She knew exactly where Kyle had gone, could easily have followed and cornered him. She could have kissed him, have held him, and won him from Amanda.

"Why am I staying here then," she wondered aloud.

She was surprised to hear a familiar voice. "Because he was intoxicated and you knew he'd regret it." She turned to see her dead mother Sarah. "If you can't get him with your skills, with yourself, you don't want him."

"But that's not true!" she yelled to Sarah. She'd intentionally tried to pry the two sick love birds apart, had kissed him a number of times, and really thought she and Kyle had connected. But after she had saved Amanda from Nate and learned that Amanda wasn't quite as docile as she'd believed, she'd decided to leave them be. Sure when he'd picked Amanda over her she'd been hurt, but she'd since taken to training triple time with Foss. There were things she could now do that Kyle would find surprising at least, impressive she hoped.

"Who am I kidding?" Having heard from Kyle that he sometimes received clarifying moments and insights from his late father Adam when they were truly from himself, she didn't find this conversation unnerving. "I've wanted to be with him for 19 months, 12 days, 4 hours –"

"Spare me, I'm you, remember?" Jessi fumed and paced. Sarah continued, "There've been a few guys at school who've shown interest in you but you've turned them all down before they could even utter more than three words your way."

There was no denying that.

"And there's Declan."

"Kyle's best friend Declan you mean. I still have a hard time with Lori too, even though she's broken up with him."

"Ask her first. Isn't that part of some girl friend code?" Sarah smirked. Niceties and manners didn't come naturally to Jessi but she'd done a lot of reading in the last six months. Although Foss seemed pretty rough around the edges he'd been a surprising source of information on psychology and sociology in general. Declan was nothing like Kyle of course but he had certainly been nice to her.

Not known for her patience, she left the house for the Rack.

***

When she got there, she hesitated outside the front door. She'd already spotted Amanda, Lori, and Hillary and they were alone inside. It was a very quiet Sunday evening. She sensed Kyle struggling with his new abilities a little over three miles away. He felt totally confused. Ignoring her connection to Kyle for the moment, she walked in with a large friendly smile on her face. "Hi girls!"

They turned as one and conspicuously held their hands over their pads of sticky notes. Amanda got up and asked her, "Hi Jessi, would you like to order something?"

Jessi often found Amanda's outward sweetness vile, but she did know it was useful. It had lured Kyle hadn't it? On second thought, that was surely why she found the pretty blonde's distasteful sweetness, well, repulsive. It was just that Amanda, despite her social graces and good manners, simply rubbed her the wrong way.

As Foss had taught her, she outwardly projected calm and a little indifference to the triggers that normally would have set her off in the past. She was collected and aimed directly to her goal. "Thanks Amanda but no." She looked to Lori and addressed her, "Can I have a little word with you for a moment?" She had forgotten to keep smiling so she put a nice one on.

It didn't escape her that all three girls were simply radiating distrust; when would they learn they could trust her? Her aura of calm threatened to crack for just a moment until she thought of a good lie to break the silence. "I hope I'm not interrupting your chat, I really won't take much of your time at all." Again with the smile, but this time she lowered its intensity just a little.

Hillary's reaction was the most positive of the three, but it irked her that Lori was still generally troubled by her presence. She knew why but she didn't enjoy revisiting those days. Thankfully Lori got up and approached. When she got close enough she whispered to Lori, "Is Declan still off limits?"

Lori's eyes bulged and her mouth opened. She was usually quite good at articulating her thoughts but Jessi figured she'd thrown her off sufficiently with the direct question. Foss would have been proud of her. Lori was shaking her head and both Hillary and Amanda at the table were picking up the pads and burying them into pockets.

Seeing Lori wasn't speaking a whole lot, she kept going. "I'd like to hang out with Declan and maybe hook up with him again."

Lori was finally speaking again. "Why?"

When nothing else was forthcoming, Jessi almost sighed. "I may as well keep my options open and he's available and he's cute enough." She noted that Lori had the presence of mind not to mention Kyle. Instead she merely raised an eyebrow. Jessi relented, as she had planned all along. "If Declan is still a little too close to your heart, I'll be his friend and maybe you can help me find someone more to our liking?" As Lori visibly relaxed, Jessi finished, "Thanks, I'll call him up or maybe I'll climb into his bedroom…" She then turned around and briskly walked out the door, leaving Lori a virtual puddle of raging emotions.

She smiled the smallest of smiles. It was just too easy.

***

Amanda was suspicious of Jessi the moment she'd entered but had remained civil; besides, she was also working. When she realized that Jessi could do most of the same things Kyle could, she frantically began pocketing the sticky notes. Before she'd finished Jessi was already gone.

Lori turned to them with a blank look. "I don't know what just happened there," she practically whispered.

Hillary sensed even more gossip and piped up, "You don't look so good girl friend." Amanda agreed. "What did she say?"

Amanda would never believe that Jessi would stop pursuing Kyle. She'd seen too much, including them kissing. No, it would take hard evidence before she'd let her guard down. "Lori, I hate to say it but, I just think she's messing with you." And me she thought.

"But why?" Lori looked like she might cry.

Hillary put a hand on her shoulder. "We just have to find her someone other than Kyle and Declan to be with." She smiled after looking at Amanda. "What about Charlie?"

Amanda groaned, and could feel herself blushing. It made Lori smile though so it wasn't all bad. "Thanks for coming tonight. If either of you think of anything else, leave me a note when I'm working here inside a bill as we discussed."

Jessi seemed to have been forgotten already. Hillary sat forward in her chair and whispered, bringing her hand to the centre of the table, "This'll be fun ladies!"