Imogen checked her cellphone for the third time in five minutes, frowning when she saw that the text she had sent Fiona last period still hadn't been answered. Normally her girlfriend was right on top of sending her something back, even if she had to use one word answers and even if she had to risk getting caught by a teacher. Now? Nothing, not even a smiley face in response to her question of whether or not she wanted to hang out after school.

With a sigh, Imogen tossed her phone back in her bag and propped her chin in her hand, trying to focus on her calculus teacher's lecture about linear functions. Still, she couldn't shake the annoying little voice in the back of her head that was reminding her that this wasn't exactly an isolated incident as of late. Ever since that absolutely repulsive Mike Dallas had managed to weasel his way onto Fiona's good side after helping her out with the dance, the two of them had become what seemed like best friends. They were spending a lot of time together, that was for sure - not that Imogen was jealous, or anything. It was good that they had other friends apart from one another and that they had separate interests. Spending every minute together wasn't healthy for a relationship.

Still, it would be nice if she wasn't getting ignored by her very gay girlfriend in favor of a very male friend.

When the bell rang, Imogen scooped her books up, fishing through her bag to pull her phone out again to check once more, her hopes lifting when she saw her message icon with a one beside it. She was disappointed to see it wasn't from Fiona when she it opened it, although she was sort of pleased that Mo had texted her about another WhisperHug practice later that week. With a sigh she exited the classroom, her first stop definitely going to be at Fiona's locker.

She really should have expected Dallas to be leaning against his locker and grinning down at Fiona as she took her books out of her own and spoke to him, but that didn't mean that she liked it. She narrowed her eyes, fought down the urge to walk over there and kick Dallas right in the balls, and turned and headed in the opposite direction.

Okay, so she was a little jealous.

A lot jealous, in fact.

—

The next day, she tried to catch Fiona when she was coming out of her history class, but it seemed like Dallas had the same plan as her, because there he was, standing opposite the door and texting. Imogen scowled and stood next to him, feeling like this was some kind of stand-off between them.

It wasn't until a second later that he became aware that she was next to him, and he glanced up at her. "Sup, Imogen?"

"Asshat."

"What?"

"Dallas."

He frowned at her and then went back to texting, and she kept her eyes trained on the history room door. The bell rang a few minutes later and she straightened up, a grin sliding into place as someone opened the door. Fiona was in the middle of the pack, looking through her purse for something as she left the room. When she finally found her phone and glanced at it, her gaze traveled upwards and she beamed at Dallas first, sending Imogen's heart plummeting straight to her stomach.

Then Fiona's eyes slid over to Imogen and her smile grew brighter, if anything, and Imogen wanted to turn to Dallas and give him a good old "Ha!" but he didn't know what was going on in her head right now, so she settled for kissing Fiona for a second longer than necessary when she came over to them.

"What are you doing here?" Fiona asked when she pulled away, although it didn't seem like she really minded.

Imogen shrugged. "I just wanted to see you and ask if you wanted to maybe ditch study hall with me today?" She threw in a roguish smirk at the end, hoping that Fiona would get her intention.

Fiona's eyes darted towards Dallas, and she smiled apologetically. "I would, Im, I really would, but Dallas and I already have plans. I'm so sorry. Rain check, though? I'll call you tonight, I promise." She kissed Imogen's forehead, and then she and Dallas walked away down the hall, leaving Imogen behind, looking lost.

"Hey, Immy," Fiona said brightly, sliding into the seat next to her at the lunch table and kissing her cheek. Imogen muttered something noncommittal and took a vicious bite of her wrap, eyes trained on the table.

Across from them Eli and Clare exchanged glances, deciding that now was a good time to step in. "Fiona! Haven't seen much of you around lately. Where have you been hiding away?" Eli said, his arm around Clare's shoulder.

Fiona shrugged her purse off of her shoulder and placed it on the table in front of her, leaning over to steal a fry from Imogen's tray. "Oh, here and there. Actually, Dallas has been teaching me a lot about hockey this week, so we've been skipping lunches for that." She said it in such an off-handed way that it made Imogen want to snap at her, but she settled for glaring out of the corner of her eye. Once again, only Eli and Clare picked up on it.

This time it was Clare who spoke. "Um, Fiona, don't you think that you and Dallas are getting a little...close?"

Fiona gave Clare a confused look, another one of Imogen's french fries in her hand. "What do you mean by that?" Her gaze drifted to Imogen, who was very deliberately not looking at her, instead picking apart her wrap and scowling at the tomatoes as though they had done her a great and terrible personal wrong.

"I think what she means is that Dallas isn't exactly the greatest guy at school. You know that. He doesn't have the most gay-friendly reputation, and you're suddenly spending a lot of your time with him. Time that you could be spending with your girlfriend," Eli jumped in, trying to save Clare from ending up on the receiving end of one of Fiona's freeze-outs. He could handle it, since the two of them were close enough that they could work it out, but he doubted that she and Clare would be able to.

Imogen stood and picked up her tray, dumping the entire thing in the nearest trash can and left the cafeteria, leaving an extremely confused Fiona and a concerned Eli and Clare in her wake.

—

This time it was Imogen doing the ignoring, and six text messages piled up in her inbox by the time she decided she was overreacting and she needed to fix this before it became too much of a problem. Fiona and Dallas were just friends, and she had no reason to worry about the two of them at all. Maybe she was a little jealous about how much time they were spending together, but - like she had said when they had first started dating - the two of them couldn't spend all of their time together.

After her final class of the day she literally ran out, bumping into one of her classmates and knocking her off-balance, calling out a hasty "Sorry!" over her shoulder. She only stopped short just before she rounded the corner and into view of Fiona's locker so that she didn't seem too eager. Smoothing down her shirt and checking her high bun, she mentally prepared herself for the possibility that Fiona and Dallas might be talking again, and then strode forward.

She got a few steps in before stopping again, mouth dropping open. Dallas was standing entirely too close to Fiona, with his hand on her upper arm and his other arm against her locker. She couldn't even figure out what the hell they could be doing that would warrant that kind of stance, but before she could fathom what she was doing, she was marching over there.

"Um, Fiona?" she said, crossing her arms over her chest, her eyebrows raised. Fiona turned to her, grinning.

"Hey! I've been trying to get in contact with you all day. Where have you been?" Dallas nodded to Imogen, then looked back to Fiona.

"I'll catch up with you later?"

Fiona nodded absently to him, her attention focused on Imogen. Imogen waited until Dallas was turned around and then resisted the urge to flip him off, sure that that would only cause unnecessary annoyance on Fiona's part. "What was that, exactly?" she said, her voice dropping just in case Dallas could hear her from his spot across the hall where he was now talking to his teammates.

Fiona's eyebrows drew together as she tried to recall what Imogen was talking about, and then her expression cleared as she rolled her eyes. "That? That's just Dallas. He gets a little out of line and I tell him to back off because he knows I have a girlfriend."

Imogen gave Fiona her best "what the hell" face, wondering if she had accidentally smoked some crack that morning without remembering. "'That's just Dallas?' Fiona, do you even hear yourself? I don't get it. You're friends with him all of a sudden and it's like I don't even exist. You're ignoring my texts and spending all of your free time with him and - and he's hitting on you now and it's like you don't care and - why are you smiling at me?"

Fiona was trying her hardest to suppress a smile, but it really wasn't working. Imogen dropped her crossed arms only to cross them again, torn between wanting to leave the conversation in a huff and figure out exactly what Fiona was up to. "You're jealous," she sang out, reaching out to tap Imogen's nose and Imogen pulled away.

"Am not," she said sulkily, rubbing the tip of her nose.

"Are too," Fiona countered, before her expression softened. "Does it really bother you that much that Dallas and I have been hanging out?" Imogen nodded, eyes averted from Fiona's face, and Fiona had to steer her gaze back to hers by gently touching her chin. "Well, we can't have that. How about this? I'll cut back on hanging out with Dallas and we'll start hanging out more. Starting tonight. Whatever you want to do."

Imogen still didn't look entirely convinced, so Fiona sighed. "Im, come on. You know you're my girl and my most important person. What do I have to do to prove it to you? Throw another dance?" She smirked.

Imogen raised her eyebrow. "No more events in my honor or I'm breaking up with you," she declared. "Fine. We're doing a movie marathon at your loft, and you're going to make me dinner and then we're going to play - "

"Don't say it!" Fiona interjected, a glimmer of fear in her eyes.

" - Monopoly," she finished, and Fiona groaned. She hated the game - loathed was more like it - and she and Imogen had yet to actually finish a game of it without Fiona wanting to flip the board over out of sheer boredom. (Which she had done twice, actually, which resulted in Imogen not talking to her for several hours.)

She weighed her options for several seconds before sighing heavily. "Fine. But only 'cause you're cute," she said grudgingly.

"And 'cause you love me," Imogen said smugly, leaning up to kiss her.