Maria Reynolds has been in love with Eliza Schuyler since they were in second grade and Eliza was the lead in their school's Christmas pageant. Maria had been fixated on how delicately Eliza set her glittering halo on her lovely dark hair that she'd almost missed her cue.

That was ten years ago, and Maria's feelings have changed very little.

Senior year was already over half way over, and Maria had not once even hinted to Eliza how she felt. She never mentioned how Eliza's laugh was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard, hadn't told her how much she admired her kindness, her liveliness, her loveliness. She never insinuated that she sometimes fantasized of them walking together in the December snow, hand in hand, not paying attention to any of the passerby because they were only looking at each other. And whenever she tried to imagine Eliza's hand in hers, her mind could never completely formulate the feeling, and her daydreams fizzled out into hazy reality where Eliza was always on the other side of the class room.

She hated it. Anything she imagined filled her with such bliss and dread that she was worn out every day, her mind too busy with thoughts of what-could-be's. But it had been ten years of this. Maria was a veteran in the war of unrequited love.

Probably unrequited, anyway.

But she was running out of time if she was ever really going to do it, make her move.

Maria glanced at Eliza, answering Prof's question in flawless French. Maria buried her head in her arms.

She didn't know what she was going to do.

The only person who knew about her crush on Eliza was John Laurens, Maria's only close friend that still went to school with her. They'd been friends pretty much since sophomore year, when they both would stay late after school for art club, then stay even later after it was done.

That probably wasn't the best situation, since John was now dating Alexander Hamilton, Eliza's ex-boyfriend as of last summer. Alex and Eliza were still really close, which made Maria moderately envious, but not nearly as jealous as she'd been when they were dating. That was another one of the reasons John and Maria had gotten along: their mutual desire for "it" couple to break up and be with them.

The thing was, once they did break up, John had had the guts to ask Alex out to homecoming, and Maria stayed home in sweatpants, angrily scrolling through all of Eliza, John, and Alex's cute pictures on Facebook.

"That's what you should do!" John exclaimed as Maria was complaining to him. As he said it, he flung his paintbrush onto the floor, a long streak of blue across the white tile. "Whoops," he sighed and bent to pick it up.

"What do you mean?" Maria asked, both wanting to rant some more and wanting to keep it out of her mind.

"You should ask her to the Valentine's Day dance."

"What?!" Maria almost ruined her painting with a shocked streak across the canvas, but she caught herself. She was well practiced with keeping her cool when it came to Eliza.

"You heard me," John told her, then groaned as he got up from cleaning the paint off the floor. "Just do it. At worst, she says no. At best… well, look at me and Alex."

John had a point, but Maria wouldn't give it to him.

"And if she says no? That's ten years of my life, my energy, a huge space in my heart, completely wasted."

"Wow, okay, one, that may have been the most dramatically whiney and hopeless thing I have ever heard you say. Chill out. And two, you could never ask her, never find out, and either waste the rest of your life in the same state you're in now, or move on having never found out.

"Or, you could take this small opportunity of potential happiness, and run with it."

Maria swallowed, all the possibilities he'd just mentioned weighing around in her head. They terrified her. All of them.

"What if she doesn't even like girls?"

"Well, I can't say she was ever super crazy about Alex just because he was a dude."

"What do you mean?"

John sat down, giving up on focusing on painting while having this conversation. "I don't know, just like, he said that they were really close friends before they started going out. He was the one to ask her out first, and she always seemed more polite than, I don't know, into their relationship. Who knows, maybe she's aromantic. But, still, it really can't hurt to ask. It's not like she'll turn you down cruelly if she does."

Maria nodded absently, letting this knowledge soak into her jittery mind. "I guess."

"Hey," John said, standing up and setting his hands on her shoulders. "No matter what, I love you. You're a great person. You don't need anyone else to tell you that. This is going to be a good experience for you, no matter what."

"I'm sort of a terribly messed-up person."

"That's what makes you great."

"I've never asked anyone out before."

"That's why it's going to be a good experience. Look, it's going to be fine."

"But will it?"

"You can do it."

"But can I?"

"Yes, you can."

Maria sighed. "If my heart breaks, will you be there to pick up the pieces?"

"Always. I'll mend it with Cheetos and bad televised crime dramas."

"Perfect. Who needs a relationship when you can have that?"

"No one. Though don't tell Alexander I said that. He gets mad when I say I love snack foods more than him."

"Understandable, though."

"Yeah." John pulled away from her, and glanced at her painting. Though it was nowhere near finished, it was obviously Eliza's dim silhouette, faded into a blue background. John sighed.

"You really do have a problem, don't you?"

Maria shrunk back and closed her eyes. "Yeah."

It was a week and a half until the Valentine's Day dance, and Maria had no plans to ask Eliza out.

Though she really, really, wanted to.

John badgered her about it constantly, and somehow it must have leaked to Alexander, because whenever Maria was with them and Eliza walked by he winked, as if saying "Your turn."

Maria wanted to be mad at John for that, but she really couldn't. Only because she was being completely irrational about the whole thing.

Eliza and her had nearly all the same classes, their lockers were in the same section of the hall, they had known each other for practically their whole lives. It wouldn't be hard to find a time to ask, and it wasn't like she had to give a speech. It would be so easy.

And that was what Maria was scared of.

Easy to do.

Easier for it to all come crashing down.

She spent a whole week debating it in her head, and still came to no concrete conclusion.

And there were only two days left until the dance.

Once again, Maria and John were alone in the art room, but not painting today. Today they stuck with pencils and sketchbooks, as they had to leave for play practice in an hour or so. John barely talked to her, which was unsettling. Alexander was usually the chatty one of the two of them, but John could definitely be worse. Maria had experienced it herself.

"How's it going?" Maria asked tentatively. It seemed to snap John out of his thoughts, and he shrugged.

"The usual. Have you asked Eliza out yet?"

"Nope."

He laughed lightly, but tried to cover it.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"John, what did you do?" Maria was properly panicked.

"Nothing!" he shrieked defensively, and then looked down at the floor, embarrassed or guilty, Maria couldn't tell, but she was scared either way. John, sighed, rubbed his face. "Okay, well, I guess I should tell you before she gets here-"

"Hi, John!" Eliza chirped from the doorway.

Maria's heart stopped.

Eliza noticed her, then, after Maria slowly turned around to look at her. "Oh, hi, Maria."

"Hi," Maria said softly.

"John, are you ready?" Eliza asked, and Maria was now anxious, angry, and confused. The look she shot John said as much.

"Dou!" John said, slapping his forehead. Maria frowned, easily noticing that he was acting. "I forgot some stuff in my locker. Wait here for me?"

"Yep."

"Awesome." John didn't even close up his sketchbook before he practically ran out the door, shooting Maria a wink before he was gone.

Thankfully, the awkward silence didn't last very long, which was probably the only good thing about the situation.

"How do you think you did on the French quiz?" Eliza asked her as she sat across from Maria in John's vacated seat.

Maria inconspicuously covered the sketch of Eliza's eyes she had started before she arrived. She focused on not stuttering as she replied. "Pretty well, I think. I'd hope, with all the studying I did."

"What did you get for nineteen?" Eliza asked eagerly.

"Uh… 1942, I think?"

"Ah, crap. I put 1943."

Maria couldn't help but feel a bit smug. It probably wasn't the best thing to feel, but it eased her nerves, so it was helpful, nevertheless. "I'm sure you did good on the rest."

"I hope. I'm barely hanging onto an A as is."

"Really? Prof loves you, though."

Eliza laughed, and Maria almost melted, but the tone of it kept her together. "Sure, but that just means she grades me harder. It's fine though, I don't mind the challenge."

Maria had nothing to say (though she had so much to say) in response. It was fine, though. Eliza was a politician's daughter, trained in small talk.

"Do you and John come here often?" she asked curiously.

Maria couldn't help but laugh.

And then she realized the opportunity John had given her. What she had been avoiding all week was right in front of her. John had set her up. Eliza had no reason to be there, and if she was picking John up or whatever, there was no reason for it.

She wanted to curse him and kiss him at the same time.

John knew that Maria could do anything once she was forced to.

And now he had done it.

Maria spent one moment too long looking at Eliza while realizing this, but the other girl didn't seem to notice or mind.

Still, Maria was troubled when she went to talk. "A-oh, a couple times a week, I guess. I don't really do a whole lot outside of this."

"That's cool, though. Have you guys been friends awhile?"

"Two years."

"Wow. I bet you work well together."

Maria hadn't expected that. "We do, actually," she told Eliza thoughtfully.

And then she remembered what she had to do.

Maria took in a quick breath.

"Eliza-" she couldn't believe she'd said her name out loud.

"Yes?" Eliza said, a small smile on her face.

"Are you doing anything this weekend?"

Eliza sighed and thought for a moment. "Oh, I don't know. It's been a bit of a week. Part of me wants to sleep, part of me wants to stay up until two every night and actually get some stuff accomplished."

It wasn't exactly the response Maria could have used, but she laughed lightly anyway.

Okay, girl, just do it. JUST DO IT.

"Well," Maria started, amazed at how composed she sounded. "I was just wondering, that if you wanted to go out, if you wanted to go to the Valentine's Dance with me."

"Oh," Eliza said, and Maria started to get nervous.

"It can be casual, I was just wondering. I'll buy you dinner, and I can pick you up-"

"Oh, no, that sounds great. I was just surprised. But yeah, that sounds great."

Maria couldn't tell if she was breathing or not. "Okay."

Eliza smiled brightly, with her whole face. Maria was definitely not breathing. "Okay."

Maria didn't know how long John had been standing in the doorway, but he was grinning.

Eliza started to stand. "Hey, are you ready-"

"Change of plans," John told her. "Alex and I are going to grab a bite and then we'll be back for play rehearsal tonight."

"Oh," Eliza pouted, though she didn't seem sad. "Okay."

John jogged over and scooped up his sketch book, then saluted them as he went out the door. "Bye, Maria, bye 'Liza."

"Bye, John," the girls said together.

Eliza pointed to the doorway where John just was. "Do you know what that was about?"

Maria shook her head, pokerfaced. "Not a clue."

Eliza sighed. "Well, I have to be here to pick up my sister from volleyball practice in a half hour, anyway. Mind if I wait with you?"

Maria shook her head, smiling. "No, not at all."