PENNY

Penny ran into the tutoring center and sat down at the table in the corner.

Kyle looked up from the sheet of music that he had been surveying and smiled, "You're late for the twenty-nineth time", he said, and put the sheet of music inside his bag.

Penny groaned," Can you stop counting, Kyle?"

Kyle laughed, "But it's fun!"

Penny frowned at him, which made Kyle grin even more. His blue-gray eyes crinkled around the corners and his golden brown hair looked almost blonde in the bright lighting of the tutoring center.

"Okay, sorry Kyle, for being late for the twenty-nineth time", said Penny.

Kyle smiled and opened the math book lying in between them, then looked up at her and gave her a solemn nod," Apology accepted", then he grinned again, "for the twenty-nineth time."

Penny flipped the cover of her math book and Kyle laughed again. He laughed so heartily, she couldn't really help but smile.

But Penny looked at him seriously again,"Thanks, Kyle, for taking some time out for me. I know how busy you are, with the Battle of the Bands and all..."

Kyle smiled again, "No problem at all, Penny. It gives me a break from all the music."

Penny looked at him uncertainly, "Aren't musicians like 'Music for breakfast, music for lunch and music for dinner' ?"

Kyle laughed loudly at that, "Who told you that?"

Penny blushed for sounding so stupid, "I don't know. Musicians feel like religious people."

Kyle closed his eyes, as if trying to control his grinning, "You, know what? We'll talk about religious musicians tomorrow at homecoming, where you are going with me as my date."

Penny sat back, kind of surprised by the sudden offer. Their conversation had escalated really quickly, " Me? As your date? What about Vanessa?"

Kyle's smile disappeared, "I broke up with her."

Penny's smile dropped as well, "Why?"

Kyle placed his elbows on the desk, "First, I was on my way to break up with her when I caught her cheating on me with some weird frat boy."

"And why were you on your way to break up with her?", Penny asked.

"Because I thought I was cheating on her when I started getting  much stronger feelings for someone else", Kyle said, looking straight into her eyes.

And Penny just said, "Oh."

"So? Are we going together?"

Penny looked down. What about Matt? What about Emma? She hadn't had a proper conversation with her best friend for about a month now. She hadn't even met Matt for like three weeks, leaving basketball practices out. Matt hadn't asked her to be his date, and she did want to hold out on him. Maybe if she went with somebody else, he could ask Emma out without feeling guilty. And it was Kyle. The guy who somehow miraculously ended up at the park every time she went there. He was the sweetest, most intelligent guy she knew, and she had this wide open opportunity to be with him.

Kyle looked at her nervously, "Did I do something wrong? You are the second girl I've ever asked out, I-I don't really have p-practice. Oh God, I forgot about your recent situation. It's Matt isn't it? That's why you're not going with me", He rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes, "How can I be so dumb? I should have known that I would put you in an awkward position", Kyle sat up straight and loosed a breath, "You know what? Just forget I-I ever asked you. Let's f-focus on Calculus..."

Penny smiled and put her hand on his shoulder, "Kyle, relax. I'll go with you."

MATT

"So, what do I do about homecoming?", Matt whispered to Shane in the library," who do I ask?"

Shane looked up from the comic book he was reading, while Kevin was sitting next to Matt, completing his assignment.

"You don't ask anyone, bro."

"But why?", asked Matt loudly. Shane and Kevin winced. They knew what would happen now.

The librarian hurried to their table, put her finger to her lips and said,"SHHHHHH! If you make one more sound gentlemen, I'm kicking you out."

"Sorry", Matt muttered.

"See, man, if you ask one girl out, the other feels bad. So you don't ask any of them out. But, ask somebody else out. Make 'em jealous, see how they react", said Shane smiling slyly as Kevin snorted beside Matt.

Matt rolled his eyes, "I've tried the jealous theory, Shane. It didn't work out as I had planned."

Shane grinned," It worked better, dawg! You got two shawtys waiting in line for you now."

Matt glared at him, and Kevin put a hand on his mouth to control his laughter.

But Shane did have a point. If he asked one of them out, the other would feel bad. He couldn't let that happen. When had his life become so complicated?

"Okay."

"Hey, Kevin what if Will takes Emma out?", Shane asked, in mock concern.

"Shane I'll fucking murder you!", Matt shouted.

The librarian came back, smiling widely, "Thank you, I had been waiting to kick you three out."

"But I didn't even do anything!",. Kevin protested.

"Well, too bad you are with these two."

"Thanks for not letting me complete this assignment you jackasses", Kevin murmured shouldering his bag.

When they were outside, Matt bumped into Kyle.

"Sorry man",he muttered.

"It's okay, Matt. I wanted to meet you anyway", Kyle said, then looked at Shane and Kevin,"Um guys, can we talk alone?"

Shane and Kevin raised their eyebrows but did not say anything and walked ahead, leaving Matt and Kyle behind.

Matt frowned. Why did Kyle want to talk to him alone?

"What happened, man? You look nervous", asked Matt.

"Matt, um, I asked Penny to homecoming. Just wanted to make sure you were okay with it."

Rage, cold rage spread in Matt's heart. Kyle asked Penny. Kyle asked Penny to the homecoming. Maybe the rage showed on his face, because Kyle cautiously took a step back.

He felt like knocking Kyle's feet out from under him.

Matt shook his head. He had never been the violent one. It had always been Will. Then why did he feeling like making Kyle a punching bag all of a sudden?

He took a deep breath, "Of course, Kyle. You can take anyone you want."

Kyle tried for a small smile,"Um, I knew about you guy's past, so I just wanted to make sure you were okay with it."

Matt patted Kyle's shoulder,"It's okay, man. Thanks for caring."

As Matt walked to the water cooler, a girl walked up to him.

"Hi Matt", she said, "I'm Lillian. I was wondering if you would like to go to homecoming with me."

Matt stepped back surprised. The confidence with which she asked him was inspiring. And she was really pretty. She had sun-kissed skin, pretty green eyes and red hair,  and had this arrogant air around her. Maybe he could go with her. And, this small terrible part of him wanted to see what kind of reaction he could get out of Emma.

"Hi, Lillian. Um, sure. I'll go to homecoming with you."

She smiled,"Great."

She took Matt's phone from his hand, dialled her number and then called her own phone.

"I'll text you my address. Pick me up by seven. Oh, and you can call me Lily."

WILL

Will walked into the corridor and he almost ran over a girl holding a big pile of books. He put an arm on her back, straightening her.

He looked her over and sucked in a breath. 

She was beautiful. 

She was a cute, petite girl with luscious chocolate brown curls, and big hazel eyes behind some oversized glasses.

"I-I'm sorry", she said not meeting his eyes.

"Please don't be", Will said gently,"the fault was all mine."

The other girls around them were eyeing them. He heard Chloe and Vanessa talking loudly, "There he is, with another virgin. Such a perfect waste of an amazing body."

"I so agree with you", Vanessa said

The girl blushed and looked down, embarrassed. Will scowled. Why hadn't he noticed Chloe's or Vanessa's behavior when they were dating?

"What's your name?",he asked.

"Olivia."

"Hi Olivia, I'm Will", he said.

"I know",she said.

Will looked down, embarrassed. She knew who he was, but he had never really noticed her before. But he had seen her somewhere.

To answer that, she said,"We have Biology together."

"Oh, yeah. I know", Will lied. He pointed to the books,"That looks like a big pile, I'll carry them for you if you want."

"Oh, no, that's okay-", she began, but Will cut her off.

"Please, I insist."

She nodded and handed the books over to him. As soon as he took hold of them, he winced. These books were heavy. Olivia must be really strong.

"So, where are we taking these?", he asked.

"To my car", she replied and they set off down the corridor, Will ignoring everybody looking at him. But Olivia seemed to be having a hard time.

"Hey, are you okay?", he asked.

"Y-yeah", she said.

They reached the parking lot and put the books in the trunk of Olivia's Toyota.

He put a hand on Olivia's shoulder which made her stiffen. Bad move, he thought, and removed his hand, clearing his throat, "Don't pay attention to them, Olivia. People try to tear you down when they are jealous of you. And remember, you are beautiful."

Olivia became a dark shade of red, "Thanks, Will."

Will smiled. Shane's words swam in his head. Don't ask Emma out. Think about Matt. What if he asked Olivia to the homecoming? He ran a hand through his hair. Olivia was really beautiful and way out of his league. But what was the harm in asking, right?

"Hey, do you wanna go to the homecoming with me?", he asked, using all the courage that he could muster. Olivia's eyes widened. She then scowled and looked around.

Will panicked. Did he say something wrong?

"Is this a prank? Am I being filmed?", she asked, looking really pissed off.

This completely surprised Will. Why would she think she was being filmed?

"No", he said," why would you think that?"

"Its just that, you jocks have a kind of reputation", she said and blushed.

Will felt embarrassed. Of course he would be labelled like that. He had made the biggest mistake of his life by dating Chloe after all.

"Well, I'm not like them. I'm sincere about the proposal. So, will you be my date?", he asked.

Olivia thought for a moment. Much more, than a moment, so much that it made Will extremely uncomfortable. He was not used to rejection.

And thankfully did not have to face the rejection when she said, "Okay."

EMMA

Emma walked down the corridor towards the the running track for practice when she felt everybody's  eyes on her.

"Why is Matt going with that skank?" one girl muttered to another.

"Why is Will going with that virgin?", the other one replied.

Emma walked ahead. She did not know what they were talking about.

"I should have asked him first. He would have come", another girl said to her friend.

Emma turned around and walked, almost ran to the parking lot and pulled out her phone to call Shane. He picked up after a few ring.

"What's up, girl?", he asked.

"Do Matt and Will have dates to the homecoming?", she asked.

"Uh, yeah."

Emma's heart felt like lead. None of them thought of asking her? 

"Why didn't you tell me?". Emma asked sadly.

"Uh... Emma, I myself told them to not ask you out. Think about Penny. Think about both of them. If you went with one of them, the other would feel bad. So figure your shit out before going out with either of them."

"Well, I'll stay at home then", Emma said sadly.

"Nonsense, girl. There will be many guys waiting to ask you out. You're damn fine."

"But I don't wanna go with other guys."

"Then you're going with me and Kevin", Shane said, "As friends", he added,"And you're gonna look so fine that you gonna knock 'em dead."