Setting: Jerome and Mara are 14 years old, best friends, and are hanging out in a park. TOTAL AU.

For justkeeptyping's Jara competition. I hope you enjoy! (:

"So, what are you doing this weekend?" Jerome asked, his arm hanging limply around Mara's shoulders.

Mara peered at Jerome's arm around her, but said nothing. It was no secret that she and Jerome acted like boyfriend and girlfriend, but they didn't like each other. Well, at least Jerome didn't like her. Mara had a crush on him. Had.

Her friend Patricia had blared that to the entire school that Mara loved Jerome when they were twelve, but after she continued to deny it again and again, eventually everyone believed her. At least, Mara thought so.

Mara spoke, a wry smile on her face. "Nothing really. I'm hanging out with Amber and Patricia on Thursday. And I am probably going to laugh as Patricia tries to avoid Amber on Friday, who will be begging her to come to the Summer Festival with her." Mara imagined her friend, the eccentric blonde fashionista, bringing all sorts of dresses to their sleepover on Thursday night, and pleading with her two friends to come to the Festival.

"Are you going to the Summer Festival?" Jerome inquired.

"I dunno. Probably not." Mara lifted her head to look at Jerome. "What about you? Any girls you would love to bring to the Festival?"

Despite her many denials, Mara still had the slightest, smallest crush on Jerome. Maybe it was his cool and confident attitude. Maybe it was his nice blonde hair that was streaked with almond brown and always looks like something off of a magazine. Honestly, Mara didn't know, and she didn't feel the need to question it.

Jerome smirked, then put his arms around her in a hug, startling her. "What?" he whispered in her ear. "If I did bring someone, would you be jealous?"

She knew a faint blush colored her skin, but Mara pushed her way out of the circle of his arms and crossed her own in front of her chest. She scoffed, as if the idea was stupid. "No. Why would I be?"

But secretly, she would be. She would be very jealous.

Jerome matched her position, the smirk still on his lips, and there they sat: arms crossed, facing each other, attempting to stare the other down. Suddenly, they burst out laughing.

When they had calmed down, Jerome said, "So if I did bring someone, you wouldn't mind?"

"No, of course not," Mara lied, a smile on her face.

"Good." Jerome's eyes seemed to have dulled, maybe from disappointment. Or maybe that was her wishful thinking. But then they brightened, as if he had just thought of an idea.

"Good," Mara confirmed, an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach. What was he thinking?

. . .

"Mara, please come with us to the Festival! You know you're going to have fun!" Amber insisted.

Mara rolled her eyes. Every year, in Southampton, there was a Summer Festival to celebrate the last day of summer-or the last day in August, about a week before everyone goes back to school. And every year, she had gone with her friends and had fun, but this year she really wanted to go with a guy. Specifically Jerome.

But because he did not seem to want to go with her, she decided against going. Honestly, all the Summer Festival really included was a large beach party and a nice fireworks show at midnight. She could miss it.

"But Jerome's going to be there. You know you want to go if he's going," Patricia added.

Mara shot her friend a glare. "Very funny, Patricia. You know I'm over him. Been there, done that."

"Then why did I see a photo of you two together sent by Mary?" Amber asked.

"Wait, what?" Mara gasped. She grabbed Amber's phone from her purse and looked under Messages, to her friend Mary's texts. There was a photo of her and Jerome, their arms around each other, and their faces very close together, making it appear as if they were locking lips.

"See? Proof that you're not over him," Amber affirmed.

"This is not us together. It was the day that my goldfish died and he was comforting me and my face just happened to be close to his," Mara said, ignoring the fact that she spoke in a long, run-on sentence-one of her own pet peeves.

"Mm hmm," both Amber and Patricia said, not believing one word of it.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, whatever. I'm still not going."

"Please Mara? I will die without you!" Amber's eyes began to water and she buried her face in her hands. "Please," she sobbed, her shoulders shaking.

"Amber . . ." Mara shook her head, her heart tugging at her friend's tears. But she also was a little confused at her reaction; all of this just because she wouldn't go to the Festival? "Oh. Ugh, fine!" Mara finally consented.

Amber raised her head again, looking perfectly normal: not red-eyed or puffy-faced from crying. Mara gaped in surprise. The blonde smiled. "Thanks Mara! Now, to find the right dress for you . . ."

"Amber! I can't believe you guilt-tripped me!" Mara accused.

"Oh, I know. I do it to my daddy all the time," Amber said simply. She went over to the other side of the room and began to dig through her closet.

Mara shook her head in aggravation while Amber continued to search for the dress. Suddenly, she popped back up with her hands holding a navy blue, belted, spaghetti-strap dress.

"Ta-da!" Amber announced. "This is your dress!"

"No, Amber. That's yours," Mara pointed out, looking doubtful.

"Well, you're a size five, right?"

"Yeah."

"This is my cousin, Marisa's, dress. She's a size five, and she left it here, so you can use it," Amber stated plainly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Um, are you sure-"

"Just take it!" the blonde demanded.

Mara jumped and took the dress. As Patricia and Amber started to argue over Patricia wearing a dress, Mara changed quickly, and then fluffed her hair so it cascaded in natural curls down her shoulders.

The dress flattered her figure, and it was casual, yet cute. The color was one of the best on her, and the style was perfect for the Summer Festival. If it was just paired with a pair of black sandals, and a little jewelry, it would be perfect.

Amber beamed at her, nodding fervently in approval. Patricia complimented, "Wow, you look great, Mars."

"For God's sake, stop calling me that!" Mara cried, exasperated. "I am not a planet in the Solar System!"

"Testy," Patricia teased.

"Enough about me. Are you wearing a dress, Trixie?" Mara asked.

"No way. Amber will have to tie me down and duct tape my mouth to force me into one," Trixie said, crossing her arms.

"That can be arranged," Amber murmured, striding over to her closet to look for another dress as Mara and Patricia burst out laughing.

. . .

The next day was the Summer Festival, and Jerome hadn't replied to any of Mara messages. She was still at Amber's house, and once again, she picked up her phone and dialed his number.

When the voicemail answered, Mara groaned in vexation. She said, "Jerome, please answer your phone. I need to talk to you, okay? Call me back."

Mara huffed in annoyance. She turned around to face Amber, who seemed to appear out of nowhere. "What's up, Mara?"

With a gasp, Mara stumbled backwards. "Amber! Don't scare me like that."

"Oh, sorry. Who are you calling?" Amber took Mara's phone from her hand and scanned over the previously-called numbers. After finding it, she looked up at Mara with a deadpan expression. "Really Mara? Jerome? And you say you're over him," she added with an eye roll at the end.

"Just shut up," Mara grumbled. "Let's just head to the beach for the Festival."

Amber agreed, and they found Patricia in the kitchen, pulling her out the door. They hailed a taxi and headed to the beach.

When they got there, there were only about thirty people there, not even half of who had shown up last year.

"It's still early," Amber reminded Mara. To kill time, they decided to just walk along the shoreline as they waited for six o'clock to hit, which started the celebrations.

As they walked along the beach, wondering what would be different about this celebration compared to last year's, Mara noticed someone coming onto the sand of the beach. She smiled as she saw him, but then her smile dropped as she realized that someone was following behind him.

Jerome had indeed brought a date.

Mara tapped Amber on the shoulder and pointed. "Who is that?" Mara asked, her voice quavering.

"I don't know. But if she is going to break up Jara, I'm going to find out." Amber narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips.

Mara ignored the couple name and they both marched forward, towards Jerome and the girl. While they walked, Mara noted everything about his date, then compared herself to the girl.

She had long, light brown hair that was up into a ponytail, and fair skin that Mara had always envied. She was tall and lean, another trait that Mara favored over her own short and slightly curvy form. The girl was holding Jerome's hand and she stood very close to him, making Mara grit her teeth.

She was angry that the girl was holding his hand, but even angrier that he had actually been serious when he said he was going to bring a date. In a way, she felt betrayed by him, that he had brought someone else when he should know how she feels about him.

Well, he doesn't know how she feels, but . . . she had been giving him signs, right? He should know!

Mara internally smacked herself. She should have made her move earlier. Maybe they would have been together by now . . . But the past is the past, she can't change it now. All she can do now is slap the hell out of that girl's pretty little face.

By the time they reached Jerome and his date, Mara was completely confused. She didn't know if she was angry at Jerome or herself. She sees that the girl is really pretty, with hazel eyes and an easy smile; no wonder he fell for her.

"Hey there, Mara," Jerome said casually.

"Hello, Jerome," Mara replied with a cool tone.

"Have you met Nina? My date?" He emphasized the last word, making Mara's blood boil.

"Oh no, I haven't," Mara said, her voice trying to be casual but sounding strained. She offered a hand to Nina, forming a pained smile. "Hi, I'm Mara."

"Nina. Nice to meet you," Nina said.

Jerome pulled her close to him, and Nina seemed to squirm awkwardly. Then, after a moment, relaxed. Mara noted this and her eyebrow lifted slightly. What was that about? she asked herself.

"Anyway, would you like to dance, Nina?" Jerome asked. Before waiting for a reply, Nina was taken in his arms and spun around.

Mara clenched her hands into fists, completely fuming. She wanted to wrench her hands off of his shoulders and throw her to the ground, but that would cause a scene. All she could do was stand and wait until they separated.

Patricia walked over to Mara, and they started up a conversation, distracting Mara from her anger and irritation at Jerome. Just as a slow song began playing, Patricia addressed the topic that Mara most wanted to avoid.

"So, how are the annoying little couple doing?" she asked.

"Being annoying," Mara said bluntly.

"Yeah, I bet," Patricia said. "Wait- Look." She pointed to the couple in front of them. There was Jerome, leaning toward Nina for a kiss, who seemed to recoil away.

"That is the last straw." Mara pushed through the crowd and pulled Jerome away from Nina. "What on earth are you doing?" she shouted at Jerome. "You know I like you! Are you just trying to spite me or something?"

"Jerome!" Nina exclaimed. "You said it was going to be a little pretend date. You know I'm with Fabian! This was just to make her jealous, you said. We were never going to kiss!"

"Pretend? Make me jealous?" Mara asked incredulously.

Jerome put his hands up. "Yes, yes. A pretend date to make you jealous."

"It was to- What?" Mara questioned, still puzzled.

"You honestly thought I didn't want to go to the Festival with you? I wanted to. But you didn't seem interested, so . . . I had to do something to get your attention." Jerome grinned. "My cousin, Nina, decided that she would help me and I brought her with me. But when you didn't seem to care, so I needed to amp up the action a bit."

Mara faintly noticed a crowd gathering around them, but ignored it as Nina spoke next. "But you know I'm with Fabian!" Nina argued. "God, I said I'd help you, not hook up with you." She stomped off, while Mara smacked Jerome on the shoulder.

"How could you!" Mara exclaimed. Jerome's laughing eyes softened and his smile disappeared when she sounded genuinely angry. But then she grabbed his shirt front and kissed him.

She barely heard the catcalls at their kiss; she only had eyes for his blue ones. He was beaming at her. "So, I'm forgiven?"

"Of course you are," Mara replied, a small smile on her lips. "You did all this to get me jealous, and it worked. I have to reward you." Mara smile widened and she kissed him again.

Hope you enjoyed! Yeah, I made Nina Jerome's cousin. Honestly, they do look a little similar... So, yeah. justkeeptyping, this was almost 2,500 words! (2,488 to be exact.) That's a lot of words! So, I hope you enjoyed reading them.

Thank you now PLEASE review! :D

~Ary

PS: JARA SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED TODAY! GRRR STUPID MICK. D: