That Saturday, I was dealing with a major crisis.

I had absolutely nothing to wear.

I mean, seriously. I had no idea what I was supposed to wear on my date with Christian. I hadn't exactly ever been out on a date with Blake before, and none of my boyfriends before him had been anything serious, so it wasn't like I had gone out with them. What was I supposed to do?

I didn't even have Morgan here to help me pick something out. I could have asked my mother, but I felt like that would have been too embarrassing. No one wanted their mother's opinion on what they should wear on a date. Especially when it was my mother.

I finally decided to wear a white skirt with a plain blue tank top. We were just going to the movies, so it wasn't like I had to be fancy or anything. Not to mention the tank top had a stain on the back of it.

As I shuffled into my old flip-flops, I wondered if this was a good idea. Christian was such a great guy, and I was afraid that I would somehow end up hurting him. I did want to go out with him, but I wasn't sure how I felt about Blake. I was afraid Blake was always going to be on my mind, no matter how hard I tried to forget about him.

I wished he'd just get a girlfriend, so I wouldn't feel so guilty about going out on a date with another guy. He had plenty of candidates, considering how popular he now was. He could have a cheerleader, some girl on the debate team, or even Mona. I didn't even care who it was anymore. I just wanted him to be with someone so some of the weight would be lifted from my chest.

This really sucked. I wasn't supposed to be feeling this way right before a date.

When the doorbell rang, I ran down the stairs as fast as I could, not wanting either of my parents to answer the door. But I was too late, and my mother was already welcoming Christian inside.

"I was so excited when Leah told me she was going on a date!" my mother confessed to Christian. Neither of them seemed to realize that I was just on the stairs. "You know, she had had the same boyfriend for a very long time. But it was just a matter of time before the two of them finally broke it off."

She just had to mention Blake. Whenever she spoke to family members, she always had to gossip about all the things going wrong in my life. Blake had been her number one subject for quite some time.

"Mom," I called out, finally wanting to let my presence be known. "You can go now."

My mother laughed, seemingly unaware that I was kind of ticked at her. "Of course, of course. Have fun on your date!"

I didn't know how that could have been possible. I hadn't even left for the date yet, and all I could think about was Blake. Was this how the rest of my life was going to be?

Christian smiled when he saw me. "You look beautiful."

I could feel my face heat up. "Thanks."

I was glad my mom was now in the kitchen. I did not need her gushing over this and making a fool out of me.

"Shall we go?" he now grinned, offering his arm to me in a very adorable way. I couldn't help but giggle at the fact he said shall as I took his arm.

"Of course," I nodded back to him.

When we got to the movie theater, it wasn't as crowded as it usually was, which was nice. I always hated it when we had to wait in lines and the movie was packed. Because there was always some loud, obnoxious person that just had to ruin it for everyone else.

At first, the movie we decided to see started out great. It started out dramatic and funny. But by the end, I was bawling my eyes out.

"I never thought you were the type to cry over movies," he chuckled as we exited the theater. "You seem like the type that would just sit through it with a stone-cold expression."

I continued to wipe at my eyes. "Well, obviously you were wrong," I sniffed.

Christian now laughed, stopping and fully turning toward me. He gently took my face into his hands and wiped my tears away for me. "Better now?" he asked.

I nodded. "Better now."

And it was the truth.

Instead of leaving after the movie had ended, Christian decided that I needed to do something else so I wouldn't feel so depressed any longer. So he dragged me into the theater's arcade, and all I could do was roll my eyes.

"Bet I can beat you at air hockey," he smirked, cocking his head in the direction of the air hockey table.

A smirk made its way onto my lips. "You're on."

We both got on opposite sides of the air hockey table and paid the amount we needed to get the puck.

I kicked his butt in the first round. And the second round. And the third. The fourth time we played, he teasingly told me to stop cheating, and all I did was stick my tongue out at him. It wasn't my fault I was so good at air hockey.

"It's a gift," I couldn't help but laugh.

I was actually having so much fun. I hadn't laughed or smiled this much in what felt like forever. Why did Christian make me feel so much different than Blake did? Was this was love really felt like? I was too afraid to find out.

And now something stopped me from enjoying the rest of the game.

"Is that Leah Burkley?" I heard someone loudly whisper, causing me to freeze. "I think that's Leah Burkley!"

I peeked at whoever was talking to me out of the corner of my eye. Low and behold, there was a large group of kids from my school that consisted of football players, cheerleaders, and then just regular girls that were still considered popular. I was really glad Blake wasn't with them.

"Look," some other girl whispered. "I think she's on a date!"

I held my breath. I now knew well how it was like to get picked on, so I was waiting for one of them to call out something derogatory to me. It was just a matter of time.

"She's on a date with Christian Peterson," a football player now whispered to the group. "That guy's cool. What's he doing with her?"

This ticked me off. What gave them any right to talk to me like that? Especially when most of them had been my friend the year before! Just because they thought some of my choices were uncool didn't mean that I was a loser now. I was so done with this.

Might as well give them a little show.

"I'm having a lot of fun," I smiled to Christian, suddenly leaning toward him and placing my head on his chest. "I like being with you."

This wasn't a lie. I really did like being with him. When I was with him, I forgot about all of my worries and nothing bothered me. Now only if those obnoxious kids from our school would just go away and leave me alone.

Christian's hand was on the back of my head. "I like being with you, too," he whispered, and I felt him kiss the top of my head.

Another girl snickered. "Do you think Blake's going to like hearing about this?"

I knew Christian could hear them now. Still holding me, he sent our classmates a glare over my head. This immediately made them scatter.

Had I finally found my prince charming?

The drive home was silent, but I could see Christian glancing at me every now and then out of the corner of my eye while he was driving. I couldn't help but smile to myself.

When he parked in front of my house, he got out and opened my door for me. I bit my lip and thanked him before we both started toward my front door.

I nearly tripped over my porch step when I realized something. I hadn't thought about Blake. Not even once! I had only gone into the date worrying that all I'd be able to think about was him, but he hadn't even crossed my mind, minus the run-in with the kids from our school... That was good, right?

"I had a great time," I smiled at him as he walked me to my front door, and I was happy because I actually meant it. I wasn't lying. "We should definitely do this again. Soon."

Christian seemed so happy to hear this from me, and this only made my smile widen even more. I was happy he was happy. I was glad that I wasn't lying. I hadn't felt this way since before Blake had jumped off the bridge. It almost felt like all was well again. Almost.

Blake was still there, in the back of my mind. And I was afraid he would always be there, no matter what happened. I knew that it wasn't good to think about him at all. It had been two months; I should have completely forgotten about him now. But that wasn't about to happen.

"Yeah," he nodded in agreement. "Very soon."

When he started leaning toward me, I didn't push him away. I wasn't scared like I had been the last time he had kissed me. I was actually... kind of... excited. And that kind of scared me a little, too.

It was weird, kissing someone other than Blake. Sure, Christian had kissed me before, but I hadn't kissed him back. Now that I was, I realized how weird it was. Not Christian, but the fact that I wasn't kissing Blake. It was actually kind of a freeing feeling.

When the front door suddenly opened, I immediately pushed away from him. I did not want my mother or father seeing me kiss someone. My mother would gush over it because it was Christian, and my father would just make everything awkward and uncomfortable.

But I was not met with my mother or my mother. Instead, it was someone entirely different.

"Why, hello," Morgan smiled, a wicked smile on her face as she leaned against the door. I didn't know if I was supposed to be shocked that she was here or terrified that she had just caught me kissing someone. "This sure is a surprise! I didn't expect you to be on a date, Leah!"

I ran my hand through my hair, not even looking at Christian. "Yeah, well..."

"Come on in," Morgan now invited to Christian, and I did not like the sound of this. "I'd love to meet you!"

No. This was not a good idea. Morgan loved when I had been with Blake, so I was sure that she wouldn't have liked the fact that I was now dating someone else. What was she even doing here, anyway?

As we made our way inside, I could now see that Kyle was also there. That just made it even better.

"Leah was on a date?" he asked, a smirk plastered on his face. "And it wasn't with Derrick?"

He was never going to forget the fact that Derrick and I had pretended to date. Even when we were all older, married, and had kids, he was still going to make fun of us for it. I sure felt bad for my future husband and Derrick's future wife.

But thinking about the future and kids made my stomach go sour. The last time I had seen Morgan, she was crying because she wasn't pregnant. I really did hope she was able to have kids in the future.

Morgan practically sat both Christian and I down on the couch while she stood in front of us with Kyle. This was extremely uncomfortable, but none of this seemed to bother Christian. That shouldn't have surprised me.

Morgan smiled sweetly at my date. "So, how do you and Leah know each other?"

"We're in the play together," he answered, since that was all he could really say. "We've been friends for a while."

"Oh, you're in the play?" Morgan's eyebrows rose. "What part do you have?"

Christian shrugged as if it was no big deal as he said, "Danny."

Morgan's eyes went wide. I was sure that she had been expecting for him to have some sort of minor part. She seemed thoroughly surprised with the fact that he was actually a lead.

"Is this your first date?" Kyle asked him now.

Christian nodded. "Yes," he answered. "This is our first official date."

I thought back to the time when he had first kissed me, when I was still secretly dating Blake. He had through that was a date then, but now he knew that it wasn't. This really was our first official date.

Morgan now went back to eyeing him. "What are your grades? Have you ever done drugs? Are you a virgin?"

I groaned, covering my face with my hands. "Morgan!"

"Just kidding!" she giggled, but I didn't feel like laughing. "Well, thank you for coming in, Christian. It was really nice meeting you!" Morgan smiled and gestured for Christian to get off the couch.

Honestly, I couldn't tell if she was telling the truth or not. I didn't know if I wanted her to be telling the truth or not.

Christian turned toward me once he got to the door. "I'll see you later," he simply said before making his way outside.

My whole face was red. That was one of the most embarrassing things that had ever happened to me in my life. It almost beat the time when Morgan and Kyle thought Derrick and I were dating.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded once I had finally closed the door behind Christian. "You said you weren't going to be back until my show!"

Morgan shrugged, as if this was no big deal. "We said we were coming for your show, not that that was the next time we were going to visit."

Yes, that was true. But that didn't mean I wanted her watching me kissing some other guy, and then pretty much interrogating him! I wouldn't have been surprised if Christian never wanted to see me again after that.

"Now, are you going to tell me why you were with that guy?" Morgan now asked me, her arms crossing over her chest. "I thought you were still dating Blake."

I rolled my eyes at her. "Well obviously now I'm not, aren't I?"

Morgan didn't smile. "When did you two break up?"

Did she not see that I didn't want to talk about it? Thinking about Blake really hurt. Did no one seem to understand that? Sure, it had been two months, but it still felt like we had just broken up yesterday sometimes.

"We actually broke up the day you left," I shrugged uncaringly, as if I didn't care. But I did. I cared way too much. "I realized that we weren't good for each other. We were really unhealthy."

Morgan looked like she didn't know what to say, but I didn't blame her. Kyle just stood next to her awkwardly; he obviously had no idea what to say either.

"You were... unhealthy," was all she was able to say, and it didn't sound like a question. "Did you seriously just say that, or am I hearing things?"

I swallowed. "I seriously just said that."

My sister was now looking at me as if I was crazy, and I was starting to think that I really was. Maybe what everyone at school was saying was right. Maybe I really had gone insane and I just hadn't realized it.

"You and Blake... are..." Morgan was stammering. I wasn't used to this. "You and Blake are not unhealthy. You're the exact opposite. I don't understand why you would even think that."

She didn't know what had happened between us. She didn't know about me walking in on Mona being in his apartment, and she didn't know about the fight we had had right afterwards. She didn't know, so there was no way she really knew what she was talking about.

"She really ships Blah," Kyle suddenly informed me.

I blinked at him. "What?"

"You and Blake," he explained, though I still wasn't understanding. "Your ship name is Blah. And Morgan ships you."

"Kyle, we discussed this," Morgan snapped at her husband. "Their ship name is Bleah, not Blah!"

"But Blah's so much funnier," he whined.

I didn't know how I was supposed to feel about the fact that my sister and brother-in-law had discussed what my ship name with Blake would be. I was definitely creeped out, that's for sure.

"But what would her ship name with Christian be?" Morgan now wondered out loud, as if this was some sort of huge crisis that needed to be answered right away. "Creah? Creah's not cute!"

I needed to change the subject or get out of here right away.

"Do you like Christian at all?" I had to ask, afraid of what her answer would be. "You're acting like you hate him."

Morgan let out a sigh and shook her head. "I don't hate him," she assured, and this immediately made me feel better. "It's just... Blake. It's weird seeing you with someone who isn't Blake."

Kyle frowned. "Morgan..."

"I know it's her life and I can't control it!" she sighed, exasperated. "But I just want what's best for her! And I think Blake is what's best for her."

I shook my head. "He obviously wasn't."

"But..." Morgan looked so lost. "Bleah..."

"Don't worry. We're only here for the weekend," Kyle now sighed, speaking to me. "And then the next time we come back will be for your show."

Hopefully Morgan wouldn't be this crazy when they came back. I didn't think I'd be able to hear all this talk about Bleah or Creah or whatever. It was really weird.

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Sorry for such a short and late chapter. I'll try to make the next one longer!

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