In the morning of Christmas Eve, James, Maxine, Alex, and Todd were having the same breakfast as yesterday.

Nobody made a noise other than the clank of the metal against the plates. You could feel the tension in the air. Only Alex remained to be oblivious.

Until finally, he spoke.

“Todd, are you gonna play with me today?” asked Alex hopefully.

“Not today,” said Todd, shaking his head. “Sorry, little dude.”

The five-year-old frowned. “Are you gonna see the pretty girl again?” he asked irritably.

Todd nodded once.

“Awe,” groaned Alex, pouting. “You and Maxine are gonna divorce?”

Todd and Maxine's lips twitched.

“Alex,” snapped Maxine, “will you please stop saying that? Todd and I are not going to have a divorce because first of all, we’re not married.” She paused before continuing a bit quietly, “And we are never going to be married.”

But then, Maxine faintly remembered that she and Todd did marry each other – though, it was not quite real.

Strange. Even if it wasn’t real, she couldn't find the courage to throw the ring away. Todd was probably right. She was going to have that in her memory for the rest of her life. What he didn't know was, she chose not to forget. Even if it wasn't real, she at least want to remember that they shared something like that.

“But . . .” continued Alex, “But I – I heard Mom say that Todd and you married in the Marriage Tooth.”

“Marriage Tooth . . . ?” repeated James, turning to Todd and Maxine. “Does he mean Marriage Booth?” He burst out laughing. “Oh, man. Did you two got married in a Marriage Booth?”

Maxine felt her cheeks heat up, while Todd ignored James and turned to her.

“Did you tell Aunt Natalie about it?” he whispered.

“No,” she whispered indignantly. “Did you tell Aunt Janice?”

“I won't do something so idiotic as that,” he said quietly.

“Then, how —”

“I thought you like each other, that’s all,” sighed Alex suddenly, cutting off Maxine. “Mommy said people who get married like each other. She also said that Todd could be my brother if that happens. And — and Dad and Mom got married ‘cause they like each other. But when Dad went out with another pretty girl, they got divorced.” He scratched his curly little head. “Todd and Maxine got married at the Marriage Tooth. And then, Todd is going out with another pretty girl. It means you’ll get divorced too, right?”

A sudden rush of sadness tugged Maxine.

She didn't notice how the divorce of their parents affected him. He always looked so cheerful. And he didn't seem quite bothered that their father wasn't staying with them anymore. She thought that he was too young to understand.

Her little brother looked so innocent and young, yet he knew a lot . . . And he understood a lot.

“Alex . . .” she said quietly. She softly patted Alex's head, and waited until he looked up at her. When he did, she whispered, “The Marriage Booth is not real. Todd and I are not married. He's free to go out with the pretty girl, all right?”

“And you’re already like a brother to me, Alex,” Todd pipe in, effortlessly reaching over the table to pat the little boy's head. “Even if your sister and I are not married, you’ll still be like a brother to me. Besides, you’re too young to worry about marriages. Don’t think about it, okay?”

Alex looked at them suspiciously for quite a while. Slowly, his face broke into a smile, making Todd and Maxine sigh in relief.

“Okay, cool!” exclaimed Alex brightly.

After the last word, he resumed eating his breakfast.

“So,” started James conversationally. “Did you guys really got married at a Marriage Booth?”

“Not by will,” answered Maxine grimly.

“Does that mean you were forced?”

Maxine opened her mouth to speak, but only one look at Todd and she closed it again. He was clearly glaring at James. Knowing Todd, Maxine already knew what he was about to say.

“I don’t see how this concerns you, James,” said Todd coldly.

“Fine,” breathed James, rolling his eyes. “You’re gonna spend Christmas Eve with Maggie, though?”

“It’s only Christmas Eve,” said Todd nonchalantly.

“Huh,” snorted James.

Todd stopped eating and looked at James.

“Do you happen to have a problem with that?”

“No, no,” James quickly said.

Todd stared at him once more, before finally proceeding to eat.

Christmas Eve. . . . They’re gonna spend it together, thought Maxine.

She felt another crack in her heart.

Ugh. Was the crack never going to end?

Maxine absentmindedly stood up. Todd and James looked at her.

“I'm going to my room,” she said.

With that, she quickly walked straight upstairs to her room. She closed the door and locked the doorknob. She laid her back flat on the bed and stared at the ceiling. She took deep breaths to calm her abnormally beating heart.

Why did she have to feel this way? There were many boys out there that she could fall for besides Todd.

There was Josh . . .

Why did she have to let him go? He was caring and thoughtful. He made her feel like a Princess. He made her feel like she was the only girl in the world. Exactly the opposite of what Todd made her feel.

She liked Josh – a lot. She wasn't afraid to admit that. Although, she didn't like him the way he liked her.

She groaned out loud. Why did things had to be so complicated? Couldn't she just be infatuated with someone that would surely feel the same way? Why did it have to be with someone that she didn't have a chance with?

It just wasn't fair.

She almost jumped when her phone rang. She sighed, sat up, and took her phone from the side table. The moment she saw Kim’s picture on the screen, she immediately clicked the answer button.

“Advance Merry Christmas!” said Kim cheerfully.

“Advance Merry Christmas, too,” mumbled Maxine glumly.

She thought about Todd and Maggie. She couldn't stand to think that they were soon going to be together. Or maybe they were already together . . .

“That doesn’t sound merry,” noticed Kim. “That sounded gloomy. Did something happen?”

Kim's voice was full of concern. But Maxine wasn't in the mood to speak about everything yet. She didn't know how Kim would react. She was afraid of what Kim might say. She might confirm what Maxine was fearing herself.

“Maxine, is it about Todd?”

That did it.

Maxine let out a breath. “Kimberly . . .”

She was on the verge of crying. She hated herself so much for that. It made her appear weak and vulnerable. But what could she do? It was what she was feeling.

She took a deep breath and told Kim everything that happened since they came to Seattle; about Maggie, James, the incident — everything.

Occasionally, Kim would reply with “Oh.” or “Ah.”

“ . . . I don’t know what to do,” finished Maxine in a hushed voice.

“Act normal,” suggested Kim.

“But how’s normal?” demanded Maxine, a bit frustrated. “I don’t know how to act normal anymore, Kim. I’m so confused – I have no idea what to say to him anymore. Whenever I look at him now, I have to put extra effort to look away from him. It’s driving me insane.”

“Maybe you’re in love with him.”

Maxine blinked. “What?”

“It always starts when whether he’s a friend or he’s not in your speaking terms but one day, he'll do something for you. Then, you’ve been somehow close to him by chance. And then, you’re happy to have him in your life or there’s this bond you feel between the two of you. That’s where it all begins.

“You’ll then start to get hints that you like him. If you ignore it and it goes away, it means that it was just an illusion. However, if you ignore it and it keeps going on and on until you accept the fact that you like him, there’s really something. And if you truly and fully believe that you like him, there’s a chance that you’ll fall in love with him.”

“But how would you know?”

“Confusion,” replied Kim quickly. “Usually, confusion leads you on the wrong way or into a false thinking. But in your case, you didn’t choose to fall in love with him. Your heart developed deep feelings for him that made you confused because it came without warning. I have to warn you, though. If it breaks your heart, it’s going to be so painful – especially when you didn’t choose to fall in love in the first place.”

Maxine sighed. “Even if I know that, it's already too late. Todd and Maggie are perfect for each other. It’s only reasonable for them to be together.”

“That’s nonsense.” For some reason, Maxine could perfectly imagine Kim rolling her eyes. “Even if they're perfect for each other, that doesn’t mean it’s reasonable for them to be together. Most importantly, if one of them already has his heart reserved for someone else.”

“What, you mean Todd's in love with someone else?” concluded Maxine skeptically.

“Did I say that?” asked Kim thoughtfully, and a little bit too innocently. “I don’t recall saying that.”

“But you just said — Ugh, never mind,” sighed Maxine. “What do you think am I supposed to do now?”

“Hmm . . . I say, you spy on them.”

“What?” said Maxine sharply.

She absolutely didn't expect Kim’s suggestion. How could she spy on someone's date?! That was extremely embarrassing! And also degrading! Oh, how it dreaded her to think of she got caught spying on Todd's date. He would surely behead her.

“I’m not going to be the bad villain who destroyed a happy couple, Kim,” she said firmly.

“I didn’t say destroy them or ruin their date,” reasoned Kim. “I just said spy on them. Follow them. Keep an eye on them. Come on, what could you possibly lose?”

“Oh, I don't know,” said Maxine sarcastically. “My dignity?”

“Only if you blow your cover. Put on a disguise or something. Aren’t you the least bit curious about their date?”

Maxine knew that Kim knew that she said the magic word: 'Curious'. She was perfectly aware that Maxine's biggest weakness was her curiosity. And now that Kim mentioned it, Maxine was curious. She was very much curious that she could burst.

Maxine bit her lip. “F — fine.”

“Great!” beamed Kim.

Maxine sighed. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? How you easily fall in love with someone who simply smiles, laughs, or stares at you. The only hard thing to do is make that person fall for you.”

“Yes, some are fortunate enough to even make that someone fall for them. But unfortunate to see that someone fall for someone else.”

“You know, you could write a book about this love stuff. I’m sure Headmaster Sky would love to read it.”

“I’ll consider it. Do I have to help you pick a disguise?”

Maxine thought about it. “No, I can handle it.”

“All right, well – I’ll call you later, then?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay. Later, babe. I miss you.”

“Miss you, too.”

“Bye!” With that, she ended the call.

Maxine sighed.

How in the world was she going to spy on Todd? He was sharper than a dog on watch, and his sight was clearer than an Eagle finding its prey.

Maxine had to drag her feet toward her bag that laid open. She picked an over-sized gray Kings sweatshirt, fitted jeans, pink Vans skate shoes, and a Vans Off The Wall snap-back.

She tilted her head, staring at herself in front of the mirror.

There, she thought. Too casual, but Todd haven't seen me dress like this. I'm sure he won't recognize me.

She suddenly remembered returning Todd’s jacket the moment they entered the house when they first came here. He didn't ask for it, but she thought she better return it as soon as she could – even though she really wanted to keep it.

Her eyes wandered to the window, and she saw Todd leaving the house.

“Shoot,” she grumbled, hurrying after him.

On her way down to the last staircase, she tripped and fell down on the floor – flat on the face.

“Crap.” She stumbled to get up and made her way toward the door. “I'm going to have a stroll around the neighborhood!” she called out to James and Alex, as she ran past the living room.

She heard Alex and James say a faint, “Okay.”

She reached the front door and walked out. She didn't have time to walk on the stoned path, so she took the lawn.

It was quite a good thing that it wasn't raining. The ground was wet, though. That was why Maxine was inwardly thankful for wearing comfortable shoes.

She caught a sight of Todd, a few yards away. She followed him from afar, until he entered a huge yellow house. The house was at the same street as James’s.

She hid on the corner and observed that the house looked traditional yet different. It was as though the house survived the two World Wars.

Fifteen minutes later, Todd came out with Maggie. They looked like a couple. How could anyone look so perfect together?

Maxine’s heart made another crack. Seriously, when was this crack thing going to end? She was quite tired of feeling this way.

She tried to ignore it as she followed the two . . . lovebirds?

Ouch.

This is stupid, thought Maxine harshly. This is really stupid. This is really, really stupid.

Maxine got sick of seeing Todd and Maggie together as if nothing was going to ruin their day. If truth be told, she felt angry to the point that she wanted to hit something. She wanted to get it out of her system. It was like she wanted to come up to Todd and Maggie and ruin their date.

But she controlled herself from doing those horrible things. It surprised her that she could be that irrational and unreasonable when angered.

Not to mention, she almost got her cover blown several times already. Whenever Todd or Maggie looked sideways or turned around, Maxine panicked to hide somewhere.

One time, Maxine was so frightened that she accidentally bumped into a little girl who dropped her ice cream causing for her to cry and run away. She felt incredibly guilty for making a little girl cry like that, because it reminded her of Alex.

And then, Maxine saw it, bringing her back to reality.

She saw the big pink sign from afar. It was quite obvious that Maggie was staring at it. Too long, if you ask Maxine.

Maggie clung to Todd – again. It was more often than necessary. She kept doing it all day that Maxine didn't even notice herself growling until now.

Growling . . . like a tiger . . .

“Awe, what's happening to me?” groaned Maxine quietly. Her eyes caught the pink sign again. “The Love Lake . . . Right. It's for lovers and the sort, right? And now they're walking toward it.”

She decided to sit at the nearby bench for the mean time. Leaning back, she stared at the cloudy sky. She wished that the sky was clear so she could see its blue color.

The same color of Todd's eyes.

But it was cloudy, covering its true beauty. It was like the blue sky was hiding from Maxine. Or better yet, the gray clouds were covering it from her. She remembered then that Maggie's eyes were gray.

“How suitable,” she whispered.

_________________________________________

Been quite a while, huh? Did you miss them? I hope you haven't forgotten the story. I'm sorry for updating very late. I've been quite busy at school. It had been the most stressful month in my entire school life.

Onto this chapter~! Now that I think about it, there wasn't any much action, isn't there? Hmm.. Ah, but there was some realization, eh? Hehe ;) How about YOU? Have you realized something based on Kim and Maxine's conversation? :)

Btw, I uploaded a Special Chapter in A and D. If you're a fan of Alyson, you'll certainly like it. :)

Upload: I upload on weekends. ^_^ (But due to my month's worth of absence, I'll upload tomorrow. ;D)

Please Comment and Vote -- if you like, which I'm hoping you DO!! ^_^