I stood at Claire's side as she talked to others at the party. Feeling uncomfortable, I stared at the ground, wishing I was at home. I couldn't believe I had agreed to go to a party, especially after the last party I went to. I especially couldn't believe I was spending time with Claire.

Her words had hit me hard. They sounded so sincere and honest, but Claire always sounded that way and she made fun of me behind my back. I couldn't help but wonder if I could trust her, but I decided to suck up my feelings for the day. With Claire looking so happy, for once I decided not to be selfish and let things be.

Claire was a social butterfly, I noticed as she went to person after person, talking to them about anything and everything. I trailed along, never acknowledging the person she spoke to, and just listened quietly. As I heard her speak, I thought about how different we were and how I didn't think we could ever be close again. We were just too different and it seemed unlikely that we could bond.

The person Claire was talking to left and Claire turned to face me. She was smiling, looking thrilled, and I forced a smile. Claire's eyes softened at that and I blushed, knowing I was pitiful.

"You okay?" Claire asked softly. "Sorry, I should be talking to you rather than others."

I shook my head because honestly, I was happy Claire was sticking to my side. She could be with her other friends, but she had chosen to stay with me unlike Erin had. I was touched by that and decided to completely forget about my trust issues.

"It's fine," I said honestly. "I like listening to you talk. Sounds weird, but I prefer that over talking myself."

Claire smiled. "I'm glad to hear that. I kind of felt bad for dragging you here."

"Don't worry."

Claire was really sweet. She wasn't a bad person, I knew. Because of that, I suddenly thought about what I did with Carter and felt horrible. I had overreacted and done something that would really hurt Claire. Sometimes, I was the worst.

Claire's eyes suddenly drifted off to somewhere else. When they landed on something, they softened and I immediately knew she was staring at Carter. From the way her eyes held so much longing, I felt my heart drop. I couldn't believe I had hooked up with Carter again, even though I knew how much Claire liked him.

"He's so cute," Claire said quietly, sighing. "I really like him and even though I am making progress with him by being you, I still feel like I'm going nowhere. We still never had a proper conversation and we've never even touched. Oh my god Blair, just for one day I want to be held by Carter."

Her cheeks turned red and she looked down, seeming embarrassed. My heart ached for her. She was so in love with him and she was trying so hard to be with him, but Carter was barely giving her the attention she deserved. It was all my fault for leading him on, so I knew I had to make it up to her.

"How about we switch up?" I said, bringing Claire's attention back on me.

"Right now?" Claire asked, confused.

"Yeah, didn't one of your friends say we're going to play seven minutes in heaven? Why don't we switch up because Carter would be thrilled to be stuck in a closet with me."

I didn't mean to sound conceited, but thankfully Claire understood where I was coming from as her eyes brightened up. Knowing Carter myself, I knew he wouldn't touch Claire if they were together in the closet. He was the type of guy to be loyal, which I found sweet, so I knew it would be for the best if Claire and I switched spots. It would allow Claire to finally hold Carter like she always wanted to.

"What if I don't get Carter?" Claire asked, hesitating. "Sorry, I don't know... We're at a party and this is so last minute. Will everyone believe it?"

"Trust me," I said, smiling. "They will. Come on, let's just try it. After the game we can switch back and everything will be fine."

Claire stared at me for a second and I continued to smile at her. Eventually she seemed to give in because she also began to smile. It left me feeling relieved and before I knew it, we were heading to the washroom and changing clothes.

*****

Twenty of us were sitting on the ground in a circle. There were ten guys and ten girls, and everyone seemed anxious to find out who they would go into the closet with. I was also anxious because as Claire, I was going to have to play the game. I also had to act like Claire, which meant something would have to go down in the closet. Looking around at who was playing, I found myself frowning because I didn't really know many of them. The ones I did know were Claire's friends, but I didn't like them, which left me praying I wouldn't end up with any of them.

Claire and I sat next to each other and I noticed that Claire kept glancing at Carter who sat across from her. Carter was looking back at her, smiling, and I sighed lightly. I was leading him on, even when I wasn't being myself. Feeling guilty because Carter didn't deserve to be led on, I told myself to make everything right between all of us one day.

"Okay," Todd, a classmate said, walking over to a guy. "We're going to start the game. All of the guys must put one of their possessions into the hat."

Todd held out the hat to the guy and he dropped his ring in it. He then proceeded to go around the circle, getting objects from each guy. Claire and I made sure to pay close attention to what Carter dropped. It was a watch and growing relieved, I knew it would be easy for Claire to grab the object.

Once Todd was done, he walked over to the centre of the circle. He was smiling as he mixed up the objects and I stared at him, feeling nervous. Claire suddenly nudged me, which brought my attention to her.

"Go first," she whispered. "Get it over with."

My eyes widened. "What?"

"You're so nervous. Go first and then you can spend the rest of the game just sitting here. Isn't that better?"

Thinking through her idea, I knew she was right. I was so nervous and it was smart to get it over with. Sighing lightly, I agreed.

"Okay," Todd said. "Who would like to go first?"

I opened my mouth to say I would, but grew embarrassed and clamped my mouth shut. Flushing, I hated how shy I was. I hated how I had no guts.

"Claire does," Claire said, making me whip my head to look at her.

Blushing, I gave her a look because Blair would never say something like that. She smiled sheepishly at me and I sighed. Looking back at Todd who questioned if that was true with his eyes, I nodded.

"Okay, cool," Todd said, walking up to me. "Pick an object."

I put my hand in the hat and my hand went through the objects. Picking one of the smallest objects, I pulled out a key. Staring at it, I wondered who it belonged to.

"Who's key is that?" Todd asked.

"It's mine," Ryder suddenly said, leaving me stunned.

My head whipped to look at him and I stared at him, surprised. He was staring back at me, but he was expressionless. For some reason he seemed to be studying me.

"Okay you two, head to the closet," Todd said, grinning.

The both of us got up and walked to the closet. I felt weirdly relieved that I got Ryder. Out of all the guys in our school, I trusted him the most. He was so genuine and kind, so I knew I had nothing to worry about.

Ryder entered the dark closet first and I followed him. But before I closed the door, I looked over at Claire. To my utter surprise she didn't seem happy. That left me confused, but I told myself that I had just imagined it as I shut the door.

Ryder and I stood facing each other. We could barely see each other since the closet was so dark, but I could tell he was studying me. It left me feeling self-conscious, but I didn't have the heart to tell him to stop.

"Hey Blair," Ryder suddenly said, catching me off guard.

"What?" I blurted out.

"You're not Claire, you're Blair." He sighed. "What's going on? Why are you guys pretending to be each other?"

I couldn't believe he caught on. We looked exactly like each other and I didn't think I was acting badly, so I was left to gape at him. After a minute I knew I should ask him how he knew, so I shut my mouth and decided to ask.

"How did you figure it out?" I asked.

"I know Claire," he said, running his fingers through his hair. "I know her inside and out. You guys are really different and even if you try to act like her, you forget about the little things about her."

He was so into her, I knew in that moment. Feeling sorry for him, my eyes softened. Even though Carter deserved someone who liked him like Claire did, Claire deserved someone who liked her like Ryder did.

"So, are you guys switching spots so Claire can get closer to Carter?" Ryder asked.

"Yeah," I answered softly.

Ryder seemed to deflate and I felt horrible. It was crazy how everyone was chasing after someone they couldn't have. Everyone seemed to be in love with someone who was in love with someone else, which made me sigh lightly. Love was crazy and stressful. Maybe that was why I had never been in love.