It was a Friday, the last day of school for the week. Payton lowered her eyes shamefully as she entered the school, afraid she’d see Matt. She’d managed to avoid him since the day after she broke it off. She knew there was no way he’d ever forgive her for dumping him, and seeing the anger in his eyes would only make her feel like more of an ass. She walked along to her first class, thankful she didn’t share any classes with Matt that year. Suddenly, she bumped into someone in the hallway.

“Sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going,” she mumbled before looking at the person. She looked up into Matt’s eyes and felt tears spring to hers. “Really, I’m sorry.”

“Come here,” Matt grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her out of the hallway and into an empty lab room. Payton couldn’t bare to look at him, so she held her books to herself protectively and stood by the door. Matt immediately put a hand under her chin and directed her gaze into his eyes. “I don’t understand why you did it.”

“Matt, really, I had no idea you were having such an awful time of it. I didn’t come to visit you because I thought it was just routine and you probably needed your rest,” Payton referred to Matt’s hospital stay. “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I guess I’ve always known that I liked you as a best friend instead of a boyfriend, but being who I am, I guess I get a little insecure without a boyfriend. Now, though, I’ve decided I need to learn what it’s like to be without someone. And I didn’t want to hurt you. I didn’t want to make you mad because I really treasured your friendship, but as for kissing you and being intimate.... there wasn’t really a spark between us.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I noticed you weren’t that interested anymore a couple of weeks ago. I just didn’t want to admit it. You’re such a special person, and I just loved the attention I got when I was with you--not only from you but also from your friends. It really rubbed my ego the right way, but if this is the way you want it.”

“Do you still want to be friends?”

“I don’t know....it’s really hard to be around you and know that I can’t hold you and kiss you anymore...” he admitted. The bell had rung a minute or two before and they both realized they were deathly late to their classes. “At least give me the pleasure of one last hug?”

“Sure,” she smiled. He wrapped his arms around her slender body and hugged her tightly to him. Once he let go, Payton smiled and turned to the door, leaving him standing alone in the room.

“Miss Price, may I ask why you are so late?” Mrs. Newsom asked Payton quietly about thirty minutes into class.

“I explained it in my letter of apology here,” Payton handed her the required letter that Mrs. Newsom requested every time you were tardy without excuse. “I had a personal problem.”

Mrs. Newsom read over the letter quickly. “I’m sorry. I understand. I won’t mark you tardy--this time. Next time try to get here before class, though, please?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks. I’m really sorry about the break up, though.”

“Thanks,” Payton nodded as she busied herself doing work. Derek who was sitting right beside her heard the whole conversation.

“Payton, you okay?” he whispered.

“Yeah, I guess. I’ll be fine,” she nodded.

Derek reached over and put a hand on her arm and looked into her eyes. “I’m here if you need somone to talk to, Payton.”

“Thank you, really. I needed that,” Payton smiled through the tears glistening in her eyes.

“It’s the least I can do. I’m just being a good friend.” And hopefully this will score me some points in the boyfriend area, too. Derek thought. He definitely couldn’t say that. He did mean well by helping Payton, but by experience, he also knew that the most vulnerable time for a girl was when she had just broken up with a boyfriend. Now she would easily be able to see Derek as a boyfriend. But that wasn’t all Derek was thinking of. He was sincere, and he did want to help Payton by beeing there for her, but he also wanted that little extra advantage as well.

“Thank you. That means a lot to me,” Payton wanted to hug him, but unfortunately they were in clunky desks which limited that kind of movement. Instead, she just put a warm hand on his and squeezed a little before turning back to her work.

“Yo! Alex, wait up!” Josh called from across a hall of crowded people on their way to lunch. She had forgotten about him sitting with her and had hurried out of their fourth period class hoping to be able to get into the lunch line while it was still mildly short.

“Oh, sorry, Josh. Guess I’m not used to waiting on someone after this class,” Alex commented, her mind still on other subjects, even in the presence of her current crush object.

“It’s okay. I wanted to ask you, what was wrong with you’re mom the other day? Was she like trippin’ or something, cuz she was totally spazzed out on you.”

“To tell you the truth, I can’t see why she got so freaked. She said it was because you look exactly like my father when he was our age,” she shrugged.

“You mean he’s not around anymore? Not to be rude, but what’s the story on your father? Your parents divorced? Separated?” Josh questioned tactfully. He knew that many people didn’t like to share information on their family life. He knew how that felt.

“You probably know just about as much about my father as I do, Josh,” she replied as they reached the cafeteria and quickly threw their stuff onto an empty table.

“I don’t know anything about your dad,” Josh creased his eyebrows, confused.

“Exactly. Neither do I.”

“Oh.”

“Come on, let’s go get pizza.”

EMAILS: