If I was a mind reader, I wouldn't need to use my powers to know what they were thinking.

My mom was already planning the wedding on her mind; Nathan's mom was too busy trying not to pass out from the glee as she held on for life to her husband. Matt had a giant smirk on his face -mostly directed to his son- and my dad..... well let's just say his glare was already placing Nathan six feet under.

"What was that?" my mom squealed and I rolled my eyes.

"It's called a hug. You know, when two people share warmth for a couple of seconds?"

"That was more than hugging," Matt stated, wiggling his eyebrows. I heard Nathan groan and shake his head as he murmured words so low I couldn't catch them.

"Oh come on! That was just a hug! There is nothing going on between us, I promise."

"That looked more than a hug to me," my dad huffed. "Are you sure you two are not going out."

"Yes!!" We both screamed and they all jumped.

"Well dang, you didn't need to raise your voice at me," my mom murmured and I rolled my eyes.

"Well if we are done, I am going to my room and try to forget this day. Good to meet you all and have a Happy New Years." I stated the last part to Nathan's parents and walked away. I heard my mom begin to complain, but then a rough voice stopped her mid-sentence as I closed the door behind me.

"Claire, wait."

I spun around to face Nathan as he caught up to me and I sighed. I was tired, groggy and ready to plop into my warm bed but someone had to stop me. If it wasn't important, someone was going to get hurt.

"What is it? I'm tired and I want to go to bed. Can't we talk tomorrow or something?"

He shook his head and looked down as he spoke. "Do you regret meeting me?"

I blinked rapidly, the drowsiness evaporating from my mind as his words hit me. What? Did I regret meeting him? Why would he ask that? He slowly looked up at me and I blurted out the one question that was running through my mind. "Why are you asking?"

"Because of what happened today. If we hadn't met, this would have never happened and-"

"And I wouldn't have a best friend," I interrupted him. He stopped speaking and looked at me with wide eyes. "Don't push it. You're my only friend so that automatically puts you in the best friends category."

The mood in the air quickly changed and I couldn't help but to smile as he presented me with his megawatt smile. "Really? Best friend?"

"I said don't push it. Now your downgraded to friend."

"Aww. Don't be mean. You know you want to be my best friend," he said as he stepped closer to me. With each step he took, I took a step back and he laughed.

"Nope. Now leave me alone. I need to poke my eyes out before I kill myself," I groaned and he stopped walking. He looked at me as if I had spoken another language and I sighed. "Contacts. Annoying plastic that helps me see. Hate them, but need them."

"Oh," he breathed and motioned for me to go. "I'm not stopping you. If I had something in my eyes that was bothering me, I would want it out as well."

I ran to my bathroom and sighed in relief as the damn things floated in the solution. After fumbling with the caps, I put them in the farthest corner of my drawer and slipped on my glasses, blinking rapidly as everything came into view again.

"There's the girl I know," Nathan said from the front door as soon as I walked back out. I shook my head and smiled a little as I saw Prue's sleeping form on his arms.

"I'm sorry about this again," I apologized again and he shook his head.

"Don't. I got to see your pretty face and get to know the real you. I don't regret coming."

I heard our parents finally deciding to come back to our world and I took that as my sign to disappear. "Well, I guess I'll see you in a couple of days again." He nodded as the back door opened and their voices got louder "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Claire. Sweet dreams." And with that I walked back to my room.

*

*

*

When school finally started again, I couldn't help but to groan in relief and rush out of the house. For the last couple of days, all my mom would talk about was "Nathan this" or "Nathan that." If she was so in love with him, why didn't she go out with him?

As I took deep breaths from the safety of my car, I checked my outfit one last time and mentally face palmed myself. It was too late to change.

The night after New Years, I had a very long talk to myself and made drastic decisions for myself. I promised myself I wasn't going to be the shy girl anymore, and that I was going to try to be more like Nathan -free. Not afraid to make a mistake.

So here I was, halfway into hyperventilating my lungs out in my black skinny jeans, a long-sleeve navy blue with light blue stripes shirt, a dark blue jacket (from my moms closet) and my grey winter boots. My white scarf was stuffed in my bag and I was so tempted to pull it out so I could cover my head with it. My glasses were in place and for the first time in a long time, my black hair was braided up in a fishtail braid.

Oh god. I knew Nathan was waiting for me at the door because I could see him standing there, jumping from foot to foot as he looked directly at my car waiting for me to get out. He looked down at his feet for a couple of seconds before finally looking back up and directed his eyes to some place else.

Without thinking it twice, I grabbed my bag, got out and locked the doors. I kept my eyes on Nathan's figure as he kicked the dirt on the floor and smiled when I saw him look up for a second. He did a double take and then his mouth popped open as he clearly saw me for the first time.

I could feel other people's stares as well, but I ignored them and kept my small smile as I tightened my grip on my bag and took the last step to the still shocked Nathan.

"Close your mouth or else flies will fly in," I joked and he blinked rapidly.

"Claire?" he gasped and I rolled my eyes.

"No. I'm your mom. Duh it's me. Why are you still standing here?"

"Uh.... I was.... umm," he couldn't even complete his own sentence. I sighed and rubbed my temples.

"Please don't be that person. I thought you knew better...."

He seemed to get out of his shock and he shook his head. "Yeah. Sorry. I was waiting for you, but yeah. Let's go inside and get our schedules."

Without another word, we went inside and walked into the warm office. After handing our IDs to the secretary, she came back with both papers, but only handed Nathan's his. I frowned as she faced me and looked at me with a small smile.

"It seems we have a problem with your schedule dear. You didn't choose another class to cover your Economics and Government courses so you have an incomplete schedule. Everything else stayed the same by the looks of your old one, but you have to choose two classes before noon or else we won't have a choice but to place you in Gym."

"What?" I shrieked making everyone jump. "I didn't know that!" She shrugged and handed me another sheet.

"These are the only classes that have available slots during that time. I am truly sorry about this. It should have been handled before winter vacation."

"Are you serious?" I gasped as I faced Nathan. He shrugged as well and looked down at his schedule, his eyes going wide.

"Are you serious? They actually managed to change it?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked him.

"I asked them to take me out of athletics because I am tired of being someone I'm not. I asked if there were any guitar classes during those periods and they said yes so I asked for both. But I didn't think they would be able to change it...."

"Huh?"

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "What choices do you have?" I looked at the sheet in my hands and he read over my shoulder. As I frowned at each option, Nathan gasped and pointed to the bottom.

"It's there. The piano classes are there. You should take that."

"What! No!"

"Why not? By the looks of it, you have no other choice besides Gym. Do you really want to be stuck there?"

"No," I groaned as I saw he was right.

"Well there we go," he stated and took the paper from my hands. He turned back around and spoke for me. "She'll take the piano classes, both periods." He eyed me at the last part and I nodded with a sigh. Couldn't do anything about it now as well.....

"I'm sorry, but that might be a problem. Both of those classes demand the approval of the teacher. I don't think Mr. Zee will approve of you entering this late."

I laughed and rolled my eyes. Oh I can't believe I was saying this. "Oh trust me. He will be ecstatic to have me in his class. Does he need to sign something or what?"

She nodded and handed me another sheet after she wrote down the information. I smiled and promised, "I'll be back in less than ten minutes." and walked out.

"You know if you get that signed, you're going to see my pretty face all day for the rest of the year."

"Huh?"

"We have all other classes together remember? Just because we are going to be separated by a few feet during 5th and 6th doesn't mean we won't see each other."

"Shit," I cursed, noticing be was right. He laughed as I groaned and pushed opened the door that led to the music wing. We would have kept on going if someone hadn't stopped us with their ugly words.

"So. The slut is finally coming out again....."