Author's Notes: I finally got around to publishing my first Homestuck fic! Yay! *triumphant trumpet noises* Alright, alright, enough. *waves for trumpets to stop* It takes place in an alternate universe where all of the trolls and the Homestuck kids are in high school. This is based on the Dave/Jade pairing with hints of John/Vriska, Karkat/Terezi, Tavros/Kanaya, Sollux/Aradia, and Eridan's huge, unreturned crush on Rose.

Homestuck isn't mine. However, I suffer from a serious case of Homestuckititus, which is a terrible disease in which the victim longs to own the Homestuck plot, cannot stop reading it, and is completely, entirely addicted to Homestuck. Writing fanfictions about Homestuck is the only temporary pacifier of this terrible disease.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LYSSIE! Yes, this is for you. For your birthday. Yep. I love you, too. *smirks* Would you like your present now? Okay! I'll fetch it… *smiles evilly* I embarrassed Dave Strider, put him in a box, and tied that box up with a big teal bow for you! PSYCH! You really didn't think I'd put poor Dave through all that torture for you did I? Oh… You did? Oh… Well how about I write a whole story about him for you? Will that compensate? Okay, I really need to stop talking to you like you're right next to me. Which you aren't. You're far off in a place called Disney World. Where your dreams are coming tru– OKAY! Let's get on with it, shall we? *looking embarrassed, I jump into the box along with Dave*

*pops out of the box for a moment* Andrew Hussie… golly, my world would be so much more tolerable if Homestuck was mine, so can I ha– okay, sorry. I won't ask for it again. *gulp*

Day 1: Silly School Dances

Dave Strider was a very cool guy.

Cool guys did not go to silly school Valentine's Day dances. Cool guys did not pass out stupid Valentines to their classmates. Cool guys certainly did not develop huge crushes on one of their best friends.

But Dave Strider was hopelessly in love with his best friend's sister.

"Let's go, Dave," John Egbert called to his best friend. "Let's grab some lunch!"

"Sure, that sounds cool," replied Dave, adjusting his shades. He followed John into the school's cafeteria.

"There they are," said John, pointing at two girls waving them over. Dave recognized them as Rose Lalonde and Jade Harley. Rose was Dave's sister and Jade was John's sister.

"Hello," said Rose simply, sipping some of her water.

"Hey Dave! How was your day?" gushed Jade. Damn, she's so cute, said something in Dave's brain. Shut up, Dave told it immediately.

"Uh, fine I guess," said Dave in a bored tone, grabbing his water and downing some quickly to avoid any further discussion with Jade. Cool guys weren't supposed to talk to nerdy chicks like her. Dave reminded himself that Jade had buckteeth, huge glasses, and messy hair. But a small part of Dave couldn't help thinking she was cute.

"Oh," said Jade quietly. Dave wasn't sure if he'd heard right, but did he catch a hint of disappointment in her voice? "Uh, okay," she said quickly, averting her eyes from Dave. "So John, how was your day?" she asked her brother.

"It was alright," he responded. "My math class sucked, though."

As the teens' lunch period continued, Rose, John, and Jade began conversing about small, meaningless topics such as the weather and their overload of homework while Dave just sat there emotionlessly, trying to look cool. He couldn't help but notice that Jade wouldn't look him in the eye after their brief exchange. He wondered why. He hadn't said anything wrong to her, had he? He started panicking internally before remembering that he wasn't supposed to care about what she thought of him.

"What about you, Dave?" Rose asked him.

"Huh?" he replied, snapping back into reality.

"Were you even listening to me?" Rose asked doubtfully.

"Guess not," he said. "Say it again?"

"We were talking about the Valentine's Day dance. You know, the one that's coming up in two days," she answered. "I was just asking you if you'd found a date yet."

"I told you I wasn't going," he answered tonelessly. "It ain't cool."

Rose rolled her eyes. "I was hoping you'd change your mind," she responded. "Jade and I both don't have anyone to take us to the dance, but we figured we'd go anyway. All of our friends will be there, so it'll still be fun."

Jade would be there? Dave's interest was caught. "I'll think about it," he replied.

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of their lunch period. Rose and Jade got up, shouldered their backpacks, and rid themselves of their lunch trays hurriedly. Their next class was at the other end of the school, so they had to leave soon or they'd be late.

As John and Dave got up to dump the remaining contents of their lunch trays into the garbage bins, John elbowed Dave to let him know he had something else to say. Dave turned to look at his friend.

"What?" he asked.

"You should go," said John. "I don't want to be the only sophomore guy at the dance." John had asked their friend Vriska, whom John had a huge crush on, to go to the dance with him, and she'd said yes. "It'll look weird. Plus, you're my best pal."

"I don't know," answered Dave. "It's not really cool."

"Are you sure there isn't a girl you like enough to take to the dance with you?" John asked.

"Uh…" Dave trailed off.

"You can tell me," John said, offended that Dave didn't trust him enough to tell him. "Unless you're too chicken."

"Okay fine, so what if I like someone?!" Dave sputtered, his cheeks slightly coloring. "But if I told you who it was, you'd kill me."

John's expression turned deadly. He pointed a finger at Dave's face. "Hold it right there, Strider! Vriska belongs to me. I asked her out already. Okay? So back off!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," answered Dave, holding his hands up submissively. "Cool it, bro. I'm not talking about your woman."

John reddened. "Oh," he said. "Then who do you like?"

Dave turned away from his friend. "Seeing as how you just almost killed me when you thought I wanted Vriska, I don't think it's the best idea for me to tell you who I like."

"Sorry about that, bro," John said. "It's just that it took so much guts to ask Vriska out. I still can't believe she said yes."

"I know, man," answered Dave. There was an awkward pause.

"So are you gonna tell me?" asked John.

"Promise you won't murder me?" Dave joked.

"Okay, okay, I promise," said John. "Just tell me already!"

Dave took a deep breath. "Okay, there's a very small possibility that I might happen to sort of like… uh, Harley…?" he rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly.

"What did you say?!" John exclaimed.

"You said you wouldn't murder me!" Dave reminded him.

"Harley as in my sister Harley?" John fumed.

"It's not like I'm gonna ask her to the dance or anything…" Dave mumbled.

John looked as mad as a raging hornet for a minute, but eventually, his face softened. He sighed. "Okay Dave. Just 'cause you're my best bro, I trust you with my sister. Don't try anything on her, 'cause I'll be watching you like a hawk. And if you do pull anything, you won't wanna ever see my face again!" With that pleasant thought, John turned and left for class.

Dave shook his head. "Why does everyone around here keep forgetting that I haven't even agreed to definitely go to that stupid school dance, dammit?!" he mumbled. "Whatever," he sighed, turning to leave for class.