"I don't think your bed could be any straighter, Rai," Natalie told her honestly, sitting on her disheveled bed and running her fingers through her short blonde locks as Railyn peered bewildered at her perfectly-made bed.

"Hmm, I guess you're right," Railyn snickered, picking up a blue billow and tossing it to the head of the bed. Her saddened eyes skipped to the attic window, looking for something she can't find.

"Is something bothering you?" Hannah asked with consern, raising her head from 'Chichen Soup For The Teenage Soul III'.

"No, of course not," Railyn assured them, her smile vanishing from her angelic face as she grabbed her Math Sequential III book from the dressed and sat indian-style on her bed, her mind trying to consetrate of domains and ranges.

"You never could lie well," Danielle piped in, tossing her math notebook to the floor. She looked over to Railyn, always seeing the truth in her smile.

"Just not to you girls," Railyn laughed, viewing the girls as her sisters, her family. I...just..." Railyn started, but stopped before she could finish.

"Just say it," Danielle insisted, jumping from her bed and leaping over Natalie's to reach Railyn's bed. Railyn looked at her hopelessly like she was lost in a haunting dream. Danielle grabbed her hand. "You like Greg...I mean LIKE him..."

"No," Railyn protested, her mouth fighting violently against her mind. "I don't like Greg."

"Liar," Hannah's voice climbed from the depths of non-fiction.

"I mean, he's a really cool guy," Railyn started calmly, slipping from Danielle's grasp and the edge of her bed. She slowly walked circles around the attic, her mind running a marathon. "But he's got a girlfriend...and he's in Dream Street."

"He is?!" Natalie asked in a high-pitched voice, twinkles of amazement shining in her brown eyes. Her sister Hannah chucked a pillow out her. "What?"

"Can we focus here?" Danielle asked the two, scortching eyes glaring at them. They nodded as Danielle turned to Railyn, Railyn's pacing stopped as she rested on Natalie's bed.

"There's nothing to focus on," Railyn continued earnestly, hugging her legs to her chest and laying her head up on her knees. "I don't like Greg more than a friend."

"Bull shit," Danielle argued, tossing her red hair behind her green polo shirt. She bolted from Railyn's bed and plopped on the wood floor by Natalie's bed. "I know that look Railyn. I've had it."

"What look?!" Railyn demanded, her eyes narrowed with annoyance at her friend.

"The look when you glance out of the window and all you want is to know where he is and if he's thinking of you," Danielle gushed in one breath, dropping her head to her right hand. She rested it there a moment, stole a deep breath and continued, peering up at her friend with the eyes of justness. "I know that look all too well. Two boys have come and gone in my life in such a quick period. They didn't say where they were going or when they'll be back; they just left me like I was worthless. I loved both of them so much, it eats me up inside."

Railyn couldn't believe what her ears were percepting. Two guys? Who was this other guy she spoke of? She looked at a girl she didn't even know anymore, her brown eye pulled to the floor by pain and sadness. "You're crazy," Railyn insisted, shooting up from the bed and walking briskly to the stairs. "I don't have that look. I don't like Greg. I can't like Greg...and you know that, Danielle! You all do!......"

"Greg!" Chris yelled to him, snapping him out of his transe. The boys were on the way home for Thanksgiving on a bumpy highway in Matt's parent's red Range Rover. "Have you heard a word I said?"

"No, Sorry," Greg apologiesed, fixing his gaze on the back of Matt's grey seat.

"What's with you, man?" Chris asked, taking his brown sunglasses off and rubbing his eyes. "I mean...you seem...out of it."

"Well...it's Railyn..." Greg started, a little ashamed. Chris's eyebrows raised in interest as Matt turned around in his seat curiously.

"Who's Railyn?" Matt enquired, cupping his hand on the back of his seat.

"We'll fill you in later, Matty," Chris insisted, glaring at him to turn back around.

"Matthew, please," Mrs. Ballinger begged, tapping her son on the shoulder, "Sit right." Matt unwillingly slid back into his seat.

"What about her?" Chris implored.

"It's...well...I mean, I feel something for her," Greg admitted, feeling his face beginning to flush.

Chris was a little surprise at this fact. He rested his arm on the back of his seat, his eyes comfortly fixed on Greg. "What about Stephanie?"

"I really like Stephanie," Greg told him, skidding his eyes to the window and glaring at the dying season. "But I don't feel that 'thing' that you're supposed to feel. I know she's my first serious girlfriend, but I've been with her almost 6 months. Aren't you supposed to make a connection or something? I mean, what if I'm just with Stephanie because I'm scared that I won't find anyone else who will be willing to wait for me and put our relationship on hold..."

"Greg," Chris interrupted him, "Stop...you're going to give yourself wrinkles."

"Yeah," Greg laughed, resting his hands on his knees.

"But you're not breaking up with Steph, are you?" Chris asked quietly. "She's such a nice girl."

"You sound like my mom," Greg informed him. They both laughed, smiles beaming from ear to ear, smiles that needed to be shared with two good friends. "I don't think I am. I just...I don't know what I want."

"So what are you saying?" Chris pressed, looking over Matt's seat to see him snoozing against the window. "Do you a have a 'connection' with Railyn?"

"She's...amazing," Greg admitted, clamping his hands together. "That really isn't even the word. She's so different...and seriouisly, she didn't even care that I am in Dream Street. You have to watch your back sometimes, you know? Girls can ripp your heart out with their teeth and stomp on it until it bleeds on the cold..."

"Enough details," Chris told him, blanketing his ears with his hands. "Anyway...your party is still on for Friday, right?"

"Of course," Greg assured Chris, patting his shoulder. Silence pressed down on the two. All they did was watch a world they couldn't enjoy as much as they used to pass them by.

"Maybe it's not even love," Greg continued sparatically, staring out the window to the flashing colors whizzing by. "But it's something different and I like it."