So in my last book, Patricia and Eddie stayed good friends. Will the same fate be given to Jerome and Mara? Here's what I have to say for that… in book two!

Rekindling the Past Saga

Book Two

My Final Answer

Chapter One

Enter My Return

Amber Millington skipped over to a mannequin with an outfit that made her eyes light up brilliantly. "Oh my gosh," Amber breathed in her common hyper tone. "This outfit would look fabulous on you!" She put the dress over Mara Jaffray's body, and Mara looked down. Amber was sort of modeling Mara in a red button down and a tight dark green skirt. After Mara was silently still for too long, Amber tilted her head questioningly. "Would it not?"

"Sure, Amber, but you really don't have to do this," the darker haired woman reassured her old friend. She recalled when the two hadn't gotten along most of the time in high school, and she was happy to see that this girl was more than welcoming of her return; including this shopping spree. Although one flaw kept invading her mind, and it made this trip to the mall pointless…

Amber flashed her a serious face with a pouty look, something not even her friends could take seriously. "Mara, your little tale about Australia brought me to tears almost. I am more than happy to help you through your tough times. Plus, let's face it, your wardrobe could use a little freshening up," Amber commented, quickly observing Mara's current ensemble: a white tank top with blue flowers scattered about and worn out jeans.

"You haven't seen my wardrobe," Mara protested, crossing her arms over her chest defensively.

Mara gaped at her. "I don't need to, darling. I doubt you've change since you left, really. You still sound like the Mara I knew even now!"

"But—"

"There are no buts in shopping," Amber cut her off with a detesting finger in the air, "but the one below your waist and what pants they go well with."

At this, Mara burst into laughter, as did Amber a few moments later. Mara liked the lack of tension between her and Amber, and it was like there was no tension ever. The only times where fights broke out between them, actually, were because of… of him.

Her hands became tight fists at her sides. At any thought of him anymore, she felt her body burst into flames and wanted to kick something. She sighed and tried to recover and said, "Thanks a lot, Amber, but… " She flipped the tag over in order to read it, and a horrified expression crossed her face. "This price is outrageous!" She glanced up at Amber worriedly.

"Please, Mara," Amber objected once more with a roll of the eyes. "Fashion can be risky, especially on a girl's wallet. But it's worth it, isn't it? It's an awesome 'welcome back ensemble'!" She exclaimed, once again showing it around with a grand gesture.

"But... I can't afford it," Mara said, playing with her fingers bashfully. "I don't have a lot of money on me. I need to get a job first before getting anything like this." She felt the fabric of the dress and was amazed by how smooth it felt against her fingertips. It would feel so comfortable against her body. But the sight of the tag once more screaming out a number that made her head spin also made her turn away with a regrettable sigh.

Amber rubbed her chin in thought. Then her face lit up and she folded the outfit in her arms. "Then I'll buy it for you! Employee discount is pretty decent here," she replied with a stride in her black heels toward the cashier. "See? No problem!

Mara followed her as she processed this, though it did not it take too long. "No, Amber. I couldn't let you do that!" she argued.

"I may not be rich, Mara, but I have enough money to spare—don't try to protest, because it'll get you nowhere. It's just something to think about when you need a good friend to talk to," she said, pushing her blond hair behind her shoulders. The skinny woman behind the counter showed her the amount on the small screen. When she said the price, Mara felt a pang in her chest when Amber handed the woman, whose name-tag stated her name was Helena, her credit card. That was a lot of money, and she felt bad for having Amber pay for it. She had a feeling she'd owe her sometime.

"Thanks, Amber. I really appreciate this," Mara acknowledged sincerely as Amber handed her the bag of her new outfit.

"No problem." The two walked out when Mara's stomach growled. Mara looked away, embarrassed, but Amber was, of course, not all that entertained. "You can buy your own lunch, right?"

"Yes, I can. But no place fancy, obviously," Mara joked. "Just someplace in here, maybe."

Amber looked slightly disappointed. "Oh, alright. Some of it's not so bad. The pizza at the end is pretty decent and isn't so greasy I have to wash my hands," she noted, and Mara nodded in agreement.

While heading towards the food court, Amber was once again in her own world, but then turned to her friend with a questioning gaze. This stopped both girls when Mara made eye contact with her. "What?" she asked, feeling self-conscious.

"I have another question, Mara," Amber announced, giving a serious look-well, if one could take Amber's expressions seriously. Even now, it lacked any sort of solemnness, just an attempt that almost seemed to be a joke.

"Did you get here just today?" Amber asked.

"Yes, I told you that," said Mara. She was unsure where this was going.

"Well, since you just got in, do you have a place to stay?"

It took a minute to think about it, but once she processed it, she paled slightly. And this Amber caught, and the answer was in her facial features. Mara had forgotten, of all things, of where to stay. She was so insistent on finding a friend to be around that it hadn't come across her mind. Well, it was later in the day, late enough to see the sun slowly descending.

Amber waited for Mara's response, but words were lost from her, so Amber answered for her. "I'm guessing that's a no?"

Mara slowly nodded. "I literally just got here this morning. I called you and then we just started hanging around since then. I never had a plan when I left—I just… did." She shrugged meekly with a goofy smile.

Amber was not as amused. "So you have no clue where to sleep tonight? Or any other night? I would think the brilliant Mara Jaffray had a plan before she left," Amber said, but since Mara knew her far too well, it was not at all mocking. In fact, she was taking the facts and bringing them to light. Whether they sounded mean or not was only because facts are hard to accept sometimes.

"Yes," Mara said slowly with a grin. "Why?"

Amber suddenly had the biggest smile on her face. Her blond hair danced through the air as she twirled to face Mara directly. Mara's eyes grew as she shouted, "You can live with me! Oh, that's a perfect idea, don't you think?"

"No!" Mara shouted back. Amber took a step back and blinked at her. Thinking she might've taken it the wrong way, Mara added, "It's just that… I can't do that to you. You've already been nice enough to take me place… buy me an outfit... and it's been really nice. But letting me stay in your place while I get used to being back? I can't do that to you."

"Yes you can… because I said so!" Amber smirked. Mara's mouth was agape when she added slyly, "And if you say no, where will you go?"

"I could find an apartment somewhere… I don't have much money, but I'm sure I'll find somewhere that agrees with my wallet," Mara said carefully, all while aware she was gradually losing this war.

"Where?" Amber argued. "Trust me, it's not exactly point and 'there it is' when it comes to apartments! You don't know the conditions, the pricing, the decency—you have to plan every detail, and since you didn't, I'll be more than happy to lend you a hand. You just have to sleep on the couch."

Mara had an urge to keep fighting, but deep down, she knew she had no choice. She barely had any money at all, certainly not enough for any apartment; at least not for a long time, which she needed. With this chance to sleep someplace due to somebody's generosity, she couldn't say no any longer. She smiled and nodded in acceptance as they finally headed to their destination.

Their lunch at a pizza place in the mall went silently, just with Mara taking in the pizza, the only food she had that day that wasn't airplane food. They both tossed their remains away and left the food court.

As they made their way out of the mall, they came across a bunch of different shops there: chocolate shops, kids stories, music stories, you name it, this mall had it all! All it needed was a little motel, and Mara could live here. But apparently, Amber was insistent on her staying with her. They weren't even good friends, but she was treating her like one. Rather than argue any longer, she might as well take what the kind blond was giving her.

"Thank you, Amber. I—I appreciate this very much," Mara caved in with a sweet smile, to let her know just how grateful she was.

"No problem," Amber said, rolling her eyes, and they continued through the store in silence.

But one particular store caught her eye; it wasn't a book store, and it didn't have anything at all to do with what they sold inside. Rather, it was a sort of advertising picture for a men's clothing store.

On it was a very handsome man with piercing blue eyes deeply directed toward whoever was right in front of it, like her. Surrounded by a background of sky blue, he was brushing his dirty blond hair away from his eyes. It was a way to attract ladies, she supposed, but since it was a men's store, he wore what Mara guessed was a handsome outfit for men. That was a tan blazer, a light purple scarf, and light jeans, an appropriate wear for newly arrived fall. He wore a look of wistfulness and, well, sexiness, she dared to think.

It took a while for Amber to realize she was leaving her friend behind. When she did, she came back for her and stared at her face for a moment, wondering silently what had absorbed her attention so much. "What's wrong?" she asked, scrunching her face in curiosity.

Mara pointed at the poster, and upon seeing it, Amber dramatically put hand over her mouth and gasped. Mara grinned at her over the top reaction but turned back to the modeling photo of Jerome Clark.

But then she relaxed and said, "I'm not following; what is it?"

"It's Jerome… " she breathed with a sigh. She tried to keep control but also wondered why she had to. This wasn't a picture of Mick or anything. It shouldn't make her stop midway while walking and put her in a daze. She attempted to play it casually but failed because Amber placed her hands on her hips and posed with an attitude.

"I had no idea you were fond of him," said Amber with an accusing stare.

Mara gaped at her. "I'm not," she argued quietly. "I just didn't know he was a model." She faked a weak smile that Amber seemed to buy.

Amber prolonged her observation of the photo and then beamed. "You have to admit, he does look rather smashing," Amber commented, earning her a smack on the arm from Mara. She cradled it while sort of complaining but she let it go, knowing Mara didn't mean it. "For Jerome," she added.

"Oh, please, he's… trying too hard," Mara thought of rather weakly. "I mean, look at his face." She pointed at the dark faced man before them. "He looks like he's trying to act in a movie and is supposed to cry." She smirked at it and tried to pull off her joke with a goofy look, but inside, she was wondering why the hell she was acting like this. What had poor Jerome done to her?

Amber laughed, though with lack of meaning, so maybe her joke wasn't so funny-she didn't think so anyway. "I didn't really think you felt that way. So mean; I like it," said Amber, a spark in her eyes. "Of course, stay your old self, because mean people are the worst." She rolled her eyes at the simplicity of her words, and Mara choked in her giggles.

"I am with you on that," she agreed, and they quickly continued their walk through the mall. Usually this large building was accompanied with silence, minus a few other shoppers roaming around and chatting with their friends; unless someone, namely Amber, was wearing loud high heels. After a few minutes, it just got to her. "How can you walk around in those things? They must be torture on your feet. Plus, they're way too loud in public."

"They are actually very comfortable and everything. And if people have a problem of how 'loud' they are, they should just deal with it," Amber replied with no harshness to her tone—unlike Mara, she was completely mellow.

"Just because they look nice doesn't mean you should wear something that's going to bug others. You should care about what others feel," Mara snapped quietly, as she was aware they were in public quickly enough to catch herself.

"You're suddenly irritable. Is it… about Mick?" Amber asked slowly. She was unsure where to go with this. She, too, had her troubles with the heartbreaking boy, but that was high school.

"No—maybe—I really dunno," she almost whined, raising her hands but dropping them just as quickly. She sighed and did her best to explain what she was thinking, "When I saw that picture of Jerome, I just got… mad, I think. Maybe I'm just taking my anger out on that."

Amber stared blankly at her for a few moments. "I… don't get it. I mean, why Jerome? Is it just because he's the first boy you saw that was from high school or something? That seems rather silly."

"Yeah, you're right. I guess I'm just trying to get over this whole Mick thing—can we go now?" she asked, exasperated and desperate to change the subject again. They stopped at an escalator that would take them to the floor where Amber's car was.

"Absolutely. And we can go get ice cream and listen to some woman empowering music." She raised a positive fist and smiled, and Mara couldn't help but grin as well. As they walked out, she added, "Have you ever heard of the song, Stronger?"

"No. What's that?"

"It's this song by an American woman. Her name's Kelly Clarkson. I feel that this would be a perfect song for you and your problems," she confirmed. She turned her car on and the two entered. And sure enough, Amber waved a CD in her face with an unfamiliar woman staring at her with the words "Stronger" embroidered across the cover.

"When did you get this?" Mara asked, surprised Amber even liked American musicians; she declared they weren't worth her time unless they captured her heart. And that meant men with alluring voices…

"A while after Mick broke up with me," Amber said with a sheepish smile that was also full of glee. "I didn't tell anyone because it seemed silly, but it just seemed to… speak to me. And I've kept it to remind me that boys like Mick are not worth it. I got it out again after so long when you told me about leaving Australia."

Mara nodded absentmindedly. And with Amber's eyes again probing her, she knew exactly what the girl would ask next. And she did: "What happened over there, by the way? You never told me—"

"Can we just go?" Mara interrupted with slight desperation in her tone.

Amber stared at her for a bit longer before nodding and turning to the wheel. They departed the mall, and Mara stared at the album. Silence enveloped the car, but Mara absolutely denied any thoughts on filling it with conversation. Especially since Amber brought him up.

… Maybe she'd take a listen to it later.

A/N:

I want to say real quick how the time goes on around here in the books.

Book one was about summer, July 2019 (since it's about six years after graduation for the Sibuna, which I'd say is 2013.

Book two is in the fall, early October, 2020 (I don't want it to happen all in the same time). And this is different from my previous story in the fact that updates will be WAY shorter, not only because I'm busy with school, work, etc., but also because I don't have all the chapters written up. Everything's outlined, but not written. So when updates don't go for about a week, that's probably why. And finally, this is an AU from the actual show, as you can tell, Mara isn't with Jerome here. This needs to be noted for the next chapter. Ta-ta for now! 3