"L A B E L S"

Episode 67

She nods and walks to the door. "I'll be back by curfew." She walks out the door.

Mr. Landon sighs and shakes his head before talking to himself. "Going for a walk; never a good sign with that girl." He looks back at the TV.

Dani puts her headphones in and begins jogging down the sidewalk. She begins thinking about everything that has happened these last few days and suddenly her speed picks up. She can't help but hope that maybe the faster she runs, the easier it will be to leave behind the pain inside herself. She glances down at her ipod for a minute.

Nick's walking down the sidewalk when he lifts his head up and groans before mumbling to himself. "Not again." Before either of them can respond, Dani collides with Nick and they both fall to the ground, landing in the same position they were weeks ago. Nick groans and slowly opens his eyes, turning over to face Dani in disbelief. "Seriously? Do you run with your eyes closed?!"

She gives him a scowl before pushing off of the ground and brushing herself off.

He stands up and groans before looking over at her with pained eyes. "You know, I could sue...I think you broke something." He lifts his hand to his shoulder with squinted eyes.

She rolls her eyes. "I don't think you even know what the word means."

He drops his hand with a smirk. "I'm not dumb, remember?"

She walks past him, purposely bumping his shoulder. "Maybe not, but you're still a monumental jack ass."

He yells after her with a smirk. "And you're still a whore!" He turns and runs after her, catching up to her so he can walk beside her. "So, do you think I could get some tutor time in tomorrow? I have a test coming up that Mrs. Smithson says I need to pass...it's like a...middle..." He trails off, trying to think of what it's called.

She rolls her eyes in disbelief and finishes his sentence. "Midterm?"

"Yeah! That's it!"

"Whatever...It's not like I have anything better to do." She mumbles the last part, hoping he didn't hear.

"Great! Just wait for me on the steps outside of school tomorrow and I'll give you a ride to my house so we can study."

She turns to him with confusion. "Your house?"

"Yeah."

She nods her head, agreeing just to get him to leave. "Fine. Whatever."

He puts a hand on her shoulder, stopping her and making her turn to face him. He gives her a sincere look. "Hey, what's up with you? I mean I'm used to you being cold and insulting but you seem...different."

"Different? No. Careless? Absolutely."

He stares at her, wondering what had happened since her birthday to make her so upset.

She stands there a moment before looking at him with a smile slowly appearing on her face. "Do you really want to study tomorrow?"

"Want to? No. Need to? Probably."

Her smile continues to grow as she get an idea. "What would you normally do tomorrow night if you didn't need to study?"

He thinks a minute. "The Shack."

She gives him a disgusted look. "Is that some sort of repulsive joke?"

He chuckles and shakes his head. "No, it's this club on 5th. They don't card and security is really loose. Cody and I go there all the time."

She nods with a smile. "Perfect."

He gives her a look of surprise. "You want to go?"

"Yeah, I do."

He stops walking and crosses his arms with a smirk. "Wow, who knew Demoted Danielle still had it in her?"

She rolls her eyes and puts her headphones back in before continuing her run. Before she gets to far off she turns back and points at him. "Tomorrow after school, don't leave without me." She turns back around and begins jogging down the sidewalk.

He snickers in clear confusion and stares after her a minute before walking off.

~~~

Mia's preparing a drink for the only customers in the coffee house while Jake wipes down some empty table in the back.

He looks up at Mia with a small smile and questioning eyes. "So...have you ever wondered why there are as many chickens on earth as there are humans?"

She looks over at Jake with an amused smirk and snickers at his lame attempt to fill the empty silence when James walks out of his office with a big excited smile. "Karaoke Saturday!"

Mia turns to look at James with confusion at the same time as Jake. "What?"

James steps closer to them with excitement clearly in his voice. "I ordered all the equipment and I really think we'll get a good crowd. Who doesn't love karaoke, right?"

James was obviously trying to pick up some business. Ever since a few months ago things have really started to die down around the coffee house and Mia knew if James didn't do something to bring in customers she may lose her job. She was up for anything that would save her job, even if that meant a lame karaoke session. She looks over at Jake with a small smile and raised eyebrow as he shrugs with a smile, kind of excited at the idea of karaoke.