A Lost Possibility
By MidnightzStorm
Thanks to: My kick-butt beta reader, dx/t.
Author's Note: I had this idea in my head for awhile. What if Rose found out about Jake's secret identity before he found out about hers? Would they have their happily ever after or would it just end up worse then what actually happened? I found it hard to believe that Rose never figured it out, especially since the Huntsclan knew Lao-Shi's human identity. This story will probably be two or three parts; it won't be as long as Destined.
Disclaimer: I do not own American Dragon: Jake Long.
"It's a Winter Festival, no Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa," Courtney told Rose seriously. They were standing in the busy school hall, discussing their volunteer project. "Last year Britney Baker was in charge and she let 'Silent Night' on the play list and no one has heard from her since."
"Didn't she just move to Arizona?" Rose asked.
"Yeah that's one story," Courtney said, rolling her eyes, "If we represent one holiday then we will have to all of them equally and that's impossible."
"Then what are we celebrating?"
"The season that is winter, with the snow…"
Rose frowned, she hated this season, not just because she didn't have a family to spend it with, but also because of the snow, the dreaded white blanket of death as she liked to call it. It didn't matter how many layers she wore she always shivered when she had to be in that weather.
"We have a dozen volunteers so far but we need more and also…" Courtney said, but her voice seemed to fade away when Rose spotted Jake. He was walking down the hall, talking to his two best friends, Spud and Trixie. When he saw her, he gave her a butterfly inducing smile, and she couldn't help but grin back at him.
"You weren't listening to me were you?" Courtney asked warily.
"Oh, yes I was," Rose tried to lie.
"No you were making goo-goo eyes at Jake Long. I don't get his appeal; he's like a foot shorter then you. If you go out with him you can kiss your heels goodbye, unless you want to look like Tom and Katie."
"He'll grow," Rose said, rolling her eyes at her friend's superficial accusation.
"And you are planning on being with him that long?" Courtney asked, and when Rose did not answer, but continued to have a dreamy look on her face, Courtney said, "Wow, you got it bad! Get him to volunteer! That's four hours of quality crush time."
Rose wasn't sure if Courtney's suggestion was made because it would give her an excuse to hang out with Jake or because the festival needed more volunteers. Either way, she liked it, so she coyly walked over to his lock where he was chatting with his friends.
"Hey Jake," she said smiling.
"Hey Rose," he replied, matching her grin.
"The Winter Festival is tomorrow and I was wondering, it's a good cause—"
"Yes!" he said, a little too eagerly.
"Boy, let the girl finish," Trixie said frowning at her friend.
Rose smiled at Trixie kindly and continued, "We need more volunteers."
"Sure, we would love to help!" Jake said, a little less enthusiastically than before, not wanting to get glared at again by Trixie.
"We will?" Spud asked confused, but Jake elbowed him.
"Also, I know you have a little sister, so could you see if you could tell her and her friends about it?" Rose requested.
"Sure, my parents are busy that night, but I bet my grandfather wouldn't mind taking her."
The festival was going as planned the next night. They had made the gym look like a winter wonderland with fake snow put together by countless bottles of glue and absurd amounts of glitter. Rose was in charge of checking in with all of the volunteers and making sure everyone was doing what they were suppose to do.
Rose came to the craft section of the gym where Jake was helping a little red haired girl make a cotton snowman. He smiled at her when she walked up.
"How is it going here?" she asked, returning his smile.
"Good, but we are running low on glue," he answered.
"Is this your girlfriend?" the child asked curiously.
Jake began to blush, and tried to say "She's uhh…"
"I'll go get more glue," Rose said as she tried to hide the giggles that wanted to bubble through her lungs.
When Rose came back, her heart stopped. She saw him, that Chinese dragon. That master of the annoying American Dragon, and he was talking to Jake.
Jake, finally noticing she arrived, said "Hey Rose this is my grandfather and my little sister Haley," motioning to the girl and the dragon.
It took all of Rose's training to not freak out at that moment. Instead she put on her best schoolgirl's smile and said "It's nice to meet you." She handed Jake the glue and muttered that she had to go.
She felt sick.
She ran outside, the cold air smacking her face, she didn't care; all she could try to do was attempt to breathe. If Jake's grandfather was a dragon, then that meant he was one as well. And then another realization hit her harder then a ton of bricks: he must be the American Dragon.
She frowned; she never knew that the dragon could be so convening as to come up with a plan to mess with her. He was probably trying to learn her weaknesses and worm his way into her heart to blackmail her in the most opportune moment. However he slipped up when his grandfather had shown up. She had been to the electronics shop a few times, however never once met the owner. They were good.
"Rose," a familiar voice called out from behind her. She turned quickly to see Jake walking towards her. "What's wrong?" he asked when he saw that her eyes were red and her checks where damp.
"Nothing," she said, clumsily wiping the tears from her eyes. She couldn't let him know that she knew. She couldn't let him know anything.
"Oh you must be freezing," he said, noticing that she had forgotten to bring to her jacket; he took his coat off and wrapped it around her, rubbing his hands on her shoulders to warm her up.
She stared at him, thinking this all was just an act.
"I wasn't sure if it was my sister or Gramps who made you run off like that," he said sheepishly.
"Why would they?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You know how family can be kind of embarrassing and insane," he said.
"No, I don't," she answered honestly, looking away.
"Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry Rose," he said sincerely. She had closed her eyes to listen to his voice. Why didn't she figure this out sooner?
However another side of her brain asked why Jake would introduce his grandfather to her when he knew that she had the knowledge of his human form, maybe he didn't know who she was. But what were the odds of that?
She was angry at the world for making her life so confusing. The first guy she had truly crushed on ended up being her mortal enemy. She figured that in a month they would have been "officially" going out. She had planned for Jake Long to be her first kiss, and spent many class periods daydreaming what it would be like.
She desperately looked at him, not knowing what to do or what to believe. And when her brain decided to shut down, she decided to get that kiss. She leaned in, their noses painfully bumping into each other, however her lips continued to find their target, and then she rigorously moved her lips against him, trying to forget everything. When their lips met she instantly felt warmer. It took her a few moments to remember why he would be so warm; he could breathe fire because he was a dragon. She pulled away suddenly. Jake's eyes fluttered opened and looked at her in shock.
She quickly took off his coat and said, "I got to go," and ran off into the night.
