=As soon as Dex saw Biana running towards him in the hall with a big smile on her face, he knew that he had lost the bet. Darn, he could have really used that babysitting promise. It wasn't a problem to make her a necklace, she had helped him with the whole Sophie thing, but that didn't mean he wanted to make her a necklace. He didn't want to make it for her, only to see her smile fade when she saw it. "Nothing would be good enough for her. She's so... so..." Dex's thoughts were interrupted by two teal eyes.

"Dex! Guess what?" She was practically jumping with excitement, which made Dex smile.

"What?" He asked, wanting to make her happy. She was like sunshine, melting the ice in anyone's heart.

"Sophie and Fitz are eachothers' number ones! Do you know what that means?"

"That I owe you a necklace?" He closed his locker without tearing his eyes away from her.

"Yes! Oh my gosh, I'm so excited! It's going to be so beautiful, I just know it!"

Panic rose in Dex's throat. He didn't think she'd be this excited. That meant when she saw it, she'd be even more dissapointed. He didn't want to be the cloud covering her light. "Are you sure you want me to make it?"

Biana's smile faultered, "is it too much trouble?"

His eyes widened a little. Why would she want him to make her a necklace? There were plenty of professional jewelry designers that made much better necklaces than he did."No-no. I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't one on the market you really wanted. Nothing is too much trouble." For you.

"Are you sure, because-" Biana started, but Dex cut her off, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm positive. I will make you the best necklace I could ever make," and he would, for the girl who helped him through something he was certain he wouldn't have been able to get through himself since he was so stubborn.

Her smile came back once more, the cloud gone. "Thanks, Dex, that means a lot, and I'll still come help babysit the triplets when you need me."

"You don't have to do that, you won the bet."

"Just because I promised that I would if I lost the bet doesn't mean I don't want to do it, now does it?"

He stared at her in awe for a second before replying. "No, I guess it doesn't."

"Great! So I'll be there after school today?"

Dex blinked. "Uh- yeah, yeah, of course."

"Alright, it's all set then. I'll see you at lunch!" She waved, and Dex couldn't help but watch as her cape swished out of view. He was so distracted that he didn't notice Stina behind him.

"You aren't falling for her, are you? She's a Vacker, way out of your league, Diznee." The bully smirked wickedly.

He sighed and rolled his eyes, turning to her reluctantly. "Don't you have better things to do than torment me like, like stomp on flower patches?"

"Ha, ha Diznee. Very funny. I would have better things to do if this wasn't so perfect. The beauty and the ugly nerd." She sneered.

Maruca, Biana's ex best friend, joined Stina in the bullying. "Which one are you calling an ugly nerd again?"

Without thinking, Dex slapped her and left, leaving the two girls wide eyed and fuming. He didn't care that he had slapped her, but Stina's words kept ringing in his head. "You aren't falling for her, are you?" Was he falling for her? No, he couldn't be. He didn't want to. She, like Sophie, was out of his league, and falling for Sophie hurt. He didn't need that kind of pain again. He would fight to only see her as the girl who helped him get over his hopeless crush on Sophie Foster.

There were twenty minutes left until lunch, when Master Leto, who was the headmaster of the school, took him out of his session early. Dex knew that he was going to get in trouble for hitting Maruca, but he also knew that Master Leto was secretly disguised as a member of the Black Swan, so he didn't really know what to expect. They walked down the hall in silence for a moment, before the headmaster spoke.

"I have recived a complaint from Miss Maruca that you've struck her across the face. Is that true?"

Dex swallowed, "yes sir, but she insulted my friend-"

Master Leto put a hand up to silence him. "I figured as much, but you can't strike everyone who insults your friends, alright? You all are special, so naturally, you'll get an equal amount of praise and taunt. It's impossible, and frankly, illegal, to slap so many people."
He nodded nervously, "does this mean I have detention?"

The headmaster shook his head, "no, you do not, but as far as everyone else is concerned, you've been given a special assignment in place of it. I suggest you camp out in the library for lunch. You may head there now, if you like."

The worry of being put in detention was lifted off his chest instantly. "Thank you, sir."

Smiling, Master Leto waved his hand to shoo him. "Now go, the halls will be crowded soon enough."

He nodded, then headed to the library like he had been advised. Once there, he sat at the little table in the corner, and pulled out his notebook. Now would be a perfect time to start sketching ideas for the necklace he had promised Biana. Dex worked hard to sketch ideas that she might like, but he was never satisfied them. Soon, he was plagued with enough doubt that he was uninspired. He just stared at the page and thought back to a few weeks ago when he and Biana were at Slurps n' Burps together, sitting on the counter, waiting for Sophie and Fitz to come so they could split up to find Bex.

The rest of the search party had just left, and Dex was sitting on the counter, worrying about his sister, just wanting to get out there and find her, not wait for his crush to bring back wonderboy. "What's so great about him?" He thought, "why does she like him?"

Biana had been staring out the window when Dex had first zoned out, but when he snapped back into reality, she was staring at him. Awkwardly, he asked, "is there something wrong?"

"I should be the one asking you. Care to share what's on your mind?" She pulled herself up onto the counter next to him.

"It's nothing. I'm just worried about my sister." He lied. It was something, and he wasn't just worried about his sister. "Sophie is taking forever."

"She is." Biana agreed, looking out the window again. "That worries me."

"Maybe she's canoodling with Fitz." He said with disgust, immediately feeling guilty for saying such a thing about her.

"I think we both know that they're not. They're not that kind of people."

He sighed, looking at his feet, "then what's taking them so long? Should we go get them?"
"No, they can't come until they've sorted it out."

"Sorted what out?"

"The guilt. A member of the Neverseen kidnapped a member of her family. She probably thinks that it's her fault."

"But it's not her fault. She didn't do any of this." Dex defended quickly.

"You, and I both know that, but she doesn't."

"Then we should go to her, to help her! We're her friends after all."

Biana shook her head, "no. She needs Fitz. They're cognates, closely linked. Only Fitz knows exactly what she needs to hear."

He balled his fists. "Why him? If I was a telepath instead of a stupid tecnopath, we could be-"

"No, you couldn't." Biana closed her eyes. "Sophie and Fitz have a special connection. He was the one that found her, that brought her here from the terrible human world. So even if you were a telepath, she would still be cognates with Fitz. Their connection has deeper roots than any other connection they have with anyone in the world. I'm sorry, but you can't beat that."

"But we're family-" he protested, but she cut him off.

"-yes. You're family."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Anger flooded through his body. What did she know about how he felt?

"I know you like Sophie." Her eyes opened again, then turned to him. "I know you like Sophie, and that you know that she likes Fitz."

"So?"

"So why don't you move on?"

His heart sank. "Move on? What do you mean? I can't abandon her."

"You won't be abandoning her, you'll be allowing yourself to fall for someone else, someone who will take care of you, and won't hurt you. As for her, there will be one less obstical between her and Fitz, making it easier for their relationship to strengthen."

"Why would you think that it hurts to like her?" For some reason, Dex couldn't speak above a whisper.

She looked away, "because it hurts to love someone who doesn't love you back."

It was Dex's turn to look at her. Who could she like, who wouldn't like her back? She was beautiful, kind, clever, funny, strong, everything you could want in a person. Who in the world didn't love Biana Vacker? He realized that she was being genuine, and actually did know what she was talking about. He decided to consider what she had to say.

He changed the topic so she didn't have to think about it. "So... how do you suggest I move on?"

"You could always confess, or fall for someone else." She suggested.

"But I don't want him to hurt her."

"Then why don't you tell him?"

Shocked, he blinked, "you mean Fitz?"

"Yeah, I mean Fitz. Tell Fitz how you're worried about him hurting Sophie."

"I can't- I can't do that. That'd be... weird."

"So suddenly telling someone your feelings is weird?" Biana raised an eyebrow.

"No- I mean- I mean-" he sighed, defeated. "Maybe. Maybe I'll do that."

"Well, do you feel better talking about it now?"

He stayed quiet. He did feel a little better, but he didn't want to admit that she was right.

"Well, don't you?"

All he had replied was "Thanks, Biana." before Sophie and Fitz had walked in.

Next, Dex thought to after Bex had been found and Sophie had woken up, when Biana's words had been rattling in his head for a while. He had requested his first matchmakers list to see where Sophie would fall onto it. Sadly, he found that she wasn't on the list at all. He remembered crying over that, and calling Biana. He remembered how his heart raced as he waited for her to pick up, how his hands shook as he held his imparter. He didn't know why he was calling her, but somehow his fingers had typed her number without thinking.

"Hello?" Biana's face appeared onto the screen, looking very confused. "Dex? Oh Dex! Is everything okay?"

"I-I-I got my list, a-and..." his voice trailed off, and more tears fell.

"She's not on it, is she?" She finished for him. "I'm so sorry, is there anything I can do to help?"

He sniffed, not knowing what he wanted from her. He still didn't even know why he had called. "Could you... could you tell me how you handle it? Unrequitted love?"

Biana looked uncomfortable, but nodded. "Yeah, of course."

She had talked to him for what seemed like ages, and he had hung on every work she said. Smiling at the good memories, Dex stared at the page of sketches, not noticing that Sophie was looking over his shoulder. "Biana's necklace, I assume?"

He jumped in his seat, and she stepped back. "Whoa, are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, I just didn't see you there. Would you mind helping me?" He was amazed at the fact that his heart wasn't racing because Sophie was here.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"I can't think of the perfect design. I've tried to design things, but it all looks like stuff she already has!" Dex rested his head on the desk, feeling defeated.

She thought for a moment. "Well... I don't know. She has a lot of jewelry that's made with precious stones, but I don't know if she has a locket."

"A locket? What's a locket?" He asked hopefully.

"It's a human thing," she explained, "it's a necklace that has a pendent that opens up, a picture of someone you love."

"But she has so many people that she loves, do you have any more ideas?"

"Flowers, maybe? She likes lillies best."

Finally, it hit him. Quickly, he sketched a drawing of a necklace with a lily pendent, but, the petals each open up to show a different picture of someone she loves. It was brilliant!

"Thanks, Sophie! I have the perfect idea now!"

"It's no problem. I'd love to stay and chat, but the bell is about to ring. Make sure you go to class on time, okay?"

"Uh-huh. Don't worry, I just finished!" He closed his notebook.

"Alright, shall we walk to class together?"

"Sure," she gave him one of her beautiful smiles, but still, his heart didn't flutter. All he could think about was how he hoped Biana liked this necklace. At this rate, maybe he was falling for her after all.