Watching the previews for episode four made this really hard to continue. So, bear with me...take the last three episodes, and strictly the previews of episode four and that is the universe I'm operating in. Anything else that happens won't be relevant in my JBD world. But it'd be cool if they coincide somehow. Anyway! Hope you enjoy. Big turnout for last chapter's shindig, hoping that you like this. ;)

As much as he hadn't wanted to, he still cared. So he called out her name. Almost unwillingly. "Lulu! Wait up! Hey, are you okay?"

She was stressed. That much was evident. "Not really, but we're done, right? So what do you care?" Her tone was the same snobby one she used with everyone else, but at this point, he could see right through it. Bitch wasn't Lulu. She was playing it up for her audience.

"I do care, Lu, I do," he told her, almost pleading with her.

"Really?" Her voice was timid, as if she found this to be too good to be true.

"Lu, c'mon. What's going on?"

That's all it took to break her down. "What's going on is I completely tanked my pre-calc test today. My dad is riding me all the time about my grades. And to be honest, I don't even care, because...I miss you. I screwed up everything, Billy. And I'm so sorry. I just want to be with you. I don't care who knows. My dad, my friends. It doesn't matter anymore. I want to make this work, whatever it takes, Billy. I just - I just wish you'd give me a chance to show - "

Her cut her off with a kiss, ecstatic with this small turn of events. Finally, they could go public. Be together. Hold hands in front of other people. He didn't have to feel ashamed of where he came from.

Then a second realization hit him.

"I have to tell Jane."

Billy was agonized as Jane spoke.

"It was a terrible dream, Billy. I mean, you were telling me that you had been with Lulu for three months and she didn't want to be with you, she just wanted to keep it a secret. And I was a little upset that you didn't confide in me, but mostly I was upset that she didn't realize how amazing you are, and why are you looking at me like that? Seriously, you look like I've just told you the worst news ever. Relax, it was just a dream. Nightmare, really. And then - and then after we hugged, I could see Lulu from behind you staring us down like she wanted to kill me! I mean you would never keep something like that from me for so long."

The question 'Right?' hung in the air like a bad omen for what was to come.

It was another one of her tangents, where she wouldn't let him have a word in edgewise. Pretty similar to the disturbing nightmare she'd woken up from just over an hour ago. But this one was not about being flustered in the slightest, it was about her adamant disbelief over what her subconscious chose to expose to her. After she woke up, and shook off the itching feeling the dream had given her about Billy's dishonesty, she got dressed and waited for Billy to pick her up so she could tell him about how ridiculous the whole thing was. She would wait for him to laugh and say that he would never hide anything from her. That the very notion was absolutely ridiculous.

"Jane..." he had trouble going on, desperately wishing that he had told her when he should have. The coincidental dream she had just told him was truly uncanny, strange of course, but maybe it was just punishment for his total disregard for years of friendship.

To put it simply, Billy was finally aware of just how much shit he was going to get for this.

But it was Jane who was unaware of how much strength it took for him to keep his eyes focused on her own.

"Yeah?" she responded. "What's wrong? I told you, it wasn't real."

His look was one of inner conflict. Torn between his initial promise to Lulu, and the unspoken one to Jane. It was the latter that wracked him with guilt, because it should have under all circumstances outranked the former. Now was his last chance, the last grain of salt in a frantic hourglass, to explain himself to Jane.

"Billy, what is it?" Her voice, full of concern, was driving him that extra length of crazy.

"Jane, I - "

It was the first bell, putting an end to the last few seconds on the clock. Personalities around them trudged on to their next class, some hustling, others moseying along. Jane didn't move, even though he knew she would be late for her next class if she didn't turn around immediately.

He smiled sadly and said simply, "You're going to be late for class. I'll talk to you later."

Her brows furrowed in confusion, knowing that he wasn't saying what he wanted to. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, Janie." The affectionate name wasn't upbeat, but sad.

She gave him one more second, one more than he deserved. "Alright, see you at lunch, then." She smiled, a genuine one, and spun on her heel.

Once she was out of earshot, he whispered the two words no one ever wants to hear. "I'm sorry."

He missed his chance. He didn't know it, but within the next few hours, there would be hell to pay.

She had seen them, even when he thought they were being careful. He made Lulu promise not to tell anyone until he told Jane. It was the very least she could do for the months he spent doing just that for her. She promised, and kept it, because she knew how much Jane meant to him. Maybe it was part of the reason she ragged on Jane so much.

But it didn't matter. They snuck in a kiss, behind one of the banisters in the courtyard and she spotted them. At first, she thought she had to be wrong. But there it was, right before her eyes. Lulu's widened eyes and Billy's frantic turn-around was just more of the caught-in-the-act to go along with it.

Within a matter of seconds she was next to them, and Lulu quickly made a getaway for the two friends to have it out.

"What is this?" Jane asked him, unable to keep the shock out of her voice.

"Jane, I can explain." These words made it seem like he was simply implicating himself, owning up to some criminal act he had committed. The thing was, Jane didn't want him to be guilty. She wanted him to blame Lulu, say it was nothing. Deny everything.

"Can you!" she exclaimed, and this time it was hurt and anger seeping out. "Did this just happen?"

His look was one of defeat. "No," he told her after a long pause. "Lulu and I have been together for a few months now."

Jane's fists clenched at this set of information and she no longer had any questions. She narrowed her eyes and lifted her brows in an 'oh, really?' sort of way. Then she turned around, keen on putting as much distance between the two of them as was possible.

It only took him a moment to chase after her as she walked away. Well, as much chasing as could be allowed in a high school setting. It wasn't exactly a John Hughes production. There was no climatic background music. He wasn't chasing after Lulu, he was chasing after Jane. Somehow, the realism just meant more.

When she was just a few feet away from him, he hurried down the stairs and called out her name. "Janie!"

The sound of his voice stopped her, as much as it angered her to know that he held so much power over her. She halted and he stepped in front of her, effectively blocking her getaway.

"I'm sorry." The two words were out before he could think of anything more substantial to say. Inwardly, he winced at his poor word choice. Nearly anything would have been better.

"You're sorry? For which part? For sneaking around for three months with Lulu or for lying about it?" her words, although they felt like an accusation, were fair. He deserved them.

Billy faltered with an explanation. "I should have told you the truth."

"But you didn't."

"But I wanted to," he exclaimed adamantly, wishing that the desire alone to be honest was enough. He stumbled through to his next line, "We just - we didn't know what it was at first."

Jane scoffed. "We?" she asked him sharply. "Who? You and Lulu? Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?"

He felt the need to defend Lulu despite the fact that with Janie, at the very least, no amount of defense was sufficient. "See, that's why I didn't tell you. I knew you wouldn't understand."

He wanted to punch himself. Open mouth, insert foot.

"You didn't give me a chance to understand. And - and now it's too late."

And there it was. The dreaded words he didn't want to hear. "No! Don't say that! I'm going to fix this."

Her look was grim, unwilling to accept the guy she once trusted more than anyone standing in front of her. "I just want you to leave me alone."

She walked on past him, and Billy's mouth was left open. He didn't have anything else to say. But he realized that he was wrong. These final words of hers were far worse than anything he could have anticipated.

He watched sadly as she rounded the corner and knew that this time around it would take for more than a simple hug and a heart to heart to 'fix' things. He had, for the first time, truly hurt her. It was gut wrenching. In getting the girl, he had lost the most important person in his life.

"I promise, Janie, I will make this up to you. I'm going to fix this."

You need an explanation! I didn't decide it until a few days after putting it up, but the first chapter is actually a dream sequence in Jane's point of view. Shocker? The italics at the beginning of this chapter are a flashback, set perhaps a day before the events of the rest of the chapter. I hope it wasn't too confusing. Maybe you liked it..? Still rooting for Jane/Billy? We need a name for them...Bane? Jally? Suggestions?

To my anonymous reviewers, I wish I could have replied with a more personal thank you. And to my anonymous as well as my not-so-anonymous reviewers, seriously, you're awesome. I cannot believe the reception to this first chapter. And it's been great encouragement to get off of my lazy literary ass and post this follow-up. I hope that you dig it - and that you want to see more.

To the story alerters, the favoriters, and the newbies, wanna be even more awesome than you already are? Be like the cool kids ^.