"So what's so important?" I watched Lauren flick some hair behind her shoulder as we walked out the door of the house. She looked really pretty with straight hair and my lipgloss.

"Uh, can we wait til we're out of earshot Lauren? I don't much feel like explaining it to the world."

"It?" She looked curious.

"Oh come on!" I pulled on her jacket sleeve as we made our way out to the street. When we were a few houses down she stopped and tapped me on the shoulder.

"My shirt looks good on you, you know."

"Thanks for letting me borrow it." I kept walking.

"Well..." She raised her eyebrows.

"Well what?"

"Ronnie! You've got me so curious now. What's this all about?"

I sighed. "Lauren you're my first real friend I've made here. I mean, BB and Danny and Lola are all nice but, I feel close to you. I hope you don't mind me saying that."

She smiled. "You're a good friend too."

"Well, I actually wanted to explain to you about..." I looked out to the road when I felt my cheeks blushing. This is so embarrasing.

"hmmm?"

"Jez." I whispered.

"Pardon?"

"Jez."

"Sorry I didn't quite-"

"I said Jez, Lauren!"

Her smile faded and she gave me her pity look. "Ronnie I-"

Here we go. She was going to burst into a lecture about how I shouldn't be letting my feelings get carried away and that I should really be smarter. I didn't want that, that wasn't what this was about.

"I am not telling you this Lauren because I want a lecture!" She looked a little taken aback. "I am just explaining this all to you. You told me all about Claudine last night, and Danny. I just wanted it to be my turn."

She put her hand on my shoulder again as we turned a corner. "I'm sorry Ronnie. Do you want to continue?"

"Lauren you're the first person I've ever talked to about this, although I'm sure its obvious. I really like Jez, and I am not mental. I know about his preferences. I'm just sick of the way people look at me when I'm around him. It's like they know how I feel, and they're sorry for me. I hate it!"

"I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like that."

"It's okay." I smiled at her. It was a bit of a weird moment. We'd stopped walking because we were waiting to cross the road. Lauren was looking at me as if she was unsure whether to hug me or hit me over the head for being an idiot. She smiled back.

"So, how do you feel about him?"

"It's weird. Actually, it's dead crazy. I feel like such a mental person but when I'm around him my heart beats so fast, I blush and get butterflies. I never know anything interesting or smart to say, and it makes me feel so stupid because he's incredibly smart. I just always want to have him around." Lauren looked straight ahead as we walked. I could tell she was probably trying to process everything.

"But doesn't it, well I don't know, feel odd to know he's gay? It's just you seem to be waiting for him to make his move with you Ronnie, but it's not going to happen."

"You never know..."

"Ronnie!" She groaned and her eyes went wide.

"Well you do never know!" I shrugged. "I'm dead serious about this Lauren. I know it's a bit deluded but, I've always wondered if I just tried..."

"Tried what exactly?" Her voice was pretty serious.

"I don't know!" Kissing him, maybe...

"Look, I am not sure about this Ronnie. But, I think that there's not too much harm in trying. I'd help you but only in the background! I don't want Jez knowing I helped try to corrupt him."

"Huh?" Was she always this confusing?

"Well, you're only going to continue stewing over your feelings for Jez and wondering what could be if you don't try doing anything to see how he feels. So I'll help you, as a friend."

"I-I..." I didn't know what to say. Did I really want to do it? Wasn't it just better to pretend?

"We're here now. I have dance with Stefan first up and we're doing this mega-hard choreography! I haven't even got the second lift for it yet while Claudine and Danny - ugh...nevermind. We'll talk about this later yeah? I have a brilliant idea."

"What's your idea?" She gave me a cheeky smile. What was she going to do? She started for the main door of Britannia High, practically running away from me.

"Lauren!" I called out. "Lauren, what are you doing?" Oh my god, where was she going? What was she going to get....or who? Oh holy bananas! My feet raced after her. "Lauren, get back here!"