Mike, Menaces, and Masks

The week following her mothers wedding went by rather quickly for Jenny. She was becoming more familiar with going to a public school, and had to admit that the lack of gossip girl was refreshing. Though she had unsubscribed from the website, Little J still jumped the slightest bit when her phone buzzed, expecting a scandal to pop up on its tiny screen. A dozen times in the few days Jenny had thought about returning to the salon and having them return her hair to its former ice blonde self, but plea's from her mom and Charlie kept her put. Beside that fact, Jenny was not going to let being a brunette stop her from having her fun.

She spent her lunch breaks at school flirting with Mike, an unusually annoying prospect despite his good looks. On this specific day, a Friday to be exact, Jenny and Mike cut class and drove to Port Angeles to catch a horror flick in honor of the upcoming holiday, Halloween. It was Little J's first time in a movie theatre, and she found it rather uncomfortable sitting in the dark with a bunch of random people and staring at an enormous screen while munching on fattening junk food. But she had promised herself she'd try new things while living in Washington, and apparently Mike loved movies. Why was it that the guys in Forks were so low-class and simple minded compared to the guys on the Upper East Side?

Was it really that difficult to find a decent mannered, attractive, smart and interesting guy in this town?

Or were they really a dime-a-dozen?

After the movie, Jenny and Mike sat in his car in complete silence. This was supposed to be the scene where she told him how much fun she had and how much she enjoyed the flick, and then he acted all modest and then they kissed and all was merry. Instead, Jenny felt something churning in her gut, and in an instant she opened the passenger door and puked onto the curb. Mike jumped out of his car and rushed to Jenny's side, holding her hair back as she heaved. "Oh my god… oh my god… are you okay? Oh crap. Jenny!" Up came the dark caramelized liquid that they called Dr. Pepper, next was the buttery popcorn, and rainbow colored chunks of skittles.

"Oh that's nasty." Mike, having the weak stomach that he did, apologized quickly and rushed to the garbage can where he too began to vomit.

Jenny couldn't help but think that this was the worst date she'd ever been on. Even worse than losing her V to that Mother Chucker ass of a Bass.

"Mom, I swear I'm feeling better now. You can stop attacking me with that wet rag."

Jenny sat up in her bed and with the wave of a hand, her mother was shooed from her side. Bella started laughing for what seemed to be the first time since Edward and the other Cullen's had disappeared. "Oh wow. I knew you and Mike weren't a good match from the start." She joked, sprawling out on her bed.

"Shut up Bella, it's not funny! It was a total mess." Jenny chucked her pillow at Bella, who in return threw two pillows.

"I can't believe you threw up. I mean, yeah, Mike can be a little creepy, but you puked?"

Jenny pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. So not funny…

The following Monday at school everyone at the lunch table had heard about Jenny and Mike's date and they would not let her live it down. Jenny, for once in her life, frowned upon gossip because it had come back to nip her in the ass. Eric was the worst; he kept nudging Jenny and imitating the vomit scene that Mike had described to him on the phone the night before.

"Eric, would you stop being such a… a… menace? Go find somebody else to harass."

Eric looked a bit hurt by the remark, but heeded Jenny's warning and laid off. "Anyone else wanna take a swing at it?" She asked, giving everyone an evil eye. They all shook their heads no and returned to their lunch. Mike came in late and took his usual place in between Bella and Jenny.

"Oh, how nice of you to show up." Jenny said curtly while avoiding eye contact with Mike. "How many people did you tell about, you know, what happened?" Her voice was soft and her question was directed only to Mike. He shrugged and stood up. "Come with me." He whispered. Jenny had no choice; she would've rather had this discussion in private anyways. Now she could give him a piece of her mind for humiliating her.

They snuck away to an empty hallway and Mike opened up his locker. "What the hell Mike? What's this about? You get a date with the new girl and then because she gets sick from junk food, you're all hot shit now?" Mike said nothing. "You puked too might I add! And it wasn't because of the food, it's because you're a pansy and had a weak stomach." There was still no sound from Mike, who was rummaging through his locker.

"Am I wasting my time here?" Jenny tapped her foot impatiently, one arm crossed over the other.

Mike emerged from his locker with a huge cheesy grin planted on his face. In his right hand was a single yellow rose that had a black ribbon tied around its thorny stem. "I'm sorry… Will you go to the Masquerade with me?"

Jenny had heard about the upcoming Halloween dance, in which everyone was supposed to dress up and wear masks and all identities would be a secret. It seemed severely familiar to the dance she'd gone to in New York, where Nate mistook her for Serena and kissed her, and that nasty Chuck Bass threw himself at her on the roof. These memories were enough to give Jenny her answer to Mike's question.

"I can't… I'm actually gonna be out of town that weekend."

Mike's face sunk as his hopes were crushed. "Oh?"

"Yeah, I'm visiting my brother and dad in New York." She lied, biting her lip. Truth was, Jenny wasn't going to be able to visit her dad for a long time, not after she was exiled by Blair. She hadn't given it enough time to settle down, and it could be a year before there was a big enough scandal that everyone would forget about what she did.

"I'm really sorry Mike." Jenny rubbed his arm, but quickly retreated, not wanting to get the boys hopes up. "Maybe ask Jessica? I know that she's been wanting to go with you."

"Yeah, totally." Mike said, just as the bell rang and students began filing into the hallway. "Anyways, I'll see you around." Mike stalked off leaving a trail of desperation and Jenny sighed. Usually she was the one getting let down by guys. Unfortunately, it was never this easy. Her let down's usually involved a blast to gossip girl.

Thank god for Forks.