"Oh shit!"

Mia slaps Gwen on the arm. The girl turns to her and then at Mia's mom. "Sorry, Ms. Walker. You didn't have to get me anything." Gwen chuckles.

"Nonsense. You're a friend of my daughters." Nora smiles.

Mia looks at Gwen and nods her head. "You must be very special, she's never done that before," Mia says.

Gwen chuckles, "Isn't this, your first Christmas together?" Gwen asks.

Mia looks at her mom and smirks, "Yeah, I mean...we used to go on extravagant vacations. To..." Mia thinks for a second.

"Extravagant places?" Gwen finishes Mia's thought.

Mia looks at her with a crease between her brows. "I don't know if you're kidding or not." Mia laughs.

The oven beeps and Nora smiles, "Those are the pancakes." Nora says.

Gwen raises her brows. "Y-You put your pancakes in the oven?" Gwen questions, she rises to her feet.

Mia sits there for a second, she looks down at her wrist. She lifts up her sleeve and stares at the charm bracelet Clay gave her. "Are you ever gonna move on?" A voice says.

Mia closes her eyes, she quietly whispers under her breath, "Go away..."

She lifts her eyes up and sees her brother staring at her. Mia couldn't rip her eyes away from him. "Why are you still protecting them?" He asks.

Mia's jaw tightens. "They covered up my murder! You might as well have done it as well--"

"I didn't...!" Mia stops talking and she covers her mouth. She turns her head making sure Gwen and her mom didn't notice her talking to herself. She turns back in from of her, but Bryce was gone. She inhales trying to gain the strength to fake a smile. She rises to her feet and walks into the kitchen.

Gwen looks at her, "Yeah, so..." Gwen pulls the burned pancake mix out of the oven.

Mia raises her brows and chuckles, "Mom--"

"I know," Nora says, obviously embarrassed.

Mia turns to her mom and sighs. "You'll get it." Mia assures her.

Gwen thinks for a second before clapping her hands, causing Mia to jump. "How about I cook," Gwen says. "Or...give you guys a quick lesson on how to make pancakes."

Mia snorts, "I've watched Gordon Ramsay cook before, I know what to do." Mia states.

"Yeah, on a television screen." Gwen corrects her.

Mia blinks, "No, I mean...I actually watched him cook for me." Mia informs her friend.

Gwen inhales, "Honestly not surprised about that."

==========

Mia slams her bag on the table and exhales through her nose. "A little less attitude." The officer says.

Mia snorts, "You want me to be joyous about..." She waves her arms around the metal detector and the police officers. "...this?" Mia questions, arching a brow at the cop.

Mia grabs her bag and brushes past him. Gwen chuckles as she looks at the girl walking away. "Mia Walker isn't Mia walker without her attitude." Gwen states. She looks over at the officer, "Uh--sir." She salutes him, she grabs her bag and follows Mia.

Gwen walks over to her locker, Mia leans against them and watches as Clay at his locker. As Gwen rambles on about why Sandwiches are better than burgers, Mia's ears start to ring.

She inhales and walks over to Clay. Her breathing quickens as she gets closer to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices someone walking over to him. He turns to her and his voice is caught in his throat as he sees the brunette standing in front of him. "Mia is everythin--"

Mia grips his jacket and pulls him into a rough kiss, her anger on hold. Clay kisses her back without hesitation. They both stand there, overwhelmed with emotions coming back to them.

"Mia!" Gwen snaps her fingers in the brunette's face. Mia slightly jumps, she blinks for a second and sees Clay and Ani standing in the middle of the hallway together. "You're doing it again..." Gwen says.

Mia exhales sharply and glances back at the couple. As soon as the bell rang, Ani kisses Clay and walks away from him. Clay exhales, he turns his head and his eyes land on Mia's. She quickly turns away from him.

"They're cute together." Gwen states.

Mia looks at Gwen with a subtle look of anger across her face. Gwen looks at her friend, "Not as cute as when you guys were together." Gwen recovers.

Mia shakes her head, "We should get to class." She sighs, the girl walks towards her glass with Gwen beside her.

"Hey, you had a chance to move on and not be stuck in this funk of yours with that Brett guy. You guys totally had somethi--"

"No, we didn't." Mia cuts her friend off. "He was a controlling prick and he's not my type."

"Right, right, I forgot you have a thing for nerds." Gwen nods her head.

"Nice guys." Mia turns to her friend. Gwen notices Mia starting to get irritated. "Jeez, if you're pissed off now wait until we get inside." Gwen chuckles.

"Why?" Mia questions. She turns back to the door, as soon as they entered the class Mia saw the chairs in a circle. "Socrative Seminar...." Mia whispers with terror.

"Hmm?" Gwen looks at her friend, then at the seats. "Oh! I was talking about Brett being here, but...sure Socrative Seminars suck too." Gwen shrugs and takes a seat.

Mia's lip curls, she licks her lips and closes her eyes. "It's fine, I'm fine..." Mia whispers.

She inhales and opens her eyes again, her calm expression drops as she sees Monty in front of her. Mia flinches and steps back, crashing into someone. She turns around and looks at the person, "Jesus..." Mia exhales quietly.

"Mia, are you all right?" The boy asks.

MIa lets out a nervous chuckle, "I'm fine, Brett." Mia says with a nod. "Thanks." She turns to walk away, but he grabs her arm.

"Wait, I just want to talk to you." He says.

Mia scoffs, "Seems like everyone wants to just talk to me recently." Mia mumbles. "Brett, we're in class. I'm not in the mood to talk about whatever you want to talk about."

"I want to talk about--"

"Us?" Mia questions. "Brett, I thought I was ready for a relationship, but...obviously I'm not. You're a nice guy, but...I can't. I'm sorry." Mia presses her lips together and sits next to Gwen. Brett looks at her for a second before sighing, he sits next to her.

Mia licks her lips and scoffs quietly. "I'm not giving up on us, Mia." He whispers to her.

Mia shakes her head, she turns to him. "Well, you should. I gave up on myself a long time ago." Mia informs the boy.

Gwen looks over at Brett. "Dude, take the hint before she knocks you out." Gwen sends him a tight-lipped smile.

Mia points at her friend. "Listen to her."

==========

Mia blankly stares at the brochure in front of her. "So, what do you think Mia?" The woman questions.

Mia blinks and slowly lifts her head up towards the woman. "Uh...I'll think about it." Mia sends her a fake smile. She holds the brochure up as soon as she turns around her smile drops. She stops as she sees Clay sitting at the robotics club table with Justin. Justin turns to her and waves. She sends him a small smile and waves back at him. Clay looks at the girl, and once again Mia's heart bangs against her chest.

Clay inhales as he looks at the girl. Their eyes focused on one another's, forgetting everyone else in the room. Justin looks between the two he knows that they still had something. But they were both too stubborn to talk to each other about their feelings.

"Walker!" Gwen places an arm around the girl's shoulders. Mia slightly jumps, she turns to her friend and exhales. "Why do you feel the need to do that?" Mia asks.

"To keep you on your toes." Gwen pokes Mia in her side. The brunette twitches and grabs Gwen's hands. "Yeah--no." Mia chuckles, she glances at Clay. She inhales and looks at Gwen. "So, uh--what do you have your eyes set on?" Mia asks.

Gwen chuckles, "You know my mom...Yale, Harvard, all the good places." she waves the brochures in the girl's face.

Mia pulls her face back, "Wow! That's amazing." Mia says with a smile.

Gwen sighs, "What about you?" she asks.

"Well, my dad may have taken my trust fund away, which was my college tuition. And...I missed most of the deadlines for my applications." Mia presses her lips together, "Either way...it's not gonna be good for me."

Gwen's eyes flash a look of sympathy for the girl. She knew that Mia was having a hard time, but she never actually got an explanation as to why she broke up with Clay and stopped being friends with everyone else.

Mia shakes her head, "You don't have to...give me that look of pity." Mia chuckles. "I'm fine." She shrugs, Mia looks back at Clay and Justin.

Gwen rolls her eyes, "Holy shit. You know what--" Gwen grips Mia's wrist and pulls her along.

Mia's eyes widen as they get closer to the robotics table. "N-No. Gwen, I'm begging you don't..." Mia trails off her pleads as they were both standing in front of the Robotics table with Justin and Clay staring at them.

"Shit--um..." Justin looks between Clay and Mia.

Mia swallows hard. "I uh...I uh..." Mia slowly steps back, but Gwen grabs a strap of her backpack. "Hey, so...what do you have here?" Gwen questions.

Clay keeps his eyes on Mia for a while, before he clears his throat. "Robotics." Mia points at the sign. "We can all read. That was a good...presentation. I'm gonna go now." Mia continues to try to walk away, but Gwen was determined to have her talk to Clay.

"Robots...cool, Mia likes robots." Gwen points at the girl.

Mia inhales, Clay and Justin look at the brunette. "No..." Mia chuckles, "No I don't--"

"Oh, sure you do!" Gwen throws an arm over Mia's shoulders. "You read those comics all the time." Gwen shakes her.

Mia's heart starts to bang against her chest. "I don't know what you're talking about." Mia lies.

"You...read Alien Killer Robots?" Clay inquires with a slight chuckle. "You never seemed...interested in it before." He says.

Mia peers into Clay's blue eyes. The sound of her heartbeat filling her ears. She looks down at her shoes, to hide her red face. "Bathroom..." She croaks and quickly speeds away.

She read the comics after she and Clay broke up, only to see why him and Ani were such big fans of it. Who knew she would get hooked?

Gwen turns to the girl, she looks back at Clay and Justin. "You have to excuse my friend...she's lost the ability to socialize with others." Gwen presses her lips into a tight smile. Justin waves his hand as Gwen walks away.

Justin exhales, "Dude..." Justin looks over at Clay.

Clay looks at him, "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" He questions.

Justin chuckles in disbelief, "You guys can look at each other for hours without doing anything else, and yet...you both won't even talk to each other?" He inquires.

"I...I did talk to her, all right?" Clay raises his hands. "What am I supposed to do, Justin? I...I don't want her to hate me."

Justin shakes his head, "She doesn't. She's just...not as trusting as she used to be." Justin states.

Clay scoffs quietly, "Yeah, after what I did...I would be the same way." He says. Clay looks back at Justin. "Did she visit you in...rehab?" Clay asks.

Justin inhales and nods his head, "Yeah she uh...she said she knew how hard it was to go through it and...she wanted to be there every step of the way." Justin explains.

Clay nods his head. "She's always there for us...even when she wants nothing to do with us." Clay looks down at his hands and chuckles.

Justin slowly nods his head, "She's an amazing person." Justin says.

Clay smiles softly, "Yeah she is."