An unwanted feeling of anxiety came over her as she scooted herself away from him and she had no idea why. Why did they make it seem like she was caught doing something wrong? Jared's eyes hardened.

"So, what? Shouldn't we be nice, I mean we are friends, aren't we? Are we always supposed to be arguing and grumpy with each other?" He sounded defensive.

For some reason Evan gets angry. "Well let's see, you two are never nice to one another so why the sudden change?"

Jared gets up looking tense. "What the hell is your problem?"

They were face to face as Evan clenched his fists tightly, staring him down. Selena steps between the two them and pushes them apart.

"Okay! Boys calm down! Both of you are acting really stupid right now!"

Mila had enough. She stood up quickly and grabbed her things stalking away.

"Mila, where are you going?" Her friend calls out.

She turns around. They all stare at her with confusion on all their faces. But looking at hers they all take a step back. The rage she was desperately holding in was showing.

"You know what, I don't understand either one of you at all! But I'm sick of both of you acting like this. It makes me think that you two are..." She stops there and throws her hands up in the air and just walks off.

"Mila, wait!" Selena grabbed her things and ran after her giving her brother and Evan a dirty look.

They both knew what was left unsaid. They looked at each other in silence, all anger now gone. Evan reaches for his bag and slings it over his shoulder giving him a look that unnerved him.

"Sometimes I wonder about that too." He turns away from him and walks off in a different direction.

He slumps back down on the bench and exhales in distress. This wasn't working. It's becoming noticeable and he didn't like it. He had decided long ago not to even try to go for Mila. To fight for her. Evan had told him how he felt for her. But he hasn't done anything about it yet. It was becoming more and more difficult with each passing day and he wished his best friend would hurry up and end his misery.

He understood why he didn't though. He didn't blame him either. Mila is special. She's special to Evan, special to Selena, even special to him. Evan was afraid of ruining that. He knew she cared about them as well. He wasn't so sure however about himself. He believed she hated him or at least did.

Now however, he wasn't so sure. Maybe she just tolerated him because of his sister. He hadn't made it easy for her that's for sure. He was well aware of what he was doing, and he couldn't help it. He loses control when it comes to her. It drives him completely insane when he sees her with others if it wasn't him.

He thought about the sudden decision of him stating he was taking Mila to homecoming. A part of him only did it to get Evan pissed. The other part wanted so badly to take her that he used it completely to his advantage. It never occurred to him that there was a possibility that she had already been asked by someone else. Though he would have known about it.

He couldn't believe that she actually went along with it. It was really happening. She was going to the homecoming dance with him. He was such in a good mood about it that it brought all his defenses down. He didn't even mask his feelings. Just let them all fall out. Now everyone saw a sliver of it and that freaked him out.

He needed to be more careful when it came to Mila.

Frowning, he thought of the way she just stormed off angry. What if she decided to not go with him after all? What if she decided going with him was a bad idea?

Maybe he should call it off.

His shoulders slumped with heaviness with that revelation. He had to call it off. It would cause to much happiness in him to take her and that wasn't a good thing at all. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold back his feelings at all. Then everything would hit the fan. Especially if he did something really stupid.

Like kiss her senseless.

In the distance, the school bell rang for end of lunch. Getting up he started walking off to his next class knowing what he had to do. He really didn't want to do it. And just moments before he was the happiest, he's been in a while; the depression came down like a heavy sledgehammer knocking some sense back into him.

**********

Mila was lying on her bed starring up at the ceiling of her room in thought. A knock sounding at her door.

"Come in." She said solemnly.

Her grandfather walks in. "Hello pumpkin." A huge smile on his face.

"Grandpa!" She jumps in pure joy at the sound of his raspy voice.

Throwing herself into his arms the air nearly got knocked out of him. Laughing he twirled her around making her giggle.

"How is my little pumpkin doing?"

"Oh, you know, just normal teenager stuff." She shrugged her shoulders.

Grunting, he pulled her away from him and stares deeply into her eyes. She fidgeted a bit under his scrutiny. Her grandfather was her favorite person in the whole world. She told him everything. He was always her rock to lean on, her foundation when she felt lost and ready to crumble under the pressure of being a high schooler. But the one thing she had never confided him with was Jared.

She couldn't seem to share that information with anyone, even Selena. A part of her felt ashamed of their first night meeting. Yet for some reason she couldn't help the feeling of pure elation when she thought of her very first kiss. Squishing that feeling down and forcing the memory to go away she looked at her grandpa with a straight face.

She did however tell him about the time at the pond. He met all three of her friends and unfortunately for her he took to Jared like a moth takes to light. Evan he can tolerate but other than that he didn't think he was a bad kid. He just wasn't anything like his precious Jared.

Yes precious, since he completely doted on him. Including Selena who he thought was a total sweetheart.

"So, anything new in your young teenage life?" He sits on her bed and pats the spot next to him indicating for her to sit. She sits down and takes a huge breath.

"Well, I got asked to the homecoming dance." She starts out.

Gale Jackman knew his granddaughter to well. In her conversations with him, he knew she always started off what was really bothering her. She would always go straight to the point.

"And who asked you?" He asked quietly.

She pulled her hair to the side and started playing with it. Something she did whenever she was unsure of herself. "Evan."

He nodded his head as if he already expected the answer. The sound of her voice stated it wasn't as it seemed, however. "Why don't you start from the beginning."

Mila told him what had happened that afternoon about Kristan asking Jared about the dance. Which he actually knew all about. She told him about Jared using her as an excuse that he already had somebody to go with, about Evan being the one to go with Kristan and that they would all go together.

"So, wait a minute. Evan's going with Kristan but also going with you?" He seemed to be a bit confused.

She looked at him. "No, papa, Jared is going with Kris and I'm going with Evan."

He slowly nods his head, knowing there was definitely more to this story. "Go ahead, tell me what happened."

"Jared came to me after school and asked if he could go ahead and take Kristan instead. I said sure, even though I was completely confused by his sudden change of mind." She sighed heavily.

"And then Evan came and asked you?"

She just shook her head. Jared told her he felt bad about the whole thing and decided to give Kristan this one chance to feel wanted and that Evan will be the one taking her instead. She was a little shocked. Jared can't stand her cousin, so why the sudden switch? It didn't make any sense.

But it made her feel a little proud of him. That he was willing to put his own feelings aside and take Kristan to the dance, regardless of how he felt about her and her insane craziness. She was happy, wasn't she? Now that Evan would be taking her? Then why did her heart feel weighted down?

She told her grandfather how happy and proud she was of Jared, that he was willing to do this for Kristan. She just prayed that it wasn't going to make the situation worse, where her cousin's delusional fantasies lied with him.

He frowned, thinking about the situation himself. He knew his youngest granddaughter pretty well. She was spoiled beyond reason and if she didn't get anything her way, she will find any means to get it regardless who it may hurt in the process. He knew she had her sights on Jared.

Who wouldn't?

He was a handsome young man. Brilliant without a doubt. A promising future ahead of him and best of all, in Gale's perspective, he cares about and protects Mila. He decided he would have a chat with him later on this evening when him and Selena came over for dinner.

Something wasn't clicking for him. Why would he go to the trouble to say he was taking Mila just to turn around and take Kristan anyways? Maybe he did get attacked with a guilty conscious of how he handled the situation.

But Gale knew Jared would never pretend to have feelings for another when he didn't. That was another thing he liked about the young man. He was honest.

So, he told her, "Well, if he thinks he's doing the right thing, who are we to question it?"

She looked at him suspiciously. "You're going to go talk to him aren't you?"

"Without a doubt my dear."

They both laugh.

He hugs her to him and they spend the day talking, playing cards and walking to the park to find ducks in the pond. She loved spending time with him, and he always made her feel better. Without him, she didn't know how she would have survived this confusing life of hers.