"Oh my God! You did it!"

The sound of Aspen's voice gave me a three second warning before she came crashing into me, squealing loudly. Grimacing as I fought to keep myself stable, I pushed her arms away from around my neck. "Did what? I don't drive, so you're not talking about my parking."

"No, I mean, the audition results are posted," she said breathlessly, a wide smile on her face. "You're the first name on the list too! I don't know if it means anything, but it sort of implies you were the best, doesn't it?"

"I doubt that signifies anything..."

"Doesn't matter, come look," she urged, grabbing my hand and tugging me toward the music hallways.

True to her words, the audition results were posted on the announcement board in the main hallway. A few students were milling about it, congratulating each other, but Aspen pretty much shoved them aside. I apologized to the other students, sending Aspen a brief annoyed look. She ignored me, pointing to my name, which was indeed at the top. "See?"

"Yep," I responded, trying and failing to hold back a grin. So what if the top didn't mean anything? I could pretend it did. My eyes drifted to the name below mine, and my smile grew. "And Elliot made it!"

"I've never actually heard him play," Aspen mused. "Is he good?"

"Is he— he's awesome! He's beyond awesome; he's brilliant! I mean, he plays like a God."

"Oh, shut up."

I jumped in surprise at the low mutter, twisting my head to see Elliot. "Hey! Congratulations!" I cried, throwing my arms around him.

"Allie—" Aspen started in alarm, but cut herself off, a look of confusion on her face. "Huh. So it is true. You guys are friends."

Elliot easily pried my arms off him, shoving me none too gently away. "We're not friends."

I winked at him. "No need to be shy."

"You're annoying," he informed me before squinting at the results. "Huh. Good job. But I knew you'd do good anyway."

Praise from Elliot was like praise from the gods. I wanted to hug him again, but I managed to withhold myself. "You're such a nice guy, Elliot."

He rolled his eyes, but the corner of his lip twitched. "Whatever."

"Can I hear you play?" Aspen asked hopefully.

"No."

"Aw, come on!" she complained, but Elliot was already walking away. Pouting, she crossed her arms. "Why does he only talk to you?"

"Well, he talks to Paul too," I pointed out.

She furrows her eyebrows. "Paul..."

"Oh, I mean Mr. Rus—"

"The Paul you live with?" she inquired, interrupting me. Then her eyes widened when she heard what I said. "Wait a minute. Whoa. You live with some guy named Paul... Paul is Mr. Russet. You're in piano... Oh my God."

Shaking my head furiously, I gestured for her to shut up. Then, yanking on her hand, I tugged her away from the crowds of people so they wouldn't overhear her loud mouth. "Geez, Aspen."

"You should've told me you're married! No wonder Kyle doesn't interest you!"

I did a double take. "What? No, no! I'm not married... Jesus, where do all these ideas in your head come from?"

She tilted her head, confused. "You're not married?"

"No," I sighed. "Remember? Paul's a family friend and I live with him because he's closer."

"Oh." She seemed let down.

"What now?"

"I just thought you'd have some fun secret romance going on."

I paused, thinking about it for a moment. Romance? Between Paul and myself? Then I realized I was thinking about it, and shoved any of those thoughts into the back of my mind. I lived with him. And while he technically wasn't a teacher, I was still a student. And had whatever I had with Kyle... but Paul definitely was handsome, so I could see where Aspen was coming from. "No, we don't," I finally said.

A hint of a smile appeared on her face. "Someone sounds disappointed."

"What? No!"

"What? Yes!" she mimicked, her facial expression brightening ten-fold. "Now it's completely clear why you have no interest in Kyle! You totally have a crush on Mr. Russet!"

My mouth opened to protest, but at that moment, the man in question himself came upon us. Speak of the devil.

"Oops... did you hear that?" Aspen asked him.

"No." The grin on his face said otherwise. "It's unwise to go around spreading rumors, Ms. DeVous."

My face flamed and I glared at Aspen, who was laughing sheepishly, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Oh, you know me... quite the joker."

"Indeed," Paul agreed, not even bothering to hide the fact he was still grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"Paul, I told Aspen I live with you," I said flatly, annoyed by his glee at my embarrassment.

Paul nodded, seeming nonplussed. "Sure, just make sure no one other than her and Elliot know."

"Elliot knew before me?" Aspen asked curiously. I thought she'd sound offended, but she didn't. "Well, I bet you guys are better friends. We haven't hung out in awhile."

My face fell at her words. It was true. I'd only been hanging out with Kyle, Elliot, and Paul. Where was my girl time? "We'll hang out this weekend!"

"Yeah?"

"Definitely. You should come over..." I glanced at Paul quickly and he nodded. "Yeah. Friday night."

She grinned. "Okay! I've always wondered where Paul lives."

"You're not going to flirt with him all night, right?" I question warily. I wouldn't put it past her. She was definitely one of the flirtiest people I knew.

"Of course not!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh."

"Friday then?" Paul double-checked. "You'll probably have to order pizza or something."

"What's Friday?"

For the second time in the span of an hour, I jumped, twirling around to come face-to-face with Kyle. Or more like, face-to-chest. "Oh," I mumbled, taking a step back.

"I'm hanging out with Allie," Aspen responded quickly. "Mr. Russet was just telling us to order pizza because there's a sale that day."

Impressed at her quick thinking, I nodded. "Yep."

"That sounds fun," Kyle said, smiling easily. "I miss hanging out with friends on Friday nights."

"You don't do that now?" Aspen asked him.

"Not too much. Anyway, congratulations Allie, I saw your name on the result list." Turning to me, he reached out and squeezed my shoulder. "Also, I'm sorry about... you know." Throwing a glance at Paul, he frowned. "First chance I get, I'll explain myself."

Paul frowned at me, and suddenly I felt uncomfortable with Kyle's hand on my shoulder. "It's okay," I told him honestly, slipping out from under his touch. "I ended up celebrating with Elliot, anyway."

His frown deepened, a disheartened expression coming onto his face. "Oh. Okay."

"But we can still do something eventually," I said before I could stop myself. Damn, he pulled off the puppy dog look perfectly. What's up with all the guys being able to do that?

And, just like a puppy, he perked up at the promise. "Sure! I have to go unlock my room now, but we'll talk later, after class or something."

Paul stared at him, his face expressionless. When Kyle caught onto this, he smirked at him. "See you later then, Allie."

"Bye," I responded awkwardly, watching as he walked away after a brief smile at me.

"So you do have something going on with him!" Aspen accused as soon as he was out of earshot.

My cheeks colored slightly, but I managed to keep a full-blown blush away. "I do not. I just... he's hard to resist."

Aspen's devil grin appeared on her face. "I was so right. So what, hot date?"

"Aspen," I hissed, trying to inconspicuously nod to Paul. I did not want to discuss this in front of him. It felt strange. Almost like I was cheating on him, which was ridiculous. We weren't dating. Not that I wanted to date him and—

"I would suggest not starting a teacher-student relationship," Paul said offhandedly, his piercing gaze directed right at me. "It's not the smartest idea, Allie. I thought you'd be smarter than that."

I bristled at that immediately. I wasn't being smart? I wasn't even dating him! We were just going on one date! Hadn't we had this talk before? "I'm not," I forced through gritted teeth. We'd argued about this enough.

"I don't think your parents would approve either," he hedged, like he was going to rat on me.

"My parents?" I repeated in disbelief. "I can't... you know what? Never mind. It's none of your business, yours either, Aspen," I added sharply, because she opened her mouth to protest or something. "I'll be late to homeroom if I don't go."

"Allie," Paul started, but I ignored him.

"Goodbye."

Five periods later, my mood hadn't improved. Aspen pursed her lips at me as I slunk into English. Unfortunately for her, before she got a chance to speak, Kyle intercepted me, calling me toward his desk. I trudged up there, my arms swinging lifelessly at my sides. "Yes?"

He smiled at me cautiously. "I didn't make things awkward earlier, did I? If so, I apologize."

"It's not your fault," I told him, offering a tiny smile of my own. Because it wasn't his fault. He's not giving me disapproving looks for liking someone. If Paul wants to be that way then...

Oh.

An evil smirk spread onto my face. "I was just thinking... are you busy tomorrow night? Maybe we can get dinner. As you know I have plans for Friday, and I'm working all the other days."

Kyle furrowed his eyebrows, thinking for a moment, before grinning. "Totally free. Is there a place you'd like to go?"

"Well, I get discounts at the restaurant I work at..."

"The diner, right?" he verified, lowering his voice as students began to file into the room. "Miss Flo's?"

I nodded my confirmation. "That's the one." Paul's favorite place to order from when I didn't cook him dinner. He was sure to stop by tomorrow night. And if he abided by his schedule (that he claimed he didn't have), he'd be in around... "How does six-thirty sound? I'll meet you there."

"That sounds good," he agreed, his blue eyes bright. "I definitely won't miss out on it."

"Cool," I responded with one more smile. "I'm going to go sit now, Mr. Tucker."

He laughed. "Alright then, Miss Heywood."

As I returned to my seat, I felt Aspen's gaze following me the entire time. I steadily avoided eye contact with her, knowing she was going to start questioning me as soon as I sat down anyway.

"You just asked him on a date." She sounded shocked.

"I did," I told her, sounding confident. The confidence was only coming from the fact I knew it'd irritate Paul. Which I should feel bad about, especially since we'd been getting along great lately, but I didn't. Maybe he was looking out for me, but it got frustrating.

Aspen stared at me in awe. "Wow. That's gutsy."

"Gutsy? Why?"

She blinked at me. "You don't know?"

"Don't know what?" A sick feeling was creeping into my stomach.

Her face remained shocked before dissolving into a wide grin. "Nothing. Just wanted to freak you out. Though, I am surprised. I wish I'd asked him out."

"You were the one pressuring me to like him!"

"I know, but I didn't think you'd actually would."

"Do you not want me to?" Aspen was my friend. Annoying Paul came second. I already knew Aspen liked him, but I didn't figure she'd care.

She quickly shook her head. "No way! I never would've. Besides, he seems to like you." To prove her point, she waved her hand toward him, and I glanced over to see him quickly snapping his eyes away from us.

The corners of my lips twitched. "Well, he's nice. Really nice."

"So is Mr. Russet."

"And he's handsome."

"So is Mr. Russet. You have to hot guys in your life. How lucky. Three, if you count Elliot."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, come on. Oliver and Jake are cute too."

"Well, Jake's gay, so..."

"Right," I laughed. "Don't worry Aspen, we'll find you a boyfriend."

She looked at me doubtfully. "Right. As soon as frogs rain down from the heavens."

"Hey, that could happen sooner or later."

"Don't try to cheer me up," she scolded, but smiled nonetheless. "Just promise me you'll tell me all the juicy details of the date."

"I promise."

The rest of the day breezed by. With my evil plan in motion, I felt a lot better. Sure, it was kind of a bitch move, Paul was probably just worried about me, but it was really annoying when people stuck their head into other people's business. Besides, Kyle was cute, and nice, and who cared what other people think? It wasn't like I was marrying the man. Paul was probably just jealous.

I paused, my thoughts actually causing me to laugh out loud. Paul? Jealous? Yeah, right. Paul probably thought of me as a stray pet he'd taken in or something. A little sister, even. And I thought of him as... What did I think of him as? My guardian, obviously. But as an older brother? No, that thought was just creepy. Paul was handsome, and I was a teenager after all. It wasn't brotherly affection I felt toward him at all. And of course someone would feel attraction toward him— he was cute, funny, kind, and a brilliant, not to mention famous, piano player.

Shaking my head, I headed into the piano hallway. I didn't want to think about it. Especially heading toward Paul's class. Luckily it was only one period today. Knowing that I'd passed the auditions to the Winter Wonder contest, I'd assumed Paul would help me with the next piece— the contest would be held in about a month— but now I doubted it. He probably still felt annoyed by whatever was up his butt.

Sighing, I pushed open the classroom door, only to come up short at the scene I'd stumbled in upon.

Olivia kissing Paul.

I blinked a few times, making sure I wasn't hallucinating.

Nope, wasn't hallucinating. Olivia was still sucking face with Paul. Who chose that moment to push Olivia away from him, his face beet red. Then he noticed me, and if possible, it flushed deeper. "A-Allie..."

"Paul," I responded emotionlessly, my chest feeling hollow. "I, um..."

"Oops," Olivia gasped, a smirk gracing her lips. "Got caught."

Paul shot her an exasperated look. "Olivia—"

"I should go," I declared, my voice sounding so much more steadier than I felt. I almost felt sick, I could feel my stomach twisting uncomfortably. So Paul lied to me? He actually liked Olivia?

My guardian's gaze returned to me. "Allie," he tried again, but I held up my hand.

"No..." Paul didn't need to say anything. It was his life after all. Even if he was a hypocrite. "I feel sick anyway. I'm going home. Later."

"Bye!" Olivia called happily and I heard Paul snap something incoherent at her as I closed the door behind me.

I walked away quickly, feeling a little numb.

Well. They always say expect the unexpected.

Though I didn't realize the unexpected could make one feel so sick.

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