"Again, Allie."

My mouth dropped and I stared at Paul in horror. "Again?!"

He nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. "You barely have it memorized. Keep doing it until you have it all memorized."

"It's not fair," I whined. "My hands hurt. We've been going at it all day— all week!"

It'd been crack down time, and my fingers were really regretting it.

"Play it again," he ordered.

"Tyrant," I muttered.

"Teacher," he corrected.

Sighing, I put my hands back to the keys. "Alright, alright..."

Then, just as I was about to start playing, the door to the classroom opened up. Beaming in delight at my lord and savior, I twisted in my chair to shout an 'I love you!' to whoever walked in. However, when Kyle met my gaze, I snapped my mouth shut.

"What do you want?" Paul asked flatly.

I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. It was cute how annoyed Paul got with Kyle.

Kyle smiled sheepishly. "I, uh, just wanted to check in on Allie. Olivia told me she's been practicing hard for Nationals."

"Yes, I have been," I said, flexing my bicep. "Too bad this time Olivia's not in the competition— now you won't have any one to go blabbing to, huh?"

"I... deserved that," he admitted. "What I did was pretty awful, huh?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"Especially because I'm a grown adult."

"Again, yep."

"I realized it then, but I guess I was a little blinded by my feelings. I really do feel terrible about all that's happened," he carried on, cupping his elbow with one hand. "So I wanted to apologize again..."

"Apology accepted," I said easily.

Paul's head whipped around to me. "What?"

"What?" I responded. "It's no dust under my shoe."

"I think you mean no dirt off your shoulder," Kyle corrected me.

I waved my hand nonchalantly. "Tomato, tomato. Point is, I'm over it. I don't like dealing with drama, anyway. And also, I still won the competition."

"Well I guess if you won then that's all that matters," Paul said dryly. "Not that he used you, or anything."

"I really regret it," Kyle spoke up again. "That's why I came to see if you needed help with anything."

"She doesn't," Paul said brusquely.

"Actually, I could use a break," I said, pushing away from the piano. "I'm hungry. Why don't we all get something to eat? At the diner?"

Kyle brightened at my words. "You want to hang out?"

"You want to hang out?" Paul echoed, sounding more distressed than happy.

"Yeah, I'm hungry," I repeated, giving Paul the puppy-dog look. "Please? I promise I'll practice more at home."

Paul seemed hesitant. He glanced at Kyle and frowned. I wondered if he felt jealous.

I smiled.

That' d be cute.

"Just a quick snack," he gave in. "And I get to sit next to you."

I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. What was he, two? Was it because it was Kyle?

"I just have to lock up my classroom before I go," Kyle told us, "so I'll meet you guys there."

"Sounds good," I responded happily. Food was about to be in my stomach and I was going to be away from this stupid piano.

Twenty minutes later, Paul and I were waiting outside of Miss Flo's waiting for Kyle. Paul was shivering, even though he was in a sweatshirt and an overcoat. I grinned at him. "Cold?"

"It's like two degrees out, Allie. What do you think?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What's with the 'tude?"

"Why did you invite Kyle out to eat?" he asked, pursing his lips.

"Because I was hungry and I like him." My answer surprised me. But it was true. I still did like Kyle. He was a nice guy... if I put all the drama with Olivia aside. And since that was done with, why couldn't he and I be friends?

Paul's face fell a little bit. "You do?"

"Not like that Paul— you're who I like. Do I really need to convince you of that?"

He shook his head immediately. "No, that's not what I was thinking. I just don't get it. He did all that to you..."

I shrugged. "Well, any romantic feelings I had towards him are long gone, that's for sure. But I still would like to be his friend. And you guys were friends before— don't let what happened between me and him ruin your friendship."

"We weren't friends," Paul stated. "And I'll never not be mad at him for using you. You don't do that to a girl. You don't do that to anyone, actually."

I smiled and reached for Paul's hand. "Thanks. But it's okay. I like it more when everyone isn't fighting."

"But..."

"It'll distract me from the Nationals if you and Kyle don't get along... I'll be thinking about it all day and night," I sighed dramatically. "Oh man."

Paul lightly bopped me on my head. "Alright, alright."

Three minutes later, Kyle pulled up. We watched him park and he quickly jogged up to us, the tip of his nose red. "It's freezing."

"Babies," I said before turning on my heel and entering the diner.

To my delight, Elliot was standing at the host's pedestal. His eyes widened slightly when he took us all in and then an exaggerated kill-me expression took over his face. "Three today?"

"Hi to you too," I responded.

"What are you doing? Are you working tonight?"

"Eating and no."

His eyes slid over Kyle. "Why are you with that guy?"

I glanced back at the English teacher, who rubbed the back of his neck. "Trying to repair bridges?" I said.

"You're weird."

"You're weird."

"Good one."

"Elliot, are you going to seat them or not?" Sally called from across the diner. When she noticed me she smiled and waved. "Hey Allie!"

I waved back at her before Elliot led us to one of the booths in the back of the diner. As soon as I sat down Paul scooched in next to me, leaving Kyle to sit across from us.

"Do you guys want drinks?" Elliot asked, his voice incredibly unenthusiastic.

"A Pepsi?" Kyle responded.

"We only carry Coke."

"Uh, Coke then."

Elliot turned to Paul, void of expression. "You?"

Paul grimaced. "I really hope you don't serve all your customers this way."

"What's wrong with the way I serve?"

"It's... you know what, never mind. I'll have a water."

Elliot raised his eyebrow at me. "Coke?"

"You know it. Don't worry Elliot, Paul will leave you a big tip," I promised, patting Paul's thigh.

He jumped a little bit and slid about two inches away from me. Elliot sighed and left to fetch our drinks.

"Did he ask you out yet?" Kyle asked curiously.

I stared at him in shock. "How did you find that out?" Did Olivia tell him?

"It was pretty obvious that he liked you..."

"Am I the only one who didn't notice?" I complained. How crappy.

"Isn't that how it always goes?" Kyle said with a small smile. "Man, everyone likes you, huh?"

"She just has that charm," Paul answered for me.

Kyle nodded. "So you guys are dating now, huh?"

"Uh, no—"

"We are," Paul interjected before I could deny anything. "Sorry if you were still interested in her."

Kyle shook his head. "No, no. I don't deserve someone like Allie anyway."

"I'm not really that special," I pointed out.

"Yes you are," Paul said immediately. "Don't think you're not, Allie."

"Always so full of compliments, Paul."

"You deserve them."

"You two are cute," Kyle commented, resting his chin on his fist. "You'll make a great duo when Allie wins Nationals.

I shrugged, stretching out in my seat a little. When my leg touched Paul's, he moved away slightly. I gave him a curious look, but he didn't look at me. "I don't expect to win," I commented. "It'd be cool to place into at least third though."

Kyle tsked at me. "You shouldn't be like that. You should aim for the top. What if some other girl wins and she gets to travel around the country with Paul? How would you like that?"

I hadn't actually thought about that. What if some other girl did win? This whole time I'd been thinking it wouldn't matter if I won or not— but if I didn't win that meant someone else got to partner up with Paul. Not me. Here I was thinking that if I didn't win then no one would work with Paul.

No, I couldn't let anyone else win. I had to win. I had to be the one to partner with Paul.

Paul waved his hand in front of my face. "Allie, you're spacing out. Don't worry about this. I know you'll win."

"I wish your confidence in me gave me confidence."

Kyle laughed. "You two are quite the match. I remember when Paul was my cheerleader for a little bit."

"What do you mean?"

Paul shook his head. "Forget about it."

"Aw, did you want to forget that we were friends at one point of our lives?" Kyle cooed, reaching across the table to pat Paul's shoulder.

"We weren't friends."

"I thought I wouldn't be a very good teacher," Kyle said, redirecting his attention to me. "Paul was one of my first students, actually. He was a great student, too."

Well I kind of figured Paul had been a good student. He was brilliant.

"Believe it or not, I got a bit picked on by those college students," Kyle continued. "The boys mostly. I was popular with the girls so maybe that's why..."

"Yeah, I can see how you were popular with the girls," I said, shaking my head.

Kyle grinned. "Thanks."

When I realized I'd just accidentally complimented him, I quickly dropped my gaze to my lap. Crap. Paul was sitting right next to me too!

"Fortunately I had Paul in my class. I'd stopped showing up because I thought maybe teaching wasn't for me but then Paul found me on campus and gave me quite the reaming."

"You weren't a bad teacher," Paul cut in. "Even if you are now."

"He's a good teacher," I defended.

"Aside from playing around with students."

Kyle grimaced. "Yeah, I deserve that too. But Paul's talk made me realize that I shouldn't let my students bully me around. I was doing what I love. Just like you're doing Allie. You're very lucky to have Paul be there to support you."

"I know I am," I responded, smiling a little. I was lucky in many ways to have Paul.

"I'm a little bit jealous though," Kyle admitted.

"Of whom?" Paul asked.

Kyle grinned. "Both of you."

"Aren't you happy with Olivia?" I questioned. Couldn't blame him if he wasn't though...

"We're not together," Kyle said, sounding a little surprised. "Didn't you know?"

My eyes widened. "What?" Olivia hadn't said anything!

"After everything that happened, I couldn't be with her. I didn't want to be like the person I was before. I see that she's changed now, but I've moved on," he explained, tapping his fingers on the table.

"Why didn't she tell me," I wondered out loud. Not that we were the best of friends. Not that I'd been talking to my friends recently... yeah. Maybe that explained it. I'd been so focused on practice I hadn't really had a chance to keep up with my friends.

"So now I'm just waiting for you to be single again, Allie," Kyle finished.

Paul scoffed. "Please."

"Um, I don't think—"

Kyle cut me off by laughing. "Just kidding. I think I'm done with high schoolers."

"Good choice."

"Can you really talk, Paul?"

Paul pursed his lips at the older man.

Kyle nodded. "That's what I thought. I don't regret the time we spent together Allie."

"I don't either," I told him. I didn't really regret anything that had happened. It all led up to this, after all. And I was extremely happy where I was.

"So kick ass in Nationals," Kyle said. "Win because you deserve it more than anything else."

I nodded determinedly. "I'm going to try."

"I'll be cheering for you."

Just then Elliot returned with our drinks. "She doesn't need any cheering from you."

Kyle seemed to deflate a bit. "You don't like me at all, huh."

"Nope."

I winced. "Elliot..."

Elliot shrugged. "I refuse to be friends with anyone who hurts you, Allie."

"I..." My words caught in my throat. Damn it. Why did Elliot have to be such a nice guy? "Thanks," I finally said meekly.

Elliot shrugged me off. "How's the practice for Nationals going?"

"Ugh, please I don't want to talk about it."

"After the competition, I have something I want to tell you," he suddenly said.

I froze. "Huh?"

"After the competition," he repeated. "What are you guys ordering to eat? Hurry and eat and then leave."

I stared after Elliot. What was the thing he wanted to tell me? Why was he going to wait?

Suddenly I wasn't too hungry.

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Gahhh, I'm so sorry if this was boring ): I just wanted to write a chapter in with Kyle because I was missing him and I want him to be a part of the ending!! Which is coming soon!! so I have to ask- is there anything you wanna see before I end the book? I wrote this for you guys, so if there's anything you want in it, let me know! :D

Remember to vote and fan me!!! (that sounds terrible........but it gets publishers attention and I need that... thanks guys love you :D)