He had dated Cassie every night this week, except for her girls’ night Thursday night, and he had missed her a lot last night. He had been neglecting homework and barely had his mind on practice all week. He frowned. He didn’t like the fact that she took over his thoughts all the time now. Maybe he didn’t really want what Liz and Max had. It was too overwhelming and scary, and Kyle didn’t like feeling tied down to one person. To have to answer to them. Not that Cassie ever asked him to. She’d been great. But maybe that was the problem. She was too good to be true, and Kyle was waiting for something to go wrong. ************************* Cassie waited for Liz in the library after school to work on more of their project. She yawned as she waited. Every night this week she had barely gotten any sleep. She smiled as she remembered why. Even after dating all week, Kyle would call her when he got home from dropping her off, and they would talk on the phone until late. And last night, because they hadn’t seen each other, they had talked until 3am after she had gotten home from the girls night. She was amazed at how quickly she and Kyle had gotten so comfortable with each other. And how much she enjoyed talking with Kyle about anything and everything. She was surprised at how fast she had gone from coming home alone to no one and not having anyone but her cat Frosting to talk to, to having some girl friends to actually share things with, and now Kyle! It was almost too good to be true. And she couldn’t help but feel a twinge, for it really was too good to be true. And in the back of her mind she remembered that she didn’t deserve to be happy. Then she pushed that thought aside.

Liz came into the library after school and found Cassie waiting for her. She hoped her earlier lunchtime crying spell didn’t show on her face. Maria and Isabel had helped her put cold water on her eyes in the bathroom and cover the rest of the red with make-up. Liz hoped these emotional outbursts stopped soon! This emotional roller coaster was driving her crazy, and she knew it was scaring the hell out of Max. Poor Max. And the rest of the gang too. She tried not to laugh as she thought back to Alex and Michael’s faces at lunch. She also felt bad for Maria and Isabel, because she was sure this would make their guys hesitate about having babies of their own someday.

“Hey Cassie.” Liz smiled as she put her backpack down and took out her books.

“Hey.” Cassie smiled back. She thought Liz looked a little pale and she frowned remembering how Liz had felt faint the other morning. And then she remembered the gossip about the eraser room from the other day as well. And the one this morning. Boy, Liz had been busy lately.

“Ah, so you and Max are okay right?” Cassie asked as Liz sat down. “I mean, I heard part of what happened this morning. How that… Tina tried to cause trouble for you and Max. You didn’t fall for it did you? Cause I’ve seen the way Max looks at you Liz and there is no way…”

Liz laughed warmly as Cassie tried to defend Max. She was touched that Cassie wanted to make sure that Liz was okay. “Yeah, we’re fine. I didn’t believe it for a second.” Liz winked.

Cassie blushed. “So that rumor is true? You…showed Tina how wrong she was?”

Liz laughed again. She guessed Barbie had had a field day with that story. Not only had Tina not gotten a response, but that Liz had showed them how much of one she could get. She turned red thinking about it; now that she was calm she couldn’t believe she had done that. Poor Max! If he stayed with her after all this…

“I don’t know what came over me, but she made me so mad.”

“I think I would have felt better if I had slapped her like you did.” Cassie winked.

“Not when she was still all smug about it. She made me so angry. I wanted to pull her hair out, but then I just wanted to show her how pathetic she was. Geesh! Poor Max!”

Cassie’s soft musical laughter turned some heads in the library. Liz saw how the new haircut, had lifted and fluffed up her hair, and how the right shampoo and conditioners and hot oil treatments they had given Cassie last night made her hair shine even more. And the eye-make up they had played around with really set her eyes off. Liz was pleased at how much better it seemed to make Cassie feel about herself as well.

“So, you ready for our date tonight?” Liz asked as she pushed a strand of hair out of her face, and opened the page in her notebook with their project notes.

“Ah…yeah. I guess.” Cassie said hesitantly with a frown.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s probably nothing. I’m just over tired. Kyle just seemed a little…distant today is all. I’m sure everything’s okay. I guess I still just can’t believe how lucky I am, and I’m always expecting the worst to happen to change this sudden luck back again.”

Liz felt for Cassie. She remembered how when she had first fallen head over for Max, and how she had waited for something to go wrong, and then it had. But only to correct itself again. That fear was normal. But not fun.

“Cassie, you and Kyle were meant. I can tell.” Liz smiled assuredly and watched as Cassie smiled.

“Well, we’ll see. Let’s get to work though, so we don’t have to work on this over the weekend.” Cassie sighed and Liz nodded.

*****************

Kyle swore as he sat down on the bench with the coach and the assistant over him. His finger was killing him and he cursed himself for being so stupid. He knew it was broken. He knew better than to get distracted during a game or practice. And he knew he had to stop this whole distraction problem. He would have to take things more casually with Cassie. Maybe just see her less. Maybe date others so as not to make Cassie too important to him.

He knew he was out of the rest of today’s practice and that the coach would try to keep him out of practice the rest of the weekend and maybe part of next week as well. The coach knew Kyle was ready, and he wanted him well enough to play next weekend. But Kyle couldn’t miss practice this next week. He needed to get the plays down just right with the guys. And he needed to set up their runs and his passes until they were perfect. He was furious with himself, and would make sure he practiced all next week even though the coach, his dad and the doctor might argue. And he would make sure nothing like this happened again.

****************

Kyle left the locker room and headed toward his car with his backpack slung over one arm. He had taken some aspirin for the pain and had his finger in a splint, but he was in a foul mood.

When Tina Owens stepped in front of him he was not pleased to see her.

“Hey Kyle! How’s my favorite football star?” she flirted, tilting her head to one side and batting her eyelashes.

“Better than you from what I’ve heard.” He said dryly.

Anger shot from Tina’s eyes as they narrowed on him. “Watch it Kyle. You have nothing to be smug about. Liz Parker dropped you flat for that guy if you remember. I thought you would be glad to see them broken up.” She retorted.

Kyle just shook his head. “You thought wrong. I wouldn’t stoop that low ever Tina. Especially when I know how useless it would be. I can’t believe you actually thought you could take Max Evan’s interest from Liz!” He said amazed.

Tina huffed and stalked off. Kyle felt a little better having told her off. But he was still angry about his finger.

“She deserved that Kyle.” Another voice said from behind him.

Kyle turned to see one of Tina’s cheerleading friends, Susan Altman standing there smiling. He couldn’t help but look her over. She was the sexiest cheerleader on the team. She had long blond hair and a build that was to die for. And she wore her cheerleading outfits to perfection. He had dated her for a while before he had dated Liz. She was pretty decent compared to most of the other cheerleaders and friends she hung out with.

“Hey Susan. How was your cheerleading practice? You girls ready for the big game?” he asked with a light smile. There was no reason to take his anger out on her.

“Yeah, but I head what happened to you? Are you going to be okay? Will you be able to play in next weekends game?” she really looked worried.

“Yeah, I’ll play never doubt it.” Kyle said, and then saw Cassie walking out of the building with Liz out of the corner of his eye.

His first instinct was to jog over to her and offer her a ride home, but then he bit back the impulse. He was going to treat Cassie more casually he reminded himself. He knew they had a date tonight with Liz and her gang, but that didn’t mean he had to only see her.

“Hey Susan, what have you got planned this weekend? Say tomorrow night?” Kyle asked suddenly.

Susan blinked. “Just the usually party at Barbie’s house. You planning on going?” she asked.

“Depends? If you’ll go with me or not?” Kyle smiled.

Susan smiled and looked surprised. “Sure.”

“Okay, great.” Kyle said and felt a little better. He would just take the dating thing more casually. No more heavy feelings for one girl. He would keep his goal on his football career, and not get tied down emotionally to one girl. He was sure Cassie would be okay with that. After all, they had just started seeing each other. They could just casually date so it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. Girls like Cassie could get a guy in a lot of trouble with eyes like hers. He needed to stay focused.

He caught Cassie’s eyes as she and Liz passed not to far away, but he only nodded and turned back to Susan.

*********** Cassie swallowed and tried to keep the sting out of her eyes as she passed Kyle, and walked with Liz over to the parking lot.

Liz frowned at Kyle, but he wasn’t even looking at them. What the heck was wrong with him!? She had seen the look between Cassie and Kyle, and how Kyle’s eyes had lit up for a second, and then had quickly lowered to hide it, and then he had turned back to Susan Altman.

“Cassie. Don’t let that bother you. Guys are stupid that way. I’m sure he’s just panicked. Guys get that way when they realize how much they actually care for someone. And I know he cares for you a lot.”

“Whatever. He can do what ever he wants.” Cassie said casually.

“I’m sure you two are still going out tonight. I’m sure Kyle will call with a good explanation. Will you call me about tonight? I want you to go no matter what happens with you and Kyle okay?” Liz asked.

Cassie wasn’t sure if Kyle was going to still want to go out tonight, and she wasn’t even sure she would want to with the way he had acted all day, but she would wait and at least see what he had to say for himself. But either way, she would go bowling with her new friends.