-Chapter Nine: The Yoko Ono of the Study Group-

Authors Note: All movies mentioned in this chapter are really on Pay Per View. I'd just like to point that out when you read the title of one of the movies..

Joan let out a deep sigh and slammed her chemestry book on the kitchen table. Helen turned and looked at her daughter.

"Hard day?" she asked.

"You have no idea. First I was nearly killed trying to get into school, there was a pop quiz in French, all through lunch I had to watch Luke and Grace flirt, you have no idea how gross that is. Almost as bad as watching them kiss. Eech." Helen raised an eyebrow at her daughter. "I never said that. And then I asked Adam out and he's got a date to the dance with this new girl. Who's coming over in a half hour," Joan finished.

"Oh, Iris? She's a nice girl," Helen told her daughter.

"She's posessed Adam! All through chem he was all.. weird. Iris is like the Yoko Ono of our study group!"

"Sweetie, you're paranoied. Iris is just a nice girl that has an interest in Adam."

"Am I the only one who doesn't like her?!" Joan yelled.

"Accually, no," a voice said from behind Joan. She turned around and saw Grace standing in the doorway.

"You're early," Joan said. "And you don't like Iris?"

"Well, she's nice and all, but too nice is freaky. But then again, that's just me. Oh, and the reason I came over early is because I need to barrow a..." Grace said, her voice traling off, unable to say that five letter word that started with a d.

"A dress?" Joan asked. Grace shuddered.

"Yeah. For that stupid dance Luke's dragging me to." Joan smirked.

"C'mon, I've got some that you could probably stand for a few hours. And some make up that would go with them too-" Joan said with a laugh, walking into the living room. Grace gave her a slight shove.

"Don't push it Girardi." Helen watched her daughter and Grace head upstairs and smiled. Luke entered the kitchen a moment later and grabbed some water from the fridge.

"So, has 'Yoko' arrived yet?" Luke asked his mother.

"Luke, do you know why your sister dislikes her so much?" Helen asked.

"She doesn't dislike her. She hates her. She'd lead the We Hate Iris fan club if she had the power. All through lunch she was muttering stuff about her dislike towards Iris. As for why she hates her? I think the answer's obvious," Luke told his mother, taking a drink.

"Because she and Adam are going to the dance together?" Helen asked. Luke nodded and walked out of the kitchen.

*

"Oh my God. This is crazy Girardi. I would pay to just be able to go to some dance dressed normal. Accually, I'd pay to NOT go to the dance," Grace said, sitting on Joan's bed while she went through her closet.

"You don't have to go. No one's holding a gun to your head," Joan told her, pulling out a black dress and tossing it at Grace. "If you hate dances so much, why are you going?" Grace eyed the dress laying next to her.

"I'm doing it for your brother," she said.

"Why?" Joan asked, pulling out some more dresses and chucking them at her. She caught a red one and looked over it, then placed it on top of the black one. No answer. "Grace?" Joan asked.

"Maybe because I accually like him. And you like Adam. So when he asked you out, why'd you turn him down?" she asked, standing up and walking over to Joan. Joan continued shifting through her clothing.

"I do like Adam, but I'm not ready for a couple, you know?"

"Tell me about it," Grace told her.

"I didn't want to go with Adam when he first asked me, because I just, well, I'm not ready to do the couple thing. But I wanted to go with him, so I decided to ask him today, but the disese has already begun. "

"You didn't expect him to sit around and wait for you forever did you?"

"I think I did. But I don't know when that will be. So I should be happy for Adam and Iris. Right?"

"Right," Grace told her. Joan pulled another dress out of her closet and held it up in front of Grace.

"I believe we have a winner," she said. Grace looked at it.

"I guess it's not going to kill me if I wear it for four hours," Grace told her as the doorbell rang. "Must be Rove and 'Yoko'."

"How does everyone know that's what I called her?" Joan asked, putting the dress on a chair as she and Grace walked downstairs.

"You did kind of yell it at the top of your lungs Girardi." They stepped off the stairs and entered the kitchen, seeing Adam and Iris sitting at the table with Luke. Joan pulled out the chair next to Adam and sunk down and Grace pulled out the one between the two Girardi's. An hour later, study group ended and the hang out time began.

"So, what do you guy want to do now?" Joan asked.

"Well, it's friday. We usually order Pay-Per View yo," Adam told her.

"Hey, as long as it's nothing sappy, romantic or Mary Kate and Ashley related I'm all for a movie," Grace said.

"Sounds like a plan," Joan said, then remembered Iris."You.. wanna stay?" she asked, exchanging a look with Grace.

"That'd be great, thanks," Iris said as the five of them headed into the living room. Grace, Adam and Luke took their usual spots on the couch, and as Joan was about to take the empty spot next to Adam, Iris sat. Joan looked at her, trying not to glare, then took a seat on the chair.

"Hey Jane, why are you sitting all the way over there?" Adam asked.

"No room over there," Joan answered. Grace gave her a sympthetic smile and moved over to the other chair. Not being a fan of Iris, and not liking having to see her best friend moping around over her other best friend, she was willing to help Joan get Adam. Joan stood up and moved over to her couch, taking the seat. She opened the PPV guide.

"Alright, what should we order?" Joan asked.

"Ooh, Alex and Emma!" Joan and Iris exclamed at the same time. Adam, Luke and Grace exchanged looks of disgust.

"No chick flicks," Grace told them.

"How about Jeepers Creepers 2?" Adam asked.

"No horror," Joan said. They continued reading through the list.

"Cheerleader Ninjas. Now I've seen everything," Grace said.

"That sounds like a disturbing movie," Luke said.

"Oh, Down With Love," Joan said. Grace snickered.

"Oh God, they've got an inside joke.." Luke said. Joan hit him upside the head.

"How about Wrong Turn? It's a horror, but it's not scary," Adam said. The other four agreed.

"I'll order it, you get the lights dog boy," Joan said, ordering the movie as Luke turned off the lights. He went to sit back on the couch, but changed his mind when he saw the look Joan was giving Iris and Adam.

"This seat taken?" he asked Grace. She moved over, letting him sit. "I've got to admit, I'm afraid to sit over there."

"Yeah. Talk about tension," Grace said, shifting her weight, attempting to sit in the chair without making any physical contact with Luke. It wasn't working. She finally gave up and just sat there. Moments later, she felt someone looking at her. She looked up and saw Luke staring down.

"Can I help you?" she asked quietly. He smiled and leaned down, kissing her. She put a hand on his cheek and kissed him back deeply.

*

On the other side of the living room, Joan was paying more attention to Adam and Iris than the movie. She watched Iris grab his hand and snuggle up to him. It was making her sick. She had to get away from the coupling. At least the coupling going on with the guy she liked. She moved over to the big chair where Luke and Grace were sitting, and stopped when the light on the TV screen illuminated the room for a moment, revealing her brother and her best friend making out. She gave up and made her way into the kitchen, where Helen was making dinner.

"Hey Joan, need some snacks?" Helen asked.

"Need a break. I'm a fifth wheel in my own home," Joan told her mother.

"What's that mean?"

"Iris and Adam are all cozy and holding hands, and Luke's making out with Grace. It's making me upset."

"Joan, your only sixteen. It's nearly impossiable to get love right on the first try," Helen told her daughter.

"Is it?" Joan asked. "Well what about all those people at school who have been going out for years? What about Iris and Adam? They're acting all in love. And Kevin and Rebecca. And God, even Luke and Grace! It's insane."

"Joan, do you honestally think more than half of the couples at school will be together in the end?" Joan concidered it for a second.

"No way."