and then

Zac didn't know what exactly happened, but Sawyer looked as if he'd came down with the worst flu ever.

For starters, he didn't look so well at the Valentines dance. Zac wasn't sure how Sawyer got home, but when he finally found Sawyer, he guessed it was too late. His mom had wanted him to talk to Sawyer that night because he'd told her to go away. And she was concerned something bad had happened.

Of course, Sawyer wouldn't look at him. He was laying in bed with his back turned. Zac knew Sawyer was crying.

A little of Zac wanted to cry with Sawyer too.

"Its not your fault." He patted him on the back, but Sawyer flinched as if he'd have sympathy from no one.

Sawyer stayed in bed all weekend long. He didn't come down for meals. Zac's mom was afraid he wasn't eating anything at all. By Monday, Sawyer took a sick day. He did end up in the emergency room with a high fever. He took something in time for the flu and was on the mend by Tuesday. Still he'd eaten very little.

Sawyer's mother came, and she had very little affect on Sawyer. She looked at them as if they'd turned him against her, but she never said anything. In the end, she went home thirty minutes after she got there.

"Look, it'll get better." Zac finally told Sawyer the night before he went back to school. "You'll see. It will be OK."

"I don't think so." Sawyer's voice was gone. "I loved her so much. If..if I'd only known what to do. I made it about ME, you know. That's what I did wrong. I made it all about ME..and I shouldn't have." He was still full of sappy tears, but Zac wouldn't hold it against him.

"You, didn't do anything wrong. You couldn't. Sometimes, things are just over. No one knows the expiration date. Just try not to dwell on it. All right? You, just have to let it go. And..and be happy that..you know, how good it was. How neither one of you pressured each other." Zac told him.

Finally, Sawyer let him hug him. For the first time, Zac really felt he had a brother, after all.