“I respect that it’s the music that’s keeping us apart.”

There is a beautiful, eccentric girl that might not be Zander’s type, but is certainly Kevin’s. And he watches her, watches her be a Perf and watches her join Gravity 5 and become one of his best friends and watches her wow them all with her fantastic voice and watches her think that Zander is in love with her and watches her be herself. He waits at the edge, somewhere between reality and a daydream in which she is his, hoping for something more between them, wondering why the “no dating band members” rule is as prominent as it is.

Frankly, he isn’t worried about Zander and Kacey, because he knows there’s something more between Zander and Stevie that he will never be able to quite put his finger on, knows something is going to blossom there one day in the future. But he also knows that Kacey only goes for hot, preferably senior boys, not dorky boys like himself. Still, he can’t really help himself. He wishes there was some way to make her like him, some way to make her realize that he likes her a lot.

His chance comes sooner than expected, a few weeks after the love song ordeal is over. Kacey comes into the band room on the verge of tears, her eyes round and wet, moving briskly and talking in even more of a rush than usual and pretending she’s okay, her hand hiding her vulnerable face as Stevie asks her if she’s alright. She shakes her head and says she has a doctor’s appointment, rushing out of the room without a second word. Stevie shrugs, but by the look on her face, Kevin knows she’s still worried about her best friend, and with good reason, too.

“I’ll handle this,” Kevin promises, patting Stevie on the shoulder and walking out of the room as he watches his friend roll her eyes as he leaves.

He sees Kacey darting down the hallway briskly, her head down, wavy black hair bouncing behind her as she practically runs. “Kacey, wait!” Kevin calls, but she doesn’t respond; she just runs faster.

So he runs after her. Non-athletic though he may be, the sprint to catch up with Kacey isn’t far, and soon he’s by her side, putting his hand on her shoulder and turning her around to face him as he realizes they are now outside, in the school courtyard.

There are tears streaming down her face now, and she buries her face in her hands and mutters something about dust in her eyes. Kevin leads her over to the park bench, muttering, “Spill,” before allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder and sob into it, his arms awkwardly around her in an attempt to comfort her; he’s never actually comforted a crying girl before, and he can barely understand her as she mutters something about Dean kissing Molly and them going out, mutters something about Dean playing her and pretending to be interested, something that makes Kevin want to punch Dean in the face.

“Kacey,” Kevin breathes when he thinks she is done rambling, and her crying has calmed down a little bit. She looks up at him. “You’re one of my best friends, and any guy that doesn’t want to you is kidding himself. You’re beautiful, and Dean isn’t worth your time.”