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I woke up slowly, wincing as I opened my eyes. The pain brought my conversation with Lindsey to the forefront of my mind and the tears welled again. I stopped myself crying. I wasn't going to let him get to me. I walked over to the bathroom, trying hard to resist the compulsion to rub my eye, failing just before I got the mirror. I yelped, making Vicky stir in her sleep, but I ignored her, now astounded by the face that greeted me in the mirror. My prediction had been right. There was a deep purple bruise around my right eye, and an angry looking red mark on my jaw line. The sight made me growl, now furiously angry instead of feeling sorry for myself.

The noise woke Vicky and Grace, who came over to see what the problem was. The second they saw my face they wanted to know what happened, asking me question after question, all of which I refused to answer. This was between me and Lindsey. My fight. And I was damn well going to win it.

I didn't bother covering up the bruises; I simply got dressed and went down to breakfast. There were a couple of gasps as I walked into the lobby, and I caught a glimpse of Lindsey's face turning white from her seat on Sam's lap, and I smirked slightly. I picked up my muffins and was about to head upstairs when my shadow lengthened. I turned round, confronted with Sam's bulk.

"Hello" I managed to croak out, his presence making it hard for me to hold back the tears as Lindsey's revelations span through my mind.

"Hey. What happened to you hun?" he asked quietly, but I could detect an anger behind his words

"Not a lot. Why?" I managed to say, as nonchalantly as possible.

"Your....your face...it's just..." he stuttered

"Oh, you mean the bruises?"

"Well....yeah"

"Not a lot, laters! I have to deliver breakfast to madam upstairs" and I turned and walked away.

When I got into the lift, I allowed my shoulders to slump and my hand to go up to my eye, throbbing now. My eyes started watering, and my knees gave way from the effort of remaining strong in front of the band. It was then I noticed Sam's legs in front of me and I whimpered, jumping back to my feet and wiping furiously at my eyes, ignoring the stabbing pain in my right eye as I pressed the bruise in my haste to disguise the tears running down my face.

He gently took my face in his paws, turning it from side to side, careful not to cause me any pain. The way he positioned my head I was forced to look into his eyes, eyes filled with pain that I presumed matched my own.

"Why won't you tell me what happened?" He said gruffly, staring straight into my eyes in a way that seemed like he was staring straight into my soul.

"I...I..." I started lamely. I tried to look away, break the connection, anything to stop him looking at me in that way. It was breaking my heart into fragments, one tiny piece at a time. But still he wouldn't let me go. He held on as tightly as the bruise would allow, and I didn't dare move any further out of his grip in case it tightened.

"Just tell me Beth, I only want to help..." he leant his forehead down and rested it gently on mine, not releasing me with his hands. My breath caught in my throat as I heard my name coming from his lips. Normally it was "Oddball" or "Rainbow". The name threw me, and the tears I had managed to hold back started flooding down my cheeks.

Fortunately for me, the doors dinged at that point, and I pulled away, fleeing to my room. I heard a muffled curse behind me, and the lumbering heavy footsteps of Sam following me, but that just spurred me on. I ran straight to the stairs, vaguely registering the fact I was on floor 14. My subconscious told me that my room was on floor 6, and I hit the stairs at full pelt, vaulting neatly over the banisters rather than trying to scramble down the stairs. Sam was worse off than I was. I heard him stop a few floors above me. I stopped too and looked up, feeling something fall on my face. It was a tear.

I froze. Sam couldn't be crying.... There was too much wrong with the thought that Sam was crying. I was about to start the run back up to him when I heard him speak.

"I don't know what's happened to you Rainbow, but I give up. It's obvious you don't want to talk to me, so have it your way. I'm leaving now. See yah on the coach."

And with that he turned and left at the nearest stairwell.

I couldn't breathe. I'd pushed the only person I'd cared about in a long time away on the hearsay of some random stoat who barely knew me OR Sam? I choked at the thought. Could I really let myself throw at the very least an awesome friendship into the gutter because someone else told me he didn't care? The display I had just seen had to be some damn good acting if that was true.

All of this flooded through my mind in a few seconds, before I made my decision. I ran back up to where Sam had been standing and left the stairwell. I turned the corner, wondering where he could have gone, when I saw him. With Her. His name died on my lips as I watched him gather her up in his arms and kiss her. I couldn't take any more. I couldn't help but let out a gasp as I turned and fled back down the hall. The last thing I remember seeing was the smug smirk on Lindsey's face, and Sam's eyes, usually so full of emotion, seemed devoid of life. And it was all my fault.

I careered into my room, shoving past Vicky and Grace. Only then did I remember that I was still on tour, the clock was just touching 9 o'clock, and I had to be downstairs in 5 minutes to embark on today's events.

I'd forgotten that after the snow of the previous day, we were on catch-up. Today was the Circle Line Tour around ManhattanIsland. Wonderful. 2 hours trapped in a rocking boat with Sam and Lindsey, who had probably told the entire band by now. I was in one of the most populated cities in the world, and I had never felt so alone in my life.

The cruise went by surprisingly fast. Sam and Lindsey didn't seem to be spending any time together. In fact Sam seemed to be actively avoiding her choosing to "hang with the guys" whilst Lindsey sulked with her friends. I kept noticing him looking at me, his eyes burning with something I couldn't place, until he caught me looking back, and the dead look returned to haunt the chocolate brown eyes I was falling for.

The Tour itself was interesting, when I could force my eyes to look out of the giant glass windows. We saw all the sights, from a distance; The Statue of Liberty, the USS Intrepid (aircraft carrier), Concord, Wall Street, and Ground Zero to name but a few. I even managed to get in a bit of filming, and some pictures taken on my own camera.

After the tour, we had a leisurely walk back the way we came effectively, to the Empire State Building (literally a block or 2 away from the hotel). Even at the slow amble we had been maintaining, we were half an hour early for our appointment to go up, and we were forced to stand outside in the cold.

The outside however proved to be quite entertaining; as we watched giant clumps of ice break off from the roofs of the neighbouring sky rises and hurtle towards the waiting tarmac. Sometimes they hit a taxi, mostly just bounced of the sidewalk. One however, was about the same size and shape as a baseball bat and landed in the middle of a pedestrian crossing... as people were walking across! Needless to say, that curbed our enthusiasm slightly as we were terrified one might fall from the EmpireStateBuilding onto our heads. Naturally, some of the guys found it hilarious to stand to the side, shout "ICE" and watch as the entire band ducked and protected their heads before realising the lack of danger and heading to lynch the crying kid.

Luckily for him, we were then ushered into the foyer of the Building, and started the long process of getting up to the viewing platform. Everyone had to be searched, metal detected, bags unpacked and ID'd before we were allowed to begin queuing for the first lift to take us up the first 80 floors.

As Sod's Law dictates, I was in a lift with both Lindsey and Sam. About halfway up, Lindsey decided she was "scared" and the only thing that would calm her down was Sam holding her, and her smiling smugly at me from the other side of the lift.

Thankfully, the person who designed the lift was a master, and we were up the 80 floors in no time. I purposefully hung back, pretending to retie my shoe to allow everyone else to go up the second lift before me, and ensuring that I didn't have to endure another Lindsey and Sam show.

When I got to the top in the next life, I was astounded by how far we could see. The day was beautiful and clear, and you could literally see for miles. The Hudson stretched out to the horizon, sparkling away, whilst the buildings, that seemed so tall from ground level, showed off their roofs to the sky. I was attempting to make a documentary for the school site and I tried to give a factual guide to the sights I was showing through the camera. Unfortunately my geography and general knowledge skills were severely lacking, and I ended up resorting to long pans of all 4 views, capturing the maximum amount of potential stills.

After about 10 minutes the entire band was inside as a ferocious wind has picked up, nearly lifting some of the smaller members off their feet. Between us, the "big kids" got them safely anchored, and dragged inside before any of them blew over the side.

We were given yet more shopping time inside the EmpireStateBuilding as the teachers grasped desperately for a way to waste more time before we had to head back to the hotel.

That particular shopping experience wasn't amazing; as there was a limit on the amount of times you can walk around the same stand 5 times and appreciate the same models of the ESB and the same jigsaw puzzles, 3D and 2D, and the same overpriced t-shirts, and still be entertained.

In the end, the teachers had to give up. We headed out back to the hotel, not looking forward to leaving New York tomorrow. The nerves of staying with complete strangers were starting to set in. However, it was definitely a talking point during dinner at "John's Shanghai" that night. The smaller ones couldn't get enough of the idea, although the quieter ones needed a little reassurance and a comforting paw to make them perk up and join in the conversation with a little more gusto.

It was a happy group that walked back to the hotel that night. The few hours spent with Rachel and Chloe and some of the younger members of the band; Hannah, Emily and Naomi, was refreshing and had allowed me to forget about Sam and Lindsey.

I was determined not to let them get to me, as I admired the sparkling lights of New York City for one last time before we left. My eyes darted back and forth as I tried to photograph ever image New York was throwing at me with my mind before we left, possibly forever.

I sent Vicky and Grace on ahead with the key card to the room, as I went to get myself a hot chocolate from the vendors. As I wandered up from the top of the stairs to my room, humming slightly I felt a presence behind me. I carefully put my hot chocolate cup down on a table as I passed, before whirling round to confront the stalker.

It shocked me to see it was Sam. He looked at me for a second. Time seemed to freeze as neither of us said a word. The air grew thick between us, making it hard for me to draw breath.

Then Time sped up again. He grabbed me, closing the space between us in a fraction of a second, leaving me no time to draw breath. His muzzle pressed against mine, surprisingly gentle for the roughness of the previous action. I froze for a second, unsure of how to react, before leaning in, deepening the kiss. The as suddenly as he appeared, he was gone. Dazed I turned back round the corner to see where he had run to, but there was no trace of him. The only difference to suggest he had been there at all was the tingling sensation he had left on my lips.

Eager now to leave the hall, I picked up my, now cold, hot chocolate and headed for my room. I let myself in with my key card and disappeared into my half of the room. I fumbled with some clothes in my suitcase before deciding packing could wait 'til tomorrow, and I fell down onto my bed to dream dreams of Sam.