If Katie's life were a movie it would be comedy, and Katie would be the unfortunate main character whom karma decided to bite in the ass. Katie was waiting for the moment in the movie when her luck changed and everything suddenly fell perfectly into place but, at the same time, she was praying for a restart button. If there was a way she could go back and undo the last month or two, then Katie would have eagerly jumped at the chance. But, just as Katie had started to realize, that isn't how life works. Not in the real world.

Despite every mixed emotion she felt inside, Katie put on a happy face and pushed through school like she would have on any other given day. She pushed through the whole week with a fake smile and an endless train of rushing and jumbled thoughts. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, Katie was completely fine.

Dana gave Katie her space. She knew Katie needed that much from her, so that's what she got. Dana didn't dare to use her locker the entire week, she avoided any hallway she knew Katie would take in between classes, and she spent every lunch with Marissa in the library.

Katie wasn't dumb.

She knew what Dana was doing. It wasn't that hard to notice. But Katie let her do it. It was easier to play along and avoid Dana all together than to be forced to be reminded of the way Dana made her feel.

It was easier, but it was pointless.

Falling isn't an option. You never choose to fall, and if you think you do then you're sadly mistaken. Most people believe we don't fall, but we jump. They believe we jump once we find someone whom we want to catch us, but they're wrong. We don't jump, we fall. We fall when someone comes along and becomes the gravity holding us down to Earth.

Some people catch themselves before they can fall. Those people think it's safer where they are even if they're left behind gasping for air. Katie is one of those people. Katie would rather unhappily keep her new feelings bottled up then to let herself fall. So for that week, Dana let her.

Dana had never reacted to anyone like she did to Katie. If someone wasn't ready for her then Dana didn't need them. She wouldn't have given them space like she gave Katie. With any normal girl Dana would have changed absolutely nothing for them, but Katie wasn't just any normal girl.

"Hey..." A whisper broke through the roaring sound of the mass of students and echoed in Dana's ears.

Dana stopped walking towards the exits and turned around to face the source of the whisper. "Hey." She whispered back.

Katie found herself smiling. Not a fake smile like she had worn all week long, no, this smile was genuine. "I was wondering if you could help me out? I have a huge test in math next week and I understand like zero percent of what we're doing."

Dana laughed slightly at Katie's request. "Yeah, I'll help you out, but it can't be today."

Katie's smile faded. "What's wrong with today?"

Marissa trotted over to the two and smiled at them both. She looked at Dana, "Ready to go?"

"I'm working on a project with Marissa," Dana answered Katie's question. "But text me or something and I'll help you this weekend." Dana smiled again at Katie for a moment, and then led Marissa out of the building.

Katie was left standing in the hallway. Surrounded by hundreds of people, but she still felt alone. The thundering world around her was muted, and the sad song played in her head. That was the moment Katie realized that no one jumps; they only fall.

Katie stared blankly for a few moments, and then snapped herself out of her thoughts. She pulled out her phone and dialed. The voice on the other end spoke, and Katie perked up. "Hey! Are you busy?"

☼ ☼ ☼

"No," Marissa could barely get words out because she was laughing so hard, "Dana, you're wrong."

"No, I swear to god." Dana failed at her attempt to keep a straight face. Marissa's laugh caused her to smile.

"That's not why penguins can't fly!" Marissa protested. The two continued laughing and jokingly arguing.

Eddie walked into the room, and knocked on the wall. "Sorry to interrupt, but D, do you not have your phone with you or something?"

"No it's in my pocket." Dana pulled her phone out and discovered that it had died. "Oh. Sorry. Why?"

"Ashley just sent me a message saying you weren't picking up." Eddie explained.

Dana stood up and ran upstairs to grab a phone charger. "Thanks, Ed." Dana said while running past him.

Eddie stood awkwardly in the doorway. He and Marissa avoided eye contact at first, but Marissa finally broke the silence. "So you're Dana's cousin?" Marissa didn't know why she pointed out an obvious fact. She just felt a need to say something. Eddie nodded and aimlessly looked around the basement. "You should know that I'm not Jesse."

"What?" Eddie directed his attention back to Marissa.

"I may be his baby sister, but I'm not him." Marissa repeated. "I know he's an ass. Sorry about that."

Eddie couldn't help but smile at her. "It's cool," he reassured her. "But you should know up front that I'm not Dana." He joked.

"Thanks for the clarification." Marissa joked back.

Dana ran back downstairs and into the room. "My phone is charging now so I'll call Ashley back once it decides to revive itself. Thanks, Eddie." Dana's words dismissed Eddie upstairs. "So," Dana turned to Marissa, "Do you know why flamingos are pink?" Marissa laughed at Dana once again.

Eddie ran upstairs and felt his phone going off in his pocket. "Hello?" He answered once he was at the top of the stairs. "No, I'm not busy. What's up?"

Eddie sat waiting on his front porch. His leg was shaking, and he fiddled with his hands. Every car that passed by made him do a double take. Eddie wasn't the patient type – he was the anxious type. After what he claimed to be forever, but was actually only ten minutes in the real world, he heard footsteps making their way up the driveway. Eddie stood up and smiled at the girl who had called him just a few minutes before. "Hey." He only managed to get that much out.

"Hey," she smiled back at him. "So, do you have any ideas of what you want to do?" Eddie wanted to reply, but a car pulled into the driveway and Ashley stepped out.

"Where's Dana?" Ashley didn't hesitate to get to the point of why she was there.

"I'll get her." Eddie turned around and opened the front door just at Dana and Marissa were making their way outside. "Found her." Eddie announced.

"Oh, hey Ed." Dana stepped outside and saw the two others. "Ashley? Grace?" What are you two doing here?"

"I need to talk to you." Ashley pushed Dana aside from the others.

"Whoa Ashley, what's wrong?"

"I need to talk to you about Katie." Ashley's whisper caused Dana's heart to sink to her stomach. Dana didn't respond, but instead gave Ashley a confused look. "She's been acting weirdly and I think she's still pissed at me for the whole Jesse and Grace thing. I was just thinking that since she and you have gotten closer, well maybe she'd talk to you about what's wrong. I just worry about her." Dana looked at Ashley sincerely and sighed, not knowing what to say. Luckily for her, Marissa interrupted before she could say anything.

"My ride is here." Marissa referred to her brother's jeep pulling into the driveway. Everyone stared as Katie climbed out of the passenger seat of Jesse's car. She shot a fake smile to the group on the porch and walked over to Jesse's window. Jesse pecked her on the lips and waited for Marissa to get into the car before speeding away.

"Problem solved." Dana muttered to Ashley through her clenched jaw. She walked inside and slammed the door behind her. Ashley followed Dana into the house.

Eddie watched Grace's smile disappear after seeing Jesse with Katie. Eddie's smile began to fade away. Katie slowly began to make her way across the street to her house. "Wait!" Grace found herself calling after Katie. Grace ran to the end of the driveway where Katie was now standing. "Eddie and I were just about to hang out and go do something. Do you want to come?" Katie hesitated to answer. "Look, I know I did the worst thing possible to you but to be completely honest, I miss my best friend. Please don't choose to forgive him and still pretend like I don't exist." Katie hesitated again, but then finally agreed to Grace's request.

Grace smiled and hugged Katie. Grace pulled away from the hug and looked back at Eddie. "So what do you want to do?" Eddie half smiled and held up his index finger to signal 'one moment.' He ran inside and grabbed Dana by the arm and ran back onto the porch with Ashley following close behind.

"Bowling." Eddie suggested. "Let's all go bowling." Grace smiled at the thought while the other teenagers internally screamed for a way out.

Grace liked to believe that everyone was having fun, but she knew it was a hopeless cause. Katie was feeling awkward around Dana who wouldn't speak to her, Dana was bitterly silent the whole night, Eddie was preoccupied worrying about Dana, and Ashley was too busy trying to figure out why the hell Katie would make up with Jesse. Eddie faked a smile for Grace here and there, but he still worried about his cousin.

Dana didn't say a word the entire ride home. She pulled into her driveway and she, Eddie, and Katie all exited the car. Eddie made a quick escape into the house. Dana attempted to follow Eddie's lead, but Katie called after her. "You want to tell me why you haven't said a word to me all night?"

"What the hell am I supposed to say?" Dana asked, angrily whipping herself around to face Katie. "You got back together with Jesse."

Katie sighed and whispered, "You don't understand."

"See that's what I don't get." Dana was angry, but somehow managed to keep herself from screaming. "I have been trying to understand. I would have patiently waited for you. I am doing my best to not make you feel any pressure whatsoever. And what do you do? You blow me off. So explain that to me. Make me understand." Dana clenched her jaw in an attempt to stop her anger. Katie didn't respond. Dana felt her eyes roll before she turned away to leave.

"I can't forget you." Katie's words stopped Dana in her tracks. "So I had to forgive him. I had to do something to distract myself from you."

"Distract yourself?" Dana turned to face Katie once more.

"I wasn't ready. And Marissa is great and-"

Dana interrupted Katie, "Whoa wait. Marissa? I don't care about Marissa. I care about you. I want to be with you. And you knew that!" Dana felt her voice crack at her last statement. She took a breath. "But you ran back to Jesse." Katie didn't say a word. "You don't get it, do you? You never did." Dana made her way closer to Katie. "You see I know you, Katie." Dana was right. She did know Katie.

She knew that Katie wasn't really mad at Grace. She knew that Katie was just looking for an excuse to break up with Jesse. She knew that Katie didn't cry because Jesse broke her heart. Katie cried because when Jesse told her he cheated, she didn't feel anything. Katie cried because she didn't care. And Dana knew. Dana knew that Katie was scared

"You can't do that, Katie." Dana's hushed tone broke through the silence. "You can't just walk into someone's life, make them fall for you, kiss them, and then change your mind. You can't do that because it hurts." Katie still had no response. "But that's fine. You don't want to be with me then fine. I'll move on." Dana grabbed Katie and kissed her out of nowhere. She pulled away and rested her forehead on Katie's. "Goodbye, Katie." Dana whispered. "Why don't you tell me how much it hurts?" There was a bitter tone that escaped Dana as she left Katie standing in her driveway.

Katie was still silent.

She walked home and headed straight to bed and refused to speak to anyone. She even tossed her phone aside and refused to pay it any attention. She stared at the ceiling the rest of the night, Dana's words echoing through her mind.

"Why don't you tell me how much it hurts?"