Title: Telling Lena
Disclaimer: not mine
Category: J/H, intended Sean/Lena
Summary: another cotillion. from Matchmaking/Conviction series
Lena and Scout met the rest of the gang who were already at Bella's place. Lena arrived perched on the handlebars of Scout's bike. To judge from her tense expression, she didn't trust Scout's roadmanship an inch, and was trying to keep the bike upright by her own willpower.
Behind her, Scout missed her anxiety. "Hey guys" he called, wobbling noticeably.
Lena scrambled down, looking glad to be alive. "Hey Sean."
"Hey." Sean looked amused. "I'm impressed you survived Skippy's travel arrangements."
"Just get my name right once" Scout suggested.
But Lena was saying "I had to come. I forgot to say, before, about the weekend."
"Oh yeah." Ham remembered. "The dance. Hey Jake, are you gonna want us to dance in public?"
"You want me to go?" Sean was panicking at Lena. "Yeah, like I'll fit right in with all those snobs-"
"We'll all be there" Bella said briskly.
"It'll be cool" said Hamilton. "The other guys on crew aren't so bad."
"-of course I'd like to come" Sean was reassuring Lena, whose face was crumpling, "but," he saw an out, "I'd have to wear-"
"Yeah?" Lena looked enquiring.
"-stuff."
"You won't fit right in naked" Scout assured him.
Will's eyes lit up. "Although, at the last cotillion, Bella was fantasising that everyone there was nude."
A number of shocked looks at Bella, Scout's the most scandalized.
"It's a cure for stage fright guys! God."
"For obvious reasons" Jake told Sean "I rent my tux. There's a place in Carson, not too bad. Give me your measurements and I'll call them."
Ham said he had the family car for next Saturday, so he and Jake could go and pick up the clothes. "You can come with," he offered.
Carson on Saturday, when it came, was a better experience than Sean had expected. He knew Ham and liked him, but Jake had seemed a little more standoffish. He'd never really known how to talk to her, he just took it on trust that she was cool because Will and Bella liked her. But today she was relaxed, laughing and joking around, in guy mode. As a matter of fact, he kept forgetting she was a girl. All the same, when Ham vanished on them, Sean wanted to know how soon he'd be back.
"Relax" said Jake. "He just needs to pick up some stuff." She looked intently from right to left, at two jackets on a rail.
Sean reflected that this didn't answer his question. On the other hand, he had another question for Jake alone. "-Jake?"
"Uh huh?" She stroked the fabric of a lapel.
"Lena doesn't know about you."
That got Jake's attention. "Of course not." She flicked a glance round the shop floor. The assistants were at the far end of the room, grousing about middle management.
"She needs to know."
Jake sighed. The number of people who knew kept getting bigger. "It's not safe." It wasn't as if there were any way of un-telling people things. And you didn't know till after, whether they were safe to tell. It was kind of an acid test.
"Need to know basis, huh?"
Jake stared at him. "Right."
"Otherwise known as, your friends." Sean stared right back, not backing down. "Lena's the only one who doesn't know."
Jake looked away, up and over his shoulder.
"When she finds out, it'll feel like we were all laughing at her."
"We're not-"
"Like I was laughing at her." Sean came to the point that was bothering him.
Jake looked guilty. Lena was going to be furious. Ugly, ugly scene coming. It was inevitable, and she was in no hurry for it.
"The longer you leave this-" Sean broke into her thoughts.
"I know, I know!"
"What's up?" Hamilton was back. He held an extra carrier bag from the drug store.
"Sean wants me to let him tell Lena-" Jake was talking ultra fast, stressed.
"Woah." Sean interrupted. Jake had it wrong. "I want you to tell her."
"Me?" Big eyes, mouth open, Jake looked appalled.
"It's your secret."
"He's right, dude" Ham said gently.
"You always want more people to know." Jake was sulky. "So they'll know you're straight."
Hamilton shrugged, and shoved at the rail of discarded suits Sean had tried on earlier.
"If she tells on me-" Jake turned to Sean, intense. "You know her best-"
"Uh-" Was she asking him to guarrantee Lena's reaction? That was ridiculous. "We've been dating a couple of weeks."
"Even one date can be an education" Hamilton offered neutrally.
Jake glared at her boyfriend. "Salmon."
Huh? thought Sean.
Hamilton smiled. "Lena kind of got us together, baby."
She seized on that. "So. You'll tell her."
"Jake."
"All right, all right." Jake raked her fingers through her hair. "Sean - how's she gonna react?"
Sean thought about it. "Angry."
"Oh great."
"She hates being made a fool of" he explained.
"Thanks" she said ungratefully.
"And-"
"You can Stop Now."
"Hey Lena." Jake gave her a manly nod. Jake was as nervous as a cat, but hopefully that didn't show. "Enjoying the dance?"
Lena nodded. She was peoplewatching from a quiet spot near the french windows. Body language fascinated her. She barely looked at Jake.
"So. Where's Sean?"
"Will dragged him off for a minute."
Pause. This conversation was like driving up a steep gradient, or rowing against the current, or one of those really futile, lame games that you get as part of a package. More effort than it was worth. This was no good. Jake's shoulders slumped. If Lena was going to ignore her, nobody could reasonably expect-
Unwillingly, Jake caught Hamilton's stare. He was eyeballing her from over by the punch bowl. Her shoulders slumped still more. "Actually Lena, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."
Lena turned, mildly curious.
"Can we go outside for a minute?" Enviously, Jake watched Scout and Bella whirl past. They both looked radiant.
Five yards down the terrace. "So. Lena."
Fifteen yards. "There's this thing."
Down to the granite urns, turn, and back.
"Jake?"
"Yeah?"
"It's cold out here. Should I run inside and get a wrap? I mean, how long is this going to take?"
Jake sighed. "Yeah. Get a wrap." There was no putting it off anymore. She stared glumly across the lawns.
Lena ran back to her swathed in a lilac pashima. How could someone with the fashion palette of a Powerpuff girl be so scary? Oh yeah, guilty conscience. Lena looked wary. "Sean said he knew you were talking to me. What's this about?"
"Sean asked me to talk to you. See-"
"Jake. I'm Over you."
Jake threw up a hand and said loudly "I know that."
"Is this about Hamilton?"
God, would Lena ever shut up and let Jake explain while her nerve was good? "No." Jake dug her fists into her pockets. It was cold in the night air. "I know you're over me, because you never really knew me." She looked sideways, but this time Lena was listening. "Do you know how many schools I've been to?"
Lena's nose wrinkled. Huh?
"There was this one in England, the semester in Texas, the time when, ugh. Anyway. Mom never noticed. So I decided to arrange to be sent somewhere inappropriate. Here."
"Inappropriate." Lena wondered was this an inferiority complex, like Will's idea that he had to put on an act to be let stay here.
"I don't fit in-"
Jake's difference, his subtlety, his unconventional manner, were what had attracted Lena in the first place. She began a reassurance. "Jake, the boys here are mostly pretentious snobs, as Sean would say."
"No. I don't fit in. I shouldn't be at Rawley Boys." She emphasised the last word. "I'm not a boy."
Long silence. Lena hadn't hit Jake. Or said anything. Or done much of.. moving. Her lips drawn back from her teeth, Jake sneaked a look.
Lena was wide eyed. Intent. No overt reaction. Jake took a breath, and tucked her hands, which had slipped out of her pockets to wave about, under her armpits. It was too cold to be out here. When she couldn't bear the silence any longer, she said abruptly "I'm Jacqueline."
"You're a girl."
Jake began to relax. Lena wasn't shouting, she wasn't angry. Sean had been wrong. "It was a stunt. I thought, I never thought it would be months." Wow. This was going pretty well. Why hadn't she told Lena earlier?
"You bitch." Venomous.
Oh.
END
(no, I couldn't work out what would happen next, but - any ideas?)