turned around and found Taryn giving him an understanding look. Santiago shrugged in response.

"You know, I always thought it'd be you and Gaia who would end up together," commented Taryn, deciding to continue to talk if he wouldn't.

"Well, that probably will never happen."

"Now, see, my friend, that's where you're wrong."

"Really?"

"Yes. What if I told you that I can bet, no, guarantee that you and Gaia will be going out before prom comes."

"I'd tell you that you were dilusional because from the look of things, those two aren't splitting any time soon."

"And that's where you're wrong, young grasshopper. Trust me, all things will fall into place soon."

Santiago raised an eyebrow at Taryn's cryptic message, but before he could respond to the ludicrousness of her comment, she walked away from him. He watched her departing figure for a moment before turning his attention back to Gaia. He saw Milo whisper something in Gaia's ear and Gaia started laughing hard. A wave of jealousy swept over Santiago, surprising him. Thanks to Taryn and seeing Milo and Gaia together, he reached a resolve; he was going to woo Gaia away from Milo and then take her to prom. He gave the couple one last glance before walking away to devise a plan.

END PART 5

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TBC. So, how was this chapter? Satisfactory, I hope. I'll try to be more speedy on my writing. I promise within the next couple of weeks I'll be faster at updating because I'm almost done with school (woo hoo!) and softball, so my time will be free to write. Got comments, suggestions, or questions? Feel free to put them in the form of a review.