Shock went throughout her entire body as she stared at him. "W-what?"

He looked down at her, pleading with his eyes to play along. Then she completely understood what he was asking of her. Damn if it didn't make her feel a bit giddy that he hadn't asked some random girl to go to homecoming with him. She squashed that feeling down really quick.

"Of course. I forgot to mention he had asked me yesterday, but only as friends." She quickly added. "He didn't know who exactly to ask and just wanted to get it out of the way and he said..." Her mind then went blank.

Sensing her failing attempt on a lie, he quickly picked it up. "I said that I couldn't very well go with my sister because that would be just weird."

Mila frowned at him. "R-Right. So, I said sure why not." Her laugh was only halfhearted.

"Oh really? There's like hundreds of girls that would love to go with you and you just happen to ask Mila?" Evan asked, fully aware of what Jared was trying to do.

"Well, it's just that I know Mila and feel more comfortable going with her."

Selena covered her mouth really trying to hold in her laughter. She seemed to find this situation very amusing.

Jared shifted on his feet as he noticed the hurt look on Kristan's face. "But..." he started out as he also noticed the anger. "Evan doesn't have a date. Perhaps we can all go together?" He asked sheepishly.

His friend scowled at first but then within a second it changed into a smile. "You know what, why the hell not." He looks directly at Kristan. "How about it? Want to go to the dance with me?"

Her indecision was apparent, since more than likely Evan was the last person she wanted to go with. She let out an annoyed sigh. "Only if we all go together." She said firmly.

Mila just realized that she was going on a date with Jared. She had hoped that Evan was going to ask her but since the homecoming was next weekend, she figured he just didn't want to go. She had been disappointed that he hadn't asked her.

But then she was kind of glad she was going with Jared instead. Maybe it was better, that way he wasn't constantly checking up on her or saying snide remarks on whoever could have been her date.

"Well, I'm not going." Selena announced dryly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, no one asked me." She shrugged like it was no big deal.

Mila could tell that it was though. For the past year that was all Selena had talked about. She had been so excited about the shopping, about what boy was going to ask her.

Jared gave an exasperated sigh and hung his head back. "I'll be right back." Then he just took off.

"Where's he going?" Kristan asked, a bit put out by him leaving.

Mila shrugged her shoulders as they all watched his retrieving back. "Who knows with him."

"I do." Evan said.

They all turned to him and stared. He looked up to see all three females looking at him. He stood up straighter. "What?"

"Are you just going to leave us hanging like that?" Selena looked a little annoyed by his lack of information.

He slowly looked at each of them, then shrugged. "Well...yeah I am."

Selena threw up her hands and scoffed. Kristan started to walk away. "Well, I'm going to follow him."

"Kris don't." Mila said firmly.

Her cousin stops in her tracks and slowly faces her. "Excuse me?" Her voice was icy.

"Don't follow him. He doesn't like it." She wasn't going to back down with her. To be honest she hated that her cousin was always pestering Jared. He was her friend and right now she wanted to protect him, as oddly as that may have felt.

Kristan stomped right up in her face making her stiffen. "You know, you're my cousin. You knew I liked him, a lot, and yet you're the one going to homecoming with him. Some real loyalty there Mila."

She jerked at that. Shame washed over her knowing she was right. They were family after all. They should be having each other backs but Kristan made it hard to do so. It's not like she was the one who had done this to her in the first place. Jared did. Now it was her fault? He was the one that stated it, even before she knew what was going on. He never even asked her. He just put it right out there.

She went along with it though. Her drive to help Jared out of a tricky situation overrode the drive to be loyal to her own flesh and blood. Was she a horrible person for doing it? Maybe, but at the moment she didn't care.

She sighed. "Kristan look-"

Kristan didn't even bother as she turned her back on her and walked off in the direction Jared had went too.

"I'm going to kill your brother." She growled to Selena

"Please do." Her best friend shoots back looking a bit depressed.

"If you ask me, she deserved it. She doesn't know when to just stop." Evan added in, shaking his head at Kristan.

They all sat there talking as they waited for Jared to get back from whatever it was he was doing. When they finally saw his tall figure, looking quite pleased with himself they noticed he wasn't alone.

Ian Carmichael strode next to him looking somewhat embarrassed and like he just wanted to bolt in the other direction. Halfway, Jared stopped him and said something that none of them could hear. He then turned at them and jogged the rest of the way over.

"Hey guys." He said catching his breath from the short run. "Sel, Ian wants to have a word with you."

Selena sat frozen to the spot her eyes big. "Jared you didn't." she whimpered.

"I didn't. Saw him by the cafeteria looking for you apparently." He grinned as he sat next to her.

Mila didn't know what was going on, but she knew Selena had the hugest crush on Ian since the ninth grade. If she thought back to her and Jared's conversation the other night about Ian's possible feelings, then maybe this was his way of finally getting the two together.

Selena slowly stood up from her seat and started walking towards her crush, who looked just as nervous as she did. Mila sat down next to Jared and they all watched them waiting to see what was going to happen.

They couldn't hear anything but by their body language and the expressions on their faces it was going pretty damn well. They both broke out in huge smiles. Then Ian swooped her in a tight hug. As they broke apart, he went to go walk away while saying something. Selena then turned in their direction looking like the happiest girl in the world.

Mila couldn't help noticing the sudden tense way Jared was sitting. She looked at him and started laughing. He was wearing a pained expression as he swallowed hard. He looked over at her.

"What are you laughing at?"

"You. You're not doing a very good job at pretending to give an overprotective look Jared."

He started laughing. "What can I say, I like the guy and I know I can trust him with my sister."

She smiled at him shaking her head. Evan frowned at them both. "What's going on with you two?" he asked with a bit of hostility.

Just then Selena reached them and stopped in her tracks frowning as well. "What, are they fighting again?"

"That's just it, they're not. They're actually being nice to each other." Evan stands up suddenly and glares down at them both.

And they both froze where they sat.