"Not my appearance, I wouldn't think," Plymouth shrugged. "My insides are different though, that's for certain." Plymouth made a heart with his hands, each hand contributing a half of a heart. Then he broke his hands apart with sound effects. He shrugged again and went back to his window art.

"You can stay up here with me," Plymouth wrote Anna's name again on the window, "I promise, no one is misbehaving. And we'll do whateverrrrrr the Head Girls says. Well - most things anyway."

Anna winced when she realized the type of answer Plym was going to give her. She hadn't intentionally meant for the conversation to lead to him stating that his heart was broken. Anna still really didn't know what happened, but she could easily put two and two together and figure it out. Ouch. Poor Plym. "Oh," was all she thought to say at the moment. Well, technically she could say a whole lot more, but she wasn't sure what she could say that wouldn't cause Plym to continue to think about his poor, broken heart. She frowned as she watched him create a makeshift heart with his hands, then break it into two different pieces.

She smiled when he told her she could stay in the compartment with him. She would do just that...and hopefully get to maybe smile a little in the process. "Thank you. I'll do that," she said, sitting back in the seat and getting herself comfortable. She nodded when he told her those in the compartment---which, other then her, was just him---would do whatever the Head Girl said to do. Anna picked up both Plym's hands and struggled for a few moments until she'd pried his fingers back into a heart shape. She held them there for a bit, then said, "Would you smile if the Head Girl asked you to?"

She didn't have to ask because Plymouth's smile returned at her handy-heart-gesture. "Maybe," Plymouth grinned at her. "For you, I think I'd always smile. You're a sweet, sweet girl. I don't always get you, but you're sweet. And you're a friend. I appreciate that." Plymouth lowered his face to nuzzle the backside of one her hands with his nose.

Anna didn't hesitate to break into a big smile when she saw Plym grin at her. "There now. That's the Plymouth I know," she said. She continued to smile as he talked. He was such a sweetheart. "Plym, I don't think very many people do understand me, but I guess that's just what makes me unique. Even if I am an odd sort of unique." She laughed at her own little joke, then added another name, Plymouth's, to their smilie face montage on the window. "You're one of the sweetest friends I have, Plym," she said. She thought about adding 'and you're going to make some girl really happy someday', but she thought better of it. That might prompt Plym to think about his current relationship troubles again, and Anna didn't want that. She did have a new mission in life---to give Plymouth Morgan his "happily ever after." She didn't know how to go about doing that, but maybe if she plotted long enough, she'd come up with something. Maybe Cope would want to help out, too.

Shaylee saw Sneeze outside the compartment looking around and waved at him. She lept up and walked over to the door, slid it open and said, Hey Sneeze! You wanna join us in here? She smiled at her friend and gave him a hug. She pulled him inside the compartment and said, How have you been?

"You're not odd," Plymouth assured her. "You're beautiful and smart and so nice to everyone. And you've got Daddy Newell and a good family. You're practically perfect. That is the baffling part." Plymouth kept her hands, but wiggled his fingers to mess up the heart. "How does someone have it all and not be a total egghead?"

"Me? Not odd? You do realize you're talking to the girl who brought thirteen textbooks with her to detention---for comfort?" Anna asked. To her, she'd always been the oddball. I mean, who else panicked over the thought of missing one homework assignment? Or making only a perfect score on an assignment and not being awarded any bonus points? Maybe there were others like her, but in her mind, Anna had always pinpointed herself as being the odd one out. "Thank you, though. That means a lot, Plym. I think sometimes you give me more credit than what is due. You give me the big head," she said with a giggle.

"I'm not perfect, but once again, thank you anyway. I think that right now, you're more or less beating yourself up, Plym. You don't deserve that," she said. "I'm not perfect, but I will tell you one thing. I don't worry about what people think of me. Well, not a lot. There are people out there who hate the ground I walk on, but I try not to think about it too much." Anna grew quiet for a minute then turned to face Plym. "The whole world's not crumbling down, you know. You think it is, but it's not."

Plymouth looked at Anna for a long, long time. He was oddly comfortable in the long silences. "It may not be what I deserve, but it's what I have. My feelings are hurt." Plymouth gave her a little nod and then let her hands go. "It doesn't matter though. The world isn't crumbling in here. Here is good. Here is safe. Me and you, pretty girl." Plymouth thought better on that and added, "Pretty Head Girl, that is."

Anna blinked, and a small tear trickled down her cheek. She hated---absolutely hated---when her friends were upset. Especially Plym. Plym was the type of person just made of goodness, so it was always a tough cookie to swallow when trying to accept that someone like him had been badly hurt. It suddenly occured to Anna that if her goal was to cheer Plym up, even a little, talking about his troubles was not the way to do it. Anna grew quiet for a good five minutes, letting the silence serve as a means of distraction while she thought about what to say.

"Plym," she finally said, her voice sounding a bit weird after hearing nothing but silence for five minutes. "Do you want a chocolate frog or something? I bought thirty-six of them at the trolley earlier. I only have 34 left now, but you're welcome to them if you want." She didn't know if Plymouth liked candy, but chocolate always made her feel better.

Plymouth had drawn an entire scene on the window before Anna spoke again. He turned to look at her - but was COMPLETELY HORRIFIED at the tear stain on her cheek. His mouth fell open, then he shut it with a pop. Plymouth touched the little wet trail on her cheek with his fingertip, just a little brush of a touch. "I ... Umm... Did I say something? Merlin, I'll eat all your frogs while tapdancing if you don't leak anymore." Plymouth would eat the whole train if it would help.

Anna glanced up at Plym's little creation on the window. Merlin, had been quiet for that long? Maybe Plym didn't need silence as a distraction. Anna hoped he hadn't let his mind wander back to his troubles while she'd been busy thinking of something to say. Even then, she'd only come up with a lame question about chocolate frogs. Maybe Plym had never gotten his troubles out of his mind. Maybe it'd be a work in progress sort of thimg. Hmm...

She glanced back at him in time to catch the horrified look on his face. Oh, no! What had she done to get that look. Had Cela or Cope or someone walked in? Someone who would remind Plym of the reason he wasn't smiling? Confused, Anna turned around looked at the compartment door, but she saw no one. "Plym? I don't---....oh," she said, remembering the little tear that had betrayed her. "Oh, Plym. I'm so sorry." It was really rude of her to cry at a time when he needed to. She froze in place while he wiped it away, though. "Still thinking of someone else's feelings a time like this...silly Plym."

"You didn't say anything. It's not you at all. It's...you okay, Plym?" she finally asked. "I mean, I want to do something, but I...I don't know what, Plym. I'm so sorry. Sooo sorry." She dug in her bag and pulled out a frog for him. "Here. Chocolate always makes me feel better."